Pyotr Koshevoy

Pyotr Kirillovich Koshevoy (Пётр Кириллович Кошевой; 21 December 1904 – 30 August 1976) was a Soviet military commander and a Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Koshevoy was born on 21 December 1904 in Oleksandriia, Kherson Governorate to a Ukrainian peasant family.

After graduating from primary school in 1919, he worked with his father, a miller, for a year and a half.

Koshevoy was born to a Ukrainian peasant family and joined the Red Army in 1920, fighting in the Russian Civil War.

He joined the Red Army during the Russian Civil War on 13 February 1920 and was sent to the 2nd Red Cossack Regiment of the 8th Red Cossack Cavalry Division, with which he fought on the Southwestern Front against Polish and Ukrainian People's Army troops in the area of Chornyi Ostriv, Lityn, Proskurov, Horodok, and Rohatyn, then against the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine.

After the end of the war, in August 1922, Koshevoy was sent to study at the Crimean Cavalry Courses, and upon graduation in October 1923 was appointed a squadron starshina in the 3rd Red Cossack Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Red Cossack Cavalry Division, stationed in the Ukrainian Military District.

Becoming a kursant at the Ukrainian Cavalry School in August 1924, after graduation in September 1927 he served as a platoon commander with the 61st Cavalry Regiment of the Special Cavalry Brigade in the Moscow Military District.

During the interwar period, he served as a junior commander in cavalry units and held staff positions from the late 1930s.

Temporarily transferred to the department of higher education institutions at the district headquarters to serve as officer for assignments of the 2nd category in November 1931, Koshevoy then served at the VTsIK Combined Military School as an assistant machine gun squadron commander.

After attending the Armored Commanders' Advanced Training Courses (KUKS) in Leningrad between March and May 1932, he returned to the school to briefly become a platoon commander in the mechanized battalion.

He became assistant chief of the 1st (operations) section of the staff of the regiment in May 1935, and from October of that year was regimental chief of staff.

Koshevoy entered the Frunze Military Academy in May 1936 and upon graduation in January 1939 was appointed chief of staff of the 15th Cavalry Division, stationed in the Transbaikal Military District.

He was transferred to command the 65th Rifle Division of the district in February 1940.

Koshevoy was assigned the rank of colonel on 29 February when the Red Army adopted personal military ranks.

After Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began in June 1941, Koshevoy remained with the division in the Transbaikal Military District.

In mid-1942 he transferred to command the 24th Guards Rifle Division, fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad and the North Caucasus.

Transferred to command the 24th Guards Rifle Division in the reserve on 2 July 1942, Koshevoy led the division as part of the 8th Army from 7 August, fighting in the Sinyavino Offensive.

He was promoted to major general on 1 October.

The division was relocated to Rasskazovo on 25 October 1942, where it joined the 2nd Guards Army of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command, receiving replacements and new equipment.

Departing with the army in mid-December for the Stalingrad Front, it fought in the repulse of Operation Winter Storm, a German counterattack attempting to relieve surrounded troops in Stalingrad.

As part of the Southern Front, the division fought in the Rostov Offensive, part of the North Caucasus Strategic Offensive in early 1943.

It was in reserve in Voroshilovgrad oblast for rebuilding from March.

During the summer, as part of the 2nd Guards Army of the Southern Front, Koshevoy led the division in the Mius and Donbass Offensives.

He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice – in 1944, for the taking of Mount Sapun during the Crimean Offensive and in 1945, for his part in the capture of Königsberg.

He went on to lead the corps as part of the 44th and 51st Armies of the 4th Ukrainian Front in the Melitopol and Crimean Offensives, during which it captured Kakhovka, Simferopol, and Sevastopol.

For his "skillful leadership" of the corps in the Crimean Offensive, including in the crossing of the Sivash and the taking of Mount Sapun, Koshevoy was made a Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin on 16 May 1944, being promoted to lieutenant general a day later.

Koshevoy commanded the 63rd Rifle Corps during the Crimean Offensive, then transferred to command the 71st Rifle Corps before leading the 36th Guards Rifle Corps from early 1945, commanding it in the East Prussian Offensive.

Koshevoy transferred to command the 36th Guards Rifle Corps of the 11th Guards Army from 7 January 1945, leading it for the rest of the war.

During the East Prussian Offensive, the corps captured Insterburg, Königsberg, and Pillau.

During the offensive, according to his superiors, Koshevoy personally organized the attacks of the corps and led from the front, in the "most critical and dangerous" areas of Insterburg.

From September of that year, Koshevoy served as head of the regimental school of the 61st Regiment, part of the Special Cavalry Division (formed from the Special Cavalry Brigade).

During the Donbass Offensive, Koshevoy was appointed commander of the 63rd Rifle Corps of the 51st Army on 28 August.

By the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Koshevoy commanded the 65th Rifle Division, which he led during the Siege of Leningrad.

He became commander-in-chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany in 1965.

Under his command, the 65th was relocated to the Volkhov Front during November, and as part of the 4th Army fought in the Tikhvin Defensive Operation.

For its "successful actions" in the latter, the 65th was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Koshevoy was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1968, but was dismissed from command of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany in late 1969.

Transferred to command the 71st Rifle Corps on 27 May, he led the latter as part of the 31st Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front in Operation Bagration and the Baltic Offensive.

For its "courage in battle", the 71st was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Following the war, Koshevoy commanded the 6th Guards, the 5th, the 11th Guards Armies, and the Siberian and Kiev Military Districts.