Viktor Pokrovsky

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Viktor Leonidovich Pokrovsky

Viktor Leonidovich Pokrovsky (Russian: Покровский Виктор Леонидович) (1889 - 9 November 1922)- Russian lieutenant general and one of the leaders of anti-communist counterrevolutionary White Army during Russian Civil War.

Biography

Viktor Pokrovsky graduated from Pavlovsk army cadet and Sevastopol aviation military schools. He served in the Russian army during First World War as a pilot and was awarded Cross of St. George for bravery.

Russian Civil War

Following the October Bolshevik coup (see Russian Revolution of 1917) he formed an anti-Bolshevik army unit in the Kuban region of southern Russia. Kuban Rada promoted him to the rank of colonel and later to the rank of major general.

In March 1918, after heavy fighting with the Red Army, his units were forced to leave Yekaterinodar. After this, on 26 March 1918, Viktor Pokrovsky joined Volunteer Army of general Lavr Kornilov (later led by generals Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel and known also as the Armed Forces of South Russia). General Pokrovsky was in charge of Kuban Cossacks and Caucasus army units of the White Army.

Pokrovsky’s men played a key role in the capture of Tsaritsyn and Kamyshin from the Bolshevik forces in the summer of 1919. Many in the White movement, including military officers, complained about Pokrovsky's penchant to hang prisoners.

Exile

In April 1920, he emigrated from Crimea because general Wrangel did not appoint him to any key positions at his headquarters. In emigration, he settled in Bulgaria and continued anti-Soviet activities. On 9 November 1922 he was killed by the Bulgarian police while resisting arrest in a murder investigation.

See also

• White movement
• Volunteer Army
• Russian Civil War