Ivan Ignatyevich Yakubovsky (, ; 7 January 1912 – 30 November 1976) was a

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (, ) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wore the uniform and insignia of Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in ...

, twice 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 ...

and serving as commander-in-chief of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

from 1967 to 1976.

Life

Early life

Born as the sixth child of a peasant family of Belarusian ethnicity in the

Mogilev Governorate Mogilev Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. The governorate bordered the Vitebsk Governorate to the north, the Smolensk Governorate to the east, the Chernigov Gover ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

), he was employed in their village and graduated from a rural school. From 1930 he worked as section-secretary on the Makaryevsky village council, then at a plant. He graduated from two courses at the Orsha School in 1932.

Military service

Pre-war

Enlisting in 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 ...

in 1932, he graduated from the Mikhail Kalinin Belarusian Association Military School in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

in 1934, aiming to serve as a training platoon commander in the 27th Omsk Red Banner Rifle Division (

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 ...

). In 1935 he graduated from training courses in Leningrad, before serving in the Belorussian Military District as a platoon commander, company commander, battalion chief of staff and training battalion commander of various armoured units. Commanding a tank company in the Red Army's September 1939 Polish campaign as part of the troops on the Belorussian front, he also served in the 1939–40

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 ...

World War II

Yakubovsky entered the war in its early days on the western border as commander of a tank battalion, fighting heroically in the most difficult defensive battles in Belarus. His unit was one of the last defenders of a doomed

, crushing an advanced enemy motorcycle convoy with their tanks in the city streets. From January 1942 he commanded a tank regiment of the 121st Tank Brigade on the USSR's western front, becoming Deputy Commander of the 121st Tank Brigade (January 1942) then Commander (March 1942) of the 91st Tank Brigade and participating in the Barvinkivske-Lozova offensive. He distinguished himself in the defensive battles in the

Donets Basin The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

in the summer of 1942 and in the defensive and offensive phases of the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

, fighting on the Southern, Southwestern, Stalingrad and Don fronts and rising to colonel on 30 November 1942. In spring 1943 the brigade was transferred to the Central Front, joining the 3rd Guards Tank Army, in which he fought right up until VE Day. Commanding the brigade, he fought heroically on the

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

, Central, 1st Ukrainian fronts, in the

battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

in the Orel region, in 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 ...

and in the liberation of

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, ...

and Fastiv. For his heroism at Fastiv, where his unit destroyed 30 enemy tanks in a single day, Yakubovsky was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР «О присвоении звания Героя Советского Союза генералам, офицерскому, сержантскому и рядовому составу Красной Армии» от 10 января 1944 года
// Ведомости Верховного Совета Союза Советских Социалистических Республик : газета. — 1944. — 19 января (№ 3 (263)). — С. 1 In spring 1944, at the head of his tank brigade, Col Yakubovsky successfully operated in Proskurovo-Chernivtsi offensive. In June 1944 he became deputy commander of 6th Guards Tank Corps within 3rd Guards Tank Army. He participated in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, in the battles defending and expanding the Sandomierz bridgehead, in the Vistula–Oder Offensive in January 1945. In these operations, he commanded the advanced corps troops, at their point of impact with the German tank units. For heroic actions in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation Colonel Yakubovsky was again ranked as a Hero of the Soviet Union, by decree of 23 September 1944. From April 1945 he was deputy commander of the 7th Guards Tank Corps within 3rd Guards Tank Army, participating in the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

operations and rising to Major-General of Tank Troops (20 April 1945).

Cold War

After the war, he continued to serve as deputy commander of the tank corps in the Leningrad Military District. In 1948 he graduated from the General Staff Academy. In March 1948 he became Commander of the Armored Division in the Belorussian Military District then in April 1952 became commander of armoured and mechanized forces in the Carpathian Military District. Rising to Lieutenant-General of Tank Forces (3.05.1953), he commanded a Tank Army (December 1953 to April 1957) then a mechanized army (from April 1957). In July 1957 he became First Deputy Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, later being promoted to Colonel-General (18.08.1958). In April 1960 he was appointed Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, being in post in the midst of the

Berlin Crisis of 1961 The Berlin Crisis of 1961 () was the last major European political and military incident of the Cold War concerning the status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of History of Germany (1945–90), post–World War II Germany. The crisis cul ...

, when the threat of armed conflict in Europe dramatically escalated. During the crisis, in August 1961,

Ivan Konev Ivan Stepanovich Konev ( rus, Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев, p=ɪˈvan sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ˈkonʲɪf, links=no; 28 December 1897 – 21 May 1973) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forc ...

, Commander in Chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, was appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union and Yakubovsky was transferred to the post of his first deputy, while continuing to manage the daily operations of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. After stabilizing the situation in April 1962, Army General Yakubovsky again returned to the post of Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. In January 1965 he was made Commander of the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

. On 12 April 1967 he was made First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR (simultaneously with the appointment of

Andrei Grechko Andrei Antonovich Grechko (; ; – 26 April 1976) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as the Soviet minister of defence from 1967 to 1976. Born to a Ukrainian peasant family near Rosto ...

as Minister of Defense) and

, whilst from July that year he contiguously held the post of supreme commander of the forces of the

. In this capacity, he directed military preparations for the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

in August 1968.

Death

Yakubovsky died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on 30 November, 1976 at the age of 64, and his ashes was buried at the

Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis is the former national cemetery of the Soviet Union, located in Red Square in Moscow beside the Moscow Kremlin Wall, Kremlin Wall. Burials there began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolsheviks who died during the Mosc ...

Awards

;Soviet awards * Twice

(10 January 1944, 23 September 1944) * Four

Orders 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 ...

(10 January 1944, 6 January 1962, 22 February 1968, 6 January 1972) *

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 ...

, four times (21 July 1942, 14 February 1943, 30 August 1944, 21 August 1953) * Two awards of 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 degree (6 April 1945, 31 May 1945) *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

, 1st class (21 August 1943) *

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 ...

(6 November 1947) * Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd degree (30 April 1975) * Honorary weapon with the State Emblem of the USSR (22 February 1968) * Medal for Combat Service * Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin" * Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" * Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" * Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" * Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" * Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" * Medal "For the Liberation of Prague" * Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR" * Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" * Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" * Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" ;Foreign awards * Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (28 April 1970) * Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia) * Order of Karl Marx (East Germany, 1970) * Cross of Grunwald, 1st class (Poland) * Commander with Star of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(Poland)

Commemorations

Kiev Higher Tank Engineering College was named after him in 1977 and streets have been named after him in

, Fastiv and his birthplace of Gorki.

Memoirs

*''Земля в огне'' (Earth on fire); Moscow, 1975; *''За прочный мир на земле'' (For a lasting peace on earth); Moscow, 1975

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yakubovsky, Ivan Ignatyevich 1912 births 1976 deaths People from Horki district People from Goretsky Uyezd Members of the Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Sixth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Seventh convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Eighth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Ninth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Marshals of the Soviet Union People of the Soviet invasion of Poland Soviet military personnel of the Winter War Soviet military personnel of World War II Warsaw Treaty Organization people Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Heroes of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st class Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia