Shkadov, Ivan

Born Apr. 19 (May 2), 1913, in the village of Naumovo, in what is now Spas-Demensk Raion, Kaluga Oblast. Soviet military leader; general of the army (1975). Hero of the Soviet Union (Feb. 21,1978). Member of the CPSU since 1938.

The son of a peasant, Shkadov joined the Red Army in 1935. He graduated from the Kharkov Armored School in 1938, advanced training courses for officers at the Military Academy for Armored and Mechanized Troops in 1953, and the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1959. In 1938, Shkadov commanded a tank platoon in fighting near Lake Khasan.

During the Great Patriotic War, Shkadov was assistant chief of staff of a tank regiment and commander of a tank battalion in 1941 and 1942 and commander of a separate tank regiment and a separate tank brigade between 1942 and 1945. He fought at Moscow and Stalingrad, in the Iasi-Kishinev Operation, and in the liberation of Rumania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia.

After the war, Shkadov continued to serve in command positions. He was named deputy commander of the Carpathian Military District in March 1961. From 1964 to 1967 he headed a group of Soviet military specialists in the Republic of Cuba. Shkadov was appointed commander of the Northern Group of Forces in May 1967, first deputy director of the Military Academy of the General Staff in December 1968, and chief of the Main Directorate of Military Educational Institutions of the Ministry of Defense in July 1969. Shkadov became chief of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in August 1972.

Shkadov was a deputy to the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, five Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov Third Class, two Orders of the Red Star, and various medals. Shkadov has also received foreign orders and medals.