Anton Denikin: the shame of two evacuations, resignation, and an inglorious life in exile

Denikin in a photograph taken on the day of his resignation – April 4, 1920.

In the two previous articles, we discussed A. Denikin's origins and his military service in Imperial Russia. We also discussed how he became commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, then the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, and even Supreme Ruler of Russia (this dubious title was bestowed upon him by the "Omsk ruler" A. Kolchak). We also discussed this general's disastrous Moscow campaign. Today, we will continue and conclude this story.

After the failure of the Moscow campaign, Denikin's authority among the troops rapidly declined, but he continued to cling to power and in February 1920 dismissed Pyotr Wrangel, who had criticized him, as well as generals Lukomsky and Shatilov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, who sympathized with him. fleet Vice-Admiral Nenyukov and the Chief of Staff of the Fleet, Rear Admiral Bubnov. Denikin's final disgrace came with the disastrous evacuation of White Guard units from Novorossiysk to Crimea. It was preceded by the equally disastrous evacuation of White units from Odessa from February 2-8, 1920.

The shame of the Odessa evacuation in February 1920

By that time, the White Army was in a state of complete disintegration and incapable of resistance. In S. Volkov's book, "The Last Battles of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia," one can read:

What were the Volunteer Army units like? They were nothing more than enormous, endless convoys, loaded not only with military equipment, but primarily with all sorts of goods (sugar, tobacco, leather, soap, and much more). Everyone had plenty of money, but this money (Denikin's) was not accepted anywhere except in Odessa.

Captain A. A. Stolypin recalled the situation in Odessa:

The Red Army is now only 80-50 miles from the city. Panic reigns. They're trying to organize some kind of defense, but to no avail. Some fantastical units with pompous names are being formed, but everyone, even the organizers, senses it's a sham, that neither the "Sacred Duty Units" nor the "Ataman Strukov's Peasant Detachment" can save Odessa. We need combat regiments here. Up to 45,000 officers alone are registered in the city! Is it really impossible to unite them? Schilling lost his nerve and left. The first to flee, of course, are the headquarters and command staff.

The White Guard officer F. Steinman wrote about the same thing in his article “Retreat from Odessa” in January 1920:

There was still a chance to organize the defense of Odessa itself, as it had approximately 80 armed men, mostly officers. But this entire armed mass was completely disorganized, and the men who could create it were lacking. The officer corps was so demoralized by that time that no one thought about resisting the impending danger, and everyone dreamed only of obtaining as much state money as possible, exchanging it for foreign currency, and quickly escaping abroad.

Please note: there are tens of thousands of fully combat-ready and well-armed White soldiers and officers in Odessa, but there's no one to defend the city, and everyone is thinking only about escape, with the commanders being the first to flee. The drive was further enhanced by numerous bandits who, even under the interventionists, had become the true masters of the city. Among them, the ten-thousand-strong group of Moishe-Yankel Meer-Volfovich Vinnitsky (Mishka Yaponchik) stood out. According to the testimony of V. Fomin, a Chekist working in Odessa, "he appeared wherever and whenever he wanted", and his "They were feared everywhere and therefore were given honors that were downright royal"During the intervention, Yaponchinka's thugs even robbed a Romanian officers' gambling club in broad daylight, and in January 1919, they attacked the car of Odessa Governor-General A. N. Grishin-Almazov.

Let's return to the story of the White Army's evacuation from Odessa. In this city, ships took on only one in three volunteers. The details of the embarkation process can be found in the article "Evacuation of the Volunteer Army from Odessa in 1920" by the White Army historian P. Varnek:

A steamship intended for the evacuation of the wounded, approaching the pier, was stormed by a crowd of soldiers and refugees... An incredible crush formed around the steamships still moored at the piers, and the steamships began to rush to leave... The Volunteer Fleet steamship "Vladimir" took on board several thousand soldiers, who filled all the holds and stood close to each other on the deck. But the crowd continued to storm the steamship, and to allow it to retreat, the guards were forced to use weapon.

Odessa, boarding the British transport ship "Rio Negro" (delivered to Thessaloniki about 1400 civilians, wounded officers, as well as cadets Donskoy and Sergievsky artillery schools, cadets of the Odessa Cadet Corps)

On February 7, Kotovsky's cavalry brigade entered Odessa.

Kotovsky's cavalry brigade enters Odessa

Grigory Kotovsky was a very serious and authoritative person, and even Mishka Yaponchik, even before the Revolution, was afraid of him to the point of trembling in his knees.

G. Kotovsky in a photograph from 1919

Kotovsky quickly restored order in Odessa, and, according to the aforementioned Chekist Fomin, from that time on, bandits of all stripes disappeared from the city streets and were forced to hide in "raspberries" and catacombs. And Mishka Yaponchik was executed in July 1919 by N.I. Ursulov, the head of the Voznesensky combat unit.

What were the results of the Odessa evacuation of the Armed Forces of South Russia? Three thousand soldiers, about 200 officers, and three generals were immediately captured. The total number of prisoners in Odessa and the surrounding area, including those who were part of the 16-strong Ovidiopol detachment attempting to break through to Romania, amounted to 13—1200 of whom were officers.

By the way, according to the testimony of F. Steinman, who was in the Ovidiopol detachment, these White Guards were also attacked by the Romanians, who:

They opened fierce fire from 14 machine guns installed on the heights and vineyards surrounding the village... The brave Romanian machine gunners continued their work for a long time and fired even at those who came to the aid of the wounded... Finally, we were sent on carts to Akkerman: only 127 survivors from the 16-strong Ovidiopol detachment.

The Ukrainian Galician Army (around 4 men), which was then part of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, not only surrendered, but went over to the side of the Reds and was renamed the Red Ukrainian Galician Army (CUGA).

Meanwhile, it was to the Galicians that General Schilling entrusted the defense of Odessa and even all of Novorossiya. The famous monarchist V. Shulgin wrote about this:

This transfer of power undoubtedly hastened the surrender of Odessa by two days... I headed back to my unit with the vague idea of ​​dispersing them to their homes. For if one can still quixote under the tricolor flag, then under the "yellow and blue"... I most humbly thank... "Enough sausage," as they said in such cases in the Volunteer Army slang.

The Red Army's trophies in Odessa included 100 artillery pieces, 4 armored cars and 4 armored trains, the unfinished cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, 2 landing ships and 2 submarines, more than 10 boats and tugs, British Triumph motorcycles (which were never unloaded from the holds of the steamship Alexandria), several hundred thousand shells and cartridges, 350 thousand poods of grain, 3 thousand poods of coal, and 130 thousand poods of firewood.

Novorossiysk catastrophe

Now let's talk about the even more catastrophic evacuation of White Guards from Novorossiysk, where the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, Denikin, was also located at the time.

The commission organizing the evacuation was headed by General A. Kutepov, whose mental abilities General Ya. Slashchev, who had returned to Soviet Russia, considered no better than those of a sergeant major. In March 1920, there were 25,200 infantry and 26,700 fighters from various cavalry units (a total of 51,900 men), and Denikin himself recalled that the city streets were in the grip of deserters, many of whom were officers. They organized themselves into bandit groups with the pompous name of "military societies." "the hidden purpose of which was to capture ships if necessary"The situation was seriously complicated by the capture of the port city of Tuapse by the "Greens" on February 25. These units consisted of local rebels and deserters from the Armed Forces of South Russia and the Red Army. On the night of March 12, the "Greens" carried out a successful "raid" on Novorossiysk, freeing several hundred prisoners from the local prison. From March 13, even before the fall of Yekaterinodar (the city was captured by the Reds on March 17), panic set in in Novorossiysk. Denikin appealed to the British and French for help, and the embarkation of ships was scheduled for the evening of March 26, but began during the day and immediately spiraled out of control. The ships were literally stormed—not only by soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of South Russia, but also by civilians: according to eyewitnesses, crowds "They attacked any docked ship that wasn't guarded by machine gunners.".

