World War II commander Rodion Malinovsky

1 world war ii commander

1.1 assignments
1.2 battle of kharkov
1.3 stalingrad , ukrainian front
1.4 romania , hungary
1.5 japanese front

world war ii commander
early assignments

after germany invaded soviet union in june 1941, red army suffering enormous defeats , losing hundreds of thousands of troops in german encirclements, malinovsky emerged 1 of few competent soviet generals. corps of 3 partly formed rifle divisions faced german blitzkrieg along line of prut river. while, rule, red army generals lead forces behind frontline, malinovsky went crucial sectors of battles soldiers , encourage them. unable stop technically , tactically superior forces of seasoned wehrmacht, malinovsky had retreat along black sea shore, while frustrating enemy attempts encircle troops. germans succeeded in cornering corps in mykolaiv, malinovsky breached ring , retreated dnipropetrovsk.

in august, promoted chief of staff of badly battered 6th army, , replaced commander. halted german advance in section of front , promoted general-leytenant. after retreat of red army donbass, malinovsky commanded joint operation of 6th , 12th armies, managing drive wehrmacht out of region. in december 1941, malinovsky received command of southern front, consisting of 3 weak field armies , 2 division-sized cavalry corps. short of manpower , equipment, malinovsky managed push deep defenses of germans, who, after 6 months of fighting, suffering fatigue , shortages well.

battle of kharkov

on 12 may 1942, malinovsky , southwestern front, under overall command of timoshenko, launched joint attack in second battle of kharkov pushing germans 100 kilometres (62 mi). timoshenko overestimated red army s offensive capabilities , suffered heavy defeat. although stalin, in spite of opposition top military advisers, supported ill-fated kharkov offense, became suspicious malinovsky had intentionally failed troops (he feared malinovsky had established , kept connections foreign interests during world war stay in france). in july 1942, southern front taken out of combat, units , staff transferred north caucasian front don operational group under command of malinovsky (who became front s deputy commander). stalin ordered malinovsky stop intrusion of german army group towards rostov-on-don , vital oilfields of caucasus; germans had sizeable technical superiority on malinovsky, , cut through weak defenses. consequence, stavka disbanded don operational group in september.

stalingrad , ukrainian front

the red army hard-pressed germans in battle of stalingrad, , stalin entrusted malinovsky command of hastily formed 66th army held positions north-east of stalingrad. @ same time stalin ordered nikita khrushchev, served top political officer in stalingrad, keep eye on malinovsky.

the 66th army had no combat experience, first time in war malinovsky had commanded unit near full strength in both troops , equipment. in september , october 1942, went on offensive. territorial gains marginal, denied germans opportunity encircle stalingrad north, and, slowed down, decided push city. later month, stavka dispatched malinovsky voronezh front deputy commander; in december 1942, sent stalingrad. there red army achieved greatest success point in war: on 22 november red army fronts encircled german sixth army. german army group don, commanded field marshal erich von manstein, gathered panzer troops in town of kotelnikovo 150 kilometres (93 mi) west of stalingrad , launched desperate counterattack save sixth army.

malinovsky led powerful soviet second guards army against hoth. in vicious fighting forced germans retreat, breached echeloned , well-prepared german defenses, , destroyed kotelnikovo army grouping. first world war ii large-scale clash of armor lost germany. malinovsky s victory sealed fate of 250,000 german , other axis powers soldiers trapped in stalingrad pocket. stalin promoted malinovsky colonel general, , awarded him highest soviet decoration outstanding generalship — order of suvorov of 1st degree.

in february 1943, malinovsky resumed command of southern front, , in less 2 weeks expelled manstein rostov-on-don, opening road ukraine red army. in march 1943, stalin elevated him rank of army general , gave him command of southwestern front, tasked drive german troops away industrially rich donbass. through sudden attack in mid-october, malinovsky managed surprise large german force in region s key city of zaporizhia , captured it. campaign split german forces in south , isolated german forces in crimea rest of german eastern front.

on 20 october, southwestern front renamed 3rd ukrainian front. december 1943 april 1944, malinovsky smashed german army group south, , liberated of southern ukraine, including kherson, mykolaiv , home city of odessa. time, according khrushchev s opinion, stalin grew more confident of malinovsky s loyalty.

romania , hungary

in may 1944, malinovsky transferred 2nd ukrainian front. expelled germans remaining soviet territory , participated in unsuccessful invasion of balkans (the first jassy–kishinev offensive) marshal ivan konev , army general fyodor tolbukhin (who received malinovsky s former command on smaller 3rd ukrainian front). however, during second jassy–kishinev offensive in late august , september 1944, malinovsky unleashed highly successful soviet version of blitzkrieg. tolbukhin, destroyed or captured 215,000 german, , 200,000 romanian troops, forcing romania overthrow pro-german conducător ion antonescu, , switch axis allies camp (see romania during world war ii). triumphant stalin recalled malinovsky moscow, , on 10 september 1944 made him marshal of soviet union. malinovsky nominal head of allied commission in romania (represented vladislav petrovich vinogradov).

he continued offensive drive, crossed southern carpathians transylvania (entering hungarian-ruled northern transylvania), , on 20 october 1944, captured debrecen, defended large axis force. troops tired after several months of combat , needed replenished , resupplied, stalin ordered malinovsky take hungarian capital budapest (see battle of budapest), in order open road vienna , preempt western allies conquering former austrian capital. of tolbukhin , romanian first , fourth armies, malinovsky carried out stalin s order, , faced adolf hitler s determination defend budapest @ cost. germans , hungarian arrow cross party allies tried turn budapest german stalingrad ; hitler engaged bulk of panzer troops (among them 6 waffen ss divisions , 5 army panzer divisions; one-fourth of wehrmacht s armor), weakening german forces fighting soviets in poland , prussia, engaging western allies on rhine. malinovsky s strategic , operational skills enabled him overcome troops weakness , conquer budapest on 13 february 1945, following exceptionally harsh battle. captured 70,000 prisoners. continuing drive westward, malinovsky routed germans in slovakia, liberated bratislava, on 4 april 1945 captured vienna, , finally, on 26 april 1945 freed brno, second largest city in czechoslovakia.

these new victories established soviet s supremacy on danubian heartland of europe. in return, stalin rewarded him highest soviet military decoration of period, order of victory. malinovsky ended campaign in europe liberation of brno in czech lands, observing jubilant meeting of , american advance forces.

japanese front

after german surrender in may 1945, malinovsky transferred russian far east, placed in command of transbaikal front. in august 1945, led forces during last soviet offensive of war under overall command of aleksandr vasilevsky. vasilevsky s forces invaded manchuria, under occupation of 700,000 strong japanese kwantung army (see soviet invasion of manchuria) , crushed japanese in ten days. malinovsky awarded soviet union s greatest honor, order of hero of soviet union.