Lebedev, Pavel

Born Apr. 21 (May 3), 1872, in Cheboksary; died July 2, 1933, in Kharkov. Soviet military figure. From the dvorianstvo (nobility or gentry).

Lebedev graduated from the Alexander Military School in 1892 and from the Academy of the General Staff in 1900. In World War I he was chief of staff of the Third Army, holding the rank of major general. He volunteered for the Red Army in 1918 and was chief of the Mobilization Directorate of the All-Russian Main Headquarters (1918–19), chief of staff of the Eastern Front (April-July 1919), commander of the Eastern Front (July 1919), chief of the field staff of the republic and of the staff of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (1919–24), and, simultaneously with his other posts, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR (from March 1923 to February 1924). Lebedev helped plan and execute the operations that defeated Kolchak, Denikin, and Iudenich. Without relinquishing his other functions, Lebedev was chief of the Military Academy (1922–24), was on especially important assignments for the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR (1924–25), and was chief of staff and assistant commander of the troops of the Ukrainian Military District (1925–28). Lebedev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.