General director Ivan a Romanovsky. Romanovsky, Ivan Pavlovich: biography

Member of the Russian-Japanese and World War I, Major General (1916). After the Kornilov rebellion, he was arrested and fled to the Don. He took part in the formation of the White Guard forces. From February 1918 - Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (VSYuR). Lieutenant General (1919). After the defeat of the All-Union Socialist League, he surrendered his affairs and left for Constantinople, where in April 1920 he was killed.

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Ivan Pavlovich Romanovsky

Date of birth April 16, 1877
Place of birth Lugansk, Russian Empire
Date of death April 5, 1920 (aged 42)
Place of death Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Affiliation Russian Empire White movement
Type of troops Infanteria
Years of service 1897-1920
Rank of the General Staff Lieutenant General
Commanded the Salyan 206th Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars
Russo-Japanese War
World War I
Russian Civil War
Awards and prizes
St. George's weapon

Ivan Pavlovich Romanovsky (April 16, 1877, Lugansk - April 5, 1920, Constantinople) - Russian military leader, participant in the Russian-Japanese, World War I and Civil War. Lieutenant General (1919), a prominent figure in the White movement in the South of Russia.
One of the organizers of the Volunteer Army, pioneer. Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia and chief of his staff, member of the Special Meeting. On April 5, 1920, he was killed in Constantinople by a former counterintelligence officer of Denikin's army.

Born into the family of an artillery officer in Lugansk, where his father worked at a cartridge factory. He graduated from the 2nd Moscow Cadet Corps, the Konstantinovsky Artillery School and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff (1903).
General Staff Officer
He served in the Life Guards of the 2nd Artillery Brigade. After graduating from the General Staff Academy, he took part in the Russo-Japanese War. Since September 1904 - chief officer for special assignments at the headquarters of the 18th Army Corps. In 1906-1909. - chief officer for assignments at the headquarters of the Turkestan military district, in January - October 1909 - senior adjutant of the headquarters of the same district. I traveled to Bukhara and the Pamirs, to the borders of Afghanistan, to take plans for the area. The result of this work was a detailed map of the Pamirs.
From October 1909 he served in the Main Directorate of the General Staff as an assistant clerk of the mobilization department. Since 1910, he was an assistant to the head of a department in the department of the duty general of the General Staff. Since 1912 - colonel and head of the same department, in charge of appointments in the army.

Member of the First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was assigned to the front. Since 1914 - the chief of staff of the 25th Infantry Division, he was awarded the St. George's weapon for military merit. Since 1915 - commander of the 206th Salyan Infantry Regiment. In one of the official documents - a presentation to the rank of general - his activities as a regiment commander were described as follows:
June 24 - The Salyan regiment brilliantly stormed the strongest enemy position ... Colonel Romanovsky, together with his staff, rushed with the front chains of the regiment when they were under the most severe enemy fire. Some of those accompanying him were wounded, one was killed, and the commander himself ... was covered with earth from an exploding shell ... The Salians gave an equally brilliant job on July 22. And this attack was led by the regiment commander at a distance of only 250 steps from the attacked area under German barrage fire ... The outstanding organizational skills of Colonel Romanovsky, his ability to educate the military unit, his personal courage, combined with wise prudence, when it comes to his unit, the charm of his personality not only to the ranks of the regiment, but also to everyone with whom he had to come into contact, his broad education and a true eye - give him the right to occupy the highest position.
In June - October 1916 - Chief of Staff of the 13th Army Corps. Since October - Quartermaster General of the 10th Army headquarters. In the same year he was promoted to major general. In March - July 1917 - Chief of Staff of the 8th Army under the army commander, General Lavr Kornilov. Shortly after the appointment of General Kornilov as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (July 18, 1917), General Romanovsky was appointed by him as the Quartermaster General of his headquarters. An active participant in the speech of General Kornilov in August 1917. Together with Kornilov, A. I. Denikin and some other generals, in early September 1917 he was arrested by the Provisional Government and imprisoned in the Bykhov prison.

