Chapayev, Vasily

(1887–1919) was a celebrated Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War. In 1917 he was elected commander of his regiment by a vote of the regiment’s soldiers. White Army forces ambushed the divisional headquarters near Lbishchensk in 1919. According to official sources, Chapayev tried to escape by swimming across the Ural River, but was never again seen alive. His body was never recovered. Chapayev was immortalized by Soviet propaganda as a hero of the Russian Civil War.