On November 8, 1924 Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov was born, the last Minister of Defense of the USSR - a participant in the Great Patriotic War, the last, 41st, Marshal
Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov was born on November 8, 1924 - Soviet military and political leader. He is the last (by the date of awarding a military rank) Marshal of the Soviet Union, received this rank in 1990 and the penultimate Minister of Defense of the USSR - he held this post from 1987 to 1991. Marshal Yazov is one of the 3 living Marshals of the Soviet Union and the only one who has not been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was a member of the State Emergency Committee, in which he represented the country's military leadership.
The personality of Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Yazov is known today to many adults in our country, as well as to many people living in the territory of the former post-Soviet space, as well as outside it. Yazov was a member of the Emergency Committee, from whom the most decisive actions were demanded and expected, but for the majority of Russians, the marshal will forever remain in the memory of "the one who did not shoot." Yazov never gave an order for the use of force, and without this the GKChP was doomed to failure. The army did not go to war with its own people, the events of August 1991 were almost without casualties. However, the story still took its toll. Russia and the states that emerged on the territory of the post-Soviet space still paid a very high price for the collapse of the country and the construction of new independent states.
Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov can be called a man of incredible, amazing fate, who broke out into the military elite from the very bottom and could have become the last Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, if not for the above-mentioned GKChP. With the wording “for treason to the Motherland”, the front-line marshal is put into the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center practically on his birthday, and literally in a matter of days another person becomes the Minister of Defense of the USSR, and soon the USSR itself ceases to exist as a state. This event becomes a personal tragedy for many millions of citizens who took the oath and tried to serve their Motherland with faith and truth.
It is striking that in the difficult moments of his life - on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, during the death of loved ones and wounds, in a prison cell - the marshal found support in poetry. Yazov could read the entire Pushkin novel "Eugene Onegin" by heart, as well as Lermontov's "Masquerade", poetry by Mayakovsky, Yesenin, or the work "Who Lives Well in Russia" by Nekrasov. During the war in 1942, as a platoon leader on the Leningrad front, he read various works to his soldiers in the trenches. Already commanding a regiment - in tents in Cuba during the famous Cuban missile crisis, when human civilization was on the verge of its possible death.
Yazov often talked about theater, poetry, art during general walks with his famous flatmate Innokenty Smoktunovsky. Much in the fate of this man was unusual. Born on November 8, 1924 in the small village of Yazovo near Omsk, he became the only marshal in the history of the USSR who was born in Siberia. A hereditary peasant, he managed to survive in the meat grinder of the battles of the Great Patriotic War, fighting from 1942 to 1945 near Leningrad, Volkhov and in the Baltic States. He managed to go from the very bottom to the trench positions to the country's defense minister.
Biography
Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov was born on November 8, 1924 in the small village of Yazovo, Omsk Region. His father was Yazov Timofey Yakovlevich, Yazov's mother Maria Fedoseevna - both peasants. The future marshal was proud of his peasant origin. During a meeting with US President George W. Bush, when asked who his parents were, Dmitry Yazov answered: my maternal grandfather, Mr. President, is a farmer, and my paternal grandfather is a soldier. And my parents are also peasants, farmers. His parents were hardworking, modest people, whom Dmitry Yazov was always proud of, as he was proud of his peasant surname, the history of which stretched back centuries.
The Yazov family comes from the city of Veliky Ustyug, they moved to Siberia to Lebyazhye Lake and created a village on this place, which received the same name - Yazovo. It was during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, when the first settlements began to appear on the territory of Siberia on the site of today's large cities - Tyumen, Tara, Tobolsk. Later, the Omsk, Semipalatinsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk fortresses were laid along the banks of the Irtysh River. The Yazov family was famous for its honesty, hard work and kindness. And, of course, the special talent possessed by the Russian people - if necessary, to be a loyal defender of their Motherland.
Not having time to finish high school, Dmitry Yazov was sucked into the crucible of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. From the very first days of the outbreak of the war, more than a dozen volunteers went to the front. The very young guys also went to the military registration and enlistment office. Dmitry Yazov also came to the military registration and enlistment office as a volunteer, although he was not yet 17 years old at that time. In order not to be refused, the future marshal attributed to himself 1 year. At that time, they lived in the villages without passports, so they did not check the tall guy for a long time and sent him to study in Novosibirsk at the school named after the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, which was evacuated from Moscow. The commanders in that school were front-line soldiers who had recently been discharged from hospitals after being wounded. It was they who began training future officers for the difficulties of frontline life.
Dmitry Yazov remembered those cadets' everyday life for the rest of his life: getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning, morning exercises and a whole day of combat training classes. In the winter of 1941, both near Moscow and in Siberia, frosts reached -40 degrees, but the young cadets, who were constantly under training load, did not notice these frosts. At the school, Dmitry learned that his stepfather, Fedor Nikitich, was also drafted into the army, and his mother stayed at home with 7 minor children, while his 3 sisters were mobilized to work in military factories.
In mid-January 1942, Dmitry Yazov went to the front. At the same time, studies continued on the trains. Teplushki temporarily turned into classrooms where cadets studied weapons: Tokarev's self-loading rifle, Degtyarev's light machine gun and Maxim's easel machine gun. First, a train with cadets arrived in Moscow. Here and in the Moscow region of Solnechnogorsk, from mid-February, they were trained for some time and again put into echelons. When Dmitry Yazov arrived with the rank of lieutenant on the Volkhov front, he was not yet 18 years old.
Yazov falls into the 177th rifle division, which on August 28, 1942 went on the offensive on the Karelian Isthmus near Senyavin. On the same day, Dmitry was wounded and received a severe concussion. He was able to return to the front only at the end of October 1942 and was sent to the 483rd Infantry Regiment. In mid-January 1943, during the next offensive of the regiment, Dmitry Yazov was wounded again, this time the injury was minor. The nurse on the front line put a bandage on his head and - again into battle. After this battle, Yazov was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant, and in March 1943 he left the front for advanced training courses for command personnel located in the city of Borovichi. Here the future marshal met his first wife, Ekaterina Fedorovna Zhuravleva, who married him after 3 years.
During the war, Yazov managed to take part in the defense of Leningrad, offensive operations in the Baltic States and the blockade of the encircled Kurland group of Nazi troops. He met the news of victory in the war in Mitava near Riga. And already at the end of July 1945 he received a vacation and after a long 4 years was able to go to his native village. Yazovo greeted him with joy and sorrow at the same time. The war carried away 34 Yazovs from the village of Yazovo. The first years after the war were quite tense and disturbing, but life went on as usual and in 1950 Dmitry Yazov had a son, and in the spring of 1953 a daughter.
