Rudnev, Nikolai

Born Oct. 29 (Nov. 10), 1894, in the village of Liutorichi, now in Uzlovaia Raion, Tula Oblast; died Oct. 16, 1918. Hero of the Civil War of 1918–20 in the USSR. Member of the Communist Party from 1917. Son of a priest.

Rudnev graduated from the six-month training course at the Alexander Military School in 1916 and was assigned to the 30th Reserve Infantry Regiment in Tula with the rank of ensign. In 1917 he was elected a member of the regimental committee and headed a bureau of a section of the RSDLP military organization of the Tula garrison. In June he became a member of the Tula city committee of the RSDLP(B). After the 30th Regiment was transferred to Kharkov, he was elected a member of the executive committee of the Kharkov soviet. On Oct. 26, 1917, the 30th Regiment, led by Rudnev, joined detachments of the Red Guard in disarming the troops of the Central Rada and captured the most important objectives in Kharkov, which ensured the transfer of power to the Military Revolutionary Committee. In December he was elected a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee.

In February 1918, Rudnev became deputy people’s commissar for military affairs of the Donets-Krivoi Rog Republic. In April he became chief of staff of the Fifth Ukrainian Army, which was conducting a fighting retreat from Lugansk toward Tsaritsyn. In July 1918 he became chief of staff of the Tsaritsyn Front. In October he was mortally wounded while commanding a reserve brigade during fighting at the populated area of Beketovka near Tsaritsyn.