Alexei Burdeinei

Early life

Born to a workers' family, he graduated from a Rabfak and worked in a factory at his native town. He joined the Communist Party already at 1928. On June 1931, he was drafted into the Red Army, completing training in the Saratov Armored Force School the following year. From March 1932 he commanded a platoon in a mechanized brigade stationed near Kalynivka. On September 1935 he was assigned to command a company in the 5th Tank Corps. In September 1937 he entered the Academy of Mechanized and Motorized Services, graduating on May 1940 to become the deputy intelligence officer of the 53rd Tank Regiment. On October, he was made assistant to the operations department chief in the staff of the 4th Mechanized Corps.^[1]

World War II

Soon after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, Burdeinei became a senior assistant to the Mechanized Forces' chief of operations in the 37th Army. On August 1941 he took over the 3rd Tank Brigade's 3rd Regiment. On January the next year he was posted as the 2nd Tank Brigade chief of staff.

On April 1942, when the 24th Tank Corps was formed, Burdeinei joined it as chief of staff to General Badanov. The Corps was sent to engage the advancing German forces in the South, and was nearly wiped out in the fighting near the Don River, during July. By late October, the unit has recovered from its losses after several months in the reserve. It was assigned to the Southwestern Front and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. On December, the Corps destroyed the Tatsinskaya Airport and was renamed 2nd Tatsinskaya Guards Tank Corps in honor of this operation. After the Battle of Stalingrad the Corps was made part of the Voronezh Front on March. On 26 June 1943, Colonel Burdeinei assumed command over the Corps, holding the post to the end of the war.^[2] As such, he participated in the Battle of Kursk, and was promoted to Major General on 31 August. On 3 July 1944, during Operation Bagration, his units were the first to enter Minsk and liberated the city. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General on the 2 November 1944. The Corps later took part in the Baltic, East Prussian, Vistula-Oder and Berlin operations. For his leadership during the Minsk Offensive he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (Medal no. 5026) on 19 April 1945.^[3]

Post-war years

On May 1946, Burdeinei was assigned as the 7th Mechanized Army's chief of staff. He studied at the Voroshilov Academy from December 1947 to February 1950. In October 1950, he became the commander of the 8th Mechanized Army, a position he held until June 1953.^[4] In April 1954, he was transferred to serve as the Belorussian Military District's deputy commander for tank troops. In January 1958, he was posted as deputy commander for training, and from May 1960 he served as the First Deputy Commander of the District.

In August 1963, he was assigned as the Chief of the Central Armored Directorate in the Ministry of Defence. On August 1970 he was appointed representative of the Warsaw Pact Chief-of-Staff to the East German National People's Army, and retired from the Armed Forces on January 1974.^[5] He lived in Moscow and died on 21 April 1987. ^[1]

Beside his military career, he was also an honorary citizen of Minsk since 1967^[6] and a deputy in the 3rd Convocation of the Ukrainian SSR's Supreme Soviet.^[7] A street in Minsk was named after him.^[8]