Person attributes
Eremenko Andrey Ivanovich is a Soviet statesman and military leader. Marshal of the Soviet Union. Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Czech SSR.
He was born in the family of a Ukrainian peasant. He was drafted into the army in 1913 . During the First World War, he fought on the Southwestern Front in Galicia. Then he served on the Romanian front in the intelligence team of an infantry regiment. Wounded twice and concussed. In the Red Army since 1918 During the Civil War, he participated in battles on the Southern, Caucasian and Southwestern fronts: Chief of Intelligence, and then chief of Staff of the cavalry brigade of the 1st Cavalry Army.
After the Civil War, he studied at the Leningrad Higher Cavalry School, from which he graduated in 1923, and at the Leningrad Cavalry Advanced Training courses for commanders. From October 1925 - Chief of Staff, from December 1929 - commander of the 79th (then 55th) Cavalry regiment in the 14th Cavalry Division. In 1931, he graduated from the courses of single-command commanders at the Military-Political Academy of the Red Army. Tolmachev, and in 1935 — the M.V. Frunze Military Academy. Since January 1936 - Assistant commander, since July 1937. - Commander of the 22nd Cavalry Regiment of the 23rd Cavalry Division of the 7th Cavalry Corps. Since August 1937 - Commander of the 14th Cavalry Division. In February 1938 he was awarded the rank of brigade commander, and in June of the same year he was appointed commander of the 6th Cavalry Corps, with which he took part in a campaign in Western Belarus in 1939. In February 1939 he was awarded the rank of commander, and in November of the same year — commander.
In June 1940, Lieutenant General A.I. Eremenko was appointed commander of the 3rd Mechanized Corps of the Belarusian Special Military District. Since December 1940, Commander of the North Caucasus Military District, since January 1941, Commander of the 1st Separate Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Front, since June 1941, Commander of the 16th Army of the Trans-Baikal Military District.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, from June 30 to July 2, Lieutenant General A.I. Eremenko was the commander of the troops of the Western Front. Since July 1941 - Deputy commander of the troops of the same front. Since August, he has commanded the troops of the Bryansk Front, whose task was to cover the approaches to Moscow. General Eremenko led the defensive and offensive actions of the front's troops in the Battle of Smolensk in 1941 and in the Orel-Bryansk defensive operation, during which the enemy managed to encircle a significant part of the front's forces. In October - December, he was treated in the hospital.
Since December 1941, Colonel-General Eremenko has been the commander of the 4th Shock Army of the Northwestern (since January 22, 1942 Kalinin) Front, which defended the line along the eastern shore of the Velye —Seliger lakes. In August 1942, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Southeastern and Stalingrad fronts. In order to ensure the defense of the Astrakhan direction, the approaches to the Volga River on the Stalingrad— Astrakhan section and the Astrakhan district, the General Eremenko was also subordinated to the Stalingrad Military District and the troops at his disposal by the Directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters from August 15. On September 28, the Stavka again formed two fronts — Stalingrad and Donskoy. A.I. Eremenko was appointed commander of the troops of the Stalingrad Front. In the future , the troops of the Stalingrad Front took an active part in the Stalingrad offensive operation of 1943 . Since January 1943 Eremenko is the commander of the troops of the Southern Front that carried out the offensive on Rostov. In April 1943, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Kalinin Front, which took part in the Smolensk 1943, Dukhovshchinsko-Demidovskaya 1943 and Nevel 1943 offensive operations. In August 1943 he was awarded the rank of General of the army.
In February - April 1944 Eremenko commands a Separate Primorsky Army, which fought in order to hold and expand the Kerch bridgehead. Since April 1944, he has been the commander of the 2nd Baltic Front. As part of the 1944 Baltic Operation, the 2nd Baltic Front, in cooperation with the 1st and 3rd Baltic Fronts and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, participated in the Riga Offensive Operation of 1944, as a result of which Soviet troops liberated Latvia, its capital Riga and blocked the main forces of Army Group North on the Courland Peninsula from land.
Since March 1945, A.I. Eremenko has been the commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front. Under his leadership, the Moravska-Ostrava offensive operation of 1945 was planned and carried out, during which the front's troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the enemy's 1st tank army, captured the Moravska-Ostrava industrial district and created favorable conditions for further advance into the central part of Czechoslovakia. In the future, the front's formations, in cooperation with the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts, participated in the Prague Offensive operation of 1945, which ended with the encirclement and capture of the main forces of Army Group Center and part of the forces of Army Group Austria.
After the war, A.I. Eremenko consistently commanded the troops of the Carpathian, West Siberian and North Caucasian military districts. Since 1958 - in the Group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Author of the memoirs "The Years of Retribution. 1943—1945». He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1946-1970 . The urn with the ashes of A.I. Eremenko is buried in the Kremlin Wall on Red Square in Moscow.
Awarded: 5 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, 4 Orders of the Red Banner, 3 Orders of Suvorov of the 1st art., the Order of Kutuzov of the 1st art.; foreign orders: USA - "Legion of Honor" of the 2nd art., Czechoslovakia - Clement Gottwald; Honorary weapons with a golden image of the State Emblem of the USSR, as well as many Soviet and foreign medals.
