The 27-year-old White general whose Yakut expedition closed the Civil War
'I do not know my political convictions. I am not a party man. I want good and happiness for the people, I want the Russian people to be a kind, peaceful, but strong and mighty people': diary entry during the Yakut expedition
One of the youngest White generals of the Russian Civil War, he became a major-general at 27 and was nicknamed 'the Siberian Suvorov.' In December 1918 his troops captured Perm, taking 20,000 Red Army prisoners whom he released to their homes, and he went on to command the 1st Siberian Army under Admiral Kolchak. After the White collapse, he lived in exile in Harbin working as a carpenter and cab driver, then in September 1922 led a volunteer druzhina into Yakutia: the last military operation of the Civil War, ending with his surrender at Ayan in June 1923. His death sentence was commuted to ten years, but he was rearrested in the Great Purge and shot in Novosibirsk in 1938.
Career Timeline
- 1910Graduated Pavlovsk Military School, commissioned sub-lieutenant
- 1914–1917WWI service, rose to lieutenant colonel, awarded Order of St. George 4th class
- 1918.05–08Led anti-Bolshevik uprising in Tomsk, commanded 1st Middle Siberian Corps
- 1918.09–12Promoted major-general at 27, captured Perm, nicknamed 'Siberian Suvorov'
- 1919Promoted lieutenant-general, commander of 1st Siberian Army
- 1920–1922Harbin exile, worked as carpenter and cab driver
- 1922.09–1923.06Led Siberian Volunteer Druzhina in Yakut expedition, surrendered at Ayan
- 1924–1938Death sentence commuted to 10 years, freed 1936, shot 1938 in Great Purge