Konstantin Rokossovsky

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Rokossovsky, Konstantin Konstantinovich (b. 21 Dec. 1886, d. 3 Aug. 1968). Marshal of the Soviet Union (1944) and Poland (1949) Born in Velikjie Luki (near Warsaw), he was conscripted into the Russian imperial army in 1914. He joined the Red Army in 1918, and the Bolsheviks in 1919. As a professional soldier he had reached the rank of lieutenant-general by 1938. During the Great Purge, he was himself imprisoned for three years and was lucky to escape execution. He was reinstated in response to the German attack on the USSR in June 1941. He took a leading part in the defence of Moscow, as well as the decisive siege of Stalingrad. He took part in the Battle of Kursk and in August 1944 he won a major battle at Bobruisk in the Ukraine, utterly defeating the German 9th Army. He then directed operations against East Prussia and in Poland, where he ignored appeals for help from the Warsaw Rising. After the war, he remained in Poland effectively as Stalin's sentinel, acting as Minister of Defence (1945–56) and Deputy Prime Minister (1952–6) under President Bierut. The presence of the person who had allowed the defeat of the Warsaw Rising caused tremendous popular resentment, which led to his removal to the Soviet Union in 1956. There, he became Deputy Minister of Defence 1956–62.

Rokossovsky, Konstantin Konstantinovich (1896–1968) Polish-born Soviet field-marshal. Rokossovsky enlisted in the Tsarist army and joined the RED ARMY in 1919. Arrested during STALIN's purges, he was released from prison camp to become one of the outstanding generals of World War II, taking part in the battles of Moscow, STALINGRAD, KURSK, and others. His Red Army troops stood by (August—September 1944) on the outskirts of Warsaw without helping in the WARSAW UPRISING against the German occupying forces. After the war he was transferred to the Polish army and became Deputy Premier and Minister of Defence under President Bierut. Rokossovsky led the army in a bloody suppression (June 1956) of Polish workers in Poznań, who were demonstrating for “bread and freedom”. On 20 October Polish and Soviet troops exchanged fire; Rokossovsky's troops were recalled to Moscow, and GOMUłKA's new nationalist government was able to claim some independence from interference by the Soviet Union.

Konstantin Rokossovsky , 1896–1968, Soviet general, b. Warsaw. He entered the czarist army and in 1917 joined the Bolshevik forces in the Russian Revolution. Purged in 1937, he was rehabilitated in 1940. In World War II he distinguished himself at Moscow, Stalingrad (later Volgograd), and Kursk and became (1943) commander on the central front. His armies stood by without aiding the tragic Warsaw uprising of 1944 against the Germans. In 1949, Rokossovsky was made commander in chief and minister of defense of Poland and from 1952 he was deputy prime minister; in this capacity he was an important symbol of Soviet influence in Poland. After the assertion of Polish nationalism under Gomułka as leader of the Polish Communist party in 1956, Rokossovsky resigned and was recalled to the Soviet Union. From 1956 to 1958 he twice served as Russian deputy minister of defense.