Pyotr Koshevoy

Petr Kirillovich Koshevoi (Пётр Кириллович Кошевой) (December 21, 1904 – August 30, 1976) was a Soviet military leader.

Koshevoi was born to a peasant Ukrainian Cossack family and joined the Red Army in 1920.

He took part in the Russian Civil War and commanded a corps during the second world war taking part in the defense of Stalingrad, the Liberation of the Crimea and the capture of East Prussia. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice – in 1944, for the taking of Sapun-gora (called a key to Sevastopol) and in 1945, for his part in the capture of Königsberg.

Following the war, Koshevoi commanded the Siberian Military District in 1957–60, the Kiev Military District in 1960–65, and the Group of Soviet forces in East Germany in 1965–69. Koshevoi was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1968. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Honours and awards

 * Hero of the Soviet Union, twice (16 May 1944, 9 April 1945)
 * Five Orders of Lenin (17 December 1941, 16 May 1944, 30 April 1945, 9 December 1964, 22 February 1968)
 * Order of the October Revolution (4 December 1974)
 * Order of the Red Banner, three times (3 November 1944, 15 November 1950, 21 February 1969)
 * Order of Suvorov, 2nd class (31 March 1943)
 * Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class, twice (17 September 1943, 4 July 1944)
 * Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 1st class (5 May 1945)
 * Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin"
 * Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"
 * Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad"
 * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Medal "For the Capture of Königsberg"
 * Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
 * Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
 * Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
 * Medal "In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad"