The 40th Army commander who halved Afghan losses, then Russia's first Chief of General Staff
Defence Minister Pavel Grachev came to his hospital ward in person to pin the General of the Army shoulder boards on him. Dubynin, already terminal with cancer, could not rise from the bed.
Soviet and Russian military commander. As commander of the 40th Army in Afghanistan (1986–87), he introduced large-scale helicopter assaults and computer-aided command, halving irrecoverable losses and becoming the first commander to challenge the concealment of casualty figures. As Northern Group of Forces commander (1989–92), he executed the orderly withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland. Appointed first Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in June 1992, he restrained President Yeltsin's ill-considered nuclear-force reforms and secured approval for the Topol-M, Borei-submarine, and Iskander programs that became the technical foundation of post-Soviet Russian defence. He received his General of the Army shoulder boards on his hospital deathbed and was posthumously named Hero of the Russian Federation.
Career Timeline
- 1961–1964Graduates Far Eastern Tank School (Blagoveshchensk); enters Soviet Army
- 1964–1978Tank platoon, company, battalion commander; regimental chief of staff/deputy commander; regiment commander. Vystrel course (1973), Armoured Academy (1978)
- 1979–1984Commander 8th Guards Tank Division (Belorussia). General Staff Academy (1984); First Deputy Commander 32nd Army (Central Asia)
- 1984–1986First Deputy Commander, 40th Army (Afghanistan)
- 1986–1987Commander 40th Army. Tactical reforms halve irrecoverable losses. Soviet partial withdrawal begins
- 1987–1989Commander 7th Tank Army (Belorussia); Chief of Staff/First Deputy Commander, Kiev Military District
- 1989–1992Commander Northern Group of Forces (Poland). Completes organized withdrawal of Soviet forces
- 1992First Chief of General Staff of Russian Armed Forces, First Deputy Defence Minister. Promoted General of the Army (5 Oct). Dies of cancer (22 Nov)