Vostretsov, Stepan

Born Dec. 17 (29), 1883, in the village of Kazantsevo, present-day Vostretsovo, Buraevo Raion, Bashkir ASSR; died May 3, 1932, in Novocherkassk; buried in Rostov-on-Don. Hero of the Civil War. Member of the Communist Party from 1920 (a Menshevik from 1905 to 1918).

Vostretsov was born into the family of a peasant and was a blacksmith. He was a private in the army from 1906 to 1909; in 1909 he was sentenced to three years in prison for conducting revolutionary agitation among the soldiers. He fought in World War I and was promoted to ensign for bravery in 1916. He joined the Red Army in 1918. In the years 1919-20, Vostretsov commanded a regiment of the 27th Rifle Division at the Eastern and Western fronts and distinguished himself in the liberation of Cheliabinsk, Omsk, and Minsk. In 1921, Vostretsov became chief in charge of directing the forces of the All-Russian Cheka for the protection of the borders of Siberia, and in 1922 he commanded a group offerees of the People’s Revolutionary Army of the Far East Republic during the storming of Spassk and the liberation of the maritime region. In 1923 he led an expeditionary detachment during the liquidation of General Pepeliaev’s band in the OkhotskAian Raion. Vostretsov graduated from training courses at the Military Academy in 1927 and commanded a division and a corps. He has been awarded four Orders of the Red Banner and an Honorary Revolutionary Arms Award.