Who is your favorite Russian from WW2

Me personally it would have to be Kliment Voroshilov.

 

Without a doubt SEMYON MIKHAILOVICH BUDYENNI...(Born 25th April, 1883)

One of Stalin's "Old boys" and a prominent member of the '1st Moscow Cavalry Division Clique' of officers, Semyon came from the Don region and brought a passionate hatred of Cossacks with him, (although, later he did not object to myths propagated that his original unit had been a Cossack regiment). After serving as a non-com in the Tsarist Army, his career as a Bolshevik in the Red Army began as a sergeant-major. Rising to command the division, his position was retained when the Red Army had enough to form an entire corps of cavalry. 1917 saw him joining the "Regimental and Divisional Revolutionary Committee. After defeating the hated Don Cossacks under Generals Mamontov and A.G. Shkuro, Budyenni's corps continued westward, crossing the Don on the 29th October and siezing the rail junction of Kastornoe, cutting links between Kursk and Voronezh, and severing links with Moscow from the Donbass. Kicking off on 31 October, fierce fighting finally captured the town on November 15th, and sealed the fate of Deniken's advance on the capital for good...(Source..Richard Pipes)

Budyenni participated in the last territorial conquest by the Bolshevik regime before 1939 when his elements of his Eleventh Army crushed the Georgian breakaway Republic, a task the Donbass boy relished.

After the Polish intervention, Budyenni's cavalry were the first to break through Polish lines on 5-6 June 1920, the beginning of a retrograde movement that would push the Poles, till then victorious, all the way back into Poland. Budyenni was subordinate to Stalin, whose army group had the task of striking for Warsaw in July of 1921. Stalin, according to Trotsky, refused to follow instructions from superiors, "contributing materially to the Red Army defeat in Poland". This argument turned into the fiercest controversy of all. Budyenni's men had been tasked to strike south of Warsaw to encircle the capital in concert with Tuchachevkiy's main bulk striking northward. Contrary to orders, Stalin, Yegorov and Budennyi had wantonly disregarded these instructions, prefering to strike toward Lvow instead. Orders to divert Budennyi north were disregarded, "at best for technical excuses, (inability to turn around to strike on a differing axis), at worst as a shortsighted attempt to secure local glory at the expense of the main effort. Contemporary Soviet military opinion agreed with Tuchachevskiy in feeling that Stalin, Yegorov and Budennyi had wantonly robbed the offensive of whatever chance it had for success." Historians point out that the Red Army was overextended anyhow, "but Lenin seems to have agreed with Tuchachevskyi, remarking "Who on earth would want to get to Warsaw by going through Lvow?". Once Stalin gained control of the record books, he reversed the publically stated decision taught in staff college lectures, and "the whole episode was represented as a strategically sound drive on Lvow, sabotaged for motives of treason by Tuchachevskyi and Trotsky."...(Source..Robert Conquest). In the "humiliating" retreat from Poland, Budyenni's cavalry continued their awful record brought from the Civil War by carrying out massive anti-jewish pogroms. The Armistace following this "Polish Miracle on the Vistula" saw Budyenni safely back inside Russian territory, no worse for wear.

During the purges, Budyenni served on military councils, presiding over trials of Soviet Generals that had come to grief with the purges. Peasant cunning, along with a "jovial mediocrity", kept him well clear of trouble

Stalin certainly valued Budyenni's unswerving loyalty to the regime, and as an officer in the Red Army in it's pre-purge Tuchachevkiy days, Budyenni was one of five people promoted to "Marshal of the Soviet Union". Described as nothing more than a 'toadie' of Stalin, he was also one of two of this group to sucessfully survive the purges, (along with Stalin's other favourite, Voroshilov). Other than these political appointments, Budyenni did not hold an active command until the outbreak of WW2, "Benefiting greatly from Stalin's precept that 'reliability' is more desirable than aptitude, his ascent to high command, through a succession of staff appointments, had been rapid."

Semyon Budyenni had a great love of the Cavalry charges. He also possessed the most photographically awesome mustache in the Soviet military forces. Mahogony-butt revolvers hung from his waist, combining elements of Foch and Patton, "with the talents of neither and a taste for self indulgence." In 1940, he was First Commisar for Defence, and turning up in newly conquered Bessarabia for an inspection tour, a party was given in his honour at the distilleries at Kishinev. Historian Alan Clark describes what happened next...
"Towards the close of festivities a canvas screen was ripped off the largest vat, which had been filled with red wine to a depth of one and a half metres. Inside were a number of naked girls desporting themselves in the warm red liquid. Without further ado, Budennyi and his aides threw off their clothes and joined the nymphs in the pool. The bacchanalia gathered momentum until another guest, disgruntled at being unable to climb into the vat, fired a long burst at it with a tommy gun; three occupants were injured, and the wine ran out of the holes and on to the floor of the distillery. The orgy then moved to more comfortable quarters at the back of the building."

During 1941, Budyennyi was given over 1 million men to defend the environs of KIEV. "It is hard to see any positive quality which rendered Budennyi eligable for this vital command - unless it is (a) certain paysan ruse' cunning...."(Clark) Budennyi escaped the resulting dramatic encirclement (and a rebuke from Stalin of any kind) turning up on the Reserve Front for the defense of Moscow by the time of 'Typhoon'. Stalin had, it seems, much patience for Budyenni, continuing to give him vital commands even after seminal disasters. When Zukhov took over Budyenni's Front, it was in poor shape, with "practically nothing covering the roads to Moscow, and the weak ad hoc units deployed in the Mozhaysk line (giving) no guarantee against a breakthrough to Moscow by German panzer forces."...(Source ...Zukhov)
Zukhov searched for Budyenni to make contact for liason, but he was "Nowhere to be found.." True to form, he was out of contact with his own staff, careening around from one headquarters to another, attempting to stabilize the front, in true cavalry style.

Commanding Fronts of no great importance for the rest of the war, Semyon Budyenni survived it all to be appointed Hero of the Soviet Union. With several Russian songs composed in his honour, and a breed of horse to his name that is still studded in Russia today, he left a five volume set of memoirs and died in 1973, a survivor to the last.

 

Mikhail Tukhachevsky, even if he didn't survive Stalin's purges to take part in the WWII. We all know how modern German army and particularly their tactics were when war broke out. Tukhachevsky tried to reform Soviet army the same way as the Germans did later. He had clear visions about modern tactics and use of forces. Even more, he understood that the whole army and building a succesfull army should be totally industrialized. He also understood the importance of using combined forces, for example the use of tanks and aircraft in cooperation.

Mikhail Tukhachevsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mikhail Tukhachevsky | Tashkeel Haider
Check this out! This is a great study of him: http://www.ausa.org/publications/ilw/Documents/mcpadden.pdf

But during WWII, my favourite person is Vasily Chuikov. As I have a great interest to the battles of Stalingrad and Berlin, Chuikov is my only choice as he commanded Soviet forces in both battles. Chuikov's tactics in Stalingrad was very brave as their goal was to keep German forces as close as possible to minimize the effect of German superior firepower. As German carpet bombings destroyed Stalingrad, Chuikov understood that his forces should hide into rubbles and lure German panzers near enough to be destroyed by Molotov coctails etc.

Vasily Chuikov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vasily Chuikov

 

Mikhail Tukhachevsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It seems from what I read that he was the Russian proposer of blitzkrieg, very intersting.

 

Yes he was. Did you see that pdf-link I provided? It's a very interesting study written about him by Christopher McPadden for the institute of land warfare, US army.

Above tells the story, why he is such an important person in history of modern warfare. Mainly, people are talking about Guderian when it comes to the modern armour tactics etc, but this guy laid the foundations for them.

 

Real good post, this guy was definitely ahead of his time and was a military genius. That pdf you provided was awesome. The battle of the Bugs, an interesting title to his first piece. I think I only heard his name once before this, thanks for the info.

 

I found this in wikipedia while looking for the Hero of the Soviet Union award, just incredible!!:

<<Dmitry Ovcharenko - WWII soldier. After being ambushed while carrying supplies for his unit in 1941, single-handedly killed more than 20 German soldiers and officers with a handaxe and some grenades. Successfully delivered the supplies along with some enemy intelligence taken from the corpses.>> LOL

Personally I would go for a little-known woman, althought she recieved the Hero of the Soviet Union award, one of the first female snipers of the Red Army with 309 kills: Lyudmila Mikhailivna Pavlichenko.

 

For me, it would be Alexander I. Pokryshkin.

 

I'd go for the heroes of Stalingrad:
Chuikov, Rodimtsev, Zaitsev, Pavlov, Dragan..., etc. and the whole 62nd Army, later the 8th Guards Army.

I mean, how fitting is it? This unit fought the Axis from the ruins of Stalingrad to just outside the Reichstag in Berlin.

I particularly found it poetic that Chuikov received the first news of Hitler's death, and the surrender of the Berlin garrison.

(Edit: I find it sad that the 13th Guards Division didn't finish the war as a part of the 8th Guards Army, though)

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And also, I love 2 words: Russian and sniper

 

Chuikov for me, definitely!

 

Definitely Vasily Zaytsev for me, although Yakov Pavlov is a close second.

 

In my opinion, the best was Zhukov. Certainly, in the USSR has meny great generals,such Rokossovskiy,Konev,Malinovskiy,Tyhachevskiy.

 

I wouldn't say Rokossovsky

 

Rus;
Yes Zhukov and his circle. Of the partisan commanders my personal favorite is Sydir Kovpak; Sydir Kovpak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This fellow did much to turn the Wehrmacht forces into embattled islands on hostile red seas.
JeffinMNUSA

 

the Russian soldier

 

The Russian cavalryman. General Belov conducted an incredible horse ("mounted infantry" really) raid on the Germans during the Moscow Battle; Soviet Documents on the Use of War ... - Google Books Worthy of an epic movie this story!

JeffinMNUSA
PS. Then there was Abba Kovner and his guerrillas-who may have been the most prolific saboteurs of WWII. http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/kovner.html

 

Yup.
Ivan, Alex, Yuri, Svetlana, whatever.
Often squeezed from all sides, he/she did pretty well.











~A

 

You are right, they are the real heroes.

 

Apart from soviet soilders Joseph Stalin, Alexander vasilevsky, Ivan Konev, and countless other fighting heroes.....

 

Evgeni Bessonov and my ancestor Ivan Bruni.