Allied diplomacy during and after the Second World War had its military dimension as well, on several levels. It required that every participating army establishes a cohort of officers, high- and mid-ranking, able to represent its interests (i.e, interests of the state of which the army is a military arm) in international arena. The Great Powers, due to their global interests, faced the greatest challenge. And, after all, it is reasonable to assume that the hardest job was to be done by the Soviets.

Is there any research on Soviet military personnel bound to represent their army abroad at the final stage of the Second World War and after? My special focus is on inter-allied command structures, country-assigned military missions (often tasked with repatriation agenda) and the like. How was this cohort created, trained, supervised and integrated once their stationing abroad was over?

On the top of this, I am interested in a certain officer: Maj.Gen. Ivan Ratov who, according to my very poor information, presided over Soviet Miilitary Missions in London and Oslo respectively and represented the USSR at UNRRA - IRO talks on refugees and Displaced Persons (DPs) in London in 1946.

Recommendations in most European languages, incl. Russian, are welcome.   

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