"Do not dare to touch a woman, if she goes to the front to defend Russia!"

13
"Do not dare to touch a woman, if she goes to the front to defend Russia!"


What the World War I saw soldiers of the Women's Death Battalion Maria Bocharnikova

By the summer of 1917, the Russian army was falling apart before our eyes - some soldiers deserted, others enthusiastically discussed at meetings and rallies whether to listen to them officers and whether to go on the attack. Under these conditions, the Provisional Government decided to “shame” the male soldiers and begin the formation of shock “death battalions” of women. To everyone's surprise, the “competition” in them turned out to be very large. This allowed to enlist only the most disciplined and resolute, not afraid to give their lives for women to the service. The most terrible punishment for them was the demobilization, the expulsion from the battalion, so desired for male soldiers.

17-year-old Maria Bocharnikova, despite her young age, who already had front-line experience as a sister of mercy of the Russian Expeditionary Corps in Persia, became the corporal of one of these battalions. November 6 The 1917 of the year the battalion in which Bocharnikova served was to be sent to the front. But on this day the October Revolution began in Petrograd, and women soldiers had to defend the Provisional Government in the Winter Palace. Miraculously escaping from the hands of the victorious Bolsheviks, Maria fought in the ranks of the White Guards, later emigrated to France, where she died in the year 1975. She left memories of the formation of the women's battalions; about relations between female soldiers who represented all strata of Russian society and had very different political views — from monarchical to radical revolutionary or simply “feminist” (although yesterday’s peasants liberated by the revolution did not even know such words); about how the willingness to die in incredible ways combined in them with the ability and desire to enjoy life, and even with the "not won back" childhood. Bocharnikova’s memoirs were published in tiny editions only in 1973, with the assistance of another prominent White Guard emigration, former naval officer Alexei Goering. In Russia, they saw the light only 28 years later, as part of a collection of "Volunteers" about the fate of women participating in the First World War.

Hooray! I'm a soldier

- Sister, can I see you?

- Please, doctor! - A woman doctor entered my cabin, holding a newspaper in her hands:

“I can make you happy, you all are rushing to the front as a volunteer, and in today's newspaper there is a message that the Women's Death Battalion is being formed in Petrograd.”


Fighter of the Women's Death Battalion is on duty. Petrograd. 1917 year. Photo: surfingbird.ru


I grabbed the outstretched newspaper.

- God, how you turned red! - she laughed. - Do you go?

- Of course! Immediately I will give a telegram about admission to the battalion.

- Well, if you decide, then with God!

This conversation took place at the end of May 1917, in the city of Dilmane, in Persia, where I worked as a sister of mercy in a local hospital.

Two days later I was moving in a gig to the border of Russia (135 versts). After 5 days after reaching Petrograd, the next day I arrived at the Engineer's Castle, where, as I was told, a battalion was being formed. In the office, to my statement that I had sent a telegram from Persia about accepting me to the battalion addressed to Mytnaya Embankment, the chairwoman replied:

- There was formed a detachment Bochkareva. We have nothing to do with him. Our battalion is the first regular female Army, authorized by the Provisional Government. Want to enroll in it?

- Yes!

- How old are you?

- Eighteen.

- Already fulfilled?

- No, it will be in two months.

- Prior to 18 years, parental permission is required. The second lady turned to her:

- I think it will be possible to accept. Once the parents were released to Persia, I think, they will not interfere with entering the battalion.

The large room was packed full of people who had come for inspection. All were in elegant Eve costumes. Suddenly one of those present turned to the young woman:

- Comrade, aren't you pregnant?

- Why do you think so? - Neighbor asked her.

- I am a midwife and see signs. The questioned embarrassedly lowered herself:

- And hto knows him! As I was recording something, I thought it was just like that ... I am from afar, from Siberia. While I arrived, I see it myself, as if it was wrong.
When this woman came out after the examination, there were tears in her eyes.

- Well? How? - showered questions.

“The doctor said that the fourth month was Chijola.”

- Ah yes well done! Not only she arrived, but also brought the completion of the ready!

- What are you looking at? - said the talking neighbor. - Butterfly has grief, and she is funny!

After the examination, I was temporarily assigned to the 3 company. With a pounding heart, I went out onto the parade ground where the exercise was taking place, and unwittingly stopped. The first impression - it seemed that I got on a meadow dotted with bright colors. Bright sarafans of peasant women, kerchiefs of sisters of mercy, multicolored print dresses of factory workers, elegant dresses of young ladies from society, modest outfits of city servants, maids, nannies ... Who was not here! I involuntarily remembered from Borodino:

Lancers with motley badges,

Dragoons with ponytails,

All flashed before us,

All have visited here.

Next to me was a skinny girl, apparently a factory worker. Tears streamed down her face.

- Comrade, why are you crying? The volunteer who was passing by turned to her.

- Not accepted. Little-oh-blooded-a-ah, - she sobbed, buried her face in her hands.

Here is a platoon moving. A hefty woman of about thirty years of age stubbornly sticks out her already terrible breast size, and behind her figure you can’t see a thin neighbor at all. The nose is raised upwards. Hands with bitterness throws forward. And there, further, grinning, constantly bending over her head, to look at her legs, with which she vigorously beats off a step, apparently, a bourgeois swims. Some are marching like real soldiers. Almost without touching the ground, as if dancing, pretty blonde is moving. Is not a ballerina?

The command was distributed: “To the right! Equal! Attention! Calculate the first or second! .. ”


Women's battalion in the classroom. July 1917 of the year. Photo: family-history.ru


And with horror I hear the roll call coming to me. To tell my number, why, what to do next? I do not know. The platoon officer, watching to speak quickly and clearly, goes along the front. A thought flashed through my head: “Probably, you need to speak to the platoon officer”, and hearing how a neighbor shouted “First!”, I said as quietly as possible “Second!” And if I lied, it was not so noticeable.

- quit! - The platoon stopped, drilling me with evil eyes. - Who do you say “second”?

- to you, mister platoon!

“What is your second number to me?” Head can not turn to a neighbor? Ticks order mouth open to speak louder?

“Sir platoon, this is new, she is today for the first time in the ranks,” a voice came from behind.

- And ... New? It's good that you told me ... And for what you are talking in the ranks, take yourself an outfit ...

Time flew by before dinner. One of the volunteers, putting her hand to her mouth, sang, imitating the horn player: “Take a spoon, take a tank, there is no bread - go like this! ..”

Having settled on the floor, we with pleasure were eating a simple soldier's lunch from bowlers. We started talking. On the right I heard a burst of laughter. Before the snub-nosed, with a dull facial expression a woman of about thirty stood a pretty girl.

- You do not believe me? She asked, laughing.

- I do not believe anybody; only to God and his own saucy! - reprimanded “o”, she answered.

- That's bad, I found someone to believe! As you left, your lover must have gotten himself another fucker.

- Not ... Never! - Like a ram, she shook her head. - Oh, and he loves me! ..

“I ran away from my own,” says another. - Oh, and beat me, damn! Half puffed out hair. As I heard that the women were taking the soldiers, I ran away from him and signed up. I went to sting, and the Commissioner told him: “Now, after the Levorus, weakness. Do not dare to touch a woman, if she goes to the chronte to protect Russ, ”and left.

I listened to the third group. One, apparently the maid, told:

- I say to him: "You, comrade, are an unconscious element." And he answered me: “It hurts you all scientists have become after the revolution. Take a good stick and count your ribs. Immediately they would understand what was happening. ”

- To be built, to be built! .. - the duty officer ran in.

In an instant, everyone was on their feet and rushed to the parade ground. The learning is over; after the roll call, they sang "Our Father" and "Save, Lord." I was indicated a place to sleep. Having brought a bundle of hay, I threw it on the floor, put a bundle of clothes under my head and, falling asleep, I thought: “Is there anyone happier than me in the world? No, there is nobody in the whole world! .. ”

We have a thief

- Comrades, get up! This cry of an electrician on duty passed through the rows of sleepers. At one moment everyone was on their feet. Having fun throwing notes, they quickly got dressed and ran to the actual. The first days were darkened by one unpleasant event: a thief appeared in the platoon. Every day someone discovered the loss. The search did not give any results, and the daily one did not notice anything either.

On the fifth day, the 18-year-old volunteer, who took up duty, decided at night to pretend to be asleep and to follow up, which she successfully completed. As soon as everything calmed down, she put the chair so that everyone lying in front of her, and leaning on him, she began to cry, vigilantly watching the room. In the same row, her head lifted ... Making sure that everyone was sleeping, the woman stood on all fours and, constantly looking around, crawled quickly. Grabbing something from the things, twisted and turned back.


Women's "death battalion." Haircut bald. Summer 1917 of the year. Photo: historydoc.edu.ru


- Stop! - came the voice of the attendant in the dim light. Seeing that she was caught, the woman threw the stolen goods and wanted to whisk into place, but the duty officer grabbed her by the collar:

- Comrades, thief caught!

Thief surrounded. As a hunted beast, looking around at the awakened ones, she stubbornly remained silent and did not answer all the questions asked of her.

- Speak, mean, where did you put stolen things? And then, as a fist in my face, I suppose the language will immediately unleash! ..

“No, comrades,” the platoon intervened. - We will send her in the morning to the court to the commander, and until the morning we will lock in the closet. You all still go to bed ...

In the morning, when the thief was taken out, the victims of it could not stand it. Swinging, one hit her in the face. She swayed, but someone's fist carried her to the other side. The third gave way to the knee, and from all sides began to prick. With each new blow, the thief only puppy squealed ...

- What are you doing? Want to cripple a woman? Stop now! - came the voice of the company.

- Mister Lieutenant, she is a thief; Today she was caught red-handed.

- Does not matter! Litter do not dare to arrange! Take her to the battalion.

Captain Loskov's sentence was short: "In 24 minutes out of the battalion!" She was brought back.

- Mr. Feldwebel! - took under the peak of M. I did not hear what she said, lowering her voice.

- Wha-if-ko-lep-no! .. And for others it will serve as an example. Bring a piece of paper, a piece of rope, some pins and a chemical pencil. And at the same time grab her stuff. We will embellish it. I'll go ask permission from the company.

A few minutes later she returned: “Allowed! ..” The exiled were tied back with hands, putting a small knot in them, pinned to the chest a paper with the inscription “THIEF”.

- M. and B., take the rifles and move it a few blocks across Petrograd. And then untie the hands, and let him retract on all four sides.

Measure acted. Until the end of the battalion, there was no more theft.

Botallon formed

All hurried to part with their hair. Entrepreneurial Samoilova, strikingly similar to the boy, buying a comb and a machine with scissors, began to cut her hair, taking an 50 cop. from the head.

Somehow, returning from training, we found an 28-year-old woman-grenadier in a free dress.

- Where are you going?

- I'm leaving home!

- Why?

- I can not ... I'm forced to sleep on the floor and fed borscht. And I used to sleep on the feather bed. I have cows, sour cream, butter - I'm not so used to eating ...

“Happily the way to the threshold, and behind the programs to the guru with their feet” (that is, “happily to each other before the threshold, and beyond the threshold upside down”), polka B. mocked to her

- What are you saying?

- I wish you a good trip.

- "Butter, sour cream," - mocked the other. - Yes, you can milk the same thing as a cow! ..

The next morning, having received rifles, we lined up in the courtyard. To the sound of a bravura march, they took us out of the gate and, when we went around the building, we were led into a huge hall and put in two lines on both sides. The command of the battalion commander rang out: “To meet right and left, listen to the shay! .. At Kra-ul!” The rifles startled, and we froze, gazing at the front door. It seemed, supported by two ladies under the arms, "grandmother of the Russian revolution" - Breshko-Breshkovskaya. She was helped to stand on the chairs; the lady supported her. Hunched, gray-haired, with a shaking head, she addressed us in a quiet, old voice:

- Hello, granddaughters! Hello, great granddaughters! ..

- Hello, Grandma! - we answered in chorus as ordered.

- And we once fought not only with words, but also with weapons in hand.

- Eh, grandmother, grandmother! - shaking her head and sighing contritely, said L., a convinced monarchist. - Dear, nice old woman, I feel sorry for you! But with what joy I would hang all your comrades on the first aspen, because they bestowed the "great, bloodless"!

Camp Levashovo

Upon arrival at Levashovo life has changed dramatically. A strict discipline was introduced, and we felt that the game was not a game of soldiers, but that we had the honor to join the ranks of the defenders of the dear homeland. A new officer was appointed to the company. Tall, thin, with an unpleasant jaundiced face. The sentry, standing next to the tent, saw volunteer S. coming to him in the evening, a former girl student. Everything that happened in the tent was clearly visible to the sentry. Replaced, she went to the battalion commander:

- Mr. Captain! I leave the battalion, because I do not want to serve where such outrages occur ...

