Ivan Petrov (army general)

Ivan Yefimovich Petrov (Иван Ефимович Петров; 30 September 1896 – 7 April 1958) was a Soviet Army General from 1941.

Early military career
Born in Trubchevsk in 1896, he began his military service in the Red Army in 1918, the year when he also joined the Bolshevik Party. Petrov fought in the Russian Civil War near Samara, the Polish–Soviet War in 1920 and the Basmachi rebellion in 1922. In the late 1920s and 1930s Petrov served in Central Asia.

World War II
During World War II, Petrov participated in the Siege of Odessa, Siege of Sevastopol and was noted for heading the Separate Coastal Army from October 1941 to July 1942 and in November 1943-February 1944, 44th Army in August–October 1942, Black Sea Group of Forces, North Caucasus Front, 33rd Army in 1944, 2nd Belorussian Front, 4th Ukrainian Front, and several other units. In April–June 1945 Petrov was a chief of the 1st Ukrainian Front Staff.

Awards
On May 29, 1945 Petrov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. The United States awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross in War Department General Order No. 3 of 1944.

After the war Petrov commanded the Turkestan Military District and was inspector general of land forces. Petrov died in Moscow in 1958 and is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Honours and awards

 * Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Five Orders of Lenin
 * Order of the Red Banner, four times
 * Order of Suvorov, 1st class
 * Order of Kutuzov, 1st class
 * Order of the Red Star
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour of the Turkmen SSR
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour of the Uzbek SSR
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour
 * Order of Merit, 1st class (Hungary)
 * Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory", 2nd class (Czechoslovakia)
 * War Cross, 1939 (Czechoslovakia)
 * Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class (Poland)
 * Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945 (Poland)
 * Distinguished Service Cross (USA)
 * Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"
 * Medal "For the Defence of Odessa"
 * Medal "For the Defence of Sevastopol"
 * Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"
 * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Medal "For the Capture of Berlin"
 * Medal "For the Liberation of Prague"