Fyodor Jakowlewitsch Kostenko
Fyodor Jakowlewitsch Kostenko ( Russian Фёдор Яковлевич Костенко ; born February 22, 1896 in the village of Bolshaya Martinovka in the Salsk district ; † May 26, 1942 near Balakleja ) was a Soviet lieutenant general (1940) and army leader in the Great Patriotic War .
Life
Fyodor Kostenko was born on February 22, 1896 in the village of Bolshaya Martinovka in the Don region (today Martinovsky district near Rostov ) to a peasant family. He was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army during World War I in 1915 and fought on the Southwest Front. He completed his regimental training in 1916 and was appointed platoon leader in 1917.
In the Red Army
He joined in 1918 volunteered in the Red Army and fought during the Russian Civil War in 23 Tsaritsyn -Kavallerie Regiment of the 1st red rider army as deputy commander of a cavalry division. During this time he took part in the fighting against the troops of Generals KK Mamontow , AG Shkuro and N. Machno and was wounded three times.
After the civil war he served in the same regiment for many years, from November 1922 he was commander of a squadron, from February 1926 he was head of the regimental school and from April 1931 he was deputy regimental commander. At the same time he studied a lot, in 1924 he completed courses in the middle command staff in Leningrad, received the Order of the Red Banner on February 20, 1928 and completed several advanced training courses for cavalry commanders by 1934. From September 1932 he served in the 19th Manych Cavalry Regiment, where he was promoted to commissar in July 1936. With his regiment he came to the 4th Leningrad Cavalry Division (renamed Don Cossack Division since 1936). This division was in the military district of Belorus . On January 29, 1936 he was promoted to colonel and since June 1937 he was the commander of the special cavalry division named after Stalin. He was appointed brigade commander on October 11, 1937 and major general on February 2, 1939 . From April 1939 he was in command of the 2nd Cavalry Corps in the Special Military District of Kiev .
In World War II
In September 1939 he took part in the Red Army campaign in western Ukraine as commander of the 2nd Cavalry Corps . At the Ukrainian Front (General Tymoshenko) the corps was part of the Volyinsk Group (then Army Group East) of the 6th Army (General FI Golikow ). On June 4, 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant general and since July 1940 he was the commander of the cavalry group of the special military district of Kiev. Since October 1940, Kostenko commanded the 26th Army (with headquarters in Sambor and Drohobych ). In the spring of 1941 he made up for the diploma for higher commanders at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army.
At the beginning of the German attack on June 22, 1941, he commanded the 26th Army between Lemberg and Czernowitz and led heavy defensive battles against the German 17th Army on the south-western front . Then the 26th Army was transferred to Kiev, where it took part in the losing battle of Kiev . Under difficult conditions, the remnants of the 26th Army were withdrawn to the left bank of the Dnieper and resumed the defense there. In September 1941, General Kostenko was appointed Deputy Commander of the Southwest Front. During the Jelezer operation from December 6 to 16, 1941, he led the southern of the two shock groups, which ended with the defeat of several divisions of the German 2nd Army . As a result of this operation, Soviet troops liberated 400 settlements, including the city of Yelets , which Kostenko later made an honorary citizen. In mid-December 1941, Kostenko was appointed as deputy to Marshal Tymoshenko to commander the Southwest Front and was awarded the Order of Lenin on March 27, 1942 . The troops under Kostenko fought in the spring of 1942 at Sumy , Obojan and in the Barvenkowo-Losowajer Operation . From April 1942 he was again a deputy in the front command. Fyodor Kostenko was surrounded during the Kharkov Operation and was reported missing on May 26, 1942. With the army group of General LW Bobkin he led an organized escape from the Barvenkowo pocket and died in the fighting.
Family and whereabouts
The general had four children from his marriage to Vasilisa Panteleevna: Uljana (born 1914), Pjotr (born 1923), Radu (born 1925) and Budimir (born 1925). His son Pyotr Kostenko fought as a fighter pilot and as a pilot of the 273rd Fighter Squadron of the 8th Air Army was shot down and killed in an air battle over Stalingrad on September 27, 1942.
At the end of April 2017, the remains of General Kostenko were excavated by forensic researchers at Balakljewa in the Kharkov region between the villages of Gusarowka and Losowenka. Along with his remains, the remains of his adjutant Vasily Ivanovich Petrovich were probably found. In early 2018, Kostenko's remains were identified by DNA analysis and transferred to Russia for burial on March 25, 2018. The general's ashes were buried with full military honors in the Moscow Military Memorial Cemetery on June 20, 2018 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kostenko, Fyodor Jakowlewitsch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Костенко, Фёдор Яковлевич (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | soviet lieutenant general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 22, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bolshaya Martinovka village, Salsk district |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 26, 1942 |
| Place of death | Balakleja |