Konstantin Yefimovich Kulikov (Russian: Константин Ефимович Куликов; 18 May 1896 – 30 June 1944) was a Red Army general-mayor (major general) who held divisional command during World War II.

A Russian, Konstantin Yefimovich Kulikov was born in a peasant family on 18 May 1896 in the village of Vitomovo, Yemalyanovsky volost, Staritsky Uyezd, Tver Governorate.

[2] After World War I began, Kulikov was mobilized for military service in the Imperial Russian Army in August 1914 and sent as a ryadovoy (private) to the Novocherkassk Infantry Regiment.

[3] As the Russian Civil War began, in March 1918, Kulikov joined the Detachment of Special Purpose of the Militsiya Directorate of the Moscow Railway at the Bryansky Station.

After completing a correspondence course offered by the 4th Department of the Frunze Military Academy, he took command of the 2nd Ulyanovsk Rifle Regiment in November 1931.

[2] Kulikov's division was assigned to defend the Soviet border during and after the Battle of Lake Khasan from August to October 1938, but did not see action as a unit.

In December Kulikov was relieved of command due to "the existence of compromising materials and for being unable to cope with his duties," following a disagreement with political commissar Lev Mekhlis.

[4] After Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June, Kulikov's division was assigned to the 7th Rifle Corps of the Southern Front.

Thus, on 25 and 26 July 1941 in the Tarashcha region, owing to the disorganized withdrawal of troops from encirclement, little by little units and the majority of the division artillery were lost.

[8] In late August, the 26th Army was forced to retreat to the left bank of the Dnieper and continued its defense south of Kiev and Zolotonosha.

[5] The division fought on the Orzhytsia river, trying to break through the German encirclement ring and reach Lubny to unite with the Southwestern Front headquarters.

Kulikov's division attempted to break through again on 21 September, and despite heavy losses was able to consolidate on the left bank of the Orzhitsa, but German artillery and mortar fire forced them to retreat again.

Kulikov withdrew the remnants of the 196th towards the village of Krupoderivntsy, but 6th Rifle Corps commander Anton Lopatin demanded another attack in a different sector.

In his report, he explained that ordinary soldiers would not go into the attack to certain death in the face of German fire support, mentioning that the division's bayonet strength had been reduced to 1,200.

Kulikov abandoned his vehicle and fired back with his pistol while fleeing on foot, but was hit by a German bullet and captured.

But after Marshal Blyukher, whom he valued highly, and many others disappeared without a trace or were dismissed, when he himself spent eight months in Moscow without duties, he realized, "that not all is right with Soviet rule."