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Semyon Timoshenko
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Image:ac.timoshenko.jpg thumb|250px|Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko
'''Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko''' (
Russian language Russian: Семён КонÑ?тантинович Тимошенко) (
February 6 Old Style and New Style dates O.S (
February 18 New Style N.S.),
1895-
March 31,
1970),
Soviet Union Soviet military commander, was the senior professional officer of the
Red Army at the beginning of the
Nazi Germany German invasion of the Soviet Union in
1941.
Timoshenko was born into a peasant family at
Frumanka, near
Odessa in southern
Ukraine, and was drafted into the army of the
Russian Empire in
1915. He served as a cavalryman on the western front, and on the outbreak of the
Russian Revolution of 1917 Russian Revolution in
1917 he sided with the revolutionaries, joining the
Red Army in
1918 and the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union Bolshevik Party in
1919.
During the
Russian Civil War Timoshenko fought on various fronts, but most importantly at Tsaritsyn (later renamed
Stalingrad), where he met
Joseph Stalin and became a friend and supporter, thus ensuring the rapid advancement of his career. In
1920-
1921 21 he served in the 1st Cavalry Army under
Semyon Budyonny, and these two became the core of the "Cavalry Army clique" which dominated the Red Army with Stalin's patronage for many years.
After the Civil War and
Polish-Soviet War, Timoshenko was commander of the Red Army cavalry forces, then successively Red Army commander in
Belarus (
1933),
Kiev (
1935), the North
Caucasus (
1937),
Kharkov (
1937), and Kiev again (
1938). In
1939 he became commander of the whole western border region, and commanded the Ukrainian Front during the
Polish September Campaign#Phase 2: Soviet aggression Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in September
1939. At this time he also became a member of the
Central Committee of the
Communist Party.
These were the years of Stalin's
Great Purge, which saw the executions of three of the five
Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshals of the Soviet Union:
Mikhail Tukhachevsky,
Aleksandr Yegorov, and
Vasily Blyukher. Since the remaining Marshals, Budyonny and
Kliment Voroshilov, were Stalin's cronies with no great abilities, Timoshenko was left as the Red Army's senior professional soldier.
In September 1939, Timoshenko commanded . In January
1940 Timoshenko took charge of the Soviet armies fighting
Finland in the
Soviet-Finnish War, which had begun the previous November and had been disastrously conducted by Voroshilov. Under Timoshenko's leadership the Soviets succeeded in breaking through the Finnish
Mannerheim Line of defence on the
Karelian Isthmus. In
March Finland signed peace with USSR. This established Timoshenko's reputation, and in May
1940 he became
People's Commissar for Defence and a
Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Timoshenko was a competent but traditionalist military commander, who saw the urgent need to modernise the Red Army if it was to fight the expected war against
Nazi Germany. He succeeded in overcoming the opposition of conservatives and undertook the
mechanisation of the army and the production of more
tanks. He also re-introduced much of the traditional harsh discipline of the Tsarist Russian Army.
When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June
1941, Stalin took over the post of Defence Commissar and sent Timoshenko to the
Soviet Central Front Central Front, where he conducted a fighting retreat from the border to
Smolensk, suffering huge casualties but saving the bulk of his army for the defence of
Moscow. In September, however, he was transferred to
Ukraine, where the Red Army had suffered 1.5 million casualties in the great encirclements at
Uman, Ukraine Uman and
Kiev. Here he succeeded in stabilising the front.
In May
1942 Timoshenko, with 640,000 men, launched a counter-offensive at
Kharkov, the first Soviet attempt to regain the initiative. After initial Soviet successes, the Germans struck back at Timoshenko's exposed southern flank. The Soviet offensive was halted with more than 200,000 casualties. Although the offensive slowed the German advance on
Stalingrad, Timoshenko had to accept responsibility for its failure.
General
Georgy Zhukov's success in defending Moscow in December
1941 persuaded Stalin that he was a better commander than Timoshenko. In
1942 Stalin removed Timoshenko from front-line command, and he was given roles as overall commander of the
Stalingrad (June
1942), North-Western (October
1942),
Saint Petersburg Leningrad (June
1943),
Caucasus (June
1944), and
Baltic region Baltic (August
1944) fronts.
After the war Timoshenko was Soviet Army commander in
Belarus (March
1946), the South
Ural Mountains Urals (June
1946), and Belarus again (March
1949). In
1960 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Defence Ministry, a largely honorary post, and from
1961 he chaired the State Committee for War Veterans. He died in Moscow in
1970.
He was twice a
Hero of the Soviet Union (March 1940 and 1965), and was also awarded with numerous orders, including the highest
Order of Victory (1945), five times
Order of Lenin,
Order of the October Revolution, five times
Order of the Red Banner and three times
Order of Suvorov.
Category:1895 births Timoshenko, Semyon
Category:1970 deaths Timoshenko, Semyon
Category:Marshals of the Soviet Union Timoshenko, Semyon
Category:Russian Revolution people Timoshenko, Semyon
Category:Soviet World War II people Timoshenko, Semyon
Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union Timoshenko, Semyon
de:Semjon Konstantinowitsch Timoschenko
it:Semyon Timoshenko
ka:ტიმ�შენკ�, სემი�ნ
nl:Semjon Timosjenko
pl:Siemion Timoszenko
ru:Тимошенко, Семён КонÑ?тантинович
fi:Semjon Timošenko
uk:Тимошенко Семен КонÑ?тантинович
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