Alexei Ivanovich Radzievsky (; ; – 30 August 1979), was a professional soldier of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

who fought in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, commanding the

2nd Guards Tank Army The 2nd Guards Tank Army () was a large military formation of the Red Army and Soviet Army, later part of the Russian Ground Forces of the Russian Federation. The army was originally formed in early 1943 as the 2nd Tank Army. It was the firs ...

during the Lublin–Brest offensive and afterwards. He later rose to the rank of full

Army General Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

and was the author of works on military strategy. From 1969 to 1978 Radzievsky was Commandant of the M. V. Frunze Military Academy and in February 1978 was made a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

, the highest Soviet award.

Life

Born in

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

(now in the

Cherkasy region Cherkasy Oblast (, ), also referred to as Cherkashchyna (, ) is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central Ukraine located along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The Capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the cit ...

of central

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), Radzievsky left school in 1927 to work as a moulder in a silicate brick factory in his home town. In 1929 he joined 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 ...

and graduated from the Cavalry School in 1931, going on to command first a platoon, later a squadron. In 1938 he attended the M. V. Frunze Military Academy and in 1941 passed the Military Academy of the General Staff. With the outbreak of hostilities with the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

in July 1941, he joined the newly formed 53rd (4th Guards) Cavalry Division and saw fighting in the Demidov,

Dukhovshchina Dukhovshchina () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Dukhovshchina, Smolensk Oblast, a town in Dukhovshchinsky District of Smolensk Oblast ;Rural localities * Dukhovshchina, Irkutsk Oblast, a village in Bayand ...

, and the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

, then with the Cavalry Corps fought at the

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, in the crossing of the Dnieper, and in the liberation of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

, and other cities.Радзиевский Алексей Иванович
(in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

) at hrono.ru, accessed 28 December 2012 On 28 February 1944 Radzievsky was appointed

Chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

of the

with the rank of Major General. 2e Armée de Chars de la Garde
(in French) at ostfront.forumpro.fr, accessed 29 December 2012 In July 1944, during the Lublin–Brest offensive, the Army's commanding officer, Colonel-General

Semyon Bogdanov Semyon Ilyich Bogdanov (; – 12 March 1960) was a Soviet Marshal of tank forces, and twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he was deputy commander of the 5th Army (1941–1942), commander of the ...

, was seriously wounded, and Radzievsky took over his command, which he retained until Bogdanov's return on 7 January 1945. His forces took a leading role in the liberation of a string of Polish cities, including

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

Siedlce Siedlce () ( ) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in eastern Poland with 77,354 inhabitants (). The city is situated between two small rivers, the Muchawka and the Helenka, and lies along the European route E30, around east of Warsaw. It is ...

Łuków Łuków is a city in eastern Poland with 30,727 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2005). Since 1999, it has been situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, previously it had belonged to the Siedlce Voivodeship (between 1975–1998). It is the capital of Ł ...

Skierniewice Skierniewice () is a city in central Poland with 45,184 inhabitants (2023), situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is the capital of Skierniewice County. Through the town runs the small river Łupia, also called Skierniewka. Located in the hist ...

Lovech Lovech (, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near Lovech are the towns of ...

, and

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. At the end of July 1944 Radzievsky's 2nd Guards Tank Army routed the German 73rd Infantry Division at

Garwolin Garwolin is a town on the Wilga (Garwolin), Wilga river in eastern Poland, capital of Garwolin County, situated in the southeast part of the Garwolin plateau in Masovian Voivodeship, southeast of Warsaw, northwest of Lublin. As of December 2021, ...

, capturing its commander,

Friedrich Franek __NOTOC__ Friedrich Franek (16 July 1891 – 8 April 1976) was an Austrian general in the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Along with Alois Windisch, he was one of only two recipients of both the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cr ...

, and in the next four days the army advanced to the edge of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, with five hundred tanks still operational. However, the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

had begun on 1 August, and the Soviets did not seek to take the Polish capital until January 1945.Robert Forczyk, ''Warsaw 1944: Poland's bid for freedom'' (2009, )
p. 13
/ref> On 2 November 1944 Radzievsky was promoted

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Postwar

After the end of the war, Radzievsky continued to serve as chief of staff of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, which was redesignated as the 2nd Guards Mechanized Army on 12 June 1946. He rose to command the army, stationed in occupied Germany, on 28 May 1947. Radzievsky was promoted to a series of progressively more senior posts: to command of the

Northern Group of Forces The Northern Group of Armed Forces (; ) was the military formation of the Soviet Army (Russian Ground Forces starting 1992) stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fa ...

in Poland on 18 September 1950, the

Turkestan Military District The Turkestan Military District (, ''Turkestansky voyenyi okrug (TurkVO)'') was a military district of both the Imperial Russian Army and the Soviet Armed Forces, with its headquarters at Tashkent. The District was first created during the 1874 R ...

on 8 July 1952, and the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the Soviet Army on 22 April 1953. He was promoted to the rank of

colonel general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

on 3 August 1953. The title of his position was changed to Chief of the Armored Forces of the Soviet Army on 11 January 1954. Radzievsky was appointed commander of the

Odesa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavia and five Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa (then spelled ''Odessa''), Mykolaiv, Kherson, Crimea an ...

on 31 May 1954, his last operational command before being appointed to the training post of deputy chief of the Military Academy of the General Staff on 3 June 1959. Radzievsky was transferred to serve as chief of the Main Directorate for Military Training Institutions on 11 April 1968 and became chief of the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

on 18 July 1969, being promoted to the rank of

army general Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

on 2 November 1972. This was his last active post before his transfer to the retirement position of inspector of the Group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense on 7 February 1978. He died in Moscow on 30 August 1979. Radzievsky was twice awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

and was also appointed as a member of the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

, 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 ...

(1st class), the

Order of Suvorov The Order of Suvorov () is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named in honor of Russian Generalissimo Prince Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800). History The Order of Suvorov was originally a Soviet Union, Soviet award established on ...

(2nd class), and of many other Soviet and foreign Orders. In 1972 he achieved the rank of

and in 1978 was made a

Dates of rank

* Colonel (18 April 1942) * General-mayor (17 November 1943) * General-lieutenant (2 November 1944) * Colonel General (3 August 1953) * Army General (2 November 1972)

Publications

*A. I. Radzievsky, ed., ''Akademiya imeni M. V. Frunze: Istoriya voennoi ordena Lenina Krasnoznamennoi ordena Suvorova Akademyi'' ("The Academy Named after M. V. Frunze: History of the Order of Lenin Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Military Academy") (Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1972) *A. I. Radzievsky, ed., ''Taktika v boevykh primerakh (polk)'' ("Tactics by combat example (the regiment)") (Moscow: Voyenisdat, 1974) *A. I. Radzievsky, ed., ''Taktika v boevykh primerakh (diviziia)'' ("Tactics by combat example (the division)") (Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1976) *A. I. Radzievsky, ''Tankovyi udar'' ("Tank strike") (Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1977) *A. I. Radzievsky, ''Proryv'' ("Penetration") (Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1979)

References

Citations

Bibliography