Andrey Yeryomenko

Andrey Ivanovich Yeryomenko
Andrey Yeryomenko in 1938.
Native name	Russian: Андре́й Ива́нович Ерёменко Ukrainian: Андрій Іванович Єрьоменко
Born	(1892-10-14)October 14, 1892 Markovka, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	November 19, 1970(1970-11-19) (aged 78) Moscow, Soviet Union
Buried at	Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Allegiance	Russian Empire (1913–1918)  Soviet Union (1918–1958)
Service/branch	Russian Imperial Army Red Army
Years of service	1913–1958
Rank	Marshal of the Soviet Union
Commands held	North Caucasus Military District 4th Shock Army Stalingrad Front 2nd Baltic Front 4th Ukrainian Front Carpathian Military District
Battles/wars	World War I Russian Civil War Great Patriotic War
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union Hero of Czechoslovakia Order of Lenin (5) Order of the Red Banner (4) Order of the October Revolution Order of Suvorov, 1st Class (3) Order of Kutuzov, 1st Class[1]

Andrey (Andrei) Ivanovich Yeryomenko (or Yeremenko, Eremenko; Russian: Андре́й Ива́нович Ерёменко; Ukrainian: Андрій Іванович Єрьоменко; October 14 [O.S. October 2] 1892 – November 19, 1970) was a Soviet general during World War II and, subsequently, a Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Military career

Draft and early service

Born in Markivka in Kharkov Governorate (today in Ukraine) to a peasant family, Yeryomenko was drafted into the Imperial Army in 1913, serving on the Southwest and Romanian Fronts during World War I. He joined the Red Army in 1918, where he served in the legendary Budyonny Cavalry (First Cavalry Army). He attended the Leningrad Cavalry School and then the Frunze Military Academy, graduating in 1935. In addition to his education, he was appointed to command of a regiment of cavalry in Dec. 1929, then a division in 1937, and then the 6th Cavalry Corps in 1938.^[2]

Invasion of Eastern Poland

On Sept. 17, 1939, Yeryomenko led his 6th Cavalry Corps into eastern Poland as part of the operations agreed to between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In general, this Soviet operation was not efficiently organized. Yeryomenko (whose Corps contained light tank and other motorized elements) was forced to request an emergency airlift of fuel so as to continue his advance. Despite these difficulties, the Corps kept moving, and Yeryomenko earned the nickname "the Russian Guderian".^[3]

Great Patriotic War

Yeryomenko was given command of the prestigious 1st Red Banner Far Eastern Army, deep in eastern Siberia, where he was serving at the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941.^[4]

Eight days after the invasion began, Yeryomenko was recalled to Moscow, where he was made the Acting Commander of the Soviet Western Front, two days after its original commander, General of the Army Dmitri Pavlov, was dismissed (and later convicted and executed) for incompetence. Yeryomenko was thrust into a very precarious position. The Nazi Blitzkrieg approach to warfare quickly dominated the Western Front, but Yeryomenko motivated the remaining troops, and halted the German offensive just outside Smolensk. During this vicious defensive Battle of Smolensk, Yeryomenko was wounded. Because of his injuries, he was transferred to the newly created Bryansk Front.

In late August, Yeryomenko was ordered to launch counter-offensive operations along the Bryansk Front, primarily against Guderian's Second Panzer Group as it began to move south to trap Kirponos' Southwestern Front around Kiev. Stavka, particularly Stalin and Shaposhnikov, seemed convinced that Yeryomenko could block or distract Guderian's drive and save Kiev from encirclement. The counter-offensive failed to accomplish its objectives despite a valiant effort, leaving Bryansk Front severely weakened.^[5]

In October the Germans launched Operation Typhoon, which was an offensive aimed at capturing Moscow. Most of Yeryomenko's weakened forces (3rd, 13th and 50th Armies) were partially encircled by Oct. 8^[6] although small units managed to escape for days or weeks following. On Oct. 13, Yeryomenko was once again wounded, this time severely. He was evacuated to a military hospital in Moscow, where he spent several weeks recovering. In January 1942, Yeryomenko was appointed commander of the 4th Shock Army, part of the Northwestern Front. During the Soviet Winter Counteroffensive, Yeryomenko's army was part of the highly successful Toropets–Kholm Offensive, which liberated Toropets and much of the surrounding region, helping to create the Rzhev Salient, which became a major battlefield over the next 15 months. On Jan. 20, 1942, Yeryomenko was again wounded, this time in one leg,^[7] when German planes bombed his headquarters. Yeryomenko refused to evacuate to a hospital until the battle surrounding him finished.

Battle of Stalingrad

Yeryomenko's performance in the winter offensives restored Stalin's confidence, and he was given command of the Southeastern Front, on Aug. 1, 1942,^[8] where he proceeded to launch powerful counterattacks against the German offensive into the Caucasus, Fall Blau. Yeryomenko and Commissar Nikita Khrushchev planned the defense of Stalingrad, rallying and re-organizing men and equipment falling back to the city from the Don River and the steppes to the west. When one of his subordinates, Gen. Anton Lopatin, doubted if his 62nd Army would be able to defend Stalingrad, Yeryomenko replaced him with Lt. Gen. Vasily Chuikov as Army commander on Sept. 11, 1942.^[9] Chuikov and the 62nd Army went on to prove themselves as the defenders of the city, confirming Yeryomenko's judgement. On Sept. 28, the Southeastern Front was renamed the Stalingrad Front.

During Operation Uranus, November 1942, Yeryomenko's forces helped to surround the German 6th Army from the south, linking up with the northern penetration at Kalach-na-Donu. German General Erich von Manstein soon attempted to counterattack the Soviet forces and break through the line to relieve the surrounded Germans. Yeryomenko successfully repelled the attack, largely with the forces of the 2nd Guards Army along their fall-back positions on the Myshkova River.

