Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky. Born November 10 (22), 1898 in Odessa - died March 31, 1967 in Moscow. Soviet military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1944). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, People's Hero of Yugoslavia. Minister of Defense of the USSR (1957-1967). Member of the CPSU Central Committee (1956-1967).
By nationality - Ukrainian.
Father - Yakov, killed in Odessa.
Mother - Varvara Nikolaevna Malinovskaya.
His parents were not married. The father was killed before his son was born.
According to one of the versions, which was outlined by Malinovsky’s first wife in 1954 in her complaint to the Central Election Commission for elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, his father was allegedly Yakim (Yakov) Ivanovich Bunin, Odessa police chief, from the hereditary nobles of the Tambov province, colonel, retired retired as a major general and died in 1902.
After the death of Rodion's father, his mother returned to her native place and served as a housekeeper on the estate of Count Heyden, where she met her future husband Sergei Zalesny, who worked as a footman on the estate.
On the day when his mother remarried, 11-year-old Rodion ran away from home (according to another version, his mother’s husband refused to adopt him and therefore Rodion was raised by his mother’s sister, Natalya Nikolaevna, who lived near Odessa, in the village of Yurkovka). He worked as a farm laborer and clerk in a haberdashery store in Odessa.
Later, Rodion was taken to Odessa by his mother’s other sister, Elena Nikolaevna, and her husband, Mikhail Alexandrovich, who assigned Rodion to the haberdashery store of the merchant Pripuskov as an errand boy. While working in the store, Rodion began to learn French on his own.
In August 1914, having attributed age to himself, he went to the front of the First World War in the echelon of the Elisavetgrad Infantry Regiment. Due to his youth, Rodion was going to be returned home, but he was persuaded to leave him and was eventually enlisted as a carrier of cartridges in the machine gun team of the 256th Elisavetgrad Infantry Regiment of the 64th Infantry Division. The division took its first battle on September 14 on the banks of the Neman River.
At the age of 16, in July 1915, he received his first military award - the St. George Cross, IV degree - as a machine gun gunner. The cross number is 54850. In October 1915, he was seriously wounded near Smorgon (two fragments hit him in the back, one in the leg). In October 1915 - February 1916 he was treated at the Ermakovsky hospital in Moscow, then in Kazan. Upon recovery, he was sent to Oranienbaum, where a reserve machine-gun regiment was formed.
Since 1916, as part of the 1st Brigade of the Expeditionary Force of the Russian Army in France, he fought on the Western Front. On April 16, 1917, on the very first day of the offensive of Russian units in the area of Fort Brimon, he was seriously wounded in the arm. He ended up in a military hospital in the city of Reims, where he had difficulty persuading the surgeon not to amputate his hand. The doctor sent him to an English hospital in Epernay, where an English surgeon performed a complicated operation on him at that time, which allowed him to save his arm. Received French awards - 2 military crosses.
After the unsuccessful offensive of the French army, called the “Nivelle massacre” after the commander of the French army, discontent and revolutionary sentiments began to grow in Russian and French units under the influence of news from Russia. In this offensive, only the Russian units achieved success in the fierce battles for Fort Brimont and the village of Courcy, gaining fame and respect from the French. The French command, due to heavy losses and the spread of revolutionary ideas in units, decided to withdraw the Russian brigades from the front.
In the summer of 1917, Russian soldiers of the 1st and 3rd brigades, stationed in the La Curtin military camp, began to demand that the command be sent to Russia. However, the Provisional Government did not want about 20 thousand revolutionary-minded soldiers to return to Russia and tried to send them to the Thessaloniki sector of the front, and then persuaded the French to suppress the uprising. But the French command did not want to use their units to shoot Russian soldiers, fearing a negative resonance. Almost all the officers and most of the soldiers of the 3rd Brigade fled the camp. To suppress the uprising, General Zankevich formed a detachment from the fresh 2nd artillery brigade, which had recently arrived from Russia, part of the soldiers of the 3rd brigade and officers. The remaining soldiers were given an ultimatum by the command to lay down their arms and leave the camp. Most of the soldiers refused.
Rodion did not participate in the uprising, since in September 1917 he was in a hospital in the city of Saint-Servan due to bleeding from a wound on his arm that opened shortly before the uprising. The uprising of Russian soldiers in the La Curtin camp in September 1917 was suppressed with the use of artillery; according to some reports, during the 3-day battles, about 600 soldiers on both sides were killed and wounded.
After the suppression of the uprising, the Russian units were disbanded, and Rodion, after treatment in the hospital, enlisted in the Foreign Legion. In its composition he served until August 1919 as a lower rank in the legendary “Russian Legion of Honor,” which was part of the 1st Moroccan Division. For heroism in breaking through the German defense line (Hindenburg Line) in September 1918, the French awarded Malinovsky the Military Cross with a silver star, and Kolchak’s general Dmitry Shcherbachev, wanting to encourage Russian soldiers, nominated him for the award of the St. George Cross, III degree. Thus, he was awarded two St. George Crosses, but Rodion did not know about the second award.
Most Russian soldiers in France dreamed of returning to Russia, and Rodion sought to join the Red Army to fight the former “masters of life,” as he called them. In August 1919, with a group of soldiers, Rodion, as part of a Russian sanitary detachment under the auspices of the American Red Cross, set off on a ship from France to Vladivostok. They supposedly reached Vladivostok only in October 1919, and there the group began to disintegrate. Together with his comrade, Rodion persuaded the commander of their detachment to issue them a pass to Verkhneudinsk. Rodion’s comrade, being from a small village near Verkhneudinsk, agreed with his relative, and he helped Rodion get by rail to Omsk, which was clogged by the retreating Kolchak troops.
Then Rodion Malinovsky made his way on his own: he crossed to the left bank on the ice across the river. Irtysh and walked west parallel to the railway. Near Omsk, he was captured by a Red Army patrol and at first was almost shot - the Red Army soldiers of the 27th Infantry Division who detained him found French awards and books in French on him and considered him a spy. With difficulty he persuaded them to take him to headquarters, where they believed him.
As part of this division of the Red Army, he took part in the Civil War on the Eastern Front against the troops of Admiral Kolchak. In 1920 he suffered from typhus.
After the Civil War, Malinovsky graduated from the junior command school, was appointed commander of a machine gun crew, then head of a machine gun team, assistant commander and commander of a rifle battalion.
Rodion Malinovsky was a member of the CPSU (b) since 1926.
In 1927-1930 he studied at the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze.
From May 1930 to January 1931 - chief of staff of the 67th Caucasian Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Cavalry Division of the North Caucasus Military District.
From January to February 1931 - assistant chief of the 1st (operational) department of the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District.
From February 15, 1931 to March 14, 1933 - assistant to the chief of the 3rd sector of the 1st department of the headquarters of the Belarusian Military District.
From January 10, 1935 to June 19, 1936 - chief of staff of the 3rd Cavalry Corps. When personal military ranks were introduced, he was awarded the rank of colonel.
From June 19, 1936 - assistant inspector of the cavalry of the Belarusian Military District for operational matters. During the maneuvers of the troops of the Belarusian Military District in 1936, he was the chief of staff of the “Western” army.
In 1937-1938, Colonel Malinovsky was in Spain as a military adviser during the Spanish Civil War (pseudonym “Colonel (Colonel) Malino”), where he developed military operations against the Francoists, for which he was awarded two Soviet orders.
Since 1939 - senior teacher at the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general. He prepared a Ph.D. thesis on the topic: “The Aragonese operation, March-April 1938,” but did not have time to defend it.
Since March 1941 - commander of the 48th Rifle Corps in the Odessa Military District.
Rodion Malinovsky during the Great Patriotic War:
He met the war as commander of the 48th Rifle Corps of the Odessa Military District, located in the Moldavian city of Balti. At the beginning of the war, despite the retreat, Rodion Malinovsky managed to preserve the main forces of his corps and showed good command skills.
From August 1941, he commanded the 6th Army on the Southern and Southwestern Fronts, and at the head of the army participated in the Donbass-Rostov defensive operation.
In December 1941, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Southern Front.
In January 1942, the Southern and Southwestern Fronts pushed back the German front in the Kharkov area by 100 kilometers during the Barvenkovo-Lozovsky operation. However, in May 1942, in the same area, both of these fronts suffered a crushing defeat during the Kharkov operation. Then the enemy threw back the troops under the command of Malinovsky from Kharkov to the Don, during which Soviet troops suffered heavy losses.
