Who today remembers such a Soviet figure - Andrei Antonovich Grechko? Even those who served in the late 60s - early 70s Soviet army may think about it. Meanwhile, the character we identified at that time was the Marshal of the Soviet Union, the Minister of Defense of the USSR. He died in this high position. Almost made it to 73 years old. On the one hand, the age is more than respectable. On the other hand, what is it, the first Kremlin youth...
Andrey Antonovich and dear Leonid Ilyich. And why should Marshal be indignant at the fact that his boss would also become a Marshal and wear the same big beautiful stars on his shoulder straps? After all, the boss...
Photo: Google.
Many articles have now been written about Andrei Anatolych with an obligatory bias towards the mystery of the Marshal’s death. Here is how, for example, one of them begins, published on the Brezhnev News website (author - Sergei Yuferev):
“Marshal of the Soviet Union, head of the country’s Ministry of Defense Andrei Anatolyevich (in the quoted paragraph, for some reason, the Marshal’s patronymic is indicated as such - Yu.K.) Grechko died suddenly at his dacha on April 26, 1976. The Marshal’s contemporaries noted that at 72 years old he could give a head start to many young people. Andrei Grechko continued to actively engage in sports, and nothing foreshadowed his such unexpected death. In many ways, it was this circumstance that became the reason for the emergence of conspiracy theories around the death of the Marshal. Moreover, shortly before his death, the head of the USSR Ministry of Defense Andrei Grechko dropped the phrase : “Only over my corpse,” commenting on Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev’s desire to become a Marshal. 10 days after the death of Andrei Grechko, Leonid Brezhnev nevertheless became a Marshal.”
The circumstances of the death in this (and dozens of others) article are reported as follows:
“The Minister of Defense himself loved to play volleyball with everyone, demonstrating by personal example that you should not give up on physical fitness, no matter what age you are. Therefore, it seems strange how the fit, strong, healthy Marshal passed away so suddenly at the age of 72. According to the recollections of Evgeniy Rodionov, an officer of the “nine” (security), who was attached to the marshal, the body of the Minister of Defense was discovered by them on the morning of April 26, 1976. The preparations for the meeting were already coming to an end, but Andrei Antonovich (here already the middle name is indicated correctly, the author, apparently, that Anatolyevich, that Antonovich - to one place - Yu.K.) never came to the table, although he always had breakfast before the start of the working day. Concerned about the absence of Marshal, the guard asked his relatives to check what was wrong with him. And since the Minister of Defense strictly forbade anyone from entering his room, it was decided to send his great-granddaughter to the wing where Grechko lived. She found her already cold great-grandfather: he allegedly fell asleep while sitting in a chair ".
According to some sources, he was sitting in a chair, according to others, he was lying on the bed. Either in an overcoat, or in a marshal's uniform. And what kind of outbuilding is this, where it was strictly forbidden for outsiders to enter? Today’s journalists should take an interest in the details: what and how? No, they are not interested. And the hardened cliches flow smoothly from one article to another: he was in good physical shape, died suddenly, had a sudden heart attack...
However, it is very likely that the secret of Andrei Antonovich’s death is no longer a secret at all. Here's a fellow student Russian President Vladimir Putin at the KGB Institute, Yuri Shvets, recently giving an interview to one of the Ukrainian TV channels, said that the comrade minister had kicked off his skates. Moreover, he said this as if by the way, as a fact long known (to a certain circle of people) and firmly driven into history. Let's listen to a retired state security major:
“I remember there was a precedent. Marshal of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense [Andrei] Grechko, who said that if today we have less than 0.7 vodka per person, then why drink at all. He died on a 15-year-old girl. Her heart stopped. But it was necessary to combine 0.7 with this."
I almost choked on my coffee after reading it. Here it is, it turns out, what... And it immediately becomes even more interesting from a conspiracy perspective. Was it just a simple combination of age, vodka and, in fact, the process itself? Or did specially selected people plant Viagra (then equivalent) on Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union? How did the girl end up in the outhouse and where did she go afterwards? Was she just an amateur or was she already listed in a special file? Curious...
October 17, 2013 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of the famous Marshal, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Andrei Antonovich Grechko.
Andrei Antonovich was born in 1903 in Rostov region in a small village called Golodayevka. Nowadays the village of Kuibyshevo stands on this land. The future military leader wrote in his memoirs: “The Motherland began for me from these places. From our small house, from our comrades and classmates, from our teacher - strict, but infinitely kind, making sure that we grow up to be hardworking and honest people who love their country.” His father, Anton Vasilyevich, was a simple peasant, from time to time working as a physical education teacher at a local school. Andrey was the thirteenth(!) child in the family. In total, Anton Vasilyevich and Olga Karpovna had fourteen children. Today it is impossible to imagine how people managed to raise such a horde of children.
In early childhood, Grechko was distinguished by his savvy and restlessness. Fellow villagers noted that Andryusha often did not obey the demands of his parents and grew up as an active boy with a well-developed imagination. He loved to play war games with his brothers. And once he barely survived, having decided to play with without asking. It is also known that little Andrei loved listening to his father’s stories about military service. Perhaps that is why he chose the military profession for himself.
