16 December 1872 was born Russian military leader, General Anton Ivanovich Denikin
The family lived very modestly, retired father. Anton, having entered the Vlotslavskoe real school, quickly showed good abilities and already in the second grade at the age of 13 he worked as a tutor. Then he studied at the Lovichesky real school. Since childhood, Anton dreamed of following in his father's footsteps and after graduating from college, in 1890, he entered the Freedom Regiment in the 1. In the same year he entered the Kiev Infantry Engineering Cadet School. After completing the two-year course of study, he was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 2 th field artillery brigade deployed in the county town of Bela in the Sedletskaya province. After several years of preparation, in the summer of 1895, I was able to pass a competitive exam and entered the Academy of the General Staff. At the end of the first year of study, he was expelled from the Academy without passing an exam in stories military art, but after three months, Denikin passed the exam and was again enrolled in the first year. In the spring of 1899, he was promoted to captain, but on the eve of his graduation, the new head of the Academy, General Nikolai Sukhotin, arbitrarily changed the list of graduates who were counted among the General Staff, as a result of which the provincial officer did not make it to their number. Denikin, filed a complaint with the name of the emperor against Sukhotin. The commission assembled recognized the actions of the general illegal, but decided not to "raise the dust." Denikin was offered to pick up the complaint, promising to enlist in the officers of the General Staff. But the officer showed "character" by refusing to do so. As a result, his complaint was rejected. During these years, Denikin showed the talent of the writer, was published under the pseudonym Ivan Nochin, and wrote mainly on the subject of military life.
He began to serve again in the 2 artillery brigade. In 1902, Denikin wrote a letter to the military minister Kuropatkin, asking him to look into the situation. During an audience with Tsar Nikolai, Kuropatkin "expressed regret that he had acted unfairly and asked for orders" to assign Anton Denikin an officer of the General Staff, which happened in the summer of the year 1902. He was enlisted in the headquarters of the 2 Infantry Division located in Brest-Litovsk, where he commanded a company of the 183 Pultus regiment in Warsaw for a year. In 1903, he was transferred to the 2 Cavalry Corps, where he served until 1904. Long before the revolution, Denikin burned himself into "liberalism" in his company. He not only brought assault, but also canceled disciplinary measures, relying on the "consciousness" of the soldiers. He inspired subordinates that they should take care of themselves. The result was sad. The company got loose, discipline fell.
When the Russian-Japanese war began, he obtained personal permission to be seconded to the army, since his unit was not sent to the front. He served as chief of staff of the 3 th brigade of the Zaamur district of a separate corps of the border guard, which fought with the gangs. He distinguished himself as the chief of staff of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Division, General Rennenkampf and the famous Ural-Trans-Baikal Division, General Mishchenko, who carried out deep raids to the rear of the enemy. He was awarded the rank of Colonel and the Order of St. Stanislav 3 degree with swords and bows and St. Anne 2 degree with swords. In 1905, he gained his first experience in dealing with revolutionary chaos - several anarchist "republics" blocked the road from Manchuria to the European part of Russia. Denikin and a group of officers gathered a detachment of reliable fighters and made their way through rebellious Siberia in a train.
He returned to service in the 2nd Cavalry Corps, then received the battalion of the 228th Khvalynsky Infantry Reserve Regiment at the beginning. In 1906, he visited a number of European countries as a tourist. At the beginning of 1907, he assumed the post of chief of staff of the 57th Infantry Reserve Brigade, which was located in Saratov, where he served until January 1910. Denikin continued to write, criticizing the commander of his brigade and the head of the Kazan military district, General Alexander Sandetsky. In general, the colonel criticized bureaucracy, the suppression of the independence of officers, and a rude attitude to the lower ranks. He advocated improving the training of command personnel, wrote about the need for the rapid development of vehicles, military aviation. He drew attention to the growth of the German and Austrian threats, the need for speedy military reform. In 1910, he proposed convening a congress of officers of the General Staff to discuss army problems and work out ways to solve them. Denikin did not belong to any political parties, but according to his views he referred to himself as liberals. He believed that in Russia it is necessary to establish a constitutional monarchy, to carry out radical reforms, peacefully modernizing the country.
