Mikhail Puteiko

Mikhail Konstantinovich Puteiko (Russian: Михаил Константинович Путейко; 8 November 1913 – 21 April 1945) was a Belarusian Red Army major general killed in action during World War II.

After briefly working as a mechanic in his youth, Puteiko entered the Red Army in 1934 and graduated from an officer training school. By the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, he served with the 180th Rifle Division, with which he fought as part of the Northwestern Front until late 1941. Puteiko spent the next several months in army-level staff positions and briefly commanded a regiment of the 254th Rifle Division. After becoming chief of staff of the latter in mid-1942, he commanded the division from November 1943, leading it in the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive, and the Berlin Offensive. In the final weeks of the war, Puteiko was mortally wounded during the Battle of Bautzen. At the time of his death, he was one of the youngest generals of the Red Army.