In July 1942, Malinovsky was removed from the post of front commander and demoted to the command of the 66th Army operating north of Stalingrad. Since October 1942 - Deputy Commander of the Voronezh Front.
Since November 1942 - commander of the 2nd Guards Army. In this post, he again showed his best side: the army troops were moving towards the Rostov direction, when the strike group of the German general struck from the south in the direction of Stalingrad, with the task of breaking through the Soviet encirclement ring around the 6th Army of Friedrich Paulus. While the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Colonel General, was arguing for the need to involve Malinovsky's army in repelling the German attack, Malinovsky, on his own initiative, stopped the movement of the army and deployed it into battle formations. Malinovsky’s proactive actions and the heroism of the personnel of the army he led played a big role in the victory in the Kotelnikovsky operation and, as a consequence, in the Battle of Stalingrad.
As a result, Stalin in February 1943 again returned Malinovsky to the post of commander of the troops of the Southern Front. At this post he managed to liberate Rostov-on-Don.
From March 1943, he commanded the troops of the Southwestern Front, which was renamed the 3rd Ukrainian Front from October 1943. At this post, independently and in cooperation with other fronts, from August 1943 to April 1944, he conducted the Donbass, Lower Dnieper, Zaporozhye, Nikopol-Krivoy Rog, Bereznegovato-Snigirevsk, and Odessa offensive operations. As a result, Donbass and all of Southern Ukraine were liberated.
In April 1944, he had the opportunity to liberate his hometown of Odessa. In liberated Odessa, Malinovsky found Mikhail Alexandrovich, the husband of his aunt Elena, with whose family he lived in 1913-1914. Mikhail Alexandrovich hardly recognized the army general as Rodion, whom he sheltered before the 1st World War.
In May 1944, Malinovsky was transferred as commander to the 2nd Ukrainian Front, which, together with the 3rd Ukrainian Front (under the command of Fyodor Tolbukhin), continued the offensive in the southern direction, defeating the troops of the German Army Group "Southern Ukraine" during the Iasi-Kishinev strategic operations. After this, Romania left the alliance with Germany and declared war on the latter.
On September 10, 1944, at the request of Semyon Timoshenko addressed to Stalin, Malinovsky was awarded the military rank of “Marshal of the Soviet Union.”
In October 1944, Malinovsky inflicted a second brutal defeat on the enemy in eastern Hungary during the Debrecen operation and reached the immediate approaches to Budapest. However, the extremely fierce battle for Budapest dragged on for almost five months. In its course, it was possible to first encircle and then destroy an almost 80,000-strong enemy group.
In the spring of 1945, in cooperation with the troops of Fyodor Tolbukhin, the front of Rodion Malinovsky successfully carried out the Vienna operation, essentially eliminating the German front in Austria and joining forces with the Allied forces. For the complete defeat of the enemy troops in this operation, Malinovsky was awarded the highest Soviet military order "Victory". At the same time, the troops of the right wing of his front carried out the Banska Bystritka offensive operation in March 1945.
Having ended the Great Patriotic War in Austria and Czechoslovakia, Rodion Malinovsky was transferred to the Far East, where during the Soviet-Japanese War he took command of the Trans-Baikal Front, which, completely unexpectedly for the Japanese command, broke through the Gobi Desert into the central part of Manchuria, completing the encirclement and complete defeat Japanese troops. Malinovsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this operation.
After the war, Malinovsky continued to remain in the Far East for 11 years. Since September 1945, he commanded the troops of the Transbaikal-Amur Military District.
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1946 until the end of his life.
Since 1947, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Far East. Since 1953 - Commander of the Far Eastern Military District.
Since 1952 - candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee, since 1956 - member of the CPSU Central Committee.
In March 1956, he became Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR - Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Ground Forces.
On October 26, 1957, he was appointed Minister of Defense of the USSR and remained in this position until his death.
At the October (1957) plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, where the issue of Zhukov’s “Bonapartism” and his removal from the CPSU Central Committee was discussed, he criticized Zhukov.
According to unconfirmed reports, Marshal Malinovsky gave permission to General Issa Pliev to use troops to suppress the protests of the workers of Novocherkassk in 1962.
As Minister of Defense of the USSR, on the one hand, Malinovsky pursued a policy of building up military power and priority development of nuclear missile forces of strategic deterrence; on the other hand, following the directive of the party leadership, he carried out a massive reduction in the Armed Forces. He made a great contribution to strengthening the combat power of the USSR and to the strategic rearmament of the army.
In 1966, the marshal was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died hard, with terrible pain, metastases had already penetrated into the bones, but the marshal went to the hospital only after the parade on November 7, 1966. Died on March 31, 1967 in Moscow. After cremation, the ashes were buried on April 3 at the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.
Marshal Rodion Malinovsky
Personal life of Rodion Malinovsky:
Was married twice.
First wife- Larisa Nikolaevna, French teacher. I met her in Irkutsk. They got married in August 1925.
In 1926, the couple had a son, Gennady (died in 1930 from meningitis).
In 1929, son Robert was born, later a Doctor of Technical Sciences.
In 1934, his son Edward was born, later a music teacher.
During the Great Patriotic War, after the Nazis captured Ukraine, the mother took both sons from Kyiv, first to Moscow, and then to Irkutsk. In July 1945, on the way to a new duty station in Irkutsk, he took the family onto his train, and the family united again after 4 years of war. But it was not possible to restore the relationship with his wife. And in 1946, Malinovsky divorced his first wife.
Second wife- Raisa Yakovlevna Galperina (maiden name - Kucherenko; after her first husband - Galperina; 1920-1997). I met her in the summer of 1942 when leaving encirclement. Raisa was a civilian employee of the army bath and laundry plant, who drew attention to her when she correctly counted enemy tanks and distinguished herself while collecting intelligence data. In 1943, Raisa was awarded the Order of the Red Star by front commander Malinovsky. In 1944, Rodion Yakovlevich transferred Raisa to his front headquarters and appointed him head of the Military Council canteen. After the war they got married. From her first marriage she had a son, Herman (born 1936).
In 1946, the couple in Khabarovsk had a daughter, Natalya, later a Spanish philologist and keeper of her father’s archive.
Malinovsky was the only major Soviet military leader of the Great Patriotic War who spoke several European languages fluently. He was especially fluent in French and Spanish.
He was fond of playing chess, composed chess problems that were published in magazines, and participated in solver competitions. He loved fishing and was interested in photography.
After returning from Khabarovsk to Moscow in 1956, he settled with his family in house No. 3 on the street. Granovsky (in apartment 95), where he lived until the end of his life.
Natalya Malinovskaya - daughter of Rodion Malinovsky
Career of Rodion Malinovsky:
Major General (4 June 1940);
Lieutenant General (November 9, 1941);
Colonel General (February 12, 1943);
General of the Army (April 28, 1943);
Marshal of the Soviet Union (September 10, 1944)
Awards of Rodion Malinovsky:
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (September 8, 1945, November 22, 1958);
Order of Victory (No. 8 - April 26, 1945);
five Orders of Lenin (July 17, 1937, November 6, 1941, February 21, 1945, September 8, 1945, November 22, 1948);
three Orders of the Red Banner (October 22, 1937, November 3, 1944, November 15, 1950);
two Orders of Suvorov, 1st degree (January 28, 1943, March 19, 1944);
Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree (September 17, 1943);
medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad";
medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus";
medal "For the Defense of Odessa";
medal “For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”;
anniversary medal “Twenty years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”;
medal "For the capture of Budapest";
medal "For the capture of Vienna";
medal "For Victory over Japan";
medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army";
medal "30 years of the Soviet Army and Navy";
medal "40 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR";
People's Hero of Yugoslavia (May 27, 1964) - for highly professional command of troops and heroism shown in the fight against a common enemy, for services in the development and strengthening of friendly relations between the armed forces of the USSR and the armed forces;
Order of Partisan Star, 1st degree (SFRY, 1956);
Order of Sukhbaatar (MPR, 1961);
Order of the Red Banner of Battle (MPR, 1945);
Medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" (Mongolian People's Republic, 1946);
Medal “For Victory over Japan” (MPR, 1946);
Order of the White Lion, 1st class (Czechoslovakia, 1945);
Order of the White Lion "For Victory" 1st degree (Czechoslovakia, 1945);
Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 (Czechoslovakia, 1945);
Dukel Commemorative Medal (Czechoslovakia, 1959);
Medal “25 years of the Slovak National Uprising” (Czechoslovakia, 1965);
Order of the Legion of Honor, Commander-in-Chief degree (USA, 1946);
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor (France, 1945);
Military Cross 1914-1918 (France, 1916);
Military Cross 1939-1945 (France, 1945);
Order "Defense of the Fatherland" 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree (Romania, 1950);
Medal “For Liberation from Fascism” (Romania, 1950);
Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, 1st class (Hungary, 1947);
2 Orders of Merit for Hungary, 1st class (Hungary, 1950 and 1965);
Order of Hungarian Freedom (Hungary, 1946);
Order of the Star of Indonesia, 2nd class (Indonesia, 1963);
Order of the Star of Valor (Indonesia, 1962);
Medal "20 years of the Bulgarian People's Army" (NRB, 1964);
Order of the Shining Banner, 1st class (China) (PRC, 1946);
Medal of “Sino-Soviet Friendship” (PRC, 1956);
Grand Ribbon of the Order of Military Merit (Morocco, 1965);
Order of the National Flag (DPRK) 1st class (1948);
Medal “40 Years of the Liberation of Korea” (DPRK, 1985, posthumously);
Medal "Brotherhood in Arms" 1st class (GDR, 1966);
Cross of Independence (Mexico, 1964)
Bibliography of Rodion Malinovsky:
1988 - Soldiers of Russia (an autobiographical novel dedicated to the fate of the expeditionary force of the Russian Army in France in 1916-1919).
