Zavizion, Gabriel Timofeevich

He was born on April 12, 1918 in the village of Artyomovka (now the New Odessa district of the Nikolaev region of Ukraine ) in a large peasant family. Father - Timofey Viktorovich, an ordinary artillery soldier during the First World War , in 1916, as part of the troops of the Southwestern Front, he participated in the Brusilovsky breakthrough and was awarded the Soldier's Cross of St. George IV degree, died shortly after the birth of Gabriel. Mother - Ekaterina Fedosyevna. In total, five children were brought up in the family ^[2] .

He graduated from seven classes. He worked on a collective farm, a house painter , a loader , a fireman . He studied at the Dnepropetrovsk Coke Chemical College. In 1938, on a Komsomol trip, he entered the 2nd Saratov Tank School . After graduating from college with honors, at his own request he was sent to the 18th Panzer Regiment of the 9th Panzer Division of the Central Asian Military District ( Mary , Turkmen SSR ) ^[2] .

Member of the Great Patriotic War , he was at the front on June 30, 1941, his regiment was transferred to the Western Front . Tankers entered the battle directly from the railway platforms ^[3] .

The commander of a tank platoon, from July 1941 - a tank company ^[2] . In July 1941 he took part in the battles near Yelnya . According to the memoirs of G. T. Zavizion, his battalion T-26 was the leading one. The attack was carried out without reconnaissance, literally indicated the direction and ordered: “Attack!” When moving in an open place, the tankers came under heavy fire from anti-tank artillery, the attack choked. “In the morning, when the tanks were pulled out of the battlefield, the worst began - the funeral. From the broken tanks you need to pull out everything that remains inside. In what form it is all is difficult to convey. The first time after such a funeral, I could not eat anything for several days ... ” ^[3]

Later, he fought on the T-34 and KV tanks : “It was a completely different matter: KB and the thirty-four went fearlessly - the German artillery could not penetrate them. Later, the Germans adapted a very strong anti-aircraft gun to fight our tanks ^[4] . And at that time, the German infantry was not armed with anything significant against Soviet tanks. And for a German to throw a grenade under our tank, I don’t remember such a case during the whole war! .. ” ^[3]

November 7 thrown under Podolsk . On the night of November 7, tankers traveled under their own power from the Moscow-Tovarnaya-Kurskaya station through all of Moscow , including through Red Square , where a military parade was held in the afternoon. After three days of fighting near Podolsk, he was transferred to Black Mud , where parts of the Wehrmacht broke through. German troops attacked one after another villages, knocking out Soviet infantry, parts of the Red Army tank attacks restored the situation. In particular, three times it was necessary to repulse the village of Poyarkovo (near Volokolamsk ) ^[3] .

The first combat mission, the commander of a tank company of the 145th separate tank brigade, senior lieutenant G. T. Zavizion personally received from the commander of the 16th Army, Major General K. K. Rokossovsky . When destroying an enemy group that had broken through in the Poyarkovo-Pekino area, G.T. Zavizion showed courage, courage and resourcefulness, acting as an advanced detachment of the brigade, secretly approached Volokolamsk with his company and broke into the city at dawn on December 20. During the ensuing battle, the company commander was seriously wounded, but did not leave the battle. His company kept the captured line until the approach of the main forces of the brigade. For this combat episode, Senior Lieutenant Zavizion was awarded the Order of the Red Banner ^[2] .

After a serious wound received in December 1941, he was cured for ten months in hospitals. He entered the Military Academy of Armored Forces. JV Stalin , which he graduated with honors in 1944. Sent as an assistant (later - deputy) to the chief of the operational department of the headquarters of the 6th Guards Tank Army . As part of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, he participated in battles in Right-Bank Ukraine , in Romania , Hungary , Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia ^[2] .

After the war, he was transferred to the Far East as part of the army, where the 6th Guards Tank Army successfully completed its combat missions to defeat the Japanese Kwantung Army ^[2] .

Guards Major G. T. Zavizion was appointed military commander of Port Arthur , then served as deputy commander of a tank regiment in the city of Borze, Trans-Baikal Military District . In 1948 he was sent to teaching at the Military Academy of Armored Forces named after I.V. Stalin (VA BTV). In 1950, Lieutenant Colonel G. T. Zavizion entered the Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. K. E. Voroshilova , which he graduated with honors. In the certification signed by Army General V.V. Kurasov , it was noted that he was a promising and highly trained theoretically trained officer. He was again sent to VA BTV as a senior teacher, and then as deputy head of the higher tactics tactics department. In 1956 he defended his thesis, was awarded the degree of candidate of military sciences , and a year later - the academic title of assistant professor . In 1957, Colonel G. T. Zavizion headed the Academy’s leading department - the Department of Operational Art ^[2] .

In 1960, major military exercises were held in the USSR , at which the faculty of the academy was involved. In the Borisoglebsk area, the plane, on board of which there was a major general of tank troops (military rank was awarded on May 7, 1960) G.T. Zavizion, crashed. Zavizion received a serious spinal injury, which permanently disabled him. However, as in 1941, he courageously endured all the torment and returned to duty ^[2] .

In 1964, Major General of the Tank Forces G. T. Zavizion successfully defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences . He served in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR as head of the Military Scientific Directorate, made a great contribution to the formation and development of military science, strategy and operational art of the Armed Forces of the USSR. According to the assessment of the military historian V. A. Zhilin , Gavriil Timofeevich was a true military professional, about whom “it can be said without exaggeration that he has excellent knowledge of the matter, a developed sense of state responsibility, the ability to organize a team for the high-quality solution of assigned tasks, sensitivity and commanding care of subordinates - these are the main components of the secret of his success ” ^[2] .

He died on January 1, 1974 ^[2] . He was buried at Vvedensky cemetery .

• Zavizion G.T., Kornyushin P.A. And in the Pacific ... - M .: Military Publishing, 1967.

• The order of Lenin
• two orders of the Red Banner (March 20, 1942, May 5, 1945)
• two orders of World War I degree (February 17, 1945, September 21, 1945)
• Order of the Red Star
• 13 medals
• as well as awards of foreign states ^[2] .

Son - Yuri Gavrilovich, lieutenant general of tank troops, Ph.D., professor of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation . Grandchildren - Fedor and Alexander, Fedor officer of the Russian army , Alexander officer of the National Guard of the Russian Federation (as of 2016, Alexander by rank - major , Fedor - lieutenant colonel ^[3] . Daughter Natalya Gavrilovna is a teacher by profession. Works at the Russian Center for Science and Her son, Daniel, is studying at the Higher School of Economics

• Alexander Ushar. We are all war crazy children (neopr.) . Brother (October 2003). Date of treatment December 30, 2012. Archived January 26, 2013.