Konstantin Rokossovsky among graduates of the Leningrad Higher Cavalry School, 1924-1925.
College/University
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
Proyezd Devich'yego Polya, 4, Moscow, Russia
The M. V. Frunze Military Academy where Konstantin Rokossovsky studied in 1929.
Career
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovsky in Polish uniform
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1944
Kyiv, Ukraine
Rokossovsky in the gondola of an artillery observation balloon.
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
Young Konstantin Rokossovsky
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1920
Konstantin Rokossovsky
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1945
Moscow, Russia
Konstantin Rokossovsky among the top Soviet military commanders of World War II.
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1945
Pariser Platz, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Konstantin Rokossovsky and Georgy Zhukov with Bernard Montgomery and other Allied officials at the Brandenburg Gate on July 12, 1945.
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1945
Red Square, Moscow, Russia, 109012
Marshal of the Soviet Union, Konstantin Rokossovsky, on his way to Red Square from the Kremlin for the Victory Day Parade.
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1948
Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
1959
Moscow, Russia, 103132
Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky at the 21st Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovsky in Polish uniform
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovsky and Georgy Zhukov
Gallery of Konstantin Rokossovsky
Commander of the second Belorussian front, Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky
Achievements
Membership
Awards
Cross of St. George
The Cross of St. George that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on August 8, 1914.
Medal of St. George, 4th class
The Medal of St. George, 4th class, that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on July 20, 1915.
"Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union
The "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on July 29, 1944 and on June 1, 1945.
Order of Victory
The Order of Victory that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on March 30, 1945.
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on August 16, 1936, January 2, 1942, July 29, 1944, February 21, 1945, December 26, 1946, December 20, 1956, and December 20, 1966.
Order of the October Revolution
The Order of the October Revolution that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on February 22, 1968, December 2, 1921, February 22, 1930, July 22, 1941, November 3, 1944, November 6, 1947.
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on May 23, 1920, December 2, 1921, February 22, 1930, July 22, 1941, November 3, 1944, and November 6, 1947.
Order of Suvorov
The Order of Suvorov that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on January 28, 1943.
Order of Kutuzov
The Order of Kutuzov that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on August 27, 1943.
Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad"
The Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on December 22, 1942.
Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"
The Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on May 1, 1944.
Medal "For the Defence of Kiev"
The Medal "For the Defence of Kiev" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on June 21, 1961.
Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw"
The Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on June 9, 1945.
Medal "For the Capture of Königsberg"
The Medal "For the Capture of Königsberg" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on June 9, 1945.
Medal "For the Capture of Berlin"
The Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on June 9, 1945.
Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
The Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on May 9, 1945.
Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
The Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on May 7, 1965.
Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"
The Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on February 22, 1938.
Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
The Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on February 22, 1948.
Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
The Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on December 18, 1957.
Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
The Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on December 26, 1967.
Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"
The Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on June 12, 1947.
Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945
The Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945 that Konstantin Rokossovsky received in 1946.
Legion of Honour
The Legion of Honour that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on June 9, 1945.
Croix de Guerre
The Croix de Guerre that Konstantin Rokossovsky received in 1945.
Order of the Builders of People's Poland
The Order of the Builders of People's Poland that Konstantin Rokossovsky received in 1951.
Cross of Grunwald
The Cross of Grunwald that Konstantin Rokossovsky received in 1945.
The Order of the Red Banner that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on May 23, 1920, December 2, 1921, February 22, 1930, July 22, 1941, November 3, 1944, and November 6, 1947.
The Order of Lenin that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on August 16, 1936, January 2, 1942, July 29, 1944, February 21, 1945, December 26, 1946, December 20, 1956, and December 20, 1966.
The Order of the October Revolution that Konstantin Rokossovsky received on February 22, 1968, December 2, 1921, February 22, 1930, July 22, 1941, November 3, 1944, November 6, 1947.
Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky was a Soviet and Polish officer who was Marshal of the Soviet Union and Poland's Defence Minister. He also was Marshal of Poland.
Background
Ethnicity:
Rokossovsky's father was from Poland and his mother was a Belarusian-born woman of Russian descent. The Rokossovsky family were members of the Polish nobility.
Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky was born as Konstanty Xaverevich Rokossowski on December 21, 1896, in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (present-day Warsaw, Poland). He was a son of Ksawery Wojciech Rokossowski, who served as a railway official in the Russian Empire, and Antonina Ovsyannikova, a teacher. Rokossovsky also had two sisters.
After Rokossovsky was twice awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union, he began to point to Velikie Luki as his birthplace, where the bust of Rokossovsky was installed.
Education
Konstantin Rokossovsky attended the Leningrad Higher Cavalry School from 1924 to 1925. From January to April 1929 he studied at the Frunze Military Academy where he specialized in tank warfare.
Konstantin Rokossovsky started his career as an apprentice stonemason. He held this post from 1909 to 1914. When World War I began, he joined the Russian army and worked in a cavalry unit. He gradually became a second lieutenant. In 1917, Rokossovsky commanded a cavalry squadron of the Kargopolsky Red Guards Cavalry Detachment in the campaigns against the White Guard armies of Aleksandr Kolchak. Later, in 1921 he commanded the 35th Independent Cavalry Regiment. From 1930 to 1932 he served as commander of the 7th Samara Cavalry Division. Later, in February 1932 he was appointed commander of the 15th Cavalry Division. Rokossovsky spent several years defending the Chinese Eastern Railway until it was sold to Japan in 1935. He also served as commander of the 5th Cavalry Corps from 1936 to 1937. He was imprisoned in 1937 during the Stalinist purges but in 1940, he was released and reinstated to his previous rank by Stalin.
In 1940, Konstantin Rokossovsky was appointed commander of the 9th Mechanized Corps. On July 11, 1941, he became commander of the 4th Army and held this post until July 17, 1941. A month later, he was put in charge of the 16th Army Group, defending Moscow. In March 1942, Rokossovsky was badly injured by a shell splinter. He spent two months in a Moscow hospital, but as soon as he got well he took command of the 16th Army again. From July 13, 1942 to September 28, 1942, Rokossovsky was commander of the Bryansk Front. In September 1942, he was also appointed commander of the Don Front. The Germans attacked him, and he fell back toward Stalingrad. However, he made a plan for counterattacking. He went ahead and encircled the German forces that were on their way to besiege Stalingrad. The following year, he was promoted to the post of commander of the Central Front. He was able to defend the Kursk area from the Germans. On October 20, 1943, Rokossovsky became commander of the Belorussian Front. On February 17, 1944, the Central Front was renamed the 1st Belorussian Front. Rokossovsky led his army to the banks of the Vistula River, overlooking Warsaw, by mid-1944. He also was the commander of Operation Bagration. Rokossovsky was made the commander of the 2nd Byelorussian Front on November 12, 1944. His army marched into East Prussia and northern Poland. In April 1945, he joined hands with British general Bernard L. Montgomery's army in northern Germany.
Following the war, Konstantin Rokossovsky continued to stay with his army in Poland. After the Communist government came into power in the country, Konstantin was made Minister of National Defense of Poland on November 6, 1949. He was also made Marshal of Poland and in 1952 became Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Poland. Later Rokossovsky helped crush a Polish independence movement. Another movement, under revolutionary leader Wladyslaw Gomulka, tried to raise its head the same year. Rokossovsky used military powers against the new movement, too. However, he failed to attempt to convince Nikita Khrushchev to use force against the Polish state. Following this, Konstantin left the post of Minister of National Defense of Poland and went back to the Soviet Union in 1956. In November 1956 Rokossovsky was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence and held this post until June 1957 when he became Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Defense. In October 1957 he became commander of the Transcaucasian Military District and held this post until 1958. In 1958, Rokossovsky again took up the post of Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Defence and held it until 1962. He also served as General Inspector of the Group of Inspectors General from 1962 to 1968. Konstantin Rokossovsky died on August 3, 1968. Later, in 1986, his memories of the years of military service were published.
Quotations:
"The German army is a machine, and machines can be broken!"
"In Russia, they say I'm a Pole, in Poland they call me Russian."
"I have been placed under surveillance, and I can't take a step without it being known to the Polish minister of internal affairs."
"I am a citizen of the Soviet Union and I think sharp measures need to be taken against anti-Soviet forces that are trying to make their way into the leadership. In addition, it is vitally important to maintain the lines of communication with Germany through Poland."
Personality
Konstantin Rokossovsky was a strong-willed man with outstanding organizational skills. He gained the unquestioned authority, respect, and love of all those with whom he had to fight together. Rokossovsky had courage, bravery, and great efficiency. Moreover, he always took care of his subordinates. He also was known for his innovative ways of warfare, such as using huge armored forces to attack enemy positions.
Quotes from others about the person
Boris I. Nicolaevsky: "Rokossovsky was a different type of general from Zhukov. Although a good soldier, he was not exceptionally brilliant."
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery: "Rokossovsky was an imposing figure, tall, very good-looking, and well dressed; I understand he was a bachelor and was much admired by ladies."
Connections
Konstantin Rokossovsky married Julia Barminan in 1923. The marriage produced a daughter, Ariadna. Rokossovsky also had a daughter with Galina Talanova, a doctor at a field hospital.
Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky: The Red Army's Gentleman Commander
The author Boris Sokolov offers this first objective and intriguing biography of Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky, who is widely considered one of the Red Army's top commanders in the Second World War. Yet even though he brilliantly served the harsh Stalinist system, Rokossovsky himself became a victim of it with his arrest, beatings and imprisonment between 1937 and 1940. The author analyzes all of Rokossovsky's military operations.