“Not bad, not bad,” I thought, “but you can't relax, you need to promote these farmers at a good pace. Maybe they still know how many Finnish troops are in the village and where the firing points are located. "
Leaning my submachine gun against the pyramid with guns, I sat down at the table. To fit on the lower bunk, I had to push one of the prisoners to his fellow tribesmen. Then I ordered them to sit on other bunks and began to question them at a fast pace, one by one.
According to them, and the testimony of each was one to one similar, it turned out - they are peaceful hunters, and here is their hunting lodge. They stayed at this place all their lives when they went hunting. I sarcastically asked:
- Maybe you have so many animals here that the Mosin five-charge charges overheat? And the sniper scope on the rifle of your sentry is probably in order to shoot some bear moving exclusively along the cleared nearby road.
In response - only vague phrases. These would-be saboteurs clearly did not shine with intelligence. Of all their answers, I was only pleased with one, they all lived in the village of Suomissalmi. I didn’t have the brains to think of another place to live. I didn’t achieve anything either by shouting or by strong slaps, they again unanimously asserted that they got out of the village to hunt a long time ago and do not know at all that Finnish troops had entered their village. Finally, I got tired of all this nonsense, and I, getting up from my seat and heading for the exit, said to Sherkhan:
- Nail, let's get that healthy and greyhound one ready for interrogation. Not even for interrogation, but for harsh execution. There is no time, so we will not be almond. We will break them by the most obvious method for all. You will have to twist the scrotum of that hog again. We will not shut up his mouth, let the crazy screeching of this, the most hefty of them, cut the rest of the Chukhonts to the bone. I think after that they will not tell me their stupid tales. While you prepare everything here, I'll go warn the guys.
And I left the dugout. Putting on skis, he quickly reached the Red Army soldiers. There, having sent the most nimble one with instructions for our two companies, he ordered Yakut with three soldiers to follow very carefully along the road. When approaching the village, stop and wait for our appearance. If the enemy is detected earlier, send a messenger. The remaining two Red Army men were entrusted with the external protection of the captured lair of the Shchutskorites. I warned the convoy that the stop would last at least an hour and a half, and instructed Shapiro to organize shift heating of personnel in both heating units.
After waiting for the Red Army men who had received the orders to disperse, I, with the two remaining, reached the trench near the dugout. There I placed the fighters in the most, in my opinion, favorable places for observation. Then he went to the express interrogation of the captured Finns.
On the premises, Sherkhan has already prepared everything for this event. The entourage of the dugout was very ominous. A kerosene lamp shone dimly. It smelled of blood, burnt gunpowder and urine. Against this background, red reflections of the flame that periodically appeared due to the slightly open door of the stove's furnace, only exacerbated the atmosphere of horror and fear that reigned here. Ominously illuminating the corpse of the Finn I shot me lying right at the entrance. Blood was still oozing from his body, not absorbing completely into the ground, it was gathering in a small puddle. Sherkhan somehow unsuccessfully pushed this body away, and at the entrance he had to step into this bloody puddle. Nail his appearance fit perfectly into this eerie environment. He took off his camouflage coat and greatcoat and was now standing in one very dirty tunic, with sleeves rolled up to the elbows. The mere sight of his hands aroused awe, and if you looked up and looked at the hero's face, then it would have been possible not to carry out any special events, the Finns would have told everything like that.
All this horror was complemented by a picture of an overturned table with a man tied to it. Nail, with a knife, literally ripped the prisoner's pants, which looked like shapeless rags, and pulled them down to his knees. The big man's face was all red, and a huge fingal had already blossomed under his right eye. The other two of the remaining four Finns, sitting opposite this one, with bare butts, also had some bruising. I noticed that Sher Khan had slightly reddened phalanges of the fingers of his right hand, clenched into a fist. Looking at this picture, for some reason I recalled the words of one of Blok's poems: "Yes, we are Scythians, yes, we are Asians."
And I also thought: these Shutskorites are already done, ready, sick people have sintered. You can do without drastic measures. Even this big man has already lost all the fuse and arrogance. Probably, for the first time in his life he experienced such humiliation, multiplied by complete powerlessness. He, so healthy and, probably, the strongest in his village, was suddenly twisted, beaten, tied to the table and for some reason removed his pants. And this is not all that he has to experience. This terrible red-haired man prepared for him some kind of terrible, transcendentally nightmarish torture.
I quickly assessed the situation and the morale of our prisoners. But in order to surely discourage them from lying to me, I decided to start interrogation with the help of the method approved by Sherkhan. Last time, he proved himself great. Due to the torture of one prisoner, the tongues of others were loosened so that they simply had to ask them leading questions. Valuable information from the Finns then poured out of the bucket. But now I just wanted to completely intimidate the Chukhonts with our methods and show that we do not intend to joke. And that their reluctance to communicate information of interest to me is fraught with dire consequences. For the desired effect, it seemed to me sufficient if Sherkhan only cut the pants of the Shutskor and twisted his scrotum three times.
Coming close to the big man prepared for torture, I lightly slapped him in the face with my palm and asked about the location of the Finnish troops in the village. In response, I received some confused, incomprehensible answer, from which it was only clear that he was on the hunt and did not know anything. Having heard this, I turned to the other Finns and said:
- Something your comrade has become very tongue-tied. He does not want to answer my questions directly and briefly. So much the worse for him! Now he will be a little hurt, if this does not help, then he will be completely hurt. Then he will become completely uninteresting to me, and his torments will be terrible. We'll have to throw him out into the street so that his screams do not interfere with listening to the next one. If someone decides to deceive and misinform me: he will name the wrong number of Finnish soldiers or lie about their places of accommodation, then he will regret that he was born at all. We will check all the information, and if at least one Russian dies, we will definitely return to this den and continue our conversation. It is quite warm and cozy here, and you can slowly, like a man, deal with liars.
After that, nodding to Nail, he said:
- Sherkhan, do not squeeze or twist his scrotum, a couple of light movements, and that's it. Even a hint is enough for the caught villagers to clear their brains. Yes, and this hog is a pity to completely disfigure - he still has to plow the land and raise children. I think that after this night they will even be afraid to look askance in the direction of the Russian soldier.
Nail grunted, nodded in agreement and, turning to the prisoners, bared his teeth, raised his fist alternately to the nose of each of the sitting Finns. Then he turned to the big man, grabbed him by the causal place and squeezed him. There was a loud cry. Sherkhan, barking, squeezed a second time. A terrible scream echoed through the entire dugout room. Nail, having entered into an inquisitorial excitement, fiercely shouted something in Tatar, did it for the third time. Despite the wild screams of the big man, Nail broke up in earnest and was about to start twisting the scrotum, but I caught his hand. Turning Sher Khan to me, I first shook him hard, and then barked right in his face:
- Red Army soldier Asaenov, why aren't you following orders? You were ordered to squeeze three times, which means three, and do not fucking engage in amateur performances. Now let's revive this bigot and more, without my order, don't even touch these prisoners with your finger. Look, what a descendant of Genghis Khan was found!
I heard this name as a lieutenant. There were legends about Captain Vladimir Somov. He was the most productive group commander of the first Kabul company of officers. On the results of the activities of his group, he repeatedly reported personally to General of the Army Akhromeev. Was awarded the order Red star. According to the plan, Vladimir's business trip was to last a year and a half. But the second year was ending, but there was still no replacement. Somov went to war as before.
A month before leaving for the Union, the Soms with a group conducted reconnaissance in the most difficult climatic conditions and discovered a large rebel base. I contacted the Center and pointed the aircraft at her. The base is gone. For this Akhromeev ordered to submit Somov to the Order of the Red Banner.
THE FRUIT OF POPULARITY
Somov received his extreme task in December 1981 on the recommendation of the same Akhromeev. The task was so difficult that they said: if Somov remains alive, he will definitely become a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Late one evening, an orderly approached Vladimir and reported that he was urgently summoned to the head of the army's intelligence service. Lieutenant Colonel Vlasenkov recently arrived at this post, who at first did not yet understand the situation and was afraid of everything. He told Somov, coming from afar, that, despite the fact that Vladimir had been waiting for a replacement for a long time, General of the Army Akhromeev gave his last name to accomplish this task. Fame is not always helpful. The task was to be performed in conjunction with the authorities state security... Hearing this, Somov thought: “That's it. I'm not leaving here. " The intelligence chief did not know the essence of the task. The only thing he could tell was the size of the group: eleven people. Three days later, Somov with the group was to be in Jalalabad.
JELALABAD HOSPITALITY
We flew to Jalalabad on turntables. Oddly enough, no one of the commandos met at the airport. The men shrugged their shoulders and, finding a comfortable place, fell on the grass to sleep not far from the takeoff. After some time, a Volga drove up, driven by some non-Russian man who asked Captain Somov. As it turned out, he was instructed to deliver scouts to the location of the sixty-sixth motorized rifle brigade.
In the brigade, Somov hurried to the commander in order to clarify the task, but he just brushed it off: "I don't know anything about your task and I don't want to know!" The brigade commander was ordered to provide the scouts with housing and food, but otherwise they were advised not to poke their nose anywhere. It became like in a fairy tale: the further, the worse.
Soon some non-Russian arrived again, saying that he was from “Colonel Sidorov” and invited Somov to follow him. Taking with him three commandos, Vladimir got into the "Volga". Having passed through the subtropical greenery, we arrived at the luxurious villa-residence of the head of the KhAD province of Nangarhar. This villa used to belong to the king's sister. In the banquet hall, where the table was served, the scouts were awaited by the owner of the villa, the head of the anti-bandit department, Dr. Bach, who had arrived from Kabul, and “Colonel Sidorov” himself. Brushing aside Somov's report, he invited everyone to the table. The scouts had not seen such delicacies and drinks for a long time and gladly took the opportunity. The evening came to an end, and no one stuttered about the task. It was too late to return, and the scouts were left to spend the night in the villa.
HINTS, HINTS ...
Only the next day did “Sidorov” speak very vaguely about the problem. He did not pose it, as is customary in the army, but said that it would be nice if Somov and his guys helped them solve one problem. The thing is that the chief adviser on geology, together with his wife, whom he met at the airport, were stolen by “perfume”. The local state security leadership decided to kidnap one of the leaders of the Mujahideen in order to subsequently exchange him for our adviser and his wife. It was Somova who recommended Akhromeev as a great master in special tasks. This recommendation was worth a lot, so “Sidorov” and his assistants pinned great hopes on Vladimir and his people. Hearing this, Somov became sad a second time, realizing that the bad feeling had not deceived him. Nevertheless, the KGB colonel, despite all of the above, was in no hurry to specify the task. He only said that one of the self-defense detachments with a total strength of about a hundred people, which formed the KhAD, would be helping the commandos. Somov and his people had to teach this unorganized army in one or two days to get into helicopters and leave them so that it did not fall under the screws and did not become a piece of minced meat until the "spirits" opened fire on them. The committee member did not say where he was going to work and what exactly would have to be done, gently avoiding the increasingly persistent questions of the commander of the special forces.
The next day we started training. Somov was somewhat reassured by the fact that he had already acted with this Afghan detachment under the command of Amur. The Afghans were indeed relatively well prepared and loyal to the existing regime. In the evening, training ended at the airport and a banquet began at the villa. So three days passed. Somov became more and more nervous and asked when he would be introduced to the plan of action. The committee was still silent. True, he said that surrounded by the leader they needed, he had his own man.
When Vladimir was tired of this game of cat and mouse, he said that in order to work he had to familiarize himself with the terrain plan and the concept of the operation in advance. Without this, he will not be able to plan and coordinate the work of all subgroups during the raid, as well as select a landing site for landing helicopters, which may not land everywhere. After that, "Sidorov" gave up and showed a hand-drawn diagram without reference to a specific area. The diagram depicted a fortress, in which, according to the agent, the object of the abduction was supposed to be. According to the plan of the KGB colonel, his capture was planned at dawn the day after tomorrow.
Cunning versus cunning
Realizing that “Sidorov” would not explain anything until the last moment, Somov went for a trick. He said that it was necessary to fly over the site of the operation before the operation, so that the helicopter pilots would say whether they could land there. Since “Sidorov” planned three sites for the landing of a hundred people, the argument that the turntables can land far from everywhere played a role. The next morning Somov, the agent and “Sidorov” flew to the site of the operation. Having seen with their own eyes the site, the helicopter pilots gave the go-ahead to land in only two places. The third was unusable.
Somov, seeing the fortress, ordered to prepare "cats" for storming its walls. “Sidorov” tried in every possible way to exclude communication between the agent and the commander of the special forces group. Only in the evening before the flight was Somov able to talk to the gunner, who was supposed to indicate exactly where the person they would have to capture was. Vladimir found out that about thirty people were guarding him, as well as in which of the fortresses he was located. When Somov asked the agent if the object was constantly there, the gunner said that he spent the night with his friend about ten kilometers from these fortresses and visited his headquarters only during the day. This information crossed out all previous plans, which were based on the fact that the operation would take place early in the morning at dawn. But “Sidorov” unexpectedly began to insist on the timing of the operation, saying that they had been approved “at the top”. Vladimir, who has long been tired of the game of hide and seek, objected rather sharply. In the end, they agreed that now they would have to carry out an operation at the place where the leader they needed was to stay.
THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN COMPLICATED
Aerial photographs of the place were brought from somewhere. Here, instead of one fortress, they had to storm five, located in a semicircle two hundred meters from one another. All this made the task difficult. Two helicopters could land at the same time only in one place - in front of the fortresses. But in this case, they certainly came under fire from the guards. Somov specified where exactly the person they needed was sleeping. The picture was very gloomy: instead of one fortress - five, instead of two landing sites - one. Somov told “Sidorov” about this and added that if the “spirits” had at least one machine gun on each fortress, none of the attackers would leave the landing area alive. To which the committee member only shrugged his shoulders, thereby making it clear that these were Somov's problems. That's why he is a special forces soldier.
Raid
Somov decided to distribute his people into subgroups. He himself, the gunner and several Afghans were supposed to fly in the lead vehicle. Part of the forces was supposed to block four fortresses, and the main subgroup was to capture the one where the leader of the Mujahideen they needed spent the night, and subsequently capture him.
Early in the morning, an armada of helicopters took off from the Jalalabad airfield: seven pairs of Mi-8s and two pairs of Mi-24s. Apparently, this saved the participants in the operation. The “spirits” have probably never seen such a quantity of aviation in the sky, so there was no opposition from them. Already when the turntable was approaching landing, Somov once again asked the gunner in which fortress the person they needed was located, and he suddenly pointed to a completely different building! Apparently, he could only orient himself visually.
However, it was too late to change anything, since each subgroup knew its object and task, and only a few minutes remained before the raid. The helicopter landed, and Somov with his men rushed to the massive walls of "his" fortress. The soldiers began to hammer with rifle butts into the gates, which could only be knocked out with explosives. The commandos expected a machine gun to strike from the other side, but instead the gate opened. The "spirit" who opened them, politely greeted him, asked whatever the shuravi wanted. Shuravi, without hesitation, put twelve healthy mujahideen along the fence in the position of “hands behind their heads” and began a search. At this time, the turntables sat down and took off, spitting out a new portion of the landing, which immediately rushed to the next fortress. There was no opposition. Somov contacted “Air” and gave instructions to be ready to strike at the target indicated by him.
The search continued, the soldiers, having turned everything in the house, reached the brushwood piled in the yard. Weapons were hidden here. By this time, a report was received on the radio that the object of the operation was captured. There, too, everything went smoothly. Only one zealous guard tried to resist, but he was also calmed down without firing by giving a couple of good kicks. In the end, the landing took possession of all five fortresses. The leader of the Mujahideen and twenty-two of his guards were taken prisoner. Somov ordered everyone to be brought to him.
DANGEROUS CAPTIVE
The captive leader turned out to be a very authoritative mullah. A tall gray-haired man with a large white beard. A sleek, thoroughbred face betrayed a person of uneasy origin in him. But the main thing on his face were strikingly intelligent eyes. There was not even a shadow of fear in them. The whole appearance of this man exuded confidence and strength. All this made an indelible impression on the Afghans who captured the mullah. Somov even thought that all of them would now collapse on their knees in front of this old man, and if he commands them: “Fas!” Then the commandos will find themselves in a very difficult situation. It was necessary to minimize the communication of Afghans with the captured mullah. For this, the prisoners were taken aside, the Afghans were distributed among the fortresses to ensure the safety of the landing of helicopters. The commander contacted the aviation and agreed that the first to evacuate the prisoners and trophies, and after them all the rest.
We arrived in Jalalabad without incident. Somov reported on the completed task, and “Sidorov”, in turn, threw a banquet at parting. Truly, "to whom the war, and to whom the mother is dear."
WHAT ELSE IS NEEDED?
Returning to Kabul, Somov learned that Igor Vabul had arrived to replace him. And one of the officers of the army headquarters said that, according to rumors, the Star of the Hero or, at least, the Order of Lenin was shining on Somov. But, unlike previous cases, Akhromeev did not invite Somov to his place, and indeed no one was eager to hear the details of the operation. Only a day later, the chief of intelligence of the army, summoning Somov to himself, said: “Well, Vladimir Mikhailovich, you received the Red Star, you were introduced to the Order of the Red Banner a month ago, your replacement arrived, what else do you need? Thank you for your service… ”. No one stuttered about any Golden Star.
Sergey KOZLOV
With the execution of Admiral Kolchak on the night of February 7, 1920 and the advance of the Red Army to Lake Baikal, the Civil War in Siberia did not end, exactly a year later it flared up again, this time the communist government, which declared itself "worker-peasant", abandoned regular troops with armored trains, artillery and machine guns against this very peasant. By the way, for those who do not know, in Siberia, unlike European Russia, landlords as a social class never existed and serfdom never existed. But there was a Siberian peasant who made up 90% of its population in the western provinces. By the way, in the elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1917, the Bolsheviks in Siberia received only 10% of the vote. And now the beloved leader, Comrade Lenin ordered " deflate"bread from Siberia. This term is about" deflation“I didn’t come up with bread, it’s from the lexicon of official documents of that period. And about the punishers, I’m not the author, but a police officer of the Ishim district, N.P. Paramonov. the act, drawn up on December 31, 1929, wrote: " ... Comrade Maltsev was some careerist punisher among the citizens of the village of Churtanskoye, taking out a revolver from its holster, exposing it and threatening to be shot". And the chairman of the Churtan volost executive committee AV Chernov said that" comrade Maltsev said if you were to me by 12 o'clock. if you don’t complete the layout, then I will shoot you".
And it was not just words. They were shooting. On the same day, December 31, authorized comrade Sedashev, at a meeting of the Ishim district emergency troika, reported that in the villages of the Larikha volost " there was an open uprising of the peasants of these villages". In what was the uprising expressed? And comrade Sedashev, commanding a detachment of 27 people, sent" for exploration"there are several food detachments in the village of Novo-Travinskaya. These" scouts"it is not clear why two peasants were killed. The peasants came running, as comrade Sedashev clarified," armed with different cudgels ... and at the local bell tower they sounded the alarm". What is Comrade Sedashev doing? Here are the words from his report:" Seeing the pressure of the crowd, had to fire a volley, resulting in about ten people fell, a a volley was also fired at the bell tower, after which the alarm stopped".
The troika decided: to send in addition to help the detachment of 27 people " infantrymen - 15 people, machine gunners - 15 people and cavalrymen - 20 people". And also send the Chekist comrade Nedorezov with them," to whom to entrust the removal of the instigators. The squad will leave at 5 o'clock. December 31 pm".
The next day, residents of another - Loktinskaya volost of Ishim district receive a "circular number 14" for execution: " ... from citizens who did not fulfill this order, bread to a single grain will be taken away and all property, both movable and immovable, will be confiscated. If in any society someone revolts, the whole village will be burned
".
This is not Admiral Kolchak, and not General Rozanov, this is Comrade Bratkov himself, authorized to carry out the surplus appropriation in the Loktinskaya volost.
In the same Larikha volost, the team of the 185th battalion, which came to help the detachment of Comrade Sedashev "under the command of the battalion commander-1 Petrov, among 15 bayonets, 900 rounds, with 2 machine guns and 15 machine gunners with 6,000 rounds, 15 carts ... to take measures against persons who do not carry out the layout", fired at the crowd, killing another peasant, and" due to the small number, retreated in the direction of Ishim"This is all like that and ended in the end with a really massive uprising of the peasants, which began in the Ishim district and flared further.
Well, let's talk about the methods that the "workers 'and peasants'" government took? I'll probably start with order No. 9 of the Ishim District Executive Committee of Soviets dated February 9, 1921. First, they made it responsible for the safety railroad section Golyshmanovo-Maslyanskaya to nearby volosts, demanding " in support of this by 12 noon on February 10 imagine to the Ishim Politburo (Cheka) hostages ... , which in case of further damage to the path will be shot. For failure to provide hostages by the specified date villagesadjacent to the railroad line, will be bombarded with gunfire... For the murders of communists and Soviet workers carried out in those societies where this happens, for every one to shoot ten people of local peasants... Any opposition will be suppressed without mercy, up to the destruction of individual villages with the use of machine gun and cannon fire" etc.
On February 7, 1921, just on the first anniversary of the unjustified execution of Admiral Kolchak, V.I.Shorin ordered the brigade commander of the 85th brigade of the 29th rifle division urgently arrive in the city of Ishim and " take command over all troops in the area between the rivers Tobol and Irtysh and the Omsk-Kurgan railway line, both defending the railway and acting to liquidate the uprising". This is how brigade commander-85 Rakhmanov received the post of the main red punisher for suppressing the Ishim peasant uprising. Who is brigade commander Rakhmanov?
From the operational order No. 48 of the commander of the Soviet armed forces of the Omsk-Tyumen region brigade-85 Rakhmanov dated March 6, 1921 (the city of Ishim):
"3. All chiefs act boldly, decisively; the occupation of this or that village in itself does not have much value. It is necessary to inflict cruel blows on the bandits, to ruthlessly destroy them, to act on the psychology of the population, to give it clear lessons.
4.1. All the bandits captured with weapons i order to shoot on the spot without trial.
4.2. Villagessupporting gangs and resisting our troops in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, spark off.
4.3. Take hostages in every village from the kulak element. Announce to the public that in the event of repeated support to gangs hostages will be shot.
5. The lack of determination in the actions of the chiefs for aiding the bandits among the population creates the impression of our weakness. Similar will be subject to capital punishment"
.
I will not further load the text with examples of the punitive activities of brigade commander Rakhmanov. She was highly appreciated by the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, by his order No. 103 of 1923, brigade commander-85 Nikolai Nikolaevich Rakhmanov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Here he is above in the photo with this order. As I write these lines, I am haunted by an ineradicable desire to hear comments from persons telling horror about the actions of Kolchak's punitive detachments, which most often limited itself to flogging the deserters caught. But I have not finished the story about the red punisher brigade commander Rakhmanov yet.
Former brigade commander Rakhmanov. Enemy of the people. 1937.
The active actions of the Civil War gradually came to naught. Red brigades and commanders suppressed the peasant uprisings of 1921, as well as that in Kronstadt. The world revolution still did not come. And then there was the famine of 1921. And the Red Army began to be quickly reduced. This cup also did not pass the order-bearer of Rakhmanov. In the same year 1923 he was dismissed from the army. As they say, the Moor has done his job - the Moor must leave. The former brigade commander ascended to protect enterprises. His last position was - the head of the armed rotational and fire brigade of the base "Metalsyryo" in Moscow at 7. Dushinskaya Street. On this day, he was arrested by officers of the GUGB NKVD of the USSR. The order-bearer and the former brigade commander were accused of counter-revolutionary agitation. This is Art. 58-10 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. Citizen Rakhmanov did not plead guilty. But that didn't matter. Troika at the UNKVD in the Moscow region on December 3, 1937 decided - to shoot. A week later, more precisely on December 11, 1937, the former brigade commander-85 and the red punisher of the rebels against the violence of the Siberian peasants was shot at the Butovo training ground. Enemy of the people.
Page 13 of 18
UNKNOWN ABOUT KNOWN
WHOSE BULLET HIT THE COMBRIG?
THE SON OF THE LEGENDARY CIVIL WAR HERO GRIGORY KOTOVSKY IS SURE THAT HIS FATHER WAS KILLED BY ORDER OF THE AUTHORITIES
Last Sunday, one hundred and twenty years have passed since the birth of the legendary man Grigory Kotovsky. A highly controversial, in many ways even odious figure, Kotovsky nevertheless perfectly fit into the difficult time in which he happened to live. A dashing robber before the turning point of October, without a twinge of conscience robbing the moneybags and distributing their share of the booty - not everyone in the detachment was so disinterested - to the poor, he, when the civilian broke out, became a dashing red commander. After the end of the fratricidal massacre, Grigory Ivanovich was ambivalent about the regime that had taken power, daring to have his own point of view at everything. For which, according to many historians and people close to him, in the end he paid.
On a sultry August night in 1925, two shots rang out in the Chebank military state farm near Odessa. The second, according to the official version, was struck down by the hero civil war Grigory Kotovsky. Shooting broke out near the dacha, where the family of Grigory Ivanovich spent their vacation. Spouse Olga Petrovna in a matter of seconds ran up to the body sprawled at the gate. There was no breath.
Later, an examination determined that a bullet from a small-bore pistol pierced the aorta. This immediately aroused certain doubts: a man of powerful physique (many marveled at Kotovsky's strength) with such a wound would have been agonizing for some time. And then instant death.
Already a couple of hours after the tragedy, the alleged killer was detained - Mayer Seider, the forager of the cavalry corps, into which Kotovsky's brigade was transformed shortly before the incident. Kotovsky, unexpectedly for everyone, brought him closer to him in the summer of 1919. In tsarist times, Seider, known in thieves' circles as a brothel keeper under the nickname Majorchik, hid Kotovsky from the gendarmes several times. In 1916, the future legendary brigade commander was sitting with Zayder on the bunks of the Odessa central, awaiting the execution of the death sentence for numerous robberies and robberies. Majorchik was listed in prison as a delivery man of gruel, a very significant figure for the prisoners, on whom much depended, and openly favored the suicide bomber. Grigory Ivanovich remembered goodness and considered obliged to pay for it.
On that fateful night, Mayer Seider was seen by many in Chebank. He was an unpleasant man, an ugly character. Many frankly did not like him, therefore they readily agreed that it was he who raised his hand against his benefactor. Even the circumstances under which the suspect was detained were not alerted. When Mayer was arrested right on a country road, he walked as if nothing had happened from Chebanka to Odessa, whistling something. Only a person who does not feel any guilt could behave this way. Subsequently, it was stated that a lady's revolver was found in the folds of his clothes, a shot from which allegedly stopped the heart of the legendary brigade commander.
Thousands of people who came to the coffin of the national hero on the day of the funeral were informed that the brigade commander had fallen from the hands of a hired by international imperialism. But after the trial, conducted in hot pursuit, Majorchik was tried for a common domestic crime committed on the basis of love. Like, the brigade commander had an affair with the wife of Seider, who, in revenge, decided the opponent. At the trial, Majorchik played along with the investigation in every possible way, even argued that, killing his wife's lover, he did not even know that he was shooting at Kotovsky. And the judges for murder in the heat of passion gave Majorchik ten years in prison.
Upon learning of the tribunal's verdict, Kotovsky's associates were indignant. Famous before the revolution, Odessa thief, the thunder of safes, Grigory Veldman, who later became the squadron commander in the Kotovsky brigade and who deserved his desperate bravery in a little over three (!) The Order of the Red Banner, raised the alarm on his horsemen. They surrounded the city prison, where Zayder was being held, and demanded his extradition for lynching. It was then possible to extinguish the passions with great difficulty. And Majorchik did not even serve his "legitimate" top ten - two years later he was released under an amnesty in connection with the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution and sent away from Odessa out of harm's way.
Having freed himself, Zayder settled in Kharkov, where he worked as a car coupler at the station. Two years later, he was found dead in the back tracks. Majorchik was strangled, and the body was put on the tracks to simulate an accident, but the train was late. Then, for some time, there was a rumor among the people that the punishing "paw" of Veldman the bugbear had overtaken the villain.
If this was the case, then it is unlikely that what happened can be considered an act of righteous retribution. After all, many Kotovites have remembered the farewell ceremony with the brigade commander: a coffin with a body on display, two Orders of the Red Banner on the cushions, an honorable revolutionary weapon, shackles ... A deep wound is gaping on the brigade commander's head next to his right ear. She was even captured by photographs, which later disappeared somewhere in the most mysterious way. Could this wound have formed from a direct hit ... in the heart?
Then, perhaps, few people cared. But later, when rumors began to appear that the brigade commander did not die from the bullet of a wretched cuckold, it could still be verified. For some reason they did not do this. Although the case of the brigade commander is really full of absurdities, allowing to assert with a considerable degree of certainty that the official version of death is far from true. Many eyewitnesses of the event claimed, for example, that there were not two shots on that fateful night. That the brigade commander died not at the dacha, but on the beach in Luzanovka, where Kotovsky lay down to rest, returning from a meeting with children from the pioneer camp. On the seashore, the first, which became fatal, shot thundered. And the dacha had only a mock murder. That is why the mighty brigade commander did not agonize from a bullet.
Hot on the heels, this version was rejected for some reason. Years later, there was no way to check it - the most important evidence of what happened was lost. And most importantly, Kotovsky's body disappeared. For sixteen years it lay in the mausoleum - the legendary brigade commander was the only one to whom the Soviet people paid Leninist honors at that time - in the city of Birzul (now Kotovsk, Odessa region). After the city was occupied by the Nazis in 1941, the Romanian occupation authorities ordered to blow up the tomb. And the sarcophagus with the ashes was taken out in an unknown direction.
The brigade commander's heart was also lost. Punched, according to the official version, by a small-caliber bullet, it, alcoholized in a special flask, was stored along with other exhibits at the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Odessa Medical Institute, as Anatoly Fadeev, who recently passed away, told about it. When the Nazis broke into the city, the laboratory assistant responsible for their safety managed to rip off the labels from the cans so as not to draw the enemy's attention to the relic. Subsequently, this man died at the front, and the heart in alcohol remained unnamed and it seems that it cannot be identified.
For the entire time of Soviet power, not a single detailed work about the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaev. Soviet historians and ethnographers most often mentioned the name of Nikolaev in connection with his tragic fate. Due to the unipolar coverage of the history of the Civil War by Soviet authors (there could be no talk of adjustments at that time), the execution of the red commander A.P. Nikolaeva has overgrown with legends and fables. The preference was given to literary fiction, the authors of which embodied on the pages of books all the measure of their wild imagination and writing skills. Based on documents, Soviet sources and literature, we offer the discerning reader this study dedicated to the fate of the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaev.
Each one costs so muchhow much is what he cares about
(Marcus Aurelius)
During these years, Russia was ruled by Emperor Alexander III, who justly entered world historyas the Tsar-Peacemaker. During his reign, Russia did not fight, and the service of ordinary army officers proceeded in monotonous everyday life.
Further service A.P. Nikolaeva presents a colorless picture, the revival of which occurs only with the next production in the officer's rank.
On October 1, 1884, he was promoted to second lieutenant, and four years later, on October 25, 1888, to lieutenant with the appointment on January 9, 1889, as a member of the Military Department in the Vilna district administrative committee. Serving his officer qualification, Nikolaev long time held various non-combatant economic positions, in particular, was in charge of a battalion garbage.
