Semyon Perevyortkin

World War II

Perevyortkin served on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from June 1941. At the end of June, the division departed for the Western Front, was incorporated into the 19th Army, and participated in the Battle of Smolensk. In August, it was reformed as the 220th Rifle Division and transferred to the 49th Army of the same front. In late September, Perevyortkin was recalled to Moscow and sent to study at the Voroshilov Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. However, he only had 12 days of training. After the German general offensive on Moscow began in October 1941, he was urgently sent back to the front and appointed deputy chief of the operations department of the 5th Army headquarters on the Western Front. In February 1942, he became chief of the operations department of the 5th Army headquarters. Participant in the Battle of Moscow and the Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive Operation of 1942. Colonel (February 19, 1942). He was wounded in an accident on May 9, 1943.^[2]

After being discharged from the hospital in July 1943, he was appointed commander of the 207th Rifle Division in the 5th Army of the Western Front. In this army, the division distinguished itself in the Smolensk operation and participated in the liberation of Smolensk. In September, it was transferred to the 2nd Baltic Front and participated in local offensive operations in the Vitebsk-Polotsk area. In January 1944, the division was transferred to the 3rd Shock Army and participated in the Staraya Russa-Novorzhev Offensive Operation.

From May 1944 until Victory Day, he commanded the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army on the 2nd Baltic Front, and from December 1944, on the 1st Belorussian Front. He led the corps in the Rezhitsa-Dvina, Madona, Baltic Strategic (Riga Front), Vistula-Oder, and East Pomeranian Offensive Operations. He was promoted to Major General (July 29, 1944) and Lieutenant General (July 11, 1945).

Major General Perevyortkin, commander of the 79th Rifle Corps (3rd Shock Army, 1st Belorussian Front), distinguished himself in the Battle of Berlin from April 16 to May 8, 1945. He skillfully led the corps' units during the breakthrough of enemy defenses, the advance to Berlin, and street fighting within the city. The corps' rifle divisions—the 150th under Major General Vasily Shatilov, the 171st under Colonel Aleksey Negoda, and the 207th under Colonel Vasily Asafov—were the first to break into central Berlin, disperse the enemy group, and storm the Reichstag. Counterintelligence officers from his corps, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Klimenko, discovered the bodies of Hitler and Goebbels near a bunker in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 29, 1945, for his skillful leadership of the corps' troops, exemplary performance of combat missions, and courage and heroism in battles against the Nazi invaders, Perevyortkin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal (No. 6734) of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Two of the general's brothers also fought at the front. Perevyortkin (chief of the technical service of the 22nd Cavalry Regiment) went missing in action in September 1941.^[3] Guards Major Perevyortkin ended the war as chief of the topographic department of the 2nd Guards Army headquarters. During the war, he was awarded four military orders.^[4] After the war, he was discharged into the reserve with the rank of colonel.

Post-war

After Germany's surrender, he continued to command the same corps, which was incorporated into the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. In May 1946, he was appointed Chief of the 1st Department and Deputy Chief of the Directorate for Combat Training Planning of the Soviet Ground Forces. In May 1948, his position was reorganized, and Perevyortkin became Deputy Chief of the Directorate for Combat Training of the Ground Forces for Planning. From May 1950, he became Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate for Combat and Physical Training of the Ground Forces, and from January 1953, he served as Acting Chief of this Main Directorate.

Following the arrest of Lavrenty Beria and the dismissal of his former subordinates, he was sent to work in the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs. From July 8, 1953 to March 15, 1956, he was Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR for Troops; from March 15, 1956 to January 13, 1960, he was First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union and a member of the Collegium of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.^[5] In 1958, he led the Ministry of Internal Affairs operational group during the suppression of mass riots in Grozny. From 1953 to 1960, he simultaneously served as Chairman of the Central Council of the All-Union Voluntary Sports Society "Dynamo".^[6]

On February 18, 1958, he was awarded the military rank of "Colonel General".

From April 1960, he became Chief of the Directorate of Military Educational Institutions of the Ground Forces of the Soviet Ministry of Defense; from January 1961, he became Chief of the Directorate of Higher Education Institutions and Extra-Military Training of the Ground Forces.

Death

He died on May 17, 1961, near the village of Nadezhdovka (110 km southwest of Odessa) while on duty in an aviation accident (an Mi-4 helicopter crash) along with Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army Vladimir Kolpakchi.^[7][8] The circumstances of the generals' deaths were long hushed up. He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow (section 8).

Due to his untimely death, he did not have time to write his memoirs, writing only a short essay about his corps' participation in the assault on Berlin, "The Decisive Strike" (published in the Leninets newspaper of the Annensky District on May 9, 1985).