Basan Bazminovich Gorodovikov: biography and family

The many-sided and life-rich life of a prominent military commander and statesman Basan Bodminovich Gorodovikov is of special interest. From the 73 years of his life Gorodovikov devoted 33 years to military affairs, having served the rank of Lieutenant-General, and for seventeen years he was engaged in the restoration and development of Kalmykia.

Childhood and youth

The area of the Don Army, as the present Rostov region was called before the revolution, was multinational, and among the Cossacks were the Kalmyks. In November 1910, in the family of a poor Cossack, Kalmyk by the origin of Badmina Gorodovikova, who lives on the farm of Mokraya Elmut, a son was born, who was called Basan. From the age of eight he went to the farmstead school, and continued his further education in the eight-year school of the village of Platovskaya. When the boy was fourteen years old, his father died, and three years later, after the death of his mother, he became a round orphan. On the advice of his father's brother, Gorodovikov volunteers for the Red Army and is enrolled as a student of the Caucasian Cavalry School. After graduating from the school in 1930, he was appointed commander of a platoon of a cavalry regiment of the North Caucasus Military District.

The beginning of military career

During five years of service as a platoon commander, and then a squadron, he won respect and authority among his comrades in the service. Noticing the good organizational skills of the young commander, he was sent to the Moscow Military Academy. Frunze, who graduated in 1938. Earlier receiving before the release from the academy the rank of major, he continued his service in the Primorsky Territory commander of a cavalry regiment. Striving to obtain a thorough military knowledge led Gorodovikov to the Air Force Academy, where he was a listener for six months, until April 1941. Specific skills in controlling the aircraft Basan was in the Serpukhov Aviation School, finishing it after the Great Patriotic War.

The first battle

In early July 1941, Basan Bazminovich Gorodovikov, whose photo is in the article, arrived in the army, having been appointed commander of a cavalry regiment in the Ukraine. Relocated in October 1941 in the Crimea, the regiment in the division entered into heavy fighting with the German fascist troops. After stubborn, bloody battles, the Red Army left the Crimea, and Gorodovikov was entrusted with organizing a partisan movement. For successful fulfillment of the special task of the command, Gorodovikova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and in April 1942 he was awarded the rank of colonel. In the Crimea, he was a partisan commander, organizing scattered Red Army units to resist behind enemy lines, and then was transferred to the Greater Land.

Participation in operations on the Western Front

After a short rest, Gorodovikova is appointed commander of the Vitebsk Infantry Division. Under the command of the colonel in the summer of 1943 five settlements were liberated, which created the prerequisites for a successful offensive of Soviet troops along the whole front. Thanks to Gorodovikov's skillful actions, the well-fortified defense of the enemy was broken, and then he earned the fame of a "breakthrough master." On the division account - the successful conduct of a number of military operations, many of which later became the subject of study in military high schools and academies.

Offensive Operations

The normalization of the situation on the west allowed the division of General Gorodovikov to be transferred to the Baltic front, and then to Belorussian, where his military talent was fully manifested. In the course of the famous Operation Bagration, the division, together with the 45th Rifle Corps, liberated Trakai in Lithuania. A brilliantly carried out operation to break through the defense of the Germans and capture an enemy highway junction contributed to the encirclement of large forces of the Wehrmacht in the vicinity of Kaunas. The division took upon itself the main blow striving to escape from the encirclement of enemy forces, not allowing them to exit the boiler. During the fierce battles, a significant amount of military equipment and personnel of enemy forces were destroyed.

Having gone on the offensive, the division entered East Prussia, successfully moving forward. The first parade of winners, which was hosted by the division commander, Hero of the Soviet Union of the Townsmen, was held in October 1944 in the territory of the city of Shirvindt. In December, the general was seriously wounded and until February 1945 he was on treatment in the Moscow military hospital. After recovering Gorodovikov as division commander, he took an active part in military operations against Japan.

Post-war service in the CA

The huge combat experience gained by Basan Bodminovich Gorodovikov during the Second World War was reinforced theoretically by studying at the highest academic courses from September 1945 to February 1947. The further service of the general took place first in Brest, and from January 1950 - in the Far Eastern Military District. He was deputy commander of the rifle corps. In the summer of the same year, he was appointed head of the District Combat Training Department, where he served until the reform of the district in 1953. Then I studied at the Academy of the General Staff. After completing his studies in 1955, he was appointed first deputy commander of the 8th Guards Army and transfer to the Carpathian Military District deputy. Commander. In September 1960, Gorodovikov Basan Bam- dinovich, whose brief biography was presented to your attention in the article, was sent to Party work in his native Kalmykia by a decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The plenum of the Kalmyk regional committee of the party in January 1961 elected Basan Bodminovich Gorodovikova the second secretary of the regional committee and from that time on it began a period of creative peaceful life in Kalmykia.

