Nikolay Nikanorovich Belov

Nikolay Nikanorovich Belov
Born	6 December 1896 Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate Russian Empire
Died	9 August 1941 near Podvysokoye, Kirovograd Oblast Ukrainian SSR Soviet Union
Allegiance	Russian Empire  Soviet Union
Service/branch	Imperial Russian Army Red Army
Years of service	1915 – 1941
Rank	Major-general
Commands held	9th Cavalry Division 15th Motorized Rifle Division / 15th Rifle Division
Battles/wars	World War I Russian Civil War World War II

Nikolay Nikanorovich Belov (Russian: Никола́й Никано́рович Бело́в; 6 December 1896 - 9 August 1941) was a Red Army World War II major-general who commanded the 15th Motorized Rifle Division / 15th Rifle Division.

Belov was wounded during the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 4 August 1941, but chose to remain with his men rather than escape by aircraft.

He was killed by a German shell fragment on 9 August 1941.

Biography

Born to a poor working family in Kharkov (Kharkiv) in 1896, Nikolay Nikanorovich Belov was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army in August 1915 and saw action on the Eastern Front of World War I. He joined the newly formed Red Army after the October Revolution, fought in the Russian Civil War, and became a member of the Bolshevik Party in 1919.

A cavalry commander in the 1930s, he led the 9th Cavalry Division during the Soviet campaign into Polish western Ukraine in 1939 and into Romanian-ceded Bessarabia in 1940.

Belov became a major-general in June 1940 and was assigned to command the mechanized 15th Motorized Rifle Division of the 2nd Mechanized Corps in March 1941.

Badly mauled in July 1941 by the advancing Germans after their surprise attack on the Soviet Union, Belov's 15th Motorized Rifle Division was reorganized on 6 August as the 15th Rifle Division.

Belov was wounded on 4 August 1941. An airplane was dispatched to bring him out, Belov chose to remain with his men in the German circlement.^[1]

The major-general was killed in combat by a German shell fragment near the village of Podvysokoye in the Kirovograd Oblast of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 9 August 1941.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Maslov, Aleksander & David Glantz (Trans., Ed.) (1998). Fallen Soviet Generals: Soviet General Officers Killed in Battle, 1941-1945. pp. 24-25. ISBN 9780714643465.

Persondata
Name	Belov, Nikolay Nikanorovich
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 December 1896
Place of birth	Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate Russian Empire
Date of death	9 August 1941
Place of death	near Podvysokoye, Kirovograd Oblast Ukrainian SSR Soviet Union