Vasily Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov ( ; 12 February 1900 – 18 March 1982 ) was a Soviet lieutenant general in the Red Army during World War II , commander of the 62nd Army during the Battle of Stalingrad , twice Hero of the Soviet Union ( 1944 , 1945 ) , and after the war a Marshal of the Soviet Union . Early life . Born into a peasant family in the village of Serebryanye Prudy in the Tula region south of Moscow , he was the eighth of twelve children and the fifth of eight sons . Chuikov and all his brothers became soldiers and fought in the Russian Civil War . At the age of twelve , he left school and his family home to earn his living in a factory in St . Petersburg , turning out spurs for cavalry officers . The Russian Revolution and Civil War . During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1917 , Chuikov became unemployed . Later the same year , an older brother arranged for Chuikov to be recruited into the Red Guards . The year after , in 1918 , he joined the Red Army . In October 1918 , Chuikov saw active service when he was sent to the Southern Front as a deputy company commander to fight against the White Army . In the spring of 1919 , he became commander of the 40th Regiment ( later renamed the 43rd ) , part of the 5th Army under Tukhachevsky facing the White Army at Kolchak in Siberia . Chuikov ' s record of service during the Civil War was distinguished . In the fighting from 1919 to 1920 he received two awards of the Order of the Red Banner for bravery and heroism . He was wounded four times — one , in Poland in 1920 , left a fragment in his left arm that could not be operated on . It led to partial paralysis and caused him to lose temporary use of his arm . Chuikov carried this war wound for the rest of his life , and it eventually led to septicaemia breaking out in 1981 , causing a nine - month illness and finally his death . Inter - war period . He left his regiment in 1921 to continue his studies at the Frunze Military Academy , from which he graduated in 1925 . Early Second World War , Finnish War and China ( 1939 to1942 ) . Chuikov commanded the 4th Army in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 . He commanded the 9th Army in the Russo - Finnish War of 1940 . His army was defeated by the Finns at Suomussalmi and Raate Road . He was then sent to China as an adviser to Chiang Kai - shek . In May 1942 , the USSR recalled him . According to Chuikov ' s memoirs , his recall was due to Nationalist China claiming that the USSR was providing military aid as part of an attempt to draw the USSR into the Second Sino - Japanese War . Stalingrad ( 1942 to1943 ) . On returning to Moscow , Chuikov was placed in command of the 64th Army ( later 7th Guards ) , on the west bank of the Don River . The 64th Army took part in the fighting withdrawal to Stalingrad , and shortly before the Battle of Stalingrad itself began , Chuikov was made commanding general of the more important 62nd Army , which was to hold Stalingrad itself , with the 64th on its southern flank . It was at Stalingrad that Chuikov developed the important tactic of “ hugging the enemy , ” by which under - armed Soviet soldiers kept the German army so close to them as to minimize the superior firepower enjoyed by the Wehrmacht . Chuikov had witnessed firsthand the blitzkrieg tactics the Nazis had used to sweep across the Russian steppe , so he used the Germans ' carpet - bombing of the city to draw panzer units into the rubble and chaos , where their progress was impeded . Here they could be destroyed with Molotov cocktail s and Russian artillery operating at close range . This tactic also rendered the German Luftwaffe ineffective , since Stuka dive - bombers could not attack Red Army positions without endangering their own forces . Later Second World War ( Poland and Germany 1943 to 1945 ) . After the victory at Stalingrad , the 62nd Army was redesignated the Soviet 8th Guards Army . Chuikov then commanded the 8th Guards as part of 1st Belorussian Front and led its advance through Poland , finally heading the Soviet offensive which conquered Berlin in April / May 1945 . Chuikov ' s advance through Poland was characterized by massive advances across difficult terrain ( on several occasions , the 8th Guards Army advanced over 40 miles in a single day ) . On 1 May 1945 , Chuikov , who commanded his army operating in central Berlin , was the first Allied officer to learn about Adolf Hitler ' s suicide , being informed by General Hans Krebs who had come to Chuikov ' s headquarters under a white flag . He accepted the surrender of Berlin ' s forces from General Helmuth Weidling . Chuikov appeared in the documentary film " Berlin " ( 1945 ) , directed by Yuli Raizman . Later life . After the war , Chuikov stayed in Germany , later serving as Commander - in - Chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany from 1949 until 1953 , when he was made the Commanding General of the Kiev Military District . While serving at that post , on 11 March 1955 he was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union . From 1960 to 1964 , he was the Commander - in - Chief of the Soviet Army ' s Ground Forces . He also served as the Chief of the Civil Defense from 1961 until his retirement in 1972 . From 1961 until his death , he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . He was a major consultant for the design of the Stalingrad battle memorial on Mamayev Kurgan , and was buried there after his death at the age of 82 . Awards of other countries