The image of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky in the cinema:
1993 - Gray Wolves - in the role of Marshal Malinovsky, actor Evgeny Bykadorov.
One of the most famous features of the Soviet era was filling out numerous questionnaires. “Correct” personal data contributed to a person’s career growth, while “wrong” ones could easily end his career, despite all his talents and efforts. Therefore, the biographies of Soviet marshals are very similar: “worker-peasant origin”; “did not serve in white or foreign armies”; “being mobilized into the tsarist army, he conducted anti-war propaganda”; “disciplined and morally stable.” Only one thing is unclear - how Marshal of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of the USSR Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky got into this cohort. The marshal's biography was so inconsistent with the canons of that time that in most Soviet-era reference books his entire pre-Soviet past fits into just one line: born in 1898, participant in the First World War, corporal. Here are some facts from this amazing biography.
1. Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky was born out of wedlock on November 22, 1898 in Odessa. Mother - Varvara Nikolaevna Malinovskaya. The alleged father is Yakim (Yakov) Ivanovich Bunin, Odessa police chief, from the hereditary nobles of the Tambov province, colonel. According to another version, Malinovsky’s father is a Karaite. The marshal himself mentioned his father in passing in his memoirs: « Pabout education I was a teacher". All that is known for sure is that Malinovsky was from Odessa and was proud of it. When leaving for the front, he took with him a postcard with a view of the Potemkin Stairs and kept it, despite all the vicissitudes of the war. Having been captured in 1919 by Red Army soldiers with a French order and a soldier's book filled out in French , Malinovsky escaped execution by being able to quickly list the buildings on a postcard and describe their history.
View of the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa. Such a postcard allowed Malinovsky to avoid
execution in 1919
Source: http://viknaodessa.od.ua/old-photo/?vidy_odessy_s_morya
2. In 1914, the future marshal, "overwhelmed by a patriotic impulse"(as in the memoirs), fled to the front. Since there was a dash in the “father” column on the teenager’s birth certificate, he was enlisted as a carrier of cartridges in the machine gun team of the 256th Elisavetgrad Infantry Regiment of the 64th Infantry Division as Rodion Varvarovich Malinovsky. In the memoirs it is described as follows: “So, so,” said the senior clerk, looking through the metrics. - Well, how should I write you by your patronymic? - he asked Vanyusha. - According to the metrics, you are illegitimate, which means you are a bastard. Your father is not indicated, but your mother's name is Varvara. Varvarovich, perhaps, write it down?! It would be better if your mother was... well, there... Alexandra, Antonina, Claudia - there are such names for men too... - The senior clerk thought for a while. - And, perhaps, we can write Varvarovich. Agree?"
Consecration of the banners of the 255th Akkerman and 256th Elisavetgrad infantry regiments.
Smorgon, May 1916. The consecration procedure is described in the marshal's memoirs
3. As part of the 256th Elisavetgrad Infantry Regiment, Malinovsky fought as a cartridge carrier, a heavy machine gun gunner, and also temporarily served as a machine gun commander. In March 1915, he was promoted to corporal, and in October he left the regiment due to serious injury.
Review of the regiments of the 64th division by army commander P. A. Lechitsky, September 28, 1916,
vicinity of Izvor. The show is described in Malinovsky’s memoirs
Source: http://www.a-e-snesarev.ru/foto4.html.
4. In March 1915, for repelling a cavalry attack on an artillery battery, Rodion Malinovsky was awarded the St. George Cross, IV degree. According to eyewitness descriptions, Malinovsky allowed the attacking enemy cavalry to come within a short distance and almost point-blank destroyed about 50 people with machine-gun fire. The idea of rewarding the machine gunner was made not by his own commander, but by the commander of the battery he saved. Most historians are inclined to think that Rodion Yakovlevich became one of the youngest Knights of St. George, awarded in full compliance with all the formalities of the order's statute.
Corporal Rodion Malinovsky
Source: R. Malinovsky, “Soldiers of Russia”
5. After recovery, Malinovsky was assigned to the position of heavy machine gun commander in the 4th machine gun command of the 2nd Special Infantry Regiment, sent as part of the Russian Expeditionary Force to France, where he arrived in April 1916.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France with the symbol of the brigade - a bear
Source: http://s017.radikal.ru/i426/1204/9a/3e942f2ccf3e.jpg
6. During his service as part of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France, Malinovsky (according to his own recollections) was under investigation at least three times:
- In connection with the theft of 2 horses from a neighboring company to cover their own shortage - acquitted due to the discovery of previously lost horses;
- The case of organizing a card game for money at the Malinovsky outpost entrusted to the command was left without consideration due to the intensification of hostilities;
- In the case of collective drunkenness - how one of the commanders was found guilty and sentenced to corporal punishment, but was released from punishment as a Knight of St. George.
Soldiers of the Russian Expeditionary Force in positions, France.
In a helmet - commander of outpost No. 2 Rodion Malinovsky
Born on November 23, 1898 in the city of Odessa. Mother, Varvara Nikolaevna, is a hired worker. Sons: Robert Rodionovich – Doctor of Technical Sciences; Eduard Rodionovich – music teacher; German Rodionovich - Colonel of the Russian Army. Daughter - Natalya Rodionovna, candidate of philological sciences, member of the Writers' Union.
At the age of 16, Rodion Malinovsky became a soldier of the First World War - a carrier of cartridges in the machine gun company of the 256th Elisavetgrad Infantry Regiment of the 64th Infantry Division. Six months later, he replaced the wounded number two of the machine gun crew. Many times he repelled enemy infantry and cavalry attacks. In March 1915, private machine gun team Rodion Malinovsky was awarded the St. George Cross, IV degree and promoted to corporal.
In September 1915, R. Ya. Malinovsky was seriously wounded. Two fragments stuck in my back, one pierced my leg. After recovery, he was enlisted in a special regiment, which was preparing to be sent to France in exchange for the weapons and ammunition that the Russian army lacked.
Rodion Malinovsky was appointed head of the machine gun. And again, as at the front in Russia - repeated repulsion of enemy attacks, difficult life in the trenches. And the worst thing is big losses. Until October 15, 1916, the 1st Brigade lost up to 35% of its personnel in battle.
Far from their homeland, Russian soldiers learned about the February Revolution. Unrest began in the regiments. R. Ya. Malinovsky was elected chairman of the company committee. Russian demands to be sent home were increasingly heard. But only after persistent demands of the Soviet government in 1919 did the return of the Russian Expeditionary Force begin. R. Ya. Malinovsky, with the help of revolutionary-minded railway workers, managed to leave Vladivostok to the west. On the way, he contacted the command of the Red Army units. As part of the 27th Rifle Division, he took part in battles with the White Guards, liberating Omsk, Novo-Nikolaevsk, Taiga station and Mariinsk. I got sick with typhus. At the end of 1920, after recovery, he was sent to the junior command school. After graduating, he became the commander of a machine-gun platoon, then the company commander, and later the commander of the rifle battalion of the 246th regiment.
