Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov
Encyclopedia
Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov ( - 6 July 1984) was a Soviet
military leader.
A peasant
's son, Cherepanov served as a junior officer in the Russian Army
in World War I
and took part in the Russian Civil War
and Polish-Soviet War
with the Red Army
.
A 1923 graduate of the Red Army Military Academy, Cherepanov first came to China
as a military adviser to Sun Yat-sen
's National Revolutionary Army
in 1923-1927. He returned as chief military adviser to Chiang Kai-shek
's Kuomintang
China during the Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1938-1939.
Appointed a senior instructor at the General Staff Academy
after returning from China, he was named commander of the 23rd Army
in 1941 and promoted to lieutenant-general in 1943. A member of the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria
in 1944-1947 and the commission's chairman in 1947, he returned to the Soviet Union to become deputy chief in the Department of Military Colleges of the USSR Ministry of Defense in 1948-1955.
family in the village of Kislyanskoye (now in the Kurgan Oblast
of the Russian Federation), Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov received a basic education in the town of Kurgan and was a factory worker and vocational school student in Yekaterinburg
and Omsk
before being drafted into the Imperial Russian Army
in Omsk in 1915. He graduated from a junior officers' school in Irkutsk
and fought in World War I
as a platoon
commander in the 8th Company
of the 56th Infantry Regiment of the Russian Army's Northern Front
in 1916-1917.
Cherepanov joined the Red Guards
soon after the October Revolution
of 1917. He entered the newly-formed Red Army
of Soviet Russia
in 1918, in which he served as regiment
al commander, a regimental chief of staff
, and a brigade
commander during the Russian Civil War
and concurrent Polish-Soviet War
.
Selected to attend the Red Army Military Academy at the concluding phase of the Civil War, Cherepanov was one of five volunteers selected from the cadets of the 1923 graduating class to serve as military advisers in China
following Foreign Affairs Commissar Joffe
's signing of a friendly treaty with China's Kuomintang
leader Sun Yat-sen
in January 1923, and arrived in Peking on 21 June.
A personal acquaintance of Sun Yat-sen between February 1924 and Sun's death in March 1925, Cherepanov taught at the Whampoa Military Academy
alongside Vasily Blyukher
, and took part in the campaigns against the regional warlords
, joining China's famed Northern Expedition as a senior Soviet adviser. He joined the Soviet Union's Communist Party
in 1926.
Cherepanov returned to the Soviet Union in 1927, following Sun's death in 1925 and subsequent breakdown in Sino-Soviet relations with the Kuomintang's new leader, Chiang Kai-shek
. (In spite of the ongoing Soviet assistance to the Kuomintang, the anti-communist Chiang had arranged a massacre of communists in Shanghai
and expelled his Soviet advisers.) Cherepanov took part in the 1929 Soviet intervention
in Inner Manchuria as commander of the Red Army's 1st Pacific Rifle Division in the Far East.
With relations between Chiang and the Soviet Union dramatically improved due to the attack on China by Japan
ese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War
, Cherepanov returned to China as chief military adviser to Chiang's government in Nanking from August 1938 to September 1939 and helped organize the 1938 defense of Wuhan
although the city fell to the combined might of the Japanese troops, planes, and ships.
Assigned to the Red Army's General Staff Academy
as a senior instructor after returning from China, Cherepanov was next named Chief Inspector for the Northwestern Direction following the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union
in July 1941. He subsequently led the 23rd Army
from September 1941 until July 1944, and was promoted in rank to lieutenant-general in 1943. His troops took part in the defense of Leningrad
and joined in the summer 1944 breaking of the siege
and forcing of Nazi Germany
's co-belligerent
partner Finland
to relinquish its positions Karelian Isthmus
near Leningrad. The combined Soviet gains compelled Finland to negotiate the Moscow Armistice
in 1944.
Recalled from command of the 23rd Army with the turning of the tides of war across the Eastern Front
, Cherepanov was sent as a member of the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria
in 1944 and became the commission's chairman in 1947. He was named deputy chief in the Department of Military Colleges of the USSR Ministry of Defense upon returning to Moscow
in 1948.
