Volskii, Vasilii Timofeevich

Born Mar. 10 (22), 1897, in Moscow; died there Feb. 22, 1946. Colonel general of the tank forces (1944). Joined the CPSU in 1918.

Vol’skii fought in World War I as a private. In June 1919 he joined the Soviet Army and fought in the Civil War. He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in 1926, from advanced training courses for general officers in 1929, and from armor courses in 1930. He was deputy chief of the Military Academy on Mechanization and Motorization in 1939-41. During the Great Patriotic War, Vol’skii was deputy commander of the armored troops of the Twenty-first Army and the Southwestern Front (July-December 1941), deputy general inspector of the Main Armor Administration (until April 1942), deputy commander of the tank troops of the Crimean and Northern Caucasus fronts (April-October 1942), commander of the IV and then of the III Guard Mechanized Corps (October 1942-June 1943), deputy commander of the armored and mechanized troops (June 1943-August 1944), and from August 1944 commander of the Fifth Guards Tank Army. Vol’skii was awarded two Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov First and Second Class, and medals.