Andrei Grechko

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Marshal of the Soviet Union
Andrei Grechko
Андре́й Гре́чко
Andrei Grechko 3.jpg
Grechko in 1960
Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union
In office
12 April 1967 – 26 April 1976
PremierAlexei Kosygin
Preceded byRodion Malinovsky
Succeeded byDmitriy Ustinov
Full member of the 24th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office
27 April 1973 – 26 April 1976
Personal details
Born
Andrei Antonovich Greczhko

(1903-10-04)4 October 1903
Golodaevka, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire
Died26 April 1976(1976-04-26) (aged 72)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting placeKremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Nationality Soviet Union
Political partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (1928–1976)
ProfessionSoldier
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union (twice)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Soviet Russia (1919–1922)
 Soviet Union (1922–1976)
Branch/serviceSoviet Army
Years of service1919–1976
RankRank insignia of маршал Советского Союза.svg Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955–1976)
Commands18th Army
1st Guards Army
Kiev Military District
Battles/warsRussian Civil War
Second World War
Cold War

Andrei Antonovich Grechko (Russian: Андре́й Анто́нович Гре́чко, Ukrainian: Андрій Антонович Гречко; 17 October [O.S. 4 October] 1903 – 26 April 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1955). He was Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976.[2]

Early life

Grechko was the thirteenth child born to a family of Ukrainian peasants on 17 October 1903, at a small town near Rostov-on-Don.[3][4]

Military career

Grechko as a soldier in the Red Army

He joined the Red Army in 1919, where he was a part of the "Budyonny Cavalry". During the war, he fought in the Caucasian Front and Southern Front, where fought in battles against the White Army troops of Generals Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel, and detachments of Ataman Nestor Makhno, and the elimination of political and criminal banditry.[4]

From September 1921 to July 1922, he served in a separate battalion of OSNAZ in Taganrog. He studied at the Crimean Cavalry courses Named After the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in which he graduated in August 1923. After graduation, he was sent to study at the Taganrog Cavalry School of the North Caucasian Military District and in August 1924, he was transferred to the North Caucasian Mountain Nationalities Cavalry School in Krasnodar. During his studies, he was a foreman of a squadron and from 1925 to 1926, he participated in military operations against gang formations in Chechnya and Dagestan. He graduated in 1926 and became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[4]

From September 1926 to April 1932, he served in the 61st Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Separate Cavalry Brigade at the Moscow Military District, and platoon and machine-gun squadron commander.[4]

Grechko graduated from the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M. V. Frunze in 1936. After graduation, he served in the Special Red Banner Cavalry Division named after I.V. Stalin of the Moscow Military District and later transferred to the Belarusian Special Military District, where he served as assistant chief and chief of the 1st (operational) part of the division headquarters and commander of the 62nd Cavalry Regiment. From May 1938 to October 1938, he served as assistant chief of staff of the division.[4]

He graduated from the academy of the General Staff of the Red Army named after K. E. Voroshilov in June 1941.[4]

World War II

Grechko (center), commander of the 1st Guards Army, at the Árpád Line (1944)

In October 1938, he was appointed as chief of staff of the 62nd Cavalry Regiment. While serving in this position, he participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland.[4]

In the early days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Grechko served in the Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army. Grechko's first command during World War II was of the 34th Cavalry Division, which put up a valiant fight around Kremenchug (near Kyiv) in Ukraine during the First Battle of Kiev. The division was assigned to the 26th, 38th and 6th Armies on the Southwestern Front.[4]

On 15 January 1942, Grechko was put in command of the 5th Cavalry Corps and took part in the Barvenkovo–Lozovaya offensive. From March 1942, he was appointed as commander of the operational group of troops in the Southern Front, which operated in the Donbass. Starting 15 April 1942, Grechko was placed in command of 12th Army and took part in the defense of Voroshilovgrad and from July, took part in the Battle of the Caucasus. In September 1942, Grechko commanded the 47th Army and at the same time acting as commander of the Novorossiysk Defensive Region. He commanded the 47th Army in the Transcaucasian Front from 19 October 1942 and took part in the Tuapse Operation.[5]

From 5 January 1943, Grechko was commander of the 56th Army in the Transcaucasian Front, during which he took part in the North Caucasian Strategic Offensive Operation. After fierce battles in January, his unit broke through the heavily fortified enemy defenses and reached the approaches to Krasnodar. From February to March, as part of the North Caucasian Front, he participated in the Krasnodar Offensive, and then in a number of local and mostly unsuccessful offensive operations of the front troops. In September 1943, the troops of the 56th Army, in cooperation with the 9th and the 18th Armies, liberated the Taman Peninsula from the direction of Novorossiysk, during the Novorossiysk-Taman Strategic Offensive Operation.[6]