I. Vladimirov. "The Flight of the Bourgeoisie from Novorossiysk." 1926.

White Guards on the British cruiser Calypso

And this is the Exodus monument, unveiled in Novorossiysk in 2013:

Interestingly, many consider this composition to be a monument to V. Vysotsky in his role as Lieutenant Brusentsov from the film "Two Comrades Were Serving" (which actually tells the story of the events in Crimea and the Wrangel evacuation of November 1920):

Lieutenant Brusentsov in the film "Two Comrades Served"

In Novorossiysk, while some White Guards stormed ships, others plundered shops and wine cellars, and the Don Cossacks were denied evacuation altogether—they were ordered to fight their way along the coast to Gelendzhuk and Tuapse—M. Sholokhov wrote in his famous novel:

An evacuation was underway in Novorossiysk. Steamships were carrying Russian wealthy landowners, generals' families, and influential political figures to Turkey. Loading operations continued day and night at the docks. Cadets worked in stevedore teams, piling the ships' holds with military equipment, suitcases, and crates of illustrious refugees. Units of the Volunteer Army, having outpaced the Don and Kuban Cossacks in flight, were the first to reach Novorossiysk and began loading onto transport ships. The Volunteer Army headquarters prudently moved aboard the British dreadnought Emperor of India, which had arrived in port. Fighting raged near Tonnelnaya Street. Tens of thousands of refugees filled the city streets. Military units continued to arrive. An indescribable crush ensued near the docks. Abandoned horses wandered in herds of thousands across the limestone slopes of the mountains surrounding Novorossiysk. The streets adjacent to the wharves were littered with Cossack saddles, equipment, and military supplies. None of this was of any use to anyone anymore. Rumors circulated around the city that only the Volunteer Army would be loaded onto the ships, while the Don and Kuban Cossacks would march to Georgia.

And further:

Before his very eyes, at the Svyatoslav's gangway, an elderly retired colonel, denied a place on the ship, shot himself... small, fussy, with gray stubble on his cheeks, with tear-stained, puffy, marsupial eyes, he grabbed the guard commander by the straps of his sword belt, lisped something pitifully, blew his nose and wiped his smoke-stained mustache, eyes and trembling lips with a dirty handkerchief, and then, somehow, suddenly, he made up his mind... And immediately, some nimble Cossack pulled a shiny nickel-plated Browning from the dead man's warm hand, the corpse, in a light-gray officer's greatcoat, was rolled with feet, like a log, toward a stack of boxes, and near the gangway the crowd boiled even more intensely, the fight in the line flared up even more furiously, the hoarse, embittered voices of the refugees barked even more fiercely. When the last steamer, rocking, began to move away from the pier, women’s sobs, hysterical screams, and swearing could be heard in the crowd.

This is a completely credible episode—White Guard suicides on the Novorossiysk pier were not uncommon. Particularly shocking was the case of a certain captain in the Drozdovsky Regiment, who, before shooting himself, killed his wife and two young children. Let's return to Sholokhov's quote:

Before the short, bass roar of the steamship's siren had time to die down, a young Kalmyk in a fox fur hat jumped into the water and swam after the steamship.
"I couldn't stand it!" sighed one of the Cossacks.
"That means he shouldn't have stayed," said the Cossack standing next to Grigory. "That means he did a lot of mischief to the Reds..."

Let us continue quoting Sholokhov’s novel:

Seeing Grigory, Ryabchikov fidgeted in the saddle, impatiently touched his horse with his heels, and shouted:
"Come on, Pantelevich! <…> Let's leave before it's too late. About fifty of us Cossacks have gathered here, thinking of heading to Gelendzhik, and from there to Georgia... A senior officer has joined us. He knows the way around here inside out, he says: 'I'll take you all the way to Tiflis!'"

But most of the Cossacks from the Don, Kuban, and Terek regiments surrendered to the Red Army units entering the city. The total number of White Guards who surrendered reached 22.

Around 11 a.m. on March 27, Red cavalrymen rode up to one of the piers in the Novorossiysk port. Yemelyan Kochetov, a Cossack stationed there, recalled that the Red commander addressed the crowd:

Comrades, don't shoot! The war is over!

Red Army soldiers in Novorossiysk

English Tanksabandoned by Denikin in Novorossiysk

Unlike the events in Crimea in November 1920, there were no mass reprisals against the remaining White Guards (approximately 22) in Novorossiysk. Many of them joined the Red Army.

Resignation of A. Denikin

Both rank-and-file soldiers and officers were so dissatisfied with Denikin that Captain Nikolai Orlov even staged a mutiny in Crimea, seeking to force Denikin's resignation and install Pyotr Wrangel as commander-in-chief. This forced Denikin to resign: on April 4, 1920, he handed over his powers to Pyotr Wrangel and left Russia forever on a British destroyer.

D. Bedny wrote about Denikin in his cycle “Shadows of the Past”:

I made it almost to Tula.
Having received, however, a blow to the cheekbones,
After many hot baths
Rolled back to Kuban,
Where, having also grabbed grief,
He rushed to the sea without looking back.
On the boat – what a daredevil!
Gave a pull abroad.

It should be noted that Wrangel, as a combat general, was later held in high regard by some Soviet commanders. S. M. Budyonny, for example, ranked Wrangel higher than Denikin and Kolchak, and wrote about him in his memoir, "The Path Traveled":

Some historians and even military experts, when speaking of Wrangel, sometimes downplay his military leadership. This is incorrect. Wrangel was an experienced and energetic military leader. He knew how to rally men into a single force, and at the right moment, he could play on the mood of officers and soldiers. This explains why, after the defeat of Denikin, the leader of the southern Russian counterrevolution, Wrangel's name began to be mentioned more and more frequently in the White camp leadership. The Entente saw in him precisely the man capable of leading troops against the armies of the young Soviet Republic.

And this is an excerpt from an article by M. Frunze, published in 1921 in the magazine “Kommunist”:

Having become the commander-in-chief of the White Army and the head of the government, Baron Wrangel, starting in April, launched a colossal effort in the Crimea... As a result of this feverish activity, Wrangel succeeded in turning the disintegrated, demoralized, and combat-ineffective gangs into tightly knit, well-supplied, and experienced command personnel military units... Looking back now at the past days of the glorious struggle, and trying to give them historical This assessment inevitably leads one to the conclusion that, in Wrangel and the army he led, our homeland undoubtedly possessed an extremely dangerous force. In all the operations of the six-month struggle, Wrangel, as commander, in most cases demonstrated both outstanding energy and understanding of the situation.

But it was already too late, and the White movement in Russia was doomed to defeat.

Denikin in exile

Let's return to Denikin, who had left for Constantinople. On April 5, 1920, Ivan Romanovsky, the former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of South Russia, who had accompanied him, was shot point-blank in the billiard room of the Russian embassy. It turned out that the Bolsheviks had nothing to do with this assassination attempt: the killer was Lieutenant Mstislav Kharuzin, an employee of the propaganda department at the Russian embassy and a member of a secret monarchist organization, who held Romanovsky responsible for the failures of the Armed Forces of South Russia. Kharuzin managed to escape the scene. The death of his comrade and friend had such a profound impact on Denikin that he urgently moved to London, especially since the British had guaranteed him political asylum in England even before his resignation. However, he was dissatisfied with the overly accommodating (in his view) stance of the UK government toward the Bolsheviks and therefore soon moved to Belgium. He pointedly avoided any political activities, concentrating on his book, "Essays on the Russian Time of Troubles," which he completed in Hungary, where he had lived since 1922. In 1925, he returned to Brussels for a short time, but settled in Paris the following spring. He continued his literary work, lectured, and in September 1932, he suddenly became the head of the "Union of Volunteers," created in opposition to Wrangel's "Russian All-Military Union." In 1936, he founded the newspaper "Dobrovolets," which was published for only two years. In 1933, he sharply opposed the collaboration of some White émigrés with Hitler's German government.

Denikin and his daughter Marina, Sèvres, France, 1933

In 1935, Mikhail Svetlov wrote about this period of Denikin’s life:

Where is yours, General?
A fighting gait?
Does brandy taste like –
Is this Russian vodka?
The epaulettes have gone out,
Hours pass,
And the autumn landscape
The mustache is drooping.

A. Denikin in a photograph from 1938.

Denikin with his wife Ksenia, photograph taken in early 1940.

In January 1942, Denikin rejected an offer to command combat units composed of Soviet prisoners of war, and then declined a job in Goebbels's department. He avoided the traitorous Vlasovites. But he apparently quite politely refused to collaborate with the Nazis, since the Germans, having detained Marina Denikina, released her as soon as they discovered whose daughter she was—and even apologized for the inconvenience.

The people of post-war France were very sympathetic to the USSR, and the local Communist Party was also popular. Denikin disliked this greatly, and so, in December 1945, he and his family moved to the United States, where he wrote President Harry Truman a letter containing advice on how to combat the Soviet Union and the Bolsheviks. It was here that he died, just short of his 75th birthday, on August 7, 1947. According to the former general's wife, his last words were:

I won’t see how Russia will be saved!

He was buried in Detroit, with full military honors as a former Allied general during World War I. He was then reburied in an Orthodox Cossack cemetery in New Jersey. But in 2005, the remains of Denikin and his wife were transported to Russia for burial at the Donskoy Monastery—a highly controversial decision made as part of Russia's homegrown decommunization and de-Sovietization, the consequences of which we are all now dealing with.

Links of one chain:

Vladimir Putin lays flowers at Denikin's grave at the Donskoy Monastery cemetery. Photo: RIA Novosti. News

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev at the Yeltsin Center

Vladimir Putin unveils a monument to Solzhenitsyn in Moscow.

Comments

[Kote Pan Kokhanka]

Thank you!
If it's not a secret, whose actions will you submit to the "judgment of the public" in the next article in the "About the White Generals" series?

[VLR]

Good morning. I think we'll continue with two articles about Shkuro.

[parusnik]

There was already about Shkuro, Skomorokhov wrote. There were already three articles about Ungern, but not a single one about Vostrosablin and Samoilo. About real heroes.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: parusnik

There are three articles about Ungern, but not a single one about Vostrosablin and Samoilo. About real heroes.

It's just that Samoilo, despite all the revolutions and other upheavals, had a calm and steady career. This is probably why authors aren't particularly interested in him.
A career tsarist officer of the General Staff, his last post in the Empire was assistant quartermaster general of the Western Front army headquarters. Under the Provisionalists, he served as quartermaster general of the Western Front army headquarters. He didn't go to the Don or anywhere else; he remained with the Reds. He participated in the negotiations for the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. And then he fought in the North against the interventionists and the Whites. In those parts, the war was truly intense—regulars fought for the former allies, with aircraft, river monitors, chemical weapons, and magnetic mines. But despite all this, that theater of operations remained unremarkable—there were no catastrophic defeats or daring breakthroughs.
He then briefly commanded the Eastern Front before moving on to diplomatic, staff, and teaching positions. Serving in the Main Directorate of the Air Force, he managed to avoid the Great Purge of 1937. Serving at the N. Ye. Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, he similarly slipped past the Air Force purge of 1941.
And all this while remaining non-party. He only joined the party in 1944. Four years later, he quietly resigned, dictated his memoirs, and died at the age of 93.

[parusnik]

So what? What's wrong with such a biography? Near Shenkursk, he gave the invaders such a beating that those who remained fled to their ships and didn't rush back to the front. The man didn't get involved in any adventures. That's why he was spared the purges. Primakov, a talented man, a natural, but he felt left out, got involved with "hooligans," and was executed. His Afghan raid is worth a lot.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: parusnik

So what? What's wrong with such a biography?

And I write that the biography is bad?

Quote: Alexey RA

It's just that Samoilo, despite all the revolutions and other upheavals, had a calm and steady career. This is probably why authors aren't particularly interested in him.

A biography that's too smooth and calm won't generate hype. No widely known ones. scandals, intrigues, investigations. Even in victims of the regime He didn't make it. The general served honorably in the Empire, the Republic, and the Soviet Union. The only thing he can describe is the Northern Front of the Civil War.

[parusnik]

Perhaps the only thing that can be described is the Northern Front of the Civil War.

It would be worth it. The commentators, and most of them, know practically nothing about the military action on the Northern Front. How it arose, how it developed, why it collapsed. And were there any interventionists there, and how many? They would have learned about the gases, magnetic mines, and all the other things described above. Yes, I agree, there's no point in hyping up Samoilov. You can't hype up a common sense person.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: parusnik

It would be worth it. The commentators, and most of them, know practically nothing about the military action on the Northern Front: how it arose, how it developed, why it collapsed. And were there any interventionists there, and how many? They would have learned about gases, magnetic mines, and everything else that was written above.

Either Pikul or Kolbasyev. Nothing else popular comes to mind.

[parusnik]

Pikul didn't write about the civil war in the North. I haven't read Kolbasyev. I'm guilty of that. But I did read Samoilo and Rekhachev, though I don't remember the title. I'm interested in V. V. Tarasov's "The Fight Against the Interventionists in the North of Russia" (1918-1920). Moscow: Gospolitizdat, a bibliographic rarity, published in 1958, never reprinted. I acquired it by chance for next to nothing. Of the new releases, I recommend L. G. Praisman's "1917-1920. The Fiery Years of the Russian North." St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya, 2019. Very detailed and impartial.

[3x3zsave]

Pikul didn't write about the civil war in the North.
He wrote the novel "From the Dead End"

[parusnik]

In fifth grade, I couldn't get through Pikul's first book, not even the first volume. And in subsequent years, I didn't even try to get through it. Apparently, the first volume left a lasting impression. I don't regret it. Praisman, Samoilo, Rekhachev, and Tarasov are much more interesting.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: parusnik

Pikul did not write about the civil war in the North.

The novel "From the Dead End".
Samoilo (in the novel - Samoilov) appears already in the first chapter of Book Two.

The headquarters of the White Sea Military District was located in a former high school. The enormous assembly hall was filled with desks, and the desks themselves were piled high with green carpet. A hulking figure sat there—Tsarist General Alexei Alexeevich Samoilov—cursing gloomily. He was a highly experienced staff officer and secret intelligence officer of the former Russia, a recipient of twenty-two military decorations. In the evenings, his young wife and two daughters would come to see him; the general would put away his green carpet and stroll with his family along the cool embankment.

Pavlukhin once overheard General Samoilov (from Arkhangelsk) talking over a direct line with General Zvegintsev (in Murmansk). This led the sailor to suspect foul play: the two generals could short-circuit the long Arkhangelsk-Murmansk chain. Pavlukhin began to air his suspicions openly. "The counter-revolution," he told his new friends Misha Boev and Tesnanov. "I know what General Zvegintsev is like, even from Murmansk. And this one, apparently, is a good one, a goose with a paw..."

They met by chance in the empty gymnasium hall, and the fat, purple-faced General Samoilov slowly climbed out of the Kamchatka and out from behind his desk.

"Gotcha... you brat!" he said to Pavlukhin. "What right do you have to babble about me in Arkhangelsk with your filthy tongue? Who are you to question my integrity? The integrity of a Russian officer? You brat! Get out of here!"

This was said so harshly that Pavlukhin found no response. But the Askoldovite received an even greater scolding from Pavlin Vinogradov.

"Pavlukhin," Vinogradov said calmly, "the Soviet government has no doubts about the honesty of former General Samoilov. It was this general, as a military expert, who helped our party negotiate the Brest-Litovsk Peace with the Germans. And if you call this man a 'counterrevolutionary' again, you'll fly out of Arkhangelsk like a spring swallow..."

[parusnik]

Samoilo (in the novel - Samoilov) appears already in the first chapter of Book Two.

I wrote above: In fifth grade, I couldn't get through Pikul's first book, not even the first volume. And in subsequent years, I didn't even try. Apparently, the first volume left a lasting impression. I don't regret it. Praisman, Samoilo, Rekhachev, and Tarasov are much more interesting. I read Praisman a little later in grades 8-10, and KNS later. I bought Tarasov's for next to nothing at a discount store.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: parusnik

Apparently, the first volume left an indelible impression.

In the first volume, the turrets on the cruiser Askold immediately caught my eye.

Near Beirut, Askold sank a Turkish advice note with a quick fire; the midship tower of midshipman Valrond successfully hit covered German transport.

Valrond squeezes his body through the narrow gap in the armored door. The hardest part is not getting hurt. But once he's settled in, there's nothing more comfortable than your chair, where you're the master of this terrifying, multi-ton tower.
"Everyone in place?" the midshipman looked around. "Then batten down the turret for battle..."

But I read to the end—because the Civil War in the North was a completely new topic for me in the late 80s. And I had no other access to it.

[parusnik]

I didn't finish it and somehow didn't return to it; other books on the topic captivated me. Fiction can be useful when you're interested in an unknown topic. I subscribed to a supplement to the Druzhba-Narodov magazine, which included books by Soviet writers from all the union republics. I read with interest books by Georgian, Azerbaijani, and Armenian writers, including KNS, Lyubov, and Morkov, but they also touched on the topics of uprisings, the Georgian Mensheviks, Musavatists, and Dashnaks in the mid-20s and late 20s. The KNS is weak, but then again, it wasn't written about at all. It did slip through here and there, fragmentarily, but that's about it.

[Fitter65]

Quote: parusnik

There was already a story about Shkuro, Skomorokhov wrote.

If Skomorokhov himself wrote...

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

My respects to the author!
The Bolsheviks were right when they taught us in school that Denikin, Wrangel, Kolchak and all the rest of the White Guard scum were our class enemies!
I especially liked the last 3 photos.
It’s immediately clear who our guarantor of the constitution is on and who is his role model!

[Fakapych]

They, like the Reds, are part of our history. They fought for Russia. Each soldier on their side of the front thought they were doing what was best for the country. It's time to bury their grievances. Kolchak and Azin, Denikin and Budyonny heroically tried to save Russia, each thinking within their own vision of that salvation. Personally, I consider both the Reds and the Whites heroes who gave their lives for their homeland.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Fakapych

Both Kolchak and Azin, and Denikin and Budyonny, heroically tried to save Russia, each thinking within the framework of his own vision of this salvation.

