# Ivan Petrov (army general)

Ivan Yefimovich Petrov (Russian: Иван Ефимович Петров; 30 September [O.S. 18 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"

## Commands Held

Military offices :
| Preceded byUnidentified | Commanding General of the 192nd Rifle Division 1940 | Succeeded byUnidentified |
| Preceded byNewly Formed | Commanding General of the 27th Mechanized Corps 1941 | Succeeded byDisbanded |
| Preceded byUnidentified | Commanding General of the 1st Cavalry Division 1941 | Succeeded byUnidentified |
| Preceded byUnidentified | Commanding General of the 2nd Cavalry Division 1941 | Succeeded byUnidentified |
| Preceded byAthanasius Zakharchenko | Commanding General of the 25th Rifle Division 1941 | Succeeded byTrofim Kolomiets |
| Preceded byLieutenant Georgy Sofronov | Commanding General of the Separate Coastal Army October 1941 – July 1942 | Succeeded byDisbanded |
| Preceded byAndrei Khryashchev | Commanding General of the 44th Army August 1942 – October 1942 | Succeeded byKondrat Melnik |
| Preceded byYakov Cherevichenko | Commanding General of the Black Sea Group of Forces October 1942 – March 1943 | Succeeded byDisbanded |
| Preceded byColonel General Ivan Maslennikov | Commander of the Northern Caucasian Front March 1943 – 20 November 1943 | Succeeded byDisbanded |
| Preceded by2nd Formation of the Army (Command elements from Northern Caucasian Front) | Commander of the Coastal Army 20 November 1943 – February 1944 | Succeeded byArmy General Andrey Yeryomenko |
| Preceded byGeneral-Colonel Vasily Gordov | Commander of the 33rd Army March 1944 – April 1944 | Succeeded byGeneral-Lieutenant Vasily Kryuchenkin |
| Preceded byColonel General Pavel A. Kurochkin | Commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front April 1944 – June 1944 | Succeeded byGeneral of the Army Georgii Zakharov |
| Preceded byFyodor Tolbukhin | Commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front 1944 – April 1945 | Succeeded byArmy General Andrey Yeryomenko |
| Preceded byVasily Sokolovsky | Chief of Staff of the 1st Ukrainian Front April 1945 – June 1945 | Succeeded byDisbanded to form the Central Group of Forces |
| Preceded byReformed from the Split of the Central Asian Military District Command staff came from the 1st Shock Army | Commander of the Turkestan Military District 9 July 1945 – 1952 | Succeeded byAlexei Radzievsky |