Years of service 1926 - 1968 Allegiance Soviet Union Role Military Commander | Name Issa Pliyev Rank General of the Army | |
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Commands held 5th Cavalry Division
2nd Guards Cavalry Corps
1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group
Mobile Group Pliyev
Soviet Mongolian Cavalry Mechanized Group
13th Army
North Caucasus Military District
Soviet Ground Forces in Cuba Battles/wars Battle of Moscow
Battle of Romania (1944)
Battle of Debrecen
Invasion of Manchuria Awards Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Died February 6, 1979, Moscow, Russia Battles and wars Battle of Moscow, Battle of Romania, Battle of Debrecen, Soviet invasion of Manchuria Similar People Rodion Malinovsky, Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, John F Kennedy, Cemal Gursel | ||
Issa Alexandrovich Pliyev (Ossetian: Плиты Алыксандры фырт Иссæ; Russian: Исса Александрович Плиев) (also spelled as Pliev) (25 November [O.S. 12 November] 1903 — 2 February 1979) was a Soviet military commander, Army General (1962), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (16 April 1944 and 8 September 1945), Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic (1971).
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During World War II, Pliyev commanded several mechanized cavalry units, ranging from regiments to army corps. The military historians David Glantz and Jonathan House described Pliyev as a "great practitioner of cavalry operations in adverse terrain". Pliyev became known in the West largely for his involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Early life and career
Issa Pliyev started his military career in the Red Army in 1922. He graduated from the Leningrad Cavalry school in 1926, from the Frunze Military Academy in 1933 and from the Soviet General Staff Academy. He joined the Communist party in 1926.
World War II
At the start of the invasion of the Soviet Union, Pliyev commanded the 50th Cavalry Division (renamed 3rd Guards Cavalry Division). His unit participated in the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Stalingrad. Pliyev commanded cavalry-mechanized group consisting of 4th Guards Cavalry Corps and 4th Mechanized Corps during the Bereznegovataia-Snigirevka Operation along the Black Sea coast, as part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Army General Rodion Malinovsky.
During Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944, part of the 1st Belorussian Front, Pliyev's cavalry-mechanized group attacked towards Slutsk. According to Glantz and House, the unit was highly successful in exploiting the operational breakthrough. In the fall of 1944, he commanded a cavalry-mechanized group consisting of two divisions during the Battle of Debrecen.
He ended the war in command of the Soviet-Mongolian Cavalry-Mechanized Group of the Transbaikal front in Manchuria, fighting against the Japanese Kwantung Army.
Post-war
After the war, Pliyev continued his career in the military, and took command of the Stavropol Military District in February 1946. In June he became commander of the 9th Mechanized Army, stationed in Romania with the Southern Group of Forces. He commanded 13th Army between 1947 and 1949, in western Ukraine. Pliyev graduated from higher academic courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1949, and in April took command of the 4th Army in the Transcaucasian Military District. In 1955, he was appointed First Deputy commander of the North Caucasus Military District, succeeding to command of the district in 1958.
In 1962 Pliyev's troops took part in suppressing Novocherkassk riots. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he was the commander of Group of Soviet forces as part of the Operation Anadyr in Cuba. After returning from Cuba, he assumed command of the North Caucasus Military District again.
In 1968, Pliyev became an advisor for the Ministry of Defense of the USSR's Group of Inspectors General, a position for elderly senior officers.
Awards
Pliyev was awarded five Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov (1st Class), Order of Kutuzov (1st Class), numerous medals and nine foreign orders. He was decorated twice Hero of the Soviet Union.