Rybalko, Pavel Semenovich

Before the Revolution

Born October 23 ( November 4 ), 1894 in the family of a factory worker. From a large family (7 children). He graduated from a three-year parochial school. At age 13, he began working at a sugar factory as an apprentice turner and attended a Sunday school . From 1912 he lived in Kharkov and worked as a turner at the Kharkov Locomotive Plant .

After the outbreak of the First World War, he was drafted into the army in November 1914. From February 1915 he fought on the South-Western Front , in the 82nd Infantry Division on the South-Western Front . He participated in the siege of Przemysl , in offensive operations in Bukovina and in the Brusilov breakthrough . In December 1916, Private Rybalko was recalled from the front and served as an assistant master in a workshop for repairing roller mills of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union in Zbarazh and in Ternopil ^[1] .

Civil War

Under the influence of the revolutionary events in July 1917, he deserted . In December of the same year, he joined the Red Guard , since February 1918, being an assistant to the commander of a partisan detachment, he fought against the invaders, as well as against the troops of Petlyura and the hetman of Skoropadsky . In August 1918 in the battle of Akhtyrka was captured by the Germans, after the November Revolution in Germany, released in December 1918. He returned to his homeland, worked in the Lebedinsky district commissariat. Since March 1919, the commander of the combat group of the county Cheka . Participated in the suppression of the uprising Grigoriev .

In 1919 he joined the RCP (b) . From June 1919, the company commander of the Lebedinsky infantry regiment, from September of that year - the commander of this regiment. Since May 1920, the Commissioner of the 84th Cavalry Regiment of the 14th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army , then the 1st Brigade of the 14th Cavalry Division. He participated in the defeat of Denikin 's troops in the Kuban during the North Caucasian operation , in the breakthrough of the Polish front near Uman , in battles with the Poles in the Lviv direction and under Zamoć , in battles with Wrangel's troops in Northern Tavria, in clearing the territory of Ukraine from Makhno groups and other chieftains. He was wounded in battle in 1919.

Interwar Period

After the end of the Civil War, he remained in the Red Army. In connection with the reduction of the army and the liquidation of the brigade level of management, he was appointed deputy commissar of the 83rd cavalry regiment of the 14th cavalry division in the North Caucasus Military District , then commissar of the 84th cavalry regiment of the same division. From August 1925 to September 1925 - Commissioner of the 61st Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Special Cavalry Brigade in Moscow. From September 1925 to July 1926 he studied at the Advanced Executive Courses of the Highest Commanding Staff (KUVNAS) at the Military Academy of the Red Army named after MV Frunze .

From July 1926 to October 1927 - Squadron Commander of the 75th Cavalry Regiment ( Dauria Station ) of the 5th Separate Kuban Cavalry Brigade in the Siberian Military District . From October 1927 to October 1928 - Commander and Commissioner of the Division of the Separate Cavalry Division in the Ukrainian Military District . From October 1928 to August 1929 - the commander and commissioner of the Cossack regiment and chief of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the 2nd Cavalry Division of the same district ( Starokonstantinov ). From August 1929 to May 1931 - Commander and Commissioner of the 7th Cavalry Chernihiv Regiment of the Red Cossacks of the same division (ibid.). In 1930 he graduated from the Strelkovo-tactical courses to improve the staff of the Red Army "Vystrel" them. Comintern . From May 1931 to April 1934 he studied at the cavalry department of the main faculty of the Military Academy named after MV Frunze.

After graduation, he was seconded to the Red Army Headquarters Intelligence Directorate and sent as military adviser to China , where he stayed until December 1935 ^[2] (“Russian general of Chinese service”) in the fight against Uyghur insurgents Ma Zhurong in Xinjiang Province of China .

With the introduction of personal military ranks in 1935 certified as a colonel . From February 1936 to July 1937, Assistant Commander of the 8th Turkestan (from July 1936, 21st) Mountain Cavalry Division ( Fergana ) of the Central Asian Military District .

From July 1937 to October 1939 - military attache in Poland . On February 20, 1940, he was given the military rank of brigade commander , on June 4, 1940 he was awarded the military rank of major general . In April-December 1940, the military attache in China , then "at the disposal of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff" ^[3] .

Great Patriotic War

Until December 1941, he continued to be "at the disposal of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff." From September 1941 to May 1942, Head of the Intelligence Department of the High Special School of the General Staff of the Red Army. Frequent reports to the command required to send him to the front.

From May 1942 - deputy commander of the 3rd Tank Army for infantry troops, the army is in the process of formation and does not participate in hostilities.

