Nikolai Nikolayevich Voronov

Colonel General Nikolai Nikolayevich Voronov (1940)

Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Voronow ( Russian: Николай Николаевич Воронов ; * 23 April ^July / 5 May  1899 ^greg. In Saint Petersburg , Russian Empire ; † 28 February 1968 in Moscow ) was a Soviet officer in the Red Army and the Soviet Army , who on February 21, 1944 became chief marshal of the artillery .

Life

Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Voronow (center) with Dmitri Nikititsch Nikitschow (left) and Georgi Konstantinowitsch Schukow (right) (1939)

Nikolai Nikolayevich Voronov joined the Red Army in 1918 and took part in the Russian Civil War and between 1919 and 1921 in the Polish-Soviet War . In the following years he found numerous uses as an officer and staff officer, for example in the 27th Rifle Division and in the Belarusian military district. He was also a graduate of the military academy " Michail Wassiljewitsch Frunze " and was also employed in the 1st Motorized Guards Rifle Division. Between August 1932 and November 1933 he was a military attaché at the embassy in the Kingdom of Italy and, after his return, from November 1933 to April 1934 commander of the artillery of the 1st Proletarian Rifle Division stationed in Moscow . He then served as commandant of the Artillery School in Leningrad between April 1934 and 1936 and was promoted to brigade commander on November 26, 1935 . During the Spanish Civil War he was from 1936 to June 20, 1937 Military Advisor to the Army of the Second Spanish Republic .

After his return, Voronov was promoted to corps commander on June 20, 1937 and served as head of the artillery directorate between June 20, 1937 and July 26, 1940. At the same time he was in personal union from June 20, 1937 to March 1950, commander in chief of the artillery and was promoted to army commander, second class , on March 23, 1940 . In these functions he was involved in the winter war against Finland (November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940). With the conversion of the ranks , he was on June 4, 1940 Colonel-General of Artillery and served between 27 July 1940 and 14 June 1941, first as deputy chief of the Main Directorate of Artillery and then from 14 June to July 1941 as head of the Main Directorate of air defense. Shortly afterwards he became Deputy People's Commissar for Defense and held this position until 1943. In addition to his role as commander-in-chief of the artillery, he was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the German-Soviet War (June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945). During this time he was only promoted to Marshal of the Artillery on January 18, 1943 and on February 21, 1944 to the first Chief Marshal of the Artillery .

After the end of the Second World War , Nikolai Nikolayevich Voronov was also a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR between 1946 and 1950 and then President of the Academy of Artillery Sciences from 1950 to 1953. He was then from 1953 to October 1958 first in command of the Academy of Military Artillery Command and most recently between October 1958 and his death on February 28, 1968, the Inspectorate of the Group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.

The Soviet general staff officer Kyrill D. Kalinow reports that one hardly dared to turn around in Voronov's apartment “in front of tiny gun models, books lying around and individual parts of cannons”. And that he kept a dovecote as a hobby.

honors and awards

Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Voronow has received several awards for his longstanding services and received the following honors, among others:

• Hero of the Soviet Union
• Order of Lenin (6 ×)
• Order of the October Revolution ,
• Order of the Red Banner (4 ×)
• Suvorov Order (3 ×)
• Order of the Red Star
• Anniversary medal "XX years of the Red Workers and Peasants Army"
• Medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"
• Medal "For the Defense of Moscow"
• Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad"
• Medal "Victory over Germany"
• Medal "20th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 "
• Medal "For Victory Over Japan"
• Medal "On the 250th anniversary of Leningrad"
• Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Fleet"
• Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
• Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" .

He was also awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta .

Web link

• Entry in The Generals of World War II (English)
• Entry in War Heroes (Russian)
• Entry in the Military Historical Ecyclopedia (Russian)
• Entry in Militera (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kyrill D. Kalinow: Soviet marshals have the floor . Hamburg 1950, p. 312.