Vladimir Lazarevich

He entered the Vilnius Military School in 1903 and studied at the General Staff Academy in Saint Petersburg between 1909 and 1912.

He fought in the Russian Civil War of 1918–1920 first in the East, as chief of staff of the 4th Army (November 1918 – March 1919), of the Southern Group of the Eastern Front Forces (March–May 1919), and as commander of the 4th Army (May – November 1919), in which capacity he participated in the successful Counteroffensive of the Eastern Front against the forces of Admiral Kolchak.

From November 1919 to March 1920, he became Chief of Staff of the Western Front, and then commander of the 3rd Army (June – October 1920), with which he fought in the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1920.

But he did not meet expectations in the Battle of the Niemen River, where his Army was attacked from the rear and suffered heavy casualties.

In the twenties and thirties, he held various command positions and was a lecturer, also at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy of which he was the director in 1925–1927.