Stepichev, Vasily Vasilievich

Stepichev Vasily Vasilievich was born on January 1, 1901 in Yekaterinoslav (now the Dnieper ). Russian In the Red Guard since 1918. In the Red Army from April 1918 to 1938 and from October 1940. He was married twice. From the first marriage, two sons John and Volodya. From the second with T. S. Tananay three sons Vasily, Konstantin and Sergey .

Education

• District military-political courses of the Volga Military District (1922)
• Repeated separation of military commissars of the Volga Military District (1923)
• Military Political Institute named after N. G. Tolmachev (1927)
• KUVNAS at the Air Force Academy named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky (1932)
• 1st Military School of Pilots named after A.F. Myasnikov (town of Kacha) (1933)
• Higher academic courses at the Higher Military Academy named after K. E. Voroshilov (1953)

Since January 3, 1918 he was in the 1st Red Guard Bryansk detachment. In April 1918 he joined the Red Army and was sent to serve in the rifle regiment. He served as a Red Army soldier, commander of a horse reconnaissance team, commissar of horse and foot reconnaissance of a rifle regiment. As part of the regiment, he fought on the Southern Front against the troops of General A. I. Denikin . In one of the battles near Voronezh he was captured by the Cossacks of General A.G. Shkuro . However, a few days later he was liberated by the advancing units of the 1st Cavalry Army . Member of the CPSU (b) since 1919. Since March 1920, he was appointed political intelligence officer. In the spring of 1920, the division guarded the Black Sea coast in the areas of Novorossiysk and Yeysk , and then transferred to the Western Front , where it participated in the Soviet-Polish war of 1920 .

In April 1921 he was appointed Commissioner for the fight against banditry at the headquarters of the camp gathering of the Western Front. He took part in the suppression of the uprising in the Tambov province under the leadership of A. S. Antonov . At the end of the Civil War, Stepichev in November 1921 was sent to the military-political courses of air defense, which he graduated in April 1922. He was sent to serve in the cavalry regiment, where he acted as assistant military commissar and military commissar of the regiment. In July - August 1923 he was re-trained at the courses of military commissars of the Military Military District, after which he was appointed to the post of military commissar in the cavalry regiment. In November 1923 he entered the Military Political Institute named after N. G. Tolmachev . At the end of his studies in July 1927, he was appointed teacher and principal director of the Tver Cavalry School named after the Comintern. In December 1928 he was appointed military commissar of the artillery regiment, and since November 1930 - military commissar of the 43rd aviation squadron of the 2nd aviation brigade.

In June 1932 he was sent to KUVNAS at the Air Force Academy , and in November 1932 - to the 1st Military School of Pilots named after A. F. Myasnikov . He graduated from flight school in June 1933 and was appointed to the post of commander of an air squadron in the city of Vitebsk . In June 1934, he was transferred to the same post in the Trans-Baikal Military District in the 9th Aviation Squadron of the 202nd Aviation Brigade. In February 1936 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Aviation Brigade of the 8th Odessa School of Pilots. Since June 1937 - the commander of the aviation brigade of the 3rd military school of pilots and flight officers named after K. E. Voroshilov .

On June 1, 1938 he was arrested by the NKVD bodies and expelled from the party by the PUR commission with the wording: ".. For communication with his brother, who was deported to Yakutia in 1935." Spent in custody 1 year and 10 months. He was released from custody on April 1, 1940 in connection with the dismissal of the case. He was not on trial. In October, he was restored to the Red Army. He was appointed to the post of inspector of the 36th Aviation Division in Kiev . In April 1941, he was appointed commander of the 316th reconnaissance aviation regiment in Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky ).

During the war

By the beginning of the war, the regiment was armed with 3 SB aircraft, 39 Yak-2 , Yak-4 aircraft , not yet mastered by crews. The 316th reconnaissance aviation regiment , led by Stepichev, took part in hostilities from the first days of the war on the Southwestern Front . The regiment lost its combat effectiveness a month and a half after the start of the war. But the information received by his crews turned out to be extremely useful and served as the basis for organizing the first massive attack during the war years on the airfields of enemy aviation Gorodishche , Uzin , Fursy .

“... We fly to the most dangerous and responsible areas myself. It has combat sorties - 17. ... Comrade Comrade’s plane Stepicheva received more than 50 holes ... Within 10 days, he retrained the entire flight crew from R-10 to Yak-4. For the first time in the Air Force, he began to take out from the back seat on an airplane ... "

- From the award sheet to the regiment commander V. Stepichev from 08/10/1942

At the end of December 1941, the 316th reconnaissance aviation regiment was disbanded, two separate reconnaissance squadrons were formed on its base: 90 units and 91 units, and its commander VV Stepichev was appointed commander of the 63rd aviation division and performing duties of the deputy commander of the Air Force of the 21st Army of the South-Western Front . In May 1942, in accordance with the order of the NCO No. 0090 of 05/18/1942 in the city of Valuyki, V. V. Stepichev began to form the 228th assault aviation division , which he headed as division commander. The division was part of the 8th and 15th Air Armies of the Southwestern Front. On May 29, 1942, the understaffed IL-2 aircraft and personnel began to carry out combat missions on the Southwestern Front. On June 9, 1942, the 228th Assault Aviation Division became part of the 8th Air Army of the Southwestern Front. In the period from July 5 to July 14, 1942, the 228th assault aviation division was withdrawn to be reorganized into the Bobrov army rear airfield. July 15, 1942 the division was transferred to the disposal of a separate air group of General S. I. Rudenko , located north of the great bend of the Don.

