Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko[a] (18 February [O.S. 6 February] 1895 – 31 March 1970) was a Soviet military commander,Marshal of the Soviet Union, and one of the most prominentRed Army commanders during theSecond World War.
Born to a Ukrainian family inBessarabia, Timoshenko was drafted into theImperial Russian Army and saw action in theFirst World War as acavalryman. On the outbreak of the 1917Russian Revolution he joined the Red Army. He served with distinction during theRussian Civil War of 1917 to 1922 and the subsequentPolish–Soviet War of 1919 to 1921, which brought him intoVladimir Lenin's andJoseph Stalin's favour. Rapidly rising through the ranks, Timoshenko held several regional commands throughout the 1930s and survived theGreat Purge of 1936 to 1938. He led theUkrainian Front during theSoviet invasion of Poland in 1939. In early 1940, Timoshenko took over the command of Soviet troops in theWinter War in Finland fromKliment Voroshilov and turned the tide for the Red Army. In May 1940, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union and thePeople's Commissar for Defence. In the latter capacity, he took steps to modernise the Red Army and to prepare for a likely war withNazi Germany.
On the outbreak of theAxis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 Timoshenko was named chairman of theStavka. Replaced by Stalin himself a month later, he went on to hold a series of important field commands in the following year. In late 1941, he organised a major counter-offensive inRostov, which brought him international renown. His fortunes had faltered by mid-1942, in particular after the overwhelming Soviet defeat at theSecond Battle of Kharkov, and he was relieved from the command of the newly formedStalingrad Front. He was recalled later that year and appointed commander of theNorthwestern Front, and as a Stavka representative he oversaw and coordinated the activities of several fronts in various times during the last phase of the war, including theLeningrad,Volkhov, andNorth Caucasus Fronts and theBlack Sea Fleet, and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts.
After the war, Timoshenko held commands in several Soviet military districts until his effective retirement in 1960. He died in 1970 at the age of 75.
Born in Orman in theAkkerman uezd,Bessarabia Governorate of theRussian Empire (present-dayFurmanivka,Odesa Oblast,Ukraine),[1] to an ethnic Ukrainian family.[2][3]
In 1914, he was drafted into the army of the Russian Empire and served as acavalryman on Russia'swestern front in theFirst World War. Upon the outbreak of theRussian Revolution in 1917, he sided with the Bolsheviks, joining theRed Army in 1918[4] and theRussian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1919.[5]
During theRussian Civil War of 1917–1923, Timoshenko served on various fronts. Hefought against Polish forces in Kiev and then againstPyotr Wrangel'sWhite Army andNestor Makhno'sBlack Army.[2] His most important encounter occurred atTsaritsyn, where he commanded a cavalry regiment and met and befriendedJoseph Stalin, who was responsible for the city's defense.[4] The personal connection would ensure his rapid advancement after Stalin gained control of the Communist Party by the end of the 1920s. In 1920–1921, Timoshenko served underSemyon Budyonny andKliment Voroshilov in the1st Cavalry Army; Budyonny and Voroshilov became the core of the"Cavalry Army clique" which, under Stalin's patronage, would dominate the Red Army for many years.[6] In April 1920, he was given command of the Sixth Division of the Red Cavalry, which was the first to attack the Polish army during the 'May offensive' launched by the Red Army during thePolish-Soviet War. On 29 May, the Sixth Division charged Polish trenches, taking heavy casualties for no gain, which convinced the Soviet commanders that charging trenches was pointless.[7]
By the end of the civil andPolish–Soviet wars, Timoshenko had become the commander of the Red Army cavalry forces. Thereafter, under Stalin, he became Red Army commander inByelorussia (1933); inKiev (1935); in the northernCaucasus and thenKharkov (1937); and Kiev again (1938). In 1939, he was given command of the entire western border region and led theUkrainian Front during theSoviet invasion of eastern Poland. He also became a member of the Communist Party'sCentral Committee. Due to being a loyal friend of Lenin and Stalin, Timoshenko survived theGreat Purge to become the Red Army's senior professional soldier.
In January 1940, Timoshenko took charge of the Soviet armies fightingFinland in theSoviet-Finnish War. This began the previous November, under the disastrous command ofKliment Voroshilov. Under Timoshenko's leadership, the Soviets succeeded in breaking through the FinnishMannerheim Line on theKarelian Isthmus. His reputation increased, Timoshenko was made thePeople's Commissar for Defence and aMarshal of the Soviet Union in May, replacingMarshal Voroshilov as the Minister of Defence.
British historianJohn Erickson has written:
Although by no means a military intellectual, Timoshenko had at least passed through the higher command courses of the Red Army and was a fully trained 'commander-commissar'. During the critical period of the military purge, Stalin had used Timoshenko as a military district commander who could hold key appointments while their incumbents were liquidated or exiled.[8]
Timoshenko was a competent but traditionalist military commander who nonetheless saw the urgent need to modernise the Red Army if, as expected, it was to fight a war againstNazi Germany. Overcoming the opposition of other more conservative leaders, he undertook themechanisation of the Red Army and the production of moretanks.[9] He also reintroduced much of the traditional harsh discipline of the Tsarist Russian Army[citation needed].
