Konstantin Ivanovich Velichko

Born May 20 (June 1), 1856, in Korocha, present-day Belgorod Oblast; died May 15, 1927, in Leningrad. Russian military engineer, general of the engineers (1916). Born into a noble family.

Velichko graduated from the Nikolai Engineering School (1875) and the Engineering Academy (1881) and then taught in the academy, becoming a professor in 1890. In 1903 he was made deputy chief of the Main Military Engineering Directorate. In his work Means of Defending Fortresses Against Hasty Attacks (1892) he substantiated methods for advance engineering preparation of the terrain and outlined the principles for constructing reinforced areas, which he then developed in later works (about 70 in all). He authored plans for modernizing a number of fortresses and was the planner of the fortress at Lüshun (Port Arthur). During the Russo-Japanese War he was a general under the orders of the commander in chief. In 1916, as chief of engineers for the Southwestern Front during World War I he proposed a new form of engineering preparation of terrain for an offensive—the “engineering base of operations.” In 1917 he was field inspector for engineering affairs attached to General Headquarters of the Supreme Command. In November 1917 he went over to the side of the Soviet regime and in February 1918 voluntarily enlisted in the Red Army. He was the chief director of the engineering defense of Petrograd, served as chairman of the board on engineering defense of the Main Engineering-Technical Directorate of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army beginning in March 1918, and became a member of the engineering committee of the Main Military-Engineering Directorate in January 1919. Velichko did a great deal for the development of current military engineering principles and for the establishment of the Soviet school of military engineering. In 1923 he became a professor at the Military-Engineering Academy (after 1925 called the Military-Technical Academy).