Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky

Soviet and Polish commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1944), Marshal of Poland (1949), twice Hero of the Soviet Union and a recipient of the Order of Victory. Born on 21 December 1896. His birthplace is given differently by different sources: Soviet-era documents say Velikiye Luki, while a number of studies give Warsaw, and the year 1894 also appears. The discrepancy is unresolved and is recorded here as it stands. He came from a Polish family. A dragoon in the First World War, he joined the Red Army in 1918 and served in the cavalry. Arrested in 1937, he was held under investigation and imprisoned, then released in 1940 and restored to the officer corps. In 1941 he commanded the 9th Mechanised Corps and then the 16th Army at Moscow. In 1942 he led the Bryansk and Don Fronts; the Don Front completed the destruction of the encircled German grouping at Stalingrad and accepted Paulus's surrender. In 1943 he commanded the Central Front at Kursk. From 1944 he led the 1st Belorussian Front through Operation Bagration, and was made Marshal of the Soviet Union on 29 June 1944. From November 1944 he commanded the 2nd Belorussian Front in East Prussia and Pomerania. He commanded the Victory Parade on 24 June 1945. From 1949 to 1956 he was Minister of National Defence of Poland. He died on 3 August 1968 and is interred in the Kremlin Wall.