Konstantin Smirnov

Biography Smirnov was born in Odessa to a family of minor Ruthenian nobility originally from the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire. He graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School and the General Staff Academy, and served as commandant of the Odessa Infantry Cadet School from 1896-1898. He was chief of staff of the Warsaw Fortress in 1899. In 1900, he was transferred to the Far East to command the Imperial Russian Army’s Second Infantry Brigade.

With the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Smirnov was appointed commander of the fortress of Port Arthur, Manchuria with a total of over 50,000 men on 4 March 1904. Occupied by the Russians since 1897, the defenses of Port Arthur had been heavily enhanced and modernized in the intervening years, and its position was considered one of the most heavily fortified in the world. However, the previous commander, Anatoly Stessel, chose to interpret the orders to mean that Smirnov was assigned as his subordinate, and remained at Port Arthur, countermanding Smirnov's orders and denying his requests for supplies and reinforcements, and sending misleading telegrams to the Tsar blaming Smirnov for any setbacks and ignoring direct orders from General Aleksei Kuropatkin to leave Port Arthur by a destroyer on 3 July 1904.

Following the October Revolution, Smirnov emigrated to Yugoslavia, where he would die of pneumonia at Pančevo, in what is now Serbia.

Awards link=Order of St. Anna Order of St. Anne 1st degree with swords (10/24/1904) link=Order of St. Vladimir Order of St Vladimir 4th degree, 2nd degree with swords (10/24/1904) link=Order of St. Stanislav Order of St. Stanislaus 1st degree with swords (04/08/1904)