Architect of Red Army artillery who wove the Stalingrad encirclement
Before dawn, 1 February 1943, Don Front HQ, Stalingrad. Field Marshal Paulus, the defeated commander of the German 6th Army, was brought before Marshal of Artillery Voronov. The architect of Soviet artillery himself interrogated him: 'Do you still believe in a German victory?'
Born into a poor clerk's family in St. Petersburg, he joined the Red Army in 1918 and fought as an artillery officer in the Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War. As 'Voltaire', an artillery adviser to the Spanish Republic, he grasped the power of massed fire; returning in 1937, he became chief of Red Army artillery and built its centralized command doctrine. During the Great Patriotic War, as Stavka representative he was dispatched to every decisive crisis (Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kursk) and personally designed the artillery preparation for Operation Uranus, delivering the firepower that encircled and destroyed the German 6th Army. He became the first Chief Marshal of Artillery in 1944 and spent his postwar years leading the Academy of Artillery Sciences, driving the scientific modernization of Soviet gunnery.
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
- 1936–1939The Spanish Civil WarArtillery adviser, VoltaireConfirmed the value of massed fire here and returned to rebuild Red Army artillery
- 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.