Ivan Fedyuninsky - Biography

Biography

Fedyuninsky was born into a peasant family near Tugulym in the Urals. He finished the village school in 1913 and was apprenticed to a painter and decorator. He joined the Red Army in 1919. He fought on the Western Front in the Russian Civil war and was wounded twice. He studied at the Vladivostok Infantry School between 1923–24 and was appointed to an infantry regiment. He served in the Russian Far East between 1919 and 1940 fighting in the Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) and as a regimental commander in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, where he won the Hero of the Soviet Union for his valour. He was promoted to divisional commander in 1940.

He was commanding 15th Rifle Corps in 5th Army on 22 June 1941, and after several other army commands, including 42nd Army in the Leningrad area, took over 2nd Shock Army just before the Battle of Narva (1944). From 1946 for a period he commanded 7th Guards Army.

After the war Fedyuninsky was deputy commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (1951–54), commander the Transcaucasian (1954–57) and Turkestan (1957–65) Military Districts. He was awarded the rank of General of the Army in 1955 and was an inspector and advisor to the Soviet ministry of defence from 1965 until his death. He was also a deputy in the Supreme Soviet.

Ivan Fedyuninsky was awarded four Orders of Lenin, five Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov (1st and 2nd Class), two Orders of Kutuzov, Order of the Red Star, Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR (3rd Class), numerous medals, and a few foreign orders and medals.