Voronov, Nikolai Nikolaevich

Voronov, Nikolai Nikolaevich 

Born Apr. 23 (May 5), 1899, in St. Petersburg; died Feb. 28, 1968, in Moscow. Chief marshal of artillery (1944), Hero of the Soviet Union (May 7, 1965). Joined the CPSU in 1919. Born into the family of an office worker.

In March 1918, Voronov volunteered for the Red Army and took part in the Civil War. In 1918 he completed the Second Petrograd Artillery Courses; in 1924 he graduated from the Command Personnel Higher Artillery School; and in 1930 he graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy. From 1918 to 1934 he occupied command and staff positions. In 1934 he became director of the Leningrad Artillery School. In 1936-37 he was a military adviser attached to the Republican armies in Spain during the civil war there. From 1937 to 1941 he was in command of artillery in the Red Army, deputy commander of the Main Artillery Directorate, and commander of the National Air Defense Forces. From July 1941 to March 1943 he was deputy people’s commissar for defense of the USSR and commander of the Red Army’s artillery; from March 1943 to March 1950 he was commander of artillery of the armed forces. From 1950 to 1953 he was president of the Academy of Artillery Sciences, from 1953 to 1958 he was director of the Military Artillery Command Academy, and from 1958 he held responsible posts in the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.

In the period of the Great Patriotic War, Voronov was commander of artillery and a representative of General Headquarters of the Supreme Command; he took part directly in the preparation and conduct of operations on the Western, Leningrad, Southwestern, Briansk, Voronezh, Stalingrad, Don, and other fronts and oversaw the liquidation of surrounded German-fascist forces near Stalingrad. He has written his memoirs, On Military Service (1962). He was a deputy of the second convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been awarded six Orders of Lenin, an Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, three Orders of Suvorov First Class, an Order of the Red Star, five foreign orders, medals, and honorary arms. He is buried in Moscow on Red Square by the Kremlin walls.