Last photo of A.V. Kolchak. 1920
Smoot. 1920 year. 100 years ago, on the night of February 7, 1920, the “Supreme Ruler of All Russia” was shot by Admiral Alexander Kolchak and chairman of his government Viktor Pepelyaev. In liberal Russia, Kolchak was turned into a hero and a martyr, whom the "bloody Bolsheviks" destroyed.
The fall of the Siberian government
Amid the complete defeat of the Kolchak army, the complete collapse of the rear, general flight, the activation of partisans and peasant rebels, widespread uprisings against the Siberian government in Irkutsk, the Political Center revolted. It was a political association of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Zemstvo. The political center set the task of overthrowing Kolchak and creating a “free democratic” state in Siberia and the Far East. They received the support of a large part of the rear garrisons who did not want to fight the Entente, for which the end of the Kolchak regime was obvious.
On December 24, 1919, the uprising of the Political Center in Irkutsk began. The rebels were led by Captain Kalashnikov, who then led the People's Revolutionary Army. At the same time, local Bolsheviks and workers, who were supported by partisans, raised an uprising. But initially the superiority of forces was in favor of the Political Center. Kolchak appointed Ataman Semenov commander of the Far East and Irkutsk District and ordered to restore order in the city. Semenov sent a detachment, but it was insignificant and could not break into the city. In addition, Czechoslovakians opposed the Semenovites, so they had to retreat.
The “supreme ruler” Kolchak at that time was blocked in Nizhneudinsk, 500 km from Irkutsk. The uprising also began here. The representative of the Supreme Inter-Union Command and the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Siberia and the Far East, General Janin ordered not to let the Kolchak train and the gold train go further. Czechs unhooked and stole steam locomotives. Kolchak protested, but he did not have military strength to counter violence. The remnants of combat-ready Kolchak troops under the command of Kappel were far from Nizhneudinsk, making their way through snow and forest, repelling enemy attacks. The "Nizhneudinsky sitting" began. The station was declared "neutral", Czechoslovakians acted as guarantors of the admiral's security. The rebels did not meddle here. Kolchak was offered to run: he had a convoy, you could take as much gold as they would carry away, and go towards Mongolia. However, he did not dare to do so. It is possible that he still hoped to "agree", did not believe that he would be surrendered. Kolchak granted freedom of action to the soldiers and officers of the convoy. Almost everyone dispersed. The Czechs immediately secured gold. The connection was in their hands, and the "supreme" was cut off from the outside world.
At that time, negotiations were ongoing in Irkutsk between General Zhanen, the Political Center and the Council of Ministers on the transfer of power to the Political Center. Kolchak was represented by the “emergency three” - General Khanzhin (Minister of War), Cherven-Vodali (head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) and Larionov (Ministry of Railways). The negotiations were initiated by Janin, under his chairmanship and in his train. In fact, the Entente forced the Kolchak government to resign. Kolchak was specially cut off from Irkutsk so that he could not influence the events there. At first, the Kolchak ministers resisted, but under strong pressure, Janin was forced to accept the Political Center and its conditions. On January 4–5, 1920, the Political Center won in Irkutsk. The Provisional Council of the Siberian National Administration created by the Political Center declared itself power in the territory from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk.
Treason and arrest of the supreme ruler
The Western allies demanded that Kolchak renounce the supreme power, guaranteeing in this case a safe trip abroad. However, this was originally a hoax. The issue of extradition of the admiral has already been resolved. Formally, Jeanin at this price ensured the free passage of foreign missions and troops and the supply of coal with echelons. In fact, the forces of the Provisional Council were weak to impede the movement of the Westerners. Only Czechoslovakians had a whole army, armed and equipped to the teeth. In particular, when needed, the Czechs easily neutralized the Semenovites who stood in their way, destroyed their armored trains. In fact, it was a political decision: Kolchak was written off, "the Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave." But the political center needed an admiral for bargaining with the Bolsheviks.
Only the Japanese at the beginning took a different position. They tried to help the "supreme" in order to use it to maintain the regime of their puppet Semenov. But under pressure from the French and Americans, the Japanese were forced to abandon the support of the admiral. In addition, in the Irkutsk region, they did not have serious forces to defend their position.
But before the arrest, Kolchak had to renounce the supreme power, even formal. It was a tribute to decency: it was one thing to extradite the head of the union state, and another private person. Kolchak’s position became hopeless. He missed his last chance when he refused to run. Partisans and the Red Army advanced in the west, rebels in Nizhneudinsk, and enemies in the east. January 5, 1920 Kolchak signed the abdication, he appointed Denikin as the supreme ruler. In the Russian East, supreme power was transferred to Semenov.
On January 10, traffic began in Irkutsk: Kolchak’s wagons and Pepelyaev’s head of government were attached to the echelon of the 6th Czech regiment, followed by the gold echelon. When the trains arrived in Cheremkhovo, the local revolutionary committee and the working committee demanded that Kolchak be given to them. After negotiations with the Czechs, they agreed to further movement, but local warriors joined the admiral's guard. On January 15, trains arrived in Irkutsk. Allied missions have already departed further east. In the evening, Czechoslovakians handed Kolchak to representatives of the Political Center. Kolchak and Pepelyaev were placed in the building of the provincial prison. In the case of Kolchak, an investigation commission was created.
The transfer of power to the Bolsheviks
The political situation in Irkutsk quickly changed. The political center could not hold on to power. From the very beginning, he shared power with the Irkutsk Provincial Committee of the RCP (B.). The Bolsheviks were offered to create a coalition government, but they refused. Power and so passed to them. They have already seized control of the troops, labor squads, and have drawn partisans to their side. They quickly ceased to reckon with the Political Center. On January 19, the Military Revolutionary Committee (WRC) was created. The extraordinary commission was headed by the Bolshevik Chudnovsky, who was already a member of the commission of inquiry in the Kolchak case.
The Czechs, seeing that the real power was transferred to the Bolsheviks, surrendered the “democrats" from the Political Center. The Bolsheviks entered into negotiations with the Czechs to liquidate the Political Center and transfer all power to them. The Czechs agreed with the condition that their agreement with the Social Revolutionaries on the free passage of Czechoslovak troops to the east with all their good will remain in force. On January 21, the Political Center ceded the power of the military-industrial complex. Kolchak and Pepelyaev were automatically transferred to the Bolsheviks.
The offensive of the Kappel people. Admiral's death
At this time, news of Kappel's troops began to arrive. After the battle of Krasnoyarsk (The battle for Krasnoyarsk), where the whites were defeated and suffered heavy losses, the Kolchakites barely broke through the Yenisei and retreated in several groups. The column of General Sakharov retreated along the Siberian Highway and the railway. Kappel’s column went north along the Yenisei River below Krasnoyarsk, then along the Kan River to Kansk, planning to enter the Kansk railway and connect with Sakharov’s troops there. Kolchakites managed to break away from the Reds, who lingered in Krasnoyarsk on vacation. The remnants of the white units were to finish off the partisans.
As it turned out, the White Guards were deducted from their accounts early. The former white armies left small groups. But these were the “implacable”, the best soldiers and officers, the Kappelites, Votkintsy, Izhevsk, part of the Orenburg and Siberian Cossacks, all who did not want to desert and be taken prisoner. They made their way through partisan lands, died of typhus, cold and hunger, but stubbornly made their way to the east. Having learned about the uprising in Kansk and the garrison moving to the side of the Reds, Kappel went around the city from the south on January 12-14. Then the troops moved along the Siberian Highway and on January 19th occupied the Zamzor station, where they learned about the uprising in Irkutsk. On January 22, the Kappelites drove out the Red partisans from Nizhneudinsk. Kappel was already dying - during a trip along the Kan River, he fell into the wormwood, froze his legs. The amputation of the legs and pneumonia finished off the general. At the military council, it was decided to go to Irkutsk and release Kolchak. January 24 began the offensive Kolchakites in Irkutsk. On January 26, Kappel died at the Utai railway junction, transferring command to General Wojciechowski.
The whites had only 5-6 thousand combat-ready soldiers, several active guns and 2-3 machine guns per division. It was even worse with ammunition. Sick, exhausted, going beyond the limits of human capabilities, they moved to Irkutsk, terrible in their impulse. The Bolsheviks tried to stop them and sent troops to meet them. But in the battle at Zima station on January 30, the Reds were defeated. After a short rest on February 3, the Kappelites continued to move and immediately took Cheremkhovo, 140 km from Irkutsk.
In response to the Reds ultimatum on surrender, Wojciechowski put forward his ultimatum: the general promised to bypass Irkutsk if the Bolsheviks surrendered Kolchak, his associates, supplied the White Guards with food and fodder and paid a contribution of 200 million rubles. It is clear that the Bolsheviks refused. Kappelevtsy went on an assault, broke through to Innokentyevskaya, 7 km from the city. Irkutsk declared a state of siege, mobilized all they could, built a solid defense. However, Kolchakites continued to rush forward. The battle was rare in rage. Both sides fought fiercely, did not take prisoners. Contemporaries recalled that they did not remember such a fierce battle.
