Vasyl Herasymenko ( uk, Василь Пилипович Герасименко) was a Soviet military leader from Ukraine who was nominally and temporarily appointed the People's Commissar of Defense of the Ukrainian SSR in 1944-45.

Biography

Vasyl Herasymenko was born in a village of Velyka Burimka, Poltava Governorate (today part of Zolotonosha Raion, Cherkasy Oblast) on April 24, 1900 in a peasant family. When he was nine years of age, together with mother they moved to relatives in

Kuban Kuban (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Кубань; ady, Пшызэ) is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Pontic–Caspian steppe, ...

, stanytsia Berezanska. There Herasymenko finished a village school and the Nkil city college in Yekaterinodar. In 1918 Herasymenko joined the Red Army and during the Russian Civil War he fought at the

Northern Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

and the Southern Russia. In 1920 Herasymenko 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 ...

and in 1922 he finished the courses of commanding staff of the Red Army. In 1927 Herasymenko also finished the Joint Military School in Minsk and in 1931 - the M. V. Frunze Military Academy. In 1937 Herasymenko was commissioned as a commander of the 8th Rifle Corps. In 1938 he was a deputy commander of the Kiev Special Military District (see

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

). During World War II in July 1940 Herasymenko was appointed the commander of Volga Military District. At that time he was promoted to the Lieutenant General. In 1940 under the command of

Georgi Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...

participated in the invasion of Romania as a commander of the 5th Army. At the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Herasymenko commanded the 21st Army and the

13th Army Thirteenth Army or 13th Army may refer to: *Thirteenth Army (Japan) *Japanese Thirteenth Area Army *13th Army (Russian Empire), unit in World War I *13th Army (RSFSR), a unit in the Russian Civil War *13th Army (Soviet Union) *13th Air Army The 76 ...

at the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

. In the fall of the same year he was transferred to the Reserve Front staff personnel. In December 1941 Herasymenko was appointed the commander of Stalingrad Military District. In September 1942 - November 1943 he commanded the 28th Army that participated in the Rostov operation and the Melitopol Offensive as well as the Donbas Strategic Offensive. In January 1944 Herasymenko was appointed the commander of Kharkiv Military District forces, but already in March 1944 he was appointed the commander of

and the People's Commissar of Defense of the Ukrainian SSR. The decree of Ukrainian parliament Presidium was signed on March 11, 1944 and legalized the decision that was adopted by the

Stavka The ''Stavka'' (Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка) is a name of the high command of the armed forces formerly in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrative staff, a ...

of Commander-in-Chief and the

State Defense Committee The State Defense Committee (russian: Государственный комитет обороны - ГКО, translit=Gosudarstvennyĭ komitet oborony - GKO) was an extraordinary organ of state power in the USSR during the German-Soviet War (Grea ...

(both headed by Stalin). On November 13, 1945 on decision of Stalin as the Supreme commander of Armed Forces of the Soviet Union Lieutenant General Herasymenko was dismissed from the post of narkom and district commander and transferred to

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

where he stayed until September 1953 as part of the Baltic Military District staff personnel. In 1949 Herasymenko finished the higher academic courses at the Voroshilov Military Academy. In 1953 he was dismissed to reserves due to his health.

References

External links

* Kucheruk, O.
State without the army
Military-Historic Almanac. 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Herasymenko, Vasyl Soviet lieutenant generals 1900 births 1961 deaths People from Cherkasy Oblast People from Poltava Governorate Frunze Military Academy alumni Soviet defence ministers of Ukraine Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine Communist Party of the Soviet Union members 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, 2nd class