From 1927 to 1930 he studied at the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze. After graduation, he served as chief of staff of a cavalry regiment, held responsible positions in the headquarters of the North Caucasus and Belarusian military districts, and headed the headquarters of the cavalry corps. At that time, this formation was commanded by S.K. Timoshenko. He highly appreciated Rodion Yakovlevich's commanding abilities and his excellent staff training.
In 1937, Colonel R. Ya. Malinovsky, as a military leader with rich combat experience and a thoroughly trained specialist in the theory of military art, was sent to Spain. Under the pseudonym Malino, Rodion Yakovlevich provided active and real assistance to the republican command in organizing and conducting combat operations. His work as a military adviser was highly appreciated. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner.
In 1939, Malinovsky was appointed senior teacher at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy. In March 1941, he was appointed to the Odessa Military District as commander of the 48th Rifle Corps. The headquarters of this association was located in the Moldovan city of Balti.
Here on June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War found the corps commander. The enemy significantly outnumbered the defenders in numbers and military equipment. But parts of the corps held out heroically. For several days they did not leave the state border along the banks of the Prut River. But the forces were too unequal. The weakened units began to retreat to Nikolaev in an organized manner. And there they found themselves surrounded. General Malinovsky, capable of firmly leading troops in the fight against superior enemy forces, managed to escape from the trap. Parts of the corps began to retreat to the east, continuing to inflict damage on the Nazis.
The commander was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In August 1941, he was appointed commander of the 6th Army, and in December - commander of the Southern Front. Under his leadership, the troops of the Southern Front, together with the Southwestern Front, advancing in the area of Barvenkovo and Lozovaya, pushed the enemy back to a depth of 100 km and captured a bridgehead on the right bank of the Seversky Donets. True, later it was necessary to retreat, since the enemy, as a result of the regrouping, created a significant superiority in forces.
A special page in the life of General Malinovsky is Stalingrad. In August 1942, in order to hold Stalingrad, the 66th Army was created, reinforced with tank and artillery units. R. Ya. Malinovsky was appointed its commander. In September-October 1942, army units, in cooperation with the 24th and 1st Guards armies, went on the offensive north of Stalingrad. They managed to pin down a significant part of the forces of the 6th German Army and thereby weaken its strike force attacking directly on the city.
In October 1942, R. Ya. Malinovsky was deputy commander of the Voronezh Front. Then he left for Tambov, in the area of which the 2nd Guards Army was urgently being formed. It was intended to participate in the defeat of the Nazi group of troops at Stalingrad. General Sergei Semenovich Biryuzov was appointed chief of staff. Rodion Yakovlevich was united with him by military fate for many years.
The actions of the 2nd Guards Army are a glorious and bright page in the annals of the history of the Great Patriotic War. This army was prepared for combat by December 1942. Its advance to Stalingrad began at the most critical period of the great battle. Then the German command, in order to save its numerous troops who found themselves surrounded, threw the last but powerful tank reserves of Army Group Don into battle. The Soviet command promptly decided to immediately advance the 2nd Guards Army towards the main enemy forces. In conditions when enemy tanks with troops on board were already close, Army Commander Malinovsky threw regiments into battle as they arrived. Reinforced with artillery and tanks, they stopped the advance of the Nazis. Then, in cooperation with the 5th and 51st armies, Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army stopped and defeated Manstein's troops. Nothing - neither December frosts, nor snow drifts, nor the fierce resistance of the fascist German troops of Army Group Don - could disrupt the implementation of the strategic plan of the Soviet command.
Since February 1943, R. Ya. Malinovsky was again the commander of the Southern Front, and since March - the Southwestern Front. (On October 20, 1943, the Southwestern Front was renamed the 3rd Ukrainian Front.) Front troops under the command of Army General Malinovsky participated in a number of offensive operations.
A special place among them is occupied by the Zaporozhye operation, carried out by troops of the Southwestern Front on October 10–14, 1943. The balance of forces at the beginning of this operation was in favor of the Soviet troops. This made it possible to break through the enemy’s well-fortified lines in four days and reach the near approaches to Zaporozhye. The front commander decided, without giving the enemy a break, to capture the city in a night assault with the participation of 200 tanks and self-propelled artillery units. This plan of R. Ya. Malinovsky was successfully implemented. Early in the morning, Soviet troops broke into the city. On the evening of October 14, the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was transmitted by radio. It noted that the troops of the Southwestern Front captured the large regional and industrial center of Ukraine, the city of Zaporozhye - one of the important strongholds of the Germans in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. In commemoration of the victory, 31 formations and units began to be called “Zaporozhye”.
In this operation, as in a number of subsequent ones, Rodion Yakovlevich showed his ability to make creative, non-standard solutions that stunning the enemy with ingenuity and surprise. Thus, during the capture of Zaporozhye, he carried out a night assault unprecedented in military history. Three armies and two corps simultaneously participate in it. As a result of the operation, the situation on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front significantly improved. And the troops of the Southwestern Front, having expanded the captured bridgeheads on the Dnieper, continued the offensive in the Krivoy Rog direction. Then they defeated the enemy group in Melitopol. This contributed to the isolation of German troops in Crimea.
The Southwestern Front, renamed the 3rd Ukrainian Front, together with the neighboring 2nd Ukrainian Front, expanded the bridgehead in the area of the Dnieper bend and, in cooperation with the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, successfully completed the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog operation. Then they carried out the Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya and Odessa operations, crossed the Southern Bug, liberated Nikolaev and Odessa. In those days, Rodion Yakovlevich had the opportunity to visit his hometown and meet relatives and friends, remember his childhood...
In May 1944, Army General R. Ya. Malinovsky received the 2nd Ukrainian Front from Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev. By that time, he had already established himself as a commander who knew how to accurately determine his forces and the enemy’s plans, taking into account the combat capabilities of his troops, accurately determine the direction of the main attack, closely interact with the command of neighboring fronts and armies, and act decisively and prudently.
The Yassy-Kishinev strategic offensive operation of the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts (commander - Army General F.I. Tolbukhin) was imminent. These fronts, in cooperation with the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube Military Flotilla, were tasked with defeating the Iasi-Kishinev group of fascist German troops, completing the liberation of the Moldavian SSR, and withdrawing Romania from the war on the side of fascist Germany.
On August 20, after powerful artillery preparation, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front broke through the entire depth of the enemy’s defenses on the first day of the offensive and advanced 16 km forward. Army General Malinovsky, contrary to the expectations of the enemy, ordered the 6th Tank Army to enter the breakthrough in the middle of the same day. This decision of the front commander made it possible to ensure a high tempo of the offensive, and ultimately the encirclement of the main group of enemy troops. In a short time, Army Group “Southern Ukraine” was defeated. The collapse of the enemy's defenses on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front changed the entire military-political situation in the Balkans.
The decisive creative activity of the front commander received worthy praise. In September 1944, R. Ya. Malinovsky was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union for his high ability to lead front troops and the manifestation of his military leadership talent. The Marshall Star was awarded to him on September 13, 1944 in Moscow.
And there were still Debrecen, Budapest, Bratislava-Brnov and Vienna operations ahead. As a result of their implementation, Romania, Hungary, Austria left the war, and Slovakia was liberated. Dozens of selected Nazi divisions failed and ceased to exist.
Rodion Yakovlevich had yet to reach the peak of his military glory. The hotbed of aggression was still smoldering in the Far East. A significant part of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front was transferred there. They were introduced into the Transbaikal Front. The command of this front was entrusted to Marshal of the Soviet Union Malinovsky. He flew to front headquarters shortly after the Victory Parade.
The troops of the Transbaikal Front were to deliver the main blow to the forces of the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Manchurian Strategic Operation. Here again the military leadership talent of Rodion Yakovlevich clearly manifested itself. He precisely defined the tasks of all front armies and boldly and unexpectedly for the enemy decided to transfer the 6th Guards Tank Army across the Greater Khingan ridge. The Japanese command was confident that cars and tanks would not be able to overcome the mountains and gorges. And therefore they did not prepare defensive lines there. Japanese generals were shocked when they learned about the appearance of Soviet tanks from the Greater Khingan. Being in the first echelon and interacting with the advanced units of the rifle divisions, the tankers attacked the enemy in several directions. This accelerated the defeat of the Kwantung Army. The signing of the act of surrender of militaristic Japan on September 2, 1945 marked the end of World War II.
