Ivan Alexeyevich Polyakov

Who was Ivan Alexeyevich Polyakov?

Ivan Alexeyevich Polyakov was a Cossack military leader who fought in World War I, and in World War II.

According to his file at the Hoover Institution website, he joined Pyotr Krasnov's Cossack army in 1917. He moved to Serbia in 1919.

In WWII he joined Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army, which fought on the side of Germany against the Soviet Union. He was Don Cossack Ataman from 1947-1965. In 1952 he moved to the United States. He wrote two books.

In 1949 a letter of his was published in the journal Russia, describing the post-war fate of the Cossacks who had fought on the German side against the Soviet Union. He claimed that tens of thousands were killed by the Red Army after being violently repatriated by British troops.