Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov

Marshal of the Soviet Union (1944), Hero of the Soviet Union (27 January 1945) and recipient of the Order of Victory, commander of the Leningrad Front. Born on 22 February 1897 in the village of Butyrki, Vyatka province. He graduated from the Konstantinovsky artillery school and was an artilleryman by training and temperament. In the Civil War he served briefly in Kolchak's army before going over to the Reds — a fact that made his position difficult in the 1930s. In 1941 he directed the artillery of the Western Strategic Direction and then commanded the 5th Army defending the Mozhaisk approaches to Moscow. From April 1942 he commanded the Leningrad Front and held that post until the end of the war. Under him Operation Iskra (January 1943) broke the blockade of Leningrad, and the Leningrad-Novgorod operation (January 1944) lifted it entirely. For Leningrad he remains the commander under whom the city was relieved. In 1944 and 1945 he also coordinated operations in the Baltic and accepted the surrender of the German Courland grouping. After the war he was Chief Inspector of the Armed Forces and Commander-in-Chief of National Air Defence. He died on 19 March 1955 and is interred in the Kremlin Wall.