Lieutenant-General Cherepanov retired from active duty in the armed forces after forty years in the military in 1955. Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov died on 8 July 1984, aged eighty-eight.
A prolific memoirist in the 1960s-1980s, he authored a number of memoirs about his military career, including As Military Adviser in China (Moscow: Progress Publishers
), a 1982 English-language
translation (ISBN 978-0828522908).
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
military leader.
A peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
's son, Cherepanov served as a junior officer in the Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and took part in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
with the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
.
A 1923 graduate of the Red Army Military Academy, Cherepanov first came to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
as a military adviser to Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
's National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
in 1923-1927. He returned as chief military adviser to Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
's Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
China during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
in 1938-1939.
Appointed a senior instructor at the General Staff Academy
General Staff Academy (Russia)
The General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was founded in 1936 in Moscow by Leonid Govorov. It was the senior Soviet and now Russian professional school for officers....
after returning from China, he was named commander of the 23rd Army
23rd Army (Soviet Union)
The 23rd Army was a Field Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army. It was formed in May 1941 in the Leningrad Military District for the defence of the southernmost part of the Soviet Union's border with Finland, north and northeast of Vyborg...
in 1941 and promoted to lieutenant-general in 1943. A member of the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in 1944-1947 and the commission's chairman in 1947, he returned to the Soviet Union to become deputy chief in the Department of Military Colleges of the USSR Ministry of Defense in 1948-1955.
Biography
Born on to a peasantPeasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
family in the village of Kislyanskoye (now in the Kurgan Oblast
Kurgan Oblast
Kurgan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kurgan. Population: -History:The oblast was formed on February 6, 1943, just when the Soviet Army decisively defeated Hitler's forces near Stalingrad...
of the Russian Federation), Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov received a basic education in the town of Kurgan and was a factory worker and vocational school student in Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
and Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
before being drafted into the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
in Omsk in 1915. He graduated from a junior officers' school in Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
and fought in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as a platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
commander in the 8th Company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
of the 56th Infantry Regiment of the Russian Army's Northern Front
Northern Front (Russian Empire)
The Northern Front was a major unit of the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War.-Composition:*1st Army *5th Army *6th Army The Northern Front was a major unit of the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War.-Composition:*1st Army (April 1916 - July 1917, Sept. 1917 - early...
in 1916-1917.
Cherepanov joined the Red Guards
Red Guards (Russia)
In the context of the history of Russia and Soviet Union, Red Guards were paramilitary formations consisting of workers and partially of soldiers and sailors formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
soon after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
of 1917. He entered the newly-formed Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
of Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
in 1918, in which he served as regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
al commander, a regimental chief of staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
, and a brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
commander during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and concurrent Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
.
Selected to attend the Red Army Military Academy at the concluding phase of the Civil War, Cherepanov was one of five volunteers selected from the cadets of the 1923 graduating class to serve as military advisers in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
following Foreign Affairs Commissar Joffe
Adolph Joffe
Adolph Abramovich Joffe was a Communist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and a Soviet diplomat of Karaim descent.-Revolutionary career:...
's signing of a friendly treaty with China's Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
leader Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
in January 1923, and arrived in Peking on 21 June.
A personal acquaintance of Sun Yat-sen between February 1924 and Sun's death in March 1925, Cherepanov taught at the Whampoa Military Academy
Whampoa Military Academy
The Nationalist Party of China Army Officer Academy , commonly known as the Whampoa Military Academy , was a military academy in the Republic of China that produced many prestigious commanders who fought in many of China's conflicts in the 20th century, notably the Northern Expedition, the Second...
alongside Vasily Blyukher
Vasily Blyukher
Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher (also spelled Bliukher, Blücher, etc., , Soviet military commander, was among the prominent victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of the late 1930s....
, and took part in the campaigns against the regional warlords
Warlord era
The Chinese Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China, from 1916 to 1928, when the country was divided among military cliques, a division that continued until the fall of the Nationalist government in the mainland China regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia,...