Under the pretext of the threat of the fall of the city, Admiral Kolchak and Pepelyaev were shot on the night of February 7, 1920. They were shot without trial, by order of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the ice hole on the Hangar. On the same day, the Bolsheviks signed an agreement on neutrality with the Czechs. At this time, the White Guards took Innokentyevskaya, broke the line of urban defense. But the further assault lost its significance. Upon learning of the execution of Kolchak, Wojciechowski stopped the attack. In addition, the Czechs demanded not to continue the offensive. Fighting with fresh Czechoslovak troops was suicide.
Kappelevtsy went around the city and moved to the village of Bolshoy Goloustnoe on the shore of Lake Baikal. Then the White Guards crossed Baikal on ice, which was another feat of the Great Ice Campaign. In total, 30-35 thousand people crossed the lake. From the Mysova station, the White Guards and refugees continued their campaign (about 600 km) to Chita, which they reached in early March 1920.
New Kolchak
After the collapse of the USSR and the victory of the liberals, who are considered the heirs of the White movement, the creeping rehabilitation of the enemies of the Red Army and Soviet power began. Denikin, Wrangel, Mannerheim, Kolchak and other enemies of Soviet Russia became the "heroes" of the new Russia.
The problem is that Kolchak was an enemy of the people and a mercenary of foreign capital. First, the admiral betrayed Tsar Nicholas II (along with other generals), and joined the revolutionary revolutionaries. That is, he became an accomplice in the destruction of "historical Of Russia. ” Then the admiral entered the service of the Entente. He recognized himself as a “condottiere,” that is, a mercenary, an adventurer in the service of the West. It was used in the war against the Russian people. The fact is that Kolchak and many other generals and officers chose the wrong side. They chose the camp of the capitalists, the big bourgeoisie, big capital, foreign predators who tore Russia apart. There was a choice. A significant part of the Russian officers, many generals chose the people, although many personally did not like the Bolsheviks, therefore they fought in the Red Army for the future of working-peasant, popular Russia.
As a result, white generals (even personally interesting, strong personalities, talented generals who have many merits to the Fatherland) opposed the people, against Russian civilization. They fought for the interests of our geopolitical "partners", enemies who sentenced Russia and the Russian people to destruction, the country to dismemberment and plunder. For the interests of domestic "bourgeois" who wanted to preserve factories, factories, ships and capital.
Alexander Kolchak, no doubt, was a protege of the West. He was assigned to “save” Russia in London and Washington. West generously supplied the Kolchak regime weapons, for this he received Russian gold, control over the Siberian Railway (in fact, over the entire eastern part of Russia. The West, while it was profitable for him, turned a blind eye to the atrocities and war crimes of the Kolchakites. After the six-month reign of the “supreme ruler”, General Budberg (supply and Minister of War of the Kolchak government) recorded:
"The uprisings and local anarchy are spreading all over Siberia ... the main areas of the uprising are the settlements of Stolypin agrarians - sent sporadically punitive detachments ... burn villages, hang up and, where possible, mess things up."
When the "Moor did his job," it was already possible to reveal part of the truth. So, the representative of the American mission in Siberia, General Greves wrote:
“Terrible murders were committed in Eastern Siberia, but they were not committed by the Bolsheviks, as they usually thought. I’m not mistaken if I say that in Eastern Siberia for every person killed by the Bolsheviks, there were 100 people killed by anti-Bolshevik elements. ”
The command of the Czechoslovak Corps noted:
“Under the protection of Czechoslovak bayonets, the local Russian military authorities allow themselves actions that are horrified by the entire civilized world. The burning of villages, the beating of peaceful Russian citizens by hundreds, the shooting of representatives of democracy without trial on the mere suspicion of political unreliability is a common occurrence ... ”
Although in reality, Westerners, including the Czechs, themselves were marked by terrible atrocities and looting in Russia.
Thus, while Kolchak was needed, he was supported, when his regime was exhausted, he was handed over as a used disposable tool. The admiral was not even taken out to give the estate and pension for a good job. He was cynically surrendered and sentenced to death. At the same time, Kolchak himself helped the Western "allies" - he transferred them to control the Siberian Railway, the key artery of the region and his army.
Modern attempts to whitewash the admiral and other white military and political leaders are connected with the desire to permanently establish in Russia a semi-capitalist (comprador, oligarchic), neo-feudal regime with class-caste society, where "new nobles", "masters of life" appeared, and there are ordinary people - "Losers" who did not fit into the "market". Hence the new historical mythology with the "white heroes" and the "Bolsheviks-bloodsuckers" who destroyed the abundant and prosperous Russia, established a slave system. What such mythology and ideology leads to is clearly seen in the example of the former post-Soviet republics, where desovetization has already won. This collapse, blood, extinction and total idiocy of the masses.
Monument to A. V. Kolchak in Irkutsk at the Znamensky Monastery. Installed in 2004. Sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov