Background
Leonid Punin was born Ataman Pumin in 1892, to military doctor Nikolay Michajlovitch Punin and an unnamed actress.
Leonid Punin was born Ataman Pumin in 1892, to military doctor Nikolay Michajlovitch Punin and an unnamed actress.
Ataman Punin graduated from Pavlovskoje"s Voennoe Uchilische (a military school) then joined the 8th Finnish shooters regiment, with whom he fought German and Austrian troops in the first half of 1915.
Alexander Punin, Leonid"s second eldest brother, fought in the First World War and later became a biologist. Zinaida, the only sister, married Jusef Bulack-Balakhowitch and moved to Poland where she died in 1983. Punin then was made the head of rager"s squad of that regiment.
Foreign his courage, this officer was awarded with Saint George"s cross (4th class), Saint Vladimir"s cross (4th class with swords and bow), and many other military orders.
In September 1915 Punin (then commanding officer) started a project for a partisan squad. By November 26 the completed squad consisted of 10 officers and more than 300 soldiers.
Among them there were 37 Latvians (from the 2nd Latvian shooters battalion), and about 50 people who knew Polish and German. The squad became a school for the future White Generals.
Among the officers of Punin"s squad were Baron Ungern-Shternberg (commander of the 3d squadron and in the Russian Civil War, the first White General), Stanislaw and Jusef Bulack-Balakhowitch (Polish Bułak-Bałachowicz who then fought for the independence of Belarus), Georghij Dombrovsky (Polish Jerzy Dąmbrowski, a famous partisan known as "Lupaschka"), Illarion Stavskij (commander of a battalion of the Talabaski regiment in the Civil War), and Nikolay Zujev Зуев, Николай Алексеевич (called a "Russian James Bond," a double agent who worked both for Stalin and the White Army).
Punin"s squad was the only partisan regiment on the Russian Northern Front. lieutenant fought against German troops near Riga (Kemeri), taking part in the battles of Mittaw (December 1916) and Riga (Summer 1917). The regiment worked so well that the Grand Dukes and commanders awarded its members with military orders and medals.
He was shot and killed in a battle with German troops on September 1 of 1916 near Anticiems.
He was buried in the town of Pavlovsk (near Street St. Petersburg, Russia). In March 1917 the squad received a new official name: "Ataman Punin"s Special Squadron"
The squad remained active until disbanding in February 1918.
That project received support from members of the Russian Royal and by November 1915 he had begun to put together the squad.