Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

After the civil wars, Smirnov held numerous senior naval posts, including commander of the Black Sea Fleet (15 August–30 December 1937), and from January 1938 to March 1939, he was first deputy and then acting people’s commissar for naval affairs of the USSR. He was arrested on 26 March 1939, and having been found guilty (on 16 March 1940) of belonging to a “military-fascist” anti-Soviet organization, was executed the following day. Smirnov was buried in a mass grave in the Donskoi cemetery in southeast Moscow. He was posthumously rehabilitated on 23 June 1956.

SMOLIN, INNOKENTII SEMENOVICH (1 January 1884–23 March 1973). Colonel (20 November 1917), major general (February 1919), lieutenant general (April 1921). A prominent military commander in the White movement in Siberia, I. S. Smolin was born at Irkutsk and studied at the Irkutsk Military School, graduating in 1905, after which he served in the 11th Siberian Rifle Regiment. During the First World War, he rose to the post of commander of the 3rd Finnish Rifle Regiment (1917). In early 1918, he formed an underground officers’ organization at Turinsk that worked toward the overthrow of the Soviet regime in Siberia, and during the summer of that year, he commanded a partisan detachment that engaged Red forces around Kurgan and then Omsk.

Smolin subsequently served in the Siberian Army and the Russian Army of Admiral A. V. Kolchak as commander, successively, of the 15th Kurgan Rifle Regiment (from July 1918), the 4th Siberian Rifle Division (1 January 1919–22 February 1920), and the 3rd Army Corps of the Southern Group of General G. A. Verzhbitskii. From 27 January to 22 February 1920, he was commander of the Southern Group during its participation in the Great Siberian (Ice) March, following which he entered the Far Eastern (White) Army of Ataman G. M. Semenov, as commander of the Omsk Rifle Brigade (later Division), and from 23 August 1920 was commander of its 2nd Rifle Corps. When Semenov’s hold on the Transbaikal was broken in November 1920, Smolin made his way via Manchuria to the Maritime Province, where from 1 June 1921 he served as garrison commander of Nikol′sk-Ussuriisk, under the regimes of S. D. Merkulov and the White Insurgent Army. He went into emigration in October 1922, living at first at Shanghai, where he worked for an international savings bank (and also, reportedly, as a professional jockey), before moving to the United States in 1939 and then on to Tahiti, where he was again employed in a bank.

SNESAREV, ANDREI EVGEN′EVICH (1 December 1865–4 December 1937). Colonel (6 December 1908), major general (23 December 1915), lieutenant general (1917). One of the most senior tsarist officers to serve in the Red Army, A. E. Snesarev was born at Staraia Kalitva (Ostrogozhsk uezd, Voronezh guberniia) into the family of a priest. He was a graduate of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University (1888), the Moscow Infantry Officers School (1890), and the Academy of the General Staff (1899). From 1899, he was on military service in Turkestan, becoming a specialist on the military geography of Central and Southern Asia. He participated in missions to India, Afghanistan, Tibet, and Kashgar; in 1900 went to London for several months to conduct research at the British Museum; and ultimately became proficient in no fewer than 14 Asian languages. From 1904, he was seconded to the Academy of the General Staff and at the same time worked as a lecturer on military geography at various military schools and academies. From 1910, he served as chief of staff of the 2nd Cossack Free Division, and during the First World War he rose to the command of the 9th Army Corps (from 9 September 1917).

In May 1918, Snesarev volunteered for service in the Red Army and became military leader (voenruk) of the North Caucasus Military District (May–June 1918), at a time of fierce battles there between pro-Soviet forces and forces of the Volunteer Army, the Kuban Cossack Host, and the Terek Cossack Host. He was then a participant in the defense of Tsaritsyn (June–July 1918), becoming involved in the Tsaritsyn affair as an opponent of J. V. Stalin. From September 1918, he was commander of the Western Defensive Region and then (15 November 1918–31 May 1919) became commander of the Lithuanian–Belorussian (Red) Army (the Western Army until 13 March 1919, and later the 16th Red Army).