The Chirchiq Higher Tank Command and Engineering School (), formerly the Tashkent Order of Lenin Higher Tank Command School named after Pavel Rybalko () is a military academy of the
Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan
The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, O'zbekiston Respublikasi Mudofaa vazirligi) exercises administrative and operational leadership of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Uzbek Minister of Defense is the no ...
, responsible for training armored and engineering personnel of the
Uzbekistan Ground Forces.
Established in 1918 as the
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
Infantry Courses, it became an infantry school in 1921 and was converted into a tank school in 1932, training tank commanders for the expanding Soviet armored forces. It relocated to Kharkov in 1938 and was evacuated to Chirchiq in September 1941 following
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
, the German invasion of the Soviet Union 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 opposin ...
. The school was renamed the Tashkent Higher Tank Command School in 1966.
Despite its name, the school was located in
Chirchiq
Chirchiq, also spelled as Chirchik, ( uz, Chirchiq / Чирчиқ; russian: Чирчик) is a district-level city in Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan. It is about 32 km northeast of Tashkent, along the river Chirchiq. Chirchiq lies in the Chatk ...
rather than
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
. In 1993, following the independence of Uzbekistan and the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, it was renamed the Chirchiq Higher Tank Command and Engineering School.
History
Origins
The school traces its origins to the creation of the
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
Infantry Courses of 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, after ...
command staff on 16 November 1918 during the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
. The courses were taught in the building of the city's former
eparchal school. Among the first cadets were workers from the city's
Krasnoye Sormovo Factory. The faculty were taken from experienced former
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
officers, known as
Military specialist
The military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power. In 1918 the new government formed the Red Army, which then defeated its various internal enemies in the Russian ...
s.
Ippolit Zhilinsky taught tactics, B.N. Moravsky engineering, and K.I. Bussov shooting. The first head of the courses was former Colonel A.I. Goryachev, and the first head of training was
Nikolay Pukhov
Nikolay Pavlovich Pukhov (; –March 28, 1958) was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union who commanded troops during World War II.
Pukhov fought in World War I as a junior officer, afterwards joining the Red Army and fight ...
. During the summer of 1919, the first group of cadets graduated and were sent into combat on the
Southern Front. In 1921, the courses became the 11th Nizhny Novgorod Infantry School
and the training period at the school expanded to three years.
On 15 March 1932, the school was renamed the Nizhny Novgorod Tank School named for
I.V. 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 ...
, and began training tank commanders for the Red Army's new armored forces. The 1st Tank Battalion, a training unit, was formed at the school, commanded by
Makar Teryokhin
Makar Fomich Teryokhin (; – 30 March 1967) was a Soviet Army lieutenant general and a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Teryokhin became a non-commissioned officer in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, then joined the Red Army during the Rus ...
. It became the Gorky Tank School that year when the city was renamed. In the fall of 1934 the first class of tank commanders graduated; they included
Georgy Skleznyov, who was posthumously made a
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 ...
for his actions in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
, and future
Marshal of the Soviet Union
Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union.
The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...
Sergey Sokolov. In March 1938 it was relocated to
Kharkov
Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine. and renamed the Kharkov Tank School named for I.V. Stalin. The school was subsequently renamed the 1st Kharkov Tank School named for I.V. Stalin after a second tank school was established in Kharkov.
World War II
Following the beginning of
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, 252 lieutenants graduated from the school and immediately sent to the front. In July, a consolidated cadet shock tank battalion under the command of a Major Grishin was formed from a selection of the remaining cadets and commanders, equipped with new
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 warfare, anti-tan ...
and
KV tanks fresh from factories in Kharkov, and sent to the front within three days. In September, as the front line approached Kharkov, the entire group of cadets and instructors from the school took up defensive positions at the ''
stanitsa
A stanitsa ( rus, станица, p=stɐˈnʲitsə; uk, станиця, stanytsya) is a village inside a Cossack host ( uk, військо, viys’ko; russian: казачье войско, kazach’ye voysko, sometimes translated as "Cossack Arm ...
