Juris Aploks (, ''Yuri Yuryevich Aplok''; April 21, 1893 – April 2, 1938) was an officer of

Latvian Riflemen The Latvian Riflemen (; ) were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic governorates against the German Empire in World War I. Initially, the battalions were forme ...

and later a Soviet

Komdiv () is the syllabic abbreviation to commanding officer of the division (; ), and was a military rank in the Soviet Armed Forces of the USSR in the period from 1935 to 1940. It was also the designation to military personnel appointed to command ...

Military career

He was born on 21 April, 1893 in the family of a farmer in Raņķi Parish,

Kuldīga district Kuldīga () () is a town in the Courland region of Latvia, in the western part of the country. It is the center of Kuldīga Municipality with a population of approximately 13,500. Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic L ...

. At the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was drafted into the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, and in 1915 was sent to study at the Pskov Ensign School. After graduating from military school he participated in battles as an officer of the 2nd Riga Latvian Riflemen Regiment, and in 1917 was promoted to the rank of staff captain. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, he went over to the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

side. During the German attack on 25 February, 1918, he commanded parts of the 2nd Riga Latvian Rifle Regiment in the battles near Pskov. After the establishment of the Red Latvian Rifle Division, on 21 June, 1918, he was appointed chief of the operational part of its headquarters, and on 27 July, chief of staff. In August 1918, he was sent to the Urals to fight against the

Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the ...

, where he served as Chief of Staff of the Soviet 3rd Army, in 1919 as Deputy Chief of Staff of the 6th Rifle Division, and as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Eastern Sector of the Front. After the end of the Russian Civil War, he commanded the Ukrainian and Crimean

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

troops (1921) and the GPU troops of the Moscow Military District (1922). In 1922, Aploks graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

, in 1924 he was appointed commander of the 14th Rifle Division, in 1930 as Deputy Chief of Staff of the North Caucasus Military District, and in 1932 as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Moscow Military District. He was a recipient of 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 ...

and the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

Arrest, execution and rehabilitation

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 ...

as a part of the so-called " Latvian Operation", he was arrested on 18 December, 1937, sentenced to death by the

Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union () was created in 1924 by the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union as a court for the higher military and political personnel of the Red Army and Fleet. In addition it was an immedia ...

on 1 April, 1938, executed the next day, and buried in the Kommunarka mass grave. He was rehabilitated on 25 June, 1958.

Bibliography

* Гражданская война и военная интервенция в СССР. — М.: Советская Энциклопедия, 1983. * Список лиц с высшим общим военным образованием состоящих на службе в РККА. — Пг.: Воен. тип. Штаба РККА, 1923. * * Удмуртская республика: Энциклопедия. — Ижевск: Издательство «Удмуртия», 2000. *

Sources

Биография на сайте РККА

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aplok, Yuri 1893 births 1938 deaths People from Kuldīga Municipality People from Kuldīga county Soviet komdivs Imperial Russian Army officers Frunze Military Academy alumni Latvian Riflemen Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Latvian Operation of the NKVD Great Purge victims from Latvia People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm Soviet rehabilitations