Alexey Vasilievich Kurkin (; 16 March 1948) 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 ...

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, ...

Biography

Born on 30 March 1901 in

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

, Kurkin 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 ...

when he was 17. During the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, Kurkin commanded an armored train on the Southern Front. He became a commissar after the war. After graduating from the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization, Kurkin commanded tank brigades and then a tank division. In January 1941 he was appointed commander of the 3rd Mechanized Corps. The corps fought in the

Baltic Operation The Baltic strategic defensive operation () encompassed the operations of the Red Army from 22 June to 9 July 1941 conducted over the territories of the occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in response to the offensive launched by the Wehrm ...

after the

German invasion of the Soviet Union 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 a ...

in June 1941, in which it was virtually destroyed. Kurkin escaped capture and became deputy commander of the 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps. After the corps became the 26th Army, Kurkin took command of the army. The army suffered heavy losses in 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 ...

and was disbanded. He became commander of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-c ...

. From May to October 1942 he led the

9th Tank Corps 09 may refer to: * The year 2009, or any year ending with 09, which may be written as '09 * September, the ninth month * 9 (number) * Ariège (department) (postal code), a French department * Auckland, New Zealand, which has the telephone area code ...

, and then the Saratov Tank Camp. In January 1943 he became deputy commander of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the Red Army. In July 1943 he took command of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the

Steppe Front The Steppe Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943. History On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that had been effective since 30 April.G ...

, which became the

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...

. In July 1945 Kurkin became commander of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of 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 1946, he became General Inspector of the General Inspectorate of the Armored and Mechanized Forces. Kurkin died two years later.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurkin, Alexey 1901 births 1948 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Military personnel from Kharkiv Soviet colonel generals Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class