05-06-2012, 08:31 PM
slava1stclass Wrote:A rare image of the legendary 1st Ukrainian Front commander's public viewing in Kyiv, April 1944. Vatutin was ambushed by Ukrainian nationalist insurgents on February 28th, 1944 and succumbed to his wounds six weeks later.
Related, Vatutin and Nikita Khrushev were close as Khrushev was a member of Vatutin's military council. There are many photos of the two of them together, and Khrushev headed up Vatutin's funeral on his own 50th birthday. Now there are conspiracy theories about Vatutin being murdered in surgery, since his bullet wound was through the hip and originally thought not life threatening.
George
