Khorun, Iosif Ivanovich

Born May 23 (June 4), 1884, in the village of Tartaka, in what is now Daugavpils Raion, Latvian SSR; died Feb. 21, 1962, in Moscow. Hero of the Civil War. Major general (1940). Member of the CPSU from 1918.

The son of a worker, Khorun served two tours in the army between 1905 and 1918 as a senior noncommissioned officer. He joined the Red Army in 1918 and served in the Civil War of 1918–20 as a company commander and, later, as the commander of a cavalry regiment. Khorun was a veteran of the fighting against Denikin, the White Poles, Makhno’s and Petliura’s bands, and the Basmachis. He completed courses at the Higher Cavalry School in 1921 and advanced cavalry courses for command personnel in 1926. Khorun graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1935.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Khorun commanded a rifle division and a cavalry corps until December 1941. He was deputy commander of the Ninth and Third armies in 1941 and 1942. In 1943 and 1944 he commanded rifle divisions on the Western and First and Second Baltic fronts.

After the war, Khorun served as military commandant of the city of Chemnitz (now Karl-Marx-Stadt, German Democratic Republic). Khorun received the Order of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner (three of which were awarded during the Civil War), the Order of the Red Banner of Khorezm (also awarded during the Civil War), the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and various medals.