Antonov, Aleksei Innokentevich

Born Sept. 15, 1896, in Grodno; died June 18, 1962, in Moscow. Soviet general of the army (1943). Member of the CPSU from 1928. Born into the family of an officer. Graduated from the Pavlov Military School (1916).

Antonov served in World War I with the rank of ensign. He was demobilized in May 1918 and worked as an office employee in Petrograd. A member of the Soviet Army from April 1919, he participated in the Civil War as chief of staff of a brigade on the Southern Front. After the Civil War he moved up through the ranks from this post to chief of staff of a military district (1937). He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in 1931, its operations faculty in 1933, and the Academy of the General Staff in 1937. From 1938 to 1940 he was engaged in teaching. After August 1941, during the Great Patriotic War, Antonov—a highly skilled and talented staff worker—held the posts of chief of staff of the Southern, Northern Caucasus, and Transcaucasus fronts and the Black Sea group of troops after August 1941. In December 1942 he became first deputy chief of the General Staff, and in February 1945 he became chief of the General Staff. He participated in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. He served as first deputy chief of the General Staff from March 1946. From 1948 to 1954 he served as first deputy commander and commander of the troops of the Transcaucasus military Okrug. From April 1954 he served as first deputy chief of the General Staff and from May 1955 as chief of staff of the United Armed Forces of the countries of the Warsaw Treaty Organization as well. He was awarded the Order of Victory, three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov First Class, Orders of Kutuzov First Class and of the Patriotic War First Class, and 14 foreign orders and medals. He was a deputy at the second to the sixth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was buried in Red Square.