Unfazed by their terrible losses, the Germans continued their advance deep into Russian territory and in September of 1941 the future of the entire eastern campaign weighed in the balance. It was under those threatening circumstances that Ivan Konev was put in charge of the Red Army’s Western Front. The battle of Smolensk was in its final stages now and the Soviet troops had to fall back. The German command regrouped its forces and, reinforced, was preparing a fresh new offensive on Moscow codenamed “Typhoon”.  The Russian forces caved in under the enemy’s pressure and, suffering severe losses retreated towards the capital. It was the first and only defeat suffered by the future marshal. With the Soviet defenses down and the enemy pushing forward, Konev’s very life was now on the line. He might have paid dearly for that debacle had it not been for the timely intervention of General Georgy Zhukov who told infuriated Josef Stalin that Konev was a talented commander and would be of much use in the future. 

    And Ivan Konev never let Zhukov down. Only a handful of great military leaders, like, for example, Alexander Suvorov, managed to avoid major defeats, but it is one’s ability to learn from past mistakes that makes him great. Reeling as he was from the thrashing he had suffered in September, Ivan Konev pulled himself together and shortly after managed to rout the Germans and halt their further advance thus foiling the enemy’s plan to outflank the Red Army and strike Moscow from the north. 

    Ivan Konev’s strategic talent was best manifested in his offensive operations. Intuitive and calculating, he expertly combined artillery and aviation strikes with lightning attacks that surprised the enemy over and over again… Foreign military historians hail him as a genius of surprise and a genius he was always making sure he could see the battlefield with his own eyes and painstakingly preparing each operation. Beginning in 1943 the Soviet offensives normally ended with the encirclement and destruction of the German armies and here Ivan Konev was definitely second to none. Long before the fateful Battle of Stalingrad he sensed the Nazis’ fear of encirclement and often capitalized on that fear. Avoiding fighting in big cities, Konev’s troops outflanked the enemy forcing it to vacate the city - a clever tactic that minimized the Soviet losses and saved thousands of civilian lives. Konev used this tactic over and over again and always won. A prime example of this highly effective tactic is the Sandomyr-Silesian operation where Konev maneuvered expertly to save Krakow from destruction. Poland’s ancient capital blocked the Red Army’s access to Silesia. Ivan Konev decided to almost completely encircle the city leaving the enemy a narrow corridor to retreat south.  Field Marshal Schroeder, who commanded the city garrison, fell for the catch and ordered the bulk of his troops to leave the city. The moment the Germans left the city limits, the Soviet artillery and aviation opened up with all its might… Demoralized, the Germans beat a hasty retreat but were eventually routed all. This operation alone was enough to make anyone forever famous, but it was certainly not the only such operation in Marshal Konev’s outstanding military career…

    Konev’s larger-than-life military talent came to a full flower during the famous Berlin operation. A few days before Berlin’s fall, Konev was ordered to divert part of his forces south and move towards the Czech capital Prague that was still in German hands.  In virtually no time, Ivan Konev’s forces zeroed in on the city much to the relief of the local Resistance fighters who were waging a losing battle against the regular Nazi forces. 

    Ivan Konev was always in the forefront of his advancing forces, always sure and reserved and inspiring confidence in his men. Invariably attentive to his soldiers’ needs, Marshal Konev was very demanding towards his men, especially to those of his officers who were negligent of their duties and their subordinates. 
 
    Marshal Ivan Konev went down in the history of the Second World War as a truly outstanding military commander. Fate was kind to the man who simply served his country to the best of his abilities…

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Illustration: R.Portugalsky, “Marshal I.S.Konev”, Voenizdat, Moscow, 1985