It should be noted that after graduating from the cadet school from 1882 to 1905 A.P. Nikolaev served in the same military unit, which eventually underwent a number of renames, and on January 1, 1898, it was reorganized from a battalion into the 169th Infantry Novo-Troksky Regiment. In the same year, Nikolayev, being in the rank of staff captain, received the first combat position of the commander of the 14th company of his native regiment. And two years later, at the age of 40, he was promoted to the rank of captain, which gave the Russian officer a relatively strong financial position, the captain's salary allowed the officer (who did not have secondary support) to start a family. Apparently due to the scarcity of his financial situation, Alexander Pamfomirovich married late at the age of 32, having married his first marriage in 1892, from which he had a daughter, Faina (born in 1893) and a son, Victor (born in 1895). In 1900, Captain Nikolayev divorced his first marriage and, already in the rank of lieutenant colonel, remarried the daughter of the provincial secretary, Nadezhda Avvakumovna Osipova, apparently in 1906. From the second marriage two sons were born: Eugene (born 1907) and Alexander (born 1909).
Only after two years of service with the rank of captain, he was accepted as a member of the Society of Officers' Ranks of the 2nd Army Corps. On August 28, 1903, he graduated from the Officer Rifle School with an average grade of "Successfully".
On the eve of the war with Japan, striving to dramatically change his rear colorless life with an obvious lack of career growth in it (education did not allow), he voluntarily sent on January 21, 1904 to staff the 2nd East Siberian infantry regiment, in which on the second day of the war he was appointed commander of the 11th company.
In the theater of operations Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 captain Nikolaev distinguished himself. He was wounded in the battle at Wafangou, awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 2nd degree with swords, the Order of St. Vladimir 4th degree with swords and a bow, the Order of St. Anne 4th degree with the inscription "For Bravery", Golden Weapons (with 1913 - St. George's weapon) with the inscription "For courage", was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed commander of the 1st battalion of the 2nd East Siberian rifle regiment.
However, the abundance of awards received in that war did not mean the presence of military talent or outstanding courage. Contemporaries and historians unanimously noted that during the war with Japan, awards were handed out thoughtlessly and generously. Even officers and officials who were deep in the rear of the army received several military orders with swords and bows, on a par with military officers who walked under Japanese bullets. From this, the awards lost their special meaning and ceased to be valued, as before, which was paid attention even in the press of that time. Another thing is the Golden Weapon, which was awarded for a specific feat. But all the more incomprehensible and discouraging was his further fate.
In the new regiment, Nikolaev combined the post of battalion commander with the posts of a member of the court of the society of officers, chairman of the administrative committee of the officers 'assembly, chairman of the regimental court, chairman of the commission for managing widows' capital, member of the administrative committee of the Nikolsk-Ussuriysk garrison assembly, chairman of the commission for receiving things at the Kapricevo station.
On October 26, 1906, he returned to service in the 169th Infantry Novo-Troksky Regiment. In his native regiment, Nikolaev, as a combat officer, marked with the prestigious Golden Weapon, is appointed to the positions of: chairman of officer institutions; supervising the school of ensigns in the town of Oolite, chairman of the regimental court and for the honorary regimental post of commander of the 1st battalion. On September 12, 1908, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolaev was appointed regiment commander.
On March 12, 1911, he received the highest production with the rank of colonel with the rights of hereditary nobility.
To the front of the First World War, Colonel A.P. Nikolaev took the floor at the head of his own regiment. Almost after a year of the war, the decision of the Georgievsk Duma to award Colonel Nikolayev the Order of St. George, IV degree, was imperially approved on June 10, 1915 by Emperor Nicholas II.
The next month, on July 27, Colonel Nikolayev was awarded another honorary military officer's award, the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree with swords.
Large losses and the formation of new units required a huge number of new officers and generals. This position made it possible to arrange a brilliant military career combat officers who do not have sufficient education.
December 23, 1915 A.P. Nikolaev receives the highest production in major generals, cherished for every Russian officer, and is appointed as a brigade commander in the 19th Infantry Division. On July 22, 1917, already under the Provisional Government, he was appointed commander of the 19th Infantry Division, holding the post of Lieutenant General.
Nikolayev's predecessor as the commander of a real division, General A. D. Nechvolodov, wrote in his book: “Brigadier General Alexander Pamfamirovich Nikolaev, a man of exceptional courage and courage, commanded the 19th Infantry Division after me, but very little time: in the summer of 1917 he was removed from office due to adherence to the old regime. "
Despite the awards received by General Nikolaev as brigade commander, his colleagues left a very impartial characterization of him.
Officers of the 19th Infantry Division accused him of “selfish careerism” and recalled his command of the division in this way: “In tsarist times it was the most beast, merciless to the soldier, rude to the officer, toady to the authorities. Who knew Nikolayev, he remembers his vile rudeness, baseness, cruelty. "
It is difficult to say what motives Aleksandr Pamfomirovich was guided by, having decided, shortly after the Provisional Government was awarded the very honorable military order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree with swords, in October 1917 to voluntarily go into the service of the Bolsheviks to the main culprits of the collapse of the army.
The army, with which he had all his destiny, in the ranks of which, without having the appropriate education, he made a brilliant career, was treated kindly by awards and ranks, in one fell swoop he crossed out his whole life in it!
We do not know about what "understandable socialist ideas for Nikolaev" the modern author asserts.
During the disintegration of the Army, after the notorious Order No. 1, strange metamorphoses took place. So the commander of the 11th Army, General Gutor, sewed wide red stripes on the collar, cuffs and a slit on the chest of his protective shirt.
An example is typical of the future red commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky. His colleagues in the Life Guards Semyonovsky Regiment recalled: “We celebrated the New Year 1918 in the officers' meeting of the Semenovsky Regiment near the Field of Mars. Tukhachevsky had just returned from German captivity as a result of the collapse of the German-Russian front. During lunch, Tukhachevsky asked us what we were going to do next. Two colleagues replied that they would go to the Don, where anti-Bolshevik troops began to form. Tukhachevsky said: "Dear friends, I stay and stake on the bastard - Lenin and Trotsky - she will rule for twenty-five years, and maybe more."
In the early days October coup Nikolaev, having taken off his general's shoulder straps, went to the factory committee of the Petrograd steam locomotive plant and asked to take him ... to a worker! An incomprehensible and extraordinary step. Perhaps Nikolayev hoped that his act would immediately make him a hero in the eyes of the workers and allow him to take a privileged position with the Bolsheviks, who badly needed military experts ... After all, one cannot believe that he was going to seriously become a handyman on the construction of steam locomotives. From the factory, he was sent to the disposal of the district military commissariat.
The famous poetess Zinaida Gippius, who dragged out a half-starved existence with her husband D.S.Merezhkovsky in the same 1918 in Petrograd, wrote earlier bitter lines that can be prefaced to the renegade officers:
Treason is not shameful to traitors.
The time will come for vengeance ...
But it is a shame to those who, cheerfully - submissive,
Peter was betrayed with traitors.
In early 1918, Nikolaev served in the Military Inspectorate under the leadership of N.I. Podvoisky. Since the spring of 1918, he held the post of military commander of the Nevsky district military enlistment office in Petrograd, then commander of the Special detachment for the protection of communications of the Neva. Since June 1918, commander of the 3rd brigade of the 2nd Petrograd infantry division, since November 1918, he has been in command of a brigade of the 19th division, which took part in battles with White Guard troops in the region of Gdov and Yamburg.
The only recollections of the commander of the communications team of the 52nd Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division of the Red Army about a meeting and conversation with him in the spring of 1919, shortly before his capture, belong to this period of service of the brigade commander Nikolaev.
“Having accepted the command and received the necessary documentation, I left and, upon learning that the brigade headquarters was in the village of Popkova Gora, I found this village by train and carts.<…> and showed up to the chief of staff of the brigade. Having learned from the documents who I was and why I had arrived, the chief of staff was clearly delighted and suggested that I go to the brigade commander. The hut where he lodged was visible from the headquarters.
Knowing that Nikolaev is a former major general of the tsarist army, all his life he was a military man and of course a serviceman, I put myself in order after the road<…>... He knocked and received a short answer: “Come in”, - opened the door from the entrance to the hut. An elderly man, probably about 60 years old, walked around the room, dressed in a rather shabby tunic, on which holes from shoulder straps were visible, military trousers with piping, in felt boots. Short cropped hair, like a hedgehog.
Seeing me, he stopped and looked inquiringly<…>... I took a stand at attention, snapped my spurs<…>, put his hand to his cap and reported<…>.
T [ovaryshch] Nikolaev instantly also took a stand “At attention”, dropped his hands at the seams. After listening to my report, he invited me to sit down and first of all inquired about the combat strength of the regiment.<…>
I gave approximate data. This made him very happy. Approximately his words: “2000 people [sheep], but this is a force, but in my brigade there will not be 400 bayonets. How many machine guns? ”. I reported: "Four machine-gun teams, three battalion and regimental 32 machine guns." “My dear fellow, with such a power you can not only keep the curtain, but also drive Bulak back to Estonia. This self-styled colonel will lose his pants as soon as he has to run.<…> These are the types who command the whites. ”<…> After sitting three of us over the map for an hour and a half, we resolved the issue of placing the 52nd Infantry Regiment<…>... After the chief of staff left, the brigade commander invited me to stay with him for some tea. I remember his conversation over tea. He asked where and how long I served. That I was a former officer t [ovarishch] Nikolaev immediately recognized: “You have an army bearing<…>”. Upon learning that at the front I fought in the 48th Infantry Division, comrade [arishch] Nikolaev, immediately remembered that this division was commanded by General [eral] Kornilov and asked me if I was in the division in 1915 during the retreat of the Russian army from Hungary ...
Having received a negative answer, the brigade commander said something like this: “This goose Kornilov is also good. In 1915, during the defense of the Duklinsky pass in the Carpathians, he sent all the artillery and division banners to the rear, and the division defended the pass with his bare hands. The entire division died, however, and Kornilov was captured, but the artillery brigade and the banners remained. And then look at Kornilov and they let him out of captivity, then the corps, the army in Chernivtsi and, finally, the Commander-in-Chief, but Leningrad was going to take. Generally an adventurer with his Tekins. But he cannot be denied personal courage, because one must at least say something good about the dead. How did you fight? Do you have any awards? ”
There is hardly any doubt that reading the Bolshevik newspapers gave the brigade commander Nikolaev pleasure. On the pages of newspapers “during the three years of Bolshevik power, the pathos of their articles on the Russian officers was reduced to three provisions: 1) all officers come from the exploiting classes and are enemies of the workers 'and peasants' power; 2) to attract them, therefore it is not necessary, and if they do, then keep them chained and without rights (like sled dogs that are eaten when there is no need for them); 3) the officer is to blame for the fact that he is an officer, and can atone for this “original sin” (and even then not to the end), only completely surrendering to the disposal of the new government without any pretensions. "
“We say to the generals and officers who came to our service:“ We cannot guarantee you that the Red Army men will not shoot you by mistake, but we can guarantee you that we will shoot you when you start cheating, we can and even promise! ” ".