, joining China's famed Northern Expedition as a senior Soviet adviser. He joined the Soviet Union's Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
in 1926.
Cherepanov returned to the Soviet Union in 1927, following Sun's death in 1925 and subsequent breakdown in Sino-Soviet relations with the Kuomintang's new leader, Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
. (In spite of the ongoing Soviet assistance to the Kuomintang, the anti-communist Chiang had arranged a massacre of communists in Shanghai
Shanghai massacre of 1927
The April 12 Incident of 1927 refers to the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party organizations in Shanghai by the military forces of Chiang Kai-shek and conservative factions in the Kuomintang...
and expelled his Soviet advisers.) Cherepanov took part in the 1929 Soviet intervention
Sino-Soviet conflict (1929)
The Sino–Soviet conflict of 1929 was a minor armed conflict between the Soviet Union and Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang of the Republic of China over the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway....
in Inner Manchuria as commander of the Red Army's 1st Pacific Rifle Division in the Far East.
With relations between Chiang and the Soviet Union dramatically improved due to the attack on China by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, Cherepanov returned to China as chief military adviser to Chiang's government in Nanking from August 1938 to September 1939 and helped organize the 1938 defense of Wuhan
Battle of Wuhan
The Battle of Wuhan, popularly known to the Chinese as the Defence of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War...
although the city fell to the combined might of the Japanese troops, planes, and ships.
Assigned to the Red Army's General Staff Academy
General Staff Academy (Russia)
The General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was founded in 1936 in Moscow by Leonid Govorov. It was the senior Soviet and now Russian professional school for officers....
as a senior instructor after returning from China, Cherepanov was next named Chief Inspector for the Northwestern Direction following the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in July 1941. He subsequently led the 23rd Army
23rd Army (Soviet Union)
The 23rd Army was a Field Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army. It was formed in May 1941 in the Leningrad Military District for the defence of the southernmost part of the Soviet Union's border with Finland, north and northeast of Vyborg...
from September 1941 until July 1944, and was promoted in rank to lieutenant-general in 1943. His troops took part in the defense of Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
and joined in the summer 1944 breaking of the siege
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
and forcing of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's co-belligerent
Co-belligerence
Co-belligerence is the waging of a war in cooperation against a common enemy without a formal treaty of military alliance.Co-belligerence is a broader and less precise status of wartime partnership than a formal military alliance. Co-belligerents may support each other materially, exchange...
partner Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
to relinquish its positions Karelian Isthmus
Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus is the approximately 45–110 km wide stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva . Its northwestern boundary is the relatively narrow area between the Bay of Vyborg and Lake Ladoga...
near Leningrad. The combined Soviet gains compelled Finland to negotiate the Moscow Armistice
Moscow Armistice
The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on September 19, 1944, ending the Continuation War...
in 1944.
Recalled from command of the 23rd Army with the turning of the tides of war across the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
, Cherepanov was sent as a member of the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in 1944 and became the commission's chairman in 1947. He was named deputy chief in the Department of Military Colleges of the USSR Ministry of Defense upon returning to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1948.
Lieutenant-General Cherepanov retired from active duty in the armed forces after forty years in the military in 1955. Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov died on 8 July 1984, aged eighty-eight.
A prolific memoirist in the 1960s-1980s, he authored a number of memoirs about his military career, including As Military Adviser in China (Moscow: Progress Publishers
Progress Publishers
Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931.It was noted for its English-language editions of books on Marxism-Leninism....
), a 1982 English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation (ISBN 978-0828522908).
Works
- «Боевое крещение. М., 1960;
- «Первые бои Красной Армии». М., 1961;
- «Под Псковом и Нарвой. Февр. 1918 г». М., 1963;
- «Северный поход Национально-революционной армии Китая. (Записки воен. советника)». М., 1968;
- «В боях рожденная». Изд. 3-е. М., 1976;
- «Записки военного советника в Китае». Изд. 2-е. М., 1976;
- «Поле ратное мое». М., 1984.
In English translation
- Cherepanov, A. I. (1982). As Military Adviser in China. Moscow: Progress Publishers. ISBN 978-0828522908.