Grechko, Andrei Antonovich (1903-1976)

Soviet soldier, marshal of the Soviet Union and minister of defence from 1967. He had a successful career in the cavalry army and as a coordinator of multinational armies.

A member of the Communist Party from 1928, he took part in the Civil War with the First Cavalry Army, then joined the Cavalry School, and worked at the War Academy till 1936. In the crucial years before the German attack on Russia he was on the general staff, then in 1941-42 commanded a cavalry division and the Twelfth Army on the Southern Front. He took part in operations for the liberation of the Ukraine, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, and after the War commanded the Kiev region (1945-53) and the Soviet army in Germany (1953-57). He took charge of forces of the Warsaw Pact countries 1960-67 and wrote two books on his wartime operations.