In the fall of 1919, Denikin's divisions rushing to Moscow were stopped by the forces of the First Cavalry Army. After this, the Bolsheviks began their attack on Rostov through the Donbass. Squadrons of the Eleventh Cavalry Division entered Golodayevka in mid-December. The local residents all came out as one to meet the Red Army soldiers. Among them was Andrei Grechko. The tall, strapping young man looked with envy at the brave Budenovites, sparkling with red stars on their caps. Their prowess and proud posture aroused admiration in the boy’s soul. Grechko saw that among the horsemen there were many young guys like him who decided to go into battle for the new power.
The advancing units of the First Cavalry Army were in dire need of timely delivery of ammunition. For this purpose, all horse transport of Golodayevka residents was mobilized for an indefinite period. Andrei carried ammunition on his horse all the way to the city of Rostov. It was there that he was lucky enough to meet the squadron commander and fellow countryman Stepan Vasilenko. The brave cavalryman helped Grechko fulfill his cherished dream - he accepted the sixteen-year-old boy into his squadron and even gave him weapons and all the necessary equipment.
In January 1920, after the liberation of Rostov, a young Red Army soldier came to his native village to visit his family. Here he announced to his family that he intended to connect his life with the Red Army. To the surprise of everyone, his father, Anton Vasilyevich Grechko, approved of his choice, uttering parting words: “I served the country for twelve years. I had the opportunity to fight with the Turks and liberate Bulgaria. I rose to the rank of sergeant major and was wounded. Once at a review, the general honored me for my good service - he shook my hand. So, son, you too can reach this level...” The father had no idea that decades later it would be a great honor for many people to shake hands with his son.
It is curious that in 1820, Andrei Antonovich Grechko’s ancestor was one of the leaders of the Martynovsky rebellion - the largest rebellion of serfs of the nineteenth century. To suppress this uprising on the Don, large forces were assembled under the leadership of Chernyshev: the Simbirsk infantry regiment, five Cossack regiments, two squadrons of the Life Guards and a battery of six guns. Of the four thousand arrested peasants, only eight admitted that they repented. Hundreds of people were subjected to terrible corporal punishment, many were sent to settle in Siberia and do hard labor. The leaders of the uprising Dmitry Mishchenko, Rodion Malgozhenko, Vlas Reznichenko and Timofey Grechko received forty lashes each and lifelong hard labor. It is noteworthy that a hundred years later the descendant of the rebel volunteered to join the Red Army.
This is how the military career of the Soviet military leader began in the cavalry squadron of the famous First Cavalry Army. Andrei Antonovich went through the entire Civil War, fighting as a simple Red Army soldier. In Krasnodar, he completed a course for Red commanders, and in 1926, the promising fighter was sent to study at a cavalry school. After its successful completion, Grechko was entrusted with a platoon, and after some time an entire squadron as part of the first Separate Cavalry Brigade of the Moscow District. In 1936, the future commander studied at the Military Academy named after. Frunze, after which he began to command a regiment. On July 26, 1938, an order was issued by the USSR NGO on the reorganization of the Belarusian Military District (in particular, the district was renamed the Belarusian Special or BOVO). From October 1938, Grechko was appointed chief of staff of the Special Cavalry Division of the BOVO. And in 1939, he took part in a campaign in Western Belarus and Western Ukraine in order to protect the lives and property of the inhabitants of these places from Nazi troops, as well as deprive Germany of the opportunity to use these territories as a springboard for an attack on the USSR.
Andrei Antonovich did not have the opportunity to see the first days of the Great Patriotic War at the front. Before the war, he finished studying at the General Staff Academy. The commander passed his last exam in operational art on June 19, 1941. In those days, it was already clear to him that a serious danger loomed over the USSR. And so it happened, the war broke out three days later. Grechko’s first desire was to immediately go to the front, so that there, in the thick of the struggle, he could take part in the destruction of Hitler’s hordes. However, out of more than a hundred officers who left the academic bench with him, only a few were immediately sent to the front. And Andrei Grechko was appointed to the operational department of the General Staff. He perceived this direction with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he understood how responsible and necessary it was to work in this place during the trials that befell the country. However, on the other hand, he felt a burning desire to fight the enemy on the battlefields. This feeling haunted him, forcing him to look for opportunities to transfer to active units. As a result, Grechko spent only the first twelve days of the war at the General Staff.
Despite his short period of work at the General Staff, Grechko well remembered the atmosphere of calm and confidence that reigned there. It would seem that the difficult first days of the Great Patriotic War should have caused doubts, hesitations, and despondency. However, there was nothing of the kind. Andrei Antonovich’s task was to maintain a consolidated operational map of the situation. As part of his work, he often had to communicate with the chief of staff Georgy Zhukov, who, when going to report to Stalin, took the summary card from him. Here he met Alexander Vasilevsky. The calm and attentive military leader always believed in the strength of our army. “The failures will end, we will overcome them, we will achieve a turning point,” he often said.
Photo from the book by A.A. Grechko "Through the Carpathians"
Andrey Grechko has written several well-illustrated books aimed at readers interested in the Second World War: “The War Years 1941-1943”, “Liberation of Kiev”, “Through the Carpathians” and the criticized by Zhukov “Battle for the Caucasus”. The books are written on the basis of rich documentary material with a detailed analysis of the battles in question. Of particular interest is the military-historical study “Across the Carpathians,” showing the heroic struggle of Soviet soldiers and Czechoslovak partisans for the liberation of the regions of Poland and Czechoslovakia. This work was written based on the personal memories of the author, as well as some prominent participants in the events in question and, of course, documents central archives THE USSR. Several photographs and reference data were drawn from the information of the Military Historical Institute of Prague and in the archives Communist Party Czechoslovakia. The book contains the names of many real-life commanders and ordinary soldiers of the Red Army.
