Nikolai Ogarkov

Nikolai Vasilyevich Ogarkov (Николай Васильевич Огарков; 30 October 1917 – 23 January 1994) was a prominent Soviet military personality.

Ogarkov was born on 30 October 1917 in the village of Molokovo, Tver Governorate, to a peasant family.

In July, he returned to his division, but three months later, in connection with its disbandment, Lieutenant Colonel Ogarkov was appointed assistant chief of staff of the Engineering Troops of the 27th Army of the Carpathian Military District.

On the same year, he joined the Communist Party of Soviet Union.

In 1931, he moved to the Soviet Far East, where his elder brother completed his military service.

From the age of 14, Ogarkov began on his own work as a seller's apprentice at a closed military cooperative.

In April 1933, he returned to his hometown, where for 1.5 years he worked as an accountant, secretary of the district council of trade unions, etc. In 1934 he left for the Moscow region, to study at the working faculty of the energy industry in the village of Kudinovo, after which he studied at the V.V.Kuibyshev Moscow Civil Engineering Institute.

After school he worked as an accountant and secretary of the district council of trade unions.

Ogarkov joined the Red Army in 1938 and graduated from the Astrakhan Rifle and Machinegun School.

In 1941, he graduated from the Military Engineering Academy named after Kuibyshev and was awarded the rank of Military Engineer of the 3rd Rank.

Following the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Ogarkov was stationed at the construction of a fortified area near the Łomża region as a regimental engineer within the 1st Infantry Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division of Western Front.

From October 1941 to February 1942, he served as a Senior Fortification Engineer of the 2nd Department in the engineering department of the Karelian Front and from February 1942, he served as a Regimental Engineer of a Rifle Regiment in the 289th Rifle Division.

In June 1942, Ogarkov served as a Brigade Engineer of the 61st Naval Rifle Brigades and from December 1942, he served as an assistant to the chief of staff of the Engineering Troops of the 32nd Army.

In August 1943, he served as assistant to the chief of the Operational Department of the Headquarters of the Engineering Troops of the Karelian Front.

In November 1943, Ogarkov was assigned to the 2nd Ukrainian and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.

During World War II, he participated in the defense of Karelia, and Vyborg-Petrozavodsk, Petsamo-Kirkenes, Budapest and Vienna offensives.

From May 1944, he was appointed as Division Engineer of the 122nd Rifle Division in Karelsky.

In October 1944, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree.

On April 11, 1945, during a battle, while leading sapper units, Ogarkov was wounded and met the end of the war in the hospital.

From 1945 to 1946 Ogarkov was assistant and senior assistant to the chief of staff of the Engineering Troops of the Carpathian Military District.

In 1947, he finished studying again at the Kuibyshev Military Academy for Engineer Troops and in 1959 the military academy of the General Staff.

From 1947 to 1948, he served as deputy head of the Engineering Directorate of the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Primorsky Military District.

There, after an excellent performance of a number of assignments, he attracted the attention of the commander of the district Rodion Malinovsky, who contributed to his successful career growth.

In September 1948, he was appointed senior officer of the department, and in January 1949, chief of a department of a directorate of the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Far East.

From 1949 to 1953 he was then head of the operational management department and on September 4, 1950, he was promoted to colonel.

From 1953 he was deputy chief and finally from 1955, head of this leadership and deputy chief of staff of the Far Eastern Military District.

On July 11, 1957, he was appointed major general.

On the same year, he was sent to study at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

After graduating from the academy in 1959, Ogarkov commanded the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, at the East German city of Grimma from 1959 to 1961.

In December 1961, he was appointed chief of staff and deputy commander of the Belarusian Military District.

In December 1965, he was appointed as commander of the Volga Military District and in April 1968, he was appointed as first Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

Ogarkov was the candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1966 to 1971 and member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1971 to 1991.

He served as deputy of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 7th to 11th convocations from 1966 to 1989, from the Lithuanian SSR.

From March 1974 to January 1977, Ogarkov was the Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR, chairman of the State Technical Commission of the USSR and member of the Collegium of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.

He was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1977.

Between 1977 and 1984, he was Chief of the General Staff of the USSR.

On January 8, 1977, General Ogarkov was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR and first Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR.

On January 14, 1977, he was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

He became widely known in the West when he became the Soviet military's spokesman following the shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near Moneron Island in September 1983.

He was dismissed as Chief of the General Staff on 6 September 1984.