Pavel Vitalyevich Gayev (; 17 August 1901 5 October 1943) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, deputy commander of the

13th Guards Rifle Division The 13th Guards Poltava Order of Lenin Twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army that was highly decorated during World War II. Formed in January 1942 from the 87th Rifle Divisio ...

(1943).

Early years

Gayev was born on 17 August 1901 in

Nizhny Tagil Nizhny Tagil ( rus, Нижний Тагил, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj tɐˈgʲil) is a classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe, boundary ...

(

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

) in a workers family. Initially, he only completed a two-year course of a zemstvo primary school in 1913. In 1918 he volunteered to serve in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

were later he completed political courses of the Kharkov Military District (1921) and the Military Political School of the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

(

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, 1923).

Russian Civil War

Gayev started his military service as an enlisted

Red Army man Red Army man () was the lowest military rank in the Red Army of the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1946. On 30 November 1917, after the October Revolution, the Military Revolutionary Committee cancelled all "officer and class ranks". Henceforth, the ...

in th
Malyshev
Communist Battalion (June–August 1918). He participated in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, took part in a number of battles (

Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion The revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion comprised the armed actions of the Czechoslovak Legion in the Russian Civil War against Bolshevik authorities, beginning in May 1918 and persisting through evacuation of the Legion from Siberia to Europe in ...

, liquidation of the Makhno Army, the armed forces of Admiral

Alexander Kolchak Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a mili ...

and General

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (, ; ; 25 April 1928), also known by his nickname the Black Baron, was a Russian military officer of Baltic German origin in the Imperial Russian Army. During the final phase of the Russian Civil War, he was c ...

). He served as a politruk and commander of a number of rifle companies (1918-1931). From September 1921 to August 1922, Gayev was a military controller of the Special Department No. 5 in

Proskurov Khmelnytskyi (, ) is a city in western Ukraine. Located on the Southern Bug, it serves as the administrative centre of Khmelnytskyi Oblast as well as Khmelnytskyi Raion within the oblast. With a population of Khmelnytskyi is the second-largest ...

. In 1928 he was selected to attend an officer training course known as Vystrel which he graduated from in 1929.

Military intelligence service

In 1934 Gayev completed a course of the M. V. Frunze Military Academy and was assigned to serve as a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large milita ...

of the 69th

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Rifle Regiment (May 1934 - February 1935, assistant to the chief of staff) and the 6th

Andijan Andijan ( ), also spelt Andijon () and formerly romanized as Andizhan ( ), is a city in Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, economic, and cultural center of Andijan Region. Andijan is a district-level city with an area of . Andijan is the most ...

Rifle Regiment (1935, chief of staff). He was later assigned to the staff of the

(as an officer of the First Department) where he served in between the August 1935 and August 1936. Major Pavel Gayev 1936

In August 1936 he was selected to serve in the Red Army Intelligence Directorate system and in 1937 he joined the office of the Red Army

Military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Gayev was fluent in Polish and German languages. Upon completion of his mission in Poland, he served as the Red Army Intelligence Directorate officer (July–September 1939) and chief of

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

in the staff of the

Odessa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia and five Oblasts of Ukraine, Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa ...

(November 1939 - July 1941). According to archival documents Gaev on request of the Chief of the Red Army Intelligence Filipp Golikov conducted during this period a verification of intelligence reports from the

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

on the preparation of German invasion in the USSR.

German-Soviet War

In the war period, Gayev was involved in combat operations from the end of July 1941, initially as chief of

in the staff of the 9th Army (1941-1942). This time 9th Army participated in the

battle of Rostov (1941) The Battle of Rostov (1941) took place on the Eastern Front of World War II around Rostov-on-Don and was fought between Army Group South of Nazi Germany and the Southern Front of the Soviet Union. The battle comprised three phases: the Germ ...

and in the Barvenkovo–Lozovaya operation. In 1943 he graduated from a short course of the K. E. Voroshilov General Staff Military Academy and was assigned a deputy commander of the

(

5th Guards Army The 5th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought in many critical actions during World War II under the command of General Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov. The 5th Guards Army was formed in spring 1943 from the 66th Army in recognition o ...

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

). In the division command he played a notable role in the liberation of

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

and the

battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

. Gayev was awarded 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 ...

for commanding the

vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. ...

detachment in the successful crossing the

Vorskla The Vorskla (; ) is a river that runs from Belgorod Oblast in Russia southwards into northeastern Ukraine, where it joins the Dnieper. Geography The river's source is on the western slopes of the Central Russian Upland north of Belgorod. Wi ...

river which allowed the Soviets to regain control of the city of Poltava.

Death

On 5 October 1943 Gayev was killed in action on the battlefield (at the left shore of the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

river near

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

) when commanding one of the river crossing operations in the battle of the Dnieper. For this operation he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class (posthumously) for the outstanding personal commanding role in crossing the river Dnieper by the 13th Guards Rifle Division troops in early October 1943. Initially he was buried at the city cemetery of Poltava but later his tomb was moved to the newly established military memorial in Poltava's Ivan Kotliarevsky Park (1969).

Family

Pavel Gayev was the elder of three sons in his family. His father died when Pavel was eight and his mother moved to

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

where she worked as a railway train conductor. Middle brother Vasily V. Gayev () (1904-?) also worked on the railroad in Nizhny Tagil. 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 ...

Vasily was arrested and sent to the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

camps, later rehabilitated in 1962. The youngest brother in the family was Anatoly V. Gayev () (1907-1954) who lived and died in

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

. Pavel Gayev got married in late 1920th and his wife was Eugeniya I. Gayeva () (born in 1901). During the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

she lived in Chelyabinsk, after the 1945 — in Kiev. Their son — Remar P. Gayev () (born in 1930) was an officer of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

Awards

* Browning Weapon of Honour (1928) *

Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" The Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" () was a state military commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on January 24, 1938 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to denote the twentie ...

(1938) *

(1943) * Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class (1943, posthumously)

Recognition

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Aleksey Zhadov, commander of the

, noted in his memoir when writing about the battle of the Dnieper: * Gleb Baklanov, commander of the 13th Guards Rifle Division in 1943-1944, in his memoir attested Gayev as: * View from another level of command expressed in 13th Guards Rifle Division guards

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

Lipa Gurvits' memoir:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavey, Pavel 1901 births 1943 deaths GRU officers Frunze Military Academy alumni Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Soviet colonels Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel killed in World War II