Alexander Borisovich Lozovsky (; 23 September 1907 26 February 1981) was a

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

major general. Lozovsky served in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

from the mid-1920s, initially serving as a junior officer and fighting in the

Sino-Soviet conflict The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their d ...

in 1929. He became an armor officer in the 1930s and served at the

Battles of Khalkhin Gol The Battles of Khalkhin Gol (; ) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolian People's Republic, Mongolia, Empire of Japan, Japan and Manchukuo in 1939. The conflict wa ...

. After the beginning of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, Lozovsky became chief of staff of a tank division before becoming chief of staff of the

15th Tank Corps The 15th Tank Corps (, ''15-y tankoviy korpus'') was a Tank corps (Soviet Union), tank corps of the Soviet Union's Red Army. It formed in 1938 from a Mechanised corps (Soviet Union), mechanized corps and fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland, ...

in mid-1942. After the corps commander was killed in the

Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by Nazi Germany's Army Group South against the Soviet Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February ...

, Lozovsky temporarily took command of the corps. He continued to serve as chief of staff of the unit when it became the 7th Guards Tank Corps, and transferred to the same position with the 10th Guards Tank Corps in 1944. Postwar, he served as a department head in the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union.

Early life and interwar military career

Lozovsky was born on 23 September 1907 in the village of Goloenishchevo,

Smolensk Governorate Smolensk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR. It existed, with interruptions, between 1708 and 1929. Smolensk Governorate, together with seven o ...

. He was drafted into the Red Army on 14 September 1925, and was sent to study at the

Western Military District The Western Military District () was a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia, in existence from 2010 until its abolishment as a unitary military command on February 26, 2024, succeeded by the newly reconstituted Moscow Mil ...

Military-Political Academy, but was transferred to the Unified Military School named for the Central Executive Committee in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in October 1926, where he became a section leader in September 1927. Upon graduation in September 1928, Lozovsky was sent to the 1st Pacific Rifle Division's 1st Chita Rifle Regiment, stationed in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

with the

Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army The Special Far Eastern Army, later the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army () was a military formation of the Red Army, active from 1929 to 1938 and under command of Vasily Blyukher. It was activated on 6 August 1929, originally with the 18th a ...

, where he served as a platoon commander. From July 1929 to January 1930, he participated in the

over control of the

Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, , or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). The Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 ...

. In July, he became an assistant company commander for technical affairs. In November 1930, Lozovsky was sent to study at the Leningrad Armored Refresher Courses for Red Army commanders. After completing the course, he became a company commander of the 1st Separate Tank Battalion in the

Ukrainian Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

. Transferred to the Far East in February 1934, Lozovsky became the assistant chief of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade's operations staff department. In November, he entered the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army, graduating in June 1939. Lozovsky then returned to the Far East, where he was appointed assistant chief of staff of the 9th Armored Motor Brigade, fighting in the

as part of the

1st Army Group First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

World War II

In July 1941, Lozovsky became chief of staff of the newly formed 111th Tank Division, part of the

Transbaikal Military District The Transbaikal Military District () was a military district of first the Soviet Armed Forces and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on 17 May 1935 and included the Buryat Republic, Chita Oblast, and Yakutia. Chita was ...

, which became the

Transbaikal Front The Transbaikal Front () was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air Army was added to the front, and, finally, in ...

in September. He subsequently took accelerated courses at the Higher Military Academy and in June 1942 became chief of the operations department of the newly formed

. In July, Lozovsky became the corps' chief of staff, fighting in the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive,

Operation Star Operation Star or Operation Zvezda () was a Red Army offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II begun on 2 February 1943. The attack was the responsibility of the Voronezh Front under the command of Filipp Golikov and a part of the larger ...

, and the

between January and March 1943. During Operation Star, the corps suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment and shifted to the defense after a German counterattack began the Third Battle of Kharkov. The German counterattack cut off the corps from main forces in the Sokolovo area, and it was ordered to break out through Novaya Vodolaga. After corps commander Major General Vasily Koptsov died on 3 March, Lozovsky took command of the corps and led the breakout in the area of

Zmiiv Zmiiv or Zmiyiv () from 1976 to 1990, is a city in Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Zmiiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population in 2001 was 17,063, falling to The town is located from Khar ...

. Lozovsky supervised the rebuilding of the corps during the next months, while simultaneously being both corps commander and chief of staff. On 11 June, Major General Filipp Rudkin arrived to take command of the corps, and Lozovsky reverted to being the chief of staff. In July, the corps fought in

Operation Kutuzov Operation Kutuzov was the first of the two counteroffensives launched by the Red Army as part of the Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation. It commenced on 12 July 1943, in the Central Russian Upland, against Army Group Center of the German ''Ger ...

, the Soviet counteroffensive after the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

. During the fighting, Lozovsky was wounded but continued to perform his duties and was awarded the

Order of Kutuzov The Order of Kutuzov ( ''orden Kutuzova'') is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813). The Order was established during World War II t ...

2nd class for "efficient organization, skilled command of the unit, and fulfillment of combat missions". At the end of the month, the corps was converted into the 7th Guards Tank Corps for its actions. He continued to serve as chief of staff of the corps during the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

and the Battle of Kiev. On 18 February 1944, Lozovsky transferred to become chief of staff of the 10th Guards Tank Corps. With the 10th Guards Corps, he fought in the Proskurov-Chernivtsi Offensive, the

Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive The Lvov–Sandomierz offensive or Lvov–Sandomierz strategic offensive operation () was a major Red Army operation to force the German troops from Ukraine and Eastern Poland. Launched in mid-July 1944, the operation was successfully completed ...

, the Lower Silesian Offensive, the Upper Silesian Offensive, the

Berlin Offensive The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

, and the Prague Offensive.

Postwar

On 27 June 1945, Lozovsky was promoted to major general, and on 22 May 1946, he became head of the personnel section of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the Ground Forces Main Personnel Directorate. He became head of the directorate's Directorate of Personnel Service's 3rd Department on 15 July 1947. On 14 April 1949, Lozovsky became the directorate's head of inspection, and from 15 April 1950 was at the disposal of the directorate. From 6 to 14 July, he attended higher academic courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff, then was at the disposal of the commander of the armored and mechanized forces. From 11 September, Lozovsky served as acting head of inspection, and on 20 December 1952 became deputy head of the 3rd Department. On 6 May 1953, he became head of the department, and on 19 May 1955 was transferred to lead the directorate's awards department. On 28 September 1961 he became the head of the officer assignments department, retiring on 27 June. After the end of the war, Lozovsky served in the Main Personnel Directorate of the

Ministry of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

as head of the department of promotions and awards. He retired on 27 June 1966 and lived in Moscow. Lozovsky died on 26 February 1981 and was buried at the

Kuntsevo Cemetery The Kuntsevo Cemetery () is a cemetery servicing Kuntsevo, Moscow. It is located on the bank of the Setun River, to the south of the Mozhaisk Highway (the continuation of the Kutuzovsky Prospekt). The local five-domed church was commissioned in 16 ...

Awards and honors

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lozovsky, Alexander 1907 births 1981 deaths People from Krasninsky District, Smolensk Oblast People from Krasninsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet major generals Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery