Belik, Petr

Belik, Petr Alekseevich 

Born Sept. 23 (Oct. 6), 1909, in the village of Zhukovtsy, now in Kiev Oblast. General of the army (1969), Hero of the Soviet Union (Feb. 14, 1943). Member of the CPSU since 1929. Born into the family of a Ukrainian farm laborer.

Belik voluntarily joined the army in 1927, graduated from the Kiev Military Infantry School (1930), and completed advanced courses for officers (1932), the highest courses at the Military Academy of Armored Tank Forces (1944), and the highest academic courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff (1953). During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 he commanded a detached motorcycle guards regiment and later the 2nd Detached Tank Guards Brigade; he took part in the battles of Smolensk, Moscow, Stalingrad, the Don, the Ukraine, and East Prussia. After the war he held command positions. From 1960 to 1966 he was deputy and first deputy commander in chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Since August 1966 he has been commander of the armies of the Transbaikalia Military District. He has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov Third Class, the Order of the Red Star, two orders of the Mongolian People’s Republic, and various medals.