Andrei Grechko

Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Grechko
Андрей Гречко
Grechko in 1960
Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union
In office 12 April 1967 – 26 April 1976
Premier	Alexei Kosygin
Preceded by	Rodion Malinovsky
Succeeded by	Dmitriy Ustinov
Supreme Commander of Warsaw Pact Armed Forces
In office 1 April 1960 – 12 April 1967
Preceded by	Ivan Konev
Succeeded by	Ivan Yakubovsky
Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany
In office 26 May 1953 – 17 November 1957
Preceded by	Vasily Chuikov
Succeeded by	Matvei Zakharov
Full member of the 24th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office 27 April 1973 – 26 April 1976
Personal details
Born	Andrei Antonovich Greczhko (1903-10-04)4 October 1903 Golodaevka, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire
Died	26 April 1976(1976-04-26) (aged 72) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Nationality	Soviet Union
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1928–1976)
Profession	Soldier
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union (twice)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Russia (1919–1922)  Soviet Union (1922–1976)
Branch/service	Soviet Army
Years of service	1919–1976
Rank	Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955–1976)
Commands	18th Army 1st Guards Army Kiev Military District
Battles/wars	Russian Civil War World War II Soviet invasion of Poland First Battle of Kiev Barvenkovo–Lozovaya offensive Battle of the Caucasus Battle of the Dnieper Second Battle of Kiev Zhitomir–Berdichev offensive Lvov–Sandomierz offensive Western Carpathian offensive Moravia–Ostrava offensive Prague Offensive Ukrainian insurgency Cold War East German uprising Hungarian uprising Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

Andrei Antonovich Grechko (Russian: Андре́й Анто́нович Гре́чко, Ukrainian: Андрій Антонович Гречко; 17 October [O.S. 4 October] 1903 – 26 April 1976) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as the Soviet Minister of Defence from 1967 to 1976.

Born to a Ukrainian peasant family near Rostov-on-Don, Grechko served in the Red Army cavalry during the Russian Civil War. After graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, he took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Grechko was a fresh graduate of the Voroshilov Military Academy when Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union. He held a succession of cavalry and army commands afterwards and saw action in the Caucasus, Ukraine and Central Europe.

After the war, Grechko commanded the Kiev Military District. In 1953, he was appointed commander-in-chief of Soviet Forces in East Germany, and led the suppression of the East German uprising. In 1955, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1957, he became commander-in-chief of the Soviet Ground Forces, and three years later he also became the commander of the Warsaw Pact forces. In 1967, Grechko was appointed Minister of Defence, and oversaw the subsequent Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and violent border clashes with China. He helped modernize the Soviet Army and was responsible for continuing the Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe. An ideological hardliner, he was a defender of the first strike nuclear strategy, and only reluctantly supported Leonid Brezhnev's détente with the United States and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Grechko died in 1976 at the age of 72.