In June 1940, Timoshenko ordered the formation of theBaltic Military District in the occupiedBaltic states.
In the weeks before theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union, Timoshenko and Zhukov were worried by reports that German planes were crossing the Soviet border at least 10 times a day, and on 13 June, they asked Stalin for permission to put the troops on the western border on high alert, but were overruled because Stalin was convinced that there would be no German invasion before spring 1942.[10]
GeneralIvan Boldin, deputy commander on the western front, recounted in memoirs published 20 years later that early in the morning of the invasion, on 22 June, when several towns in Belarus, includingGrodno, were being bombed, aircraft destroyed on the ground, troops were being strafed, and German paratroopers were landing behind Red Army lines, Timoshenko rang him with an instruction that "no action is to be taken against the Germans without our knowledge ... Comrade Stalin has forbidden to open artillery fire against the Germans".[11]
On 23 June, Timoshenko was named chairman ofStavka, the Soviet Armed Forces High Command.[12] In July 1941, Stalin replaced Timoshenko as Defense Commissar and Stavka's chairman. At the same time, theWestern Front was divided into three sectors, with Timoshenko put in command of theCentral Front[4] to supervise a fighting retreat from the border toSmolensk. The Northern Front was commanded by Voroshilov, and theSouthwestern Front by Budyonny, both of whom were removed by Stalin for incompetence after only a few weeks.[13] Timoshenko was transferred toUkraine in September to replace Budyonny and restore order at the gates ofKiev. On 23 October, the Soviets made Timoshenko command the entire southern half of the Eastern Front andGeorgy Zhukov command the northern half.[14] In November and December 1941, Timoshenko organized major counter offensives in theRostov region, as well as carving a bridgehead into German defenses south ofKharkiv in January 1942.[4]
In May 1942, Timoshenko, with 640,000 men, launched a counter-offensive (theSecond Battle of Kharkov), which was the first Soviet attempt to gain initiative in the springtime war. After initial Soviet successes, the Germans struck back at Timoshenko's exposed southern flank, halting the offensive, encircling Timoshenko's armies, and turning the battle into a major Soviet defeat.
The fact that he was the most senior Soviet army officer with a front-line command during most of the first year after the German invasion turned Timoshenko, briefly, into an international celebrity, lionised in the US and UK in particular as a supposed military genius. According to an account written later in the war:
Marshal Timoshenko flared up like a shooting star of unusual brightness against a sky that was more than commonly dark, and faded just as swiftly and unexpectedly. From June 1941 to about July 1942, so famous was he that foreigners, notably the Welsh and Irish, attempted to inch under his halo by finding their blood in him. The Welsh said that Timothy Jenkins was the Marshal's ancestor who had migrated to Russia to work as a mechanic and marry a Ukrainian girl. The Hibernians told a similar story about a certain Tim O'Shenko. In June 1942, an American humorist wrote: "I am waiting to hear from the Poles, the Czechs, the Brazilians and the Greeks. Everybody wants to be a winner." But just then, Marshal Timoshenko began his descent from glory.[15]
GeneralGeorgy Zhukov's success in defending Moscow during December 1941 had persuaded Stalin that he was a better commander than Timoshenko.[citation needed] On 22 July 1942, Stalin replaced Timoshenko withVasily Gordov as Commander of theStalingrad Front due to his failures up to that point in the war,[16] making him "Chairman of the High Command". He was called back into service as overall commander of theNorthwestern Front between October 1942 and March 1943.[17]
Nonetheless, Timoshenko continued active military action in the later phase of the war. From March 1943, he was appointed as a representative of the Stavka to coordinate the actions of a number of fronts. He took part in the development and conduct of some operations. From March to June 1943, Timoshenko coordinated the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts during the battles at the Leningrad sector. By December 1943, he had coordinated the North Caucasian Front and the Black Sea Fleet, oversaw the liberation of the North Caucasus andNovorossiysk, the landing operation inKerch Peninsula, paving the way for the liberation ofCrimea later. From February to June 1944, he oversaw the actions of 2nd and 3rd Baltic fronts, including the Starorussko-Novorzhevskaya operation. From August 1944 until the end of the war, he coordinated the actions of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian fronts.[18]
Timoshenko was awarded his first Order of Suvorov, 1st class, due to the achievements in the Caucasus and the bridgehead in Crimea.[19] After the Red Army liberatedChișinău on 25 August during the Jassy–Kishinev offensive, Timoshenko sent a telegram to Stalin that praised the achievement of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts under his coordination and requested the promotion of their respective commanders, Malinovsky and Tolbukhin, to the rank ofMarshal of the Soviet Union. The commanders were indeed promoted, and Timoshenko was also awarded another Order of Suvorov, 1st class.[20][21] On 4 June 1945, Timoshenko was awarded theOrder of Victory for his contributions in the war.
