First Marshal of Armored Troops who led the Red Army's tank forces through the entire war
In Odessa during October 1917, Fedorenko's detachment of revolutionary sailors seized the headquarters of the Odessa Military District and established Soviet power in the city.
Yakov Fedorenko headed the Red Army's Main Auto-Armored Tank Directorate (GABTU) from 1940 to 1947, overseeing Soviet armored and mechanized forces throughout the Great Patriotic War. Appointed Deputy People's Commissar of Defence in July 1941, he coordinated tank production and served as Stavka representative at Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk. Summoned to Stalin's office 149 times, he was among the high command's most trusted advisers and in February 1944 became, alongside Pavel Rotmistrov, one of the first two Marshals of Armored Troops. A former Black Sea Fleet sailor, he helped establish Soviet power in Odessa during the October Revolution and commanded armored trains in the Civil War. He died in Moscow in 1947 and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.
Career Timeline
- 1915–1917Sailor, Black Sea Fleet; chairman of minesweeper ship committee
- 1917–1918Commander of Red Guard sailors' detachment, Odessa
- 1918–1920Red Army armored train commander and commissar, Civil War
- 1937–1940Chief of Auto-Armored Forces, Kiev Special Military District
- 1940–1942Head, Main Auto-Armored Tank Directorate (GABTU), Red Army
- 1941–1943Deputy People's Commissar of Defence, USSR
- 1942–1947Commander of Armored and Mechanized Forces, Red Army
- 1946–1947Commander, Armored & Mechanized Forces, Ground Forces; Deputy, Supreme Soviet