Max Reyter

Max Andreyevich Reyter
Born	(1886-04-24)24 April 1886 Ziras parish, Ventspils Municipality, Courland Governorate Russian Empire (now Latvia)
Died	Moscow, Russian SFSR Soviet Union
Allegiance	Russian Empire (1906-1917) Soviet Russia (1919-1922) Soviet Union (1922-1950)
Service/branch	Imperial Russian Army Red Army / Soviet Army
Years of service	1906 - 1917 1919 - 1950
Rank	Colonel-general
Commands held	20th Army (1942) Bryansk / Reserve Front (1942-1943) South Ural Military District (1943-1945)
Battles/wars	World War I Russian Civil War World War II
Awards	Order of Lenin Order of Suvorov, 1st class Order of the Red Banner (4x) and other awards

Max Andreyevich Reyter (Russian: Макс Андреевич Рейтер, Latvian: Maksis Reiters; 24 April 1886 [O.S. 12 April] – 6 April 1950) was an Imperial Russian and Soviet military officer of Latvian origin.

A lieutenant-general in the Red Army at the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Reyter was a commander of the 20th Army and the commander-in-chief for the Bryansk Front in 1942 - 1943. Promoted to colonel-general in 1943, he headed the South Ural Military District September 1943 to July 1945.

Biography

Born to peasant Latvian parents in Ziras parish, Ventspils County, Courland Governorate, Russian Empire (now Latvia) in 1886, Max Reyter joined voluntarily the Imperial Russian Army in 1906. He graduated from the Irkutsk Military School in 1910. During World War I he commanded a company, battalion in the Caucasus Front, and was an officer for assignments at the army headquarters on the Western Front. A colonel in the Russian Army at the time of its collapse before the advancing German Army in 1917-1918, Reyter was captured by Germans at the front and taken to a German prisoner-of-war camp in East Prussia in February 1918. He sided with the Bolsheviks after returning to Russia, and joined the Red Army in 1919.

In Russian civil war he fought in North Front as the regiment's adjutant. Later appointed as assistant regimental commander and then as Commander of the regiment. In 1920, he fought in the Polish-Soviet war. He took part in the suppression of the 1921 Kronstadt Uprising. As the 97th regimental commander he was awarded with his first Order of the Red Banner. In 1921, as the Rifle Brigade commander, then as the 11th Infantry Division commander assistant in 1922 and awarded the second Order of the Red Banner. and joined the Bolshevik Party in 1922. From the 1924 to 1929 he was the 2nd Priamurskoj Infantry Division and later the 30th Infantry Division commander. In 1929 he participated in the battles of the Chinese-Eastern Railway to the Zhang Xueliang's troops of Republic of China. In 1932 he was appointed as the 73rd Infantry Division Commander of Siberian Military District. He joined the General Staff after graduating from the Frunze Military Academy in November 1935. He served as head of Third Department of Fighting Training Administration in the Red Army from 1936 to 1939. From January 1940 he was Commander Assistant of North Caucasus Military District, then Deputy Commander and promoted to Lieutenant General in July 1940.

He was deputy commander for the rear of the Central and Bryansk Fronts from August to December 1941, assistant to the commander of the Western Front from February to March 1942, and commander of the 20th Army of the Western Front from March to September 1942.

Reyter served as commander of the Bryansk Front from September 28, 1942 until March 12, 1943， Reserve Front on 12–23 March 1943, Kursk Front on 23–27 March 1943, Oryol Front on 27–28 March 1943, and Bryansk Front on March 28- May 6, 1943.

Reyter was promoted from lieutenant-general to colonel-general in January 1943. He was the deputy commander of the Voronezh Front from August to September 1943, and the commanding officer of the South Ural Military District from September 1943 to July 1945.

He headed the Vystrel Soviet Army officers' training course from 1946 to January 1950.

He died in Moscow on March 6, 1950.

External links

• Max Reyter in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Russian)