Nikolai Pukhov | |
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| Born | January 25, 1895 |
| Died | March 28, 1958(1958-03-28) (aged 63) |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  Russian Empire (1916–1917) Soviet Union (1918–1958) |
| Branch | Imperial Russian Army Red Army (later theSoviet Army) |
| Years of service |
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| Rank | Colonel general |
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Nikolay Pavlovich Pukhov (Russian:Никола́й Па́влович Пу́хов; January 25 [O.S. January 13] 1895–March 28, 1958) was aSoviet Armycolonel general and aHero of the Soviet Union who commanded troops duringWorld War II.
Pukhov fought inWorld War I as a junior officer, afterwards joining theRed Army and fighting in theRussian Civil War, rising to become chief of staff of a division. During the interwar period he served as an instructor at several military academies, and following theOperation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he was given command of the304th Rifle Division. In January 1942 Pukhov was promoted to command the13th Army, which he led for the rest of the war. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership of the army during theBattle of the Dnieper in September and October 1943. Postwar, Pukhov commanded the8th Tank Army and several military districts before becoming the head Soviet advisor to theRomanian People's Army, the last position he held before his death.
Pukhov was born on January 25, 1895, in the village of Grishovo inKaluga Governorate. The son of an official, he graduated from theKaluga Theological Seminary in 1915. He enrolled in theMoscow University but did not attend it, working as a history and literature teacher at the higher primary school[1] in the village of Plokhino inZhizdrinsky Uyezd of Kaluga Governorate from October,[2] before being mobilized for service in theImperial Russian Army in April 1916. He was sent to the 2ndPeterhof School ofPraporshchiks, receiving the rank of Praporshchik upon graduation in October. Pukhov became a junior officer in the 163rd Reserve Infantry Regiment, stationed inChelyabinsk. He was sent into combat on theNorthern Front in June 1917 as a junior officer in the186th Infantry Division's744th Keidan Infantry Regiment. He served as chief of horse reconnaissance and intelligence for about two months but was gassed in theBattle of Riga nearIkšķile in August. In January 1918, Pukhov was demobilized with the rank of Praporshchik.[1][2]
Pukhov joined theRed Guards in February 1918 atLiski as an adjutant in the headquarters for formation of Red Guard detachments, who conductedforced requisitioning inVoronezh Governorate and fought anti-Soviet forces. After the Red Guards were incorporated into theRed Army in May, he became the adjutant of the 2nd Voronezh Regiment (formed from the Red Guard detachments), fighting against theWhite Army led byPyotr Krasnov in Voronezh Governorate in the areas ofPavlovsk andBobrov. In early March 1919, Pukhov transferred to the8th Army as chief of staff of itsKalach Group of Forces after the regiment was disbanded. In April, he became chief of staff of the 3rd Brigade of the1st Special Division, formed from the group, and was appointed chief of staff of theRyazan Infantry Division's 1st Brigade in October. The brigade was part of the screening force against White cavalry commanderKonstantin Mamontov'sraid into the rear of theSouthern Front. In November, the brigade was sent to the7th Army, where it became part of the 1st Consolidated Division of the Karelian Combat Sector (redesignated the55th Rifle Division on 21 November), fighting theFinnish Whites on theKarelian Isthmus.[1][2]
Between January and February 1920 the brigade was renamed the 164th Brigade and was a separate unit, part of thePytalovo group of the15th Army; it fought against Latvian troops in theLatvian War of Independence in the Pytalovo area. In March the brigade served with the 55th and11th Rifle Divisions in battles against Polish troops aroundPolotsk. During thePolish–Soviet War, the brigade continued to fight in the Polotsk area with the Northern Group of the4th and 15th Armies. During July and August, with the Cavalry Corps of the 4th and3rd Armies, and subsequently theGrodno Group of Forces, the brigade launched attacks towardsVilno,Grodno,Łomża,Białystok, andBrest. After the defeat of the Red Army in September, the brigade was disbanded and Pukhov transferred to become chief of staff of the 61st and then the 63rd Brigades in the 3rd Army's21st Rifle Division, which retreated fromGrodno toLida in heavy fighting. In January 1921, he was promoted to chief of staff of the division, covering theWhite Sea coast nearArkhangelsk. In April, the 21st was transferred toSiberia, where it eliminatedAndrey Bakich andAlexander Kaygorodov's remnant White forces in theAltai Mountains.[1][2]
Prior toWorld War II, Pukhov had little command experience. After the end of the Russian Civil War, he became chief of staff of the West Siberian Military District's35th Rifle Division in April 1923. Between January 1924 and 1929 Pukhov commanded the12th Rifle Division's 34th Rifle Regiment in theSiberian Military District. In September 1925, he entered theVystrel Officers Improvement Course, graduating in October 1926, and in March 1930 was transferred to become aVystrel tactics instructor himself. Pukhov then transferred to the Red Army's new and growing mechanized forces, and became assistant chief of the 1st Department of the Red Army Auto-Armored Division in July 1932. He was sent to Officers Technical Improvement Academic Courses at theMilitary Academy of Motorization and Mechanization in March 1934 and graduated in January 1935, becoming senior head of the tactics department there following graduation. Pukhov was made a Colonel in December after the Red Army re-introduced regular military ranks.[1][2]
In July 1936, Pukhov became assistant chief in charge of training at theGorky Armored School, which moved toKharkov in March 1938. At Kharkov, he became the head of the school.[3][4] In April 1939, Pukhov transferred to become an instructor at theRed Army Military-Economic Academy, and was promoted to Kombrig in April 1940. He became a Major General on 4 June when the Red Army reintroduced generals' ranks.[5] That year he received the academic title of assistant in the tactics department. In January 1941 Pukhov became chief of the Training Department of the Military Quartermaster Academy after it was renamed from the Military-Economic Academy.[1][2]
On August 28, 1941, more than two months afterOperation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union began, Pukhov was ordered to replace the commander of the38th Army's304th Rifle Division; this was his first field command since the rifle regiment about 15 years earlier. At the beginning of September it was transferred to theKozelshchyna area, where until September 17 it suffered heavy losses in heavy defensive fighting, retreating east to the area of Sanzhery,Reshetylivka, andPoltava. The 304th then fought in theDonbass Defensive Operation during October, then was withdrawn to the reserve in theSnezhny Kut area. Pukhov held this position until January 20, 1942, when he was given command of the13th Army, which he held until mid-1946. Until the middle of 1942 the army, part of theBryansk Front, held defensive positions on the line ofSkorodnoye andKolpny.[2] The army fought in theBattle of Voronezh in mid-1942 and theVoronezh-Kastornensk offensive operation in early 1943. On 14 February, following the latter, Pukhov was promoted toLieutenant General.[5] During theBattle of Kursk in July, the army, holding positions on the northern face of the Kursk bulge, repulsed six days of German attacks in fierce fighting, preventing a German breakthrough and limiting the German advance to 10–12 kilometers. When the Soviet troops switched over to the attack after decisively defeating the German army, the 13th Army fought inOperation Kutuzov.[1][5]
The army advanced into Ukraine in theChernigov-Pripyat Offensive. By 26 August, the army had advanced over 300 kilometers in less than a month. On 9 September, the army crossed theDesna River in the area of Obolonnaya and Spasskoye, repulsing German counterattacks for six days before resuming the advance. Between 15 and 16 September, the army crossed the bend of the Desna in theChernigov andMorovsk area. Expanding the bridgehead, the army captured Chernigov on 21 September. On 23 September, two corps from the army crossed theDnieper and on 30 September thePripyat River. On 16 October, Pukhov was awarded the titleHero of the Soviet Union and theOrder of Lenin for his leadership in the offensive. Joining theVoronezh Front, which became the1st Ukrainian Front on October 20, the army fought to recaptureRight-bank Ukraine and southeastern Poland. During theBattle of Kiev,Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive,Rovno–Lutsk Offensive,Proskurov–Chernovtsy Offensive, and theLvov–Sandomierz Offensive from the end of 1943 to mid-1944, the army advanced more than 750 kilometers. On 26 August 1944, Pukhov was promoted toColonel General.[5] During the final stage of the war in 1945, the army fought in theVistula–Oder Offensive, theSandomierz–Silesian Offensive, theLower Silesian Offensive, theUpper Silesian Offensive, theBerlin Offensive, and thePrague Offensive.[1]
Postwar, Pukhov continued to command the 13th Army, and in June 1946 became the first commander of the8th Mechanized Army in theCarpathian Military District. In February 1948, he was transferred to command theOdessa Military District. After graduating from Higher Academic Courses at theMilitary Academy of the General Staff in 1952, Voroshilov became commander of theNorth Caucasus Military District in April 1953 before being transferred to command theWest Siberian Military District in November of that year. He continued to command the Siberian Military District when it was recreated after the merger of the East and West Siberian Military Districts on January 4, 1956. In June 1957, Pukhov became the chief Soviet advisor to theRomanian People's Army.[2] He died in Moscow on March 28, 1958, and was buried at theNovodevichy Cemetery.[1] His unfinished memoirs were posthumously published in 1959 byVoenizdat as "Годы испытаний" orYears of Trials in English.[5]
Streets inDonetsk, Chernigov, andKaluga were named for Pukhov. A memorial plaque dedicated to him was located in Kaluga.[5] In June 2006, a monument to Pukhov was unveiled inZhitomir, the former headquarters of the 8th Mechanized Army.[6]
Pukhov was a deputy of theSupreme Soviet of the Soviet Union at its 3rd and 4th convocations. He was awarded the following awards and decorations:[1]
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