Early Life and Russian Civil War

Krivoshein was born in the well-to-do family of a Jewish artisan shop owner and in 1917 graduated from gymnasium, a Russian secondary school for the educated elites. Like millions of Russians of his generation, he was captivated by the Bolshevik promise of the perfect world of social justice, and in 1918 he enlisted to the Red Army to fight against the Whites in the Russian Civil War. He served in the famous 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny. The army was Stalin's military power-base. Later, during the Great Purge of 1937-1938, Krivoshein's service in the 1st Cavalry Army saved him from troubles in spite of his "bourgeois" background.

Tank commander in Spain, Siberia, Poland and Finland

After the end of the war in 1921, Krivoshein stayed in the army. With the introduction in the Red Army of tank forces, Krivoshein was chosen among most talented cavalry officers to master the new brand of weapon. He was sent to study to the elite Frunze Military Academy, graduated in 1931 and served in the mechanized troops, rising in 1934 to commander of mechanized regiment. In 1936 he volunteered to fight in Spain on the side of the Republicans against General Francisco Franco who was supported by the Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In November-December 1936, he commanded tank forces of the Republican army in the battle of Madrid and won praise for his performance. His small tank force of a single brigade could not halt Franco's offence but his bold actions improved the morale of the Republican forces.

In January 1937 Krivoshein was recalled to the Soviet Union to recuperate. He was promoted to Kombrig and appointed commander of a mechanized brigade. In the summer of 1938, he led his brigade against the Japanese in the battle of Lake Khasan and, in 1939, he commanded a light tank brigade in the Soviet campaign against Poland.

In one of the most notorious episodes of Stalin-Hitler cooperation, after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union accomplished the partition of Poland, Krivoshein held a joint German-Soviet victory parade with Nazi General Heinz Guderian in Belorussian city Brest which was divided between the two allies. At the parade, Krivoshein, acting upon instructions from his superiors, congratulated the Germans for their war successes and offered to welcome them in Moscow after their forthcoming victory over the Great Britain. [1],

Krivoshein's next tour of duty with his tank brigade was against Finland during the Winter War (1939-1940). He fought with distinction and his promotion was quick. In less than two years, he rose from commander of the motorized rifle division and then a tank division to a commander of tank forces of a key Baltic Special military district. With the introduction in the Red Army of the rank of General, he became, in 1940, a Major General.

Second World War

Reform of Soviet armored forces, 1941-43

After the German invasion of the USSR, Krivoshein took command over the 25th mechanized corps and fought the Germans in the Baltic and in Belarus where he stalled Guderian panzer near Homyel. Krivoshein's competent command was among the rare exceptions at this stage of the war. Soviet tank forces were far inferior to German panzers in understanding of modern armored war and failed to halt the German onslaught. Learning from the experience of the battles, Soviet high command embarked upon fundamental reform of its armored forces and it decided that it needed Krivoshein to train the Red Army armor for mobile warfare even more than it needed him in combat. In 1941-1943, Krivoshein was a head of Department of Training in the Main Directorate of the Red Army Tank Forces. The training of the Soviet tank crews had to respond to constantly changing demands to the crews such as introduction of the new tanks and search for the most optimal size of the tank formation. Krivoshein's effort led to marked increase in the fighting capabilities of the Soviet armor but he sought to return to combat.

Battle of Kursk

In 1943, when the Red Army was preparing for the desicive battle of Kursk, Krivoshein received command of the 3rd mechanized corps in Mikhail Katukov's 1st tank army of the Voronezh Front, commanded by Nikolai Vatutin. He and Katukov were the best defense tacticians in the Red Army armor. Soviet high command assigned to Krivoshein a crucial task to fight in first echelon in the south of the Kursk salient against German Army Group South of the most capable of all German Field Marshals Erich von Manstein. Krivoshein took position in town of Oboyan and together with 6th tank corps in Prokhorovka during the battle he faced the main weight of German assault, lead by the top Wehrmacht panzer General Hermann Hoth. Krivoshein forces were in dire technical disadvantage to German panzer. Against his corps, the Germans deployed their powerful Tiger I tanks, armed with 88mm guns that ranged approximately two kilometers. Soviet tank T-34 had smaller 76.2 mm gun with a shorter range of fire. On the first day of battle, on July 6, 1943, the Germans used Tigers together with enormous Ferdinand assault guns in an attack on Krivoshein. After fierce, tenacious fighting, by the end of the day German panzer penetrated Soviet defenses in the junction between 3rd mechanized corps and 6th tank corps but Soviet tanks held the ground. Next morning, on July 7, Hoth sent the bulk of German panzer against Krivoshein. In their turn, Katukov and Vatutin fed Krivoshein with reinforcements. In a pitched battle Krivoshein withstood the German assault. By the end of the day a German aerial reconnaissance reported to Hoth, "The Russians are not falling back. They stand there on line. Our tanks are stopped. They are burning." Next day, July 8, Manstein and Hoth in desperation decided to stake everything on a renewed attack. Under massive German assault, Krivoshein withdrew his corps to a new defense position but Germans once again failed to break through his front line. The failure spelled doom for German panzer. Unable to defeat Krivoshein, on July 9, 1943, Hoth redirected his attack against the 6th tank corps in Prokhorovka, leaving his right flank open. On July 12, the powerful 5th guards tank army of Pavel Rotmistrov slammed into the Hoth flank and delivered to German panzer a mortal blow. 1st tank army also went to on counterattack. By the end of the day, Hoth, suffering from terrible losses, retreated. Wehrmacht lost the greatest tank battle in history and the Red Army in effect won the war. Stalin bestowed on 1st Tank army and two of its most distinguished corps the highest Soviet honorific title for the military formation, the "guards." Krivoshein's 3rd mechanized corps became the 8th guards mechanized corps. Krivoshein was promoted to Lieutenant General and was awarded highest Soviet decoration for the outstanding generalship Order of Suvorov.

During the battle, 1st tank army was severely weakened and had only 141 tanks left. Krivoshein's corps alone lost nearly 90% of its command cadre. In spite of these losses, Vatutin ordered the exhausted 1st tank army to go on offense in Belgorod-Kharkov operation but, after a spectacular initial advance, it was stalled and Stavka withdrew it to reserve to restore it for future combat. After receiving replacement in personal and equipment, in December 1943 Krivoshein's corps was sent together with the rest of the 1st guards tank army to the 1st Ukrainian Front of Ivan Konev. Krivoshein spearheaded Konev's offensive in expelling Germans from the right bank Ukraine.

Belarus to Berlin

Later in 1944, Krivoshein received command of 1st mechanized Krasnograd corps and fought in Operation Bagration, which smashed German Army Group Centre in Belarus. Among many other Belorussian cities Krivoshein recaptured from Germans was Brest.

Krivoshein's generalship was superior to most of the Red Army generals who commanded tank armies. The fact that he never rose above command of the corps might be attributed to his Jewish origin. Stalin during the war promoted Jews to high positions in the Red Army when the demands of the war pressured him to resort to their expertise but he always did it with a great reluctance. The Red Army's triumph in the battle of Kursk to which Krivoshein contributed so heavily made Stalin sure of his victory in the war and he became more restrictive toward Jews. Such was a reality of the Stalinist state.

In the last days of the war, in spring 1945, Krivoshein led his corps in vanguard of 1st Belorussian Front of Georgy Zhukov in the battle of Berlin. He slashed through the heavily fortified and echeloned German defenses in the critical battle of Seelow Heights and fought his way to the Reichstag. For his outstanding combat leadership and personal courage in the capture of Berlin, Krivoshein received the highest Soviet war honor, the order of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Post war life

His post-war fortune reflected Soviet instability of the decade. Krivoshein continued to command his corps until 1946 when he was appointed the head of Department at the Frunze Military Academy. In 1950 when Stalin dismissed from the army large numbers of Jewish generals, Krivoshein was removed from Moscow to command mechanized and tank forces of small Odessa Military district. In 1951 Ministry of Defense selected him a candidate for the Soviet Army higher command and sent him study in Higher Military Academy of the General Staff. Krivoshein graduated in 1952. Ironically, a death of Stalin on March 1953 brought an end to Krivoshein's military career. The new leadership began to reduce the huge Soviet army and, on May 4 1953, Ministry of Defense retired Krivoshein after 35 years of the service. Among his many military decorations were three Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of Kutuzov of 1st degree, and Order of the Red Star. Krivoshein spent last quarter century of his life writing three books of the war memoirs.

References

F. D. Sverdlov, Evrei-generaly Vooruzhennykh Sil SSSR (Moscow, 1993, pp. 118-119).
Richard N. Armstrong, Red Army Tank Commanders. The Armored Guards (Atglen, PA, 1994).
Rossiiskaia evreiskaia entsiklopedia, vol. 2 (Moscow, 1995, p. 92).
David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House, The Battle of Kursk (Lawrence, KS, 1999)
Mark Shteinberg, Evrei v voinakh tysiachiletii (Moscow, Jerusalem, 2005, p. 38).