Vasily Sergeyevich Arkhipov (; – 13 June 1985) was an officer in the tank troops of the Red Army who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions in the Winter War and World War II. He rose to the rank of colonel general during the Cold War.
For his leadership of a tank company of the 112th Tank Battalion of the 35th Light Tank Brigade in the Winter War, Arkhipov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Arkhipov commanded the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade from the summer of 1943 and was awarded his second Gold Star for his leadership of the brigade in the Vistula-Oder Offensive. Postwar, Arkhipov commanded the 6th Guards Tank Division, the armored forces of the Turkestan Military District, and the 1st Guards Army. He ended his career as an adviser to the National People's Army of postwar East Germany.
Early life and prewar service
Born on 29 December 1906 in the village of Tyuntnyary, Perm Governorate, Arkhipov worked as a shepherd while he went through primary school, which he completed in 1921. He became an apprentice at a harness workshop and a laborer at a mill in Chelyabinsk between 1921 and 1924. Until 1927, Arkhipov was a laborer at the Verkhneklimsk coal furnace near Zlatoust, then became a manual laborer at a hydroelectric power station in Chelyabinsk.
He was drafted into the Red Army in November 1928, serving with the 24th Rifle Division. He graduated from the school of the 70th Rifle Regiment of the division in Vinnytsia in 1929 and became a squad leader, assistant platoon commander, and platoon commander with the regiment. He transferred to the 24th Tank Battalion of the division to serve as a tank platoon commander and as assistant chief of the battalion school for personnel in the early 1930s. Arkhipov graduated from the Platoon Commander Training Courses at the Odessa Infantry School in 1931 and the Courses for Retraining of Command Personnel of the Ukrainian Military District at Zhitomir a year later.
After completing the Leningrad Armored Courses for the Improvement of Command Cadre in September 1938, Arkhipov was sent to the Leningrad Military District, becoming a company commander in the tank training battalion of the 11th Separate Tank Brigade and subsequently a company commander in the 112th Separate Tank Battalion of the 35th Light Tank Brigade. He fought in the Winter War with the brigade, and for his courage in the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line Arkhipov, then a captain, was made a Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin on 21 March 1940. He commanded the 108th Separate Tank Battalion of the brigade from October 1940 and in May 1941 was appointed commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the 43rd Tank Division, stationed in the Kiev Special Military District.
World War II
From the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, Arkhipov fought in the Battle of Brody and the First Battle of Kiev. From August he commanded the 10th Tank Regiment of the 10th Tank Brigade, and in December became brigade deputy commander. Appointed commander of the 109th Tank Brigade, forming in Voronezh, in April 1942, Arkhipov led it as part of the 16th Tank Corps of the Bryansk Front in defensive battles west of Livny during June and July, during which it was surrounded for three days. In mid-August, the 109th was relocated to the Stalingrad Front, participating in counterattacks on German troops who broke through to the Volga northwest of Stalingrad in the Kotluban region with the 1st Guards Army, then in defensive battles in the sector. With the beginning of Operation Uranus, the brigade fought in the Vertyachy sector. In January 1943, the 109th was sent to the Central Front, fighting in attacks toward Fatezh and Krasny Sevsk.