Mitrofan Nedelin

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Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin
Chief marshal of the artillery
Commands13th Artillery Regiment (1939–40)
Artillery 160th Rifle Division (1940–41)
4th Anti-Tank Brigade (1941)
Artillery 18th Army (1941)
Artillery 37th Army (1941–43)
Artillery 56th Army (1943)
V Artillery Corps (1943)
Artillery South-Western Front (1943)
Artillery 3rd Ukrainian Front (1943–45)
Artillery Southern Soviet Group of Forces (1945–46)
Chief Artillery Directorate (1948–50)
Artillery (1950–52; 1953–55)
Deputy Minister of War (1952–53)
Deputy Minister of Defence (1955–60)
Strategic Missile Force (1959–60)
Battles / warsRussian Civil War
Spanish Civil War
Winter War
World War II
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union

Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin (

Soviet military commander who served as Chief Marshal of the Artillery in the Soviet Armed Forces. He oversaw the development of the Soviet ballistic missile program and was appointed as the first Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces
from 1959 until his death.

A long-time member of the

ICBMs and the Space Race. On 24 October 1960, Nedelin was killed in an explosion at Baikonur Cosmodrome during the eponymous Nedelin catastrophe
.

Early life

Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin was born on November 9, 1902, in Borisoglebsk, Voronezh Governorate, Russian Empire.

Military career

Nedelin joined the

foreign volunteer for the Republican Government, and the same year was appointed to command 13th Artillery Regiment in the Soviet Red Army.[2] In 1940 he was appointed to command the artillery of 160th Rifle Division after returning from Spain, and participated in the Winter War until 1940.[2]

In 1941, after the Soviet Union entered

Northern Caucasian Front.[1][2] From there Nedelin moved to command the V Artillery Corps, and then the artillery of the south-western front, and then the artillery of the 3rd Ukrainian Front where he stayed from 1943 to 1945, playing an especially important part in the capture of Hungary.[1][2] In 1945, Nedelin became assistant commanding officer and then the commanding officer of the artillery of the Soviet Southern Group of Forces.[1][2]

In 1946, after the end of the Second World War, Nedelin became chief of staff of the chief artillery directorate of the Soviet Army, and then chief of staff of artillery, and then deputy commander in chief of artillery. In 1948, he became head of the chief artillery directorate of the Soviet Army before becoming commander in chief of artillery from 1950 to 1952, and after a brief period as Deputy Minister of War, returned as commander in chief of artillery from 1953 to 1955.[1][2] From 1955, he was Deputy Minister of Defence, and concurrently from 1959 commander in chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces.[1][2]

Space

During the

Sputnik, the world's first artificial Earth satellite, and then the Vostok manned space vehicles into orbit. These accomplishments allowed the Soviet Union to beat the United States on being the first nation to enter space, and taking a leading position during the early Space Race
.

Death

On 24 October 1960, Nedelin, along with approximately 120 other individuals, was killed in a test rocket explosion at

collapse of the Soviet Union
in the 1990s uncovered the incident.

Nedelin was buried in a tomb in the

Russian President Boris Yeltsin posthumously awarded the Order of Courage to Nedelin and the personnel who were responsible for preparing the R-16 missile
.

Honors and awards

Soviet Union and Russia
Foreign

In other media

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-271-02861-0
    , p817.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h The Generals of WWII – Nedelin
  3. ^ А. Железняков. "Байконурская трагедия". Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  4. ^ Osovik, Kirill. "Неделин Митрофан Иванович". www.warheroes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 1 September 2020.

Further reading

Media related to Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin at Wikimedia Commons

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