Sergei Alexandrovich Khudyakov , born Armenak Artem Khanferiants , was a Soviet Armenian chief Marshal of the Air Force

Marshal of the Air Force

Marshal of the Air Force is the English term for the most senior rank in a number of air forces. The ranks described by this term can properly be considered marshal ranks....

.

Armenak Khanferiants was born in 1902 in Mets Takhlar village of Hadrut

Hadrut

Hadrut is a province of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It forms the southern border of Nagorno-Karabakh, and one of the most mountainous parts. Villages are primarily found along two river valleys and scattered in lower elevations on the very southern fringe...

, nagorno-karabagh. He travelled to Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

 to study and started working at oilfields owned by Armenian tycoon and philanthropist Alexander Mantashev

Alexander Mantashev

Alexander Mantashev was a prominent Armenian oil magnate, industrialist, financier, and a philanthropist. By the end of his life he had become one of the world's wealthiest individuals.-Early life:...

.

Russian Revolution

Whilst in Baku, he joined the Bolshevik

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

s and organized the Red Guard

Red Guards (Russia)

In the context of the history of Russia and Soviet Union, Red Guards were paramilitary formations consisting of workers and partially of soldiers and sailors formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

s of Baku in April 1918. While he was in Astrakhan

Astrakhan

Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...

 during the Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

, he was saved from drowning by his friend, Sergei Khuyakov, who was later be killed fighting the Whites. Khanferiants adopted Sergei's name as his own as memorial to the man who saved his life. He continued to serve as a cavalry officer until 1920. In 1929, Khudyakov was admitted to the Tiflis Cavalry School, and in 1931 went to 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...

 to attend the Zhukovskii Military Air Academy. He graduated with honors in 1936.

World War II

The war greatly accelerated his career, and he jumped four ranks in just three years. During the Great Patriotic War

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 (1941–1945), he was chief of staff

Chief of Staff

The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...

 of the Air Force and commander of the Air Force of the Western Front, chief of staff of the Red Army's Air Force, commander of the 1st Air Army, chief of staff and deputy commander

Deputy Commander

Deputy commander was a rank in the London Metropolitan Police which existed between 1946 and 1968.In 1946, the rank of chief constable, which was between superintendent and deputy assistant commissioner, was renamed deputy commander. At the same time, the rank of deputy assistant commissioner was...

 of the Red Army's Air Force. Aviation units under his command took part in the offensive of the Western Front forces in the Rzhev-Sychevka direction and supported the ground troops in the Rzhev-Vyazma operation. In 1943 Marshal Khudyakov coordinated combat operations of the Air Force of the Voronezh

Voronezh

Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...

 and Steppe Fronts in the Battle of 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,...

 and the Battle for the Dnieper.

In February 1945, he took part in the Yalta conference

Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...

 as a military adviser. Later in 1945, he helped direct the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

 in the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

 being commander of the 12th Air Army

Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...

.

He was arrested on December 14, 1945, and later accused of having been recruited as a spy by the British. He was executed in April 1950. He was rehabilitated in 1954, after Stalin's death.

Throughout his career, Khuyakov was awarded the Lenin Order, two Order of the Red Banner

Order of the Red Banner

The Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...

s, and various foreign medals.