Andrei Grechko

Andrei Grechko
Андрей Гречко
Grechko in 1960
Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union
In office
12 April 1967 – 26 April 1976
PremierAlexei Kosygin
Preceded byRodion Malinovsky
Succeeded byDmitriy Ustinov
Supreme Commander of Warsaw Pact Armed Forces
In office
1 April 1960 – 12 April 1967
Preceded byIvan Konev
Succeeded byIvan Yakubovsky
Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany
In office
26 May 1953 – 17 November 1957
Preceded byVasily Chuikov
Succeeded byMatvei Zakharov
Commander of the Kiev Military District
In office
9 July 1945 – 25 May 1953
Preceded byVasyl Herasymenko
Succeeded byVasily Chuikov
Full member of the 24th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office
27 April 1973 – 26 April 1976
Personal details
Born
Andrei Antonovich Greczhko

(1903-10-04)4 October 1903
Golodaevka, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire
Died26 April 1976(1976-04-26) (aged 72)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting placeKremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Nationality Soviet Union
Political partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (1928–1976)
ProfessionSoldier
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union (twice)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Soviet Russia
(1919–1922)
 Soviet Union
(1922–1976)
Branch/serviceSoviet Army
Years of service1919–1976
Rank
Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955–1976)
Commands18th Army
1st Guards Army
Kiev Military District
Battles/wars
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "other"

Andrei Antonovich Grechko (Russian: Андре́й Анто́нович Гре́чко, Ukrainian: Андрій Антонович Гречко; 17 October [O.S. 4 October] 1903 – 26 April 1976) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as the Soviet Minister of Defence from 1967 to 1976.

Born to a Ukrainian peasant family near Rostov-on-Don, Grechko served in the Red Army cavalry during the Russian Civil War. After graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, he took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Grechko was a fresh graduate of the Voroshilov Military Academy when Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union. He held a succession of cavalry and army commands afterwards and saw action in the Caucasus, Ukraine and Central Europe.

After the war, Grechko commanded the Kiev Military District. In 1953, he was appointed commander-in-chief of Soviet Forces in East Germany, and led the suppression of the East German uprising. In 1955, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1957, he became commander-in-chief of the Soviet Ground Forces, and three years later he also became the commander of the Warsaw Pact forces. In 1967, Grechko was appointed Minister of Defence, and oversaw the subsequent Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and violent border clashes with China. He helped modernize the Soviet Army and was responsible for continuing the Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe. An ideological hardliner, he was a defender of the first strike nuclear strategy, and only reluctantly supported Leonid Brezhnev's détente with the United States and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Grechko died in 1976 at the age of 72.