The only female general in the military intelligence of the USSR. Part of 2
Winding path to the ranks of the Bolsheviks
Fate mf Fleorova was not easy even for those turbulent years of the late XIX - early XX centuries. It is still unclear how a girl from a Jewish family by the 20 years found herself in Petrograd in the whirl of the revolutionary events of the 1917 year.
She herself in her autobiography and in various questionnaires of those years wrote that after graduating from high school she worked as a teacher and then as a proofreader. Moreover, she did not indicate any periods of time or place of work. However, the mention of the work as a proofreader suggests that she worked either in a publishing house or in a printing house. This fact of her biography somehow explains how a young girl in October 1917 could have been in the editorial office of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda. By the way, under this title, the newspaper began again to go out from October 27 - immediately after the Bolsheviks took power. Prior to this, after the defeat of the printing houses of the newspaper by the cadets by the order of the Provisional Government in July, she repeatedly changed her name and came out as - “Pravda”, “Worker and Soldier”, “Proletary”, “Worker” and “Work Path”. Most likely, Mirra worked as a wording of the central body of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), because of her non-partisanship and because of her age, at some minor technical position, so her last name was not preserved among Pravda employees of that time.
It is possible that the revolutionary events in the northern capital and the struggle of the Bolsheviks against the Provisional Government so influenced its political views that it was among them. And the constant work with the texts of the central Bolshevik newspaper probably affected the transformation of political views and the formation of the ideological preferences of Mirra Florova. After a couple of months of work in the editorial board of Pravda, she joined the ranks of the RSDLP (b).
On the fronts of the civil war
Joining 1918 in January to the Bolshevik Party and voluntarily joining the newly arising Red Army may indicate the courage and determination of a young lady from a wealthy Jewish family. From that time began her military road, full of dangers and unexpected turns of fate. Between 1918 and 1921, she had to take a rifle in her hands and go into battle more than once. So, in March 1918, at the call of the party, she went with a detachment of Red Guards to defend Petrograd. Later participated in the battles with the Germans near Pskov. I stayed at the front for about a month, fighting an ordinary soldier or, if necessary, assisting the wounded as a nurse.
She mentioned Mirra and about her work in the agitation train A.S. Bubnova at the beginning of the civil war. However, among the leaders of the Soviet agitational trains that existed during the period from 1918 to 1920 years of 5, Andrei Sergeyevich was not listed. Probably, Flerova meant some separate trips led by Bubnov with agitation and propaganda goals during the period of the battles and the restoration of economic order in Ukraine. This was quite possible, since he had the status of commissar of railways in southern Russia, was a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Railways of the RSFSR and, at the same time, held party and economic positions in the leadership of Soviet Ukraine.
Then Mirra was sent to no less important work in a belligerent country — to the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. Some time later, it was approved by the Secretary of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars in the Council of Defense of Ukraine.
So she was in the team of the famous revolutionary and politician Kh.G. Rakovsky, who headed the Council of People's Commissars at that time on the Soviet territory of Ukraine, and the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs at the same time. As a member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party and a close comrade of the all-powerful Leo Trotsky, he was given extraordinary powers and enjoyed the confidence in Moscow. Working alongside Christian Rakovsky, 22’s one-year-old Mirra was a participant in many important events that occurred during the nearly 9-month period of her peaceful work in the Ukrainian land of war.
However, in January 1919, she was again in the ranks of the Red Army. He fought as a commissar of a machine-gun company on the Yekaterinoslav direction as part of a group of troops under the command of P.E. Dybenko. Later, she was appointed a military commissar of the battalion and assistant commissioner of the 7-th Sumy regiment of the 2-th Ukrainian Soviet division. In April, the 1919 Ukrainian Soviet troops under the command of Pavel Dybenko occupied the Perekop Isthmus, then almost the entire Crimea (with the exception of Kerch).
Having stayed at the front of incomplete 4 of the month, she was again seconded to civilian work in Ukraine, as she knew the local situation and had experience of such work. So Mirra was again subordinate to Rakovsky, who at that time received the additional functions of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs on the territory of Soviet Ukraine. On her civilian job site, Mirra Flerova worked until September 1919, witnessing fierce battles with the White Guards, Makhnovists, Grigorievka and other hostile military units.
And in the autumn of the same year, a new twist of fate and her return to the army ranks awaited her. At first, Mirra fights as a part of the 44 th rifle division with an ordinary Red Army soldier, despite her partisanship, combat experience and command skills. Then, showing courage and advanced military skills, she is assigned to political posts in the company, and later in the regimental unit. After a short time from the post of the regimental commissar, she was transferred to the post of deputy military commissar in the 132-th Plastun brigade, commanded by L.Ya. Weiner. As is known, the plasters in the Russian army served as military intelligence officers. They were specially prepared for reconnaissance operations on the line and behind the front line. So Mirra Flerova first appeared in the military intelligence unit.
The brigade under the leadership of Leonid Weiner successfully fought as part of the 44 th infantry division. Kombrig, a Jew by nationality, was a member of the party since 1917, and had a versatile combat experience. Next to him, Mirra felt more confident in any combat situation. In one of the journal articles 1920-s was given her story about one of the fighting episodes near Chernigov in Ukraine. All this happened just during her service in the brigade Weiner. “Denikin captured Chernigov. A team of red pressed to the Dnieper. - we read on the yellowed pages of the magazine. - No exit. Brigade waited for death. ... Every hour reminded of imminent death, and suddenly Mirra and commander Comrade Weiner saw a small merchant ship on the Dnieper. If it were not for the critical moment, everyone would have met such a flight with Homeric laughter. Projectiles are flying to the Dnieper, a desperate battle is in full swing, and here, slowly, cutting the calm surface of the river, a steamer with a manufactory is going, as if nothing had happened. You can not hesitate. Mirra gives the order, and the Red Army captured the ship. All night on the other side Mirra sent the brigade.
When morning broke and the shots sounded very close, the steamer came for the last time for Mirra. Already from the middle of the river she saw bewildered White Guards. ”
When they decided to transfer Flerova to headquarters, she flatly refused and left as an ordinary fighter in the 396 regiment. She rushed into battle, considering herself to be necessary precisely in combat, and not in staff service. Therefore, she soon found herself in the ranks of the First Cavalry Army under the command of S.M. Budyonny. Here she served on the commissar posts in the field medical unit, in the sanitary administration of the army, and then in the army autoroute. Due to her business skills, front-hardening and her ability to navigate in difficult situations, she was appointed to the position of business manager in the Revolutionary Military Council of the First Cavalry Army. Now she worked side by side alongside Budyonny, Voroshilov, and other famous commanders during the Civil War.
Service during the civil war clearly demonstrates its service to the common cause of the struggle for the power of the Soviets. She did not seek to make a military career, did not “cling” to command positions, but was where it was more difficult. Therefore, the transition from commanders to privates, from political workers to nurses for her, was common. The main thing is to remain on the front line of the struggle against the opponents of Soviet power. As her friend V.V. later recalled. Vishnyakova, during the years of the Civil War, all who knew Mirra from the front, noted that she "was remarkably good-looking, but with the utmost contempt belonged to everything that painted her as a woman." Such behavior among female military personnel at the time was not uncommon.
In November, 1920 was appointed by Flerov as the Administrator of the Revolutionary Military Council of the North Caucasus Military District. The district was formed by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of May 4 on the territory of the Don, Kuban and Terek regions, the Stavropol and Black Sea provinces and Dagestan. From this position she was seconded to Moscow as a guest at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (B.). In a number of publications indicated that she was a delegate to the party congress. However, in the lists of delegates her name does not appear.
Battle Order for participation in the liquidation of the rebellion in Kronstadt
8 March 1921 in Moscow began its work X Congress of the RCP (b). Among the guests of the congress was a young Communist from the front lines of the Red Army, Mirra Flerova. She listened with great attention to the political report of the Central Committee, which Lenin delivered. The leader of the Bolsheviks noted that for the first time in three and a half years there were no foreign troops on the territory of the RSFSR and we are already talking about the transition from war to peace. In his report, Lenin drew the attention of the congress delegates to the difficulties associated with the demobilization of the Red Army that had begun. The already difficult situation was aggravated by the collapse of the transport, food and fuel crisis.
Lenin’s phrase that “the situation at the present time is more dangerous than during Denikin, Kolchak, Yudenich” was voiced at the congress. Most likely, he meant the protests that began on the eve of the congress in the garrison of Kronstadt. They will be called a rebellion and 7 March, on the eve of the opening of the congress, will attempt to suppress the protest by force. M.Tukhachevsky, who was appointed to command the punitive operation, based his initial calculations on the fact that it was worth scaring off the rebels and they would scatter. And the case will end without bloodshed. However, it all happened very tragic.
The offensive on Kronstadt, undertaken by Tukhachevsky in the early morning of March 7, failed. The dead and wounded appeared on both sides. Continuing the concentration of troops on the Kronstadt direction, Trotsky 10 March reported to the Central Committee of the RCP (b) about the danger of the approaching thaw, with the onset of which "the island will become inaccessible to us."
In connection with the Kronstadt events at the congress, there was no delegation of the Petrograd Bolsheviks headed by G.Ye. Zinoviev. For the same reason, the LD Commissar was absent. Trotsky. He arrived in Moscow only on March 14 and took part in the 4's closed-door congress sessions without minutes.
Earlier, the mobilization of delegates and guests of the congress began to suppress the speech of the Kronstadt garrison and part of the Baltic sailors fleet. By the end of March 14, as LB announced Kamenev, 140 people have already been sent to Petrograd. In total, according to various sources, from 279 to 320 delegates were sent. The difference in numbers is explained, according to V. Khristoforov, by the fact that among the people sent to Kronstadt there were not only delegates to the congress, but also his guests.
On the night of 16 on 17 March, a second offensive was launched by forces of the Northern and Southern groups of forces, and by noon of March 18, Kronstadt was occupied by assault troops. In the southern group of bayers advancing on the ice, Mirra Flerova walked alongside Voroshilov with a rifle in his hands among the commanders and Red Army men. She was appointed authorized at the medical unit of the Southern Group of Forces. Then there was an order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic of 23 in March 1921, which said: “... the below-named comrades are awarded with the Order of the Red Banner because, by participating in the storming of the forts and the Kronstadt fortress, personal courage and example inspired the red fighters, which contributed to the final purification of Kronstadt, gang ". At number six on this list was Mirra Flerova. She was proud of her reward and that she was among the 28 women, marked by this highest sign. But in our time she would hardly have been counted past differences for the feat. By presidential decree of 10 of January 1994 of the year No. 65 “On the events in Kronstadt in the spring of 1921”, all charges of armed insurrection were repressed from the repressed.
But each hero lives his life within his time. So it was with Mirra. She was sent to study at the Military Academy of the Red Army, which was recently formed on the basis of the former Academy of the General Staff. It is unlikely that she clearly understood where her military service roads would lead, what service heights she would reach and how tragically her life would end in 40.
Продолжение следует ...
Fate mf Fleorova was not easy even for those turbulent years of the late XIX - early XX centuries. It is still unclear how a girl from a Jewish family by the 20 years found herself in Petrograd in the whirl of the revolutionary events of the 1917 year.
She herself in her autobiography and in various questionnaires of those years wrote that after graduating from high school she worked as a teacher and then as a proofreader. Moreover, she did not indicate any periods of time or place of work. However, the mention of the work as a proofreader suggests that she worked either in a publishing house or in a printing house. This fact of her biography somehow explains how a young girl in October 1917 could have been in the editorial office of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda. By the way, under this title, the newspaper began again to go out from October 27 - immediately after the Bolsheviks took power. Prior to this, after the defeat of the printing houses of the newspaper by the cadets by the order of the Provisional Government in July, she repeatedly changed her name and came out as - “Pravda”, “Worker and Soldier”, “Proletary”, “Worker” and “Work Path”. Most likely, Mirra worked as a wording of the central body of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), because of her non-partisanship and because of her age, at some minor technical position, so her last name was not preserved among Pravda employees of that time.
It is possible that the revolutionary events in the northern capital and the struggle of the Bolsheviks against the Provisional Government so influenced its political views that it was among them. And the constant work with the texts of the central Bolshevik newspaper probably affected the transformation of political views and the formation of the ideological preferences of Mirra Florova. After a couple of months of work in the editorial board of Pravda, she joined the ranks of the RSDLP (b).
On the fronts of the civil war
Joining 1918 in January to the Bolshevik Party and voluntarily joining the newly arising Red Army may indicate the courage and determination of a young lady from a wealthy Jewish family. From that time began her military road, full of dangers and unexpected turns of fate. Between 1918 and 1921, she had to take a rifle in her hands and go into battle more than once. So, in March 1918, at the call of the party, she went with a detachment of Red Guards to defend Petrograd. Later participated in the battles with the Germans near Pskov. I stayed at the front for about a month, fighting an ordinary soldier or, if necessary, assisting the wounded as a nurse.
