Ivan Vladimirovich Tyulenev (28 January 1892-15 August 1978) was the commander of the Transcaucasian Front of the Soviet Union during World War II.
Biography[]
Ivan Vladimirovich Tyulenev was born on 28 January 1892 in Shatrashany, Simbirsk Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia). Tyulenev was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, and he won the Order of St. George for his courage while fighting in the Kargopolsky dragoons in Congress Poland. In the Russian Civil War, he joined the Soviet 1st Cavalry Army and suppressed the Kronstadt Rebellion before fighting in the Polish-Soviet War. In 1939, Tyulenev was promoted to commander of the Soviet 12th Army, leading it in the invasion of Poland at the start of World War II. When Nazi Germany invaded Russia, he took command of the Moscow Military District, and he later took command of the Transcaucasian Front. The front was involved in fighting the Nazis in the Caucasus in Case Blue, but after 1942 the Transcaucasian Front stood still, defending the southern borders of the USSR. He died on 12 August 1978 in Moscow.