In 1945, Timoshenko attended theYalta Conference. A rumor started in the Western press that Stalin had attacked Timoshenko, but this was later disproved.[citation needed]
Between 15 August 1945 and 15 September 1945, Timoshenko travelled alone to review theStarye Dorogidisplaced persons camp whereAuschwitz concentration camp survivors recuperated after their liberation. Later, the authorPrimo Levi (Prisoner 174517) wrote inThe Truce of how the extremely tall Timoshenko "unfolded himself from a tinyFiat 500A Topolino" to announce that the liberated survivors would soon begin their final journey home.[22]
After the war, Timoshenko was reappointed commander of the Baranovichi Military District (Byelorussian Military District since March 1946), then of theSouth Urals Military District (June 1946); and then the Byelorussian Military District once again (March 1949). In 1960, he was appointed Inspector-General of the Defence Ministry, a largely honorary post. From 1961 he chaired the State Committee for War Veterans.
Timoshenko died at Moscow on 31 March 1970 at the age of 75. He was honoured with a state funeral and was cremated on 3 April. The urn containing his ashes was buried in theKremlin Wall Necropolis.
Timoshenko was highly praised by his contemporary MarshalGeorgy Zhukov. During a discussion with Stalin in 1941, Zhukov praised Timoshenko's conducts at Smolensk sector, claimed that he had done everything he could and gained the trust of the soldiers.[23] After the war, Zhukov repeated his praise during an interview withKonstantin Simonov, claimed that Timoshenko was a strong-willed, educated and experienced military man. He was removed from the frontline duty not because of his capability, but mainly because people were upset with his defeat at Kharkov and Timoshenko himself did not attempt to curry favour with his superior.[24]
General A.P. Pokrovsky, also in an interview with Simonov, gave a more multidimensional assessment of Timoshenko. Pokrovsky praised Timoshenko as a well-trained, hard-working commander and was proficient in military matters. However, Timoshenko had a deep distrust of the personnel of the Stavka, therefore he also worked with a separated group of trusted associates and double-checked the data gathered by both the Stavka group and his own group. Pokrovsky commented that Timoshenko's method was "abnormal" although his desire for accurate information was reasonable.[25]Sergei Shtemenko in his memoirs also recounted Timoshenko's hostile attitude towards High Command's personnel including Shtemenko himself, however, their mutual relationship finally improved after some time working together.
There was a Marshala Tymoshenko Street in (the capital of Ukraine)Kyiv'sObolonskyi District.[26] On 27 October 2022 theKyiv City Council renamed this street toLevko Lukianenko Street.[26]
During the war with Poland,Isaac Babel rode with a cavalry unit commanded by Timoshenko, who was then aged 25, and who appeared as a named character in at least two of the stories that Babel wrote about his war experiences, one of which was originally published inOdessa under the title "Timoshenko and Melnikov". When the stories were republished, his name was changed to Savitsky, after Budyonny had denounced Babel's work as "slander" by a "literary degenerate".[27] Babel's storyMy First Goose opens with this description:
Savitsky, the commander of the Sixth Division, rose when he saw me, and I was taken aback by the beauty of his gigantic body. He rose – his breeches purple, his crimson cap cocked to one side, his medals pinned to his chest – splitting the hut in two like a banner splitting the sky. He smelled of perfume and the nauseating coolness of soap. His long legs looked like two girls wedged to their shoulders in riding boots.[28]
In Babel'sThe Story of a Horse, originally "Timoshenko and Melnikov", "Savitsky" is described as having been removed from his command, and living with a Cossack woman, and is accused of having taken a white stallion that belonged a rival officer, who tries in vain to get it back.
In theWarner Bros. cartoonRussian Rhapsody, a caricature ofAdolf Hitler referred to Timoshenko as "that Irish general, Tim O'Shenko".
 | Cross of St. George, 2nd, 3rd and 4th class |
_BAR.svg) | Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory" (Czechoslovakia) |
 | Golden Order of the Partisan Star (Yugoslavia) |
 | Medal "30 Years of Victory in the Khalkhin-Gol" (Mongolia) |
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commander of the Kiev Military District 1938–1940 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theNorthwestern Front 1940 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by - | Chairman of the Soviet Armed Forces High Command 1941 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | People's Commissar of Defense 1940–1941 | Succeeded by |
| People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs (1917–1934) |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| People's Commissars for Defence (1934–1946) |
| |
| People's Commissars for the Navy (1937–1946) |
| |
| People's Commissar for the Armed Forces (1946) | ||
| Ministers of the Armed Forces (1946–1950) |
| |
| Minister of War (1950–1953) | ||
| Ministers of the Navy (1950–1953) |
| |
| Ministers of Defence (1953–1992) |
| |
