Kirill Afanassjewitsch Merezkow

Kirill Afanassjewitsch Merezkow, 1940

Kirill Meretskov ( Russian Кирилл Афанасьевич Мерецков ; born May 26, ^jul. / 7. June  1897 ^greg. In Nasarjewo , Circle Zaraysk , Ryazan Governorate , Russian Empire ; † thirtieth December 1968 in Moscow ) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union and commander in Second world war .

Life

Early career

Merezkow was born into a poor farming family. From 1904 to 1912 he attended elementary school and worked as a helper in his parents' farm. After graduating from elementary school, Merezkow made an apprenticeship as a locksmith from 1912 to 1915 and attended evening school in Moscow . After he had finished his apprenticeship, he worked as a locksmith in Sudogda and went on to evening school to acquire the higher education entrance qualification. During this time Merezkov began illegal work against war and tsarism by supporting the Bolsheviks .

In 1917 he became a member of the RSDLP (B) and joined the Red Guard . There he worked as chief of the department staff and took part in the suppression of the Murom uprising of the counter-revolution. As a commissar of a division in the 227th  Vladimir Regiment in the inventory of the 5th Army, Merezkov was wounded. In October 1918 Merezkow completed a course at the Academy of the General Staff , which was interrupted several times by front-line operations. From October 1919 he was assistant to the chief of staff of the 14th Division of the 9th Army on the southern front and chief of the staff of a brigade. From the summer of 1920 to the beginning of 1921 Merezkow was on the Southwest Front as an assistant to the Chief of Staff under the command of Alexander Ilyich Jegorow , (Chief of Staff NN Petin, member of the War Council JW Stalin ) in the 1st (Red) Cavalry Army under Semyon Mikhailovich Budjonny (Chief of Staff SA Sotow, member of the military council Kliment Eefremowitsch Voroshilov ) in the 4th Cavalry Division. After graduating from the Academy in October 1921, he served as brigade commander and chief of staff of the 1st  Tomsk Siberian Cavalry Division in Belarus .

After the end of the civil war, Merezkow became an assistant to the chief of staff of the 15th Rifle Corps in the Caucasus and chief of staff of the 9th Don Rifle Division. This activity was followed a year later as the head of the mobilization department of the Moscow Military District. Merezkow was in 1925 as 1st Deputy Chief and Commissioner of the Staff of the Moscow Military District under the command of JP Uborevich and later AI Kork . He then served as commander and commissioner of the 14th Rifle Division and temporarily as chief of staff of the Moscow Military District. Between 1932 and 1935 Merezkow was Chief of Staff of the Belarusian Military District and Chief of Staff of the Special Far Eastern Red Banner Army under Vasily Konstantinowitsch Blücher . During the Spanish Civil War he served from 1936 to June 1937 as a military advisor to the Republican Government of Spain and was then deputy to Boris Michailowitsch Shaposhnikov as chief of the general staff. In September 1938 Merezkov was Commander-in-Chief of the Volga Military District and then the Leningrad Military District. On the XVIII. Elected to the Central Committee candidate at the Congress, he served in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939/1940 as Commander-in-Chief of the 7th Army , which broke through the Mannerheim Line .

Second World War

In June 1940 Merezkow was in the rank of Army General Deputy to the People's Commissar (Minister) for Defense, Semyon Konstantinovich Tymoshenko . Two months later he became Chief of the General Staff. In the first half of 1941 Merezkow worked as a deputy to the People's Commissar (Minister) for Defense for training issues.

After the start of the German war against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Merezkow was appointed representative of the High Command (Stawka) and advisor to the headquarters. Shortly afterwards, however, the NKVD arrested him and subjected him to severe torture . Merezkow was only released at the beginning of September and after Finland entered the war (→ Continuation War ), he was entrusted with the command of the 7th independent army , which faced the Finnish troops on the Swir . While Merezkow successfully defended his section of the front, the Soviet 4th Army of General Yakovlev collapsed on the left flank and withdrew in disorder. This gave rise to the danger that the 7th Independent Army could be captured in the rear by the German Army Group North . After Tikhvin fell on November 8, 1941 , the Stawka appointed Merezkow commander of the 4th Army. By December 9th, Merezkow succeeded in retaking Tichwin. On December 17, the Stawka formed the Volkhov Front from the 4th, 52nd, 26th and the 59th Army, which was in formation, and placed it under Merezkow. Their task was to break up the German Army Group North and to restore the connection to the besieged Leningrad . However, the Soviet troops lacked the strength to implement these orders.

From January to April 1942, bloody and unsuccessful offensives against the German troops were conducted under Merezkov's orders (→ Volkhov battle ). In order to better coordinate the actions of the Leningrad Front and the Volkhov Front , the Stavka decided to merge them under the command of the Leningrad Front High Command. However, this measure created organizational difficulties and led to serious setbacks at the front. In June 1942 the Volkhov Front was therefore again given the command of Merezkov. From April to June he had acted as deputy to the Commander-in-Chief of the West Direction, GK Zhukov , and Commander-in-Chief of the 33rd Army . After further partly successful offensives against Army Group North (→ Ladoga battles ), Merezkow was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union on October 31, 1943. Merezkov played a decisive role in the successful implementation of the Leningrad-Novgorod operation (January 14 to March 1, 1944). With this offensive, the German Army Group North was pushed back into the Baltic States . Since the front had therefore become considerably shorter, a reorganization was carried out in February 1944. The Volkhov Front was disbanded and its troops transferred to other fronts . Merezkow first took over the Karelian front against Finland. Here he was in command of the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Operation (June 10 to August 9, 1944), which put the Finnish government under such pressure that it concluded an armistice with the USSR in September. Merezkow took over command of the 1st Far Eastern Front in the war against Japan in March 1945 (→ Operation Auguststurm ). With the end of the Pacific War , this use ended in September 1945.

post war period

Merezkow on a 1977 postage stamp

In the years after the end of the war, Merezkov served as commander in chief in various military districts. From 1955 to 1964 he worked on the staff of the Minister of Defense. At the same time he was chairman of the Soviet Committee of War Veterans. From 1964 he belonged to the group of inspectors general of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR .

Merezkow was awarded the Order of Victory in 1945. After his death, his urn was buried on the Kremlin wall in Moscow.

literature

• Klaus Dorst, Birgit Hoffmann: Small Lexicon of Soviet Armed Forces. (1st edition), Military Publishing House of the GDR , Berlin (East) 1987, ISBN 3-327-00279-7 .
• П. Я. Егоров: Маршал Мерецков. Москва 1974 (German Pyotr J. Jegorow: Marshal Merezkow ).
• Geoffrey Jukes: Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov. In: Harold Shukman (ed.): Stalin's generals. Grove Press, New York 1993, pp. 127-134, ISBN 0-8021-1487-3 .
• KA Мерецков: На службе народу. Москва 1971. ( online version )
• KA Merezkow: In the service of the people. (1st edition), Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin (East) 1972.

Web links

• Collection of various biographical encyclopedia entries about KA Merezkow
• Tabular curriculum vitae of KA Mereckov on Справочник по истории Коммунистической партии и Советского Союза 1898–1991
• Article Kirill Afanassjewitsch Merezkow in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)http: //vorlage_gse.test/1%3D075609~2a%3D~2b%3DKirill%20Afanassjewitsch%20Merezkow

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernd Bonwetsch: The repression of the military and the operational capability of the Red Army in the "Great Patriotic War". In: Bernd Wegener (Ed.): Two ways to Moscow. Munich 1991, p. 409.