Commander of the 64th Army: Stalingrad's southern shield for six months
31 January 1943, Beketovka, 64th Army HQ. Field Marshal Paulus was led in before General Shumilov. It was the first time in history a German field marshal had surrendered — and it was Shumilov's soldiers who had taken him.
A veteran infantry officer of the First World War and the Civil War, Shumilov was appointed commander of the 64th Army in August 1942 and held the southern defence of Stalingrad for six months. While Chuikov's 62nd Army fought the close-quarters battle to the north, Shumilov's 64th Army stopped Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army on the southern approaches and, in January 1943, took Field Marshal Paulus prisoner. Shumilov personally conducted the interrogation. He then led the renamed 7th Guards Army through Kursk, the Dnieper crossing (for which he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union), Budapest, and Prague. After the war he commanded the White Sea and Voronezh military districts and was buried, at his request, on Mamayev Kurgan among the fallen of Stalingrad.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1916Graduated Chuguyev Military School; served in WWI as praporshchik
- 1918Joined Red Army and Bolshevik Party
- 1918–20Civil War: rose from platoon to regiment commander
- 1938–39Soviet military adviser in Spanish Civil War
- 1938–41Commander, 11th Rifle Corps (Poland, Finland, Barbarossa)
- 1942.1–8Deputy commander, 21st Army (Kharkov, Don)
- 1942.8–1943.4Commander, 64th Army — southern Stalingrad defence
- 1943.4–1945.5Commander, 7th Guards Army (Kursk → Prague)
- 1949–55Commander, Voronezh Military District
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionCivil War participant
- 1936–1939The Spanish Civil WarSoviet military adviserWorked on the organization and training of infantry units
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarCommander, 11th Rifle Corps
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic War64th Army Commander
- 1942–1943Battle of Stalingrad64th Army commander of the southern defenceAppointed in August 1942, he commanded the defence of southern Stalingrad for six months.
The 7th Guards Army crossing of the Dnieper and its west-bank bridgeheads
On 16 April 1943 the 64th Army was redesignated the 7th Guards Army, and Shumilov remained its commander. After the Battle of Kursk, the army advanced southwest to the Dnieper. During the night of 25 September, its forward units crossed on improvised craft and secured several small bridgeheads on the west bank northwest of Verkhnedneprovsk. By morning, the main bodies of rifle regiments and some artillery had crossed. The army repelled counterattacks and, over five days, linked and enlarged the bridgeheads. This was not an operation by the 7th Guards Army alone, but part of the Steppe Front's Dnieper crossing.
The crossing and consolidation of the bridgeheads were also cited in Shumilov's award. On 26 October 1943 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, and the Gold Star medal for successfully crossing the river and securing and expanding the west-bank bridgehead. The wartime biography records both the collective achievement and the stated grounds for the army commander's decoration.