Soviet sources claim that the brigade of the Petrograd Rifle Division, under the command of A.P. Nikolaeva "fought staunchly against the White Guards in the Narva sector, where the brigade commander Nikolaev showed himself to be an experienced military leader." Whether this was actually the case, confirmation of such an assessment to the brigade commander has not yet been found. But there is no doubt that the brigade commander Nikolaev went down in the history of the Civil War not thanks to his victories, but to the fact of the complete defeat of his brigade near Yamburg.
From the memoirs of General A. P. Rodzianko: “Lieutenant Danilov with his detachment, taking off epaulettes and cockades, and wearing Bolshevik stars instead, crossed Plyussa in boats at night, occupied the main road crossroads in the rear of the Reds and surrounded the headquarters, no losses (Emphasis added. - S. Z.). Simultaneously with the capture of the headquarters, the main forces ... hit the crossings, and three armored trains and a battery stationed near Gavrilovskaya were captured. The entire brigade of Nikolaev was partly defeated, partly taken prisoner, only some insignificant remnants of it, bypassing the outposts of Lieutenant Danilov, fled to the southeast in the Luga direction.
According to the participants in the capture of the brigade commander Nikolaev, the events developed as follows: “The chief of staff of the Red Brigade, who lived in a private house in the village of Popkov Gora, fled when the shooting began ... and, thinking that Bolshaya Ruya was in the hands of the Reds, approached the post non-commissioned officer Mikhailov. Nikolaev was gray-haired, flabby, in an old officer's greatcoat. Mikhailov became wary. "Where, comrade, are you going?" The partisan called out. "I'm going to a safer place, because white bandits raided the brigade headquarters!" - answered Nikolaev. “Well, that's good, comrade. Then on this occasion, hands up! I came to the whites! " Nikolaev obeyed. He was surrounded and searched, but no weapons were found. One partisan approached and took off his cap. "Well, comrade, you have a brand new cap, we are changing." “I’m an old general and I ask you not to bother me,” Nikolayev said, turning purple. “If you are a general, then you must not serve the robbers! And if you serve them, we will not recognize you as a general! " - answered Mikhailov. The cap was replaced and Nikolaev was sent to the rest of the prisoners.
When the column of prisoners caught up with a group of horsemen, Nikolayev, having learned that the partisans were commanded by officer Danilov, who had arrived, went out of order, went up to the horse of the commander of a hundred and said: "I am a former general Nikolaev and I ask you to pay attention to the incorrect treatment of me by your subordinates." ... "And how was it expressed?" Danilov asked.
"Yes, they took off my cap and overcoat." Nikolaev stood, thin, with a gray beard, the old army bearing was felt. Danilov, struck by the impudence (of the prisoner - SZ), replied: “Now I don't see the general, but I see an ordinary Red Army soldier captured. And since I do not need the Red Army men for the detachment, you will be sent to the rear. It is my custom to remove the best clothes from those sent to the rear. Yes, this is correct in socialization! You reviled a good one, and now give it to us. You can go to your place and wait for you to be sent to the rear. "
And here is how the story of the capture of A.P. Nikolaev Soviet author: “What the whites could not achieve by force, they managed to achieve with the help of meanness and betrayal (?! - S. Z.): a large detachment of whites, disguised as Red Army soldiers, went to the rear and attacked the brigade headquarters. By the time the headquarters security realized what had happened, it was too late. The brigade commander's revolver turned out to be prudently discharged. One of the traitors, knowing Nikolayev as a former general, ran up to him and shouted: “Your Excellency! You are free. Take us to Petrograd. " The old soldier replied to the traitor: "I don’t trade my homeland, but you are a scoundrel!" ...
Another Soviet ethnographer wrote: “In May<…> regiment headquarters and brigade headquarters were captured in the village of Popkova Gora. The reason was the betrayal of local residents, especially a former officer of the tsarist army, an employee of the Vyskat military registration and enlistment office, who knew well the location of the regiment and brigade units. On the eve of the White offensive, he went over to their side.
The blame for such a crushing defeat undoubtedly falls on the brigade commander Nikolaev. There is hardly any doubt that the Bolsheviks would not have forgiven him for this shameful defeat, and if he had been saved that night, he would probably have been shot, accusing him of aiding the whites.
The fate of A.P. Nikolaev was a foregone conclusion.
“Everything that happened came as a complete surprise to the headquarters of the rifle division, - and this had the consequences poor headquarters and poorly organized intelligence(Emphasis added. - S. Z.) ", - the Soviet author reported in his book.
The Soviet historian is silent about the direct fault of the brigade commander Nikolaev, since the red propaganda has already created a "martyr" halo over him and made a "hero" out of him.
On May 13, the prisoner of war Nikolaev was taken from Popkovaya Gora to the headquarters of the detachment of the colonel, Count Palen, located at the Gostitsa station. On May 14, he was transferred to the village of Skamya, where General Rodzianko with his headquarters was at that time, and the naval base of the Northern Corps was located. At the very first interrogation, Nikolaev told General Rodzianko that "he switched to the Reds out of conviction, since he considers the Bolsheviks to be the only legitimate Russian government."
His frank confession ruled out repentance and any possible exhortations, and persuasions about the transition to the White Army.
On May 14, 1919, the representative of the Northern Corps for relations with the Estonian command, Lieutenant Colonel K. A. von Kruzenshtern, telegraphed to the Estonian headquarters: “Upon receipt of information so far, the trophies of the corps have reached<…> more than 1,500 prisoners of war, 2 batteries, more than 30 machine guns, three armored trains, two passenger trains, the entire headquarters of the 3rd brigade of the 6th division with the brigade chief General Nikolaev, the brigade chief of staff and commissars, as well as the entire brigade wagon train with more than 300 horses (our selection - C .Z.) ".
The assertions of Soviet authors about allegedly persistent persuasions and tempting offers to Nikolayev about service in the ranks of the White Army are not confirmed by anything other than rumors circulating then among the Yamburzhians. According to the Soviet local historians, whose books were designed to popularize the fictions and myths of the Soviet heroics of the Civil War, the captive brigade commander “despite the threats,<…> refused to go into service with whites. " To the area of \u200b\u200bconjectures and lies should be attributed and statements about "brutal torment and torture" to which Nikolaev was subjected by whites.
In the first days after the liberation of Yamburg from the Reds after May 17, A.P. Nikolaev was transported here. The conditions of captivity for the brigade commander in Yamburg were created very freely. He was not kept in a prison on Bolshaya Petrogradskaya Street, but placed in a private house on Narvskaya Street. He had nowhere to run.
During the investigation, it was confirmed that his family was not, like many officers who served with the Reds under duress, held hostage by the Bolsheviks, and that he went to serve the Communists out of conviction.
One of the Bolshevik Petrograd leaflets announced: “The families of all those who have gone over to the side of the Whites will be immediately arrested, wherever they are.<…>... All the property of the traitors is confiscated. There will be no return to traitors. All over the republic the order was given to shoot them on the spot. The families of all the commanders who betrayed the workers and peasants are taken as hostages. "
In the opinion of Colonel G. Ye. Bibikov, the commandant of Yamburg and a participant in the investigation: “This man was an extremely negative person. Having joined the Red Army as a volunteer, he in every possible way sought order in his units, and was extremely cruel with his subordinates. "
From the last order of the brigade commander Nikolaev, found at the headquarters of the village of Popkov Gora: “White gangs often sneak into our rear, which has repeatedly served as a pretext for retreating and the loss of entire combat areas. This shows that unit commanders and closest chiefs are not at the height of their calling, perform their duties poorly and do not monitor their subordinates. What I draw the attention of the authorities to, and I will collect from them according to the laws of wartime. Nikolaev ".
Former general Nikolaev was far from alone in his presence in the army of militant atheists. An example is typical, described by an officer in the northwest: “Near Petrograd, red cavalry cadets were attacking us, commanded by our fellow soldier, staff captain Grossman. We took prisoners who told us about it. One of the prisoners and I sent a note to Grossman that if he does not voluntarily go over to us and we catch him, the gallows will be provided for him. The next day we learned that Grossman had shot himself. "
Danilov, having learned that General Rodzianko had arrived in Yamburg, came to ask that Nikolayev be hanged as soon as possible. Colonel AS Gershelman recalled: “Captain Danilov entered the room where we were. Not tall, slender, with a handsome face, his hand after a recent wound in a sling, on his chest is the St.George Cross, which he received in The great war... He came from the peasants of the Pskov province, from that part of it where the old Russian type of face was preserved, without an admixture of Finnish blood: an aquiline nose, an oblong face, a beautiful cut of the eyes. “He freely walks around Yamburg,” Danilov said indignantly, “and he'll run away. As the head of the detachment that took Nikolayev prisoner, I lay claim to his “skin”. General Rodzianko laughed loudly and contagiously and promised to soon appoint a trial against Nikolayev.
A court-martial, which consisted of officers of the Russian Guard, ordered the execution of A.P. Nikolaev by hanging with deprivation of the officer's honor. Before the execution, a checker was broken over his head.
During the years of Soviet power, the execution of the red commander, thanks to the efforts of Soviet authors, was overgrown with fables.
We have memories of three people present at the execution of the brigade commander on May 28, 1919. Eyewitness last day AP Nikolaeva, a Yamburg resident Antonina Karpova recalled: “At the end of May 1919, I was then 12 full years old, the White Guard gang represented, as it were, the commandant of the city, Colonel Bibikov, decided, having specially gathered the people: to hang the patriot of the motherland, General Nikolaev, for the fact that he denied betraying his Red Guard. At the Market Square, at the entrance to the Dark Garden, at that time there was an old fire station, a gallows was arranged. A man enters the platform, wearing breeches and a protective jacket. Something was credited to him, it was well remembered in the child's mind that he was offered pardon, and he was promised glory in the White Guard, but as I see his face now, his right hand holds the side of the jacket, shook his head. And now we see: a priest with a cross rises to his platform, but Nikolayev refused, shaking his head. A terrible moment came, he was forced to stand on the bottom of the barrel, and someone put a noose around his neck. Something else was said to him, but he again shook his head in the negative, and soon the barrel was pushed out from under his feet. His face was contorted with convulsions, his tongue protruded. The child's heart could not stand it, and I ran home with a roar. I got a good scuffle from my grandmother for going to look at such a terrible sight. I remember that not far from me stood our Yamburg "aunt Dasha washerwoman": she cried so much and even screamed something, that they took her to the old post office (at that time prison - S.Z.) and gave her 25 rods. This incident is very engraved in memory, until his death. "
The Slantsevo ethnographer, quite peculiarly referring to the memoirs of A. Karpova, published them partially in 1980 in his own following edition: “They read him the death sentence, and then offered a pardon if he went over to the side of the whites. He, holding the side of the jacket with his right hand, shook his head negatively and uttered the well-known words: “You take my life, but you will never take away the faith in the future happiness of people”.
