'General Forward' who halted Guderian at the gates of Moscow and drove the 4th Guards Tank Army to Prague
He almost never sat in headquarters, spending days and nights at the front line. — Army General Sergei Shtemenko, who called him 'General Forward!'
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union and Army General, Lelyushenko's defining achievement was halting Guderian's panzer group on the southern approaches to Moscow at Mtsensk in October 1941, buying time that arguably saved the capital. He commanded the 30th Army in the Moscow counteroffensive, recapturing Klin, then led the 3rd Guards Army in forming the outer encirclement ring at Stalingrad. As commander of the 4th Tank Army (later 4th Guards Tank Army), he drove through Lvov-Sandomierz, the Vistula-Oder operation, the assault on Berlin, and the lightning dash to Prague in May 1945. Post-war he commanded the Transbaikal and Ural Military Districts, chaired DOSAAF, and earned a Candidate of Military Sciences degree for his work on armored warfare doctrine.
Career Timeline
- 1918–1921Red partisan, then cavalryman in 21st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Army during the Civil War
- 1925–1933Political instructor and commissar in cavalry regiments; graduated Frunze Military Academy (1933)
- 1933–1939Tank company commander, operations officer in mechanized brigades, training battalion commander, then CO 39th Separate Light Tank Brigade
- 1939–1940Led 39th Separate Tank Brigade in the Winter War; awarded first Hero of the Soviet Union for breaching the Mannerheim Line
- 1941CO 21st Mechanized Corps (Daugavpils); hastily formed 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps, halted Guderian at Mtsensk; commander 5th Army at Borodino, severely wounded
- 1941–1943CO 30th Army (Moscow counteroffensive, recapture of Klin); CO 1st Guards/3rd Guards Army (Stalingrad encirclement, Voroshilovgrad offensive)
- 1944–1945CO 4th Tank/4th Guards Tank Army through Lvov-Sandomierz, Vistula-Oder, Berlin, and Prague operations; second Hero of the Soviet Union
- 1946–1964Commander Armored Forces GSOVG; CO 1st Separate Army (Far East); CO Transbaikal and Ural Military Districts; Chairman DOSAAF (1960–1964)
- 1964–1987Inspector-adviser, Group of General Inspectors, USSR Ministry of Defence; Army General (1959), Candidate of Military Sciences (1951)