Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher (; 1 December 1889 – 9 November 1938) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

military commander and

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (, ) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wore the uniform and insignia of Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in ...

. In 1938, Blyukher was arrested during the period of military purges under

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

. He was tortured and blinded by

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

and his men before succumbing to his injuries. His body was then incinerated on the orders of Stalin.

Early history

Vasily Blyukher with first Order of the Red Banner

Blyukher was born into a Russian peasant family named Gurov, in the village of Barschinka in Yaroslavl Governorate. In the 19th century a landlord gave the nickname ''Blyukher'' to the Gurov family in commemoration of the famous

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n Marshal

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (; 21 December 1742 – 12 September 1819), ''Graf'' (count), later elevated to ''Fürst'' (prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal). He earned his greatest ...

(1742–1819). As a teenager, he was employed at a machine works, but was arrested in 1910 for leading a strike, and sentenced to two years, eight months in prison. In 1914, Vasily Gurov — who later formally assumed ''Blyukher'' as his surname — was drafted into the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

as a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

but in 1915 was seriously wounded in the

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

, and excused from military service. He then went to work in a factory in Kazan, where he joined the Bolshevik Party in 1916. He took part in the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

. Great Russian Encyclopedia (2005),

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

: Bol'shaya Rossiyskaya enciklopediya Publisher, vol. 3, p. 618.

Civil War

In late November 1917 the Red Guard forces of Commander V. K. Sadlutskii and Commissar Blyukher moved from Samara to

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

to suppress Alexander Dutov's revolt. Blyukher joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1918 and soon became a commander. During the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

of 1917–1923, he was one of the outstanding figures on the Bolshevik side. After the Czech Legion

revolt Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

started in May 1918, the 10,000-strong South Urals Partisan Army under Blyukher's command marched 1,500 km in 40 days (August–September 1918) of continuous fighting to attack

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

forces from the rear, then joined with regular Red Army units. For this achievement in September 1918, he became the first recipient of the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

(later he was awarded it four more times: twice in 1921 and twice in 1928), the citation read: "The raid made by Comrade Blyukher's forces under impossible conditions can only be equated with Suvorov's crossings in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

." After Blyukher's troops rejoined the Red Army lines in the 3rd Red Army area of the Eastern Front, his force was reorganised as the 51st Rifle Division, which he later led to further triumphs against Baron Wrangel in November 1920. After the Civil War he served as military commander of the Far Eastern Republic from 1921 to 1922. From December 1921, he took personal command of the campaign to remove the remnants of anti-Bolshevik forces east of the

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

river. In 1922−1924, he served as the commander of the Petrograd military district.

Far East command

From 1924 to 1927 Blyukher was a Soviet military adviser in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, where he used the name Galen (after the name of his wife, Galina) while attached to Chiang Kai-shek's military headquarters. He was responsible for the military planning of the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...

which began the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

unification of China. Among those he instructed in this period was

Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...

, later a leading figure in the Chinese

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

. Chiang allowed Blyukher to "escape" after his anti-communist purge. On his return he was given command of the Ukrainian Military District, and then in 1929 he was transferred to the vitally important military command in the Far Eastern Military District, known as the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA). Based at

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

, Blyukher exercised a degree of autonomy in the Far East unusual for a Soviet military commander. With

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

steadily extending its grip on

and hostile to the Soviet Union, the Far East was an active military command. In the Russo-Chinese Chinese Eastern Railroad War of 1929–30 he defeated Chinese warlord forces in a quick campaign. For this outstanding achievement he became the first recipient of the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

in September 1930, and became popularly known as the "Red

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

". In 1935 he was made a

. From July to August 1938 he commanded the Soviet Far East Front in a less decisive action against the Japanese at the Battle of Lake Khasan, on the border between the Soviet Union and Japanese-occupied

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Soviet purges and death

The importance of the Far East Front gave Blyukher a certain degree of immunity from Stalin's purge of Red Army command, which had begun in 1937 with execution of

Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937), nicknamed the Red Napoleon, was a Soviet general who was prominen ...

—in fact, Blyukher had been a member of the tribunal that convicted Tukhachevsky. On 15 June 1938, three days after the head of the Far Eastern

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

Genrikh Lyushkov defected to Japan, Blyukher visited NKVD headquarters in Moscow, seeking information about the defector and about potential consequences of his disappearance. He met the deputy head of the NKVD, Mikhail Frinovsky, who appears to have reassured him that he would not be held responsible for letting Lyushkov cross the Manchurian border. On 17 June, Frinovsky and the head of the Red Army political directorate, Lev Mekhlis, were dispatched to the Far East to conduct mass arrests, and to spy on Blyukher. He was arrested on 22 October, by which time Frinovsky had been dismissed and the NKVD was effectively controlled by

. It was long believed that Blyukher was secretly tried, convicted of spying for Japan, and executed. In 1939 Chiang Kai-shek inquired about Blyukher's whereabouts in a meeting with Stalin, and asked if he could return to help the Nationalists. Stalin replied that the general had been executed for helping a Japanese spy. As early as February 1956, it was secretly reported to the party leadership, by a commission appointed to investigate the purges, that a former officer had seen Blyukher while he was under interrogation, and that "his whole face was swollen and covered in bruises." Unlike most prisoners subjected to this kind of torture, he did not sign a false confession, but after 18 days of torture, he died from his injuries, on 9 November 1938. His body was cremated the same day. The cause of his death was first reported in 1989, in ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

''. The officer who beat Blyukher to death has been named as Lev Shvartzman. Blyukher was rehabilitated in 1956. He continues to be a popular figure in Russia, and a documentary film on his life and several publications by family members have appeared.

Honours and awards

* Two Orders of Lenin (1931, 1938) * Order of Red Banner of RSFSR, three times **Resolution of the Central Executive Committee on 30 September 1918, presented 11 May 1919 by the Special Representative at the headquarters of the Central Executive Committee of the 3rd Army on the Eastern Front; **Order 197 of 14 June 1921—for the battles on the Eastern Front, the 30th Infantry Division; **Order 221 of RVSR, 20 June 1921—for the assault on Perekop at the Perekop Isthmus by 51st Infantry Division; * Order of Red Banner of the USSR, twice **Order RVS USSR 664 of 25 October 1928—for the defence of the Kakhovka bridgehead; **Order RVS USSR 101 1928—in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Red Army; *

(1930) * Jubilee Medal XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (1938) * Badge "5 years of the Cheka-GPU" (1932) * Cross of St. George, 3rd and 4th classes * Medal of St. George

References

Works cited

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blyukher, Vasily 1889 births 1938 deaths People from Rybinsky District, Yaroslavl Oblast People from Rybinsky Uyezd Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Old Bolsheviks Russian communists Candidates of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Government ministers of the Far Eastern Republic First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union All-Russian Central Executive Committee members Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1938–1947 Marshals of the Soviet Union Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Military personnel of the Far Eastern Republic People of the Northern Expedition Recipients of the Cross of St. George Recipients of the Medal of St. George Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Inmates of Lefortovo Prison Executed military personnel Great Purge victims from Russia Deaths by beating in Europe Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations Burials at Donskoye Cemetery