'' of
Buryn and the ''
khutor
A khutor ( rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir ( uk, хутiр, pl. , ''khutory'') is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement. '' of Mikhailovsky, fighting alongside the Kharkov Infantry School. On 22 September the school was evacuated to
Chirchiq
Chirchiq, also spelled as Chirchik, ( uz, Chirchiq / Чирчиқ; russian: Чирчик) is a district-level city in Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan. It is about 32 km northeast of Tashkent, along the river Chirchiq. Chirchiq lies in the Chatk ...
, where it was renamed the Tashkent Tank School. Two months later, it graduated another class of tank commanders. During the war, the school's training period was accelerated. In 1943, for "outstanding services in training command cadres", the school was awarded the
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
. During World War II, the school graduated more than 7,000 tank commanders. For their actions, 74 graduates of the school became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war.
Postwar
The school began transitioning back to a two-year period of study in 1946, and from 1949 had a three-year training period. In December 1961, as part of
De-Stalinization
De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...
, the school's honorific "named for I.V. Stalin" was replaced by "named for P.S. Rybalko" in honor of Soviet armor commander
Pavel Rybalko
Pavel Semyonovich Rybalko (23 October 1894 – 28 August 1948; russian: Па́вел Семёнович Рыба́лко, uk, Павло Семенович Рибалко) was a commander of armoured troops in the Red Army during and following Wor ...
. In April 1966, its training period was extended to four years, and the school was renamed the Tashkent Higher Tank Command School. Graduates now received a higher education diploma and a civilian engineer specialty.
In 1993, following the independence of Uzbekistan, the school was renamed the Chirchiq Higher Tank Command and Engineering School.
From 1997, the school trained tank platoon commanders in the operation and repair of armored vehicles and equipment, airborne platoon commanders in the operation and repair of armored and motor vehicles, and tactical short-range anti-aircraft systems commanders in radio engineering, as well as engineers for the operation and repair of armored vehicles and equipment, and
political officers in social sciences.
Commanders
The following officers commanded the school:
* Mikhail Vyazemsky (1937–1938)
*
Nikolay Pukhov
Nikolay Pavlovich Pukhov (; –March 28, 1958) was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union who commanded troops during World War II.
Pukhov fought in World War I as a junior officer, afterwards joining the Red Army and fight ...
(1938–1939)
* Boris Delakov (1940–1949)
* Vasily Koshelev (1949–1950)
* Anatoly Kamkov (1974–1977)
* Dmitry Leonov (1977–1985)
* Frolov (1985–1990)
* Yuri Agzamov (1990–1998)
Notable Graduates
*
Vladimir Arkhipov
Vladimir Mikhailovich Arkhipov ( Russian: Владимир Миха́йлович Архи́пов; 1 June 1933 – 27 October 2004) was a Soviet army general and politician.
Military service
In 1972 he graduated from the Military Academy of t ...
*
Dair Asanov
*
Afanasy Beloborodov
Afanasy Pavlantyevich Beloborodov (russian: Афанасий Павлантьевич Белобородов; – 1 September 1990) was general in the Red Army during the Second World War who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. ...
*
Alexander Novikov
Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Но́виков; – 3 December 1976) was the chief marshal of aviation for the Soviet Air Force during the Soviet Union's involvement in th ...
*
Sergey Sokolov
*
Alexander Shishlyannikov
Major General Alexander Vladimirovich Shishlyannikov () is a Tajik military officer and the first Minister of Defence of Tajikistan, serving from 1993 to 1995. He is an ethnic Russian.
Biography
Soviet Army
Alexander Shishlyannikov was born ...
, a
Tajik military officer and the first
Minister of Defence of Tajikistan.
See also
*
Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School
The Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School () was a military academy of the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan. It was previously known as the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School named after Vladimir Lenin (). It was one of the oldest mi ...
*
Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ўзбекистон Республикаси Қуролли Кучлари), is the name of the unified armed forces of Uzbekistan, consisting of the Ground Force and the Air and Air Defence ...
References
External links
Tashkent Higher Tank Command School alumni website
{{authority control
Military history of Uzbekistan
Education and training establishments of the Soviet Army
Military academies of Uzbekistan
Military command schools