March 2018 marked the centenary of the birth of Yevgeny Filippovich Ivanovsky, Soviet military leader, army general, Hero of the Soviet Union. Having made an excellent military career, from July 1972 to November 1980, he headed the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG), in this responsible post he was for more than 8 years, setting a kind of record. All this time, the armies under his command, well-equipped and equipped with the most modern weapons, kept the NATO armies at bay, being at the very edge of the confrontation between the two military blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries.
Evgeny Filippovich Ivanovsky was born on March 7, 1918 in the small village of Chereya, located in the Mogilev province (today it is part of the Chashniki district of the Vitebsk region of the Republic of Belarus). He came from a simple peasant family. In 1925, the family of the future Soviet commander moved to live at the Krasny Liman station (in the future he became an honorary resident of this city), located today in the Donetsk region, where Yevgeny Ivanovsky's father worked on the railroad. Here Eugene received his education, graduating from the station school-ten. After leaving school in 1935, he worked as a technician on duty at the station radio center.
The next year he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. Then his military career begins. In 1938, Evgeny Ivanovsky graduated from the Saratov Armored School. After graduation, he commanded a platoon of light tanks T-26 in parts of the Moscow military district. In 1939, the young lieutenant Ivanovsky took part in operations to incorporate Western Belarus and Ukraine into the USSR. We can say that this was his first military campaign. His second campaign was the war with Finland, he took a direct part in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40. During the war, he served under the command of another famous Soviet tanker Dmitry Lelyushenko, who at that time was the commander of the 39th separate light tank brigade. For the courage shown in the battles on the Karelian Isthmus, Evgeny Filippovich Ivanovsky received his first military award - the Order of the Red Star.
Political information with the crews of T-26 tanks and the landing before the attack on the Karelian Isthmus in 1940
In the summer of 1940, Ivanovsky was sent to study at the Stalin Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army. The young officer met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War as a senior lieutenant, a student of the command faculty of the aforementioned academy. At the front, he found himself in the midst of the Moscow battle. Having started the war as a senior lieutenant, he ended it already with the rank of colonel (he was promoted to the rank of 26), commander of the 62nd Guards Lublin Heavy Tank Regiment.
In October 1941, after an accelerated graduation from the academy, Yevgeny Ivanovsky was sent to the front. He began the Great Patriotic War as chief of staff of a separate tank battalion as part of the 5th Army on the Western Front. He took a direct part in defensive and offensive battles during the battle for Moscow. In December 1941, he was appointed commander of his tank battalion, at the same time he joined the ranks of the CPSU (b). He distinguished himself during the liberation of the city of Mozhaisk from the Nazi invaders. Co-workers later noted that the 23-year-old chief of staff of the 27th Tank Battalion was exemplary tactically and was a damn brave man.
Three months later he was already a major. In March 1942, he received a new appointment - deputy chief of staff of the forming 199th Tank Brigade. In the same month, he was appointed head of the intelligence department of the 2nd Panzer Corps, which was being formed in Gorky (today Nizhny Novgorod). From July 1942 he was at the front and took part in battles as part of the Bryansk Front. In August 1942, the 2nd Panzer Corps was transferred to Stalingrad, where it took part in battles north of the city for two months. Since December 1942, he took part in the operation to defeat the Nazi troops at Stalingrad, took part in the subsequent offensive on the middle Don. He distinguished himself during the battles to liberate the cities of Millerovo and Voroshilovgrad (today Lugansk) from the enemy.
Column of Soviet tanks IS-2 on the road in East Prussia
In the summer of 1943, as part of the troops of the Voronezh Front, Yevgeny Ivanovsky took part in the Battle of Kursk and in the Battle of the Dnieper. From July of the same year, he was the head of the operations department of the 2nd Panzer Corps. In September 1943, for the massive heroism that was shown by the personnel of the formation and excellent actions in the offensive, the corps received the guards banner and became known as the 8th Guards Tank Corps.
In the summer of 1944, the corps distinguished itself again, but already during the Belorussian offensive operation, acting as part of the 2nd Tank Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. From October 1944 until the end of the Great Patriotic War, Yevgeny Filippovich was the commander of the 62nd Tank Regiment as part of the 8th Guards Tank Corps (before that, from July 1943 to October 1944, he was the head of the operational department of the corps). Successfully commanded a tank regiment during the East Prussian and subsequent East Pomeranian offensive operations of the Soviet troops. Particularly distinguished himself during the assault on the cities of Stargrad and Gdynia. After the war, the rapid storming of Gdynia by Ivanovsky's tankmen will forever be included in textbooks on military art, in particular, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Mikhail Strelets wrote about this.
