29 Facts About Iona Yakir

Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir was a Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II.

Iona Yakir was an early and major military victim of the Great Purge, alongside Mikhail Tukhachevsky.

Iona Yakir became a member of the Bessarabian Governorate's Council, the Governorate's Committee, and the Revolutionary Committee.

When Romania intervened to recapture Bessarabia, Iona Yakir led Bolshevik resistance, but the regular Romanian army overwhelmed his small force.

Iona Yakir retreated to Ukraine and fought against Austro-Hungarian occupation forces as a commander of a Chinese regiment of the Red Army.

Iona Yakir was severely wounded in March 1918 near Ekaterinoslav.

At the beginning of the Russian Civil War between Bolshevik forces, the White Army and various other anti-Bolshevik movements, Iona Yakir was a member of the Bolshevik Party in Voronezh Province and started his service in the Red Army as a commissar.

Iona Yakir showed military talent and was assigned as a field commander.

Iona Yakir carried out Lenin's order of persecution against the Cossack civilians and the extermination of almost half of the male Cossack population.

Iona Yakir undertook one of the most unusual Civil War military operations.

Iona Yakir breached the encirclement and led his forces through the enemy rear for a distance of 400 kilometres to join the Red Army in Zhitomir.

Iona Yakir was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times, and he became one of the most-decorated Red Army commanders.

Iona Yakir was a close associate of Mikhail Frunze and belonged to his inner circle of innovative Red Army officers who assisted Frunze in starting far-reaching military reforms.

In November 1925, after Frunze's death, Iona Yakir was appointed commander of the most powerful territorial formations of the Red Army, the newly reorganized Ukrainian Military District.

In training his troops, Iona Yakir encouraged his officers' initiative and ability to make their own judgments.

In 1928 and 1929, Iona Yakir studied at the Higher Military Academy in Berlin.

Iona Yakir was one of the creators of the first large tank and air-force formations in the world.

Not a military theorist in his own right, Iona Yakir strongly supported Tukhachevsky's endeavor in developing the theory of deep operations.

In 1934 Yakir requested that Tukhachevsky be appointed to conduct advanced courses on operational theory for high-ranking officers of the Red Army General Staff and commanders of military districts.

Iona Yakir made this request even though he knew about Joseph Stalin's dislike of Tukhachevsky.

In September 1935 Iona Yakir conducted major military maneuvers in Kiev with the Kiev and Kharkov Military Districts' forces.

Iona Yakir, who was a firm believer in the Communist cause, was actively involved in internal politics.

Iona Yakir was member of the party Central Committee in Moscow and member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

However, Iona Yakir's appeals were a clear sign of his disagreement with the ongoing purges which alienated Stalin even more.

On 31 May 1937, the NKVD arrested Iona Yakir, and transported him to the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow.

Iona Yakir had other characteristics translated as vices by the puritan Stalin: Yakir never made a secret of his luxurious Kiev lifestyle, and he lent dachas for profit and never ceased his involvement in trading.

Iona Yakir worked on the improvement of the Red Army until his demise.

Many of Iona Yakir's achievements, including his reforms and preparations for guerrilla activities in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, were dismantled.

Iona Yakir's cenotaph is in the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow.