Eikhe, Genrikh

Born Sept. 29 (Oct. 12), 1893, in Riga; died July 25,1968, in Jurmala. Soviet military commander and military historian.

The son of a worker, Eikhe graduated from the Riga Commercial School in 1914 and the Petergof School for Ensigns in 1915. He served in World War I as a company commander and as a staff captain. Eikhe was elected a member of his regimental committee after the February Revolution of 1917 and was chairman of the military revolutionary committee of the 245th Infantry Regiment during the October Revolution. In November 1917 he was elected to the soviet of soldiers’ deputies of the Tenth Army. Eikhe volunteered for the Red Army in March 1918, after serving as a member of the collegium on the formation of the Red Guard and after helping suppress the revolt of General J. Dow-bór-Musnicki’s Polish Corps.

Between August 1918 and November 1919, Eikhe served on the Eastern Front, commanding a regiment, a brigade, and, from April 1919, the 26th Rifle Division. He served as Fifth Army commander from November 1919 to January 1920 and as commander in chief of the People’s Revolutionary Army of the Far East Republic from March 1920 to April 1921. From 1921 to 1923, Eikhe was troop commander in the Minsk region and in Fergana Oblast. In 1924 he joined the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade.

Eikhe was the author of several works on the history of the Civil War in Siberia. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, and various medals.