- What ugliness? I order you to give me everything word for word!

She did not hide anything. S. was a woman with an African temperament, and the lieutenant complained about the loss of strength due to a contusion. The next day they both left the battalion.

In our battalion were taken persons from 16 to 40 years. From girls to 18-year-olds, parental permission was required. Two women got into our company, one of them was 35, and the other 40 was years old. The drill was not given to them. Trampled like two sheep. But if the younger one accepted the remark, then the forty-year-old, with the air of a connoisseur, grumbled:

- What's so incomprehensible? Kohl say you "right", then turn right.

“Look, what commander showed up,” the youngest hissed angrily, “but look at yourself.” Exactly mare on the rope dancing instead of marching.

They were transferred to the wagon train.

The company company somehow decided to arrange a game of leapfrog, otherwise called “goats and sheep”. At a distance of ten steps, some became bent over, while others should jump over them. I've never seen a man laugh like that in my life! With a moan of bending, he clutched at his stomach, like a woman in labor before the birth, and tears flowed from his eyes. Yes, and it was why! One, instead of jumping, gave way to the knee, and both flew to the ground. The second one was riding astride, and those suffered the same fate. The third, without jumping, stuck on them, and, while one plowed the ground with its nose, the second, sprawling with a swallow, flew over the head. We ourselves were so weak from laughter that we could not run.

In the woods around the camp sent a guard. Several times there was an alarm at night. Unidentified tried to attack the sentry. This shot made them disappear.

Not without a comic incident. A shot is fired at a remote post at night. The guard was carried by the fourth company, and the sentry came running for the guard: “Someone sneaks in the bushes with a lit cigarette”. A strange "enemy" turned out to be ... a firefly, for which the whole company was called fireflies.


The leadership of the women's "death battalion." Summer 1917 of the year. Photo: historydoc.edu.ru


It was my turn to be on duty on the company. In 5 hours of the morning you need to wake the duty of the company. Cold, damp, unpleasant ... But they should work under the open sky. I looked under the tank. Firewood laid. I myself will be flooded, let them sleep for an extra half hour. I shoved a match, my firewood flared. Threw more and then went to wake the duty. The company returned from the training, dinner is not ready.

“Why are you late for lunch today?”

“Mr. Feldwebel, the duty officer woke us up half an hour later.”

Irritated sergeant major approached me:

“Why did you wake the attendants half an hour later?”

- Mr. Feldwebel, I myself lit the stove and then woke them ...

- I ask you not what you did, but why did you wake up late?

- I wanted to give them sleep an extra half hour!

- So take yourself extraordinary duty! Perhaps it is better to remember that there are soldiers, not institutes!

How not to remember, from the first time I remembered well. At the end of the training team was appointed separated with the title of corporal.

One day after checking a small group stood and talked on the highway. Seemed rapidly approaching, agitated D .:

- Comrades! Have you heard how disgusting? Someone reported that in the N-company of a woman is pregnant. They made a medical examination of the whole company, and there were seven of them in it. They were having fun with train trainers!

- Oh, damn women! Did they imagine that there was a maternity hospital? Yes, to drive them all with a dirty pomelo, so as not to disgrace our battalion ...

- Yes, be calm, they all will insert a feather.

- Why are you so outraged? - came the voice of the company. No one noticed how he approached.

- Yes, I order you to say what you were talking about now!

- Mr. Lieutenant, in the N-sky company, seven volunteers fell ill with typhoid fever ... with arms and legs ...

- Ah ... I understand! .. Do I need to add that everyone departed immediately from the battalion ...

About sad and fun

The officers in every way we caught, checking knowledge. An officer approached a young sentry:

- Do you have a well-cleaned rifle?

- Yes, Mr. Lieutenant!

- Well, show me!

She handed him a rifle. The officer took the bolt and went on. She rushed after him:

- Mister Lieutenant, give the bolt!

- How to "give"? Standing at your post, you yourself gave the rifle to a stranger.

“But you are our officer, and I know you.”

