Buenaventura Durruti. The commander of the legendary "Columns", the hero of the Spanish civil war
One of the highlights of the stories between the two world wars was, of course, the Spanish Civil War. It began on July 17 1936 from a mutiny of military units stationed in Spanish Morocco, against republican authority. For three years, the Spanish Right (the Falangists and their allies) and the Spanish Republicans fought one of the most complex and bloody civil wars in Europe in the 20th century. Germany and Italy, Portugal and France, and, of course, the Soviet Union were involved in this war, to one degree or another. Thousands of Soviet citizens - military specialists - fought on the side of Republican Spain as volunteers. In fact, these were the first "internationalist warriors" who shed blood in a distant and alien land. The names of the heroes of the Spanish war in those days were on the lips of many Soviet people of all ages. But not all of those who fought in Spain against Franco, by virtue of their ideological differences, received due prominence in the Soviet Union. Although the same Soviet military experts were present in almost all major republican formations. Including - and in the famous "Durruti Column."
Buenaventura Durruti ... In those years, this name thundered not only throughout Spain, but throughout the world. This is how Ilya Ehrenburg wrote about him: “[Durruti] is a very good-natured person. When the sculptor speaks of the "holiness of art", he does not argue, but smiles. So, he probably smiles at his fortnightly son. He could be an excellent leader of a playground. However, it is feared like the plague. He was sent not from the fourteen, not from the eighteen states ”(Ehrenburg IG. Spanish reporting 1931-1939. - M .: APN, 1986). The Durruti Column, staffed mainly by anarchists, played an important role in the Spanish Civil War, distinguished by high combat capability. This unique division of the republican army, despite the anarchist principles of organization, acted quite effectively, and this earned the interest and respect not only of like-minded people and allies, but also of opponents. Most likely, one of the most important reasons for the military success of the Column was the personality of its commander - one of the most charismatic characters of the Spanish Civil War.
"Fair" and "Solidary"
Buenaventura Durruti y Domingo was born on July 14 1896, in the city of Leon, in the north-west of Spain, in the region of Santa Ana. Like many of his peers - workers from families, Durruti began to work already in 14 years - first as a mechanic's apprentice and mechanic at a railway station, then in a washing shop at the Matallana de Torio mine. During the youth of Durruti, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, in Spain there was a very strong and developed labor union movement. The Spanish workers were united by two major trade unions - the Social Workers ’General Union (TSA), which was controlled by the socialists, and the National Labor Confederation (NCP), which held anarcho-syndicalist positions. In 1917, the General Workers' Union began a strike in which 21-year-old Durruti took part. Together with other workers' activists, Durruti participated in acts of sabotage — disabling steam locomotives and setting fire to warehouses. For excessive, in the opinion of the trade union leaders, radicalism, Durruti was expelled from the Universal Union of Workers. In addition, the young man was fired from his job and gathered to call up the army. But military service in the royal army was not part of the plans of the young activist: “Alfons XIII can consider one soldier less and one revolutionary more”, he liked to sentence Durruti at that time. Workers' performance was brutally suppressed by government forces - 70 workers died, more than 500 people were injured, and 2000 participants in the strike were imprisoned without trial. Buenaventura Durruti, not wanting to share the fate of arrested comrades and rot in prison, fled to neighboring France. For many opposition-minded Spaniards, a more developed and democratic France was considered a stronghold of free-thinking and a refuge in case of possible police repression. Actually, almost the entire twentieth century, France played the role of a haven for Spanish immigrants - Republicans, anti-fascists, representatives of radical left and national liberation movements. Durruti also settled in France. Here he stayed for three years - until 1920, while working as a mechanic at the Renault plant. In France, Durruti served as a cohesive anarchist group. In January, 1919, with a secret mission, he arrived in Spain, but was arrested in March and placed under a military tribunal. Here, acting talent came to the aid of Durruti - he simulated a broken bone, achieved placement in a military hospital in Burgos, from where he fled to the mountains and in June crossed the Spanish-French border.
When the situation in Spain stabilized somewhat, Durruti moved to his homeland, to Barcelona. In those years, Barcelona was the real capital of the Spanish labor movement. Catalonia, which was one of the most industrially developed regions of the country, had rich revolutionary traditions. When Durruti arrived in Barcelona, he joined the National Confederation of Labor (NCT) - the second most important trade union of Spain after the General Union of Workers. The history of the National Labor Confederation began in 1908-1910. In 1909, the Spanish government, in view of the serious losses incurred by the colonial troops fighting in Morocco, decided to call the Catalan workers for military service. In response, a major labor uprising broke out in Barcelona. After its suppression, the workers of Catalonia, among whom anarchist sentiments were strong, realized the need to create a strong revolutionary trade union organization. In October - November, the 1910 in Barcelona hosted the workers' congress, at which the National Labor Confederation was established. Within a few months, in 1911, there were more than 30 000 workers in its ranks. By 1919, the size of the National Labor Confederation increased to 800 000 workers. Great influence on the growth of the organization had a revolutionary events in Russia. At first, the CNT considered the issue of unification with the Universal Union of Workers and decided to join the Communist International. However, then, in 1922, due to the growing contradictions of anarchists with Marxist communists and the beginning of repression against anarchists in Soviet Russia, the National Confederation of Labor withdrew from the Comintern and joined the anarcho-syndicalist international - the International Association workers (MAT). Meanwhile, back in 1922, Mr. Durruti, who settled in Barcelona, together with his comrades Juan Garcia Oliver and Francisco Ascazo, created the anarchist group "The Just." One of the main reasons for the creation of the militant organization of the "Just" was the activity of the gangs of the "pistolos". Large industrialists hired professional gangsters and organized groups that attacked workers demonstrations and meetings, killed and maimed trade union activists. In just two years, at least 1920 trade union activists, socialists and anarchists died at the hands of gangsters.
