Vladimir Zenonovich May-Mayevsky
Владимир Зенонович Май-Маевский
1867–1920
✕ Suicide during evacuation
The White general who led the Volunteer Army closest to Moscow, only to collapse from overstretched lines and alcoholism
In the summer of 1919, a British mission arrived at Volunteer Army headquarters bearing a decoration for 'General Kharkov.' Kharkov was a city, not a person, and the Order of St Michael and St George went to its commander, May-Mayevsky.
A career Imperial Russian Army officer who fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I and rose to lieutenant general. Joining the Volunteer Army as a private in 1918, he rose to division command and, in May 1919, became commander of the Volunteer Army. Leading the Moscow offensive, he captured Kharkov, Kursk, and Oryol and advanced closer to the Bolshevik capital than any White commander. But his overstretched front, failure to coordinate with the Don Army, and the Makhno uprising in his rear collapsed the offensive; worsening alcoholism led Denikin to replace him with Wrangel in November 1919. He died in Sevastopol during the Crimean evacuation in November 1920, apparently by suicide.
Career Timeline
- 1885–96Graduated 1st Cadet Corps and Nikolaevsk Engineering School; completed General Staff Academy
- 1904–05Served in Russo-Japanese War; promoted to colonel
- 1914–17Commanded 1st Guards Corps in WWI; promoted to lieutenant general
- 1918Joined Volunteer Army as private; appointed commander of 3rd Rifle Division after Drozdovsky's death
- 1919.5Appointed commander of Volunteer Army; also Chief Commander of Kharkov region after its capture
- 1919.6–10Led Moscow offensive; captured Kursk and Oryol
- 1919.11Dismissed after offensive collapsed; Wrangel succeeded him
- 1920Commanded rearguard in Crimea; died during Sevastopol evacuation