Sergei Alexandrovich Khudyakov (; ); born Armenak Artemi Khanferiants (, – 18 April 1950), 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 ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

Russian Revolution

Armenak Khanferiants (or Khanperiants) was born in 1902 in the village of Mets Tagher (Böyük Tağlar), Shushinsky Uyezd, Elisabethpol Governorate,

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 ...

. His father died in 1908, leaving a widow with three sons. Khanferiants travelled to

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

to study and started working at oilfields owned by Armenian tycoon and philanthropist Alexander Mantashev. In 1918, he was involved in the production of the newspaper ''Iskra''. While in Baku, he joined the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s and organized the Red Guards of Baku in April 1918. While he was in

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

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 ...

, he was saved from drowning in a steamer sunk by a British gunboat by his friend, Sergei Khudyakov, who was later killed fighting the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

. Khanferiants adopted Sergei's name as his own as memorial to the man who saved his life.Armenia: The Survival of a Nation
He continued to serve as a cavalry officer until 1920. In 1929, Khudyakov was admitted to the Tiflis Cavalry School, and in 1931 went to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to attend the Zhukovsky Military Air Academy. He graduated with honors in 1936. Khudyakov became head of the Operations Branch of the Air Staff in 1937 and Chief of Logistics Management Air Force in 1938.

World War II

The war greatly accelerated his career, and he jumped four ranks in just three years. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945), he was

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

of the Air Force and commander of the Air Force of the Western Front, chief of staff of the Red Army's Air Force, commander of the 1st Air Army, chief of staff and deputy commander of the Red Army's Air Force. As the chief of staff of the Air Forces of the Western Front, he participated in the successful defence of Moscow. Aviation units under his command took part in the offensive of the Western Front forces in the Rzhev-Sychevka direction and supported the ground troops in the Rzhev-Vyazma operation. In 1943 Marshal Khudyakov coordinated combat operations of the Air Force of 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 ...

and Steppe 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 ...

and the Battle for 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 ...

. During the Battle of Kursk, his 14-year-old son Victor was killed in an enemy air raid. Victor's body was taken to Moscow and was buried in 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 ...

. He was tasked with organizing his air flight of the Soviet delegation to the

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

in 1943. He fulfilled his assignment of the Supreme Command. Khudyakov became chief of staff and deputy commander of the Red Army Air Force in May 1943 and coordinated air operations to complete victory in the Battle of the Dnieper. He then took part in the Iasi-Kishinev Front. In August 1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the So ...

Sergei Alexandrovich, Khudyakov was given the rank of Marshal of Aviation. Jalta_1945

In February 1945, he took part in the

Yalta conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

of the Big Three as a military adviser. Later in 1945, he helped direct the defeat of the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

as commander of the 12th Air Army.

Arrest and execution

On 14 December 1946, he was arrested in Chita and taken to

, where he was accused of having been recruited as a spy by the British. An investigation of the case lasted for more than four years and ended in 1949. He was sentenced to death and was executed on 18 April 1950 on the same day at the Don Cemetery. His wife and younger son were also arrested on 13 January 1951 as family members of a traitor to the motherland and sent to

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...

in the Taseyevsky District. In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the

on 27 March 1953, amnesty was granted to his family and they were allowed to return to Moscow from exile.

Rehabilitation

After Stalin's death, the Supreme Soviet began a process of rehabilitation for victims of political repression. In August 1954, in the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office began a review of the archival materials of Sergei Khudyakov's case. The chief military prosecutor sent the case for reconsideration by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union with a proposal to revoke the sentence because of newly discovered evidence. This document called him by his real first and last name for the first timeArmenak Khanferiants. The retrial by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court found that the prosecution of Khudyakov/Khanferiants had lacked any objective basis. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Khudyakov was rehabilitated by the court on 6 July 1965 and was posthumously restored to the military rank of Air Marshal and his awards.

Memory

Many books and monographs have been written about Khudyakov and many streets and avenues in the former Soviet Union are named after him. A museum of Khudyakov is located in his home village of Mets Tagher in the

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbai ...

. The village came under Azerbaijani control in November 2020; satellite imagery from July 2021 indicate Khudyakov's statue outside the museum has been destroyed. On 1 April 2005, an

institute An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

of the Armenian Air Force was named after him. On 9 May 2010, Khudyakov's grandson, Lieutenant Colonel Vardan Khanferyants led a column of Armenian soldiers at the 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade on

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...

in honor of the 65th anniversary of the victory in World War II. His other grandson now works in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Awards and honors

USSR Foreign

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khudyakov, Sergei 1902 births 1950 deaths People from Hadrut Province Armenian activists Bolsheviks Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet Air Force marshals Armenian people of World War II Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Commanders of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) People executed for treason against the Soviet Union Armenian people executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations Soviet Armenians Burials at Donskoye Cemetery Armenian people from the Russian Empire