russian: Андре́й Григо́рьевич Кра́вченко , image = Andrey Grigoryevich Kravchenko.jpg , birth_date = , death_date = , birth_place =Sulimivtsy,

Poltava Governorate The Poltava Governorate (russian: Полтавская губерния, Poltavskaya guberniya; ua, Полтавська Губернія, translit=Poltavska huberniia) or Poltavshchyna was a gubernia (also called a province or government) in t ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) , death_place =

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, placeofburial = , placeofburial_label = , nickname = , allegiance = , branch =

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 ...

, serviceyears = 1918–1955 , rank = Colonel General , unit = , commands = , battles =

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

Soviet Finnish War

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

, awards =

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

(twice) Andrey Grigoryevich Kravchenko (russian: Андре́й Григо́рьевич Кра́вченко; – 18 October 1963) was the commander of multiple tank units of the Red Army throughout World War II who was twice awarded the title

Early life

Kravchenko was born in a farming family in the village of Sulimivtsy near Poltava, Ukraine. He was an ethnic Ukrainian. Kravchenko fought in the

. He was educated at the Poltava infantry Academy (1923) and the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

. He subsequently served with the infantry and taught at the Saratov Tank Warfare school. From 1939 he was attached to the

Volga Military District The Volga Military District (PriVO) was a military district of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that existed from 1918 to 1989 and 1992 to 2001. The district headquarters was located at Kazan, Saratov and Kuibyshev (Samara) at different ...

as chief of staff of the 61st Rifle Division. Kravchenko fought in the Soviet Finnish War as chief of staff of the 173rd Motorized Division. In 1940 Kravchenko was appointed chief of staff of the 16th Tank Division and later the

18th Mechanised Corps 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 (number), 17 and preceding 19 (number), 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1 (number), 1, 2 (number), 2, 3 (number), 3, 6 (number), 6 and 9 (number), 9. Three ...

World War II

Kravchenko commanded the

2nd Tank Corps The 2nd Tank Corps was a Red Army armoured formation that saw service during World War II on the Eastern Front. The unit had approximately the same size and combat power as a Wehrmacht Panzer Division, and less than a British Armoured Division ...

, 4th Tank Corps,

5th Guards Tank Corps Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...

and

6th Guards Tank Army The 6th Guards Order of Red Banner Tank Army was a tank army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first formed in January 1944 as the 6th Tank Army,Glantz (Companion), p. 66. and disbanded in Ukraine in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Un ...

during

World War II 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 opposing ...

. He fought in the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, 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 ...

at the

Battle of Prokhorovka The Battle of Prokhorovka was fought on 12 July 1943 near Prokhorovka, southeast of Kursk, in the Soviet Union, during the Second World War. Taking place on the Eastern Front, the engagement was part of the wider Battle of Kursk and occurre ...

, the

Battle of the Dnieper 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 m ...

, the

Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi ( uk, Ко́рсунь-Шевче́нківський, ; pl, Korsuń Szewczenkowski; russian: Корсунь-Шевченковский) is a small city located in Cherkasy Raion of Cherkasy Oblast (province) in central ...

, the Uman–Botoșani Offensive, the

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

, the

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street f ...

and the Bratislava–Brno Offensive. After the German surrender, Kravchenko's 6th Guards Tank Army was transferred to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

and fought in the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

as part of the

Transbaikal Front The Transbaikal Front (russian: Забайкальский фронт) was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air ...

Postwar

Kravchenko graduated from the higher academic courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1949. He subsequently commanded tank forces and was commander of the

Far Eastern Military District The Far Eastern Military District (russian: Дальневосточный военный округ; Dalʹnevostochnyĭ voennyĭ okrug) was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific ...

from 1954. Kravchenko retired from the army in 1955 and served as a deputy in the Supreme Soviet. He died on October 18, 1963. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery. A bronze bust to Kravchenko was installed at his former home in Sumy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kravchenko, Andrey 1899 births 1963 deaths Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class Soviet colonel generals People from Poltava Governorate Frunze Military Academy alumni Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine