Portal:World War II/Selected biography/5
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Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Чуйко́в) (February 12, 1900 - March 18, 1982) was a lieutenant general in the Soviet Red Army during World War II, two times Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945), who after the war became a Marshal of the Soviet Union. Born into a peasant family, he joined the Red Army during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and later attended the Frunze Military Academy. Chuikov served in the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in 1939 and in the Russo-Finnish War of 1940. He was then sent to China as an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek. In May 1942 the USSR recalled their military advisor, according to Chuikov's memoirs this was due to Nationalist China claiming the USSR was providing military aid as part of an attempt to draw the USSR into the Second Sino-Japanese War. On returning to Moscow, Chuikov was placed in command of the 64th Army, on the West bank of the Don river. The 64th Army took part in the fighting withdrawal to Stalingrad, and shortly before the Battle of Stalingrad itself began, Chuikov was made commander of the more important 62nd Army, which was to hold Stalingrad itself, with the 64th on its Southern flank. After the victory there, the 62nd Army was promoted into the Soviet 8th Guards Army. Chuikov then commanded the 8th Guards as part of 1st Belorussian Front and led its advance through Poland, finally heading the Soviet offensive which captured Berlin in April 1945.
