1. Mikhail Gordeevich Drozdovsky was a Russian army general and one of the military leaders of the anti-Bolshevik White movement during the Russian Civil War.
18 Facts About Mikhail Drozdovsky
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Mikhail Drozdovsky started his military career early in life, entering the Polotsk Cadet Corps in 1892, and subsequently transferring to the Kiev Vladimir Cadet Corps, from which he graduated in 1899.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky graduated in 1901 at the top of his class.
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From 1901 Mikhail Drozdovsky served in the Life Guards Regiment in Warsaw and was promoted to lieutenant in 1904.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky was wounded in the thigh during the Battle of Sandepu, but remained on the front lines through the end of the conflict and was awarded with several decorations for heroism.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky was stationed at the Headquarters of the Amur Military District in Harbin, Manchuria.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky trained with the Imperial Russian Navy, taking a dive in a submarine, and diving using a diving suit.
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At the start of World War I in 1914, Mikhail Drozdovsky served as a staff officer for the Russian 27th Army Corps in the 2nd Army within the Northwestern Front.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky made a number of reconnaissance missions using an airplane and a balloon.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1915, and became Chief of Staff of the 64th Infantry Division in May 1915.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky led his division from the front in numerous battles to the end of 1915.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky suppressed Bolshevik elements within his command through executions, and managing to maintain discipline and order, continued combat operations against the Germans until late August 1917.
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Three days later, Mikhail Drozdovsky's force came to the assistance of the Don Cossacks desperately battling Red forces at Novocherkassk.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky's unit became one of the elite formations of the Volunteer Army.
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Mikhail Drozdovsky was one of the first among the White Army commanders to augment his forces with Red Army prisoners they captured in battle.
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General Mikhail Drozdovsky was wounded in October 1918, during a battle near Stavropol.
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The Mikhail Drozdovsky Division was well known for its esprit de corps.
18.
In 1920, before the departure of the Volunteer Army from Crimea, General Mikhail Drozdovsky's remains were secretly reburied by his men in Sevastopol, Crimea, to prevent their defilement by the Bolsheviks.