Yeremenko, Marshal Andrey

1892–1970

   Yeremenko was a front line General at Stalingrad, Smolensk, in Czechoslovakia and the Crimea. Recalled from a tour of duty in the Far East at the start of the German invasion, he was appointed Commander of the Bryansk Front in August 1941. He was severely wounded during the retreat from Bryansk (13 October) and was out of action for a year. In August 1942 he was made Commander of the Southeast Front and participated in the encirclement operations at Stalingrad. Though himself responsible for trapping the German Sixth Army, STALIN gave ROKOSSOVSKY the honor of clearing up while Yeremenko was sent to chase MANSTEIN.

   In 1943 Yeremenko was involved in the advance on Smolensk. He was then posted as Commander of the Independent (Black Sea) Maritime Front and ordered to clear out the Crimea, which was occupied by a mixed force of Germans and Rumanians. Yeremenko and TOLBUKHIN began their offensive on this strategically secure peninsula on 17 April 1944 and had captured 67,000 men, mostly German, by the time the enemy surrendered on 13 May. Yeremenko took charge of the 2nd Baltic Front in 1944, captured Dvinsk (in Latvia), joined the offensive against the German Army Group North and threatened Riga. He was then assigned to the Carpathian Front until 1946.