Vladimir Klimovskikh

Vladimir Yefimovich Klimovskikh
Vladimir Yefimovich Klimovskikh
	Western Special Military District and the Western Front
Battles/wars	World War I; Russian Civil War; World War II;
Awards	Order of the Red Banner

Vladimir Yefimovich Klimovskikh (

General of the Army Dmitry Pavlov during the initial stage of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941. After the disaster of the Battle of Białystok–Minsk, Klimovskikh, along with General Pavlov and the entire Front Staff, with the sole exception of Operations Officer Ivan Boldin, were recalled to Moscow, charged with military incompetence and executed

later that July.

Early life and World War I

Klimovskikh was born on 27 May 1895 in

Kiev.^[1]

Russian Civil War

Klimovskikh joined the

27th Rifle Division between March and April 1919. Klimovskikh was transferred to the Western Front after the White defeat in the east and fought in the Polish–Soviet War as head of the operations department on the staff of the 16th Army, chief of staff of the 57th Rifle Division during April and May 1920, and as chief of staff of the Mozyr Group of Forces.^[1]

Interwar period and World War II

After the Civil War, he was the Chief of Staff of the infantry corps, the head of the department, an assistant to the chief of the headquarters of the military districts. From December 1932 to June 1936, he was on the teaching staff at the Frunze Military Academy. In 1935, he was awarded the rank of brigade commander. From July 1936 he served as assistant army inspector and then, in February 1938, was senior lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff. In September 1939 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff and then from July 1940 served as Chief of Staff of the Western Special Military District.

With the outbreak of war on the Eastern Front, he was made Chief of Staff of the Western Front under Army General Dmitry Pavlov. Commanded during the Battle of Białystok–Minsk from 22 June to 3 July 1941. Relieved of command on July 8, 1941, and accused of inaction and the collapse of the control of the troops. He was sentenced to death by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on July 22, 1941. The verdict was carried out on July 27, 1941, at the Kommunarka shooting ground. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1957.