September 1939–1940: war against Poland and attack on Finland Following the conclusion of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939,
Germany and the Soviet Union invaded the
Polish republic together. (Stalin's negotiations about non-aggression and a mutual diplomatic understanding between Germany and the USSR had tacitly aimed at the destruction of Poland. In a short and victorious
campaign, the Soviet Union attacked Poland on September 17, 1939; the Poles had already been fighting off the
German invasion since September 1). Krivoshein held command of the 29th Light Tank Brigade within the
4th Army of
Vasily Chuikov. As Poland's leaders had by then concentrated their forces in the west and the Polish command had decided to offer only minimal resistance in the east in order to better meet the devastating attacks of Nazi Germany's advances against western Poland and the rapid German drive towards
Warsaw, whose siege had already begun on September 16, just prior to the start of the Soviets' strike on the following day, the campaign passed relatively uneventfully for the troops until joining up with the Germans at
Brest-Litovsk. Within two weeks the Soviets took more than 250,000 Polish prisoners of war. The quick advance of the German army had taken some elements of the German forces beyond the agreed-upon demarcation line between the Germans and Soviets, the two armies coming face-to-face against each other just east of the
Bug River. The encounter was unexpected, and the German and Soviet forces scuffled in minor attacks and counterattacks against one another along the
Bug region. Upon penetrating the Bug region toward the city of
Brest-Litovsk, Krivoshein found that the German troops had already occupied the town ahead of the advancing Red Army, and was invited by a party of German officers to the German headquarters to share breakfast with their commander, General
Heinz Guderian. Krivoshein agreed, and following a brief talk, the German troops agreed to withdraw west to the previously agreed
demarcation line and hand the city and its
fortress to the Soviet forces. During the meeting, Guderian proposed a joint parade of Soviet and German troops through the town, including a lineup of soldiers from both armies on the central square. Krivoshein declined, noting the exhaustion of the Soviet troops after a protracted march, but promised to supply a
military band and a few battalions to accompany the parade of the withdrawing German troops, and agreed to Guderian's request that he and Guderian would stand and review the ceremony together. (Various Western historians and some Russian writers refer to this as the
German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk.) Krivoshein's next tour of duty with his tank brigade was the attack on Finland during the
Winter War of 1939–40. The effective military of this smaller nation surprised the aggressors with unyielding resolve, but Krivoshein fought with distinction and his promotion was quick. In less than two years he rose from commander of a motorized rifle division and then a tank division to commander of tank forces for a key
Baltic Special Military District. With the Red Army's introduction of the traditional Russian ranks for its highest commanding staff, he became, in 1940, a
major-general. Krivoshein received command of the
25th Mechanized Corps in April 1941.
Reform of Soviet armored forces, 1941–1943 After the
German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Krivoshein's 25th Mechanized Corps constantly re-deployed and took part in an unsuccessful
counterattack in the
Bykhov area. In 1941–1943 Krivoshein was a head of Department of Training in the
Main Directorate of the Red Army Tank Forces. The training of the Soviet tank crews had to respond to constantly changing demands to the crews such as introduction of the new tanks and search for the best size of tank formation in combat.