Another witness to the execution of the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaeva recalled: “The gallows was built near the intersection of Karl Marx and st. Zhukov: two Estonian brothers did. The day of reckoning came, they took him out of the Yamburg prison under a strong escort, and soldiers were also lined up on both sides of the road. They took me to the gallows and immediately read the death sentence. The general stood on a stool. One officer wanted to put a noose around his neck, but General Nikolayev did not give it and said: "I can put it on myself." And then they immediately pulled up the rope. "
Old resident Maria Ignatievna Drozdova testifies: “In 1919 I was 10 years old. On the day of Nikolayev's execution, we played in the hall of my relative, the merchant Serov, whose house was located on Bolshaya Petrogradskaya Street. And suddenly we heard three shots. We knew that Nikolaev was to be executed that day. When they ran to the square, where there were a lot of people, he was already hanging in a noose and two more soldiers were on the sides. We weren't scared. Three were hanged. Later, childhood friend Leva Klyuchikov in Leningrad, when he met me, recalled this day. He said that on the day of Nikolaev's execution there was clear sunny weather, and the rays of the sun from the church played in the mirror-polished tops of the boots of Nikolayev, who was hanged at 12 or 13 o'clock in the afternoon. Later, many said that he was offered to go over to the side of the whites, but he refused. "
In the earliest Soviet work that we discovered, despite the presence of an obvious lengthy fictional fiction, it describes quite accurately the buildings and some moments of the execution of the brigade commander Nikolayev (confirmed by eyewitnesses), which is why we decided here to cite extracts from this book: “The drum stopped beating, crackled again<…>... Right opposite<…> towered a white cathedral with silver domes, a large but ugly one with an oak door, with a pretentious Slavic inscription over it: "Blessed be mercy, for they will be pardoned." On the left, at the corner of two streets, there was a two-story house with a balcony hanging on the second floor, just above the intersection. Several people could be seen on the balcony. And down there, among the sea of \u200b\u200bhuman heads, shoulders, backs, fenced off by a dense chain of soldiers, a new board platform was turning yellow, and above it was something like a wooden gate without doors: a rope hung from their upper crossbar, and under it one could see the most ordinary home stool. Several military men were whispering on that platform. One of them held<…> rolled paper.<…> The drumbeat stopped<…>... The officer unrolled the paper<…>... The officer raised the sword over the head of the convict. Then, with a short effort, he broke it into two pieces. At the same moment, the old man abruptly threw back his head and stretched out. With his left hand, he pushed the soldier who had run up to him with force. Hastily unbuttoning the standing, woolen collar of his jacket with his other hand, he went up to the stool and stood on it.<> and taking out a rope loop from a distance, he put it on his neck.<…>... The drum hastily rattled again ... ".
In subsequent years, Soviet authors in their publications clothed the history of interrogations and the scene of the brigade commander's execution with picturesque fiction: "You are trying to persuade me uselessly - you should know that I am the same lion that lies there." “Three times General Rodzianko summoned Alexander Panfomirovich. He persuaded, blackmailed and threatened - all to no avail: Nikolaev angrily rejected his proposals. By personal order of Yudenich, he was sentenced to death. On May 28, Nikolaev was brought to the Market Square, placed in front of the gallows. A noose was thrown around the neck. “Come to your senses! Repent! Have mercy. Once again, you will receive the general's gold shoulder straps, money, everything, ”Rodzianko, who went out onto the balcony to watch the execution, appealed to the“ apostate ”. The brigade commander turned away with contempt. " “The old gray-haired man, tormented by beatings and tortures, found strength in himself and ascended the scaffold with a firm step. He pushed the executioner's hand away, tore the collar on himself and threw a noose over himself. He threw the last words to his tormentors: “I am losing ranks, orders, you are taking away my life, you have taken everything, but do not take away the faith in the future happiness of people.” The executioner knocked out a stool from under the condemned man's feet and, with the usual strangler's technique, hung on the hanged man's feet. Shouts were heard from the crowd. The officers rushed at the people and began to lash them with whips. " Another author reworked this phrase to his liking: “You have taken my ranks and orders from me. Now you are taking my life away, but you will never take away from me my faith in the future happiness of people. This happiness will come. It will be conquered by the people themselves. And death awaits you! " ...
"You are criminals going to Russia with self-appointed generals." "You are taking my life away, but you will not take away my faith in the future happiness of people." In one of soviet encyclopedias You can read: “In Yamburg, the White Guards captured the commander of the 3rd brigade of the 19th rifle division, the former general of the old army A.P. Nikolaev and after brutal torture they hanged him. "
A contemporary who arrived in Yamburg in the first half of June 1919 recalled that the captured Red commander Nikolayev, a former general of the Tsarist era, was “tried by an officer’s court and hanged to intimidate others in the middle of the city, which was very much condemned by part of the officers and the general public, who I preferred that everyone be judged according to the laws of the Russian state. "
According to the prevailing Soviet version, the corpse of the brigade commander swung on the gallows for several days, and then he was buried in a mass grave. But an eyewitness to Nikolayev's execution recalled: “The supply was immediately prepared, after half an hour they took it off and put it in the cart<…>... an officer<…> ordered to take the corpse to the cemetery ”. Doctor of Soviet historical sciences, considering it necessary, wrote for Soviet schoolchildren in his study guidethat "the corpse of Nikolaev was thrown into the pit by the whites."
In the first half of June 1919, by order of Colonel Bibikov, the gallows was demolished, and executions began to be carried out on the northern outskirts of Yamburg, behind the cemetery.
Trotsky wrote in his train meeting: “On the Narva front, one of our brigades was commanded by the former general of the old army, Alexander Panfilovich (so in the text. - S. Z.) Nikolaev. During our failures near Yamburg, Comrade Nikolaev, along with others, was captured by the unbridled White Guard bandit Balakhovich. Several hundred people were shot and hanged by the latter in Yamburg. Among those tortured by the counter-revolutionaries was the brigade commander, Comrade Nikolayev. Former general of the tsarist army<…> died with an exclamation: "Long live the rule of the workers and peasants!"
As you know, ataman S.N. Bulak-Balakhovich has never been to Yamburg.
“The Bolshevik agitprom soon issued a series of large posters depicting Nikolayev in military uniform of the Tsarist era, with generals' shoulder straps and regalia (see above photo of 1916). Under it was printed in large letters: "Red General Nikolayev, who was shot near St. Petersburg by Yudenich for refusing to serve with the Whites and declaring that he was serving the Soviets by conviction."
It must be admitted that A.P. Nikolaev died bravely. Perhaps he deliberately went to death in order to save the two sons and his wife who remained in Petrograd from reprisals by the Bolsheviks, because you can't believe that he dreamed of a world proletarian revolution? But many northwesterners also had families in Petrograd.
General A.D. Nechvolodov wrote in his book about A.P. Nikolaev: “In 1918, the Bolsheviks took his family hostage and thus forced him to serve in the Red Army. In the fall of 1919, heading soviet division, he was captured by the troops of General Yudenich and was hanged in Pskov by the Whites for the fierce resistance that he showed them. On his scaffold last words were: “Long live the Russian socialist federal Soviet republic! Long live the Third International !!! ”. The inner drama that the late A.P. Nikolaev, naturally, will remain a secret forever. Knowing his deep affection for his family, it can be assumed that the last cry was intended to ensure its existence in Soviet Russia. " The author of these lines, apparently, used rumors. And it is hardly possible to take his judgments seriously. There are several serious mistakes in this paragraph: the capture of the brigade commander Nikolayev not in May 1919, but in the fall; the place of execution of the brigade commander Nikolaev in the city of Pskov, and not in Yamburg ...
A colleague of the brigade commander recalled: “I returned to Yamburg (August 1919 - S. Z.)<…>... Then I learned from the commander of the communications command that the body of comrade Nikolaev was transferred with honors and buried in the main (market) square of the city (probably the regimental square - S.Z.). "
Nikolayev's remains were exhumed and on October 3, 1919, they were delivered by train from Yamburg to Petrograd.
Trotsky planned to bury the zinc coffin with the ashes of the brigade commander on the Field of Mars, but at the request of his widow, the funeral took place on October 5, 1919 at the factory Farforovsky (Spassky) cemetery, which was located not far from the apartment where his family lived in one of the houses on Muravyevsky lane (now Tsimbalina street). The famous Petersburg photographer Karl Bulla captured the moment of the funeral.
Subsequently, in connection with the closure in 1927 of the Farforovsky cemetery and its gradual ruin, the coffin with the remains of A.P. Nikolayev, by the will of his widow, was reburied for the fourth time forever at the Nikolskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra to the right of the central alley leading to the entrance to the St. Nicholas Church.
There is neither a star nor a cross on the black marble gravestone stele. Only the text (see photo) in which two mistakes were made: in the date of birth, in the place of his death, and in the fabrication “brutally tortured by the Whites near Yamburg”. The area of \u200b\u200bpretentious Soviet mythology should include the replicated accusations of the Reds that the Whites allegedly "brutally beat, tortured and tortured" the brigade commander Nikolaev. It is difficult to imagine “the brigade commander Nikolayev, tortured by torture,” on the day of his execution in “boots polished to a mirror shine” ...
Looking at the stele, similar to a roadside post, I thought: at the break of time and fate.
P. S. At the place of execution of the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaev at the end of the 1970s. a summer cafe "Tourist" was built, in which children ate ice cream with pastries, and their parents, drinking champagne and cognac, accompanied their rest with merry dances.
P. P. S. Incomprehensible and inexplicable phenomena are happening to this day in a building that has survived to this day in Popkovaya Gora (see above the modern photo), where in May 1919 the headquarters of the Nikolaev paint brigade was located. Local residents assured the researcher from St. Petersburg A.D. Lukashov about the gravitating curse on this house: several times lightning fell here, and a fire began. In the 1990s. this building was acquired by an entrepreneur who set up a sausage production here. In the shops of the sausage factory ... ghosts began to appear. Soon the owner of the mini-plant went bankrupt and fled from creditors. Watchmen from a neighboring pig farm, huddled in a cramped house next door, claim that at night moving shadows, sounds similar to human speech and flickering lights appear in the windows of the second floor. Once plucking up the courage and sneaking into the house unnoticed, they did not find anyone there. Even the village dogs run around the abandoned building!
