Mikhail Gr. Grigoryevich Yefremov

Михаил Григорьевич Ефремов

1897–1942 ✕ Shot himself to avoid capture

Commander of the 33rd Army at Moscow, encircled at Vyazma and shot himself when Stalin denied retreat

"I came here with soldiers, and with soldiers I will leave": he loaded the evacuation plane with wounded and banners and stayed inside the pocket.

From a Great War ensign to a Red Army lieutenant-general, Yefremov led the armored train raid that seized Baku in 1920 and hastened the Sovietization of Azerbaijan. During the battle of Moscow in late 1941, his 33rd Army crushed the German breakthrough at Naro-Fominsk and then liberated Naro-Fominsk, Borovsk, and Vereya in the counteroffensive. In January 1942 Zhukov ordered a reckless drive on Vyazma; the 33rd Army was cut off deep in the German rear, and by the time Stalin permitted a breakout it was too late. Yefremov refused the evacuation aircraft sent by the Stavka, loading it with wounded and the army's banners instead, and on 19 April 1942 shot himself rather than be taken prisoner.