 He graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1933.He was appointed commander of a regiment in 1931, and in 1938, during the Great Purge he was suddenly promoted to membership of the Military Counil of the Belorussian (Belarus) Military District.He was apparently sent there to supervise a purge of Red Army commanders in the district, including the future war hero Georgy Zhukov, who never forgave him.