Mikhail Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich was an Imperial Russian and Soviet

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 commander, Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 (1944).

From 1892-1895, Bonch-Bruyevich served as an officer with the Lithuanian Guards Regiment, posted at Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

.

First World War

At the outbreak of 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...

 Bonch-Bruyevich was in command of the 176th Perevolochensky Regiment

176th Perevolochensky Regiment

-First World War:At the outbreak of the First World War, the 176th Perevolochensky Regiment was part of the 21st Army Corps and quartered at Chernigov. Upon mobilisation the regiment was immediately transferred to its winter barracks so that the summer camp could be used by the 316th Khvalinsky...

, based at Chernigov

Chernihiv

Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...

.
He was an eye witness to the ramming

Ramming

In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum...

 attack in which the Russian aviator Pyotr Nesterov

Pyotr Nesterov

Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov was a Russian pilot, an aircraft technical designer and an aerobatics pioneer.-Life and career:The son of a military academy teacher, Pyotr Nesterov decided to choose a military career. In August 1904 he left the military school in Nizhny Novgorod and went to the...

 died.

He later became chief of staff and deputy commander of the Russian 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...

. He was commander of the Northern Front from 29 August 1917 to 9 September 1917.

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...

, he was chief of staff of the Supreme Commander (1917–1918), the military director of the Supreme Military Council

Revolutionary Military Council

Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet (Революционный Военный Совет, Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet; Реввоенсовет, Revvoyensovyet; also...

, and chief of field staff of the Revolutionary Military Council

Revolutionary Military Council

Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet (Революционный Военный Совет, Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet; Реввоенсовет, Revvoyensovyet; also...

. This was because his brother, Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich, was Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

's personal secretary.