Southwestern Front commander who fell in the Kiev encirclement
On 26 June 1941, German Chief of Staff Halder noted: 'The enemy facing Army Group South displays firm and energetic leadership.' Amid the chaos of the Brody tank battle, Kirponos's Southwestern Front held.
Born to a poor Ukrainian peasant family, he was conscripted in 1915 and joined the Bolsheviks in 1918, fighting the Civil War with Shchors's division. After the Frunze Academy he served as commandant of the Kazan Infantry School, then commanded the 70th Rifle Division in the Winter War: outflanking Vyborg across the frozen Gulf of Finland and earning the Hero of the Soviet Union. Appointed commander of the Kiev Special Military District in January 1941, he led the Southwestern Front from the first day of Barbarossa, directing the tank battle at Brody and the defence of Kiev. On 20 September 1941 he was killed by mortar shrapnel trying to break out of the Kiev encirclement, the highest-ranking Soviet commander to die in the catastrophe.
Career Timeline
- 1915–17Conscripted into Imperial Army; NCO, regimental committee chairman
- 1918–21Joined Red Army; battalion then regimental commander, Shchors's division
- 1927–34Frunze Military Academy; chief of staff, 44th Rifle Division
- 1934–39Commandant, Kazan Infantry School
- 1939–40CO 70th Rifle Division — Winter War, Hero of the Soviet Union
- 1940.04–06CO 49th Rifle Corps
- 1940–41 (1월)Commander, Leningrad Military District
- 1941.01–06Commander, Kiev Special Military District (succeeded Zhukov)
- 1941.06–09Commander, Southwestern Front — Brody, Uman, Kiev
- 1941.09.20KIA breaking out of Kiev pocket