Peasant-born Army General who led the 2nd Belorussian Front and was demoted after Bagration
Marshal Yeremenko judged: 'Zakharov has a decent head and great will, but he's a terrible brute — he'll shout at and sometimes beat a man without even grasping the situation.'
Born to a poor peasant family, he worked as a child labourer from age 11 before conscription in 1916. His soldiers elected him regimental commander in October 1917; he then joined the Red Army. Graduating from the Frunze and General Staff academies, he alternated between staff and field commands: as deputy commander of the Stalingrad Front he led the left-wing armies in the counteroffensive, and he commanded the 2nd Guards Army in breaking through the Mius defences and liberating Sevastopol. In 1944 he took the 2nd Belorussian Front into Operation Bagration, but the Stavka judged his performance inadequate and demoted him to the 4th Guards Army. Postwar he commanded the South Ural and East Siberian military districts. A general of sharp instinct and famously fiery temper.
Career Timeline
- 1916–1917Conscripted into Imperial Army; ensign school. Elected regimental commander by soldiers, Oct 1917
- 1919Joins Red Army and Bolshevik Party; Civil War on the Eastern Front
- 1923–1939Graduates Vystrel, Frunze, and General Staff academies. COS Ural MD (1939–1941)
- 1941–1942COS 22nd Army → Cdr. Bryansk Front → Deputy Cdr. Western Front
- 1942–1943Deputy Cdr. Stalingrad Front — leads left-wing armies in counteroffensive
- 1943–1944Cdr. 2nd Guards Army — Mius breakthrough, Perekop, Sevastopol
- 1944Cdr. 2nd Belorussian Front, Army General. Demoted after Bagration
- 1945–1954Cdr. South Ural & East Siberian MDs, head of Vystrel, Supreme Soviet deputy