Eduard Samuilovich Pantserzhanskii

Born Sept. 30 (Oct. 12), 1887, in Libava (Liepāja); died Sept. 26, 1937. Soviet naval officer, flag officer of the fleet first class (1935). Son of an impoverished Polish nobleman.

Pantserzhanskii studied at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, and graduated from the Naval Cadet School in 1910. He was made an officer in 1913 and served in the Baltic Fleet. He fought in World War I, and while serving on the destroyer Grom, he participated in the Moonsund Operation of 1917. He was subsequently the flagship torpedoman of the Skerry Detachment and a lieutenant. In February 1918, Pantserzhanskii was elected chief of the Skerry Detachment of the Baltic Fleet. Appointed commander of the Onega Military Flotilla in November 1918, he directed the Vidlitsa, Lizhemskaia, and Povenets operations in 1919 against the White Guards and Finnish troops. In 1920 he became chief of defense for the Gulf of Kola and chief of the naval forces of the Caspian Sea. In November, Pantserzhanskii was appointed chief of the naval forces of the Black Sea, and in April 1921 assistant on naval affairs for the commander of the troops of the Ukraine and the Crimea. He served as commander of the naval forces of the republic from November 1921 to April 1924, chief of the naval forces of the USSR from April to December 1924, and chief of the naval forces of the Black Sea in 1925–26. He held responsible positions in the central apparatus of the navy from 1926. Pantserzhanskii was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.