In the same summer of 1953, Dmitry Yazov successfully passed the entrance exams to the Military Academy. Frunze, graduating in 1956 with a gold medal. As an excellent student, he was given the opportunity to choose the place of his future service himself, and Dmitry chose his 63rd Guards Krasnoselskaya twice Red Banner Infantry Division. In which he soon received the post of commander of the 400th motorized rifle regiment. This regiment, led by its commander, was stationed in Cuba from September 1962 to October 1963 (in June it receives the rank of colonel). Before returning to the USSR, Dmitry Yazov received an honorary diploma from the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Republic of Cuba, thanked the regiment personnel and Fidel Castro personally.
After the Cuban business trip, Dmitry Timofeevich was appointed deputy head of the general military training and planning department in the Combat Training Directorate of the Leningrad District. In 1967, the future marshal graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. After that, his service became much more transient: from October 1967 to March 1971, commander of a motorized rifle division (February 1968 was awarded the rank of Major General), from March 1971 to January 1973, he was a corps commander (December 1972, he was awarded the rank of General- lieutenant), from January 1973 to May 1974 - army commander. From May 1974 to October 1976 he held the post of chief of the first directorate in the Main Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, from October 1976 to January 1979 he was the first deputy commander of the Far Eastern Military District. From January 1979 to November 1980 - commander of the Central Group of Forces. From November 1980 to June 1984, Dmitry Yazov was the commander of the Central Asian Military District.
After that, Yazov again returned to the Far East and headed the eponymous district until January 1987. Since January 1987 he has held the post of Deputy Minister of Defense of the country, and from May 1987 to August 1991 he was the Minister of Defense of the USSR. The marshal was relieved of his duties after the failure of the State Emergency Committee. On the basis of a decree of August 22, 1991, he was relieved of his duties as the country's defense minister. As a member of the Emergency Committee, he was arrested and was in the "Matrosskaya Tishina" until February 1994, when the members of the Emergency Committee were released from custody under an amnesty. The marshal was dismissed on the basis of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 31, 1994.
Despite his rather respectable age, the marshal today does not sit at home with folded hands. He is an adviser to the Minister of Defense of Russia on topical issues of military affairs. Not so long ago he was elected chairman of the Committee in memory of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. Consultant to the head of the Military Memorial Center of the Russian Armed Forces. Periodically, the marshal speaks to cadets and students of the capital's military educational institutions, as well as veterans of the Great Patriotic War, taking part in the modern socio-political life of Russian society to the best of his ability and health.
Biography
YAZOV Dmitry Timofeevich (born November 8, 1924), Soviet statesman and military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union. Born in the village. Yazovo, Omsk region in a peasant family. In military service since November 1941. Graduated from the Moscow Military School. Of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in 1942, the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze in 1956, the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1967.
Member of the Great Patriotic War. From July 1942 to May 1945 he was a platoon commander on the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War D.T. Yazov - student of advanced training courses for infantry officers of the Leningrad Military District, company commander, deputy commander of a motorized rifle battalion, commander of a motorized rifle battalion, head of a regimental school, senior officer of the district combat training department. From August 1961 - commander of a motorized rifle regiment. During the Caribbean crisis, he commanded a separate motorized rifle regiment in Cuba. From December 1963 - deputy, from June 1964 - head of the planning department of the combat training directorate of the military district.
From October 1967 - commander of a motorized rifle division, from March 1971 - commander of an army corps, from January 1973 - commander of an army.
From May 1974 - Head of the Directorate of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, from October 1976 - First Deputy Commander of the Far Eastern Military District, from January 1979 - Commander of the Central Group of Forces and from February 1979 - Plenipotentiary of the USSR Government for the stay of Soviet troops in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. From November 1980 - Commander of the Central Asian Military Districts, and from June 1984 - of the Far Eastern Military Districts. Since January 1987 - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR for Personnel, Head of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.
From May 1987 to August 1991 D.T. Yazov - Minister of Defense of the USSR. During this period, under his leadership, a lot of work was carried out to increase the combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces, an organized withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Afghanistan was carried out. In 1990, Yazov was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
D.T. Yazov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st class, the Order of the Red Star, the Order for Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class, USSR medals, orders and medals of foreign states.
Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov. Born on November 8, 1924 in the village. Yazovo, Omsk province (now in the Okoneshnikovsky district of the Omsk region of Russia) - died on February 25, 2020 in Moscow. Soviet military leader, statesman and politician. Marshal of the Soviet Union (28.04 1990). Minister of Defense of the USSR (1987-1991). Candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1987-1990). Member of the CPSU Central Committee (1987-1991). Member of the Presidential Council of the USSR (1990). Member of the Security Council of the USSR (1991). Member of the State Emergency Committee (1991).
Dmitry Yazov was born on November 8, 1924 in the village of Yazovo, Pokrovskaya volost, Kalachinsky district, Omsk province (now in Okoneshnikovsky district of Omsk region of Russia) into a peasant family.
Father - Timofey Yakovlevich Yazov (died in 1933).
Mother - Maria Fedoseevna Yazova.
The family had four children.
From an early age he loved to read, was fond of poetry. As Yazov said, his favorite poets were Pushkin, Lermontov, Yesenin, Blok, Mayakovsky. While still at school, he memorized Eugene Onegin, which he later read to soldiers at the front. He began to write poetry himself early.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he volunteered for the front at the age of 17. At the same time, he attributed to himself one year of age. He himself later said: "I have been since 1924, but I said that since the 23rd. And nowhere has I ever tried to correct this. And when I was sitting in Matrosskaya Tishina, they asked me:" What year were you born? " I replied that since 1924. “And you have here since the 23rd,” they say. I answer: “I added this to myself. Due to the fact that you accuse me of treason and call me an enemy of the people, I want to say that since I was 17 I joined the army and never told anyone that I was younger than required. "And they began to look. a request to Novosibirsk. This priest's letter came from Novosibirsk when I was baptized. It says - father Timofey Yakovlevich since 1902, mother Maria Fedoseevna - since 1904. On November 8, a son was born, named Dmitry ".
At the military registration and enlistment office, the seventeen-year-old Yazov asked to be sent to the Moscow Red Banner Infantry School, which was then evacuated to Novosibirsk by decision of the Supreme Command Headquarters. He graduated in June 1942 (but he received his school leaving certificate only in 1953, already being a major).
Since August 1942 on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. He fought on the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts as commander of a rifle platoon and commander of a rifle company, commander of a platoon of front courses for junior lieutenants of the 483rd rifle regiment of the 177th rifle division of the Leningrad Front. He took part in the defense of Leningrad, in the offensive operations of Soviet troops in the Baltic States, in the blockade of the Kurland group of German troops.
In 1944 he joined the CPSU (b).
He was wounded twice in battle. About the circumstances of the injuries, Yazov told: “Then, when I was not even 18, I was wounded for the first time. The battle was in the swamps. The enemy was not visible. A mine or a shell exploded next to me. I was thrown up. The kidneys were beaten off, the spine was injured. In general, I woke up in the hospital. Then there was a second wound. When the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts were united. A grenade fell into the trench next to me. For some reason it did not explode. For some reason, I raised my head, and - explosion. The fragments hit the face and head. I still carry one. "
For his feats of arms during the Great Patriotic War, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star in 1945. During the war, he also graduated from the front-line advanced training courses for the command personnel (command personnel) of the Volkhov Front.
I met the victory in the Baltics.
After the end of the war, he was sent to the Advanced Training Course for officers of the Red Army infantry, which he graduated in 1946 and was appointed commander of a rifle company. In 1953, being in the rank of major, he graduated from the evening school, and in 1956 - from the MV Frunze Military Academy with a gold medal.
Upon graduation from the academy, he was appointed commander of a motorized rifle battalion.
From October 1958, he was a senior officer in the Combat Training Directorate of the Leningrad Military District.
Since October 1961 - the commander of the 400th motorized rifle regiment of the 63rd Guards Rifle Division, colonel (06/20/1962). He was appointed to the position of regiment commander on the personal instructions of the Marshal of the Soviet Union.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Yazov's 400th Motorized Rifle Regiment was secretly deployed to Cuba and was there from September 1962 to October 1963 on alert to repel the US invasion of the island. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
From September 1963 - deputy and then head of the planning and combined arms training department of the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District (until 1965).
In 1967 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff.
Since October 1967 - commander of the 122nd Guards Motorized Rifle Division of the Trans-Baikal Military District, Major General (02.22.1968).
Since March 1971 - commander of an army corps, lieutenant general (12/15/1972).
Since January 1973 - Commander of the 4th Army.
Since May 1974 - Head of Department in the Main Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
Since October 1976 - First Deputy Commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Colonel General (10/28/1977).
Since January 1979 - Commander of the Central Group of Forces on the territory of Czechoslovakia.
Since November 1980 - Commander of the Central Asian Military District, Army General (02/06/1984).
Since June 1984 - Commander of the Far Eastern Military District. While serving in the Far East, he became friends with Kim Il Sung.
Since January 1987 - Head of the Main Personnel Directorate (GUK) - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR for personnel. He was in this position for only four months.
Dmitry Yazov - Minister of Defense of the USSR
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 30, 1987, quite unexpectedly for himself, he was appointed to the post of Minister of Defense of the USSR. This happened after the landing of Matthias Rust on Red Square and the subsequent resignation from the post of Minister of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union S.L.Sokolov.
For the first three years as minister, Yazov remained general of the army, which was unusual - since 1935, all heads of the military department were Marshals of the Soviet Union (with the exception of the one who, in 1941, became the people's commissar of defense, had no rank until 1943).
On April 28, 1990, the President of the USSR awarded Dmitry Yazov the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. This was the last award of such a title in the history of the USSR.
Yazov became Minister of Defense at a difficult time for the country and the army, when Mikhail Gorbachev made political decisions to reduce nuclear weapons. He, like most of the country's top military leadership, did not agree that reductions should be carried out at such a pace and in such a wide range. He was also forced to comply with the decision to reduce the army, prepare for the withdrawal of groups of Soviet troops from the territory of foreign states (GSVG, TsGV, YUGV, SVG, GSVM).
As the Minister of Defense of the USSR, in accordance with the Geneva agreements on a political settlement of the situation around the DRA, concluded in April 1988, he carried out the withdrawal of a limited contingent of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988-1989.
In March 1991, in connection with the reorganization of the Soviet government (the creation of the Cabinet of Ministers under the President of the USSR), he was reappointed to the post of Minister of Defense of the USSR by the Decree of the President of the USSR.
A candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee since February 1981, a member of the CPSU Central Committee from June 1987 to August 1991, a candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from June 1987 to July 1990.
Member of the Presidential Council of the USSR in March - December 1990.
Member of the USSR Security Council in March - December 1991.
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 10-11 convocations (1979-89).
Dmitry Yazov and the State Emergency Committee
In 1991, Yazov joined the upcoming GKChP and from the first day became a member of it. Tanks and heavy military equipment were brought to Moscow on his orders.
After a trip to Foros to see Gorbachev, he was arrested at Vnukovo-2 airport on the night of August 22, 1991.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR Viktor Barannikov and the Prosecutor General of the RSFSR Valentin Stepankov personally participated in the arrest of Yazov. The investigator filed an official charge under Article 64 of the RSFSR Criminal Code - treason to the Motherland.
On the day of his arrest, a presidential decree was issued on the release of Yazov from the duties of Minister of Defense, which, in accordance with Articles 113 and 127. 3 of the USSR Constitution, was submitted for consideration by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, whose session opened on August 26, but the decree was never approved by him. Also on this day, the first interrogation of Yazov took place at the Senezh Rest House of the Administrative Department of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR (on Lake Senezh). The Minister of Defense said that there was no conspiracy, but there was a decision to organize a trip to Gorbachev so that he would agree to temporarily entrust his powers to Yanayev and no one discussed the question of the physical elimination of Gorbachev. At the same time, he said that he felt guilty before Gorbachev and his wife, as well as before the people and the CPSU. And he called the actions of the State Emergency Committee "stupidity", which should not be repeated. This interrogation was conducted without a lawyer (and in this regard, in 1994, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the testimony of Yazov, given by him during this interrogation, invalid and excluded them from the case file).
On the morning of August 22, before the first interrogation, he turned to Gorbachev with a video recorded message in which he read a letter and called himself an "old fool", regretted participating in this "adventure" and asked forgiveness from the USSR president. 20 years after these events, Yazov noted that he did not remember what he was saying, since he had not slept for a day. And he named Molchanov the initiator of this letter and video. On the day of interrogation, Vladimir Molchanov interviewed Yazov. In his memoirs, Yazov clarified that he was persuaded to turn to Gorbachev with a repentant speech in order to defend himself against the article that was being “sewn” for him, and under the influence of fatigue, he succumbed to the persuasion of television reporters.