On July 15, 1942, the Stavka decides to disband the newly formed 5th Tank Army , which was unsuccessful in the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad strategic defensive operation and suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment ^[4] . On July 23, the former commander of the 5th Tank Army, Major General Lizyukov, is killed in battle. On July 28, the Stavka decides to retain control of the 5th Panzer Army with support units ^[5] . On August 17, the Stavka ordered the transfer of the management of the former 5th Tank Army and part of its support to the deputy commander of the 3rd Tank Army, Major General Rybalko ^[6] . On August 30, Major-General Rybalko is appointed commander of the 5th Tank Army with the task of restoring control by 3 September and forming it again ^[7] . On September 9, the Headquarters withdraws the 3rd Tank Army that participated in the Rzhev-Sychev operation and the counter-attack of the Western Front to its reserve for replenishment. On September 22, the Stavka makes a decision on the reshuffling of the command of the 3rd and 5th tank armies ^[8] , and Major General Rybalko becomes commander of the 3rd tank army. Apparently, the Stavka decided that it was better to command the 5th Tank Army, which had already entered into battle on 23 September, would be Commander Romanenko , who already had some experience and authority, and Rybalko better concentrate on shaping and manning, where he already had some noticeable success

The true lieutenant general ^[9] Rybalko began to fight only in January 1943, when his 3rd tank army took part as part of the Voronezh Front in the Ostrogozhsko-Rossoshanskoy offensive , Kharkov offensive and Kharkov defensive operations. During the last operation, the army was partially encircled, suffered heavy losses, especially in technology, and on April 16, 1943, it was renamed the 57th Army . ^[ten]

On May 14, Stalin ordered the re-establishment of the 3rd tank army, already as a guard, and by order of the General Headquarters on the same date, No. 46174, Lieutenant-General Rybalko was appointed commander of the 3rd Guard armored army . Again he faces the task of restoring the combat capability of the army, with which he will not part until the end of the war.

For the successful crossing of the Dnieper ( Battle of the Dnieper ), the skillful leadership of the army in the battle of Kursk and the Kiev offensive operation on November 17, 1943 Pavel Semenovich Rybalko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

On December 30, 1943, he was promoted to the rank of colonel general of tank forces .

Rybalko's tank army during the Lviv-Sandomierz operation saved Lviv from destruction.

Rybalko was awarded the second “Gold Star” medal on April 6, 1945 for the combat distinctions of the troops under his command at the final stage of the war and personal heroism.

After the war

After the war, he continued to command the 3rd Guards Tank Army, which became part of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany and in the second half of 1945 was reorganized into the 3rd Guards Mechanized Army. June 1, 1945 awarded the military rank of Marshal of Armored Forces .

From April 1946 to April 1947, first deputy commander of the armored and mechanized forces of the Soviet Army. Since April 1947, the commander of the armored and mechanized troops of the Soviet Army.

In 1946 he was elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the second convocation.

He died on August 28, 1948 from a kidney disease. A monument was erected on his grave ^[11] .

The only son - Lieutenant Vil Pavlovich Rybalko - died in battle (burned down in a tank) on the South-Western Front in the summer of 1942.

• Busts of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, P. S. Rybalko, were installed in the village of Maly Vistorop in Sumshchina, the hero's homeland, and in the Prague pantheon.
• In 2013, a monument in full growth was erected in the city of Rossosh , which in 1943 was liberated by the troops under his command as a result of the Ostrogozhsko-Rossoshanskoy operation .
• Memorial plaques are installed in the cities of Moscow and Kharkov.
• Streets in Moscow, Kiev, Zhytomyr, Perm, Volgograd, Minsk, Kharkov are named after Marshal P. S. Rybalko.
• The name of the twice Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of Armored Forces, P. S. Rybalko, from December 1961, bore the Tashkent Higher Tank Command School.
• The cruise ship of the Volga River Shipping Company is called Marshal Rybalko.

• 1935 - Colonel
• February 20, 1940 - Combat Rider ^[12] ;
• June 4, 1940 - Major General ^[13] ;
• January 18, 1943 - Lieutenant General of Tank Forces ;
• December 30, 1943 - Colonel General of Tank Forces ;
• June 1, 1945 - Marshal of Armored Forces .

• Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union - November 17, 1943;
• Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union - 0 April 6, 1945;
• two orders of Lenin (11/17/1943, 02.21.1945);
• three orders of the Red Banner (1921, 3.11.1944, 1948);
• three orders of Suvorov 1 degree (01/10/1944, 08/25/1944, 05/29/1945);
• Order of Kutuzov 1 degree (08.27.1943);
• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1 degree (05/29/1944);
• Medal "For the Defense of Moscow" ;
• Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" ;
• the medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" ;
• medal "For the capture of Berlin" ;
• Medal "For the Liberation of Prague" ;
• medal "XX years of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" ;
• medal "30 years of the Soviet Army and Navy" ;
• Medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow . "

Foreign awards

• Chevalier of the Order "Virtuti Militari" ( Poland );
• Chevalier of the Order of the Grunwald Cross (NDP);
• the medal "For Oder, Nisa and Baltic" (NDP);
• Medal "Victory and Freedom" (NDP);
• Order of the White Lion of 1 degree ( Czechoslovakia );
• Order of the White Lion "For Victory" 2 degrees (Czechoslovakia);
• two military crosses of 1939 (Czechoslovakia).

• Monument in Moscow on the grave at the Novodevichy cemetery . A tin T-34-85 with a dedication “from tank guardsmen” was also installed there.
• Monument in the city of Rossosh, Voronezh region. Opened in January 2013 ^[14] .
• Memorial on Rybalko street in Moscow.
• Bust in the village of Small Vistorop in Sumy region ( Ukraine ).
• Bust in the Prague Pantheon ( Prague , Czech Republic ).
• A memorial plaque in Sterlitamak on the facade of the building of the Department of Internal Affairs for the Sterlitamak district of Bashkortostan .

• There are streets named after Marshal Rybalko in Volgograd , Konotop , Moscow , Minsk , Perm , Kharkov , Lipetsk , Kiev , Chernivtsi , Novograd-Volynsky, Polonny of the Khmelnitsky region, (in Khmelnitsky itself, Marshal Rybalko street in 2016 was renamed Stepan Bandera Street) Zelenodolsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, in Prague. There was also Rybalko Street in Lviv , where a memorial plaque was installed. In 2001, it was renamed to Simon Petliura Street, the plaque was dismantled. In Zhitomir, the order of the mayor S.I. Sukhomlin dated 02.19.2016 No. 112 was renamed to Taras Bulba-Borovets Street ^[15] .
• Cruise ship of the Ministry of Water Transport of Ukraine "Marshal Rybalko" (renamed in 2005 " Star of the Dnieper ") ^[16] .
• Until 1992, the Chirchik Higher Military Tank Command School was named after P. S. Rybalko (Tashkent Higher Tank Command Order of Lenin School named after the twice Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Armored Forces P. S. Rybalko).
• In 1984, the Ministry of Communications of the USSR issued an artistic envelope with an original stamp dedicated to the 90th anniversary of P. S. Rybalko.

Cinema

• In 1968, Czech filmmakers shot the film , in which Karel Höger embodied the image of a commander.
• 1972 - the epoch “Liberation” - the role of Marshal Rybalko was played by Dmitry Franko .
• 2012 - the television series "Zhukov" - in the role of Marshal Rybalko Yuri Tsurilo .

Pavel Semenovich Rybalko, subsequently a marshal of armored troops, went through an extremely interesting way of life. The son of a worker, he participated in the First World War and the Civil War, fought against the interventionists, as well as Petliurists, Denikinians, and bandits. He was the commissioner of the brigade. Diversified militarily, he immediately emerged as an exceptional military leader. He was a military attaché in a number of countries and lectured at military schools. From the spring of 1942, he became commander of tank armies, liberating Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia and participating in the Berlin operation in triumph. After World War II until his death in 1948, he led the armored and mechanized forces of the Soviet Armed Forces.

- Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky A. M. The Matter of Life. - 2nd ed., Ext. - M: Publishing house watered., 1975. - p. 306-307.

... such a general tanker for us in the war exclusively roads. And it is not by chance that the 3rd Guards Tank Army was an advanced army, which gave an example of how much you can get from our tank associations in the conditions of a large war of maneuver, if you correctly and farsightedly manage them ...

... Pavel Semenovich Rybalko was a man on whom I relied entirely. When it came to him, I knew that where I, as the front commander, had not foreseen everything, he would provide.

- Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union Konev I. S. Notes from the front commander 1943-1945. - 3rd ed. - M .: Voenizdat, 1982. - p. 362, 363.

... Pavel Semenovich Rybalko commanded the tank army the longest. He was a very erudite, strong-willed person. В первые послевоенные годы на его долю выпала честь возглавить все наши бронетанковые войска. Он вложил много труда и энергии в их реорганизацию и перевооружение.

— Генерал армии С. М. Штеменко. Генеральный штаб в годы войны: (Военные мемуары). — М.: Воениздат, 1968. — С. 408.

• Миронов Г. Маршал бронетанковых войск Павел Рыбалко // Полководцы и военачальники Великой Отечественной. Issue 1. — 2-е изд. — 1971. — С. 292—330. — 448 с. — ( Жизнь замечательных людей ). - 150 000 copies
• Герои Советского Союза: Краткий биографический словарь в двух томах. — М.: Воениздат, 1987.
• The Great Patriotic War. Commanders. — М.: Жуковский, 2005.
• Жилин В. А. Герои-танкисты 1943—1945. М.:Эксмо, Яуза, 2008. — ISBN 978-5-699-3053.

• Rybalko Pavel Semenovich on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
• Rybalko, Pavel Semenovich (rus.) . The site " Heroes of the country ."
• Rybalko Pavel Semenovich . The film series "Heroes of Victory."