Lev Michailowitsch Galler

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Lev Mikhailovich Galler (Leo Julius Alexander Philipp von Haller) ( Russian Лев Михайлович Галлер; Nov. 17 * . Jul / 29 November 1883 greg. In Vyborg ; † 12. July 1950 in Kazan ) was a Soviet admiral Baltic German origin.

Kazan: Admiral Galler (Haller) tombstone at the Arskoer cemetery

Live and act

Origin and education

He was born the son of the future general of engineering Michail Ferdinandowitsch von Haller (Michael Ferdinand Haller), whose family had risen to the Russian nobility, and his wife, the pastor's daughter Julie Paucker. His maternal grandparents were Pastor Hugo Richard Paucker and Louise Charlotte Paucker, geb. Hoffmann. A first cousin of his maternal side was Pastor Walther Paucker , who was killed by Bolsheviks in Estonia in 1919 and who is remembered at the Riga Martyrs Stone, among others.

Haller's parents were buried in the Lutheran part of the Smolensk cemetery in Saint Petersburg . His paternal family was laid to rest in the family vault in the Volkovo Cemetery . His younger brother, Werner, who served as a Russian officer, died in the battle of Gorlice-Tarnów .

After graduating from high school in Tbilisi , Galler began his training in the sea cadet institute in 1902. On February 21, 1905, he was released as a Mitschman from the sea cadet institute, and on April 27, 1905, he was appointed watch officer of the cruiser Asia .

From late 1905 to early 1906 during the Russian Revolution of 1905 , he took part as a Mitschman in a campaign in the Estonia Governorate , where he was a naval platoon leader looking for weapons and revolutionaries.

In 1906 he served on the General Admiral and on the Russian cruiser Gerzog Edinburgskij (Duke of Edinburgh), where he took part in a voyage in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean . In 1907 he served on the Slava . On December 13, 1908, he was appointed lieutenant at sea on board the Slava off the coast of Sicily . In November 1908 during an exercise in front of Lepaja with Admiral Nikolai Ottowitsch von Essen on board the Slava , Galler distinguished himself well. That's why Admiral Essen called him over and during the conversation he advised Galler to take part in a shooting course. In 1912 he completed the naval officer shooting course and was appointed first lieutenant in the same year. He then served as an artillery officer on the Andrej Pervoswannij (Apolstel Andreas).

First World War, Revolution and Civil War

Galler was baptized by fire in August 1915 while advancing into the Riga Bay on board the Slava .

In 1917 he took part in the battle in Moonsund as captain 2nd rank on board the liner Slawa . Since October 1917 he was in command of the destroyer Turkmenets Stavropolsky and as the commander of this ship he went over to the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution .

In 1918 he took part in the ice march of the Baltic Fleet and took command of the destroyer Metscheslav and, since February 1919, of the cruiser Bajan . In April he became the commander of Andrei Pervosvanniy . In June 1919 he took part in the crackdown on the Krasnaya Gorka fortress during the Russian Civil War , west of Lomonosov across from Kotlin Island , where Andrei Pervosvannij took the fortress under fire. In the film, The Unforgettable Year 1919 , these events are used for propaganda purposes.

Officer career

From April 1920 he was Chief of Staff of the existing ships in the Baltic Fleet , and from April 15, 1921, Chief of Staff of the Soviet Naval Forces in the Baltic Sea, where he served until October 1925, before he was posted for further training. In April 1926 he completed his academic courses at the Naval Academy, whereupon he returned to his post as Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces in the Baltic Sea.

During the Kronstadt sailors' revolt , Galler stayed mainly in Petrograd to maintain control over the units under him and to work out military plans. On March 19 he came to Kronstadt to examine the damage and to repair the war ships there, Petropavlovsk , Sevastopol and Andreij Pervoswannij , and to replace the officers and men. The prisoners were either executed by the Cheka or sent to the so-called work improvement camp.

Since November 17, 1927 commander of battleships in the Baltic Sea and since March 1930 commander of the Baltic Fleet. From January 1937 he was appointed Deputy People's Commissar of the Red Fleet . In this post he survived the purges that were carried out in the officer ranks of the Soviet Navy during this period. From January 1938 he held the post of Chief of Staff of the Navy. Together with People's Commissar Admiral Nikolai Gerasimowitsch Kuznetsov , the Soviet Navy was upgraded and modernized under their leadership .

After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed on 23/24 August 1939 came the request of Japan for an armistice after the defeat in the Japanese-Soviet border conflict on September 9, 1939. Galler was informed by Kuznetsov that the USSR Foreign Ministry was in the process of negotiating with Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania for agreements on mutual aid elaborate. In this sense, Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov for naval bases indicated in these countries. Galler immediately started the work himself to work out plans, maps and preparations to enable this project to relocate warships, naval aviation units , and coastal artillery units. The ports designated for this purpose were Tallinn , Paldiski , Dünamünde (part of Riga ), Ventspils and Liepaja . Already on September 29, 1939, Stalin appointed Kuznetsov, Galler and Ivan Issakov as heads of a commission that was to make agreements in this area with the military leaderships in Estonia and Latvia, with Galler showing the necessary bases on the Stalin map.

