Oka Ivanovich
Gorodovikov
1879-1960
Oka Ivanovich Gorodovikov was a Soviet military commander, Colonel-General (1940), Hero of the Soviet Union. He was born on September 19 (October 1), 1879 in the village of Wet Elmuta of the Salsky district (now the Proletarian district of the Rostov region) in the family of a kalmyk cossack. He was called up for military service in 1903 and sent to the 9th Don Cossack Regiment as a private. After training in the regimental training team, he was released with the rank of junior sergeant and demobilized. In 1910-1915, he was a village instructor in Cossack camps in the village of Platovskaya in the Salsky district, a senior non–commissioned officer. He was called up again in 1915. Participant of the First World War, platoon commander of the third-rank 43rd Don Cossack Regiment, senior non-commissioned officer. As part of the 9th separate Cossack hundred, he performed guard duty in the rear. After the October Revolution, he was elected to the Congress of Cossack and soldiers’ deputies. During the Civil War, O.I. Gorodovikov commanded a platoon of a partisan detachment in the village of Platovskaya from October 1917, and from April 1918 – commander of a squadron of a partisan detachment of S.M. Budyonny in the Salsky district. Since October 1918 was an Assistant commander of the 20th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, since December he was an Assistant commander of the cavalry brigade. In February 1919 he was appointed commander of the 19th Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Cavalry Division, and since May of the same year he was a commander of this division as part of the 1st Cavalry Corps of S.M. Budyonny (since November – 1st Cavalry Army). In July – September 1920, he served as commander of the 2nd Cavalry Army. From October 1920 to July 1924, he commanded the 6th Chongar Cavalry Division as part of the 1st Cavalry Army. He participated in battles with the troops of Generals A.I. Denikin, P.N. Wrangel, the armed formations of N.I. Makhno, as well as in the Soviet-Polish War of 1920. During the Perekop-Chongar operation in 1920 skillfully organized the division’s breakthrough into the rear of the White Guard troops and its exit to the Chongar Bridge. For military services in the Civil War he was awarded 3 Orders of the Red Banner. In 1922 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses. Since July 1924, O.I. Gorodovikov held the position of inspector of cavalry and repair of the North Caucasus Military District, then he was commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps of the Red Cossacks of the Ukrainian Military District. In 1927 he graduated from the courses of the higher commanding staff, and in 1930 – the higher academic courses at the Military-Political Academy of the Red Army. In 1930, Gorodovikov was awarded the rank of commander of the 2nd rank. After graduating in 1932 from the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M.V. Frunze was appointed assistant and then deputy commander of the Central Asian Military. Since 1938 – Inspector of the cavalry of the Red Army. In 1939, he participated in the campaign of the Red Army in Western Ukraine. In June 1940, O.I. Gorodovikov was awarded the rank of Colonel-General. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Colonel-General O.I. Gorodovikov was an Inspector–General and commander of the cavalry of the Red Army, simultaneously from August 1941. Until January 1943 he was a Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Formation and Staffing of the Red Army. During the war, he carried out a lot of work on the formation, organization and combat training of cavalry formations and units, training of officers. In August 1941, he commanded a corps on the Western Front. In the autumn of 1941 and during the Battle of Stalingrad, he was on the fronts as a representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme Command for the use of cavalry. From January 1943 until the end of the war he was a Deputy Commander of the cavalry of the Red Army. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 10, 1958, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his services in the creation of the USSR Armed Forces and the protection of the Soviet state from enemies and the heroism shown at the same time.
Address: Moscow, Bolshoy Rzhevsky lane, 11
