Iushkevich, Vasilii

Iushkevich, Vasilii Aleksandrovich 

Born Feb. 16 (28), 1897, in Vilnius; died Mar. 15, 1951, in Moscow. Soviet military commander. Colonel general (1945). Member of the CPSU from 1919.

Iushkevich was drafted into the army in 1915 and fought in World War I as a platoon and company commander. In the Civil War of 1918–20 he commanded an infantry company, a battalion, and a regiment. He graduated from the advanced training courses for higher command personnel at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1926 and 1928 and commanded an infantry division and a corps. He served as an adviser in Spain in 1937 and fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the republican government.

Iushkevich was commander of the XLIV Rifle Corps at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. He commanded the Twenty-second Army from Aug. 28 to Oct. 19, 1941, the Thirty-first Army from Oct. 19, 1941, to Mar. 19, 1942, the Twenty-second Army from April 1942 to April 1944, and the Third Shock Army from April to August 1944. He served on the Western, Kalinin, Northwestern, and Second Baltic Fronts. Iushkevich was named troop commander of the Odessa Military District in October 1944 and served as troop commander of the Volga Military District from July 1946 to November 1950.

Iushkevich was a deputy to the second and third convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov First Class, the Order of Kutuzov First Class, the Order of the Red Star, and various medals.