Fyodor Isidorovich Kuznetsov , Colonel General

Colonel General

Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...

, was a military commander of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

.

Biography

Born to a peasant family in present-day Mogilev Oblast of Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, Kuznetsov served in the Imperial Russian Army

Imperial Russian Army

The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and continued his service in the Bolsheviks' Red Army

Soviet Army

The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...

. During the German-Soviet War he initially commanded the Northwestern Front during the Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation

Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation

The Baltic Operation, also known as the Defensive operation in Lithuania and Latvia encompassed the operations of the Red Army from 22 June-9 July 1941 conducted over the territories of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Soviet Republics in response to an offensive launched by the German...

 until 30 June 1941, but was relieved in early August 1941 (replaced by General Major P.P. Sabennikov), when he was appointed commander of the 21st Army until March 1942) and at a Stavka

Stavka

Stavka was the term used to refer to a command element of the armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of Imperial Russia as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Soviet Union...

 session on August 12, 1941, was given command of the new 51st Independent Army

51st Army (Soviet Union)

The 51st Army was a field army of the Red Army that saw action against the Germans in World War II on both the southern and northern sectors of the front. In particular, it was involved in the Crimean debacle of May 1942, and the final cutting-off of German forces in the Courland area next to the...

, later serving as the temporary commander of the Central Front (July-August 1941), Chief of Staff of the 28th Army, Deputy Commander of the Western Front, and commander 61st Army.

From March 1942 to June 1943 he served as the commanding officer of the Academy of General Staff, and from August 1943 to February 1944 as the Deputy Commander of the Volkhov Front

Volkhov Front

The Front was reformed on the 9 June 1942 from the Volkhov Operational Group of the Leningrad Front and served until 15 February 1944, participating in the relief of the Siege of Leningrad and taking part in other operations including:-Campaigns:...

 and Karelian Front

Karelian Front

The Karelian Front was a Front of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, and operated in Karelia.- Wartime :...

. In 1945-1948, he commanded the Ural Military District

Volga-Urals Military District

The Volga-Ural Military District was a military district of the Russian Ground Forces, formed on 1 September 2001 by the amalgamation of the Volga Military District and the Ural Military District. The headquarters of the Ural Military District, located at Yekaterinburg became the new headquarters...

, retiring due to illness.