Marshal bagramyan biography of alberta

Now I know that I have a sister overseas and I am in debt to her. Your brother Hovhannes. Even though national Armenian heroes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were not very welcome in Soviet historiography, an exception was made for Andranik Pasha. Andranik was fairly well known to the masses. Bagramyan spoke several times of Andranik, and praised him in his book of memoirs.

Induring his working visit to France, Bagramyan went to Pere Lachaise cemetery, where Andranik Ozanian was buried. He placed a wreath on his grave and saluted his former commander. Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Password recovery.

Marshal bagramyan biography of alberta

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. Top Stories Most read stories of the month Bagramyan himself actively participated in the management of the army. The German invaders as a result of this operation were thrown back from the city of Rostov-on-Don. This was a significant contribution to the victory gained at the Moscow battle. Bagramyan was sent in winter to command the groups of forces in the region of the capital.

Successful counteroffensive, with which he led, was the reason that some parts of the Wehrmacht, which were not far from Yelets, were defeated. The Red Army managed to drop the Germans by km, thus destroying the Yeletsky ledge. Bagramyan for the brilliant work was awarded the rank of Lieutenant-General. Ivan Khristoforovich continued to command in the South-West direction.

Since Januaryunder his leadership, an offensive Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya operation was developed and carried out. In the same year, in May, he participated in the planning of the offensive Kharkov operation. Due to mistakes made, however, it became unsuccessful. A large group of Russian troops managed to be surrounded by the German army during this offensive, and then to destroy it.

Due to these failures, the German invaders had a chance to break into the Caucasus and Stalingrad. The commander and chief of staff of the South-Western units were removed from their posts. This fate was not ignored by such a talented military man as Ivan Bagramyan, whose brief biography interests us. The direction itself was disbanded. Nevertheless, after the onset of the offensive, his poor preparedness became clear.

The command expected first of all that in the summer the fascists would again try to seize Moscow. The active offensive was decided to continue Tymoshenko. However, he later realized the fact that the resistance of enemy troops became more active. The order to stop the offensive led to the fact that the Germans were given the opportunity to surround the Russian troops again.

The failure of this operation caused the front commander and the staff marshals bagramyan biography of alberta to lose their posts. Ivan Khristoforovich, who had to leave his post, was for some time in reserve. But already inin July, he was sent to the Western Front commander of the 16th Army. In the course of battles, his army inflicted considerable damage on the enemy, especially in the winter of After some time, the army headed by Baghramyan was renamed the 11th Guards Army.

In the summer ofduring the Battle of Kursk, speaking at the front as part of the Bryansk Front, his troops successfully conducted a flank operation, which made a significant contribution to the defeat of the main grouping of enemy troops. The blow from the flank, which was inflicted by Baghramyan's army, was sudden for the Germans. During the first two days of the offensive, the troops succeeded in penetrating the enemy defenses 25 km into the south.

The Germans began to move their troops south and east of the Eagle in order to stop the offensive operation. As a result, the activity of the Russian offensive on the Bryansk Front only increased. In addition, the armies of the Central Front, which launched an active offensive on July 17, also began to advance successfully towards Eagle. Inon August 5, the Russian troops managed to completely dislodge the Germans from the Eagle.

They now headed towards Bryansk. Bagramyan for successful operations received the Order of Suvorov first degree and the rank of colonel-general. Taking advantage of this, on 12 July, Bagramyan's forces commenced their offensive, codenamed Operation Kutuzovand quickly breached the German defenses, advancing a distance of 45 miles 72 km by 18 July.

By 28 July, the operation concluded successfully and he was promoted to the rank of Colonel-General. In the following month, his forces took part in the large-scale tank offensives which routed the German assaults and forced Germany to remain on the defensive for the remainder of the war. With the end of operations in Kursk, the Soviets began a series of offensives on various fronts to push the Germans out of the occupied Soviet republics.

In OctoberBagramyan's 11th Guards Army was transferred to the Second Baltic Front which was concentrated on the retaking of Belarus and namely, the Baltic republics. In November, Stalin offered Bagramyan the position of head commander of the First Baltic Front which had the similar objectives of the Second but was making little headway in its attempts to advance northwards.

Stalin would allow him to retain the 11th Guards and suggested that Colonel-General N. Chibisovan officer he had served under, assume his position. Bagramyan, however, commented that he had had a frictional relationship with Chibisov and instead nominated Lieutenant-General K. Stalin, belatedly realizing that Bagramyan was implying that the two would be unable to coordinate harmoniously due to a conflict of holding the same rank, agreed to Bagramyan's suggestion and promoted him to the rank Army General.

In the winter ofhis forces advanced forward towards the Belarusian city of Vitebsk. One of the key elements to Bagramyan's success was that many of the soldiers were part of veteran units that had been trained in the Arctic regions of Siberia[ 40 ] enabling them to easily push through entrenched defenses the Germans had spent months preparing.

Among the key locations imperative to reach Vitebsk was the small town of Gorodokwhich served as a heavily-fortified German communications hub. Despite the strong defenses, Bagramyan was able to utilize his heavy artillery and air support from the Red Air Force in late December to bombard the town and then launched a three-pronged attack, the Gorodok offensive.

