Oka Ivanovich Gorodovikov (; – 26 February 1960) was a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

cavalry general and

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

of Kalmyk descent.

Early life

Gorodovikov was born on 1 October .S. 19 September1879 to a Kalmyk peasant family of the Mokraia El'muta

khutor A khutor ( ; rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir (, ) is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement.Salsky District Salsky District () is an administrativeLaw #340-ZS and municipalLaw #233-ZS district (raion), one of the forty-three in Rostov Oblast, Russia. It is located in the south of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the ...

, within the

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...

territory. Starting from 8 years old, rather than receive an education, he would work various jobs: these being as a shepherd, a herdsman, and a mine worker. In 1903 Gorodovikov would be drafted into the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

and serve with the 9th Don

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

Regiment in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, then a part of the Russian Empire, where he would command a squad, then a platoon, and would rise to the rank of sergeant major before being demobilised in 1907. After returning to civilian life, Gorodovikov worked for a time at the Torgovaya Station in Stavropol Province but then returned to his homeland of the Don to once again put his hands to various jobs this time including a groom, a postal cabman, and as a peddler of goods for a merchant. From 1910 he began instructing horse riding for the Don Army in the village of Platovskaya. One year after the start of

World War 1 World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Gorodovikov would once again be drafted, this time with the 43rd Don Cossack Regiment, commanding a platoon. In 1916, due to severe injury, he returned to the Don and joined the 39th Don Cossack Sotnia (squadron) at the Sulin Station. The next year unrest would spread across Russia, developing into the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, which Gorodovikov would take part in on his native soil.

Red Army career

Gorodovikov would participate in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, joining the fledgling

in February 1918, as a cavalry commander of Red Cossack riders. Leading a reconnaissance platoon from February and squadrons of Dumenko's and Budyonny's partisan detachments from April; he would then take the position of a second-in-command in the 20th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade from October as well as in a cavalry brigade from later in November. From December he'd command a cavalry brigade on the Tsaritsyn Front. In 1919, starting from February Gorodovikov would lead the 19th Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Cavalry Division and then the Division itself from August of the same year. The next year he'd transfer to the 6th from the 4th, starting from April, and from 16 July to 6 September he'd command the

2nd Cavalry Army The 2nd Cavalry Army () was a cavalry Field army, army of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. History It was created by an order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southwestern Front (RSFSR), Southwestern Front on 16 July 1920 ...

against Wrangel's forces in the Crimea for a time before being replaced by

Filipp Mironov Filipp Kuzmich Mironov (; 1872–1921) was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader during and after the Russian Revolution. He actively supported the idea of democracy in the form of the Soviet Republic, was one of the first commanders in the Red Army ...

. Gorodovikov would join the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1919. After the Civil War, Gorodovikov spent over a decade in military education, completing several courses: the nine-month Higher Academic Courses in 1922; advanced training courses for senior commanders at the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

in 1927; courses for commanders at the

Tolmachev Military-Political Academy Tolmachyov, Tolmachov or Tolmachev () feminine: Tolmachyova or Tolmacheva is a Russian patronymic surname mening "son of ''tolmach''", where "tolmach" is an archaic Russian word for "interpreter". * Aleksandr Tolmachyov (disambiguation), multiple ...

in 1930; with him finally graduating from the Frunze Military Academy in 1932. After graduating, Gorodovikov was put in command of the 1st Mounted Corps of the Cherven Cossacks as well as serving as the deputy commander of the Central Asian Military District from 1932 to 1938. He then became inspector general of cavalry for the Red Army from 1938 to 1943 and deputy main commander of cavalry from 1943 after. The Second World War brought Gorodovikov once again into a frontline command leading the 8th Red Army on the North-West Front from July 1941 and later as a staff officer with mounted units that raided the enemy's rear during the Battle of Stalingrad. Gorodovikov was one of few Kalmyks who were spared from deportation to Siberia near the end of the war and had in fact helped organise the deportations of his fellow Kalmyks in 1943 and 1944. Oka Gorodovikov

Gorodovikov retired in 1947 with pension. During his career he earned many awards as well as the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1958 after retiring: He was also given several other medals, honorary weapons, and gold, personalised watches.

Death and legacy

Gorodovikov died on 26 February 1960 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow but even before his death he began to be immortalised: in celebration of him being awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, streets in Lipetsk and Rostov-on-Don were renamed in his honour and later, in 1971, the town of Bashanta became the town of

Gorodovikovsk Gorodovikovsk (; , ''Bääşñtä'') is a town and the administrative center of Gorodovikovsky District of the Republic of Kalmykia, Russia, located on the , west of Elista. Population: It was previously known as ''Bashanta'' (until 1971). His ...

. Five years later an equestrian statue of the general was unveiled in a square of

Elista Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...

, the capital of

Kalmykia Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia,; , ''Khalmg Tanghch'' is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavr ...

, and still stands to this day.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorodovikov, Oka 1879 births 1960 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery People from Proletarsky District, Rostov Oblast People from Don Host Oblast Kalmyk people Communist Party of the Soviet Union members First convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic people Soviet colonel generals Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of World War II Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Lenin Soviet komandarms of the second rank Military personnel of the 1st Cavalry Army