Who killed General Chernyakhovsky. How and from whose hands General Chernyakhovsky died

On February 18, 1945, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front surrounded the city and fortress of Königsberg. On the same day, the front commander, Army General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, the youngest front commander during the Great Patriotic War, died. There is a not devoid of logic opinion that the failures of the Red Army in the first months of the war are also due to the fact that the young commanders who made a dizzying career at the end of the 1930s, they turned out to be unprepared for the tasks that were entrusted to them. Chernyakhovsky – shining example the opposite. In the first days of the war, Colonel Chernyakhovsky's division held back German attacks near Siauliai. The young military leader inflicted significant damage on the enemy with daring counterattacks. The Chernyakhovites also fought to the death during the defense of Novgorod, for battles near which the division commander received his first Order of the Red Banner. In the fall of 1941, the division, which had suffered heavy losses, was withdrawn for replenishment. Then the Chernyakhovites made their mark in the battles near Demyansk, where they stopped the onslaught of the Germans and did not allow them to transfer reserves to Leningrad. In December 1941, Chernyakhovsky's tank division was reorganized into the 241st Rifle Division, which became part of the North-Western Front. For the battles in the Demyansk Cauldron area, Chernyakhovsky was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner. And in May 1942, the division commander was awarded the rank of major general. Army commander “for growth” In June 1942, the young general took command of the 18th Tank Corps of the Voronezh Front. In heavy battles near Voronezh, Chernyakhovsky was shell-shocked, which did not prevent him from taking over the 60th Army in July of the same year. War does not give time to unwind; second chances are rarely given here. During the operation to capture Voronezh, the actions of the commander of the 60th Army were assessed as not very successful - in Chernyakhovsky’s area of ​​responsibility, the Germans managed to withdraw most of the units from the encirclement. But the young general learned very quickly and immediately made amendments. Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky recalled it this way: “Having started his first offensive army operation rather timidly, and in extremely unfavorable weather conditions, he, quickly mastering himself and taking the army into his hands, brilliantly completed the task, liberating Voronezh on the very first day. An even more brilliant result of the operational leadership on the part of the young army commander was fighting his army during the capture of Kursk: the city was taken within 24 hours.” When Kursk was captured, Chernyakhovsky’s army covered 90 km in five days of fighting, liberating more than 350 villages from the Nazis. On the day of the liberation of Kursk, February 8, the general was awarded the Order of Suvorov, first degree, and on February 14 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. During the attack on Kharkov, the 60th Army fought more than 300 km. During the winter battles, the Chernyakhovites managed to destroy about 35,000 Nazis, and over 16,000 were captured. Liberator of Minsk, savior of Vilnius. Soviet military leaders who observed their younger colleague noted that his professionalism and skill grew from battle to battle. In October 1943, Chernyakhovsky’s army took part in crossing the Dnieper River, and for his heroism and courage during the fighting, on October 17 he was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union . After participating in the battles on the Kiev bridgehead and liberating the territories in the Zhytomyr direction from the Nazis, on January 10, 1944, Chernyakhovsky was again presented with an award - the Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, first degree, and in March 1944 he became a colonel general. Careers are made much faster in war than in peacetime. But Chernyakhovsky’s rise, even against this background, looked fantastic. In the spring of the same 1944, Stalin asked the Chief of the General Staff Vasilevsky: who, in his opinion, could lead the 3rd Belorussian Front? Vasilevsky answered without hesitation: General Chernyakhovsky. So, in April 1944, Ivan Chernyakhovsky became the youngest front commander in the history of the Red Army. Even before the capture of Minsk, at the end of June, Ivan Chernyakhovsky became an army general - the youngest in the history of the Red Army. And on July 29, 1944, for the successful actions of the troops during the liberation of Vitebsk, Minsk, and Vilnius, the front commander became twice Hero of the Soviet Union. At the beginning of August 1944, after the liberation of Kaunas, one of the artillery brigades, which was part of the front commanded by Chernyakhovsky, was the first to begin shelling German territory. From mid-October 1944, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front carried out the Gumbinnen-Goldap operation, and from January 13, 1945, Chernyakhovsky was at the head of the Insterburg-Konigsberg operation, during which his troops reached Konigsberg, blocking a large East Prussian group of Nazis. His talent was just coming into full force. It seemed that a new Suvorov had been born. Chernyakhovsky, as already mentioned, was much younger than Zhukov, Rokossovsky and other military leaders, and in the future could lead the entire Armed Forces of the USSR. Marshal's shoulder straps were about to sparkle on his shoulders... “Mortally wounded, I’m dying” On February 18, 1945, while Chernyakhovsky was touring the units entrusted to him in the area of ​​the Polish city of Melzak (Penenzhno), a shell suddenly exploded next to his car. A fragment, having pierced the wall of the cabin and the seat, mortally wounded Chernyakhovsky in the chest. This was witnessed by the commander of the 3rd Army, General Gorbatov. “The smoke and dust after the explosion had not yet cleared when I was already near the stopped car. There were five people sitting in it: the front commander, his adjutant, the driver and two soldiers. The general was sitting next to the driver, he leaned towards the glass and repeated several times: “I’m mortally wounded, I’m dying.” I knew that there was a medical battalion three kilometers away. Five minutes later the general was examined by doctors. He was still alive and, when he came to his senses, he repeated: “I’m dying, I’m dying.” The wound from a shrapnel in the chest was truly fatal. He soon died,” Gorbatov recalled. “Tank Avengers” and the wrath of Comrade Stalin The following story circulated in the units. The front commander was allegedly driving recklessly on the road, hit one of the tanks of a passing column and ended up in a ditch. The enraged general began to swear at the tank commander, and he responded with something impudent. Then the front commander shot the tankman and then left. The tankers, shocked by the death of their comrade, turned the tank's turret around and fired after the general. He died from this shot. Despite all the drama, this story looks extremely implausible. Chernyakhovsky never behaved like this, and the “Avengers” shooting at the general from a tank is a completely unrealistic story, at least for the Red Army of 1945. Moreover, the front-line tale claims that the “Avengers” went unpunished. But it would not be so difficult to determine that the shell came from our side, and then SMERSH employees, without a doubt, would have identified the conspirators. Another version says that Comrade Stalin personally decided to get rid of Chernyakhovsky, who allegedly did not like him rapid growth the influence of the young general. This assumption looks even less plausible - with all due respect to Chernyakhovsky and his military talents, the general’s political weight was very insignificant and could not be compared with the influence of the same Zhukov or Vasilevsky. If the leader had a desire to get rid of Chernyakhovsky, this could be done through simple removal from office. After this, any measures could be taken against the general, as happened with those who were truly objectionable. 34th fireworks The most terrible and plausible version is that General Chernyakhovsky really became the victim of a stray enemy shell. In war, no one is immune from such an accident - neither an ordinary person nor the most outstanding military leader. On February 20, 1945, Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was buried in front of a large crowd of people in Vilnius, the city he saved, on Ozheshkenes Square. Since August 1943, the troops of General Chernyakhovsky were noted 34 times as having distinguished themselves in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Each time, fireworks were fired in honor of the distinguished troops in Moscow. The last, 34th salute, was given when the general was no longer alive. In 1946, the city of Insterburg, Kaliningrad region, was renamed Chernyakhovsk, and a monument to the military leader was erected in the city. Gratitude is not always an eternal thing; in some cases it has a statute of limitations. Lithuanian-Polish revenge In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR and the declaration of independence of Lithuania, the new authorities of Vilnius reported that the ashes of the man who saved their city were causing them inconvenience, and offered to remove them. The new resting place of General Chernyakhovsky became Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. The monument erected to the military leader in Vilnius was transported to Voronezh. In 2015, the Poles decided to get even with Chernyakhovsky. The 3rd Belorussian Front, under his command, liberated the territory of Poland, and the place of the general’s death is now located on the territory of this country. The monument erected at the site of Chernyakhovsky’s death was dismantled. A number of Polish historians claim that General Chernyakhovsky gave the order for mass arrests and executions of Home Army fighters. These paramilitary forces, who viewed the Red Army as an enemy, shot Soviet soldiers in the back, and, frankly speaking, there was no reason to mess with them. The problem, however, is that Polish representatives never presented any documentary evidence that General Chernyakhovsky gave orders for mass repressions against AK fighters. The monument to him was demolished simply out of hatred for the Russians and from a great desire to rewrite the history of the Second World War. Let it remain on their conscience. And for us, Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky will always be a hero, whose memory is sacred.

And then there were liberation marches throughout the Soviet Union. Chernyakhovsky's army was actively involved in many significant events: the Kyiv, Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Zhitomir-Berdichev, Rivne-Lutsk operations, crossed the Dnieper and Desna.

Ivan Danilovich was the youngest commander in Soviet army for its entire existence. Shortly before his death, he could have received the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, noting the rapid growth of Soviet military art during the war, especially noted Ivan Chernyakhovsky as one of the most best examples maturation of young commanders. According to historians, in the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, the name of Chernyakhovsky was mentioned 34 times, which in itself is a record.

But it didn't happen.

From official sources we learned that Chernyakhovsky died on the way to Victory. Many generals and officers talk about the circumstances of his death. In principle, the picture that emerges is the same. But there is one small exception. Chernyakhovsky's driver Nikolay in his description last day The life of the general suggests that they swapped places on the road: Chernyakhovsky sat in the driver’s seat and drove the car himself. A shell fragment hit the driver's seat and was, in fact, destined not for Chernyakhovsky, but for his driver.

In April 1945, a journalist for the newspaper Paklya wrote in his diary: “...Everyone loved him - and here is an absurd death. About 10-15 kilometers from the front line, where Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky often visited, a random shell exploded. A large fragment, passing between two adjutants sitting behind him, hit the general in the back. The wound was fatal. The funeral train from Insterburg (East Prussia) headed to Vilnius, which had recently been liberated by troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front. Here, on the main street, in a small park, Ivan Danilovich was buried..."

