Prokofy Logvinovich Romanenko (; – 10 March 1949) was a Ukrainian

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

colonel general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

. Serving in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Romanenko joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, becoming a cavalry commander. He quickly moved up in rank during the interwar period, fighting in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

as an adviser and in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

as commander of the

10th Tank Corps The 10th Tank Corps was a tank corps of the Red Army, formed twice. First Formation In May–June 1938, the 7th Mechanized Corps headquarters was relocated from Novy Petergof to Luga and converted into the 10th Tank Corps when the Red Army ...

. After commanding a rifle corps and the 1st Mechanized Corps, he led the 17th Army in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

from early 1941. He was sent west to command the 3rd Tank Army in May 1942, leading it during the failed Kozelsk Offensive in the summer. Afterwards, Romanenko was transferred to lead the 5th Tank Army in

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus () was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romani ...

, the Soviet counteroffensive in the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

. After the end of the battle in February 1943, he became commander of the 2nd Tank Army, but after an unsuccessful attack became commander of the 48th Army in March. Romanenko led the 48th Army until December 1944, including in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

and

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

. He was replaced in command as a result of declining health, and postwar commanded the East Siberian Military District before his 1949 death.

Early life and World War I

Romanenko was born on 25 February 1897 at his peasant family's ''

khutor A khutor ( ; rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir (, ) is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement.Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

Romensky Uyezd Romensky Uyezd (, ) was one of the subdivisions of the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Romny. Demographics At the time of the Russian Empire Census of ...

(now the village of Khustyanka in

Buryn Raion Buryn Raion () was a raion in Sumy Oblast in Central Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion was the town of Buryn. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions ...

). He fought in the

during

, volunteering for the 14th Orenburg Cossack Regiment in 1914 and becoming a

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

(''uryadnik'' in the Cossack rank system) and then senior sergeant. Romanenko fought on the Southwestern Front as commander of a half-company, and was awarded four Crosses of St. George for his actions. In 1917, he graduated from the 5th Kiev

Praporshchik (, , ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in the corresponding navies. It is usually equivalent to warrant officer class 1 or serge ...

School, and was promoted to praporshchik, becoming a junior officer in the 155th Reserve Infantry Regiment.

Russian Civil War

After the dissolution of the Imperial Army, in January 1918, Romanenko was elected a member of the Blagodatnentsky

Volost Volost (; ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Kievan Rus', the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the Russian Empire. History The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1907) states that the origins of the concept is unc ...

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

Stavropol Governorate Stavropol Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day Stavropol Krai. It was created in 1847 and disbanded in 1924. Demographics ...

, and in March became its military commissar. In June, he organized a partisan detachment, fighting against the

Volunteer Army The Volunteer Army (; ), abbreviated to (), also known as the Southern White Army was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920. The Volunteer Army fought against Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists on the ...

on the

Southern Front of the Russian Civil War The Southern Front was a military theater of the Russian Civil War. Don revolts and formation of the Volunteer Army In the aftermath of the October Revolution, politicians and army officers hostile to the Bolsheviks gravitated to the Don Cossac ...

. In August, after joining the

, the unit became the 4th Stavropol Regiment, and became part of the 2nd North Stavropol Division in September, being renamed the 12th Rifle Regiment. Romanenko transferred to become commander of a cavalry squadron in the 6th Cavalry Division's 33rd Cavalry Regiment in June 1919, later serving as the assistant regimental commander. In 1918 and 1919, Romanenko participated in the fight against White Cossacks and

Anton Denikin Anton Ivanovich Denikin (, ; – 7 August 1947) was a Russian military leader who served as the Supreme Ruler of Russia, acting supreme ruler of the Russian State and the commander-in-chief of the White movement–aligned armed forces of Sout ...

's White troops in Stavropol Governorate, the Voronezh-Kastornensk Offensive, the Kharkov Operation, and the Donbass Offensive. Towards the end of the year the 6th Division was assigned to the

1st Cavalry Army __NOTOC__ The 1st Cavalry Army (), or ''Konarmia'' (Кона́рмия, "Horsearmy"), was a prominent Red Army military formation that served in the Russian Civil War and Polish–Soviet War, Polish-Soviet War. History Formation On 17 Novem ...

. Taking command of the regiment in June 1920, he led it during the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

in the Battle of Lwów on the Southwestern Front, and in the fall fought in the Perekop-Chongar Offensive, driving

Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (, ; ; 25 April 1928), also known by his nickname the Black Baron, was a Russian military officer of Baltic German origin in the Imperial Russian Army. During the final phase of the Russian Civil War, he was c ...

