Vasily Aleksandrovich Yushkevich

Vasily Alexandrovich Yushkevich (; – 15 March 1951) was a Soviet Army colonel general.

Conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, Yushkevich rose from private to second lieutenant during the war. Drafted into the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, he served as a battalion and regimental commander. Yushkevich held regimental commands in the 1920s and division and corps commands in the 1930s before a stint as an advisor in the Spanish Civil War. He was arrested after returning from Spain due to the Great Purge, but reinstated in 1939. At the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa he commanded the 44th Rifle Corps in Belarus. Yushkevich subsequently commanded the 22nd and 31st Armies in the Battle of Moscow and the Battles of Rzhev, and the 3rd Shock Army in the Baltic Offensive. He was relieved of command in August 1944 due to illness and became commander of the rear-area Odessa Military District. Postwar, he commanded the Volga Military District before retiring in 1950.

Early life, World War I, and the Russian Civil War Yushkevich was born on 28 February 1897 in Vilna, the son of a postman. After graduating from a six-grade commercial school, he was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army during World War I in March 1915 and became a junker at the Vilna Military School. At the school, he was promoted to unter-ofitser in July and in September graduated from an accelerated 4-month first level training course with the rank of praporshchik. Yushkevich was sent to the Southwestern Front, where he served as a junior officer and then temporary company commander of the 7th Marching Reserve Battalion of the 3rd Marching Reserve Brigade.

In March, 1916 he was placed at the disposal of the chief of staff of the 7th Army Corps of the 11th Army and seconded to the headquarters of the 34th Infantry Division until July, before being appointed a junior officer in a company of the 133rd Simferopol Infantry Regiment, serving as a platoon leader. Between July and August, he fought in battles on the Seret River and was wounded, but remained at the front. For distinguishing himself, Yushkevich was promoted to podporuchik in September and in October was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus, 3rd class with swords and knot. He became a company commander of the regiment in August 1917.

Yushkevich led the army in the Rzhev–Vyazma Offensive in March 1943 and from April in defensive battles along the eastern bank of the Lovat River in the sectors of Kholm and Velikiye Luki as part of the Northwestern Front (then the Baltic from 13 October and 2nd Baltic from 20 October). The army fought in the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive during January and February 1944, advancing towards Idritsa. Yushkevich was transferred to command the 3rd Shock Army of the front in April, participating in the Rezhitsa–Dvinsk Offensive, Madona Offensive, and Riga Offensive. In August, due to illness, he was dismissed from command and soon appointed commander of the Odessa Military District. continued in command of the Odessa Military District until July 1946, when he transferred to command the Volga Military District. In April 1950, he was relieved of his post and placed at the disposal of the Soviet Minister of Defense, being retired later that year. He died on 15 March 1951 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Awards and honors Yushkevich received the following decorations:

Order of Lenin (2) Order of the Red Banner (4) Order of Suvorov, 1st class Order of Kutuzov, 1st class Order of the Red Star Order of Saint Stanislaus, 3rd class (not worn after 1917)