Question on purges

[medals73]

Going through and deciphering the service record(s) of an offices whose group lives with me, I find some contradictons (I should be surprised?) during the peiod of the Purges.

Extract 1:

May 1935 -May 1936 Commander of a training battalion 11th Tank Brigade, Leningrad

May 1936-April 1939 Regimental commander 16th Tank Regiment, 16th Cavalry Division, Leningrad Military District

April 1939 Lecturer Military Electrotechnical Academy of the Red Army, Leningrad

But see extract 2 (emphasis added):

Apr 1937 Promoted to Colonel Order of the People’s Commissariat of Defense nr. 1924

Aug 16, 1938 Transfered to the reserve in accordance with article 43b Order of the People’s Commissariat of Defense nr. 01362

Position restored

May 29 / April 10, 1939 Electrotechnical Academy of the Red Army Assistant Professor at the Department for Tactics of Mechanized and Motorized Forces Order of the People’s Commissariat of Defense nr. 0536

Jul 19, 1939 Article of Order of the People’s Commissariat of Defense nr. 01362 of Aug 16, 1939 to be rescinded Order of the People’s Commissariat of Defense nr. 03290

His April 1939 to May 1940 attestation adds:

Comrade Lavrinovich has been working at the Department since May 1939. His qualities concerning his willpower are adequate: he is energetic, persevering, and highly capable of taking initiative. He is demanding and approaches his students properly. He conducts lessons (lectures and practical training) confidently, in an interesting manner and exactly according to plan. He possesses pedagogical and military experience.

He follows closely all new developments in the field of armored warfare tactics and thoroughly studies these materials in order to increase his personal knowledge.

He possesses the skills to assess a problem that is being examined and substantiate his opinion in detail. He devotes himself to his duties with maximum conscientiousness. He is capable of keeping military secrets. Despite the fact that he started working at the Department relatively recently, he managed to show rational initiative and provide professional criticism regarding current shortcomings in order to improve the Department’s overall activities. He is active in public and political life and he is good comrade. He is modest and disciplined. His personality is sufficiently balanced. He is an active Party member, well-developed politically and morally stable. He is dedicated to the Party of Lenin and Stalin and the socialist motherland.

Conclusion: his current position suits him completely. He deserves to be promoted to Senior Lecturer. He also deserves the military rank of Major General of the Tank Forces.

Can someone please help me pick apart the story here. Thanks in advance.

[Sergei]

So the question is what this person was doing between 16 Aug 1938 and 1 May 1939?
It might help to know who compiled the two service records and how old this person was in 1938. Maybe he retired in 1938 but then they realised that he was lacking a few months of active service for his pension. Or transfered to reserve on health grounds and he managed to claw a few months back.
Is there a reason to think he was dismissed?
Sergei

[medals73]

The first is from his personnel file and the second from his service record. Both were kept up to date until he was KIA on 20 September 1941.

He was born 27 March 1894.

The summary of his evaluations as attached to his 5 March 1940 autobiographical statement:

Regarding the attestations of Colonel Vatslav Bronislavovich Lavrinovich, Lecturer at the Military Electrotechnical Academy of the Red Army, from the period from 1924 to 1937

1924 - Comrade Lavrinovich joined his regiment voluntarily. The first impression of him, both militarily and politically, was good.

1925 - He participated in the Civil War and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. He is fond of the military. He has been enhancing his education, but he is burdened by staff duties and would like to be transfered to an active-duty position. He is proud, honest and disciplined, but also quick-tempered and inconspicuous. He commands authority. His current position suits him.

1927 - He is burdened by staff duties. A number of applications and petitions exist recommending his transfer to an active-duty position. In the first half of the year he showed a fully serious devotion to his duties, striving to work hard and be useful. In the second half of the year he didn’t take active part in the activities of the divisional staff. He is eligible for the Vystrel Course.

1928 - He devotes himself to his duties with great attention and seeks to understand the regiment’s everyday proceedings and get his knowledge up to par. He deals with responsibilities as the assistant regimental commander for general affairs well and his current position suits him completely.

