Innokenty Andreyevich Khalepsky (14 July 1893 – 29 July 1938) was a Soviet general and politician who served as the People's Commissar for Communications of the USSR. He was a recipient of the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

and the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

. As head of the Department of Mechanization and Motorization, he informed tank designer

Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg () (1900–1943) was a Soviet tank designer. He enrolled in business school in 1918, but then volunteered for the Red Army in 1919 and served in the light artillery squadron of the 3rd Rifle Division (Soviet Union), 3r ...

of Poland's acquisition of light infantry and cavalry tanks from the British and French on 26 January 1931. He was one of the 10 individuals promoted to Komandarm 2nd rank on 11 November 1935. During the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, he was denounced by Dmitry Shmidt, who had taken into custody by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. While serving as People's Comissar, others who had been denounced by Shmidt including Marshal

Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937), nicknamed the Red Napoleon, was a Soviet general who was prominen ...

, Ieronim Uborevich and

Iona Yakir Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir (; 3 August 1896 – 12 June 1937) was a Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II. He was an early and major military victim of the Great Purge, alongsid ...

were executed. He was removed from his post, arrested and later executed himself.

Bibliography

* Bolshaya Sovietskaya Encyclopedia t. 28 Moscow 1978. * http://www.sakharov-center.ru/asfcd/martirolog/?t=page&id=14861 (ros.) 1893 births 1938 deaths Soviet komandarms of the second rank Great Purge victims from Russia People executed by the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union {{USSR-bio-stub