Stepan Dmitrievich Rybalchenko (russian: Степа́н Дми́триевич Рыба́льченко; 11 July 1903 – 1986) was a Soviet military officer. He was active in the Red Army as a soldier during the Russian Civil War, as a Soviet Air Force general during the Second World War, and later as a military instructor.

Biography

Rybalchenko was born on 11 July 1903 in the settlement of Novoyegorylskoye in the Don Host Oblast of the Russian Empire (in the present-day

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...

in Russia).Grechko, Andrey Antonovich (Ed.). ''Советская Военная Энциклопедия''. (''The Soviet Military Encyclopedia''). Volume 7. Moscow: Voyennoye Izdatelstvo Ministerstva Oboronny SSSR, 1980. P. 202. A career military officer, he first joined the Red Army in his teens in 1919, taking part in the Civil War.Vronskaya, Jeanne & Vladimri Chuguev. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Soviet Union''. , . P. 361. He subsequently joined the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

in 1927 and graduated from Frunze Military Academy in 1936.Ogarkov, N. V. (Ed.). "Рыбальченко Степан Дмитриевич" ("Rybalchenko, Stepan Dmitrievich"). ''Военный энциклопедический словарь'' (''A Military Encyclopedic Dictionary''). Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1983. P. 648. He served as chief of the intelligence department and Deputy Chief of Staff for the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District from 1938 to 1941. During World War II, Rybalchenko first served as a staff officer in Leningrad. He was appointed to lead the

13th Air Army The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949–1980, and again from 1988–98. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front. 13th Air Army's initial components ...

around Leningrad in the Soviet defense of the area during the Nazi siege in November 1942 and was in charge of the force as a lieutenant general when the Thirteenth Air Army, then in possession of some 400 planes, provided support for the Soviet pushback in 1944. Glantz, David. ''The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-1944''. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2002. . P. 509. He was promoted to the rank of colonel-general in 1944.Ogarkov, N. V. (Ed.). "Рыбальченко Степан Дмитриевич" ("Rybalchenko, Stepan Dmitrievich"). ''Военный энциклопедический словарь'' (''A Military Encyclopedic Dictionary''). Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1983. P. 648. Rybalchenko served as a military instructor from 1956 to 1963, then retired from military service. He was awarded an Order of the October Revolution by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1983.''Ведомости Верховного Совета Союза Советских Социалистических Республик''. (''News of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics'') No. 28, 6 June 1983. Moscow: Verkhnovnyi Sovet, 1983. P. 477.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rybalchenko, Stepan Dmitrievich 1903 births 1986 deaths People from Rostov Oblast People from Don Host Oblast Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet Air Force generals Soviet colonel generals People of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II Frunze Military Academy alumni Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 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