Mikhail Matiyasevich

Mikhail Stepanovich Matiyasevich (Matiasevich) (Smolensk, May 23 [June 4] 1878 – Kyiv, August 5, 1941) was a Soviet military commander, who commanded several military units of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.

Biography

From the nobility of the Smolensk province, he fought in the Russo-Japanese War, as a lieutenant in the 220th Infantry Regiment. In the First World War, he fought on the Western and Northern fronts. He was wounded four times. Having become a Colonel in July 1916, he commanded the 717th Infantry Regiment. In the days of the October Revolution he was unanimously elected by the soldiers as commander of the Regiment. In February 1918 he was demobilized and apparently for ideological reasons, he voluntarily joined the Red Army in April 1918.

He fought in the Russian civil war of 1918–1920, first at the head of the 1st Smolensk Infantry Division, then as commander of the right group of the 5th Army around Kazan and between November 14, 1918 and April 1919 at the head of the 26th Rifle Division.

On July 1, 1919 he became Commander of the 7th Army and defended Petrograd against the White Northwestern Army of General Yudenich.

Then he was moved to the Eastern front of the Red Army and on October 7, 1919 he was appointed commander of the 3rd Army, which pursued the retreating troops of Admiral Kolchak. After the capture of Omsk, the 3rd Army was disbanded and the 30th and 51st Divisions were transferred to the 5th Army. From February 8, 1920 to August 29, 1921, he was commander of the 5th Army, which destroyed the remains of Kolchak's troops, as well as the Asian division of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg.

After the War, he lectured at several schools, including the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, until he was arrested in 1931. He was sentenced to 10 years detention in a workcamp but was released 2 years later. Again arrested in 1937, he was released in 1940 "for lack of evidence". He died in Kyiv in August 1941, a month before its occupation by the Germans, aged 63. He was buried in the Lukyaniv cemetery of Kiev.

Mikhail Matiyasevich during his lifetime didn't receive the deserved recognition and was unreasonably repressed. He never received the Order of the Red Banner.

Sources

• This is a translation of an article in the Russian Wikipedia, Матиясевич, Михаил Степанович.