Vyacheslav Dmitrievich Tsvetaev (russian: Цветаев, Вячеслав Дмитриевич, 17 January 1893 – 11 August 1950) was a Soviet general 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 into a family of railway workers in Maloarkhangelsk, Oryol Oblast.
He fought for the Imperial Russian Army in World War I and for the Bolsheviks in the subsequent civil war and in the war against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. He became commander of the 56th Rifle Division between 1922 and 1926. In November 1926 he was transferred to the Central Asian Military District as commander of the 3rd Turkestan Rifle Division. In 1927 he graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

. In November 1929 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division. For five years he participated in battles with the

Basmachi movement The Basmachi movement (russian: Басмачество, ''Basmachestvo'', derived from Uzbek: "Basmachi" meaning "bandits") was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim peoples of Central Asia. The movement's roots l ...

in Southern Turkestan. Since 1931 he has been a senior lecturer at the Frunze Military Academy. In February 1937, he was appointed commander of the

57th Rifle Division The 57th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army and the Soviet Army. The division was originally formed in late 1920 as the 24th Rifle Division of the Internal Service Troops (VNUS) in the closing stages of the Russian Civil ...

in the Ural Military District. On 5 July 1938, he was arrested and accused of espionage activities in favor of Germany. He was imprisoned in Chitina prison and tortured. However, he refused to plead guilty and was released on 9 September 1939 for lack of proof. He was allowed back in the Red Army and became senior lecturer, and since January 1941, head of the Department of General Tactics at the

World War II

At the outbreak of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

, Tsvetaev became a member of the staff of the 7th Army of the Northern Front in Karelia. In the first half of 1942 he was deputy commander of the 4th Army of the Volkhov Front. From July 1942 he was commander of the 10th Reserve Army.
On 6 December 1942 he was appointed deputy commander, and from 26 December 1942 to May 1944 commander of the

5th Shock Army The 5th Shock Army was a Red Army field army of World War II. The army was formed on 9 December 1942 by redesignating the 10th Reserve Army. The army was formed two times prior to this with neither formation lasting more than a month before bein ...

. Under his command, the army fought at Stalingrad and in Southern Ukraine. From May to September 1944 he was deputy commander of the

1st Belarusian Front The 1st Belorussian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Белорусский фронт, ''Perviy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian") was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army ...

. In September 1944 he was for 2 weeks the commander of the 6th Army and then until the end of the war he was the commander of the 33rd Army in the 1st Belarusian Front. With his army, he distinguished himself in the Vistula–Oder Offensive and

Battle of 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– ...

. For the skilful leadership of his troops, Colonel-General Tsvetaev Vyacheslav Dmitrievich was awarded the title of

, with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. After the war, in July 1945, V.D. Tsvetaev was appointed deputy commander-in-chief, and from January 1947 commander-in-chief of the Southern Group of Forces.
Since January 1948 he was the head of the

. Vyacheslav Tsvetaev died on August 11, 1950. He was buried in Moscow at the

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...

Sources

the free dictionaryencyclopedia.mil.ru War heroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsvetayev, Vyacheslav 1893 births 1950 deaths Soviet colonel generals Heroes of the Soviet Union Russian military personnel of World War I People of the Russian Civil War People of the Polish–Soviet War Soviet military personnel of World War II 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 Frunze Military Academy alumni Commandants of the Frunze Military Academy