Astrakhan Cossacks on the fronts of the First World War. 5 part

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The next incident occurred in connection with the murder of the Commissioner of the Provisional Government Romanenko (killed at the location of the 5 Siberian Rifle Regiment). The 5-th hundred 1-th Astrakhan regiment with 2-machine guns went to the location of the 5-th Siberian rifle regiment - but it also did not come down to the collisions.

For 12-e and 13-July, Astrakhan was detained and sent to headquarters even more 300 deserters.



On July 20, the regiment was ordered to arrive at the disposal of the head of the 2 th Turkestan Cossack Division. 3-I and 6-I hundreds of the regiment under the command of Esaul Dogadin were again sent to demonstrate against the loose infantry regiments.

From August 10, the regiment arrived at the disposal of the command of the 15 Army Corps.

From 11 to 18, August, the regiment sent 20 patrols to 10 people, giving each 4 equestrian reconnaissance and a member of the regimental committee - Astrakhan continued to solve the problem of providing corps and army rear. The activity was a success - on the dates of August only 90 deserters were caught in the army rear area.

In the 1917 campaign, the 1 Astrakhan Cossack Regiment, despite being part of the 2 Turkestan Cossack Division, continued to be used as corps cavalry. The frequency of change of the formations serviced by the regiment attracts attention - during the summer it was attached to the 2-th Caucasian Army, 1-th Siberian Army and 15-th Army Corps.

And the terrain of Belarus was not conducive to the effective use of equestrian masses. Astrakhan effectively carried out reconnaissance and search actions, showing themselves to be experts in the field of small war. They acted as part of sabotage and partisan groups. A special field of activity of the Cossacks in 1917 was the activity of disarming rebellious and not subordinate to the commanders of infantry units.

From August 1914 to February 1917, the 1 th Astrakhan Cossack regiment lost killed, wounded, contused, and missing around 120 officers and Cossacks.



Volkov Dmitry Sergeevich 28.10.1890-02.08.1961. Knight of St. George, Cossack Astrakhan. Member of the First World War. Photo taken by the author in the cemetery with. Rooks (former stanitsa Grachevskaya Astrakhan Cossack troops)

The 2 Astrakhan Cossack Regiment performed at the Galician Theater of War 7 August 1914 as part of 15 officers and 609 Cossacks.

The regiment participated in the Battle of Galicia 5 August - 13 September 1914 - one of the largest and key battles of the world war. The battle consisted of a series of interconnected combat operations. The Astrakhan regiment as part of the 5 Army participated in the battles on the northern front of the battle.

The 2 Astrakhan Cossack regiment was the corps cavalry of the 25 Army Corps, which performed the combat mission of Zamosty.

Arriving 23 in August in the town of Krasnostav, from 26 in August the regiment together with the 25 Army Corps participated in offensive actions against the Austrians.

The beginning of September was 1914. The 2-th Astrakhan Cossack regiment met in a fragmented state: the regimental headquarters and the 1-th hundred were in Syavyav, the 2-th hundred - at the headquarters of the 25-th army corps (carried the security service), the 3-th hundred - in the 3 grenadier division (flying mail and ordinary service), 4-i hundred - in the 70 infantry division (also flying service and ordinary service) [RGVIA. F. 5265. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 1]. Flying mail was carried out from the corps headquarters to the army headquarters.

The regiment was to march to the west - on the territory of Galicia, which had just been beaten off from the Austrians. The march was carried out in a marching column, fodder Cossacks was bought from local residents, and hot food was prepared in the camp kitchen.

On October 5, the regimental headquarters and the 2-I hundred were in der. Klementovice. Here the regiment received the first replenishments: on October 6, a team arrived at the 148 Cossacks under command of Svekolnikov, and October 7 — a team of Cossacks in 112, under the command of the centurion Pigin.

Like the 1 regiment, the 2 Cossack arrived in Poland — hundreds supported the corps and divisions during the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation.

For example, on October 10, the headquarters of the regiment, 10 and 2, hundreds came out at Yuzefs - Novo-Alexandria, and when they arrived at Novo-Alexandria, they immediately came under fire from enemy artillery. October 5 - Headquarters, 14-I and 2-I crossed hundreds at one o'clock p. Vistula on the pontoon bridge (the headquarters is located in the village. Lagushov).

October was held in the marches, and the October 30 th regiment replaced the 52 th Don Cossack regiment on the positions.

The 2 Astrakhan Cossack regiment was supposed to provide the left flank of the 25 corps and observe the Vistula. The task of the unit was also supposed to keep in touch with the Guard Corps. On October 31, contact with the Guards Corps was carried out by the 4's platoon hundreds, three other platoons guarded the area between the Guards and 25 Army Corps.

Accordingly, in the autumn period of the 1914 campaign, the main tasks of the regiment were: carrying the intelligence service, covering the infantry, maintaining uninterrupted communications. With all this, the Cossacks-Astrakhan successfully coped.

