Rodion Malinovsky
Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (Russian: Родио́н Я́ковлевич Малино́вский; 23 November [O.S. 11 November] 1898 – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander in World War II, Marshal of the Soviet Union, and Defense Minister of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and 1960s. He contributed to the major defeat of Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Budapest. During the post-war era, he made a pivotal contribution to the strengthening of the Soviet Union as a military superpower.
Born in Odessa, some historians believe that Malinovsky's father was of Karaite descent. After the death of his father, Malinovsky's mother left the city for the rural areas of Ukraine, and remarried. Her husband, a poverty-stricken Ukrainian peasant, refused to adopt her son and expelled him when Malinovsky was only 13 years old. The homeless boy survived by working as a farmhand, and eventually received shelter from his aunt's family in Odessa, where he worked as an errand boy in a general store. After the start of World War I in July 1914, Malinovsky, who was only 15 years old at the time (too young for military service), hid on the military train heading for the German front, but was discovered. He nevertheless convinced the commanding officers to enlist him as a volunteer, and served in a machine-gun detachment in the frontline trenches. In October 1915, as a reward for repelling a German attack, he received his first military award, the Cross of St. George of the 4th class, and was promoted to the rank of corporal. Soon afterwards, he was badly wounded and spent several months in the hospital.
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