Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

In January 1918, Shcherbachev took command of the newly created Ukrainian Front (incorporating the former Romanian and South-West Fronts of the imperial Russian Army); in that capacity, in March 1918 he negotiated (to the satisfaction of the Romanian government) the terms of the occupation of the region by forces of the Austro-German intervention. He also agreed to (and obtained German sanction of) the occupation of Bessarabia by the Romanian Army (thereby confounding the plans of Rumcherod to Sovietize the region). He remained in Romania for the next year, and when Allied forces arrived in the region in late November 1918, he campaigned for greater assistance to be offered by them to the Volunteer Army. Finding that he could have only limited success in such a quest without visiting the Allied capitals, on 30 December 1918, he accepted from General A. I. Denikin’s Special Council the title of Military Representative of the Russian Army with the Allied Governments and the Allied Supreme Command (the nomination being confirmed by Admiral A. V. Kolchak in February 1919) and set off for Paris. He continued in that role until May 1920, when, having clashed with General P. N. Wrangel about the necessity for joint action with Poland, he was replaced by General E. K. Miller. Shcherbachev then retired to Nice, living on a pension supplied by the Romanian government, until his death in 1932. He is buried in the Russian cemetery at Caucade, Nice.

SHCHERBAKOV, ARKHIP FILOMONOVICH (1 September 1872–?).Esaul (15 October 1912), major general (191?). Ataman of the Semirech′e Cossack Host (from February 1920) A. F. Shcherbakov was a graduate of the Irkutsk Officer School and a veteran of the Russian expedition in China (1900–1901), the Russo–Japanese War, and the First World War (during which he served as an officer in the Argunsk Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Host from 10 January 1914). During the civil wars, he occupied a number of staff posts in the forces of Admiral A. V. Kolchak, chiefly in Turkestan and Semirech′e, and eventually became commander of the Southern Group of forces of the Semirech′e Army of Ataman B. V. Annenkov (September 1919–May 1920). Records about him disappear with the defeat of that force and its retreat into China in May 1920. His subsequent fate is unknown.

Shchetinkin, Petr Efimovich (21 December 1884–30 September 1927). Staff captain (1917). Born into a peasant family at Chufilovo, near Riazan′, P. E. Shchetinkin was one of the leaders of the anti-White partisans in Siberia during the civil wars. He was raised in Siberia and trained as a carpenter, but during military service in the First World War, he exhibited conspicuous bravery and military talent and was awarded four St. George’s Crosses and two French decorations for gallantry.

Following the October Revolution, Shchetinkin was an active participant in the establishment of Soviet power at Achinsk, serving as chief of the Criminal Investigation Department and chief of the Operational Section of the local soviet. Originally, it is reported, a member of the Party of Socialists-Revolutionaries, he joined the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) in 1918. When Achinsk fell to units of the Czechoslovak Legion in late May 1918, Shchetinkin went underground and formed the sizable Northern Achinsk Partisan Army, which launched attacks on White strongholds and on the Trans-Siberian Railway in Eniseisk guberniia. In April 1919, this force united with that of A. D. Kravchenko, and Shchetinkin became chief of staff of the combined forces, the Taseevo Partisan Republic (based at initially Taseevo), although a White offensive against the partisans forced their retreat into the Uriankhai (Tuva) region during the summer of 1919. (Among the forces sent against Taseevo were those commanded by the future anti-Soviet partisan I. N. Solov′ev.)