In contrast to the CNT, which was oriented toward mass work among Spanish workers, the “Just” were a purely militant organization. So, in August 1920, the group attempted an assassination attempt on the Spanish king Alfonso XIII. In response, the Spanish police began persecuting the anarchists. Durruti, who went into hiding, moved to Zaragoza, where he continued to organize the anarchist movement. At the start of 1922, the Just organized a strike campaign in Zaragoza that aimed to free the arrested anarchists. On the day of the trial of the anarchists, thousands of workers took to the streets of Zaragoza, after which the court hastened to find the accused innocent. In April, 1922 Durruti moved to Barcelona, where with his participation the Plavilnik group was established, which established links with the trade union of woodworking workers. In October, 1922, the members of the Plavilnik group and the trade union of woodworkers created a new combat group, Solidarny. Its leading leaders were Durruti, Francisco Ascazo, José García Oliver, Ricardo Sanz and Aurelio Fernandez. One of the first initiatives of the group was the convening of a conference of anarchist organizations of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, at which the Regional Anarchist Commission on Relations and the Catalan Regional Federation of Anarchist Groups were formed. After 10 March 1923, the gunmen killed the secretary general of the National Confederation of Labor, Salvador Segui, the NKT fighters attacked the hunting union of Barcelona, where right-wing supporters, businessmen and criminal leaders gathered. Began an armed confrontation between anarchists and mafia groups of Barcelona. Once, gangsters nearly killed Durruti and Askaso, who drank coffee in a cafe in Barcelona. However, the anarchists managed to shoot two thugs and put four more to flight. The Solidary Group also attempted assassinations of prominent right-wing figures. So, the leader of the bandits R. Langue, the ex-governor Bilbao H. Regheral and Cardinal Soldeville were killed. However, 13 September 1923 was established in Spain by the military dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera. Severe repression began against the left opposition, including, of course, the anarchists. Durruti and Askaso fled to France, where they settled in Paris. For some time they led an anarchist publishing house that acted as a “screen” for the preparation of the armed uprising in Spain. On the night of 7 on November 1924, a detachment under the command of Durruti invaded Spain and engaged in a battle with a unit of the civil guard. However, the Spanish security forces managed to repel an anarchist attack and the detachment, having suffered heavy losses, was forced to retreat back to French territory.
The most dangerous Spaniard
Durruti, along with Askaso and Oliver, were forced to flee to Latin America. In December 1924 they arrived in Cuba, where they got to work as port loaders and took part in organizing a port workers' syndicate. They were fired for their political activities, and they were forced to join sugarcane cutters on a plantation in Santa Clara. There was a labor conflict between the workers and the owner of the plantation, which the militants decided in their own way. The owner of the plantation was killed, and on his body left a note "this is the justice of the wanderers." Naturally, after the murder committed, Durruti and Askaso had to urgently leave Cuba. On the coast of Mexico, they were arrested by the coast guard, but then released. In Mexico City, they met Alejandro Askaso and Gregory Hover, after which the Wanderer Group was created. In April, 1925 conducted a series of attacks on the box office of Mexican factories. With the help of the proceeds, Spanish emigrants sponsored the activities of the “rationalist school” - an experimental educational institution, which was carried out in accordance with the concept of anarchist pedagogy by Francisco Ferrer.
Soon, the “Wanderers” left Mexico and in July 1925 arrived in Chile. Only in the period 16-19 of July 1925 did the group make five expropriations to Chilean banks. In Chile, unlike in Spain, the anarchist movement was less developed and active, so the emergence of political immigrants from Europe introduced a dynamic start to its development. So, Durruti committed the first in the history of Chilean anarchism armed expropriation. In 1925, the socio-political situation became more complex in Chile. In June, 1925, the government of Chile, brutally suppressed workers at the La Coruña Nitre Mines. Over 1, thousands of people were captured and placed at the velodrome and cruiser, many of them were subsequently shot. In total, more than 2 thousand people, including women and children, died during the suppression of the uprising. 1500 people were shot, and 600 people dropped, previously chained, into the sea. It was in such a difficult situation that Chilean anarchists had to act, among whom there were many immigrants from Spain. In August 1925, the anarchists arrived in Argentina, where Durruti got a job as a loader, Askaso a cook, and Hover a carpenter. However, after two robberies in which they accused visiting anarchists, they had to go to an illegal situation. 18 January 1926, they attacked the Bank of San Martin, then hid for two weeks in the vicinity of Buenos Aires, and then moved to Uruguay and from there went to Europe.
The Spanish immigrants settled in Paris and soon, having learned about the upcoming visit of the Spanish king Alfonso XIII, they began to make an assassination attempt on him. However, the French police managed to find out about the plans of the anarchists, after which 25 June 1926 of Durruti, Askaso and Hover were arrested by the French police. In October, Durruti 1926 was sentenced to 3 months in prison, Hover to 2 months in prison, and Askaso to 6 months in prison. Spain and Argentina demanded that the French government extradite the arrested anarchists, which led to the start of a mass campaign against the extradition of the “Wanderers”, in which not only anarchists but also representatives of other left-wing organizations of France were involved. The International Anarchist Defense Committee, which was once created to support American anarchists of Italian origin, Sacco and Vanzetti, participated in actions against extradition. It is significant that world famous representatives of Spanish culture - philosophers and writers Miguel Unamuno, José Ortega i Gasset, Blasco Ibáñez spoke out in defense of the arrested anarchists Durruti, Askaso and Hovera. Interestingly, if Ibáñez adhered to republican views and was once one of the ideologists of the Spanish anti-monarchist movement, then Miguel Unamuno, a religious philosopher who survived the fascination with socialism and anarchism, had long been in right-wing and anti-republican positions, and Jose Ortega y Gasset Although he was a Republican, he was critical of leftist views. In the end, French justice was forced to meet the public and 8 July 1927. Durruti, Askaso and Hover were released from prison. In Paris, there was a historic meeting of Buenaventura Durruti with the senior Russian contemporary and like-minded person - the legendary Nestor Makhno, who by that time lived in emigration in the French capital, but did not stop active participation in the revolutionary movement. In 1927, Mr. Durruti was arrested by French police and several times he was deported from one European country to another. Ilya Ehrenburg recalls this period of Durruti's life in the following way: “they sent him to Belgium. From Belgium he was sent to Germany. From Germany to Holland. From Holland to Switzerland. From Switzerland to France ... This was repeated many times. Once for two weeks, Durruti was thrown from France to Germany and back: gendarmes played football. Another time the French gendarmes decided to hold the Belgian: the two entered into a long conversation with the Belgians, while the lively smuggling car rushed off to Brussels. Durruti changed every day passport. He did not change his profession or conviction: he continued to work at the plant, and he remained an anarchist. ” (Ehrenburg IG. Spanish reports 1931-1939. - M .: APN, 1986.). Finally, in 1930, he received a residence permit in Belgium. In this small country, the Spanish anarchist lived for two years.
