SOVIET ARMY LEADER, VASILEVSKY, IS DEAD (Published 1977) (2024)

Marshall Aleksandr M. Vasilevsky, the chief of staff of the Russian Army during World War II and later the Soviet defense minister under Stalin, died Monday in Moscow, according to Tass, the Soviet news agency. He is credited with major role in the planning for the battle of Stalingrad in 1942 and 1943, which military historians regard as one of the turning points in World War II.the general staff. Of the 34 months he held that post, General Vasilevsky spent 22 in the field at various fronts.

Considered a protégé of Stalin, Marshal Vasilevsky was rewarded for his wartime services with a series of promotions, leading to his appointment in 1949 as minister of the armed forces. After the death of Stalin in 1953, he was demoted to the post of deputy minister of defense, a position he held until 1957 when another of his mentors, Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, was downgraded after a confrontation with Nikita S. Khrushchev, then the Communist Party leader.

In his memoirs, published in 1973, Marshal Vasilevsky praised Stalin as a military strategist but depicted him as excessively harsh on subordinates.

Born in Cossack Village

He was born in a Cossack village near the Don River in 1895. The son of priest, the young Aleksandr was given a theological education. But in 1915 he volunteered for service in the Russian Army and began his active service as an ensign in a Cossack cavalry regiment. He saw service against the Turks and later took part in the Russian offensive of 1916 against the German and AustroHungarian forces.

In two years of fighting, he rose to the rank of captain and commanded battalion.

It is believed he took no part in the 1917 revolution. But in 1919, he was drafted into the Red Army and later that year was given command of an infantry battalion. After the Bolshevik victory, he remained in the army, and performed series of military jobs, ranging from commanding a divisional school to commanding an infantry regiment.

The purge of military personnel that began in 1936 did not touch him and at its height in 1938 he was finally admitted to the Communist Party. By 1940, he had joined the General Staff and was promoted to major general. His mission v.‐as to draw up a plan for strategic deployment of Soviet forces in the country's northern, northwestern and western sectors, which became the main theater of operations when the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941.

During this time he came to the attention of Stalin and in 1942 the then 45year‐old general became chief of the general staff. Of the 34 months he held

Following the victory at Stalingrad, General Vasilevsky commanded an army under Marshal Zhukov on the Voronezh front.

In 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union and was subsequently engaged in coordinating operations in Kursk, the Crimea and Byelorussia. In 1945, he commanded the Soviet offensive into East Prussia. In June of that year, he took over Soviet forces in the Far East, a command he held at the time of the Japanese capitulation.

In 1953, Marshal Vasilevsky was believed to have been .a target of the “Doctors’ Plot,” in which two Politburo members were said to have been murdered by so‐called “terrorist” doctors. It was charged that these doctors, most of whom bore Jewish names, had been working for foreign intelligence services, and the charges unleashed a wave of anti‐Semitism in the Soviet Union.

Broad‐featured and muscular, Marshal Vasilevsky was usually described as looking like a peasant. The feature that was caricatured the most, however, was a shock Of blond hair that dangled over his right eye.

Like his Cossack ancestors, the marshal loved to ride and during battles could often be seen galloping across muddy steppes in pursuit of forward units. In less hectic moments, he enjoyed photographing the countryside of his Don River homeland and playing chess.

Marshal Vasilevsky's son was married to Marshal Zhukov's elder daughter.

Gen. A. V. Gorbatov, a colleague, once described Marshal Vasilevsky as “a general of outstanding abilities and at the same time a man of modesty and charm.” For his wartime exploits, the marshal was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and four Orders of Lenin.