Chapayev's successor and Civil War hero who outlived his usefulness to Stalin
When the Red Army high command traded slanderous letters, Kutyakov denounced Dybenko's drunkenness and incompetence. The reply came from the NKVD. He was arrested in Dybenko's office, with Dybenko's assistance.
Born into a poor peasant family in Samara, he labored as a farmhand from age seven. Joining the Bolsheviks in 1917, he entered Chapayev's brigade and rose from platoon commander to regimental commander in two months. After Chapayev's death he led the 25th Rifle Division to crush the Ural White Cossacks, then distinguished himself in the Soviet-Polish war and the Basmachi campaign, earning three Orders of the Red Banner. Rising to Komkor and member of the USSR Central Executive Committee, he was undone by a mutual slander war with his superior Pavel Dybenko, arrested in Dybenko's office, and executed on 28 July 1938. His name was posthumously erased from Furmanov's novel Chapayev and replaced with 'Yelan'.
Career Timeline
- 1916–1917Conscripted into WWI, serves as a junior non-commissioned officer.
- 1917.5Joins the Bolshevik Party. Delegate to the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Peasant Deputies.
- 1918Joins the Red Army, enters Chapayev's brigade. Promoted to commander of the 73rd Brigade.
- 1919Takes command of the 25th Rifle Division after Chapayev's death. Destroys Ural Cossack army. Awarded Honorary Revolutionary Weapon.
- 1920Commands 25th Division in the Soviet-Polish War. Second Order of the Red Banner.
- 1923–1924Graduates Military Academy. Commands Khorezm Group against Basmachi. Third Order of the Red Banner.
- 1928–1930Commander of the 4th Rifle Corps.
- 1931–1935Commander of 2nd Rifle Corps. Member of USSR and All-Russian Central Executive Committees.
- 1935–1937Promoted to Komkor. Deputy commander of Volga Military District. Member of NKO Military Council.
- 1937.5.15Arrested.
- 1938.7.28Sentenced to death, shot the same day.