Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher

Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher was a Soviet military commander and one of the first five Marshals of the Soviet Union. A parish-register entry published by the State Archive of the Yaroslavl Region records his birth on 18 November 1890 Old Style (30 November New Style) in the village of Barshchinka, Rybinsk Uyezd, Yaroslavl Governorate; later reference works commonly give 19 November (1 December). During the First World War he served in the Russian army, was wounded, and received the St. George Medal and two Crosses of St. George. During the Russian Civil War he commanded the Ural Army and Red Army rifle formations; for the 1918 Ural campaign he became the first recipient of the Order of the Red Banner. In 1921–1922 he served as War Minister of the Far Eastern Republic and Commander-in-Chief of its People's Revolutionary Army, directing operations including the Volochayevka campaign. From 1924 to 1927 he worked as a military adviser in China under the name Galin. From 1929 to 1938 he commanded the Special Far Eastern Army, later the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army, and directed Soviet forces during the 1929 conflict over the Chinese Eastern Railway. On 13 May 1930 he became the first recipient of the Order of the Red Star. On 20 November 1935 he was appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1938 he commanded the Far Eastern Front during the conflict at Lake Khasan. After his command was criticized, he was removed from his post and arrested on 22 October 1938. He died on 9 November 1938 in the internal NKVD prison in Moscow and was rehabilitated in 1956. His decorations included two Orders of Lenin, five Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, and other awards.