During the Battle of Stalingrad, the 228th Assault Aviation Division attacked suitable enemy columns, destroyed its aircraft on the ground and in the air, and reconnaissance of advanced tank groups. In the difficult days of the defensive operation near Stalingrad, the division suffered huge losses. Many crews did not return from missions. In mid-August 1942, two division regiments: the 431st assault aviation regiment and the 808th assault aviation regiment were left without airplanes. In the course of the counterattack near Stalingrad, despite difficult weather conditions, the 228th assault aviation division, interacting with the troops of the 24th, 65th and 66th armies, facilitated the breakthrough of enemy defenses in the Kletskaya area, and ensured the operational encirclement of enemy troops under Stalingrad. After encircling the enemy’s troops, pilots attacked German troops and airfields, landing sites in the encirclement ring day and night, destroying transport and combat aircraft.

V.V. Stepichev, by order of the People’s Commissar of Defense No. 00217 of October 10, 1942, was appointed commander of the 2nd Assault Aviation Corps and proceeded to its formation. On November 12, 1942, the 2nd Assault Aviation Corps began combat operations as part of the 3rd Air Army on the Kalinin Front. The 2nd Assault Aviation Corps under the leadership of V.V. Stepichev took part in the hostilities on the Kalinin, Volkhov, South-West, West, 2nd Ukrainian fronts, participated in operations:

• Velikiye Luki operation
• Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation
• Smolensk operation "Suvorov"
• Smolensk-Roslavl Operation
• Iasi-Kishenevskaya operation
• Debrecen operation
• Budapest operation
• Vienna operation

and liberated the cities of Chisinau , Vienna and Budapest .

For the successful conduct of the Iasi-Chisinau operation , for exemplary fulfillment of command assignments in battles with the Nazi invaders, for the capture of the cities of Oradea and Debrecen , the 2nd Assault Aviation Corps on October 27, 1944 was transformed into the 3rd Guards Assault Aviation Corps , and V. V. Stepichev was awarded the Order of Kutuzov of the 1st degree for the skillful leadership of the combat work of parts of the corps. During the period from June 1 to December 31, 1944, parts of the corps made 12,027 sorties.

After the war

After the war, V.V. Stepichev served in various command posts:

• from 05.03.1946 to 11.1948 - commander of the 4th Air Army
• Since November 1948 - Deputy Air Force Commander-in-Chief for Combat Training
• In the period from September 1950 to January 1953 - commander of the 57th Air Army .
• In 1952 he was elected a delegate to the 19th Congress of the CPSU (B.) (From 5 to 14 October 1952) from the Lviv Region. ^[2]
• Since September 1953 - Air Force Commander of the Far Eastern Military District - Deputy Air Force Commander of the District
• From May 1957 to April 1958 - commander of the 1st Air Army .
• Since June 1958 - Senior Military Advisor to the Commander of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Czechoslovak Army .
• Since February 1962 - retired.

Died April 13, 1982 in Kiev.

• Major General Aviation - March 17, 1943
• Lieutenant General of Aviation - May 11, 1944
• Guard Lieutenant General Aviation - October 27, 1944
• Colonel General of Aviation - August 8, 1955

• Delegate of the 19th Congress of the CPSU (B.) ^[2]
• Deputy of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR IV convocation (1955-1959) from the Ternopil region ^[3]

• Order of Lenin (02.21.1945) ^[4]
• Order of the Red Banner (11/06/1941) ^[5]
• Order of the Red Banner (11/03/1944) ^[4]
• Order of the Red Banner ^[4]
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree (06/13/1944) ^[6]
• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree (04/28/1945) ^[7]
• Order of Suvorov 2 degrees
• medal of XX years of the Red Army
• medal for the "Defense of Stalingrad"
• medals

• Team of authors . World War II: Comcor. Military Biographical Dictionary / Edited by M. G. Vozhakin . - M .; Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Field, 2006 .-- T. 2 .-- S. 421-423. - ISBN 5-901679-08-3 .
• Team of authors . World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary / V.P. Goremykin. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2014 .-- T. 2 .-- S. 832-834. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0341-0 .
• L. Dudarenko, Yu.G. Pereshenko, V.T. Eliseev et al. Handbook on the liberation of cities during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 . - M .: Military Publishing House, 1985 .-- 598 p.
• Zalessky K.A. World War II. 1941-1945. Big biographical encyclopedia. - M .: AST , 2013 .-- S. 626. - 829 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-078426-4 .