Spanish Republic and the actions of the anarchists
Meanwhile, in the homeland of Durruti, great events took place. The country was experiencing an economic crisis, in parallel with the radicalization of society, which consisted primarily in dissatisfaction with the Spanish monarchy and its political course. In the end, 12 April 1931, after the victory of supporters of the republic in the municipal elections in the largest cities of the country, anti-government protests began. The commander of the Spanish Civil Guard (analogue of the internal troops), General Sanhurho, recognized the impossibility of dispersing the demonstrations, after which King Alfons XIII decided to leave the country. 14 April 1931 The power in Spain was transferred to the Provisional Government, formed by the leading political parties of republican orientation. 28 June 1931, elections were held for the Constituent Assembly, in which Republican parties received 83% of votes, and the largest faction was Spanish Socialists, who received 116 seats from 470. 9 December 1931 was adopted a new republican constitution of the country, in accordance with which the possibility of alienation and socialization of property was provided, the church was separated from the state and the education system, freedom of speech was established, women's suffrage and divorce rights were proclaimed, the nobility was deprived of all class privileges. That is, the constitution of Republican Spain was one of the most radical in Europe at that time and was very concerned about conservative circles of European countries who saw the activities of Spanish Republicans as the “hand of the Soviet Union”, at least - they were confident that if the Republicans continue to carry out such politics, Spain will turn into a pro-Soviet state. The republican revolution allowed the left-wing and radical left parties and organizations in Spain to legalize their activities. Buenaventura Durruti returned to his homeland, like many hundreds of other Spanish immigrants - revolutionaries. However, the new republican authorities continued to view the communists and anarchists with suspicion.
By this time, the anarchist movement in Spain was as follows. The largest organization that united over 500 thousands of people remained the anarcho-syndicalist National Labor Confederation (NCP). Its stronghold was Catalonia, where the CNT had the strongest positions, but also the confederation enjoyed influence in Andalusia and Aragon, where its numbers exceeded the number of the socialist Universal Working People's Union (TSA). In 1927, the NKT Federation of Iberian Anarchists (FAI) was created — a purely anarchist organization that claimed to be the unifying anarchists not only in Spain, but also in neighboring Portugal. Buenaventura Durruti became one of the leading activists of the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia, being in radical positions and opposing the moderate wing of the CNT, focused on cooperation with the socialists. Eventually, the moderates, led by Angel Pestanya, left the ranks of the CNT and created a Syndicalist party. As for the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia, it took part in two anarchist uprisings against the Second Spanish Republic, which took place in the 1932 and 1933 years. Buenaventura Durruti campaigned against the liberal government of the Second Republic. After the uprising of the miners of Figolsa, in February 1932 of Durruti was sent to Western Sahara and then to the Canary Islands. But the unions demanded his return. In Barcelona, a powerful strike of the National Confederation of Labor broke out, after which Durruti returned to the country. In December, the anarchists of Barcelona, led by Durruti, began preparations for an armed uprising, which began on January 1932 on January 8. Government forces succeeded in suppressing the uprising, and in April 1933 of Durruti was arrested and until October 1933 was imprisoned. A new uprising by anarchists appointed for December 1933. 1933 December Anarchists spoke in the provinces of Aragon, Rioja, Catalonia, Galicia and Leon. Some localities immediately came under the control of anarchists. But the government forces again managed to suppress the performance of the Spanish workers. The National Labor Confederation was banned, over 8 thousands of people were arrested. In Zaragoza, a strike began in support of the detainees, during which anarchists managed to destroy cases of suspects in the riots. In the end, Durruti and hundreds of like-minded people were released from prison. In 20, Buenaventura, Durruti became one of the initiators of the development of a plan of action for the National Labor Confederation in the event of insurrection of right-wing military circles.
Creation and Battle Path Columns
17 July 1936 G. General Francisco Franco raised an armed insurrection in Spanish Morocco. Over the next three days, the Franco supported almost all military garrisons, the Spanish aristocracy, most of the Catholic clergy. 19 July, 1936 began a military rebellion in Barcelona.
At this time, Durruti (pictured) was a member of the Defense Committee of Catalonia, formed by the National Confederation of Labor and the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia. Under his leadership, was organized working resistance to the Franco. For two days, the workers detachments fought street battles with armed units of the Spanish army, which supported Franco. By the evening of July 20. The 1936 revolt in Barcelona was completely eliminated. The workers' squads Durruti and Askaso captured the Ataransara barracks and the Colon Hotel. Francisco Askaso himself was killed in battle. In fact, control of the National Confederation of Labor and the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia was established over all of Barcelona and almost all of Catalonia. Despite the fact that Buenaventura Durruti, in his political views, remained a staunch anarchist, he quickly realized the need to organize the working masses to resist the right-wing rebellion and proceeded to form a working militia. According to the idea of Durruti, formed in Catalonia - a stronghold of the anarchist and republican movement - the workers' militia, having suppressed the remnants of the rebels in the province, was to assist other Spanish regions in completely eliminating the resistance of the Francoists. Thus began the heroic story of the Durruti Column, as the armed group he created was called. 24 July 1936. The Durruti Column launched an attack on Zaragoza.
Durruti Column was a unique armed formation. Like other connections created by anarchists, it was radically different in terms of its organizational structure, its management system, and the relations between the fighters and the units of the regular army. This was her strengths and weaknesses. The strength of the Column, of course, lay in the enormous ideological motivation of the overwhelming majority of its fighters, who were ready to give their lives in the name of the triumph of the idea. In the Pillar there were no military ranks and servility, the equality of the fighters and commanders was established - starting from addressing each other ("comrade") and ending with the same food and supplies. Formally, Durruti was considered equal with other fighters, his official position was called the delegate of the Column. During the direct conduct of hostilities, the orders of Durruti headquarters were binding, but after the end of the battle, the headquarters lost all power over the fighters. The column was completed exclusively by voluntary means and any fighter at any moment could leave it. However, the ideological motivation did its job and the majority of the fighters fought without being either draftees or mercenaries. The fighting capacity of the unit, which at first glance seemed extremely loose and amorphous due to the specifics of the management organization, at that time surprised many military specialists - both Spanish officers and foreign advisers. For several days, the Durruti detachments managed to establish control over a significant part of the territory where a unique social experiment began to create an anarchist republic (Nestor Makhno attempted something similar at the time in the Gulyai-Paul territory under his control). On the initiative of anarchists, the Aragon Defense Council was created, workers and peasant communes were formed. However, from the very beginning, Durruti also pursued difficulties. One of the main problems of the Column was the shortage weapons and gear. Durruti even had to threaten the Republican government - he promised Prime Minister Largo Caballero that in the event of refusal to finance the purchase of weapons for the Column, the anarchists would march on Madrid and sweep away the Republican government.
"Colonel Xanthi"
Another serious problem of the Durruti Columns was the lack of military specialists. The bulk of the Column fighters were represented by yesterday’s workers and peasants, who at best had military service experience as privates and corporals in the Spanish ground forces, and for the most part did not have one. The situation, however, was saved by Soviet military advisers. As is known, after the beginning of the Civil War in Spain, thousands of Soviet military specialists rushed to the Iberian Peninsula from the Soviet Union - staff officers, scouts, saboteurs, tank crews, gunners, communications men, pilots. Many Soviet citizens died in the distant Spanish land, heroically fighting the Franco. Practically at every large unit of the republican troops there were Soviet military advisers.
Not an exception, and Column Durruti. When he appeared someone "Xanthi". He presented himself as a Macedonian trader who came to Spain from Turkey and sympathized with the republican movement in Spain. As is known, in the first third of the twentieth century, the Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) was active in Macedonia, among the militants of which there were many active and former anarchists. Therefore, no one was surprised at the emergence of a Macedonian internationalist in battling Spain. Xanthi was represented by the colonel of the republican army. The mysterious Macedonian volunteered for the detachment under the command of Durruti and immediately proved himself very well in battles with the Francoists in Barcelona and Zaragoza. Struck by the courage and combat skills of the “Macedonian,” Durruti appointed Xanthi as his adviser, despite being aware of the communist, rather than the anarchist, views of the Macedonian. It was Xanthi who suggested to Durruti the idea of creating machine-gun platoons, to which Durruti demanded that the adviser teach him also his best machine-gun fire. Subsequently, the "Colonel Xanthi" became the prototype of the hero of Ernest Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls". At that time, few people knew that under the guise of a Macedonian, the duties of the chief adviser at the headquarters of the Column Durruti were performed by a professional Soviet military intelligence officer - an officer of the Red Army, Hadji Umar Dzhorovich Mamsurov (1903-1968). Ossetians by nationality, Khadzhi-Umar Mamsurov was born in the village of Olginskoe, Vladikavkaz District, Terek Gubernia (now - North Ossetia) into a peasant family.
At 1918, a fifteen-year-old youth Mamsurov, who had just settled down to work at the Vladikavkaz railway depot, joined the Red Army. He joined the Gorny cavalry hundredth 11 of the Red Army, but fell ill with typhus and was left in the hospital. At that time, Vladikavkaz was captured by whites, who executed 17 thousands of Red Army soldiers — the wounded and sick; the young, Haji-Umar, miraculously escaped. From April 1919, he became a connected partisan detachment operating between Vladikavkaz and Grozny. So, from a young age, began his career as a military intelligence officer. Mamsurov participated in raids on the headquarters of the White Guard units, and in 1920, after the establishment of Soviet power in the North Caucasus, began to work in the Terek Emergency Commission. As a Chekist, the young man had more than once to take part in the liquidation of the White Guard detachments and simply the predatory gangs, who were engaged in the Terek region. Then Mamsurov filed an application for membership in the RCP (b). In March, 1921, seventeen-year-old Mamsurov, became the officer of the special department of the 11 Red Army. Then he was sent to study - to Moscow, to the Communist University of Working People of the East (KUTV). After successfully graduating from KUTV, he also graduated from a military-political school, after which he served as a teacher at the National Cavalry School in Krasnodar, Assistant Military Commissar and Military Commissar of the National Cavalry Units of the North Caucasus Military District. Later, Mamsurov was transferred to Kazan - to the post of commander of a cavalry squadron, then - commander of the reconnaissance division, and in 1929, at the age of 26 years, the heroic Ossetian became commander of a cavalry regiment. In 1932, after graduating from the refresher courses for commanders at the Military-Political Academy. IN AND. Lenin, Khadzhi-Umar Mamsurov was transferred to the Red Army Intelligence Directorate, where from January 1936 he became an employee of Special Administration “A” (active reconnaissance), who was carrying out responsible missions. In 1936, Major Mamsurov was sent to Spain as a specialist in organizing reconnaissance, sabotage and partisan combat. So he was at the headquarters of Durruti, using the legend of the alleged Macedonian origin.
Mysterious Death of Durruti
When connections of Franco surrounded the Spanish capital, the Republican government had to ask for help from the Aragonese anarchists. 14 November 1936 Durruti with a detachment in 1800 Column fighters entered Madrid. The Durruti compound took up defensive positions on the campus of Madrid. The fights in the Spanish capital were so fierce that in the 4 of the day only 700 people remained from the Column. Over a thousand anarchists died in battles with the Francoists, but at the cost of huge losses the enemy was stopped. 19 November 1936 Buenaventura Durruti went to the front - to personally take part in the hostilities, but on the way under unclear circumstances, he was wounded by a bullet in the chest. Seriously wounded Durruti was taken to the Ritz Hotel - to the Republican Police Hospital, where, despite the efforts of doctors, he died in the morning of November 20 1936. The glorified revolutionary and military commander was only forty years old. Two days after Durruti's death, his body was taken to Barcelona, where, with great honors, he was buried in Montjuic cemetery. Durruti’s funeral was attended by about 500 thousands of residents of Barcelona, surrounding towns and villages. It is not yet known under what specific circumstances Buenaventura Durruti died. The official version claims that the sniper, who was hiding on the upper floors of the Medical Clinic of the University of Madrid, shot at the anarchist commander. But many sources indicate that they shot at Durruti from close range. The opinions of the comrades of the perished in the anarchist movement were divided. Some considered the death of Durruti to be the revenge of the “fifth column” in the Republican ranks, others directly blamed the communists for this. 21 November 1936, the famous Russian anarchist émigré Vsevolod Volin, who published the newspaper Anti-Fascist Spain, received a telegram. It said that Durruti was killed by the Communists, who were competing with him for influence in the country. However, an hour later Volin received a second telegram. In it, the editor asked for the sake of preserving anti-fascist unity not to publish information that the Communists could have killed Durruti. There is a fourth version - that Buenaventura Durruti on the road could accidentally pull the trigger himself and die due to careless handling of a weapon.
Fate Columns
After the tragic death of Durruti, the Column, which by that time had lost more than 50% of its personnel, was led by Ricardo Sans. Under his command, she took part in the battles to defend Madrid. In April 1937, part of the Column of Durruti, which was on the defenses of Madrid, returned to Aragon, where it merged with the second part of the Column remaining in the province and continued to participate in the struggle against the Francoists. In January 1939, the Column of Durruti took part in the battle for Catalonia. After the withdrawal from Catalonia in the last months of the Spanish Civil War, the remnants of the Column of Durruti tried to organize partisan resistance in the Sierra del Cadi - in the Catalan Pyrenees. However, the failures that pursued the anarchists forced them to retreat to France. Many fighters of the Column of Durruti were arrested by the French authorities, some were sent to the construction battalions, erecting a defense line on the German border. Subsequently, part of the anarchists ended up in the Nazi concentration camps. A fairly large part of the Column of Durruti was enrolled in the French Foreign Legion and continued to serve in Chad. Some of Durruti's former fighters served in the 9th tank company of the 2nd Panzer Division of Free France. By the way, the first tank of Free France, which entered the liberated Paris, was the tank "Guadalajara" under the banner of the Spanish Republic.
Haji-Umar Mamsurov, aka “Colonel Xanthi”, returned to the Soviet Union. During the Soviet-Finnish War, he was Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Task Force on the Finnish Front, and from January 1940 commanded the Special Ski Brigade of the 9 Army. During the Great Patriotic War, Mamsurov was alternately in intelligence work and command positions in the army. He commanded a special operations group the Red Army Intelligence, was the commander of 114-Cavalry Division, deputy commander of 7-Cavalry Corps, Assistant Chief of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement and intelligence chief of staff, commander 2-Crimean Guards Cavalry Division. Until the last post, Hadji Umar Dzhiorovich was until August 1946, under his command the division fought in Western Ukraine against the Bandera underground. Then Mamsurov commanded the 3 th separate Yevpatoriya rifle brigade, the 27 th mechanized division of the 38 th army, the 27 th rifle corps and the 38 th army. In November 1956 was he who was one of the commanders of the Soviet units who suppressed the anti-communist insurgency in Hungary. After that, Haji-Umar was appointed deputy chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate, rising to the rank of colonel-general. Died in 1968
Buenaventura Durruti ... In those years, this name thundered not only throughout Spain, but throughout the world. This is how Ilya Ehrenburg wrote about him: “[Durruti] is a very good-natured person. When the sculptor speaks of the "holiness of art", he does not argue, but smiles. So, he probably smiles at his fortnightly son. He could be an excellent leader of a playground. However, it is feared like the plague. He was sent not from the fourteen, not from the eighteen states ”(Ehrenburg IG. Spanish reporting 1931-1939. - M .: APN, 1986). The Durruti Column, staffed mainly by anarchists, played an important role in the Spanish Civil War, distinguished by high combat capability. This unique division of the republican army, despite the anarchist principles of organization, acted quite effectively, and this earned the interest and respect not only of like-minded people and allies, but also of opponents. Most likely, one of the most important reasons for the military success of the Column was the personality of its commander - one of the most charismatic characters of the Spanish Civil War.
"Fair" and "Solidary"
Buenaventura Durruti y Domingo was born on July 14 1896, in the city of Leon, in the north-west of Spain, in the region of Santa Ana. Like many of his peers - workers from families, Durruti began to work already in 14 years - first as a mechanic's apprentice and mechanic at a railway station, then in a washing shop at the Matallana de Torio mine. During the youth of Durruti, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, in Spain there was a very strong and developed labor union movement. The Spanish workers were united by two major trade unions - the Social Workers ’General Union (TSA), which was controlled by the socialists, and the National Labor Confederation (NCP), which held anarcho-syndicalist positions. In 1917, the General Workers' Union began a strike in which 21-year-old Durruti took part. Together with other workers' activists, Durruti participated in acts of sabotage — disabling steam locomotives and setting fire to warehouses. For excessive, in the opinion of the trade union leaders, radicalism, Durruti was expelled from the Universal Union of Workers. In addition, the young man was fired from his job and gathered to call up the army. But military service in the royal army was not part of the plans of the young activist: “Alfons XIII can consider one soldier less and one revolutionary more”, he liked to sentence Durruti at that time. Workers' performance was brutally suppressed by government forces - 70 workers died, more than 500 people were injured, and 2000 participants in the strike were imprisoned without trial. Buenaventura Durruti, not wanting to share the fate of arrested comrades and rot in prison, fled to neighboring France. For many opposition-minded Spaniards, a more developed and democratic France was considered a stronghold of free-thinking and a refuge in case of possible police repression. Actually, almost the entire twentieth century, France played the role of a haven for Spanish immigrants - Republicans, anti-fascists, representatives of radical left and national liberation movements. Durruti also settled in France. Here he stayed for three years - until 1920, while working as a mechanic at the Renault plant. In France, Durruti served as a cohesive anarchist group. In January, 1919, with a secret mission, he arrived in Spain, but was arrested in March and placed under a military tribunal. Here, acting talent came to the aid of Durruti - he simulated a broken bone, achieved placement in a military hospital in Burgos, from where he fled to the mountains and in June crossed the Spanish-French border. When the situation in Spain stabilized somewhat, Durruti moved to his homeland, to Barcelona. In those years, Barcelona was the real capital of the Spanish labor movement. Catalonia, which was one of the most industrially developed regions of the country, had rich revolutionary traditions. When Durruti arrived in Barcelona, he joined the National Confederation of Labor (NCT) - the second most important trade union of Spain after the General Union of Workers. The history of the National Labor Confederation began in 1908-1910. In 1909, the Spanish government, in view of the serious losses incurred by the colonial troops fighting in Morocco, decided to call the Catalan workers for military service. In response, a major labor uprising broke out in Barcelona. After its suppression, the workers of Catalonia, among whom anarchist sentiments were strong, realized the need to create a strong revolutionary trade union organization. In October - November, the 1910 in Barcelona hosted the workers' congress, at which the National Labor Confederation was established. Within a few months, in 1911, there were more than 30 000 workers in its ranks. By 1919, the size of the National Labor Confederation increased to 800 000 workers. Great influence on the growth of the organization had a revolutionary events in Russia. At first, the CNT considered the issue of unification with the Universal Union of Workers and decided to join the Communist International. However, then, in 1922, due to the growing contradictions of anarchists with Marxist communists and the beginning of repression against anarchists in Soviet Russia, the National Confederation of Labor withdrew from the Comintern and joined the anarcho-syndicalist international - the International Association workers (MAT). Meanwhile, back in 1922, Mr. Durruti, who settled in Barcelona, together with his comrades Juan Garcia Oliver and Francisco Ascazo, created the anarchist group "The Just." One of the main reasons for the creation of the militant organization of the "Just" was the activity of the gangs of the "pistolos". Large industrialists hired professional gangsters and organized groups that attacked workers demonstrations and meetings, killed and maimed trade union activists. In just two years, at least 1920 trade union activists, socialists and anarchists died at the hands of gangsters.