In Moscow, the news of the victory at Gorodok prompted a cannon salute in honor of Bagramyan and the First Baltic Front. On 2 April Stalin granted Bagramyan's request to relieve the troops of the Front from offensive duties. However, German forces took advantage of the lull to mount an operation against Soviet partisans in Belarus. Bagramyan's senior staff diverted air support and other crucial supplies to aid the partisans, allowing most of them to escape German encirclement.

Stavka's plan, codenamed Operation Bagration was kept secret from all of the involved Front commanders. Bagramyan himself was only informed in May of his role in the offensive. Bagramyan was tasked with attacking the forces in the pocket, cross the Daugava River and, along with Third Belorussian, clear the surrounding areas of Vitebsk of German forces.

Although he felt the plans for the Bagration were sound, he worried about the possibility of a German incursion by Army Group North against his forces from the north. Zhukov and Vasilevsky accepted his argument, introducing it to Stalin in a meeting on 23 May who formally approved it in a directive on 31 May. Although Bagramyan found it acceptable to sustain heavy casualties as did all the commanders of the Red Armyhe was disturbed with the immense loss of life sustained by his forces.

In his preparations for Bagration, he planned for the 43rd Army to move through the more geographically difficult swamps and marshlands to Army Group North's right flank. This maneuver would marshal bagramyan biography of alberta take North by surprise since it expected the Soviet offensive to move through more suitable terrain.

Commander of the 43rd Army, General Afanasy Beloborodovwrote that during the offensive they apprehended a German general who stated that German forces had been blindsided by the attacking forces. As Bagramyan pushed towards Vitebsk, his forces were aided by the same Belorussian guerrilla fighters who had escaped the German encirclement in April.

They provided vital intelligence, including information on the location of bridges and troop movements, and launched attacks against German logistic lines. On 22 JuneBagration began as Bagramyan proceeded in moving westwards as previously planned. However, a widening gap on the Front's northern flank grew as it advanced while the Second Baltic Front, tasked to help defend that area, took no action.

By 3 July, his troops had accomplished the tasks set forth in the directive, destroyed the Third Panzer Army and captured Polotsk. With the overall success of Soviet forces in Bagrationhis Front was expanded by three armies although he ceded the 4th Shock Army to Second Balticthe 39th Army previously under the command of Third Belorussianthe 51st and the 2nd Guards Armies.

Despite this, Bagramyan inferred that since many of the general orders were being issued to the Wehrmacht by Hitler, rather than the General Staff, and surmised that while there was a possibility that they would confront them in the Lithuanian town of Kaunashe felt the more likely location would be Riga. As the First Baltic began moving towards Lithuania and into eastern Latvia, it became clear that Army Group North would attempt to outflank Bagramyan's forces near Daugavpilsas he had previously predicted.

Vasilevsky, keeping his promise, appealed to Stalin to allow Bagramyan to move to Daugavpils but he refused. However, with the loss of 4th Shock Army, Bagramyan was left shortchanged since his promised 39th Army had not only not arrived but was composed of only seven divisions in comparison to 4th Shock's ten. Feeling that time was being lost, he pressed on with the units he had.

By 9 July, his ground forces had made significant gains in cutting off a vital road that connected Kaunas to Daugavpils. Taking advantage of this, Bagramyan worked with other Front commanders to attack the rear guard of Army Group Center but poor coordination between the units led a stall in the advance. He proposed to Stavka to launch a full-scale offensive towards Riga but the former rejected his plans, stating that the armies of Second and Third Baltic Fronts would have already pushed Army Group Center to Prussia by the time of the offensive.

With its capture, he persuaded Vasilevsky to allow his forces to move towards Riga, receiving a formal go-ahead by Stavka in a directive on 29 July. On 30 July, his forces finally reached the seaside city of Tukumsnear the Bay of Riga[ 46 ] thereby cutting off a total of 38 German infantry and armored divisions in Latvia. During the month of August, Soviet forces stalled in the Riga offensive, concentrating on halting German attacks.

Finally on 14 Septemberthe First, Second and Third Baltic Fronts launched full-scale offensives with the objective of Riga, encountering fierce resistance by its defenders. On 24 September, with his forces only 12 miles 19 km from Riga, Stavka ordered Bagramyan's forces to abandon it to the Second and Third Baltic Fronts, regroup, and instead advance against Memel.

His forces attacked Memel on 5 October and on 10 October, reached the city, effectively preventing Army Group North from retreating to Prussia. In earlyBagramyan's army, under the overall command of Vasilievsky, took part in the advance into East Prussia. On 9 Mayhe accepted the surrender of the German forces penned up in Latviacapturing a total of aircraft, 18, vehicles, tanks and assault guns among other weaponry.

After the war, Bagramyan remained in command of the Baltic Military Districtcommanding operations against partisans in Lithuania and Latvia. Inhe was appointed chief inspector of the Ministry of Defence. He was also head of the Military Academy of General Staff. He spent much of his time writing articles in military journals on Soviet strategic operations and most notably, co-authored the six-volume work on Soviet involvement during World War II, The Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War — Among the numerous points he noted in the second volume was an analysis of the Red Army's costly offensives in the early stages of the war:.

There is no point in hiding that before the war we mostly learned to attack, and did not pay enough attention to such an important manoeuvre as retreat. Notify me of new comments via email. Cancel Report. Create a new account. Log In. Browse Biographies. Quiz Are you a biography pro?