General cruiser biography. Forgotten heroes of the Great Patriotic War: Yakov Kreiser. Further service

Yakov Grigorievich Kreiser (1905-1969) was the first infantry officer to receive the high rank of Hero Soviet Union July 22, 1941, when even being awarded a medal was extremely rare.

At the beginning of 1943, under his command, a significant part of Rostov region, including Novocherkassk and Novoshakhtinsk. It was Ya.G. Cruiser has the honor of developing and carrying out a military operation to break through the Mius Front, for which the commander was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree. For his military services, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded five Orders of Lenin and completed his brilliant military career with the rank of army general.

What was he like - Soviet general Yakov Kreizer?

He was that rare army commander about whom ordinary soldiers composed their simple, ingenuous songs. He was a frontline military commander, where he received several serious wounds. Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan called Kreiser an unsurpassed master of attacks, while he was equally talented in defensive battles. He didn’t live such a long life by modern standards, but he did an incredible amount.p

Yakov Kreizer was born on November 4, 1905 in Voronezh. His father, Gregory, who was not at all wealthy, was engaged in small trade, but the family remembered and honored the traditions of their ancestors who had once served in the army Tsarist Russia. Left without parents at an early age (his mother died in 1917 from pulmonary tuberculosis, his father in 1920 from typhus), Yakov chose a special profession - “Defending the Motherland.” In the years Civil War In Russia, seventeen-year-old Yakov Kreizer volunteered for the Red Army and graduated from infantry school. From 1923 to 1941, for almost 18 years, he served in the Moscow Proletarian Division, where he rose from platoon commander to division commander.

In an article dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Ya.G. Kreizer, V. Moroz described the memorable summer of 1936 for the future commander, when two marshals arrived at the Alabino camps near Voronezh - Deputy People's Commissar of Defense M.N. Tukhachevsky and Chief of the General Staff A.I. Egorov. A battalion tactical exercise was prepared for their arrival, built according to Tukhachevsky’s personal plan. The battalion was commanded in the offensive training battle by Major Kreizer. A little later, in July and August 1936, M.N. Tukhachevsky published two detailed articles in “Red Star” under the general title “Battalion on the offensive” (task one and task two). In these materials, illustrated with diagrams of the tactical situation, an authoritative military commander showed that many of the statutory provisions in force at that time were outdated and did not reflect new forms of deep combat. It was necessary, without waiting for the updating of the governing documents, to develop and improve tactics, to take a creative approach to the organization of exercises and at the same time to avoid discrepancies in the methodology. According to Tukhachevsky, who was next to the battalion commander during the training battle and then talked with him for a long time after the training, Major Kreiser showed himself to be an inquisitive, thinking, promising commander. The episode was significant for Yakov Grigorievich. On August 16, 1936, the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was published in newspapers on awarding orders to a number of excellent military and political personnel of the Red Army. Commander training battalion Major Kreizer Ya.G. By this resolution he was awarded the Order of Lenin. In the same column, by the way, was the name of brigade commander G.K. Zhukov, not yet covered with special glory.

In May 1940, the Moscow Proletarian Division was transformed into the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, which included two motorized rifle regiment, artillery and tank regiments, reconnaissance, communications, engineering battalions and others special units, in total more than 12 thousand soldiers and commanders.

The biographer of the commander I. Malyar writes that by the evening of June 21, 1941, the division returned after difficult maneuvers in the Moscow region, and the next morning the Soviet-German war began... Colonel Yakov Kreizer received an order to withdraw the division along the Moscow-Vyazma-Smolensk-Borisov route in order to stop the Nazi advance. At the beginning of July 1941, units of the division entered the battle on the Berezina River near the city of Borisov and dealt a crushing blow to the infantry formations and tank columns of the Wehrmacht. For almost eleven days there were continuous oncoming battles, the Kreiser division was able to build a defense in such a way that the Nazi offensive on this section of the front fizzled out, the Soviet reserve divisions of the 20th Army managed to reach defensive lines along the Dnieper in the Smolensk region.p

V. Beshanov, in his study “Tank Pogrom of 1941” (Moscow - Minsk, 2002), described the actions of the commander of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, Colonel Ya. G. Kreiser: “The cruiser deployed the division on a 20 - 25-kilometer front, occupied advantageous water lines and the most important roads. The Muscovites rained down heavy fire on the approaching enemy columns, forcing the Germans to deploy and carefully organize the battle. So the division commander held off the enemy for half a day. And when the Germans launched a decisive offensive, cut the division’s front into pieces or began to flow around open flanks, the infantry, under the cover of darkness, mounted vehicles and, leaving rearguards and ambushes, rolled back 10 - 12 km. In the morning the enemy ran into covering units, and by noon he encountered organized defense at a new line. Thus, day after day, the enemy’s forces were exhausted, his movement was slowed down, and valuable time was gained” (p. 281).p

The commander of the 18th German Tank Division, General W. Nehring, acted against Kreiser, who, in an order for the division, assessed the military talent of the Soviet colonel: “The losses in equipment, weapons and vehicles are unusually large... This situation is intolerable, otherwise we will be “defeated” until our own death.” As V. Beshanov concludes, the impeccable professionalism of Colonel Kreiser was rather an exception in the initial period of the war.

In his “Memoirs and Reflections” G.K. Zhukov called these “brilliant” fighting Colonel Yakov Kreiser. On July 12, 1941, Kreiser was wounded on the battlefield; a day later, by order of the commander of the 20th Army, the division was withdrawn to the second echelon.

On July 22, 1941, exactly a month after the start of the war, a decree was signed, which noted that in difficult battles, Colonel Yakov Kreiser “skillfully and decisively managed the division’s combat operations. Ensured successful battles in the main direction of the army. With his personal participation, fearlessness and heroism, he carried the division’s units into battle.” He was the first of the Red Army division commanders to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.p

The Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper wrote in an editorial on July 23, 1941 that “Ya.G. Kreiser is the first of the courageous infantry commanders to receive a high award for courage and heroism shown on the front of the fight against fascism, skillfully controlled the battle of the formation, inspired the personal example of his subordinates, was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield.”

In this first, most difficult period of the war, the name of Kreizer in the circles of ordinary Red Army soldiers and junior commanders became a true symbol of the first victories over the invaders. In particular, Red Army soldier M. Svinkin and junior commander A. Rykalin responded to these events with a song that immediately gained popularity among the troops:

Smashes the enemy with weapons

The division is fearless.

For heroic deeds

Kreiser is calling us into battle.

A crushing avalanche

Let's go brave fighters

For our cause is right,

For our native people.

