Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (1894–1949)
Born 1894 CE, died 1949 CE.
Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (Russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Толбу́хин; 16 June 1894 – 17 October 1949) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is regarded as one of the finest Soviet generals of World War II. Born into a peasant family in Yaroslavl, Tolbukhin volunteered for the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War and served with distinction. He joined the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the Russian Civil War. After graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, he held a succession of commands, rising to the post of chief of staff of the Transcaucasian Military District by 1938. Tolbukhin rose further through the ranks following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and was involved in the Battle of Stalingrad. As commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, he assisted Rodion Malinovsky in the Lower Dnieper and Dnieper–Carpathian offensives. He then contributed to the Soviet drive into the Balkans and forced Romania's defection to the Allies, for which he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union. Afterwards, Tolbukhin took part in the occupation of Bulgaria and liberated much of Yugoslavia after the Belgrade offensive.
Text from the Wikipedia article Fyodor_Tolbukhin, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.