One of the leaders of the Volunteer Army and VSYUR

After escaping from the Bykhov prison, he moved to the Don in November 1917 and took a direct part in the creation of the formation of the Volunteer Army, from December 1917 he was the head of the combat department of the army headquarters. In connection with the appointment of General A. S. Lukomsky as a representative to the Don Ataman, on February 2, 1918, he was appointed in his place as the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army. Member of the 1st Kuban "Ice" campaign. After the death of General Kornilov (March 31, 1918 during the storming of Yekaterinodar), he was left the chief of staff under General Denikin, who took command of the army.
He was the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, then the chief of staff of the All-Russian Union of Youth. Since 1919 - lieutenant general. He had a great influence on General Denikin, who in his will made him his successor in the event of death. He was unpopular in the army, where he was considered the culprit of the defeats. Monarchist circles accused Romanovsky of sympathy for the liberals and even of "freemasonry." There were unsubstantiated rumors about his guilt in the death of General Mikhail Drozdovsky, who in the last months of his life was in a tense relationship with Romanovsky.
Denikin wrote about the reasons for the unpopularity of General Romanovsky:
This "Barclay de Tolly" of the volunteer epic took on his head all the anger and irritation that accumulated in the atmosphere of a fierce struggle. Unfortunately, the character of Ivan Pavlovich contributed to the strengthening of hostile relations towards him. He expressed his views straightforwardly and sharply, without dressing them in the accepted forms of diplomatic slyness. Strings of former and unnecessary people came to me with all sorts of projects and offers of their services: I did not accept them; I had to convey my refusal to Romanovsky, who did it dryly, more than once with motivation, although fair, but offensive to the petitioners. They carried away their resentment and increased the number of his enemies.
Opinion about Romanovsky in the Volunteer Army:
In particular [in the White Army of 1919] for some reason they hated General Romanovsky. I did not know the deceased at all, I had never met him, but I was not surprised by his murder in Constantinople. According to the army, he was the evil genius whose influence explained all the failures of the volunteer movement.
On March 16, 1920, after arriving in Feodosia, he resigned as chief of staff. Denikin's order to dismiss Romanovsky from office stated:
Impartial history will appreciate the selfless work of this bravest warrior, a knight of duty and honor and a soldier and citizen who loves the Motherland without end. History will brand with contempt those who, out of selfish motives, weaved a web of vile slander around his honest and pure name.
Assassination of General Romanovsky
On March 22, 1920, after the appointment of General Pyotr Wrangel as Commander-in-Chief, Romanovsky, together with General Denikin, left Feodosia for Constantinople on the English battleship Emperor of India. He was killed on March 23 (April 5), 1920 in the building of the Russian embassy in Constantinople by lieutenant Mstislav Kharuzin, a former counterintelligence officer of Denikin's army.
Kharuzin, in a conversation with two other officers, insisted on the murder of Romanovsky, stating that “... Denikin is responsible, but there are no dark spots on his conscience; General Romanovsky stained himself with a connection, although not proven, but in his personal opinion and on the basis of the documents he had existed, even if indirectly, between General Romanovsky and Constantinople banking offices that supplied money and documents to Bolshevik agents traveling to work to the Volunteer Army.
In an article by the former Russian military representative in Constantinople, General Vladimir Agapeev, the murder of General Romanovsky is described as follows:
At about 5 p.m. on March 23, a few minutes after his arrival at the embassy, General Romanovsky went out into the courtyard in front of the embassy building, apparently wanting to give an order about the folder with important papers he had left on the boat and meaning to do it through driver. At that moment, when General Romanovsky, returning to the ambassador's apartment, left the vestibule for the billiard room, an unknown person, dressed in an officer's coat of a peacetime model, with gold epaulettes, quickly approached General Romanovsky from behind, who turned to the killer, apparently on the sound of the latter's footsteps, and fired three shots almost point-blank from a Colt revolver. General Romanovsky fell and died two minutes later without regaining consciousness.
General Agapeev dates the murder according to the Julian calendar adopted in the White Army. According to other sources, the offender shot General Romanovsky twice with a Parabellum pistol. The assassin managed to escape and hid for some time in Constantinople. According to the writer

Demyansk battle. "Stalin's missed triumph" or "Hitler's Pyrrhic victory"? Simakov Alexander Petrovich

General Romanovsky takes action...

