Ivan Ivanovich Möller-Sakomelsky

Born Johann Möller to a family of Lutheran German burghers, he entered the Russian artillery in 1739 as a rank private, and by 1752 had been commissioned as an officer.

With the outbreak of war with the Ottoman Empire in 1787, Prince Grigory Potemkin asked Möller to join his field army based out of Ekaterinoslav, and assist in the planning of besieging Ochakov.

After the strategic fortress was taken, Möller was awarded with both the Orders of St. Andrew and St. George in the 2nd class alongside the title of baron.

In June 1788 he composed a Supplement for gunners explaining how to best use their weapons against Turkish forces, updating tactics that had not been revised in three decades.

[3] The name Möller-Sakomelsky came from the general's elevation to the rank of baron in 1789, Sakomelsky being derived from his granted estate in the volost of Zakomelsky located near Usvyaty.