's White troops out of

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

Interwar period

After the end of the civil war, in May 1921, Romanenko became commander of the 14th Cavalry Division's 83rd Cavalry Regiment, part of the

North Caucasus Military District The North Caucasus Military District was a military district of the Russian Armed Forces from 1992-2010. Before 1992 it had been part of the Soviet Armed Forces since 1918. In 2010 it became the Southern Military District and lately also included t ...

. In 1925 he graduated from commander's refresher courses (KUKS) at the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Higher Cavalry School, becoming commander of the 10th Maikop Cavalry Division's 59th Cavalry Regiment in October 1926. Romanenko transferred to command the 10th Verkhneuralsk Red Cossack Cavalry Regiment of the 2nd Red Cossack Cavalry Division. In 1930, he graduated from Officer Improvement Courses (

KUVNAS The Courses of Improvement for Higher Officers of the Red Army (), also translated as the Course for Perfecting Red Army Command Cadre and commonly known by their Russian acronym KUVNAS, were a training course for senior officers of the Red Army du ...

) at the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), 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 (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

, and graduated from the academy itself in May 1933. He then became an assistant chief of the 3rd Department in the Directorate for Motorization and Mechanization, and in May 1935 became the 13th Mechanized Brigade's chief of staff in the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

. In April 1937, Romanenko took command of the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

's 11th Mechanized Brigade. He was sent to Spain as an adviser to the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

during the

, and was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

for his actions there. Upon his return to the Soviet Union in February 1938, Romanenko took command of the 7th Mechanized Corps in the Leningrad Military District, which was later converted into the

, leading it during the

in the fighting around Kiviniemi and the repulse of a Finnish counterattack northeast of Boboshino. In May 1940 he took command of the 34th Rifle Corps in the North Caucasus Military District, but was appointed commander of the new 1st Mechanized Corps in June. Romanenko became commander of the 17th Army of the

Transbaikal Military District The Transbaikal Military District () was a military district of first the Soviet Armed Forces and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on 17 May 1935 and included the Buryat Republic, Chita Oblast, and Yakutia. Chita was ...

in January 1941.

World War II

After spending the first months after

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, in the Far East, Romanenko was sent west to command the newly formed 3rd Tank Army in May 1942. In late August, the army became part of the Western Front and fought in the unsuccessful Kozelsk Offensive against the

2nd Panzer Army The 2nd Panzer Army () was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 2nd Panzer Group on October 5, 1941. Organisation Panzer Group Guderian () was formed on 5 June 1940 and named after its commander, general Heinz Gude ...

. After the offensive ended in September, he became deputy commander of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it fi ...

. Romanenko was transferred to command the reformed 5th Tank Army in November, leading it in

, the Soviet counteroffensive in the

during late November. In January 1943, he took command of the 2nd Tank Army, fighting in Central Front's unsuccessful offensive on

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...

and

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

during February. Romanenko then became commander of the 48th Army in the same month, leading it during the

Operation Kutuzov Operation Kutuzov was the first of the two counteroffensives launched by the Red Army as part of the Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation. It commenced on 12 July 1943, in the Central Russian Upland, against Army Group Center of the German ''Ger ...

, and the Chernigov-Pripyat Offensive in the summer and early fall of 1943. From November 1943, the army fought in the Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive, during which it captured

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

. During

, the Soviet offensive that recaptured Belarus and eastern Poland, which began in late June 1944, the army fought in the Bobruysk Offensive, seizing

Zhlobin Zhlobin (; ; ; ) is a town in Gomel Region, Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper River, and serves as the administrative center of Zhlobin District. It is situated from Gomel. As of 2025, it has a population of 76,304. The town is notable fo ...

Bobruisk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina River. Babruysk o ...

, and

Slonim Slonim is a town in Grodno Region, in western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slonim District. It is located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa (river), Isa rivers, southeast of Grodno. As of 2025, it has a population of ...

. In July, Romanenko was promoted to

Colonel General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

, but was replaced in command in December 1944 due to declining health.

Postwar

From July 1945, Romanenko commanded the East Siberian Military District. In February 1947 he became a student at the Higher Academic Courses of the Higher Military Academy, but in December transferred to the 2nd Main Courses of the academy, graduating in 1948. Romanenko was a deputy of the Second Convocation of the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

before his death on 10 March 1949 as a result of a serious illness. He was buried in

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () 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 site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romanenko, Prokofy 1897 births 1949 deaths People from Sumy Oblast People from Romensky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Second convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Soviet colonel generals Frunze Military Academy alumni Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Ukrainian people of World War I Russian military personnel of World War I Military personnel of the 1st Cavalry Army Soviet people of the Spanish Civil War Soviet military personnel of the Winter War Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine Recipients of the Cross of St. George 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 Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery