Ivan Petrovich Korchagin (; – 24 July 1951) 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 ...

and 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 ...

. Korchagin volunteered for the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, during which he was wounded multiple times and decorated. He rose from private to junior officer and 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 ...

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 ...

. After serving with the Internal Troops in the latter, Korchagin was stationed in

Soviet Central Asia Soviet Central Asia () was the part of Central Asia administered by the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian Soviet republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkest ...

during the 1920s, serving in various command and staff positions. In the mid-1930s he became commander of a mechanized brigade before being arrested during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

. Korchagin was released in 1940 and reinstated in the Red Army, commanding the 17th Tank Division at the outbreak 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 ...

. Korchagin led the division in the Battle of Smolensk and continued in command after it was reorganized into a brigade due to heavy losses. After his brigade was destroyed 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 ...

, Korchagin became responsible for aerosani units before commanding the 17th and

18th Tank Corps 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. It is an even composite number. Mathematics 18 is a semiperfect number and an abundant number. It is a largely composite number, as it has 6 divisors and no smaller number has ...

in the Battle of Voronezh. He became commander of the 2nd Mechanized Corps, which later became the 7th Guards Mechanized Corps, in September 1942, leading it for the rest of the war. Made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership 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 ...

, Korchagin held army command postwar.

Early life, World War I, and Russian Civil War

Korchagin was born on 24 August 1898 in the village of Byltsino, Kozhanskoy volost, Gorokhovetsky uyezd,

Vladimir Governorate Vladimir Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic and the Russian SFSR, which existed in 1796–1929. History Until 1719 – Vladimirsky Uyezd of the Zamoskovny Krai with ...

. The son of a worker, he completed sixth grade at the

Vyazniki Vyazniki () is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Vyazniki, Vladimir Oblast, a town in Vyaznikovsky District of Vladimir Oblast ;Rural localities *Vyazniki, Samara Oblast ...

male gymnasium in 1914. During

, Korchagin was mobilized into the

in October 1914 and volunteered to be sent to the 22nd Nizhny Novgorod Infantry Regiment. From November he fought on the Southwestern Front, with the 312th Vasilkov Infantry Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division. After being hospitalized between May and November 1915, he returned to the division to become a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

in the 310th Shatsk Infantry Regiment during the latter month. Sent to the Kovrov-based 250th Reserve Infantry Regiment in February 1916, Korchagin entered the 5th Moscow School of Praporshchiks as a

junker Junker (, , , , , , ka, იუნკერი, ) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German , meaning 'young nobleman'Duden; Meaning of Junker, in German/ref> or otherwise 'young lord' (derivation of and ). The term is traditionally ...

in May 1916, and after graduation in October returned to the regiment as an officer. Returning to the 312th Regiment as a company commander in December, he was wounded and hospitalized in February 1917. In May he returned to the 250th Reserve Regiment as a half-company commander. Korchagin returned to the front to take his old position with the 312th Regiment in July, but was hospitalized again between October and December. After recovering, he served with the 258th Reserve Regiment in

Gorokhovets Gorokhovets () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Gorokhovets, Vladimir Oblast, a town in Gorokhovetsky District of Vladimir Oblast ;Rural localities * Gorokhovets, Leningrad Oblast, a village in Glazhevskoye ...

as a company commander, ending the war with the rank of ''

podporuchik ''Podporuchik'' ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, потпоручник, potporučnik, , , , , ) is the most junior officer in some Slavic armed forces, and is placed below the rank of lieutenant, typically corresponding to rank of second lieutenant in English ...

''. For his actions, Korchagin was awarded the Cross of St. George twice. Korchagin became an instructor with the Gorokhovetsky Uyezd

military commissariat A military commissariat (from , shortened as ), is an institution that is part of military service or law enforcement mechanisms in some European countries. As part of the British Army in the 19th century, military commissariats were used for ...

in May 1918. During the Russian Civil War, Korchagin joined the Red Army on 1 August 1918 and was sent to the 60th Gorokhovets Rifle Regiment of the 7th Separate Brigade, serving successively as a company commissar, company commander, and battalion commander. In May 1919 he was appointed military leader of the transport

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

in Vladimir, and in August became chief of security and defense of the district VOKhR troops. From May 1920 he was officer for errands of the chief of defense of the Kursk railway in Moscow.