Grechko served as the deputy commander of the Voronezh Front from 16 October 1943 and on 20 October, he was appointed as deputy commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front. During this time, he fought in the Battle of the Dnieper and Second Battle of Kiev.[7]

Then, on 14 December 1943, he was made the Commanding General of 1st Guards Army, a position he held until the end of the war. The First Guards Army was a part of the 4th Ukrainian Front, which was led by Col.-Gen. Ivan Yefimovich Petrov. Grechko led the 1st Guards in a number of offensive operations, predominantly in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and into Austria.[7]

Post war

Grechko (far right) with East German leader Walter Ulbricht (center) and then Soviet Minister of Defense Marshal Rodion Malinovsky (far left) (1961)

After the war, Grechko was the Commanding General of the Kiev Military District, until 1953. Between 1953 and 1957, Grechko was the Commander-in-Chief of Soviet Forces in East Germany. During this time, he commanded the suppression of the East German uprising of 1953.[8]

On 11 March 1955, Grechko, along with five other high-ranking colleagues, all of whom had gained recognition during World War II, was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. From 1957 to 1960, Grechko was the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1 February 1958, "for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders", Grechko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.[9]

From 1960 to 1967, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Warsaw Pact Forces.[10]

Minister of Defense

On 12 April 1967, Grechko was made the Minister of Defense, taking over shortly after Marshal Rodion Malinovsky died. Grechko served in this capacity until his death in 1976. During the 1970s, Grechko served as the chairman of the editorial commission that produced the official Soviet history of the Second World War.[11]

In January 1968, following the outbreak of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, Grechko was the major planner and supporter of the Warsaw Pact invasion of the country, which stopped Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring liberalisation reforms and strengthened the authoritarian wing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). In March 1969, Chinese and Soviet troops fought in violent border clashes near Damansky Island and Tielieketi. In response to the clashes, Grechko strongly persuaded General Secretary of the Communist Party Leonid Brezhnev to carry out a surgical nuclear strike against China, especially targeting the Lop Nur Nuclear Test Site in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. Due to the resistance of the party factions headed by Mikhail Suslov and Sovier Premier Alexei Kosygin, who went to Beijing to meet with the Chinese leaders to reduce tensions between the two countries, a nuclear war was avoided.[12][13]

Marshal Andrei Grechko

In December 1971, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Grechko helped to provide military support to India during the war. During the Arab-Israeli conflict, Grechko oversaw the providing of Soviet military support to Arab countries against Israel. In the final days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Grechko authorized the Soviet advisers operating the Scud missile brigade stationed in Egypt to fulfill Egyptian request to launch a barrage of missiles at Israeli Defense Forces targets at the Israeli bridgehead on the western bank of the Suez Canal on October 22, just moments before the ceasefire. Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack.[14][15][16]

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 16, 1973, "for services to the Motherland in the construction and strengthening of the Armed Forces of the USSR and in connection with the 70th anniversary of his birth", Grechko was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time.[9]

Grechko was an active member in the Communist Party, and was a member of the Politburo. As Minister of Defense, he helped modernize the Soviet Army and was greatly responsible for maintaining the military strength of the Soviet Union. He was also responsible for maintaining Soviet military might and hegemony over Eastern Europe. An ideological and strategic hardliner, and a reluctant supporter of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), his most notable idea was his assumption that a Third World War would always go nuclear at some point, and as such he planned that if World War III did begin, to launch all-out nuclear strikes against the NATO nations the moment that the war began.[17] For Grechko, nuclear weapons would be weapons of first resort in a world war, not weapons of last resort. His views had caused opposition within the military and the political leadership, who wanted the Soviet Union to have a second strike capacity in order to prevent a war with the United States from going nuclear immediately as he preferred.[17]

In 1976, shortly before his death, he initiated the deployment of the RSD-10 medium-range ballistic missiles, which led to the NATO Double-Track Decision in the early 1980s.[18][19]

Death

Grechko died on 26 April 1976, at the age of 72. According to The New York Times, Grechko's medical report which was published by the Soviet press agency TASS stated that he had suffered for a long time from atherosclerosis and coronary insufficiency. He was honoured with a state funeral and cremated on 30 April. The urn containing his ashes is buried by the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.[20][21][22]

Personal life

Grechko was married to Claudia Vladimirovna Grehcko (1907-1990), with whom he had a daughter Tatyana Andreevna (1927-2002). Tatyana was married to Soviet and Russian diplomat Yuriy Kirichenko (1936-2017), the son of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine Aleksey Kirichenko.

