Platon Alekseevich Lechitsky (; 18 March 1856 – 2 February 1921) was a Russian general.
Biography Lechitski was born in the Grodno province to rural priest Alexei Nikolaevich and his wife Sofia Alexandrovna (née Pavlovskaya) Lechitsky.Некролог протоиерея Алексия Лечицкого см.в: Всероссийский церковно-общественный вестник No.14 от 18 января 1917 года с.3 His father graduated from the Lithuanian Theological Seminary in 1849, was ordained priest on 14 September 1851, and served in the diocese of Grodno. Lechitsky entered the seminary but was dismissed from grade 1 as he failed to appear for the whole academic year.
On 25 March 1877, Lechitsky entered the military service as a private on the rights of self-determining 3rd rank in the 7th grenadier Samogit adjutant general Count Totleben regiment, stationed in Moscow. In August, he was sent to study at the Warsaw Infantry Junker School. He graduated from the 2nd category in 1879 and received the rank of praporshchik.
In October 1879, he began serving in the 39th Infantry Reserve Personnel Battalion, stationed in Brest-Litovsk. He was promoted through the ranks from 1880 to 1889, where he was promoted to captain. As captain, in February 1891, Lechitsky was transferred to the 6th East Siberian Line Battalion and then, in June 1892, to the 5th East Siberian Rifle Battalion. From 24 October 1893, to 28 August 1894, he studied at the Officer Rifle School. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in February 1896. On 24 November 1898, he was sent as part of a detachment to occupy the Port Arthur fortress with his battalion, renamed the 4th East Siberian Rifle Regiment.Před 100 lety obsadil generál Lešický svým bleskovým vpádem Bukovinu a změnil vývoj světové války, abcHistory.cz, 19. 6. 2016.
Chinese camping In 1900, at the opening of hostilities against the Chinese during the Boxer Rebellion, the 4th East Siberian Rifle Regiment was appointed to the North Manchurian detachment of General Vladimir Viktorovich Sakharov. Lechitsky carried out a reconnaissance on 27 July for the city of Boyans, occupied by Boxers. From 4 to 6 August, in the Sakharov detachment, Lechitsky participated in the battle near the city of Azhihe. Commanding a separate detachment of 2 companies and 1 hundred security guards of the Chinese Eastern Railway, in October 1900, Lechitsky survived a battle with Boxers by the village of Fonigou, near the city of Kuanchenzi. In early 1901, when, an expedition was organized from the troops of the southern Manchurian detachment to eastern Mongolia to the city of Kulo, Lechitsky commanded a convoy aimed at providing an important railway station node in Kabanzi.
Produced for fights difference in colonels, Lechitsky was temporally appointed commander of the 1st Siberian Rifle Regiment E.V. and military commander of Mukden. On 2 September 1902, Lechitsky was appointed commander of the 7th Caucasian Rifle Battalion, but, after not accepting the appointment, on 3 November received the 24th East Siberian Rifle Regiment.
Russo-Japanese war
In September 1904, Lechitsky marched with a regiment from Liaoyang to Fynhuangcheng and on to Yala. On 11 April, Lechitsky was entrusted with protecting a section of the Yalu River from the village of Syndyagou to s. Kuluza, over 18 miles, with a detachment from the battalion of the 24th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, a company of the 10th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, the 1st East Siberian Mountain Battery and two hundred. Having made a forced transition of 44 miles, Lechitsky at dawn on 12 April arrived at the mouth of the river.
On April 18, 1904, the Battle of the Yalu River broke out. Lechitsky only received information about the battle from the Chinese on the 19th and on the 21st joined the right column of the Eastern detachment, retreating to Modulinsky Pass. On 1 May, all parts of the Eastern detachment retreated to Lyandansyan, leaving the advanced units at the passes, including on Modulinsky — the Lechitsky detachment from the 24th V.-Sib. page pp. with 2 op. and 1 hundred. kaz. 14 June, by order of the head of Vost. detachment of the 24th V.-Sib. p. n. moved to Thavuan, forming a general reserve.
On 4 July, Lechitsky took part in the establishment of a part of the East detachment (26 battalions) to Ufanguansk passage. For outstanding service in previous battles, he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree, and on 11 August granted by the adjutant wing to His Imperial Majesty. On 10 August, Lechitsky with his regiment took the right-side section of the Landasyansky position near the village of Kofintszy, and on 13 August. With rearguard battles, Lechitsky on 15 August retreated to the forefront of Liaoyang, with his position located in the vicinity of the village of Mindyafan, and on 16 August he occupied a site at Tsofantunsky, which he defended in the days of the Liaoyang battle.
During the Chechen attack, Lechitsky became a member of the left column of the III Siberian Corps and from 25 to 30 September participated in the actions of these corps at Bensihu. At the very beginning of the Mukden operation, as soon as the Japanese attack was discovered against the Tsinchechen detachment, the commander-in-chief sent Major General Danilov (23rd and 24th regiments) from the 2nd Army to support the brigade, which occupied the night of 15 February 1905, position on the Tsandansky heights, near the village of Kudyaz. In these positions, until 23 February, Lechitsky, together with other parts of General Danilov's detachment, repulsed all the enemy's attacks, until an order was issued to withdraw the 1st Army across the Yellow River.
