Vladimir Vasilyevich Smirnov

Vladimir Vasilyevich Smirnov ( Russian Владимир Васильевич Смирнов * July 4 ^{. Jul} / 16th July  1849 ^greg. , † probably 18th October 1918 in Pyatigorsk ) was a Russian general of the infantry of the Imperial Russian Army in the First World War .

Life

After an education in the Polotsk Cadet Corps, Smirnov joined the army in 1865 and graduated from the Pavlovsk War School in 1867 . He then came as a Podporutschik to the Polotsk 28th Rifle Regiment. He later moved to the Moscow Bodyguard Regiment and was promoted to staff captain in 1872 . In 1874 he completed general staff training at the Nicholas Academy in Saint Petersburg and in the spring of 1875 came to the staff of the 36th Rifle Division in the Kharkov military district as a senior adjutant. Before the end of the year he became an assistant to the senior aide of the military district. The following year he became senior adjutant on the staff of the 7th Army Corps, commanded by Alexander Barclay de Tolly-Weymarn , and took part in the Russo-Ottoman War in 1877 .

From the end of 1877 to 1884 Smirnov was assigned to the staff of the Odessa Military District as a staff officer for special tasks and was promoted to colonel during this time . He was then appointed chief of staff of the 5th Rifle Division stationed in Zhitomir . After seven years in this position, he received command of the Tiraspol 131st Rifle Regiment in 1891, with which he served until 1894. Promoted to major general, he then moved to the 9th Army Corps in the Kiev military district as chief of staff. In 1901 he was promoted to lieutenant general and took over as commander of the 18th rifle division with headquarters in Lublin , Russian Poland. After five years in this position, Smirnov became the commanding general of the 2nd Siberian Army Corps in 1906 . In 1908 he was promoted to general of the infantry. In the same year Smirnov moved to the head of the 20th Army Corps in Riga .

After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, his corps was mobilized as part of the 1st Army and took part in the invasion of East Prussia . Towards the end of the year he was given command of the 2nd Army after his predecessor Scheideman had been deposed after the loss of Łódź . He led this army intermittently, for example during the Battle of Lake Naratsch in March 1916, until the spring of 1917. He then briefly replaced Alexei Ewert, who was deposed after the February Revolution, as Commander in Chief of the Western Front . In April he was made available to the Minister of War and appointed by him to the Council of War.

After the October Revolution , Smirnov fled to the North Caucasus, where he was taken hostage by the Reds in September 1918. After the rebellion of the Cossack Ivan Sorokin against the Reds, who had several members of the regional council central committee shot, the Reds took revenge with the murder of dozen hostages in Pyatigorsk . Among these, in addition to Generals Nikolai Russki and Radko Dimitriev, was probably Smirnov.

literature

• К. А. Залесский: Кто был кто в Первой мировой войне. АСТ, 2003, pp. 565-567.

Web links

• Wladimir Wassiljewitsch Smirnow on grwar.ru (Russian)