Red Don Cossack commander who defied decossackization, was sentenced to death, then led the 2nd Cavalry Army against Wrangel
A Don Cossack officer, after the October Revolution he led the Red Cossack forces of the Don for the Bolsheviks and openly attacked decossackization and the Donburo. In August 1919 he set out from Saransk without authorisation with his still-forming Don Cossack corps for the Southern Front, denouncing Communist rule; arrested by Budyonny's troops, he was sentenced to death in October but pardoned three days later. He joined the Communist Party in 1920 and commanded the 2nd Cavalry Army from September to December, beating Wrangel's cavalry in the Nikopol-Alexandrovsk battle and joining the conquest of the Crimea. Arrested in February 1921 on a false Don Cheka charge, he was shot in the courtyard of Butyrka prison in April and rehabilitated in 1960.
Activities and affiliations
-
1918–1921
Soviet Union state institutionsMain
Military command -
1920–1921
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1904–1905Russo-Japanese War: led a scouting sotnia of the 26th Don Regiment
- 1906Called on the Ust-Medveditskaya Cossacks to refuse police duty; arrested and expelled from the Don army
- 1914–1917First World War: commander of the 3rd Don Division's scouting sotnia, deputy commander of the 32nd Don Regiment
- 1918Led Red Cossack forces on the Don for the Bolsheviks; Order of the Red Banner No. 3
- 1919Unauthorised march from Saransk with the Don Cossack corps; arrested, sentenced to death and pardoned
- 1920Joined the Communist Party; commander of the 2nd Cavalry Army against Wrangel and in the Crimean offensive
- 1921Arrested on a Don Cheka charge and shot in Butyrka prison