On August 7, 1941, Yakov Kreiser received the rank of major general; in September 1941, the division was reorganized and received the name - 1st Guards Moscow Motorized Motor rifle division. By that time, General Kreizer was appointed commander of the 3rd Army, which in the Battle of Smolensk, together with other troops, managed to delay the advance of German troops on Moscow for two whole months. Under the command of Kreiser, the army, after being completed, participated in the Tula defensive and Yelets operations, and during the counter-offensive near Moscow, it liberated Efremov.

Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General A.S. Zhadov recalled: “My meeting with Ya.G. The cruiser took place in early September 1941 on the Bryansk Front; he was appointed commander of the 3rd Army, the chief of staff of which the author of these lines happened to be. I remember that in the headquarters dugout I was getting acquainted on the map with the zone of action of our, in fact, newly formed association, when the door opened and a major general with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and two Orders of Lenin on his chest quickly approached the table.

He immediately sat down at the table, and we began to study the situation together. From the very first minutes of my acquaintance, I was imbued with respect and sympathy for my new boss, for he, as they say, radiated energy, efficiency, and a friendly attitude towards his colleagues. We went through together in September - December 1941 the difficult days of unequal battles with the enemy on the Desna, when the army was leaving encirclement. The successful breakthrough of the encirclement was largely due to the confident and flexible leadership of the army commander, his inexhaustible optimism, and the ability to set a personal example of courage and perseverance.”p

In October 1941, the 3rd Army under the command of Ya.G. Kreizer fought heavy battles and was surrounded. However, even in these almost hopeless conditions of encirclement, the commander rose to the occasion, managing not only to organize a defense that exhausted the enemy, but also to carry out an unprecedented maneuver - a long military campaign of an entire army behind enemy lines. The commander of the Bryansk Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union A.I. Eremenko, analyzing the actions of the 3rd Army and its commander, came to the conclusion that “this army found itself in the most difficult conditions. It had to fight the greatest distance in difficult terrain compared to other armies... Under the leadership of Kreiser, who skillfully relied on the headquarters and the entire command staff, the army, having covered 300 km behind enemy lines, emerged from encirclement, maintaining its combat effectiveness.”

At the very beginning Battle of Stalingrad Major General Kreizer was instructed to form the 2nd Army practically in combat conditions. At this time, the army commander was seriously wounded, but he wrote home to his family: “The other day I was slightly wounded in the head by a stray bullet, but now it has all healed, and only a small scar remains on the top of my head. The wound was so light that I didn’t even get out of action.”p

On February 2, 1943, by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Ya.G. Kreiser took command of the 2nd Guards Army. Developing the offensive, she received an order to capture Novocherkassk. Despite the need sudden change direction of the main attack from south-west to north-west, the new army commander successfully completed the task. On February 13, army troops liberated the city. The next day the Nazis were expelled from Rostov. After the successful completion of this operation, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded military rank Lieutenant General and awarded the Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree.

Subsequently 2nd guards army under the command of General Kreiser, it reached the Mius River and crossed it in a number of areas. Fierce, grueling battles unfolded here, since the enemy, considering Mius to be the most important defensive line covering the southern regions of Donbass, concentrated numerous reserves here.

Voronezh author V. Zhikharev notes that Kreiser’s opponent on the Mius Front was the experienced Nazi general Hollidith. Hitler ordered his army to be staffed with selected units, sent his best tank division SS "Death's Head". This entire armada was supported from above by 700 aircraft. In one of the areas, the Germans attacked twelve times, they managed to crush our positions. The advance of the 51st Army slowed down. On the scheduled day we did not reach the Krynka River. Marshal S.K. Timoshenko and the new front commander F.I. Tolbukhin strongly scolded Kreiser and even achieved his removal from the post of army commander. Marshal A.M. came to the rescue two days later. Vasilevsky, who arrived among the troops as a representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. He not only returned Kreiser to leadership of the army, but also thanked him for the breakthrough of the Mius Front. And some time later, his military friends congratulated him on being awarded the next military rank - lieutenant general.

In August 1943 Ya.G. Kreiser was appointed commander of the 51st Army, which operated on the right wing of the Southern Front and received the task of holding its zone and conducting reconnaissance at the beginning of the Donbass operation.p

The modern Ukrainian publicist V. Voinolovich came to the conclusion that the new army commander approached this seemingly passive task with all seriousness. It was established that the enemy intended to retreat to a previously prepared line and strengthen there for a long time. Yakov Grigorievich immediately began careful preparations for a strike against the enemy. According to the decision of the commander, the 346th Rifle Division (General D.I. Stankevsky) of the 54th Corps was to deliver the main blow. She was given required quantity tanks, artillery and other military equipment and weapons. On the night of September 1, reconnaissance reported that the enemy, leaving small barriers, began to retreat. Then the strike force rushed forward. Army troops under the command of Ya.G. The cruisers, sweeping away the Nazi barriers, covered up to 60 km in three days and liberated many settlements, including the cities of Krasny Luch, Voroshilovsk, Shterovka and Debaltsevo. The defeat of the enemy in this area contributed to the offensive of the 5th shock army in the area of ​​Gorlovka, Makeevka, Stalino. For the successful actions of the 51st Army in Donbass Y.G. On September 17, 1943, the cruiser was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree.

The troops of the 51st Army under the command of General Kreiser advanced in a southern direction, taking the most active participation in the fighting for the liberation of Crimea. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky in his book “The Work of a Whole Life” recalled that “V.A.’s 44th Army marched from Melitopol to Kakhovka. Khomenko. Together with her, the 51st Army of Ya.G. advanced and saddled the enemy directly in Perekop itself. Cruiser, which defeated a fascist tank-infantry fist along the road in the Askania-Nova area.”

Sevastopol was chosen as the direction of the main attack. IN Soviet newspapers then they wrote that in 1941-1942. The Germans stormed Sevastopol for 250 days, “the army of Y.G. Kreizer released him in five days.” One of the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for 1944 states that “the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, going on the offensive, broke through the heavily fortified enemy defenses on the Perekop Isthmus, captured the city of Armyansk and, moving forward up to 20 kilometers, reached the Ishun positions... The troops of Lieutenant General Zakharov and Lieutenant General Kreiser distinguished themselves in the battles.” (Orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief during the Great Patriotic War Soviet Union: Collection. – M.: Voenizdat, 1975. P. 142-143).p

In the summer of 1944, the 51st Army was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front and took part in the liberation of Latvia. In one of his letters to his relatives, Yakov Grigorievich described these events as follows: “The war is coming to an end, and I will try to finish it with honor. Now I am operating in a slightly different direction, that is, I have moved from Latvia to Lithuania again, and while I am writing a letter, the strongest cannonade of our artillery is heard all around and quite rarely enemy shells explode three or four kilometers from where I am. I'll be moving forward in a couple of hours. In general, in the near future there should be an end to the Germans in Lithuania, and then in Latvia. A few words about myself. My health is quite satisfactory, my nerves have gotten a little worse. After the war, the whole family will go to Sochi and cure all diseases. October 7, 1944."p

Between Tukums and Liepaja, troops of the 51st Army under the command of General Kreiser blocked 30 enemy divisions that capitulated in early May 1945. Referring to these events in his memoirs “To the Shores of the Amber Sea,” I.Kh. Bagramyan called Ya.G. Kreizer "an offensive general, a master of attacks."

