DECEMBER 2008 IS CELEBRATED THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE HERO Soviet Union Vasily Filippovich Margelov.

“He who has never left a plane in his life, from where cities and villages seem like toys, who has never experienced the joy and fear of free fall, a whistle in his ears, a stream of wind beating in his chest, he will never understand the honor and pride of a paratrooper. .."
V.F. Margelov

Vasily Filippovich Margelov was born on December 27 (January 9), 1908 in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine). Father - Philip Ivanovich Markelov - a metallurgical worker. The surname Margelov "received" because of a mistake made by an official in the party ticket - his surname was written down through "g". Mother - Agafya Stepanovna - as they say now, a housewife.

In the Red Army since 1928. He was sent to study as a commander at the Joint Belarusian Military School (OBVSh) named after the Central Executive Committee of the Byelorussian SSR in Minsk.

In 1931 he graduated from the Minsk military school(former OBVSh). He served as a commander of a platoon, company, battalion. Member of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. During the Great Patriotic War - commander of a rifle regiment, chief of staff and deputy commander of a rifle division. Since 1944 - commander of the 49th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. He led the division during the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kherson, for which in March 1944 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Under his command, the 49th Guards Rifle Division participated in the liberation of the peoples of Southeastern Europe.

With the name of V.F. Margelov, many bright pages in the history of the Airborne Forces of our country are inextricably linked.

In 1948, after graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR named after K.E. Voroshilova Margelov V.F. appointed commander of the 76th Guards Chernigov Red Banner Airborne Division.

In 1950-1954 he was the commander of the 37th Guards Airborne Svirsky Red Banner Corps stationed in the Far East.

From 1954 to 1959 - Commander of the Airborne Forces.

Commander of the 49th Guards Rifle Division V.F. Margelov

In 1959, Vasily Filippovich was appointed first deputy with a demotion. Commander of the Airborne Forces.

In 1961 V.F. Margelov was again appointed to the post of commander of the Airborne Forces, which he served until January 1979.

Since 1979 - in the group of general inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

Having assumed the post of commander of the Airborne Forces, Margelov took command of the troops, consisting mainly of infantry with light weapons and military transport aviation (as an integral part of the Airborne Forces), equipped with Li-2, Il-14, Tu-2 and Tu-4 with significantly limited landing capabilities. In fact, the Airborne Forces were not able to solve major tasks in military operations.

Being the commander of the Airborne Forces, V.F. Margelov said: “In order to fulfill their role in modern operations, it is necessary that our formations and units are highly maneuverable, covered with armor, have sufficient fire efficiency, are well controlled, capable of landing at any time of the day and quickly switch to active combat operations after landing. This, by and large, is the ideal we should strive for.”

It was necessary to bridge the gap between the theory of the combat use of the Airborne Forces and the established organizational structure of the troops, as well as the capabilities of military transport aviation.

To achieve the goals set under the leadership of V.F. Margelov developed the concept of the role and place of the Airborne Forces in modern strategic operations in various theaters of military operations. Margelov wrote a number of works on this topic, and successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis. In practical terms, exercises and command meetings of the Airborne Forces were regularly held.

V.F. Margelov initiated the creation at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of mass production of landing equipment, heavy parachute platforms, parachute systems and containers for landing cargo, cargo and human parachutes, parachute devices. “You can’t command technology, so strive to create reliable parachutes in design bureaus, industry, during testing, trouble-free operation of heavy airborne equipment,” Margelov said when setting tasks for his subordinates.

Especially for the needs of the Airborne Forces in the post-war years, new military equipment was developed and modernized: airborne self-propelled artillery installation ASU-76 (1949), light - ASU-57 (1951), floating - ASU-57P (1954), self-propelled installation ASU-85, combat vehicle of the Airborne Forces BMD-1 (1969). On the basis of the BMD-1, a large family of vehicles was developed: the 2S9 Nona self-propelled gun, the 1V119 Rheostat artillery fire control vehicle, the BTR-D multi-purpose armored personnel carrier, the BREM-D repair and recovery vehicle, etc. New models were adopted weapons and means of communication.

By the end of the 1950s, new An-8 and An-12 aircraft were adopted, with a payload capacity of up to 10-12 tons and a sufficient flight range, which made it possible to land large groups of personnel with standard military equipment and weapons. Later, through the efforts of V.F. Margelov Airborne troops have mastered the landing of the new military transport aircraft An-22 and Il-76.

Commander of the Airborne Forces in the troops

Various parachute platforms appeared in service with the troops, designed for parachute landing of military equipment, vehicles and various cargoes. Parachute-jet means of landing were created, due to the jet thrust created by the engine, which made it possible to bring the landing speed of the cargo closer to zero. Such systems made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of landing due to the abandonment of a large number of domes of a large area.

On January 5, 1973, for the first time in world practice in the USSR, landing was carried out on parachute-platform means in the Centaur complex from an An-12B BMD-1 military transport aircraft with two crew members on board. The crew commander was the son of Vasily Filippovich, Major Alexander Vasilievich Margelov, and the driver was Lieutenant Colonel Zuev Leonid Gavrilovich.

On January 23, 1976, also for the first time in world practice, landing from the same type of aircraft, BMD-1 made a soft landing on a parachute-rocket system in the Reaktavr complex, also with two crew members on board - Major Alexander Vasilyevich Margelov and Lieutenant Colonel Shcherbakov Leonid Ivanovich. The landing was carried out at a huge risk to life, without personal means of salvation. After 20 years, for the feat of the 1970s, both were awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

It was V.F. Margelov achieved the introduction of the now famous blue beret and blue and white vest into the uniform of paratroopers. Everyone who served in the Airborne Forces is proud of these attributes.

Vasily Filippovich was awarded 13 orders and 19 medals of the Soviet Union, including four orders of Lenin, 34 orders and medals of foreign countries. The name of V.F. Margelov wears the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School (military institute), an area in the city of Ryazan, the streets of Omsk, Pskov and Tula. Monuments were erected to him in Ryazan, Omsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Tula, St. Petersburg. Officers and paratroopers, veterans of the Airborne Forces every year come to the grave of their Commander at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, where a monument is also erected to pay tribute to his memory.

Having gone from the commander of the formation to the commander of the Airborne Forces, V.F. Margelov turned the Airborne Troops into the elite of the Armed Forces. And it is not at all accidental that even today the abbreviation "VDV" is revealed both jokingly and seriously, as "Uncle Vasya's Troops", and Margelov's winged words have become the motto of the paratroopers for all time: "No one but us!".

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Commander, 2008 was declared the year of Vasily Filippovich Margelov in the Airborne Forces.

Material prepared
information service
and public relations of the Airborne Forces

August 2, 1930 was the birthday of the Airborne Forces of the country. Then, for the first time in world history, paratroopers were used at the exercises of the Moscow Military District, which were attended by diplomats from Western countries.

Since then, 72 years have passed. During this time, the "winged infantry" covered itself with unfading glory on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War, showed excellent skill and courage in a number of large-scale exercises, local conflicts, in the mountains of Afghanistan, during the first and second campaigns in Chechnya, in Yugoslavia ... A whole galaxy of remarkable military leaders grew up in the ranks of the airborne troops. Among them, the first of the first is the name of the legendary commander of the Airborne Forces, Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army Vasily Filippovich Margelov, who created the modern Airborne Forces.

