Birthday anniversary of Ivan Fedyuninsky (1900-1977), Soviet military leader, Army General, Hero of the Soviet Union

Ivan Ivanovich Fedyuninsky was born on July 17 (30), 1900, into a peasant family in Gilyova village, Uspenskaya Volost, Tyumen District, Tobolsk Province (now - Tugulym District of Sverdlovsk Region). In 1913, he graduated from the local village school and was apprenticed to a painter and decorator.

He joined the Red Army in 1919. During the Russian Civil war, he fought as a private soldier. In 1920, he was sent to the Western Front, where he was twice wounded in battles against Ukrainian nationalists and Polish troops.

On July 29, 1921, he began to serve in the 33d Reserve Regiment in Omsk. Later he was sent to study at the Omsk Infantry School (III Communist International Infantry School of the Command Staff of the Red Army in Omsk). In 1924, graduated officer Ivan Fedyuninsky was appointed platoon commander in the 107th Vladimir Infantry Regiment.

In 1929, he took part in the military conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway as the Commander of the 6th Company of the 36th Rifle Division of the Special Far Eastern Army. His cute wit and skilful leadership, as well as personal courage shown in battles, earned him an award - the Order of the Red Banner and personal weapon.

In 1939, he served on the border with Mongolia as a quartermaster of the regiment. At the beginning of the armed Soviet–Japanese border conflicts near the river Khalkhin Gol, Georgy Zhukov appointed Ivan Fedyuninsky to a post of Commander of the 24th Motorized Regiment of the 36th Motorized Rifle Division of the 1st Army Group. In the Battle of Bain-Tsagan, the regiment under his command, accompanied by tanks, broke through Japanese defensive line and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (August 29, 1939), Colonel Ivan Fedyuninsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal No. 155.

From September 1940, Ivan Fedyuninsky was the commander of the 15th Rifle Corps, housed near Brest and Kovel. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, his corps of three divisions successfully participated in defensive battles and inflicted several significant counterattacks on the offending German troops. He was wounded in these battles and was sent to a Moscow hospital by plane according to the order of the Commander of the Front.

In September 1941, during one of the most crucial moments of the Battle for Leningrad, Georgy Zhukov proposed Ivan Fedyuninsky as a Deputy Commander of the Leningrad Front. In October 1941, after the departure of Georgy Zhukov, he was an acting commander of the Front. Then, he was appointed Commander of the 42nd Army, which defended Leningrad. At the beginning of 1942, Georgy Zhukov appointed Ivan Fedyuninsky to a post of Commander of the 54th Army, that participated in the Luban Operation near Volkhov and suffered heavy losses.

In June 1942, Ivan Fedyuninsky obtained the military rank of Lieutenant General. From April 1942, he led the 5th Army of the Western Front. In October he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Volkhov Front. According to the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander, Ivan Fedyuninsky was personally liable for breaking the Siege of Leningrad on the right side of the Volkhov Front. He was badly wounded during the Iskra operation of breaking through the Shlisselburg-Sinyavino bugle.

Since June 1943, Ivan Fedyuninsky headed the 11th Army and participated in the Bryansk and Gomel-Rechitsa operations. From December 1943 and until the end of the war, he commanded the 2nd Shock Army. In October 1944, he became the Colonel-General. His troops took part in battles on the 2nd Baltic, Belorussian and 2nd Belorussian Fronts; fought with the Germans in the Krasnoselsk-Ropsha, Narva, Tallinn and East Prussian operations. During the Berlin operation, the troops of the 2nd Shock Army successfully broke through the enemy's defences north and south of Stettin. On May 5, 1945, they crossed the river Oder and captured Swinemünde - a large port and a naval base of the Germans on the Baltic Sea. Then, army units crossed the Greifswalder Bodden near Stralsund and occupied Harz, Bergen and Sassnitz on the Rügen island. On May 6, they finally captured Rügen. It was the last battle of Ivan Fedyuninsky in the Great Patriotic War. During the war, the successful hostilities of troops under his leadership were distinguished for 25 times in the orders of the Supreme Commander. On June 24, 1945, Ivan Fedyuninsky as the Colonel-General took part in the Victory Parade in Moscow on Red Square.

In post-war times, in 1946-1947, Ivan Fedyuninsky commanded the troops of the Arkhangelsk Military District. In 1948, he graduated from Klim Voroshilov Military Academy of the General Staff and was appointed Commander of the 7th Guards Army.

In 1951-1954, Ivan Fedyuninsky served as the Chief Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Since 1954, he was the Commander of the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District. In 1955, Ivan Fedyuninsky became the Army General.

Since 1965, he had been a military inspector and adviser to the Group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defenсe of the Soviet Union. Being a military inspector, he often visited the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering Command School. He was elected as a Deputy of the V and VI Supreme Soviets of the Soviet Union, a Deputy of the Supreme Soviets of the Soviet Union Republics.

Ivan Fedyuninsky died on October 17, 1977, in Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

He was awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, 5 Orders of the Red Banner, 2 Orders of Suvorov (1st Class), 2 Orders of Kutuzov (1st Class), Orders of the Red Star, Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR (3rd class), and medals. He also got foreign awards: the President's Gold Star and the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold (German Democratic Republic); 2 Orders of Sukhbaatar, 2 Orders "For Service in Battle", Order of the Red Banner (Mongolian People's Republic); Order of Polonia Restituta, Gold Cross of the Virtuti Militari, 2nd class, Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class (Polish People's Republic).

Ivan Fedyuninsky was an honorary citizen of the cities: Volkhov, Lomonosov, Kingisepp, Tallinn, Bryansk, Karachev, Gomel, Choibalsan (Mongolia). The House-Museum of General Ivan Fedyuninsky was opened in Gilyova village, on May 9, 1981. A street in Tyumen was named in his honour (the building No. 7 is supplied with the memorial plate). On July 30, 2017, a monument of Ivan Fedyuninsky was erected in the park near the Yuzny pond in Tyumen.

Lit.: Герои Тюменского края / сост. А. И. Бажин. Ишим, 2015 (с. 182–183); Гольдберг Р. Любовь и служба генерала Федюнинского // Лик: 70-летие Победы в Великой Отечественной войне 1941-1945 гг. 2016. № 10 (с. 145–150); Иванцова Г. И. Федюнинский Иван Иванович // Большая Тюменская энциклопедия.Т. 3. Р–Я. Тюмень, 2004 (с. 323); Тюменцы — Герои Советского Союза.Тюмень, 2004 (с. 139–140).