After this interrogation, Yazov, along with another member of the State Emergency Committee, Tizyakov, were taken to a pre-trial detention center in the city of Kashin (Kalinin region). On August 25, Yazov was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina.
On August 29, 1991, on the proposal of President Gorbachev, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR approved Yevgeny Shaposhnikov as Minister of Defense, essentially relieving Yazov of his duties as minister (the day before that, the arrested Yazov formally became Acting Minister of Defense as a result of the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers).
On December 19, 1991, he was found guilty in absentia under Art. 88, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Lithuanian SSR (attempted coup d'etat), in involvement in the events in Vilnius in January 1991. The article provided for imprisonment up to 15 years or execution.
On January 26, 1993, the ex-Minister of Defense was released from custody along with other members of the State Emergency Committee Yanaev, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Tizyakov and Baklanov.
On February 23, 1994, he was amnestied by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Before that, on February 7, 1994, he was dismissed from military service and awarded a personalized pistol.
After retiring for some time, he held the posts of chief military adviser to the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Defense Ministry, chief adviser-consultant to the head of the Military Academy of the General Staff.
He participated in veteran events, was present among the honored guests at the Victory parades.
Repeatedly spoke with memories of the State Emergency Committee, in which he argued that there was no conspiracy against state power at that time: "It was a complete mistake. Firstly, no one was preparing. After visiting the president, they said that he does not decide anything, let's create a Committee, and in the morning we have to announce it. They say there was a conspiracy. What conspiracy, when the Committee was created overnight ?!" Was the country's leadership opposed to Gorbachev's policy right? There was no other way. "... According to Yazov, he did not refuse the amnesty, unlike his former deputy Valentin Varennikov, because otherwise he would have been convicted of damaging the asphalt on the streets of Moscow with tanks.
After the re-establishment of the service of general inspectors of the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2008, he became the general inspector of the Office of General Inspectors of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Consultant to the Chief of the Military Memorial Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
From 2000 to 2010, he headed the Committee in Memory of Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov, since 2010 - a member of the Committee's Presidium.
Member of the governing bodies of a number of public organizations, including the Public Recognition Forum.
In January 2016, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Lithuania at the trial in the "case of January 13" accused Dmitry Yazov in absentia of creating "an organized group of 160 military and political figures with the aim of returning Lithuania to the USSR." The Prosecutor General's Office of the republic demanded life imprisonment for Yazov. On March 27, 2019, the Vilnius Regional Court sentenced ex-Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov in absentia to 10 years in the case of the events of January 13, 1991.
In September 2017, in Omsk, on the territory of boarding school No. 9, a bust monument to Marshal Yazov was unveiled.
Dmitry Yazov. The strength of frontline friendship
There is a friendship that is faithful to the grave.
Yes! - this is friendship of the highest standard!
We all know such friendship
After all, this is front-line friendship!
In battles for the honor of their Fatherland
I spared neither strength nor life.
And, having walked in the ranks for half a century,
He was a minister and ... a man.
And let the rogues betray us,
But we held the blow firmly.
We conquered pain and trouble!
Indeed, in our heart is the Light of Victory!
In the fall of 2012, the marshal was taken to the intensive care unit of the Central Military Clinical Hospital. Mandryki is in serious condition - his thrombosis has worsened.
Dmitry Yazov suffered a stroke in April 2017.
Personal life of Dmitry Yazov:
He was married twice. He had four children and seven grandchildren.
The first wife is Ekaterina Fedorovna Zhuravleva (1946-1975). They met in March 1943 and got married in 1946. They lived together for 28 years. The wife died in 1975 after a serious illness.
The eldest daughter died at the age of two - in 1949 she fell into boiling water.
Later in the marriage son Igor and daughter Elena were born.
Son Igor, navigator of the submarine, died in 1994 at the age of 44.
Daughter Elena gave birth to three children.
One of the Marshal's grandsons crashed in a car and died at the age of 16.
Dmitry Yazov and first wife Ekaterina with son Igor and daughter Elena
Second wife - Esmeralda (Emma) Evgenievna (1976-2017). Have been together since 1977. We met in Alma-Ata, where Yazov's sister lived. "We met at her place. We talked. She is lonely, I am lonely," he recalled.
Emma Evgenievna died at the age of 84 in Moscow after a heart attack, and is buried at the Vostryakovskoye cemetery.
Dmitry Yazov - matchmaker of Marshal of the Armored Forces O. A. Losik.
As the Minister of Defense of the USSR, he lived in the house of the Central Committee of the CPSU on the street. Kosygin.
Awards and titles of Dmitry Yazov:
Order of Lenin (02/23/1971);
- Order of Lenin (02/18/1981);
- Order of the October Revolution (02/20/1991);
- Order of the Red Banner (10/01/1963);
- Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (03/11/1985);
- Order of the Red Star (06/15/1945);
- Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree (04/30/1975);
- Medal "For Military Merit" (20.04.1953);
- 19 USSR medals;
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (October 5, 2009, No. 2742);
- Order of Alexander Nevsky (2014);
- Order of Honor (November 8, 2004, No. 12640);
- Award weapon - 9-mm Makarov pistol (is an exhibit in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces);
- Order of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Demetrius Donskoy II Art. (ROC, 2005);
- Order of Honor;
- Order of Che Guevara (Cuba);
- Order of Scharnhorst (GDR);
- Order of the Red Banner (Czechoslovakia);
- Order "For Distinction" I degree (Syria);
- Medal "40 Years of Victory at Khalkhin Gol" (Mongolia);
- Medal "50 years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" (Mongolia);
- Anniversary medal "20 years of independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (2012);
- Honorary Citizen of the Omsk Region
Bibliography of Dmitry Yazov:
1987 - On guard of socialism and peace;
1988 - Loyal to the Fatherland;
1988 - On the military balance and nuclear missile parity;
1989 - Defense Construction: New Approaches;
1990 - Military reform;
1990 - Avoiding war is the highest goal of the Armed Forces of the USSR;
1999 - Strikes of Fate: Memories of a Soldier and Marshal;
2004 - Photo chronicle;
2005 - "Let's bow to those great years ...": Collection of reports and speeches;
2006 - Caribbean Crisis: Forty Years Later;
2009 - Marshal Sokolov;
2010 - Marshal of the Soviet Union;
2010 - Gurtieftsy. From Omsk to Berlin;
2011 - Panfilov's soldiers in battles for the Motherland;
2011 - August 1991. Where was the army ?;
2016 - Victorious Stalin
The image of Marshal Yazov in the cinema:
2009 - Tomorrow everything will be different - in the role of Marshal Yazov, actor Nikolai Ryabkov;
2011 - Yeltsin. Three days in August - an actor in the role of Marshal Yazov.
An interview with the last Marshal of the Soviet Union, Dmitry Yazov, whom some consider an ossified communist and anti-democratic Gekachepist, others - a real patriot of a great country that ceased to exist 23 years ago.
For most people, this is already a deep story. It is all the more interesting to learn the background of many events from a direct participant. In this conversation with Dmitry Timofeevich, four journalists from KP took part, including your author. The material is large, only a small fraction of it fit into the newspaper. In the online edition it is possible to print the full version, which we do.
Dmitry Timofeevich, if, after all that had been experienced, he returned to 1991, would anything have changed in the actions of the USSR Minister of Defense Marshal Yazov?
- It is difficult to answer this question. I am a military man. And decisions, as you know, are often made depending on the prevailing situation. Then, in 1991, this (the attempt of the August coup - K.M.) was due to the fact that the collapse of the Soviet Union was expected. And everyone started talking about the junta, the coup, the conspiracy, treason. But in fact, then everyone was convinced that nothing like this had happened. Treason to the Motherland is an act that entails some crimes related to betrayal, disclosure of military, state secrets in favor of a foreign state, or a conspiracy to seize power ...
GKChP members declare a state of emergency in the USSR. Moscow, August 19, 2014. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
Well, tell me, please, what kind of conspiracy, if the day before we went to the president (Gorbachev, to Foros, to the presidential dacha in Crimea - K.M.) tell him that tomorrow there will be no state if you sign an agreement ... And what kind of agreement? On March 17, 1991, as you know, an all-Union referendum was held in which more than 76 percent of Soviet people, including those in the union republics, voted for the Union.
Now many people say: the most important thing is the will of the people, to which we obey. So why more than 76 percent voted for the former Union - and immediately Gorbachev, Yakovlev and some of his other supporters sit in Novo-Ogaryovo and talk about creating a new Union of Sovereign States, that is, the social, political and state system is practically changing. We analyzed the situation and had a very clear idea (based on how the sessions of the Supreme Soviet were going) what the situation was like: if an agreement was signed on August 19, then there would be no Union.
Answers in Novo-Ogarevo
- When was the Novo-Ogarev agreement published? Friday 16 August! - continues Dmitry Yazov. - And on Monday it was already going to sign. Please tell me who read it, who read it? You don't even remember when it was published, because nobody read it! People at the weekend - at the dachas. We gathered on Saturday under the leadership of Pavlov, and he was the chairman of the Council of Ministers: Kryuchkov (chairman of the KGB of the USSR - K.M.), Yazov, Pugo (Minister of Internal Affairs - K.M.) and a number of responsible comrades, and came to the conclusion that the agreement contradicts the will of the people expressed in the referendum on March 17, and something must be done.
If there was a pure conspiracy, it would be necessary to act differently. And then five people on Sunday fly to Foros to see Gorbachev in order to prove to him the need either to postpone the signing of the treaty, or to let the people at least study what the essence of the Union of Sovereign States is.
We came to him. Gorbachev: "You don't understand anything!" It came to checkmate, and mostly from his side ...
I did not go there. But Varennikov (general of the army, commander of the ground forces - K.M.), recalling this, said that he thought that such obscenity was accepted only in the circles of the Politburo or in the Presidential Council ...
So, on Monday, an agreement was to be signed - the state is disintegrating. Why did the five republics agree to sign it? The Baltics and Transcaucasia refused, Moldova too, Ukraine categorically. And Yeltsin called Gorbachev the day before and also said: "You understand, Afanasyev's group is pressing on me ..." (Yazov neatly conveyed even the intonation of the then head of the RSFSR - K.M.). In the sense that the RSFSR also hesitates to sign this agreement. Gorbachev did not agree with this. And in the evening we made a decision that it is necessary to create a State Committee for the State of Emergency and declare a state of emergency in some areas. That's all!
The Zarya state property is the same dacha in Foros.
- Did Gorbachev realize why five people came to him?
- You have to ask him himself. You need to read Yakovlev's "Bitter Chalice" (former secretary of the Central CPSU for ideology, member of the Presidential Council - K.M.). Back in early 1985, Yakovlev dictated about 8 pages and brought them to Gorbachev. First, an assessment was given to Marxism-Leninism - a utopian dogmatic doctrine that, so to speak, has no prospects. Second, socialism also has no future as a system. And then it was in Komsomolskaya Pravda that Yakovlev spoke several times about how it was necessary to get inside the party in order to make it non-leading, non-directing. And only by destroying the party could the state be destroyed. So who was inventing the conspiracy?
We didn't even know that Yakovlev was working with Gorbachev on this issue. That Shevardnadze became his supporters (USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to January 1991 - K.M.), Medvedev (secretary of the CPSU Central Committee - K.M.). After some time, Yakovlev was appointed secretary to the Warsaw Pact (a military bloc of the socialist camp, created in opposition to NATO - K.M.) - and the Warsaw Pact is gone ... All this is real!
Alexander Yakovlev. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
State of emergency of the union scale
- Perhaps Gorbachev understood where this was going, and sat in Foros and waited for you to figure it out? And then he will come back on your shoulders?
- When he was told that Yeltsin was trying to disobey the center, then Gorbachev waved his hand: do what you want! Do you understand? And about two weeks before Gorbachev left on vacation, Yeltsin announced that he would not transfer money from the Russian Federation to the state budget. His example was followed by the Baltic States, Georgia, Armenia and some other republics. What was it - the strengthening of the Union was? The Union was already falling apart! It was necessary to act! But then we did not know that Gorbachev in the full sense of the word is an anti-communist, that he is practically the head of the destruction of both the party and the state.
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev speaking at the XX Congress of the Komsomol in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. Moscow, April 15, 1987. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org, archive Rian.ru
And yet: who made the decisions in August 1991: Yanaev as acting the President ordered the Minister of Defense - was it the GKChP that made the decision, for example, to send troops to Moscow, or was the Minister of Defense himself? And is it true that both written and oral orders came from Marshal Yazov, which actually canceled written orders?