For his courage and great services in the defeat of the Kwantung Army, Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 48 times the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in his orders declared gratitude to the troops commanded by R. Ya. Malinovsky.
After the war, Rodion Yakovlevich commanded the troops of the Trans-Baikal-Amur Military District for two years. From 1947 to 1953 he was commander-in-chief of the Far East troops. For the next three years he commanded the troops of the Far Eastern Military District.
In March 1956, Rodion Yakovlevich was recalled to Moscow and appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. And in October 1957, Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky became the Minister of Defense of the USSR. In this post, he did a lot to strengthen the Armed Forces and improve the country's security. He was constantly concerned about the development of military art, the construction of the army and navy, the training of personnel for them, and the prospects for the development of equipment and weapons.
On his 60th birthday, R. Ya. Malinovsky was awarded the second star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Rodion Yakovlevich was awarded the highest military order “Victory”, five Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov I degree, many medals and orders of foreign countries.
Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky died on March 31, 1967 after a serious and long illness. He was buried on Red Square near the Kremlin wall. The memory of the outstanding commander is inextinguishable. His name was given to the Military Academy of Armored Forces and the Guards Tank Division. In Moscow, Kyiv, and a number of other cities there are Marshal Malinovsky streets.
Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky - Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union, one of the most honored and respected commanders of the Great Patriotic War.
Born on November 23, 1898 in Odessa. He was brought up without a father, who died tragically before Rodion was born. His mother Varvara Nikolaevna was a poor woman and worked hard to earn her living.
In 1910, Varvara Nikolaevna got married and together with her son settled in the village of Klishchev, Podolsk province. Rodion did not have a good relationship with his stepfather.
The young man was constantly drawn to his hometown. He wrote to his aunt and uncle, who lived at the Odessa-Tovarnaya station. In the fall of 1913, Malinovsky moved to Odessa and began working as an assistant in the haberdashery store of the merchant Pripuskov on Torgovaya Street.
Rodion had access to the library of the merchant Pripuskov. Already as a child I read books by Tolstoy, Leskov, Chekhov, Dostoevsky and Saltykov-Shchedrin. I read magazines with articles by front-line correspondents about battles with the Japanese.
The First World War began. Military events fueled the young man’s imagination. One day, while loading a military train, Malinovsky unnoticed his way into the ferry. Upon arrival of the train in Vilnius, Rodion was enlisted as a volunteer in the machine gun team of the infantry regiment.
In October 1915, Malinovsky was wounded and received his first military award - the St. George Cross, 4th degree. In 1916, he was sent to France as part of the Russian Expeditionary Force. On the Western Front he was wounded again and received French awards.
Since 1919, Rodion Yakovlevich was already in the ranks of the Red Army, participating in battles in the Far East and Siberia. Since then, his life has been closely connected with military affairs. R.Ya. Malinovsky went from soldier to marshal, minister of defense of the USSR.
In 1930, Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky graduated from the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze. In 1937-1938 took part in hostilities in Spain on the side of the Republican government. For military distinctions he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner. Since 1939 he taught at the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze, and from March 1941 - commander of the 48th Rifle Corps in the Odessa Military District.
R.Ya. brought well-deserved fame. Malinovsky's talent as a commander during the Great Patriotic War. As army commander in 1942, he took part in the defeat of Nazi troops at Stalingrad. In 1943, as commander of the Southwestern Front, he conducted a number of successful operations to liberate Donbass and southern Ukraine. In April 1944, commanding the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Army General R.Ya. Malinovsky liberated his hometown of Odessa from the fascist occupiers. In May, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, which carried out the defeat of a large enemy group during the Iasi-Kishinev operation, as a result of which Romania left the alliance with Germany and declared war on it.
N.S. Khrushchev and R.Ya. Malinovsky in liberated Odessa. 1944
September 10, 1944 R.Ya. Malinovsky received the title “Marshal of the Soviet Union”. Then there was the battle for Budapest and the liberation of Hungary. For the successfully carried out Vienna operation R.Ya. Malinovsky received the highest military order of the USSR - the Order of Victory.
After the defeat of Nazi Germany, in August 1945, the troops of the Trans-Baikal Front under the command of R.Ya. Malinovsky dealt a crushing blow to the Kwantung Army of Japan. For the successful completion of combat missions of the Supreme High Command by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 8, 1945, R.Ya. Malinovsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Front commanders during the Great Patriotic War: 1st row from left to right: I.S. Konev, A.M. Vasilevsky, G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky, K.A. Meretskov;
2nd row: Full name Tolbukhin, R.Ya. Malinovsky, L.A. Govorov, A.I. Eremenko, I.Kh. Bagramyan.
In the post-war period, R.Ya. Malinovsky commanded troops in the Far East, served as First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR and Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. In October 1957, he was appointed Minister of Defense of the USSR. In 1958, Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky was awarded the second Gold Star medal.
Rodion Yakovlevich loved Odessa - the city where he was born and where he spent his childhood. On his last visit here in the summer of 1966, he visited all the places associated with his childhood, showed his wife house No. 29 of the merchant Pripuskov on Torgovaya Street and the house where Uncle Misha’s family lived.
There are fewer and fewer representatives of the most ancient people – the Karaites – left on Earth. Now there are only 2,500 of them, reports Ogonyok magazine No. 52, 2008. The representative of this people was R.Ya. Malinovsky.
Leonid Rukman, engineer
M Alinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich - commander of the Trans-Baikal Front; Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Born on November 10 (22), 1898 in the city of Odessa (now Ukraine). Mother is a seamstress and father is unknown. Ukrainian. In 1911 he graduated from the parochial school in the village of Klishchevo (now Vinnitsa region of Ukraine). In 1911 until August 1913 he worked as a farm laborer for the landowner Yaroshinsky, in 1913-1914 he was a weigher at the Odessa-Tovarnaya station, then an apprentice clerk in an Odessa haberdashery store. In 1914, he persuaded soldiers going to the front to take him on a military train, after which he volunteered for the machine gun team of the 256th Elisavetgrad Infantry Regiment.
Participated in the First World War as part of this regiment on the Western Front. Private. For the battle at Kavalvari he received his first military award - the St. George Cross of the 4th degree and the rank of corporal. In the battles near Smorogon he was seriously wounded in the leg and back in October 1915. He was treated for a long time in a hospital in Kazan. Then he was a squad commander of the 6th company in the 1st reserve machine gun regiment (Oranienbaum). From the end of December 1915, he served in the special purpose marching machine gun team of the 2nd regiment of the 1st brigade (Samara). In January 1916, he enlisted in the Russian expeditionary force in France, where he arrived through China, the Pacific and Indian oceans, and the Suez Canal in April 1916. He was the commander of the machine gun crew of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Russian Brigade. After the February Revolution in Russia, he was elected chairman of the company committee. In April 1917, he was again seriously wounded in the arm with bone fragmentation. He lay in the hospital for a long time and did not take part in the famous uprising of Russian brigades in the La Curtin camp in September 1917, but was arrested as a suspect in the preparation of this uprising. After the disarmament of the Russian brigades - forced labor.
From January 1918 - in the foreign legion of the 1st Moroccan Division of the French Army: gunner, chief of the machine gun. He fought until the surrender of Germany, took part in repelling the German offensive in Picardy, and the general offensive of the Allied armies in the fall of 1918. In 1918 he was awarded the French Military Cross with silver star. He had a military rank - corporal in the French army.
Since January 1919, he was in a camp of Russian soldiers near the city of Suzana (France), and barely avoided being sent to the White Army by General A.I. Denikin. In August 1919 he was sent to Russia, and in October of the same year he arrived in Vladivostok with a party of Russian soldiers. Avoiding mobilization into the army A.V. Kolchak, with great difficulty reached Omsk, crossed the front line in November and was almost shot by the first Red Army unit they encountered - Red Army soldiers of the 240th Tver Infantry Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division of the 5th Army (during the search, French orders and medals were discovered) . However, after reviewing the situation by the regiment commander, he was released.
With a group of previously detained soldiers, who were making their way out of France with him, in the coming days, in November 1919, he joined the Red Army. Enlisted as a machine gun instructor in the same 240th Tver Rifle Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division. Participant in the Civil War on the Eastern Front against the troops of A.V. Kolchak. Participated in the Omsk, Novonikolayevsk and Krasnoyarsk offensive operations. In January 1920, he became seriously ill with typhus (he was treated in hospitals in Mariinsk and Tomsk). Upon recovery, from May 1920 he was a cadet at a school for training junior command staff of the 35th Separate Rifle Brigade (Minusinsk).
From August 1920 - chief of the machine gun of the 137th separate railway defense battalion, from December 3, 1920 to December 1921 - chief of the machine gun, from February 1921 - chief of the machine gun team of the 2nd company of the 246th rifle (then 3rd Siberian rifle) regiment in Transbaikalia. In 1921 he fought against the gangs of General Ungern in Transbaikalia.
After the end of the Civil War, from December 1921 - assistant chief of the machine gun team, and from December 17, 1921 to August 1, 1923 - chief of the machine gun team of the 309th Infantry (from August 1922 - 104th Infantry) Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division in Irkutsk. From August 1, 1923 - assistant battalion commander of the same regiment. Since November 1923 - battalion commander of the 243rd Infantry Regiment of the 81st Infantry Division (Kaluga). Since 1926 - member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU.
In 1927-1930, he was a student at the main faculty of the M.V. Frunze Military Academy. He spoke French and Spanish. From May 1930 to January 1931 - chief of staff of the 67th Caucasian Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Cavalry Division. From January to February 1931 - assistant to the chief of the 1st department of the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District. From February 15, 1931 to March 14, 1933 - assistant to the chief of the 3rd sector of the 1st department of the headquarters of the Belarusian Military District. From March 14, 1933 to January 10, 1935 - head of the 2nd sector of the same department. From January 10, 1935 to June 19, 1936 - chief of staff of the 3rd Cavalry Corps. From June 19, 1936 to September 1939 - on staff work in the Belarusian Military District: assistant cavalry inspector of the district in the operational department.
From January 1937 to May 1938 - on a special mission. He participated in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republican government under the pseudonym Colonel Malino as a military adviser. Participant in the battles of Majadahonda, the Jarama, the defense of Madrid, and the battle of Gualadajara. For military distinctions he was awarded the Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner.
From September 1939 to March 1941 – senior lecturer at the Department of Staff Services at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy. He prepared a Ph.D. thesis on the topic: “The Aragonese operation, March-April 1938,” but did not have time to defend it.
From March to August 1941 - commander of the 48th Rifle Corps of the Odessa Military District on the USSR border along the Prut River. Participant of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. The 48th Rifle Corps under the command of R.Ya. Malinovsky took part in a difficult border battle along the Prut River.
From August 25 to December 1941 - commander of the 6th Army. The army defended the line along the left bank of the Dnieper, north-west of Dnepropetrovsk as part of the Southern Front. From September 29 to November 4, 1941, as part of the Southwestern Front, she fought during the Donbass defensive operation.
From December 24, 1941 to July 28, 1942 - commander of the Southern Front. He took part in the independent Barvenkovo-Lozov offensive operation (January 18-31, 1942), the Kharkov battle (May 12-29, 1942), and the Voroshilovograd-Shakhty defensive operation (July 7-24, 1942).
From July to August 1942 - first deputy commander of the North Caucasus Front. From August 27 to October 1942 - commander of the 66th Army, first as part of the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, and from September 30 - as part of the Don Front. Participant in the defensive battle on the near approaches to Stalingrad and directly in the city (September 30 - October 1942). From October 14 to November 1942 - deputy commander of the Voronezh Front. From November 29, 1942 to February 1943 - commander of the 2nd Guards Army of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, from December 15 as part of the Stalingrad, and from January 1, 1943 - the Southern Front. During the Stalingrad strategic offensive operation (from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943), he defeated a group of troops of Field Marshal Manstein, who were trying to relieve the troops of Field Marshal Paulus encircled in Stalingrad. Army troops operated at the turn of the Myshkova River. Here they played a decisive role in the Kotelnikov offensive operation (December 12-30, 1942), repelling an enemy attack, and from December 24, going on the offensive, forced the enemy to retreat to the south. Then in the independent Rostov offensive operation (February 5-18, 1943). Participant in the liberation of Rostov.
From February to March 1943 - commander of the Southern Front. From March 22 to October 1943 - commander of the Southwestern Front. Front troops from July 17 to 27, 1943 successfully carried out the Izyum-Barvenkovo independent offensive operation, and from August 13 to September 22 participated in the Donbass offensive operation (Barvenkovo-Pavlograd operation). Under his leadership, the Zaporozhye operation (October 10-14, 1943) was prepared and successfully carried out as part of the Lower Dnieper offensive operation. The troops captured an important enemy defense center - the city of Zaporozhye, which had a great influence on the defeat of the Melitopol group of German troops and the isolation of the Germans in the Crimea.
From October 20, 1943 to May 1944 - commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. Front troops, together with the 2nd Ukrainian Front, significantly expanded the bridgehead in the area of the Dnieper bend. From January 30 to February 29, the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog operation was carried out, and from March 6 to 18, the Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation; from March 26 to April 14, 1944, the Odessa operation was carried out as part of the Dnieper-Carpathian offensive operation. Participated in the crossing of the Southern Bug River and the liberation of the cities of Nikolaev and Odessa.
From May 15, 1944 to June 1945 - commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. From August 20 to 29, 1944, front troops, together with the 3rd Ukrainian Front, secretly prepared and successfully carried out the Iasi-Kishenev offensive operation. Soviet troops defeated the main forces of the German group “Southern Ukraine”, liberated Moldova and reached the Romanian-Hungarian and Bulgarian-Yugoslav borders. From August 30 to October 3, 1944, he carried out the Bucharest-Arad independent front-line operation, which played an important role in the liberation of Romania. From October 6 to October 28, 1944, he carried out the Debrecen independent front-line operation, during which Army Group South was seriously defeated and German troops were expelled from Transylvania. From October 29, 1944 to February 13, 1945, troops under the command of R.Ya. Malinovsky participated in the Budapest offensive operation, carrying out the Kecskemet and Szolnok-Budapest (October 29-December 10, 1944), Nyiregyhaza-Miskolczka (November 1-December 31, 1944 year), Esztergom-Komarno (December 20, 1944 to January 15, 1945) operation, carried out the assault on Budapest (December 27, 1944 to February 13, 1945). From January 12 to February 18, together with the 4th Ukrainian Front, the 27th, 40th, 53rd combined arms armies and the 8th Air Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front took part in the West Carpathian offensive operation. From March 13 to April 4, 1945, front troops carried out the Győr operation, liberating a significant part of Czechoslovakia, the eastern regions of Austria, and from April 4-13, the assault on Vienna, carried out as part of the Vienna Strategic Offensive Operation. From May 6 to May 11, 1945, he carried out the Jihlava-Benešov offensive operation on the territory of Czechoslovakia.
Participant in the war with Japan. From July to October 1945 - commander of the Trans-Baikal Front.
In August 1945, troops of the Transbaikal Front under the command of R.Ya. Malinovsky dealt a crushing blow to the Japanese Kwantung Army (Manchurian Strategic Operation) and participated in the liberation of northeastern China and the Liaodong Peninsula. The combat operations of the front troops were distinguished by the skillful choice of the direction of the main attack, the bold use of tank armies in the first echelon of the front, the clear organization of interaction when conducting an offensive in disparate directions, and the extremely high pace of the offensive for that time.
U Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 8, 1945 to the Marshal of the Soviet Union Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
After the war, from October 1945 to May 1947, he was commander of the Trans-Baikal-Amur Military District. From May 1947 to April 1953 - Commander-in-Chief of the troops in the Far East. From April 1953 to March 1956 - commander of the Far Eastern Military District. From March 1956 to October 1957 - Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. From October 26, 1957 to March 31, 1967 - Minister of Defense of the USSR.
"IN in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of the birth of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Soviet Union Malinovsky R.Ya. and noting his services to the Soviet state and the Armed Forces of the USSR", by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated November 22, 1958, Marshal of the Soviet Union Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich awarded the second Gold Star medal.
Member of the CPSU Central Committee from February 1956 to March 1967, candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee from October 1952 to February 1956. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-7th convocations (in 1946-1967) and deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the 5th convocation.
Author of a number of works on the construction of the Armed Forces and the art of war, including articles “The border guards of Transbaikalia fulfilled their duty to the Motherland,” “The Battle for Hungary,” “In the battles for the liberation of Soviet Ukraine,” “The Road of Victory,” “A Significant Day,” “The onslaught of the 2nd Guards”, “The most important condition for the combat effectiveness of troops”, “The Great Russian commander” (About Suvorov A.V.), “From the memories of the Iasi-Kishinev operation (August-September 1944)”, “2nd Ukrainian Front in the struggle for the liberation of Czechoslovakia”, “Twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War”, “Keep the glory of the fathers”, “Vital issues of education of personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR”, “Revolution in military affairs and the tasks of the military press”, “Moral and psychological preparation warriors in modern conditions" and others.
Lived in Moscow. Died March 31, 1967. He was buried on Red Square in Moscow. An urn with ashes is installed in the Kremlin wall.
Colonel (1936);
brigade commander (07/15/1938);
Major General (06/04/1940);
Lieutenant General (11/9/1941);
Colonel General (02/12/1943);
General of the Army (04/28/1943);
Marshal of the Soviet Union (09/10/1944).Awarded the highest military order "Victory" (04/26/1945 - No. 8), 5 Orders of Lenin (07/17/1937, 11/6/1941, 02/21/1945, 09/8/1945, 11/22/1958), 3 Orders of the Red Banner (10/22/1937, 3.11.1944, 15.11.1950), 2 Orders of Suvorov, 1st degree (28.01.1943, 19.03.1944), Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree (17.09.1943), 9 medals of the USSR (including “For the Defense of Stalingrad” , “For the defense of the Caucasus”, “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, “For the capture of Budapest”, “For the capture of Vienna”, “For the victory over Japan”), 33 foreign awards (Mongolia - orders : Sukhbaatar (1961), Red Banner of Battle (1945), 2 medals; Czechoslovakia - orders: star and sign of the White Lion 1st class (1945), White Lion “For Victory” 1st class (1945), Military cross 1939 (1945), 2 medals; USA - Order of the Legion of Merit, Commander-in-Chief degree (1946); France - Order and badge of the Legion of Honor 2nd class (Grand Officer) (1945), Military Cross (1945), three Military Crosses 1914 year (all in 1918); Romania - orders: “Defense of the Motherland” 1st degree (1950), 2nd degree (1950), 3rd degree (1950), medal; Hungary - orders: star and badge of the Hungarian Republic, 1st class (1947), "For services to the Hungarian People's Republic" 1st class (1950, 1965), Hungarian Freedom 1st class (1946); Indonesia - orders: “Star of Indonesia” 2nd class (1963), “Star of Valor” (1962); Bulgaria – medal; China - star and badge of the Order of the Shining Banner, 1st class (1946), medal; Morocco - star and badge of the Order of Military Merit, 1st class (1965); DPRK - Order of the State Banner, 1st degree (1948), 2 medals; GDR - medal "Brotherhood in Arms" 1st degree (1966); Yugoslavia - People's Hero of Yugoslavia (05/27/1964), Order of the Partisan Star, 1st degree (1956); Mexico - Cross of Independence (1964).
A bronze bust of R.Ya. Malinovsky was installed in his homeland - in the hero city of Odessa. In Moscow, memorial plaques were installed on the buildings of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Combined Arms Academy of the Russian Armed Forces. The Guards Tank Division and streets in Kyiv, Chisinau, Moscow, Sevastopol, Kharkov, and Odessa are named after him. The Military Academy of Armored Forces bore the name of R.Ya. Malinovsky in 1967-1998.
Essays:
Stand vigilantly to protect the world. – M.: Voenizdat, 1962;
The greatness of victory. – M., 1965;
Soldiers of Russia - M., 1969.
Z The intention of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to defeat the fascist army group "Southern Ukraine" was purposeful and decisive. It stemmed from the situation that had developed by that time and required equally thoughtful, proactive execution from Soviet commanders. The operation had a major strategic purpose: to completely liberate Moldova, withdraw Romania from the war and turn it against Germany, against its former ally.
The commander of the "Southern Ukraine" group, Nazi Colonel General Friesner, had 51 units at his disposal: 25 German and 26 Romanian. The armies of this group had strong defensive lines between the Prut and Seret rivers, fortified areas such as Tyrgu-Frumossky, and fortifications that locked the Foksha Gate, an extensive network of pillboxes on hard-to-reach natural lines. They had more than 6,200 guns, 545 tanks, 786 aircraft. The average operational density of enemy troops reached ten kilometers per division, and in the most important directions, such as Yasskoe, Chisinau, Tiraspol - up to seven kilometers.
In the foothills of the Carpathians, in the area between the Seret and Prut, Prut and Dniester rivers, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front were located, commanded by Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky. They were opposed by the main force of “Southern Ukraine” - 30 divisions and brigades, and in the second line the enemy held 13 divisions, of which three were tank and two were infantry. Against the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, commanded by Army General F.I. Tolbukhin, the forces of Dumitrescu’s army group were located.
R.Ya. Malinovsky arrived to the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front at a time when the fighting on the Tirgu-Frumos-Iasi line had not yet subsided. The enemy's blows were very sensitive at times. There was a threat that the enemy could recapture the heights in the Iasi area and put Soviet troops in a very unfavorable operational and especially tactical position. It was possible, of course, to give a decisive rebuff to the enemy, as they say, to “calm down” him, and there were forces for this. But Rodion Yakovlevich did not want to do that. Using the heights in front of Iasi as the starting point for a new offensive operation would be a formulaic solution that the enemy could assume. But you can’t give up the heights either; This means that it was necessary to deceive the enemy, to convince him that it was from here that the Soviet troops would launch their offensive.
For this purpose, the 5th Guards Combined Arms Army, the 2nd and 5th Tank Armies and several divisions were sent to the Headquarters reserve. The enemy had the impression that the front was weakening, and so much so that we did not even have the strength to respond with a blow to the counterattacks, that the Soviet command was straining its last efforts to hold on to the heights near Iasi. And the Germans began to boldly transfer reserves from Army Group “Southern Ukraine” to the Belarusian direction.
Rodion Yakovlevich devoted himself entirely to preparing a deep frontal strike, which was supposed to ensure the penetration of Soviet troops into Central Romania. The interaction of units and types of troops was especially carefully worked out, and ways for the most effective use of military equipment were outlined. Rodion Yakovlevich directed his subordinates to search for new solutions that were unexpected for the enemy. He demanded clarity, audacity, initiative, and a reasonable, not formulaic, approach to organizing the operation. So, for example, it was decided to abandon air preparation for an attack, and to begin air combat operations with the infantry going on the offensive, that is, with air support. What caused this? The main line of defense of the fascist troops was reliably suppressed by our artillery. For every kilometer of the front breakthrough, 288 artillery and mortar barrels were concentrated. But the third line of defense, cut into the rocky Mare ridge, needed thorough, time-consuming aerial treatment: there were more than a hundred bunkers here alone.
An experienced military leader, Malinovsky knew, of course, that the surprise of a strike decides half the success, doubles forces, introduces uncertainty into the enemy’s ranks, and weakens his will to resist. But how can a huge mass of troops be regrouped in a short time and, most importantly, hidden from the enemy? How to hide the direction of the main attack? How to mislead the fascists?
The area in the zone where the main attack was carried out was open and completely visible to the enemy. Frontline engineers supplied 250 thousand square meters of horizontal masks over a distance of 20 kilometers. This made it possible to hide the regrouping of our troops from enemy air observers. At the same time, in the auxiliary direction, in the Pashkani area, 40 false areas of false concentration of artillery and mortars were built. Thousands of lightly camouflaged mock guns created the impression that the strike was being prepared right here. For the same purpose, in the area of the fortified Tirgu-Frumosa strip, three days before the start of the assault, artillery systematically destroyed enemy pillboxes.
During these same days, 30 kilometers from the front line, in the rear of our troops, units preparing for the assault were training day and night. On specially equipped terrain, similar to the one on which they were to advance, soldiers and officers learned the art of assault. Rodion Yakovlevich appeared more than once at the training sites, checked the implementation of his orders, talked with soldiers and officers and insistently demanded to study for real. In difficult exercises, maneuvers on the battlefield, the speed of action of assault groups, tank attacks and defense against them, crossing water lines, blocking pillboxes, and combat tactics in the mountains and on rough terrain were practiced.
For ten days and nights, forces exceeding those of the enemy were concentrated on the direction of the main attack.
From documents subsequently captured, it became known that the German high command until the last moment believed that only a local offensive was possible in the sector of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. This is also confirmed by many documents and army groups "Southern Ukraine". Thus, on August 9, the army group’s combat log wrote: “...directly at the front, no signs of an impending Russian offensive can be found.”
Only a day before the assault, the Nazis decided to transfer additional troops to the western bank of the Prut River. But, as events showed, it was already too late and this did not change anything in the balance of power. In the morning, artillery shelling began, everything was shrouded in smoke and dust. People rushed to the attack along with the assaulting self-propelled guns and tanks. A short hand-to-hand fight in the trenches, the first prisoners scared to death and success. By noon, the troops had passed the first line of defense and, having crossed Bakhlui on the move, began fighting on the southern bank of the river, on the second line of defense.
On August 20, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the 6th Tank Army under the leadership of General A.G. Kravchenko, following air strikes, rushes into a breakthrough and by the end of the day, breaking the stubborn resistance of the fascist infantry and tanks, approaches the Mare ridge - the third defensive line.
The Nazis fought with ferocity, and in some places the depot reached hand-to-hand combat. The enemy still hoped to stop the Soviet soldiers. But everything was in vain: on the first day of the operation, the front was broken through 30 kilometers. Throughout the second day, August 21, there were stubborn battles with the enemy. By noon Iasi was liberated. The reserves sent by the enemy to help the Iasi garrison were destroyed by Soviet soldiers on the approach to the city. The breakthrough expanded along the front to 65 kilometers, and in depth to 26. Our troops entered the operational space without losing the offensive impulse: favorable conditions were created for completing the encirclement of the Iasi-Kishinev group and a rapid advance towards the Focsha Gate.
So the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts closed the encirclement ring of 18 German divisions in the Chisinau region. Our troops are moving deeper and deeper into enemy lines. The guards of the 7th Army capture the Tyrgu-Frumos fortified area, the Don Cossacks of General Gorshkov's corps with a dashing blow clear the city of Roman from the fascists, and the tankers of General Kravchenko clear the city of Byrlad. The breakthrough reaches 250 kilometers along the front and 80 kilometers in depth.
By the end of August 23, the Yassy-Kishinev group had a narrow passage from the encirclement in the Khushchi area, where tankers of the 18th Corps were already fighting. This is where the Nazis rushed on the night of August 24th. They were met by fire from attack aircraft and tanks. The first to close the encirclement were the tank company of senior lieutenant Sinitsyn from the 2nd Ukrainian Front and the tank crews of officers Shakirov and Zherebtsov from the 3rd Ukrainian Front. By the morning of August 25, rifle units arrived and began fighting to destroy and capture the encircled fascist troops. Large groups of the enemy broke through into the rear of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, but parts of the second echelons of troops and even the rear units of the front boldly and decisively entered the battle; many fascist groups managed to penetrate deep into the west. The last group of up to seven thousand people was destroyed in the foothills of the Carpathians. The enemy never escaped from the cauldron: he was either captured or destroyed.
In those days, the Soviet Information Bureau reported that on September 2 and 3, our troops in the Bacau region liquidated the last group of Nazi troops encircled during the Iasi-Kishinev operation. As a result of offensive operations carried out in the south from August 20 to September 3, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Malinovsky and the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Tolbukhin completely surrounded and eliminated the 6th and 8th German armies that were part of the group of German troops "Southern Ukraine", commanded by Colonel General Friessner.
E that battle and other operations carried out by Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky prepared him to participate in an operation of large strategic scale in the Far East. As a result of its implementation, the million-strong Kwantung Army was defeated in a short time and militaristic Japan unconditionally surrendered.
The headquarters of the Supreme High Command demanded: quickly break through the enemy's defenses on both of its strategic flanks, develop an offensive in depth, encircling and destroying the main forces of the Japanese in the fields of Manchuria.
Several dissecting strikes were also envisaged: from Khabarovsk along the Songhua River to Harbin, from the region of Blagoveshchensk and Transbaikalia to Qiqihar, and also from the south-eastern part of the MPR to Kalgan. The Pacific Navy was supposed to operate on the enemy's sea communications in landing operations against enemy bases. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Far East troops. Vasilevsky, the troops of the Transbaikal Front were commanded by Marshal R.Ya. Malinovsky, troops of the 1st Far Eastern - Marshal K.A. Meretskov, 2nd Far Eastern Army General M.A. Purkaev.
A major role in the defeat of the Kwantung Army, this striking force of fascist Japan, was assigned to the troops of the Transbaikal Front, which were separated from the enemy by hundreds of kilometers of waterless desert, fenced off by the untrodden passes of the Greater Khingan. In addition to these difficulties, off-road conditions were added.
There are no roads... Japanese gigs can't even get through... Where can Russian tanks get over the ridge! “They’ll get stuck,” the samurai asserted self-confidently. The Japanese were calm about this direction. It seemed to them that it was reliably covered by deserts and rocks, abysses and swampy valleys of the Greater Khingan.
Since the enemy is not waiting for us in this place, it means that we will deliver a quick strike here, in the shortest direction from the Tomak-Bulak ledge to the Central Manchurian Valley, with access to Changchun and Mukden...
Everyone lived by this decision of the commander. With great enthusiasm, Rodion Yakovlevich began preparing an interesting and bold operation, so different from the operations he carried out on the battlefields of Europe. How to increase the permeability of moving joints? What awaits the equipment in the mountains of Greater Khingan? Are the trail and road maps and terrain maps accurate? Will the cavalry of Pliev and the Mongolian People's Republic give up before sandstorms and the deadly heat of the deserts? Will the horses withstand the accelerated pace? Will the aviation cope with the delivery of fuel to the voracious tanks of General Kravchenko? They would have time before the onset of heavy rains, when everything gets wet, crawls, turns into a thick viscous swamp...
Commander Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky decides a lot of big and small issues. He organizes the creative work of all subordinates. Communists and Komsomol members, political workers under his leadership are preparing soldiers for a rush through the dead desert and unfamiliar mountain passes, unprecedented in the history of wars. Soviet soldiers need to make a rapid march and immediately attack the enemy. It is necessary to conduct military equipment through deserts and mountains, gorges and abysses.
The details of the operation are carefully worked out. Rodion Yakovlevich is used to doing everything ahead of schedule. He likes to have a certain reserve of time for checking, clarification, and finishing touches. There are no milkweeds in battle - everything is important, and, as they say, even a poorly wrapped footcloth can prevent a warrior from carrying out a combat order. Preparations are nearing completion. No wonder the commander was in a hurry. Suddenly an order comes: to perform a week earlier than the scheduled date! Everything is compressed to the limit, everything is subordinated to one thing - to start the operation, to start quickly on August 9.
And so, on a wide strip of desert on this August day, throwing mobile formations forward, the great army rushed into the historical march. Two days later, the mobile troops of the generals (Kravchenko and Plieva appeared on the western slopes of the Greater Khingan. They quickly reached the rear of the Kwantung Army, descended on a wide front into the plain, muddy from the rains that had begun, and forestalled the Japanese troops. In three days, the armies of the Transbaikal Front advanced deeply from the west to Manchuria and created all the conditions for completing the maneuver to encircle the Kwantung Army.
The enemy did not expect such a devastating maneuver. The command of the Japanese army tried to organize resistance in order to weaken the military onslaught, delay the advance of Soviet troops, and regroup their forces. But it was all in vain!
Here are the troops of Marshal R.Ya. Malinovsky is already reaching the capital of Manchuria, Changchun, and breaking into the industrial center of Mukden. They defeated the Khingan, Thessaloniki, and Hailar enemy groups, occupied the city of Zhekhe, and stormed Kalgan. They capture the ports of Dalniy and Port Arthur and reach Liaodong Bay. At this time, soldiers of the 2nd Far Eastern Front, interacting with the sailors of the Amur Military Flotilla, act on the approaches to the city of Harbin, and the main forces of the 1st Far Eastern Front are approaching Girin from two directions.
The Kwantung Army was deprived of the opportunity to receive reserves and ammunition through Port Arthur and Dalny; it was also cut off from the main reserves located in Northern China. By August 30, 1945, the Kwantung Army was largely defeated. Soviet soldiers and commanders wrote another wonderful victorious page in the history of the Soviet Armed Forces.
