Name Vasily Badanov | Rank Lieutenant general | |
Native name Vasílii Miháilovich Badánov Years of service 1915 – 19171919 – 1953 Commands held 24th Tank Corps4th Tank Army Battles/wars World War IRussian Civil WarWorld War II Awards Order of the Red Banner (3)Order of Suvorov, 2nd classOrder of Kutuzov, 2nd classOrder of the Patriotic War, 2nd classOrder of the Red Starvarious other medals Similar People Hermann Balck, Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Joseph Stalin, Mikhail Tukhachevsky | ||
Vasily Mikhaylovich Badanov (Russian: Васи́лий Миха́йлович Бада́нов; 14 December 1895 – 1 April 1971) was a Soviet military officer and general, best known for his leadership in the Tatsinskaya Raid (1942) and subsequent command of the 4th Tank Army (1943–1944).
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Biography
Badanov was born in Verkhnyaya Yakushka in 1895. Conscripted into the Russian Army during World War I, he graduated from an officers' school in 1916, one year prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. Serving as a commissar and a staff officer in the Red Army during in the Russian Civil War, Badanov joined the Bolshevik Party in 1919.
Noted for his superb command of the 24th Tank Corps in 1942 during the German Stalingrad campaign, Badanov was promoted to lieutenant-general (a rank above major-general in the Soviet system) soon after the Tatsinskaya Raid and became the first recipient of the Order of Suvorov, second class, in 1943. Badanov commanded the 4th Tank Army in 1943-1944, which he led during the Battle of Kursk.
On 6 January 1944 he was awarded the United States Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism".
Badanov was seriously wounded during the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, and was assigned to the task of preparing the Soviet tank and mechanized forces for the front line for the remaining portion of the war. He served as the commanding officer of the Central Group of Forces' tank units in 1946-1950.
Badanov retired from the active-duty armed forces in 1953. He died in Moscow in 1971.