Rostov State University of Economics"RINH"p

Leonid Berlyavsky

RIA Voronezh correspondents with historian Vladimir Razmustov continue to talk about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, after whom the streets of Voronezh are named. On Friday, April 1, in a special project we'll talk about a native of Voronezh, army general, hero of the USSR Yakov Kreiser.

Yakov Kreizer (11/4/1905 - 11/29/1969)

The future army general was born in Voronezh into a wealthy Jewish family, having weight in society. His grandfather served in the tsarist army for 25 years. According to one version, the father was an official, according to another, a merchant. Yakov was educated at the Voronezh gymnasium. The father wanted his son to become a military man, and Yakov fully justified his hopes. Surely Grigory Kreiser could not even imagine what career heights his son would reach.

Jacob's parents died in 1920. Caring for his younger brothers and sister fell on the young man’s shoulders; he took on any job to feed them.

– In 1921, Yakov Kreiser voluntarily joined the Red Army, and in the same year he entered the Voronezh infantry school. The studies lasted two years. After finishing school, Yakov left Voronezh. A talented graduate was sent to serve in the Moscow garrison as a platoon commander,” said the special project consultant, candidate historical sciences Vladimir Razmustov.

Until 1941, Yakov Kreiser climbed high up the career ladder. In one of the best Soviet divisions, the Moscow Proletarian Division, he went through all the ranks: from company commander to regiment commander. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Kreiser completed advanced training courses for command personnel at the Frunze Academy.

During the first week of the war German troops advanced 350 km inland. Fascist tanks, commanded by the famous German strategist General Guderian, rushed to Moscow at high speed. But Hitler’s blitzkrieg plan (the theory of waging a fleeting war - RIA Voronezh) was thwarted by Colonel Kreiser’s division. In the chaos that reigned at the fronts, without communication with the command, Kreiser fighters detained the Germans for two days near the Belarusian city of Borisov. Next to it was a highway leading to Moscow.

“The cruiser and its division did the almost impossible - they delayed the rapid advance of the Germans towards Moscow. This was the first glimpse of future victory. And this is enough for the name of Yakov Kreiser to forever become in the history of our country.”

From the film “The Forgotten General”, TV channel “Russia 1”

– The battles near Borisov were bloody. With bombs, German pilots distributed leaflets from the air with the words “Russian soldiers, who do you trust with your lives? Your commander is a Jew. Surrender, and treat the Jewish commander as you should treat the Jews!” The cruiser laughed at such German tactics, and the soldiers made every effort to carry out the order of their commander, said employees of the Voronezh Diorama Museum.

In response to the provocative leaflets, Soviet soldiers composed a song about their brave and wise commander.

The fearless division smashes the enemy with weapons.

Kreiser calls us to heroic deeds into battle.

The brave fighters went like a crushing avalanche

For our just cause, for our native people!

The song of the fighters of the Moscow Proletarian Division was written in July 1941

But the Germans continued on their way to Moscow, although not so quickly. Soviet army Kreiser's ingenuity saved him. In the vicinity of the city of Orsha, the commander noticed that the Germans were avoiding night operations and based his defense tactics on this. At night, the Cruiser men changed positions and in the morning they rained fire on the Germans. The invaders did not know where the Russians would attack from next time. With such maneuvers, Kreiser slowed down the enemy and gained time while waiting for reinforcements.

The Soviet colonel's tactics deprived the Wehrmacht's 18th Panzer Division of half its combat vehicles. Near Orsha, Kreizer held off the Germans for 12 days. During this time, the reserve divisions of the 20th Red Army reached defensive lines towards the Dnieper near Smolensk.

“In this first, most difficult period of the war, the name Kreizer for the Red Army soldiers and junior commanders became a true symbol of the first victories over the invaders.”

From the memoirs of Army General Alexei Zhadov

Yakov Kreizer received the title of Hero of the USSR on July 22, 1941. He was the first Voronezh resident to receive the most honorable state award of that time.

And less than a month later, Kreiser was awarded the rank of major general.

In the subsequent years of the Great Patriotic War, Yakov Kreizer commanded the 3rd Army of the Bryansk Front, which participated in the Battle of Smolensk and the Battle of Moscow. From 1943 until the end of the war, Kreiser was the commander of the 51st Army, which distinguished itself during the liberation of Donbass, Crimea and the Baltic states. During the war he was wounded twice.

Yakov Kreiser was awarded the rank of Colonel General in July 1945.

In peacetime, the Voronezh resident commanded the troops of the South Ural, Transbaikal, Ural and Far Eastern military districts.

Yakov Kreizer after the war

Photo – frame from documentary film"Russia 1"

Kreiser's acquaintances noted that he was not a sociable person, loved solitude, and rarely smiled. But at the same time, he was a man with great inner strength and was not afraid to go against the authorities. This is evidenced by an incident during the “Doctors' Case” in 1953. Kreiser was summoned, but he flatly refused to sign the so-called “Letter from Representatives of the Jewish Community,” demanding death penalty for arrested Jewish doctors.

Yakov Kreizer worked until last days. He came to his office before everyone else and left later than everyone else. He was modest in everyday life. One of Kreiser’s colleagues once visited the general’s Moscow apartment and was struck by the modest surroundings. The general was ill during the guest's visit, lying on the sofa, covered with a simple blanket, and his overcoat lay on top of him.

Very soon we will celebrate the liberation of Crimea and Sevastopol and the next anniversary of the Victory.
In this regard, it is appropriate to recall difficult fate And battle path commander of the 51st Army in 1944, through whose efforts, during the capture of Crimea, the soldiers of his army died 2 times less than the Nazis defending Crimea.

Yakov Kreiser (right) (Photo: Anatoly Egorov / TASS)

Last winter, the city of Debaltsevo was liberated. History repeated itself: he was released more than once, including in the fall of 1943. Then the soldiers of the 51st Army of the Southern Front did it. And the army was commanded by Lieutenant General Yakov Kreiser.

Ambush for Heinz Hurricane

Colonel Kreizer learned that the war had begun while at maneuvers in which his 1st Moscow Division participated. And almost immediately he received an order to move west to block the Minsk Highway near the Belarusian city of Borisov. Yes, it was a legendary milestone - the Berezina River, over which more than one adversary stumbled. The hull of the "Bystrokhodny" also tripped over it. Heinz Guderian or, as it was also called, Heinz the Hurricane, whose tanks had already crossed Belarusian soil enough for the Germans to feel almost impunity.