She mentioned Mirra and about her work in the agitation train A.S. Bubnova at the beginning of the civil war. However, among the leaders of the Soviet agitational trains that existed during the period from 1918 to 1920 years of 5, Andrei Sergeyevich was not listed. Probably, Flerova meant some separate trips led by Bubnov with agitation and propaganda goals during the period of the battles and the restoration of economic order in Ukraine. This was quite possible, since he had the status of commissar of railways in southern Russia, was a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Railways of the RSFSR and, at the same time, held party and economic positions in the leadership of Soviet Ukraine.
Then Mirra was sent to no less important work in a belligerent country — to the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. Some time later, it was approved by the Secretary of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars in the Council of Defense of Ukraine.
So she was in the team of the famous revolutionary and politician Kh.G. Rakovsky, who headed the Council of People's Commissars at that time on the Soviet territory of Ukraine, and the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs at the same time. As a member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party and a close comrade of the all-powerful Leo Trotsky, he was given extraordinary powers and enjoyed the confidence in Moscow. Working alongside Christian Rakovsky, 22’s one-year-old Mirra was a participant in many important events that occurred during the nearly 9-month period of her peaceful work in the Ukrainian land of war.
However, in January 1919, she was again in the ranks of the Red Army. He fought as a commissar of a machine-gun company on the Yekaterinoslav direction as part of a group of troops under the command of P.E. Dybenko. Later, she was appointed a military commissar of the battalion and assistant commissioner of the 7-th Sumy regiment of the 2-th Ukrainian Soviet division. In April, the 1919 Ukrainian Soviet troops under the command of Pavel Dybenko occupied the Perekop Isthmus, then almost the entire Crimea (with the exception of Kerch).
Having stayed at the front of incomplete 4 of the month, she was again seconded to civilian work in Ukraine, as she knew the local situation and had experience of such work. So Mirra was again subordinate to Rakovsky, who at that time received the additional functions of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs on the territory of Soviet Ukraine. On her civilian job site, Mirra Flerova worked until September 1919, witnessing fierce battles with the White Guards, Makhnovists, Grigorievka and other hostile military units.
And in the autumn of the same year, a new twist of fate and her return to the army ranks awaited her. At first, Mirra fights as a part of the 44 th rifle division with an ordinary Red Army soldier, despite her partisanship, combat experience and command skills. Then, showing courage and advanced military skills, she is assigned to political posts in the company, and later in the regimental unit. After a short time from the post of the regimental commissar, she was transferred to the post of deputy military commissar in the 132-th Plastun brigade, commanded by L.Ya. Weiner. As is known, the plasters in the Russian army served as military intelligence officers. They were specially prepared for reconnaissance operations on the line and behind the front line. So Mirra Flerova first appeared in the military intelligence unit.
The brigade under the leadership of Leonid Weiner successfully fought as part of the 44 th infantry division. Kombrig, a Jew by nationality, was a member of the party since 1917, and had a versatile combat experience. Next to him, Mirra felt more confident in any combat situation. In one of the journal articles 1920-s was given her story about one of the fighting episodes near Chernigov in Ukraine. All this happened just during her service in the brigade Weiner. “Denikin captured Chernigov. A team of red pressed to the Dnieper. - we read on the yellowed pages of the magazine. - No exit. Brigade waited for death. ... Every hour reminded of imminent death, and suddenly Mirra and commander Comrade Weiner saw a small merchant ship on the Dnieper. If it were not for the critical moment, everyone would have met such a flight with Homeric laughter. Projectiles are flying to the Dnieper, a desperate battle is in full swing, and here, slowly, cutting the calm surface of the river, a steamer with a manufactory is going, as if nothing had happened. You can not hesitate. Mirra gives the order, and the Red Army captured the ship. All night on the other side Mirra sent the brigade.
When morning broke and the shots sounded very close, the steamer came for the last time for Mirra. Already from the middle of the river she saw bewildered White Guards. ”
When they decided to transfer Flerova to headquarters, she flatly refused and left as an ordinary fighter in the 396 regiment. She rushed into battle, considering herself to be necessary precisely in combat, and not in staff service. Therefore, she soon found herself in the ranks of the First Cavalry Army under the command of S.M. Budyonny. Here she served on the commissar posts in the field medical unit, in the sanitary administration of the army, and then in the army autoroute. Due to her business skills, front-hardening and her ability to navigate in difficult situations, she was appointed to the position of business manager in the Revolutionary Military Council of the First Cavalry Army. Now she worked side by side alongside Budyonny, Voroshilov, and other famous commanders during the Civil War.
