Oskar Iurevich Kalnin

Kalnin, Oskar Iur’evich 

(also Oskar Kalniņš; party pseudonym, Ugis). Born Mar. 29 (Apr. 10), 1895, in Ogre, present-day Latvian SSR; died Nov. 20, 1920, in the village of Kryshichi, Byelorussian SSR. Hero of the Civil War of 1918–20. Member of the Communist Party from 1911.

Kalnin took part in the revolutionary movement in Russia andLatvia. In 1915 he was drafted into the army. He studied at theSaratov Ensigns’ School. In 1916 he was arrested for revolutionary propaganda, but he escaped from prison. In 1917 he becameone of the leaders of the Red Guards in Moscow and participatedin the October armed uprising. Kalnin was a member of theRogozhsko-Simonovskii soviet and the Military RevolutionaryCommittee and a militia chief. Beginning in June 1918 he wasmilitary commissar of the Rogozhsko-Simonovskii District of Moscow. From June 1918 to July 1919 he was a member of theRevolutionary Military Council of the First Army of the EasternFront, and from July 1919 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Latvian Army. From September 1919 he was commissar of the 11th Rifle Division, and in1920 he was attached to the chief of staff of the Western Front. From July 1920 he was a brigade commander in the 48th RifleDivision. He died while fighting heroically against the band of Bulak-Balakhovich. Kalnin was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner.