Vladimir Govorov Владимир Говоров | |
|---|---|
 Govorov in 2002 | |
| Birth name | Vladimir Leonidovich Govorov |
| Born | (1924-10-18)18 October 1924 |
| Died | 13 August 2006(2006-08-13) (aged 81) |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Branch | Soviet Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1992 |
| Rank | General of the Army |
| Commands | 2nd Guards Tank Army Baltic Military District Moscow Military District |
| Battles / wars | Great Patriotic War |
Vladimir Leonidovich Govorov (Russian: Владимир Леонидович Говоров; 18 October 1924 – 13 August 2006) was aSoviet General and military leader. He was the son of Soviet military commanderMarshalLeonid Govorov.
Vladimir Govorov was born in theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924 toLeonid Govorov and Lidia Ivanovna. In 1938, Govorov and a school friend decided to go toSpain to fight for theSpanish Republican Army in theSpanish Civil War. They ran out of the house, and hid in the waste found in a Spanish ship, and secretly slipped him and have been found in the sea.
In June 1942 he was drafted into theRed Army. In 1942 he graduated from the 2nd Moscow Special Artillery School and a year later, theRyazan Artillery School. In October 1943, Govorov was sent to the fighting on the fronts of theGreat Patriotic War. He commanded a gun platoon, then an artillery battery on theLeningrad and2nd Baltic front.[1] He participated in theSiege of Leningrad, the offensive operations of the Soviet troops in theBaltic states, as well as theCourland Pocket.
In 1946, he graduated from a Artillery Officer's High School, immediately becoming the commander of an artillery battalion. By the end of 1949, Govorov graduated from theFrunze Military Academy. That same year, he joined theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1963, he graduated from theMilitary Academy of the General Staff and served in theGroup of Soviet Forces in Germany, serving as chief of staff, and first deputy commander.
From 1967–1969, Govorov served the post of commander of the2nd Guards Tank Army, and in 1971, Govorov commanded theBaltic Military District. From 1972-1980, he served as commander of the Moscow Military District. He became a candidate member of the CPSU in 1976. On 28 October 1977, Govorov was awarded the rank ofGeneral of the Army in time for the 60th anniversary of theOctober Revolution. Being the Moscow Garrison commander, he was able to command ninemilitary parades in honor ofOctober Revolution Day onRed Square. In December 1980, he was appointed commander of theFar Eastern Military District. He was succeeded in the Moscow Garrison by GeneralPetr Lushev. While based inKhabarovsk, he organized Soviet cooperation with the militaries ofVietnam,Cambodia,Laos andMongolia. As a result of his work, he was appointed to the post of deputy Minister of Defense and Chief Inspector of theMinistry of Defense in June 1984. For his 60th birthday, Govorov was made aHero of the Soviet Union on 17 October 1984, officially in recognition of his "great contributions in increasing combat readiness, skilled leadership, and personal courage shown in the Great Patriotic War."[2]
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On 11 June 1986, he was appointed as the Head ofCivil Defense. In this position, he supervised the elimination of the consequences of theChernobyl disaster, as well as all natural disasters that occurred in the USSR such as the1988 Armenian earthquake and the1989 Gissar earthquake. Under him, a large-scale restructuring of Civil Defense services began, reorienting its activities towards peacetime. Civil Defense became the basis of theRussian Emergencies Ministry, which was subsequently created. On 15 August 1991, Govorov submitted a letter of resignation, being relieved of his post by PresidentMikhail Gorbachev two days later (just over 24 hours before theAugust coup occurred), and being dismissed from theSoviet Armed Forces in 1992.
Govorov did some social work for veterans of theRussian Ground Forces after thefall of the Soviet union in 1990. He has been associated with theRussian Committee of War Veterans and Military Service which he advocated for veteran affairs.[3] He also supervised the preparations for the celebration of the anniversaries ofWorld War II and was a member of the Organizing Committee "Victory". On 9 May 1995, 50 years to the day since the signing of theGerman Instrument of Surrender, he commanded aparade of veterans on Red Square in the presence of PresidentBoris Yeltsin, MarshalViktor Kulikov and Prime MinisterViktor Chernomyrdin.[4] He commanded asimilar parade held In 2000, which was the last parade in which the veterans marched across Red Square on foot.[5] Govorov died on August 13, 2006, in Moscow after a long illness.[3] He was honored with a funeral ceremony on August 17, and was buried at theNovodevichy Cemetery.[3][6] A plaque on the building of theRussian Emergencies Ministry in Moscow and plaque on the building of the former headquarters of theMoscow Military District both bear his name.