But why were there so many rumors surrounding the general’s death? Perhaps people could not come to terms with his early death and were looking for reasons in every possible way. But none of these discussed versions were blasphemous and ridiculous, as happened in our days.

In the post-perestroika period, publications began to appear based on the most incredible circumstances of the general’s death. But we won’t cite them: none of the facts are based on official documents. For example, the famous journalist Viktor Baranets in his article published in the newspaper “ TVNZ“, found a former driver of the T-34 tank (but did not give his last name), who claimed that on the road the general’s car was caught by a T-34 tank, a conflict ensued, during which the commander of the thirty-four was killed, and the tank crew opened fire on the departing commander's car. But in support of his statements, the journalist cites only one memory, and not at least two, as is usually the case in testimony. Maybe, for the sake of time, the journalist tried to distort the truth, who knows. Most of all, the journalist was haunted by a “single” shot, which allegedly came from the advancing Soviet troops. And no one began to figure out why this happened, and the NKVD officers were furious. This is how the journalist ends his publication. And it didn’t occur to him that the supposedly shooting crew of the T-34 tank was arrested and, according to the laws of war, put on trial, which would not show leniency towards the supposed “killers of the general.” And it’s unlikely that any of them would survive to this day.

The memory of General Chernyakhovsky is not left alone to this day. I will give just two examples. Mine last way Ivan Danilovich graduated in Vilnius, where he was buried. But in 1992, at the urgent request of the Lithuanian authorities, it was decided to transport Chernyakhovsky’s ashes and rebury them in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery.

And the monument, which was installed on the general’s grave in Vilnius (the author of the monument is the sculptor N.V. Tomsky, was installed in December 1950), had to be dismantled and transported to the city of Voronezh, where it was installed in May 1993. Which was symbolic. After all, Chernyakhovsky liberated Voronezh.

But the general’s memory is still haunted. The monument to General Chernyakhovsky, erected by the Polish authorities in the 70s, was today demolished from the face of the earth. This year, in September, the monument to the general, located in the city of Penenzhno, not far from the places in East Prussia where Chernyakhovsky died on February 18, 1945, was dismantled. The main motive is Chernyakhovsky's involvement in the arrest of Home Army soldiers. This basic postulate was made by the Ambassador of Poland to the Russian Federation Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, who in her acquittal speech said that “Chernyakhovsky, of course, fought against fascism during the Second World War.”

The Polish Ambassador to the Russian Federation deliberately kept silent about the fact that the Germans simply bypassed Poland during the war years and set up numerous death camps there. However, as well as the fact of his birth, which would hardly have happened if the Germans had continued to remain on the territory of Poland. And what would have happened to Poland in general if the Soviet troops had not been defeated by the German invaders...

The Russian side responded to these actions by Poland with a decisive protest. And how could it be otherwise? After all, on this territory, one after another, monuments to fallen Soviet soldiers are being demolished. Correspondents said that in different Polish cities there have already been a dozen cases of vandalism in relation to the memory of fallen Soviet soldiers. Poland is removing from the face of the earth any mention of exploits, valor and honor, and in return is trying to impose a new ideology of lies on its generation.

Fueled by the authorities, the local so-called elite of scientists consistently collected evidence on Chernyakhovsky. About atrocities Nazi invaders in this regard, Polish learned historians chose to remain silent. Although how can they be called scientists after such fraud!

For the first time, people started talking about dismantling the monument to Chernyakhovsky in Poland in 2007, but the controversy around this “project” of the Polish authorities then gained serious momentum and the authorities decided to postpone this matter.

One thing is depressing. When the dismantling of the monument began today, not a single person stood up to defend history, to which, in fact, every person born on the territory of Poland has a stake. After all, they owe their lives to their parents, who remained alive thanks to freedom from fascism.

Another fact of political cynicism is indicative. The Polish authorities, in response to a request from a Russian veterans' organization from the city of Kursk to transfer the dismantled monument to them, responded that the cost of all work to dismantle the monument was 18 thousand dollars. If the veterans are willing to pay this amount, then the Polish side can return the monument. In the meantime, the remains of the monument were taken to a warehouse. The question of preserving the monument remains open.

Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was called the second Suvorov. And he himself said that he would prefer to die in battle than in a warm bed. That's almost exactly what happened. Death actually overtook him at the front. But in battle?

From shepherd to general

Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was born in the Ukrainian village of Oksanino in 1907. At one time, he tended cattle and was a simple factory worker.

However, in 1924 he joined the Red Army and then became a cadet at the infantry school. Later he entered the artillery school, and then the Military Technical Academy in the northern capital.

Over 20 years of service in the Red Army, Chernyakhovsky rose to the rank of general. This title was awarded to him during the war, in 1944. At the same time, Ivan Danilovich twice became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

stray projectile

General Chernyakhovsky died shortly before the victory on February 18, 1945. This happened in East Prussia, in the city of Melzack (now Penenzhno). Then he commanded the 3rd Belorussian Front.

On that day, Chernyakhovsky was driving a passenger car, accompanied by adjutants and guards. Unexpectedly, a shell fragment pierced the back of the seat on which Ivan Danilovich was, and literally pierced the general through and through.

Being mortally wounded, Chernyakhovsky got out of the car, but immediately fell. He was taken to the medical unit. But the general was not destined to reach her. He died on the way. The shrapnel broke the arteries leading to the heart, so Chernyakhovsky had virtually no chance.

Suspicious facts of death

Despite the fact that the circumstances of the general’s death, at first glance, seem obvious, they still raise many questions among researchers and historians. For example, another general Gorbatov in the book “Years and Wars,” describing the death of Chernyakhovsky, indicated that the enemy fired one single shot. Moreover, the shell passed exactly between the adjutants sitting on back seat car, and caused death blow exclusively according to Chernyakhovsky, while the others were not affected at all.

There is even a version that the front commander was killed by a shell fired from the muzzle of a Soviet tank moving in a convoy along with the general’s car. Moreover, if it was really the Nazis who fired, then why did the shrapnel come from the rear?

Burial

Be that as it may, Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was buried in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius. However, in 1992, his monument there was removed, and the general’s ashes were transported to Moscow, to the Novodevichy Cemetery.

In addition, in 2015, in the Polish city of Penenzhno, a monument erected in honor of Chernyakhovsky at the site of his death was demolished. The Polish authorities explained this by saying that, allegedly under the leadership of Chernyakhovsky, thousands of Poles were exiled to Stalinist camps and also shot. However, no documentary evidence has yet been provided regarding this accusation.

" From July 1942 to April 1944, Chernyakhovsky commander of the 60th Army, which took part in the liberation of Kursk, and then in Battle of Kursk. On the day of the liberation of Kursk, February 8, the general was awarded the Order of Suvorov, first degree, and on February 14, 1943, I.D. Chernyakhovsky was awarded the rank of “lieutenant general”; a year later he was already “colonel general” and commander of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front. Ivan Danilovich, in 1944, was 37 years old and the youngest front commander. The 3rd Belorussian Front under his command successfully participated in the Belorussian, Vilnius, Kaunas, Memel, Gumbinnen-Goldapskaya And East Prussian operations. In June 1944, Chernyakhovsky was awarded the next military rank of “Army General”.

By Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR on October 17, 1943 for high organizational skills during the crossing of the Dnieper and demonstrated personal heroism Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He received the second Hero Star on July 29, 1944 for successful actions during the liberation of Vitebsk, Minsk and Vilnius.
There is evidence that I. D. Chernyakhovsky was nominated for the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union, but died before the promulgation of the Decree. Dizzy military career, a talented commander suddenly ended. An absurd accident occurred on February 18, 1945 on the outskirts of the city of Melzack in East Prussia (now Penenzhno, Poland). Army General I. D. Chernyakhovsky was seriously wounded by artillery shell fragments. This is how the commander of the 3rd Army, General A. Gorbatov, describes the death of Chernyakhovsky:

- I just returned from Urbanovich, he is one and a half kilometers from the enemy. Due to the systematic shelling, I had difficulty getting out of it. The rest of the corps commanders are in the same position.

“I’ll be with you in two hours,” said Chernyakhovsky.

Considering that he would be coming from the east, I warned him that the highway here was being watched by the enemy and was being shelled by artillery fire, but Chernyakhovsky did not listen and hung up...
Having passed the city, in order not to be late, I hurried to the fork in the highway seven hundred meters east of the city outskirts. Not having reached there about a hundred and fifty meters, I saw an approaching"Willis" and heard one shot from the enemy. As soon as the commander's jeep found itself at the fork, a single shell burst was heard. But he was fatal.
The smoke and dust after the explosion had not yet cleared when I was already near the stopped car. There were five people sitting in it: the front commander, his adjutant, the driver and two soldiers. The general was sitting next to the driver, he leaned towards the glass and repeated several times: “I’m mortally wounded, I’m dying.”
I knew that there was a medical battalion three kilometers away. Five minutes later the general was examined by doctors. He was still alive and, when he came to his senses, he repeated: “I’m dying, I’m dying.” The wound from a shrapnel in the chest was truly fatal. He died soon after. His body was taken to the village of Hainrikau. None of the four were injured, and the car was not damaged.
From the headquarters of the 41st Corps, I reported the disaster to the front headquarters and to Moscow. On the same day, a member of the Military Council of the front arrived to us, and the next day representatives of the investigative authorities arrived.

