Mikhail Drozdovsky's Civil War
В previous article We discussed M. M. Drozdovsky's origins and his service in the Tsarist army, the formation of the "Corps of Russian Volunteers," and preparations for the campaign on the Don. Today, we'll continue this story.
The Road to the Don
Drozdovsky's "volunteers" set out on their campaign from Dubossary on March 20, 1918.
On April 8, they were joined by Colonel Mikhail Zhebrak's detachment, which consisted of 130 men from the 2nd Naval Regiment of the Separate Baltic Naval Division. Drozdovsky's corps was also reinforced in Berdyansk and Melitopol, where it was joined by another 70 men each. Another 50 or so joined in the vicinity of Taganrog, and up to 40 in Kakhovka. Twelve men abandoned the detachment. Lieutenant Popov was expelled for fleeing during the battle, abandoning another officer, Prince Shakhovsky. A certain Zorich was executed for robbery. The campaign lasted two months: 45 days of travel and 15 "dnevki" (rest stops).
Drozdovsky wrote in his diary:
We have a strange relationship with the Germans: strictly recognized allies, assistance, strict correctness, in clashes with the Ukrainians - always on our side.
Here's what he writes about Ukrainians:
With the Ukrainians... the relationship is disgusting... An unbridled gang, trying to hurt... Some were beaten - then they calmed down: boors, slaves... They are treated with nothing but contempt, as renegades and unbridled gangs.
In general, the Drozdovites tried to avoid clashes with both of them, and only entered into battle as a last resort.
Local residents greeted the Drozdovites with distrust, unsure of their identity. Some mistook them for Austrians in disguise, others considered them "bourgeois hired by landlords to extort land from the peasants," and sometimes even Reds. One local Bolshevik newspaper reported that the unknown detachment included Nicholas II in disguise—and this news pleased no one: the last emperor was unpopular, so the report was a "black PR stunt" by the Reds. In the village of Vossiyatskoye (now part of the Mykolaiv Oblast of Ukraine), peasants attacked car drivers, killing one officer and wounding three. Several local children who happened to be nearby were killed in the fighting.
Meanwhile, news arrived from the Don that the Whites had abandoned Rostov-on-Don, Kornilov had been killed, the Volunteer Army was in dire straits, and even its current location was unknown. Fearing the demoralization of his subordinates, Drozdovsky said nothing.
Finally, on May 3, 1918, the Drozdovites, having bypassed Taganrog, occupied by the German army, approached and closed in on Red-occupied Rostov-on-Don. They entered the city, but were forced to retreat the following day, having lost up to 100 men, including their chief of staff, Colonel M. Voynalovich. V. Antonov-Ovseenko reports:
Drozdovsky abandoned six guns, up to 70 machine guns, and up to 100 carts loaded with military equipment on the battlefield… Our forces chased them another 20 miles from the city. The Drozdovsky headquarters office was captured, along with two large crates containing St. George's crosses, medals, and other valuables.
However, the alarmed Reds sent a large detachment from Novocherkassk to Rostov. As a result, on May 6, the city was captured by the Cossacks of Colonel S. Denisov, who appealed to Drozdovsky for assistance. Through joint efforts, the city was successfully defended. And here is the result (according to a White Guard who took part in those events):
When on April 23 (old style) the Bolsheviks were finally driven out of Novocherkassk, I was elected a member of the Don Defense Court. Here a pleasant activity began for me: to see Bolshevik commissars and all the other abominations before me every day and to put little crosses in front of them. The harvest was quite good: Every evening, in addition to the trial, they dealt with captured "comrades." Sometimes they killed 100, sometimes 300; in one night, even 500 people were liquidated at once. And they did it this way: 50 people dig a common grave for themselves, then they are shot; the other 50 bury it, and next to it they dig graves for themselves. But there are so many of them that now turn the Red Army into slaves.
These are the "liberators".
Completion of the Iasi-Don campaign
On May 27 (June 9), 1918, in the village of Mechetinskaya, Drozdovsky's detachment joined up with the remnants of the Volunteer Army, defeated during the First Kuban ("Ice") Campaign and now commanded by A. Denikin. However, Drozdovsky refused to join forces with Ataman Krasnov's Don Army.
Drozdovsky's Russian Volunteer Corps became the 3rd Division of the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR). It included the Second Officers' Rifle Regiment, the Second Officers' Cavalry Regiment, an engineering company, artillery A battery and a howitzer platoon. Drozdovsky tried to appoint participants in the transition from Iasi to command positions.
In December 1918, a special medal was established, awarded to the Drozdovsky Corps. Colonel Turkul also commissioned the "March of the Drozdovsky Regiment" from composer Dmitry Pokrass, who hadn't actually served with the Whites, but worked at the Rostov variety theater "Crooked Jimmy." The lyrics for this march were written by Colonel P. Batorin, and it was first performed on June 29, 1919, in Kharkov, at a banquet celebrating the capture of that city.
The march had a huge number of lyrics, but the most famous, of course, is "Through the Valleys and the Hills": as Luther said, "One should not give all the beautiful melodies to the devil." But let's look at the lyrics written by Batorin:
From Romania by hike
The glorious Drozdovsky regiment was marching,
For the salvation of the people
Fulfilling a heavy duty.
General Drozdovsky proudly
He walked forward with his regiment.
As a hero, he believed firmly,
That he will save the Motherland.
The Drozdovites walked with a firm step,
The enemy fled under the onslaught
And with a three-color Russian flag
The regiment gained glory for himself.
The glorious Drozdovsky regiment was marching,
For the salvation of the people
Fulfilling a heavy duty.
General Drozdovsky proudly
He walked forward with his regiment.
As a hero, he believed firmly,
That he will save the Motherland.
The Drozdovites walked with a firm step,
The enemy fled under the onslaught
And with a three-color Russian flag
The regiment gained glory for himself.
I don’t know how Colonel Batorin fared in terms of military talent, but he certainly didn’t have a poetic gift.
Let us recall that Dmitry Pokrass's elder brother, Samuil, wrote another famous march (of the Red Army):
White Army, Black Baron,
They are preparing a royal throne for us again
— Do you remember?They are preparing a royal throne for us again
Dmitry Pokrass later became a People's Artist of the USSR, a Stalin Prize laureate, and the author of a number of iconic Soviet songs (some co-written with his younger brother, Daniil). Among them: "Budyonny's March" ("We, the Red Cavalrymen"), "Moscow in May" ("The morning paints the walls of the ancient Kremlin with a gentle light"), "Komsomolskaya Proshlyannaya" ("The order is given: he - to the west, she - in the other direction"), "March of the Tankers" ("The armor is strong and Tanks ours are fast”), “The Fighting Year of the 18th” (“Along the military road, the fighting year of the eighteenth went in struggle and anxiety”), “Three Tankers” (“Clouds are moving gloomily on the border”), “Cossacks in Berlin” (“Horses were walking along the Berlin pavement to the watering hole”) and some others.
White Knight
Colonel Drozdovsky
One often reads that Drozdovsky was called a "white knight." However, this is a late, apologetic characterization; in reality, Drozdovsky had a reputation as a punisher and hangman. And he himself was completely unashamed of this; here are the entries he left in his diary:
In this merciless struggle for life, I will become equal to this terrible animal law - to live with wolves.
Drozdovsky's actions did not differ from his words.
There is a well-known case of his revenge in the village of Vladimirovka, where Drozdovsky officers were shot, and, according to Drozdovsky himself:
When these officers were led away, even the Red Guards did not want to shoot them, but this was what the peasants and women demanded... and even the children.
How do you like this attitude of the people towards the white “liberators”?
Drozdovsky then describes the punitive action:
March 22 (1918) Vladimirovka... They burned down houses, cruelly flogged all men under 45 years old... Then the residents were ordered to bring all the best cattle, pigs, poultry, fodder and grain for the entire detachment for free, all the best horses were taken; all this was brought to us until nightfall... There was a continuous howl in the village... A total of 24 people were exterminated.
Let us quote Drozdovsky’s diary again: (entry from April 15, 1918):
"I arrived in the town of Akimovka... The prisoners were sent to Semyonov's headquarters for sorting. A total of 40 people were killed at the station... There were about 150 people on the train—meaning, counting the prisoners, almost no one escaped."
Here is what Melitopolsky reports about this massacre: historical website:
On April 15 (2), 1918, at the Akimovka station, near Melitopol, a tragedy occurred when a technical detachment of Poltava track workers ran into an officer’s cavalry squadron, which shot about 180 railway workers.
Entry from April 7:
In Melitopol... 42 Bolsheviks were caught and liquidated.
On April 10 (23), 1918, the Drozdovites shot 16 members of the first Nogai Council.
This is how the White Guard General Ivan Belyaev recalled the reprisals against the Drozdovites:
As I emerged through the gate, I came across a group of young officers hurrying toward the station, rifles in hand. Drozdovsky himself, wearing a white cap and a white band, walked ahead, excitedly loading his rifle as he walked.
"Where are you going?" I asked one of the officers chasing me, perplexed.
"To the station!" he replied as he walked. "They've rounded up captured Red Army soldiers there. We'll shoot them, and drag the young people in..."
An old woman, distraught with grief, ran after them.
“My son,” she begged. “Give me my son!”
"Where are you going?" I asked one of the officers chasing me, perplexed.
"To the station!" he replied as he walked. "They've rounded up captured Red Army soldiers there. We'll shoot them, and drag the young people in..."
An old woman, distraught with grief, ran after them.
“My son,” she begged. “Give me my son!”
And on April 15 (28), 1918, Drozdovsky writes with surprise:
The population of Mariupol and our villages are of the Bolshevik type, the masses are against us... The intelligentsia, of course, is for it, but there are few of them.
Really, what more do these "masses" want? Are they not given enough ramrods? Apparently, to win the people's love, they need to hang and shoot even more?