Interwar period

Korchagin commanded a battalion of the 501st Railroad Regiment of the VNUS troops in Nizhny Novgorod from November 1920, and from January 1921 was acting assistant chief of staff of the 10st Rifle Brigade of the VNUS troops in Ryazan and Vladimir. In mid-1921 he was sent to the Turkestan Front, where he served as chief of repeat courses for the front command personnel. Korchagin temporarily commanded the 1st and later the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Regiments of the 1st Turkestan Rifle Division in Ashgabat from September 1922. In December 1924 he transferred to the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division to serve as chief of staff of the 4th Turkestan Rifle Regiment, and from December 1925 was commander of the division's 5th Turkestan Rifle Regiment. Korchagin transferred to the 1st Turkestan Mountain Rifle Division (the former 1st Turkestan Rifle Division) to command its 3rd Turkestan Mountain Rifle Regiment in January 1927 after graduating from the

Vystrel course The Vystrel course () was the popular name for an officer training course of the Soviet Armed Forces, later part of the Russian Armed Forces, located in Solnechnogorsk. The training course had a one-year curriculum to train battalion and regiment le ...

, and while stationed in Turkestan fought against the

Basmachi movement The Basmachi movement (, derived from ) was an uprising against Imperial Russian and Soviet rule in Central Asia by rebel groups inspired by Islamic beliefs. It has been called "probably the most important movement of opposition to Soviet rul ...

. Korchagin transferred to the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

in November 1930 to serve a chief of staff of the

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

-based 56th Rifle Division. In 1932 he became a member of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. He was appointed head of the 9th section of the district staff in February 1935 before taking command of the 31st Mechanized Brigade of the 7th Mechanized Corps in November 1936. Korchagin was arrested by the NKVD in August 1937 during the

, accused of treason under Article 58-1b. He was released due to lack of evidence in February 1940, rehabilitated, and reinstated in the Red Army, being appointed chief of infantry of the 121st Rifle Division of the

24th Rifle Corps The 24th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army. It was part of the 27th Army and took part in the Great Patriotic War. It appears to have been initially formed in the Kalinin Military District, around what is today Tver, in 1939. In 1940 it wa ...

of the Belorussian Special Military District. This posting proved to be brief, as in June Korchagin was made head of the Lepel Rifle Mortar School, and a month later appointed deputy commander of the 17th Tank Division of the 5th Mechanized Corps 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 ...

. Korchagin succeeded to command of the division in March 1941 after his predecessor, Major General

Ilya Alekseyenko Ilya Prokofyevich Alekseyenko (; 20 June 1899 – 3 August 1941) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian Red Army major general. After joining the Red Army in 1918, Alekseyenko served as a junior commander in machine gun units during the Russian Civil War an ...

, became corps commander. In late May the division and its corps began a rail journey across the country to redeploy to the

Kiev 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, ...

region.

World War II

As a result of the beginning of

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, the division was relocated to the

Orsha Orsha (; , ; ) is a city in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the fork of the Dnieper, Dnieper River and Arshytsa River, and it serves as the administrative center of Orsha District. As of 2025, it has a population of 101,662. History ...

area with the corps and placed at the disposal of the Western Front. Arriving in the designated concentration area on 30 June, the corps was attached to the 20th Army on 2 July. The corps soon entered combat in the Lepel counterattack and suffered heavy losses. After the 14th Tank Division on the 17th's right flank began to withdraw to

Senno Syanno or Senno (; ; ; ) is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is located southwest of Vitebsk on the southern shore of Senno Lake. In 2018, its population was 7,092. As of 2024, it has a population of 7,090. History The village is first ...