On 12 May 1905, Lechitsky was promoted to major general for military distinctions, and on 5 August he was appointed commander of the 1st brigade of the 6th East Siberian Infantry Division. On 15 August, he was enrolled in His Majesty's Suite. On 10 March 1906, Lechitsky was appointed commander of the 6th East Siberian Rifle Division, and on 21 July as commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Division. It is noteworthy that Lechitsky did not have a higher military education, as he did not graduate from the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, but this did not in the least prevent him from making a career in the Russian Imperial Army. On 12 December 1906, he was bestowed the tunic of the 24th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, and on 26 August 1908, he was appointed commander of the XVIII Army Corps. On 5 October 1908, he was promoted to lieutenant general (with seniority as of 14 February 1909) and on 23 December 1910, he was appointed commander of the forces of the Amur Military District.
World War I At the beginning of the war, Lechitsky commanded a group of troops aimed at helping the 4th Army after its failure at Krasnik. On 9 August 1914, he stood at the head of the 9th Army and went through the whole battle campaign with it. Alongside the Brusilov 8th Army, it turned out to be the most combat-ready formation of all the Russian armed forces. The very first actions of Lechitsky as commander made him known as a decisive, energetic and proactive commander. During the general offensive of the Southwestern Front, the Ninth Army overturned the opposing enemy, taking on 2 September 1914 the Polish city of Sandomierz and creating a bridgehead on the San River to attack Krakow. For the Battle of Galicia, General Lechitsky was the first in the Great War to receive one of the highest awards of the Russian Army: the St. George's weapon with diamonds. In total, during the period of 1914–1916, only eight people were awarded this award.
The counterattack of the Austro-Germans, which followed that same September, forced the 9th Army to retreat and defend itself on the Vistula line in the vicinity of the Ivangorod fortress. In the battles in the front of Ivangorod, Russian troops waited for the defeat of the Germans near Warsaw and on 13 October went on the offensive. On 2 November, Lechitsky's army captured the lower reaches of the San, again creating the conditions for an attack on Krakow. For the hardest battles near Ivangorod and the defeat of the Austrian 1st Army, Lechitsky was awarded the 3rd degree Order of St. George, "for speeding up the army entrusted to him, crossing the Vistula River from Suliev to New Alexandria inclusively, which was broken "stubborn resistance of the enemy and at the same time captured over 200 officers, 15,000 lower ranks, 24 guns and 36 machine guns."
The next stage of the 9th Army's combat route was the Carpathian operation (January — April 1915). Given the shortage of shells, Lechitsky's main task was to organize defence and provide troops with rear supplies. To overcome the positional impasse, his army was entrusted with a complex operation to circumvent the Austrian defence and attack in Bukovina. During this operation, it was necessary to occupy Budapest, and then make a turn to the north and move to Krakow, knocking the enemy down successively from south to north. Fighting in the mountains is significantly different from action in the open field. Therefore, Lechitsky issued an order that said: "A frontal attack in the mountains leads to huge losses and still does not give a decisive result, why in all cases rounds should be used and sufficient forces." Thanks to this tactic, in the battles of 16–18 March near Khotyn, the 2nd and 3rd cavalry corps defeated the Austro-German army group Marshal, which allowed the 9th army to occupy part of the southern Carpathian passes.
A successful attack was prevented by the German Gorlitsky breakthrough, which forced the Russian Army to retreat. The victorious march of the German army of Mackensen was suspended by the cavalry of the 9th army, commanded by the legendary Count F.A. Keller. The cavalry broke through the defences of the Austrians and went to the Prut River, taking the cities of Snyatyn, Kolomyia, and Chernivtsi.
Nevertheless, the general rollback of the front continued. Against his background, the 9th Army showed great restraint. Having given the Austrians only the Chernivtsi region, the Army managed to keep its front. Moreover, by transferring reinforcements to neighbours, Lechitsky's army tried to hold down the enemy with constant counterattacks to prevent him from transferring his troops to other sectors of the front. During the attack of 19–24 May 1915 on the Prut River, the 30th Army Corps of Andrei Zayonchkovski took 1500 prisoners. This cause could be successfully developed, but the commander in chief of the armies of the front N.I. Ivanov, contrary to the arguments of Lechitsky, ordered to retreat to the Dniester.
During its four-month retreat, the 9th Army nevertheless took about 70000 prisoners, the award for which became the Order of the White Eagle with swords for Lechitsky. In mid-October, the location of the 9th Army was visited by Emperor Nicholas II.
In early March 1916, Lechitsky fell ill with lobar pneumonia. He was treated by Julius Osipovich Manasevich, the future personal doctor of General Brusilov. During the next detour of the front, Emperor Nicholas II visited the sick Lechitsky at the army headquarters in Kamenetz-Podolsk on 30 March 1916.