The division's soldiers managed to get ahead of this tank armada by literally two hours in order to saddle the Minsk highway. There was only time left to take positions, dig in and prepare for battle. Front-line poet Alexander Volodin in his memoirs he compared the thundering tank avalanche of the Germans to the Martians. After all, the Red Army soldiers had no idea about the Nazis and their technical equipment, and here it’s like hordes of aliens from “War of the Worlds” H.G. Wells, who immediately began to push our troops to the east.

Moreover, these were not yet exhausted and bloodless German troops - these were the conquerors of Europe: fresh, vigorous, ready to kill, conquer and destroy everything in their path. However, there is always strength for strength - this was the Kreiser division, which fought to the death for more than two days and held the legendary line of defense. Enraged fascists scattered leaflets over the positions of the Red Army soldiers, in which they called Kreiser a “Jew” and suggested that the soldiers deal with their Jewish commander. After reading one of these lampoons, the division commander himself only smiled.

Two days later, on the third day, Yakov Grigorievich withdrew the division to other positions. By the way, during those battles, there was also Konstantin Simonov, who admitted that real hell was going on there. And he wrote this from Kreiser in his “The Living and the Dead” of the heroic Colonel Serpilin. By the way, the tactics that the division commander resorted to during those battles deserve special attention. The Germans tried to attack, as a rule, only along roads, if they existed. And they were never active at night. Kreiser took advantage of these circumstances.

Nazi nightmare

At night, knowing that the Nazis would not move a single step, the division’s fighters calmly and without fuss changed positions, meeting enemy tank wedges at dawn with destructive fire from the most unexpected direction for the enemy. This tactic gave excellent results: the Wehrmacht's 18th Panzer Division, opposing the 1st Moscow, lost more than half of its tanks in these battles. The Red Army held back the advance of the tank armada for twelve days - this was an unprecedented feat at that time. Myself Zhukov reported Stalin about the actions of the 1st Moscow Division. Moreover, the division commander was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield. For his skillful command in the battles of the beginning of the war, Yakov Kreiser was the first of the commanders of his rank to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

And only when reserve divisions came to replace the 1st Moscow Division, Yakov Grigorievich took his formation to the rear and was finally able to get to the hospital. After recovery, he was awarded the rank of major general, and soon became commander of the 3rd Army. The path of heroes is always the most difficult. So the Kreiser army, which fought to the death until the last during defensive battles in the fall of 1941, was surrounded. But, having carried out an unprecedented raid behind enemy lines, she crossed the front line and did not lose her combat effectiveness. And in December, the 3rd Army took part in the counteroffensive near Moscow.

Headquarters had long noticed the successful general and offered him to complete a crash course at the Military Academy of the General Staff. And soon the graduate of the course, Yakov Kreizer, was entrusted with the formation of the 1st Reserve Army, which eventually became the 2nd Guards Army. In the battles near Stalingrad, Yakov Grigorievich was seriously wounded. Later, his army liberated the Rostov region. And in 1943 he became commander of the 51st Army.

It was she, along with other armies, who had to break through the powerful network of fortifications on the Mius River, which the Germans boastfully called “Mius-front-colossal” and considered impregnable. It was covered by 700 aircraft, and was defended, among other formations, by the Totenkopf tank division. But, contrary to the strict order to take this line of defense head-on, Yakov Kreiser did not send his soldiers to certain death under machine-gun and artillery fire from the enemy, who had well targeted the approaches to the “Mius Front”. And he went on an unexpected flank maneuver, as a result of which our troops still managed to break through the enemy’s defenses.

Undesignated hero

How many hundreds, and maybe thousands of soldiers Yakov Grigorievich saved through his actions, one can only guess. However, the command of the Southern Front decided to punish the violator of the General Headquarters order and removed Kreiser from leadership, giving him a formal beating. This is what needs to be said here. Before the war, the future army commander, and in the mid-1930s the battalion commander was in good standing and enjoyed the patronage of the marshal Tukhachevsky. He warmly shared his doctrine of the “war of engines.” The chief of the general staff, marshal, also favored the officer Egorov. And it is completely unclear how, having shot the disgraced marshals, Stalin did not touch the favorite of the “enemies of the people”, to whom, by the way, he personally awarded the Order of Lenin even before the war.

The father of the people spared the commander in 1943 after disobedience and failure to comply with orders. He was reinstated and thanked for breaking through the German defense line. Nevertheless, for the majority of Russians and the world community, Yakov Grigorievich Kreizer remained a forgotten hero. And the vast majority of us simply do not know about the breakthrough of the “Mius Front”. But we know it well Battle of Kursk, which took place simultaneously with the operation on the Mius River. General's name Rotmistrova has become a real legend. Cruiser was not spoiled by such fame.

Although the fighters of his 51st Army repeated the feat of the Red Army during the Civil War, unexpectedly crossing the Sivash in 1943 in order to drive the Nazis out of Crimea. And again, Yakov Grigorievich would not be himself if he had not saved his subordinates from unnecessary death. He built the army’s offensive in such a way that during the operation our troops lost half as many killed as the Wehrmacht units defending Crimea. I would like to note that this was the first time since the start of the Great Patriotic War.

As an experienced commander, Kreiser and his 51st Army were entrusted with one of the most difficult operations - the liquidation of the Courland Pocket in the Baltic States, where thirty fascist divisions found their deaths. But, realizing that they were surrounded, the Nazis resisted desperately and fiercely. Therefore, the operation was delayed, and the fighting stopped only on May 23.

After the war, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded the rank of Colonel General. He commanded military districts and was the head of the Shot officer courses. And in November 1969 he passed away. Yakov Kreiser was an unusually modest and decent man, who loved his subordinates like his own children. It was about him that Lermontov’s “father to soldiers” could be said. This is how he will remain in our memory.

February 2013 marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Rostov region from Nazi invaders. This anniversary is a good occasion for Don residents to pay tribute to memory, gratitude and respect to the soldiers-liberators.

A significant contribution to the liberation of the Rostov region was made by the troops of the Second Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant General Ya.G. Kreizer.
Yakov Grigorievich Kreizer (1905-1969) was the first infantry officer to receive the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union on July 22, 1941, when even being awarded a medal was extremely rare.
At the beginning of 1943, under his command, a significant part of the Rostov region was liberated, including Novocherkassk and Novoshakhtinsk. It was Ya.G. Cruiser has the honor of developing and carrying out a military operation to break through the Mius Front, for which the commander was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree. For his military services, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded five Orders of Lenin and completed his brilliant military career with the rank of army general.
However, the feat of the soldiers of the Second Guards Army and their commander is practically not immortalized in the region. There is no street named after Yakov Kreizer, no monument, no memorial plaque. There are no exhibitions dedicated to him in the region's local history museums.
This is regrettable. Moreover, in the former Soviet Union, named after Ya.G. Streets in Voronezh, Sevastopol, Simferopol were named Kreiser; he was an honorary citizen of a number of cities that he liberated.

What was he like - Soviet General Yakov Kreiser?
He was that rare army commander about whom ordinary soldiers composed their simple, ingenuous songs. He was a frontline military commander, where he received several serious wounds. Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan called Kreiser an unsurpassed master of attacks, while he was equally talented in defensive battles. He did not live such a long life by modern standards, but he did an incredible amount.

Yakov Kreizer was born on November 4, 1905 in Voronezh. His father, Gregory, who was not at all wealthy, was engaged in small trade, but the family remembered and honored the traditions of their ancestors who had once served in the army of Tsarist Russia. Left without parents at an early age (his mother died in 1917 from pulmonary tuberculosis, his father in 1920 from typhus), Yakov chose a special profession - “Defending the Motherland.” During the Civil War in Russia, seventeen-year-old Yakov Kreizer volunteered for the Red Army and graduated from infantry school. From 1923 to 1941, for almost 18 years, he served in the Moscow Proletarian Division, where he rose from platoon commander to division commander.

In an article dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Ya.G. Kreizer, V. Moroz described the memorable summer of 1936 for the future commander, when two marshals arrived at the Alabino camps near Voronezh - Deputy People's Commissar of Defense M.N. Tukhachevsky and Chief of the General Staff A.I. Egorov. A battalion tactical exercise was prepared for their arrival, built according to Tukhachevsky’s personal plan. The battalion was commanded in the offensive training battle by Major Kreizer. A little later, in July and August 1936, M.N. Tukhachevsky published two detailed articles in “Red Star” under the general title “Battalion on the offensive” (task one and task two). In these materials, illustrated with diagrams of the tactical situation, an authoritative military commander showed that many of the statutory provisions in force at that time were outdated and did not reflect new forms of deep combat. It was necessary, without waiting for the updating of the governing documents, to develop and improve tactics, to take a creative approach to the organization of exercises and at the same time to avoid discrepancies in the methodology. According to Tukhachevsky, who was next to the battalion commander during the training battle and then talked with him for a long time after the training, Major Kreiser showed himself to be an inquisitive, thinking, promising commander. The episode was significant for Yakov Grigorievich. On August 16, 1936, the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was published in newspapers on awarding orders to a number of excellent military and political personnel of the Red Army. The commander of the training battalion, Major Kreizer Ya.G. By this resolution he was awarded the Order of Lenin. In the same column, by the way, was the name of brigade commander G.K. Zhukov, not yet covered with special glory.

In May 1940, the Moscow Proletarian Division was transformed into the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, which included two motorized rifle regiments, artillery and tank regiments, reconnaissance, communications, engineering battalions and other special units, totaling more than 12 thousand soldiers and commanders.
The biographer of the commander I. Malyar writes that by the evening of June 21, 1941, the division returned after difficult maneuvers in the Moscow region, and the next morning the Soviet-German war began... Colonel Yakov Kreizer received an order to withdraw the division along the Moscow-Vyazma-Smolensk-Borisov route in order to stop the Nazi advance. At the beginning of July 1941, units of the division entered the battle on the Berezina River near the city of Borisov and dealt a crushing blow to the infantry formations and tank columns of the Wehrmacht. For almost eleven days there were continuous oncoming battles, the Kreiser division was able to build a defense in such a way that the Nazi offensive on this section of the front fizzled out, the Soviet reserve divisions of the 20th Army managed to reach defensive lines along the Dnieper in the Smolensk region.

V. Beshanov, in his study “Tank Pogrom of 1941” (Moscow - Minsk, 2002), described the actions of the commander of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, Colonel Ya. G. Kreiser: “The cruiser deployed the division on a 20 - 25-kilometer front, occupied advantageous water lines and the most important roads. The Muscovites rained down heavy fire on the approaching enemy columns, forcing the Germans to deploy and carefully organize the battle. So the division commander held off the enemy for half a day. And when the Germans launched a decisive offensive, cut the division’s front into pieces or began to flow around open flanks, the infantry, under the cover of darkness, mounted vehicles and, leaving rearguards and ambushes, rolled back 10 - 12 km. In the morning the enemy ran into covering units, and by noon he encountered organized defense at a new line. Thus, day after day, the enemy’s forces were exhausted, his movement was slowed down, and valuable time was gained” (p. 281).

The commander of the 18th German Tank Division, General W. Nehring, acted against Kreiser, who, in an order for the division, assessed the military talent of the Soviet colonel: “The losses in equipment, weapons and vehicles are unusually large... This situation is intolerable, otherwise we will be “defeated” until our own death.” As V. Beshanov concludes, the impeccable professionalism of Colonel Kreiser was rather an exception in the initial period of the war.
In his “Memoirs and Reflections” G.K. Zhukov called these military actions of Colonel Yakov Kreizer “brilliant.” On July 12, 1941, Kreiser was wounded on the battlefield; a day later, by order of the commander of the 20th Army, the division was withdrawn to the second echelon.
On July 22, 1941, exactly a month after the start of the war, a decree was signed, which noted that in difficult battles, Colonel Yakov Kreiser “skillfully and decisively managed the division’s combat operations. Ensured successful battles in the main direction of the army. With his personal participation, fearlessness and heroism, he carried the division’s units into battle.” He was the first of the Red Army division commanders to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper wrote in an editorial on July 23, 1941 that “Ya.G. Kreiser is the first of the courageous infantry commanders to receive a high award for courage and heroism shown on the front of the fight against fascism, skillfully controlled the battle of the formation, inspired the personal example of his subordinates, was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield.”
In this first, most difficult period of the war, the name of Kreizer in the circles of ordinary Red Army soldiers and junior commanders became a true symbol of the first victories over the invaders. In particular, Red Army soldier M. Svinkin and junior commander A. Rykalin responded to these events with a song that immediately gained popularity among the troops:
Smashes the enemy with weapons
The division is fearless.
For heroic deeds
Kreiser is calling us into battle.
A crushing avalanche
Let's go brave fighters
For our cause is right,
For our native people.

