Petrov, Vasilii

Petrov, Vasilii Ivanovich 

Born Jan. 2 (15), 1917, in the village of Chernolesskoe, now in Prikumsk Raion, Stavropol’ Krai. Soviet military commander, general of the army (1972). Member of the CPSU since 1944.

Petrov joined the Red Army in 1939. He graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1948 and from the Higher Academic Training Courses of the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1969. In the Great Patriotic War (1941-45), he served on the Southern, Crimean, Northern Caucasus, and Transcaucasian fronts as assistant chief of staff of a regiment and chief of staff and commander of a battalion. In 1943-44 he was chief of the operations division of the staff of a brigade and a rifle division on the Steppe, Voronezh, and First and Second Ukrainian fronts.

After the war, Petrov held staff and command positions. He was appointed chief of staff and first deputy commander of the troops of the Far Eastern Military District in 1966 and was commander of the troops of the district from 1972 to 1976. He became first deputy commander in chief of the ground forces in 1976. He has been a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU since 1976. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War First and Second Class, two Orders of the Red Star, various medals, and an order of the Mongolian People’s Republic.