Pavel Alexeyevich Belov (Russian: Павел Алексеевич Белов; 18 February 1897 – 3 December 1963) was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was nicknamed the "Fox" by the Germans and personally led the longest successful war raid, lasting five months behind the German lines. He has earned legendary status and could be considered one of the greatest cavalry generals. Considering his accomplishments from 1941 to 1945, his adaptation of combining horses, tanks, artillery, and aircraft on a modern battlefield resulted in the victory against a more technologically advanced enemy, often in the most desperate parts of the Eastern Front.
At the beginning of the war, Belov commanded the 2nd Cavalry Corps. During the Battle of Moscow on 26 November, it was renamed and given the honor of becoming the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, the divisions also received 'Guards' designations. The newly established cavalry corps was pivotal in stopping Guderian's Panzers in 1941 on the southern outposts of Moscow near the town of Kashira. His unit was the first to start the counterattack in the Battle of Moscow. Following the winter counterattack, they penetrated deep into the enemy rear, getting cut off from the rest of the army. During the Battle of Rzhev, Belov would lead a successful five-month raid with the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps behind Army Group Center.
After returning from the raid in the summer of 1942, he was promoted and given command of the 61st Army, which he led for the rest of the war. Finishing the war in the Battle of Berlin on the Elbe River; his successor of the Corps became Viktor Kirillovich Baranov. Belov's command of the Army included the Battle of Kursk in 1943. Later he took part in Operation Bagration, where his units helped to liberate the Fortress of Brest. Later the units participated in the Riga Offensive in the Courland Pocket, followed by the defeat of the German Pomeranian offensive in early 1945. The 61st Army, alongside the 1st Polish Army, was responsible for encircling the German capital from the north, meeting the Americans on the Elbe in the Battle of Berlin. Overall, he is considered one of the most talented and daring generals of the Second World War. General Belov is mentioned more than any Allied General in the memoir of Franz Halder, the chief of staff of the Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany.
Belov was one of the few generals not affected by Stalin's military purges despite having a Polish wife. From the first days, he demonstrated effective tactics against the onslaught of the Blitzkrieg, along with Lev Dovator earning the first tactical victories for the Red Army. Due to the constant retreats of 1941, the unit played rear-guard duties, especially during the Uman disaster. The unit additionally played a rescue role for the many trapped troops in the Battle of Kiev, which Belov's forces unsuccessfully tried to save. Stalin called his unit the "Fire Squad," as they were often thrown into the most challenging positions, expecting to save the situation.
Pavel Belov was greatly respected among his peers as a general who truly cared about his soldiers. He often refused to send his units into pointless attacks that his superiors often demanded. This could explain why he was only awarded the Gold Star in 1944, considering his admiration by the foe along with his accomplishments on the battlefield.
Early life, World War I, and Russian Civil War Born in Shuya on 18 February 1897 to a working-class family, Pavel Alexeyevich Belov worked at the railway station in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. Conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army in May 1916, Belov became a private in the 4th Reserve Cavalry Regiment. After graduating from the regimental training detachment in February 1917, he was sent to serve as a junior unter-ofitser with the 7th Marching Squadron of the 17th Hussar Regiment. Due to his above-average education, Belov was selected for a preparatory course at the 2nd Kiev School of Praporshchiks in September. Granted leave in late November following the October Revolution, Belov did not return to the army.
Conscripted into the Red Army in July 1918 during the Russian Civil War, Belov was appointed a Vsevobuch instructor in the Yaroslavl Military District, where he provided military training for railway workers. He commanded a platoon of the Separate Cavalry Battalion in Tambov from July 1919, and in February 1920 transferred to command a platoon of the 1st Reserve Cavalry Regiment of the Southern Front. Belov became secretary of the party bureau and regimental adjutant in May, and in October he was transferred to the Caucasian Front, serving there as a squadron commander of the 1st and 2nd Reserve Cavalry Regiments.
Interwar period After the end of the war, Belov was appointed assistant commander of the 1st Reserve Cavalry Regiment of the 2nd Don Rifle Division in June 1921. In September of that year, he was transferred to the 14th Cavalry Division to serve as assistant commander of its 82nd Cavalry Regiment, and was later appointed commander of the 81st Cavalry Regiment. After graduating from the Cavalry Improvement Course for Senior Commanders of the North Caucasus Military District in August 1927, Belov was appointed commander of the 60th Separate Reserve Squadron of the 10th Cavalry Division (renumbered from the 14th), now stationed in the Moscow Military District. After serving as assistant chief of the 4th department of the staff of the district from May 1929, in June 1931 Belov became an officer for special assignments under Semyon Budyonny, who was then a member of the Revolutionary Military Council. In September 1932 he was appointed assistant inspector of cavalry with the Cavalry Inspectorate, before graduating from the Frunze Military Academy in 1933.