The General Staff worked hard day and night, people slept right at their workplaces. The situation at the front changed so rapidly that our headquarters often did not have time to track the progress of the struggle and lost control. Because of this, information received by the General Staff was contradictory or fragmentary. Despite efforts to compile a complete picture of the fighting from the stream of reports, the map very often had unclear places and blank spots. Grechko was angry, but only much later, already at the front, he realized how difficult it was for staff workers during the days of the Red Army’s retreat to receive accurate data from the troops and transmit them to higher authorities.
On the tenth day of the war, Grechko had to be accompanied to the front by Timoshenko, who was the People's Commissar of Defense in those days. Having been near Smolensk, already at way back Andrei Antonovich decided to turn to Semyon Konstantinovich with a request to send him to the front. At first, the People's Commissar avoided answering: “Working in the General Staff is a more responsible task than fighting on the front line.” However, on July 3, Georgy Zhukov came into the operational department and said, addressing Grechko: “Congratulations, you are now the commander of a cavalry division. I wish you success, you can leave.” Having said goodbye to his comrades and listened to their parting advice, Andrei Antonovich went to the Southwestern Front in Kharkov. In the town of Priluki he was to form the thirty-fourth cavalry division.
According to his memories, the most difficult days were the first days after arriving at the front. At this time (July 1941), defensive battles were taking place in Ukraine. Grechko’s unit entered the battles south of Kyiv in the first half of August as part of the fifth cavalry corps. As the illustrious commander himself would later write: “I tried to organize the battle according to all the rules, in strict accordance with the “ideal” commands taught to us in the academies in peacetime. However, it turned out that we do not have practical skills in organizing interaction, conducting reconnaissance, stable communications, and much more necessary for war. And the point here is not that we were poorly trained, but that in combat practice it turned out to be much more difficult to use theory against an experienced enemy than we thought.”
Already at the front, Grechko realized that everything theoretical knowledge will not be able to compensate for the lack of real combat experience. Along with this, he personally saw how difficult it is to fight when the troops lack ammunition, machine guns, anti-tank weapons, and artillery. He wrote to headquarters that he had nothing with which to repel attacks not only German tanks, but even the infantry that his part suffers heavy losses. And from above, one after another, amazing orders came: to crush the opposing enemy, to advance in such and such a direction. However, neither Grechko himself nor his soldiers and commanders left the confidence in victory for a second. The cavalry division, gritting its teeth, fought to the last. Even retreating, everyone believed that Soviet people will stand.
Excerpts from the memoirs of Marshal of the USSR Viktor Kulikov about Andrei Antonovich: “In all operations of General Grechko during the war, his outstanding organizational skills, boldness of plans, personal courage and unyielding will to implement his plans were always evident... In the Group Soviet troops in Germany and in the Kiev Military District his good deeds were well remembered. No matter what I came into contact with, I always heard: “This was done under Grechko”... Relations between Zhukov and Grechko were not warm, but quite correct... The Marshal showed care and attention to the veterans of our Armed Forces, while at the same time devoting a lot of time to recruiting personnel for positions commanders-in-chief, training of higher command staff... He personally took part in the development and conduct of maneuvers and operational-strategic exercises using all branches of the Armed Forces, military-industrial organizations, ministries of defense industry and military-scientific bodies...”
In the fall of 1941, in the battle of Moscow, the myth of invincibility was debunked German army. Soviet soldiers, like all our people, were inspired by the first victories of the Red Army. The confidence of the fighters grew stronger every day. At the end of 1941, Grechko headed the fifth cavalry corps, which, under his leadership, in January 1942, together with rifle formations of the fifty-seventh army, developed success in the main direction Southern Front, liberated Barvenkovo (Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya offensive operation).
Since March, Grechko led the operational group operating as part of the Southern Front in the Donbass, and in April 1942, the Twelfth Army was transferred to a skilled commander. She took part in defensive battles in the Voroshilovgrad direction. By the summer, the Nazis, having concentrated huge forces in the south, rushed to the Caucasus and the Volga. Soviet troops retreated with heavy fighting. The Twelfth Army also retreated. The soldiers walked towards the Don, passing just east of Rostov. Somewhere very close by was the commander’s native village, Golodayevka. Andrei Antonovich wrote about these days: “No matter how selflessly and bravely our soldiers fought, we continued to retreat. It's not easy at heart. All around is the steppe, dotted with slopes, ravines, and in the distance there are copses and orchards. Everything is painfully familiar, even the air filled with the smells of wormwood and thyme, here in a special way, bringing back memories of childhood.”
Soviet soldiers were retreating. But both on Donetsk soil and in the North Caucasus, where the Twelfth Army was transferred, Russian soldiers exhausted the enemy, forcing him to pay dearly for temporary success. In September 1942, Andrei Antonovich was appointed commander of the 47th Army, which did not allow the Nazis along the Black Sea coast and did not allow them to dominate the port of Novorossiysk. And from October 19, Grechko led the Eighteenth Army, fighting in the Tuapse direction. In November, he carried out a successful operation to eliminate the Semash enemy group that was trying to cross the Caucasus ridge. By the end of the year, our troops thwarted the next plans of the fascist command - to penetrate into Transcaucasia, and then further into India and the Middle East. The Nazis suffered heavy losses and were stopped by the unshakable resilience of the Russian soldiers.
