Issa Pliyev

Issa Pliyev started his military career in the Red Army in 1922. He graduated from the Leningrad Cavalry school in 1926, from the Frunze Military Academy in 1933 and from the Soviet General Staff Academy. He joined the Communist party in 1926.[2]

At the start of the invasion of the Soviet Union, Pliyev commanded the 50th Cavalry Division (renamed 3rd Guards Cavalry Division). His unit participated in the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Stalingrad.[2] Pliyev served with Lev Dovator who fought alongside Rokossovsky with the crucial 16th Army. These forces along with that of Pavel Belov were the most successful cavalry units of the Battle of Moscow. During the Battle of Stalingrad, his forces were the first to complete the encirclement of the German 6th Army, thus trapping 330,000 men inside the pocket. He commanded cavalry-mechanized group consisting of 4th Guards Cavalry Corps and 4th Mechanized Corps during the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensive along the Black Sea coast, as part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Army General Rodion Malinovsky.[3]

During Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944, part of the 1st Belorussian Front, Pliyev's cavalry-mechanized group attacked towards Slutsk.[4] According to Glantz and House, the unit was highly successful in exploiting the operational breakthrough.[1] In the fall of 1944, he commanded a cavalry-mechanized group consisting of two divisions during the Battle of Debrecen.[1]

The operations of Lieutenant General Pliev's [1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group]] demonstrates its usefulness as it fought through Ukraine, Eastern Europe and into Germany.[5] With Dovator killed in action and Belov promoted to an army commander, Pliev was able and apply deep battle operations better than any other general which eventually made him the only Soviet cavalry personnel to receive two Heroes of the Soviet Union. His valuable experience serving directly under Lev Dovator while planning and fighting with the best especially in the early stages of the war made him stand out among others. When more tanks were added to the cavalry corps, Pliyev became the pioneer in the newly cavalry mechanized groups who immediately proved themselves in battle. This made him well respected among his peers and soldiers.

He ended the war in command of the Soviet-Mongolian Cavalry-Mechanized Group of the Transbaikal front in Manchuria, fighting against the Japanese Kwantung Army.[6]

After the war, Pliyev continued his career in the military, and took command of the Stavropol Military District in February 1946. In June he became commander of the 9th Mechanized Army, stationed in Romania with the Southern Group of Forces. He commanded 13th Army between February 1947 and 1949, in western Ukraine. Pliyev graduated from higher academic courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1949, and in April took command of the 4th Army in the Transcaucasian Military District. In June 1955, he was appointed First Deputy commander of the North Caucasus Military District, succeeding to command of the district in April 1958.[6]

On 27 April 1962 Pliyev was promoted to Army General. In June his troops took part in suppressing Novocherkassk riots.[7] During the Cuban Missile Crisis he was the commander of Group of Soviet forces as part of the Operation Anadyr in Cuba from July 1962 to May 1963.[2] After returning from Cuba, he assumed command of the North Caucasus Military District again.[6]

In June 1968, Pliyev became an advisor for the Ministry of Defense of the USSR's Group of Inspectors General, a position for elderly senior officers.[8] He lived in Rostov-on-Don and died on 6 February 1979 in Moscow. Pliyev was buried in the Walk of Fame in Vladikavkaz.[6]

Pliyev was awarded five Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov (1st Class), Order of Kutuzov (1st Class), numerous medals and nine foreign orders. He was decorated twice Hero of the Soviet Union.[6]

Pliyev on a 2010 stamp of Abkhazia

• Плиев И.А.. Через Гоби и Хинган (Through the Gobi Desert and the Khingan Mountains). 1965.
• Плиев И.А.. Конец Квантунской армии (The End of the Kwantung Army). 1969

• Soviet invasion of Manchuria
• Pavel Belov
• Lev Dovator

• Harrel, John (2019). Soviet Cavalry Operations During The Second World War: The Genesis Of The Operational Manoeuvre Group. Pen & Sword Military.

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• Glantz, David; House, Jonathan (2015). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700621217.