Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir (; 3 August 1896 – 12 June 1937) was a Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II. He was an early and major military victim of the Great Purge, alongside Mikhail Tukhachevsky.
Early years Born in Kishinev, Bessarabia, Russian Empire, into the prosperous family of a Jewish pharmacist,Five short biographies about Yakir (all in Russian) Yakir graduated from the local secondary school in 1914. Because of Imperial Russian governmental restrictions on Jews' access to higher education, Yakir studied abroad at the University of Basel in Switzerland, in the field of chemistry. After the outbreak of World War I (1914), he returned to the Russian Empire and worked as a turner in a military factory in Odessa (he was a reservist). From 1915 to 1917, he attended the Kharkov Technological Institute. Affected by the war, he became a follower of Vladimir Lenin. In 1917, he returned to Kishinev, and in April became a member of the Bolshevik Party.John Erickson, The Soviet High Command. A Military-Political History 1918–1941, page 80. He also became a member of the Bessarabian Governorate's Council, the Governorate's Committee, and the Revolutionary Committee. From January 1918, he took an active part in the Bolshevik seizure of power in Bessarabia. When Romania intervened to recapture Bessarabia, Yakir led Bolshevik resistance, but the regular Romanian army overwhelmed his small force.
In the Civil War Yakir retreated to Ukraine and fought against Austro-Hungarian occupation forces as a commander of a Chinese regiment of the Red Army. He was severely wounded in March 1918 near Ekaterinoslav. At the beginning of the Russian Civil War between Bolshevik forces, the White Army and various other anti-Bolshevik movements, Yakir was a member of the Bolshevik Party in Voronezh Province and started his service in the Red Army as a commissar. He showed military talent and was assigned as a field commander. In October 1918, he served as a member of the Revolutionary Council of the 8th Army in the Southern Front and simultaneously commanded the Southern Front's several key formations in operations against the Don Cossacks of Pyotr Krasnov. He carried out Lenin's order of persecution against the Cossack civilians and the extermination of almost half of the male Cossack population.Donald Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him, page 79. The war against armed combatants plus the terror against the civilians were coming together in the Russian Civil War. Encouraged by the Bolshevik theory of class struggle, Yakir, like other members of the Communist party, took part in terror. For his services, he became the second individual (after Vasily Blyukher) to receive the highest Soviet military award of that time, the Order of the Red Banner (engraved as No. 2).
In the summer of 1919, Yakir was sent to Ukraine to command the 45th Rifle Division, and in August 1919, he became the commander of the Southern Group of the 12th Army, which included the 45th and 58th Rifle Divisions. Both divisions were surrounded in Odessa by the White forces. Yakir undertook one of the most unusual Civil War military operations. He breached the encirclement and led his forces through the enemy rear for a distance of to join the Red Army in Zhitomir.Earl F. Ziemke, The Red Army 1918–1941. From Vanguard of World Revolution to US Ally, page 104. Like other Bolshevik commanders who did not have military education he was assisted in this operation by former tsarist army officers on his staff but this fact does not negate his own role in planning and leading the campaign. For this campaign he received his second Order of the Red Banner, and both of his divisions received Red Banners of Honor. Yakir took part in actions against the White forces of Nikolai Yudenich in defense of Petrograd, in suppression of Ukrainian anarchist guerrilla forces of Nestor Makhno, and in the Polish–Soviet War. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times (twice in 1919 and once in 1930), and he became one of the most-decorated Red Army commanders.
Military reform After the civil war, Yakir commanded army formations in Ukraine. Yakir was a close associate of Mikhail Frunze and belonged to his inner circle of innovative Red Army officers who assisted Frunze in starting far-reaching military reforms. Among these reformers, Mikhail Tukhachevsky became a friend of Yakir. In April 1924 Yakir was appointed a head of the Main Directorate of Military Academies of the Red ArmyThe Soviet High Command. A Military-Political History 1918–1941, page 178. and simultaneously editor of a major military periodical devoted to development of military theory, Voennyi Vestnik.
In November 1925, after Frunze's death, Yakir was appointed commander of the most powerful territorial formations of the Red Army, the newly reorganized Ukrainian Military District (see: Kiev Military District).The Soviet High Command. A Military-Political History 1918–1941, pages 202, 367. Yakir, in close coordination with Tukhachevsky and other reformers, made his district into a laboratory for wide-ranging experiments in strategy, tactical and operational techniques, army formations and equipment. In training his troops, Yakir encouraged his officers' initiative and ability to make their own judgments. In 1928 and 1929, Yakir studied at the Higher Military Academy () in Berlin. This was possible because of the intensive military cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany. Yakir's innovative approaches to the military art impressed his German colleagues. German Field Marshal of World War I fame Paul von HindenburgAnd not just him: historians of posterity also consider Yakir as one of the most promising talents of the Red Army. See: John Erickson, The Soviet High Command. A Military-Political History 1918–1941, page 482. praised him as one of the most-talented military commanders of the post-World War I era.At the end of the course Hindenburg presented Yakir with a copy of Cannae, the famous military treatise of Alfred von Schlieffen with the following written dedication: "To Herr Yakir, one of the most talented commanders present". See: Following repeated requests from German officers, Yakir gave special lectures on the Russian Civil War.