and

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

, Korchagin had to commit his reserve regiment to cover the right flank. While engaged in this shift, the junction of the 17th with the 13th Tank Division on its left flank was attacked by German troops, forcing the commitment of two more battalions from the 33rd Tank Regiment. The division ended up fighting in encirclement, breaking out on the night of 9–10 July. For his leadership of the division, Korchagin was awarded 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 ...

on 9 August. After leaving encirclement in the Battle of Smolensk, Korchagin was appointed commander of the 126th Tank Brigade, formed from the remnants of the 17th Tank Division, with which he fought in the

. After the brigade was destroyed in the Vyazma pocket, he became head of the 7th ( Aerosani) Directorate of the Red Army Main Auto-Armored Directorate on 23 December 1941, forming two aerosani schools and 55 separate aerosani battalions during his tenure. Promoted to major general of tank troops in May 1942, Korchagin was appointed deputy commander of the tank group of the Bryansk Front on 28 June 1942, but the group was not actually formed and instead he was given command of the 17th Tank Corps two days later. He led the corps in attempts to assist the advance of the 40th Army during the Battle of Voronezh and on 24 July transferred to command the

of the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

. Korchagin took command of the 2nd Mechanized Corps in September and was promoted to lieutenant general of tank troops on 18 January 1943. He led the corps during

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 ...

, in which the corps was converted into the 7th Guards Mechanized Corps in recognition of its performance. It recaptured

Sevsk Sevsk () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Sevsk, Bryansk Oblast, a town in Sevsky District of Bryansk Oblast; ;Rural localities * Sevsk, Kemerovo Oblast, a settlement in Burlakovskaya Rural Territory of Pr ...

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...

, and

Mtsensk Mtsensk () is a town in Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Zusha River (a tributary of the Oka) northeast of Oryol, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 28,000 (1970). History It was first mentioned in the Nikon Chronic ...

during the offensive, and from September 1943 advanced into

Left-bank Ukraine The Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of Kyiv and Cherkasy. Left-bank Ukrain ...

as part of the 60th Army. Among the fortified points recaptured was

Nezhin Nizhyn (, ; ) is a city located in Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine along the Oster River. The city is located north-east of the national capital Kyiv. Nizhyn serves as the administrative center of Nizhyn Raion. It hosts the administrat ...

and on 25 September the corps crossed the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

north of Kiev, capturing and holding a bridgehead on the right bank. For his leadership of the corps, which included personally supervising the Dnieper crossing, Korchagin received the title

and was 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 ...

on 17 October 1943. The corps subsequently fought in 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 in 1945 under Korchagin's command.

Postwar

After the end of the war, Korchagin continued in command of the corps, which was reorganized into the 7th Guards Mechanized Division. He studied at the Higher Academic Course at the Voroshilov Higher Military Academy from May 1946 and upon graduation in April 1947 was appointed commander of the armored and mechanized forces of the

Southern Group of Forces The Southern Group of Forces (YUGV) was a Soviet Armed Forces formation formed twice following the Second World War, most notably around the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. First Formation On June 15, 1945, the 26th and 37th Armies (fr ...

. Korchagin became commander of the 8th Mechanized Army in February 1948, and in September 1950 was placed at the disposal of the Soviet Ministry of War. Appointed deputy chief of the Main Auto-Tractor Directorate of the Ministry of War in April 1951, Korchagin died on 24 July of that year in Moscow and was buried at the

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

Awards and honors

Korchagin received the following awards and decorations: *

(2) *

(5) *

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 *

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 *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () 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 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

* Cross of St. George, 3rd and 4th class (not worn after 1917)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Korchagin, Ivan 1898 births 1951 deaths People from Vladimir Oblast People from Gorokhovetsky Uyezd Soviet lieutenant generals Imperial Russian Army personnel Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet rehabilitations Recipients of the Cross of St. George Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery