The marshal who built Soviet air defence and personally executed Beria
When the guard moved to blindfold Beria, Batitsky stopped him: 'Why cover them? Let him watch!'
He joined the Red Army at fourteen and rose through the cavalry and staff corps, commanding the 254th Rifle Division and the 73rd and 128th Rifle Corps across the Dnieper, Belarus, Berlin, and Prague. In 1953 he volunteered to execute Lavrentiy Beria and pulled the trigger himself, then as Moscow Air Defence District commander laid the foundations of Soviet airspace defence. Appointed C-in-C of the Air Defence Forces and Deputy Minister of Defence in 1966, he led PVO Strany for twelve years, transforming it into a strategic space-defence system and directing Warsaw Pact unified air defence, before resigning in protest against a plan to break up the branch.
Career Timeline
- 1941–1943Commander, 254th Rifle Division; Demyansk defensive operations
- 1943–1944Commander, 73rd Rifle Corps; Dnieper crossing, Cherkassy, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky
- 1944–1945Commander, 128th Rifle Corps; Belarus, East Prussia, Berlin, Prague offensives
- 1950–1953Chief of the Air Force Main Staff, Deputy C-in-C of the Air Force; Beria arrest and execution
- 1954–1965Commander, Moscow Air Defence District
- 1965–1966First Deputy Chief of the General Staff
- 1966–1978C-in-C of PVO Strany, Deputy Minister of Defence; Warsaw Pact unified air defence
- 1978–1984General Inspector, Ministry of Defence Inspectorate
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarRifle Corps Commander
- 1953The Fall of BeriaThe executionerOn 23 December 1953, moments after the Special Judicial Presence sentenced Beria to death, Batitsky volunteered and personally carried out the execution with his service pistol. He signed the execution act alongside Rudenko and Moskalenko.
Commander-in-Chief of PVO Strany (1966–1978)
In July 1966 Batitsky was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO Strany) and Deputy Minister of Defence, concurrently commanding the Warsaw Pact's unified air defence forces. Promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1968, he led PVO for twelve years, transforming it into a strategic space-defence branch. Under his command, ground-based anti-ballistic-missile systems were deployed operationally, early-warning radar networks were greatly expanded, and surface-to-air missile capabilities were modernised across the country. In 1970 he participated in Operation Kavkaz, the Soviet military assistance mission to Egypt during the War of Attrition, marking the first operational deployment of PVO forces to the Middle East. In 1978, however, the Defence Ministry leadership moved to transfer much of PVO to the border military districts. Batitsky strongly opposed the reorganisation, submitted his own resignation, and stated he would not take part in 'an experiment that undermines the state's defence capability.' He was then transferred to the Ministry of Defence's Group of Inspectors General.