Susaikov, Ivan Zakharovich

Born Aug. 30 (Sept. 12), 1903, in the village of Davydkovo, in what is now Gagarin Raion, Smolensk Oblast; died July 12, 1967, in Moscow. Soviet military commander. Colonel general of tank forces (1944). Member of the CPSU from 1925.

The son of peasants, Susaikov joined the Red Army in 1924. He graduated from a military school and completed courses for political instructors in 1929. In 1937 he graduated from the Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army. From 1938 to 1940 he was a member of the military councils of a number of military districts and commanded a special rifle corps. He fought in the Soviet-Finnish War (1939–40).

Beginning on June 24, 1941, during the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Susaikov served in battles in the Borisov-Orsha area as head of the Borisov School of Motor Vehicles and as commander of an operational group. In April 1942 he became a member of the military council of the Briansk Front. He later worked on the military councils of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts and was a member of the council of the Ukrainian Front from October 1943 to March 1945.

After the war, Susaikov was a member of the military council of the Southern Group of Military Troops. In January 1946 he became deputy commander of the group’s political department and deputy chairman of the Allied Control Commission in Rumania. In 1948 and 1949 he was deputy commander of Armed Forces for the rear. From 1949 to 1951, Susaikov was head of the Main Directorate of Motor Vehicles, and from 1951 to 1957 he was a member of the Turkestan Military District. In 1958 he became military consultant for the Group of Inspectors General. He retired in October 1960.

Susaikov was a deputy to the second and fourth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov First and Second Class, two Orders of Kutuzov First Class, and various medals.