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
World War II.
Early life and career
Pavel Rybalko served in the Russian and later the Soviet Army from 1914. He served during
World War I as a soldier, as an assistant commander of the partisan squadron during the
Russian Civil War, and as a
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
commander and a commander and instructor during the
Polish-Soviet War. After attending the Frunze Military Academy in 1931 to 1934, he served in the
Far East in 1935 and was afterwards assigned to the Auto-Armoured Tank Directorate in
Moscow.
During that period, he studied intensively the principles of modern armoured warfare, as developed by the western theorists (Generals
von Kleist
The House of Kleist is the name of an old and distinguished Pomeranian Prussian noble family, whose members obtained many important military positions within the Kingdom of Prussia and later in the German Empire.
Notable members
*Henning Alexan ...
,
Guderian and
Fuller), as well as the doctrine of "
deep operations
Deep operation (, ''glubokaya operatsiya''), also known as Soviet Deep Battle, was a military theory developed by the Soviet Union for its armed forces during the 1920s and 1930s. It was a tenet that emphasized destroying, suppressing or disorga ...
," as theorized by
Triandafillov and
Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937) nicknamed the Red Napoleon by foreign newspapers, was a Sovie ...
. His next assignments were as
military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...
in Poland, where he was the last military attaché and left a few days before the
Soviet invasion, and in China. He then took a post of lecturer in tactics at the
Kazan tank school.
World War II
Very surprisingly and to his extreme frustration, Rybalko spent the first year of the war as a lecturer in Kazan. He finally got an operational assignment in May 1942, as deputy commander of the
3rd Tank Army of the
Reserve of the Supreme High Command. Throughout the war, Rybalko's name was closely associated with the 3rd Tank Army. In the winter of 1942–1943, included in the
Voronezh Front, his army spearheaded the different operations that tried to exploit and transform the Germans' defeat in Stalingrad into a large-scale strategic victory in the southern theater of operations. That included
Operation Star
Operation Star or Operation Zvezda (russian: Звезда, lit=Star) was a Red Army offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II begun on 2 February 1943. The attack was the responsibility of the Voronezh Front under the command of Filipp Goliko ...
in February, which was aimed at the liberation of
Kharkov, one of the first major Soviet cities to be reconquered by the Red Army. However,
Erich von Manstein's
counteroffensive recaptured the city and inflicted serious damages to the exhausted and overextended 3rd Tank Army.
Refitted and renamed the 3rd
Guards Tank Army, Rybalko's army played crucial roles in the strategic counteroffensives that followed the
Battle of Kursk (
Operation Kutuzov), in the
recapture of Kiev (6 November 1943). The winter and the spring of 1944 saw a succession of large operations, aiming at the destruction of the southern wing of the
Wehrmacht. Operations (
Zhitomir-Berdichev in December 1943 to January 1944 and
Proskurov-Chernivtsi in March to April 1944) succeeded at least in the complete liberation of
Ukraine by the end of the summer. During the various operations, Rybalko showed impressive tactical and operational skills, particularly during the
Lvov-Sandomierz Operation.
Still in command of his
3rd Guards Tank Army
The 3rd Guards Tank Army (russian: 3-я гвардейская танковая армия) was a tank army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. The 3rd Tank Army was created in 1942 and fought in the southern areas of ...
, Rybalko took a major place in the various operations that were launched in North Ukraine:
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
(summer 1944) and
Silesia (late 1944 and winter 1945). Finally, as part of
Ivan Konev's
1st Ukrainian Front
The 1st Ukrainian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front (Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a ...
, Rybalko's army was one of the four Guards Tank armies engaged in the giant
Battle for Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula–O ...
.
Immediately after the capture of
Berlin, Rybalko and his tank army were tasked with the assault on the city in the
Prague offensive
The Prague offensive (russian: Пражская стратегическая наступательная операция, Prazhskaya strategicheskaya nastupatel'naya operatsiya, lit=Prague strategic offensive) was the last major military ...
and on 9 May liberated
Prague.
Postwar
After the war, he became commander of the mechanized forces of the Red Army.
He emerged from the war as one of the most brilliant Soviet tank commanders. He fully understood the nature of armoured warfare and mastered the operational aspects of armoured armies command.
Legacy
The
Tashkent Higher Tank Command School is named after him.
Awards and decorations
Soviet Union
Foreign
External links
*
Biography on Generals.dk*
Biography* ''Stalin's Generals'', Harold Shukman Ed, Richard Woff, Phoenix Book, 2001
* ''Red Army Tank Commanders'', Richard N. Armstrong, Schiffer Publishing, 1994
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rybalko, Pavel
1892 births
1948 deaths
People from Sumy Oblast
People from Kharkov Governorate
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Soviet Marshals of Tank Troops
Soviet military attachés
Soviet military personnel of World War II
Ukrainian people of World War II
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 Kutuzov, 1st class
Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class
Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross
Recipients of the Virtuti Militari (1943–1989)
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Knights of the Virtuti Militari
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class
Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion
Recipients of the Military Order of the White Lion