Ivan Konev

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An outstanding Soviet commander in World War II, General Ivan Stefanovich Konev (1897-1973) was a leader in the offensive against the Germans and twice named "Hero of the Soviet Union"(1944, 1945).

Ivan Konev was born on Dec. 28, 1897, to a peasant family in Lodeino, Russia. He was drafted in the army of the czar in 1916, but after the Russian Revolution, he joined the Red Army in August 1918. He also joined the Communist party, becoming military commissar of successively larger units. By the end of the civil war, he was a corps commissar. After graduating from the Soviet military academy in 1926 and completing special training at the Frunze academy in 1934, he emerged from relative obscurity with the 1937-1938 purge of the military. Actually Konev, a civil war veteran, was in danger of being purged himself. Instead, he not only survived but promoted his rise in the Bolshevik party, becoming a candidate member of the Central Committee in 1939.

Service in World War II

During World War II, as commander of the 1st Ukrainian Forces and then of the 2nd Ukrainian Forces, General Konev achieved considerable fame, particularly during the Soviet offensive in 1943-1944. Technically the subordinate of Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Konev became his chief rival. With the death of General Nikolai Vatutin (1944), Konev became second only to Zhukov in the drive on Europe.

Konev tried to get authority to have his army take Berlin, but Stalin gave that honor to Zhukov. However, Konev did capture several major targets, including Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) and had the final satisfaction of being involved in the capture of Berlin when Zhukov, unable to overcome stiff German resistance, required the aid of Konev's forces.

Konev became one of the most decorated and praised Soviet generals, becoming a marshal of the Soviet Union in 1944 and twice cited as a hero of the Soviet Union in 1944 and 1945. However, he remained discontented because of the greater tribute paid to Zhukov, an unhappiness Stalin may well have exploited to keep Zhukov's wartime feats from becoming troublesome.

Postwar Career

In the postwar years, Konev's political involvement increased, while Zhukov was forced into semiretirement. In November 1946 Konev became deputy minister of war and commander of land forces. In 1950 he became chief inspector of the Red Army. The Nineteenth Party Congress in 1952 confirmed his prominence in party circles, making him a full member of the party's Central Committee.

Konev's major importance, however, came after Stalin's death in March 1953, when Konev was the highest-placed member of the so-called Stalingrad Group, an informal group of Soviet military officials who dated their association from the war. For a time, Konev even shared a common cause with Zhukov, who reemerged as a prominent leader, collaborating to rid the party of Lavrenty Beria, the notorious and previously omnipotent head of the secret police. In fact, Konev presided over the special military tribunal that tried and ordered the execution of Beria and several top security officials.

Turning back to his Stalingrad Group associations, Konev drew close to Nikita Khrushchev, then first secretary of the party. As a result, when the Warsaw Pact of European Communist nations was formed in May 1955, Konev became first international commander. As first deputy minister of defense in 1956, and again nominally Zhukov's subordinate, he collaborated with Khrushchev to have Zhukov deposed in October 1957.

Despite Konev's open role in the denunciation, he was passed over for Zhukov's post and lost his last chance to become the leading figure in Soviet military circles. In July 1960 his position was further vitiated when Marshal Andrey Grechko replaced him as head of the Warsaw Pact. Although the move was for "reasons of health," it appeared more likely that his views on the size and composition of the Warsaw Pact forces were involved.

During the 1961-1962 Berlin crises, Konev again became prominent as commander of Soviet forces in East Germany. After that, his career leveled off. He survived the 1964 fall of his former patron, Khrushchev, and retained high posts in both the party and army, continuing as a member of the Central Committee and, from 1962, general inspector of the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Defense.

Konev's published interpretations of the wartime battles minimize his earlier aggrandizement of Khrushchev as a war hero. Although an often-quoted, highly praised military official, he no longer had access to the power that seemed almost within his reach in the 1950s. The outstanding Soviet military leader died in Moscow on May 21, 1973.

Further Reading

There are no studies of Konev. His career is discussed in John Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941 (1962), and Alexander Werth, Russia at war, 1941-1945 (1964). His later career is recounted in Otto Preston Charney, Jr., Zhukov (1971). An appreciation of the milieu in which he moved, and particularly of the Stalingrad Group, may be found in Roman Kolkowicz, The Soviet Military and the Communist Party (1967).

(1897 - 1973), military leader and marshal of the Soviet Union.

Born to a peasant family in Viatsky, Konev entered the Old Army in 1916 and rose to the rank of junior officer before joining the Party and the Red Army in 1918 and being appointed commissar of Nikolskii District. During the civil war, he was commander of Armored Train No. 105, attached to the 5 Rifle Brigade, and fought in Siberia and the Far East. From 1921 to 1922 he took part in putting down the Kronshtadt Rebellion and was appointed commissar in the staff in the National Revolutionary Army of the Far East Republic.

Konev attended a higher course in the military academy in 1926 and graduated from the Frunze Academy in 1934. During the 1920s and 1930s he commanded the 2 Rifle Division and later a corps. Untouched by the purges, he was elected to the Supreme Soviet in 1937, and in 1938 he took over as the commander of the newly formed 2 Independent Red Banner Far East Army. Despite rumors to the contrary, Konev was not involved in fighting the Japanese in Lake Khasan or Khalkhin Gol. In 1939 he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee. During 1940 and 1941, he commanded the Transbaikal and North Caucasus Military Districts. The latter was reinstituted shortly before World War II as the 19 Army and was transferred to the Western Special Military District to be mauled by the blitzkrieg.

In September, 1941, Konev took over the command of the Western Front, which was pushed back in the Battles of Orel and Viasma by the Germans, and for a few anxious days in October contact was lost with him. Josef Stalin threatened to courtmartial him but was persuaded by Zhukov to appoint Konev as commander of the newly formed neighboring Kalinin Front, which played a significant part in finally stopping the German advance toward Moscow. In August 1942 Konev replaced Zhukov as commander of the Western Front, which failed to defeat the now well-entrenched Germans. For a brief period in March 1943 Konev commanded the Northwest Front before being appointed commander of the Steppe Military District (later Steppe Front), the massive reserve force formed by the Russians in anticipation of the German attack against the Kursk Bulge. Konev's units were deployed sooner than planned, but managed, with enormous losses, to persuade the Germans to break off their offensive. With the German defeat at Kursk, which Konev called the swan song of the German panzers, the Red Army went on the offensive with Konev commanding the 2 Ukraine (October 1943) and later 1 Ukraine (May 1944) Fronts.

Konev was involved in most of the major battles of the last two years of the war, which included the crossing of several major rivers, including the Dnepr and Vistula-Oder. During the Battle of Berlin, Stalin used the rivalry between Konev and Georgy Zhukov, who now commanded the neighboring 1 Belorussian Front, to advance his military and political goals. In the last phase of the campaign, forces commanded by Konev captured Prague. In both 1944 and 1945 Konev received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, Konev was appointed commander of the Central Group of Forces, and in 1946 he took over the ground forces, as well as being appointed Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces. He lost the former position in 1950. In 1951 he was appointed commander of the Carpathian Military District.

In late 1952 Konev wrote to Stalin claiming that he had been a victim of the Doctor's Plot. In December 1953 Konev presided over the military court that sentenced to death Laurenti Beria and his colleagues. In 1955 - 1956 Konev was once again commander of the Ground Forces. From 1955 to 1960, he was also the first deputy minister of the Armed Forces, and from May 1955 to June 1960 commander of the Warsaw Pact Forces, taking part in putting down the 1956 revolution in Hungry. In 1961 - 1962 Konev was commander of Soviet forces in Germany before being transferred to the military inspectorate. In 1965 he represented the USSR at Winston Churchill's funeral. Konev himself is buried at the Kremlin Wall. Konev was a typical Soviet commander in his indifference to losses and was one of Stalin's favorites.

Bibliography

Polevoi, N. (1974). Polkovodets. Moscow: Politizdat.

Portugal'skii, R. M. (1985). Marshal I. S. Konev. Moscow: Voenizdat.

—MICHAEL PARRISH

Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев Ivan Stepanovich Konev
December 28, 1897(1897-12-28) – May 21, 1973 (aged 75)
Place of birth	Lodeyno, Russian Empire
Place of death	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Allegiance	Russian Empire (1916 – 1917)  Soviet Union (1917 – 1962)
Service/branch	Imperial Russian Army (1916 - 1917) Red Army (1917 - 1962)
Years of service	1916 – 1962
Rank	Marshal of the Soviet Union
Commands held	First Ukrainian Front Red Army
Battles/wars	World War I Russian Civil War Great Patriotic War
Awards

Ivan Stepanovich Konev (Russian: Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев; 28 December [O.S. 16 December] 1897 – May 21, 1973), was a Soviet military commander, who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, liberated much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Germany's capital, Berlin. Later, as the Commander of Warsaw Pact forces, Konev led the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 by Soviet armoured divisions.

Contents 1 Early career 2 World War II 3 Post-war career 4 References 5 External links

Early career

Konev was born into a peasant family near Podosinovets in central Russia (now in Kirov Oblast). He had little formal education, and worked as a lumberjack before being conscripted into the Russian Army in 1916.

When the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917 he was demobilised and returned home, but in 1919 he joined the Bolshevik party and the Red Army, serving as an artilleryman. During the Russian Civil War he served with the Red Army in the Russian Far Eastern Republic. His commander at this time was Kliment Voroshilov, later a close colleague of Joseph Stalin and Commissar for defense. This alliance was the key to Konev's subsequent career.

In 1926 Konev completed advanced officer training courses at the Frunze Military Academy, and between then and 1931 he held a series of progressively more senior commands, becoming head of first the Transbaikal then the North Caucasus Military Districts. In July 1938 he was appointed a corps commander. Promotion at this time was rapid for those officers who survived Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–38. Konev presumably owed his survival and advancement to Voroshilov's patronage. In 1937 he became a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet and in 1939 a candidate member of the Party Central Committee.

