On May 8, an EWCS dedicated to the 125th Birth Anniversary of N.Vatutin, a military commander and a Hero of the Soviet Union was put into postal circulation in the On the 85th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 series

Nikolai Vatutin (1901–1944) was a Soviet military commander, a General of the Army, and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Nikolai Vatutin was born on December 3 (16) of 1901, in the village of Chepukhino of the Valuy District of the Voronezh Governorate. In April of 1920, N. Vatutin was drafted into the Red Army under a mobilization order. The battalion was engaged in battles against Makhnovists near Lugansk and Starobelsk and against units of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in the Poltava, Pereshchepino, and Mikhailovka areas. In 1922, N. Vatutin graduated from the 14th Poltava Infantry School. From September of 1922 to August of 1926, he served in various positions in the 67th Rifle Regiment of the 23rd Kharkov Rifle Division in Bakhmut, Lugansk, and Chuguev. In August of 1926, he entered the M. Frunze Military Academy. In 1929, he was elected a member of the course’s party bureau, after which he continued his studies at the academy’s operational faculty. In 1937, he graduated from the General Staff Academy. During the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the troops of the Voronezh, Southwestern, and 1st Ukrainian Fronts. He exercised direction of the planning and execution of counterattacks, which resulted in heavy losses for German forces on the approaches to Leningrad. A month later, he headed a task force that launched a surprise attack on a German group near the city of Kalinin (presently Tver) and frustrated the enemy’s offensive on the city of Torzhok. In coordination with military units of the Stalingrad and Don Fronts, the troops under N. Vatutin’s command played an active part in encircling and defeating of a 330,000-strong enemy force near Stalingrad. The bodies of the Southwestern Front under his command participated in the Voroshilovgrad Offensive and liberated the northern part of the Donbas Region. Regarding the results of the operation, N. Vatutin was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. The troops under his command also liberated Belgorod, Kharkov, Kiev, and Chernigov, and achieved victories in the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk.

The envelope with a commemorative stamp provides a portrait of Nikolai Vatutin with a map of the Voroshilovgrad Offensive and a battle scene in the background; the commemorative stamp features the emblem for the 85th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

In addition to the issue of the envelope with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Volgograd and Voronezh.


Design Artist: A. Moskovets.
Quantity: 500 thousand envelopes.

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