Battle of Kursk In 1943, when the Red Army was preparing for the decisive
Battle of Kursk, Krivoshein received command of the 3rd Mechanized Corps in
Mikhail Katukov's
1st Tank Army of the
Voronezh Front, commanded by
Nikolai Vatutin. He and Katukov were considered the best in Red Army's armoured defensive tactics. The Soviet high command assigned to Krivoshein to fight in the first echelon in the south of the
Kursk salient against German
Army Group South which was commanded by
Erich von Manstein. Krivoshein set up a defensive line in the town of
Oboyan, and together with 6th Tank Corps stationed in
Prokhorovka during the battle he faced the main weight of German assault, led by
Hermann Hoth. Krivoshein's forces were in a technical disadvantage to German heavy tanks. Against his corps, the Germans deployed the
Tiger I tanks, armed with
88mm guns that could fire up to 2 kilometers. The Soviet at the time fielded a version of the
T-34 tank which had a weaker 76.2mm gun with a shorter range of fire. On the first day of battle, on July 6, 1943, the Germans used Tigers together with
Ferdinand assault guns in an attack against Krivoshein's 3rd Mechanized Corp. After fierce fighting, by the end of the day German forces penetrated Soviet defenses in the junction between the 3rd Mechanized Corps and 6th Tank Corps, but Soviet forces managed to stabilize the deteriorating situation. The next morning, on July 7, Hoth sent the bulk of German armor against Krivoshein's 3rd Mechanized Corp. In turn, Katukov and Vatutin sent Krivoshein reinforcements. In a pitched battle Krivoshein withstood the German assault. On the next day, July 8, Manstein and Hoth in a desperate attempt to break the soviet lines decided on a renewed large scale armoured assault. Starting to suffer losses, and being pushed back under heavy German attacks, Krivoshein withdrew his corps to a new defense position but the Germans could not break through his line. The failure spelled doom for the German hopes of winning the engagement. Unable to seriously advance against Krivoshein's 3rd Mechanized Corp, on July 9, 1943, Hoth redirected his attack against the 6th Tank Corps in
Prokhorovka, leaving his right flank open. On July 12, the
5th Guards Tank Army of
Pavel Rotmistrov commenced a major flanking attack into Hoth's right flank, managing to bleed the surprised Hoth's forces. The 1st Tank Army then went on to commence a large scale counterattack. By the end of the day, Hoth, suffering from critical losses, retreated leaving the German Army with a defeat. This is considered the point of no turning back for the German Army, which at this point managed to deplete its last major tank reserves necessary for large scale offensives.
Joseph Stalin bestowed on the 1st Tank Army and two of its most distinguished corps the highest Soviet honorific titles for military formation, the "guards". Krivoshein's 3rd Mechanized Corps became the
8th Guards Mechanized Corps. Krivoshein was promoted to
Lieutenant General and was awarded the highest Soviet decoration for his outstanding generalship, the
Order of Suvorov. During the battle, the 1st Tank Army was severely weakened and had only 141 tanks left. Krivoshein's corps alone lost nearly 90% of its command cadre. In spite of these losses, Vatutin ordered the exhausted 1st Tank Army to go on the offensive in the
Belgorod-
Kharkiv operation but, after a spectacular initial advance, it was stalled and
Stavka withdrew it in order to restore it for future combat. After receiving replacement goods and equipment, in December 1943 Krivoshein's corps was sent together with the rest of the 1st Guards Tank Army to the
1st Ukrainian Front of
Ivan Konev. Krivoshein spearheaded Konev's offensive in expelling the Germans from the right bank
Ukraine.
Belarus to Berlin Krivoshein was severely wounded in the battle and was recovering for several months. Later in 1944 he received command of the 1st Mechanized Krasnograd Corps and fought in
Operation Bagration, which smashed the German
Army Group Centre in Belarus. Among many other Belarusian cities Krivoshein recaptured from the Germans was
Brest. In the last days of the war, in spring 1945, Krivoshein led his corps in vanguard of
1st Belorussian Front of the leading Soviet commander of World War II
Georgy Zhukov in the
Battle of Berlin. Stalin awarded to Zhukov the honor
to take Berlin; it was a recognition of the exclusive standing of Krivoshein among Soviet armor generals that Zhukov entrusted him to lead the Soviet armies in the final Soviet triumph over Germany. Krivoshein slashed through the heavily fortified and echeloned German defenses in the critical
Battle of Seelow Heights and fought his way to the
Reichstag. For his outstanding combat leadership and personal courage in the capture of Berlin, Krivoshein received the highest Soviet war honor, the order of a
Hero of the Soviet Union. ==Post-war life==