In contrast to the CNT, which was oriented toward mass work among Spanish workers, the “Just” were a purely militant organization. So, in August 1920, the group attempted an assassination attempt on the Spanish king Alfonso XIII. In response, the Spanish police began persecuting the anarchists. Durruti, who went into hiding, moved to Zaragoza, where he continued to organize the anarchist movement. At the start of 1922, the Just organized a strike campaign in Zaragoza that aimed to free the arrested anarchists. On the day of the trial of the anarchists, thousands of workers took to the streets of Zaragoza, after which the court hastened to find the accused innocent. In April, 1922 Durruti moved to Barcelona, where with his participation the Plavilnik group was established, which established links with the trade union of woodworking workers. In October, 1922, the members of the Plavilnik group and the trade union of woodworkers created a new combat group, Solidarny. Its leading leaders were Durruti, Francisco Ascazo, José García Oliver, Ricardo Sanz and Aurelio Fernandez. One of the first initiatives of the group was the convening of a conference of anarchist organizations of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, at which the Regional Anarchist Commission on Relations and the Catalan Regional Federation of Anarchist Groups were formed. After 10 March 1923, the gunmen killed the secretary general of the National Confederation of Labor, Salvador Segui, the NKT fighters attacked the hunting union of Barcelona, where right-wing supporters, businessmen and criminal leaders gathered. Began an armed confrontation between anarchists and mafia groups of Barcelona. Once, gangsters nearly killed Durruti and Askaso, who drank coffee in a cafe in Barcelona. However, the anarchists managed to shoot two thugs and put four more to flight. The Solidary Group also attempted assassinations of prominent right-wing figures. So, the leader of the bandits R. Langue, the ex-governor Bilbao H. Regheral and Cardinal Soldeville were killed. However, 13 September 1923 was established in Spain by the military dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera. Severe repression began against the left opposition, including, of course, the anarchists. Durruti and Askaso fled to France, where they settled in Paris. For some time they led an anarchist publishing house that acted as a “screen” for the preparation of the armed uprising in Spain. On the night of 7 on November 1924, a detachment under the command of Durruti invaded Spain and engaged in a battle with a unit of the civil guard. However, the Spanish security forces managed to repel an anarchist attack and the detachment, having suffered heavy losses, was forced to retreat back to French territory.
The most dangerous Spaniard
Durruti, along with Askaso and Oliver, were forced to flee to Latin America. In December 1924 they arrived in Cuba, where they got to work as port loaders and took part in organizing a port workers' syndicate. They were fired for their political activities, and they were forced to join sugarcane cutters on a plantation in Santa Clara. There was a labor conflict between the workers and the owner of the plantation, which the militants decided in their own way. The owner of the plantation was killed, and on his body left a note "this is the justice of the wanderers." Naturally, after the murder committed, Durruti and Askaso had to urgently leave Cuba. On the coast of Mexico, they were arrested by the coast guard, but then released. In Mexico City, they met Alejandro Askaso and Gregory Hover, after which the Wanderer Group was created. In April, 1925 conducted a series of attacks on the box office of Mexican factories. With the help of the proceeds, Spanish emigrants sponsored the activities of the “rationalist school” - an experimental educational institution, which was carried out in accordance with the concept of anarchist pedagogy by Francisco Ferrer.
Soon, the “Wanderers” left Mexico and in July 1925 arrived in Chile. Only in the period 16-19 of July 1925 did the group make five expropriations to Chilean banks. In Chile, unlike in Spain, the anarchist movement was less developed and active, so the emergence of political immigrants from Europe introduced a dynamic start to its development. So, Durruti committed the first in the history of Chilean anarchism armed expropriation. In 1925, the socio-political situation became more complex in Chile. In June, 1925, the government of Chile, brutally suppressed workers at the La Coruña Nitre Mines. Over 1, thousands of people were captured and placed at the velodrome and cruiser, many of them were subsequently shot. In total, more than 2 thousand people, including women and children, died during the suppression of the uprising. 1500 people were shot, and 600 people dropped, previously chained, into the sea. It was in such a difficult situation that Chilean anarchists had to act, among whom there were many immigrants from Spain. In August 1925, the anarchists arrived in Argentina, where Durruti got a job as a loader, Askaso a cook, and Hover a carpenter. However, after two robberies in which they accused visiting anarchists, they had to go to an illegal situation. 18 January 1926, they attacked the Bank of San Martin, then hid for two weeks in the vicinity of Buenos Aires, and then moved to Uruguay and from there went to Europe.
