Alexander Vasilevsky was born on September 30, 1895 (according to separate documents, two days earlier) in the village of Novaya Golchikha, Kineshemsky district, Kostroma province, into the family of a church employee.
The family lived in poverty, but the father was able to educate the children.
In 1909, Alexander graduated from the Kineshma Theological School and entered the Kostroma Theological Seminary.
According to the memoirs of Vasilevsky himself, he did not plan to follow in his father's footsteps and looked at the end of the seminary as a step towards obtaining a higher secular education.
In the future, he saw himself as an agronomist or land surveyor.
From tsarist officers to red commanders
Vasilevsky's career plans changed dramatically in 1914.
After the outbreak of the First World War, seized with patriotic feelings, he decided to volunteer to go to the front.
The leadership of the theological seminary went to meet him - the young man was allowed to take exams as an external student, and already at the beginning of 1915 Vasilevsky entered the Alekseevsk military school.
In May of the same year, he completed an accelerated course of study and was sent to the army with the rank of ensign.
After serving for some time in spare parts, Alexander Vasilevsky ended up in the active army on the Southwestern Front.
During the war Vasilevsky commanded a half company and a company.
In 1916, he personally took part in the Brusilov breakthrough.
The Vasilevsky company was considered one of the best in the regiment in terms of training, discipline and combat readiness.
For his achievements, the young officer was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 4th degree with the inscription "For Bravery" and St. Stanislaus of the 3rd degree with swords and a bow, and also received the rank of staff captain.
After the October Revolution, Vasilevsky retired on vacation, went to his parents and until the summer of 1918 helped them manage the household.
For some time he worked in the Kostroma region as a general military training instructor and taught in rural schools.
In the spring of 1919, the former Tsarist officer was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army.
Alexander Vasilevsky, according to his memoirs, from his youth sympathized with the revolutionaries, and since he himself was from a poor family, he knew the problems of the common people very well, therefore he easily joined the workers 'and peasants' army.
His first place of service in the Red Army was a reserve battalion stationed in the city of Efremov, Tula province.
Vasilevsky was appointed platoon instructor (assistant platoon commander).
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Vasilevsky (right) with a colleague
© Kostroma Regional Public Local Lore Organization
Soon Vasilevsky became a company commander, and then a battalion commander.
He was supposed to participate in battles with the troops of Anton Denikin, but they never reached Tula.
Vasilevsky was transferred to Belarus and appointed assistant regiment commander.
From the spring of 1920 he took part in repelling the Polish aggression.
Already in the summer, Vasilevsky was awaiting a new appointment - the commander of the 427th Infantry Regiment of the 48th Division.
However, while he was getting to the new unit, the position was taken, and Vasilevsky became an assistant commander in another regiment of the division.
Alexander soon found himself in an extremely unpleasant situation.
During the next attack, the enemy was able to break through the positions of that same 427th regiment, and brigade commander Oskar Kalnin ordered Vasilevsky to take the regiment under his command in order to restore the situation at the front.
He tried to explain that it would take time to put the unit in order, but Kalnin did not listen to him and sent him to court, but then returned him half way and demoted to platoon commander.
Later, an investigation carried out by the higher command showed the unfairness of Kalnin's decision, and Vasilevsky was appointed commander of a separate battalion.
In the early 1920s, Vasilevsky did not fall under the reduction of the Red Army, but was again appointed assistant regiment commander.
He fought against banditry in the Volga region, and then for about ten years commanded various units of the Red Army and a school for junior command personnel.
They tried to send him to the Military Academy of the Red Army, but Vasilevsky refused, asking to be kept in the regiment.
But he agreed to undergo a year-long training at the Shot Tactical Shooting Course.
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Vasilevsky in 1928
© Wikimedia commons
In the early 1930s, the command drew attention to the high quality of training of military personnel in Vasilevsky's units.
Despite requests to remain in the army, he was transferred to serve in the Combat Training Directorate of the Red Army.
In the period from 1934 to 1936, he headed the combat training department of the Volga Military District.
Marshall Star
In 1936, Vasilevsky became a student of the first enrollment of the General Staff Academy.
The following year, he graduated from his studies and received an unexpected appointment for himself - the head of the department of rear services - despite the fact that Vasilevsky never served in the rear units.
However, a month later he was transferred to another position - more logical given his biography and rather high - to the General Staff, the head of the operational training department of the army's top command personnel.
In 1939, Vasilevsky also became the deputy chief of the operations department of the General Staff.
In his memoirs, Vasilevsky calls the service in the General Staff the most difficult period of his life.
The international situation was then extremely difficult, the Soviet command, in conditions of limited resources, had to urgently prepare for an imminent war.
According to historians, Vasilevsky actively participated in the analysis and generalization of the experience gained by the Red Army in the local conflicts of the 1930s.
In the spring of 1940, he became the first deputy chief of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff and participated in the development of plans in the event of a German attack on the USSR.
After the outbreak of World War II, in August 1941, Vasilevsky was appointed chief of the Operations Directorate and Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
From that moment on, he visited Joseph Stalin every day, and sometimes several times a day.
“Vasilevsky worked out plans for the defense of Moscow and headed the operational group of the General Staff in the capital, which served the Headquarters.
His personal contribution to Moscow's survival is enormous.
In the fall of 1941, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and in the spring of 1942 - colonel general, "military historian Yuri Knutov told RT.
In the summer, Vasilevsky was appointed Chief of the General Staff, and a few months later - also Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR.
“Vasilevsky showed tremendous talent in the post of Chief of the General Staff and gave all his strength.
It is difficult to overestimate his merits in the victories of the Red Army.
The Battle of Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, the liberation of Ukraine and Belarus - all this was carried out under his direct leadership.
In the most difficult moments, he personally coordinated the actions of the fronts, "Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, said in an interview with RT.
Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky talks with subordinates in Port Arthur
RIA News
© Yakov Ryumkin
In February 1943, Alexander Vasilevsky was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in April 1944 he was awarded the Order of Victory.
Vasilevsky became the second person to receive this award after its establishment.
The first was Marshal Zhukov, the third was Stalin.
In the USSR, the Order of Victory was the highest military order.
Vasilevsky was awarded it twice.
“His experience and the work organized by the General Staff played an important role in the planning of military operations to liberate the countries of Europe from the German fascist troops.
Later, he himself asked him to be appointed to the post of front commander, and his request was granted, since he spent more time traveling to the front.
Alexander Mikhailovich headed the 3rd Belorussian Front, which in the victorious 1945 successfully fought in East Prussia and stormed its main "impregnable" fortress - Königsberg, "Alexander Mikhailov, a specialist in the history of the Victory Museum, told RT.
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According to the expert, another important merit of Vasilevsky is the development of the strategic Manchurian offensive operation of the Red Army in the Far East against the almost million-strong group of the Kwantung Army of militaristic Japan.
"The Red Army, in fact, in two weeks of fighting under the leadership of Vasilevsky broke the Japanese, and in just 24 days of campaign persuaded them to surrender their weapons and sign a surrender to the allied command on September 2, 1945," Mikhailov emphasized.
In 1944 and 1945 Vasilevsky was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1948, he became First Deputy Minister, and in 1949 - Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
A year later, in the course of reforming the defense department, Vasilevsky was appointed Minister of War of the Soviet Union.
After the death of Joseph Stalin, Vasilevsky's career began to decline.
In 1953, he became first deputy, and in 1956 - deputy defense minister for military science.
In 1957, the marshal was transferred to the reserve.
In 1959, he was included in the group of inspectors general of the Ministry of Defense.
In addition, Vasilevsky was actively involved in the development of the veteran movement in the Soviet Union.
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Vasilevsky in 1965
RIA News
Alexander Vasilevsky died on December 5, 1977.
The urn with his ashes rests in the necropolis near the Kremlin wall.
Today the name of the marshal is a village in the Kaliningrad region, a peak in the Pamirs.
Many educational institutions in the country are named after him.
Monuments to Vasilevsky have been installed in various cities of the former Soviet Union.
And in November 2016, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation established the departmental medal “Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M.
Vasilevsky ".
“Vasilevsky is one of the most prominent military leaders in the history of Russia.
His activities are included in the textbooks of military art in different countries.
Having passed the way from a tsarist officer to a Soviet marshal, he made a colossal contribution to the strengthening of our country, "summed up Yuri Knutov.