Amos Kash

Amos Kash came from a noble family in the St. Petersburg region and was educated in the local 1st Cadet Corps. In 1886, he joined the Russian Imperial Army as a cadet at the 1st Pavlovsk Military School. After graduation, he was appointed to serve in the 1st Rifle Battalion as second lieutenant. There he studied to become an military electrical engineer and after completing his studies joined the staff of the electrical engineering school. He was successively promoted, eventually to lieutenant colonel in 1914.

From 1899-1909, Kash was head of the St. Petersburg military-police telegraph central station during which time he made several inventions in the fields of electrical engineering and telegraphy. Subsequently, he was transferred to the 10th Engineer Battalion and, in 1911, to the 2nd Kronstadt Fortress Sapper Company. After one year, he was appointed head of the Libava (now Liepāja) Fortress Military Telegraph station. Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, he returned to the Kronstadt Fortress garrison.

During World War I, Kash served in the 26th Engineer Battalion until 1917. In October 1917, his new regiment, the 1st Reserve Telegraph and Searchlight Regiment took sides with the Bolsheviks. As a deputy of the revolutionary committee, he met Lenin in St. Petersburg, then renamed to Petrograd. As a member of the Revolutionary Military Council, Kash was responsible for radio communications. In 1919, he was appointed inspector in the communications department of the Red Army until he was eventually demobilized in 1921. He continued to teach at the Higher Military School of Communications and lived in Moskva after retirement. He was awarded several degrees of the orders of St. Stanislaus, St. Anna and St. Vladimir. With his wife Galina he had two sons and a daughter.

Kash was also an excellent pistol shooter winning the silver medal of the Russian Championship in duel pistol shooting in 1905. At the 1912 Olympic Games, he was a member of the Russian team in the duelling pistol, team event, which won silver. In 1913, he won gold at the First Russian Olympics in shooting with the free pistol. He later became one of the first instructors at the Soviet shooting school. In 1923, at the age of 55, he still won a USSR Shooting Championship.