The subsequent election of Basan Bam- dinovich as First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the CPSU

The subsequent election of Basan Bam- dinovich as the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU of the Kalmyk Republic was taken by most residents with enthusiasm. Knowing about his heroic deeds in the war against the fascists, organizational talent, they placed their hopes for the revival of the previously disbanded republic on Gorodovikova. In his character, exactingness and intolerance to slovenliness and rudeness were combined with kindness and benevolent attitude towards ordinary people. On the plight of the small homeland Gorodovikov knew firsthand. When visiting Elista in 1959, he saw a ruined burnt city, dirty streets without asphalt. During the management of the Germans, almost all the buildings were destroyed, except for the miraculously surviving cinema "Rodina" and the so-called "Red" house.

Gorodovik's appeal

The iron will, economic grasp and wisdom of the statesman allowed in the shortest possible time to unite and direct representatives of different peoples residing in Kalmykia. In the republic, workers were sorely lacking, and with the request to help the steppe region, the Townspeople appealed to the soldiers who served in Germany. Hundreds responded to the request of the soldiers in the people nicknamed "gorodovikovskim appeal." Drivers, builders, machine operators, who arrived at the railway station Divnoe, were met personally by Basan Bam- dinovich. In the future he kept constant control over the issues of their life support in a new place.

Gorodovikova's contribution to the development of the republic

In the early years of his leadership, the republic was deployed a large housing construction, built a number of infrastructure objects. Basan Bam- yminovich succeeded in renaming the pedagogical institute to the university. Thanks to Gorodovikov's perseverance, a university campus was built with educational buildings and hostels. The real boom was industrial construction. Seventeen large enterprises were put into operation, among them - machine-building plant, meat-packing plant, meat-packing plant. The first secretary of the regional committee paid special attention to the development of agriculture, deeply delving into all the subtleties. At the initiative of Gorodovikova, horse breeding, sheep breeding, camel breeding were restored, and new breeding farms were created. He sought to implement promising projects in agriculture. The construction of irrigation systems began in the republic, rice cultivation was introduced in the northern regions. All the years of leadership of the Gorodovikov Autonomous Republic, until 1978, were years of active creation. Then Gorodovikov lived in Moscow, where he died and was buried in 1983.

Social activity

After retiring Gorodovikov Basan Bam- dinovich, whose biography was never simple, he actively participated in the work of various public organizations. The undoubted literary talent and the huge factual material he accumulated made it possible to create a number of vivid journalistic works. A significant place in the understanding of the image of the hero of the Kalmyk people is occupied by books written by Gorodovikov Basan Bam- dinovich. The book "Orderless Kalmykia" was published in 1971. Its whole section is devoted to the development of the republic in the post-war period until 1970. Gorodovikova's article, in which the author talks about his childhood, about the influence of Uncle Oka Ivanovich on his formation as a person, appeared in 1974. Boris Gorodovikov's book "Soviet Kalmykia on the Rise", published in the publishing house "Soviet Russia" after the author's death, describes the historical path of the republic within Russia up to 1981.

Dozens of books, essays, newspaper publications have been written about Gorodovikov's life and activity, his way of fighting, and his achievements in state building, television films have been created. Particularly interesting is Balakayev's political novel The People's General, based on the memories of people who were with Gorodovikov during certain periods of his activity.

Basan Bazminovich Gorodovikov: family and children

The fact that during the Soviet era it was not customary to draw public attention to the personal life of honored figures affected the lack of information. It is known that in the family of Basan Bodminovich Gorodovikova were still famous personalities. He is the nephew of the hero of the Civil War who also became a general, Oka Gorodovikova. In 1938, before graduating from the military academy. Frunze, Basan Bamjinovich married to Nonna Goriaevna. She was his faithful companion for the rest of her life. Did the hero have children? вместе с женой воспитали троих детей – двух дочерей и сына. Basan Bazminovich Gorodovikov, along with his wife, brought up three children - two daughters and a son.

The memoirs of the grandson of Basan Bamynovich - Alexander Gorodovikov, who, like his grandfather and father, devoted most of his life to the army, are also interesting. According to the memories of my grandmother, despite the undoubted command talent of Basan Bamynovich, his promotion was hampered by the fact that he was a representative of the people repressed during the war.

Not only at home, in Kalmykia, they know well who Basan Bakhdinovich Gorodovikov is. Kingisepp, Sevastopol, Sychevka, Kaunas and many other cities, which he exempted from fascists, honor his memory.