During the Great Patriotic War, Evgeny Fillipovich Ivanovsky managed to take part in almost all major and significant battles. He also managed to seriously advance the career ladder. At 24 he was already a lieutenant colonel, and at 26 he became a colonel. He showed himself not only as a tactically competent and well-trained, but also a courageous officer. During the war years he was awarded five military orders. At the same time, Yevgeny Ivanovsky received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for courage and courage shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War in peacetime - on February 21, 1985. During the awarding, among other things, were listed his skillful command of troops in the post-war period, as well as successes in improving their combat readiness.
General of the Army Evgeny Filippovich Ivanovsky
In the postwar years, for 20 years, he held high positions in the Belarusian and Far Eastern military districts. In 1958 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. From June 1968 he commanded the troops of the Moscow Military District. Since August 1955 - Major General of Tank Forces, since April 1962 - Lieutenant General, since October 1967 - Colonel General. After the Moscow military district, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG). He held this position for 8 years and several months, setting a record that can no longer be broken. Heading the GSVG, in 1972, Yevgeny Ivanovsky reached the pinnacle of his military career, at the age of 54 he was awarded the rank of General of the Army. At the same time, in the 1970s and 80s, Ivanovsky was one of the youngest generals of the army in the ranks of the Soviet armed forces.
The GSVG was a formidable military power and was always on the cutting edge of a possible confrontation with NATO countries. The main task of the group of forces was to ensure the protection of the western borders of the USSR from external threats and to crush any enemy. For this, the GSVG was equipped with the most modern and sophisticated types of weapons and military equipment. The Group of Soviet Forces in Germany was a real testing ground for many of the latest weapons, as well as a real field academy for the soldiers and commanders of the Soviet Army. In the mid-1980s, the group had 7,700 tanks in service, of which 5,700 were in service with 11 tank and 8 motorized rifle divisions, about two thousand more tanks were in separate (training) tank regiments, in reserve and under repair. Among the formations and units of the Group, 139 were guards, 127 bore various honorary names, and 214 were awarded orders.
The GSVG belonged to the first strategic echelon (it could be attributed to the covering troops). In the event of the outbreak of war, the military formations of the group under the command of Ivanovsky were to be the first to take the strike of a potential enemy, which was the NATO countries. Keeping on the border line, they had to ensure the mobilization of all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, as well as the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact member states.
The commander-in-chief of the GSVG, General of the Army EF Ivanovsky (left), Minister of Defense of the GDR H. Hoffmann, and the head of the GDR Erich Honecker. Berlin, October 27, 1980.
GSVG has always been called the forge of personnel. Many future ministers of defense of the USSR and the CIS countries, chiefs of the General Staff, commander-in-chief and most of the marshals, generals and senior officers of the Soviet Union, and then Russia and the CIS countries, went through service in East Germany. In the GSVG, readiness for war has always been constant and checked around the clock. The fact that basically the most modern weapons were located here is also confirmed by the fact that on November 19, 1990, out of 4, 1 thousand tanks in service with the group, more than three thousand vehicles were new Soviet T-80B tanks.
Evgeny Filippovich Ivanovsky headed the GSVG until November 25, 1980. In December 1980, he returned to his native Belarus, until 1985 he commanded the troops of the Belarusian Military District. From February 5, 1985, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces of the USSR, Deputy Minister of Defense of the country. Since January 4, 1989, he was a member of the group of inspectors general of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Lived in Moscow. He died in the capital on November 22, 1991 at the age of 73, before the collapse of the country, which he served with faith and truth throughout his life. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.
According to the estimates of people who knew Evgeny Filippovich well, the main feature that determined his whole life was an all-consuming dedication to the chosen cause. The general did not think of himself outside the army, he lived by its concerns, was upset by failures and rejoiced at the victories and the growth of its power. Today the hero's name is carved in gold letters in the Hall of Glory of the Victory Museum in Moscow. In Minsk, on the building of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, a memorial plaque was installed in his honor. In the cities of Vitebsk, Slutsk and Volgograd, streets were named after Evgeny Filippovich Ivanovsky.