And finally, the time has come for reckoning. Soviet troops destroyed the invaders at Stalingrad. It's time to clear away the fascists North Caucasus. In January 1943, all the armies of the Transcaucasian Front went on the offensive. The Nazis fiercely resisted, but could not stop the attacking impulse of our soldiers. On January 5, 1943, Grechko was appointed commander of the fifty-sixth army, which, during fierce battles, broke through the enemy’s defenses and reached Krasnodar. Also, this army, as part of the troops of the North Caucasus Front, participated in the Krasnodar operation, which lasted from February to April. And the offensive of the Soviet troops continued along the entire front. The Nazis suffered a major defeat in the summer near Kursk and rolled back to the Dnieper. In September 1943, units of the fifty-sixth army, interacting with the forces of the ninth and eighteenth armies, liberated the Taman Peninsula (Novorossiysk-Taman offensive operation). On October 9, Andrei Antonovich was lucky enough to be the first to report to the front headquarters about the liberation of the Caucasus.
Soon after the defeat of the German units in the Kuban (October 16, 1943), Grechko, who showed extraordinary abilities, was given the post of deputy commander of the first Ukrainian Front. He carried out a regrouping of our troops from the Bukrinsky to Lyutezhsky bridgeheads, unnoticed by the enemy. This was followed by a powerful blow from the Third Tank and Thirty-Eighth Armies, and on November 6, Kyiv was liberated. A few days later, the territory of our country was cleared of fascists, and Europe was brought to its knees and awaited the Red Army.
In December 1943, Colonel General Andrei Grechko became commander of the first guards army, which he led until the end of the war. At the end of the year, his troops advanced 180 kilometers during the Zhitomir-Berdichev operation, liberating Zhitomir along the way. In 1944, the First Guards took part in the Proskurov-Chernovtsy operation, which ended with the encirclement and defeat of the enemy tank army near the city of Kamenets-Podolsk. The army also acted competently during the Lvov-Sandomierz war. offensive operation. In September 1944, soldiers from the First Guards, together with soldiers of the Thirty-Eighth and Eighteenth Armies, overcame the German defenses in the Eastern Carpathians and ended up on the territory of Czechoslovakia (East Carpathian offensive operation). And in January 1945, the army bypassed the highest point of the Carpathians, the High Tatras, and through parts of Poland made its way to the Moravian-Ostravian industrial region of Czechoslovakia. Participating in the Moravian-Ostravian operation, army troops broke the powerful defensive lines of the desperately defending fascists and by April 30 liberated the city of the same name. Then Grechko’s first guards army fought its way to Prague, taking part in the Prague operation in May 1945, which marked the end of the defeat of the Nazi troops.
Excerpts from the memoirs of Marshal of the Armored Forces Oleg Losik: “Andrei Antonovich was the most educated Minister of Defense, enriched with combat experience... We met for the first time in 1941 near Poltava. The commander of the cavalry division made a good impression on me. In difficult combat conditions, he was clean-shaven and neatly dressed, and communicated correctly with his subordinates. But most importantly, he compared our intelligence data, listened carefully to me, the intelligence chief of a tank brigade, gave a couple of sensible recommendations and wished me good luck... I was impressed by the way Grechko responded to pressing issues of increasing the combat readiness of the Armed Forces. He knew how to talk to people sincerely. And if he promised anything, then, as a rule, he was the master of his words.”
After Great Victory Grechko led the troops of the Kyiv Military District for eight years. In 1953, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of all Soviet units located in Germany. It was he who had to lead the suppression popular uprising in June 1953. Having successively gone through all the steps of the career ladder, in 1955 Andrei Grechko reached the highest military rank- “Marshal of the Soviet Union”, and from November 1957 he became commander-in-chief Ground forces, first deputy of the USSR Ministry of Defense. For courage and heroism in the fight against the German invaders, Andrei Antonovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 1, 1958. Since 1960, he headed the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact countries, and on October 16, 1973, for services to the Fatherland in strengthening Armed Forces he was awarded the second medal " Golden Star».
Andrei Antonovich never forgot his native places. Having visited his home at the beginning of 1946, he saw an almost completely destroyed village. Soon a whole convoy of cars and horse-drawn carts arrived to help their fellow countrymen. After this, the famous military leader came to his small homeland in 1958, 1961 and 1975. He helped with equipment, took patronage over a new area in which military builders erected residential and administrative buildings and a school.
By the beginning of 1967, Rodion Malinovsky, who supported Brezhnev in 1964, remained the Minister of Defense of the USSR. In the West he was considered the chief strategist nuclear weapons. However, in reality, the phlegmatic and conservative Malinovsky was of little interest in the struggle for the development of rockets or access to space. The Minister of Defense was distrustful of any new technology, for example, did not take helicopters seriously. According to the testimony of his colleagues, Rodion Yakovlevich did not like reshuffles and shake-ups. All ambitious and young military men were grouped around his deputy, Andrei Antonovich. It can be assumed that Malinovsky did not have long to retire, but after the parade on November 7, 1966, he went to the hospital, from which he never came out.