- Myths are myths. Nobody commanded the Emergency Committee. It was created as an organ after everyone returned from Foros (August 18, 1991 - K.M.) at about 22 hours. It is clear that it was necessary to take some measures. Here Yanayev, Pavlov and other comrades proposed to create a State Emergency Committee. And the decision of the Supreme Soviet to declare a state of emergency was! (Adopted in the spring of 1991 - K.M.)
For all the time after the State Emergency Committee was formed, I issued two documents. The first is to bring the troops into high combat readiness. And the second is about withdrawing troops from Moscow on August 21. And they were introduced on my verbal order to protect objects that were to be guarded in accordance with increased combat readiness. Including guarded the House of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, Gokhran. By the way, not a penny, not a pebble, not a single gram of gold was stolen. It was after us 180 million, if not more, stolen. Goat (a well-known businessman who exported jewelry abroad - K.M.) then they gave 6 years, and no one else is to blame ...
The decision to enter the state of emergency was made by Yanaev as acting director. President. The state of emergency was introduced only in Moscow, but not completely. There were no forces and means to ensure the emergency in the city of 10 million.
- And in other regions, republics?
- Nowhere in other regions was the state of emergency introduced, as well as in the republics. This was the prerogative of the local authorities, not the district commanders.
- Have you calculated the situation that the troops will not enter for a rehearsal before the parade? That the situation in the city is tense, that blood can be shed? Now they no longer remember the dead Usov, Krichevsky and Komar ...
- But why? In 1994, a conference was held. And when Usov's father, Rear Admiral, spoke, and Filatov (the former head of Yeltsin's administration - K.M.), then he asked everyone to stand up, to honor the memory of Usov, Krichevsky and Komar. But there was also 1993, when the Supreme Soviet was shot, more than 600 people were killed. For some reason no one got up and no one remembered them.
And not a single person was crushed when entering tanks in 1991. But in 1993 he was shot. You don't ask questions on this topic.
Fifth column
- Well, Comrade Marshal, and your relatives and friends don't ask you, why didn't you finish what you started to the end?
- What should we have completed? You are using speculation that we allegedly wanted to almost capture Yeltsin, to disperse the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR ... This was not the case. And it was no longer easy to restore order when the people were prepared for disobedience. You know very well that the so-called interregional group was created in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which included Sobchak, Yeltsin, Popov. A certain part of the population followed them.
We are laughing now, but for some reason we do not attach importance to some facts. After all, it was no accident that Yeltsin rode Zhiguli, Muscovite and tram to show that he was struggling with privileges. This was sometimes more important for an ordinary person than building socialism, communism or capitalism. At that time, let's face it, there was nothing on the shelves. Therefore, many people were waiting for a better life. Yes, we all hoped so. But - with the preservation of the Union, for which, I repeat, more than 76 percent voted.
But at the same time, the “fifth column”, the agents of influence, were working. Look, Gorbachev orders Pavlov, me, Kryuchkov and Pugo to speak at the Supreme Council and tell about the situation in the country. It was in June. We made it. And after 20 minutes, Gavriil Popov was already at the American Ambassador Matlock. Shows, they say, that a coup is being prepared (and at that time Yeltsin was in America). He wrote on a piece of paper: the putsch, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, put an ellipsis and, without saying a word, dispersed ...
But Matlock, apparently, did not understand who to tell. Popov wrote: Yeltsin. And the ambassador, naturally, informed his president. Bush (senior - K.M.) also did not understand that it was necessary to convey this to Yeltsin, and immediately called Gorbachev. But he also spoke to Gorbachev with conventional symbols, and gave the encryption to Baker (the US Secretary of State - K.M.).
He was in Berlin at that time, and had just finished a meeting with the Bessmertnykh (USSR Foreign Minister, appointed after Shevardnadze - K.M.). Baker calls him, and Bessmertnykh met at that time with the ambassador from Cyprus. Quickly ended the meeting and drove to Baker's. He says: we must immediately contact Chernyaev, Gorbachev's assistant, tell them to urgently accept Matlock ...
This was the situation. And Popov at that time was the mayor of Moscow, Luzhkov - his deputy. Who arranged the big provocation: Yazov or Popov? Put them on the scales and weigh them - and you will be convinced that we have brought in troops really to guard. Of course, it would have been possible in cars, not in tanks. But the barricades were built by local authorities.
Who destroyed the USSR?
- But we are leaving the main thing, - Yazov continues. - The events that lasted one and a half or two days did not destroy the state. But after the real destruction of the state, what state did the people find themselves in? This is what we need to write about.
- Are you talking about Belovezhskaya Pushcha?
- Yes, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is already a fact of the collapse of the state. If it had not been for this perestroika, these "reforms", there would be no Belovezhskaya Pushcha. And if we talk about it, then if Gorbachev wanted the state to survive - that the paratroopers could not be landed there in order to neutralize these three alcoholics (the heads of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich, who liquidated the USSR and formed the CIS - K.M.)?!
President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich and President of Russia Boris Yeltsin after signing the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS. Belarus, December 8, 1991. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org, archive Rian.ru
Gorbachev has a different point of view in his memoirs: they say, the GKCEP confused all his plans, that if the Novo-Ogarevsky trial had started, everything would have turned out differently ...
- Why can't you see the main one? Who came up with this process? Gorbachev. In the name of what? In the name of the collapse of the state. That's all. Gorbachev will now assert whatever he wants.
- So was there an opportunity to manage the situation in August 1991?
- The point is that the media were already in the hands of the ill-wishers of the Soviet regime. Do you remember who was in charge of Ogonyok? Korotich. And where did he end up then? In America. Examples can be given further. These are the people who worked for the collapse of the state, not the Emergency Committee.
When our representatives flew to Gorbachev, the calculation was that he would support us, introduce an emergency, and, in the end, it would be possible to save the USSR. I tell you sincerely. And in general, what kind of power did Pavlov have to seek if he was the head of the cabinet? What kind of power could Yazov seek if he was the Minister of Defense? Or Kryuchkov, if he was the chairman of the KGB? No one was personally interested in anything.
Suicide club
- Could you still win then or not?
- Whom to defeat? Own people?
- But then you announced the State Emergency Committee and lost ...
- We didn’t play and we weren’t going to win.
- Well, it was a suicide club?
- Well, maybe. Everyone tells me: why didn't you give the command to shoot? And I ask: and at whom to shoot? To your people? What, they appointed me to destroy my people? I didn’t shoot, but Yeltsin did (the shooting of the White House in October 1993 - K.M.). By order of Gavriil Popov, restaurants worked - they carried food to the soldiers, brought drinks in thermoses, delivered vodka in boxes ...
