General Khrulev
Square
In the Basmanny District of Moscow, not far from № 13/17 Bolshoy Kozlovsky Lane, there is a public garden named after General of the Army Andrey Vasilyevich Khrulev. This outstanding military and state figure (1892-1962) headed the Rear of the Armed Forces of the USSR from 1941 to 1951, while simultaneously holding the post of Deputy People’s Commissar of Defence, and later Deputy Minister of Defence. During the Great Patriotic War, under his leadership an effective system of material and financial support for the troops was established, which largely predetermined the success of combat operations. His contribution to the defence of Moscow and to the organisation of the work of the “Road of Life” in besieged Leningrad can hardly be overestimated. Andrey Vasilyevich was born on 30 September 1892 in the village of Bolshaya Aleksandrovka, St Petersburg Governorate. He took part in the First World War and the Civil War, and from 1918 served in the Red Army. He held a number of responsible quartermaster posts, and from 1939 headed the Main Directorate of the Rear of the Red Army. In 1943 he was awarded the rank of General of the Army. After the war he continued to head logistics structures, and from 1951 to 1958 was Deputy Minister of State Control of the USSR. Khrulev had to solve extremely difficult tasks of supplying the army in extreme conditions: when large industrial areas were lost, enterprises were evacuated and transport infrastructure was destroyed. Under his command, the rear services uninterruptedly supplied the troops with ammunition, fuel, food and uniforms. During the war the army consumed tens of millions of tonnes of various resources, and their timely delivery was the result of well-organised rear work. Among Khrulev’s unconventional decisions was the creation of horse-drawn transport divisions: when motor transport was in short supply, horse units made up of collective-farm horses were used to deliver cargo. He also actively enlisted experts, including specialists from imperial times (for example, the former Major-General K. E. Goretsky), in order to build a modern quartermaster system. For his services Andrey Vasilyevich was awarded many orders, including four Orders of Lenin and four Orders of the Red Banner. The choice of site for the square is not accidental. Nearby are buildings connected with Khrulev’s activities. Thus, during the war years the Main Headquarters of the Navy of the USSR was located at № 6 Bolshoy Kozlovsky Lane, where Khrulev repeatedly visited on matters of logistical support for the fleet. Today this building houses the Headquarters of Material and Technical Support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In the neighbouring building at Bolshoy Zlatoustinsky Lane (№6, building 1), the Headquarters of the Rear of the Red Army, headed by Andrey Vasilyevich Khrulev, worked during the war years.
Address: Moscow, General Khrulev Square