Perhaps the word heroically It's better to omit it. This was the Civil War—both sides shed blood indiscriminately. We've been told about the Red Terror since perestroika, but the Whites weren't exactly angels either. Kolchak, for instance, managed, in just a few months, to turn the lands he'd liberated from the Reds, from which people had volunteered to join him, into a territory of mass disobedience to the Whites and a partisan territory.

We waited for Kolchak as if he were the day of Christ, but we waited for him as if he were the most predatory beast.

© Letter from Perm workers, November 15, 1919

P.S. I immediately remembered the attitude of the residents of Vyborg to the arrival of Mannerheim's men.

We were waiting for you as liberators, but you brought us death...

[parusnik]

Ataman Krasnov also carried out the Red Decossackization, resulting in the deaths of over 30 people. Or there's another episode: Yakir's socialist army, battered by battles with the Austrians, Romanians, and Germans—well, an army, no more than a regiment in size—entered the territory of the Don Cossack Host. It stopped in the steppe. Yakir rushed to a nearby district town to negotiate lodging and food. His deputy, a staff captain and Don Cossack, remained behind. I won't tell you his last name right now, I'd have to dig through the archives. When Yakir returned, the regiment was gone, slaughtered by the Cossacks. Some remained, but not much. I think this episode is in his book, "Memories of the Civil War."
M., pub., "Voenizdat", 1957

[Fakapych]

There's a lot we don't know. There was a lot of propaganda, both in Soviet times and in the 90s. Therefore, as the wise men said, "Everyone knows the truth, and everyone has their own, but no one knows the truth." The Perm workers' letter could have been fabricated later, like thousands of other documents. History is written by the victor. But I repeat: there's a lot we don't know.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Kolchak and Azin, Denikin and Budyonny, all heroically tried to save Russia, each thinking within their own vision of that salvation. Personally, I consider both the Reds and the Whites heroes, giving their lives for their homeland.

Well, young man, first of all, the word Motherland is written with a capital letter.
Secondly, why didn't you mention the traitor General Vlasov, the founder of the ROA? Or Ataman Shkuro, who in 1944, by a special decree from Himmler, was appointed head of the Cossack Reserve Troops at the SS General Staff, enlisted with the right to wear a German general's uniform and receive the pay corresponding to that rank. Shkuro trained Cossacks for the 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps.
Well, and so on down the list of other traitors.
All that White Guard scum who fought against the Soviet people are also heroes, right?
Young man, you need to be treated with haloperidol in an appropriate medical facility.

[Fakapych]

Do you treat everyone who disagrees with your point of view with haloperidol? What a poor family you have. Vlasov was a Red Army soldier during the Civil War. So there were traitors to the motherland among the Reds, too.

[Spiidii]

Of course there were, that's what we call them: traitors, not heroes.

[Graz]

I think it's time to stop dividing the country into sides. Those who killed civilians and prisoners en masse must be condemned, and such people must be condemned on both the Red and White sides. This would be the right thing to do. And of course, historically, the traitors who sided with Hitler, both from the White and Red armies, must also be condemned by the people. This would be the right decision.

[foxes]

Thank you for the article.
The photographs at the end of the article are very eloquent of the catastrophe to which the country was brought by figures for whom Denikin was an idol. A loser who had lost everything, lacking the mass support of the common people, could only be an idol for...

[Kote Pan Kokhanka]

for whom Denikin is an idol.

Name at least one last name?

[ArchiPhil]

Name at least one last name?

Look at the photo at the end of the article and see the answer to the question.

[dmi.pris1]

The ending of the article with the photo is magnificent... With a follower of the bankrupt White Guard

[parusnik]

a follower of the bankrupt White Guard

Some bankrupts are drawn to others.

[VENOM]

Here in March 1912

Eyed

[VLR]

We are already working on a fix.

[Unknown]

Links of one chain:

Well observed! As Bulgakov put it... You can't serve two gods! You can't talk about Russia's greatness... and then worship those who... did everything in their power, to ruin this greatness.

[bober1982]

Quote: Unknown

As Bulgakov said...You cannot serve two gods!

This is literally a dog expression from Bulgakov's works, like "Heart of a Dog"
Mikhail Afanasyevich, apparently under the influence of cocaine or morphine, had a weakness for distorting biblical texts.

[Unknown]

Quote: bober1982

This is literally a dog expression from Bulgakov's works, like "Heart of a Dog"
Mikhail Afanasyevich, apparently under the influence of cocaine or morphine, had a weakness for distorting biblical texts.

Don't like Bulgakov's work? Why is that dog-like expression so jarring? Are you also inclined to worship two gods? A simpler way of saying it is, "You can't sit on two chairs." Regarding morphine, cocaine, and "dope"— you won't write anything worthwhileAnd when drunk, not only can you jump off a bridge, dance for the world's amusement, but you can also screw up your country. M.A. Bulgakov's books are still read, not only in Russia, and their artistic language and content are much better. informant, the author of "August 1914", "October 1916", "The Red Wheel" and other Solzhenitsyn rubbish, who, among other things, called for nuclear bombing USSR, yeah, a good example to follow.

[bober1982]

Quote: Unknown

Don't like Bulgakov's work? Why is it that dog-like expression that offends you so much?

By the way, I am a big fan of Bulgakov’s work, the book “The White Guard” is a favorite.
Unfortunately, I was once engrossed in reading the novel "The Master and Margarita".
The thing is, as I mentioned, Bulgakov was overly carried away by biblical texts, in some cases to the point of blasphemy.
For example, the original title of The Master and Margarita was The Gospel of Satan, and the phrase about two gods is a distorted version of the Sermon on the Mount.

[bober1982]

Quote: Unknown

M.A. Bulgakov's books are still read, not only in Russia.

The White Guard theme, as you can tell from the comments, is getting a bit tiresome, everything should be in moderation, the only thing missing is about Shkuro, and there's no need for anything about Kutepov either.
Let's talk about something higher, about literature.
Nowadays, no one reads anything, neither here nor anywhere else in the world. Nobody cares about Bulgakov or Solzhenitsyn.
The only book I like by Solzhenitsyn is "Cancer Ward." The rest of his books are, at the very least, gross historical errors, and in some cases, absurdities.
"The Gulag Archipelago" is a mixture of truth and lies, and this is well known, even worse than lies.

[Unknown]

Quote: bober1982

The White Guard theme, as you can tell from the comments, is getting a bit tiresome; everything should be in moderation.

I agree. Moreover, everything has returned to normal. We live as we did before the Great October Revolution, with a few minor deviations, as times are different.

Quote: bober1982

Nowadays, no one reads anything, neither here nor anywhere else in the world.

Maybe so, but here's what I'll say, Those who are used to reading books will always read them. and there are quite a few such people.

Quote: bober1982

The only thing I like from Solzhenitsyn is "Cancer Ward",

I also happened to read this scribble, under the same title. My personal, subjective opinion is that it's all lies, an adaptation to Khrushchev's rule. I had to work, meet former prisoners, and a school friend is a repeat offender, so they are all in one vote They say that all of Solzhenitsyn's writings, Only a snitch could have written this , who was under the godfather. There was a record keeper, a librarian, etc. And his Goebbels-style vilification of everything Soviet and the USSR is unacceptable to me.

[bober1982]

Quote: Unknown

Those who are used to reading books will always read them.

Ah, is it necessary? To be honest, I mean fiction.
There is not much benefit from this kind of reading, I say this as a former book lover, I read a lot and avidly.
All this may seem strange, but what's the point? After such readings, you usually crave alcohol and women, even if you've read all sorts of greats, who themselves were drunkards and debauchees.

[balabol]

Everyone decides for themselves.
drawn to drink and women - maybe it's not worth reading then.
they themselves were drunkards and debauchees - but that's not what their books are about. If aversion to personality prevents one from extracting anything useful from the texts of their works, that's also a choice.

[bober1982]

Quote: balabol

maybe it's not worth reading then.

Of course, you need to read, but very carefully. In your youth and young adulthood, you don’t have that kind of understanding, so you have to fill your head with all sorts of masterpieces, even from the greats.
And when you get older, then you understand that all this fiction is just empty chatter, and not so harmless.

[balabol]

A person changes throughout life. Each period allows us to discover new things and rethink previous experiences.

[dmi.pris1]

You know, I'm amazed by some of the characters of that era... Shkuro, for example. How could a generally good soldier, a sort of Denis Davydov of that era, fall so low during the First World War? Did hatred blind him? He went into the service of the Nazi executioners.

[bober1982]

Quote from: dmi.pris1

You know, I'm surprised by some of the characters of that time... Shkuro, for example.

For example, Semenov, Annenkov...
General Krasnov, already from exile, called Annenkov crazy, although something in Krasnov himself had broken, to put it mildly.

[parusnik]

a kind of analogue of Denis Davydov of that time.

