Vasily Karuna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vasily Petrovich Karuna | |
|---|---|
 Karuna, c. 1940 | |
| Born | 27 April 1899 |
| Died | 30 September 1943 (aged 44) |
| Allegiance | Soviet Union |
| Branch | Red Army |
| Service years | 1917–1943 |
| Rank | General-mayor |
| Commands | |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards |
|
Vasily Petrovich Karuna (Russian: Василий Петрович Каруна; 27 April 1899 – 30 September 1943) was a Red Army general-mayor who held division commands during World War II.
Vasily Petrovich Karuna was born on 27 April 1899 in the stanitsa of Morozovskaya, and finished his education at a village school in 1911.[1] During the Russian Civil War, he joined the Morozovskaya Red Guard Detachment in December 1917. With the detachment, he took part in battles against the Whites and the disarmament of the Cossacks returning from the front in the Nizhne-Chirskaya, Vasilyevskye mines, Tatsinskaya and Belaya Kalitva areas. In September 1918 Karuna's detachment was absorbed into the Red Army and he became a Red Army man in the 10th Morozovskaya Railroad Regiment. Later that year, Karuna transferred to serve as a machine gunner on the Lisitsa armored car. He took part in battles against the White Armed Forces of South Russia in the region of Morozovskaya and Tsaritsyn. Karuna was wounded in the leg at Tsaritsyn in September 1919 and hospitalized. After recovering, he served as an orderly in the 1st Morozovskaya Medical Train of the 10th Morozovskaya Regiment.[2]
Interwar period
Karuna received command training at the 2nd Borisoglebsk-Petrograd Cavalry School in Petrograd between August 1920 and September 1923. While at the school, he took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion.[1] On graduation, Karuna was appointed to command a machine gun platoon of the 61st Cavalry Regiment of the 8th Cavalry Division of the Turkestan Front. He took part in the suppression of the Basmachi movement in Eastern Bukhara, being credited with the destruction of the fighters led by Mustafakul in 1925, and was wounded in the fighting that year.[1] For these actions, he was awarded a gilded saber by the Volga Military District Military Council in 1929.[2]
After recovery, he returned to the regiment, where he was appointed chief of the regimental supply detachment. From May 1926 he served in the 43rd Cavalry Regiment of the 8th Cavalry Division, part of the Volga Military District at Orenburg, rising from machine gun platoon commander to acting machine gun squadron commander and acting saber squadron commander. In October 1927 he was transferred to the 47th Cavalry Regiment at Troitsk, serving as a squadron commander. After completing the Novocherkassk Cavalry Command Personnel Improvement Courses between October 1930 and June 1931, he returned to the 43rd Regiment of the 11th Cavalry Division (renumbered from the 8th), serving as assistant and acting regimental chief of staff, and assistant regimental commander for supply. In November 1935 the 11th Cavalry Division was relocated to the Belorussian Military District, stationed at Pukhovichi, and Karuna appointed regimental chief of staff.[2] He was promoted to the rank of mayor (major) in 1937.[1]
In October 1938 Karuna was transferred to the 4th Cossack Division of the 6th Cavalry Corps, commanding the 20th Cossack Regiment, soon renumbered as the 77th. He led the regiment in the September 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, advancing into the territory annexed to the Soviet Union as western Belorussia. Being with the division forward detachment, on 23 September then-Major Karuna was tasked with cutting off and destroying Polish troops retreating through the Augustow Forest to the Lithuanian border. During encounters with Polish troops in the region of Kalita he was credited with "skillful and precise leadership of the regiment in combat, inspiring the personnel of the regiment with his heroism" in addition to the killing of up to 300 soldiers and capture of more than 500, together with 255 rifles, 200 grenades, five heavy machine guns, and 140 horses. Karuna was transferred to command the 128th Motor Rifle Regiment of the 29th Motorized Division of the Western Special Military District in July 1940,[2] and received a promotion to the rank of polkovnik (colonel).[1]