Poluboiarov, Pavel

Born June 3 (16), 1901, in Tula. Soviet military commander, marshal of the armored troops (1962). Hero of the Soviet Union (May 29, 1945). Member of the CPSU from 1920. Son of a handicraftsman.

Poluboiarov joined the Soviet Army in 1919 and fought in the Civil War of 1918–20 on the Southern Front. He graduated in 1926 from an armored-car school, in 1938 from the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, and in 1941 from advanced training courses for top commanders at the Military Academy of the General Staff. As chief of the armored troops of the Transbaikal Military District, he participated in fighting on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939. In the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Poluboiarov served in 1941–42 as chief of the directorate of armored troops of the Northwestern Front and deputy commander of the Kalinin Front in charge of tank troops. In August 1942 he became commander of the XVII (from January 1943, IV Guards Tank) Corps on the Voronezh, Southwestern, and First Ukrainian Fronts.

After the war, Poluboiarov held responsible positions in the army, serving as deputy and first deputy commander of the armored and mechanized troops from 1949 to 1954, head of the tank troops of the Soviet Army from May 1954, and military inspector-adviser of the Group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR from May 1969.

Poluboiarov was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, five orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov Second Class, two Orders of Kutuzov Second Class, two Orders of the Red Star, and six foreign orders.