According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Grechko was an enthusiastic fan of the sports club CSKA Moscow. Due to his efforts, the club received not only a new stadium, but also an arena, a base in Arkhangelsk and a host of other sports facilities.[23]

Honours and awards

Portrait of Marshal Grechko featured in the 2003 Russian postal cover
Hero of the Soviet Union medal.png Hero of the Soviet Union medal.png Hero of the Soviet Union, twice (1 February 1958, 16 October 1973)[24]
Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png Order of Lenin, six times (December 1942, 1945, 1 February 1958, October 1963, 22 February 1968, 16 October 1973)[25]
Order of Red Banner ribbon bar.png Order of the Red Banner, three times (1941, 1944, 1950)
Order suvorov1 rib.png Order of Suvorov, 1st class, twice (1944, 1945)
Order suvorov2 rib.png Order of Suvorov, 2nd class (February 1943)
Order kutuzov1 rib.png Order of Kutuzov, 1st class, twice (1943, 1944)
SU Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st class ribbon.svg Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 1st class (January 1944)
Defkiev rib.png Medal "For the Defence of Kiev" (1961)
Ribbon bar for the medal for the Defense of Moscow.png Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" (1944)
Defcaucasus rib.png Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" (1944)
Order of Glory Ribbon Bar.png Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1945)
100 lenin rib.png Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1969)
20 years of victory rib.png Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (1965)
SU Medal Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 ribbon.svg Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1975)
20 years saf rib.png Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" (1938)
30 years saf rib.png Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" (1948)
40 years saf rib.png Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1958)
50 years saf rib.png Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1968)
Именная шашка.png Honorary weapon – sword inscribed with golden national emblem of the Soviet Union (22 February 1968)
Foreign
OrderOfThePeople'sRepublicOfBulgariaRibbon.jpg Order of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, 1st class, twice (Bulgaria)
OrderOfGeorgiDimitrovRibbon.jpg Order of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
Sino Soviet Friendship Ribbon.svg Medal of Sino-Soviet Friendship (China)
Gold Star Hero CSSR.png Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Czechoslovakia)
Cs2okg.png Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia)
TCH CS Vojensky Rad Bileho Lva 1st (1945) BAR.svg Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory", 1st class (Czechoslovakia)
Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 Ribbon.png War Cross 1939–1945 (Czechoslovakia)
Medal for Strngthening Brotherhood in Arms 1 kl.png Medal “For Strengthening Friendship in Arms”, Golden class (Czechoslovakia)
TCH CS voj pametni medaile (SSSR) BAR.svg Military Commemorative Medal with 'USSR' clasp (Czechoslovakia)
FIN Order of the Lion of Finland 4Class BAR.png Order of the Lion of Finland, Knight, 1st class (Finland)
GDR Marks-order bar.png Order of Karl Marx (East Germany)
Patriotic Order of Merit GDR ribbon bar gold.png Patriotic Order of Merit in gold (East Germany)
Hu3ofl0.png Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary (Hungary)
HUN Order of Merit of the HPR 1kl BAR.png Order of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic, 1st class (Hungary)
HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic BAR.png Order of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic, 5th class (Hungary)
Order of the Two Rivers - Military (Iraq) - ribbon bar.png Order of the Two Rivers, military division (Iraq)
OrdenSuheBator.png Order of Sukhbaatar, twice (Mongolia)
Med XXXth anniversary of chalkin gol victory rib.PNG Medal "30 Years of the Victory in Khalkhin-Gol" (Mongolia)
POL Virtuti Militari Wielki BAR.svg Grand Cross of the Virtuti Militari (Poland)
POL Polonia Restituta Wielki BAR.svg Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)
POL Polonia Restituta Komandorski BAR.svg Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)
POL Order Krzyża Grunwaldu 2 Klasy BAR.svg Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class (Poland)[26]
POL Medal za Odrę Nysę i Bałtyk BAR.svg Medal "For Oder, Neisse and the Baltic" (Poland)
POL Za Warszawę 1939-1945 BAR.svg Medal "For Warsaw 1939-1945" (Poland)
POL Medal Zwycięstwa i Wolności BAR.svg Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945 (Poland)
POL Odznaka Braterstwa Broni BAR.png Brotherhood of Arms Medal (Poland)
ROM Ordinul Steaua Republicii Populare Române clasa I BAR.svg Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 1st class (Romania)
Order 23 august 1 kl rib.png Order "August 23" (Romania)