The Spanish immigrants settled in Paris and soon, having learned about the upcoming visit of the Spanish king Alfonso XIII, they began to make an assassination attempt on him. However, the French police managed to find out about the plans of the anarchists, after which 25 June 1926 of Durruti, Askaso and Hover were arrested by the French police. In October, Durruti 1926 was sentenced to 3 months in prison, Hover to 2 months in prison, and Askaso to 6 months in prison. Spain and Argentina demanded that the French government extradite the arrested anarchists, which led to the start of a mass campaign against the extradition of the “Wanderers”, in which not only anarchists but also representatives of other left-wing organizations of France were involved. The International Anarchist Defense Committee, which was once created to support American anarchists of Italian origin, Sacco and Vanzetti, participated in actions against extradition. It is significant that world famous representatives of Spanish culture - philosophers and writers Miguel Unamuno, José Ortega i Gasset, Blasco Ibáñez spoke out in defense of the arrested anarchists Durruti, Askaso and Hovera. Interestingly, if Ibáñez adhered to republican views and was once one of the ideologists of the Spanish anti-monarchist movement, then Miguel Unamuno, a religious philosopher who survived the fascination with socialism and anarchism, had long been in right-wing and anti-republican positions, and Jose Ortega y Gasset Although he was a Republican, he was critical of leftist views. In the end, French justice was forced to meet the public and 8 July 1927. Durruti, Askaso and Hover were released from prison. In Paris, there was a historic meeting of Buenaventura Durruti with the senior Russian contemporary and like-minded person - the legendary Nestor Makhno, who by that time lived in emigration in the French capital, but did not stop active participation in the revolutionary movement. In 1927, Mr. Durruti was arrested by French police and several times he was deported from one European country to another. Ilya Ehrenburg recalls this period of Durruti's life in the following way: “they sent him to Belgium. From Belgium he was sent to Germany. From Germany to Holland. From Holland to Switzerland. From Switzerland to France ... This was repeated many times. Once for two weeks, Durruti was thrown from France to Germany and back: gendarmes played football. Another time the French gendarmes decided to hold the Belgian: the two entered into a long conversation with the Belgians, while the lively smuggling car rushed off to Brussels. Durruti changed every day passport. He did not change his profession or conviction: he continued to work at the plant, and he remained an anarchist. ” (Ehrenburg IG. Spanish reports 1931-1939. - M .: APN, 1986.). Finally, in 1930, he received a residence permit in Belgium. In this small country, the Spanish anarchist lived for two years.
Spanish Republic and the actions of the anarchists
Meanwhile, in the homeland of Durruti, great events took place. The country was experiencing an economic crisis, in parallel with the radicalization of society, which consisted primarily in dissatisfaction with the Spanish monarchy and its political course. In the end, 12 April 1931, after the victory of supporters of the republic in the municipal elections in the largest cities of the country, anti-government protests began. The commander of the Spanish Civil Guard (analogue of the internal troops), General Sanhurho, recognized the impossibility of dispersing the demonstrations, after which King Alfons XIII decided to leave the country. 14 April 1931 The power in Spain was transferred to the Provisional Government, formed by the leading political parties of republican orientation. 28 June 1931, elections were held for the Constituent Assembly, in which Republican parties received 83% of votes, and the largest faction was Spanish Socialists, who received 116 seats from 470. 9 December 1931 was adopted a new republican constitution of the country, in accordance with which the possibility of alienation and socialization of property was provided, the church was separated from the state and the education system, freedom of speech was established, women's suffrage and divorce rights were proclaimed, the nobility was deprived of all class privileges. That is, the constitution of Republican Spain was one of the most radical in Europe at that time and was very concerned about conservative circles of European countries who saw the activities of Spanish Republicans as the “hand of the Soviet Union”, at least - they were confident that if the Republicans continue to carry out such politics, Spain will turn into a pro-Soviet state. The republican revolution allowed the left-wing and radical left parties and organizations in Spain to legalize their activities. Buenaventura Durruti returned to his homeland, like many hundreds of other Spanish immigrants - revolutionaries. However, the new republican authorities continued to view the communists and anarchists with suspicion.
By this time, the anarchist movement in Spain was as follows. The largest organization that united over 500 thousands of people remained the anarcho-syndicalist National Labor Confederation (NCP). Its stronghold was Catalonia, where the CNT had the strongest positions, but also the confederation enjoyed influence in Andalusia and Aragon, where its numbers exceeded the number of the socialist Universal Working People's Union (TSA). In 1927, the NKT Federation of Iberian Anarchists (FAI) was created — a purely anarchist organization that claimed to be the unifying anarchists not only in Spain, but also in neighboring Portugal. Buenaventura Durruti became one of the leading activists of the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia, being in radical positions and opposing the moderate wing of the CNT, focused on cooperation with the socialists. Eventually, the moderates, led by Angel Pestanya, left the ranks of the CNT and created a Syndicalist party. As for the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia, it took part in two anarchist uprisings against the Second Spanish Republic, which took place in the 1932 and 1933 years. Buenaventura Durruti campaigned against the liberal government of the Second Republic. After the uprising of the miners of Figolsa, in February 1932 of Durruti was sent to Western Sahara and then to the Canary Islands. But the unions demanded his return. In Barcelona, a powerful strike of the National Confederation of Labor broke out, after which Durruti returned to the country. In December, the anarchists of Barcelona, led by Durruti, began preparations for an armed uprising, which began on January 1932 on January 8. Government forces succeeded in suppressing the uprising, and in April 1933 of Durruti was arrested and until October 1933 was imprisoned. A new uprising by anarchists appointed for December 1933. 1933 December Anarchists spoke in the provinces of Aragon, Rioja, Catalonia, Galicia and Leon. Some localities immediately came under the control of anarchists. But the government forces again managed to suppress the performance of the Spanish workers. The National Labor Confederation was banned, over 8 thousands of people were arrested. In Zaragoza, a strike began in support of the detainees, during which anarchists managed to destroy cases of suspects in the riots. In the end, Durruti and hundreds of like-minded people were released from prison. In 20, Buenaventura, Durruti became one of the initiators of the development of a plan of action for the National Labor Confederation in the event of insurrection of right-wing military circles.
Creation and Battle Path Columns
17 July 1936 G. General Francisco Franco raised an armed insurrection in Spanish Morocco. Over the next three days, the Franco supported almost all military garrisons, the Spanish aristocracy, most of the Catholic clergy. 19 July, 1936 began a military rebellion in Barcelona.
