Vladimir Martinovich Azin

Soviet Union state institutions Marxism–Leninism 1895–1920 ✕ Executed in captivity

Red Army division commander who led the Arsk group against Kazan from the east in 1918 and commanded the "Iron" 28th Division

Born to a Latvian peasant family in Polotsk district, Vitebsk Province, he served as a private in the First World War. In 1918 he brought a Latvian communist detachment to Vyatka, built it into a battalion and in July joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Leading the 2nd Army's Arsk group, he retook Kazan with the 5th Army on 10 September, and for the storming of Izhevsk became the first Red division commander awarded the Order of the Red Banner. His "Iron" 28th Division fought Kolchak in 1919, taking Sarapul and Yekaterinburg, then moved south against Denikin. On 17 February 1920 White Cossacks captured him while reconnoitring on the Manych; the official account says he was executed, a White memoir that he was shot trying to escape.

Also known as: Voldemārs Āziņš · Woldemar Azin