"Commander of a large caliber"

On September 28, 1967, Izvestia reported on its pages: “It must be said that the paratroopers are warriors of boundless courage and courage. They never get lost, they always find a way out of a critical situation. The paratroopers are fluent in various modern weapons, they wield them with artistic skill, each fighter of the "winged infantry" knows how to fight one against a hundred.

During the days spent at the exercise (we are talking about the big autumn exercise of the Soviet Armed Forces "Dnepr" in 1968. Then the landing of thousands of airborne troops took only a few minutes. - Auth.), We had to see a lot of skillful actions not only of individual soldiers and officers, but also formations, units and their headquarters. But, perhaps, the strongest impression left on the Airborne Forces, which is headed by Colonel-General V. Margelov (after completing successful exercises, he was awarded the rank of General of the Army. - Auth.), And the pilots of the Military Transport Aviation of Air Marshal N. Skripko . Their warriors showed filigree landing technique, high proficiency and such courage and initiative that one can say about them: they worthily continue and increase the military glory of their fathers and older brothers - the paratroopers of the Great Patriotic War. The relay race of courage and valor is in good hands.”

...Recently, I read in one of the magazines that scientists who study people have studied the biographies of about 500 graduates of one of the Russian military institutes and have established a direct dependence of the choice of a military specialty on the date of birth. According to it, pundits are ready to predict whether a given person will be military or civilian. In a word, human destiny is predetermined from the day of birth. I don't know if you can believe it?

In any case, the future successor of the glorious dynasty of the defenders of the Fatherland Margelov, Vasily Filippovich, was born at the beginning of the last century, on December 27, 1908 (according to the old style), in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). All went to his father, Philip Ivanovich, who was distinguished by enviable strength and article, a participant in the German war of 1914, the Knight of St. George. Margelov Sr. fought skillfully and bravely. In one of the bayonet battles, for example, he personally destroyed up to a dozen enemy soldiers. After the end of the first imperialist, he served first in the Red Guard, then in the Red Army.

Why not in your place?



- Well, well ... How are you doing?

Patriarch of the Elite Troops

And Vasily was, like a father, tall and strong beyond his years. Before the army, he managed to work in a leather workshop, as a miner, and a forester. In 1928, on a Komsomol ticket, he was sent to the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. So he became a cadet of the United Belarusian Military School in Minsk. Only one stroke. At the beginning of 1931, the school command supported the initiative of the country's military schools - to organize a ski crossing from the places of deployment to Moscow. One of the best skiers, foreman Margelov, was assigned to form a team. And the February transition from Minsk to Moscow took place. True, the skis turned into smooth boards, but the cadets, led by the course commander and foreman, survived. They arrived at their destination on time, without sickness and frostbite, about which the foreman reported to the People's Commissar of Defense and received from him a valuable gift - a "commander's" watch.

How useful then a thorough sports hardening was already for Captain Margelov, the commander of a separate reconnaissance ski battalion of a rifle regiment, which took part in the winter war with the Finns! His scouts, together with the battalion commander, made daring raids on enemy rear lines, set up ambushes, inflicting sensitive damage on the enemy.

He met the Great Patriotic War with the rank of major. At first, I had a chance to lead a separate disciplinary battalion. The penitentiaries doted on their commander. They loved him for his courage and justice. During the bombings, they covered him with their bodies.

On the outskirts of Leningrad, Vasily Margelov commanded the 1st special ski regiment of sailors of the Baltic Fleet, then the 218th regiment of the 80th rifle division ...

Becoming a commander, for all subsequent years, decades, Vasily Filippovich never changed his rule - always and in everything to be an example for subordinates. Somehow, at the end of the front-line spring of 1942, about two hundred experienced enemy warriors, having infiltrated through the defense sector of a neighboring regiment, went to the rear of the Margelovites. The regiment commander quickly gave the necessary orders to block and liquidate the fascists who had broken through. Without waiting for the approach of the reserves, he himself lay down behind the easel machine gun, which he masterfully owned. Well-aimed bursts mowed down about 80 people. The rest were destroyed and captured by a company of submachine gunners, a reconnaissance platoon and a commandant's platoon that arrived in time.

It was not for nothing that in the mornings, when his unit was on the defensive, Vasily Filippovich, after physical exercises, invariably fired from a machine gun, could cut the tops of trees, knock out his name on the target. After that - a leg in the stirrup and exercises in the wheelhouse. Indefatigable strength played in his iron muscles. In offensive battles, he personally raised battalions on the attack more than once. Until self-forgetfulness, he loved hand-to-hand combat and, if necessary, not knowing a sense of fear, fought desperately with the adversary in the forefront of his fighters, like his father in the first German war. Margelov did not like it if one of his subordinates, when asked about this or that soldier, took up the list of personnel. He said:

— Comrade Commander! Alexander Suvorov knew all the soldiers of his regiment not only by name, but also by name. After many years, he recognized and named the names of the soldiers who served with him. With paper knowledge of subordinates, it is impossible to predict how they will behave during the battle!
In those years, the commander wore a mustache and a small beard. In incomplete 33 years, they called him Batya.

“Our Batya is a commander of a large caliber,” the fighters spoke with respect and love about him.
And then there was Stalingrad. Here Vasily Filippovich commanded the 13th Guards Rifle Regiment. When, during the fierce, bloody battles in the regiment, the battalions became companies, and the companies became incomplete platoons, the regiment was withdrawn to replenish the Ryazan region. The regiment commander Margelov, his officers thoroughly took up the combat training of the personnel of the unit. Prepare for the upcoming battles in good conscience.
And for good reason. “Myshkova, a river in the Volgograd region, the left tributary of the Don, at the turn of which, during the Battle of Stalingrad from December 19 to 24, during the Kotelnikov operation of 1942, the troops of the 51st and 2nd Guards armies repelled the blow of a strong grouping of Nazi troops and thwarted plans of the fascist German command for the deblockade of the enemy troops encircled near Stalingrad. This is from the Military Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1983 edition. “It would not be an exaggeration to say that the battle on the banks of this obscure river (Myshkov) led to the crisis of the Third Reich, put an end to Hitler’s hopes for an empire and was a decisive link in the chain of events that determined the defeat of Germany.” And this quote is from the book of the German military historian General F. Mellenthin "Tank Battles 1939-1945".
Do you remember the book of the front-line writer Yuri Bondarev "Hot Snow"? Front-line soldiers, participants in those battles, believe that the author truly reflected the heroic and at the same time dramatic picture of those fierce battles on the tributary of the Don.
So, the Margelov regiment was part of the 3rd Guards Rifle Division of Major General K. Tsalikov, the 13th Guards Rifle Corps of Major General P. Chanchibadze,
2nd Guards Army Lieutenant General R. Malinovsky. And as you know, the guard can die, but never surrender to the enemy!
Before the battle of the Guards, Lieutenant Colonel Margelov said to his subordinates:
— Manstein has a lot of tanks. His calculation on the strength of a tank strike. The main thing is to knock out the tanks. Each of us must knock out one tank. Cut off the infantry, force them to cling to the ground and destroy them.
... And it began. Predatory arrows on the German headquarters maps materialized into endless waves of enemy armor and fire, methodically rolling on the positions of our troops, shell explosions, the whistle of thousands of fragments looking for their prey. Armadas of German bombers were howling from the sky black with soot, trying with exemplary German pedantry and accuracy to deliver a multi-ton deadly load to the location of the guards. The Germans understood that if their monstrous armored fist got stuck in defense, then the consequences would be irreversible. More and more forces were thrown into battle. They tried to take our defending units, formations into tank pincers.
Margelov was where a threatening situation was created, where his battalion commanders, on their own, could not hold back the onslaught of the enemy.