Notes
Shvalnja - a sewing workshop attached to a military unit.
It was amazing to read in July 2008 an explanatory text under a photograph of A.P. Nikolaev at one of the stands of the Civil War exposition in the Museum of Political History of Russia (Matilda Kshesinskaya's palace), which claims that the brigade commander Nikolaev was hanged by Bulak-Balakhovich in May 1919 in Yamburg. Moreover, the ataman Bulak-Balakhovich has never been to Yamburg!
The Soviet historian buried the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaev on the Field of Mars. Cm. Kornatovsky N.A. The struggle for red Petrograd. - M., "Ast", 2005. P.126.
Magazine option: Zirin Sergey. Yamburg antihero // Posev, magazine, 2005, №1. P.45-46 (Moscow). In short: "At the break of time and fate" in the count. Sat. Materials of the scientific-practical conference “625 years of Yamburg - Kingisepp. History. Memory. Modernity ”(under the general editorship of Prof. VN Skvortsov). SPb, "Alter - Ego", 2009. P.70-80.
The image of the brigade commander Nikolaev served as a prototype for the protagonist of “General” Adamov in B. Lavrenev’s story “The Seventh Sputnik” (based on which the film of the same name was filmed, which is now quite persistently shown on the TV channel “Culture”). The Soviet writer V. Kochetov in his novel "The Angle of Fall" (L., 1972, pp.205-213) clothed the tragic fate of the brigade commander Nikolaev with a picturesque lengthy fiction. Before him, the artistic apologetic fiction about the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaev was published in the next. count thin work: Karaev G., Uspensky L. "Pulkovo Meridian". L., 1948. pp. 11,26-31,56-65,156-159,259. It should be noted that the authors of this work probably used the memories of eyewitnesses to the execution of the brigade commander, since some moments in their artistic description the tragic fate of Nikolaev is confirmed in the memories of the Yamburg residents. But in this work, which is generally inherent in Soviet literature, there are also many fabrications. For example, the authors claim that Colonel A.P. Nikolaev as the commander of one of the battalions of the 146th infantry stationed in Yamburg until 1914. Tsaritsyn regiment, which is not confirmed by an entry in his service record. See Decree. op. P.259. In 1995, in the town of Slantsy, a book by a local historian dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany was published. The author also included his apologetic essay on the brigade commander A.P. Nikolaev. Judging by the fictitious descriptions of extreme cruelty allegedly inherent in the White Guards, the author probably sought to draw an equal sign between the Russian soldiers of the NWA and the Nazis. Cm. Simchenkov N.D. Popkovogorsk tragedy. The story is true. In ed. Sat: On the roads of war. Collection of essays, poems and stories dedicated to the 50th anniversary Great Victory of the Soviet people over Nazi Germany. Slantsy, 1995.S. 13-24.
When Nikolaev's patronymic is mentioned in publications, there are often discrepancies: Panfomirovich or Pamfomirovich. Hereinafter (with the exception of quotes), Nikolaev's patronymic is given according to the Service Record (RGVIA): Pamfomirovich. Afonsky N.M. in his book "Slantsy" (L., 1964) calls him Parfilovich, or Panfamirovich.
Semenov M., lieutenant colonel. A.P. Nikolaev // Military History Journal, 1962, №2. P.37. The Service Record indicates his origin from soldiers' children, which cannot contradict the information about his father as a retired sergeant major. The present rank in the Russian Imperial Army was equal to the lower ranks, i.e. soldier.
The home education received by Nikolayev speaks of the material wealth of his father, an old faithful campaigner, who accumulated some fortune during his service. And he entered the cadet school, including thanks to the military qualification of his father.
The track record of Major General A.P. Nikolaev for 1915: Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA). F 409. Op. 1. P / s 58-641, p / s1602, fol. 8 rev., 7, r / s2858, fol. 129 rev.
Vilna district of Vilna province, the center of which was Vilno (the modern capital of Lithuania, Vilnius). Apparently, Nikolaev served in the Vilna military district.
E.A. Nikolaev in the 1950s-60s served as a mechanic on a seagoing vessel of the Baltic Shipping Company. Cm. Skorodnikov Mik. [ail]. General from the people.
A.A. Nikolaev died during the war on the Leningrad front. Cit. Skorodnikov Mik. [ail]. Decree. op. About the family of A.P. Nikolaev see: Novoplyansky D. October in the fate of people // "Pravda", gas., 1967, May 2.
In the same place. The officer's rifle school was located in Oranienbaum and was intended for infantry captains no older than 45 years old who had served the command of a company for at least 2 years and were preparing to take up headquarters officer posts (battalion commanders). The training course was 7 months, the staff was 167 people. With the outbreak of the First World War, classes were discontinued. Cm. Volkov S.V. Russian officer corps. M., 2003.S. 169.
In a note dated December 31, 1903, Japan sharply demanded that the Russian government withdraw Russian troops from Manchuria. On January 24, 1904, Tokyo announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia. On the night of January 26-27, Japanese destroyers attacked a Russian squadron stationed in the roadstead of Port Arthur, thereby initiating the war. Ed. cm.: Kersnovsky A.A. History of the Russian Army in 4 volumes. M., "Voice", 1994, vol. 3, 1881-1915. S.53-119.
The Service Record lists the only wound of A.P. Nikolaev, received by him on June 2, 1904, near Vafangou. In the army edition "Russian invalid" from 1904, a photograph was published of the captain of the 2nd East Siberian regiment A.P. Nikolaev with a message about his wound in the battle at Tszin-chou.
Prior to this, Nikolaev was awarded the following orders: St. Stanislav 3rd Art. (19.07.1898), St. Anne 3rd Art. (07/05/1902); medals: silver "In memory of the reign of Emperor Alexander III" (03/22/1896), dark bronze "For the works on the first general census" (10/02/1897). Quote: A.P. Nikolaeva / RGVIA.
With the promotion to the first officer rank of the Russian Imperial Army, the personal nobility complained, and only during the promotion to the colonel did the hereditary nobility complain.
Before the war Nikolaev was awarded: the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class. (02/12/1912); a light bronze medal "In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov" (1913). Quote: A.P. Nikolaev.
During the command of the 169th infantry Novo-Troksky regiment, regiment. Nikolaev was also awarded swords to the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class. (05/25/1915), with swords and a bow to the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class. (07/31/1915); granted by the Highest favor of the Emperor Nicholas II (05.12.1915). Cit. The track record of A.P. Nikolaev.
19th Infantry. division of the 12th line of the corps, consisting of two brigades and four regiments: 73rd Krymsky E.I.V. Conducted. Book. Alexei Mikhailovich; 74th Stavropol; 75th Sevastopol; 76th Kuban. Quote: Orekhov V.V., Tarussky E.[A]. Army and Navy. Military reference book. "Sentinel", Paris,. P.16.
Quote: A.D. Nechvolodov... Emperor Nicholas II and the Jews. M., Institute of Russian Civilization, 2012, p. 16.
Major General A.P. Nikolaev was awarded: swords and a bow to the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd Art. (07/31/1916), Order of St. Stanislaus 1st class. with swords (06.10.1916), Order of St. Anne 1st Art. with swords (03/14/1917). Cit. The track record of A.P. Nikolaev.
Honorary awarding of the gene. Nikolaev Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class. with swords (10/11/1917) is devalued by what was done by the Provisional Government during the disorganization of the fronts and the collapse of the Russian Army.
Chapter 7. The civil war did not bypass Yamburg. Why with special cruelty they dealt with people here. About the issuance of counterfeit and new money by whites. About famous people who participated in the war. Bibliography. In ed. Sat .: Shevchenko Alexander. "Yam - Yamgorod - Yamburg - Kingisepp (Historical and Local Lore Essays)", St. Petersburg, "Khimizdat", 2007. P.171.
Order No. 1 of March 1, 1917 of the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, which served as a serious impetus to the disorganization and collapse of the Russian Army. In this order, in particular, it was reported about the abolition of the title of generals and officers; standing in the front and saluting officers outside the service; on the choice of soldiers and sailors' committees (company, regimental, naval ...). In fact, this order seriously limited the subordination of the soldier to the officer, or commander, drew a clear class boundary and even deprived the commander of the right to dispose of the weapons of the military unit entrusted to him earlier! The essence of this order was that officers and soldiers received the right to participate in political activities, which has never existed in any army in the world. The Provisional Committee of the State Duma, in its address of March 3, 1917, joined the Bolshevik order, asserting democratic rights and freedoms in Russia and at the same time calling on the troops to "strict military discipline."
Vetlugin A. Civil War adventurers. Paris, 1921.S. 23-24; Epanchin N.A.. General of Infantry. In the service of three Emperors. M., publication of the magazine "Our Heritage" - "Polygraphresursy", 1996. P.475.
Alexey Shcherbatov, prince. “Russia was a great country. Do you understand? ”. Interviewer Andrey Ivanov // "Arguments and Facts", 1998, №29; Prince Shcherbatov A., Krivoruchkina-Shcherbatova L... The right to the past. M., publication of the Sretensky monastery, 2005. S. 374.
Gippius Zinaida... "Petrograd". In ed. Sat. poems: Last verses. M., "Prometheus", 1990. P.21.
The chief of staff of the 3rd brigade of the 19th str. Division was a certain Silkin, he was the only staff member who managed to escape capture by the Whites, successfully escaping during the capture of Popkovaya Gora.
Nikolaev's brigade occupied the left combat area of \u200b\u200bthe 6th rifle division of the Red Army. The composition of the 6th str. Division by May 12, 1919 consisted of 2,700 bayonets, 12 light and 6 heavy guns. The division's forces were distributed over three sectors of the front. Quote: Kornatovsky N.A. The fight for red Petrograd. M., "Ast", 2004. S. 122,124.
We are talking about ataman S.N. Bulak-Balakhovich, a detachment under whose leadership he made frequent dashing raids from the Estonian coast to the rear of the Red Army (in particular, in the winter and spring of 1919, he made brilliant raids in Gdov and at the Raskopel base). This remark contains an unfair negative assessment of the personality of Bulak-Balakhovich, who went to the First World war volunteer and graduated with the rank of staff-captain, cavalier George Cross 2nd, 3rd and 4th Art. and the negative conclusion about the command structure of the Northern Corps (the forerunner of the SZA) is not true. As you know, many honored military officers, generals and general staff officers served in the command staff of the NWA.
