Mikhail Nikolaevich Sharokhin (russian: Михаил Николаевич Шарохин, November 23, 1898 - September 19, 1974) 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, ...

military commander and

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 ...

Biography

He was born in the village of Ivanovskoje the

Yaroslavl Governorate Yaroslavl Governorate (russian: Ярославская губерния, ''Yaroslavskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, located in European Russia in the Upper Volga ...

.
He fought in World War I and the Russian Civil War. When the war with Germany broke out in 1941, Sharokin served in the General Staff: first as Deputy Chief of the Operations Directorate, then Deputy Chief of the General Staff. From February 1942, he became Chief of Staff of the

3rd Shock Army The 3rd Shock Army (russian: Третья ударная армия) was a field army of the Red Army formed during the Second World War. The "Shock" armies were created with the specific structure to engage and destroy significant enemy forces ...

on the Kalinin Front, from August 1942 Chief of Staff of the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-cre ...

and from October 1942 Chief of Staff of the

Volkhov Front The Volkhov Front (russian: Волховский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group ...

. In these posts he was involved in the operation against the

Demyansk Pocket The Demyansk Pocket (german: Kessel von Demjansk; russian: Демя́нский котёл) was the name given to the pocket of German troops encircled by the Red Army around Demyansk, south of Leningrad, during World War II's Eastern Front. Th ...

and

Operation Iskra Operation Iskra (russian: операция Искра , translation = Operation Spark), a Soviet military operation in January 1943 during World War II, aimed to break the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad. Planning for the operation began shortl ...

. In August 1943, he received command of the 37th Army on the Steppe, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, which took part in the Poltava-Kremenchug,

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

, Nikopol–Krivoi Rog, Bereznegovato-Snigirevka, Odessa, Jassy-Kishinev and Bulgarian offensive operations. In these battles, his 37th Army crossed the

Southern Bug , ''Pivdennyi Buh'' , name_etymology = , image = Sunset S Bug Vinnitsa 2007 G1.jpg , image_size = 270 , image_caption = Southern Bug River in the vicinity of Vinnytsia, Ukraine , map = PietinisBug ...

and

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

rivers, and by the end of September 1944, reached the Bulgarian cities of

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain ...

Yambol Yambol ( bg, Ямбол ) is a town in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the admi ...

and

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a popu ...

. The 37th Army remained in Bulgaria until the end of the war, but Sharokin was placed at the head of the 57th Army until the end of war. With the 57th Army, he advanced through Hungary, Croatia and Austria and participated in the

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Lake Balaton defensive, Nagykanizsa–Körmend,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and Graz-Amstetten offensive operations. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 28, 1945, Colonel-General Mikhail Nikolayevich Sharokhin was awarded the title of

with 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 ...

and the Gold Star medal for exemplary performance of command assignments on the front of the struggle against the German invaders and for the courage and heroism shown at the same time. He remained in the Army as teacher and military consultant until his retirement in 1960.

Sources

Generals.dk

Шарохин Михаил Николаевич
''warheroes.ru''

''encyclopedia.mil.ru'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharokhin, Mikhail 1898 births 1974 deaths Soviet colonel generals Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II Heroes of the Soviet Union