Marshal Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov

Marshal Kirill Meretskov was a Soviet military commander. Having joined the Communist Party in 1917, he served in the Red Army from 1920. He then served as a general in the Spanish Civil War.

Following that, as the Commander of the Leningrad Military District, he first commanded all the four armies in a campaign against Finland during the Winter War. Failing in his campaign, he was demoted to the commander of the 7th army, and the campaign was trusted to Semyon Timoshenko. However, as the commander of the 7th Army, he managed to make a breakthrough through the Finnish Main Defence Line (a.k.a. the Mannerheim Line).

After the German invasion of the USSR, Meretskov lead the troops in the Karelian front, Syväri, and in the Volkhov Front, and served different roles in the fronts of Leningrad and Karelia.

In 1945 Meterskov lead the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. After the WWII he worked as an operative in various military initiatives.