- Fedor Keller
Count Feodor Keller (
1850 -31 July 1904 ) was a general in theImperial Russian Army , noted for his role in theBattle of Motien Pass in theRusso-Japanese War .Fedor Keller was from a family connected to both Austrian and French
nobility , and had the title ofcount . He attended the prestigiousCorps of Pages , the military school for theRussian aristocracy . After graduation in 1866, he was commissioned as an ensign in the premiercavalry regiment of the Imperial Russian Army, theChevalier Guard Regiment . As a volunteer on the staff of Major-GeneralCherniaev (nicknamed the 'Russian General Custer') Feller saw combat in theSerbo-Turkish War of 1876. The forces ofOttoman Empire defeated the Russian-ledSerbia ns, thus leading to the subsequentRusso-Turkish War, 1877–1878 . During this war, Count Keller served as the Chief-of-Staff to the Russian-ledBulgaria n militia, and later as Chief-of-Staff for Russian Major-GeneralMikhail Skobelev , where he replaced the wounded ColonelAlexei Kuropatkin . After the war, Count Keller was promoted to colonel and served in various staff positions.In 1882, Keller received command of the 4th Life Guard Rifle Battalion of the Imperial Guard. He was promoted to Major-General in 1890 and in 1893 he was selected by
Tsar Alexander III to serve as the Director of the Corps of Pages. He held this prestigious post until 1900, when, after promotion to Lieutenant-General, he became Governor ofYekaterinoslav .At the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, he volunteered for a combat command, one of the few senior Russian officers to do so. His request was approved and he was placed at the disposal of the Minister of War, General Kuropatkin. Lieutenant-General Count Keller initially served as Intelligence Officer on General Kuropatkin's staff in
Manchuria . After the Russian defeat at the Battle of the Yalu on1 May 1904 , General Kuropatkin decided Keller would replace Lieutenant-GeneralZassulitch as commander of the Eastern Detachment. Keller's leadership skills quickly made a difference in restoring the confidence of the soldiers who had been severely mauled by GeneralKuroki Tamemoto 's 1st Japanese Army. During the next month, the Eastern Detachment marched hundreds of miles, but did little fighting. Motien Pass, a strong defensive position, was abandoned by Keller on26 May 1904 due to many factors not under his control. Several small operations followed over the next two months, but with limited scope. On31 July 1904 , Keller established a strong defensive position north of Motien Pass to block the Japanese advance onLiaoyang . The Japanese 2nd and Guards Divisions attacked all day, but were unable break the Russian defense. In the late afternoon, the Japanese were surprised to see the Russians withdrawing from their positions. Later that evening, Chinese civilians informed them that Russian commander, Lieutenant-General Count Keller, had been killed by Japaneseartillery fire at about 1400 that day.While Lieutenant-General Count Keller lacked experience in the handling large bodies of troops, he was highly respected within the Russian Army as an aggressive leader; a quality sadly lacking in many Russian senior leaders during the war. His death was compared to the earlier loss of Admiral
Stepan Makarov .
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