Shkuro didn't write poetry like Davydov, and Davydov didn't commit robberies like Shkuro. There's no parallel. The last person sentenced to death, Maduev, a criminal outlaw, was also a daredevil in his own right, according to the criminal underworld. He made four attempts to escape from military escort, two of them successful. Should we consider him a hero, too? Like Shkuro?

[Olgovich]

Quote: Unknown

immediately worship the figures who did everything in their power to ruin this greatness.

No one in their right mind worships the Ulyanovs, Bronsteins, Rosenfelds and other lovers of minors

[Unknown]

Shut up, Cossack, you don't need to talk about Russia. speakGo ahead and chatter about whether Moldova is better with Romania Mare or an independent one, but don't bother Russia.

[Olgovich]

Quote: Unknown

I'm not talking to you about Russia. Go on and on about how Moldova, which is part of Romania Mare, is better.

It is not for you, a lover of Bolshevik Ussrs, to judge what this is RUSSIA, robbed by you and your accomplices in Odessa, Nikolaev, Petropavlovsk, etc., etc. - the right was lost.

[Unknown]

Quote: Olgovich

It is not for you, a lover of Bolshevik Ussrs, to judge what this is

As a citizen of the Russian Federation, please don't mangle the Russian language. It's unclear who's doing it—either Olgovich or Petrovich. Most likely, it's some Cossack somewhere in Moldova who hasn't gotten off his ass to join the Russians in Transnistria. Therefore, it's advisable to shut up and not talk about some right you never had and never will have. If you had a hand in the collapse of the USSR, sit tight and shut your mouth. Got it?

[Olgovich]

Quote: Unknown

ME - as a citizen of the Russian Federation

You have lost this right by loving the USSR and robbing Russia of Odessa.

Quote: Unknown

Therefore, it is advisable to shut upXia

So do what you wrote! Or don't you understand Russian?

Quote: Unknown

Sit still and don't crow. Got it?

[Fakapych]

It wasn't Lenin who restored the state, but Stalin. Joseph Vissarionovich pushed Lenin aside just in time, and perhaps even poisoned him, before the "leader of the revolution" got carried away with the NEP. Everything was moving toward Russia becoming the same as before the revolution, only without the Tsar. But with the bourgeoisie. That's all Lenin for you. But Stalin's achievements are hard to overestimate.

[bober1982]

It would be a good idea to write an article about the outstanding Russian General Kutepov, whose sergeant-major abilities are once again recalled from the words of General Slashchev.
There's a curious story connected with Kutepov, when the famous former non-commissioned officer Kirpichnikov, the very same fighter against the tsarist satraps, the murderer of his company commander, etc., etc., came to him (like the devil).
Kirpichnikov rashly introduced himself to Kutepov and began asking him to volunteer to fight the Bolsheviks.
Kutepov listened attentively, called the duty officer and ordered the execution, and the Knight of the Cross of St. George, awarded by General Kornilov in the spring of 1917 as a fighter for the freedom of the people, was shot somewhere near the railway embankment.

[parusnik]

It would be nice to write an article about the outstanding Russian general Kutepov.

After the Civil War, as the head of the ROVS, he organized terrorist attacks and sabotage in the USSR. White bandit squads infiltrated the USSR, killing and robbing not only communists, but Komsomol members, sympathizers, and ordinary citizens. It was no accident that he was liquidated, although the main goal was to deliver him to the USSR and hold an open trial, as with Savinkov. They didn't know about Kutepov's intolerance to chloroform. The open trial failed.

[bober1982]

Quote: parusnik

After the civil war, as the head of the ROVS, he organized terrorist attacks and sabotage on the territory of the USSR. White bandit detachments penetrated the territory of the USSR, killed and robbed not only communists, but also Komsomol members, sympathizers, and ordinary citizens.

You're fantasizing here. No White bandit units penetrated Soviet territory—the border was sealed, and all actions of the ROVS leadership were completely controlled by the Cheka. Probably half of the ROVS leadership was recruited by the GPU, while the rest were either killed abroad or kidnapped and liquidated in Soviet Russia.

[Grancer81]

They infiltrated, attacked, and killed... Right across the border. Both members of the ROVS and other White bandit organizations.

[parusnik]

This is where you fantasize

Well, yes, "fsevyvrete" Meanwhile, in exile, he was at the disposal of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. He advocated active actions against Soviet power (carrying out terrorist attacks) and developing contacts with secret organizations within the USSR, which, as it later turned out, were carried out under the control of the Cheka (in particular, he collaborated with the so-called "Monarchist Association of Central Russia," whose activities were a hoax by the OGPU). Apparently, in response to this, Kutepov organized the Union of National Terrorists within the ROVS. After the death of the ROVS founder, General Wrangel, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, by order of April 29, 1928, appointed Infantry General Kutepov chairman of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), who intensified the organization's activities aimed at combating Soviet power, including the use of terrorist methods. In 1927, a group from Kutepov's combat organization organized an explosion in the building of the Leningrad Party Club and mined the dormitory of OGPU employees in Moscow.
On January 25, 1930, during a meeting in Paris, Kutepov proposed to Mikhail Kritsky that they begin developing a plan for a landing in Kuban and expressed a desire to go to the USSR with a landing force. Incidentally, the border wasn't exactly secure. For example, the border with Finland was a walk-through yard until 1936. Things were no better on the western border in Central Asia, where Basmachi gangs infiltrated until 1939. The same thing happened in Transcaucasia. It took a long time to get the hang of it. No need to be ironic. In Ukraine, people's brains were completely brainwashed and then filled with all sorts of nastiness, and you're probably feeling the same way.

[bober1982]

Quote: parusnik

No need to be ironic

What are you speaking about?
Kutepov's whole problem was that he was unable to stop in time, along with his not fully recruited and temporarily not destroyed top brass of the ROVS.
Life had changed, including in Soviet Russia, but they still dreamed of some expeditions, a people who would overthrow the yoke of Judeo-Bolshevism, underground organizations within the country, and so on.
Everything was under control, the foreign department of the GPU did not eat its bread in vain.

[parusnik]

Kutepov's whole problem is that

Don't be a fool..

[tatra]

I read up to this point

even before the fall of Yekaterinodar (the city was taken by the Reds on March 17)

1920. And I remembered the stupid anti-Soviet fake of the enemies of the USSR.

Dzerzhinsky's telegram to Lenin:


"In Rostov, 300,000 Cossacks of the Don Army have been captured; in the Novocherkassk area, more than 200,000 Cossacks of the Don and Kuban Army are being held captive. More than 500,000 Cossacks are being held in the cities of Shakhty and Kamensk. Recently, about a million Cossacks have surrendered. The prisoners are distributed as follows: in Gelendzhik - about 150,000 people, Krasnodar - about 500,000 people, Belorechenskaya - about 150,000 people, Maykop - about 200,000 people, Temryuk - about 50,000 people. I request sanctions.
Chairman of the Cheka Dzerzhinsky. December 19, 1919."
Lenin's resolution on the letter: "Shoot every last one of them.

BUT Ekaterinodar was renamed Krasnodar only on December 7, 1920.

[podval57]

In Orekhovo-Zuyevo they also remember Denikin:

[parusnik]

Unlike the events in Crimea in November 1920, there were no mass reprisals against the remaining White Guards (of which there were about 22 thousand people) in Novorossiysk.

In Crimea, Wrangel left behind a vast underground network. White-Green detachments operated in the mountains until 1925. General Pokrovsky twice attempted to land in Crimea, but in 1922 and 1923, it didn't work out. He was denied access. He cast off, literally. Then, the "bloody" Chekists liquidated him in Bulgaria.

He avoided the Vlasov traitors.

He didn't particularly avoid them and didn't actively collaborate, but he did have heart-to-heart talks, according to his wife's recollections, with the fighters of the ROA unit stationed in their town. However, he didn't go to the reception at the Soviet embassy in honor of Victory Day; he was too embarrassed.

In January 1942, Denikin rejected an offer to become the commander of combat units made up of Soviet prisoners of war, and then he rejected an offer to work in Goebbels’ department.

.
Which doesn't mean Denikin was an anti-fascist; he was also an ardent Anglophile, and it was embarrassing to betray his English friends. Krasnov was a Germanophile, both during WWI, the Civil War, and the Great Patriotic War.

[tatra]

The enemies of the USSR and the Soviet people "repealed" the laws of the USSR, imagining that only they have the right to decide who in the USSR was a criminal and who was innocent, proving that they don't care about their laws, that they have them only for the people, and that they don't care about the laws of humanity, according to which, in particular, collaborationism - cooperation with the occupiers of one's homeland - as was the case with the White Cossacks and White Guards during the Civil War they unleashed against the Bolsheviks, has always been and is considered a state crime and is severely punished.
But for the enemies of the USSR, the collaborators of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars are heroes, they praise them and erect monuments to them.
And in relation to their anti-Soviet period, they proved that for them, collaborators are not criminals either.

