Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky

The Early Years

Konstantin Rokossovsky was born in December 1896 at Velikie Luki in the Pskov province of Russia. Born to Polish and Russian parents and spoke both languages fluently. In 1901 his family moved to Warsaw where he was educated. On the outbreak of the first world war he joined the Russian army, serving in the 5th Cavalry Division. He rose through the ranks quickly, rising from private to junior officer by 1917. During his service he was wounded twice and was awarded the George Medal for bravery three times. The revolution saw a temporary end to his military career, but at the end of 1917 he joined the Kargopolsky Red Guards Cavalry Detachment. Throughout the civil war he commanded a cavalry squadron, twice wounded and again distinguishing himself. By 1921 he was commanding the 35th Independent Cavalry Regiment fighting in Mongolia. By the time the civil war ended, he had established himself as a dashing and able commander.
After the civil war, Rokossovsky remained in the Red Army, serving in the Far East commanding a cavalry Battalion. In 1924 he was he was enrolled in the Leningrad Higher Cavalry School where he met other up and coming young officers such as Yeremenko, Zhukov and Bagramyan. On completion of the course in 1925, he again returned to the Far East to command a cavalry Regiment. Soon after, he was seconded to join the Soviet Military Mission in Mongolia as an instructor to the Mongolian Peoples Army. It was here he met another prominent young officer, Rybalko, and also his future wife Yulia. In 1928, he returned to Moscow to attend a senior officers course at the Frunze Military Academy. This was followed by a return to the Transbaikal Region commanding the 5th Independent Cavalry Brigade. In 1929 he took part in a military action against Chinese forces as part of the Soviet Far Eastern Army. In 1930 he was given command of the 7th Cavalry Division located in the Belorussian Military District. In 1935, another move saw him return to the Far East to command the 15th Cavalry Division and then again in 1936 he returned to the Leningrad Military District to take command of the 5th Cavalry Corps. However the Stalinist purges of the officer Corps were under way and in August 1937 he was arrested on false charges of sabotage and of impairing the combat effectiveness of his unit. Whilst in prison he was accused of being a Polish spy and endured weeks of torture. Following a farcical trial he was imprisoned in a military jail near Leningrad. In March 1940, the charges against him were dropped and he was released, retaining his rank of Colonel.

Return to Command

His old friend Timashenko helped to implement his return to active duty and he was given command of the 5th Cavalry Corps, now part of the Kiev Military District. In June 1940 he was promoted to Major General and tasked to assist another old comrade, Zhukov, in the assessment of Russian defences on the western border. In October 1940 he was given command of the 9th Mechanized Corps.
In June 1941, as part of the Southwestern Front, his Corps faced elements of German Army Group Center as it advanced towards Kiev. In July 1941, Rokossovsky was given command of 'Operational Group Rokossovsky' to assist in the defence of Smolensk. In September 1941 he was given command of 16th Army and tasked with blocking the Volokolamsk Highway and bar German forces access towards Moscow. By late November, 16th Army had gradually been forced back to a line Krasnaya Polyana-Kryukovo-Istra, but here it held firm until the Red Army went over to the offensive in December.
In July 1942 he was given command of the Bryansk Front, retaining the services of his trusted HQ staff who would remain with him until the end of the war. The Front carried out offensive operations on the Tula and Voronezh axis.
In September Rokossovsky was given command of the Stalingrad Front, which was re-designated Don Front at the end of the month. He was tasked with harassing the German northern flank and supporting the forces defending Stalingrad. Following the encirclement of German forces in Stalingrad, Rokossovsky was entrusted with the execution of operation 'Koltso' (Ring), the destruction of German forces trapped in the pocket. The operation was launched on the 10th of January and resulted in the surrender of Field Marshal Von Paulus, to Rokossovsky in his HQ on the 31st of January. Prior to the operation, Rokossovsky had insisted that the German forces within the pocket be given the opportunity to surrender. Mindful of the suffering of the German troops, he had a surrender proposal drafted and offered to Von Paulus. The proposal was refused and the operation continued as planned. After the operation was completed Rokossovsky was promoted to Colonel General and on the 15th of February, Don Front was again re-designated Central Front.
In April 1943, Rokossovsky was promoted to Army General and tasked with preparing his Front to face the German attack against the Kursk salient, operation 'Citadel'. Rokossovsky supported Zhukov's plan to rely on a huge chain of field defences, which would break down the German attack and eventually lead to its failure. Despite initial German success in his sector, he managed to plug the gaps opened by the German assault and eventually halt the attack. On the 15th of July, Central Front, in conjunction with the Bryansk and Western Fronts, went over to the offensive, recapturing Orel on the 5th of August. By the end of September his Front had advanced over 300km and reached the Dnepr River.

