Fyodor Yakovlevich Kostenko (russian: Фёдор Яковлевич Костенко; 22 February 1896–26 May 1942) was a Soviet corps and army commander.
Biography
He was born in
Bolshaya Martynovka,
Martynovsky District
Martynovsky District (russian: Мартыновский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #340-ZS and municipalLaw #246-ZS district (raion), one of the forty-three in Rostov Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center of the oblast. The area o ...
,
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...
to an ethnic
Ukrainian family. He fought in the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
during
World War I before going over to the
Bolsheviks during the subsequent
civil war.
In World War II, he commanded the
26th Army (June – September 1941) and the
Southwestern Front (December 1941–April 1942).
He led an operational group during the
Yelets Operation from 6 December to 16 December 1941, which ended with the defeat of several enemy divisions.
Kostenko went missing on 26 May 1942, and was presumed killed, being surrounded during the tragic
Second Battle of Kharkov
The Second Battle of Kharkov or Operation Fredericus was an Axis counter-offensive in the region around Kharkov against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted 12–28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front during World War II. Its objectiv ...
.
He was a recipient of the
Order of Lenin, the
Order of the Red Banner and the
Order of the Red Star
The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...
.
Discovery and reburial
Kostenko's body was rediscovered in spring 2016 in
Kharkiv Oblast, between the villages of Gusarovka and . Two sets of human remains were found, identified as officers from their boots. The fabric remains of stripes and the name "Kostenko" on a document helped to identify the remains of the older individual as being Kostenko's. This was later confirmed with DNA testing with his granddaughter. The second set of remains, of a younger and shorter individual, were speculated to be those of Kostenko's adjutant, Captain Vasily Ivanovich Petrovich, who had disappeared with Kostenko. Kostenko's remains were repatriated to Russia, and were interred at the
Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 20 June 2018.
See also
*
List of solved missing person cases
Sources
Books
* Великая Отечественная война. 1941–1945. События. Люди. Документы: Краткий исторический справочник/ ''Под общ. ред. О. А. Ржешевского. Сост. Е. К. Жигунов'' — М.: Политиздат, 1990. — С. 337.
* ''Колесников Г. М., Лебединский Г. Н., Марков Н. В. и др.'' Липецк. Справочник-путеводитель. — Воронеж: Центр.-Чернозем. кн. изд-во, 1967.
*
1896 births
1940s missing person cases
1942 deaths
Burials at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery
Formerly missing people
Missing in action of World War II
Missing person cases in Asia
People from Don Host Oblast
People from Martynovsky District
People of the Soviet invasion of Poland
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Russian military personnel of World War I
Soviet lieutenant generals
Soviet military personnel killed in World War II
Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War
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