- Vasily Volsky
Vasily Timofeyevich Volsky (
Tula Province, Russia,March 10 ,1897 —Moscow ,Soviet Union ,February 22 ,1946 ) was aGeneral ofSoviet tank forces.From 1939-1941, Volsky headed the Soviet Union's Academy of Mechanisation and Motorisation. He then rose to command the 4th Mechanised Corps, which he led at the
Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942. Initially Volsky had concerns over the plannedOperation Uranus , going as far as to writeStalin a personal letter "as a good communist" warning him that the attack would fail.Beevor, p.250] After a meeting with Stalin, Volsky retracted his letter and the Corps assisted in the encirclement and destruction of the Romanian army commanded by Gebele.During 1943, Volsky commanded the
3rd Guards Tank Corps ; in 1944, promoted toColonel-General , he was appointed the commander of5th Guards Tank Army , replacingPavel Rotmistrov .Volsky, suffering from
tuberculosis , was hospitalised from March 1945 and died in 1946.References
Stalingrad: The Faithful Siege (1999) by
Antony Beevor .Footnotes
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