His personal driver describes the death of the general a little differently:

“We have already traveled around the front,” Nikolai recalled about his boss. - Ivan Danilovich was the type that would climb into every trench, into every dugout. We were returning to the car. Ivan Danilovich got behind the wheel himself, and sat me to the side. While we were driving, the enemy made a fire attack. A shell fell near the car. A shrapnel pierced Ivan Danilovich right through the left side of his chest. The adjutants put him in the back of the car. He said then, when he was wounded and fell on the steering wheel: “Nikolai, save me. I will still be useful for the Motherland.” I got behind the wheel and we rushed to the medical battalion...”

Member of the Front Military Council, Lieutenant General Makarov, in his memoirs, offers his version of the tragic event:

- Early in the morning of February 18, 1945, the commander went to the left flank of the troops. It was in the area of ​​the city of Melzack in East Prussia. Our attack on the previously surrounded enemy group was being prepared.
Ivan Danilovich went to the troops to check their readiness for the offensive. This time the commander went alone, accompanied only by his adjutant Komarov and his guards. Returning, Chernyakhovsky and Komarov were driving a covered GAZ-61 car, and the security was driving a Willys. It was quiet at the front. Quite unexpectedly, a shell exploded behind the car in which the commander was driving. A shrapnel pierced the rear of the body and hit the commander in the upper left back. The wound was very serious, right through.

There is other evidence of Chernyakhovsky’s death. This is how a native of Kursk, lieutenant of the medical service, Lidia Durneva describes these events (published on August 5, 2003 in the newspaper “Friend for a Friend”):
“We fought in Western Ukraine. There was a rumor among the soldiers that Chernyakhovsky would arrive at headquarters that night. Visits from senior officers always instilled confidence and raised morale. The commander's car appeared only at dawn. And what amazed everyone: the driver did not follow the rules of camouflage at all, although he was driving through territory under fire from the Germans. There was a deafening explosion. The car was blown to pieces. The panic began. The soldiers, forgetting about caution, ran to the scene of the tragedy. Chernyakhovsky lay with his head torn off. I remember how they loaded him onto a cart and how they took him away. It was a shock: it was as if the ground had been lifted from under our feet.”

And here is how a newspaper photojournalist describes the death of the commander in his diary “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”, M.I. Savin:
On a February morning, General Chernyakhovsky, together with his adjutants, accompanied by guards, left in a passenger car for Kovno (Kaunas). The entire front knew that Chernyakhovsky had a luxurious German Opel Admiral, which the commander valued very much. The general, in a captured limousine, was heading to the army hospital where his “combat girlfriend”, a military doctor from the medical service, worked. We had a great time in Kovno: there was a lot of drinking, music, and dancing. In the morning, the black Opel was already rushing the general and his retinue west, to the location of the front headquarters. On the way, trouble happened: the driver of the car “caught” a T-34 tank going towards the front. Of course, it was a pity for the Opel: the entire front end was dented. The enraged general got out of the car and demanded the commander of the combat vehicle. “Commander of the first tank reconnaissance company, Senior Lieutenant Savelyev,” the tanker introduced himself. Eyewitnesses claim that Chernyakhovsky, drunk since the night before, pulled a pistol from his holster and shot the lieutenant right there on the spot. Then the general got back into the dented limousine and, overtaking the tank column, drove on. A few moments later, Chernyakhovsky was mortally wounded by a shell fragment that exploded next to the retreating Opel Admiral. The orphaned crew of the ill-fated tank fired at the car of the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front from a distance of about 400 meters... It happened on February 18, 1945.

As we see, witnesses describe the death in different ways, why? Maybe because they know the truth and don’t want to tell it? That's why they make up whatever they want? Inconsistencies are everywhere; who was actually behind the wheel, the driver or the commander himself? What kind of car the general was driving, a Willys, an Opel Admiral or a GAZ-61, according to some witnesses, the car was “shattered” among others - completely undamaged. All this is suggestive, and as a rule, in such cases, it is necessary to hide the truth and replace all the facts, including testimony. One thing is beyond doubt: the shell, the fragments of which mortally wounded Chernyakhovsky, came from our rear. In the sixties, when the “Khrushchev Thaw” occurred, somewhat different memories and stories about the past war began to appear. Then there were a lot of living participants in the war and one could hear the most valuable memories and first-hand testimonies. Of course, the secrets of the last war were still carefully guarded and much was hidden, but people were no longer afraid to tell the truth. That’s when the first eyewitness accounts appeared who were not interested in distorting the actual tragic events that happened to General Chernyakhovsky. Then, in the mid-80s and beyond, there were stories of participants in the Great Patriotic War, who were often invited to lessons in courage in schools and other educational institutions. Many more veterans worked at the enterprises and they shared their memories. Then one could hear this story, and the story from the mouth different people, was not much different. Isn't this the truth, at least as close to the truth as possible?
So, I, D. Chernyakhovsky drove towards the front. Two cars, a GAZ-61, were racing along a not very wide road, in which were the front commander, his driver and two adjutants. Following Chernyakhovsky’s car is a Willys with guards. The motorcade is catching up with a tank column, which is moving in the same direction. Car drivers begin to overtake the tanks, honking their horns and flashing their headlights. A tank is not a car, it does not have rear-view mirrors, and its visibility is extremely limited. Over the roar of a diesel engine, you can hardly hear the sound of a car horn. One of the tanks suddenly turns left, just at the moment when the front commander’s vehicle caught up with it. There is a blow to the right side, the driver does not have time to react and the GAZ-61 flies into a ditch.
The damage to the car is not significant, it is put on wheels, Chernyakhovsky scolds the sluggish driver and gets behind the wheel himself. At this time, two officers in NKVD uniforms emerge from the “Willis” following behind. They take the tank commander, who threw Chernyakhovsky’s car into a ditch, into the field, accuse him of an attempt on the commander’s life and what the hell, and shoot him. Then the cars continue moving. Having overtaken the column, the motorcade increased speed, the road ahead sharply went to the side, and in an instant the cars turned sideways towards the tanks. Stunned by the murder of their commander, the tankers decided to take revenge on the special officers, turned the T-34 turret and darted at the Willys... The shell exploded between the vehicles, and one of the fragments mortally wounded the commander.
If we discard the author's details of individual perception of events, then for the vast majority of people, we can identify just such memories. It looks like the truth is somewhere nearby, but maybe this is it?

Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was buried in Vilnius, and a monument to the hero was erected nearby. After the collapse of the USSR, the Lithuanian authorities wished to remove the remains of the liberating general from the country. Chernyakhovsky was reburied in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery. The monument to the commander also became objectionable to the leadership of the mini-state; the sculpture was bought and installed in Voronezh, which, like Kursk, was liberated by the 60th Army of General Chernyakhovsky. But not only Lithuania is waging a war against monuments, the authorities of the Polish town of Penenzhno, where an obelisk was also erected in memory of I.D. Chernyakhovsky, who are trying to get rid of him. It seems that a complex of miniature states, like a little Pug barking at an elephant, has infected greater Poland, which does not do this country any credit.
Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky will forever remain in the memory of veterans and their descendants, for everyone honest people, for Russia, he will always be a bright, talented commander who did a lot for the Victory over fascism.

In Kursk and in 53 other cities of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, streets are named in honor of I, D, Chernyakhovsky. In his homeland, in Cherkassy, ​​a bust was erected, and in Odessa there is a monument to Chernyakhovsky. In the Kaliningrad region, the city of Chernyakhovsk (formerly Insterburg) bears the name of the commander. IN Central Museum Armed Forces there is a collection of personal belongings that belonged to General Chernyakhovsky.

2015

In 1945, the victorious Red Army was preparing to accept another marshal into its ranks - the youngest in history. According to the widespread version, in February 1945, documents for assignment military rank"Marshal" to the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front Ivan Chernyakhovsky were already ready. But less than a week before the official presentation of the new shoulder straps, the 37-year-old commander died under circumstances that to this day many historians consider very strange.

Ivan Chernyakhovsky was much younger. In the years when the dashing cavalryman Georgy Zhukov cut down the Germans for their faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, Vanya Chernyakhovsky rode on wooden horses, armed with a twig instead of a saber.

To the army - on a Komsomol voucher

He was born on June 29, 1906 in the village of Oksanino, Uman district, Kyiv province, in the family of a railway worker. Studied at primary school, worked as a shepherd, and for some time even worked as a street child. Then, like his father, he began to work for railway. In 1922, he passed exams for an incomplete course as an external student. high school. That same year, a 16-year-old boy was elected secretary of the local Komsomol cell.

In the early Soviet period many great careers began with Komsomol vouchers. In 1924, Komsomol member Chernyakhovsky received such a ticket to the Red Army. The young man first became a cadet at the Odessa Infantry School, and then at the Kyiv Artillery School.

Commander of the 60th Army, Lieutenant General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky (right, center) after presenting the Guards banner to one of the divisions of the 1st Ukrainian Front. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Kapustyansky

In 1928, a graduate of the artillery school, member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Ivan Chernyakhovsky became a platoon commander of the 17th corps artillery regiment stationed in Vinnitsa.

Along with his military education, Chernyakhovsky also received a regular education - in 1930 he graduated from evening school, receiving a complete secondary education.

After graduating from evening school in 1930, Chernyakhovsky began preparing to enter the Leningrad Military-Technical Academy named after Dzerzhinsky, which he became a student of in 1931. After each year of study, the academy cadets underwent military training. In 1933, Chernyakhovsky, during an autumn internship, acted as a battalion commander, and after the third year he was sent to intern as a deputy chief of staff of a division, where the intern’s abilities and his ability to quickly delve into the very essence of the assigned tasks were highly appreciated.

Lenin's sister saved the young officer's career

While studying at the academy, an unpleasant episode occurred with Chernyakhovsky - a letter was received in which a certain vigilant comrade accused him of hiding his “ social background" They say that Chernyakhovsky’s father served in the White Army.