[Olgovich]

Grigory Kotovsky was a very serious and authoritative person.

First of all, he was a psychopath (he fell from the roofs head first with all his clothes on, and in prison he bit off a thief's ear) and an epileptic, a bandit, a robber, a murderer of women and children, a sadist (he killed by gouging out their eyes), a deserter of two wars (he bought a white ticket), a traitor to his comrades, a snitch in prison and hard labor, etc., shot like a dog - these are the "heroes" who made up the new government.

some Soviet commanders. S. M. Budyonny

The Kiev "commander" of 1941 was a good one - what a disaster it was, a real disaster - he only handed over half a million prisoners, sent his wife to a camp, marrying her sister - a disgrace, but a hero of the new government.

Mikhail Svetlov wrote this in 1935
Where is yours, General?
A fighting gait?

Where is your fighting gait, Blucher and other Soviet marshals, Tukhachevsky, commanders, generals and others, beaten to death by the boots of their party comrades?

Denikin is clearly a lucky man compared to them... And he lies in the center of Russia, not under a kommunarka bush, and the Russian flag flutters over Russia. But where are the bankrupt Reds? Not a trace, even the party is nothing but clowns...

[Victor Leningradets]

You're developing an obsession with "stomping boots." Without any preconceptions, I advise you to stop thinking about it, otherwise you'll need professional help.

[Olgovich]

Quote: Victor Leningradets

You're talking about "trampling with boots"

Remember at last?

And the same thing happened to Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Putna, and thousands of other citizens, including women. Remember this now, too.

And this is what the Hero of the article, Denikin, fought against.

[Victor Leningradets]

All mental disorders begin with the creation of a second reality. Then it replaces reality. Believe me, this is very difficult for families.
And about repressions - it’s not for you to teach me!
Read the 1937 article in Vecherka "Dvoryanskoe Gnezdo" (The Noble Nest), maybe you'll understand. Although, in your condition, it's not worth it.

[Olgovich]

Quote: Victor Leningradets

All mental disorders begin with the creation of a second reality.

where you exist, and it ended 34 years ago

Quote: Victor Leningradets

Believe me, this is very difficult for relatives.

I sympathize with your family

Quote: Victor Leningradets

Read the article from 1937

I need enough DOCUMENTS, not clowns' fiction.

[Foul skeptic]

Where are the red bankrupts?

laugh to themselves in the afterlife, watching with their own eyes the joke about the moose who “drinks and drinks, but he gets worse and worse” for all those 30-odd years that

the banner of Russia flies over Russia

[your1970]

Strange Yaponchik Kotovsky has some kind of fear - judging by the article, he was killed in 1919, and Kotovsky came to Odessa in 1920

[VLR]

Before the revolution, Yaponchik was afraid of Kotovsky and tried to avoid him. After the revolution, Kotovsky "didn't wait" for him—he was disposed of early. But a bunch of bandits remained in Odessa, whom Kotovsky drove into the "raspberries" and catacombs. The grave will certainly correct the hunchback; they would crawl out and rob, but not on the scale they had under the interventionists. And gradually, they were caught or shot right at the scene if they tried to resist.

[Olgovich]

Yes, he was not afraid of his bandit partner and fellow Red Army soldier Yakir:
The Red hero Kotovsky fled with his detachment in 1918 from the Germans to Yekaterinoslav, and then to Odessa, where he took up his usual banditry. (In Bolshevik parlance, an underground fighter.) )
In Odessa, which in 1918-1919 became the unofficial capital of the White movement, Kotovsky and Yaponchik didn't even think about revolution, but were engaged in racketeering and robbery..

But Yaponchik and Kotovsky gained their greatest notoriety thanks to the robbery of the Odessa State Bank, during which the bandits stole three trucks loaded with gold and valuables worth five million rubles from the vault. Where these treasures were hidden remains unknown to this day. In any case, legends persist in Odessa today about "Kotovsky's gold," hidden somewhere in the catacombs. These stories are especially piquant because Meyer Zaider, Kotovsky's future killer, also took part in Yaponchik's bandit raids. It was rumored that he took revenge on Grigory Ivanovich for the gold he stole from the gangsters.

Kotovsky remained a crime boss. After the Civil War, assigned to serve in Uman, he formed his own shadow economy. He leased sugar factories, promising to supply the Red Army with sugar. Kotovsky then took control of the meat trade, creating a Military Consumer Society with subsidiary farms and sewing workshops.
Another of Kotovsky's "businesses" was recycling old soldiers' uniforms into wool. Unpaid labor from soldiers was used to make hay, harvest sugar beets, grow grain, and even catch wild dogs, whose carcasses were then processed. In 1924 alone, Kotovsky's factories in Uman processed 60 dogs, their fat being used for soap, and their skins for fur coats for fashionable women of the NEP era.
At the beginning of the NEP, Kotovsky was probably one of the richest people in a country that had been completely robbed.

The bandits in power did not divide the spoils and shot the overly zealous NEPman Kraskom.

[Foul skeptic]

Kotovsky and Yaponchik didn’t even think about revolution, but were engaged in racketeering and robbery.

But Yaponchik and Kotovsky became most famous for their robbery of the Odessa State Bank.

Olgovich, you can't be so unclean.

[Olgovich]

the shame of evacuations

No, it's not a disgrace. If it's a disgrace, it's about the evacuation of Sevastopol in 1942, when the command staff, without even informing and abandoning 100,000 soldiers, treacherously fled, disguised, on submarines and planes to the rear, leaving them to die and perish in captivity, later labeling them traitors. And where's the fleet? It didn't come...

Is it possible to imagine such a place anywhere? Nowhere.

An even more terrible and shameful evacuation - the Kerch disaster of 1942 - irreparable losses, including those who died in hospitals after the evacuation, amounted to 162282 peoplea - approximately two-thirds of the personnel of the Crimean Front.

Over 140 thousand people, according to Chief of the German General Staff Franz Halder, were captured. The powerbroker Mekhlis had a good time.

!

I saw him on the shore giving orders to the last! And the devil is in his courage when because of him there are sailor caps and forage caps all over the strait

..." - said Konstantin Simonov about Mekhlis through the lips of one of the characters in the novel "The Last Summer".

17 people swam across the Kerch Strait on their own because there were no watercraft...

[Foul skeptic]

Completely equivalent situations in terms of the level of influence of the fleet and aviation from the side disrupting the evacuation. As usual, you blew bubbles into a puddle.

[Konnick]

Quote: Olgovich

An even more terrible and shameful evacuation - the Kerch disaster of 1942 - irreparable losses, including those who died in hospitals after the evacuation, amounted to 162282 people - approximately two-thirds of the personnel of the Crimean Front.

According to Chief of the German General Staff Franz Halder, over 140 people were taken prisoner. The power broker Mekhlis had a field day.

Even if Rokossovsky or Zhukov had been in command, the defeat would have been the same. Simonov knew a lot about Mekhlis. Manstein's Operation Bustard Hunt is studied in academies. Things were going badly for us in the Black Sea because of the dominance of the German air force.

[Olgovich]

Quote: Konnick

Even if Rokossovsky or Zhukov had been in command there, there would have been the same defeat.

Of course not.

Quote: Konnick

Simonov knew a lot about Mekhlis.

more than many.

Quote: Konnick

"Bustard hunting" is studied in academies.

Yes, even with a massive advantage in everything, only the Mekhlis could lose. But what a correct and vigilant man he was—wow!—he even threw out Vatutin, and countless others he'd destroyed before him...

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Olgovich

No, it's not a disgrace. If it's a disgrace, it's about the evacuation of Sevastopol in 1942, when the command staff, without even informing and abandoning 100,000 soldiers, treacherously fled, disguised, on submarines and planes to the rear, leaving them to die and perish in captivity, later labeling them traitors. And where's the fleet? It didn't come...

Is it possible to imagine such a place anywhere? Nowhere.

Don't you want to remember General MacArthur who fled from the Philippines?
The same one, by the way, thanks to which USAAF aircraft in the Philippines were bombed on their airfields on the first day of the war—even despite information about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Because the master was content to rest and eat—and his servants repeatedly sent the Air Force commander away when he tried to obtain permission to carry out the pre-war plan to strike Japanese airfields.

MacArthur was severely punished for his actions at the beginning of the war - he became a war hero and the supreme commander of the Allied forces. It was only during the next war, the Korean War, that we managed to get rid of it.

As for naval assistance... even the pre-war Pacific Fleet plan, WPO-46, explicitly stated that there would be no assistance to the Philippines. The navy had its own war and its own plans, and the army could sit on Bataan, waiting for the navy to achieve superiority over the Japanese and defeat the enemy forces. Simply put, Washington had decommissioned the army in the Philippines as planned.

