The Soviet general who signed Japan's surrender, ending World War II
September 2, 1945, aboard USS Missouri: as MacArthur said "the representative of the USSR will now sign," Derevyanko stepped forward and signed the Instrument of Surrender. The 23-minute ceremony was broadcast worldwide — World War II was over.
A Soviet military intelligence officer and lieutenant general, Derevyanko signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, as the USSR's representative, the act that formally ended World War II. During the German-Soviet war he was chief of staff of the 53rd, 57th, and 4th Guards Armies, participating in the Battle of Kursk, the Korsun-Shevchenko Operation, the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive, and the capture of Budapest and Vienna. He was the first Soviet official to inspect Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombings; his report to Stalin helped accelerate the Soviet atomic weapons program. He later served as Soviet representative on the Allied Council for Japan and as head of the GRU Information Directorate, dying of cancer in 1954, likely from radiation exposure during his Japan inspections.
Career Timeline
- 1922Enlisted in the Red Army
- 1924Graduated from 2nd Kyiv School of Red Starshinas; assigned to 297th Rifle Regiment
- 1933–1936Studied English and Japanese at the Eastern Faculty, Frunze Military Academy
- 1936–1938Served in GRU Intelligence Directorate; deployed to Spanish Civil War; covert arms-supply operations to Chinese forces
- 1939–1940Soviet-Finnish War: Chief of Staff, Separate Special Ski Brigade
- 1940–1941Deputy Chief of Intelligence, Baltic Special Military District; special mission in East Prussia
- 1941–1942Deputy/Acting Chief of Intelligence, Northwestern Front HQ
- 1942–1943Chief of Staff, 53rd Army (Northwestern Front, then Steppe Front)
- 1943–1944Chief of Staff, 57th Army (2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts)
- 1944–1945Chief of Staff, 4th Guards Army (2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts); Budapest and Vienna offensives
- 1945Chief of Staff, 35th Army; signed Japanese Instrument of Surrender, Sept 2 (USSR representative)
- 1945–1950Soviet representative, Allied Council for Japan; inspected Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reported to Stalin
- 1950–1954Teaching post at Frunze Military Academy, then Head of GRU Information Directorate