“Yes, but I'm not your guard chief.” Having understood her blunder, she began to cry with grief ... The next day, our company carried the guard. My platoon of Nikolaev, 21, was set at the ceichgau, a lonely building blown from all sides by the wind. On the second day in the morning, when raising the company of Nikolaev, with a painful air, coughing, she approached me: “Sir, platoon! I can not go to class. I feel bad, it hurts in my chest ... ”I took her by the pulse. Frequent - obviously in the heat. Sent to the battalion neighborhood, she was transferred to Petrograd in the hospital on the same day. Pneumonia! Two days later she passed away. Behind the coffin, a sobbing mother and our half-platoon were lonely. Seeing that they were burying a volunteer, roving soldiers began to adjoin the procession. The man came 15. The last funeral tune sounded. The coffin shook ... The command was heard: "For salute! .." A friendly volley was heard at the command of "pl!" "And nothing, great fired!" - Said some soldier.

But sad events alternated with fun. They sent me a letter addressed to: / Petrograd Women's Battalion. Levashovo. 2-i company. Platoon 4-th platoon. An illiterate soldier of the reserve battalion from Petrograd wrote:

“Dear women comrades! So I did not know that there are such brave people in the world that they will go to fight instead of us. Thank you, comrades, to you. And we will rest at the extreme. Feed us instead lice ... "- etc. At the end of the postscript: “But still, I would advise you to sit around the huts and not eat up our portions.”

- Comrades! I received a letter from some soldier. Admires our bravery. Listen ...

- Oh, cattle! Bastard! Pig! - I heard indignant cries. - We eat portions? .. And he himself, a parasite, does nothing but feeds lice in eaten portions! ..

- Let's write him the answer!

My proposal was accepted, and in half an hour the message was ready:

“Dear comrade! We were very honored by your flattering testimony of our courage. But the last of your advice can not fulfill. There was a time when our valiant soldiers, without sparing their lives, defended their fatherland with their breasts, and we, the women, prepared a new shift and baked cakes on the front. Now, when, changing debt and forgetting shame and conscience, you shamefully fled from the front, we will take your place and hope with honor to fulfill our commitment. And let me give you advice: dress up in our sarafans, knit heads with fighters, cook borsch, sweep Vanyuk, tie tails to burenkas, and peeling seeds, scrub with tongues.

Volunteers of the 2 Company of the 4 Platoon

What are we different


I had two nuns in the platoon. I once asked a single question:

- How did you get into the battalion? I heard nuns are forbidden to know how life flows beyond the monastery wall. The pilgrims said.

- No, mister platoon, I was in church twice a year: on Easter and Christmas. All the time spent in hard work - at the stable. Once the chernitsa came in and said: "The pilgrims said they had organized the Women's Battalion." Passion I wanted to do. Ran to find out. They say it is true. The abbess came to Mother, bowed to the ground: “Bless, Mother, to enter the Women's Battalion! Live your life I want to put behind Russ! ”She did not hold me back, immediately blessed and said:“ Serve with faith and truth, not sparing the stomach, pray to the King of Heaven to forgive us our sins and give us back the King of the earth. Without him, father, there will be neither happiness nor peace in the Orthodox land. ” The second nun, when the days of anxiety had already begun, grabbed the prayer book at the first alarm and began to chant.

Approaching the day of the oath, appointed to the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, 8 September. Rothny warned: “If someone is not sure of himself, let him leave now. Do not forget that after the oath, all your actions will be punished with a disciplinary law. There will be no return to the past! ”There were no people willing to leave the battalion.

On the eve of the oath, the 10 man sat in the evening, talking for a long time. I asked a question:

- And what, comrades, does not scare anyone tomorrow oath?

- No, sir platoon. Who was afraid, has long left our ranks. One thing is sad - we will swear allegiance to Mother Russia, but not to the Tsar-Father ...

- Instead of the Tsar oath to the Provisional Government! - said another.

“Yes, I will,” the first sighed. “But if only I could, I would not swear to the Provisional Government, but I would have“ pinned ”that they would not know which door to escape through! ..

“Tell me, what a monarchist,” her neighbor laughed.

- And you, comrade, are not afraid to talk about it so openly? After all, we have sympathetic revolution. Can convey.

- A scammer first whip! - sharply said M., a former teacher. “And it would be a great shame if our volunteers became like soldiers and started reporting on us for our beliefs.” Our business is not politics, but the front. We may disagree with each other, but this will not prevent us shoulder to shoulder to defend the homeland.

- Right, right! - there were cheers.

“And my dad was also for the Tsar,” the pretty black-eyed volunteer said. - Passion is so bitter when I found out that I signed up for the battalion. “Whom,” shouts, “will you go to protect?” This bastard, that the King threw off the throne? "-" No, - I say, - Dad. I will go to defend Russia! .. ”

In the evening, when they began to go to bed, I say: “Well, comrades, it has happened! We are no longer Theks, Maria or Lukery, but the soldiers of the Russian Army ”- and jokingly tightened“ Soldiers, bravo guys! Where are your husbands? Suddenly, the whole platoon, as ordered, ordered it, struck back with extraordinary force: “Our husbands are loaded with guns. That's where our husbands are! .. ”

Parade on Palace Square

October 24 (old style - RP) before the Winter Palace was to be held a parade. Lieutenant Somov decided to distinguish himself here and secretly from others he rehearsed the passage of a company, bristling with bayonets.

Cleaned, washed and wrote farewell letters home. A few days before the performance, the battalion commander tested our knowledge. The battalion was lined up in the field, and the 1-I company, under its command, did all the rebuilds, crumbled into a chain, made rushes and went on the attack. He was pleased with the result of the training.


1-th Petrograd Women's Battalion. Petrograd. 1917 year. Photo: family-history.ru


Here is the Palace Square. An orchestra of some regiment arrived, and the authorities soon approached: the general with headquarters (I don’t remember his last name) and the Minister of War Kerensky. We formed a platoon. The orchestra struck. Our 3 platoon went.

On the eve of the parade, a report was received that the "comrades" (the Bolsheviks) want to snap us up during the parade. We went to the parade with a set of clips ammunition and trigger, put on the fuse. On pockets and in cartridge pouches there were cartridges. We received an order from the lieutenant: “In the event of an attack, let the first volley go into the air. The second is for the attackers. ”

But what is it? 1-I company went straight to the station, and our - right shoulder lead back to the square. We see how the entire battalion, having passed a ceremonial march, also, following the 1, company, leaves for the station. The area is empty. We are ordered to make up a rifle in the "goats". From somewhere, there was a rumor that at the factory, it seems, “Nobel”, the workers rebelled and they send us there for the requisition of gasoline. Dissatisfied voices are heard: "Our business is the front, and not to interfere in the urban unrest." The command is distributed: “To the gun!” We disassemble the rifles, and we are led to the gates of the palace.

Fight in the Winter Palace

The Cossacks refused to defend the Winter Palace and left October 25, leaving the machine guns to the cadets. Passing through the courtyard, I saw a cadet walking around with a naked sword near a cannon - the Mikhailovsky Artillery School.

The company is introduced into a luxury apartment with windows overlooking the Palace Square. They said that this is the room of Catherine the Great. Distribute ammunition; New sleeves shine like gold. Almost all of one or two cartridges are hidden in the bosom - "in memory". We sit down on the floor, not letting rifles from his hands. No one dared to sit on the furniture, afraid to stain it with overcoats. And as we were subsequently outraged, having learned that the soldiers, tearing silk and velvet from the furniture, blamed us.

Passing for lunch, I saw those sitting on the floor and standing cadets. While all is quiet. We already know that we are left to defend the Winter Palace.

The night brought no change. Volunteers sit, clasping rifles, ready for the first order to join the battle. I clung to the glass several times, trying to look at something. Unnoticed no movement. The lieutenant warned: “After the order to open fire, impose something soft on the glass and squeeze it out!”

The whole entered the Neva flotilla (several thousand sailors). Sailors landed near the Nikolaev bridge and from there launched an attack on the Winter Palace. The district headquarters ordered the building of bridges (Liteiny, Troitsky, Nikolaev) to cut off working areas from the center. The bridges were divorced, but at 3 o’clock the workers and the Red Army brought them down again. At night, the cruiser Aurora was ordered to approach the Nikolaevsky Bridge (which was in the hands of the junkers) and capture it, which was done.

At the gate high above the ground is a lantern. “Juncker, break the lantern!” Stones flew, the glass shattered. Successfully thrown stone put out the lamp. Complete darkness. You can hardly distinguish a neighbor. We scatter to the right behind the barricade, mingling with the junkers. As we later learned, Kerensky secretly left for the scooters, leaving Minister Konovalov and Dr. Kishkin in his stead, but the scooters had already “turned red” and took part in the attack on the palace. At nine o'clock the Bolsheviks presented an ultimatum about surrender, which was rejected.


Fighters of the female battalion in the Winter Palace. Petrograd. 1917 year. Photo: family-history.ru


At nine o'clock suddenly “hurray!” Thundered ahead. The Bolsheviks went on the attack. In one minute, everything rumbled around. Gun shooting merged with machine gun bursts. With the "Aurora" zabuhal gun.

Standing behind the barricade, the junkers and I responded with frequent fire. I glanced right and left. A continuous strip of flashing lights, like hundreds of fireflies fluttering around. Sometimes the silhouette of someone's head appeared. The attack choked. The enemy lay down. The shooting subsided, then flared up with a new force.

Taking advantage of the lull, I asked, raising my voice:

- The fourth platoon, are there any more ammunition?

- Yes, enough! - voices from the darkness were heard.

- There is still gunpowder in the old dog, Cossack forces have not weakened yet! - came the cheerful voice of some cadet.

We were fired from the arch of the General Staff, from the Hermitage, from the Pavlovsk barracks and the Palace Garden. County headquarters surrendered. Some sailors passed through the Hermitage to the Winter Palace, where there was also an exchange of fire. At 11, the artillery again began to beat the clock. The junkers had wounded, one was killed.

After serving for two and a half years as a company sergeant in 1 Kuban Rifle Regiment, I saw many battles that left an indelible impression on my life, but this first battle, which we fought in absolute darkness, without knowing the situation and not seeing the enemy, did not make I should be impressed. There was a consciousness of some kind of doom. There was no retreat, we were surrounded. It never occurred to the authorities that the authorities could order them to lay down their arms. Was there fear? I would say, as before, when standing on a clock in the woods, the consciousness of duty killed him. Death did not frighten us. We all thought it was happiness to give life for the Motherland.

"Women's battalion back to the building!" - Swept through the chain. We go in the yard, and the enormous gates are closed by a chain. I was sure that the whole company was in the building. But from the letters of Mr. Zurov I learned from the words of the participants in the battle that the second half-company was protecting the door. And when the cadet laid down their weapons on the barricade, the volunteers still held out. I don’t know how the red ones broke in and what happened.

We are led in the second floor into an empty room. “I'll go find out about further orders,” says the company officer, heading for the door. The commander does not return for a long time. The shooting subsided. A lieutenant appears at the door. The face is grim. “The palace fell. It is ordered to surrender the weapon. ” Funeral ringing his words in the soul ...

There was a message in the newspaper that in Moika or Fontanka (I do not remember) two female naked bodies with cropped heads were caught. One has his chest cut, the other one has shoulder straps.

A group of volunteers, 40 or 42 man, went home. In Petrograd, they were seen captured by sailors and taken to Kronstadt. They disappeared without a trace. We received a letter from parents who left with this group: inquired about the fate of their daughter.

The second group in 35 people in Moscow was captured by soldiers and brought to the barracks. From one of those volunteers, we received a letter, where she, reporting about the incident, writes: “I’m not in a position to tell what happened to us ... But it would be better if they shot us than go home after all that was experienced.”

Instead of an epilogue

I ... In the Volunteer Army, wounded and shell-shocked to my head, 25 had been completely deaf for years and had paralysis of the eye, restored by picures. A severe spinal disease made me one hundred percent disabled. I have been living for the eighth year in the Invalid House, according to the prediction of doctors - a candidate for paralytics. I live by remembering the past and hoping for a speedy transfer to a better world ... And I thank the Almighty for His great and rich mercies.

Paris, 1973

The full text of the memoirs of Maria Bocharnikova about the First World War and her further life was published on the military-historical site "Russian Imperial Army"
Our news channels

Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest news and the most important events of the day.

13 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. The comment was deleted.
  2. +2
    29 January 2015 11: 21
    Isn't it about this battalion in February a film will be released (film "Battalion")?
    1. 0
      29 January 2015 12: 16
      Well, gentlemen, lovers of the Bolsheviks. There are many of you here, I know. Will you skip the article? For denigrating the ideals of October.
      1. 0
        29 January 2015 19: 48
        Why is this addressed to me? Did I say something like that?
  3. +2
    29 January 2015 11: 21
    interesting article.
  4. 0
    29 January 2015 11: 29
    Very subjective! and - slightly inadequate ... or maybe not slightly?
    1. +1
      29 January 2015 12: 19
      But is it adequate to betray your king, country, military oath?
  5. Sendi7s
    +3
    29 January 2015 11: 34
    It is terrible when a woman who is destined to give life kills ...
  6. ZSP
    +2
    29 January 2015 11: 55
    Strong thing.
  7. +1
    29 January 2015 12: 16
    Well, men deserted, and the girls were eager for battle hi .
  8. rodevaan
    +2
    29 January 2015 13: 00
    As you wish gentlemen - but WOMAN AND WAR - THINGS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE! I am against the enlistment of girls in the army! NOT a woman’s business, with a three-line run to attack. Well, what are these warriors, Christmas trees, green ??. Let men fight, and girls are better engaged in children and family.
    1. The comment was deleted.
    2. +1
      29 January 2015 15: 47
      Well, from the point of view of us men, WOMAN AND WAR really are not compatible things, but on the other hand there is still how to look, say, their endurance threshold is higher, the same can be said about disgust, if you look at the physical data, then there is also something that is not specific, men are definitely stronger in strength, but in dexterity with the same training, our lovely ladies will already be stronger than ours ... Well, we must not forget moral qualities either, their intuition is many times better than ours, perseverance is good for target shooting too an order of magnitude better ... Remember yourself in childhood, in almost every yard there was a kid girl who could not kick weak "fofans" to her peers, but women who remembered who worked on the railroad, not anywhere in the store, but on "sleepers" "... but I remember I saw one aunt who could easily put a sleeper on her shoulder and carry it away ... The point is that at a certain period in life, women seem to" fly out "from further physical. loads and at this moment this difference is formed on the weaker and stronger sex, but if this physical. strained and continued on the example of the same "Amazons" we would have a beautiful floor in a very not even weak performance ...
      1. rodevaan
        0
        12 February 2015 13: 50
        You do not consider one factor! In particular, the same coefficient of moral stability. Girls are made by nature more emotional, therefore - the threshold of moral resistance to military horrors will be much lower than for men. That is, the coefficient of resistance is much lower. In other words, they are much more cowardly. This is not because I have some kind of prejudice - it was nature that made them that way. They have their advantages, but there are also disadvantages, and it was intended by nature that our species would win its place with the help of men, and the girl should deal with offspring. And secondly, can you imagine what the moral attitude in the mixed unit will be like if during the battle women will be injured, including serious and serious ones, in front of the mazhchins? What will be the morale of male soldiers in such a unit? Pure psychology. This unit will not withstand one attack, and will be morally crushed. Feminism and emancipation in the army is suicide for the army. Read the reports of the American commanders - what is a mixed combat structure in battle and what moral stability coefficient will be in this unit.
  9. +2
    29 January 2015 13: 10
    About the letter of the soldier and the answer
    “Dear comrade! We were very honored by your flattering testimony of our courage. But the last of your advice can not fulfill. There was a time when our valiant soldiers, without sparing their lives, defended their fatherland with their breasts, and we, the women, prepared a new shift and baked cakes on the front. Now, when, changing debt and forgetting shame and conscience, you shamefully fled from the front, we will take your place and hope with honor to fulfill our commitment. And let me give you advice: dress up in our sarafans, knit heads with fighters, cook borsch, sweep Vanyuk, tie tails to burenkas, and peeling seeds, scrub with tongues.

    Volunteers of the 2 Company of the 4 Platoon
    Trolling of the first half of the 20th century. Ah yes well done girls!)))
  10. +2
    30 January 2015 19: 09
    A group of volunteers, 40 or 42 people, went home. In Petrograd they saw how they were captured by sailors and taken to Kronstadt. They disappeared without a trace.
    The second group in 35 people in Moscow was captured by soldiers and brought to the barracks. From one of those volunteers, we received a letter, where she, reporting about the incident, writes: “I’m not in a position to tell what happened to us ... But it would be better if they shot us than go home after all that was experienced.”


    Only the enraged, lost its human appearance, the beast was capable of this in relation to women, especially military personnel ....

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"