Genrich Eiche

Henrich Christoforovich Eiche (Latvian. Indriķis Eiche; September 29 (October 12) 1893, Riga — June 25, 1968, Jūrmala) — served in World War I as an officer in the Russian Imperial Army, and in 1917 was elected Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of his regiment. He was a Soviet military commander, military historian, and held leading civil posts.

Eiche was born into a working-class family. He graduated from Riga Commercial Academy (1914) and studied composition via correspondence course through the Berlin Conservatory for one year. He was unable to complete his conservatory studies due to the outbreak of World War I, whereupon he was drafted into the Imperial Army and sent to Peterhof Warrant Officers’ Training School. After completing Warrant Officers’ Training School in 1915 he was sent to the front. He commanded a squadron, and was a staff captain.

After the February Revolution of 1917 he was elected to the regimental committee, and during the Russian Revolution of 1917 he was elected Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the 245th Infantry Regiment. In November 1917 he was elected to the Council of Soldiers’ Deputies of the 10th Army, and was a member of the board for the formation of the Red Guard.

He took part in suppressing the insurrection of the Polish corps under General I. R. Dovbor-Musnitsky. In March 1918 he voluntarily enlisted in the Red Army. From August 1918 to November 1919 he commanded a regiment, a brigade and the 26th Infantry Division (beginning April 1919) on the Eastern Front. From November 1919 to January 1920 he was Commander of the 5th Army.

From March 1920 to April 1921 Eiche served as Commander-in-Chief of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic. He was recalled to Moscow only after his mission was completed: i.e., the entire Far East was merged into the buffer Far Eastern Republic; all the major White Guard groups in the Far East were eliminated; the Japanese troops occupying the Far East were forced to withdraw from the Trans-Baikal, Amur and Primorye regions; and partisan units were reorganized into the regular army following the pattern of the Red Army of the time.

In 1921 he was sent to Belarus as a Commander to lead the struggle to eliminate guerilla groups and White Russian partisan units. This mission was completed by the spring of 1922. For successful discharge of his duties he was awarded the Certificate of Merit of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee.

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