Grigory Nikolaevich Oryol (, 16 September 1904 – 3 February 1974) was a Soviet armored corps general.
Biography Early life Oryol joined the Red Army in 1924. At the mid-1930s, he attended the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization (now part of the Combined Arms Academy), where he became close friends with General Sergei Shtemenko.Sergei Shtemenko. The Soviet General Staff at War 1941 - 1945. University of the Pacific (2001). . Page 177. After graduation, he was assigned to the 22nd Maxim Gorky Cavalry Division, commanding the mechanized regiment and later the armored regiment.Officers of the 22 Cavalry Division.
World War II At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he headed the Armoured Automobiles department in the General Staff, and later became the commander of the armored and mechanized divisions in the 16th Army, under General Rokossovsky.A brief history of the 16th Army mechanized formations. As such, he took part in the battle of Moscow.Vasily Kazakov. The Turning Point. Voenizdat Publishing House (1962), Moscow. Page 45.Rodric Braithwaite. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. Knopf (2006). . Page 161. Oryol remained the commander of Rokossovsky's tanks, and headed the Mechanized and Armored Formations of the Bryansk Front, which later was re-formed as the Don Front.Semion Ivanov. The Staff of the Army and the Front. Voenizdat Publishing House (1991), Moscow. Notes, footnote 214. While stationed in the Don Front, he participated in the Battle of Stalingrad.Sergei Rudenko. Wings of Victory. Mezhdunarodniye Otnoshonie Press (1985), Moscow. Chapter 4. On 17 November 1942, he was given the rank of a major general. After the Don Front was renamed Central Front, Oryol supervised its armored units during the Battle of Kursk.Konstantin Rokossovsky. A Soldier's Duty. Voenizdat (1988), Moscow. Chapter 15: The Collapse of Operation Citadel. Oryol remained in his post as the Central Front became the 1st Belorussian Front.The Staff of the 1st Belorussian Front. At 5 November 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general. When Marshal Georgy Zhukov replaced Rokossovsky, Oryol headed the tank formations under his command during Vistula-Oder Offensive and the Battle of Berlin.Georgy Zhukov. Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov. Delacorte Press (1971). . Page 526.Otto Preston Chaney. Zhukov. University of Oklahoma Press (1996). . Page 142.
Post-war years After the war, Oryol was appointed inspector-general the armored and mechanized forces stationed in all the USSR's Military Districts. At 1961, he became an inspector in the Ministry of Defense and was given his final promotion to Colonel-General on 1962. He retired from the Armed Forces during 1969.
Honours and awards Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner, three times Order of Suvorov, 1st class and 2nd class Order of Kutuzov, 1st class Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class
References
External links Grigory Oryol's picture on Generals.Dk.