Guards Major General Chanchibadze:

- Margelov, how many of you do you need to look for? Where are you sitting now?
- I am not sitting. I command from the command post of the battalion commander-2!
Why not in your place?
“My place is here now, comrade number one!”
- I ask again, where is your mesto ?!
I am in command of the regiment. My place is where my regiment needs me!
- Well, well ... How are you doing?
— The regiment stands on its lines. Not going to give them up.

Embittered by failures, enraged by the stubbornness, skill and courage of the Soviet soldiers, the enemy furiously dug the ground with steel tracks, breaking through. But all the efforts of the combined army group "Goth" were in vain, it was defeated and forced to retreat.

The further combat path of Vasily Filippovich Margelov and his units lay already to the west. In the direction of Rostov-on-Don, the breakthrough of the impregnable Mius Front, the liberation of the Donbass, the crossing of the Dnieper, for which the division commander, Colonel Vasily Margelov, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Pushing off with their foot from the Stalingrad land, the Margelovites, as Vladimir Vysotsky sang, "the axis of the earth ... moved without a lever, changing the direction of the blow!"
The soldiers of his 49th division brought freedom to the inhabitants of Nikolaev, Odessa, distinguished themselves during the Iasi-Kishinev operation, entered Romania, Bulgaria on the shoulders of the enemy, successfully fought in Yugoslavia, took Budapest and Vienna. The unit of the Guards, Major General Vasily Margelov, ended the war on May 12, 1945 with the brilliant bloodless capture of the selected German SS divisions "Dead Head", "Great Germany", "1st SS Police Division". What is not the plot for a full-length feature film?
During the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow on June 24, 1945, the combat general led one of the battalions of the combined regiment of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

Patriarch of the Elite Troops

During the Great Patriotic War, the Airborne Troops fought heroically at all its stages. True, the war found the Airborne Forces at the stage of reorganizing brigades into corps. The formations and units of the winged infantry were manned, but did not have time to fully receive military equipment. From the very first days of the war, paratroopers fought bravely at the front along with soldiers of other branches of the armed forces, and offered heroic resistance to the well-oiled Nazi machine. In the initial period, they showed examples of courage and perseverance in the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine, near Moscow. Soviet paratroopers participated in fierce battles for the Caucasus, in the Battle of Stalingrad (remember the House of Paratrooper Sergeant Pavlov), smashed the enemy on the Kursk Bulge ... They were a formidable force at the final stage of the war.

Where to use well-trained, cohesive and fearless commanders and fighters of airborne formations and units in the war was decided at the very top, at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. Sometimes they were the lifesaver of the high command, which saved the situation at the most decisive or tragic moment. The paratroopers, who were not accustomed to waiting for the weather by the sea, always showed initiative, ingenuity, and onslaught.
Therefore, taking into account the rich front-line experience and the prospects for the development of this type of troops, the Airborne Forces were withdrawn from the Air Force in 1946. They began to report directly to the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the post of commander of the Airborne Forces was reintroduced. In April of the same year, he was appointed Colonel-General V. Glagolev. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, General Margelov was sent to study. For two intense years, under the supervision of experienced teachers, he studied the intricacies of operational art at the Academy of the General Staff (in those years - the Higher Military Academy named after K.E. Voroshilov). After graduation, he received an unexpected proposal from the Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers N. Bulganin - to take command of the Pskov Airborne Division. They say that it was not without the recommendation of Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, at that time the commander-in-chief of the troops of the Far East, the commander of the troops of the Far Eastern Military District. He knew Margelov well from his front-line affairs. And at that time, the Airborne Forces needed young generals with combat experience. Vasily Filippovich always made decisions promptly. And this time he did not force himself to be persuaded. A military man to the marrow of his bones, he understood the importance of the mobile Airborne Forces in the future. Yes, and fearless officers and paratroopers - he repeatedly admitted this to his relatives - reminded him of the front-line years when he commanded a naval regiment in the Baltic Fleet. Not without reason later, when General Margelov became commander of the Airborne Forces, he introduced uniform blue berets and vests with stripes of the color of the sky and tireless sea waves.

