Leonti Gourtiev

Leonty Nikolayevich Gurtyev (Russian: Леонтий Николаевич Гуртьев; 1 July 1891 – 3 August 1943) was a Soviet military officer, known for his participation in the Second World War's Eastern front and most notably in the battle of Stalingrad.

Early life Leonty Nikolayevich Gurtyev was born in the town of Shamakhi (now in Azerbaijan) in the family of a forester. In 1900, the family moved to the city of Panevėžys, in the Kovno area of modern-day Lithuania. After graduating from high school with honors, Gurtyev enrolled at the Kharkov Institute of Technology. In 1914 he was transferred to the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, where he was arrested for participating in a workers' demonstration and spent three months imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

After his release from prison he was drafted and sent to the reserve artillery division in the city of Luga, and then to the front near Warsaw, where Czarist Russia was fighting against Germany in World War I. In the fall of 1915, in a battle in the Volyn area, he was captured by Austro-Hungarian troops and remained a prisoner until November 1918. Held in captivity in Hungary, Gurtyev was liberated, along with the other prisoners, by revolutionaries during the 1919 uprising. On returning home he volunteered in the Red Army. In 1929, he graduated from the Shot course. In 1939, he was appointed Assistant Head of the Infantry School of Omsk. In March 1942, Colonel Gurtyev started the formation of the military unit that was to become the 308th Rifle Division and in May assumed its command.

As was customary during the battle of Stalingrad, and during the Eastern Front fighting generally, the word "retreat" and its derivatives were not used in military communications from and to Gurtyev's division during its engagement with the enemy.

Gurtyev's division dug in and held on in defense of the factory, while also conducting continuous counter-attacks.

Death Following the liberation of the city of Stalingrad, Gurtyev's division fought in the attacking operation that led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. On 7 December 1942, Gurtyev was promoted to the rank of Major General.