In April 1967, Brezhnev appointed Andrei Antonovich as the new minister, with whom he served in the Eighteenth Army. Grechko held this responsible post for nine whole years and was remembered as a demanding and principled person, who did not tolerate people who did not occupy their places, that is, who were random figures for the army. An indicative case occurred with twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General Joseph Gusakovsky in 1970. Being at that time the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, in accordance with instructions received from higher authorities demanding that he take a course towards rejuvenating the senior command staff, he compiled a list of generals who, due to their age, were supposed to retire. Joseph Iraklievich brought this list to Grechko for approval and asked him: “Who will we start with?” Andrei Antonovich paused and answered: “Perhaps start with yourself.” This is how Gusakovsky lost his position as head of the State Administration.
Andrei Antonovich was respected and loved in the troops. He was committed to developing new species military equipment. Through his efforts, combat helicopters and new models of tanks were adopted. Tall and fit, almost two meters tall, he always demanded that the soldiers in his units actively engage in sports. Of course, by definition, a person of this level cannot be liked by everyone. Andrei Antonovich often made unpopular decisions. However, in general, he remained in the memory of the military as an active and zealous owner of his department. His activities as Minister of Defense reflected his times well. Military camps were built, and officers received good housing. The salary of the military personnel was constantly growing, and they had no idea how to feed their family or how to place their children in kindergarten. Built everywhere training centers, maneuvers or exercises of various sizes were constantly taking place, and the girls considered it a blessing to marry a Soviet officer.
According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Grechko was a devoted fan of the CSKA football club. Grechko did more for this club than all other defense ministers combined. The football players who played after the war said that when they came to Kyiv, Andrei Antonovich (commander of the military district) always met them and accommodated them. Having moved to the capital, he began to pay even more attention to CSKA. Thanks to him, the club acquired a new stadium, an arena, a base in Arkhangelskoye and many different sports facilities.
Grechko never had problems with the KGB. He remembered well what was going on in the army at the end of the thirties. Having survived these terrible times, the military leader made one conclusion for himself: the army should not get involved in politics. Her task is to protect the Motherland, and let others deal with politics. However, in the same year, when Grechko took the post of Minister of Defense, Yuri Andropov became chairman of the KGB. Andrei Antonovich often showed his negative attitude towards the increasing influence and expansion of the bureaucratic structures of the State Security Committee, which caused a negative response from Andropov. However, Grechko's influence on the Secretary General was enormous. It is known that the marshal repeatedly torpedoed Brezhnev’s decisions at Politburo meetings, and Leonid Ilyich patiently endured this. Andropov’s only political capital was Brezhnev’s trust. Yuri Vladimirovich's position in the Politburo was weak; none of its members was a supporter of Andropov. However, by that time the country had already developed a system of total surveillance. All figures of state and party leadership, including their relatives, came under the close attention of KGB agents. Dacha staff, cooks and bartenders, security officers, car drivers, shoemakers and tailors, in other words, all the people serving the party leaders, collaborated with the Committee, providing comprehensive information about each of those in power, right down to secret details their personal lives. Andropov obviously initially had one goal - to seize power in the country. And the only way out for him was to wait and timely eliminate his competitors, since the head of the secret service had plenty of opportunities for this.
Bronze bust in the Czech Republic, on the Alley of Heroes on Dukla.
A number of researchers offer the following interpretation of Yuri Vladimirovich’s plan: on the one hand, he wanted to eliminate or discredit all possible contenders for leadership of the country, on the other, to keep Brezhnev in his post until he had a chance to take his place himself. It is very difficult to believe that Andropov’s department was involved in the deaths of a number of prominent members of the Politburo, but historians note that statesmen died at the right time during that period. As a rule, this happened in this way: a person went to bed in good health, and in the morning the astonished guards found him dead in bed.
This is how the earthly journey of the famous marshal ended. On April 26, 1976, Andrei Grechko returned from work to his dacha and went to bed. In the morning he didn’t wake up anymore. Death occurred in a dream, unexpectedly, suddenly, for no apparent reason. Doctors were never able to establish its cause; they assured everyone that, despite his age, the marshal was in excellent physical shape. The urn with the commander's ashes was walled up in the Kremlin wall on Red Square. Six years later, something similar will happen to Leonid Ilyich himself. On November 9, 1982, Brezhnev, having talked with Andropov in his office, left for his dacha in a good mood. And on the night of November 9-10 he will die in his sleep.
After the death of Andrei Antonovich, in violation of tradition, technician (weapon systems specialist) Dmitry Ustinov was appointed to the post of Minister of Defense of the USSR. He was not a combat officer, but he was a bosom friend of the KGB chairman. And, since someone still had to command the army, the most experienced military officer Sergei Leonidovich Sokolov was appointed to the post of first deputy.