The service of the Cossacks of the 2 regiment was in many respects the same as that of the 1 of Astrakhan: it was given to infantry units for intelligence purposes, thrown at liquidation for breakthroughs, and used as an advance guard and rearguard of army corps. The security service, the service of volatile mail, the ordinary service, the protection of the flanks, the provision of communications, reconnaissance - these are the main tasks solved by the Cossacks.

In the 1914 campaign, as a military cavalry, the 25 Army Corps 2 Regiment participated in the largest and most important operations - Galician, Warsaw-Ivangorod and Krakow.

The summer campaign of the 1915 regiment met in Poland. Hundreds performed the usual tasks of the military cavalry - now the 5 of the army corps. The spring lull was replaced by the fierce onslaught of the enemy.

The June 19 regiment poachonelno in the city of Novo-Alexandria is loaded for departure in Ostrolenka, where the 20 arrived. Hundreds of regiments provide the 10 and 7 infantry divisions of the 5 army corps. So, 22 June 1-I hundred was in the village of Kuzi, 2-i at the headquarters of the 10-th Infantry Division, 4-i at the headquarters of 7-th Infantry Division, 3-I-hundred and the headquarters of the regiment - in the village of Monttitsa [RGVI . F. 5265. Op. 1. D. 9. L. 3-4].

With events in der. Davia connected one of the most striking episodes in the combat career of the regiment.

At 9 in the morning of June 22, the commander of the 1 received hundreds from the commander of the 27 Infantry Regiment of Vitebsk - to take the 2 trench (No. 21 and No. 22) to the west of the village. Davia (located between the left flank of the Vitebsk and the right flank of the Mogilev regiments). The fact is that between these regiments was a marshland, not covered by troops. But the swamp dried up, and the territory at the junction of the regiments became a potentially dangerous area in the event of an enemy attack. Thus, the Cossacks were assigned the responsible task of defending a position at the junction of two infantry regiments. But the position is not equipped - there were only standing trenches. At 22, fifty hours (70 of dismounted Cossacks and 3 officer) came out of the village. Kuzi in the trenches.

At the time in question, the 2-I hundred regiment was at the headquarters of the 10-th Infantry Division, the 3-I was in the flying mail, and the 4-I was in guard post. The extent to which the expenditure of people distracted by the tasks of security and maintenance was significant was evidenced by the report from 22 on June 1915 - from 80, one of half a hundred regiment sent 42 man to the above objectives.

On June 28, the enemy began sighting on the 1's hundreds of trenches (10 - 15 shells were fired). The positions of Astrakhanians were not ready for defense - there were wire barriers only from the side of the enemy, and then in the 1 series. The terrain was open, swampy and viscous, in some places covered with knee-high shrubs. To the flank of the Vitebsk regiment was about a kilometer away, and to the enemy, the entire 700-900 steps.

On June 29, the German searchlights began to operate, and the artillery fire intensified.


Astrakhan Cossacks. Archival photo. From the collection of the author

And on June 30, the enemy attacked the trenches of Astrakhan. In 2 hours of 15 minutes of the night, when only escort was left, half of the Germans crawled over the grass to Russian positions and emerged in 10-ti steps from the trench.

The enemy was met by rifle shots of the Cossacks, the Vitebsk regiment was notified by telephone. The Germans occupied the trenches and installed a machine gun.

In the morning, 4, the commander of the Vitebsk regiment set a hundred tasks - to knock out the enemy from the trenches and restore the situation. In the 4 hour of the 30 minute, the Cossacks, having dispersed into a chain, launched an attack on the trench No. 22. The open nature of the terrain led to the enemy concentrating not only rifle-machine-gun but also artillery fire over a hundred. As a result, a hundred crept in the rain and the crossfire of the enemy. However, in 3 hours the trench was captured. But the Germans remained in the trench number 21, and from it fired a hundred explosive bullets. The trench number 22 was also under artillery fire - it was corrected by the enemy's airplane.

Astrakhan suffered heavy losses - 45 people remained in a hundred. For reconnaissance of trench No. 21, 2 reconnaissance groups were sent. And in the 200-s steps from the trench with a shout of "Hurray", supported by rifle fire from the trench No. 22, the scouts quickly took the trench No. 21.

The trenches were ordered to be held until the arrival of the infantry.

The Germans opened barrage, cutting off the trenches with Astrakhan from suitable reserves - infantry companies were unable to move under the disastrous artillery fire of the enemy. Nevertheless, a hundred with a team of scout-Vitebskists continued to stay in the trenches until 15 hours [Ibid. L. 10].

But at that time the Polotsk Infantry Regiment failed in battle on the Shafran knolls, and the flank of the Mogilev Regiment was laid bare. As a result, interest in the retention of the ill-fated trenches at the infantry command disappeared.

Astrakhan hundred kept until receiving a waste order. Having received such an order, under the onslaught of the enemy, with rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire, she retreated to the line of trenches from the Vitebsk.

