Mikhail Sergeevich Malinin (Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

: Михаил Сергеевич Малинин; , Polutino, Kostroma

Kostroma Oblast

Kostroma Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kostroma.Major historic towns include Kostroma, Sharya, Nerekhta, Galich, Soligalich, and Makaryev. Textile industries have been developed there since the early 18th century...

, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 - 24 January 1960, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, 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....

) was a Soviet general.

Early years

Originally a village carpenter, Malinin joined the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 at 1919 and fought in the Civil War. He graduated from the Moscow 2nd Infantry School at 1922, serving in the Moscow Military District

Military district

Military districts are formations of a state's armed forces which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and in countries with conscript forces, often handle parts of the conscription cycle.Navies have also used...

 during most of the decade. At 1931, he matriculated from the Frunze Academy and joined the Communist Party

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

. After two years he finished his studies at the Academy of Motorization and Mechanization

Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

The Combined Arms Order of Lenin Order of the October Revolution Red Bannered Order of Suvorov Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation-Center for Military Education and Science of the Russian Ground Forces is a military academy in Moscow which prepares commissioned officers for...

. Malinin was assigned as an instructor to the Leningrad

Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

 Armored Forces Commanders' Course at December 1937. He participated in the Soviet-Finnish War as the 9th Army's chief of operations, and was then appointed as the 7th Mechanized Corps' chief of staff, remaining in office until June 1941.

World War II

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

, Malinin was rushed to the front and posted as Rokossovsky

Konstantin Rokossovsky

Konstantin Rokossovskiy was a Polish-origin Soviet career officer who was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, as well as Marshal of Poland and Polish Defence Minister, who was famously known for his service in the Eastern Front, where he received high esteem for his outstanding military skill...

's chief of staff in what remained of the 9th Mechanized Corps. Their unit took part in the Battle of Smolensk

Battle of Smolensk (1941)

The Battle of Smolensk was a largely successful encirclement operation by the German Army Group Centre's 2nd Panzer Group led by Heinz Guderian and the 3rd Panzer Group led by Hermann Hoth against parts of four Soviet Fronts during World War II...

. As the 16th Army

16th Army (Soviet Union)

The 16th Army was a Soviet field army active from 1940 to 1945.-First Formation, 16th Army:Before Operation Barbarossa, HQ 16th Army was formed in July 1940 in the Transbaikal Military District . General Lieutenant М. F. Лукин took command...

 was reconstructed and Rokossovsky appointed its commander, Malinin followed him, becoming the Army's chief of staff at 19 August 1941.

He continued in that capacity, under Rokossovsky (and from November 1944, Zhukov

Georgy Zhukov

Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov , was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers' occupation...

), through much of the war: at the Bryansk

Bryansk Front

The Bryansk Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during the Second World War.General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it first formed in mid-late August 1941, comprising, in Erickson's words, 'on paper two armies, 50th and 13th, with eight rifle divisions each, three...

 (Chief of staff: 20.7.42 - 27.9.42), Don

Don Front

The Don Front was a front of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name refers to Don River, Russia....

 (30.9.42 - 15.2.43), Central (15.2.43 - 20.10.43) and Belorussian

1st Belorussian Front

The 1st Belorussian Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during World War II...

 (20.10.43 - 10.6.45) Fronts. As such, he participated in the Battles of Moscow

Battle of Moscow

The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...

, Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...

, Kursk

Battle of Kursk

The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...

, Belarus, Poland

Vistula-Oder Offensive

The Vistula–Oder Offensive was a successful Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European Theatre of World War II; it took place between 12 January and 2 February 1945...

 and Berlin

Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....

. Malinin was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General at the 20 December 1942, and to Colonel-General at 18 September 1943.

Post-war career

On 29 May 1945, Malinin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

 (Medal no. 6456). He was the GSFG

Group of Soviet Forces in Germany

The Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , also known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany and the Western Group of Forces were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany....

's chief of staff until 1948, and then the Soviet 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...

's chief of staff. From 1950 to 1952 he served as the Deputy Chief Inspector and the Chief Inspector of the Army. Then, he rose to be the Soviet Armed Forces

Soviet Armed Forces

The Soviet Armed Forces, also called the Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Armed Forces of the Soviet Union refers to the armed forces of the Russian SFSR , and Soviet Union from their beginnings in the...

' First Deputy Chief of Staff, an office he held until his death. As such, he was involved in the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. On 3 August 1953, he was promoted to the rank of Army General

Army General

For the army rank of General, as opposed to the specific rank of Army General, see General officer.Army General is a title used in many countries to denote the rank of General nominally commanding an army in the field...

.

Malinin was also a deputy in the 3rd and 4th convocations of the Supreme Soviet

Supreme Soviet

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...

. A candidate to the Central Committee

Central Committee

Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...

 at the years 1952-56, he was elected a member of the Central Auditing Commission

CPSU Central Auditing Commission

Central Auditing Commission , was a supervisory organ within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...

.