Ivan Susloparov

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 general who served as the Military Liaison Mission Commander with the French government and the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe in 1944–45. He is mostly known as the person who signed for the Soviet Union the German Instrument of Surrender on May 7, 1945. However, since he did not have an authorization from Moscow to do so, the Soviet Union insisted on signing another Act of Military Surrender near Berlin two days later.

Ivan Susloparov was born in the village of Krutikhintsy, in what is today Kumyonsky District of Kirov Oblast in northeastern European Russia. He fought in the First World War as a non-commissioned officer, participated in the October Revolution of 1917, and fought in the Red Army on the Eastern and Southern Fronts of the Russian Civil War. After the Reds' victory, Susloparov stayed in the army. While in service, he graduated from Kiev's Joint Military School in 1925, and from Engineering Command Department of Dzerzhinsky Military Academy in 1938.

In 1939, Susloparov was appointed as the Soviet military attaché in Paris, where, it is said, he also was in charge of the Soviet military intelligence network in Western Europe, including the so-called Rote Kapelle organization.

When General Officer ranks were introduced in the Red Army, Susloparov was made Major General; the commission was reported in the Red Star on July 12, 1940.

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