Grigory Oriol
Born16 September 1904
Died3 February 1974
Moscow, Soviet Union
Allegiance Soviet Union (1924–1969)
Years of service1924–1969
RankColonel-General
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsOrder of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner (3)
Order of Suvorov 1st Class
Order of Kutuzov 1st Class
Order of Suvorov 2nd Class
Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class
External image
image icon Grigory Oriol's official portrait.

Grigory Nikolaevich Oriol (Russian: Григорий Николаевич Орёл, 16 September 1904 – 3 February 1974) was a Soviet armored corps general.

Biography

Early life

Oriol joined the Red Army in 1924. At the mid-1930s, he attended the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization (now part of the Combined Arms Academy), where he became close friends with General Sergei Shtemenko.[1] After graduation, he was assigned to the 22nd Maxim Gorky Cavalry Division, commanding the mechanized regiment and later the armored regiment.[2]

World War II

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he headed the Armoured Automobiles department in the General Staff, and later became the commander of the armored and mechanized divisions in the 16th Army, under General Rokossovsky.[3] As such, he took part in the battle of Moscow.[4][5] Oriol remained the commander of Rokossovsky's tanks, and headed the Mechanized and Armored Formations of the Bryansk Front, which later was re-formed as the Don Front.[6] While stationed in the Don Front, he participated in the Battle of Stalingrad.[7] On 17 November 1942, he was given the rank of a major general.[8] After the Don Front was renamed Central Front, Oriol supervised its armored units during the Battle of Kursk.[9] Oriol remained in his post as the Central Front became the 1st Belorussian Front.[10] At 5 November 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general.[8] When Marshal Georgy Zhukov replaced Rokossovsky, Oriol headed the tank formations under his command during Vistula-Oder Offensive and the Battle of Berlin.[11][12]

Post-war years

After the war, Oriol was appointed inspector-general the armored and mechanized forces stationed in all the USSR's Military Districts. At 1961, he became an inspector in the Ministry of Defense and was given his final promotion to Colonel-General on 1962. He retired from the Armed Forces during 1969.[13]

Honours and awards

References

  1. ↑ Sergei Shtemenko. The Soviet General Staff at War 1941 - 1945. University of the Pacific (2001). ISBN 978-0-89875-603-6. Page 177.
  2. ↑ Officers of the 22 Cavalry Division.
  3. ↑ A brief history Archived 2011-08-30 at the Wayback Machine of the 16th Army mechanized formations.
  4. ↑ Vasily Kazakov. The Turning Point. Voenizdat Publishing House (1962), Moscow. Page 45.
  5. ↑ Rodric Braithwaite. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. Knopf (2006). ISBN 978-1-4000-4430-6. Page 161.
  6. ↑ Semion Ivanov. The Staff of the Army and the Front. Voenizdat Publishing House (1991), Moscow. Notes, footnote 214.
  7. ↑ Sergei Rudenko. Wings of Victory. Mezhdunarodniye Otnoshonie Press (1985), Moscow. Chapter 4.
  8. 1 2 Drig, Yevgeny. "Генералы и маршалы танковых войск, получившие звания в 1940-45 гг" [Generals and Marshals of the Tank Troops who received the rank between 1940 and 1945]. mechcorps.rkka.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  9. ↑ Konstantin Rokossovsky. A Soldier's Duty. Voenizdat (1988), Moscow. Chapter 15: The Collapse of Operation Citadel.
  10. ↑ The Staff of the 1st Belorussian Front.
  11. ↑ Georgy Zhukov. Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov. Delacorte Press (1971). ISBN 978-0-440-05571-6. Page 526.
  12. ↑ Otto Preston Chaney. Zhukov. University of Oklahoma Press (1996). ISBN 978-0-8061-2807-8. Page 142.
  13. ↑ "Grigory Oriol on cccp-tv.net". Archived from the original on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
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