Working in his usual mode - day and night - day and night away, General Margelov quickly ensured that his unit became one of the best in the landing troops. In 1950, he was appointed commander of the airborne corps in the Far East, and in 1954, Lieutenant General Vasily Filippovich Margelov became commander of the Airborne Forces.
From Margelov's brochure "Airborne Troops", published by the publishing house of the Znanie society a quarter of a century ago: And I still never cease to be amazed at how a warrior transforms after the first jump. And on the ground, he walks proudly, and his shoulders are widely deployed, and there is something unusual in his eyes ... Still: he made a parachute jump!
To understand this feeling, you must stand at the open hatch of the aircraft over a hundred-meter abyss, feel the chill under your heart in front of this incomprehensible height, and decisively step into the abyss as soon as the command: “Let's go!”
Then there will be many more difficult jumps - with weapons, day and night, from high-speed military transport aircraft. But the first jump will never be forgotten. A paratrooper, a strong-willed and courageous person, begins with him.
When Vasily Filippovich retrained from an infantry commander to an airborne division commander, he was not even forty. How did Margelov start? From skydiving. He was not advised to jump, after all, nine wounds, age ... During his service in the Airborne Forces, he made more than 60 jumps. The last of them at the age of 65. In the year of the 90th anniversary of the birth of General of the Army Margelov, “Red Star” in the article “Legend and Glory of the Landing Forces” wrote about him: “Being the eighth commander of the Airborne Forces, he nevertheless earned himself a respectful reputation in these troops as the patriarch of the landing business. During his command of the Airborne Forces, five ministers of defense were replaced in the country, and Margelov remained indispensable and irreplaceable. Almost all of his predecessors have been forgotten, and the name of Margelov is still on everyone's lips.
“Oh, how difficult it is to cross the Rubicon so that a surname becomes a name,” the poet remarked. Margelov crossed such a Rubicon. (He made his branch of the military elite.) Having quickly and energetically studied airborne business, military air technology and military transport aviation, demonstrating outstanding organizational skills, he became an outstanding military leader who did an extraordinary amount for the development and improvement of the Airborne Forces, for their growth prestige and popularity in the country, in order to instill love for this elite branch of the military among the draft youth. Despite the enormous physical and psychological stress of the airborne service, young guys dream of the Airborne Forces, as they say, they sleep and see themselves as paratroopers. And in the country's only forge of officer landing personnel - the Ryazan Higher Command School twice Red Banner named after General of the Army V.F. Margelov, recently transformed into the Institute of the Airborne Forces, the competition is 14 people per place. How many military and civilian universities can envy such popularity! And all this was laid down under Margelov ... "
The Hero of Russia, Lieutenant-General of the Reserve Leonid Shcherbakov, recalls:
- In the seventies of the last century, Army General Vasily Filippovich Margelov set himself the difficult task of creating highly mobile, modern Airborne Troops in the Armed Forces of the country. A rapid rearmament began in the Airborne Forces, airborne combat vehicles (BMD) arrived, on their basis reconnaissance, communications and control equipment, self-propelled artillery, anti-tank systems, engineering equipment ... Margelov and his deputies, heads of services and departments were frequent guests at factories, training grounds, in training centers. The paratroopers daily "disturbed" the ministries of defense and the defense industry. Ultimately, this culminated in the creation of the best landing equipment in the world.
After graduating from the Academy of Armored Forces in 1968, I was assigned to a test job at the Research Institute of Armored Vehicles in Kubinka. I had a chance to test many samples at the test sites of Transbaikalia, Central Asia, Belarus and in the middle of nowhere. Somehow we were instructed to test the new equipment of the Airborne Forces. I worked with colleagues day and night, in various modes, sometimes prohibitive for technology and people.
The final stage is military trials in the Baltics. And here the divisional commander, catching my white envy of the paratroopers, offered to jump with a parachute after the combat vehicle.
Passed pre-jump training. Take off early in the morning. Climb. Everything was going well: the BMD got out of the plane and fell into the abyss. The crew followed. A sudden strong wind blew us to the boulders. The joyful feeling of flying under the dome ended with pain in the left leg - a fracture in two places.
Gypsum, autographs of paratroopers on it, crutches. In this form, he appeared before the commander of the Airborne Forces.
- Well, did you jump? Margelov asked me.
- Jumped, comrade commander.
- I'm taking you to the landing. I need such ones, - Vasily Filippovich made a decision.
At that time, there was an acute issue of reducing the time for bringing airborne units to combat readiness after landing. The old landing method - military equipment was thrown from one aircraft, crews from another - is pretty outdated.
After all, the spread on the landing area was large, sometimes reaching five kilometers. While the crews were looking for their equipment, time was running out like water in the sand.
Therefore, the commander of the Airborne Forces decided that the crew should be parachuted along with the combat vehicle. This was not the case in any army in the world! But this was not an argument for Vasily Filippovich, who believed that there were no impossible tasks for the landing force.
In August 1975, after landing equipment with dummies, I, as a driver, together with the son of the commander, Alexander Margelov, were entrusted with testing the joint landing complex. They named him "Centaur". The combat vehicle was mounted on a platform, behind it was attached an open vehicle for crew members with their own parachutes. Without means of rescue inside the BMD, testers were located on special, simplified space chairs for astronauts. We have completed the task. And this was a major step towards a more complex experiment. Together with the son of the commander, Alexander Margelov, we tested a parachute-reactive system, which was already called "Reaktavr". The system was located at the stern of the BMD and went to the take-off airfield with it. She had only one dome instead of five. At the same time, the height and speed of landing decreased, but the landing accuracy increased. There are many advantages, but the main disadvantage is huge overloads.
In January 1976, near Pskov, for the first time in world and domestic practice, this “reactive” landing was carried out with a huge risk to life, without personal means of rescue.
"And what happened next?" the discerning reader will ask. And then in each airborne regiment, in winter and summer, crews landed inside combat vehicles on parachute and parachute-rocket systems, which became perfect and reliable. In 1998, again near Pskov, a crew of seven people in standard seats descended from the skies inside the then newest BMD-3.
For the feat of the seventies, twenty years later, Alexander Margelov and I were awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
I will add that it was under General of the Army Margelov that it became a common practice to raise an airborne assault, say, in Pskov, make a long flight and land near Fergana, Kirovabad or in Mongolia. It is not for nothing that one of the most popular decodings of the abbreviation of the Airborne Forces is “Uncle Vasya’s Troops”.

In the ranks - sons and grandchildren

Recalls retired Major General Gennady Margelov:
- During the war, until 1944, I lived with my grandparents - the parents of my father Vasily Filippovich Margelov. During the evacuation, a junior sergeant once came to us. I still remember the last name - Ivanov. Well, he won me over with his stories about serving in his father's division. I wasn't even thirteen then. He was going to return to the unit. He left the house in the morning, and I was with him, as if to school. Himself in the other direction ... and - to the station. We got on the train and went. And so he fled at the age of 12 from the fifth grade to the front. We arrived at the division. Father did not know that I had arrived. We met face to face and did not recognize each other. It is not surprising, because they had seen each other before the Finnish War, when he wore one "sleeper" in his buttonhole. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War he was at the front. There was no time for vacation.

And so I ended up in my father's division near Kherson in the Kopani region. It was then the end of February, in some places there was still snow. Mud. I ran away from home in holey felt boots. So he caught a cold, his whole face was in boils, he even saw poorly. I ended up in a medical battalion, treated myself.
And then the dad calls: “Well, did you rest in the medical battalion?” Me: "That's right!" - "Then go to study in the training battalion."
I arrived, as expected, reported to the battalion commander. There were three companies in the battalion: two rifle companies and a company of heavy weapons. So they sent me to a platoon of anti-tank rifles.
Well, PTR is PTR. We had guns of two systems: Degtyarev and Simonov. I got Simon's. The Germans were not as afraid as this gun: the soldiers were healthy, and I was very small, I thought that the recoil after the shot would throw me somewhere. Later, when they were already put into combat formation and the foreman first gave me a rifle, it turned out that it was longer than me. Replaced with a short cavalry carbine.
During the fighting in Odessa, two comrades and I (one was a year older, the other a year younger, the sons of the division chief of staff, Colonel V.F. Shubin) left with battalion scouts to beat the Germans on the streets of the city. What is a fight in the city? Sometimes you don’t understand where yours are and where your enemies are. In general, I was alone ... In one of the houses I came across a wine cellar. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a hefty German with a machine gun! Of course, he would have “mowed” me with a burst at the moment, yes, apparently, he got a Fritz of wine from the barrels, which is why he hesitated. I shot him with my carbine. But for my sortie I received from my father three days in a guardhouse, because it was forbidden for me to arbitrarily go to the front line. He served, however, only a day. The Shubin brothers received combat medals each. Always in our family, the demand from the Margelovs was strict.
When the division was already beyond the old Romanian border, in the town of Chobruchi, the commander called me and showed me the magazine "Red Army" (which later became the "Soviet Warrior"). And there, on the cover, there is a photo of the Suvorovites of the Novocherkassk SVU on the stairs at the main entrance. So beautiful!..
- Well, are you going to study? - asked the battalion commander.
“I’ll go,” I answered, fascinated looking at the photo, not knowing that the battalion commander was following the order of the division commander.
This is how the Great Patriotic War ended for me, the guards of Private Gennady Margelov, and the service in the training battalion of the 144th Guards Rifle Regiment, Colonel A.G. Lubenchenko, a service that was considered the most honorable even for adult soldiers, since the training battalion trained sergeants and was the last reserve of the division commander. Where it was difficult, the training battalion entered the battle.
I met Victory Day already in the Tambov SVU. Being a Suvorovite, he made several parachute jumps in Pskov in the 76th Airborne Division, commanded by his father, Major General V.F. Margelov. Moreover, the first two jumps - without the knowledge of the father. The third was performed in the presence of his father and the deputy commander of the corps for airborne training. After landing, I reported to the deputy commander: “Suvorovets Margelov made another, third jump. The materiel worked perfectly, I feel good!” My father, who was preparing to hand me the badge of a first-class parachutist, was extremely surprised and even said a couple of “warm” words. However, he soon came to terms with this “misconduct” and proudly said that his son was growing up as a real paratrooper.
After graduating from SVU in 1950, I became a cadet at the Ryazan Infantry School, after graduating from which I was sent to the Airborne Forces of the Far Eastern District.
In the airborne troops, he went from platoon commander to chief of staff of the 44th training airborne division. He jumped with a parachute, as I reported at the interview for admission to the Academy of the General Staff, "from Berlin to Sakhalin." There were no more questions.
After graduating from the academy, he was appointed commander of the 26th motorized rifle division, which was located in the city of Gusev. Since 1976, he served in Transbaikalia as First Deputy Commander of the 29th Combined Arms Army. He celebrated his fiftieth birthday as the head of the Military Institute of Physical Culture twice Red Banner in Leningrad. He graduated from the service as a senior lecturer in the Department of Operational Art of the Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
The second son of Vasily Filippovich, Anatoly, also devoted his whole life to protecting the Motherland. A graduate of the Taganrog Radio Engineering Institute, he worked in the defense industry for decades. A doctor of technical sciences in his thirties did a lot to develop new types of weapons. On account of the scientist more than two hundred inventions. When meeting, he likes to emphasize:
- Private reserve, Professor Margelov.
The deputy director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Colonel-General Vitaly Margelov, recalls:
- After the evacuation, together with my mother and brother Anatoly, we lived in Taganrog. I still remember well how in 1945 we went with Tolik to the Oktyabr cinema, which was next to our house. And there, in the documentary chronicle, they show the Victory Parade. For us boys, it's a breathtaking sight. Marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky on white horses. On the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum, Stalin himself. The front-line generals, officers, soldiers are marching in front, military orders and medals sparkle on their uniforms ... You can’t take your eyes off. And suddenly I see my father in the front columns. From delight as I will shout to the whole hall:
- Dad, dad...
The hushed spectators perked up. Everyone began to look with great curiosity who was making noise. Since then, the ushers began to let my brother and me into the cinema for free.
For the first time in a general's uniform, my father saw me at his birthday party. I was delighted, of course, with my career growth, but I tried not to show it. When we were left alone, he asked me about the service, gave a number of "diplomatic" advice from his rich practice.
There is such a tradition in our Margelov family, inherited from our father: do not spoil your sons, do not patronize them and respect their life choices.
... The younger twin brothers Margelov, Alexander and Vasily, were born on October 21 in the victorious 1945. Our newspaper wrote many times about the Hero of Russia, reserve colonel Alexander Margelov, who served in the landing troops. About his courage and fearlessness, shown during the test of the Reaktavr. After completing his service, he remained faithful to the Airborne Forces and the memory of his legendary father. In his apartment with his brother Vasily, he opened a home office-museum of Army General Vasily Filippovich Margelov.
“I note that the gift of the current owner of the Arbat apartment (Alexander Vasilyevich lives with his family in his father’s apartment) is not only military-technical, but also artistic. No wonder the house is full of books on various fields of knowledge. He called the first descent system inside the BMD on a multi-dome parachute "Centaur" - for he noticed that when the car moves in a stowed position, the driver is visible to the waist, resembling a mythical creature, only in a modern version, ”wrote in his article“ Military -home museum" Petr Palamarchuk, published in 1995 in the magazine "Rodina". Since then, the museum has been visited by over a thousand people, among whom were prominent statesmen, politicians of our country, near and far abroad. Delighted by the exhibits they saw, they left their entries in the visitor's book.
During his life, Alexander Margelov performed many deeds worthy of respect. Among them is the creation of the documentary book "General of the Army Margelov", which was published in Moscow in 1998. He prepared the next edition of the book, which is due to be published this fall, in collaboration with his brother Vasily, a reserve major, an international journalist who currently works as the first deputy director of the Directorate of International Relations of the Voice of Russia RGC. By the way, Vasily's son, reserve junior sergeant Vasily Margelov, named after his grandfather, served urgently in the Airborne Forces.
It should be noted that all the sons of Vasily Filippovich jumped with a parachute and proudly wear landing vests.
Army General Margelov has many grandchildren, there are already great-grandchildren who continue and are preparing to continue the family traditions - to serve the Motherland with dignity. The eldest of them, Mikhail, son of Colonel General Vitaly Vasilievich Margelov, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Deputy Head of the delegation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Mikhail graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. He is fluent in English and Arabic, was the head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Public Relations.

The same faculty was successfully graduated in 1970 by his uncle, Vasily Vasilyevich.
Mikhail's brother, Vladimir, served in the border troops ...
* * *
For almost a quarter of a century, Vasily Filippovich Margelov commanded the Airborne Forces. Many generations of winged guards grew up on his example of selfless service to the Fatherland. The Ryazan Institute of the Airborne Forces, the streets of Omsk, Pskov and Tula bear his name. Monuments were erected to him in Ryazan, Omsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Tula. Officers and paratroopers, veterans of the Airborne Forces every year come to the monument to their commander at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow to pay tribute to his memory.
During the Great Patriotic War, a song was composed in the division of General Margelov. Here is one of her verses:
The song praises the Falcon
Brave and daring...
Is it close, is it far
Margelov's regiments marched.
They are still going through life, his regiments, in the ranks of which are his sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and tens, hundreds of thousands of people who cherish in their hearts the memory of him, the creator of the modern Airborne Forces.

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Margelov Vasily Filippovich
Born: December 14 (27), 1908
Died: March 4, 1990 (aged 81)

Biography

Vasily Filippovich Margelov - Soviet military leader, commander of the Airborne Forces in 1954-1959 and 1961-1979, army general (1967), Hero of the Soviet Union (1944), laureate of the USSR State Prize (1975), candidate of military sciences (1968).

Youth years

VF Markelov (later Margelov) was born on December 14 (27), 1908 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now the city of Dnepr, Ukraine), into a family of immigrants from Belarus. Father - Filipp Ivanovich Markelov, a metallurgical worker (Vasily Filippovich's surname Markelov was later recorded as Margelov due to an error in the party card).

In 1913, the Markelov family returned to the homeland of Philip Ivanovich - to the town of Kostyukovichi, Klimovichi district, Mogilev province. The mother of V. F. Margelov, Agafya Stepanovna, was from the neighboring Bobruisk district of the Minsk province. According to some reports, VF Margelov graduated from the parochial school in 1921. As a teenager, he worked as a loader and carpenter. In the same year, he entered a leather workshop as an apprentice, and soon became an assistant master. In 1923 he entered the local Hleboprodukt as a laborer. There is information that he graduated from the school of rural youth, and worked as a forwarder for the delivery of postal items on the Kostyukovichi-Khotimsk line.

