Fyodor Kostenko


Fyodor Yakovlevich Kostenko was a Soviet corps and army commander.

Biography

He was born in Bolshaya Martynovka, Martynovsky District, Rostov Oblast to an ethnic Ukrainian family. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks during the subsequent civil war.
In World War II, he commanded the 26th Army and the Southwestern Front.
He led an operational group during the Yelets Operation from 6 December to 16 December 1941, which ended with the defeat of several enemy divisions.
Kostenko went missing on 26 May 1942, and was presumed killed, being surrounded during the tragic Second Battle of Kharkov.
He was a recipient of the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star.

Discovery and reburial

Kostenko's body was rediscovered in spring 2016 in Kharkiv Oblast, between the villages of Husarivka and. Two sets of human remains were found, identified as officers from their boots. The fabric remains of stripes and the name "Kostenko" on a document helped to identify the remains of the older individual as being Kostenko's. This was later confirmed with DNA testing with his granddaughter. The second set of remains, of a younger and shorter individual, were speculated to be those of Kostenko's adjutant, Captain Vasily Ivanovich Petrovich, who had disappeared with Kostenko. Kostenko's remains were repatriated to Russia, and were interred at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 20 June 2018.

Books

  • Великая Отечественная война. 1941–1945. События. Люди. Документы: Краткий исторический справочник/ Под общ. ред. О. А. Ржешевского. Сост. Е. К. Жигунов — М.: Политиздат, 1990. — С. 337.
  • Колесников Г. М., Лебединский Г. Н., Марков Н. В. и др. Липецк. Справочник-путеводитель. — Воронеж: Центр.-Чернозем. кн. изд-во, 1967.
Category:1896 births
Category:1940s missing person cases
Category:1942 deaths
Category:Burials at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery
Category:Formerly missing people
Category:Missing in action of World War II
Category:Missing person cases in Asia
Category:People from Don Host Oblast
Category:People from Martynovsky District
Category:People of the Soviet invasion of Poland
Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Category:Russian military personnel of World War I
Category:Soviet lieutenant generals
Category:Soviet military personnel killed in World War II
Category:Military personnel of the 1st Cavalry Army