On August 7, 1941, Yakov Kreiser received the rank of major general; in September 1941, the division was reorganized and received the name - 1st Guards Moscow Motorized Rifle Division. By that time, General Kreizer was appointed commander of the 3rd Army, which in the Battle of Smolensk, together with other troops, managed to delay the advance of German troops on Moscow for two whole months. Under the command of Kreiser, the army, after being completed, participated in the Tula defensive and Yelets operations, and during the counter-offensive near Moscow, it liberated Efremov.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General A.S. Zhadov recalled: “My meeting with Ya.G. The cruiser took place in early September 1941 on the Bryansk Front; he was appointed commander of the 3rd Army, the chief of staff of which the author of these lines happened to be. I remember that in the headquarters dugout I was getting acquainted on the map with the zone of action of our, in fact, newly formed association, when the door opened and a major general with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and two Orders of Lenin on his chest quickly approached the table.
“Kreiser is your new army commander,” he introduced himself, extending his hand and cheerfully looking at me with his smart brown eyes.
He immediately sat down at the table, and we began to study the situation together. From the very first minutes of my acquaintance, I was imbued with respect and sympathy for my new boss, for he, as they say, radiated energy, efficiency, and a friendly attitude towards his colleagues. We went through together in September - December 1941 the difficult days of unequal battles with the enemy on the Desna, when the army was leaving encirclement. The successful breakthrough of the encirclement was largely due to the confident and flexible leadership of the army commander, his inexhaustible optimism, and the ability to set a personal example of courage and perseverance.”

In October 1941, the 3rd Army under the command of Ya.G. Kreizer fought heavy battles and was surrounded. However, even in these almost hopeless conditions of encirclement, the commander rose to the occasion, managing not only to organize a defense that exhausted the enemy, but also to carry out an unprecedented maneuver - a long military campaign of an entire army behind enemy lines. The commander of the Bryansk Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union A.I. Eremenko, analyzing the actions of the 3rd Army and its commander, came to the conclusion that “this army found itself in the most difficult conditions. It had to fight the greatest distance in difficult terrain compared to other armies... Under the leadership of Kreiser, who skillfully relied on the headquarters and the entire command staff, the army, having covered 300 km behind enemy lines, emerged from encirclement, maintaining its combat effectiveness.”
At the very beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, Major General Kreizer was instructed to form the 2nd Army practically in combat conditions. At this time, the army commander was seriously wounded, but he wrote home to his family: “The other day I was slightly wounded in the head by a stray bullet, but now it has all healed, and only a small scar remains on the top of my head. The wound was so light that I didn’t even get out of action.”

On February 2, 1943, by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Ya.G. Kreiser took command of the 2nd Guards Army. Developing the offensive, she received an order to capture Novocherkassk. Despite the need for a sharp change in the direction of the main attack from the south-west to the north-west, the new army commander successfully completed the task. On February 13, army troops liberated the city. The next day the Nazis were expelled from Rostov. After the successful completion of this operation, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded the military rank of lieutenant general and awarded the Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree.
Subsequently, the 2nd Guards Army under the command of General Kreizer reached the Mius River and crossed it in a number of areas. Fierce, grueling battles unfolded here, since the enemy, considering Mius to be the most important defensive line covering the southern regions of Donbass, concentrated numerous reserves here.

Voronezh author V. Zhikharev notes that Kreiser’s opponent on the Mius Front was the experienced Nazi general Hollidith. Hitler ordered his army to be staffed with selected units and sent his best SS tank division “Totenkopf” here. This entire armada was supported from above by 700 aircraft. In one of the areas, the Germans attacked twelve times, they managed to crush our positions. The advance of the 51st Army slowed down. On the scheduled day we did not reach the Krynka River. Marshal S.K. Timoshenko and the new front commander F.I. Tolbukhin strongly scolded Kreiser and even achieved his removal from the post of army commander. Marshal A.M. came to the rescue two days later. Vasilevsky, who arrived among the troops as a representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. He not only returned Kreiser to leadership of the army, but also thanked him for the breakthrough of the Mius Front. And some time later, his military friends congratulated him on being awarded the next military rank - lieutenant general.
In August 1943 Ya.G. Kreiser was appointed commander of the 51st Army, which operated on the right wing of the Southern Front and received the task of holding its zone and conducting reconnaissance at the beginning of the Donbass operation.

The modern Ukrainian publicist V. Voinolovich came to the conclusion that the new army commander approached this seemingly passive task with all seriousness. It was established that the enemy intended to retreat to a previously prepared line and strengthen there for a long time. Yakov Grigorievich immediately began careful preparations for a strike against the enemy. According to the decision of the commander, the 346th Rifle Division (General D.I. Stankevsky) of the 54th Corps was to deliver the main blow. It was given the required number of tanks, artillery and other military equipment and weapons. On the night of September 1, reconnaissance reported that the enemy, leaving small barriers, began to retreat. Then the strike force rushed forward. Army troops under the command of Ya.G. The cruisers, sweeping away the Nazi barriers, covered up to 60 km in three days and liberated many settlements, including the cities of Krasny Luch, Voroshilovsk, Shterovka and Debaltsevo. The defeat of the enemy in this area contributed to the offensive of the 5th Shock Army in the area of ​​Gorlovka, Makeevka, and Stalino. For the successful actions of the 51st Army in Donbass Y.G. On September 17, 1943, the cruiser was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree.
The troops of the 51st Army under the command of General Kreizer advanced in a southern direction, taking an active part in the hostilities for the liberation of Crimea. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky in his book “The Work of a Whole Life” recalled that “V.A.’s 44th Army marched from Melitopol to Kakhovka. Khomenko. Together with her, the 51st Army of Ya.G. advanced and saddled the enemy directly in Perekop itself. Cruiser, which defeated a fascist tank-infantry fist along the road in the Askania-Nova area.”
Sevastopol was chosen as the direction of the main attack. Soviet newspapers then wrote that in 1941-1942. The Germans stormed Sevastopol for 250 days, “the army of Y.G. Kreizer released him in five days.” One of the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for 1944 states that “the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, going on the offensive, broke through the heavily fortified enemy defenses on the Perekop Isthmus, captured the city of Armyansk and, having advanced up to 20 kilometers, reached the Ishun positions... The troops of Lieutenant General Zakharov and Lieutenant General Kreizer distinguished themselves in battles.” (Orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union: Collection. - M.: Voenizdat, 1975. P. 142-143).

In the summer of 1944, the 51st Army was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front and took part in the liberation of Latvia. In one of his letters to his relatives, Yakov Grigorievich described these events as follows: “The war is coming to an end, and I will try to finish it with honor. Now I am operating in a slightly different direction, that is, I have moved from Latvia to Lithuania again, and while I am writing a letter, the strongest cannonade of our artillery is heard all around and quite rarely enemy shells explode three or four kilometers from where I am. I'll be moving forward in a couple of hours. In general, in the near future there should be an end to the Germans in Lithuania, and then in Latvia. A few words about myself. My health is quite satisfactory, my nerves have gotten a little worse. After the war, the whole family will go to Sochi and cure all diseases. October 7, 1944."

