Ivan Yakubovsky
Ivan Ignatyevich Yakubovsky (Russian: Ива́н Игна́тьевич Якубо́вский; 7 January 1912– 30 November 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice made a Hero of the Soviet Union and serving as commander-in-chief of the Warsaw Pact from 1967 to 1976.
Life
Early life
Born as the sixth child of a peasant family in Belarus, he was employed in their village and graduated from a rural school. From 1930 he worked as section-secretary on the Makaryevsky village council, then at a plant. He graduated from two courses at the Orsha School in 1932.
Military service
Pre-war
Enlisting in the Red Army in 1932, he graduated from the Mikhail Kalinin Belarusian Association Military School in Minsk in 1934, aiming to serve as a training platoon commander in the 27th Omsk Red Banner Rifle Division (Vitebsk).
In 1935 he graduated from training courses in Leningrad, before serving in the Belorussian Military District as a platoon commander, company commander, battalion chief of staff and training battalion commander of various armoured units. Commanding a tank company in the Red Army's September 1939 Polish campaign as part of the troops on the Belorussian front, he also served in the 1939-40 Winter War.
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