Even the top leaders of the Armed Forces of South Russia soon began to regard Drozdovsky as an extremely problematic commander, whose cruelty was doing the White movement more harm than good. Drozdovsky's caveman monarchism also irritated everyone: no one in Russia wanted the Romanovs to return, and the very word "monarchist" was often used as an insult at the time on both sides of the front. Intelligent monarchists understood this; V. Kappel, for example, said:
To talk about the monarchy now is only to harm it.
And Denikin wrote:
Officers of the Volunteer Army preferred to conceal their political views, or at least not to publicize them. It was believed that political strife would destroy the White movement. Which, in fact, is what partially happened.
There is a clear allusion here to Drozdovsky.
Drozdovsky's ego was simply off the charts. Having come into direct conflict with Romanovsky, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, he wrote to Denikin:
By the time my detachment joined the Volunteer Army, its condition was extremely grave... Considering not only the numbers, but also the technical equipment and supplies of the detachment, it can be safely said that it was equal in strength to the army... The Volunteer Army owes such a major reinforcement to me alone.… From various people… I received proposals not to join the army, which was considered dying, but to replace it… The joining of my detachment made it possible to begin an offensive that opened an era of victory for the army.
Denikin, who disliked this arrogant colonel, promoted him to major general only after receiving news of the wounded Drozdovsky's hopeless condition. In the army, there was even talk that Professor Plotkin had been ordered to "treat him incorrectly" by I. Romanovsky, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia.
The death of M. Drozdovsky
On June 9-10 (22-23), 1918, the White Guards launched the Second Kuban Campaign, during which they occupied the Kuban region with Yekaterinodar, the Black Sea region, and part of the Stavropol Governorate. The decisive battle of the entire campaign was the Battle of Stavropol, which lasted 28 days and ended with the Whites capturing Stavropol, but resulted in heavy losses. The Red commanders – Ivan Sorokin, Epifan Kovtyukh, and Ivan Matveyev – performed admirably. Particularly impressive was the stubborn resistance of Matveyev and Kovtyukh's Taman Army (which carried 25 refugees) and its famous march to join Sorokin's army – the very same "Iron Stream" described in A.S. Serafimovich's novel.
G. Savitsky, "The Campaign of the Red Taman Army," painted in 1933
And Denikin wrote about Sorokin already in exile:
The entire plan demonstrates great courage and skill. I don't know whose—Sorokin's or his staff's. But if the ideological leadership in strategy and tactics during the North Caucasus War belonged to Sorokin himself, then in this self-taught paramedic, Soviet Russia lost a major military leader.
We will discuss Ivan Sorokin, whose star shone brightly in Kuban and the North Caucasus in 1918, and the tragic death of this controversial but extraordinary man in the following articles.
A foot wound he sustained on October 31, 1918, near the Stavropol Convent of Stavropol (now part of the city) proved fatal for Drozdovsky. There were no clean bandages in the Second Officers' Regiment's hospital, so they had to boil the used ones. Drozdovsky was taken to Yekaterinodar, where hospital conditions were better, but the wound became infected, gangrene set in, and symptoms of sepsis appeared. The newly appointed general died on January 1 (14), 1919.
Ironically, it was Denikin who called Drozdovsky a "white knight," although he, to put it mildly, disliked him greatly and sided with his chief of staff in his conflict with Romanovsky. Upon receiving the long-awaited news of Drozdovsky's death, the commander-in-chief joyfully wrote in his obituary:
High selflessness, devotion to his ideal, and complete disdain for personal danger were combined in him with a heartfelt concern for his subordinates, whose lives he always placed above his own. May your ashes rest in peace, knight without fear or reproach.
In fact, the dead Drozdovsky was more convenient for the White Army than the living one: he no longer hanged or shot people, he no longer made stupid pro-monarchist statements that caused harm, and it was possible to talk about his supposed nobility.
To flatter Drozdovsky's former subordinates, the 2nd Officers' Regiment—one of the "colored regiments" of the Volunteer Army—was named after him. They received this strange name for their colored caps, shoulder straps, sleeve insignia, and chevrons. Other "colored" units were the "Alekseyevites," "Markovites," and "Kornilovites."
Drozdovtsy ('thrushes') in a drawing by an unknown artist, circa 1919.
Regimental badge of the Drozdovsky Rifle Regiment
This regiment was deployed into the Drozdovskaya (General Drozdovsky's Rifle) Division. It also included an artillery brigade and an engineering company.
Drozdovites in Crimea, 1920
Tank "General Drozdovsky", 1919
The 2nd Officers' Cavalry Regiment of General Drozdovsky operated separately from the division. By the end of the civil war, the Drozdovsky Division had fought 650 battles, losing 15,000 men killed (including 4,500 officers) and 35,000 wounded. It all ended with evacuation from Crimea, a miserable existence in Gallipoli, and a life of poverty elsewhere. And for more than 17,000 White Russian émigrés, they also had to serve in the Wehrmacht-subordinate Russian Security Corps (White Cossacks served in other units), the remnants of which fled from the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans in April-May 1945 to the part of Austria occupied by the Americans and British.
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