Egorov, Aleksandr Ilich

Born Oct. 13 (25), 1883; died Feb. 23, 1939. Marshal of the Soviet Union (1935). Member of the CPSU from July 1918. Son of a lower middle-class family.

Egorov was born in the city of Buzuluk, Samara Province. After graduating from the Samara Gymnasium in 1901 he entered the army as a volunteer and graduated from the Kazan Infantry Junker School in 1905. He took part in World War 1(1914–18), commanding a company and battalion of the 132nd Bendery Infantry Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In November 1917 he was promoted to colonel. In 1917 he joined the left Socialist Revolutionaries (SR’s), then broke with them in the summer of 1918. In 1918 he was chairman of the Central Board for Prisoners of War and Refugees, commissar of the All-Russian Main Headquarters, and chairman of the Supreme Certification Commission for selection of officers for the Red Army. In August 1918 he became the commanding officer of troops in the Balashov-Kamyshin sector. In October he took command of the Ninth Army; in December 1918, of the Tenth Army, which was defending Tsaritsyn; and in July 1919, of the Fourteenth Army. In October 1919 he became the commanding officer of the troops of the Southern Front against Denikin’s forces. Between January and December 1920 he was the commanding officer of troops of the Southwestern Front. In December 1920 he took command of troops in the Kiev Military District. In April 1921 he became the commanding officer of the Petrograd Military District; in February 1922, commanding officer of the Caucasian Red Banner Army; and in May 1924, commanding officer of troops in the Ukraine and Crimea.

In 1925 and 1926, Egorov served as military attache in China. In 1927 he became the commanding officer of troops in the Byelorussian Military District. In 1931 he was appointed chief of staff of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, and in 1935 he became chief of the General Staff. In 1937 and 1938 he was first deputy people’s commissar of defense of the USSR. He played an important part in training and equipping the Red Army during the 1930’s. In 1934-he became a candidate member of the Central Committee of the ACP (Bolshevik). He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Orders of the Red Banner of the Georgian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR, and an Honorary Revolutionary Arms Award.