Since 1924 he worked in Yekaterinoslav at the mine named after. M. I. Kalinin as a laborer, then a horse-racer (driver of horses carrying trolleys).

In 1925 he was sent back to the BSSR, as a forester in the timber industry. He worked in Kostyukovichi, in 1927 he became chairman of the working committee of the timber industry, was elected to the local Council.

Service start

In 1928 he was drafted into the Red Army. Sent to study at the United Belarusian Military School (OBVSh) named after. CEC of the BSSR in Minsk, enrolled in a group of snipers. From the 2nd year - foreman of a machine-gun company.

In April 1931 he graduated with honors from the Order of the Red Banner of Labor from the United Belarusian Military School. CEC of the BSSR. Appointed commander of a machine-gun platoon of the regimental school of the 99th rifle regiment of the 33rd Belarusian rifle division (Mogilev).

Since 1933 - platoon commander in the Order of the Red Banner of Labor OBVSh them. Central Executive Committee of the BSSR (since November 6, 1933 - named after M.I. Kalinin, since 1937 - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor Minsk Military Infantry School named after M.I. Kalinin). In February 1934 he was appointed assistant company commander, in May 1936 - commander of a machine gun company.

From October 25, 1938 he commanded the 2nd battalion of the 23rd rifle regiment of the 8th Minsk rifle division named after. Dzerzhinsky Belarusian Special Military District. He headed the reconnaissance of the 8th Infantry Division, being the chief of the 2nd division of the division headquarters. In this position, he participated in the Polish campaign of the Red Army in 1939.

During the war years

During the years of the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940) he commanded the Separate reconnaissance ski battalion of the 596th rifle regiment of the 122nd division (it was originally stationed in Brest, in November 1939 it was sent to Karelia). During one of the operations he captured officers of the Swedish General Staff.

After the end of the Soviet-Finnish war, he was appointed assistant commander of the 596th regiment for combat units. Since October 1940 - commander of the 15th separate disciplinary battalion of the Leningrad Military District (15th division, Novgorod region). At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in July 1941, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 1st Guards Division of the People's Militia of the Leningrad Front (the basis of the regiment was the fighters of the former 15th Odisb).

November 21, 1941 - appointed commander of the 1st Special Ski Regiment of sailors of the KBF. Contrary to talk that Margelov "would not take root", the Marines accepted the commander, which especially emphasized the appeal to him by the naval equivalent of the rank of "major" - "Comrade captain of the 3rd rank." Margelov, however, sunk into the heart of the prowess of the "brothers". Subsequently, becoming the commander of the Airborne Forces, as a sign that the paratroopers adopted the glorious traditions of their older brother - the marines and continued them with honor, Margelov ensured that the paratroopers got the right to wear vests, but in order to emphasize belonging to the sky, they are blue in the paratroopers.

From July 1942 - commander of the 13th Guards Rifle Regiment, chief of staff and deputy commander of the 3rd Guards Rifle Division. After the division commander K. A. Tsalikov was wounded, the command for the duration of his treatment passed to the chief of staff Vasily Margelov. On July 17, 1943, under the leadership of Margelov, the fighters of the 3rd Guards Division broke through 2 lines of defense of the Nazis on the Mius Front, captured the village of Stepanovka and provided a springboard for the assault on the Saur-Mogila.

Since 1944 - commander of the 49th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. He led the division during the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kherson, for which in March 1944 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Under his command, the 49th Guards Rifle Division participated in the liberation of Southeastern Europe.

During the war, Commander Margelov was mentioned ten times in the gratitude orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

At the Victory Parade in Moscow, Major General Margelov commanded a battalion in the consolidated regiment of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

In the airborne troops

After the war in command positions. Since 1948, after graduating from the Order of Suvorov, I degree of the Higher Military Academy named after K. E. Voroshilov, he was the commander of the 76th Guards Chernigov Red Banner Airborne Division.

In 1950-1954 - commander of the 37th Guards Airborne Svir Red Banner Corps (Far East).

From 1954 to 1959 - Commander of the Airborne Forces. In March 1959, after an emergency in the artillery regiment of the 76th Airborne Division (gang rape of civilian women), he was demoted to the 1st Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces. From July 1961 to January 1979 - again commander of the Airborne Forces.

On October 28, 1967, he was awarded the military rank of General of the Army. He supervised the actions of the Airborne Forces during the entry of troops into Czechoslovakia (Operation Danube).

Since January 1979 - in the group of general inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense. He went on business trips to the Airborne Forces, was the chairman of the State Examination Commission at the Ryazan Airborne School.

During his service in the Airborne Forces, he made more than sixty jumps. The last of them at the age of 65.
Lived and worked in Moscow.
Died March 4, 1990. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Theory of combat use

In military theory, it was believed that after the immediate use of nuclear strikes and the maintenance of high rates of attack, the widespread use of airborne assault forces was necessary. Under these conditions, the Airborne Forces had to fully comply with the military-strategic goals of the war and meet the military-political goals of the state.

According to Commander Margelov:

“In order to fulfill their role in modern operations, our formations and units must be highly maneuverable, covered with armor, have sufficient fire efficiency, be well controlled, be able to land at any time of the day and quickly switch to active combat operations after landing. This is, by and large, the ideal to which we should strive."

.

To achieve the goals set, under the leadership of Margelov, a concept was developed for the role and place of the Airborne Forces in modern strategic operations in various theaters of military operations. Margelov wrote a number of works on this topic, and on December 4, 1968, he successfully defended his Ph. In practical terms, exercises and command meetings of the Airborne Forces were regularly held.

Armament

It was necessary to bridge the gap between the theory of the combat use of the Airborne Forces and the established organizational structure of the troops, as well as the capabilities of military transport aviation. Assuming the position of Commander, Margelov received troops consisting mainly of infantry with light weapons and military transport aviation (as an integral part of the Airborne Forces), which was equipped with Li-2, Il-14, Tu-2 and Tu- 4 with significantly limited landing capabilities. In fact, the Airborne Forces were not able to solve major tasks in military operations.

Margelov initiated the creation and mass production at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of landing equipment, heavy parachute platforms, parachute systems and containers for landing cargo, cargo and human parachutes, parachute devices. “You can’t order technology, so strive to create reliable parachutes in the design bureau, industry, during testing, trouble-free operation of heavy airborne equipment,” Margelov said when setting tasks for his subordinates.

For the paratroopers, modifications of small arms were created to simplify its landing by parachute - less weight, a folding butt.

Especially for the needs of the Airborne Forces in the post-war years, new military equipment was developed and modernized: airborne self-propelled artillery installation ASU-76 (1949), light ASU-57 (1951), floating ASU-57P (1954), self-propelled installation ASU-85, tracked combat vehicle Airborne troops BMD-1 (1969). After the first batches of BMD-1 were received by the troops, a family of weapons was developed on its basis: Nona self-propelled artillery guns, artillery fire control vehicles, R-142 command and staff vehicles, R-141 long-range radio stations, anti-tank systems, reconnaissance vehicle. Anti-aircraft units and subunits were also equipped with armored personnel carriers, which housed crews with portable systems and ammunition.

