Kuzma Petrovich Podlas

Kuzma Petrovich Podlas ( Russian Кузьма Петрович Подлас ; born October 29, 1893 in the village of Duschatin near Surash , Chernigov Governorate , Russian Empire ; † May 25, 1942 near the village of Kopanki, Isjum region , Ukrainian SSR ) was a Soviet army leader and general general (1941) .

Life

He was born a Ukrainian in 1892 in what is now Oryol Oblast, Russia , and was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army after the First World War . He completed basic training in the Preobrazhensk Regiment in 1915 and fought on the south-western front where he was promoted to platoon leader . In 1918 he joined the Red Army and completed short-term commanding courses. During the Russian Civil War he commanded successively a company, a battalion and a rifle regiment on the southern, eastern and western fronts. As commander of a rifle brigade, he participated in the suppression of the uprising in Tambov in 1921 . After the war he served as commander of a rifle regiment, from the beginning of 1929 in the 27th Rifle Division and from August 15, 1918 in the association of the 23rd Rifle Corps. In 1925 he completed the tactics and shooting course "Wystrel" and completed other courses at the Frunze Military Academy . On November 26, 1935, he was promoted to colonel . In 1937 he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Maritime Group in the Far Eastern Military District. As commander of the 1st Red Banner Army , he took part in the fighting on Lake Chassan . At a meeting of the Military Council on November 26, 1938, he was heavily criticized by General GM Schtern while discussing events about Chassan . The pilot, PW Rychagow , proposed to charge Podlas with sabotage. At the same meeting, however, Colonel General SK Tymoshenko stood up for Podlas, who had previously asked to be appointed as his deputy. He was arrested in December 1938 and convicted on April 22, 1939 by an investigative commission according to Article 193-17 paragraph a of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR with the following verdict: Kusma Podlas will be deprived of his military rank as "commander" and will be in forced labor camps for five years imprisoned with his political rights suspended for three years. He was granted an amnesty in April 1940 . In August 1940 he was reinstated in the Red Army and appointed Deputy Commander of the Special Military District of Kiev .

On August 12, 1941, Podlas was promoted to major general and on November 9 of the same year to lieutenant general. During the war he commanded the 40th Army from August 1941 and from February to May 1942 the 57th Army of the Southwest Front . He and his troops took part in the Kursk-Oboyan operation at the end of 1941 and in the spring in the Barvenkowo-Losoway operation . On May 25, 1942 was killed during the Battle of Kharkov while attempting to break out near the village of Kopanki in the Isjum district. According to other sources, he committed suicide in order not to fall into German captivity. He was buried in a mass grave of Malaya Komyshevacha northwest of the village of Kopanki near Isjum.

Awards

2 Order of Lenin (1936, October 22, 1941)
2 Order of the Red Banner

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Podlas, Kuzma Petrovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Подлас, Кузьма Петрович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	soviet lieutenant general
DATE OF BIRTH	October 29, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH	Village Duschatin at surazh , Chernigov Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH	May 25, 1942
Place of death	Kopanki near Isjum , Ukrainian SSR