The tank army commander who led the Red Army's elite armor from Stalingrad to Manchuria
In August 1945 Kravchenko's 6th Guards Tank Army surged across the Gobi Desert, covering over 800 kilometers in under three weeks, crossed the Greater Khingan range, and poured onto the Manchurian plain.
Soviet tank commander who led the 4th Tank Corps in closing the Stalingrad encirclement ring and the 5th Guards Tank Corps at Kursk and the Dnieper. Appointed commander of the 6th Tank Army (later 6th Guards) in 1944, he drove it through a succession of victories at Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Uman-Botoșani, Jassy-Kishinev, Budapest, and Vienna. In August 1945 his army executed a stunning forced march across the Gobi Desert and the Greater Khingan mountains during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive, shattering the Kwantung Army in a decisive armored thrust. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, he was one of the Red Army's most accomplished tank army commanders.
Activities and affiliations
- 1918–1920 Military command · Soviet Union · Military and defence
Career Timeline
- 1918–1920Volunteered for the Red Army, Russian Civil War — Tarashcha Regiment, 44th Rifle Division, 60th Rifle Regiment
- 1923Graduated Poltava Infantry School
- 1928Graduated Frunze Military Academy
- 1939–1940Chief of Staff, 173rd Motorized Rifle Division; Soviet-Finnish War and Bessarabia campaign
- 1941–1942Commander, 31st Tank Brigade (Battle of Moscow); Deputy Commander for Tank Forces, 61st Army
- 1942Chief of Staff, 1st Tank Corps → Commander, 2nd Tank Corps (Stalingrad)
- 1942–1944Commander, 4th Tank Corps → 5th Guards Tank Corps (Stalingrad encirclement, Kursk, Dnieper)
- 1944–1947Commander, 6th Tank Army → 6th Guards Tank Army (Korsun, Jassy-Kishinev, Budapest, Vienna, Manchuria)
- 1948–1954Commander of Armored & Mechanized Forces, Transbaikal/Baltic/Far Eastern MDs; Assistant Commander for Tank Armament, Far Eastern MD
- 1955Transferred to reserve due to illness
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionCivil War participant
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarDivision chief of staffHe served in the Soviet-Finnish War as chief of staff of the 173rd Motorized Rifle Division.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic Wartank brigade commander, commander of the 2nd Tank Army
- 1942–1943Battle of StalingradCommander of the 4th Tank CorpsHe commanded the 4th Tank Corps in the Stalingrad encirclement.
- 1945.08The Soviet Entry into the War against JapanTank army commander in the Manchurian offensiveIn August 1945, his tank army crossed the Gobi and Greater Khingan and split the Kwantung Army.
The Manchurian Offensive: A Tank Army Across the Gobi and the Greater Khingan
After the fighting in Europe ended, Kravchenko's 6th Guards Tank Army was redeployed to Mongolia and subordinated to the Transbaikal Front. In the Khingan-Mukden offensive of the Soviet-Japanese War, which ran from 9 August to 2 September 1945, his army drove across the Gobi Desert and crossed the Greater Khingan range without halting to deploy. This march, without precedent in the world history of armored warfare, carried the tank army onto the Manchurian plain, cut the Kwantung Army into separated parts, and played a decisive part in the operation's rapid success. For this campaign he received a second Hero of the Soviet Union title by decree of 9 August 1945. He continued to command the 6th Guards Tank Army, redesignated the 6th Guards Mechanized Army in July 1946, in the Transbaikal Military District.