Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko (; , romanized: Kyrylo Semenovych Moskalenko; 11 May 1902 – 17 June 1985) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union. A member of the Soviet Army who fought in both the Russian Civil War and World War II, he later served as Commander in Chief of Strategic Missile Forces.

Early life

Moskalenko was born in the village of Grishino, Bakhmutsky Uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine), into a family of Ukrainian peasants. He graduated from a four-year primary rural school and two classes of the school of the ministerial school. From 1917 to 1919 he studied at an agricultural school in Bakhmut, where poet Volodymyr Sosiura studied at the same time according to his recollections. He was forced to interrupt his studies due to the outbreak of the Russian Civil War.

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.

Moskalenko fought in the Civil War while serving as the member of the First Cavalry Army. He fought against the troops of General Pyotr Wrangel and Ataman Nestor Makhno.

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.

When Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941, Moskalenko was the commander of an anti-tank brigade which was stationed in Lutsk. Between June 1941 and March 1942, Moskalenko first held command of the 1st Anti-Tank Brigade, 15th Rifle Corps, 6th Army, and later of the 6th Cavalry Corps. During this time, he took part in the defensive battles in Lutsk, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Rovno, Torchyn, Novohrad-Volynskyi and Malyn. Moskalenko participated in the Kiev Strategic Defensive Operation and fought in battles near Teterev, Pripyat, Dnieper and Desna. During a month of continuous fighting, being in the direction of the main attack of the enemy Army Group South, the brigade destroyed more than 300 enemy tanks. For military successes, courage and bravery, he was awarded the Order of Lenin on 23 July 1941.

In December 1941, he was appointed deputy commander of the 6th Army of the Southwestern Front and acting commander of the army. The 6th Army under the command of Moskalenko took part in the Barvenkovo-Lozovaya offensive and the liberation of the cities of Izium and Lozova. On 12 February 1942, he was appointed as commander of the 6th Cavalry Corps and from March to July 1942, he served as commander of the 38th Army. He was the commander of the newly reformed 38th Army from March to July 1942.

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.

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:

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:

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 in 1978.

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|Order of Lenin, seven times (22 July 1941, 23 October 1943, 6 November 1945, 7 March 1962, 10 May 1972, 21 February 1978, 10 May 1982)

References

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<!-- The 1975 German edition makes it clear that this is Volume 2 -->
  • Generals.dk