Sergei Konstantinovich Gershelman

Sergey Konstantinovich Gershelman (; 26 June 1854 – 17 October 1910) was an Imperial Russian Army general of German descent who fought in the Russo-Japanese War and served as the governor-general of Moscow.

Ancestry Although it has been claimed, even by Sergei Witte, that Gershelman's ancestors were baptized Jews, they were actually of German extraction.

Gershelman came from the German noble but untitled family of Hörschelmann (or Hoerschelmann), his great-grandfather, Ernst August Wilhelm Hörschelmann von Epichnellen, migrated from Thuringia to Revel (also known as Reval; today's Tallinn). Ernst's son (and Sergey's grandfather), Johann Wilhelm, served as the castellan of Tsar Paul I's palace in Peterhof, while Johann's son (and Sergei's father) Konstantin Peter Friedrich was a general in the Imperial Russian Army.

German names starting with an "H" have traditionally been transcribed into Russian with a Cyrillic 'Г', while Russian 'Г' is usually Romanized as G. Therefore, Gershelman's name usually appears in English with a G, unlike that of his German ancestors.

Biography In 1872, Sergey Gershelman graduated from the Page Corps, an elite school for the children of Russian nobility with honors. He joined the Imperial Guard as a warrant officer. In 1877, already as a Stabs-Captain, he entered the General Staff Academy, but soon left to take part in the Russo-Turkish War, where he participated in a number of battles, including Tashkessen, Plovdiv and Adrianople, where he was wounded. He was decorated with several medals, including the Order of St Vladimir 4th class.

After the war, Gershelman returned to the Staff Academy, and graduated in 1881, with an appointment to the General Staff. After serving in positions of increasing responsibility, including commanding the 93rd Irkutsk Infantry Regiment; he was promoted to major general in 1898, with an appointment as the chief of staff of the 2nd Army Corps, based in Grodno, near the western border of the empire. There he had a chance to meet Pyotr Stolypin, who served in Grodno as an Acting Governor in 1902–1903. From Grodno, Gershelman was transferred to Omsk, where served as the Chief of Staff of the Western Siberian Military District. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1904 at the start of the Russo-Japanese War.

As commander of the 9th infantry Division of the First Siberian Army Corps, he fought at the Battle of Liaoyang. He commanded this division during the entire war to the Battle of Mukden, earning the nickname of the "Iron General" and a reputation as one of the best Russian generals.

As Russia's defeat by Japan led to the First Russian Revolution, Gershelman was appointed, on 15 January 1906, the commander of the Moscow Military District. The next year Gershelman was promoted to the rank of General of Infantry; soon after, on 17 November 1910, he died of an illness.

The general was buried in his family's vault in Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint Petersburg.