Mikhail Andreyevich Pronin | |
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| Born | 1 October 1892 Oryol, Russian Empire |
| Died | 26 November 1978 (aged 86) Moscow, Soviet Union |
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| Rank | Major general |
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Mikhail Andreyevich Pronin (Russian: Михаил Андреевич Пронин; 1 October 1892 – 26 November 1978) was a Soviet Army major general and a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Pronin served as a sapper in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and was drafted into the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, serving in artillery units. Between the wars, he held various staff positions in artillery and later infantry units, rising to regimental and then division command in the late 1930s. Pronin commanded the 144th Rifle Division for two years after Operation Barbarossa began and was demoted in mid-1942 to brigade command, then tried for incompetence. He returned to brigade command after the case was dropped later that year. During 1943, Pronin commanded two divisions and a corps and spent much of 1944 away from the front due to illness and further military education. In late 1944 he returned to the front and became commander of the 16th Guards Rifle Division, being made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership of it in the Battle of Königsberg. Postwar, he held corps and division command before retiring in the late 1940s.