Sorokin, Mikhail Ivanovich (Army General)

Born into a peasant family. Received secondary education. In September 1941 he was drafted into the Red Army .

He studied at the Gorky School of Radio Specialists. He was at the front in January 1942 in the ranks of the 5th cavalry corps , participated in the Barvenkovo-Lozovsky operation . In the battle on July 30, 1942 at the Seversky Donets, Mikhail Sorokin was wounded.

After the cure, he was sent to short-term shooting and tactical courses of the "Shot" command staff . Upon completion in February 1943, he was appointed company commander of the 330th Infantry Regiment of the 176th Infantry Division on the North Caucasus Front . Together with the regiment, he took part in the landing operation on Malaya Zemlya , during which he was wounded again on February 20, 1943. For battles on the "Small Earth" company commander Lieutenant Mikhail Sorokin was awarded his first order - the Red Star ^[1] . After the operation ended, in October 1943 the division received the Guards banner and became known as the 129th Guards Rifle Division.

After healing, he was sent to the 1st Ukrainian Front , where his division had already fought. There he was wounded for the third time on October 11, 1943, but, fortunately, this wound was light and he soon returned to duty. In December 1943, he again distinguished himself during the Zhytomyr-Berdichev offensive operation . At the head of a reconnaissance detachment, he broke into the village of Negrebovka, Zhytomyr Region , took a convenient line, while capturing prisoners and documents. The information obtained as a result of this battle played a large role in the success of the Soviet offensive in this area. The detachment repelled several enemy attacks in two days, supported by 15 tanks , destroying 3 tanks and holding the line. Continuing the offensive, at the head of the company he was the first to break into the village of Kmitov on December 24, 1943. During a counterattack with tanks, the enemy cut off his company. Having taken a circular defense in rural houses, Sorokin’s fighters repelled the onslaught of the enemy and destroyed 2 tanks and 1 armored personnel carrier , and then broke into battle with their own. For this battle of the guard, Captain Sorokin was presented for awarding the Order of Lenin and six months later, already in June 1944, received this well-deserved award ^[2] .

He acted perfectly in the Lviv-Sandomierz offensive operation in the summer of 1944. During the offensive, the battalion was the first to force several rivers, the first to break into the cities of Khodorov and Drohobych . In one of the battles, the soldiers captured 2 serviceable Tiger tanks. For this operation, he was Mikhail Ivanovich was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky ^[3] .

At the beginning of 1945 he distinguished himself in the Western Carpathian operation , at the head of a battalion breaking through several lines of enemy defense in the Carpathians . The war for Major Mikhail Sorokin, the commander of the battalion of the guard, ended on the outskirts of Prague . The same victorious spring of 1945, Sorokin was appointed deputy commander of the 330th Guards Rifle Regiment, in which he had fought for more than two years, and already in this position he distinguished himself during the assault on the city of Moravsk-Ostrava during the Moravian-Ostrava operation . The award was his fifth order - World War II ^[4] . the division at the end of the war was called the 129th Guards Red Banner Order of the Suvorov Zhytomyr Infantry Division . Sorokin himself was wounded three times during the war years and was awarded five military orders.

Since August 1945, Sorokin has commanded a separate training battalion. From 1946 to 1949 he studied at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze .

After graduating from the academy, Sorokin becomes the commander of a separate training battalion of the 106th Guards Airborne Division in Tula . A year later, in December 1950, Sorokin became commander of the 331rd Guards Parachute Regiment of the 105th Guards Airborne Division , stationed in Kostroma . In 1955, he became deputy division commander.

Since 1957, Mikhail Sorokin is the commander of the 98th Guards Airborne Division , based in the Far East .

In 1962, already in the rank of Major General Sorokin, he entered the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR , after which in June 1964 he was appointed deputy commander of the airborne forces for combat training, and in January 1966 - first deputy commander of the airborne forces .

Since December 1969, Lieutenant General M.I. Sorokin was appointed first deputy commander of the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary . On August 19, 1972, Sorokin became commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany . Since August 1974, he serves as first deputy commander of the troops of the Far Eastern Military District . Colonel General (1976).

From October 1976 to October 1981, Colonel General Mikhail Sorokin - Commander of the Leningrad Military District .

From October 30, 1981 to January 19, 1984, Sorokin was in Afghanistan as the Chief Military Advisor. The military rank of army general was awarded to him by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 4, 1981 . In September 1984, he became First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Western Forces. On June 11, 1987, he became Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR — Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR . Since 1990 - in the Group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Since January 1992 - retired. He lived in Moscow.

Wife Lidia Zakharovna is also a participant in the Great Patriotic War. He raised a son, Yuri, who also served in the army for a long time (born 1948 ), a colonel , and his daughter Galina (born 1953 ).

Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 10 convocation (1979-1984). People's Deputy of the USSR (1989-1991). Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943. In 1981-1986 he was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU .

He was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow ^[5] .

• Major General (05/25/1959),
• lieutenant general (06.16.1965),
• Colonel General (10.28.1976),
• Army General (11.2.1981).

• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (2002) ^[6]
• Three Orders of Lenin (06/03/1944;?;?)
• Two Orders of the Red Banner (03/08/1945;?)
• Order of Alexander Nevsky (09/10/1944)
• Two orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (05/27/1945, 04/06/1985)
• Two Orders of the Red Star (06/04/1943, 1956)
• Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree
• Order of the Badge of Honor
• medals of the Soviet Union

orders and medals of foreign states

• Czechoslovak Military Cross of 1939 ( Czechoslovakia )
• Medal “For Strengthening Friendship in Arms” ( Czechoslovakia )
• Order of the Red Banner ( Afghanistan )
• Medal “From the grateful Afghan people” ( Afghanistan )
• Silver Medal "Brotherhood of Arms" (Poland)
• Honorary citizen of the city of Zhytomyr .

• The leaders of St. Petersburg: [Sat. ] / Ed. Bauman A.L. - SPb. - M .: Neva — Olma-Press, 2003. - S. 576, [16] l. - ISBN 5765421148 .
• Kalashnikov K.A., Dodonov I.Yu. High command staff of the USSR Armed Forces in the post-war period. References (1945-1975). Volume 1. Ust-Kamenogorsk: Media-Alliance, 2013. - ISBN: 978-601-7378-16-5. - S.249-250.

• Mikhail Sorokin