Meretskov, Marshal Kirill

Meretskov, Marshal Kirill (1897–1968),Soviet Army officer of peasant stock whose training included a spell in Germany in 1931.

In November 1939, when he was the Leningrad Military District commander, Stalin ordered him to launch an impromptu invasion of Finland (see Finnish–Soviet war). After the ensuing near-débâcle, Stalin, with uncharacteristic generosity, retained him in high positions, making him chief of the General Staff (see Stavka) in August 1940 and a deputy commissar of defence in January 1941. In the early months of the war with Germany, Meretskov served as STAVKA representative at North-west front (army group) and Karelian front, both in the Leningrad area. In December 1941, he commanded the army that recovered Tikhvin and thereby preserved Soviet road and rail access to the Lake Ladoga shore east of Leningrad which enabled a tenuous link with the besieged city to be maintained.

From December 1941 to February 1944, he commanded Volkhov front south of Lake Ladoga. His mission, to liberate Leningrad, was a taxing one since the city had acquired profound psychological significance for both sides. In January 1943, he opened a corridor 10 km. (6 mi.) wide along the Ladoga shore, but liberation had to wait until 24 January 1944, after which Volkhov front was dissolved.

In June 1944, then commanding the Karelian front, Meretskov once more attempted a whirlwind offensive against Finland. His armies, better prepared this time, quickly broke through defences the Finns had worked on for nearly three years but lost momentum thereafter; and in July he had to stop for two weeks to regroup. Two months later the Finns asked for terms, and Stalin agreed to an armistice on 19 September. In October, Meretskov staged a four-week offensive to dislodge the German Twentieth Mountain Army from the Petsamo area, after which Stalin advanced him to Marshal of the Soviet Union.

In February 1945, after having followed the German retreat to Kirkenes, Meretskov began redeploying his troops to the Vladivostok area, where, as First Far Eastern front, they participated in the August war against Japan (see Japanese–Soviet campaigns).

Earl Ziemke