Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov (; – 19 March 1955) was a Soviet military commander. Trained as an artillery officer, he joined the Red Army in 1920. He graduated from several Soviet military academies, including the Military Academy of Red Army General Staff. He participated in the Winter War of 1939–1940 against Finland as a senior artillery officer.
In World War II, Govorov rose to command an army in November 1941 during the Battle of Moscow. He commanded the Leningrad Front from April 1942 to the end of the war. He reached the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1944, and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and many other awards. He was the father of Soviet General Vladimir Govorov.
Early years and Russian Revolution
Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was born into a peasant family of Russian ethnicity in the village of Butyrki in Vyatka Governorate (now in Kirov Oblast).
Govorov obtained further military education, graduating from the Artillery course in 1926, the Higher Academy course in 1930, and the Frunze Military Academy in 1933. In 1936, Govorov was among the first officers who attended the newly founded Military Academy of Red Army General Staff, from which he graduated in 1938.
From 1936, he was head of artillery in the Kiev Military District. In 1938 he was appointed as lecturer in tactics at the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy. In 1939, he finished his first research publication. This was the period of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge. Govorov was close to being arrested, but in the end survived thanks to the intervention of Mikhail Kalinin and continued to rise in rank.
Defense of Leningrad
In April 1942 Govorov was appointed commander of the Leningrad Group of Forces of the Leningrad Front, which combined the former Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts. In July, the Volkhov Front was re-established, and Govorov became the head of the entire Leningrad Front, replacing Lieutenant General M.S. Khosin. Leningrad had been cut off from the rest of the country since September 1941, and the Soviet forces were trying to lift the siege of Leningrad, which was causing colossal damage to the city and suffering to the civilian population. The Road of Life, which was the only means of supply to the city, was frequently cut by regular German and Finnish air strikes. Despite several German requests Mannerheim decided that Finnish forces would not attack Leningrad. Soviet forces launched several offensives in the region in 1942, but these failed to lift the siege. The Lyuban Offensive Operation resulted in the encirclement and destruction of most of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army. In this situation, Govorov's background as an artilleryman was considered most valuable, since the city was under constant shelling, and one of Govorov's tasks was to launch an artillery counter-offensive against the German guns. Both sides were unaware of the other's preparations. As a result, the Soviet Sinyavino Offensive failed and the 2nd Shock army was decimated for the second time in a year, but the German forces suffered heavy casualties and canceled Operation Northern Light.
thumb|Operation Iskra, January 1943
In late November 1942, Govorov began planning the next operation to break the blockade of Leningrad. In December, the plan was approved by the Stavka and received the codename Operation Iskra (Spark). Operation Iskra began on 13 January 1943, and on 18 January Soviet forces linked up, breaking the blockade. By 22 January the front line stabilized. The operation successfully opened a land corridor 8–10 km wide to the city. A railroad was swiftly built through the corridor that allowed far more supplies to reach the city than the "Road of Life", eliminating the possibility of the capture of the city and a German-Finnish link up. Govorov was promoted to Colonel General on 15 January and was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st Class on 28 January.
The Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts tried to follow up their success with a much more ambitious offensive operation named Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda (Polar Star). This operation had the aim of decisively defeating the German Army Group North, but achieved very modest gains. Several other offensives were conducted by Govorov in the area in 1943, slowly expanding the corridor into Leningrad, and making other small gains. In November 1943, Govorov began planning the Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive which would drive Army Group North out of the Leningrad region. On 17 November he was promoted to army general. By that time, the reinforced German forces were at the "Panther Line", stretching from Narva to Pskov using Lake Pskov as a barrier, where the offensive was stopped in several heavy battles around Narva. In June 1944, during the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which led to Soviet recapture of Vyborg, Govorov was promoted to the rank of marshal of the Soviet Union. Later his forces recaptured the Baltic states, and in autumn 1944 his forces blocked Army Group North in what became known as Courland Pocket. On 27 January 1945, Govorov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
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|Order of Victory (No. 10–31 May 1945)
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|Five Orders of Lenin (10 November 1941, 2 January 1942, 27 January 1945, 21 February 1945, 21 February 1947)
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|Order of the Red Banner, three times (1921, 3 November 1944, 15 November 1950)
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|Order of Suvorov, 1st class, twice (28 January 1943, 21 February 1944)
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|Order of Kutuzov, 1st class (29 July 1944)
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|Order of the Red Star (15 January 1940)
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|Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"
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|Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"
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|Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
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|Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"
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|Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
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|Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"
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;Foreign Awards
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|Order of the Republic (Tuvan People's Republic, 3 March 1942)
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|Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (USA)
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|Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
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|Croix de Guerre 1939-45 (France)
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