Markian Mikhaylovich Popov (15 November 1902-22 April 1969) was Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army from 1956 to 1962 and a general of the Soviet Union during World War II.
Biography[]
Markian Mikhaylovich Popov was born on 15 November 1902 in Ust-Medvediskaya, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire. Popov joined the Red Army in 1920 during the Russian Civil War, and in June 1941 he was given command of the Leningrad Military Front at the start of the Great Patriotic War with Nazi Germany. The Germans were halted before Leningrad, and Popov also helped Georgy Zhukov's counterattack against the Wehrmacht in the December 1941 Battle of Moscow. Popov commanded the Bryansk Front and led his army well during the offensive against the Germans, but in June 1942 he was transferred to Stalingrad as deputy commander of the Stalingrad Front. Popov was granted the Bryansk Front's command once more on 5 June 1943 and took part in the Battle of Kursk, and he led the 2nd Baltic Front from October 1943 to April 1944 in the counterattack against the Axis Powers in German-occupied lands. Commissar Lev Mekhlis demoted him to Chief-of-Staff of the Leningrad Front, and he ended the war without a command. However, from 1956 to 1962 he was Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army. He died in 1969 in Moscow.