Konstantin Simonov | |
---|---|
Name: |
Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov |
Born: |
28 November 1915 |
Died: |
28 May 1979 (Aged 63) |
Known for |
Replacing Chuikov's general staff |
Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov (Russian: Константи́н Миха́йлович Си́монов) (28 November 1915 - 28 May 1979) was a Soviet author, known especially as a war poet.
He was born in Petrograd. He completed his basic seven-year education in 1930 in Saratov. He began writing poems in early 1930s.
At the beginning of the WWII he was drafted into the army, where he worked on the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). In 1942 he became a senior battalion commissar, in 1943 a lieutenant colonel, and after the war a colonel. Most of his war reports were published in Red Star. After the war, he served in several foreign missions for three years - in Japan, the USA and China.
Simonov died in 1979 in Moscow.
Role In Downfall[]
In Downfall, Simonov sits at the table with, Matvey Blanter, Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky, and Vasily Chuikov who reviews some propaganda drawings. Unexpectedly, a German delegation led by Hans Krebs arrives. Since there were no other high ranking officers in the building, Chuikov is then forced then to give decorations to Simonov and Dolmatovsky to make them look like generals and tells them to keep quiet as he'll do the talking.
During WWII, he served as a front correspondent for the Soviet military newspaper Red Star. According to Vasily Chuikov's memoirs, Simonov was present in the headquarters of his 8th Guards Army when General Hans Krebs came to request a ceasefire. There were four other visitors by Chuikov at the time: composers Matvey Blanter and Tikhon Khrennikov, and two other correspondents: the military reporter Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky and the civilian journalist Vsevolod Vishnevsky. Simonov and Dolmatovsky were probably the only ones in uniform.
According to historian Cornelius Ryan, none of Chuikov's senior officers could be brought fast enough, and he therefore ordered the military correspondents to act as his staff. Since Simonov is known to have worn Land Forces' brown uniform during the war, he is most likely the guy on the left.
In Downfall Parodies[]
Simonov can be seen on Chuikov's left, nodding in approval when Krebs looks at him. He has no lines and along with Dolmatovsky, he's supposed to be one of Chuikov's henchmen.
Gallery[]