21 Dec 1896
Born Konstantin Rokossovsky. One of the greatest military leaders of World War II. Marshal of two countries—the Soviet Union and Poland. One of the few whom Stalin addressed by his first name and patronymic.
No self-respecting commander has the right to insult his subordinates in any form or to humiliate their dignity.
Born in the Pskov province. Father, Ksavery Rokossovsky — a Pole — worked as a train driver. Mother, Antonina Ovsyannikova — Russian — had a teaching diploma. The family spoke two languages.
I was six years old when my father died after a train accident.
He graduated from a 4-grade school in Warsaw. He worked as an assistant to a pastry chef, a dentist, a laborer in a hosiery factory, and a stonemason.
When World War I began, he was 18. He went to the front. He soon became a hero—dressed in civilian clothes, he entered an enemy-occupied city, struck up a conversation with the locals, and learned where the enemy was stationed. He was awarded the St. George Cross. He ended the war as a non-commissioned officer.
In 1917, he joined the Red Guard as a private. He demonstrated military aptitude—during the Civil War, he commanded a squadron, a division, and a cavalry regiment. For ease of address, he became "Konstantinovich."
In 1925 he graduated from Leningrad two-year Cavalry courses for advanced training of command personnel, became acquainted with Zhukov и Baghramyan.
He is strong-willed, energetic, and decisive. He possesses courage and composure. He is self-possessed. He is capable of demonstrating useful initiative. He understands his surroundings well. He is quick-witted. He is demanding of his subordinates, as well as of himself (from the characterization).
Until 1928 he served as an instructor in the cavalry division in Mongolia. In 1929 he fought and distinguished himself in the conflict on the CER.
From 1930 he commanded the 7th Samara Cavalry Division; Zhukov was the commander of one of the brigades.
In 1937, he was expelled from the party "for losing class vigilance," dismissed from the Red Army, and arrested on charges of ties to Polish and Japanese intelligence. He spent two years under investigation—nine teeth were knocked out, three ribs were broken, and a mock execution was staged. He never gave false testimony against himself or anyone else.
The evidence was based on the testimony of a Pole, Adolf Yushkevich, a comrade of Rokossovsky's during the Civil War. But Rokossovsky knew full well that Yushkevich had died at Perekop. He said he would sign everything if Adolf were brought in for a confrontation. They began searching for Yushkevich and discovered that he had long since died (from his grandson's memoirs).
In 1940, at the request of Tymoshenko, Zhukova и Budyonny к To Stalin, Rokossovsky was released and rehabilitated. He was placed under the command of Army General Zhukov, commander of the Kyiv Military District.
Before the war, he commanded the 9th Mechanized Corps, which was undermanned. He fought with it in the first border battles.
His so-called motorized division could only advance on foot. On the very first day of the war, the decisive and proactive corps commander, at his own risk, took all the vehicles (about 200) from the district reserve in Shepetovka, loaded them with infantry, and advanced ahead of the corps on a combined march. The approach of his units to the Lutsk region saved the situation (from Bagramyan's memoirs).
He led the 16th Army, then commanded the Bryansk, Don, Central, Belorussian, 1st Belorussian, and 2nd Belorussian Fronts. He took part in the Battles of Smolensk, Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk.
The Germans called him "the dagger general." Battle of Kursk defeated the general's troops Model near Orel, in honor of which the first salute was given in Moscow in August 1943. In 1944, Rokossovsky's 1st Belorussian Front routed Field Marshal Army Group Center. von Bush.
Became Marshal of the Soviet Union.
A commander gains more glory from captives than from the dead.
On June 24, 1945, he commanded the Victory Parade, which was hosted by Zhukov.
He led the Northern Group of Forces. In 1949, he became commander of the armed forces in Poland. At the same time, he was awarded the title of Marshal of Poland. He oversaw the modernization and rearmament of the Polish army. He returned to the USSR in 1956.
In his final years, he worked in the Ministry of Defense. He died in 1968.