Between Tukums and Liepaja, troops of the 51st Army under the command of General Kreiser blocked 30 enemy divisions that capitulated in early May 1945. Referring to these events in his memoirs “To the Shores of the Amber Sea,” I.Kh. Bagramyan called Ya.G. Kreizer "an offensive general, a master of attacks."
Recently, Professor E.V. Kolesnikov, Ya.A. Perekhov, I.A. Ivannikov and the author of these lines appealed to the leadership of the city of Novocherkassk with a request to consider the issue of perpetuating the memory of Ya.G. Kreizer. The answer signed by the deputy head of the city administration O.P. Boldyrev is encouraging: “The issue of perpetuating the memory of Lieutenant General Ya.G. Kreizer will be considered at a meeting of the toponymy commission of the City Administration. The facts stated in your appeal will be taken into account in the process of naming new streets in the city.”
I would like to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of our region from the Nazi invaders representative bodies and the heads of administrations of other cities and districts, the leadership of the Rostov region did not stand aside from this important patriotic endeavor - perpetuating the memory of the liberating heroes.

Today his name is rarely remembered, but during the war days everyone knew him. He was one of the first to repel the Nazis when the Red Army was retreating on all fronts. He was awarded and removed from command, songs were written about him, denunciations were written about him. He was not one of those who likes to talk about himself a lot, which is perhaps why he is so rarely remembered today. I would like to correct this injustice.

He was that rare army commander about whom ordinary soldiers composed their simple, ingenuous songs. He was a frontline military commander, where he received several serious wounds. Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan called Kreiser an unsurpassed master of attacks, while he was equally talented in defensive battles. He did not live such a long life by modern standards, but he did an incredible amount.

Yakov Kreizer was born on November 4, 1905 in Voronezh. His father, Gregory, who was not at all wealthy, was engaged in small trade, but the family remembered and honored the traditions of their ancestors who had once served in the army of Tsarist Russia. Left without parents at an early age (his mother died in 1917 from pulmonary tuberculosis, his father in 1920 from typhus), Yakov chose a special profession - “Defending the Motherland.” During the Civil War in Russia, seventeen-year-old Yakov Kreizer volunteered for the Red Army and graduated from infantry school. From 1923 to 1941, for almost 18 years, he served in the Moscow Proletarian Division, where he rose from platoon commander to division commander.

There is a fact in his biography that during battalion exercises he showed himself to be an inquisitive, thoughtful, promising commander. On August 16, 1936, the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR was published in newspapers on awarding orders to a number of excellent military and political personnel of the Red Army. The commander of the training battalion, Major Kreizer Ya.G. By this resolution he was awarded the Order of Lenin. In the same column, by the way, was the name of brigade commander G.K. Zhukov, not yet covered with special glory.

In May 1940, the Moscow Proletarian Division was transformed into the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, which included two motorized rifle regiments, artillery and tank regiments, reconnaissance, communications, engineering battalions and other special units, totaling more than 12 thousand soldiers and commanders.

On the evening of June 21, 1941, the division returned after difficult maneuvers in the Moscow region, and the next morning the Soviet-German war began... Colonel Yakov Kreizer received an order to withdraw the division along the Moscow-Vyazma-Smolensk-Borisov route to stop the Nazi advance. At the beginning of July 1941, units of the division entered the battle on the Berezina River near the city of Borisov and dealt a crushing blow to the infantry formations and tank columns of the Wehrmacht. For almost eleven days there were continuous oncoming battles, the Kreiser division was able to build a defense in such a way that the Nazi offensive on this section of the front fizzled out, the Soviet reserve divisions of the 20th Army managed to reach defensive lines along the Dnieper in the Smolensk region.

The cruiser deployed the division on a 20-25-kilometer front, occupied advantageous water lines and the most important roads. The Muscovites rained down heavy fire on the approaching enemy columns, forcing the Germans to deploy and carefully organize the battle. So the division commander held off the enemy for half a day.

And when the Germans launched a decisive offensive, cut the division’s front into pieces or began to flow around open flanks, the infantry, under the cover of darkness, mounted vehicles and, leaving rearguards and ambushes, rolled back 10 - 12 km. In the morning the enemy ran into covering units, and by noon he encountered organized defense at a new line. Thus, day after day, the enemy’s forces were exhausted, his movement was slowed down, and valuable time was gained.

The commander of the 18th German Tank Division, General W. Nehring, acted against Kreiser, who, in an order for the division, assessed the military talent of the Soviet colonel: “The losses in equipment, weapons and vehicles are unusually large... This situation is intolerable, otherwise we will be “defeated” to the point of our own death.”

In his “Memoirs and Reflections” G.K. Zhukov called these military actions of Colonel Yakov Kreizer “brilliant.”

On July 12, 1941, Kreiser was wounded on the battlefield; a day later, by order of the commander of the 20th Army, the division was withdrawn to the second echelon.

On July 22, 1941, exactly a month after the start of the war, a decree was signed, which noted that in difficult battles, Colonel Yakov Kreiser “skillfully and decisively managed the division’s combat operations. Ensured successful battles in the main direction of the army. With his personal participation, fearlessness and heroism, he carried the division’s units into battle.” He was the first of the Red Army division commanders to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

In this first, most difficult period of the war, the name of Kreizer in the circles of ordinary Red Army soldiers and junior commanders became a true symbol of the first victories over the invaders. In particular, Red Army soldier M. Svinkin and junior commander A. Rykalin responded to these events with a song that immediately gained popularity among the troops:

Smashes the enemy with weapons

The division is fearless.

For heroic deeds

Kreiser is calling us into battle.

A crushing avalanche

Let's go brave fighters

For our cause is right,

For our native people.

Yakov Kreiser (right) (Photo: Anatoly Egorov / TASS)

On August 7, 1941, Yakov Kreizer received the rank of major general; in September 1941, the division was reorganized and received the name - 1st Guards Moscow Motorized Rifle Division. By that time, General Kreizer was appointed commander of the 3rd Army, which in the Battle of Smolensk, together with other troops, managed to delay the advance of German troops on Moscow for two whole months. Under the command of Kreiser, the army, after being completed, participated in the Tula defensive and Yelets operations, and during the counter-offensive near Moscow, it liberated Efremov.

In October 1941, the 3rd Army under the command of Ya.G. Kreizer fought heavy battles and was surrounded. However, even in these almost hopeless conditions of encirclement, the commander rose to the occasion, managing not only to organize a defense that exhausted the enemy, but also to carry out an unprecedented maneuver - a long military campaign of an entire army behind enemy lines.

“Under the leadership of Kreizer, who skillfully relied on the headquarters and the entire command staff, the army, having traveled 300 km behind enemy lines, emerged from encirclement, maintaining its combat effectiveness,” wrote the commander of the Bryansk Front, Marshal A. I. Eremenko.

