Ivan Stepanovich Konev

Ivan Stepanovich Konev , 1897-1973, Soviet field marshal. In World War II he reconquered (1944-45) Ukraine and S Poland from the Germans, took Silesia, and participated in the conquest of Czechoslovakia and the capture of Berlin. He became (1945) military governor of the Soviet occupation zone in Austria and (1946) commander in chief of Soviet ground forces. From 1955 to 1960 he commanded the unified military forces set up by the Warsaw Treaty. In 1961-62 he headed Soviet forces in East Germany.

Konev, Ivan Stepanovich (b. 28 Dec. 1897 d. 21 May 73). Soviet marshal Born in the Kirov area, he became a conscript in World War I and in 1918 joined both the Bolsheviks and the Red Army. He fought successfully in the Russian Civil War, and continued his rise through the military ranks thereafter. He escaped Stalin's purges of the Red Army, and commanded several army groups in World War II. In 1945 his 1st Ukrainian Army Group advanced through Poland and Silesia and played a major part in the capture of Berlin. After the war he became Commander-in-Chief of Soviet land forces (1946–50). After a temporary halt in his career ordered by the jealous Stalin, he became Commander-in-Chief of Warsaw Pact forces (1955–60). He spent a year as Soviet army commander in East Germany (1961–2), and then retired.

Konev, Marshal Ivan (1897–1973),Soviet Army officer who acted as a military commissar during the civil war before becoming part of the officer corps in 1924.

Konev, not entirely without reason, regarded Zhukov as his nemesis. In 1937–8, he commanded the Soviet special force stationed in Outer Mongolia, but in 1939 it was Zhukov who was given command of the Halha River (Khalkin-Gol) operation (see Japanese–Soviet campaigns). In October 1941, during the initial phase (see BARBAROSSA) of the German–Soviet war, Stalin divided West front (army group), which Konev had commanded for a month, giving him the armies on the outer right flank as Kalinin front and Zhukov the main force in the Moscow sector. Thereafter, he was Zhukov's junior partner until August 1942, when Stalin returned him to West front after Zhukov left to take charge at Stalingrad.

The action shifted south in the winter, and Konev was out of it until July 1943, when, according to one biographer, ‘his hour struck’—faintly. He commanded Steppe front, which was the reserve in the Kursk battle but, together with Voronezh front and under Zhukov, became part of the main force in the ensuing Soviet summer, winter, and spring offensives. In October, Voronezh became First and Steppe became Second Ukrainian front; and in February 1944, apparently to boost him to Zhukov's level of celebrity, Stalin gave Konev a marshal's star. In May 1944, Konev inherited the strategically more important First Ukrainian front after Zhukov, who had commanded it in person since March, departed.

However, he had still not fully emerged from Zhukov's shadow. In the 1944 summer offensive, he played the accompaniment to Zhukov's bravura performance against German Army Group Centre, and his role in the 1945 offensive was initially to have been the same. His hour did not strike resoundingly until 17 April, when Stalin ordered him to drive towards Berlin because Zhukov was having trouble crossing the River Oder, and he therewith acquired a share in the victory there.

Three days after V-E Day, Konev gained a more doubtful distinction as the liberator of Prague, and in July 1945, Stalin named him Soviet high commissioner for Austria. In July 1946 he was appointed first deputy armed forces minister and commander-in-chief of the ground forces to succeed Zhukov, who, after having held those posts briefly, was being sent off to vegetate in out-of-the-way military districts.

Earl Ziemke