Dmitry Danilovich Lelyushenko (Russian: Дми́трий Дани́лович Лелюше́нко; (2 November [O.S. 20 October] 1901 – 20 July 1987) was a Soviet military officer and a commander in the Red Army during World War II. He rose to prominence during the first months of the Eastern Front of the Second World War, where he became a strong influence during the defence of Moscow against the German invasion. His subsequent battlefield commands were largely successful and his final actions in 1945 involved directing forces during the Red Army's attacks on both Berlin and Prague.

Dmitry Lelyushenko was born in 1901, in the Rostov Oblast of the Russian Empire, and was an ethnic Ukrainian. At age 17, he joined the Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, serving as a cavalryman alongside Semyon Budyonny. Following the war, he became a full-time officer and completed military schooling in 1933 at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy, and went to a mechanized brigade before rising through the ranks to the rank of major and command of a tank regiment in the Moscow Military District. Lelyushenko also became a member of the CPSU from 1924.

As part of the Soviet-German collaboration in invasion of Poland (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact), Lelyushenko, now a lieutenant-colonel, took his command, the 39th Separate Light Tank Brigade, with mainly T-26 light tanks on strength, into what was then eastern Poland (Ruthenia, Vilnius and Western Belarus). The Soviet occupation of so called Polish territory was bloodless from Lelyushenko's own experience. However shortly afterwards, in December 1939, the Brigade moved north to participate in Red Army operations against the Finns. Now a colonel, Lelyushenko directed tank attacks against Finland's Mannerheim line in the period February – March 1940. This was a learning experience and in addition he received the award ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ for personal bravery. His brigade meanwhile won the Order of Lenin.

Lelyushenko enjoyed rapid promotion in this phase of his career. Such advancement was certainly partly due to the previous Soviet army purges, which had created a climate of opportunity, but also to the reputation he gained in Finland, where he had developed successful infantry cooperation tactics. Whatever the reason, by spring 1941 Lelyushenko held the rank of major general and was designated commander of 21st Mechanized Corps, based within the Moscow military district with which he was obviously familiar. This early war Soviet formation consisted, at the time, of 2 tank divisions and 1 motorized rifle division. Tanks on strength were all BT7 and T26 models; the new T34 and KV-1 models which were later to cause German forces so much trouble were not yet available in quantity.

On 23 June 1941, the day after Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, Lelyushenko set about reorganising his command to combat the specific threats of the German invasion. Casualties began to mount as German aircraft raided his dispersal areas.

Lelyushenko began his war with an offensive at Daugavpils on 28 June, when his Corps put in a strong attack on the 56 Panzer Corps. This was noted by General von Manstein, in his book ‘Lost Victories’, where he describes the resulting German position as repeatedly becoming “quite critical” before they were able to regain control.

Overall, however, the Soviet armies were struggling. It would seem that Lelyushenko's strong character was an asset in this environment, responsible for his retaining poise and energy as the battlefield position altered constantly. Attached to the Northwestern Front Lelyushenko earned himself the Order of the Red Star for his stubborn defence as Soviet forces nonetheless fell back 450 km in 18 days.

In August Lelyushenko was summoned by Stalin and charged with forming 22 tank brigades – a new type of formation – which were to be armed with T34 and KV1 tanks. In this capacity he had command over numerous future Soviet ‘leading lights’ of the armoured forces, such as Rotmistrov, Katukov, Solomatin, all of whom were brigade commanders under Lelyushenko.