Service during the civil war clearly demonstrates its service to the common cause of the struggle for the power of the Soviets. She did not seek to make a military career, did not “cling” to command positions, but was where it was more difficult. Therefore, the transition from commanders to privates, from political workers to nurses for her, was common. The main thing is to remain on the front line of the struggle against the opponents of Soviet power. As her friend V.V. later recalled. Vishnyakova, during the years of the Civil War, all who knew Mirra from the front, noted that she "was remarkably good-looking, but with the utmost contempt belonged to everything that painted her as a woman." Such behavior among female military personnel at the time was not uncommon.
In November, 1920 was appointed by Flerov as the Administrator of the Revolutionary Military Council of the North Caucasus Military District. The district was formed by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of May 4 on the territory of the Don, Kuban and Terek regions, the Stavropol and Black Sea provinces and Dagestan. From this position she was seconded to Moscow as a guest at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (B.). In a number of publications indicated that she was a delegate to the party congress. However, in the lists of delegates her name does not appear.
Battle Order for participation in the liquidation of the rebellion in Kronstadt
8 March 1921 in Moscow began its work X Congress of the RCP (b). Among the guests of the congress was a young Communist from the front lines of the Red Army, Mirra Flerova. She listened with great attention to the political report of the Central Committee, which Lenin delivered. The leader of the Bolsheviks noted that for the first time in three and a half years there were no foreign troops on the territory of the RSFSR and we are already talking about the transition from war to peace. In his report, Lenin drew the attention of the congress delegates to the difficulties associated with the demobilization of the Red Army that had begun. The already difficult situation was aggravated by the collapse of the transport, food and fuel crisis.
Lenin’s phrase that “the situation at the present time is more dangerous than during Denikin, Kolchak, Yudenich” was voiced at the congress. Most likely, he meant the protests that began on the eve of the congress in the garrison of Kronstadt. They will be called a rebellion and 7 March, on the eve of the opening of the congress, will attempt to suppress the protest by force. M.Tukhachevsky, who was appointed to command the punitive operation, based his initial calculations on the fact that it was worth scaring off the rebels and they would scatter. And the case will end without bloodshed. However, it all happened very tragic.
The offensive on Kronstadt, undertaken by Tukhachevsky in the early morning of March 7, failed. The dead and wounded appeared on both sides. Continuing the concentration of troops on the Kronstadt direction, Trotsky 10 March reported to the Central Committee of the RCP (b) about the danger of the approaching thaw, with the onset of which "the island will become inaccessible to us."
In connection with the Kronstadt events at the congress, there was no delegation of the Petrograd Bolsheviks headed by G.Ye. Zinoviev. For the same reason, the LD Commissar was absent. Trotsky. He arrived in Moscow only on March 14 and took part in the 4's closed-door congress sessions without minutes.
Earlier, the mobilization of delegates and guests of the congress began to suppress the speech of the Kronstadt garrison and part of the Baltic sailors fleet. By the end of March 14, as LB announced Kamenev, 140 people have already been sent to Petrograd. In total, according to various sources, from 279 to 320 delegates were sent. The difference in numbers is explained, according to V. Khristoforov, by the fact that among the people sent to Kronstadt there were not only delegates to the congress, but also his guests.
On the night of 16 on 17 March, a second offensive was launched by forces of the Northern and Southern groups of forces, and by noon of March 18, Kronstadt was occupied by assault troops. In the southern group of bayers advancing on the ice, Mirra Flerova walked alongside Voroshilov with a rifle in his hands among the commanders and Red Army men. She was appointed authorized at the medical unit of the Southern Group of Forces. Then there was an order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic of 23 in March 1921, which said: “... the below-named comrades are awarded with the Order of the Red Banner because, by participating in the storming of the forts and the Kronstadt fortress, personal courage and example inspired the red fighters, which contributed to the final purification of Kronstadt, gang ". At number six on this list was Mirra Flerova. She was proud of her reward and that she was among the 28 women, marked by this highest sign. But in our time she would hardly have been counted past differences for the feat. By presidential decree of 10 of January 1994 of the year No. 65 “On the events in Kronstadt in the spring of 1921”, all charges of armed insurrection were repressed from the repressed.
But each hero lives his life within his time. So it was with Mirra. She was sent to study at the Military Academy of the Red Army, which was recently formed on the basis of the former Academy of the General Staff. It is unlikely that she clearly understood where her military service roads would lead, what service heights she would reach and how tragically her life would end in 40.
Продолжение следует ...
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