On September 28, 1939, the German-Soviet border and friendship treaty was signed in Moscow . On the same day, the mutual aid agreement with Estonia was signed. Similar treaties were signed with Latvia on October 5, 1939 and with Lithuania on October 10, 1939. In July 1940 , the Baltic Military District was formed from the three Baltic States that now had the status of Union Republics of the USSR .

During the negotiations with Finland in 1939, Galler received instructions from People's Commissar Kuznetsov to prepare a report on how the Hanko Peninsula was used as a naval base in earlier times. The negotiations between the USSR and Finland did not come to a conclusion, so that on November 30, 1939, the USSR started the winter war with Finland. In an instruction drawn up by Galler and confirmed by Kuznetsov, the Baltic Fleet was tasked with providing support to the Red Army through artillery fire along the coast. In order to support the commander of the Baltic fleet, Vladimir Tributz , Galler and Issakov often came from Moscow to Leningrad . On December 19, 1939, Galler boarded the battleship Marat (formerly Petrowpawlowsk ) when it fired at the Saarenpää fortress on the Beresowye Islands (Koivisto, Finnish / Björkö, Swedish) near Vyborg.

At Stalin's request, Galler was replaced as Chief of the Naval General Staff by Ivan Issakov. People's Commissar Kuznetsov agreed. Issakov was therefore the 1st deputy of Kusnetzow and Galler was now the 2nd deputy. On November 15, 1940 he was appointed Deputy People's Commissar for Shipbuilding and Procurement of the Soviet Naval Navy. During the Second World War he directed the development of new types of ships and the construction of new ships for the Soviet Navy .

In February 1947 he was appointed director of the Krylov Naval War Academy of Shipbuilding and Armament . He therefore moved back to Leningrad with his sisters.

Court of Honor, Death and Rehabilitation

In a possibly similar case to Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov and Chief Marshal of the Soviet Air Force , Alexander Novikov, Admiral Kuznetsov was persecuted after the end of World War II and the people around him were affected.

On December 19, 1947, Admiral Galler (Haller), along with Admirals Nikolai Kuznetsov , Wladimir Alafusow and Georgi Stepanow, was brought to a court of honor in the so-called case of the four admirals , accusing them of having technical data on acoustics for Great Britain and the USA in 1944 guided torpedoes passed. The torpedoes came from the German submarine U-250 , which was sunk off Primorsk (Björkö / Koivisto-Sund) on June 30, 1944 and was lifted by the Soviet Navy in September 1944. The court of honor found the admirals guilty and referred the case to the Military College of the Supreme Court of the USSR. Admiral Galler was sentenced to four years imprisonment on February 3, 1948.

He died on June 12, 1950 in the Kazan prison hospital. He was buried in the Arskoe Cemetery in Kazan, the grave site is unknown. In 1999 a tombstone was placed in the cemetery. Galler was rehabilitated in 1953 and his rank restored.

Orders and decorations

literature

  • Ju. N. Erofeew: Newinnaja Žertwa Odnoj iz Poslednih Staliniskih Repressij (K 125-Letiju so Dnja Roždenija Admirala LM Gallera) , in: Vestnik Rossijskoj Akademii Estestvennyh Nauk (2010/3) pp. 97-102.
  • Family association of Hoffmann from Sangerhausen e. V .: The Hoffmann family from the Baltic States: Nachfarhen , Tostedt, 2012.
  • Karl Haller: Chronicle of the Haller family, Riga, 1905.
  • Foreign Minister Aleksandrovič Sonin: Admiral LM Galler: Žizn 'i Flotovodčeskaja Dejatel'nost' , Voenizdat. 1991. ISBN 5-203-00865-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Haller: Chronicle of the Haller family . Ed .: Karl Haller. W. F Häcker, Riga 1905, p. 76 .
  2. ^ Family association of the Hoffmann from Sangerhausen e. V. (eds.): The Hoffmann family from the Baltic States: . Own print of the family association, Tostedt 2012, p. 44,46,48 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Sergej Aleksandrovič Sonin: Admiral LM Galler: Žizn 'i Flotovodčeskaja Dejatel' nost '
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Ju. Erofeew. Nevinnaya Schertva odnoj is Poslednich Stalinskich Repressij. (K125-Letiju so Dnja Roschdenija Admirala LM Gallera) Vestnik Rossijskoj Akademii Estestwennych Nauk 2010/3
  5. ↑ https://korvet2.ru/admiral-galler.html
personal data
SURNAME Galler, Lev Michailowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Haller, Leo Julius Alexander Philipp von (name at birth); Га́ллер, Лев Миха́йлович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet admiral of German Baltic origin
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Vyborg
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1950
Place of death Kazan