Yakov Tryapitsyn

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Yakov Tryapitsyn
Born	(1897-04-25)25 April 1897 Muromsky District, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	9 July 1920(1920-07-09) (aged 23) Kerbi, Primorskaya Region, Far Eastern Republic
Cause of death	Execution by firing squad
Allegiance	Russian Empire  Russian SFSR  Far Eastern Republic
Service/branch	Imperial Russian Army Red Army People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic [ru]
Years of service	1916–1920
Rank	Praporshchik Partisan Commander Front Commander Front Commander
Commands held	Partisan Detachment Nikolayevsk Front Okhotsk Front
Battles/wars	World War I Russian Civil War Allied Intervention Siberian Intervention Eastern Front
Awards	Cross of St. George

Yakov Ivanovich Tryapitsyn (Russian: Яков Иванович Тряпицын) (25 April 1897 – 9 July 1920) was a Russian and Soviet military and political figure. A wartime officer holding the rank of Praporshchik in the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, he subsequently joined the Red Guards, and was appointed the Commander of the Nikolayevsk Front and the Nikolayevsk Military District of the Red Army of the Russian SFSR and the Okhotsk Front of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic. He took an active role in establishing Soviet power in Siberia and the Far East as a participant in the Civil War. He is best known for the role he played in the Nikolayevsk incident in 1920, in which he massacred the entire population of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and burned the town to the ground.

Tryapitsyn then embarked on a reign of terror in the region, executing all civilians whom he deemed a threat. To conserve ammunition, one of the methods to execute the victims was to stab them with a bayonet and thrust them in a hole under the ice of the river Amur. Several thousand inhabitants of the town were killed in this manner and other methods. To avoid a war with Japan over the massacre, in which hundreds of Japanese prisoners of war and civilians had been killed, the Soviets offered numerous concessions. Amongst them were the executions of Tryapitsin, his staff, regimental commanders, and the Chief of Staff of the Okhotsk Front, 32 people in total.