Albert Lapin

Lapin, Al’bert Ianovich 

Born May 15 (27), 1899, in Riga; died May 11, 1937. Soviet military figure; corps commander (1935). Member of the CPSU from 1917.

Lapin took part in the fighting in Moscow in October 1917 and was a Red Guard of the Lefortovo detachment, a member of the Chief Staff of the Moscow Red Guards, and chief of the organizational department of the Moscow Military Commissariat. In the Civil War of 1918–20 he served as commissar of the reconnaissance section of the staff and the political board of the Fifth Army and as commander of a regiment, a brigade, and the 30th Rifle Division on the Eastern and Western fronts. In 1921 he was made chief of the forces for the defense and protection of the Far Eastern Republic’s railroads, chief of the Amur Rifle Division, commander of the troops of the Amur and Transbaikal military districts, and a division commander. After graduating from the Military Academy of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (RKKA) in 1927, Lapincommanded the 19th Primor’e Rifle Corps and was chief of a staff of the Far Eastern Army and chief of a staff board of the RKKA. From 1932 to 1937 he served as deputy commander of the air force of the troops of the Byelorussian Military District and of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army. Lapin was awarded the Order of Lenin and four Orders of the Red Banner.