[Fat]

Fearing that Corregidor would be captured and MacArthur would be taken prisoner, US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate to Australia. MacArthur decided to break through the Japanese blockade in torpedo boats. A detachment of four boats, under the command of Junior Lieutenant John Bulkeley, set out after sunset on March 11, 1942. After a two-day voyage through rough seas, narrowly evading detection, they reached Cagayan City on the island of Mindanao. From there, MacArthur and his group departed Del Monte Airfield for Australia in a pair of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. His family and headquarters (dubbed the "Bataan Gang") were evacuated with MacArthur.
Wainwright's defense of Baatan held out until April 9, 1942. About 23,000 American troops and about 100,000 Filipino soldiers were killed or captured.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Thick

Fearing that Corregidor would be captured and MacArthur would be captured, US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate to Australia. MacArthur decided to break through the Japanese blockade in torpedo boats.

Considering that the planned operation No. 170457 can no longer influence the fate of the SOR, I ask:
1. Confirm the task of the SOR troops to fight to the end, thereby ensuring a possible export from Sevastopol.
2. Allow the Black Sea Fleet Military Council to fly to Novorossiysk. Leave Major General Comrade Petrov in place.
(…)

© Budyonny
And the Headquarters' response:

Directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters
№ 170470
Commander of the North Caucasus Front
On the approval of proposals for curtailing the defense in the Sevastopol region on June 30, 1942, 16 hours and 45 minutes.
The Supreme Command Headquarters approves your proposals regarding Sevastopol and orders their immediate implementation. On behalf of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Chief of the General Staff A. Vasilevsky

The People's Commissar of the Navy also confirmed the evacuation:

The evacuation of essential personnel and your departure are permitted.

© Kuznetsov - Oktyabrsky

So "our MacArthur" also hid behind orders from above.

[Fat]

Quote: Alexey RA

As for naval assistance... even the pre-war Pacific Fleet plan, WPO-46, explicitly stated that there would be no assistance to the Philippines. The navy has its own war and its own plans.

Incidentally, Plan Orange didn't foresee the surrender of the Philippines. The US Asiatic Fleet was based there. In the summer of 1941, the Asiatic Fleet had 29 (!) submarines—more than a quarter of the entire US submarine fleet—and one heavy cruiser.
Houston, 1 light cruiser Marblehead, 13 Clemson-class destroyers, gunboats, boats, yachts...

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Thick

Incidentally, Plan Orange did not envisage the surrender of the Philippines.

Yes, yes, yes... it was clearly written in it that the army should retreat to Bataan and, relying on warehouses, wait for the American counteroffensive, controlling the entrance to Manila Bay.
But this counteroffensive was 146% aligned with the naval plans, which clearly stated that in the first stage of the war, the navy would limit itself to light force raids and unrestricted submarine warfare. Only after concentrating its forces and achieving superiority over the enemy would the navy go on the offensive, hopping between groups of atolls.
And yes, the deadline for the reorganization of the Marine Corps from brigades to divisions was mid-1942. Moreover, the Marines were reorganized at full strength—before that date, the fleet had no troops to land.
Thus, American troops on Bataan had to hold out in complete isolation until at least 1943. How? Well, it's well known how:Mice, become hedgehogs!"

Quote: Thick

The US Asiatic Fleet was based there. In the summer of 1941, the Asiatic Fleet had 29 (!) submarines – more than a quarter of the entire US submarine fleet – and 1 heavy cruiser.
Houston, 1 light cruiser Marblehead, 13 Clemson-class destroyers, gunboats, boats, yachts...

That is, apart from the Houston, not a single new ship.
As for submarines, all early-model submarines were assembled in the Philippines. They even found six Holland-class submarines built in 1919 for the Asiatic Fleet.
And yes, in the same WPO-46, in the chapter dedicated to the transfer of forces to the TO and the distribution of reinforcements, it was directly written that the Asian Fleet would not receive any reinforcements.

[Fat]

In the summer and fall of 1941, SCR 271 fixed radars, which weren't deployed in time, were transferred to Luzon, as were mobile SCR 270 radars, manned by trained marines (they were so classified that no one believed their reports before the X-moment). A batch of Seversky P-35 fighters, withdrawn from the Swedish order, and Curtis P-40s were also deployed. They were supposed to hold out... But it wasn't meant to be. No one even thought the Japanese would react so harshly to the "oil embargo"... Which wasn't complete. Someone named Dean Atcheson simply failed to explain that oil was now being sold exclusively as a strategic raw material. The Japanese were issued three licenses, but they had no idea how to pay for the deliveries... All they needed to do was top up their accounts at Yokohama Specie Bank in the USA...
Incidentally, there's a theory that the FDR administration directly and blatantly provoked the Japanese to attack US bases in order to openly enter World War II in Europe against the Axis powers. Congress was, after all, ruled by "isolationists."
Please leave the exchange of opinions until the appropriate topic in the history section.
With respect.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Thick

They should have held out... But it wasn't meant to be. No one even thought the Japanese would react so harshly to the "oil embargo."

Somehow I doubt that there were naive people in the State Department who believed in a soft response from Japan after all the money in the USA, Great Britain and Holland was taken away from it and 70% of its oil and the means of delivery were cut off.

On July 26, 1941, all Japanese deposits were frozen, first in American banks, then in the Netherlands and Great Britain. This was tantamount to an embargo on the supply of any strategic materials to Japan, including crude oil and petroleum products.
For a country that imported over 70% of its oil consumption, this was a serious blow. Ignoring the new sanctions was impossible, as Japan would soon find itself without fuel oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline, and thus without a modern armed force. Essentially, the Japanese Empire was faced with a stark choice: either submit to the demands of the United States and its allies and withdraw its troops from Indochina, which would mean "losing face" and, at the same time, abandoning any hope of ending the war with China; or attempt to seize the resources it needed—primarily oil—by force.

© midnike

[Fat]

Quote: Alexey RA

Somehow I doubt that there were naive people in the State Department who believed in a soft response from Japan after all its money was taken away.

Doing right
As Stimson admitted in his diary after the November 25 War Cabinet meeting, “The question was how we could get them [the Japanese] to fire the first shot without exposing ourselves to too much danger.” After the attack, Stimson admitted that “my first feeling was relief… that the crisis had come in such a way as to unite all our people.”

[VLR]

All Japanese deposits were frozen first in American banks, then the Netherlands and Great Britain joined them.

And further:

the empire was faced with a stark choice: either submit to the demands of the US and its allies... which meant "losing face" and, at the same time, giving up hope of ending the war

Does this remind you of anything?

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Thick

By the way, there is a theory that the F.D. Roosevelt administration directly and openly provoked the Japanese to attack US bases.

This isn't a theory. Provocations were indeed being planned—and precisely in the Philippines. The United States was guaranteed to enter the war even if Japan limited itself to attacking Britain and Holland.

The President has directed that the following measures be taken as expeditiously as possible, within two days […]. […] Charter three small vessels to organize "defensive information patrols." The following minimum requirements will suffice to identify these vessels as U.S. Navy vessels: naval officers as commanders and armament of light machine guns. Filipino crews may be used, with minimal involvement of Navy personnel, whose mission will be to observe and report by radio on Japanese activities in the West China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

The order also specified three patrol areas off the southern coast of Indochina, precisely along the main routes of Japanese troop convoys. Although Admiral Stark hid behind Roosevelt's rather absurd term "defensive information patrol," both he and the recipient of the order understood perfectly well what was being discussed: in the event of hostilities, without even affecting American possessions in the region, low-value ships were openly exposed to fire from Japanese ships and aircraft in order to use the loss of "US ships" as a casus belli, as well as to reformat public opinion, both in the United States and in the Philippines.

These vessels were Admiral Hart's yacht, the Isabel, and the schooner, the Lanikai. The Yankees had no time to prepare any more bait.

The former head of the US Pacific Fleet Intelligence Directorate, Rear Admiral Edwin Layton, directly stated that young officers and their subordinates were “used in the dark”:

...but he and the Filipino volunteers who jumped at the chance to don the naval uniform would hardly have experienced a surge of enthusiasm if they had realized that they were destined to be mere fishing bait.

Admiral Hart himself confirmed this when, during a meeting long after the war, he introduced retired Rear Admiral Kemp Tolley as "a young man I was somehow forced to send away with a one-way ticket." When asked directly, "Do you also believe our mission was bait for an incident, a casus belli?" Admiral Hart responded no less bluntly, "Yes, I do. And I could provide evidence. But I won't do that. And I advise you not to either."

All quotes are from: "Forgotten Provocation." https://midnike.livejournal.com/74503.html
In fact, a rather interesting picture was emerging in those parts by early December 1941. On the one hand, there were future provocations. On the other, there was the dragging out of rearming and replenishing American forces in the Philippines. Reinforcements were arriving from the Homeland to MacArthur at a teaspoonful rate. One American division for the entire archipelago, with one regiment of it made up of local troops. Meanwhile, on the much smaller island of Oahu, two infantry divisions sat untouched.

