Pyotr Gusev (soldier)
Pyotr Ivanovich Gusev | |
|---|---|
Pyotr Gusev in 1982. | |
| Native name | Пётр Иванович Гусев |
| Born | 1 August 1932 Nizhny Umetgurt, Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Died | 1 October 2024 (aged 92) Udmurt Republic, Russia |
| Allegiance | Soviet Union |
| Branch | Soviet Army |
| Years of service | 1958–1993 |
| Rank | Lieutenant general |
| Commands | Carpathian Military District (deputy commander) |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Order of the Red Banner Order of the Red Star Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" |
Pyotr Ivanovich Gusev (Russian: Пётр Иванович Гусев) (August 1, 1932 – October 1, 2024) was a Soviet and Russian career soldier. During the mid-1980s, Gusev was a lieutenant general serving as deputy commander of the Carpathian Military District.[1]
Gusev was subsequently appointed head of the Soviet military mission in Angola in 1987, succeeding Lieutenant General Leonid Kuzmenko.[1] In this role, Gusev directly planned and supervised combat operations for the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), with the oversight of Angolan Defence Minister Pedro Pedalé.[2] He was the senior Soviet general officer involved in Operation Saluting October, and the resulting Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.[2] Throughout the battle, Gusev personally briefed Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos on the military situation.[2] Aside from his involvement in that campaign, Gusev also oversaw a number of major organisational improvements to FAPLA, particularly among its armoured forces.[3]
Although held in extremely high regard by his Angolan counterparts,[3] Gusev was a more controversial figure among the Soviet personnel in Angola.[4] He often vetoed commendations for Soviet enlisted personnel and junior officers who had been directly engaged in hostilities.[4] The Soviet troops primarily served in technical and support roles, although circumstances often dictated they fight alongside their Angolan peers if attacked by UNITA insurgents or South African expeditionary forces.[4] Gusev also garnered criticism for ordering offensives without taking into account the logistical challenges and technical shortcomings of the Angolan forces expected to execute these complex operations.[4][5]
Gusev published his memoirs after his retirement from military service.[2]
For a number of years, Gusev was consistently misidentified in the South African and Western press as Lieutenant General "Konstantin Shaganovich" for unknown reasons.[3] Gusev's command decisions in Angola were frequently attributed to "Shaganovich", but according to South African historians Willem Steenkamp and Helmoed-Römer Heitman, as well as Russian historian Vladimir Shubin, no such individual ever served with the Soviet military mission in Angola.[3] Where and how the original misidentification occurred remains a mystery.[3]
References
- ^ a b Liebenberg, Ian; Risquet, Jorge; Shubin, Vladimir (1997). A Far-Away War: Angola, 1975–1989. Stellenbosch: Sun Media Press. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-1-920689-72-8.
- ^ a b c d Gleijeses, Piero (2013). Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991. United States: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 393–425. ISBN 978-1-4696-0968-3.
- ^ a b c d e Steenkamp, Willem; Helmoed-Römer, Heitman (September 2016). Mobility Conquers: The Story Of 61 Mechanised Battalion Group 1978-2005. Solihull: Helion & Company. p. 731. ISBN 978-1-911096-52-8.
- ^ a b c d Tokarev, Andrei; Shubin, Gennady, eds. (2011). Bush War: The Road to Cuito Cuanavale: Soviet Soldiers' Accounts of the Angolan War. Auckland Park: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. pp. 128–148. ISBN 978-1-4314-0185-7.
- ^ Shubin, Vladimir Gennadyevich (2008). The Hot "Cold War": The USSR in Southern Africa. London: Pluto Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-7453-2472-2.