Pyotr Alexandrovich Smirnov

Pyotr Smirnov ( Russian Пётр Александрович Смирнов ; born May 17, ^jul. / 29. May  1897 ^greg. In the village of Belo-Cholunzker factory, Ujesd Slobodskoi , Vyatka Governorate ; † 23. February 1939 ) was a Soviet military , head of Political Affairs Administration of the Red Army , Deputy People's Commissar for Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Naval Navy .

Life

Smirnov came from a working class family. After completing a craft school, he worked in road construction and as a carpenter in a factory in Lyswa . In October 1917 he joined the Red Guard , became a member of the CPSU and in Lyswa chairman of a mining committee as well as a member of the factory committee and the staff of the Red Guard in Perm Governorate . In 1918 he joined the Red Army and from 1918 to 1919 took part in the Russian Civil War as a department, battalion and regimental commissar. From January 1920 he was Military Commissar of the 4th Reserve Rifle Brigade of the Southwest Front and from October of the same year Military Commissar of the Reserve Army Staff of the Caucasus Front.

In May 1921 Smirnov served as military commissar of the 2nd Cavalry Division and from November 1921 the 9th Don Rifle Division. From October to December 1922 he worked as a military commissioner of the 15th Rifle Corps and then the 57th Ekaterinburg Rifle Division. He then commanded the 16th and 10th Rifle Corps from November 1923 to October 1924. After successfully attending the Tolmachev Military Political Academy from November 1924 to August 1925, he became Deputy Head of the Political Administration of the Red Army. From 1926 to 1928 Smirnov was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council and head of the political administration of the Baltic Fleet . From April 1928 he was appointed head of the political administration of the North Caucasian Military District . In September 1929 he began studying Marxism at the Communist Academy . He continued his career in March 1931 as a member of the Revolutionary Military Council and head of the Political Administration of the Volga Military District . From August 1933, he also carried out this activity in the Belarusian military district. From 1935 to 1937 he was the head of the political administration of the Leningrad Military District.

In June 1937 he was appointed Chief of the Political Administration of the Red Army and in October of that year at the same time as Deputy People's Commissar for Defense of the USSR. At the end of December 1937, with the establishment of the Naval War Fleet People's Commissariat of the USSR, he became its first People's Commissar and thus a member of the Soviet government. He was a deputy of the first Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a member of the military council at the People's Commissariat for Defense.

Smirnov fell victim to the Great Terror . On June 30, 1938, the Supreme Military Court of the USSR arrested him. He was accused of participating in a military-fascist conspiracy and sentenced to death by shooting . The sentence was on 23 February 1939 enforced .

On May 16, 1956, he was rehabilitated by the Supreme Soviet Military College .

Awards

• Order of the Red Banner (1921)
• Order of Lenin (1938)

literature

• Черушев Н.С., Черушев Ю.Н .: Расстрелянная элита РККА (командармы 1-го и 2-го рангов, коымкоры, комв ныв ираив). 1937-1941. Биографический словарь. Moscow 2012, p. 21-22 .
• Залесский К.А .: Империя Сталина. Биографический энциклопедический словарь. Moscow 2000.
• Great Soviet Encyclopedia . tape 7 .

Web links

• Biography of Smirnov. Retrieved February 24, 2013 (Russian).