[Olgovich]

Quote: Alexey RA

As for naval assistance... even the pre-war Pacific Fleet plan WPO-46 explicitly stated that there would be no assistance to the Philippines.

and the Black Sea Fleet had the same plans, yeah.

[Igorash]

Judging by the photo, Putin is also an enemy of the poor and oppressed. But the descendants of these oppressed people have forgotten who their true enemies are. So they tore the USSR apart.

[AVP]

The article shamefacedly "forgot" the well-known fact that a train car of medical supplies was sent to the USSR during WWII, purchased and shipped at Denikin's own expense. This rather perplexed Stalin, but he ultimately decided not to refuse.
Denikin's secret propaganda against collaboration with the Nazis has also gone unreported. Thanks to him, many Whites (and their children), while not warming to the Bolsheviks, rightly believed that it was their duty to fight those who had waged war against their homeland.
Therefore, he was deservedly reburied in the Russian Federation.

[VLR]

The train car with medicines, alas, is a perestroika-era fake. Denikin simply didn't have the real capacity to organize the procurement, and especially the shipment, of such a quantity of medicines to the USSR. Nor did he have the financial resources to carry out such a large-scale operation.

[3x3zsave]

Denikin simply didn't have the real capacity to organize the procurement, and especially the shipment, of such a quantity of medicines to the USSR. Nor did he have the financial resources to carry out such a large-scale operation.
By the way, yes! How did the Denikin family survive in exile?

[DWG1905]

The series of articles is interesting, thanks to the author.
But it is interesting to consider these events from the perspective of resolving deep crises or problems that had accumulated in the Russian Empire by 1917 and were partially resolved by the civil war.
1 The land issue, overproduction of peasants
2 Overproduction of the elite, the transition of youth from the elite to the revolutionary movement
3 Revenge of the Old Believers and other religious movements
4 War of the hungry north against the well-fed south, together with p.1
5 War of Russians and Jews against German domination
6 The degeneration of the ruling elite and its physical elimination is largely a biological issue.
If you think about it, you can gather more; these are lying on the surface. But between the whites and the reds, the bulk of the rank-and-file, and even the more or less educated part of the population, had no idea what the difference was between the reds and the whites; they were driven by other reasons.

[balabol]

рsolutions to deep crises or problems that had accumulated in the Russian Empire by 1917 - Remnants of feudalism and class society.
National capital striving for power.
Attempts by imperialist countries and emerging globalists to gain control over Russia.

[parusnik]

The article shamefully "forgot" the well-known fact that a train car of medicines was sent to the USSR during WWII, which Denikin purchased and sent at his own expense.

There was absolutely no such fact. Firstly, Denikin himself was destitute during the occupation. Secondly, to collect medicines from the occupied territory where Denikin lived and honestly reported to the local Gestapo office as being under surveillance, there must have been an organization that could collect, store, and ship an entire train carload of them to the USSR. If this is true, name those who helped Denikin buy and ship a train carload of medicines to the USSR. And yes, the medicines were sent to the USSR via Italy, Spain, Turkey, or perhaps Africa? Or the USA?

[Jager]

Quote: Olgovich

Kotovsky's factories in Uman processed 60 thousand dogs, whose fat was used for soap, and whose skins were used to make fur coats for fashionistas of the NEP era.

what a sick fantasy, however...

[Jager]

I won’t see how Russia will be saved!

I never understood what must be going on in the heads of these people... Especially to say such a thing after winning the most brutal war, compared to which the Civil War was like playing with sandcastles in a children's sandbox.
History has laid everything out: neither the Bolsheviks, nor the Mensheviks, nor the communists, socialists, and so on played a major role in the main cause of the collapse of the Tsarist regime—it rotted like an old rag, with the active assistance of its own bourgeoisie. They didn't need the Tsar either; they only wanted one thing: uncontrolled enrichment, for which they could destroy any number of peasants and workers. The "Lena Massacre" is a telling example.
By the way, when they start singing about "bloody Jewish Bolsheviks," I simply cite this list of the owners of the Lenzoto company:
Managing Director - Baron Alfred Goratsyevich Ginzburg;
The directors of the board are M. E. Meyer and G. S. Chamnanier;
Members of the audit commission: V. V. Vek, G. B. Sliozberg, L. F. Grauman, V. Z. Fridlyandsky and R. I. Ebenau;
Candidates for board members are V. M. Lipin, B. F. Junker and A. V. Guvelyaken;
The manager of the mines is I. N. Belozerov. (Did he end up there by accident?)

[bober1982]

Quote: Jager

History has put everything in its place - neither the Bolsheviks, nor the Mensheviks, nor the communists-socialists, etc. played a major role in the main reason for the collapse of the tsarist regime - it rotted like an old rag, with the active assistance of its own bourgeoisie.

One can completely agree with this statement; yes, autocracy has indeed rotted, and the main reason is neither the socialists nor the bourgeoisie.
Under the Romanov dynasty, Russia rotted as an Orthodox kingdom—this is the main reason, with the active assistance not only of the aforementioned categories of citizens, but also of the so-called common people, who also rotted. The subsequent outcome is logical.

[Army soldier2]

Cool! I'll be glad to know that historical research is now being conducted using the works of proletarian writers and poets. That's something new in historical scholarship.
By the way, I came to VO 15-20 years ago for very interesting historical articles.
As the classic wrote: "Yes, there were people in our time..."

[Fangaro]

Thanks to the Author's series of publications... Blah.blah.blah...

Better this way...Thank you!

About photographs with monuments and burials...
Denikin existed? He did. He left his mark on history.
Was Yeltsin there? He was. Did he influence all the commentators? He did.
Was Solzhenitsyn present? He was. Has at least one in ten people here read Solzhenitsyn? They have.

So maybe they can still preserve some kind of tombstone, some kind of monument, or a line in the history of our country?
At least so that someone from the living would come and curse, and someone from the living would come and remember.

[Alexander]

The monument to Solzhenitsyn is not worthy!

[north 2]

Quote: VlR

Good morning. I think we'll continue with two articles about Shkuro.

Dear Valery, since in your article today you see Vysotsky's character from the film "Two Comrades Served" in the "Exodus" monument, how would you feel about and imagine General Chernota from the film "Run" on a monument to M. Ulyanov's character? In his underwear in Paris, or on the gallows in Moscow. What I mean is that two historical figures, two White Army lieutenant generals, "competed" for the right to be the prototype for General Chernota in the film: Lieutenant General Ulagay and Lieutenant General Shkuro. The former, having fled to Paris, made little significant contribution to history, while the latter, Shkuro, collaborated with the Germans against the USSR in Paris and then in many other places during WWII, so much so that after the war, by the verdict of a military tribunal, he had to be hanged in Moscow. After all, you're planning to dedicate your next article to Lieutenant General Andrei Shkuro. Could it really be that during WWII, the German lackey and traitor to Russia, Shkuro, was the prototype for Lieutenant General Chernota, who, after fleeing Russia, was seen strolling around Paris in his underwear? In my opinion, the monument to Lieutenant Brusentsov is too modernized to make the White Army's victorious fans shed a tear, so we're unlikely to see a monument to General Chernota in his underwear today.

[VLR]

Actually, I identified the "Exodus" monument with a scene from the film "Two Comrades Were Serving," and it wasn't me who identified the character. Tour guides say that older people who saw the film immediately think of him when they see this sculpture. It's truly a compelling association. And believe it or not, there is a monument to Shkuro in our country.
In 1998, a monument (marble slab) with a blasphemous title was erected near the Moscow Church of All Saints to the executed traitors:
"To the soldiers of the Russian All-Military Union, the Russian Corps, the Cossack Camp, the Cossacks of the 15th Cavalry Corps, who died for their faith and fatherland."
It bears the names of Shkuro, Krasnov, their boss Pannwitz, and a few others. In 2007, on the eve of Victory Day, this plaque was smashed by unknown assailants:
But in 2014 it was restored with the inscription:
"To the Cossacks who fell for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland".
Still standing!
I will talk about this in more detail in the 2nd article.
And we, naive as we are, are surprised (or are we not anymore?) by the monuments to Bandera and Shukhevych in Ukraine.

[Pravodel]

The last of his General Denikin were:

I won’t see how Russia will be saved!

Denikin was a son of Russia, he loved Russia and honor and praise to him for this.
Denikin fought against the Bolsheviks all his life, but he never betrayed Russia, unlike many other generals who were dismissed after the Great Patriotic War.

[log]

I wonder if the Yeltsin Center will ever be shut down? What a disgrace! A memorial center for the destroyer of a great country. Two idiots killed the Soviet Union out of pride! A power struggle...