After returning to his district, Yakir continued military reforms. He was one of the creators of the first large tank and air-force formations in the world. Not a military theorist in his own right, Yakir strongly supported Tukhachevsky's endeavor in developing the theory of deep operations. Military historians across the world still consider this theory an outstanding theoretical innovation. In 1934 Yakir requested that Tukhachevsky be appointed to conduct advanced courses on operational theory for high-ranking officers of the Red Army General Staff and commanders of military districts. He made this request even though he knew about Joseph Stalin's dislike of Tukhachevsky. In retribution, Stalin instructed Kliment Voroshilov, the Peoples Commissar of Defense, to bar Yakir from membership in the prestigious Advisory Council of the Defense Commissariat. In 1935, in order to diminish Yakir's power, the Ukrainian Military District was divided into two new districts: Kiev,The Soviet High Command. A Military-Political History 1918–1941, page 394. under Yakir's command, and Kharkov.
In September 1935 Yakir conducted major military maneuvers in Kiev with the Kiev and Kharkov Military Districts' forces. The event resulted in several cover-page articles in the Defense Comissariat's official journal, Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). Most importantly, these maneuvers aimed to test the theory of deep operations and the latest technology. A total of 65,000 troops, including 1,888 paratroopers, with 1,200 tanks and 600 aircraft participated in these maneuvers. These were the first maneuvers in the world that used combined operations of large tank, air-force, and airborne formations. The troops acted along a front of with a depth of . Representatives of major world armies attended the maneuvers. French general Lucien Loizeau made very favorable comments about the technical and moral readiness of the Red Army.Peter Gosztony, Die rote Armee: Machtfaktor der Weltpolitik. The German Wehrmacht copied Soviet innovations in the years before World War II. The reforms — started by Frunze, and continued by Yakir, Tukhachevsky and many other commanders — made the Red Army into one of the most advanced armies in the world. During these years, Yakir regularly gave lectures to the Red Army General Staff Academy, informing the students about the newest developments in military affairs; his students considered him an excellent speaker and tutor.Alexander Gorbatov, Years off My Life: The Memoirs of a General of the Soviet Army.
In 1935 he was promoted to Komandarm 1st rank, the second-highest military rank in the Soviet Union at the time.
Political involvements Stalin, who was consolidating his power over the country, approved Yakir's appointment to the Ukrainian Military District in 1925. However, he did not trust him fully and instructed his political ally Lazar Kaganovich to become friends with Yakir and to report about his activities.Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, page 223.Robert Conquest, The Great Terror, page 201.Otto Preston Chaney, Zhukov, page 36-37.Thos. G. Butson, The Tsar's Lieutenant: The Soviet Marshal, page 227. Yakir, who was a firm believer in the Communist cause, was actively involved in internal politics. He was member of the party Central Committee in MoscowThe Soviet High Command. A Military-Political History 1918–1941, page 426. and member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Ukraine. While ingenious and independent in his thinking as a military commander, in Soviet politics he was a docile party member and followed the Stalinist line.Yakir — alongside Stalin, Nikolai Yezhov, and Nadezhda Krupskaya — was the member of a special committee established after the arrest of Nikolai Bukharin and before the Trial of the Twenty-One. They gathered together to decide upon the fate of the accused ones, including Alexei Rykov and Bukharin. Yezhov suggested to exclude them from the Central Committee and execute them, following a short trial. Pavel Postyshev agreed on the trial but rejected against the idea of execution. Stalin himself made a third suggestion (which only delayed the solution): to further investigate therefore pushing the case back to the NKVD. Members of the special committee were to vote for each of the three suggestions one by one, in alphabetical order. According to some people present, Yakir was the only person refraining. Given the circumstances, it was a heroic act. Others said though that Yakir (whose name starts with the last letter of the Russian alphabet) took advantage of his position and voted for the suggestion of Stalin as the most convenient option. See: Anna Larina, This I Cannot Forget: The Memoirs of Nikolai Bukharin's Widow, page 241–242. and Jörg Baberowski, Verbrannte Erde. Stalins Herrschaft der Gewalt. As a party member, he lacked the power of conviction and independent thinking to defy Stalin.