Dmitrii Gusev

Born Oct. 14 (26), 1894, in the settlement of Karsun, in present-day Ul’ianovsk Oblast; died Aug. 25, 1957, in Moscow. Colonel general (1944); Hero of the Soviet Union (Apr. 6, 1945). Member of the CPSU from 1932. Born into the family of an office worker.

In 1916, Gusev was drafted into the army, and he completed ensigns school in 1917. He entered the Soviet Army in April 1919 and took part in the Civil War on the Eastern Front. He graduated from Vystrel, the higher infantry school of the Soviet Army (1926), and the Higher Academic Courses of the Academy of the General Staff (1950). Between 1919 and 1941 he served in command positions up to deputy chief of staff of a military district. During the Great Patriotic War he was chief of staff of an army and deputy chief of staff of a front; in October 1941 he became chief of staff of the Leningrad Front, and in April 1944 he began to command the Twenty-first Army, which participated in the Vyborg, Vistula-Oder, and Berlin operations. After the war he commanded troops of the Leningrad, Eastern Siberia, and Trans-baikal military districts. In 1955 he entered the reserves. He was a deputy to the second convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded four Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov First Class, the Order of Kutuzov First Class, the Order of the Red Star, and various medals.