Architect of Red Army artillery who wove the Stalingrad encirclement
After Paulus was captured by the 64th Army on 31 January 1943, Voronov interrogated him together with Rokossovsky in his izba at Zavarygino, demanding that he order the still-resisting northern group to surrender; Paulus refused, saying he was a prisoner and his orders were no longer valid.
Born in Saint Petersburg into a clerk's family, he entered the Red Army in 1918, fought as an artillery officer in the Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War, and was gravely wounded and captured in 1920. Sent to Spain as an artillery adviser under the name 'Voltaire', he returned in 1937 to become chief of Red Army artillery, taking the post of the executed N. M. Rogovsky, and pushed through centralized artillery control. As a Stavka representative in the Second World War he was sent to Stalingrad, Leningrad and Kursk, supervised the artillery preparation for Operation Uranus, and took part in the interrogation of Paulus in 1943. Made Chief Marshal of Artillery in 1944, he led the Academy of Artillery Sciences and the artillery command academy after the war, and died in February 1968 after an operation for a malignant tumour.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1918–21Joins Red Army; Civil War, Polish-Soviet War; Polish captivity
- 1930Graduates Frunze Academy; artillery regiment commander
- 1936–37Republican artillery adviser in Spanish Civil War ('Voltaire')
- 1937–40Chief of Red Army artillery; Khalkhin Gol, Winter War
- 1941–50Artillery commander & Deputy Defence Commissar; Stavka rep. at key operations
- 1943Designs artillery plan for Operation Uranus; interrogates Paulus
- 1944First Chief Marshal of Artillery; Time cover (20 March 1944)
- 1950–68Academy of Artillery Sciences; Artillery Command Academy; Inspector-General
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionCivil War participant
- 1919–1921The Soviet-Polish WarSoviet artillery officer captured by Polish forcesHe fought as an artillery officer in the Polish-Soviet War and was gravely wounded and captured in 1920.
- 1936–1939The Spanish Civil WarArtillery adviser, VoltaireConfirmed the value of massed fire here and returned to rebuild Red Army artillery
- 1938–1941The Soviet-Japanese Border Wars and the Neutrality PactParticipant in the Battle of Khalkhin GolAs chief of Red Army artillery, he participated in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarChief of Artillery, Red Army
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarChief Marshal of Artillery · Stavka representativeHe commanded Red Army artillery throughout the war and as Stavka representative was dispatched to every decisive crisis: Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kursk. He personally designed the artillery preparation for Operation Uranus, directed the liquidation of the encircled German 6th Army (Operation Koltso), and interrogated Field Marshal Paulus.
- 1942–1943Battle of StalingradStavka representative directing artillery preparations for Operation KoltsoWith Don Front commanders, he planned a west-to-east thrust to split the encircled forces.
Liquidating the Stalingrad pocket: Operation Koltso, 1942-43
A Stavka directive of 19 December 1942 sent Voronov to the Stalingrad and Don Fronts as Vasilevsky's deputy for the destruction of the encircled enemy forces, requiring him, as Stavka representative, to submit by 21 December 1942 a plan to break the encircled enemy's defence and liquidate it within five or six days. The directive marks the start of his role in the liquidation phase. On the Don Front, Voronov, Rokossovsky and chief of staff Malinin concluded that the Stavka's five-to-six-day timetable for eliminating the pocket was clearly unrealizable. They agreed on the plan: the main blow by the Don Front, a supporting blow by forces transferred from the Stalingrad Front, cutting the encircled group in two by a thrust from west to east. Operation Koltso was launched on 10 January 1943 after powerful artillery preparation. Voronov was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st degree for it, and on 18 January 1943 he was promoted to Marshal of Artillery. His memoir records a second interrogation of Paulus on 2 February 1943, distinct from the interrogation of 31 January, conducted by Voronov together with Rokossovsky, Malinin and Telegin. Paulus answered Voronov's questions about the Soviet offensive under Stalingrad by saying he had not known of it and could only have assumed something, blamed German reconnaissance for the lack of knowledge, and stated that he had executed the will and orders of the German high command, which as a soldier he was obliged to carry out exactly and unquestioningly. The memoir notes that the Don Front completed the destruction of the encircled group at 16:00 on 2 February 1943, liberating 1,400 square kilometres and taking 91,000 prisoners, including about 2,500 officers and 24 generals. Voronov contrasted these figures with the front intelligence estimate of 80,000 to 90,000 and with the 10,000 reported by the Don Front staff days earlier. After the battle Voronov reported to Stalin in the Stavka for more than four hours, drawing lessons from the Volga-Don operations: multi-fold artillery superiority on breakthrough sectors at comparatively low overall artillery density, the value of the new artillery divisions and brigades for massing fire, the need for improved artillery reconnaissance equipment and reconnaissance and correction aircraft, and the massed use of rocket and army air-defence artillery. The same day Kalinin read him and Rokossovsky the decree awarding them the Order of Suvorov 1st degree.