Alexei Alexeyevich Yepishev, also spelled Epishev (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: ''Алексей Алексеевич Епишев''; – September 15, 1985) was a Soviet political officer, politician and diplomat. He served as the Chief of the Main Political Directorate of the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

from 1962 to 1985.

Biography

Early years

Yepishev was born to a laborer's family in

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

. In 1923, he began working in a local fishery, where he joined the Komsomol; in 1927, he became the secretary of the fishery's branch of the organization and later, an instructor in the municipal branch. In 1929, he was accepted as a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), where he became an ardent supporter of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

. In 1930, Yepishev joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

, where he underwent commanders' training in the following year and served as a political officer in the Tank Corps. In 1938, he graduated from the Joseph Stalin Military Academy for Mechanization and Motorization. In June that year he was sent as a political organizer to the Comintern Locomotive Factory in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

tanks' production line. There, he also joined the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR, in which he remained a member until 1952. In March 1940 he was appointed first secretary of the Kharkiv regional Party committee. From May 1940 until January 1949 he was a member of the Organization Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party's Presidium.

World War II

After the beginning of

German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) * G ...

in June 1941, Yepishev became responsible for directing the war effort in the region: he mobilized the Kharkiv people's militia, of which he was the commissar, and organized partisan formations. In October 1941, shortly before the city's fall to the enemy, he was evacuated to the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, where he was appointed first secretary of the Party committee in

Nizhny Tagil Nizhny Tagil ( rus, Нижний Тагил, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj tɐˈgʲil) is a city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the boundary between Asia and Europe. Population: History The prehistory of Nizhny Tagil dates back to the mid- ...

, and as such was responsible for the rebuilding of the arms factories transferred from the front line areas. In November 1942, he became the

CPSU Central Committee The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee directe ...

's commissioner for personnel matters. On 22 December 1942 he was also appointed Deputy People's Commissar for medium machine building. During the Battle of Stalingrad, he was briefly stationed in the Stalingrad Front's military council. In February 1943, he was removed of all his posts and re-instated as the Kharkiv party chief, as the

seemed to recapture the area. On 26 May, Yepishev was given the rank of a major general and posted as member of the military council, the highest political officer, in General

Kirill Moskalenko Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko (russian: Кирилл Семёнович Москаленко, uk, Кирило Семенович Москаленко; May 11, 1902 – June 17, 1985) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union. A member of the Soviet Arm ...

40th Army. As such, he participated in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history ...

and the

Lower Dnieper Offensive The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four ...

. On 2 November, he received the same position in the 38th Army, again under Moskalenko, and held it until the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The 38th took part in the Battle of Kiev, the Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, the Lvov–Sandomierz offensive, the

Battle of the Dukla Pass The Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla, Carpatho–Dukla, Rzeszów–Dukla, or Dukla–Prešov offensive, was the battle for control over the Dukla Pass on the border between Poland and Slovakia on the Eastern Front of World ...

and the Prague offensive.

Post-war career

On 11 May 1945, shortly after the German capitulation, Yepishev moved back to his former office in the 40th Army, which he held until August 1946. He then left the Armed Forces and was appointed the Ukrainian Communist Party's secretary for personnel matters. From 9 January 1950 until August 1951, he headed the

Odessa Oblast Odesa Oblast ( uk, Оде́ська о́бласть, translit=Odeska oblast), also referred to as Odeshchyna ( uk, Оде́щина) is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administ ...

's Party committee. He was a deputy in the 3rd and 4th convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, between 12 March 1950 to 14 March 1958. On 26 August 1951, Yepishev was posted as Deputy Minister for personnel matters in the Ministry of State Security. Yepishev was one of many officials with no prior experience in intelligence who were transferred to the MGB after it was purged of members associated with its executed former chief,

Viktor Abakumov Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov (russian: link=no, Виктор Семёнович Абакумов; 24 April 1908 – 19 December 1954) was a high-level Soviet Union, Soviet security official from 1943 to 1946, the head of SMERSH in the USSR People ...

. The head of the MGB in this period,

Semyon Ignatyev Semyon Denisovich Ignatyev (russian: Семён Денисович Игнатьев; 14 September 1904, Karlivka – 27 November 1983, Moscow) was a Soviet politician, and the last head of the security forces appointed by Joseph Stalin. Early ca ...

seems to have been an ineffectual figure, implying that Yepishev may have been the effective chief of police during the time of the

Doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. In 1951–1953, a gr ...

, the

Night of the Murdered Poets The Night of the Murdered Poets (; yi, הרוגי מלכות פֿונעם ראַטנפאַרבאַנד, translit=Harugey malkus funem Ratnfarband, lit=Soviet Union Martyrs) was the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Mosco ...

, the Slánský trial, and other notorious abuses of power - but like Ignatiev, and unlike other involved, such as Mikhail Ryumin, he was never called to account for whatever role he had in those affairs. On 11 March 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, when

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...

resumed control of the MGB, Yepishev was returned to his post in Odessa, where he remained until August 1955. On 26 March 1954, he was accepted as a member of the Ukrainian Communist Party's Central Committee. From 14 August 1955 until 27 November 1960, Yepishev was the Soviet ambassador to the People's Republic of Romania. This posting suggests that the new head of the communist party,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, did not trust him, and wanted him away from the centre of power, despite their common background in Ukrainian politics. He left this office to immediately become ambassador in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the years 1961–1962. He was also a deputy of the 6th to 11th convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, from 18 March 1962 until his death. On 11 May 1962, Yepishev was promoted to the rank of Army General and appointed Chief of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy, effectively the Armed Forces' political supervisor. The reason for his sudden promotion is assumed to have been a conflict between the communist party leadership and senior army officers, including Yepishev's predecessor,

Filipp Golikov Filipp Ivanovich Golikov (russian: Фили́пп Ива́нович Го́ликов, links=no; July 30, 1900 – July 29, 1980) was a Soviet military commander. As chief of the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate), he is best known for failing to ...

, and his war time colleague Marshal Moskalenko, who opposed Khrushchev's rash decision to ship nuclear missiles to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. The appointment of a party official with only a limited military background was a way of re-establishing party control over the armed forces. He held the post for 23 years. When Khrushchev was toppled from power and removed from the Central Committee of the CPSU on 16 November 1964, Yepishev, who had been a candidate member since 1952, was promoted to fill the vacancy. In 1968, during the Prague Spring, when the Czechoslovak communist party under

Alexander Dubček Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czechoslovak ...

was attempting to combine state control of industry with free speech and the abolition of censorship, Yepishev was the first high-ranking official to hint publicly, in May 1968, that the USSR might use military force to suppress the experiment. On 15–18 August, he accompanied the Minister for Defence, Marshal

Andrei Grechko Andrei Antonovich Grechko (, ; – 26 April 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1955). He was Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976. Early life Grechko was the thirteenth child born to a family of Ukrainian peasant ...

on an inspection tour of the Red Army units who invaded Czechoslovakia days later, on 21 August. In spring 1979, Yepishev led a military delegation to Kabul, just before the Red Army invaded Afghanistan on 24 December 1979, setting off a war that lasted six years. In July 1985, Yepishev was the first high ranking Soviet communist official to be removed from office after the reformer Mikhail Gorbachev took control of the communist party. He went into semi-retirement with the title of inspector in the Ministry of Defense, but died shortly after.

In literature

Yepishev's role as an MGB general is part of the plot of Robert Harris's thriller ''Archangel'', in which he is described as "a big bastard" with a square jaw, thick brow and grim face set above a boxer's neck, and it is suggested that as an army officer "he never shot anyone, except on his own side."

References

External links