At the direction of General Romanovsky, army reserves were thrown to the breakthrough site - two regiments of the 397th rifle division and the 641st anti-tank regiment with the task, in cooperation with the units of General Bedin, to stop the advance of the enemy. By 2 p.m., the chief of staff of the front, Lieutenant General M.N., arrived at the army command post. Sharokhin, who approved the decision of General Romanovsky. On his instructions, the 86th Rifle Brigade of Colonel N.M. was urgently transferred to the breakthrough site from the front reserve. Laskin, from the 53rd Army - the 709th Air Defense Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel V.I. Kulchitsky. All aviation of the front switched to support the troops of the 1st Shock Army, measures were taken to transport ammunition, obstacles, and also to build bridges across the Lovat for the 391st and 130th rifle divisions.

In pursuance of the order of the front commander, General Romanovsky decided to stop the offensive of the strike force. Withdraw the 129th and 130th rifle divisions to the southern bank of the Robya River and, leaving cover here, with their main forces, together with the 397th rifle division, counterattack the enemy that has broken through from the flanks and restore the lost position.

The two regiments of the German 126th Infantry Division advancing on the left flank fought heavy battles on the banks of the Sosna stream. At 13 o'clock the German assault unit managed to break through the defenses of our troops here. The most advantageous position of the enemy was occupied by the 5th light infantry division. German tanks were supposed to develop the offensive in this direction. One regiment of the 126th Infantry Division was also sent here. Under these conditions, the 126th Infantry Division lost its initiative. Gradually, from the offensive, her regiments went on the defensive.

On the right flank, parts of the 329th Infantry Division and the 21st Airfield Division of the Luftwaffe, as well as the remnants of the "Totenkopf" could not achieve any tangible results. The entire offensive on this sector of the front broke up into many small battles, during which the Germans failed to move forward.

Our fighters used their advantage and took cover in an intricate system of trenches and trenches. Later, German soldiers will recall that "the Russians once again proved themselves to be masters in creating fortifications, it was especially difficult to overcome minefields." Following the results of the first day of the operation, the German command had the feeling that the “Ramushev corridor” had been secured.

The German units, which had achieved the greatest success in the center of the offensive, were preparing to strike again the next day, September 28th. The regiments of the 5th light infantry division planned to attack the Maylukovy Gorki area. On the first attempt, they broke through the defenses of our units, and German tanks rushed there. At the same time, the German offensive began in the southern sector. At 0930 hours, our defenses in positions northwest of Velikoye Selo were broken through. An hour later, the German infantry met with the advancing tanks, which here became the main striking force. It seemed that the offensive was developing quite successfully. The surviving German soldiers recalled that they were inspired by success. The swiftness of the attack reminded them of the events of the summer of 1941.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, things were not going very well for the Germans. The enemy suffered heavy losses. In the 552nd infantry regiment, the commander of the 1st battalion was killed, all company commanders were killed. By the end of the day, almost all officers were lost. In the evening, our units were able to retreat to well-fortified positions. They occupied the heights near the village of Kozlovo. The enemy infantry was literally swept away by artillery fire. Even German tanks could not break through the defense in this area. As a result, the German command decided to stop the offensive in the north, a significant part of the advancing regiments was to be transferred to the south. This helped the Germans prevent a counterattack by our troops. By the end of September 28, the enemy had penetrated our defenses up to 3 km, and the next day advanced another 4 km. Having gone to the Kulakovo area, he created a threat to the last communication linking parts of the shock group with the rear. For the Demyansk group, this was a great success.

On the morning of September 29, there was a cloudless sky over the battlefield. This allowed the Germans to make the most of the bombers from the 1st Luftwaffe Fleet. At 07:15 the German infantry went on the attack. The penetration of the enemy disrupted communication and interaction, led to a partial loss of command and control of the troops by the army commander and headquarters, mixing of units and withdrawal in a number of sectors. Because of this, the counterattacks of the 129th, 130th, 397th and 391st rifle divisions on that day were at different times without proper support from aviation and artillery, as well as anti-aircraft cover, and were not successful. Following the results of the third day of the battle, the Germans managed to achieve, albeit insignificant, but still success.

On the night of September 29-30, the Knobelsdorff Group pulled up its reserves to the front line. On the morning of September 30, German heavy artillery joined the breakthrough of the front. The enemy had a change of tired infantry units with fresh ones from the 12th and 32nd divisions.

However, the last day of September 1942 passed under the sign of the growing initiative of our units. Since dawn, German positions near the village of Kozlovo were attacked. The regiments of the 5th light infantry and 126th infantry divisions suffered heavy losses. By evening, the opposing sides remained in their positions.

But still, from the village of Luka, the Germans managed to push our units. With the support of dive bombers, SS battalions and rangers from the 5th division were able to advance towards Lovat. They captured the village of Zarobye. The SS battalion followed along the Robya to the village of Korovitchino, where they ran into fierce resistance.

In the morning the enemy began to leave the height near Kozlovo and rushed to the south-west. The roar of German bombers was heard in the air, which were supposed to strike at our positions in the Lovat region. Despite the selfless defense of our units, by noon the Germans reached the banks of the Lovat. In fact, the goal of Operation Michael was achieved. But the Germans themselves were already exhausted. They could not take Maklakovo. On October 2, shock units of the 5th light infantry and SS division "Dead Head" attacked Kulakovo. The village was surrounded, and a small garrison killed. The reconnaissance group of the 5th light infantry division crossed Lovat in the Cherenchits area. Now the enemy was preparing to defend. During Operation Michael, he managed to expand the corridor from 4 to 12 km.

In order to undermine morale and create panic, German planes scattered leaflets over the combat formations of the 130th, 129th and 391st rifle divisions, in which they, turning to the soldiers and commanders, wrote that they were surrounded and offered to surrender. And although the situation for these divisions was really difficult, the enemy sabotage did not reach its goal.

Warriors of the 518th Infantry Regiment of the 129th Infantry Division under the command of Major Ya.I. Romanenko, thrown towards the enemy who had broken through with the task of preventing his advance along the Zaluchye-Ramushevo highway, on September 28-30 repelled 9 enemy attacks, destroyed up to 1300 Nazis, 9 tanks, 3 armored vehicles, 3 guns. When the enemy still managed to outflank the positions of the regiment, the soldiers with a surprise attack on the night of October 2 left the encirclement.

On September 29, a tank platoon under the command of Lieutenant Levashov, covering the withdrawal of units of the 130th division, destroyed two tanks, three anti-tank guns and a mortar battery in the Kulakovo area.

From the book The Struggle of General Kornilov. August 1917–April 1918 [L/F] author Denikin Anton Ivanovich

Chapter VIII Transfer of the Berdichev group to Bykhov. Life in Bykhov. General Romanovsky "The Berdichev Group of Arrested" traveled without hindrance to Staryi Bykhov. A hostile meeting was planned at the Kalinkovichi station, where many rear establishments were concentrated,

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CHAPTER 1 ROMANOV'S BOOM On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the family doctor of the former Russian Tsar, who had been imprisoned for more than two months in the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg, woke up the patients - the emperor's family and his servants, who shared the prison fate of the owner - and handed over

He was the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, then the chief of staff of the All-Russian Union of Youth. Since 1919 - lieutenant general. He had a great influence on General Denikin, who in his will made him his successor in the event of death. He was unpopular in the army, where he was considered the culprit of the defeats. Monarchist circles accused Romanovsky of sympathy for the liberals and even of "freemasonry." There were rumors about his guilt in the death of M. G. Drozdovsky, who in the last months of his life was in a sharp conflict with Romanovsky.

Denikin wrote about the reasons for the unpopularity of General Romanovsky:

This "Barclay de Tolly" of the volunteer epic took on his head all the anger and irritation that accumulated in the atmosphere of a fierce struggle. Unfortunately, the character of Ivan Pavlovich contributed to the strengthening of hostile relations towards him. He expressed his views straightforwardly and sharply, without dressing them in the accepted forms of diplomatic slyness. Strings of former and unnecessary people came to me with all sorts of projects and offers of their services: I did not accept them; I had to convey my refusal to Romanovsky, who did it dryly, more than once with motivation, although fair, but offensive to the petitioners. They carried away their resentment and increased the number of his enemies.

