Andrey Khrulyov

Andrey Khrulyov was born in the village of Bolshaya Aleksandrovka, the son of Vasily Vasilyevich Khrulev, a blacksmith’s striker, and Maria Ivanovna, a peasant. He apprenticed to a goldsmith (1903–1912). At some point, he became a revolutionary, for which he was exiled to Estonia (1912–1914).[1]

Joining the Red Army in 1918 during the Russian Civil War, Khrulyov first served first in Petrograd, and during 1919–1921 as a political commissar in the 11th cavalry division of Budenny's First Cavalry Army.

After the war, he remained in military service, and began developing a more sophisticated logistical system for the Red Army, which became the Rear of the Russian Armed Forces. Khrulev was Head of Main Intendant Directorate of the Red Army (1939-1941), deputy chief of People’s Commissar of Defence of the USSR and Head of Main Directorate of the Rear Services of the Red Army (from 1941).[1] From 1942–1943 he served as People's Commissariat for Railways.

A plaque in honor of General Andrey Khrulyov on Tverskaya Street in Moscow.

At his death in 1962, a group of marshals pressed the Politburo to bury Khrulyov in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Normally, generals of his rank (Army General) were not entitled to this honor; Nikita Khrushchev was known to dislike Khrulyov and suggested burying him at the Novodevichy Cemetery. The military prevailed, and Khrulyov's ashes were buried on Red Square.[2]