Dmitri Danilowitsch Lelyuschenko

Dmitri Danilowitsch Lelyuschenko

General Leljuschenko visiting the 81st Guards Mot Rifle Regiment in Eberswalde in the former artillery barracks in 1984, the regiment was part of the 20th Guards Army, which he commanded from 1944-47

Dmitri Danilovich Leljuschenko ( Russian Лелюшенко, Дмитрий Данилович ; born October 20 ^{. Jul} / 2. November  1901 ^greg. In Nowokusnezowka ; † 20th July 1987 in Moscow ) was a Soviet Army General , in World War II Army leader and two-time Hero of the Soviet Union .

Life

Early career

He came from a Ukrainian peasant family and was born in 1901 in the southern Russian district of Zernograd District near Rostov . In the Russian Civil War he fought against the Don Cossacks in the cavalry corps of Colonel BM Dumenko . In 1919 he joined the 1st Red Cavalry Army and took part in the operations at Voronezh - Kastornoje , on the Donbass and at Jegorlyksk. In September 1919 he took over the 1st Don Cavalry Brigade on the southern front and in December he led the 1st Cavalry Division in the 10th Red Army. In March 1919 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner .

When the Red Army formed the first mechanized units, his future career began with the mobile armored forces. From 1924 he became a member of the CPSU . In 1933 he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and successively commanded a tank battalion and a tank regiment. In 1938 he became a colonel and appointed commanding the invasion of the Red Army in Eastern Poland and in December 1939 at the Finnish Winter War the 39th independent Panzer - Brigade , which still mainly with light T-26 was equipped. At the beginning of April 1940 he was appointed Brigadier General, and on April 7, 1940 , by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet , he was granted the honorary title Hero of the Soviet Union .

In the German-Soviet War

On April 6, 1941, he was promoted to major general and was given command of the 21st Mechanical Corps. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941) he commanded his corps (with BT-7 and T-26 tanks) in the 11th Army area in the Dünaburg area . Although his troops through the German LVI. Panzer Corps was pushed back over 450 km within three weeks, he received the Order of the Red Star. In August 1941 Lelyushenko was commissioned by Stalin to set up 22 new tank brigades, which were equipped with the more powerful T-34 and KV-1 tanks. During this time he had numerous later tank commanders , such as Rotmistrow , Katukow and Solomatin under his command. At the end of September the situation southwest of the Moscow defensive position became so critical that the Stawka commissioned him with the formation of the first wave of several rifle corps, which specifically had to cover the motorway from Orel to Tula . After losing Orel and Mtsensk , German troops crossed the Susha sector in early October. Katukov's 4th Panzer Brigade was equipped with the new T-34 and fought a. a. Successful in the tank battle near Mtsensk. Guderian's tank group . Leljuschenko received the supreme command of the 5th Army in the Moshaisk area during this time . One of his tank brigades stood out in defense along the Moscow highway in the Borodino area . In mid-November Lelyushenko took command of the 30th Army during the Battle of Moscow . During the Soviet counter-offensive, which was launched on December 5, the 371st Rifle Division under his command penetrated deep through the German lines to the west.

On February 1, 1942, his rank was raised to lieutenant general . On October 14, 1942, he took over command of the 1st Guard Army deployed in the Stalingrad area on the Don Front , which was disbanded a few days later. At the beginning of November he took over the newly formed 1st Guard Army, which was created in the middle section of the Don by renaming the 63rd Army . In Operation Uranus , the encircling operation of the German 6th Army , his new troop units played a key role in the success. On December 16, his army, which had now been renamed the 3rd Guard Army , successfully participated in Operation Saturn , during which his troops penetrated 100 kilometers into the enemy rear. In 1943 his army stood almost all year round on Tolbuchin's southern front and took part in the free fighting of the Donbass . In mid-February 1944, his army was assigned to the 1st Ukrainian Front during the Dnepr-Carpathian operation and from the beginning of March took part in the Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation . On March 29, 1944 he succeeded General Badanow and took over the leadership of the 4th Panzer Army in the Kamenez-Podolsk area while the German Hube tank army was being surrounded . From July 13, 1944, the 4th Panzer Army was deployed in the Lemberg-Sandomir operation , in which the capital of Galicia , Lemberg , was liberated on July 27th. After a further advance to a depth of 200 kilometers, his units formed the Vistula bridgehead at Sandomierz in mid-August . On 5 November 1944 he was appointed Colonel-General conveyed.

In January 1945 during the Vistula-Oder operation his troops reached Glogau via Kielce and Radomsko and formed a bridgehead over the Oder. As part of the Lower Silesian Operation , his troops reached the Forst area . On March 17, the 4th Panzer Army was renamed the 4th Guards Panzer Army and took part in the Berlin operation under Marshal Konew from mid-April . After Berlin surrendered, the army was moved south to take part in the Prague operation . On May 5th his troops crossed the Elbe and reached Prague on May 9th, advancing over the Ore Mountains to Teplitz .

post war period

Until 1946 he led the 4th Panzer Army in Germany. He then became supreme commander of all armored forces of the Soviet occupation in East Germany. From March 1950 he became commander of the 1st Red Banner Army in the Far East. From July 1952 he was Deputy Commander in the Carpathian Military District . From November 1953 to January 1956 he commanded the 8th Panzer Army in the Carpathian Military District. In January 1956 he took over the leadership of the Transbaikalia Military District and, from January, the Urals Military District . On May 8, 1959, he was promoted to army general. Since June 1960 he was chairman of the central committee of the DOSAAF . From June 1964 he was a military advisor to the General Directorate of the Ministry of Defense. Before his retirement, he was also a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . He died in Moscow in July 1987 and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

literature

• Biography of on www.warheroes.ru