200px, Borys Dumenko Boris Mokeevich Dumenko (russian: Борис Мокеевич Думенко) (1888 – 11 May 1920) was a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

commander during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

Biography

Dumenko was born in the

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

region and took an active part in the organization of the first Soviet cavalry units. A sergeant at the end of World War I, he returned to the Don and took command of a small unit of Red Cossacks, with

Semyon Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonnyy ( rus, Семён Миха́йлович Будённый, Semyon Mikháylovich Budyonnyy, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ bʊˈdʲɵnːɨj, a=ru-Simeon Budyonniy.ogg; – 26 October 1973) was a Russian ca ...

as his deputy and assistant. In September 1918, he became commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and in December 1918 of the 1st Cavalry Division within the 10th Army. In January 1919, he became commander of the 4th Cavalry Division of Petrograd. In April 1919, he was appointed assistant Chief of Staff of the 10th Army for the Cavalry. On 25 May 1919, he was seriously wounded by a bullet in a lung and he was evacuated to

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

. On 14 September 1919, he became commander of the newly created Cavalry Corps. Between September and December 1919, the Cavalry Corps won a series of battles and advanced over the Don Region towards the Caucasus. On 7 January 1920, it took

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...

, the capital of the

Don Army The Don Army (russian: Донская армия, ) was the military of the short lived Don Republic and a part of the White movement in the Russian Civil War. It operated from 1918 to 1920, in the Don region and centered in the town of Novocher ...

Death

Despite the fact that Dumenko had joined the

Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

in January 1920, the Political Department of the corps and higher political authorities accused him of encouraging anti-Bolshevik and anti-Semitic sentiments among the rank-and-file troopers, hampering the work of the military commissars, and insufficiently combating the robbery and drunkenness of the Red Army soldiers. In order to resolve the growing serious conflict between Dumenko and the political Department, a new military commissar, V.N. Mikeladze, was sent to the Cavalry Corps in December 1919, but was killed in February 1920 under unclear circumstances. The identity of the murderer was not established by the investigation. Despite this, Dumenko was arrested along with six of his closest assistants on charges of killing the military commissar and preparing a mutiny. The accusations came from

Dmitry Zhloba Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba (russian: Дмитрий Петрович Жлоба; June 3, 1887 – June 10, 1938) was a Soviet military commander who participated in the Russian Civil War. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, then part of Imperial Russi ...

, the commander of one of the brigades, military adviser G. Peskarev, and commissar Kravtsov. Dumenko's trial was presided over by

Alexander Beloborodov Alexander Georgiyevich Beloborodov (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Гео́ргиевич Белоборо́дов; 26 October 189110 February 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, party figure and statesman b ...

. Found guilty, Dumenko and three others were shot on 11 or 13 May 1920. The background of this execution is the conflict between Trotsky and Stalin. Dumenko was a supporter of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

, his successor

Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937) nicknamed the Red Napoleon by foreign newspapers, was a Sovie ...

a nominee of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

. Dumenko had been highly critical on the policy of Lev Trotsky of having political commissaries control the Army commanders from the rearguard and not in combat. Dumenko was rehabilitated in August 1964.

References

{{Authority control 1888 births 1920 deaths Soviet Army officers Old Bolsheviks Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Executed Soviet people from Russia