Leonty Georgyevich Cheremisov (russian: Леонтий Георгиевич Черемисов; 1 July 1893 – 17 November 1967) was a

Soviet 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, ...

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

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

who led the 16th Army in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

from 1943 to 1945.

Early life, World War I, and Russian Civil War

Cheremisov was born to a peasant family on 1 July 1893 in the village of Lysye Gory,

Atkarsky Uyezd Atkarsky Uyezd (''Аткарский уезд'') was one of the subdivisions of the Saratov Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the central part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Atkarsk. Demographics At the ti ...

Saratov Governorate Saratov Governorate (russian: link=no, Саратовская губе́рния, ''Saratovskaya guberniya'', Government of Saratov), was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Socialist Federative Sovi ...

. He was drafted into the

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 ...

in September 1915 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He graduated from a training detachment and became a private (''

ryadovoy (russian: Рядово́й) in the Army, Airborne troops, and Air Force of the Russian Federation is the designation of a member of the rank group of enlisted personnel. The rank is equivalent to ''matros'' ( ru , матрос) in the Russia ...

''). After graduating from the Gatchina School of ''

Praporshchik ( rus, Пра́порщик, 3=ˈprapərɕːɪk, ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in navies. It is usually equivalent to Warrant ...

''s in 1917, Cheremisov served as an assistant company commander with the rank an ensign (''praporshchik''). He fought in the

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 ...

after joining the

in 1919, serving as a company, battalion, and regimental commander. Cheremisov fought on the

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and Eastern Fronts, participating in the suppression of the Sapozhnikov revolt. In July 1920 he became commander of the 511th Separate Rifle Battalion of the 292nd Rifle Regiment of the

33rd Kuban Rifle Division The 33rd Kuban Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War and the Polish–Soviet War. The division was first formed as the 33rd Rifle Division in March 1919 on the Southern Front and became the 33rd Kuba ...

, and later led the regiment itself.

Interwar period

After the end of the war, Cheremisov served with the

27th Rifle Division The 27th Rifle Division (russian: 27-я стрелковая дивизия) was a tactical unit in the Red Army of Soviet Russia and then the Soviet Union, active between 1918 and 1945. First formed during the Russian Civil War on November 3, 1 ...

as assistant commander of the 240th Tver Rifle Regiment from October 1921, becoming regimental commander in January 1922. He transferred to command the 239th Kursk Rifle Regiment in May 1922 but a month later became a battalion commander in the regiment. He served as acting assistant commander of the 80th Rifle Regiment from August 1923 and then the 79th Rifle Regiment from December of that year. After becoming chief of the school of the division in February 1924, Cheremisov served as assistant battalion commander in the 79th Regiment from September. Graduating from the

Vystrel course The Vystrel course () was the popular name for an officer training course of the Soviet Armed Forces, later part of the Russian Armed Forces, located in Solnechnogorsk. The training course had a one year curriculum to train battalion and regiment le ...

in 1925, he became a battalion commander in the 79th in August of that year. From February 1926 he served as assistant commander of the 99th Orenburg Rifle Regiment of the

33rd Rifle Division The 33rd Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1922 at Samara and moved to Belarus in the next year. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 and in the O ...

, becoming its chief of staff in October 1926, after graduating from Courses of Improvement for Higher Officers at the Frunze Military Academy in April 1930, its commander. In April 1932 Cheremisov transferred to serve as assistant commander of the

81st Rifle Division The 81st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. It was established at Lubny (Kiev or Kharkov Military Districts) around 1936. As 81st Mechanised Division, part of 4th Mechanised Corps, with 6th Army, Southw ...

, then shifted to the same position in the 43rd Rifle Division later that year in November. Transferred to the reserve, he became chief of the combat training department of the western region of

OSOAVIAKHIM The Society for the Assistance of Defense, Aircraft and Chemical Construction (russian: Общество содействия обороне, авиационному и химическому строительству, romanized as ''Obshches ...

in October 1934. Cheremisov graduated from the external faculty of the Frunze Military Academy in 1938 and was appointed commander of the

68th Mountain Rifle Division The 68th Mountain Rifle Division () was a mountain infantry division of the Red Army before and during World War II. Formed in late 1919 during the Russian Civil War as the 3rd Turkestan Rifle Division, it served with the Turkestan Front in the ...

in March of that year after being promoted to ''

kombrig (russian: комбриг) is an abbreviation of Commanding officer of the brigade (russian: командир бригады, komandir brigady; ), and was a military rank in the Soviet Armed Forces of the USSR from 1935 to 1940. It was also the ...

'' on 20 February, then advanced to command the 20th Rifle Corps in the

in February 1939. Given the rank of major general on 4 June 1940 when the Red Army introduced general officer ranks, he took command of the new 15th Army a month later.

World War II

After 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 afte ...

, Cheremisov remained with the 15th Army in the Soviet Far East. He was replaced in command of the army in November and became assistant commander for higher educational institutions of the

Far Eastern Front The Far Eastern Front ( Russian: Дальневосточный фронт) was a front — a level of military formation that is equivalent to army group — of the Red Army during the Second World War. Early war service Тhe Far Eastern Front ...

. Cheremisov returned to army command on 8 September 1943 when he was appointed commander of the recently formed 16th Army. The army spent the rest of the war covering the Soviet–Japanese border on

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

. He led the army in the

Soviet–Japanese War The Soviet–Japanese War (russian: Советско-японская война; ja, ソ連対日参戦, soren tai nichi sansen, Soviet Union entry into war against Japan), known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945 (), was a military ...

as part of the

2nd Far Eastern Front __NOTOC__ The 2nd Far Eastern Front (russian: 2-й Дальневосточный фронт) was a Front—a formation equivalent to a Western Army Group—of the Soviet Army. It was formed just prior to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and was ...

, during which it conducted the

Invasion of South Sakhalin The Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin, also known as the Battle of Sakhalin (russian: Южно-Сахалинская операция; ja, 樺太の戦い), was the Soviet invasion of the Japanese portion of Sakhalin Island known as Karafu ...

and the

Invasion of the Kuril Islands The Invasion of the Kuril Islands (russian: Курильская десантная операция, lit=Kuril Islands Landing Operation) was the World War II Soviet military operation to capture the Kuril Islands from Japan in 1945. The inv ...

, being was promoted to

on 8 September 1945.

Postwar

After the end of the war, Cheremisov briefly became commandant of the 103rd Fortified Region in 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 ...

after the 16th Army was disbanded. He served as deputy commander of the

Primorsky Military District The Primorsky Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces that existed in from 1945 to 1953. Formed from the headquarters of the 1st Far East Front after the end of World War II, the district controlled troops on the territ ...

from 1946 and assistant commander of the

South Ural Military District The South Ural Military District (YuUrVO(ЮУрВО)) was a military administrative division of the Soviet Armed Forces. It existed from 1 December 1941 to 15 January 1958. History According to the directive No. 0444 of People's Commissar of Def ...

for higher educational institutions from 1948. Cheremisov was dismissed from 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 ...

in 1958, and died in

Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhst ...

on 17 November 1967.

Honors and awards

Cheremisov received the following decorations: *

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 ...

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

(3) *

Order of Kutuzov The Order of Kutuzov (russian: орден Кутузова ''orden Kutuzova'') is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813). The Order was established ...

, 1st class

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheremisov, Leonty 1893 births 1967 deaths People from Saratov Oblast People from Atkarsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet lieutenant generals Frunze Military Academy alumni Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II Russian people of World War II Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class