Mikhail Ilyich Kazakov

Mikhail Ilyich Kazakov

Mikhail Ilyich Kazakov ( Russian Михаил Ильич Казаков ; born September 26, ^jul. / 9. October  1901 ^greg. In the village Welikuscha today Kingmengsko-Gorodtzki, in the Vologda Oblast ; † 25. December 1979 in Moscow ) was a Soviet army general and Hero of the Soviet Union .

Life

Kazakow came from a peasant family, his father was a former seaman in the Baltic fleet . He attended elementary school and after the October Revolution of 1917 took an active part in the establishment of Soviet power in the province of Vologda. He became a member of the Revolutionary Committee and was a member of the CPSU since August 1919 .

Early military career

At the end of 1919 he joined the Politburo of the Red Army and worked as the deputy commissioner for propaganda work. From September to November 1920 he fought on the southern front in the area of ​​the 46th Rifle Division against the troops of General Wrangel in northern Tauria and in the Crimea . Then he took part in the fighting against the anarchist troops under Nestor Makhno . After the civil war he worked in the political department of the 3rd Rifle Division in the Crimea and became military commissioner of the 19th Rifle Regiment. In July 1924 he was appointed to the military council of the 8th "Chernigov" Cossack regiment of the 2nd Cavalry Division. In December 1924 he became deputy commander of the same regiment and in October 1925 deputy commander of the 10th Ural Cossack regiment. In 1927 he completed a refresher course at the Novocherkassk cavalry school . In 1930/31 he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and from May 1931 was transferred to the General Staff of the Leningrad Military District, from May 1932 he acted as the deputy head of the administrative department of the Frunze Military Academy. In January 1935 he became political chief of the 2nd Cavalry Corps in Zhitomir and in the following years he was the head of the operations department of the 2nd Cavalry Corps. In March 1936 he became the commander of the 29th Cavalry Regiment of the 5th Cavalry Division. He rose to the rank of colonel in October 1936 and graduated from the General Staff Academy of the Red Army. In early June 1937 he was appointed deputy chief of staff for the Central Asian Military District. On July 15, 1938 he was appointed Brigade Commander, in March 1938 appointed Chief of Staff of the Central Asian Military District and promoted to Major General on April 6, 1940 .

In the German-Soviet War

After the start of the Patriotic War, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 53rd Army in August 1941, which, at the request of the British, moved into northern Iran in September 1941 as part of the Transcaucasus military district . In January 1942 he was appointed chief of staff of the Bryansk Front , organized an offensive at Bolchov and tried in vain to hold Voronezh in June 1942. In July 1942, he moved to the newly formed Voronezh Front as Chief of Staff , which was engaged in heavy defensive battles on the Don sector in the summer. On January 19, 1943, he was appointed lieutenant general and in February led the Voronezh-Kastornoye operation . In February 1943 Kazakov was appointed commander of the 69th Army of the Voronezh Front, which was able to liberate Kharkov at short notice in the course of the Kharkov offensive operation together with other armies . After the defeat of his troops at Kharkov, he was appointed deputy commander of the reserve front (2nd formation) in March 1943 . From June 1943 he served in the same position on the steppe front that took part in the Battle of Kursk . In July 1943 he became deputy commander of the Bryansk Front , which was renamed the 2nd Baltic Front in October 1943 . His troops were involved in the liberation of Orel and Bryansk in the summer of 1943 during the Oryol Operation . From January 1944 until the end of the war, he commanded the 10th Guard Army on the 2nd Baltic and Leningrad Front . At the head of this army he led the Reschiza-Dwinsker operation by, joined the Baltic Sea into the Baltic before and took part in the conquest of Riga (October 1944). On September 13, 1944, he was raised in rank to Colonel General . Between October 1944 and May 1945, the 10th Guard Army, under the command of Andrei Yeryomenko, and from February 1945 under Leonid Goworow, was involved in the blocking of the German Army Group Courland .

post war period

After the war, he became Deputy Commander in 1946 and Chief of Staff of the Transcaucasus Military District in 1945 . In 1949 he served as the deputy commander of the South Urals Military District. In 1950 he became Chief of Staff in the Odessa Military District , in 1953 he became Commander of the Urals Military District and on August 8, 1955, he was raised to Army General . In 1956 he had the position of deputy commander of the school for physical training of the Soviet armed forces. In November 1956 he was appointed commander of the southern group that carried out the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in Hungary. From 1960 to 1965 he was in command of the Leningrad Military District, and from 1965 to 1968 he was Chief of Staff of the Warsaw Pact Armed Forces . In 1968 he became Director General of the Inspectorate Group in the Ministry of Defense. In addition, he acted as a deputy member of the Supreme Soviet from 1946 and was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1961 to 1971 . By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet , on February 21, 1978, he was subsequently honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his achievements in the World War . He was the author of several military memoirs and publications. He died in Moscow in 1979 and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Web links

• Biography on www.warheroes.ru (Russian)