Khas-Bator

Born 1884; died September 1921. Figure in the Mongolian People’s Revolution of 1921.

Khas-Bator was a lama. Shortly before the Mongolian People’s Revolution began in March 1921, he joined the revolutionary movement. He recruited partisans, became the lama of the 1st Revolutionary Detachment, and commanded the 3rd Regiment when Kiakhta was captured on March 18. From May through September 1921 he was active in the western aimaks, where he directed the formation of a regional committee of the party in May and the formation of a regional government in June. In September 1921 a combined detachment of Mongolian partisans and Red Army soldiers under Khas-Bator and K. K. Baikalov was surrounded near Tolbo-Nur, in western Mongolia, during a battle with White Guards. For 42 days, until a Red Army regiment arrived, the detachment courageously fought off attacks by the Whites. Losses were heavy, and Khas-Bator was among those who died a hero’s death.