- The weakness of the GKChP was obvious already at the end of the first day, when there were no actions ...
- What does it mean to act? Shoot? To keep Gorbachev in power again? After all, Gorbachev was no longer the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, but the president. And no party bodies were already functioning at that time. And only the president functioned.
The GKChP was called a conspiracy to seize power. So did we seize power or not? When Varennikov was being tried, he asked Gorbachev: when we left you, did you consider yourself aloof from the throne or did you remain president? Gorbachev was silent. And only when Varennikov repeated the question, he reluctantly admitted: yes, I remained president. So who then seized power?
Mikhail Gorbachev and Dmitry Yazov. Photo: portal-kultura.ru
Spoons-bath-volleyball
- On Sunday, August 18, 1991 (on the eve of the announcement of the transfer of power into the hands of the State Emergency Committee - K.M.), Yeltsin was in Alma-Ata, - Dmitry Timofeevich continues to recall. - I read all of his testimonies, in which there are a lot of lies. As he himself says, they were supposed to take off from there at 16 o'clock. But he played on spoons, Nazarbayev - on dombra ...
They postponed the flight for 2.5 hours. After that we went to play volleyball after the rain. We got dirty, went to the bathhouse. And flew out 4, 5 hours after the scheduled time. And Yeltsin later asserted: our flight was delayed by the GECP for 4.5 hours.
Nursultan Nazarbayev and Boris Yeltsin Photo: ru.wikipedia.org, archive rian.ru
Yes, if we had some kind of plan, if there were some tasks! Let's go to Gorbachev's (to the presidential dacha in Foros - K.M.) with the sole purpose of asking him to introduce an emergency. He had to give orders to those structures that were subordinate to him. Two weeks earlier, by Yeltsin's decree on the territory of Russia (and these decrees were repeated by the republics), Party organizations were liquidated at enterprises. And no one did anything to defend the Soviet regime.
Therefore, we announced on the morning of August 19 on television about the creation of the Emergency Committee. By the way, no one guarded the television until half past five. A company of paratroopers arrived from Bear Lakes and guarded the television center. If there was a conspiracy, maybe it would be worth considering who should go on television, who should speak, who should call for something, etc.? I myself was surprised: why is the Swan Lake ballet broadcast?
- He was in the program ...
- I did, but we took the TVC under protection so that one of the secretaries (Central Committee of the CPSU - K.M.) I arrived. And of them all wanted someone to act, but not them, and no one took the initiative. Everyone wanted Yazov to shoot. And I said: show whom to shoot?
Thatcher handled Gorby
“Gorbachev is not a stupid person,” Yazov continues. - He really was a traitor in the full sense of the word. It was handled well at the time by Margaret Thatcher (then British Prime Minister - K.M.), Yakovlev ...
Gorbachev and Thatcher. Photo: youtube.com
Gorbachev was waiting for who would win. We flew there, followed by Bakatin, Rutskoi, Primakov, Silaev. We sat down first. We flew, by the way, on his presidential plane after him. He was informed about the delegations. By the way, this is about the fact that there was no connection. Everything is a lie.
He had a connection from the Kavkaz system. He had everything. There was a bus nearby with all means of communication. But he bit the bit: how is it, he has to go somewhere? He recorded his video message three times in different versions, this tape was packed and taken out in the most intimate places. In particular, the typist Olga was given ...
So, on August 21 we arrived. He did not accept us. Later he received Lukyanov and Ivashko, deputy general secretary. He swore at them. Then a representative came from him, told Kryuchkov that Gorbachev would talk to him on the plane. In order, apparently, to separate us on purpose. Kryuchkov flew away with him. And we flew on another plane. He sat down first, and we then. There mordovorotov came up to me. In the VIP room sits Stepankov (the then prosecutor of the RSFSR - K.M.). He says to me: is there a weapon? I say no. He: you have been arrested in accordance with Article 64 (treason to the Motherland). Kryuchkov had already been arrested by that time ...
A series of suicides?
- How do you assess the act of Boris Pugo? Was he shot or is it a legend?
- How do I know? I was at that time in prison in Kashino. But I believe that no one should take his own life. According to the Orthodox faith, suicides are not even allowed to be buried in a common cemetery. And Akhromeev, and Pugo, and Pavlov, the namesake of a member of the State Emergency Committee, who was before Kruchina (the "treasurer" of the Central Committee of the CPSU - K.M.), who also committed suicide, left out of stupidity. But they left on their own.
I don't know about Pugo - they say that there are some clues: the pistol was not there, it is not known who shot his wife - he or she herself. I have not read any investigative documents regarding Pugo.
As for Akhromeev (Sergei Fedorovich Akhromeev - Marshal of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Soviet Union, committed suicide, according to the official version, on August 24, 1991 - K.M.), then everything is literally in the case. And all the suicide notes, and the string on which he hung on. And a note about how the ribbon broke the first time.
I believe that Akhromeev himself did it. Well, ask anyone: how do I affectionately call my wife? And he writes there: Tomusya, and affectionately calls all his daughters and grandchildren. So forgery is unlikely. I specifically cite his letter in my book: they say, I have devoted my whole life to this and that, now all this is crumbling before my eyes, and I do not consider myself entitled to remain.
Dmitry Yazov is the last Marshal of the Soviet Union (according to the date this title was awarded). Dmitry Timofeevich received it in the ninetieth year. Yazov - political and military leader of the Soviet Union, the penultimate This is the only Marshal of the Soviet Union who did not receive the title of Hero of the USSR. He was a member of the GKChP organization, represented the military leadership, went through the entire war with Nazi Germany, was seriously wounded at the front.
Family
Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov, whose biography is amazing and full of many events, was born on November 8, 1924 in the village of Yazovo, Omsk region. The village got its name from the surname of the inhabitants who founded it during the time of Ivan the Terrible.
The family of Dmitry Timofeevich moved to this place on the shore from Veliky Ustyug. His father is Timofey Yakovlevich, and his mother is Maria Fedoseevna. Both of them were simple peasants. Dmitry was always proud of the fact that he came from the common people. His parents were very hardworking. They instilled this quality from childhood and Dmitry.
His father died early, in the thirty-fourth year. At that time Dmitry was not even ten years old. As a result, Maria Fedoseevna was left alone with four children, to whom the family of her deceased sister was added. She had to feed a whole horde of children. The stepfather for Dmitry was the ex-husband (widower) of his own aunt - Fyodor Nikitich.
