Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

On 20 September 1921, with the remnants of his forces in disarray, Semenov went into emigration, crossing into Korea and then traveling to Japan and then briefly to the United States, where he was fortunate to escape imprisonment for crimes against American civilians and military servicemen during the civil-war period. He subsequently lived in Nagasaki (until 1928) and then Yokohama (until 1930), before returning to Manchuria. There, he lived at Kakagashi, near Darien, reportedly on a Japanese pension, and was close to Japanese intelligence services during the Manchukuo period. At this time he was engaged in various anti-Soviet activities and intrigues with the warring factions in China. He was arrested at his home by the invading Soviet forces in September 1945—apparently he made no effort to flee or to hide—and was flown to Moscow. Following a trial there on 26–29 August 1946 (which, in contrast to that of Generals P. N. Krasnov and A. G. Shkuro, received broad coverage in the Soviet press), in which he was found guilty of numerous crimes (including anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, espionage against the USSR, and terrorism), by order of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, he was hanged. On 4 April 1994, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation reviewed the case against Semenov. The charge of “anti-Soviet agitation” was dismissed, for lack of corpus delicti, but all other charges were upheld, and his posthumous rehabilitation was denied.

SEMENOV, NIKOLAI GRIGOR′EVICH (12 April 1874–26 August 1918). Lieutenant (29 March 1909), colonel (6 December 1912), major general (1917), komdiv (November 1935). The Red military commander N. G. Semenov was a graduate of the Moscow Aleksandrovsk Commercial School, the Moscow Military School (1897), and the Academy of the General Staff (1904). He entered Russian military service on 22 September 1895 and initially joined the Rostov Regiment. Prior to the First World War, he was a senior adjutant with the staff of the 9th Cavalry Division (23 August 1905–13 February 1912) and then worked on the staff of the Vil′na Military District (from 13 February 1912). During the war, Semenov occupied numerous posts: senior adjutant attached to the staff of the quartermaster general of the 1st Army; chief of staff of the 43rd Rifle Division; commander of the 102nd Viatka Infantry Division (from 20 November 1915); chief of staff of the 8th Siberian Rifle Division (from 3 January 1917); chief of staff of the 2nd Army Corps (17 April–27 August 1917); and commander of the 84th Infantry Division (from 27 August 1917).

Following the October Revolution, Semenov volunteered for service in the Red Army. During the civil wars, he was one of the Reds’ most effective military specialists. He served as chief of staff of the 2nd Red Army (19 September–2 November 1918) and commander of the 12th Red Army (16 June–8 September 1919), then was placed on the Field Staff of the Revvoensovet of the Republic, latterly as assistant inspector of infantry and then (from 1 March 1923) as inspector of infantry of the Red Army.

Semenov was arrested in 1931, during Operation “Spring,” and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, but was soon released and returned to teaching work at the Red Military Academy. However, he was rearrested on 11 May 1938, and having been found guilty of membership in a fictitious “counterrevolutionary monarchist organization” by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, on 26 August that same year he was executed. He was posthumously rehabilitated on 27 September 1962.