This could have been the end of his military career, but the denunciation was submitted for consideration younger sister Lenin Maria Ulyanova, who headed the bureau where such “signals” were sorted out. Ulyanova came to the conclusion that Ivan Chernyakhovsky was not guilty of anything, and he was left alone.

Senior Lieutenant Chernyakhovsky was left in Moscow as chief of staff of a tank battalion, and soon received the rank of captain.

In the future rapid career growth Chernyakhovsky played an important role in Stalin’s “purges” in the army. The places of repressed commanders were taken by young officers.

In 1937, Chernyakhovsky became chief of staff of the tank battalion of the 8th mechanized brigade of the Kyiv Military District, then battalion commander in the same brigade. In 1938, Chernyakhovsky was already a major, commander of a tank regiment in Belarus.

In 1939, he became a lieutenant colonel, and by the beginning of the war, 35-year-old Colonel Chernyakhovsky was the commander of a tank division.

“I’ve lost seventeen kilograms... Even my watch bracelet is slipping off my hand.”

There is a not devoid of logic opinion that the failures of the Red Army in the first months of the war are connected, among other things, with the fact that the young commanders who made a dizzying career in the late 1930s turned out to be unprepared for the tasks that were entrusted to them.

Chernyakhovsky is a vivid example of the opposite. In the first days of the war, Colonel Chernyakhovsky's division held back German attacks near Siauliai. The young military leader inflicted significant damage on the enemy with daring counterattacks. The Chernyakhovites also fought to the death during the defense of Novgorod, for battles near which the division commander received his first Order of the Red Banner.

In the fall of 1941, the division, which had suffered heavy losses, was withdrawn for replenishment. Then the Chernyakhovites made their mark in the battles near Demyansk, where they stopped the onslaught of the Germans and did not allow them to transfer reserves to Leningrad.

In December 1941, Chernyakhovsky's tank division was reorganized into the 241st Rifle Division, which became part of the North-Western Front.

For the battles in the Demyansk Cauldron area, Chernyakhovsky was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner. And in May 1942, the division commander was awarded the rank of major general.

Commander "for growth"

In June 1942, the young general took command of the 18th Tank Corps of the Voronezh Front. In heavy battles near Voronezh, Chernyakhovsky was shell-shocked, which did not prevent him from taking over the 60th Army in July of the same year.

War does not give time to unwind; second chances are rarely given here. During the operation to capture Voronezh, the actions of the commander of the 60th Army were assessed as not very successful - in Chernyakhovsky’s area of ​​responsibility, the Germans managed to withdraw most of the units from the encirclement. But the young general learned very quickly and immediately made amendments.

When Kursk was captured, Chernyakhovsky’s army covered 90 km in five days of fighting, liberating more than 350 villages from the Nazis. On the day of the liberation of Kursk, February 8, the general was awarded the Order of Suvorov, first degree, and on February 14 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

During the attack on Kharkov, the 60th Army fought more than 300 km. During the winter battles, the Chernyakhovites managed to destroy about 35,000 Nazis, and over 16,000 were captured.

Liberator of Minsk, savior of Vilnius

Soviet military leaders who observed their younger colleague noted that his professionalism and skill grew from battle to battle.

In October 1943, Chernyakhovsky’s army took part in crossing the Dnieper River, and for his heroism and courage during the fighting, on October 17 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After participating in the battles on the Kiev bridgehead and liberating the territories in the Zhytomyr direction from the Nazis, on January 10, 1944, Chernyakhovsky was again presented with an award - the Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, first degree, and in March 1944 he became a colonel general.

Careers are made much faster in war than in peacetime. But Chernyakhovsky’s rise, even against this background, looked fantastic. In the spring of the same 1944, Stalin asked the Chief of the General Staff Vasilevsky: who, in his opinion, could lead the 3rd Belorussian Front? Vasilevsky answered without hesitation: General Chernyakhovsky. So, in April 1944, Ivan Chernyakhovsky became the youngest front commander in the history of the Red Army.

Ivan Chernyakhovsky At the table (from left to right): V.E. Makarov - brigade commissar, Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky - chief of the General Staff, Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, army general. Photo: RIA Novosti

In the summer of 1944, during Operation Bagration, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front played an important role in the liberation of Belarus. The front troops led by Chernyakhovsky, together with the 1st Baltic Front, defeated the enemy’s Vitebsk group, and on June 26, 1944, Vitebsk was liberated. Near Minsk, together with the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts, they completed the encirclement of more than 100,000 enemy forces, and on July 3, 1944 they liberated Minsk.

Another city, now the capital of an independent state, owes General Chernyakhovsky the fact that it was not only liberated, but also spared destruction. Also in July 1944, the 3rd Belorussian Front conducted the Vilnius offensive operation. The front commander gave the order: when taking the city, heavy artillery and aviation should not be used, and Vilnius should be saved from destruction. The order was carried out, and happy Lithuanians greeted the liberators who saved the capital with flowers.