The losses of the 1 are hundreds in this battle - the 33 of a person from 73's (45%), incl. Wounded the Lyakhovsky cornet remaining in the ranks.

The penalty in the neighboring infantry regiments led to the fact that the 1-hundred in 20 hours of July 1 was again called to fill the breakthrough between the left flank of the Vitebsk and the right flank of the Mogilev infantry regiments near the vil. Spitting, where I arrived at 21 hour. Each of them was ordered to put 5 posts into the breakthrough for 6 posts, and the rest of the hundreds to move to the village. Kuzi. On July 2, early in the morning, the posts of 1, the hundreds, were removed, and she, in full force, on the orders of the commander of the Vitebsk regiment, covered the infantrymen’s withdrawal to the village. Dlujova.

The other hundreds of the 2 regiment continued to perform the same tasks at that time - the 2-i hundred was at the headquarters of the 10-th infantry division, the 3-i hundred at the headquarters of their regiment in der. Montvitsa, and 4-I hundred at the headquarters of the 7-th Infantry Division in the village. Ruda-Ossovetskaya.

5 July The 2 Astrakhan Cossack regiment took up its position on the river. Narev near der. Chart The main tasks solved by hundreds of regiments in July 1915 were reconnaissance, guarding the flanks of infantry units and formations (for example, fifty years old 1 and hundreds of Lyakhovsky's cornet from July July 13 in the detachment of Major General R.-K.F. Walter guarded the left Flank of the 7 Infantry Division), the organization of the flying mail (for example, 20 July from the 3 th hundreds of regiment were established lines of flying mail between the headquarters of the 5 Army Corps and the headquarters of the 12 Army, 5 Army Headquarters and 4 of the Siberian Army Corps - 1 line from Shchepankova to Zamborov and 2 line from Shchepan Peninsula to Gorodisk), security staffs connections and communications (since July 23 from 3-th-th hundred was sent to the team in 14 people to protect the telegraph line between headquarters 12-th Army headquarters and 5-Army Corps).

Astrakhan Cossacks were engaged in covering infantry units and formations. So, the 25 of July, the 1 of the hundredth, was in the cover of the 7 Infantry Division (providing communication with the right flank of the 9 of the Siberian Rifle Division). July 27 The 1 hundredth covered the withdrawal of the 26 Infantry Regiment of the Mogilev Regiment (left flank of the 7 Infantry Division) and took a break from the village of 28 on the night. Spiritual between the flanks of the 7 th Infantry and 9 th Siberian Rifle Divisions. 28 July The 1 hundredth again covers the Mogilev regiment (positions at 78,7 altitude) as the division retreats to the Zambrov station, guarding the flank of the division. And sent to the headquarters of the 5 Army Corps, fifty fifty cornet Svekolnikov was sent to the detachment of Major General D. N. Nadezhny (providing the flank of the division). Under heavy artillery fire near the village of Yakats. Old Astrakhans covered the outgoing Kolyvan and Tobolsk infantry regiments.

The Cossacks of the 2 regiment were also engaged in countering enemy convoys, reconnaissance tasks were carried out, the guard service was rescued, the corps headquarters and the headquarters of small parts, the junction of units and connections were protected (for example, July 3 of July 21 from m. Chervonny Bor guarded joint between the 4-m Siberian army and 5-m army corps). Of particular importance was the service of volatile mail (i.e., temporarily organized mail for the rapid transmission of orders and reports) - because communications in war is one of the most important resources, the more important it is during the retreat period. For example, on July 26 an uninterrupted flying mail was established between the corps headquarters and the army headquarters.

Not without a loss - July 25 was injured Cornet Biryulkin. 31 th July at der. Z. Stary a Cossack A. Pospeev was wounded by a bullet (died, buried north of the village. Ezhevo).

Covered by the Cossacks and infantry rearguard.
Among the glorious deeds of the Astrakhan 2 regiment, mention should be made of the skirmish at der. The July 31 of July, when the 4 of the hundreds of hundreds, under the command of the Commissar of Labor, destroyed the Germans, taking his chief [RGVIA. F. 5265. Op. 1. D. 5. L. 6].

To be continued
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3 comments
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  1. +9
    3 July 2017 07: 33
    Many thanks to the Author for these precious, seemingly forever lost, pages of the feat of the people.
    What wonderful, beautiful, smart faces!

    The photograph of a Cossack, veteran of the PMV Volkov, who died back in 1961, as I understand it, is reproduced already in granite.
    Well done great-grandchildren, thank them for their memory!
  2. +17
    3 July 2017 10: 29
    An interesting series of articles on a non-global, in general, topic. But from these petty testimonies a large beautiful canvas of our history is born
  3. 0
    22 March 2018 18: 41
    But the Germans remained in trench number 21, and a hundred were fired from it bursting bullets.
    negative Oh! yes for that - chopping down with checkers with a flaming blade!

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