In the summer of 1910, he assumed command of the 17 Infantry Regiment of Archangelgorod, which was based in Zhytomyr. In it, Denikin established the Museum of the History of the Regiment, which became one of the first museums of military units in the Russian Imperial Army. In the spring of 1914, he was assigned to perform the duties of a general for assignments under the Commander of the Kiev Military District. Denikin moved to Kiev. On the eve of the First World War, he was promoted to the rank of Major General and was appointed Quartermaster General of the 8 Army commanded by General Alexey Brusilov.
When the war began, he asked for the commanders of the line unit. Brusilov appointed him commander of the 4 th Infantry Brigade. Much later, Brusilov wrote that Denikin "showed great talents of a combat general in the field of battle." The brigade, later deployed to the division, rightfully received the honorary name - "Iron". The glory of this compound resounded throughout the empire, and its commander for military skill and personal courage was twice awarded St. George weaponsOrders of St. George 4-th and 3-th degree. In the fall of 1915, he received the rank of lieutenant general. 27 August (9 September) 1916 was appointed commander of the 8 Corps and was sent along with him to the Romanian front, where he actually led the Romanian troops. He was awarded the highest Romanian award - the Order of Mihai the Brave 3.
After the February Revolution, he was appointed chief of staff at the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Mikhail Alekseev. Together with Alekseev, he left Stavka after Kerensky signed the "Declaration of Soldier's Rights." He commanded the Western and then the Southwestern Fronts. He sharply criticized the actions of the Provisional Government to "democratize" the army. For expressing moral support for General Kornilov, Berdichev was imprisoned. This period was very dangerous, because on any day it could be torn to pieces by “revolutionary” soldiers. In the fall of 1917, he was transferred to Bykhov, where the "Kornilov group" was kept. During transportation, he and other officers almost fell victim to the mob of a soldier mob. They were saved by Victor Betling, who served under Denikin. Later, already during the Civil War, he became the commander of the Special Officer Company at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia.
Shortly after the fall of the Provisional Government, Supreme Commander Nikolai Dukhonin freed the generals from Bykhov's prison. Denikin arrived at Don, where he took part in the creation of the Volunteer Army under the command of Alekseev and Kornilov. In fact, Denikin, as one of the main and most energetic organizers of the volunteer units, was often perceived at this stage as the commander of the White Army. In addition, he performed the tasks of the commander in the periods of absence of Kornilov. Officially, he was originally the commander of the 1 Infantry Division, and led the army after the death of Kornilov.
During the First Kuban campaign (or the Ice campaign), which lasted 80 days (of which 44 fought) and the whites passed 1100 km, the Volunteer army under Denikin's command broke away from the enemy and went to the borders of the Don and Stavropol region. Ice campaign became a kind of baptism of the White Army, its legend. White heroes and white traditions were born in it.
In the summer of 1918, the Volunteer Army will make the Second Kuban campaign, which will end with the defeat of the Kuban group of red troops and the capture of the capital of the Kuban Cossacks, Yekaterinodar. After the death of General Alekseev on September 25 (October 8), 1918, Denikin will take the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army. During the second half of 1918, the White troops under his command will defeat the forces of the North Caucasian Soviet Republic and occupy the entire western part of the North Caucasus.
