Filatov, Nikolai

Born Oct. 11 (23), 1862, in the village of Kamenka, Kaluga Province; died Feb. 24, 1935, in Moscow. Soviet specialist in the theory of operation of small arms. Hero of Labor (1928).

Filatov graduated from the Mikhail Artillery Academy in 1887 and was appointed an instructor at the Moscow Infantry School. From 1892 to 1917 he taught at the Oranienbaum Officers’ Infantry School, where he became director in 1915; he also directed tests of automatic small arms at the school’s firing range, which he established in 1905. In 1896 he became a member of the artillery committee of the Main Artillery Directorate.

Filatov made important contributions to the work of the first Soviet inventors and designers of automatic weapons, including V. G. Fedorov, F. V. Tokarev, Ia. U. Roshchepei, V. A. Degtiarev, and I. N. Kolesnikov. After the October Revolution, Filatov helped train the first Soviet infantry commanders. In 1918 he became head of the Higher Infantry School of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (Vystrel), which was created on the basis of the Orandenbaum Officers’ Infantry School. He became chairman of the infantry committee of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in 1922 and later served as a member of the infantry inspectorate.

Filatov was the author of Notes on the Theory of Shooting (1897) and many other works. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.