Soviet Colonel General who led Leningrad through the first blockade winter, then lost the 2nd Shock Army and his command
Stavka sacked him on 8 June 1942 for "paper-bureaucratic methods of troop management," citing his detachment from the troops that let the enemy cut the 2nd Shock Army's communications.
Mikhail Khozin was the son of a railway worker, fought in World War I, then joined the Red Army and saw action in the Civil War. After commanding the Leningrad Military District (1938) and heading the Frunze Military Academy (1939), he followed Zhukov to the Leningrad Front as chief of staff and concurrently commander of the 54th Army during the siege. He took command of the Leningrad Front in October 1941 and led the defence through the first blockade winter and the Tikhvin offensive, but was relieved in June 1942 for failing to extract the encircled 2nd Shock Army. He returned to field commands with the 33rd and 20th Armies and later headed Soviet military educational institutions.
Career Timeline
- 1915Conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army; commissioned praporshchik
- 1918Joined the Red Army and the Bolshevik Party
- 1925Graduated Higher Academic Courses, Frunze Military Academy
- 1937Deputy Commander, Leningrad Military District
- 1938–1939Commander, Leningrad Military District
- 1939–1941Chief, Frunze Military Academy
- 1941.09Chief of Staff, Leningrad Front, concurrently CO 54th Army
- 1941.10–1942.06Commander, Leningrad Front
- 1942.06–10CO 33rd Army
- 1942.12–1943.01CO 20th Army, Operation Mars
- 1943Promoted Colonel General
- 1944–1945Commander, Volga Military District
- 1946–1963Headed military educational institutions
- 1963Retired