Mikhail Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich

Mikhail Bonch-Bruyevich
General Bonch-Bruyevich
Born	1870
Died	1956
Allegiance	Russian Empire
Service/branch	Russian Imperial Army and Red Army
Rank	General
Commands held	Russian Imperial Army
Battles/wars	World War I, Battle of Galicia

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich (Russian: Михаи́л Дми́триевич Бонч-Бруе́вич; 24 February [O.S. 12 February] 1870 – 3 August 1956) was an Imperial Russian and Soviet military commander, Lieutenant General (1944). His family was of Polish descent. His surname is written in Polish as Boncz-Brujewicz.

From 1892-1895, Bonch-Bruyevich served as an officer with the Lithuanian Guards Regiment, posted at Warsaw.^[1]

First World War

At the outbreak of World War I Bonch-Bruyevich was in command of the 176th Perevolochensky Regiment, based at Chernigov.^[2] He was an eye witness to the aerial ramming attack in which the Russian aviator Pyotr Nesterov died.^[3]

He later became chief of staff and deputy commander of the Russian Northern Front. He was commander of the Northern Front from 29 August 1917 to 9 September 1917.

After the October Revolution, he was chief of staff of the Supreme Commander (1917–1918), the military director of the Supreme Military Council, and chief of field staff of the Revolutionary Military Council. He survived the Stalinist purge, in a large part because of his brother, Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich, who was Vladimir Lenin's personal secretary.^[4]

References

1. From Tsarist General to Red Army Commander by Mikhail Bonch-Bruyevich, translated by Vladimir Vezey, Progress Publishers, 1966, p48
2. From Tsarist General to Red Army Commander by Mikhail Bonch-Bruyevich, translated by Vladimir Vezey, Progress Publishers, 1966
3. From Tsarist General to Red Army Commander by Mikhail Bonch-Bruyevich, translated by Vladimir Vezey, Progress Publishers, 1966, p30
4. The Russian Civil War by Evan Mawdsley, Birlinn, 2008