Other honors

Bronze bust of Grechko at the Alley of Heroes Monument

Selected works

  • Great Feat of the Soviet People (1970)
  • Battle for the Caucasus (1971)
  • Through the Carpathians (1972)
  • Liberation of Kiev (1973)
  • Liberation Mission of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Second World War (1975)
  • Years of War 1941—1943 (1976)
  • The Armed Forces of the Soviet Union (1977)

Source:[31][32]

References

  1. ^ attribution: Mil.ru
  2. ^ "ГРЕЧКО Андрей Антонович". mil.ru. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  3. ^ Dennis Kavanagh (1998). "Andrei Grechko". A Dictionary of Political Biography. Oxford: OUP. p. 196. Archived from the original on 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2017-08-24.[ISBN missing]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Герои страны". Archived from the original on 2004-09-07. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  5. ^ "БИТВА ЗА КАВКАЗ. ВОСПОМИНАНИЯ МАРШАЛА АНДРЕЯ ГРЕЧКО". диктантпобеды.рф. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Andrey Antonovich Grechko (1903-76)". Global Security. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Дважды герой советского союза гречко андрей антонович. Дважды герой советского союза гречко андрей антонович Биография гречко андрей антонович". goaravetisyan.ru. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  8. ^ "Soviet Advocate of Preparedness Andrei Antonovich Grechko". The New York Times. 1971-06-15. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Гречко Андрей Антонович". Pamyat Naroda. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  10. ^ Газета «Северная Осетия» // Гость «СО».
  11. ^ Годы войны. 1941—1943 Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. 1976
  12. ^ Frost, Matthew (1998-08-09). "Czech Republic: A Chronology Of Events Leading To The 1968 Invasion". RFE/RL. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  13. ^ Geerson, Michael S. (2010). "The Sino-Soviet Border Conflict: Deterrence, Escalation, and the Threat of Nuclear War in 1969" (PDF). CNA. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  14. ^ Singh, Zoarwar Daulet (2019-12-19). "Calling the U.S.'s bluff in 1971". The Hindu. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  15. ^ Ginor, Isabella (2000-06-10). "How Six Day war almost led to Armageddon". The Guardian. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  16. ^ Araf, Erol (2013-10-07). "Incalculable consequences". National Post. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Cant, James "The SS-20 Missile-Why Were You Pointing at Me?" pages 240-253 from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy edited by Ljubica and Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 page 245
  18. ^ Nünlist, Christian (2016-10-28). "Cold War Generals: The Warsaw Pact Committee of Defense Ministers, 1969-90". PHP. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  19. ^ Ambrose, Matthew (2014). "The Limits of Control: A History of the SALT Process, 1969-1983". ohiolink.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  20. ^ Wren, Christopher S. (1976-04-27). "Grechko Soviet Defense Chief, Dies at 72". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  21. ^ "Андрей Антонович Гречко". hrono.ru. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  22. ^ "Soviet Anthem at State Funeral of Andrei Grechko (30 April, 1976)". YouTube. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  23. ^ "СПОРТ-ЭКСПРЕСС ФУТБОЛ". sport-express.ru. 2002-11-15. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  24. ^ Дважды Герой Советского Союза Гречко Андрей Антонович на сайте «Герои страны»Archived 2016-08-03 at the Wayback Machine.
  25. ^ Сайт «Молодая Гвардия». А. А. Гречко Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  26. ^ Uchwała Prezydium Krajowej Rady Narodowej z dnia 24 czerwca 1946 r. o odznaczeniach generałów, oficerów i szeregowych b. 4-go Ukraińskiego Frontu za wybitne zasługi przy wyzwoleniu Polski spod okupacji hitlerowskiej.
  27. ^ a b c d ""Маршал всего Советского Союза"". stoletie.ru. 2013-10-17. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  28. ^ "МБОУ КУЙБЫШЕВСКАЯ СОШ ИМ. А.А.ГРЕЧКО". excheck.pro. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  29. ^ "У Києві вулицю Маршала Гречка перейменували на честь гетьмана Івана Виговського". Istpravda. 2019-12-20. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  30. ^ "Нові назви вулиць Житомира - пошук та список". streets.in.ua. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  31. ^ "Andrei Grechko". Goodreads. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  32. ^ "Grechko, A. A. (Andreĭ Antonovich) 1903-1976". WorldCat Identities. Retrieved May 26, 2022.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Defence of Soviet Union
1967–1976 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization
1960–1967 		Succeeded by
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