Pavel Kurochkin (19 November 1900-28 December 1989) was a Colonel-General of the Soviet Union who fought in the Russian Civil War and World War II. During the war, he notably commanded the Northwestern Front and the Soviet 60th Army, leading these fronts in the war with Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe.
Biography[]
Pavel Kurochkin was born on 19 November 1900 in Gornevo, Smolensk Governorate, Russian Empire. He joined the Red Army in 1918 during the Russian Civil War, and he entered the cavalry as well as the Bolshevik Party in 1920. During the civil war, Kurochkin served as a cavalry officer during the campaigns against the British and American invasion of northern Russia, the 1919 war with Nikolai Yudenich's army in the Baltics, the Polish-Soviet War, and the suppression of the 1921 Tambov Rebellion. When the Winter War with Finland broke out, he became commander of the 23rd Rifle Corps, and he was later sent to command the Soviet 17th Army, the Transbaikal Military District, and the Orel Military District in Mongolia.
In July 1941, Kurochkin was given command of the Soviet 20th Army during the war with Nazi Germany, taking part in the unsuccessful defense of Smolensk. In August 1941, he was promoted to take command of the Northwestern Front, holding the post until October 1942. As commander of the Northwestern Front, he led the Toropets-Kholm Offensive during the 1942 winter offensive against the Axis, and in December 1943 he was moved to the First Ukrainian Front to serve as Ivan Konev's deputy. In February 1944, he led the Second Belorussian Front, and his last assignment would be leading the Soviet 60th Army in the push towards Lwow and Sandomierz in Poland as well as the invasion of Central Europe. After the war, he was made a "Hero of the Soviet Union", and he led the Kuban Military District and the Frunze Military Academy during the Cold War. He died in 1989 at the age of 89.