Ilarion Galakhov

Born in Leningrad to school teachers, Galakhov chose a life of military service, to his parent's surprise. He studied at the Frunze Academy for several years, gaining a degree in computer engineering before being posted to Tashkent as a young officer. Galakhov was only a mediocre officer, taking ten years to be promoted to Captain, a promotion that resulted in him being sent to East Germany for deployment with the 10th Guards Armoured Division, where he commanded a Tank battalion.

The war was not kind to the 10th Guards Armoured. The division spearheaded the Soviet attack on West Germany but took heavy casualties during the Battle of the Venlo salient, and again during a failed attempt to stop a West German panzer division from advancing into Magdeburg. Lieutenant Galakhov saw several of his men killed but kept his unit together. In late 1985 the division had taken severe casualties and was ordered to withdraw to the area around Lodz to rest and refit. Reinforcements were almost nonexistent, and the division continued to lose strength to disease, desertion and NATO air strikes. Galakhov himself was almost killed when a British bomb hit a fuel depot near him. In March 1986 as NATO forces renewed their offensive on Poland the division was in worse shape than it had been when withdrawn, but it was nonetheless ordered to move into position to defend Czestochowa. Mutinous soldiers began to question their orders, and when word came that they were outnumbered by the incoming NATO force, the division's soldiers removed their commanding officer from power. Some soldiers simply deserted, joining Marauder bands in the area, but those who decided to stay with the division put together a "Soldier's Soviet" and appointed Captain Galakhov as their new commanding officer. Galakhov refused the title of General but accepted a Colonel's bars.

Despite never having commanded a unit of more than 100 men before, Galakhov rose to the occasion. He led the division south-west, through devastated Silesia and finally into Czechoslovakia, where they took over the complex of inhabited towns around Narod. His long term goal is to return to the USSR, a goal his men heartily endorse, but he knows that this will be a fraught task. Right now his focus is on building up enough supplies to pass through the devastated territory of Silesia, and sending reconnaissance missions to the east to try to figure out which obstacles lie in his path.

Galakhov feels a deep debt to his men for elevating him, and feels he needs to repay that by bringing them to a place of safety. He is chosing to assume that returning to the USSR will bring them that safety. He sometimes thinks that they should stay in Narod, but he doesn't believe that the Czech forces will ultimately tolerate this.

Ilarion Galakhov is a middle aged man of medium height and build with scruffy brown hair and thin, sceptical lips. He usually wears a tanker's uniform, including a steel helmet and sunglasses. He wears the uniform of a Soviet Colonel. He speaks English and German with a thick Russian accent.