Liashchenko, Nikolai Grigorevich

Born May 3 (16), 1910, at Zima station, in what is now Zima Raion, Irkutsk Oblast. Soviet military commander; general of the army (1968). Member of the CPSU since 1931.

Laishchenko entered the Soviet Army in 1929. He graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1941, the K. E. Voroshilov Higher Military Academy in 1948, and the Higher Academic Training Courses at the latter in 1970. In 1937-38 he was a volunteer participant in the Civil War in Spain on the side of the republican government. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) he served on the Southern, Volkhov, Leningrad, and Second Byelorussian fronts as commander of a rifle regiment (1941-42), deputy commander of a division, commander of a detached marine rifle brigade, and a rifle division (1942-45). Since the war he has held important positions in the military. In 1958 he became first deputy commander of the troops of the Turkestan Military District and then commander of the troops of the Volga (1963-65), Turkestan (1965-69), and Middle Asian (since 1969) military districts. During 1966-71, Liashchenko was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in 1971 a member. He was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR at the seventh and eighth convocations. He has been awarded three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov, the Order of Kutuzov Second Class, three Orders of the Red Star, and various medals.