Kirill Moskalenko
Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko | |
---|---|
Strategic Missile Troops | |
Battles/wars | |
Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union (twice) |
Other work | Commander of Strategic Rocket Forces |
Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko (
Early life
Moskalenko was born in the village of
Military career
Russian Civil War
He returned to his native village, where he worked in the rural revolutionary committee. When the province of his village was seized by the troops of the Volunteer Army of General Anton Denikin, he hid because of the threat of execution. After the occupation of the village by the troops of the Red Army in August 1920, he joined their ranks.[2]
Moskalenko fought in the civil war while serving as the member of the
Post civil war
He studied at the
From 1922 to 1932 he served in the 6th Cavalry Division and First Cavalry Army, and platoon commander of the Cavalry Artillery Division. During his service in Armavir, he participated in battles against political banditry in the North Caucasus.[2]
In September 1923, together with a military unit, he was transferred to Bryansk. From 1924, he served as a battery commander. He later served as commander of a training battery, artillery battalion, and chief of staff of an artillery regiment from 1928.[2]
From 1932, he served as chief of staff and commander of a special cavalry division of the
World War II
During the
When
In December 1941, he was appointed deputy commander of the 6th Army of the
During the
Moskalenko led his troops during the winter counteroffensive and during the Battle of Kursk. He participated in the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh offensive, third battle of Kharkov and the battle of the Dnieper. Moskalenko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for heroism and courage when crossing the Dnieper and securing a bridgehead on its western bank.[6]
From October 1943 until the end of the war, Moskalenko was the commander of the 38th Army. He led his troops as they helped drive the Germans from the Ukraine, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.[6]
Post-World War II
After the war, Moskalenko commanded the 38th Army, which was transferred to the Carpathian Military District. From August 1948, he served as commander of the Air Defense Forces of the Moscow Region. He served in various capacities in the Moscow Military District, before being appointed its Commanding General in 1953.[5]
On 26 June 1953 the CPSU Secretary Khrushchev along with Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Kirill Moskalenko secretly arrested First Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR Beria during a joint CPSU Presidium and Cabinet meeting. While Zhukov could not carry a gun into the Kremlin, Moskalenko sneaked into the Kremlin with a gun to arrest Beria. During the next six months, he and Rudenko investigated the "Beria Case". In December 1953 the Soviet Supreme Court found Beria guilty after a five-day proceeding. On December 23, Beria was shot. Another version states that Beria was shot by machine gun during the military assault on his residential compound in Moscow.[7]
As a result of this operation, on 11 March 1955, Moskalenko, along with five other commanders, was given the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Moskalenko remained in the Moscow Military District until 1960, when he was made Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces. Moskalenko owed his very rapid promotion to having served with Khrushchev during the war. In his memoirs, Khrushchev said:
Moskalenko could be the best and the worst of men. During the war, I'd given a high recommendation of him to Stalin because Moskalenko was a devoted to the defence of our country, and he wasn't a bad soldier. On the bad side, he had a violent temper. He was more than just rude - he was mentally unbalanced. He was notorious for abusing his subordinates. His favourite phrases were "You traitor, scoundrel, enemy of the people! You ought to be court-martialled! You ought to be shot!" His uncontrollable temper made him a deeply moody man who could easily be used by others.[8]
Khrushchev also claimed to have been shocked by the virulence with which Moskalenko denounced Marshal Zhukov in 1957, when Khrushchev had decided to sack Zhukov, but even so, he remained in office until April 1962, when he was dismissed without any reason being given, and was made an Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense. an honorary post of no significance. The French journalist Michel Tatu, who was based in Moscow at the time, surmised that his fall was related to the Cuban Missile Crisis:
The decision (to install soviet missiles on Cuba) affected him directly as commander in chief of strategic rockets. It is a safe bet that a man anxious to preserve his equipment intact could not have been happy at the prospect of having his most secret weapons shipped with nuclear warheads to a highly exposed site such as Cuba.[9]
For his services in the development and strengthening of the Armed Forces of the USSR, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time on 1978.[10][5] From December 1983, he was part of the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
Moskalenko died on 17 June 1985 in Moscow, at the age of 83. He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.[5]
Honours and awards
- Soviet Union
- Foreign
Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Czechoslovakia) (1969) | |
Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia) | |
Order of the White Lion, 1st class (Czechoslovakia) | |
Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory", 1st class (Czechoslovakia) | |
War Cross 1939–1945 (Czechoslovakia) | |
Order of Friendship (Czechoslovakia) | |
Military Commemorative Medal (Czechoslovakia) | |
Medal “For Strengthening Friendship in Arms”, Golden class (Czechoslovakia) | |
Gold Star of the Czechoslovak Military Order for Liberty (Czechoslovakia) | |
Medal "In Commemoration of the Battle of Dukla Pass" (Czechoslovakia) | |
Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia) | |
Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Army" (Mongolia) | |
Medal "60 Years of the Mongolian People's Army" (Mongolia) | |
Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) | |
Cross of Grunwald , 2nd class (Poland)
| |
Brotherhood of Arms Medal (Poland) | |
Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945 (Poland) | |
Medal "For Oder, Neisse and the Baltic" (Poland)
| |
Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 1st class (Romania) | |
Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom) |
Other honors
- The Poltava Military School of Communications was named in honor of him.
- Honorary Citizen of the city of Tiraspol
- Streets named after him in Pokrovsk, Horlivka and Vinnytsia
- A bronze bust honoring him in Pokrovsk
Former honors
The Kyiv City Council stripped the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City of Kyiv" from Moskalenko on 26 May 2023.[12] It stated it did so in accordance with Ukrainian decommunization laws.[12]
References
- ^ Moskalenko 1972. Page 626.
- ^ a b c d e "Москаленко Кирилл Семёнович". encyclopedia.mil.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ "Москаленко Кирилл Семёнович (1902–1985 гг.)". Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ КОЧУКОВ, Александр (2002-05-08). "11 мая - 100 лет со дня рождения дважды Героя Советского Союза Маршала Советского Союза К.С. Москаленко". old.redstar.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ a b c d e "Кирилл Семёнович Москаленко". hrono.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ a b c "На Юго-Западном направлении. Книга I". militera.lib.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ КОЧУКОВ, Александр (2003-06-28). ""БЕРИЯ, ВСТАТЬ! ВЫ АРЕСТОВАНЫ!"". old.redstar.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ Khrushchev, Nikita (1974). Khrushchev Remembers, The Last Testament. Little, Brown. p. 12.
- ^ Tatu, Michel (1969). Power in the Kremlin. London: Collins. p. 236.
- ^ "55 ЛЕТ БЕЗ СТАЛИНА". kommersant.ru. 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Кирилл Семёнович Москаленко". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ a b "The Kyiv Council deprived Brezhnev and other communists of the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City of Kyiv"". Istorychna Pravda (in Ukrainian). 26 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
Bibliography
- Marshal K.S. Moskalenko (Commander of the 38th Army), On South-Western direction, Moscow, Science, 1969
- Marshal K.S. Moskalenko (Commander of the 38th Army), On South-Western direction, 1943 -1945, Moscow, Science, 1972