Hero of the Guards cavalry corps, brought down by the Trophy Case, rehabilitated in the Thaw
September 1948, Moscow. Lieutenant General Kryukov, Hero of the Soviet Union, was arrested in the 'Trophy Case.' Among the seized goods: 208 diamonds, 132 paintings by Repin and Serov, and three luxury cars. Three years later he was sentenced to 25 years.
A Soviet cavalry commander of peasant origin who served as a lieutenant in the First World War before joining the Red Army. In the Second World War he led the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps through the Vistula-Oder and East Pomeranian offensives, earning the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1945. After the war he married the celebrated folk singer Lidia Ruslanova. But in 1948 both were arrested in the 'Trophy Case'. He was sentenced to 25 years, stripped of rank and decorations, then rehabilitated after Stalin's death in 1953.
Career Timeline
- 1915–17WWI Western Front, discharged as lieutenant
- 1918–20Red Army cavalry on Southern and Eastern fronts
- 1933–37CO 20th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Cossack Division under Zhukov
- 1940Winter War: Order of Lenin for Mannerheim Line breakthrough
- 1941CO 198th Motorized Division, Leningrad defence
- 1942–45CO 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps: Vistula-Oder, East Pomerania, Hero of the Soviet Union
- 1948–53Trophy Case arrest, 25-year sentence, rehabilitated 1953
- 1955–57Deputy chief, Military Law Academy; retired
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign Interventioncavalry commander
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter Warbroke through Mannerheim Line
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarCO, 2nd Guards Cavalry CorpsHe led the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps through the Vistula-Oder and East Pomeranian offensives and was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in April 1945.
Zhukov's Cavalryman: From the Interwar Period to Berlin
From 1933 to 1937, Kryukov commanded the 20th Cavalry Regiment in the 4th Cossack Cavalry Division under Georgy Zhukov. The trust forged between them during these years became the axis of Kryukov's subsequent military career. In March 1942, Kryukov took command of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, succeeding the legendary cavalry commander Lev Dovator, who had been killed in the defence of Moscow. That April, near Volokolamsk, he met the folk singer Lidia Ruslanova, who was performing for the corps; they married soon after. In November 1942, during Operation Mars, the corps suffered heavy losses from German artillery and air strikes before even making contact with the enemy. In February–March 1943, 'General Kryukov's Cavalry-Ski-Rifle Group' on the Central Front broke through German lines in the Sevsk operation and drove deep into the rear, but was soon encircled and forced back to Sevsk with catastrophic losses, defending the town for six days. Over 15,000 cavalrymen and skiers, including three Siberian ski brigades, were killed, and the corps was virtually annihilated. Major General Yagodin, commander of the 3rd Guards Kuban Cavalry Division, reported that 'only 25–30 men survived in each regiment.' The corps was withdrawn for reformation.
In July 1944, Kryukov was appointed commander of the 1st Belorussian Front's Cavalry-Mechanized Group (the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps and the 11th Tank Corps), with orders to cross the Western Bug River and the Soviet–Polish border. In the Vistula–Oder offensive that followed, his corps crossed the Pilica River and played a decisive role in the liberation of Warsaw; in the East Pomeranian operation, it captured Polczyn (Połczyn-Zdrój) on 5 March 1945. For these achievements, Kryukov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 6 April 1945. Under his command, the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps received the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 2nd Class, and the honorary title 'Pomeranian.' Kryukov's postwar downfall was in part political. The 'Trophy Case' charged looting on its surface, but his status as a close associate of Zhukov is widely assessed as a key reason he was targeted. Zhukov was dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces in 1946; two years later, Kryukov was arrested.