It is impossible in one article to give a comprehensive analysis of such a complex personality as Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Grechko. We can talk about his activities in the 1960-1970s for a very long time. Perhaps none of the Soviet defense ministers did so much to develop military equipment, increase the country's defense capability, and the combat readiness of all types of weapons of the Soviet Army. The Minister of Defense not only led the military-technical policy of the Soviet Union. He personally came to test new types of military equipment, thoroughly examined and disassembled general designers every model of weapon they present. No one cared more about improving the financial situation of military personnel and the social status of officers. The commander paid great attention to military-scientific work, being the chairman of the editorial commissions of the multi-volume publications “Soviet Military Encyclopedia” and “History of the Second World War of 1939-1945”. He also chose the time to write several autobiographical books on military topics. Grechko was awarded many orders and medals. Among them, it is worth noting six Orders of Lenin and three of the Red Banner, Polish orders: the “Grunwald Cross” of the first degree (now abolished), as well as the oldest Virtuti Militari (Order of Military Valor). Soldier, military leader, statesman Andrei Antonovich Grechko will forever remain in our memory.
Information sources:
http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1225
http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_g/grechko_aa.php
http://www.peoples.ru/military/commander/grechko/
http://old.redstar.ru/2003/10/18_10/5_01.html
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Andrei Antonovich Grechko - the future Minister of Defense of the USSR, twice Hero of the Soviet Union - was born on October 17, 1903 in the settlement of Golodayevka, founded by Colonel Dmitry Martynovich Martynov in 1777 in the Golodayevka tract, from which the farm got its name (now the village of Kuibyshevo, Kuibyshevsky district, Rostov region ). In the book “Years of War 1941-1943” A.A. Grechko wrote: “The Motherland began for me from these places. From our small house, from our comrades and classmates, from our teacher - strict, but infinitely kind, making sure that we grow up to be hardworking and honest people who love their country.” His father, Anton Vasilyevich, took on any job to feed his family, and his mother, Olga Karpovna, managed the household and took care of the children, of whom there were 14 in the family.
As a child, Andrei Grechko was a savvy and restless boy, distinguished by a developed imagination. He loved listening to his father’s stories about military service, under the influence of which, perhaps, the dream of devoting his life to military service arose in the teenager’s soul. And this dream came true in the midst of Civil War on the Don. In mid-December 1919, squadrons of the 11th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army entered Golodayevka. The advancing units were in dire need of timely delivery of ammunition. For this purpose, all horse transport of local residents was mobilized for an indefinite period. Andrei Grechko carried ammunition on his horse to Rostov-on-Don, where he was lucky enough to meet the squadron commander and fellow countryman Stepan Vasilenko. The brave cavalryman helped Grechko fulfill his cherished dream - he accepted the sixteen-year-old boy into his squadron, giving him weapons and the necessary equipment. Thus began the combat biography of the prominent Soviet military leader A.A. Grechko.
In 1926, Andrei Antonovich graduated from cavalry school, 10 years later - Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, and in 1941 - the Military Academy of the General Staff. Over the years, he went from platoon commander to chief of staff of the Special Cavalry Division of the Belarusian Military District, and after the General Staff Academy he served in the operational directorate of the General Staff, where he met the Great Patriotic War. From July 1941, Grechko commanded the 34th Cavalry Division, which entered the battle with the Nazi invaders south of Kiev in the first half of August and fought as part of the 26th Army, 38th Army, and then the 6th Army until January 1942 in Left Bank Ukraine. From March 1942, Grechko headed the operational group operating as part of the Southern Front in the Donbass, and in April of the same year he took command of the 12th Army. The troops of this association took part in defensive battles in the Voroshilovgrad direction.
By the summer of 1942, the Nazis, having concentrated significant forces in the south, began to break through to the Caucasus and the Volga. Soviet troops had to retreat with heavy fighting. The 12th Army also retreated. The Red Army soldiers were moving towards the Don. Somewhere nearby was the commander’s native village - Kuibyshevo. Andrei Antonovich wrote about these days: “No matter how selflessly and bravely our soldiers fought, we continued to retreat. It's not easy at heart. All around is the steppe, dotted with slopes, ravines, and in the distance there are copses and orchards. Everything is painfully familiar, even the air filled with the smells of wormwood and thyme, here in a special way, bringing back memories of childhood.”
1942 was the most difficult year for our country. The German was still strong, and our army was just gaining its juices - that combat experience that determines success in any war. In December 1943, Colonel General Andrei Grechko became commander of the 1st Guards Army, which he led until the end of the war. In this position, Andrei Antonovich showed remarkable military leadership abilities: boldness of plans, personal courage and unyielding will to carry out his plans. Troops under the command of Colonel General A.A. Grechko fought their way to Prague, taking part in the Prague operation in May 1945, which marked the end of the defeat of the Nazi invaders. After the war, A.A. Grechko held a number of senior positions in the Armed Forces of the USSR. On February 1, 1958, for courage and heroism in the fight against the German invaders, Andrei Antonovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Since 1960, he headed the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact countries, and on October 16, 1973, for services to his homeland in strengthening the Armed Forces, he was awarded the second Gold Star medal.
In April 1967, A.A. Grechko was appointed Minister of Defense of the USSR. Andrei Antonovich was respected and loved in the troops. He was committed to the development of new types of military equipment. Through his efforts, combat helicopters and new models of tanks were adopted. In those years, training centers were built everywhere, and maneuvers or exercises of various sizes were constantly taking place. And, of course, the Minister of Defense took care of people and encouraged those who showed high results in shooting. I will give one instructive example that Colonel General Vladimir Vasilyevich Bulgakov, Hero of Russia, told me about. In the fall of 1973, the 31st Tank Division, in which Lieutenant Bulgakov served as tank company commander, was inspected by the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Antonovich Grechko. He often went to the troops to keep his finger on the pulse. He was cool. He was harshly questioned for omissions in combat training, especially in matters of training weapons and equipment. The division waited with trepidation for the high authorities from Moscow.
