Editing Lev Dovator

{{Short description|Soviet military commander}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2012}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Lev Dovator
| native_name   = Леў Міхайлавіч Даватар<br>Лев Михайлович Доватор
| birth_date    = {{OldStyleDate|20 February|1903|7 February}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1941|12|19|1903|2|20}}
| birth_place   = {{ill|Khotino|ru|Хотино (Витебская область)}}, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire
| death_place   = near {{ill|Palashkino, Moscow Oblast|ru|Палашкино (Московская область)}}, Ruzsky District, Moscow Oblast, Soviet Union
| placeofburial = [[Novodevichy Cemetery]]
| image         = Лев Михайлович Доватор.jpg
| allegiance    = Soviet Union
| branch        = [[Red Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1924–1941
| rank          = [[Major general]]
| commands      = [[:ru:3-й кавалерийский корпус|3rd Cavalry Corps]]<br>
[[:ru:2-й гвардейский кавалерийский корпус|2nd Guards Cavalry Corps]]
| unit          = 
| battles       = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Operation Barbarossa]]
** [[Battle of Moscow]]{{KIA}}
{{tree list/end}}
| awards        = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]
}}
[[File:Voennaia marka Dovator Smert nemeczkim okkupantam!.jpg|thumb|Lev Dovator (upper left) on the Soviet stamp published during the war. The text says "Death to German occupiers!"]]

'''Lev Mikhaylovich Dovator''' ({{OldStyleDate|20 February|1903|7 February}} {{endash}} 19 December 1941<ref>Alexander Werth, ''Russia at War'' (1964), Carroll & Graf, page 254.</ref>) was a famous [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] major general who was killed in action during [[World War II]] and posthumously awarded the title of [[Hero of the Soviet Union]].

==Life==
Born in 1903, Dovator came from a [[Belorussians|Belarusian]] Jewish [[peasant]] family.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YM-f5CfdhrQC|title=Агитатор армии и флота|date=1991|publisher=Красная звезда|location=Moscow|pages=26|language=ru|oclc=5332056}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRUsAQAAMAAJ|title=Навечно в сердце народном. К 30-летию победы над фашистской Германией|date=1975|publisher=Белорусская советская энциклопедия|location=Minsk|pages=121|language=ru|oclc=30335590}}</ref> In 1922, he was elected to be Secretary of Komsomol Committee of Khotino village. He joined the Red Army in 1924 and went on to become an officer after graduating from cavalry school and a military academy.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=13czAAAAIAAJ|title=Мои однополчане|last=Khandazhanov|first=Sodnom|date=1980|publisher=Buriat. kn. izd-vo|location=Ulan-Ude|pages=17|language=ru|oclc=500181079}}</ref> In 1926 he attended Borisoglebsk-Leningrad Cavalry Commanders School, graduating in 1929 to become a platoon commander in the 27th Cavalry regiment, [[5th Cavalry Division (Soviet Union)|5th Cavalry Division]]. In October 1933, he was posted with the 1st Cavalry Regiment, [[1st Cavalry Division (Soviet Union)|1st Cavalry Division]], as a commissar. From May 1935 to May 1936, Colonel Dovator was commissar of the Independent Reconnaissance Battalion of the [[93rd Rifle Division (1936 formation)|93rd Rifle Division]]. He attended [[Frunze Military Academy]] in 1939, and during the early months of the war, Dovator was with the Western Front Headquarters.<ref name="Harrel">{{Cite book|title = Soviet Cavalry Operations During The Second World War: The Genesis Of The Operational Manoeuvre Group|publisher = Pen & Sword Military|date = 2019-10-16|isbn = 978-1526743022
|language = en|first = John|last = Harrel}}</ref> At the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] he was a colonel in charge of a brigade of [[Cossack]] cavalry.<ref>Soviet Calendar 1917-1947: December</ref>

==Operation Barbarossa==

At the start of the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]], he was posted as Chief of Staff of the [[Red Army]]'s 36th Cavalry Division. In July 1941, he won the Order of the Red Banner for bravery in the defensive battles at the Solovyo crossing of the [[Dnieper|Dniepr]]. Colonel Dovator conducted a successful fighting withdrawal, crossing a bridge over the river just before the Germans captured it. In August 1941 he was given command of a cavalry group consisting of the 50th and 53rd Cavalry Divisions. General Lev Dovator's 50th and 53rd Cavalry divisions were raised exclusively from [[Kuban Cossacks]]. Despite his Jewish heritage, unique with the [[Cossacks]], they accepted Dovator as one of their own and considered him a great leader, superb horseman, and master of sabre.<ref name="Harrel"/>