Opinion about Romanovsky in the Volunteer Army:

Joyful and cheerful, Mikhail Gordeevich went to Mechetinskaya, and returned from there in a depressed mood, having learned that Denikin was the Chief of Staff of the gene. Romanovsky. To the questions of those around him, Drozdovsky answered: “Romanovsky is there, there will be no happiness.”

In particular [in the White Army of 1919] for some reason they hated General Romanovsky. I did not know the deceased at all, I had never met him, but I was not surprised by his murder in Constantinople. According to the army, he was the evil genius whose influence explained all the failures of the volunteer movement.

On March 16, 1920, after arriving in Feodosia, he resigned as chief of staff. Denikin's order to dismiss Romanovsky from office stated:

Impartial history will appreciate the selfless work of this bravest warrior, a knight of duty and honor and a soldier and citizen who loves the Motherland without end. History will brand with contempt those who, out of selfish motives, weaved a web of vile slander around his honest and pure name.

Assassination of General Romanovsky

On March 22, 1920, after the appointment of General Pyotr Wrangel as Commander-in-Chief, Romanovsky, together with General Denikin, left Feodosia for Constantinople on the English battleship Emperor of India. He was killed on March 23 (April 5), 1920 in the building of the Russian embassy in Constantinople by Lieutenant Mstislav Kharuzin, a former counterintelligence officer of Denikin's army.

Kharuzin, in a conversation with two other officers, insisted on the murder of Romanovsky, stating that “... Denikin is responsible, but there are no dark spots on his conscience; General Romanovsky stained himself with a connection, although not proven, but in his personal opinion and on the basis of the documents he had existed, even if indirectly, between General Romanovsky and Constantinople banking offices that supplied money and documents to Bolshevik agents traveling to work to the Volunteer Army.

In an article by the former Russian military representative in Constantinople, General Vladimir Agapeev, the murder of General Romanovsky is described as follows:

At about 5 p.m. on March 23, a few minutes after his arrival at the embassy, General Romanovsky went out into the courtyard in front of the embassy building, apparently wanting to give an order about the folder with important papers he had left on the boat and meaning to do it through driver. At that moment, when General Romanovsky, returning to the ambassador's apartment, left the vestibule for the billiard room, an unknown person, dressed in an officer's coat of a peacetime model, with gold epaulettes, quickly approached General Romanovsky from behind, who turned to the killer, apparently on the sound of the latter's footsteps, and fired three shots almost point-blank from a Colt revolver. General Romanovsky fell and died two minutes later without regaining consciousness.

General Agapeev dates the murder according to the Julian calendar adopted in the White Army. According to other sources, the offender shot General Romanovsky twice with a Parabellum pistol. The assassin managed to escape and hid for some time in Constantinople. According to the writer Roman Gul, a month later Kharuzin went to Ankara to establish contacts with the Turkish national movement, but during this trip he himself was killed.

Family

Wife: Elena Mikhailovna Bakeeva (1885-1967) (the wedding took place in 1903), daughter of the Kursk landowner Mikhail Alekseevich Bakeev, a graduate of the Catherine Institute for Noble Maidens. Children: Mikhail (1904-1919/1920), Irina (1906-1992), Olga (1910-1989).

Links

Romanovsky, Ivan Pavlovich on the website "Russian Army in the Great War"
Biography on the CHRONOS website
From "Essays on Russian Troubles"
From the book by D. V. Lekhovich "Whites against the Reds"
Romanovsky I.P. Letters to his wife 1917-1920. Moscow - Brussels: St. Catherine's Monastery, 2011.

Ivan Pavlovich Romanovsky (April 16, 1877 - April 5, 1920, Constantinople) - Russian military leader, participant in the Russian-Japanese, World War I and Civil War. Lieutenant General (1919), a prominent figure in the White Movement. One of the organizers of the Volunteer Army, pioneer. Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia.

He graduated from the 2nd Moscow Cadet Corps, the Konstantinovsky Artillery School and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff (1903). Born into the family of an artillery officer.

He served in the Life Guards 2nd Artillery Brigade. After graduating from the Academy of the General Staff, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War. Since September 1904 - chief officer for special assignments at the headquarters of the 18th Army Corps. In 1906-1909 - chief officer for assignments at the headquarters of the Turkestan military district, in January - October 1909 - senior adjutant of the headquarters of the same district. From October 1909 he served in the Main Directorate of the General Staff as an assistant clerk of the mobilization department. Since 1910 - assistant chief of department in the department of the duty general of the General Staff. Since 1912 - colonel and head of the same department, in charge of appointments in the army.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was assigned to the front. Since 1914 - Chief of Staff of the 25th Infantry Division, for military merit was awarded the St. George's weapon. From 1915 - commander of the 206th Salyan Infantry Regiment. In one of the official documents - a presentation to the rank of general - his activities as a regiment commander were described as follows:

June 24 - The Salyan regiment brilliantly stormed the strongest enemy position ... Colonel Romanovsky, together with his staff, rushed with the front chains of the regiment when they were under the most severe enemy fire. Some of those accompanying him were wounded, one was killed, and the commander himself ... was covered with earth from an exploding shell ... The Salians gave an equally brilliant job on July 22. And this attack was led by the regiment commander at a distance of only 250 steps from the attacked area under German barrage fire ... The outstanding organizational skills of Colonel Romanovsky, his ability to educate the military unit, his personal courage, combined with wise prudence, when it comes to his unit, the charm of his personality not only to the ranks of the regiment, but also to everyone with whom he had to come into contact, his broad education and a true eye - give him the right to occupy the highest position.

In June - October 1916 - Chief of Staff of the 13th Army Corps. From October 1916 - Quartermaster General of the Headquarters of the 10th Army. In 1916 he was promoted to major general. In March - July 1917 - Chief of Staff of the 8th Army, commanded by General L. G. Kornilov. Shortly after the appointment of General Kornilov as Supreme Commander on July 18, 1917, General Romanovsky was appointed by him as the Quartermaster General of his headquarters. An active participant in the speech of General Kornilov in August 1917. Together with Kornilov, A. I. Denikin and some other generals, in early September 1917 he was arrested by the Provisional Government and imprisoned in the Bykhov prison.

He moved to the Don in November 1917 and took a direct part in the formation of the Volunteer Army, from December 1917 he was the head of the combat department of the army headquarters. In connection with the appointment of General A. S. Lukomsky as a representative to the Don Ataman, on February 2, 1918, he was appointed in his place as the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army. Member of the 1st Kuban "Ice" campaign. After the death of General Kornilov (March 31, 1918 during the storming of Yekaterinodar), he was left the chief of staff under General Denikin, who took command of the army.

He was the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, then the chief of staff of the All-Russian Union of Youth. Since 1919 - lieutenant general. He had a great influence on General Denikin, who in his will made him his successor in the event of death. He was unpopular in the army, where he was considered the culprit of the defeats. Monarchist circles accused Romanovsky of sympathy for the liberals and even of "freemasonry." There were unsubstantiated rumors about his guilt in the death of General M. G. Drozdovsky, who in the last months of his life was in tense relations with Romanovsky.

A. I. Denikin wrote about the reasons for the unpopularity of General Romanovsky:

This "Barclay de Tolly" of the volunteer epic took on his head all the anger and irritation that accumulated in the atmosphere of a fierce struggle. Unfortunately, the character of Ivan Pavlovich contributed to the strengthening of hostile relations towards him. He expressed his views straightforwardly and sharply, without dressing them in the accepted forms of diplomatic slyness. Strings of former and unnecessary people came to me with all sorts of projects and offers of their services: I did not accept them; I had to convey my refusal to Romanovsky, who did it dryly, more than once with motivation, although fair, but offensive to the petitioners. They carried away their resentment and increased the number of his enemies.

