Vilno Military District (Russian Empire)
| Vilno Military District | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Map of the district in 1912 | |
| Active | 1862–1914 |
| Country | Russian Empire |
| Branch | Imperial Russian Army |
| Type | Military district |
| Garrison/HQ | Vilno |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | |
Vilno Military District (Russian: Ви́ленский вое́нный о́круг) was a Russian military district of the Imperial Russian Army. The district was formed in 1862 as part of Russian military reforms and was responsible for parts of modern Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The district was disbanded at the beginning of the First World War in July 1914, and its headquarters were used to form another district farther to the rear.
History
In the Russian Empire, military districts were first formed by Dmitry Milyutin in 1862–64 to replace the pre-existing Military Inspectorates. The military districts were organised to include civilian administration regions of gubernyas and uyezds. The Vilno Military District was created on 6 July 1862, and comprised the following gubernyas:[1]
- Vilno
- Grodno
- Kovno
- Kurland
- Livonia (exluding the Pernov, Fellinskiy, Valkskiy and Verrosskiy uyezds)
- Vitebsk
- Mogilev
- Minsk
- Suwałki (excluding Shchuchinsk uyezd)
The corps headquarters were in Vilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania).[1]
On 17 July, just before the beginning of the First World War, martial law was imposed in the district. After the outbreak of the war later that month, the district headquarters became the headquarters of the new Dvinsk Military District. Combat units stationed in the district at the time became part of the new 1st Army, under the command of district commander Paul von Rennenkampf.[1]
Composition
The following units were based in the Vilno Military District upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914:[2]
Commanders
The district was commanded by the following officers:[1]
- Lieutenant General and Adjutant General Vladimir Nazimov (6 July 1862 – 1 May 1863)
- Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of cavalry April 1878) Pyotr Albedinsky (22 July 1874 – 18 May 1880)
- General of engineers Eduard Totleben (18 May 1880 – 19 June 1884)
- General of infantry Alexander Nikitn (23 September 1884 – 11 March 1886)
- General of infantry Nikolay Ganetsky (13 March 1886 – 11 February 1895)
- General of infantry and Adjutant General Vitaly Trotsky (1897 – 1901)[3]
- General of infantry Alexander Gurchin (1901 – 1902)[4]
- General of infantry Oskar Grippenberg (10 November 1902 – 11 September 1904)
- General of infantry Alexander Freze (12 October 1904 – 19 December 1905)[5]
- Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 1906) Konstantin Krzhivitsky (1905 – 1909)
- Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 1910) Sergei Gershelman (17 March 1909 – 17 November 1910, died of illness)[6]
- Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 6 December 1910) Fyodor Martson (23 November 1910 – 17 January 1913)
- General of cavalry and Adjutant General Paul von Rennenkampf (20 January 1913 – 19 July 1914)
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Виленский военный округ" [Vilno Military District]. Regiment.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ↑ Likhotvorik, Alexey (4 April 2015). "Варшавский военный округ" [Structure of the Warsaw Military District]. grwar.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ↑ "Троцкий, Виталий Николаевич" [Trotsky, Vitaly Nikolaevich]. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). St. Petersburg. 1901.
- ↑ "Гурчин, Александр Викентьевич" [Gurchin, Alexander Vikentievich]. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). St. Petersburg. 1905.
- ↑ Likhotvorik, Alexey (5 February 2017). "Фрезе Александр Александрович" [Alexander Alexandrovich Freze]. grwar.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ↑ Ivanov, Andrei (2008). "«Честно и грозно в духе исконно-русских начал». О московском генерал-губернаторе Сергее Константиновиче Гершельмане (1854−1910)" ["With honesty and strictness, in the spirit of the Russian traditions": Moscow Governor General S.K. Gershelman]. Московский журнал [Moscow Journal]. История государства Российского [History of the Russian Government] (in Russian) (9 (213)): 12–17.