Poltoratsky, Vladimir Alexandrovich

Born April 15, 1830, came from the nobility of the Tver province . He was educated in the Novgorod Count Arakcheev’s cadet corps , from where on June 13, 1848 he was released as ensign in the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment. The following year, during the Hungarian war , Poltoratsky took part in the campaign with the regiment, and six months later entered the Imperial Military Academy , where he completed the 1st grade course, and was awarded a small silver medal, his name was written on a marble plaque ; On December 2, 1853, Poltoratsky was assigned to the General Staff, and a year later he was transferred to the Guards General Staff and appointed to the Headquarters of the Heir Cesarevich Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and Grenadier Corps. In 1854, the Guards Corps was moved to the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania , and here Poltoratsky spent the entire Eastern War while at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard.

At the end of the campaign, on July 9, 1856, he was appointed to the Department of the General Staff with production as captain, in 1862, September 16, he was also appointed head of the Department for Caucasus, Orenburg and Siberian Territories and promoted to colonel. At this time, Poltoratsky, together with Lieutenant Colonel Ilyin , founded lithography for printing maps. In 1858, at the first private lithographic cartographic enterprise of an officer of the General Staff, Ilyin published the Military Historical Atlas of the Wars of 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1815 for military schools, which survived several editions. The first significant work in this lithograph was the “Map of the river regions of the Amur, southern Lena, Yenisei and Sakhalin Island” at a scale of 40 versts per 1 inch (published in 1864 by the Imperial Geographical Society ), and was the leader and executor of this work. Of the cards published by the institution under the supervision of Poltoratsky, the following deserve attention: “Desktop map of European Russia” at a scale of 100 miles per 1 inch (1863); "Map of Asian Russia" on a scale of 250 miles in 1 inch; “Atlas of the West Russian Region and the Kingdom of Poland”; in addition, maps of individual provinces and regions of the Russian Empire, an educational geographical atlas, a mercenary map of the globe, and others.

December 1, 1863 Poltoratsky was appointed head of the Asian branch of the Main Directorate of the General Staff (later head of the Asian affairs of the General Staff), and on January 29, 1867 he was sent by the Ministry of War to the Kyrgyz steppe and the Tien Shan to view militarily the western Chinese border. Already in May, he arrived in the detachment exposed on p. Tekes did a search downstream for the return of the deposited Kyrgyz; delved into the Tien Shan along the Muzart pass and, the first of the Russians, reached the huge Muzart glaciers. Arriving in Verny , Poltoratsky equipped a detachment in the Zaissykkul region to pacify the rebellious Kara-Kyrgyz sultan Umbet-Ala. From Verny, the expedition set off in a direct meridional direction south of the Zailiysky plain through the passage of the Shamsi of the Alexander ridge ; travelers crossed six mountain ranges, including the mountain junction of the Sonkul plateau, and reached Lake Son-Kul, which lies at an altitude of 8,000 feet. The extreme point of the Poltoratsky expedition was the destroyed Chinese fortification of Tessyk-Tash, 50 miles from Kashgar . The scientific results of the Poltoratsky expedition (known as “Chatyr-Kul”) are as follows: 1) in the reconnaissance of the Muzart passage, beyond the Naryn region and the routes to Kashgar; 2) in a five-verst instrumental shooting of the beyond-Naryn Territory in a space of 12,000 sq. verst; 3) in the collection of mammals, birds, insects and in the collection of plants (up to 500 species).

At the end of the year, Poltoratsky returned from a business trip to St. Petersburg and three months later, on March 25, 1868, he was named the Highest Governor by the military governor of the Semipalatinsk region and commander of the troops, and on May 4, 1868 he was promoted to major general. In this post, Poltoratsky served for 10 years, introduced a new position in the region and was awarded the orders of St. Stanislav 1st degree (1870) and St. Annes of the 1st degree (1872). As governor, Poltoratsky repeatedly served as Chairman of the Council of the Main Directorate of Western Siberia, and on April 21, 1878 he was appointed commander of the Kronstadt Fortress Infantry Division, and on October 4 of that year, the commander of the 5th Infantry Division, then located in the occupying forces of Bulgaria in the vicinity of Philippopolis . Arriving in Bulgaria, Poltoratsky was immediately forced to engage in the most versatile activities: his division was entrusted with monitoring p. Arda and the protection of the southern reaches of eastern Rumelia from robber gangs; he observed the internal order during the introduction of new institutions and the new administration in his area, was obliged to supervise the training of the military affairs of the Bulgarians and observed the topographic survey, reconnaissance and statistical descriptions made in his district. In July 1879, the cleansing of Bulgaria by our troops began, and Poltoratsky’s division remained in the form of a rearguard on the southern border of eastern Rumelia, and on July 10 and 15 the 5th division was put on board and sent to Russia. For his zealous service in Bulgaria, Poltoratsky was promoted to lieutenant general on August 30, 1879, and was awarded the Order of St. 23 January 1881 . Vladimir of the 2nd degree, and then, on May 6, 1884, was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and the next year, June 19, was appointed head of the 36th Infantry Division. July 20, 1886, Poltoratsky filed a petition for dismissal from service due to illness, and 5 days later he died in Orel .

Poltoratsky was well acquainted with our Asian affairs; as head of the Asian Branch of the General Staff, he contributed a lot to the success of our expeditions to the Central Asian possessions newly joined to Russia. He was a full member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and from 1867 to 1870 was a member of the Audit Commission of the Company. In 1858, the Geographical Society awarded him a silver medal for scientific editorial and cartographic work performed on behalf of the Society and for the work “On the Trans-Naryn Territory”; in 1863 he received an honorary review from the Society Council for the performance of the map of Siberia ( Schwartz ) in his lithograph. In addition to participating in the publication of maps, Poltoratsky is known as the author of the following works: “Campaign of 1814 to France ”. (St. Petersburg, 185?); “Military-historical atlas of the wars of 1812-1815 with maps and plans” (St. Petersburg, 1860); “Map of the theater of war in Northern Italy ” (St. Petersburg, 1859); “Overview of the country between Chu and Syr Darya” (“Notes of the Geographical Society”, 1867); “In northwestern Mongolia” (“Proceedings of the Geographical Society”, 1874) - reports of astronomical and topographical works of surveyors; “On Trade Relations with Western China.” ("Proceedings of the Geographical Society", 1873, volume IX); “On measures to facilitate the bringing of units to martial law”; “A Trip to the Mussart Pass” (Proceedings of the Geographical Society, 1869, Volume X). Poltoratsky put his cards in Izvestia and Zapiski of the Geographical Society; in addition, he wrote reviews of military essays in The St. Petersburg Gazette , The Russian Disabled , The Military Collection, and The Son of the Fatherland.

• Artamonov N.N. Poltoratsky, Vladimir Alexandrovich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Glinotsky N.P. Historical outline of the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. St. Petersburg, 1882.
• List of generals by seniority for 1886. SPb., 1886.

• Poltoratsky // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.