Janis Fabriciuss

Born June 14 (26), 1877, near what is now Zlekas, Ventspils Raion, Latvian SSR; died Aug. 24, 1929, near Sochi. Hero of the Civil War. Member of the Communist Party from 1903.

The son of a Latvian farm laborer, Fabriciuss graduated from a Gymnasium in 1894. He joined the revolutionary movement in 1891; from 1904 to 1907 he served a sentence at hard labor and later lived in exile. He joined the army in 1916 and served in World War I as a senior noncommissioned officer in the 1st Latvian Rifle Regiment. Fabriciuss became chairman of the regimental committee in October 1917 and, in the following year, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In 1918 he was appointed commander of the Gdov detachment, military commissar of Gdov-Toroshino raion, and chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of Pskov District; he distinguished himself fighting against the German interventionists and the detachments of S. N. Bulak-Balakhovich.

In late 1918 and early 1919, Fabriciuss served as commissar of the 2nd and 10th Rifle divisions during the liberation of Latvia. In August 1919, as commander of a detachment, he helped defend the Soviet rear against attack by the cavalry of K. K. Mamontov. In October 1919, as commander of the 48th Brigade of the 16th Rifle Division, he helped rout the troops of General A. I. Denikin. He also fought in the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 and took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt Anti-Soviet Rebellion of 1921.

After the war Fabriciuss commanded a division and a corps and in 1928 became assistant commander of the Caucasus Army. In 1927 he became a member of the Central Control Commission of the ACP(B). He died in an air crash in 1929. Fabriciuss was awarded four Orders of the Red Banner.