Editing Rodion Malinovsky (section)

===Interwar===
He returned to Odessa in 1919, where he joined the [[Red Army]] in the [[Russian Civil War|Civil War]] against the [[White movement|White Army]] and fought with distinction in [[Siberia]]. He remained in the army after the end of the conflict, studying in the training school for the junior commanders, and rose to commander of a rifle battalion. In 1926, he became a member of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], membership of which was a prerequisite for promotion in the military.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

In 1927, Malinovsky was sent to study at the elite [[Frunze Military Academy]]. He graduated in 1930, and during the next seven years he rose to the [[Chief of staff (military)|Chief of Staff]] of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, where his commander was [[Semyon Timoshenko]] (a protégé of [[Joseph Stalin]]).
   
After the start of the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1936, Malinovsky volunteered to fight for the [[Second Spanish Republic|Republicans]] against the right-wing nationalists of General [[Francisco Franco]] and their [[Fascism in Italy|Italian]] and [[Nazi Germany|German]] allies. He participated in planning and directing several main operations. In 1938, he returned to [[Moscow]], being awarded the top Soviet decorations, the [[Order of Lenin]] and the [[Order of the Red Banner]], in recognition of his service in Spain; he was appointed a senior lecturer at the [[Frunze Military Academy]].

In the spring of 1941, Timoshenko, who then served the [[Sovnarkom|People's Commissar for Defence]], was alarmed by the massive German military buildup on the Soviet borders, as the [[Wehrmacht]] was secretly preparing for [[Operation Barbarossa]]. In order to strengthen the Red Army field command, he dispatched some of the top officers from the military academies to the field units. Malinovsky was promoted to [[Major General]], and took command over the freshly raised [[48th Rifle Corps (Soviet Union)|48th Rifle Corps]], [[9th Army (Soviet Union)|9th Army]] in the [[Odessa Military District]]. A week prior to the start of the war, Malinovsky deployed his corps close to the [[Romania]]n border.