We were especially concerned about the fact, recalled Vladimir Bulgakov, that the upcoming control exercises in combat shooting were to take place not during the day, but at night. Which is much more difficult. Somehow it turned out that during the day, even if you put the company on its head, it would not receive less than a three. In any conditions. And shooting at night - how it goes, many factors influence the result. How are night sights prepared? What is the state of the field? What's the weather like? And much more. But we overcame all this and showed good results in shooting. After the exercises, Grechko began awarding wristwatches to those who distinguished themselves. He comes up to me, but doesn’t hand me the watch. And I think: “Why did he give my subordinates a watch, but not me? I think I also got an A for shooting?” Finally, he asks me: “Are you a full-time company commander?” I look at the division commander - he shakes his head. “Yes, full-time,” I say. “Why is he a lieutenant? – Grechko asks the division commander. “It seems like a good company.” The general reported that my next rank would only be given in a year. “So prepare a presentation for him,” ordered the Minister of Defense. “I will assign him senior lieutenant ahead of schedule.” And he appropriated it, contributing to the further career growth of V.V. Bulgakov.
Marshal A.A. Grechko is remembered not only among the troops. Having visited Kuibyshevo at the beginning of 1946, Andrei Antonovich saw an almost completely destroyed village. Soon a whole convoy of cars and horse-drawn carts arrived to help their fellow countrymen. After this, the famous military leader came to his small homeland in 1958, 1961 and 1975. He helped with equipment, took patronage over a new area in which military builders erected residential and administrative buildings and a school.
USSR Minister of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union A.A. Grechko died on April 26, 1976. He is buried in Moscow, on Red Square, the urn with his ashes is walled up in the Kremlin wall. A bronze bust of twice Hero of the Soviet Union A. A. Grechko was installed in his homeland in the village of Kuibyshevo, Rostov region. The Naval Academy was named after him. An avenue in Moscow, streets in the cities of Kyiv, Slavyansk in the Donetsk region and Rovenki in the Lugansk region are named after him, and a memorial plaque was installed on the building of the headquarters of the Kyiv Military District.
Nikolay Astashkin
Grechko Andrei Antonovich (October 4 (17), 1903 - April 26, 1976) - Soviet military leader, statesman and party leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Czechoslovakia, Minister of Defense of the USSR.
Born on October 4, 1903 in the village of Golodayevka, Kuibyshevsky district, Rostov region.
In the Soviet Army - since 1919. He graduated from the cavalry school (1926), the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze (1936) and the Military Academy of the General Staff (1941).
In warfare you often have to take risks.
Grechko Andrey Antonovich
Civil War participant, private. After graduating from cavalry school, he commanded a platoon and squadron. From October 1938 - chief of staff of the Special Cavalry Division of the All-Russian Military District, took part in the campaign in Western Belarus in September 1939.
In the first days of the Great Patriotic War worked at the General Staff. From July 1941, he commanded the 34th Cavalry Division, which entered the battle with the Nazi invaders south of Kiev in the 1st half of August and fought as part of the 26th Army, 38th Army, and then the 6th Army until January 1942 in Left Bank Ukraine. Since January 1942 - commander of the 5th Cavalry Corps, which took part in the Barvenkovo-Lozov offensive operation.
Since March 1942, he led the operational group of troops, which, as part of the Southern Front, fought stubborn battles with superior enemy forces in the Donbass. From April he commanded the 12th Army, defending in the Voroshilovgrad direction, from September - the 47th Army, and from October - the 18th Army, fighting in the Tuapse direction. Since January 1943, he was the commander of the 56th Army, which, during fierce battles, broke through the heavily fortified enemy defenses and reached the approaches to Krasnodar, and in February-April, as part of the North Caucasus Front, participated in the Krasnodar offensive operation.
In September 1943, troops of the 56th Army, in cooperation with the 9th Army and the 18th Army, liberated the Taman Peninsula during the Novorossiysk-Taman offensive operation. Since October 1943, A.A. Grechko is the deputy commander of the Voronezh (from October 20 - 1st Ukrainian) Front.
Since December 1943 - commander of the 1st Guards Army, which participated in the Zhitomir-Berdichev, Proskurovo-Chernivtsi, Lvov-Sandomierz, West Carpathian, Moravian-Ostrava and Prague operations.
After the war, from 19455 to 1953, he commanded the KVO troops. In 1953 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Since November 1957 - 1st Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR - Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, since 1960 - 1st Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR - Commander-in-Chief of the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact member states.
GRECHKO Andrei Antonovich, Soviet statesman and military leader. Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (02/01/1958 and 10/16/1973). Hero of Czechoslovakia (05.10.1969).
