Makhmut Akhmetovich Gareyev (, ; 23 June 1923 – 25 December 2019) was a Russian

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

and author of several books on the history of the

Second World War 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 Deputy Chief of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

. Until his death, he was the president of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences. A decorated veteran of the Second World War, he had a lifelong career in the

Soviet military The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

starting from the

Junior Lieutenant Junior lieutenant is a junior officer rank in several countries, comparable to Sub-lieutenant. Germany In East Germany's National People's Army, the rank of () was introduced in 1956 and used until German reunification in 1990. Eastern Europe ...

in the beginning of the war and reaching general rank in the 1970s. His positions also included serving as the military adviser to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

under

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

in the 1970s and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

under then Afghan President

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...

from 1989 to 1991. Gareev served as an

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

and authored a few books himself. In September 2015, Chinese President

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

awarded Gareev the Medal of Honor for his contribution in the 1945 Battle of Mutanchiang that liberated

Mudanjiang Mudanjiang (; Manchu language, Manchu: ''Mudan bira''), postal romanization, alternately romanized as Mutankiang, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast part of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. It was called ''Botankou'' un ...

Northeastern China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

from the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

Early life

Gareev was born in

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

, the child of ethnic

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

originally from the Chimshin region of Bashkiria. His father Akhmat Gareev was an industrial worker and his mother, Rahema was a housewife. The family also lived in Central Asia. Gareev joined the Red Army in 1939 as a volunteer and graduated from the Tashkent Infantry School in 1941. He was initially posted to an infantry unit in the Turkestan Military District.

World War II

Gareev was transferred to the Western Front in November 1942 and fought as an infantry officer in the Battle of Rzhev where he was wounded. Gareev was subsequently promoted to a deputy commander of an infantry battalion and a staff officer of the 45th Rifle Corps. Gareev was wounded in the head in 1944 in Belorussia. Upon recovering from his wound he was posted to the Far East in January 1945 joining the staff of the 5th Army. He fought 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 ...

( August Storm) and finished the war as a Major.

Post War service

Gareev continued on the staff of the 5th Army in the Far East after the war and then graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1950. During 1950–1957, he was the chief of staff of the regiment, senior officer of the operational command of the headquarters of the Belorussian Military District, commander of the 307th Guards Motor Rifle Training Regiment in the 45th Tank Training Division of the Belorussian Military District, chief of staff of the 120th Guards Motor Rifle Division. In 1959 Gareev graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. He became a Deputy Division Commander in 1959. Since February 1965 he was commander of the 50th Guards Motor Rifle Division in the 28th Combined Arms Army of the Belorussian Military District. Since June 1966, he commanded a tank division. From July 1968 to September 1970 he was Chief of Staff and then First Deputy Commander of the 28th Combined Arms Army. In 1970–71 he was a military adviser to the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...

. He became commander of the Urals Military District in 1971. From February 1974, he was head of the Military Scientific Directorate of the General Staff, deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff, and in 1984 was deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Gareev was promoted to Colonel General in October 1978. In 1989, he was the Chief Military Adviser in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of a limited contingent of Soviet troops from there. He played a large role in planning the military operations of government forces of President

. Gareev was promoted to the rank of General of the Army in 1990. From 1990, he served as Military Adviser – Inspector of the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defence. Gareev retired from active service in 1992

Family

Gareev married Tamara Ivanovna after the war, his wife was of Belorussian origin and died in 1998. They had two children: Timur (born 1961) a retired Major General in the Russian army and Galia (born 1952) who is a retired English language teacher.

Military Science and Theory

Gareev began to actively engage in military scientific work back in the 1960s and 1970s. Author of over 100 scientific papers, over 300 articles and publications in collections, magazine and newspapers. He was the lead author of numerous Soviet Army manuals. In February 1995 he was elected as the first president of Academy of Military Sciences, a non-governmental research organisation. Gareev was engaged in the study of the history of the Great Patriotic War, was actively involved in scientific discussions, and opposed the falsification of the history of the war. He believed that the desire to challenge the victory of the USSR over fascism is closely connected with the propaganda campaign against modern Russia. He was the author of numerous historical works. In addition, he was an inspector general with the Office of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the Public Council under the Chairman of the Military Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation. Gareev died on 25 December 2019 at the age of 96 and was buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery.

Partial bibliography

* General Gareev, ''If War Comes Tomorrow?: The Contours of Future Armed Conflict (Cass Series on Soviet Military Theory and Practice)'' (Paperback),

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, 1998, * Makhmut Akhmetovich Gareev, ''M.V. Frunze, Military Theorist'' (Hardcover), Macmillan, 1988, * M. A. Gareev, ''Marshal Zhukov: Velichie i unikalnost polkovodcheskogo iskusstva'', Vostochnyi universitet, 1996, * M. A. Gareev, ''Neodnoznachnye stranitsy voiny: Ocherki o problemnykh voprosakh istorii Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny'', ''RFM'', 1995, * M. A. Gareev, ''Konturen des bewaffneten Kampfes der Zukunft: Ein Ausblick auf das Militarwesen in den nachsten 10 bis 15 Jahren (Schriftenreihe des Bundesinstituts fur ... und Internationale Studien, Koln)'', Nomos; 1. Aufl edition (1996), * M. A. Gareev, ''Moia posledniaia voina: Afganistan bez sovetskikh voisk'', INSAN, 1996,

References

External links

Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gareev, Makhmut 1923 births 2019 deaths Volga Tatar people People of the Soviet–Afghan War Frunze Military Academy alumni 20th-century Russian historians Russian Sunni Muslims Army generals (Soviet Union) Soviet military personnel of World War II Tatar people of Russia Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 2nd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Alexander Nevsky Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Burials at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni