Yefim Pushkin

Yefim Grigoryevich Pushkin (Ефим Григорьевич Пушкин; 28 January 1899 – 11 March 1944) was a Red Army lieutenant general and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Early life, World War I, and Russian Civil War
Yefim Grigoryevich Pushkin was born on 28 January 1899 in the village of Krutets, Saratov Governorate. He joined the Red Army in January 1918 during the Russian Civil War, serving as a clerk at the headquarters of the 11th Army in the North Caucasus. In April he became a quartermaster and then platoon commander in the North Caucasus Rifle Regiment. With this unit he participated in battles on the Southern Front in the suppression of the Astrakhan revolt. From May 1919 he studied at the Oryol Cavalry Courses. After completing the courses Pushkin became a squadron commander of the Kamo Partisan detachment on the Western Front in October. In December 1919 he was sent to the Southern Front, where with the 2nd Taman Regiment he fought against the Armed Forces of South Russia as a platoon and squadron commander. Returning to the Western Front in May 1920 with the 17th (later 7th) Cavalry Regiment of the 16th Army he fought in the Polish–Soviet War, then against the forces of Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz.

Interwar period
After the end of the war, Pushkin continued to command the squadron in the 7th Cavalry Regiment on the Turkestan Front. He fought against the Basmachi revolt and was wounded three times and concussed once. He was recommended for the Order of the Red Banner twice for distinguishing himself in battle, but did not receive the award. In July 1925 he was transferred to the 52nd Cavalry Regiment in Gaisin, where he served as a squadron commander, chief of the regimental school, and regimental chief of staff. From May to September 1932 he studied at the Leningrad Armored Commanders' Improvement Courses, then was appointed chief of staff of the 14th Mechanized Regiment of the 14th Cavalry Division in Nizhny Volchansk. From October 1938 he was an officer for special assignments at the Military Council of the Kiev Special Military District. In February 1941 Pushkin was appointed commander of the 32nd Tank Division of the 4th Mechanized Corps of the district.

World War II
After Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began on 22 June 1941, Pushkin continued to command the division on the Southwestern Front. During the border battles, he led the division in the Battle of Dubno. In July he became commander of the 8th Tank Division on the Southwestern and Southern Fronts. The division was credited with the destruction of 80 German tanks between 19 and 25 August. For his "skilled and courageous leadership of the division" and for inflicting heavy losses on the German forces, Pushkin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. From September Pushkin commanded the 130th Tank Brigade on the Southern Front, and from March was deputy commander of the 18th Army for tank troops.

Pushkin took command of the 23rd Tank Corps on 12 April, which he led in the Second Battle of Kharkov as part of the 6th Army of the Southwestern Front. He became deputy commander of the front for tank troops on 4 June and in August deputy commander of the 4th Tank Army. The army was formed from the 28th Army and joined the Stalingrad Front and then the Don Front on 28 September. He served in this role in the counterattack of the front against the German forces at Stalingrad, crossing the Don north of Kalach, during which it broke German attempts to force the Don and capture Stalingrad, and subsequently, inflicting heavy losses in personnel and equipment on the Axis forces, the corps participated in defensive battles on the outskirts of Stalingrad. In October the 65th Army was formed from the 4th Tank Army, and Pushkin appointed deputy commander of this army for tank troops.

At the end of October Pushkin returned to command the 23rd Tank Corps, then in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command, and in December it was transferred to the Southwestern Front. As part of the 5th Tank, 3rd Guards, 1st Guards, 6th, and 8th Guards Armies of the front the corps under Pushkin's command successfully fought in the Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad, then in the Voroshilovgrad Offensive, during which it liberated Krasnodon, Sverdlovsk, and Rovenky. Subsequently, Pushkin led the corps in the Izyum–Barvenkovo offensive, the Donbas strategic offensive, and the Zaporozhye offensive, during which it liberated Konstantinovka, Chaplino and Zaporozhye. As part of the 3rd Guards Army of the Southern Front (the 4th Ukrainian from October), the corps fought in the Melitopol offensive. Later the corps was transferred to the 46th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and fought in the Dnepropetrovsk offensive. From November 1943 the corps fought in combat actions as part of the 8th Guards Army of the front, and from December was under the direct control of the front commander. Pushkin led the corps in the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive in March 1944. During the offensive, Pushkin was killed in a German bombing raid in the area of Bashtanka at 18:30 on 11 March. He was buried in Dnipropetrovsk (the city is since 2016 named Dnipro ).

A monument of to Pushkin was erected 1967 on Dnipropetrovsk's main street featuring a T-34. In January 2023 this monument was removed after the Dnipro City Council had decided the monument "has no historical or artistic value." On 5 January 2023, the day after the monument was dismantled, Mayor of Dnipro Borys Filatov claimed that Yefim Pushkin "defended our city when the Soviet command was incompetent, in just a few days, surrendering a huge industrial centre to the advancing Nazis." Filatov also claimed that the T-34 tank of the monument was of a modification of 1967 and so could have never been driven by Pushkin.

Awards
Pushkin received the following awards:


 * Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Order of Lenin
 * Order of the Red Banner
 * Order of Suvorov, 2nd class (2)
 * Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class