At the very beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, Major General Kreizer was instructed to form the 2nd Army practically in combat conditions. At this time, the army commander was seriously wounded, but he wrote home to his family: “The other day I was slightly wounded in the head by a stray bullet, but now it has all healed, and only a small scar remains on the top of my head. The wound was so light that I didn’t even get out of action.”

On February 2, 1943, by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Ya.G. Kreiser took command of the 2nd Guards Army. Developing the offensive, she received an order to capture Novocherkassk. Despite the need for a sharp change in the direction of the main attack from the south-west to the north-west, the new army commander successfully completed the task. On February 13, army troops liberated the city. The next day the Nazis were expelled from Rostov. After the successful completion of this operation, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded the military rank of lieutenant general and awarded the Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree.

Subsequently, the 2nd Guards Army under the command of General Kreizer reached the Mius River and crossed it in a number of areas. Fierce, grueling battles unfolded here, since the enemy, considering Mius to be the most important defensive line covering the southern regions of Donbass, concentrated numerous reserves here.

Voronezh author V. Zhikharev notes that Kreiser’s opponent on the Mius Front was the experienced Nazi general Hollidith. Hitler ordered his army to be staffed with selected units and sent his best SS tank division “Totenkopf” here. This entire armada was supported from above by 700 aircraft. In one of the areas, the Germans attacked twelve times, they managed to crush our positions. The advance of the 51st Army slowed down. On the scheduled day we did not reach the Krynka River.

Marshal S.K. Timoshenko and the new front commander F.I. Tolbukhin strongly scolded Kreiser and even achieved his removal from the post of army commander. Marshal A.M. came to the rescue two days later. Vasilevsky, who arrived among the troops as a representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. He not only returned Kreiser to leadership of the army, but also thanked him for the breakthrough of the Mius Front.

In August 1943 Ya.G. Kreiser was appointed commander of the 51st Army, which operated on the right wing of the Southern Front and received the task of holding its zone and conducting reconnaissance at the beginning of the Donbass operation.

On the night of September 1, reconnaissance reported that the enemy, leaving small barriers, began to retreat. Then the strike force rushed forward. Army troops under the command of Ya.G. The cruisers, sweeping away the Nazi barriers, covered up to 60 km in three days and liberated many settlements, including the cities of Krasny Luch, Voroshilovsk, Shterovka and Debaltsevo.

The troops of the 51st Army under the command of General Kreizer advanced in a southern direction, taking an active part in the hostilities for the liberation of Crimea. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky in his book “The Work of a Whole Life” recalled that “V.A.’s 44th Army marched from Melitopol to Kakhovka. Khomenko. Together with her, the 51st Army of Ya.G. advanced and saddled the enemy directly in Perekop itself. Cruiser, which defeated a fascist tank-infantry fist along the road in the Askania-Nova area.”

Commander of the 51st Army, Lieutenant General Ya. G. Kreizer at the OP near Sevastopol
Sevastopol was chosen as the direction of the main attack. Soviet newspapers then wrote that in 1941-1942. The Germans stormed Sevastopol for 250 days, “the army of Y.G. Kreizer released him in five days.”

In the summer of 1944, the 51st Army was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front and took part in the liberation of Latvia. In one of his letters to his relatives, Yakov Grigorievich described these events as follows: “The war is coming to an end, and I will try to finish it with honor. Now I am operating in a slightly different direction, that is, I have moved from Latvia to Lithuania again, and while I am writing a letter, the strongest cannonade of our artillery is heard all around and quite rarely enemy shells explode three or four kilometers from where I am. I'll be moving forward in a couple of hours. In general, in the near future there should be an end to the Germans in Lithuania, and then in Latvia. A few words about myself. My health is quite satisfactory, my nerves have gotten a little worse. After the war, the whole family will go to Sochi and cure all diseases. October 7, 1944"

Between Tukums and Liepaja, troops of the 51st Army under the command of General Kreiser blocked 30 enemy divisions that capitulated in early May 1945. Referring to these events in his memoirs “To the Shores of the Amber Sea,” I.Kh. Bagramyan called Ya.G. Kreizer "an offensive general, a master of attacks."

On June 24, 1945, General Kreizer participated in the Victory Parade, and then in the Kremlin reception on this occasion. When Marshal Bagramyan introduced generals to Stalin 1 Baltic Front and introduced Yakov Kreiser, then Joseph Vissarionovich asked the marshal:

- Why is he still only a lieutenant general? Consider that he is already a colonel general!

And the next day the famous commander became a colonel general, at the age of 40! The brave general's chest was decorated with the country's highest awards: 5 Orders of Lenin (no one had so many of these orders!), 4 Orders of the Red Banner, a full bouquet of military orders: 2 Orders of Suvorov, the Order of Kutuzov and the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, not to mention dozens of other orders and medals including foreign ones.

Early 1960s. Ya.G. Kreiser with his wife Shura and son. Photo from personal archive.
IN post-war years General Yakov Kreiser until his last breath served to strengthen the country's defense capability. He commands armies in Transcaucasia and the Carpathian region, and graduates from Academy courses General Staff. Then he commands the districts: South Ural, then Transbaikal and then the largest - the Far Eastern.

From 1963 to 1969 he directed the Higher Officer Retraining Courses for Officers "Vystrel".

In 1962 he was awarded the rank of Army General. In May 1969, he was appointed Inspector General of the Soviet Army.

That's his way life path this man-fighter, a courageous and brave warrior, a talented commander, who gave himself, all his knowledge and strength to his native country, its people.

So little is known about Kreiser also because he was a very modest person and did not like to talk about himself. It is known, for example, that on May 24, 1945, at the same reception already mentioned here in the Kremlin in honor of the commanders of the fronts and armies, Stalin raised a toast to Kreiser. Yakov Grigorievich preferred to remain silent about this episode, although at that time anyone would have been proud of it. One day, his colleague at the Shot course, a young officer Krivulin, asked: they say that Stalin raised a toast to you, is it true? The general just smiled in response: “Well, if people say it, it means it’s true”.

Krivulin told how he once came to Yakov Grigorievich’s house with some errand and was struck by the modesty, literally the poverty of the situation. He thought that the home of such a high commander, a colonel general, looked like a real palace. But what did he see instead: the general, who was not feeling well, was lying on an ordinary iron bed, covered with a skinny soldier’s blanket, and an overcoat with general’s shoulder straps was thrown on top for warmth...

General Cruiser never talked about his role in the war, never sought personal glory. He simply lived his life according to the eternal law of honor: do what you must, and come what may. As history shows, there are not too many such people at all times.

He died in 1969, at the age of 64. Seriously wounded at the front, nomadic military fate undermined the hero's health. He was buried in Moscow, at the Novo-Devichye cemetery.