Mikhail Efimovich Katukov (17 September 1900-8 June 1976) was a Marshal of the Armored Troops of the Soviet Union during World War II.
Biography[]
Mikhail Efimovich Katukov was born on 17 September 1900 in Bolshoe Uvarovo, Moscow Oblast, Russian Empire, and he entered the Red Army as a private in 1919. Katukov served as a tank formation commander after fighting in the Russian Civil War and graduating from the Stalin Military Academy, and he survived the Great Purge. During World War II, he led the 1st Guards Tank Army from the Battle of Kursk to the Battle of Berlin, leading the tank army through Belarus and into Poland and Germany. On 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day, Katukov attended victory celebrations with American general George S. Patton, and he offered him a toast. Patton had Katukov's translator tell him that he would not drink with him or any other "Russian son-of-a-bitch". Katukov had his translator tell Patton that Katukov thought that Patton was a "son-of-a-bitch too", and the amused Patton agreed to drink with Katukov, "one son-of-a-bitch to another", leading to applause from both the American and Soviet soldiers as they helped each other drink shots of vodka. After the war, Katukov commanded the Soviet mechanized forces in East Germany and served as Inspector-General of the Army, and he died in 1976.
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