Ivan Ivanovich Maslennikov

Iwan Iwanowitsch Maslennikow ( Russian Масленников, Иван Иванович ; * September 3 ^July / September 16,  1900 ^{greg. In} the village of Chalykla, Ujesd Novousensk in the Samara governorate ; † April 16, 1954 in Moscow ) was a Soviet NKVD leader world war II to the army general rise and as a hero of the Soviet Union was awarded.

Life

Early career

Maslennikow was born in 1900 near the Chalykla train station in Samara Governorate (now in Saratov Oblast ). From 1915 he worked at telegraph stations on the Chebyshev-Ilezk railway line and in the following years on the Ryazan- Ural railway line . He joined the Bolsheviks after the February Revolution in 1917 and headed the technical reporting service for the Red Movement in Astrakhan and Krasny Kut . In the Russian Civil War he fought from March 1918 with the Red Army on the southern front, initially in the intelligence service of the 1st Ukrainian Rifle Division. Then with the 6th Red Army against the White Guards under Denikin and Wrangel and took over command of the 126th Cavalry Regiment in June 1920. As commander of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade of the 12th Cavalry Division, he fought on the Kuban in the Caucasus . In 1925 and 1926 he completed higher leadership courses in the cavalry troop school in Novocherkassk . He then led an independent cavalry unit as a war commissioner for the 37th Rifle Division stationed there.

In 1928 he joined the NKVD - border troops in the military district of Central Asia over, first as commander of a squadron and later a cavalry regiment. Maslennikov's units played a key role in the disempowerment of the Basmachi rebellion, he successively led the NKVD border regiments 47 and 48 and the cavalry in Novocherkassk in the war against the local warlords Utan Beg (October 1928-1929), Ibrahim Beg (1931) and Ahmet Beg (1933). On July 20, 1936, he was promoted to colonel and then graduated from the Frunze Military Academy . He commanded border troops in Azerbaijan and Belarus for the next two years. On March 12, 1937, he was promoted to brigade leader and on March 9, 1939 to division leader. In March 1940 he took over the command of a corps command and on June 4, 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant general. In February 1939 Lavrenti Beria appointed him NKVD commissioner for internal affairs of the Soviet Union. In September, his border troops took part in the invasion of eastern Poland .

In the German-Soviet War

After Operation Barbarossa began , in July 1941 he was given command of the newly established 29th Army , whose leadership had been occupied by NKVD cadres. Despite this appointment as leader of the Red Army, Maslennikov also retained his previous position of NKVD commissioner for internal security. His troops came into action with the German troops on July 21 and withdrew to the east via Toropez and were assigned to the Kalinin Front as a reserve. By October 12, the remnants of the army at Rzhev had been pushed back onto the north bank of the Volga . At the beginning of December 1941, the 29th Army took part in the great Soviet counter-offensive. On December 16, 1941, he was unexpectedly assigned the command of the 39th Army in Raun Torzhok , which, together with the 31st Army (Lieutenant General Vasily Juschkewitsch), broke through the German front in the Rzhev area. From February to June 1942, the 29th Army was broken up and the 39th Army who had been cut off in the hinterland of the German 9th Army was wiped out; only 3,500 men were able to break out.

In July 1942 Maslennikov took over the command of the Font in the eastern Caucasus as Budyonny's successor , which was entrusted with the subordinate 9th, 37th and 44th Army to defend the Terek sector and the Georgian military road . In order to defend the threatened oil wells of Baku against the German 1st Panzer Army, the front received reinforcements of around 100 tanks and several thousands of workers to build the positions there. On August 8, 1942, he became commandant of the Northern Group of the North Caucasus Front and on January 30, 1943, he was promoted to Colonel General . From May to August 1943 he was Deputy Commander of the Volkhov Front and from August to October 1943 Deputy Commander of the Southwest Front . From October to December 1943 he was Deputy Commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front . In December 1943 he was briefly deputy commander of the 8th Guards Army and between December 1943 and March 1944 commander of the 42nd Army on the Leningrad Front . In January 1944, his troops took part in the Leningrad-Novgorod operation . From March to April 1944 he was briefly deputy commander of the Leningrad Front. Between April 21 and October 16, 1944 he took over the command of the 3rd Baltic Front , and on July 28, 1944 he was promoted to Army General. In August 1945 he took part in the war against Japan in Manchuria , where he acted as a deputy to the high command of the Soviet troops in the Far East . His military experience from the 1930s and his excellent organizational skills provided Marshal Wassilewski with valuable inspiration in the quick victory over the Kwantung Army . For his leadership skills in the Far East Maslennikov was honored by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on September 8, 1945 with the title Hero of the Soviet Union .

post war period

From September 1945 to May 1946 he was in command of the Baku Military District, then he headed the Transcaucasus Military District until December 1946 and then returned to the service of the Ministry of State Security (MGB). From June 10, 1948 to March 12, 1953 he was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. On January 5, 1952, he became a member of the Presidium of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On March 11, 1953 Maslennikov was recalled from the Ministry of the Interior in the course of the subsequent arrest of Beria, but retained a similar position and died in 1954 in a political power struggle under uncertain circumstances.

literature

• Biography on www.warheroes. (soot.)