By the end of the 1950s, new An-8 and An-12 aircraft were put into service and entered the army, which had a payload capacity of up to 10-12 tons and a sufficient flight range, which made it possible to land large groups of personnel with standard military equipment and weapons. Later, through the efforts of Margelov, the Airborne Forces received new military transport aircraft - An-22 and Il-76.

At the end of the 1950s, parachute platforms PP-127 appeared in service with the troops, designed for parachute landing of artillery, vehicles, radio stations, engineering equipment and others. Parachute-jet means of landing were created, which, due to the jet thrust created by the engine, made it possible to bring the landing speed of the cargo closer to zero. Such systems made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of landing due to the abandonment of a large number of large-area domes.

On January 5, 1973, at the parachute track of the Airborne Forces "Slobodka" (see on Yandex. Maps) near Tula, for the first time in world practice in the USSR, landing on parachute-platform means in the "Centaur" complex was carried out from the An-12B military transport aircraft of a tracked armored combat vehicle BMD-1 with two crew members on board. The crew commander was Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Gavrilovich Zuev, and the operator-gunner was Senior Lieutenant Margelov Alexander Vasilyevich.

On January 23, 1976, also for the first time in world practice, landing from the same type of aircraft, BMD-1 made a soft landing on a parachute-rocket system in the Reaktavr complex, also with two crew members on board - Major Margelov Alexander Vasilievich and Lieutenant Colonel Shcherbakov Leonid Ivanovich. The landing was carried out at a huge risk to life, without personal means of salvation. Twenty years later, for the feat of the seventies, both were awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

A family

Father - Philip Ivanovich Margelov (Markelov) - a metallurgical worker, in the First World War he became a knight of two St. George's crosses.

Mother - Agafya Stepanovna, was from the Bobruisk district.
Two brothers - Ivan (older), Nikolai (younger) and sister Maria.
V. F. Margelov was married three times:
The first wife, Maria, left her husband and son (Gennady).
The second wife is Feodosia Efremovna Selitskaya (mother of Anatoly and Vitaly).

The last wife is Anna Alexandrovna Kurakina, a doctor. He met Anna Alexandrovna during the Great Patriotic War.

Five sons:
Gennady Vasilyevich (1931-2016) - major general.

Anatoly Vasilyevich (1938-2008) - Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, author of more than 100 patents and inventions in the military-industrial complex.

Vitaly Vasilievich (born 1941) - a professional intelligence officer, an employee of the KGB of the USSR and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, later - a public and political figure; colonel general, deputy of the State Duma.

Vasily Vasilyevich (1945-2010) - retired major; First Deputy Director of the Directorate of International Relations of the Russian State Broadcasting Company "Voice of Russia" (RGRK "Voice of Russia").

Alexander Vasilievich (1945-2016) - Airborne Forces officer, retired colonel. On August 29, 1996, "for the courage and heroism shown in testing, fine-tuning and mastering special equipment" (landing inside the BMD-1 on a parachute-rocket system in the Reaktavr complex, carried out for the first time in world practice in 1976) was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. After retiring, he worked in the structures of Rosoboronexport.

Vasily Vasilyevich and Alexander Vasilyevich are twin brothers. In 2003, they co-authored a book about their father - "Paratrooper No. 1 Army General Margelov."

Awards and titles

USSR awards

Medal "Gold Star" No. 3414 of the Hero of the Soviet Union (03/19/1944);
four orders of Lenin (03/21/1944, 11/3/1953, 12/26/1968, 12/26/1978);
Order of the October Revolution (05/04/1972);
two Orders of the Red Banner (3.02.1943, 20.06.1949);
the Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree (04/28/1944) was originally presented to the Order of Lenin;
two orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (01/25/1943, 03/11/1985);
Order of the Red Star (November 3, 1944);
two Orders "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 2nd (12/14/1988) and 3rd degree (04/30/1975);
medals.
Orders (thanks) of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in which VF Margelov was noted.

For crossing the Dnieper River in the lower reaches, and capturing the city of Kherson - a major junction of railway and water communications and an important stronghold of the German defense at the mouth of the Dnieper River. March 13, 1944. No. 83.

For taking by storm the large regional and industrial center of Ukraine, the city of Nikolaev - an important railway junction, one of the largest ports on the Black Sea and a strong stronghold of the German defense at the mouth of the Southern Bug. March 28, 1944. No. 96.

For capturing by storm on the territory of Hungary the city and the large railway junction of Szolnok - an important stronghold of the enemy's defense on the Tisza River. November 4, 1944. No. 209.

For breaking through the heavily fortified defenses of the enemy southwest of Budapest, capturing by storm the cities of Szekesfehervar and Bichke, large communication centers and important strongholds of the enemy's defense, were seized. December 24, 1944. No. 218.

For the complete capture of the capital of Hungary, the city of Budapest - a strategically important center of German defense on the way to Vienna. February 13, 1945. No. 277.

For breaking through the heavily fortified defenses of the Germans in the mountains of Verteshhegysheg, west of Budapest, defeating a group of German troops in the Esztergom area, and also capturing the cities of Esztergom, Nesmey, Felshe-Galla, and Tata. March 25, 1945. No. 308.

For the capture of the city and an important road junction of Madyarovar and the city and railway station of Kremnica - a strong stronghold of the German defense on the southern slopes of the Velkafatra ridge. April 3, 1945. No. 329.

For the capture of the cities and important railway junctions of Malacky and Bruk, as well as the cities of Prewidza and Banovce - strong strongholds of the German defense in the Carpathian zone. April 5, 1945. No. 331.

For the encirclement and defeat of a group of German troops that tried to retreat from Vienna to the north, and at the same time capturing the cities of Korneiburg and Floridsdorf - powerful strongholds of the German defense on the left bank of the Danube. April 15, 1945. No. 337.

For the capture of the cities of Jaromerice and Znojmo in Czechoslovakia and the cities of Hollabrunn and Stockerau in Austria - important communications centers and strong strongholds of the German defense. May 8, 1945. No. 367.

honorary titles

Hero of the Soviet Union (1944).
Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1975).
Honorary citizen of the city of Kherson.
Honorary soldier of the military unit.

Memory

In 2014, Vasily Margelov's office-museum was opened in the main building of the headquarters of the Airborne Forces.

By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR of April 20, 1985, V.F. Margelov was enlisted as an Honorary Soldier in the lists of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division.

By order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 182 dated May 6, 2005, the departmental medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation "General of the Army Margelov" was established. In the same year, a memorial plaque was installed on a house in Moscow, in Sivtsev Vrazhek lane, where Margelov lived for the last 20 years of his life.

Every year on the birthday of VF Margelov on December 27 in all cities of Russia, military personnel of the Airborne Forces pay tribute to the memory of Vasily Margelov.

Monuments

Monuments to V. F. Margelov are installed:
In Belarus: Kostyukovichi
In Moldova: Chisinau

In Russia: Alatyr (bust), Bronnitsy (bust), Gorno-Altaisk, Yekaterinburg, Ivanovo, Istomino village, Balakhna district, Nizhny Novgorod region, Krasnoperekopsk, Omsk, Petrozavodsk, Ryazan (two monuments; one of them is located on the territory of the Airborne Forces school, the other - in the square in the immediate vicinity of the checkpoint of this school) and Sel'tsy (training center of the airborne forces school near Ryazan), Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region (bust), St. Petersburg (in the square named after V. F. Margelov), Simferopol, Slavyansk-on-Kuban , Tula, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Lipetsk, Hill (Novgorod region).

Ukraine: Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Zhytomyr (in the location of the 95th brigade), Krivoy Rog, Lvov (in the location of the 80th brigade), Sumy, Kherson, Mariupol.

Timeline of discovery

On February 21, 2010, a bust of Vasily Margelov was erected in Kherson. The bust of the general is located in the city center near the Youth Palace on Perekopskaya Street.

On June 5, 2010, a monument to the founder of the Airborne Forces (VDV) was unveiled in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The monument was built at the expense of former paratroopers living in Moldova.

On November 4, 2013, a memorial monument to Margelov was opened in Victory Park in Nizhny Novgorod.

Monument to Vasily Filippovich, a sketch of which was made from a well-known photograph from a divisional newspaper, in which he, being appointed commander of the 76th Guards. airborne division, preparing for the first jump, - installed in front of the headquarters of the 95th separate airmobile brigade (Ukraine).

On October 8, 2014, a memorial complex dedicated to the founder of the USSR Airborne Forces, Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army Vasily Margelov was opened in Bendery (Transnistria). The complex is located on the territory of the square near the city House of Culture.

On May 7, 2014, a monument to Vasily Margelov was unveiled on the territory of the Memorial of Memory and Glory in Nazran (Ingushetia, Russia).

On June 8, 2014, as part of the celebration of the 230th anniversary of the founding of Simferopol, the Alley of Glory and the bust of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General, Commander of the Airborne Forces Vasily Margelov were solemnly opened.

On December 27, 2014, on the birthday of Vasily Fillipovich in Saratov, a memorial bust to Margelov V.F.

On April 25, 2015 in Taganrog in the city center, in the historical square "At the barrier", a bust of Vasily Margelov was solemnly opened.

April 23, 2015 in Slavyansk-on-Kuban (Krasnodar Territory, Russia) a bust of General of the Airborne Forces V.F. Margelov was unveiled.

On June 12, 2015, a monument to General Vasily Margelov was unveiled in Yaroslavl near the headquarters of the Yaroslavl Regional Children's and Youth Military Patriotic Public Organization Paratroopers named after Guards Sergeant of the Airborne Forces Leonid Palachev.

On July 18, 2015, a bust to the commander who took part in the liberation of the city in the Second World War was unveiled in Donetsk.
On August 1, 2015, a monument to General Vasily Margelov was unveiled in Yaroslavl on the eve of the 85th anniversary of the Airborne Forces.
On September 12, 2015, a monument to Vasily Margelov was opened in the city of Krasnoperekopsk (Crimea).
A monument to V. F. Margelov was erected in Bronnitsy.

On August 2, 2016, busts of V.F. Margelov were unveiled in Petrozavodsk and Alatyr (Chuvashia); Also on this day, a memorial was opened in the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region.

On November 4, 2016, a bronze monument over two meters high was erected in the center of Yekaterinburg.
April 19, 2017 in Vladikavkaz, on the Alley of Glory, a bust of a Soviet military leader was installed.
June 30, 2017 in the city of Kholm, Novgorod region.

Naming

The name of V. F. Margelov is:
Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School;
Department of the Airborne Forces of the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;
Nizhny Novgorod Cadet Corps (NKSHI);
MBOU "Secondary School No. 27", Simferopol;

streets in Moscow, Zapadnaya Litsa (Leningrad region), Omsk, Pskov, Taganrog, Tula, Ulan-Ude and the border village of Naushki (Buryatia), an avenue and a park in the Zavolzhsky district of Ulyanovsk, a square in Ryazan, public gardens in St. Petersburg, in the city of Belogorsk (Amur Region). In Moscow, the street "projected passage No. 6367" was given the name "Margelov Street" on September 24, 2013. In honor of the 105th anniversary of the birth of Vasily Filippovich, a memorial plaque was opened on the new street.

In Belarus - secondary school No. 4 in Gomel, streets in Minsk and Vitebsk. In Vitebsk, the memory of V. F. Margelov was immortalized on June 25, 2010. Vitebsk City Executive Committee in the spring of 2010 approved the petition of the veterans of the Airborne Forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation to name the street connecting the street. Chkalova and ave. Victory, General Margelov Street. On the eve of the City Day on the street. General Margelov, a new house was put into operation, on which a memorial plaque was installed, the right to open it was granted to the sons of Vasily Filippovich.

In art

During the Great Patriotic War, a song was composed in the division of V. Margelov, one verse from it:
The song praises the Falcon
Brave and daring...
Is it close, is it far
Margelov's regiments marched.

In 2008, with the support of the Moscow government, director Oleg Shtrom filmed the eight-episode series "Dad", in which Mikhail Zhigalov played the main role.

The ensemble "Blue Berets" recorded a song dedicated to V.F. Margelov, assessing the current state of the Airborne Forces, after his departure from the post of commander, which is called "Forgive us, Vasily Filippovich!".

Other

At the Sumy distillery "Gorobina" memorial vodka "Margelovskaya" is produced. Fortress 48%, in the recipe - alcohol, pomegranate juice, black pepper.

In honor of the centenary of the birth of the Commander, 2008 was declared the year of V. Margelov in the Airborne Forces.

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Vasily Filippovich Margelov was drafted into the Red Army in 1928. Even before the start of World War II, he showed himself during the Polish campaign, the Soviet-Finnish war. But, perhaps, it was during the Great Patriotic War that he revealed himself as an outstanding commander. What is one surrender without a fight to the "Soviet Skorzeny" (as the Germans called him) of the divisions of the SS Panzer Corps "Dead Head" and "Great Germany" on May 12, 1945, which were ordered not to be allowed into the zone of responsibility of the Americans. The enemy driven into a corner is capable of much - there is nothing to lose. For the SS men, retribution for the atrocities was inevitable, and new victims were inevitable. And the order was clear - to capture or destroy.

Margelov took a decisive step. With a group of officers armed with machine guns and grenades, the divisional commander, accompanied by a battery of 57-mm cannons on his "jeep" arrived at the group's headquarters. By ordering the battalion commander to set up direct fire guns at the enemy headquarters and shoot if he does not return in ten minutes.

Margelov presented an ultimatum to the Germans: Either they surrender and save their lives, or complete destruction using all the fire weapons of the division: “by 4.00 in the morning - the front to the east. Light weapons: machine guns, machine guns, rifles - in piles, ammunition - nearby. The second line - military equipment, guns and mortars - vents down. Soldiers and officers - we are building to the west. Time to think - just a few minutes: "until his cigarette burns out." The nerves of the Germans cracked first. The picture of the surrender of the SS was amazing. The exact count of trophies showed the following figures: 2 generals, 806 officers, 31,258 non-commissioned officers, 77 tanks and self-propelled guns, 5847 trucks, 493 trucks, 46 mortars, 120 guns, 16 locomotives, 397 wagons. For this military feat, at the Victory Parade, Margelov was entrusted with commanding the combined regiment of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.