When some “experts” call Russia bast, it must be admitted that this expression contains a small amount of truth. Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Konev hails from peasants. In childhood and even adolescence, he wore bast shoes. And where to go? There are simply no other shoes in the village. And when he was called up for service in the First World War, he received soldier's boots, he did not take them off until his retirement.
Most of the generals and senior officers of the Red Army came from workers and peasants. Yes, former nobles remained in the service of the country of the Soviets. The symbiosis of this property made it possible to solve the most complex, sometimes fantastic, tasks on the battlefields. Ivan Stepanovich Konev showed remarkable abilities in military affairs. For which he was awarded the highest awards and titles.
Armored train commissar
The biography of Ivan Konev, a native of the Vologda province, could have developed completely differently. A child from a poor family could count only on his own strengths and abilities. And there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped - the First World War began. The guy was drafted into the army and assigned to artillery. A savvy and brave fighter proved himself in battles and campaigns from the best side. And when the tsarist army finally collapsed, Ivan Stepanovich demobilized as a non-commissioned officer. After a short period of time, civil war flared up throughout Russia, and artillerymen were required at the theater of war. From that moment, his military career began.
By order of the Revolutionary Military Council, Konev was sent to the Eastern Front. Events developed as in a once-famous song: "Youth took us on a saber campaign. Youth threw us on Kronstadt ice." As commissar of the armored train, Ivan Stepanovich “lit up” the White Guard units in Transbaikalia and the Japanese interventionists in the Far East. It was here that he met the first wife Anna Voloshina. Love to the sounds of cannonade is only getting stronger. The Konev family wandered along the Civil Front. After the end of hostilities in Primorye, the husband receives an appointment to Nizhny Novgorod. Then there were other points on the map of the country.
