K. Mamantov. Cornet of the Imperial Horse Grenadier Regiment, who became commander of the White Guard Don Corps.
Lieutenant General K. Mamantov in 1919
In recent articles, we discussed Andrei Shkuro (Shkura), who commanded the Third Kuban Cossack Corps during Denikin's Moscow campaign. The Fourth Don Corps was then commanded by Konstantin Mamantov. Like Shkuro-Shkura, history This man entered with a distorted, exotic-sounding surname—Mamontov. He had no connection to the famous merchant and philanthropist: the latter was descended from Mosalsk peasants, while the White general was a member of a noble family, the first mention of which is contained in a 15th-century "land register."
In both cases, the surname is derived from the Greek male name Mamant, literally meaning "breastfed" or "breast-sucking." Other theories about the name's origin include Turkic ("wise"), Celtic ("strong"), and even Sanskrit (from the word "love"). However, these cannot be considered serious, as there is no need to delve into the details.
It's much simpler: the name of the Christian Great Martyr Mamas of Caesarea appears in an Orthodox book of liturgical calendars that lists the feast days of saints. This book is popularly known as the "Menology" or "Saints," and it was from this book that a baptized person was traditionally given a name. The date of birth was traditionally called the name day (Nicholas II, for example, was born on the feast day of Saint Job the Long-suffering), and the day of baptism was called the name day. Members of the upper classes could choose names for their children. Ivan the Terrible's father was named Gabriel according to the "Menology," but is known to everyone as Vasily III. Ivan IV, meanwhile, was named Titus, but before his death, he took monastic vows and received the new name Jonah.
Peasants weren't allowed to choose their name: whatever the priest wrote down at baptism was the one they would bear for the rest of their lives. This is how some rather strange-sounding names emerged in Rus': Akakiy, Evlampy, Merkury, Afrikan, and so on. As well as Jewish names (Moses, Joseph, also known as Osip, Jacob—Yakov, and so on), this is why uneducated "researchers" routinely label as Jews the descendants of pure-blooded Russian peasants, whose ancestors for centuries were unable to travel beyond the nearest provincial town.
Andrei Shkura claimed that he refined his uncouth surname on the orders of Nicholas II, who allegedly saw it on a list of award recipients. However, in fact, the spelling "Shkuro" appears in documents only in 1919.
Some people associate the change in the spelling of General Mamantov's surname with Trotsky, who allegedly deliberately ordered it to be written with an "O" - apparently in order to "troll" and tease the enemy general - Trotsky probably had nothing better to do during those difficult times.
But the question arises: who, and why, "distorted" the name of the famous Mamontov merchants? And also the name of the then-famous actor and anarchist, Mamont Viktorovich Dalsky? Incidentally, he was also the father of Elena Nurenberg's first husband (this "femme fatale's" second husband was Lieutenant General and Doctor of Military Sciences Yevgeny Shilovsky, and her third was Mikhail Bulgakov). It's all simple. Russian peasants knew nothing of prehistoric animals, nor of the third-century Mamant of Caesarea. This native of Cappadocia even ceded his role as patron saint of livestock in naive folk Orthodoxy to Saint Blaise, who was imbued with the traits of the pagan god Veles (just as the Prophet Elijah was imbued with traits of Perun, and Saint Paraskeva with traits of Mokosh).
Saint Mamant of Caesarea on a Russian icon of the 18th century
And the obscure name Mamant was adapted to the norms of the Russian language (Mamonty the Shepherd) – following the same principle, Xenias became Aksinyas, and Julians became Ulyanas. Already in the "Tale of Bygone Years," this saint is referred to specifically as Mamant: it is reported that under Oleg the Prophet, Russian merchants in Constantinople stayed "at the Church of Saint Mamant." In other words, the White general's surname was changed by his opponents not out of malice, but because "Mamantov" sounded more familiar and "correct."
Origin and beginning of military service of K. Mamantov
The future general's family wasn't particularly noble or wealthy, but it wasn't exactly impoverished either. One of his relatives, for example, married the sister of Vladimir Nikolaevich Kokovtsov, the imperial finance minister and later prime minister. Konstantin Konstantinovich Mamantov was born in St. Petersburg on October 16 (Gregorian calendar), 1869. His father served in the Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment, and his son also chose a military career. He first studied at the Cadet Corps, then at the Nikolaevsky Cavalry School (earlier, this educational institution was also known as the "School of Guards Ensigns," and M. Yu. Lermontov was one of its graduates).
At the academy, K. Mamantov received an officer's sword lanyard and the accompanying rank of cadet swordsman, which was awarded for academic excellence (and in the army, to "lower ranks" who distinguished themselves in combat). Upon completion of his studies with the rank of cornet in 1890, he was sent to the Life Guards Horse Grenadier Regiment, but in May 1893, he was transferred to the army for participating in a duel. Apparently, the story wasn't very pretty, since he was "advised" to leave the regiment at an officers' court of honor.
Mamantov ended up in the 11th Kharkov Dragoon Regiment, where he rose to the rank of staff captain. He retired in 1898, but thanks to family connections, he returned to service in 1899 – this time in the Great Don Host, becoming a sub-esaul of the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment (this unit bore the name of Yermak Timofeevich), stationed in Vilnius. In October 1901, he was promoted to the rank of esaul.
Two wars by K. Mamantov
During the Russo-Japanese War, Mamantov fought in the 1st Chita Transbaikal Cossack Regiment, where in 1913 ensign Grigory Semenov served – the future infamous ataman, about whom Major General William Sidney Graves, commander of the American intervention corps in Siberia, wrote that he:
He openly boasted that he couldn't sleep peacefully unless he had killed at least someone during the day.
This regiment was part of General Mishchenko's cavalry brigade and participated in cavalry raids behind enemy lines. During the war, K. Mamantov was awarded four orders: the Order of St. Anne, 4th Class, with the inscription "For Bravery" (the "Anninskaya shashka"), the Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class, with swords, the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd Class, with swords and bow, and the Order of St. Stanislav, 2nd Class, with swords.
At the end of February 1908, he was promoted to the rank of troop starshina (equivalent to a cavalry lieutenant colonel) and became a squadron commander in the 3rd Don Regiment, and then assistant to the commander for combat operations in the 1st Don Cossack Regiment stationed in Moscow. Here, Mamantov finally found the time to marry. His wife was Baroness von Stempel, whose brothers commanded regiments in the 6th Cavalry Division. This marriage produced a daughter, named Ekaterina.
In 1914, we see K. Mamantov already commanding the 19th Don Cossack Regiment, and in 1915, he commanded the 6th Don Cossack Regiment. That year, Mamantov's first wife died, but he soon "consoled himself" by seducing the wife of one of his subordinates, Captain M. Kononov. This was Ekaterina Sysoeva, the daughter of a wealthy Moscow bourgeois. She became Mamantov's second wife and gave birth to a daughter, Valentina. During World War I, Mamantov rose to the rank of major general and became commander of a Cossack brigade (part of the 6th Cavalry Division). He was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd and 4th class.
It should be noted, however, that Mamantov's reputation was, to put it mildly, controversial; many spoke of his foul temper, quarrelsomeness, and careerism. As early as August 1919—while Mamantov's 4th Don Cossack Corps was advancing on Moscow—an article was published in the White Guard newspaper Donskiye Vedomosti, which stated:
There are people who stir up trouble. They can't stand peace. Enormous forces are imbued within them, seeking release through relentless tension, incessant struggle, and perpetual turmoil. If left unexpressed, these forces consume the person. Some become alcoholics, others commit suicide, and still others stir up trouble. Such a person, a stirrer, is Mamantov. Ask those who were around him in his earlier life about him. They will say of him: "Restless Mamantov! Unsociable Mamantov. He never served in one place for more than a month. He changed service, changed regiments. He caused a lot of trouble for his superiors. A lot of anxiety for his loved ones. He gambled his own life and the lives of others in vain."
Konstantin Mamantov at the beginning of the civil war
After the October Revolution, Mamantov withdrew his brigade from the front. Arriving on the Don, the Cossacks dispersed to their homes, and Mamantov settled in the village of Nizhne-Chirskaya, where in January 1918 he formed a small detachment of about a hundred men. He received no support from the locals; moreover, the Nizhne-Chirsky District Cossack Circle ordered him to leave the area. Mamantov complied and led his detachment to Novocherkassk.
