Background
He was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and served in the Red Army from October 1924.
politician Marshal of the Soviet Union
He was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and served in the Red Army from October 1924.
In 1938 he graduated with honors from the Frunze Military Academy.
Batitsky served in the Red Army from 1924 and was commander-in-chief of the Air Defense Forces from 1966 to 1978. Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, he was chosen to execute Lavrenty Beria, the former head of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs. At the age of 14, he entered the Kharkiv military prep school and in 1926 he was sent to study at the Military Cavalry School, graduating in 1929. From March 1929 to May 1935 he served in the cavalry and commanded a platoon and squad in the Belorussian Military District.
In March 1941 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 202nd Motorised Division.
Later that year he took command of the 254th Rifle Division. Later, during World World War II, he commanded the 73rd Rifle Corps (1943–1944) and the 128th Rifle Corps (1944–1945).
After World World War II he was Chief of the Air Staff (1950–1953). In December 1953 he was chosen to personally execute Lavrenty Beria as part of a plot led by Nikita Khrushchev and assisted by the military forces of Marshal Georgy Zhukov (Batitsky was Colonel-General and Deputy Commander of the Moscow Military District at the time).
Thus, he was a future Marshal of the Soviet Union who personally killed a former Marshal of the Soviet Union (Beria also held this rank from 1945 until he was arrested in June 1953).
He died in Moscow in 1984.
Hero of the Soviet Union Five Orders of Lenin Order of the October Revolution Five Orders of the Red Banner Order of Kutuzov 1st class Order of Suvorov 2nd class Order of Kutuzov 2nd class Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics 3rd class Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il"ich Lenin" Medal "Foreign the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" Medal "Foreign the Capture of Berlin" Medal "Foreign the Liberation of Prague" Medal "Foreign the Liberation of Warsaw" Medal "Foreign Strengthening Military Cooperation" Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics" Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers" and Peasants" Red Army" Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics" Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics" Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics" 16 foreign decorations.
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
