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Vasiliy Ivanovich Petrov
Petrov Vasili Iwanovich
Petrov receiving the Order of Alexander Nevsky from President Dmitry Medvedev
Born (1917-01-15)15 January 1917
Died 1 February 2014(2014-02-01) (aged 97)
Place of birth Chernolesskoye village, Stavropol Governorate, Russian Empire
Place of death Moscow, Russia
Buried at Federal Military Memorial Cemetery, Moscow Oblast
Allegiance Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union
Flag of Russia Russia
Service/branch Red Army
Years of service 1939–1992
Rank Marshal of the Soviet Union
Commands held Far East Military District
Soviet Ground Forces
Battles/wars World War II
Ogaden War
Angolan Civil War

Vasiliy Ivanovich Petrov (Russian: Васи́лий Ива́нович Петро́в; 15 January [O.S. 2 January] 1917 – 1 February 2014) was a senior Russian military official and Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Background[]

Petrov was born in 1917 in Chernolesskoye, Stavropol Governorate. He completed high school in 1935 and studied for two years at a teacher training institute until 1937.

Petrov joined the Red Army in 1939 and completed the lieutenant's course in 1941.

During World War II, he fought in the defence of Odessa, defence of Sevastopol and the Campaign in the Caucasus. He later took part in the liberation of Ukraine (was part of the USSR) and the invasion of Romania, in addition to the Budapest Offensive in Hungary.

After the war, Petrov completed Military Studies at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow. He subsequently rose through the Russian military ranks, being promoted to Colonel in 1952, Major General in 1961, Lieutenant General in 1965, Colonel General in 1970 and General in 1972. In 1983, Petrov was eventually appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union.

In the late 1970s, Petrov served as a military advisor to the Ethiopian Army. He was assigned to assist and rebuild the force during the Ogaden War.[1][2]

In 1982, Petrov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union.

He commanded the Far East Military District in 1972–1976 and served as Commander-in-Chief of Ground Forces in 1980–1985.

From 1992, Petrov served as a military advisor to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. He died in 2014 at the age of 97[3] and laid to rest at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery in Moscow Oblast.

Honours and awards[]

Soviet Union and Russia
Foreign awards
  • Order "Ernesto Che Guevara", 1st class (Cuba, 1985)
  • Order of the Red Banner (Czechoslovakia) (1982)
  • Order of Victorious February (Czechoslovakia) (1985)
  • Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia, 1981)
  • Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia, 1982)
  • Order "For Military Merit" (Mongolia, 1971)
  • Scharnhorst Order (East Germany, 1983)
  • Order of the Flag of the Hungarian People's Republic with diamonds (Hungary, 1985)
  • Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 1st class (Romania, 1974)
  • Order "For Military Merit", 1st class (Romania, 1985)
  • Order of the National Flag (Ethiopia, 1982)
  • Order of National Flag of Korea (North Korea, 1985)
  • Order "The People's Republic of Bulgaria", 1st class (1985)
  • Order "For military Valour", 1st class (1983)
Faith-based
  • Order of St. Grand Prince Dmitriy Donskoy, 2nd class

Notes[]

References[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Vasiliy Petrov (military) and the edit history here.
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