Vasily Chuikov

Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Чуйко́в, ; 12 February 1900 – 18 March 1982) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he joined the Red Army and distinguished himself during the Russian Civil War.

After graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, Chuikov worked as a military Attaché and intelligence officer in China and the Russian Far East.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Chuikov commanded the 4th Army during the Soviet invasion of Poland, and the 9th Army during the Winter War against Finland.

During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Chuikov became unemployed.

Later the same year, an older brother arranged for Chuikov to be recruited into the Red Guards.

The year after, in 1918, he joined the Red Army.

In October 1918, Chuikov saw active service when he was sent to the Southern Front as a deputy company commander to fight against the White Army.

In the spring of 1919, he became commander of the 40th Regiment (later renamed the 43rd), part of the 5th Army under Tukhachevsky facing the White Army under Kolchak in Siberia.

Chuikov's record of service during the Civil War was distinguished.

In the fighting from 1919 to 1920 he received two awards of the Order of the Red Banner for bravery and heroism.

He was wounded four times—one, in Poland in 1920, left a fragment in his left arm that could not be operated on.

It led to partial paralysis and caused him to lose use of his arm temporarily.

He left his regiment in 1921 to continue his studies at the Frunze Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1925.

On account of his excellent academic performance, Chuikov was invited to stay at the Frunze Military Academy for another year to study Chinese language and history in the Orient Studies Department.

In the fall of 1926, Chuikov joined a Soviet diplomatic delegation that toured Harbin, Changchun, Port Arthur, Dalian, Tianjin and Beijing, cities in northeastern and northern China.

After completing his studies in the fall of 1927, Chuikov was dispatched to China as a military Attaché.

Chuikov traveled extensively in southern China and Sichuan, became fluent in Chinese, and gained a deeper understanding of Chinese politics and culture.

In 1929, during the China Eastern Railway Incident, Chuikov was forced to leave China after the Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on 13 July.

Chuikov was assigned to the newly formed Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army in Khabarovsk and worked on military intelligence, reporting to Vasily Blyukher, the commander of the Far Eastern Army.

The Soviet Far Eastern Army defeated the Northeastern Army of Zhang Xueliang, and Chuikov participated in negotiations that restored Soviet control of the China Eastern Railway.

Chuikov commanded the 4th Army in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939.

In December 1940, he was again appointed military Attaché to China in support of Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists in the war against Japan.

In March 1942, Chuikov was recalled from China to defend against the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

This served as an effective countermeasure against the Wehrmacht's combined-arms tactics, but by mid-November 1942 the Germans had captured most of the city after months of slow advance.

In late November Chuikov's 62nd Army joined the rest of the Soviet forces in a counter-offensive, which led to the surrender of the German 6th Army in early 1943.

After Stalingrad, Chuikov led his forces into Poland during Operation Bagration and the Vistula–Oder Offensive before advancing on Berlin.

Chuikov was twice awarded the titles Hero of the Soviet Union (1944 and 1945) and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by the United States for his actions during the Battle of Stalingrad.

He personally accepted the unconditional surrender of German forces in Berlin on 2 May 1945.

After the war, Chuikov served as Chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (1949–53), commander of the Kiev Military District (1953–60), Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces and Deputy Minister of Defense (1960–64), and head of the Soviet Civil Defense Forces (1961–72).

In 1955, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union.

He is best known for commanding the 62nd Army which saw heavy combat during the Battle of Stalingrad in the Second World War.

Born to a peasant family near Tula, Chuikov earned his living as a factory worker from the age of 12.

By September, he was assigned command of the 62nd Army in defense of Stalingrad.

Tasked with holding the city at all costs, Chuikov adopted keeping the Soviet front-line positions as close to the Germans as physically possible.

Chuikov carried this war wound for the rest of his life, and it eventually led to septicaemia breaking out in 1981, causing a nine-month illness and finally his death.

Following his death in 1982, Chuikov was interred at the Stalingrad memorial at Mamayev Kurgan, which had been the site of heavy fighting.

Born into a peasant family in the village of Serebryanye Prudy in the Tula region south of Moscow, Chuikov was the eighth of 12 children and the fifth of eight sons.

At the age of 12, he left school and his family home to earn his living in a factory in Saint Petersburg, turning out spurs for cavalry officers.

Chuikov and all his brothers became soldiers and fought in the Russian Civil War.