Mikhail Timofeyevich Romanov
Mikhail Timofeyevich Romanov | |
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Born | 3 November 1891 Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire |
Died | 3 December 1941 Hammelburg, Nazi Germany | (aged 50)
Allegiance |
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Service/ |
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Years of service | 1915–1918 1918–1941 |
Rank | Major general |
Commands held | 185th Rifle Division 172nd Rifle Division |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Awards | Order of the Red Banner |
Mikhail Timofeyevich Romanov (Russian: Михаил Тимофеевич Романов; 3 November 1891 – 13 December 1941) was a Red Army major general. Romanov served with the Imperial Russian Army in World War I and joined the Red Army; he held command positions during the Russian Civil War. In 1939, Romanov became commander of the 185th Rifle Division. He attended courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff and became commander of the 172nd Rifle Division. Romanov led the division in the Siege of Mogilev and was taken prisoner during the Soviet breakout attempt. He was sent to the Hammelburg POW camp and died there in December 1941.
Early life, World War I, and Russian Civil War
Romanov was born on 3 November 1891 in Nizhny Novgorod, the son of a craftsman. His father died when Romanov was fifteen, after the latter graduated from the city school. To support his mother and sister, he worked as a craftsman.[1] In September 1915 he was mobilized as part of a militia call-up into the Imperial Russian Army, becoming a ratnik 2-go razryada (2nd class warrior) in the 153rd Separate Reserve Battalion, stationed in Kungur. Transferred to the 139th Reserve Battalion at Shadrinsk in February 1916, Romanov graduated from a warrant officers' preparatory course there prior to instruction at the Chistopol Warrant Officer School beginning in late March. After graduating from the school in August, Romanov was assigned to the 243rd Reserve Regiment in Nikolayevskoy sloboda as a junior unter-ofitser. He was again transferred to the 50th Reserve Regiment in Rzhev during January 1917, where he served successively as a platoon commander, assistant company commander, and company commander.[2] Romanov lived with his wife Marya Yefimovna in Rzhev, while the latter worked as a telegraphist.[3] In the aftermath of the February Revolution Romanov became a member of the regimental committee.[1]
Romanov was sent to the frontline army in November 1917 as a replacement to the 4th Rifle Regiment of the
Returning to Rzhev, Romanov joined the
Interwar period
Romanov's regiment was transferred to
He served as acting commander of the
World War II
On the night of 26 to 27 July 61st Rifle Corps commander Major General Fyodor Bakunin ordered a breakout attempt after the garrison ran out of ammunition. Romanov was severely wounded in his left shoulder during the breakout. His column joined up with a German convoy under the cover of darkness but was spotted and destroyed. Romanov hid under the straw in a wagon and was sheltered by a peasant family in the village of Barsuki, 32 kilometers west of the city. He was captured there on 22 September and sent to the Lupolovo prisoner-of-war camp after being treated at a German hospital in Mogilev, according to an interrogation report written by a Police Regiment Centre officer.[5] Within weeks, Romanov was transferred to the Hammelburg POW camp, dying of his wound there on 3 December 1941. He was erroneously reported by the testimony of released former Soviet prisoners of war to have died in July 1943.[6][7] Romanov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 9 August 1941 for his leadership during the siege.[8][2] He was survived by his wife, but his eldest son also died in the war.[1]
Legacy
A street in Mogilev was renamed in honor of Romanov in 1966;[9] a bust of him was unveiled in the city in 2014.[10]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Yeryomenko 1965, p. 168.
- ^ a b c d e f g Tsapayev & Goremykin 2014, pp. 212–213.
- ^ a b Ozhogin, Yevgeny (6 April 2015). "Комдив генерал Романов" [Division commander General Romanov]. Rzhevsky Novosti (in Russian). Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ Glantz 2010, p. 278.
- ^ "Vernehmung des russischen Generals: Michael Timofjejewitsch Rommanoff" [Interrogation of a Russian general: Michael Timofeyevich Romanov]. OBD Memorial (in German). 6 October 1941. pp. 22–26. Retrieved 29 November 2018. In captured German reports on prisoners of war, Russian State Military Archive, fond 1387, opus 1, delo 104
- ^ Maslov 2001, p. 11.
- ^ Glantz 2010, p. 280.
- ^ "Указ Президиума Верховного Совета" [Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]. Podvig Naroda (in Russian). 9 August 1941. p. 11. Archived from the original on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
- ^ "Улицы Могилева: имени генерала Михаила Романова" [Streets of Mogilev: named for General Mikhail Romanov]. MASHEKA (in Russian). 8 September 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
- ^ Kulyagin, Sergey (4 November 2014). "Памятник-бюст генерал-майору Михаилу Романову открыли в Могилеве" [Memorial bust of Major General Mikhail Romanov unveiled in Mogilev]. Tut.By (in Russian). Retrieved 29 November 2018.
References
- Glantz, David M. (2010). Barbarossa Derailed: The German Advance to Smolensk, the Encirclement Battle, and the First and Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July – 24 August 1941. Philadelphia: Casemate. ISBN 9781906033729.
- Maslov, Alexander (2001). Captured Soviet Generals: The Fate of Soviet Generals Captured by the Germans, 1941–1945. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 9780714651248.
- Tsapayev, D.A.; et al. (2014). Великая Отечественная: Комдивы. Военный биографический словарь [The Great Patriotic War: Division Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 5. Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole. ISBN 978-5-9950-0457-8.
- Yeryomenko, Andrey (1965). В начале войны [At the Beginning of the War] (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka.