Vladimir Zenonovich May-Mayevsky KCMG (; – 30 November 1920) was a general in the Imperial Russian Army and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement during the Russian Civil War. Biography According to Peter Kenez, V. Z. Mai-Maevskii was a complex figure. He lived a dissolute life and his orgies brought ill-repute to the cause which he served. In territories under his control, terror and lawlessness reigned. His soldiers called him Kutuzov, not because of his style of leadership, but because of his appearance: he was fat and flabby and wore a pince-nez. He did not at all look like a soldier. Nevertheless, he was one of the ablest White military leaders." May-Mayevsky was born in 1867 to a family of minor gentry in Saint Petersburg. He entered military service in 1885, graduating from the Nikolaev Engineering Institute in 1888, now Military engineering-technical university (Russian Военный инженерно-технический университет), serving as a lieutenant with the elite Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment. He later graduated from the Nicholas General Staff Academy in 1896, and was promoted to a captain of General Staff. During the Russo-Japanese War, May-Mayevsky was promoted to the rank of colonel and commanded the 1st Guards Corps, which he continued to command in the First World War, when he was promoted to the rank of major general. He was awarded the Order of St. George (4th class) and Golden Sword of St. George in 1915, and the Cross of St. George in 1917. At the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917 May-Mayevsky was still in charge of the 1st Guard Corps. Although his obese appearance was distinctly unmilitary, he had military talent and a reputation for calm bravery and quick decisive action. In March 1918 May-Mayevsky fled to the Don region, and joined Mikhail Drozdovsky's White movement army as a common soldier. This unit soon merged with the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army, and May-Mayevsky became a divisional commander. By December 1918, May-Mayevsky was a general fighting on the Don front, including the Battle for the Donbas (1919). His remarkable performance was due to his strategy of stationing his troops at railroad junctions, and then using the railroad network to speedily move troops to where they were needed most. According to Kenez, "On one occasin, one unit fought at three different places in the course of a single day." He also used airplanes for reconnaissance missions. On 23 May