Belokoskov, Vasilii

Born Apr. 13 (25), 1898, in the village of Klapouzovo, Vologda Province; died Oct. 21, 1961, in Moscow. Colonel general (1944). Member of the CPSU from 1919. Born into a worker’s family.

Belokoskov participated in World War I and during 1917–18 worked in the Cherepovets provincial executive committee. In August 1918 he joined the Red Army and took part in the Civil War. He completed advanced cavalry training for senior command personnel in 1926 and commanded a cavalry division (from 1935). During the period 1938–40 he was chief of supply service and in 1940–41 assistant commander of the forces of the Kiev Military District. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Belokoskov was deputy chief of the rear of the Red Army from March 1942, and he was chief of motor transport administration from January to October 1943. From 1943 to 1949 he was deputy chief of the rear of the armed forces and during the period 1949–58, deputy minister of defense of the USSR in charge of construction and the quartering of troops. Belokoskov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov Second Class, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Red Star, one foreign order, and various medals.