Born into the family of a physical education teacher in a peasant school. In the Red Army since December 1919. Participant of the Civil War: Red Army soldier in the 11th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army. Since February 1920 - in the detachment named after M.V. Krivoshlykov fought against the troops of General A.I. Denikin on the Southern Front and the armed formations of N.I. Makhno in Ukraine. From September 1921 he served in the ChON battalion in Taganrog. Since July 1922, he consistently studied first at the Crimean Cavalry Courses named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, then from August 1923 - at the Taganrog Cavalry School of the North Caucasus Military District (SKVO). In September 1924, he was transferred to the North Caucasus Mountain Nationalities Cavalry School of the North Caucasus Military District. As part of a detachment of cadets, he participated in the destruction of gangs in the North Caucasus. After graduating from school in September 1926, he served in the 1st separate cavalry brigade Moscow Military District (MVO): platoon commander and commander of the machine gun squadron of the 61st cavalry regiment. After graduating in May 1936 from the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M.V. Frunze, served in the Special Red Banner Cavalry Division named after I.V. Stalin in the Moscow Military District and the Belarusian Special Military District: assistant chief and chief of the 1st part of the division headquarters, commander of the 62nd cavalry regiment, from May 1938 - assistant chief of staff, and from October - chief of staff of the division. Participant of the Red Army's campaign in Western Belarus in 1939. Since December 1939, he studied at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in July 1941, Colonel A.A. Grechko was appointed commander of the 34th separate cavalry division Southwestern Front, which from August fought south of Kyiv and until January 1942 fought in Left Bank Ukraine as part of the 26th, 38th, and then 6th armies. In November 1941, Grechko was awarded the rank of major general, and in January 1942 he was appointed commander of the 5th Cavalry Corps, which took part in the Barvenkovo-Lozovsky offensive operation. Since March 1942, he commanded an operational group of troops, which, as part of the Southern Front, fought stubborn battles with superior enemy forces in the Donbass. From April 1942, he commanded the 12th Army, defending in the Voroshilovgrad direction. Subsequently, the army actively participated in. In September 1942, Grechko was appointed commander of the 47th Army, and at the same time he served as commander of the Novorossiysk defensive region. In October 1942, he was appointed commander of the 18th Army. In January 1943, the troops of the Transcaucasian Front launched a general offensive. In the zone of the Black Sea Group of Forces, the main blow was delivered by the 56th Army, the commander of which Grechko was appointed on the eve of the offensive. During fierce battles, the army broke through the heavily fortified enemy defenses and reached the approaches to Krasnodar. In February - April, as part of the North Caucasus Front, the army participated in the Krasnodar offensive operation. In April 1943 A.A. Grechko was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In September, troops of the 56th Army under his command, in cooperation with the 9th and 18th armies, liberated the Taman Peninsula. In October 1943, Grechko was promoted to colonel general and appointed deputy commander of the Voronezh (from October 20 - 1st Ukrainian) front, with which he participated in the liberation of the capital of Ukraine - Kyiv.
In December of the same year, he was appointed commander of the 1st Guards Army, which he led until the end of the war. The army under his command participated in the Zhitomir-Berdichev, Proskurov-Chernivtsi and Lviv-Sandomierz offensive operations. In September - November 1944, as part of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the army took part in the East Carpathian offensive operation. Together with the 38th and 18th armies, it crossed the Eastern Carpathians, completely liberated Transcarpathian Ukraine and entered the territory of Czechoslovakia. In the Moravian-Ostravian offensive operation A.A. Grechko successfully led the army's troops in breaking through the enemy's powerful defensive lines, and during the Prague offensive operation - in the defeat of Army Group Center and part of the forces of Army Group Austria.
After the end of the war from July 1945 to May 1953 A.A. Grechko commanded the troops of the Kyiv Military District. Since May 1953 - Commander-in-Chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. In March 1955, he was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in November 1957, he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR - Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 1, 1958, for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Antonovich Grechko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Since April 1960, he served as First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR and Commander-in-Chief of the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. April 12, 1967 Marshal of the Soviet Union A.A. Grechko is appointed Minister of Defense of the USSR. While in this post, he did a lot of work to further strengthen the defense capabilities of the Soviet Union. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 16, 1973, for services to the Motherland in the construction and strengthening of the Armed Forces of the USSR, the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Antonovich Grechko was awarded the second Gold Star medal. Member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1961-1976. (candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee - since 1952), member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in 1973-1976. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-9th convocations. Urn with the ashes of A.A. Grechko is buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.
Awarded: Soviet orders - 6 Orders of Lenin, 3 Orders of the Red Banner, 2 Orders of Suvorov 1st class. and the Order of the 2nd class, 2 orders of Kutuzov, 1st class, the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 1st class; foreign orders: ARE - "Star of Honor", Afghanistan - "Sardar-Ala" 1st class, Bulgaria - Georgiy Dimitrov and "People's Republic of Bulgaria" 1st class, Hungary - Banner of the Hungarian People's Republic with diamonds, "For services to Hungarian People's Republic" 1st Art. and "Hungarian People's Republic" 2nd class., GDR - Karl Marx, Iraq - "Rafindin" ("Mesopotamia") 1st class., MPR - 2 orders of Sukhbaatar, Poland - "Virtuti Military" 1st Art., Renaissance of Poland 1st and 3rd Art., and “Cross of Grunwald” 2nd Art.; Peru - For military merit 1st class, SRR - “Star of Romania” 1st class. and “23 August” 1st art., Finland - Lion of Finland 1st art., Czechoslovakia - Klement Gottwald, White Lion “For Victory” 1st art. and Military Cross 1939; An honorary weapon with the image of the State Emblem of the USSR, many Soviet and foreign medals.