By mid-August, German troops reached the [[Mezha River]]. On August 13, Dovator received orders to raid the German rear and disrupt preparations for their next advance. Out of his two divisions of 4,500 men he took 3,000 Cossacks. The group was concentrated in the vicinity of [[Pozhano]], [[Formino]], and [[Budnits]]. By mid-August, they were assembled in a swampy and forested region 20&nbsp;km/12 miles east of [[Zharkovsky (urban-type settlement)|Zharkovskii]], well behind and beyond the 30th Army's right flank. For a week, Dovator's Cossacks repeatedly probed the German defenses, seeking to infiltrate. The cavalry pressed its advance into the German rear in a dispersed formation, traveling along cart roads and forest trails.<ref name="Harrel"/> Thanks to excellent reconnaissance his cavalry for 10 days smashed the German rear. During this time they killed more than 2,500 troops of the Wehrmacht, 200 vehicles, and 7 tanks. The famous artists of the Moscow circus from the team of Mikhail Tuganov notably served in this unit. They were reportedly able to shoot standing on the back of a galloping horse or, conversely, by firing from underneath its belly, which influenced the development among Germans of the myth of the "wild Russian". {{Citation Needed|date=April 2022}}

The formation created an illusion that their riding force was much larger than 3,000 sabres, which had a great psychological effect on the Germans. Squadrons unexpectedly materialized from dense forests to cut communication wires, attack supply convoys and isolate German garrisons, only to vanish back into the forests. Once liberated, villagers reported that they had heard from the Germans that 100,000 [[Cossacks]] had broken through German lines. Dovator's deception was clearly effective.<ref name="Harrel"/> He soon became the commander of a cavalry group, and in August&ndash;September 1941 this cavalry group executed the most daring raid through rear areas of the German army in the vicinity of [[Smolensk]]. Dovator's famous raid in early 1941 was conducted with only 3000 sabres and sixty-five machine guns carried on packhorses.<ref name="Harrel"/> The Germans after the raid appointed an award amounting to 100,000 Marks for his head. On 11 September 1941, he was promoted to major general for this action.<ref>Soviet Calendar 1917-1947 (CCCP production)</ref>

==Battle of Moscow==
[[File:Гвардии генерал-майор Л.М. Доватор со своими кавалеристами.jpg|thumb|Guards Major General L.M. Dovator with his cavalrymen]]
On November 20, his unit became the 3rd Cavalry Corps due to its enormous battlefield success. On 27 November, however, it was renamed the [[2nd Guards Cavalry Corps]]. During the [[Battle of Moscow]], Dovator was the commander of 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, which fended off the enemy advance at [[Volokolamsk]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BFyAAAAIAAJ|title=Вторая Мировая война, 1939-1945: очерк важнейших событий|last=Samsonov|first=Aleksandr|date=1990|publisher=Nauka|isbn=5020085243|location=Moscow|pages=217|language=ru|oclc=25788005}}</ref>

He was killed in an offensive action on 19 December 1941, near the outskirts of [[Ruza, Ruzsky District, Moscow Oblast|Ruza]].  He was reportedly cut down by machine-gun fire while crawling towards a forward position to get a better look near the village of Palashkino.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

Dovator was posthumously awarded the title [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]<ref name=GeorgyZhukov>{{Cite book |last=Zhukov |first=Georgy |title=Marshal of Victory, Volume II |publisher=Pen and Sword Books Ltd. |year=1974 |isbn=9781781592915 |page=50}}</ref> two days afterwards, as well as the [[Order of Lenin]]. He was replaced in command by Major General [[Issa Pliyev]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Moscow 1941: A City & Its People at War|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aChpsFvALowC|publisher = Profile Books|date = 2010-12-09|isbn = 978-1847650627|language = en|first = Rodric|last = Braithwaite}}</ref> Lev Dovator is buried alongside [[Ivan Panfilov]], as they fought together to stop the [[9th Army (Wehrmacht)]] from reaching Moscow.

==See also==
* [[Georgy Zhukov]]
* [[Vasily Chuikov]]
* [[Ivan Konev]]
* [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]]
* [[Pavel Belov]]
* [[Issa Pliyev]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.generals.dk/general/Dovator/Lev_Mikhailovich/Soviet_Union.html Biography of Major-General Lev Mikhailovich Dovator] at www.generals.dk

{{Authority control}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2011}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dovator, Lev}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Beshankovichy district]]
[[Category:People from Lepelsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Jews from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Belarusian Jews]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet major generals]]
[[Category:Soviet Jews in the military]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Belarusian military personnel]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]]
[[Category:Frunze Military Academy alumni]]