Background
Ivan Stepanovich Konev was born on 28 December 1897 into a peasant family near Podosinovets in Vologda Governorate (now Kirov Oblast, Russian Federation).
1945
1945
Konev at the liberation of Prague by the Red Army in May 1945
1945
Ivan Konev (front row, 1st from left) at the Victory Parade, June 24, 1945
2018
Monument in Prague, new explanatory text, English version
Monument in Kharkov
Monument in Kirov
Monument in Vologda
Bust in Slovakia
Monument in Prague
(Memoirs of the commander of the front. Russian edition)
Memoirs of the commander of the front. Russian edition
https://www.amazon.com/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%83%D1%8E%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE-%D1%84%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BC-1943-1945-commander/dp/B073FWDPZ7/?tag=2022091-20
1985
(In this first-hand account of the great finishing strokes...)
In this first-hand account of the great finishing strokes with which the Soviet Army ended the war against Hitler Germany, Marshal Konev, who was then in command of the 1st Ukrainian Front, analyses the strategic and operational situation of those days. His story includes authentic pen portraits of many prominent commanders such as Marshal of Armoured Forces P. S. Rybalko, and Generals D. N. Gusev and N. P. Pukhov, and his reflections on the nature of modern warfare, the art of moving large masses and equipment, and the morale of the Soviet soldier.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1410219992/?tag=2022091-20
Ivan Stepanovich Konev was born on 28 December 1897 into a peasant family near Podosinovets in Vologda Governorate (now Kirov Oblast, Russian Federation).
Ivan Stepanovich Konev had little formal education and worked as a lumberjack.
In the spring of 1916, Ivan Stepanovich was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army. He was sent to the 2nd Heavy Artillery Brigade at Moscow and then graduated from artillery training courses. In 1917, he was sent to the 2nd Separate Heavy Artillery Battalion on the Southwestern Front as a junior sergeant and fought in the Kerensky Offensive.
When the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917 he was demobilised and returned home, but in 1919 Ivan Stepanovich joined the Bolshevik party and the Red Army, serving as an artilleryman. During the Russian Civil War he served with the Red Army in the Russian Far Eastern Republic. His commander at this time was Kliment Voroshilov, later a close colleague of Joseph Stalin and Commissar for defence. This alliance was the key to Konev's subsequent career.
In 1926 Ivan Stepanovich completed advanced officer training courses at the Frunze Military Academy, and between then and 1931 he held a series of progressively more senior commands, becoming head of first the Transbaikal then the North Caucasus Military Districts. In July 1938 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Red Banner Army. In 1937 he became a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet and in 1939 a candidate member of the Party Central Committee.
When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Ivan Stepanovich was assigned command of the 19th Army in the Vitebsk region, and waged a series of defensive battles during the Red Army's retreat, first to Smolensk and then to the approaches to Moscow.
He commanded the Kalinin Front from October 1941 to August 1942, playing a key role in the fighting around Moscow and the Soviet counter-offensive during the winter of 1941-1942. For his role in the successful defence of the Soviet capital, Stalin promoted Konev to Colonel-General. In the summer of 1942 he led the Kalinin Front and later the Western front in the battle on the Rzhev salient. Ivan Stepanovich held "Front" (army group) commands for the rest of the war. He commanded the Soviet Western Front until February 1943, the North-Western Front February-July 1943, and the 2nd Ukrainian Front from July 1943 (later further the 1st Ukrainian Front) until May 1945.
Ivan Stepanovich Konev participated in the Battle of Kursk, commanding the southern part of the Soviet counter-offensive, the Steppe Front. The result was that the Germans seriously underestimated the strength of the Soviet defences. After the victory at Kursk, Konev's armies retook Belgorod, Odessa, Kharkiv and Kiev. The subsequent Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive led to the Battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket which took place from 24 January to 16 February 1944. The offensive was part of the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive.
For his achievements in Ukraine, Ivan Stepanovich was promoted by Stalin to Marshal of the Soviet Union in February 1944. During 1944 Konev's armies advanced from Ukraine and Belarus into Poland and later into Czechoslovakia. In January 1945 Konev, together with Georgy Zhukov, commanded the Soviet armies which launched the massive winter offensive in western Poland, driving the German forces from the Vistula to the Oder River.
After the war Ivan Stepanovich Konev was appointed head of the Soviet occupation forces in Eastern Germany and also Allied High Commissioner for Austria. In 1946 he became commander of Soviet ground forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, replacing Zhukov. He held these posts until 1950, when he was appointed commander of the Carpathian Military District.
After Stalin's death, however, Konev returned to prominence. He became a key ally of the new Party leader, Nikita Khrushchev, being entrusted with the trial of the Stalinist police chief, Lavrenty Beria in 1953. He was again appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense and commander of Soviet ground forces, posts he held until 1956, when he was named Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact. Shortly after his appointment he led the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution.
Ivan Stepanovich held this post until 1960, when he retired from active service. In 1961-1962, however, he was recalled and was again commander of the Soviet forces in East Germany. He was then appointed to the largely ceremonial post of Inspector-General of the Defense Ministry.
Konev remained one of the Soviet Union's most admired military figures until his death in 1973. Marshal of the Soviet Union, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the Order of Victory Ivan Stepanovich Konev was buried in the Kremlin Wall with the greatest figures of the USSR, and can still be visited today.
(In this first-hand account of the great finishing strokes...)
(Memoirs of the commander of the front. Russian edition)
1985Quotes from others about the person
According to Milovan Djilas, Konev openly boasted of his killing of thousands of German prisoners of war: "The cavalry finally finished them off. 'We let the Cossacks cut up as long as they wished. They even hacked off the hands of those who raised them to surrender' the Marshal recounted with a smile."
Ivan Stepanovich Konev married twice, and his daughter Nataliya is Dean of the Department of Linguistics and Literature at the Russian Military University.