1929 - He is capable of taking initiative. He is decisive, persevering, disciplined and well-grounded in tactics. He carries out his duties conscientiously, accurately and punctually. He possesses a lot of military experience. He is capable of working on his own. He is sufficiently developed politically. He takes active part in the unit’s public life. He is ideologically mature. He views the Party’s politics favorably.

1930 - During situations in the field he is enduring, disciplined and efficient. He conscientiously carries out the tasks assigned to him, but he is quick-tempered. His relations with his subordinates and co-workers are all right. His general development and military training are satisfactory. He possesses experience in commanding a unit. He diligently and persistently prepares himself for his lessons. He has a great aptitude for active-service duties. His current position of Lecturer suits him.

1931 - He dedicates himself to his activities and has been improving himself greatly. He is self-possessed and disciplined. He is capable of maintaining discipline among his subordinates. His students consider him an authority. His tactical and social training are definitely adequate. He knows ____ _____ [missing in margins]. He takes active part in public, political and Party life. His current position suits him.

1932 - He is disciplined and efficient in fulfilling his service duties. His military training is sufficient. He possesses administrative and organizational skills, experience concerning a unit’s everyday proceedings and fine knowledge of tank technology. He is politically developed and takes active part in political and Party life. His state of health is satisfactory. He is suitable for service in the field. His current position suits him completely.

1934 - He is disciplined and efficient in fulfilling his service duties. He possesses fine knowledge of tank technology. He skilfully passes on his knowledge. He is a good organizer with great administrative and general skills. He is politically developed and takes active part in political and Party life. He is a rising commanding officer.

1935 - He has been serving in motorized and mechanized units for a long time. He is capable of studying new vehicles independently. He can definitely lead gunnery training independently. He easily gains an understanding of new situations. He takes decisions quickly and correctly. He displays initiative in a timely and expedient manner. He is capable of lecturing on technical subjects independently. He takes active part in political and Party life. He can definitely be a commander of a mechanized regiment, or a Lecturer at a regular school or an Advanced Officer Training Course.

1937 - During the period he has been commanding a mechanized regiment he showed himself a great organizer. He reorganized the training activities and everyday proceedings of his unit. He has a thorough knowledge of the technology in use in the regiment. He is a sound and strong-willed commanding officer and he takes responsibility for his actions. His knowledge on cavalry tactics is slightly poor, but he persistently works on improving this aspect. He is disciplined and politically and morally stable. He is sufficiently developed politically. He continuously works on enhancing his general education. His position of commander of a mechanized regiment suits him completely.

Reference compiled by Quartermaster 2nd Grade [signed] /Tarakanov/

February 5, 1940

Head of the Academy
Brigade Engineer [signed] /Govyadkin/

Military commissar of the Academy
Regimental Commissar [signed] /Yemelyanov/

[Sergei]

No mention of him being purged from the few sources I glanced through. Here's a picture of his gravestone
Кавалеры медали «ХХ лет РККА».Фамилии награжденных на букву "Л"

I still suspect that he retired in 1938 but it's possible of course that he was transfered to reserve pending some investigation or perhaps reorganisation of the regiment.

The missing word in his reference for 1931 could be
матчасть
basically meaning the equiment (material part, roughly).

[medals73]

Thanks for that link!

He had left before, June 1922-November 1923, but that was voluntary. There were undetailed family problems back home in Kuibyshev [Samara]. He had been getting telegrams telling him to come back. During that time he served as an instructor in the Community Services Department there.

Shown below, the man ca. 1936.

[medals73]

His funeral.

[Tommy]

The first time i've ever seen palm trees at a Funeral!

Looks like you have a really nice group though, even without seeing the awards that go with it!

To be able to see so much of a persons life mapped out is a real blessing that this hobby gives to us.

[medals73]

See also:

http://soviet-awards.com/forum/sovie...ner-group.html

http://soviet-awards.com/forum/sovie...a-10825-a.html

[Simon]

Col. Lavrinovich was purged, released in 1939 according to Репрессии в Красной Армии .

[medals73]

Thanks!