Ivan Alexeyevich Susloparov (russian: Иван Алексеевич Суслопа́ров; the surname is often transcribed in the French manner, Sousloparov) (19 October 1897 – 16 December 1974) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

general who served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as the

Military Liaison Mission The military liaison missions arose from reciprocal agreements formed between the Western allied nations (the US, the UK, and France) and the USSR shortly after the end of the Second World War. The missions were active from 1946 until 1990. The ...

Commander with the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

government and the

Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF th ...

in Europe in 1944–45. He is mostly known as the person who signed for the Soviet Union the

German Instrument of Surrender The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the "Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capit ...

on May 7, 1945. He signed before receiving authorization from Moscow to do so; the Soviet Union insisted on signing another Act of Military Surrender near Berlin two days later.

Biography

Ivan Susloparov was born in the village of Krutikhintsy, in what is today

Kumyonsky District Kumyonsky District (russian: Кумёнский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #203-ZO and municipalLaw #284-ZO district (raion), one of the thirty-nine in Kirov Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center of the oblast. The area of the dist ...

Kirov Oblast Kirov Oblast (russian: Ки́ровская о́бласть, ''Kirovskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: 1,341,312 ( 2010 Census). Geography Na ...

in northeastern European Russia. He fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a non-commissioned officer, participated in the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

of 1917, and fought in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

on the Eastern and Southern Fronts of the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

. After the Reds' victory, Susloparov stayed in the army. While in service, he graduated from

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

's Joint Military School in 1925, and from Engineering Command Department of

Dzerzhinsky Military Academy Russia has a number of military academies of different specialties. This article primarily lists institutions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation rather than those of the Soviet Armed Forces. Russian institutions designated as an "acad ...

in 1938. In 1939, Susloparov was appointed as the Soviet military

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where, it is said, he also was in charge of the Soviet military intelligence network in Western Europe, including the so-called

Rote Kapelle The Red Orchestra (german: Die Rote Kapelle, ), as it was known in Germany, was the name given by the Abwehr Section III.F to anti-Nazi resistance workers in August 1941. It primarily referred to a loose network of resistance groups, connected ...

organization. When General Officer ranks were introduced in the Red Army, Susloparov was made Major General; the commission was reported in the ''

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

'' on July 12, 1940. After the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany in 1941, Susloparov served in the headquarters of the Red Army's artillery; from 1942 until the middle of 1944 he was the commander of the artillery of the 10th Army of the Western Front. In the summer of 1944 Susloparov was posted to recently liberated Paris again, as the chief of the Soviet liaison mission with the French Government and the

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF th ...

. His moment of fame came on May 6, 1945, when

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

informed him of the arrival of German general

Alfred Jodl Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German ''Generaloberst'' who served as the chief of the Operations Staff of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' – the German Armed Forces High Command – throughout World ...

with the proposal of Germany's surrender. Although initially planning to surrender only to the Western Allies, the German emissary had to agree to surrender the rump Nazi forces to all allies. At Eisenhower's suggestion, Susloparov forwarded the proposed text of the surrender instrument to his superiors in Moscow, and started to wait for the authorization to sign it in the name of the USSR. No response, however, came by the scheduled signing ceremony time (2:30 AM on May 7), and General Susloparov made the decision to sign the document, but with the caveat that a new surrender ceremony would take place elsewhere if any of the allies requested it. Susloparov executed the document using the French transliteration of his name, ''Sousloparov'', rather than

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

letters. As Susloparov went to report on his actions to Moscow, he saw a freshly arrived order ''not'' to sign the surrender document. Just as Susloparov expected, the Soviet Government indeed requested a second surrender ceremony, which took place in

Karlshorst Karlshorst (, ; ; literally meaning ''Karl's nest'') is a locality in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. Located there are a harness racing track and the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (''HTW''), the largest University of Appli ...

near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

late on May 8. General Susloparov was present there as well. After the war, General Susloparov worked in the Military Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, an institution that trained military attachés and intelligence officers.Sherman W. Flemer
Soviet Intelligence Training
/ref> His job title was described as ''nachalnik kursa'', i.e. the officer in charge of all cadets who entered the academy in a particular year. He died on December 16, 1974, in Moscow and was buried in

Vvedenskoye Cemetery Vvedenskoye Cemetery ( rus, Введенское кладбище, p=vʲːɪˈdʲenskəjə) is a historic cemetery in the Lefortovo District of Moscow in Russia. Until 1918 it was mainly a burial ground for the Catholic and Protestant communitie ...

References

External links

Photo in Reims; most likely he's second from left, with a one-star Major General shoulder stripes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Susloparov, Ivan 1897 births 1974 deaths GRU officers Recipients of the Medal "For Courage" (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Soviet diplomats Soviet major generals Soviet military personnel of World War II Burials at Vvedenskoye Cemetery Soviet military attachés