Jakow Grigoryevich Schilinsky

Jakow Schilinsky

Yakov Grigorievich Schilinski ( Russian Яков Григорьевич Жилинский * March 15 ^jul. / 27. March  1853 ^greg. In Mikhailov , Ryazan Governorate , † 1918 in southern Russia) was a Russian officer in the Imperial Russian Army , last cavalry general and chief of staff in the time before the First World War .

Life

Schilinsky came from a noble family with roots in the Smolensk Governorate , his father was a colonel in the Russian army. He was educated at Moscow's Kreimann High School and entered the army in 1873. In 1876 he graduated from the Nicholas Cavalry School in Saint Petersburg and was accepted into the Chevalier Guard as a cornet . In 1883 he graduated from the Nicholas Academy of the General Staff as a staff assistant master . He then served in the Moscow military district, including as an adjutant on the staff of the 1st Grenadier Division. From 1887 to 1894 he was a clerk's assistant in the military-scientific committee of the General Staff, and was promoted to colonel in 1891.

During the Spanish-American War , Schilinski served as an observer in Cuba on behalf of the Chief of the General Staff . In 1899 he was a representative of the Russian War Ministry at the 1st Hague Peace Conference . He then took over as commander of the 52nd Nischyn Dragoon Regiment . From August 1900 to January 1904 Schilinski then served as Quartermaster General in the General Staff. Promoted to lieutenant general, he was then chief of staff of the governor in the Far East, Admiral Yevgeny Alexeyev . After the dissolution of the staff, it was made available to the Minister of War. From January 1906 he commanded the 14th Cavalry Division and from July 1907 the Xth Army Corps in the Kiev military district. Here he was promoted to general of the cavalry in 1910.

In February 1911 Schilinski took over the post of Chief of Staff from Alexander Gerngross . In March 1914 he was appointed Commander of the Warsaw Military District and Governor General of Warsaw. After the Russian mobilization for World War I, he took over command of the north-western front that had formed. After the failure of the attack on East Prussia in the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes , he had to vacate his post in September 1914, and Nikolai Russki was his successor . He was then at the disposal of the Minister of War and received no further command. From 1915 to 1916 he was in liaison with the French Grand Quartier Général in France. In 1917 he was released from service. He tried to leave the country after the October Revolution but was shot dead in 1918 under unexplained circumstances.

Web links

Commons : Jakow Grigorjewitsch Schilinski  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Short biography on grwar.ru (russ.)
• Biographical information on 1914ww.ru (russ.)
• Yakov Zhilinski on firstworldwar.com (Engl.)