Early years: study
Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich, whose wartime biography begins from a young age, could not finish school until the end. It took only a couple of years. The Great Patriotic War began. Many guys rushed to the military registration and enlistment office to enroll in volunteers. Some were refused because they were still underage teenagers. Dmitry was more fortunate, although at that time he was also not yet seventeen years old.
In order not to be refused, he indicated that he was a year older. At that time, not everyone had passports. And there was no time for checking in the military registration and enlistment office. He was sent to study in Novosibirsk. There he entered the school to them. Of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. Before the evacuation, which took place during the war, it was located in Moscow.
Cadet years
The teachers at the school were front-line soldiers who were discharged from hospitals after being seriously injured. They were engaged in the first military training of young guys. Dmitry will forever remember his cadet years. They were picked up very early, at six in the morning. First, there was the usual obligatory exercise, and then, until the evening, exhausting combat training.
In winter, frosts reached forty degrees, but the cadets endured them bravely. Already at the school, Dmitry Yazov learned that his stepfather had gone to the front, and his mother was left at home alone with seven small children, and three sisters were mobilized to work at military stud farms.
When the cadets were sent to the front, their studies continued on the train, in the heating facilities. These were temporary classrooms, where the guys studied rifles, machine guns and other weapons.
Dmitry goes to the front
In January, a difficult 1942 year for the country, Dmitry was sent to the front. First, the train arrived in Moscow. For some time, the guys completed their studies in Solnechnogorsk. Then they were sent to different "hot spots". Dmitry arrived at the Volkhov front already as a lieutenant, although he was not yet eighteen years old at that time.
First wound
First Dmitry Yazov was sent to the 177th Infantry Division. In August 1942, she took part in the Battle of the Karelian Isthmus. There Dmitry received his first wound, and a very serious one. The doctors diagnosed a severe contusion.
Return to the front
Dmitry Timofeevich returned to the front after being wounded only in October 1942. The command sent him to the 483rd Infantry Regiment. In January 1943 Dmitry was wounded for the second time. But since the wound was light, they simply put a bandage on him in the medical unit, and he continued the fight. After this battle, Dmitry Timofeevich was elevated to the rank of senior lieutenant. In March 1943, he left for Borovichi for advanced military training courses for command personnel.
War years
Dmitry Yazov, whose biography is associated with a military career, has visited many battles. He took part in the defense of Leningrad, in offensive battles in the Baltic, in the blockade of the German Kurland group and in many other military operations.
Postwar years
Dmitry Timofeevich heard the news of the victory of the Soviet troops in the war when he was near Riga, in Mitava. At the end of 1945, he received a vacation and, at last, was able to leave for his native village to visit his relatives. From the Yazov dynasty, thirty-four people died in all families. Life in the first years after the war was very difficult - the destroyed country had to be rebuilt. Dmitry helped his family and relatives as much as he could.
Continuation of studies and military career in the postwar years
Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich did not stop there and in 1953 he entered the Frunze Military Academy. Moreover, he studied excellently and graduated in 1956 with a gold medal. As a result, he was asked to choose a duty station. So Dmitry Timofeevich ended up in the sixty-third Krasnoselskaya rifle division.
After some time, he became the commander of the 400th motorized rifle regiment. In 1962-1963, this military unit was in Cuba. At this time, Dmitry Timofeevich was elevated to the rank of colonel. Before returning to his homeland, he received with gratitude for the service personally from Fidel Castro.
After Cuba, Dmitry Yazov left for Leningrad, where he was soon appointed to the post of deputy head of the Combat Training Directorate. In the sixty-eighth year, he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Then, after short intervals, he received a promotion. First, in 1968, he was promoted to major general. And in 1967-1971. already commanded a motorized rifle division.
In the seventy-second year, Dmitry Timofeevich was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and in 1971-1973. he commanded a corps. And in 1974-1976. - Was the head of the 1st department in the Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1976-1979. Dmitry became the 1st Deputy Commander of the Far Eastern Military District. And in 1979-1980. - Commander of the Central Military Group.
1980-1984 Yazov was appointed to lead the Central Asian Military District. Then until the eighty-seventh year he headed the Far Eastern VO. After that Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich served as the Minister of Defense of the USSR. He became Marshal only in April 1990. This title was awarded to him personally by Gorbachev. This was the last time in the history of the USSR. Moreover, Dmitry was the only marshal of all those appointed earlier, who was born in Siberia.
Removal from office
Dmitry Yazov, Marshal of the Soviet Union, was removed from this post due to the failure of the Emergency Committee. He has always been a conservative, and has not gained popularity among supporters of perestroika. Yazov joined the coup d'etat. On his order, tanks and heavy artillery were brought into Moscow. The assault on the White House was planned.
But Yazov became convinced that the coup was ultimately doomed to failure and went to meet Gorbachev in Foros. In August 1991, Dmitry Timofeevich was arrested at the airport as a member of the Emergency Committee. Immediately after returning from Foros, he was sent to prison ("Sailor's silence"), where he remained until the ninety-fourth year.
In the same year, all members of the organization who were in custody were released under an amnesty, including Dmitry Yazov (retired Marshal). But negative events did not break him.
Active retirement
The biography of Dmitry Yazov is replete with further vigorous activity, even despite the resignation. He was an advisor to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Supervised the Marshal Zhukov Committee. Yazov is currently a consultant to the head of the Military Memorial Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Constantly gives speeches to cadets and students of military educational institutions. Dmitry Timofeevich actively communicates with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and takes an active part in the public life of Russians.
Personal life
When Dmitry Timofeevich went to military courses in Borovichi, he met a girl there, Zhuravleva Ekaterina Fedorovna. They corresponded and communicated for more than three years. Then Dmitry proposed to her, and Catherine became his first wife. From this marriage in 1950, they had a son, and three years after him - a daughter.
The second time Yazov married Emma Evgenievna, with whom he lives to this day. From this marriage, Dmitry Timofeevich had two more children. Today he is already a happy grandfather with seven grandchildren.
Awards and achievements
Under the Soviet Union, Dmitry Yazov was awarded the following (twice), October Revolution, Red Banner, World War II (1st degree), Red Star, For service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces (3rd degree). Received nineteen medals.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, already in the new Russia, Dmitry Timofeevich was awarded the orders: For Merit to the Fatherland, Alexander Nevsky, Honor, St. Prince Donskoy (2nd degree). Received the following orders from foreign countries: Honor, Che Guevara, Scharnhorst, Red Banner, For Distinction (1st degree) and several medals.