The Road to Berlin

In October, Central Front was re-designated Belorussian Front, and following a difficult reorganization and redeployment northwards during the autumn rainy season through a region a with poor road network, it took part in the Gomel-Rechitsa operation in December. In February 1944 the Front was re-designated, for a final time, as the 1st Belorussian Front, in preparation for the Rogachev-Zhlobin operation, which would start that month. Following the operations successful conclusion, the Front prepared for the main summer offensive, operation Bagration, the recapture of Belorussia. Rokossovsky's Front was tasked with advancing west from Rogachev on the Dnepr towards Kovel. The offensive opened on June the 23rd and the Front advanced through difficult terrain, interspersed with marshland, rivers and lakes. The Germans did not expect a Russian thrust from this direction and were caught totally off guard. Rokossovsky's Front pinned down the 9th Panzer Corps, which was then badly mauled by the Red Air Force. On the 3rd of July, Minsk was recaptured and by the 24th of July the Front had crossed the River Bug and liberated Lublin. Two days later Brest Litovsk fell and the road to Warsaw was open. For his part in the operation, Rokossovsky was promoted to Marshall and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.
While Rokossovsky's forces stood stalled on the Vistula, the Warsaw Uprising broke out in the city on August the 1st, led by the Polish Home Army. The objective of the uprising was liberating the city from the Germans before the arrival of Russian forces and of preventing the establishment of a Communist government. Stalin ordered Rokossovsky to give the rising no assistance and this left Rokossovsky with a terrible dilema. Torn between helping the country in which he grew up, or obeying the orders of the country which he so faithfully served. He obeyed the order not to aid the uprising and it was brutally put down by the SS. In his memoirs Rokossovsky went to great lengths to explain his decision, citing the reason that the Front was overextended and tied down by German forces in the area and that he had insufficient time and resources to mount such a large operation.
In November 1944, Rokossovsky was ordered to relinquish command of the 1st Belorussian Front and hand it over to Zhukov. He was then to take over command of the 2nd Belorussian front for the final push towards Berlin. This would leave Zhukov's front taking the primary axis towards the German capital. Rokossovsky was distraught and contacted Stalin directly by telephone. 'Why the disgrace?' he asked, 'Why am I being transferred to a sector of secondary importance?' Stalin pacified him by saying that all the axis towards Berlin were of equal importance, 'If you and Konev do not advance, then Zhukov will have to mark time as well!'
Despite this Rokossovsky departed with his staff the following day, without waiting for Zhukov's arrival. His new Front opened the East Prussian operation on January 14th 1945. It began with the crossing of the Narew River, which proved difficult with poor weather conditions preventing the use of air support. However on the 16th the weather began to improve and 48th Army managed to force a break through the German positions and Rokossovsky poured the 5th Tank Army into the breach and it continued to advance northwestwards until it reached the Baltic coast at Elbing.
Rokossovsky became appalled by the atrocities which were becoming commonplace as Russian forces advanced deeper into Germany. He ordered his commanders to show restraint saying 'Hatred for the enemy does not permit acts of blind vengeance on the German people. We are fighting Hitler's Army, not the peace loving population of Germany'.
On the 10th of February, Rokossovsky was ordered to close the gap which had opened on Zhukov's northern flank and was being threatened by Army Group Vistula. The operation started badly, with 47th Army being halted and then forced to retreat by the German 3rd Army. However Rokossovsky implemented a counter attack on the 1st of March and by the 5th, had broken through to the Baltic coast at Kolberg and Koslin. The operation ended with the capture of the port of Danzig on the 30th of March.
The final operation which Rokassovsky was to take part in was the capture of Berlin. Again his Front was to provide protection for Zhukov's right flank and envelop the city to the north. The operation began on the 20th of April, with the crossing of the Oder River. Stettin was captured on the 26th of April and this left the road open for the Front to continue its advance westwards. The 2nd Belorussian Front destroyed the remains of the German 3rd Army and Army Group Vistula and the operation closed on the 3rd of May when the 3rd Guards Tank Corps met up with the British 2nd Army at Wismar, where Rokossovsky was introduced to Field Marshal Montgomery.
In June Rokossovsky commanded the victory parade in Moscow's Red Square, with Zhukov taking the salute and Stalin watching on from the Lenin's mausoleum. In July, on his first visit to Berlin, Rokossovsky was awarded the title of Knights Commander of the Bath by Field Marshal Montgomery. This added to his already considerable list of awards which included twice being honored with the title 'Hero of the Soviet Union', seven Orders of Lenin, six Orders of the Red Banner and the Polish Order of Virtue.
Following the end of the war Rokossovsky became Commander of Soviet forces in Poland until 1949, when he was given the position of Polish Minister of Defence and awarded the rank of Marshal. This was an unpopular choice with the Polish people due to Rokossovsky's part in the Warsaw Rising. In 1956, following political tension between Russia and Poland, he was recalled to Moscow and given the position of Deputy Minister for Defence. In 1957 he became the Chief Inspector for the Ministry of Defence, a post which he held until his retirement in 1962 due to illness. The illness gradually worsened until his death in August 1968. He was buried with full military honours in Red Square near the Kremlin. His memoirs 'A Soldiers Duty' were published shortly after his death.