At the beginning of 1919, Denikin will lead the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (VSYUR), subjugating the Don Army and removing the ataman Krasnov from power. The Caucasian (Kuban) army and the white Black Sea fleet will also be included in the All-Soviet Union. The general will show at this time his best military organizational qualities, a great strategic and operational-tactical thinking. White forces in the late spring and early summer campaign of 1919 will seize the Carboniferous region - the fuel and metallurgical base of southern Russia, enter the territory of Ukraine, and also occupy vast areas of the North Caucasus. In the summer campaign 1919 of the year, VSYUR will achieve maximum success by taking Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, Tsaritsyn. 3 (16) July 1919, the white forces were given the task of taking Moscow. At the same time, White achieved great success in Ukraine: the cities of Poltava, Nikolaev, Kherson, Odessa and Kiev are busy. Petliura and Galician troops were defeated (Denikin did not recognize the independence of Ukraine). With the Galicians peace and military alliance was signed, the Galician army became part of the All-Soviet Union. September 30 (October 13) Denikin’s 1919 took Orel and planned to take Tula. However, this was the peak of the victories of the Vyvir, for several reasons the march on Moscow failed and the whites retreated to the south.
By the beginning of 1920, the remnants of the White Army retreated to the Cossack regions, where Denikin, already possessing the title of Supreme Governor of Russia, received from Admiral Kolchak, tried to form the South Russian model of statehood, which was based on the unification of state principles of volunteer, Don and Kuban authorities. The South Russian government was established. However, the counteroffensive attempt undertaken in the winter - spring 1920 of the year failed. The remains of the troops were evacuated from Novorossiysk to the Crimea (the so-called Novorossiysk disaster). Under pressure from disgruntled generals, Denikin 4 (17) on April 1920, appointed Lieutenant General Peter Wrangel Commander-in-Chief of the All-Russian Union of Military Personnel, and left for Constantinople together with the former chief of staff and the closest associate Romanovsky on the British ship, leaving for Constantinople, and then leaving England for good, and then leaving England.
In England, Denikin was well received, he began to engage in literary activities. However, in protest against London’s desire to make peace with Soviet Russia, the general 1920 moved to Belgium in August, where he settled with his family in Brussels and began work on a thorough documentary study on the Civil War - “Sketches of the Russian Troubles”. Denikin almost completely withdrew from politics, devoting himself to literature and research work. In 1922, he moved to Hungary, returned to Belgium in 1925, and in 1926, he moved to France.
When the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Denikin condemned the policy of Adolf Hitler. Unlike a number of white men who planned to take part in hostilities against the Soviet Union on the side of Germany and its allies, Denikin advocated the need to support the USSR and the Red Army in the struggle against any external aggressor. He believed that such a war could lead to the awakening of the Russian spirit in the ranks of the Red Army and the rebirth of the USSR.
After the invasion of German troops in France, he tried to go to Spain, but was arrested. The Germans offered Denikin cooperation and assistance in literary activities, but he refused. He was released and settled under the control of the German commandant's office and the Gestapo in the vicinity of Bordeaux. In 1942, the German authorities offered to Denikin to move to Berlin and lead the anti-Bolshevik forces from among the Russian emigrants, but he refused. During the Second World War, Denikin urged Russian émigrants not to support the Reich, calling all representatives of the White emigration cooperating with the Germans “obscurantists” and “defeatists”.
In 1945, Denikin moved to the United States, continuing to engage in literary activities. 7 August 1947, Denikin died of a heart attack at the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor and was buried in the Detroit cemetery. The Americans buried him as commander-in-chief of the allied army with military honors due to him. October 3 2005, the ashes of General Anton Denikin, were transported to Moscow for burial in the St. Donskoy Monastery.
It is a story about the great Russian general Anton Ivanovich Denikin. The story told by his daughter, famous French journalist Marina Gray. Unknown facts from the biography of Denikin.
What was the fate of the general and his family in Europe, what was the relationship between father and daughter, and why did Denikin not agree to cooperate with European politicians and fight with the Bolsheviks abroad?
Denikin was criticized among the part of the white emigration and the subsequent waves of the Russian emigration. Denikin was most closely and systematically criticized by his successor as head of the White forces in southern Russia, Lieutenant-General Peter Wrangel.
During the Second World War, Denikin supported the Red Army, and when the Germans proposed to move to Berlin and continue agitation on the side of the Russian collaborators, he decisively refused.
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