Pavel Voyloshnikov

Pavel Voyloshnikov came from a family of Cossack officers. He was educated in the Siberian Cadet Corps in Omsk and the Nikolaev Cavalry School in St. Petersburg. After graduation he joined the 1st Verkhneudinsky Regiment of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Army in 1901. In 1902-03, he served in the then Russian city of Port Arthur, now Lüshunkou, in China, and subsequently fought in the Russo-Japanese War. With his regiment initially deployed to protect Port Arthur, he later served in Manchuria where he was wounded and was awarded several distinctions including the orders of St. Stanislaus, St. Anna, and St. Vladimir.

During the Revolution of 1905-07 he participated in the suppression of the uprising in Vladivostok in 1906. In 1909 he was transferred to the Life Guards Composite Cossack Regiment and became “sotnik” (centurion) in 1910, and in the following year “pod’esaul” (staff captain), both special ranks in Cossack regiments.

In 1912 Voyloshnikov became a member of the Olympic team of the Russian Empire, winning silver in the duelling pistol team event. He also narrowly missed another medal as a member of the fourth placed team in the free pistol shooting, just three points behind the British bronze medal team. He was also a local champion in cross-country skiing. In World War I he took part as lieutenant and commander of the 4th Amur Group of a Hundred of the Life Guards’ Composite Cossack Regiment. For his outstanding services he received higher degrees of his military distinctions and was eventually promoted to colonel. In 1917 he was appointed commander of the 1st Argun Cavalry Regiment.

After the October Revolution he joined the White Army and participated in the Civil War in Siberia, where he commanded several cavalry and Cossack brigades. During his 20 years of military service he was wounded 14 times. He remained in the Soviet Union after the defeat of the Whites.

In 1920 Voyloshnikov was arrested in Irkutsk as an officer of the White Army and imprisoned in the Butyrka Prison in Moskva (Moscow). He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and was held in the Moscow Novo-Peskovsky concentration camp. After two years he was exiled to Siberia. After his release he worked as a draftsman of the construction department in Irkutsk. In 1937 Voyloshnikov was arrested again. In the following year he was sentenced to death and shot in Irkutsk. In 1957, almost 20 years after his death, he was rehabilitated by a military tribunal.