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Maxim AntonyukSoviet military leader, lieutenant general
Date of Birth: 19.10.1895
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Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Military Career
- Red Army
- Interwar Period
- World War II
- Post-War Service and Later Life
- Military Ranks
Early Life and Education
Mikhail Antonovich Antonyukwas born on January 15, 1896, in the village of Matsy, now part of the Pruzhany district in the Brest region of Belarus. Born into a peasant family, he began working on merchant ships for the Riga Steamship Society at a young age, serving as a cabin boy, sailor, and stoker.
Military Career
Imperial Russian ArmyIn June 1915, Antonyuk joined the Imperial Russian Army as a volunteer in the 20th Reserve Mortar Division. He graduated from the 3rd Moscow School of Lieutenants in April 1916 and was deployed as a junior officer to a reserve battalion in Narva.
From October 1916, Antonyuk fought on the Northern Front, initially as a junior officer in the 56th Siberian Rifle Regiment and later as a junior officer for reconnaissance and communications in the 72nd Siberian Rifle Regiment. He was wounded in battle and served as quartermaster after recovering in a hospital.
Red Army
Following the February Revolution, Antonyuk served as assistant regimental commander in charge of logistics. Actively involved in revolutionary events on the 12th Army's front, he was arrested and imprisoned in Valka but was released under pressure from soldiers. He retired from the Russian Army as a lieutenant.
In November 1917, Antonyuk joined the Red Guard after being released from prison in Petrograd and enlisted in a Red Guard detachment of sailors from Kronstadt. He participated in the October Revolution and became a member of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) in 1918.
With the establishment of the Red Army in February 1918, Antonyuk was deployed to Kharkiv as assistant commander and instructor of the 2nd Kharkiv Proletarian Regiment. However, German and Austrian troops soon approached the city, and the regiment's formation was not completed. Antonyuk, along with a group of commanders, traveled to Luhansk, where he hastily assembled two battalions of miners and took command of one. He led this battalion on the Tsaritsyn Campaign.
Antonyuk actively participated in the Russian Civil War, holding various positions, including head of the topographic department of the Tsaritsyn Front, assistant chief of staff, and chief of staff of the Southern Group of Forces of the 5th Army. He also commanded the 10th Rifle Division, the Kamyshin Group of Forces of the 10th Army, and the Kamyshin Regiment. He played a significant role in the defense of Tsaritsyn, where he came to the attention of Klim Voroshilov and Joseph Stalin. He was severely wounded during this period.
Interwar Period
After recovering from his wounds in January 1919, Antonyuk served as assistant commander of the 2nd Tarashchan Regiment of the 1st Ukrainian Soviet Division under Nikolai Shchors and then as commander of the 4th Nezhinsky Regiment on the Ukrainian Front.
From June 1919, he commanded a brigade in the 44th Rifle Division. In October 1919, he was appointed head of the group of forces on the Rovensky front and later again commanded a brigade in the 44th Rifle Division. He also headed the Mozyr Group of Forces and the 132nd Plastun Brigade of the 44th Rifle Division. During the fighting in Ukraine, he was wounded twice more.
In October 1920, Antonyuk was sent to the Military Academy of the Red Army for training. From June to October 1921, he commanded the 136th Separate Border Brigade and then returned to the academy, graduating in 1924.
From July 1924, he commanded the 4th Turkestan Rifle Division, which actively fought against the Basmachs. Simultaneously, he served as chief of troops in Middle and Western Bukhara. From May 1925, he was commander of the 5th Vitebsk Rifle Division named after the Czechoslovak Proletariat, and from October 1927, he commanded the 3rd Crimean Rifle Division.
From October 1930 to February 1931, Antonyuk was an instructor at the Frunze Military Academy. In February 1931, he became commander and military commissar of the 8th Rifle Corps in the Ukrainian Military District (headquarters in Zhytomyr).
In June 1937, Antonyuk was appointed commander of the troops of the Siberian Military District. However, in June 1938, he was removed from his post and placed at the disposal of the Directorate for Command Staff due to allegations made by former Kremlin Commandant Pyotr Tkalun about Antonyuk's involvement in an anti-Soviet organization.
After six months without a new assignment, Antonyuk was able to clear his name and was appointed as a teacher of tactics at the Frunze Military Academy in December 1938. From June 1940, he was Chief of Infantry of the Red Army and from August 2, 1940, Deputy Inspector General of Infantry of the Red Army.
World War II
At the beginning of World War II, Antonyuk was responsible for forming, equipping, and disbanding rifle and cavalry formations and preparing marching reinforcements. From August 1941, he commanded the Petrozavodsk Operational Group of Forces of the 7th Army and from September, the 48th Army of the Leningrad Front. When the enemy's superior forces attacked, the 48th Army fought in the area of the town of Shlisselburg. On September 14, the field administration of the army was disbanded, and Antonyuk was appointed commander of a group of forces in the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front in the Mginsk direction.
In the fierce fighting of the Leningrad Defensive Operation, Antonyuk did not prove himself to be a commander suited to modern warfare and was removed from his position after a month. From October 1941, he was at the disposal of Marshal of the Soviet Union Klim Voroshilov, who had handed over command of the Leningrad Front to General of the Army Georgy Zhukov, and headed a control group under Voroshilov.
From June 1942, Antonyuk commanded the 3rd Reserve Army and from July 10 to 27, the 60th Army of the Voronezh Front, created on its basis. However, during the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Operation, he again failed to demonstrate his best, was removed from command, and remained at the disposal of the Voronezh Front's Military Council for two months. From September 1942, he served as deputy, then acting commander of the 2nd Reserve Army of the Supreme High Command Reserve.
From April to July 10, 1943, Antonyuk was deputy commander of the troops of the Steppe Military District (renamed the Steppe Front on July 10, 1943). In this position, Antonyuk played a significant role in preparing the troops for upcoming combat operations, demonstrating high organizational abilities, strong will, and determination in fulfilling the tasks set by the front commander. For the following four months, from July 1943, he did not receive a new appointment.
From October 1943, Antonyuk served as assistant commander for formations in the Baltic (from October 20, 2nd Baltic) Front, whose left-wing forces, interacting with the 1st Baltic Front, carried out an offensive in the Vitebsk-Polotsk direction. In January-February 1944, the front participated in the Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive Operation. The front's advance in the Novosokolniki area pinned down the German 16th Army and prevented it from being transferred to Leningrad and Novgorod. During the Staraya Russa-Novorzhev Operation, they advanced 110-160 km and reached the outskirts of Ostrov, Pushkinskie Gory, and Idrica. In June 1944, Antonyuk was included in a group of officers under Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov.
From February 1945 until the end of the war, Antonyuk was at the disposal of the Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front.
Post-War Service and Later Life
After the war, from May to October 1945, Antonyuk was at the disposal of the Main Personnel Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. From October 1945 to July 1946, he served as deputy commander of the troops of the Lvov Military District (renamed the Carpathian Military District in May 1946) for higher educational institutions. From July 1946, he was at the disposal of the personnel department of the Ground Forces of the USSR. He retired on January 1947 due to illness.
Antonyuk died on July 30, 1961, in Moscow and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Military Ranks
Komkor (Brigade Commander): November 20, 1935Lieutenant General: June 4, 1940
Awards
Order of Lenin (February 21, 1945)
Three Orders of the Red Banner (1922, ..., November 3
