army, Krylov successfully led them during Operation Bagration, when his army units successfully advanced near Vitebsk, Orsha and Minsk, and stormed Vilnius and repulsed enemy counter-attacks near Kaunas. For excellent command of troops, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated 19 April 1945, Krylov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and was promoted to Colonel General on 15 July 1944. Due to his old injury, he was in a Moscow hospital for two months at the end of 1944 and then returned to command of his army units during the East Prussian offensive. Soviet-Japanese War After the victory over Germany, the 5th Army in full strength was transferred to the Far East, where it became part of the 1st Far Eastern Front commanded by Marshal Kirill Meretskov. Together with Meretskov, Krylov took a daring step against the 3rd Japanese Army. Under heavy rain and without artillery preparation, forward units were secretly moved across the border and then launched a sudden offensive which destroyed much of the Japanese installations and broke through the deeply echeloned border defensive line. Leading the offensive, Krylov's army liberated the cities and towns of Muling, Linkou and Mudanjiang. For the successful defeat of the opposing enemy groupings in this operation, Krylov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. Post-war From October 1945, Krylov served as deputy commander of the Primorsky Military District. From January 1947, he was appointed as commander of the Far Eastern Military District. In March 1953, the district was reorganized into the army, which was included in the new united Far Eastern Military District. Krylov commanded this army for about six months, before being appointed as first deputy commander of the Far Eastern Military District in September 1953. At the same time, on 18 September 1953, he was awarded the military rank of General of the Army. From January 1956, he served as commander of the Ural Military District and from 1958, commander of the Leningrad Military District. In 1960, he was appointed as commander of the Moscow Military District. Krylov became Marshal of the Soviet Union on 28 April 1962. In March 1963, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces. He was responsible for its founding, which had to be brought into combat readiness within a short time and whose new technology had