Rising star

Even before the capture of Minsk, at the end of June, Ivan Chernyakhovsky became an army general - the youngest in the history of the Red Army. And on July 29, 1944, for the successful actions of the troops during the liberation of Vitebsk, Minsk, and Vilnius, the front commander became twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

At the beginning of August 1944, after the liberation of Kaunas, one of the artillery brigades, which was part of the front commanded by Chernyakhovsky, was the first to begin shelling German territory.

Member of the Military Council of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Lieutenant General Vasily Emelyanovich Makarov, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky, front commander Army General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky (from left to right) accept the surrender of the German general. Vitebsk, June 28, 1944. Photo: RIA Novosti / Anatoly Morozov

From mid-October 1944, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front carried out the Gumbinnen-Goldap operation, and from January 13, 1945, Chernyakhovsky was at the head of the Insterburg-Konigsberg operation, during which his troops reached Konigsberg, blocking a large East Prussian group of Nazis.

His talent was just coming into full force. It seemed like a new one was born Suvorov. Chernyakhovsky, as already mentioned, was much younger than Zhukov, Rokossovsky and other military leaders, and in the future could lead the entire Armed Forces of the USSR. Marshal's shoulder straps were about to sparkle on his shoulders...

“Fatally wounded, I’m dying”

On February 18, 1945, while Chernyakhovsky was touring the units entrusted to him in the area of ​​the Polish city of Melzak (Penenzhno), a shell suddenly exploded next to his car. A fragment, having pierced the wall of the cabin and the seat, mortally wounded Chernyakhovsky in the chest.

This was witnessed by the commander of the 3rd Army, General Gorbatov. “The smoke and dust after the explosion had not yet cleared when I was already near the stopped car. There were five people sitting in it: the front commander, his adjutant, the driver and two soldiers. The general was sitting next to the driver, he leaned towards the glass and repeated several times: “I’m mortally wounded, I’m dying.” I knew that there was a medical battalion three kilometers away. Five minutes later the general was examined by doctors. He was still alive and, when he came to his senses, he repeated: “I’m dying, I’m dying.” The wound from a shrapnel in the chest was truly fatal. He soon died,” Gorbatov recalled.

"Tank Avengers" and the wrath of Comrade Stalin

There was a story going around in the units. The front commander was allegedly driving recklessly on the road, hit one of the tanks of a passing column and ended up in a ditch. The enraged general began to swear at the tank commander, and he responded with something impudent. Then the front commander shot the tankman and then left. The tankers, shocked by the death of their comrade, turned the tank's turret around and fired after the general. He died from this shot.

Another version says that Comrade Stalin personally decided to get rid of Chernyakhovsky, who allegedly did not like the rapid growth of the young general’s influence. This assumption looks even less plausible - with all due respect to Chernyakhovsky and his military talents, the general’s political weight was very insignificant and could not be compared with the influence of the same Zhukov or Vasilevsky. If the leader had a desire to get rid of Chernyakhovsky, this could be done through simple removal from office. After this, any measures could be taken against the general, as happened with those who were truly objectionable.

34th fireworks

The most terrible and plausible version is that General Chernyakhovsky really became the victim of a stray enemy shell. In war, no one is immune from such an accident - neither an ordinary person nor the most outstanding military leader.

On February 20, 1945, Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was buried in front of a large crowd of people in Vilnius, the city he saved, on Ozheshkenes Square.

Since August 1943, the troops of General Chernyakhovsky were noted 34 times as having distinguished themselves in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Each time, fireworks were fired in honor of the distinguished troops in Moscow. The last, 34th salute, was given when the general was no longer alive.

In 1946, the city of Insterburg, Kaliningrad region, was renamed Chernyakhovsk, and a monument to the military leader was erected in the city.

A fragment of a bronze sculptural portrait of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky. The author is sculptor Evgeniy Viktorovich Vuchetich. A fragment of a bronze sculptural portrait of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky. The author is sculptor Evgeniy Viktorovich Vuchetich. Photo: RIA Novosti/Ignatovich. Photo: RIA Novosti /

Gratitude is not always an eternal thing; in some cases it has a statute of limitations.

Lithuanian-Polish revenge

In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR and the declaration of independence of Lithuania, the new authorities of Vilnius reported that the ashes of the man who saved their city were causing them inconvenience, and offered to remove them. The new resting place of General Chernyakhovsky was the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. The monument erected to the military leader in Vilnius was transported to Voronezh.

In 2015, the Poles decided to get even with Chernyakhovsky. The 3rd Belorussian Front, under his command, liberated the territory of Poland, and the place of the general’s death is now located on the territory of this country.

The problem, however, is that Polish representatives never presented any documentary evidence that General Chernyakhovsky gave orders for mass repressions against AK fighters.

The monument to him was demolished simply out of hatred for the Russians and from a great desire to rewrite the history of the Second World War.

Let it remain on their conscience. And for us, Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky will always be a hero, whose memory is sacred.