Vatutin was born in Chepukhino village in Voronezh Governorate ( now Vatutino in Belgorod Oblast ) , into a peasant family of Russian ethnicity . Commissioned in 1920 to the Red Army , he fought against the Ukrainian peasant partisans of Nestor Makhno . The following year , he became a member of the Communist party , and served diligently in junior command positions . Starting in 1926 , he spent the next decade alternating service with studies in the elite Frunze Military Academy and the General Staff Academy . The 1937 – 1938 purge of Red Army commanders opened the road to promotion – in 1938 , he received the rank of Komdiv , and was appointed Chief of Staff of the important Kiev Special Military District . Throughout this period , Vatutin combined military service with intensive Party activities
purge
Great Purge
Nikolai Vatutin