Pavel Bermondt-Avalov

Major General Prince Pavel Rafailovich Bermondt-Avalov
Bermondt-Avalov c. 1920
Born	(1877-03-16)16 March 1877 Tiflis, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	27 December 1973(1973-12-27) (aged 96) New York City, United States
Allegiance	Russian Empire Russian Republic White Movement
Service / branch	Imperial Russian Army White Army West Russian Volunteer Army
Years of service	1901–1919
Rank	Major General
Unit	Argun 1st Cossack Regiment Ussuri Cossack Regiment St. Petersburg 1st Lancers Regiment
Battles / wars	Russo-Japanese War First World War Russian Civil War Latvian War of Independence Lithuanian Wars of Independence
Awards	Order of St. George Order of Saint Anna
Other work	Russian National Liberation Socialist Movement Russian National Socialist Movement

Prince Pavel Rafailovich Bermondt-Avalov (Russian: Павел Рафаилович Бермондт-Авалов) or Prince Avalov (16 March [O.S. 4 March] 1877 – 27 December 1973) was a Russian Imperial officer and a Cossack adventurer-warlord. He is best known as the commander of the West Russian Volunteer Army which was active in present-day Latvia and Lithuania in the aftermath of World War I.^[1][2][3][4]

Born into a Georgian-Russian family, Avalov received a musical education in Warsaw and joined the Russian Imperial Army's Baikal Cossacks host as a musical conductor. He participated in the Russo-Japanese War, during which he was awarded the Cross of St. George. After converting to Orthodoxy, he was transferred to the Ussuri Cossacks and was promoted to cornet. During the First World War, Avalov worked as a personal adjutant for Pavel Mishchenko, serving in Eastern Prussia and Galicia. Throughout his military career, Avalov was injured seven times.

After being demobilized in 1917, Avalov became involved in the Russian Civil War as an ardent supporter of the White Army. After defending Kyiv from Symon Petlyura, Avalov was captured and later exiled into Germany, where he formed a unit to fight the Bolsheviks in the Baltic States, along with general Rüdiger von der Goltz's Baltische Landeswehr. While fighting in Latvia and Lithuania to establish a pro-German and anti-Bolshevik territorial union, Avalov's West Russian Volunteer Army, also called the Bermontians, raided and pillaged the countryside and its occupied areas. After suffering defeats in Riga and Radviliškis, Avalov's army was severely damaged and subsequently retreated into Germany. In Germany, Avalov participated in right-wing White émigré movements, strongly supporting Adolf Hitler's NSDAP. Despite this, he was imprisoned and sent to a concentration camp for embezzling funds meant for his Russian National Socialist Movement. Avalov escaped to Italy through Switzerland, later relocating to Belgrade before finally emigrating to the United States and living there until his death.