After Stalingrad

On January 1, 1943, the Stalingrad Front was renamed Southern Front. After the end of the winter offensive, in March 1943, Yeryomenko was transferred north to the Kalinin Front, which remained relatively quiet until September, when Yeryomenko launched a small, but successful offensive. In December, Yeryomenko was once again sent south, this time to take command of the Separate Coastal Army, which was put together to retake Crimea, which was accomplished with assistance from Fyodor Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Front. In April, Yeryomenko once again was sent north, to command the 2nd Baltic Front. During the summer campaign, 2nd Baltic was very successful in crushing German opposition, and was able to capture Riga, helping to bottle up some 30 German divisions in Latvia. On March 26, 1945, Yeryomenko was transferred to the command of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the unit he controlled until the end of the war. Fourth Ukrainian was positioned in Eastern Hungary. Yeryomenko's subsequent offensive helped capture the rest of Hungary, and paved the way for the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. His army occupied many cities and towns in Czechoslovakia, most notably Ostrava. Today, many streets in the Czech Republic bear his name.

After the war

After the war, Yeryomenko had three major commands: in 1945–1946, he was the Commander in Chief of the Carpathian Military District, in 1946–1952 he was the Commander in Chief of the Western Siberian Military District, and in 1953–1958 he was the Commander in Chief of the North Caucasus Military District. On March 11, 1955, Yeryomenko, along with five other noteworthy commanders, was given the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. He was made Inspector General for the Ministry of Defense in 1958, a largely ceremonial role that allowed him to retire that same year.

He died November 19, 1970. The urn containing his ashes is buried in the Kremlin Wall.

Honours and awards

Soviet Union

• "Gold Star" Medal Hero of the Soviet Union (29 July 1944)
• Five Orders of Lenin (22 February 1938, 29 July 1944, 21 February 1945, 13 October 1962, 13 October 1967)
• Order of the October Revolution (22 February 1968)
• Order of the Red Banner, four times (15 June 1926, 22 February 1941, 3 November 1944, 20 June 1949)
• Order of Suvorov, 1st class, four times (23 January 1943, 16 May 1944, 23 May 1945)
• Order of Kutuzov, 1st class (22 September 1943)
• Honorary weapon with a National Emblem of the Soviet Union in gold (22 February 1968)
• Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"

Foreign Awards

• Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (28 April 1970)
• Legion of Merit, Chief Commander (USA)^[10]
• Order of Klement Gottwald

• Honorary Citizen of Volgograd (4 May 1970), Smolensk, Daugavpils (27 July 1964) and Ostrava (Czech Republic)

Commands

Source: ^[11]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrey Yeremenko.

Battle of Stalingrad Airfields Axis order of battle Red Army order of battle Bombing of Stalingrad in World War II German commanders German units   Operations  Nazi Germany Donnerschlag Winter Storm  Soviet Union Little Saturn Koltso Saturn Uranus   Formations Army groups and fronts B Centre Don Don Southwestern Stalingrad Voronezh Armies Axis German 4th Panzer German 6th Hungarian 2nd Italian 8th Romanian 3rd and 4th 1st Guards 2nd Guards 3rd Guards 21st 51st 62nd 64th 65th Corps XIV Panzer XL Panzer XLVIII Panzer IV VIII XI LI 8th Air Tank 1st 4th 13th 16th 24th 26th others 4th Mechanised 13th Mechanised 3rd Guards Cavalry 4th Cavalry 8th Cavalry Divisions Panzer 6th 14th 16th 17th 22nd 24th Infantry 3rd Motorised 29th Motorised 60th Motorised 5th 44th 71st 76th 79th 94th 100th 113th 295th 297th 305th 371st 376th 384th 389th Guards Rifle 13th 15th 33rd 35th 36th 37th 39th Rifle 38th 45th 62nd 64th 91st 93rd 95th 112th 138th 157th 169th 173rd 181st 193rd 196th 204th 214th 221st 248th 284th 302nd 308th 422nd others 414th Anti-Tank 149th Artillery 60th Cavalry 81st Cavalry   Notable participants Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler Alexander Edler von Daniels Hermann Göring Wilhelm Hoffman Hermann Hoth Hans-Valentin Hube Erwin König (apocryphal) Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Wolfram von Richthofen Arthur Schmidt Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach Karl Strecker Romania Constantin Constantinescu-Claps Petre Dumitrescu Mihail Lascăr Other Axis members Viktor Pavičić (Croatia) Italo Gariboldi (Italy) Gusztáv Jány (Hungary) Soviet Union Joseph Stalin Hazi Aslanov Vasily Badanov Vasily Chuikov Nikolay Dyatlenko Sasha Filippov Peter Gitelman Vasily Grossman Nikita Khrushchev Dmitry Lelyushenko Rodion Malinovsky Yakov Pavlov Alexander Rodimtsev Konstantin Rokossovsky Alexander Shcherbakov Semyon Timoshenko Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikolay Voronov Erich Weinert Andrei Yeremenko Vasily Zaytsev Aleksey Zhadov Georgy Zhukov   Significant locations Barmaley Fountain Barrikady Factory Grain Elevator Gumrak Kalach Mamayev Kurgan Pavlov's House Pitomnik Airfield Red October Steel Factory River Don River Volga Tatsinskaya Airfield Tsaritsa Gorge Tractor Plant   In memoriam The Motherland Calls Stalingrad Madonna Sword of Stalingrad Battle of Stalingrad in popular culture See also Battle of the Caucasus Battle of Kursk Battle of Nikolayevka Case Blue Operation Barbarossa Second Battle of Kharkov Third Battle of Kharkov Volgograd