An involuntary slip of the tongue, at that time the state of Hungary did not exist, but there was a dualistic (dual) monarchy of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918), headed by the Austrian emperor (aka the king of Hungary). In 1918, with the defeat of Germany and its allies in the First World War, Austria-Hungary split into two independent and independent states.
There is a clear thickening of colors here. If in reality the gene. Kornilov ordered to withdraw the artillery entrusted to him to the rear, then he knew better as a graduate of Mikhailovskoye artillery. school (perhaps in the mountainous conditions the guns could not serve), unlike infantry general Nikolaev. Nikolaev's critical remark about the withdrawal of divisional and regimental banners to the rear is clearly crafty, since, as you know, any military unit of the Russian Imperial Army, when its banner is lost, is disbanded and ceases to exist. Probably, the evacuation of the banners to the rear was due to extreme measures to preserve them, which, in fact, was justified in the future. In fact, at the end of April 1915, during the general retreat of the Russian Army after the breakthrough at Gorlitsa, the 48th division under the command of general. Kornilova did not have time to retreat from the Duklinsky pass in the Carpathians, and the seriously wounded gene was surrounded. Kornilov was taken prisoner. The statement about the death of "the entire 48th division" is an obvious fabrication. In July 1916, disguised as an Austrian soldier, gen. Kornilov fled from captivity to Romania. After his safe return, gene. Kornilov was awarded the Highest Order of St. George, 3rd degree for the battles in the Carpathians (which, as we know, was not so simply awarded) and was appointed commander of the 25th Army Corps.
An involuntary slip of the tongue, meaning Petrograd. A real attack on the gene. Kornilov may cause the reader to misinterpret events. In the conditions of the collapse of the Army, fronts and dual power in Russia, General. Kornilov tried to restore discipline in the army and law and order in the country in order to bring the war to a victorious end. By agreement with representatives of the Provisional Government at Headquarters and with the consent of A.F. Kerensky, he sent the 3rd Cavalry Corps to Petrograd on August 25, 1917. The purpose of sending the corps was to strengthen the Provisional Government with reliable troops in case of an armed revolt by the Bolsheviks. According to another historical estimate, gene. Kornilov sought to oust the Provisional Government for a treacherous compromise policy with the Bolsheviks and to implement the plan of the People's Defense Council (the introduction of martial law in the country for the execution of the above tasks) under his chairmanship. In the course of the corps' advance towards Petrograd, Kerensky showed cowardice and under pressure from the Petrograd Soviet on August 27, changing the previous decision, announced the general. Kornilov as a rebel, having removed him from the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Army. September 2, gene. Kornilov was arrested in Mogilev and imprisoned in the Bykhov prison.
This is a personal escort devoted to the gene. Kornilov Tekinsky regiment (consisting of highlanders) with a shot of which he made his way to the Don at the end of 1917 and became part of the newly formed Volunteer Army.
Body gene. L.G. Kornilov, who died from a shell on March 31, 1918 near Yekaterinodar, was buried by volunteers near the regiment's grave. M.O. Nezhentsev († 03/30/1918) in the colony of Gnachbau. On April 3, the Red Army men who entered the colony, having pulled out the body of General Kornilov from the grave, brought him to Yekaterinodar, where they abused him for a long time, photographed him naked, and burned the tormented body beyond recognition. Ed. cm.: Denikin A.I. General Kornilov's fight. On Sat. Beloe Delo: Selected Works in 16 Books. M., "The Voice", 1st book, "General Kornilov". 1993. S. 184-186.
Such a movement of a prisoner of war brigade commander is indirectly confirmed in the book of Sov. authors. Cm. Karaev G., Uspensky L. Decree. op. P.64.
Konovnitsyn P.A.., graph. Memories, notes. Typewritten manuscript on 55 sheets. L.6.- Family archive of Count A.P. Konovnitsyn and Countess E.A. Konovnitsina (Los Angeles, California, USA). Count P.A. Konovnitsyn personally being in the village of Skamya these days confirms in his memoirs the presence and interrogation of the brigade commander Nikolaev here.
Operational telegram No. 501 Lieutenant Regiment. Kruzenshtern - to the head of the [Estonian] General Staff, Tallinn, sent at 14:30, received at 1450 / Estonian State Archives (Tallinn).
One of the traces of Soviet mythology about the Civil War is the brochure of the Slantsevsky ethnographer, published three years after the inglorious fall of the communist regime. Cm.: Pronin S.A. Pages of glorious history (To the 60th anniversary of the formation and the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Slantsy from the German fascist occupation). Slantsy, 1994.C.8.
Yaroslavtsev M... Kerstovo - Koporye - Voronino (May 1919). In count. Sat. White Struggle in the North-West of Russia. Compilation, com. article, scientific edition, comments by prof. S.V. Volkova. M., "Tsentrpoligraf", 2003. P.328.
Appeal of the authorized Council of Defense of the Republic I. Stalin, June 1919 to the troops defending Petrograd !: Petrograd leaflets of the Civil War of 1918-1920. L., 1944.C.37.
“By October 1917, the number of officers was approximately 276 thousand people. About 170 thousand of them (about 62%) fought in the white armies; among the Bolsheviks (excluding the former white officers taken prisoner) - 55-58 thousand (19-20%); in the armies of the newly formed states - up to 15 thousand (5-6%) and slightly more than 10% - 28-30 thousand, did not participate in the Civil War, due to their extermination in the overwhelming majority in the first months of the collapse of the front (late 1917 - spring 1918) and during the actual Red Terror. During the Civil War, 85-90 thousand officers died. Over 60% of this number (50-55 thousand people) in the armies of the white fronts, over 10% (up to 10 thousand people) in the red army, 4-5% in the national armies and 22-23% (about 20 thousand. people) - victims of anti-officer terror. Of those who remained in the RSFSR (returned from abroad up to 3 thousand since 1921). 70-80 thousand were shot or died in camps and prisons in 1920-30. " Quote: Volkov S.V.
Quote: Petrov E., ethnographer. History. In the struggle for power // "Znamya truda", gas., 1980, No. 51, March 13 (Slantsy).
In 1919, Bolshaya Petersburgskaya street and st. Cemetery (modern K. Marx Ave and Zhukov St.).
Quote: Handwritten memoirs of an eyewitness "The death of General Nikolaev", 07/13/1967, illegible signature / Foundations of the Kingisepp Museum of History and Local Lore.
The house of the Yamburg merchant Serov was located on the site of the current wasteland between the present. city \u200b\u200bmilitary registration and enlistment office and the store "Yamskaya", modern. K. Marx Ave.
Video interview A.N. Beloborodov with M.I. Drozdova, March 15, 2002 / Personal video library of A.N. Beloborodov (St. Petersburg).
An astonishing judgment in its self-confidence and ignorance! The Cathedral of St. Catherine the Great Martyr was erected by order of Empress Catherine II from 1764 to April 6, 1783 (the day the cathedral was consecrated). The choice of the site for the construction of the architect Nikolai Slyadnev, the estimated cost was made by the architect Andrei Mylnikov, the author of the project was the architect Antonio Rinaldi. May 20, 1813, while transporting the ashes of Field Marshal, His Serene Highness Prince M.I. Kutuzov (from the Silesian city of Bunzlau to Petersburg), the funeral procession made a short stop at the cathedral, where the lithium was served, and the townspeople unharnessed their horses and brought a hearse with the ashes of the commander on them, the route was strewn with flowers. According to other sources, the coffin with Kutuzov's body was in the cathedral for a day. In the 1930s, the cathedral was closed by order of the Sov. authorities. In 1896-1905. the rector of the cathedral, Archpriest Alexei Vasilyevich Bratolyubov (+ 1908) in Narva, he later served as rector of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral. In June-July 1919, the Russian commander General N.N. Yudenich. During the Second World War, the building was damaged. Until the early 1960s, local boys found hidden church utensils within the walls of the cathedral. Restoration work was carried out from 1965 to 1979. In October 1979, a museum exhibition was opened in the cathedral. On April 26, 1990, by decision of the local executive committee, the cathedral was returned to the rightful owner of the Russian Orthodox Church. See “Mikhailov Day 1: Journal Historical Russia”(Editor SG Zirin), Yamburg, 2005. pp. 344-345.
The house of the regimental commander (the regiments quartered alternately until 1917 in Yamburg). In May 1919, this building housed the headquarters of the Northern Corps, the military commandant's office and the editorial office of the White Cross newspaper (June-July 1919). The building has survived to this day, the second floor balcony above the entrance has been lost. IN soviet years the district military enlistment office was located here. Currently, the building houses the City Department of Public Education and Driving School.
This refers to a bronze sculpture of a lion (sculptor Baron P.K. Klodt, cast in 1840) tombstone to the Hero Patriotic War 1812 General K.I. Bistrom (1770-1838) who was thrown by the Bolsheviks from a high granite pedestal on the grave of gen. Bistroma in his estate (modern city park Romanovka) was transported and abandoned at the walls of the Yamburzhsky Catherine Cathedral. Living in a private house under house arrest on Narvskaya Street, not far from the Catherine Cathedral, Nikolaev, having the opportunity to walk freely around the city, could well see a bronze sculpture of a lion lying then near the church fence. The phrase quoted by a local Soviet ethnographer allegedly uttered by A.P. Nikolaev before his death, clearly refers to the next fiction, since it is not confirmed in any of the memories of eyewitnesses of his execution.
Quote: Trotsky L. Everlasting memory to the red general! // "On the way", izv. Trotsky's train # 87 - printed in Gaz. “Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Red Army Deputies”, 1919, No. 211 (404). It is curious that L. Trotsky did not mention the brigade commander Nikolaev in his numerous books in a single word.
Quote: Turkul A.V. Decree. op. P.175.
Co-worker A.P. Nikolaeva recalled: “When our regiment was stationed near Gatchina on the labor front (until May 1920 - NZ), a drum group was organized in our regiment. We also put on a small play<…> called "Red General". It was a play about the exploit of the brigade commander Nikolaev.<…> It seems that at the end of the thirties the play “The Unforgettable Year 1919” was broadcast on the radio (later a film of the same name appeared). In this play, the brigade commander, Comrade Nikolaev, was also brought out under the name of General Ivanov.<…> Both the play and the film have long been filmed based on the personality cult (Stalin - SZ). " Quote: Gordan E.E. Petrunichev V... They believed in the happiness of people // "For communism", gaz., 1968, 18 July. С.1 (Kingisepp); Barabash T. Remembers the Velcot Blocks // Vremya, Gaz., 1998, 15 April. C.5 (Kingisepp).