Leonty Georgyevich Cheremisov (; 1July 189317November 1967) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 ...

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 ...

who led the 16th Army in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

during

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 ...

from 1943 to 1945.

Early life, World War I, and Russian Civil War

Cheremisov was born to a peasant family on 1 July 1893 in the village of Lysye Gory,

Atkarsky Uyezd Atkarsky Uyezd (''Аткарский уезд'') was one of the subdivisions of the Saratov Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the central part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Atkarsk. Demographics At the ti ...

Saratov Governorate Saratov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. History On December 25, 1769, the Saratov province was established as part of the Astrakhan Governorate. On January 11, 17 ...

. He was drafted into 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 ...

in September 1915 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 ...

. He graduated from a training detachment and became a private (''

ryadovoy () in the Army, Airborne troops, and Air Force of the Russian Federation is the designation of a member of the rank group of enlisted personnel. The rank is equivalent to ''matros'' () in the Russian Navy. In the armed forces of the Soviet Uni ...

''). After graduating from the Gatchina School of ''

Praporshchik (, , ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in the corresponding navies. It is usually equivalent to warrant officer class 1 or serge ...

''s in 1917, Cheremisov served as an assistant company commander with the rank an ensign (''praporshchik''). He fought in 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 joining the

in 1919, serving as a company, battalion, and regimental commander. Cheremisov fought on the Southern and Eastern Fronts, participating in the suppression of the Sapozhnikov revolt. In July 1920 he became commander of the 511th Separate Rifle Battalion of the 292nd Rifle Regiment of the 33rd Kuban Rifle Division, and later led the regiment itself.

Interwar period

After the end of the war, Cheremisov served with the

27th Rifle Division The 27th Rifle Division () was a tactical unit in the Red Army of Soviet Russia and then the Soviet Union, active between 1918 and 1945. First formed during the Russian Civil War on November 3, 1918, as part of 5th Red Army. Commanded by Vitov ...

as assistant commander of the 240th Tver Rifle Regiment from October 1921, becoming regimental commander in January 1922. He transferred to command the 239th Kursk Rifle Regiment in May 1922 but a month later became a battalion commander in the regiment. He served as acting assistant commander of the 80th Rifle Regiment from August 1923 and then the 79th Rifle Regiment from December of that year. After becoming chief of the school of the division in February 1924, Cheremisov served as assistant battalion commander in the 79th Regiment from September. Graduating from the Vystrel course in 1925, he became a battalion commander in the 79th in August of that year. From February 1926 he served as assistant commander of the 99th Orenburg Rifle Regiment of the

33rd Rifle Division The 33rd Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1922 at Samara and moved to Belarus in the next year. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 and in the O ...

, becoming its chief of staff in October 1926, after graduating from Courses of Improvement for Higher Officers at the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

in April 1930, its commander. In April 1932 Cheremisov transferred to serve as assistant commander of the 81st Rifle Division, then shifted to the same position in the 43rd Rifle Division later that year in November. Transferred to the reserve, he became chief of the combat training department of the western region of

OSOAVIAKHIM DOSAAF (), full name ''Volunteer Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy'' (), was a paramilitary sport organization in the Soviet Union that was concerned mainly with weapons, automobiles and aviation. The society was establ ...

in October 1934. Cheremisov graduated from the external faculty of the Frunze Military Academy in 1938 and was appointed commander of the 68th Mountain Rifle Division in March of that year after being promoted to ''

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 ...

'' on 20 February, then advanced to command the 20th Rifle Corps in the

in February 1939. Given the rank of major general on 4 June 1940 when the Red Army introduced general officer ranks, he took command of the new 15th Army a month later.

World War II

After the beginning 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 ...

, Cheremisov remained with the 15th Army in the Soviet Far East. He was replaced in command of the army in November and became assistant commander for higher educational institutions of the

Far Eastern Front The Far Eastern Front (Russian: Дальневосточный фронт) was a front — a level of military formation that is equivalent to army group — of the Red Army during the Second World War. Early war service Тhe Far Eastern Front wa ...

. Cheremisov returned to army command on 8 September 1943 when he was appointed commander of the recently formed 16th Army. The army spent the rest of the war covering the Soviet–Japanese border on

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

. He led the army in the

Soviet–Japanese War The Soviet–Japanese War)Known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945 () was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945. The ...

as part of the

2nd Far Eastern Front __NOTOC__ The 2nd Far Eastern Front () was a Front—a formation equivalent to a Western Army Group—of the Soviet Army. It was formed just prior to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and was active from August 5, 1945, until October 1, 1945. His ...

, during which it conducted the Invasion of South Sakhalin and the

Invasion of the Kuril Islands The Invasion of the Kuril Islands () was the World War II Soviet military operation to capture the Kuril Islands from Japan in 1945. The invasion, part of the Soviet–Japanese War, was decided on when plans to land on Hokkaido were abandoned. ...

, being was promoted to

on 8 September 1945.

Postwar

After the end of the war, Cheremisov briefly became commandant of the 103rd Fortified Region in the

Far Eastern Military District The Far Eastern Military District () was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District. Histo ...

after the 16th Army was disbanded. He served as deputy commander of the Primorsky Military District from 1946 and assistant commander of the South Ural Military District for higher educational institutions from 1948. Cheremisov was dismissed from the

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 ...

in 1958, and died in

Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...

on 17 November 1967.

Honors and awards

Cheremisov received the following decorations: *

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 ...

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 ...

(3) *

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

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheremisov, Leonty 1893 births 1967 deaths People from Saratov Oblast People from Atkarsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet lieutenant generals Frunze Military Academy alumni Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II Russian people of World War II Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class