Arkady Nikolayevich Yermakov ( – 25 October 1957) 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 ...

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 ...

. Yermakov served as a

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 ...

commander during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

and

World War II 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 ...

. He served as the Senior Military Adviser to the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

Early life and career

Winter War

During the Finnish Winter War, then

Kombrig () is an abbreviation of Commanding officer of the brigade (), and was a military rank in the Soviet Armed Forces of the USSR from 1935 to 1940. It was also the designation to military personnel appointed to command a brigade sized formation (X ...

Yermakov commanded the Soviet 100th Rifle Division which was involved in the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line which brought about the end of the war. He authored a report about the performance of Soviet Teletanks in that campaign.

World War II

Early War

Battle of Moscow and the Yermakov Operational Group

During 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 ...

, General Yermakov came to command what was known as the Yermakov Operational Group which grouped the 3rd Army,

13th Army Thirteenth Army or 13th Army may refer to: * Thirteenth Army (Japan) * Japanese Thirteenth Area Army * 13th Army (Russian Empire), unit in World War I *13th Army (RSFSR), a unit in the Russian Civil War *13th Army (Soviet Union) The 13th Army (, ...

, and 50th Army under his operational control in the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it fi ...

fighting against German

Army Group Center Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...

. Ermakov's command was controversial for his focus on offensive operations from mid August to late September 1941. Marshal Yeryomenko credited his command's actions for significantly weakening the strength of the German Attack Groupings. Conversely, General Sanalov criticized him for paying insufficient attention to the defense during this time, leading to later losses.

Arrest, Court Martial, and Reinstatement

On January 29, 1942, while commander of the 50th Army, General Ermakov was arrested and court-martialed. He was later released, reinstated appointed Deputy Commander of the 20th Army later that year in June. He was to become commander of the 20th Army on March 20, 1943.

Post-war service

He was Senior Military Adviser to the Chinese People's Liberation Army between 1953 and 1957, and died shortly after serving in that position.

Awards

Soviet orders and medals

Foreign awards

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yermakov, Arkady 1899 births 1957 deaths Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet lieutenant generals Soviet military personnel of the Winter War Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War People from Mtsensk Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni People nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union