Belov was sent to the 7th Samara Cavalry Division, stationed in the Belorussian Military District, in January 1934, serving as assistant commander and later succeeding to the command of the division. Having received the rank of kombrig when the Red Army introduced personal military ranks in November 1935, he became chief of staff of the 5th Cavalry Corps in July 1937, and participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939. Promoted to komdiv, Belov became a major general in June 1940 when the army introduced general officer ranks, and in October of that year was appointed commander of the 96th Mountain Rifle Division of the Kiev Special Military District. In March 1941 he advanced to command the 2nd Cavalry Corps of the district.
World War II
Operation Barbarossa
After Operation Barbarossa began, Belov led the corps in fighting on the Southern Front, completing a number of combat missions to quickly cover the front of the 9th and 18th armies of the Southern Front and hold the line on the Dniester. He conducted a fighting retreat from Tiraspol to Kiev. During the Kiev operation, which ended in the defeat of Soviet troops in Ukraine, he waged successful defensive battles in the direction of Romny-Shtepovka, and even launched a strong counterattack in this area, which made it possible to save part of the encircled troops. During the summer-autumn battles of 1941, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
During the October 1941 German offensive towards Moscow, Army Group Center was stuck in the rasputitsa. These muddy periods are of particular interest because they enhanced the operations of the Belov's cavalry as it defeated the bogged down German 25th Motorized Division in September 1941. The mud-caused quagmire was also a factor in the Soviet Army's failure to support Belov's 1st Guards Cavalry Corps' return to friendly lines after its five-month raid behind enemy German lines in April 1942.
Battle of Moscow and Rzhev
In September 1941, Belov's 2nd Cavalry Corps had been transferred to the Western Front to defend the approaches to Moscow. By late October, after fighting on the flanks of the German assault at Orel and Tula, the 2nd Cavalry Corps was withdrawn from the line and sent into Stavka Reserve to be rebuilt. On 26 November, it was renamed the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps. The corps' divisions also received 'Guards' designations.
The new honorific title did not come with new weapons. On the eve of the Moscow counter-offensive, Belov made a personal appeal, with Marshal Zhukov's support, directly to Stalin for the rearmament of his corps. Belov's men were armed primarily with rifles, giving the German infantry a clear advantage. After Belov's meeting with Stalin, he was promised 1,500 automatic weapons and two new batteries of new 76mm guns to replace his worn-out guns.
He played a crucial role in stopping Operation Typhoon, the German code-name for the assault on Moscow, particularly in stopping Heinz Guderian's Panzers outside of Kashira on the southern flank of Moscow, thus saving both Moscow and besieged Tula. Guderian's penetration had culminated by forming a salient northeast of Tula, threatening the towns of Kashira and Riazan. The 2nd Panzer Army was poised to enter Moscow from the south and south-west. Guderian had attempted to seize Tula from the rear and was strung out without reserves. The corps, along with the 50th Army and 10th Army, were to hold out at all costs. At the same time, the mobile group Belov with cavalry, tanks, katyusha rockets, airborne units, and additional rifle troops began the offensive. By 5 December, Guderian's armored assault had halted against the stubborn defenses of Belov's 1st Guards Cavalry Corps outside of Kashira. The first stroke of the Western Front's counter-offensive on the outskirts of Moscow fell on Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army. The Germans in this sector had an advantage in men, equipment, and tanks, where the average front line saw a 3-1 disparity of tanks in Guderian's favor.
The cavalry corps heroically held its position after many German counter-attacks. They became the first Allied units to begin the first counter-attack on the night of 27–28 November, thus leading the Soviet forces as the vanguard. On the eve of 5 December, the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, reinforced with the 9th Tank Brigade, the most elite and capable tank unit, led the attack along with the 173rd Rifle Division in the vicinity of Gritchino. On the Corps' western flank was the 50th Army successfully defending Tula. The 50th Army attacked along with the 10th Army, which covered Belov's eastern flank. The forces smashed against the German 17th Panzer Division, 17th Motorized Division, and the 18th Panzer Division, which saw many towns and villages liberated. Many Soviet soldiers saw the horrors behind the rear; this motivated many to fight harder.
The Guards then liberated the important industrial city of Stalinogorsk after coming to the help of the 330th Rifle Division of the 10th Army, which unsuccessfully was trying to take the city. The cavalry used outflanking maneuvers to take both parts I and II of the industrial city in four days of intense fighting. Some local citizens also actively participated in the battle.