Markian Michailowitsch Popow

Popov's grave bust in the Novodevichy Cemetery

Markian Popov ( Russian Маркиан Михайлович Попов , scientific. Transliteration Markian Popov Michajlovič ; * 2. November ^{. Jul} / 15. November  1902 ^greg. In Ust-Medwedizkaja (now Serafimovich , Volgograd Oblast ); † 22. April 1969 in Moscow ) was a Soviet Army General and from 1956 to 1962 First Deputy Commander in Chief of the Soviet Land Forces . In 1965 he was named Hero of the Soviet Union .

Life

Early military career

During the Russian Civil War , Popov joined the Red Army in 1920 and in the following year (1921) he joined the Russian Communist Party . In 1925 he attended a course for commanders. In 1936 he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy . From May 1936 he became chief of staff of a motorized brigade, then chief of staff of the 5th mechanical corps. In June 1938 he became deputy chief of staff, in September general chief of staff and in July 1939 commander of the 1st Independent Red Banner Army in Manchuria. On June 4, 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant general and in January 1941 he took over command of the Leningrad Military District .

In the German-Soviet War

After the outbreak of war , he first took over command of the northern front against Finland in June 1941 . On August 23, 1941, he was given the Leningrad Front , which was formed on the orders of the headquarters from the northern front. In November 1941 he was transferred to the Western Front and was given supreme command of the 61st Army deployed near Tula and took back Belev . Between June 28 and July 3, 1942, he led the 48th Army on the Brjansk Front and then the 40th Army in the Voronezh area until October . Since October 13, 1942, he was Jerjomenko's deputy as commander of the Stalingrad Front . On December 8, 1942, he received the order of the newly established 5th Shock Army , which initiated strong counter-attacks against the Hoth Army Group on Kotelnikovo . On December 26, 1942, he took over the position of deputy commander of the Southwest Front and on December 28, he took over the command of the 5th Panzer Army deployed on the lower Donets at the southern front (under Malinowski ) .

After the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad at the end of January 1943, a tank group with four tank corps (4th Guards, 3rd, 10th and 18th Panzer Corps) was set up on the Southwest Front (under Nikolai Watutin ) and placed under the command of Markian Popov. In cooperation with the infantry of the 6th Army (Lieutenant General Charitonov ), his troops managed to tear open the German front on the upper Donets to a width of almost 100 kilometers and to break through to Dnepropetrovsk up to a distance of 60 kilometers . The Popow tank group was largely destroyed by German counter-attacks at the end of February, but enabled the 3rd Panzer Army advancing to the north to liberate Kharkov in mid-February 1943. The city was lost a month later.

In April 1943 he received the command of the Reserve Front (previously Bryansk Front), which later in Steppe Front was renamed and on April 23 he was appointed Colonel-General conveyed. At the height of the Battle of Kursk Popov's armies attacked in mid July at Orel and were able in 1943 on September 17, Bryansk free. On August 26, 1943, he was promoted to army general for the first time and on October 10, 1943, he was given supreme command of the Baltic Front , which was renamed the 2nd Baltic Front on October 20 . During the successful advance of the Leningrad Front on Pskov , the attack by his army failed due to the strong resistance of the German 16th Army . He was then deposed on April 20, 1944 by order of Stalin and replaced by Army General Yeryomenko . The real reason for his replacement was rather his open criticism of the member of the War Council of the 2nd Baltic Front, NA Bulganin, and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, AI Antonov . At the same time he was demoted to the rank of colonel general. On April 23, 1944 until the end of the war he only served as Chief of Staff at the Leningrad Front under Marshal Govorov .

post war period

After the war he commanded the Soviet troops in the military district of Lemberg until 1946, then the Tauris military district until 1954. After Stalin's death, on August 3, 1953, he was restored to his old rank as army general. From January 1955 he was deputy head, then head of the main administration, head of training in the Red Army. In August 1956 he became First Deputy Commander in Chief of the Soviet Land Forces. From July 1962 he served as a military advisor to the group of inspectors in the Ministry of Defense. On May 7, 1965, he was subsequently honored with the Hero of the Soviet Union for his services in World War II . He died of gas poisoning in his household on April 22, 1969 and was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.

literature

• Pawel Andrejewitsch Schilin (ed.): The most important operations of the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945. Berlin (East): Publishing house of the Ministry for National Defense, 1958.
• JI Korabljow, WA Anfilow, WA Mazulenko: A brief outline of the history of the armed forces of the USSR from 1917 to 1972. Berlin 1976.
• Woeni enziklopedizeski slowar Woennoje izdatjelstwo, Moscow 1986.
• Martin McCauley: Who's Who in Russia Since 1900. , q. v.
• David M. Glantz: When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 1995.

Web links

• Russian website about the Heroes of the Soviet Union

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pawel Andrejewitsch Schilin (ed.): The most important operations of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945. Berlin (East): Publishing house of the Ministry for National Defense, 1958.