Konstantin Rokossovsky ( 1896-1968)
Although born in Velikiye Luki, Russia, Rokossovsky was of Polish origin and fought in the Russian army in the First World War as a resident of the Russian-governed area of Poland. However, he refused to enlist in the First Eastern Polish Corps in the autumn of 1917 and joined the Soviet Red Army in 1918, taking part in the Civil War. He joined the Soviet communist party in 1919. He was successively a brigade, division and cavalry-corps commander between 1929 and 1937, when he was arrested and imprisoned. After his release, he again served as a cavalry-corps commander in 1940- 41. He is considered to have been one of the best Soviet commanders, serving on the Bryansk, Don, Central and First and Second Belorussian fronts and taking part in the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin. In 1945, he was promoted to marshal of the Soviet Union and placed in command of the Soviet forces in Poland. In 1949, he was appointed marshal of Poland. In November 1949, Stalin personally ordered that Rokossovsky should be appointed the Polish minister of defence. There, he is remembered especially for his bloody purge among the officers of the Polish army. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1949 to 1956, also joining its Political Committee in 1950. From 1952 to 1956, he was a deputy prime minister. Rokossovsky fiercely opposed the return to power of Wladyslaw Gomulka in the autumn of 1956. This and his extreme unpopularity led to his recall to the Soviet Union in November. He was a Soviet deputy defence minister in 1956-7 and 1958-62, and commander of the Trans-Caucasus Military Zone in 1957- 8. He was an alternate member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1961 to 1968 and appointed to head the inspector group of the Defence Ministry in 1962.
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