Andrei Medardowitsch Sajontschkowski

General of the infantry Andrei Sayontchkovsky

Andrei Medardowitsch Sajontschkowski ( Russian Андрей Медардович Зайончковский ; born December 8 ^jul. / 20th December  1862 ^greg. In Orel , † 21st March 1926 in Moscow ) was a Russian writer and military general of the infantry in World War I , in 1918 the Red Army transgressed.

Life

Early career

He came from a noble family in the province of Oryol and graduated from the Bakhtin School in Orel. Then he attended the Nikolayevsky School of Engineering from September 1, 1879 and reached the rank of second lieutenant in the 5th sapper battalion . After graduation, he became a lieutenant on July 27, 1885 and began studying at the Nikolaevsk General Staff Academy in Saint Petersburg on September 27, 1885 . On April 28, 1889, he was entrusted with special tasks at the headquarters of the Guard Corps in the St. Petersburg Military District. On January 1, 1890, he served as a senior adjutant in the staff of the 1st Guard Cavalry Division. In April of the same year he received the rank of captain . In 1891 he married Marfa Mikhailovna, a daughter of Major General Kazakevich.

Between December 9, 1890 and July 23, 1895 he was senior adjutant at the headquarters of the Guard Corps, and in between he led a company of the Life Guard Hunter Regiment from October 1, 1892 to October 15, 1893. On June 23, 1895 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed chief officer for special tasks at the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps. On April 18, 1899, he was appointed colonel . On April 3, 1900 he was appointed the first staff officer for special tasks in the Guard troops. On January 25, 1902, he was promoted to chief of staff of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division, and in mid-August he changed as adjutant in the immediate vicinity of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov .

On May 18, 1904, he was commandant of the 85th Vyborg Infantry Regiment, with which he took part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. On August 21 and October 4, 1904, he was injured in fighting in his right ear and left knee. On January 4, 1905, he was promoted to major general. On March 3rd, 1905 he took over the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Siberian Infantry Division and on May 5th he was appointed deputy commander of the 1st Brigade of the 22nd Infantry Division. On July 2, 1905, he was placed at the disposal of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich . On February 18, 1906, he was appointed commander of the Life Guard Jäger Regiment and on July 11, 1908, chief of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Guard Infantry Division. He also worked as a military theorist and author of numerous works, including "The War of 1853-56 in Connection with the Current Political Situation" (Russian, 2 volumes, 1908-13). In the press he published a "textbook for applied tactics" (1899–1900), where the work appeared in individual editions. On May 30, 1912, he was promoted to Lieutenant General , at the same time he took over command of the 22nd Infantry Division.

In the world war

On July 28, 1912 he was appointed commander of the 37th Infantry Division with which he entered the First World War. In August 1914 his troops fought in the battle of Galicia as part of the 4th Army . On March 27, 1915 he was appointed commander of the XXX deployed at Husjatin. Army Corps was appointed, which was subordinate to the 9th Army (General Letschizki ) standing on the Dniester . At the end of August 1915, this corps moved to the area of ​​the 8th Army , which had been pushed back over the Styr .

On April 10, 1916, he was promoted to General of the Infantry. During the Brusilov offensive in the summer of 1916, the Sajontschkowski corps was deployed as part of the 8th Army under General AM Kaledin and was able to advance towards Lutsk to the Styr on June 7 . The Austro-Hungarian II Corps (FML. Kaiser) was crushed. On June 27th and 28th, intervening German forces stopped at Stochod . At the beginning of July, the Sajontschkovsky corps was transferred to General Besobrasov's special army . On July 15, the new offensive reached the Stochod again, where they got stuck again. Sajontschkowski was appointed commander of the XLVII in late July 1916. (47th) Army Corps (61st Infantry Division under Major General PN Simanski and Serbian Volunteer Division) appointed to serve the new allies in Romania. Sajontschkovski's troops moved into northern Dobruja , where the corps was deployed in early September as part of the Romanian 3rd Army (General M. Aslan). Together with the Romanian 19th Division, an offensive against Bazardjik (September 5-7 ) started and forced the Bulgarian troops there to retreat. After the defeat of the Romanian troops, the still intact Silistra group absorbed the remnants of the retreating Romanian 3rd Army and formed the Dobruja Army; General Sajontschkowski was appointed commander. The army included the Russian 61st Infantry and 3rd Cavalry Divisions, the Romanian divisions: 5th, 9th, 19th, remnants of the 15th Division and the 5th Kalarasi Cavalry Brigade. On September 14th, a counter-attack followed near Kokaji, which stopped the advance of the 3rd Bulgarian Army. From October 4th, the counterattack of the Central Powers pushed back the 3rd Army under General Averescu . This was followed by a break in combat, during which the Dobruja Army was reinforced, including the 6th Cavalry Corps under Lieutenant General JA Leontowitsch and the 115th Infantry Division. On October 6, the Bulgarian armed forces broke through the opposing front: The troops under Sajontschkowski had to evacuate the Dobruja and retreat to the Topolog - Eski - Golotvino line. After the failure of the Romanian 3rd Army, the Russian Danube Army was set up on October 20, 1916 under the command of General Vladimir W. Sakharov , under which General Sajontschkowski on October 22, command of the XVIII. Army Corps received. On April 2, 1917, after the February Revolution , Sayontschkowski was recalled by the Provisional Government on the pretext of illness, transferred to the Fuehrer's reserve and called to Petrograd, where he was passed on May 7, leaving his uniform and pension.

In the Red Army

But the life of a quiet and wealthy pensioner was not satisfactory for him. In early 1919 he joined the Red Army. From February 1919 he served in the General Staff, after which he was appointed first as archivist of the 1st Moscow Division and then as head of the military-scientific archive of the same division. During the Russian Civil War he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 13th Army (General Gekker ) deployed in Donbass in August 1919 . In March 1920 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council. He was temporarily arrested on October 19, 1920; after his cooperation with the NKVD , he said that many military officers were arrested. There is no reliable data on what prompted Sayontchkovsky to make his remarks. During this time, many officers had to denounce their comrades in order to save their threatened families. From 1922 to 26 he worked as a professor at the Frunze Military Academy of the Red Army and was the author of several works on the history of the world war, including "World War 1914-18" (2nd volumes, 1938). Sajontschkowski died in Moscow in 1926, his body was buried in the cemetery near Novodevichy Convent .

literature

• К. А. Залесский: Кто был кто во второй мировой войне . Союзники Германии. Москва, 2003

Web links

• Biography (russian)