An armoured commander tested by shifting fronts
In June 1939, he telegraphed Moscow that he had handed command of the corps to Zhukov.
Nikolai Feklenko was a Soviet armoured commander whose service ran from the Russian Civil War through the Second World War. He commanded the 57th Special Rifle Corps at the opening of the 1939 Khalkhin Gol fighting, but was recalled to Moscow after the May setbacks in June, when Georgy Zhukov replaced him. He later remained part of the war-making apparatus through commands in mechanised and tank formations and work organising and training armoured and mechanised troops.
Activities and affiliations
- 1918–1921 Military command · Soviet Union · Military and defence
Career Timeline
- 1918–1921Red Army cavalry soldier and assistant platoon commander
- 1922–1932Political instructor, cavalry squadron commander and regimental school chief
- 1932–1937Commander of the 5th Mechanised Regiment; completed armoured courses
- 1937–1938Commander of mechanised and tank brigades in the 57th Special Rifle Corps in Mongolia
- 1938–1939Commander of the 57th Special Rifle Corps
- 1939–1941Commander of the 14th Heavy Tank Brigade and 15th Tank Division
- 1941–1943Commander of the 19th Mechanised Corps, 38th Army and a tank corps
- 1943–1950Chief of armoured and mechanised force formation and training, later district commander
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionRed Army cavalry soldierFrom 1918 to 1921, he served as a soldier in Red Army cavalry units.
- 1938–1941The Soviet-Japanese Border Wars and the Neutrality Pactpredecessor armor commander at Khalkhin GolRecalled to Moscow after the May setbacks and replaced, paving the way for Zhukov's arrival.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarMechanised corps and army commanderAt the outbreak of the German-Soviet war, he commanded the 19th Mechanised Corps on the South-Western Front.
- 1942–1943Battle of StalingradCommander of forces in Stalingrad’s Tractor DistrictIn August 1942, as German forces advanced into the city, he commanded the forces in Stalingrad’s Tractor District.
The command crisis of 1941–1942: the Dubno counterstroke and the Voronezh front
At the outbreak of the German-Soviet war Feklenko commanded the 19th Mechanised Corps, which he had held since March 1941, on the South-Western Front. The corps was committed to the tank counterstroke around Dubno. On 26 June the 40th and 43rd Tank Divisions counterattacked the German 11th Tank Division on the outskirts of Dubno and pushed the enemy back into the town centre, but a blow by the German 13th Tank Division forced them to fall back to their starting positions. The position eased the next day when Rokossovsky's 9th Mechanised Corps pinned the German 13th Tank Division with a strike toward Mlynov; the remnants of Feklenko's corps withdrew east across the Styr river and continued retreating eastward using mobile defence. The armour committed to the counterstroke was weak: the bulk of the corps park consisted of amphibious machine-gun armoured cars, and by their pre-war establishment the tank divisions had no anti-tank guns.
From 15 August to 20 September 1941 Feklenko commanded the 38th Army on the same front, but was relieved of the post for failing to cope with his duties. In November 1941 he temporarily performed the duties of commander of the Kharkov Military District, in November and December 1941 he commanded the troops of the Stalingrad Military District, and from January 1942 he was assistant commander of the Southern Front for formation. In May 1942 he became deputy chief of the Red Army's Main Auto-Armoured Directorate, and in June 1942 commander of the 17th Tank Corps, which took part in the defensive operation on the Voronezh axis as part of the Bryansk Front's operational group.
Feklenko drew Stalin's displeasure during the reverses of the Bryansk Front. Stalin denounced him for behaving basely and constantly prevaricating, warned that the front commander would answer to the Stavka if Feklenko was not moved at once toward Bykovo or south of it, and added that if Feklenko was unsuitable he should be replaced, but that it would be better to force him to advance immediately and wash off the shame he had brought on himself. Feklenko was removed from his post and even briefly arrested at the corps command post by the corps's new commander, I. P. Korchagin, on Stavka orders, though no criminal prosecution followed. From July 1942 he was head of the Stalingrad training auto-armoured centre, and during the Battle of Stalingrad, when the Germans broke through toward the city in August 1942, he commanded the troop group of the Stalingrad Tractor district.