Rokossovsky is one of the most famous and famous military commanders of the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to his unyielding character and "military genius", he forever inscribed his name in world history.
Biography of Rokossovsky
The exact date of birth of Konstantin Konstantinovich is unknown. According to some sources, he was born in 1896, others - in 1894.
As for the family of the future marshal, there is also very little information about her. It is known that his ancestors belonged to the small village of Rokossovo, which is located on the territory of modern Poland. It is from her name that the surname of the commander comes.
Great-grandfather Konstantin Konstantinovich's name was Jozef. He was also a military man and devoted his whole life to service. Rokossovsky's father served on the railway, and Antonina's mother was from Belarus, worked as a school teacher.
At the age of six, young Kostya was sent to a school with a technical bias. However, after the death of her father in 1902, she had to quit her studies, since her mother could not pay for it herself. The boy did his best, tried to help the family, worked as an apprentice for a stonemason, pastry chef and even a doctor. He was very fond of reading and learning new things.
In 1914 he entered the dragoon regiment. There he learned to masterfully handle horses, shoot weapons and fight magnificently with pikes and checkers. In the same year, for military successes, Rokossovsky received the St. George Cross of the fourth degree and was promoted to corporal.
In 1923 he married Yulia Barmina, and two years later they had a daughter, Ariadne.
Rokossovsky's military career
At the end of March 1917, Rokossovsky was elevated to junior non-commissioned officers. In October 1917, he made an important decision in his life, joining the ranks of the Red Army. For two years he fought against the enemies of the revolution. He was very courageous and quickly knew how to make the right decisions in difficult military situations. As a result, his career was rapidly "going uphill." In 1919 he became squadron commander, and a year later - a cavalry regiment.
In 1924, Konstantin Konstantinovich was sent to courses for improving command qualities. There he met such renowned military leaders as Georgy Zhukov and Andrei Eremenko.
Then, for three years, Rokossovsky served in Mongolia.
In 1929, he took advanced training courses for senior command personnel, where he met Mikhail Tukhachevsky. In 1935, Rokossovsky received the personal rank of division commander.
However, after a series of career ups, Rokossovsky had a "black streak" in his life. Due to denunciations, Konstantin Konstantinovich was first stripped of all honored titles, and then dismissed from the army and arrested. The investigation lasted three years and ended in 1940. All charges were dropped from Rokossovsky, his rank was returned, and he was even promoted to major general.
In 1941, Rokossovsky was appointed commander of the fourth and then the sixteenth armies. For special services to the Fatherland, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. For personal merits in the battles near Moscow, Rokossovsky was awarded the Order of Lenin.
During the Great Patriotic War, Konstantin Konstantinovich was seriously wounded. The shrapnel hit the vital organs - the lung and liver, as well as the ribs and spine.
The most important event in Rokossovsky's military career was the Battle of Stalingrad. As a result of a brilliantly designed operation, the city was liberated, and almost a hundred thousand German soldiers were taken prisoner, led by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus.
In 1943, Rokossovsky was appointed head of the Central Front. His main task was to drive back the enemy at the Kursk-Oryol Bulge. The enemy fiercely resisted, there were fierce battles.
At the Kursk Bulge, completely new for that time methods of conducting combat operations, such as defense in depth, artillery counterpreparation, and others, were tested. As a result, the enemy was defeated, and Rokossovsky was awarded the rank of army general.
Konstantin Konstantinovich himself considered the liberation of Belarus in 1944 to be his main victory.
After the end of the war, Rokossovsky was awarded the second Order of the Golden Star. It was he who hosted the parade on Red Square in 1946. Being a Pole by origin, in 1949 he moved to Poland and did a lot there to strengthen the country's defenses.
In 1956, Rokossovsky returned to the USSR. Over the years, he was the Minister of Defense and headed various state commissions. Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky died on August 3, 1968. His ashes are in the Kremlin wall.