March 16, 1920 resigned as chief of staff. The order of A. I. Denikin on the release of Romanovsky from his post stated:

Impartial history will appreciate the selfless work of this bravest warrior, a knight of duty and honor and a soldier and citizen who loves the Motherland without end. History will brand with contempt those who, out of selfish motives, weaved a web of vile slander around his honest and pure name.

On March 22, 1920, after the appointment of General Baron P. N. Wrangel as Commander-in-Chief, Romanovsky, together with General Denikin, left Feodosia for Constantinople on the English battleship Emperor of India. He was killed on April 5, 1920 in the building of the Russian embassy in Constantinople by Lieutenant M. A. Kharuzin, a former counterintelligence officer of the Denikin army.

In an article by the former Russian military representative in Constantinople, General V.P. Agapeev, the murder of General Romanovsky is described as follows:

At about 5 p.m. on March 23, a few minutes after his arrival at the embassy, General Romanovsky went out into the courtyard in front of the embassy building, apparently wanting to give an order about the folder with important papers he had left on the boat and meaning to do it through driver. At that moment, when General Romanovsky, returning to the ambassador's apartment, left the vestibule for the billiard room, an unknown person, dressed in an officer's coat of a peacetime model, with gold epaulettes, quickly approached General Romanovsky from behind, who turned to the killer, apparently on the sound of the latter's footsteps, and fired three shots almost point-blank from a Colt revolver. General Romanovsky fell and died two minutes later without regaining consciousness.

Romanovsky Ivan Pavlovich was born into the family of an artillery academy graduate on April 16, 1877 in the Luhansk region. He began his military career at the age of ten, enrolling in the cadet corps. With brilliant results he finished it in 1894. Following in the footsteps of his father, he began to study at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, but finished his studies at Konstantinovsky for religious reasons. And already after graduating with honors from the next stage of education - the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, Ivan Pavlovich was appointed company commander of the Finnish regiment.
In 1903, he started a family, taking as his wife Elena Bakeeva, the daughter of a landowner, who subsequently gave birth to three children. Ivan Pavlovich was a devoted family man, a caring father, always helping friends and relatives. But she broke the idyll of family life. Romanovsky left to fulfill his duty as a Russian officer in the East Siberian Artillery Brigade.
In 1906, there was a transfer to the Turkestan military district as a chief officer. Romanovsky carried out his service very honestly and nobly, and there he became friends with the general commanding the Mishchenko district. Ivan Pavlovich carried out every order of the general to carry out topographic work. His wife and children also moved to Romanovsky and was always by his side until the end of his service in Turkestan. And only in 1910, Romanovsky moved to the General Staff, served there until the First World War, after the start of which Ivan Pavlovich went to the front and served as chief of staff in the 25th division. The manifestation of courage and unparalleled heroism and exemplary military art did not go unnoticed, and in 1916 Romanovsky became quartermaster general at the headquarters of the 10th Army. But the army fell apart after 1917, and Romanovsky moved to the headquarters of the 8th Army, where he served as chief of staff.
After the arrest of the Commander-in-Chief, Romanovsky also had to serve two months in prison, as he was a confidant of the rebellious general. His wife lived not far from Ivan Pavlovich and supported him in every possible way.
And, finally, after his release, Romanovsky went with other officers to the Volunteer Army that was being formed on the Don. There, Ivan Pavlovich was appointed chief of staff and again became a confidant of the Commander-in-Chief Kornilov, after whose death he became an ally and reliable friend. Romanovsky did a great job of forming units, working with officers, tactics, supplying troops and repaying all kinds of strife at the headquarters of the Volunteer Army.
After the White Guard began to suffer defeats in all directions, Romanovsky was with the army in Bataysk and hoped to still repulse the Reds, but after the appointment of General in April 1920 as Commander-in-Chief, Ivan Pavlovich, together with Denikin, left Russia on an English destroyer.
Ivan Pavlovich was brutally murdered in April 1920, in the British embassy, in Constantinople, by an unknown officer, with several shots in the back. Only in the 60s did it become clear that a certain Mikhailov had organized the assassination attempt. Romanovsky's wife, who emigrated to Serbia in February 1920, died with her family in 1967.