Mikhail Katukov
Mikhail Katukov | |
---|---|
Born | 17 September [O.S. 4 September] 1900[1] Bolshoe Uvarovo (now Moscow Oblast), Russian Empire |
Died | 8 June 1976[1] Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | (aged 75)
Allegiance | Soviet Russia (1919–1922) Soviet Union (1922–1963) |
Years of service | 1919–1963 |
Rank | Marshal of the armoured troops |
Unit | Armoured Troops |
Commands held |
|
Battles/wars | Russian Civil War World War II
|
Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union (twice) |
Other work | Commander of Armored Forces of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany Inspector General of the Army |
Marshal of Armoured Troops Mikhail Yefimovich Katukov (Russian: Михаил Ефимович Катуков [katuˈkɔf] 17 September [O.S. 4 September] 1900 – 8 June 1976) served as a commander of armored troops in the Red Army during and following World War II. He is viewed[by whom?] as one of the most talented Soviet armor commanders.[2] His most notable command during the German-Soviet War was that of 1st Guards Tank Army, which he commanded during the Battle of Kursk (1943), the Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation (1944), the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation (1944), the Vistula Oder Operation (1945), and the Battle of Berlin (1945). He also commanded 1st Guards Tank Brigade during the Battle of Moscow (1941), and 3rd Mechanised Corps[3] during Operation Mars (1942).
Early life[]
Katukov was born on 17 September 1900 in the village of in Kolomensky Uyezd, Moscow Governorate, now in the Ozyory Urban Okrug of Moscow Oblast, to an impoverished peasant family of five children. From a young age he worked on the local landowner's dairy farm. Katukov graduated from the primary rural school. In 1912 he was sent to relatives in Saint Petersburg, where he worked as a messenger boy in a dairy shop, and later in the factories of the city. Katukov participated in the October Revolution in 1917, after which he returned to Bolshoe Uvaravo to take care of his family after his mother's death.[1][4]
Military career[]
Katukov enlisted to the Red Army as a private in 1919. He served during the Russian Civil War, and later served as a tank formation commander before the war. In 1935 he graduated from the Stalin Military Academy and in July 1936 he was promoted to captain. In October 1938 came his first major command as acting commanding officer of the of the . He survived the purges.[1]
Second World War[]
On the onset of the war he took command of the . In the battle of Moscow in 1941, it was Katukov's Tank Brigade, then part of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps, that checked the advance of Guderian's Panzergruppe 2 near Tula. To honor this achievement it became the .[1]
Later during Operation Mars in December 1942, Katukov's command managed a deep penetration into the German lines in . In January 1943 he took command of the 1st Guards Tank Army, a post he held for the duration of the war.[1]
In the battle of Kursk, Katukov's command was one of the two armies that were hardest-hit by the initial German advance on the southern shoulder. Through the use of well-defended and sited strong-points, dug in tanks, and judicious use of counterattacks, Katukov managed to extract a high toll from the German attackers breaking through the defensive system.[1]
He commanded his tank army in the Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation, Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, the Vistula–Oder Offensive, and the Battle of Berlin.[1]
Mikhail Katukov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union twice (23 September 1944 and 6 April 1945).[1][4]
Post-War[]
Following the war he became commander of the mechanized forces of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, and later Inspector General of the Army.[1]
In popular culture[]
In the 1970 film Patton, Katukov is portrayed drinking a toast with General Patton to celebrate their armies' mutual victory over Nazi Germany.
Awards and honors[]
- Soviet Union
- Foreign
Patriotic Order of Merit in gold (East Germany) | |
Medal “For Strengthening Friendship in Arms”, Golden class (Czechoslovakia) | |
Virtuti Militari, 3rd class (Poland) | |
Order of Polonia Restituta, 3rd class (Poland) | |
Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class (Poland) | |
Medal "For Oder, Neisse and the Baltic" (Poland) | |
Medal "For Warsaw 1939-1945" (Poland) | |
Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom) | |
Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia) | |
Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia) | |
Order of Military Merit (Mongolia) | |
Medal "30 Years of the Victory in Khalkhin-Gol" (Mongolia) | |
Medal "40 Years of the Victory in Khalkhin-Gol" (Mongolia) | |
Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" (Mongolia) | |
Medal "30 Years of Victory over Militaristic Japan" (Mongolia) | |
Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Army" (Mongolia) |
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Катуков Михаил Ефимович. encyclopedia.mil.ru
- ^ David Glantz, Jonathan House, The Battle of Kursk, University Press of Kansas, 1999, P62
- ^ David Glantz, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat – The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars 1942, University Press of Kansas, 1998 P140
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Mikhail Katukov". warheroes.ru (in Russian).
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mikhail Katukov. |
- 1900 births
- 1976 deaths
- People from Ozyorsky District, Moscow Oblast
- People from Moscow Governorate
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
- Soviet Marshals of Tank Troops
- Russian people of World War II
- Soviet military personnel of World War II
- Heroes of the Soviet Union
- Recipients of the Order of Lenin
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
- Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class
- Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class
- Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class
- Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class
- Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class
- Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Knights of the Virtuti Militari
- Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit