Pavel Semyonovich Rybalko

Pawel Rybalko (1938)

Pawel Semjonowitsch Rybalko ( Russian: Павел Семёнович Рыбалко , scientific transliteration Pavel Semënovič Rybalko ; born November 4, 1894 in Malyj Wystorop near Lebedin ; † August 28, 1948 in Moscow ) was a Soviet general with two titles in World War II Hero of the Soviet Union .

biography

Pawel Rybalko was born into the family of a Ukrainian factory worker in what is now Sumy Oblast . As a young soldier he fought in the Imperial Russian Army in the First World War . After the October Revolution he joined the newly founded Red Army and took part in the Russian Civil War in Ukraine and the Polish-Soviet War . In the following years he completed several courses, including the Frunze Military Academy between May 1931 and April 1934 and started a steep army career. In 1934 Rybalko acted as a Soviet military advisor in China and rose to colonel in 1935 . He advised the Chinese National Army in the fight against Uyghur rebels under Ma Zhong-jing in Xinjiang Province . Between February 1936 and June 1937 he was assigned to the 8th Turkestan Mountain Cavalry Division in the Central Asia Military District. From June 1937 to October 1939 he was a military attaché in Poland and from April to December 1940 he held the same position in China. In between, he was promoted to major general on June 4, 1940 .

In the German-Soviet War

During the Second World War he was Deputy Commander of the 3rd Panzer Army between May and July 1942. He then commanded the 5th Panzer Army on the Bryansk Front from July 1942 . Between September 25, 1942 and April 26, 1943 he commanded the 3rd Panzer Army of the Stavka Reserve in the Voronezh area and was promoted to lieutenant general on January 18, 1943 during the successful Ostrogoschsk-Rossosh operation . On the Southwest Front he led the 57th Army as deputy commander, briefly from April 27 to May 1, 1943 .

From May 1943 to May 1945 he was in command of the 3rd Guards Panzer Army and in 1944 took part in the most important operations for the liberation of Ukraine . His troops participated in the Oryol Operation and the retaking of Kharkov . He received the first title "Hero of the Soviet Union" and the Order of Lenin in 1943 for his troops' share in the Battle of the Kursk Arch and the successful crossing of the Dnieper .

In the further course of the war his tank units fought at the end of 1943 as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the Battle of Kiev and in the Zhitomir-Berdichev operation . On December 30, 1943, he was awarded the rank of Colonel General . In March 1944, his troops achieved the liberation of Proskurov during the fighting of the Proskurov-Czernowitz operation .

Rybalko's grave in the Novodevichy Cemetery

During the Lviv-Sandomierz operation , Rybalko's tank army saved downtown Lviv from destruction. In the spring of 1945 his troops fought under the command of Marshal Ivan Konjew in the Lower Silesian Operation and in mid-April 1945 turned north to participate in the Battle of Berlin . In May 1945, during the Prague operation, he took part in the liberation of Dresden and Prague and received his second award as "Hero of the Soviet Union".

post war period

After the war ended, Rybalko was appointed Marshal of the Armored Forces and Commander-in-Chief of the Armored Forces on June 1, 1945. Rybalko also became a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR . During this time, he distinguished himself through his courageous resistance to the repression of Georgi Zhukov which was initiated by Stalin . In the summer of 1948 Rybalko died of cancer. He was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.

Web links

Commons : Pawel Semjonowitsch Rybalko  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• A biography of Rybalko (Russian)

literature

• Миронов Г. Маршал бронетанковых войск Павел Рыбалко // Полководцы и военачальники Великой Отечественной. Вып. 1 - 2-е изд. - 1971. - С. 292-330. - 448 с. - (Жизнь замечательных людей). - 150 000 экз.