Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky

Discussion in 'The Eastern Front' started by Zoya, Mar 18, 2008.

  1. Zoya

    Zoya Partisan

    I have been trying to find out information about Marshal Rokossovsky, but there's very little out there. I'm sure I read somewhere (possibly Beevor?) that he was married to a famous Russian folk singer who was exiled to Siberia after falling out of favour. Or have I got the wrong Marshal?:p

    I managed to find these very interesting photos though, from the Imperial war Museum Archive, I've added the written info underneath:

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    Left to right: The Commander of the 7th Armoured Division, Major General L O Lyne; Marshal V Sokolovsky of the Red Army; the Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov; Colonel General Melinius of the Red Army; the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery; an interpreter from the Royal Engineers; and Marshal K Rokossovsky of the Red Army at the Brandenberg Gate after a ceremony in which Field Marshal Montgomery decorated the Russian Generals.

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    The Commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Marshal K Rokossovsky is invested as a Knight Commander of the British Empire by the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Three other Russian generals were decorated on this occasion including the Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov.

    I had no idea these Russian Marshals/Generals had been decorated by the British!
     
  2. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Great photos Zoya and point back to a time when the Allies worked together for the greater good to defeat Germany.

    Mind you I do believe that the Russians took all the awards bestowed upon them but never reciprocated. Or did they?
     
  3. 4th wilts

    4th wilts Discharged

    i know some american generals were also knighted,i think i saw patton dressed up in all his regalia in a photo.i think.lee.
     
  4. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Heres his Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rokossovsky

    The man had a charmed life. He was sent to a gulag during the purges and managed to not only be released but got back into a top level command!

    Zoya, just realised you have his name misspelt!!!
     
  5. 4th wilts

    4th wilts Discharged

    yes,general vatunin deserves a mention too,good soldier indeed.lee
     
  6. Jaeger

    Jaeger Senior Member

    If I'm not mistaken he had Polish relatives that made him political unreliable??
     
  7. PaulE

    PaulE Senior Member

    Zoya,

    The four who were decorated in Berlin were as you know Zhukov and Rokossovskiy but also Sokolovskiy and Vasilevskiy,

    Have some info on Rokossovskiy somewhere will dig it out but i think the Wiki entry has him just about covered

    Paul
     
  8. deadb_tch

    deadb_tch the deadliest b#tch ever

    Yep, Zoya, spell his name correctly, please :)

    In my town we have street called in name of Vatutin and his little memorial, I live near this street. ;)
     
    Zoya likes this.
  9. Zoya

    Zoya Partisan

  10. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Genuine mistake ~ forgive me :blush:
    Can someone please correct the title of the thread to save me any further embarrassment!!!
    The Imperial War Museum got it wrong too...take a look! I'm not the only klutz! Welcome the Imperial War Museum's Collections Home Page : FIELD MARSHAL MONTGOMERY DECORATES RUSSIAN GENERALS AT THE BRANDENBURG GATE IN BERLIN, GERMANY, 12 JULY 1945

    It's ok, I fixed it! :smash:
    Zoya, no need to ask forgiveness!!!!! Thats why we all come here, to learn!! Keep up hte good work!!! :)
     
  11. Zoya

    Zoya Partisan

    Zoya, no need to ask forgiveness!!!!! Thats why we all come here, to learn!! Keep up hte good work!!! :)
    Thanks!
    [It's a Catholic thing! ;) :lol: ]
     
  12. marek_pk

    marek_pk Senior Member

    If I'm not mistaken he had Polish relatives

    His father was Polish.
     
  13. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    And boy was he made to suffer for it!!!
     
  14. 4th wilts

    4th wilts Discharged

    marshal vatutins death,led to zhukov taking command of the ukrannian 1st front.he should have imo given vatutins front to some one else.stalin and zhukov could then have planned the death of the wehrmact earlier imo.lee
     
  15. chipmunk wallah

    chipmunk wallah Senior Member

    Someone said that the Russians never reciprocated re medals. Ehm,surely this was more a case of the western allies/governments not allowing them to?
    Yes,Marshall R' was indead half Polish,infact he was brought up in the lovely Warsaw district of Praga ( ;) ). He did indeed live a "charmed" life in one sense escaping both the Gulag and Praga :)
     
  16. laufer

    laufer Senior Member

    If I'm not mistaken he had Polish relatives that made him political unreliable??

    Unfortunately, his connections with Poland were much stronger.
    In 1949, Rokossovsky, with a rank of Marshal of Poland, was made commander in chief and minister of defense of Polish Peoples Republic and from 1952 he was deputy prime minister; in this capacity he was an important symbol of Soviet influence in Poland.
    Although Rokossovsky was nominally Polish most Poles regarded him as a Russian and Soviet, especially as he spoke poor Polish and even ordered Polish soldiers to address him in Russian instead. As Rokossovsky himself bitterly put it: "In Russia, they say I'm a Pole, in Poland they call me Russian".
    Rokossovsky took part in the suppression of the Polish independence movement and sovietization of Poland in general and the Polish Peoples Army in particular. As the superior commander of the Polish Army, he introduced various ways of suppression of anti-Soviet activity and socially or politically insecure elements in the army. Among groups targeted by the repressions were former soldiers of the pre-war Polish Army, wartime Home Army and Polish Forces in the West.
    In 1956 during protests in Poznan against Soviet domination of Poland, Rokossovsky approved the order to send military units against protesters. As a result of the action of over 10,000 soldiers and 360 tanks, at least 74 civilians were killed.
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    source: Wiki
     

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