Ivan Fedko

Born June 24 (July 6), 1897, in the village of Khmelevo, in what is now Romny Raion, Sumy Oblast; died Feb. 26, 1939. Soviet military leader. Army commander first class (1938). Hero of the Civil War of 1918–20. Member of the CPSU from 1917.

The son of a peasant, Fed’ko fought in World War I. In 1917 he graduated from an ensigns’ school. During the October Revolution he organized a Red Guards detachment and a revolutionary committee in the city of Feodosiia. During the Civil War he commanded the 3rd and 1st columns of the troops of the Northern Caucasus from May to October 1918, as well as the Eleventh Army; he served as commander in chief of the troops of the Northern Caucasus from October to November 1918 and as assistant commander of the Eleventh Army from November 1918 to February 1919.

In 1919, Fed’ko was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Crimean Republic (Soviet Socialist Republic of Javrida) and deputy commander of the Crimean Army, which was later reorganized into the 58th Rifle Division. In 1920 he commanded a group of forces of the Thirteenth Army and in 1921 took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt Anti-Soviet Rebellion and the Antonov Revolt.

In 1922, Fed’ko graduated from the Military Academy of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. He went on to serve as commander of the Caucasian Army, commander of the troops of the Volga Military District, deputy commander of the Special Army of the Far East, and commander of the Primor’e Group of Forces. In 1937 he was in command of the troops of the Kiev Military District. In 1938 he was appointed first deputy people’s commissar of defense.

Fed’ko was a deputy to and member of the Presidium of the first convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and four Orders of the Red Banner.