Here he was met with disappointment: no one wanted to fight the Reds, and on January 29 (February 11), 1918, the military ataman, A. M. Kaledin, informed members of his government that Kornilov was withdrawing his army to Kuban and that only 147 men were ready to defend the Don region from the advancing Bolsheviks. Resigning his command, he shot himself, writing to General Alekseyev that he was taking his own life because "the Cossacks refused to follow their ataman." Kornilov's "volunteers" set out on the unsuccessful First Kuban ("Ice") March on Yekaterinodar. Mamantov and his men joined the detachments of the field ataman, General Pyotr Popov, who set out on the so-called "Steppe March" on February 12, 1918. Their route lay toward the Cossack winter quarters in the Salsk steppes. In total, about three and a half thousand men set out from Novocherkassk, 205 of whom were under Mamantov's command.
On February 21, Mamantov's detachment took part in its first successful skirmish with Budyonny and Dumenko's Cossacks. Minor clashes with the Reds also occurred in March. At this time, Mamantov received news of an uprising in the very same Nizhne-Chirskaya village he had set out to assist on April 2.
Meanwhile, the Don Soviet Republic, which had been created, found itself surrounded by rebellions and was destroyed.
On April 29, the Red Army withdrew from Novocherkassk, where the so-called "Circle of Salvation of the Don" had convened. Pyotr Krasnov was elected the new army ataman—the same man who would serve the Third Reich during the Great Patriotic War and become the head of the Main Directorate of Cossack Troops of the Imperial Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories. He would be hanged in the courtyard of Lefortovo Prison on January 16, 1947.
P. Krasnov in a photograph from 1918.
Krasnov's sympathies for Germany were already evident in 1918, when, following the occupation of Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog, Millerovo, Chertkovo, and other cities in May, he began actively collaborating with the Germans, much to the displeasure of Denikin, who enjoyed the support of the Entente. Red Army units then retreated to Tsaritsyn.
Mamantov continued fighting, his unit constantly growing in numbers, and by early May, its strength reached 10. Meanwhile, a strong detachment led by E. Shchadenko, who would later become the political commissar of the First Cavalry Army, unexpectedly broke through to his rear. Other Red units were advancing from Tsaritsyn at this time. Fierce fighting raged from May 20 to 26, and the severity of the fighting can be judged by the fact that Mamantov himself was wounded three times. The Red attacks were repelled; furthermore, the Cossacks of the Khoper District revolted, and the units of Generals Sekretov and Starikov, having occupied the Ust-Medveditsky District, managed to establish contact with Mamantov's forces.
Siege of Tsaritsyn
In July, the 45,000-strong Don Army advanced on Tsaritsyn. Mamantov commanded one of its three groups, with 12,453 men (including 397 officers) and 28 guns and 88 machine guns. They also had an armored train, armored cars, and even airplanes.
The other two groups were led by Colonel Polyakov and General Fitskhelaurov. The city was defended by Red Army soldiers from the Tsaritsyn Front and the 3rd and 5th Soviet Armies, which had retreated under the onslaught of German troops. Such well-known and influential figures as I. Stalin, K. Voroshilov, F. Mironov (future commander of the Second Cavalry Army), A. Parkhomenko (the protagonist of the Soviet film of the same name), and E. Shchadenko (during the Great Patriotic War, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR and a member of the Military Councils of the Southern and 4th Ukrainian Fronts) were present in Tsaritsyn.
M. Grekov. "Comrades Stalin, Voroshilov, and Shchadenko in the Trenches near Tsaritsyn"
N. Kotov. Fragment of the panorama "Defense of Tsaritsyn"
The Don Army was never able to capture Tsaritsyn, despite three unsuccessful assaults on the city: in July-September and September-October 1918, and in January-February 1919. In December 1918, the city's defense was led by the future Soviet Marshal A.M. Yegorov, who sent a cavalry detachment, led first by Dumenko and then by Budyonny, on a raid behind White lines. The successful actions of the Red cavalrymen repelled the third assault and routed Mamantov's forces.
As a result, P. Krasnov was forced to resign, and Wrangel’s volunteer Caucasian Army moved towards Tsaritsyn, capturing the city on June 17 (30), 1919.
The Whites did not hold out in Tsaritsyn for long: already at the end of August of that same 1919, the Red Army began an operation to recapture the city, which was completely liberated on the night of January 3, 1920.
In the next article, we'll continue and conclude the story. We'll discuss the famous Mamontov Raid, the defeat of the Mamontov and Shkuro corps, the degradation of the White Cossack units of the Don and Kuban, and Mamontov's inglorious death in Yekaterinodar.
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