Kromy

an urban-type settlement and center of Kromy Raion, Orel Oblast, RSFSR, on the Kroma River (a tributary of the Oka River), 36 km southwest of Orel. It has a hemp mill, a towprocessing plant, a creamery, and a garment factory.

Kromy was first mentioned in 1147 in a chronicle. In 1595 a stockade was built for defense against Tatar raids. In 1605, Kromy was settled by followers of First False Dmitrii who under the command of the hetman A. Korela had endured the siege of Mstislavskii’s, Sheremetev’s, and Shuiskii’s troops. In 1606, I. Bolotnikov’s detachments defeated the troops of Tsar Vasilii Shuiskii near Kromy. It became the administrative center of a district in the Orlov namestnichestvo (vicegerency) in 1778 and of Orlov Province in 1796. During the Civil War of 1918–20, the offensive by the shock troops of the Southern Front against General A. I. Denikin’s troops was undertaken in the vicinity of Kromy in October 1919 and ended in victory for the Red Army.