Vitalii Markovich Primakov

Born Dec. 18 (30), 1897, in the village of Semenovka (now a city in Chernigov Oblast); died June 11, 1937. Soviet military leader, corps commander (1935). Member of the CPSU from 1914. Son of a teacher.

In 1915, while still a Gymnasium student, Primakov was sentenced to exile in a Siberian settlement for spreading revolutionary antiwar proclamations among the soldiers of the Chernigov garrison. He returned from exile in April 1917 and in June 1917 became a member of the Kiev committee of Bolsheviks. In Chernigov in August 1917 he joined a depot infantry regiment, which sent him as a delegate to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Primakov took part in the fighting at Pulkovo and Gatchina. He was a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee at the second convocation. In January 1918, by a decision of the Ukrainian Soviet government, he formed a Red Cossack regiment.

During the Civil War of 1918–20, Primakov commanded a cavalry regiment, a brigade, the 8th Cavalry Division, and the I Horse Cavalry Corps of the Red Cossacks. He graduated from the higher military academic training courses in 1923. In 1924—25 he was head of the Higher Cavalry School in Leningrad. In 1925–26, Primakov was on a mission in China. From 1927 to 1930 he served as a military attache in Afghanistan and Japan. He commanded a corps from 1931 to 1933. From 1933 to 1935, Primakov was deputy commander of the Northern Caucasus Military District and then deputy inspector of higher military schools. In 1935 he became deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District. He was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner.