Viktorin Molchanov


Viktorin Mikhailovich Molchanov was a Russian Major-General and a participant in the White movement.
Molchanov was born in 1886 to parents who were members of the Russian nobility. He graduated from the Elabuga Comprehensive School and Alexey's Military Institute in Moscow in 1906. Early in life Molchanov served in Primorsky Krai and fought in World War I as the captain of a field company. After he finished his tour, he returned to the Urals in time for the start of the Russian Revolution, in which he fought against the bolsheviks. During the Revolution, Molchanov was promoted and put in charge of the Izhevsk brigade and eventually an entire division in 1918.
After the defeat of Admiral Kolchak's armies and the subsequent retreat to Transbaikal, Molchanov was appointed the head of the 3rd Separate Rifle Corps of the Far Eastern Army by Ataman Grigory Semyonov. In October 1920 the Ataman was defeated and the surviving units evacuated to China. General Molchanov moved to Primorye and established Vladivostok as his base on May 31, 1921. Under his command the Whites launched an offensive and captured Khabarovsk in November 1921 but his troops were smashed at the Battle of Volochayevka on February 12, 1922 by Vasily Blyukher. General Molchanov moved to China and then settled down in the United States where he wrote his memoirs.