World War II

When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, Konev was assigned command of the 19th Army in the Vitebsk region, and waged a series of defensive battles during the Red Army's retreat, first to Smolensk and then to the approaches to Moscow. He commanded the Kalinin Front from October 1941 to August 1942, playing a key role in the fighting around Moscow and the Soviet counter-offensive during the winter of 1941–42. For his role in the successful defense of the Soviet capital, Stalin promoted Konev to Colonel-General.

Konev held high commands for the rest of the war. He commanded the Soviet Western Front until February 1943, the North-Western Front February–July 1943, and the 2nd Ukrainian Front from July 1943 (later further the 1st Ukrainian Front) until May 1945. He participated in the Battle of Kursk, commanding the southern part of the Soviet counter-offensive.

After the victory at Kursk, Konev's armies liberated Belgorod, Odessa, Kharkiv and Kiev. The subsequent Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive led to the Battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket which took place from 24 January to 16 February 1944. The offensive was part of the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive. In it, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts, commanded, respectively, by Nikolai Vatutin and Konev, trapped German forces of Army Group South in a pocket or cauldron west of the Dnieper river. During weeks of fighting, the two Red Army Fronts tried to eradicate the pocket; the subsequent Korsun battle eliminated the cauldron.

For his achievements in the Ukraine Konev was promoted by Stalin to Marshal of the Soviet Union in February 1944. He was one of Stalin's favorite generals and one of the few senior commanders whom even Stalin admired for his ruthlessness. Konev, according to Beria's son, had "wicked little eyes, a shaven head that looked like a pumpkin and an expression full of self-conceit."²

During 1944 Konev's armies advanced from Ukraine and Belarus into Poland and later into Czechoslovakia. By July he had advanced to the Vistula River in central Poland, and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In September 1944 his forces, now designated the Fourth Ukrainian Front, advanced into Slovakia and helped the Slovak partisans in their rebellion against German occupation.

In January 1945 Konev, together with Georgy Zhukov, commanded the Soviet armies which launched the massive winter offensive in western Poland, driving the German forces from the Vistula to the Oder River. In southern Poland his armies seized Kraków. Konev preserved Kraków from Nazi-planned destruction by ordering a lightning attack on the city.^[1] Konev's January 1945 offensive also prevented planned destruction of the Silesian industry by the retreating Germans. In April his troops, together with the 1st Belorussian Front under his competitor, Marshal Zhukov, forced the line of the Oder and advanced towards Berlin. Konev's forces entered the city, but Stalin gave Zhukov the honor of capturing Berlin and hoisting the Soviet flag over Reichstag. Konev was ordered to the south-west, where his forces linked up with elements of the United States Army at Torgau and also liberated Prague shortly after the official surrender of the German forces.

Post-war career

After the war Konev was appointed head of the Soviet occupation forces in Eastern Germany and also Allied High Commissioner for Austria. In 1946 he became commander of Soviet ground forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, replacing Zhukov. He held these posts until 1950, when he was appointed commander of the Carpathian Military District. This was clearly a demotion, and was in line with Stalin's policy of relegating popular wartime commanders to obscure posts so they would not become threats to his position.^{[citation needed]}

After Stalin's death, however, Konev returned to prominence. He became a key ally of the new Party leader, Nikita Khrushchev, being entrusted with the trial of the Stalinist police chief, Lavrenty Beria in 1953. He was again appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense and commander of Soviet ground forces, posts he held until 1956, when he was named Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact. Shortly after his appointment he led the brutal suppression of the Hungarian Revolution.

He held this post until 1960, when he retired from active service. In 1961–62, however, he was recalled and was again commander of the Soviet forces in East Germany. He was then appointed to the largely ceremonial post of Inspector-General of the Defense Ministry.

Konev remained one of the Soviet Union's most admired military figures until his death in 1973. He married twice, and his daughter Nataliya is Dean of the Department of Linguistics and Literature at the Russian Military University.

In 1969, the Ministry of Defense of the USSR published Konev's 285 page war memoir called Forty-Five. It was later translated into English in the same year and published by Progress Publishers, Moscow. This work discusses Konev's taking of Berlin, Prague, his work with Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Stalin, his field meeting with General Omar Bradley and Jascha Heifetz. In English, the book was titled I. Konev — YEAR OF VICTORY. It was also published in Spanish under the title El Año 45.

Marshal of the Soviet Union, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the Order of Victory Ivan Stepanovich Konev was buried in the Kremlin Wall with the greatest heroes of the USSR, and can still be visited today.

In 1992 his memorial sculpture in Kraków was dismantled. The sculpture was given to Ukraine.^{[citation needed]} The memorial plaque in front of the apartment building where he lived (three blocks from the Kremlin) is still mounted on the brick wall.

References

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

1. ^ Makhmut Gareev, Marshal Konev, Krasnaia Zvezda, April 12, 2001

2. Berlin, the Downfall 1945, by Anthony Beevor, page 16.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ivan Konev

• Ivan Konev at Find a Grave
• Ivan Konev Statue in Prague, Czech Republic

Preceded by (none)

Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization 1955 – 1960

Succeeded by Andrei Grechko

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