Avrov, Dmitrii

Born Jan. 25 (Feb. 7), 1890; died Aug. 5, 1922. Soviet military figure and an active participant in the Civil War. Member of the CPSU from 1918.

Avrov was born in the village of Lipovka, Simbirsk Province, into the family of a village teacher. He joined the army in 1914, and in 1915 he was graduated from an ensign’s school. A staff captain, he fought in World War I. After the February Revolution, Avrov became a member of company and regiment committees. After the October Revolution, he was a member of the presidium of the army executive committee and commissar of the First Army. He joined the Red Army in 1918, commanding the First Kazan’ Division, and fought against the White Guards and the White Czechs near Kazan’ in the summer of 1918. In 1919 he became commandant of several fortified regions. From August 1919 he took part in the defense of Petrograd against the armies of General Iudenich as commander of the fortified region, head of the city defense, and commander of a special brigade. In 1920–21 he commanded the Petrograd Military Okrug and the Seventh Army, and took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt Revolt of 1921. Avrov was buried on the Mars Field in Leningrad.