At this time, Durruti (pictured) was a member of the Defense Committee of Catalonia, formed by the National Confederation of Labor and the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia. Under his leadership, was organized working resistance to the Franco. For two days, the workers detachments fought street battles with armed units of the Spanish army, which supported Franco. By the evening of July 20. The 1936 revolt in Barcelona was completely eliminated. The workers' squads Durruti and Askaso captured the Ataransara barracks and the Colon Hotel. Francisco Askaso himself was killed in battle. In fact, control of the National Confederation of Labor and the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia was established over all of Barcelona and almost all of Catalonia. Despite the fact that Buenaventura Durruti, in his political views, remained a staunch anarchist, he quickly realized the need to organize the working masses to resist the right-wing rebellion and proceeded to form a working militia. According to the idea of Durruti, formed in Catalonia - a stronghold of the anarchist and republican movement - the workers' militia, having suppressed the remnants of the rebels in the province, was to assist other Spanish regions in completely eliminating the resistance of the Francoists. Thus began the heroic story of the Durruti Column, as the armed group he created was called. 24 July 1936. The Durruti Column launched an attack on Zaragoza. Durruti Column was a unique armed formation. Like other connections created by anarchists, it was radically different in terms of its organizational structure, its management system, and the relations between the fighters and the units of the regular army. This was her strengths and weaknesses. The strength of the Column, of course, lay in the enormous ideological motivation of the overwhelming majority of its fighters, who were ready to give their lives in the name of the triumph of the idea. In the Pillar there were no military ranks and servility, the equality of the fighters and commanders was established - starting from addressing each other ("comrade") and ending with the same food and supplies. Formally, Durruti was considered equal with other fighters, his official position was called the delegate of the Column. During the direct conduct of hostilities, the orders of Durruti headquarters were binding, but after the end of the battle, the headquarters lost all power over the fighters. The column was completed exclusively by voluntary means and any fighter at any moment could leave it. However, the ideological motivation did its job and the majority of the fighters fought without being either draftees or mercenaries. The fighting capacity of the unit, which at first glance seemed extremely loose and amorphous due to the specifics of the management organization, at that time surprised many military specialists - both Spanish officers and foreign advisers. For several days, the Durruti detachments managed to establish control over a significant part of the territory where a unique social experiment began to create an anarchist republic (Nestor Makhno attempted something similar at the time in the Gulyai-Paul territory under his control). On the initiative of anarchists, the Aragon Defense Council was created, workers and peasant communes were formed. However, from the very beginning, Durruti also pursued difficulties. One of the main problems of the Column was the shortage weapons and gear. Durruti even had to threaten the Republican government - he promised Prime Minister Largo Caballero that in the event of refusal to finance the purchase of weapons for the Column, the anarchists would march on Madrid and sweep away the Republican government.
"Colonel Xanthi"
Another serious problem of the Durruti Columns was the lack of military specialists. The bulk of the Column fighters were represented by yesterday’s workers and peasants, who at best had military service experience as privates and corporals in the Spanish ground forces, and for the most part did not have one. The situation, however, was saved by Soviet military advisers. As is known, after the beginning of the Civil War in Spain, thousands of Soviet military specialists rushed to the Iberian Peninsula from the Soviet Union - staff officers, scouts, saboteurs, tank crews, gunners, communications men, pilots. Many Soviet citizens died in the distant Spanish land, heroically fighting the Franco. Practically at every large unit of the republican troops there were Soviet military advisers.
Not an exception, and Column Durruti. When he appeared someone "Xanthi". He presented himself as a Macedonian trader who came to Spain from Turkey and sympathized with the republican movement in Spain. As is known, in the first third of the twentieth century, the Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) was active in Macedonia, among the militants of which there were many active and former anarchists. Therefore, no one was surprised at the emergence of a Macedonian internationalist in battling Spain. Xanthi was represented by the colonel of the republican army. The mysterious Macedonian volunteered for the detachment under the command of Durruti and immediately proved himself very well in battles with the Francoists in Barcelona and Zaragoza. Struck by the courage and combat skills of the “Macedonian,” Durruti appointed Xanthi as his adviser, despite being aware of the communist, rather than the anarchist, views of the Macedonian. It was Xanthi who suggested to Durruti the idea of creating machine-gun platoons, to which Durruti demanded that the adviser teach him also his best machine-gun fire. Subsequently, the "Colonel Xanthi" became the prototype of the hero of Ernest Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls". At that time, few people knew that under the guise of a Macedonian, the duties of the chief adviser at the headquarters of the Column Durruti were performed by a professional Soviet military intelligence officer - an officer of the Red Army, Hadji Umar Dzhorovich Mamsurov (1903-1968). Ossetians by nationality, Khadzhi-Umar Mamsurov was born in the village of Olginskoe, Vladikavkaz District, Terek Gubernia (now - North Ossetia) into a peasant family. At 1918, a fifteen-year-old youth Mamsurov, who had just settled down to work at the Vladikavkaz railway depot, joined the Red Army. He joined the Gorny cavalry hundredth 11 of the Red Army, but fell ill with typhus and was left in the hospital. At that time, Vladikavkaz was captured by whites, who executed 17 thousands of Red Army soldiers — the wounded and sick; the young, Haji-Umar, miraculously escaped. From April 1919, he became a connected partisan detachment operating between Vladikavkaz and Grozny. So, from a young age, began his career as a military intelligence officer. Mamsurov participated in raids on the headquarters of the White Guard units, and in 1920, after the establishment of Soviet power in the North Caucasus, began to work in the Terek Emergency Commission. As a Chekist, the young man had more than once to take part in the liquidation of the White Guard detachments and simply the predatory gangs, who were engaged in the Terek region. Then Mamsurov filed an application for membership in the RCP (b). In March, 1921, seventeen-year-old Mamsurov, became the officer of the special department of the 11 Red Army. Then he was sent to study - to Moscow, to the Communist University of Working People of the East (KUTV). After successfully graduating from KUTV, he also graduated from a military-political school, after which he served as a teacher at the National Cavalry School in Krasnodar, Assistant Military Commissar and Military Commissar of the National Cavalry Units of the North Caucasus Military District. Later, Mamsurov was transferred to Kazan - to the post of commander of a cavalry squadron, then - commander of the reconnaissance division, and in 1929, at the age of 26 years, the heroic Ossetian became commander of a cavalry regiment. In 1932, after graduating from the refresher courses for commanders at the Military-Political Academy. IN AND. Lenin, Khadzhi-Umar Mamsurov was transferred to the Red Army Intelligence Directorate, where from January 1936 he became an employee of Special Administration “A” (active reconnaissance), who was carrying out responsible missions. In 1936, Major Mamsurov was sent to Spain as a specialist in organizing reconnaissance, sabotage and partisan combat. So he was at the headquarters of Durruti, using the legend of the alleged Macedonian origin.
Mysterious Death of Durruti
When connections of Franco surrounded the Spanish capital, the Republican government had to ask for help from the Aragonese anarchists. 14 November 1936 Durruti with a detachment in 1800 Column fighters entered Madrid. The Durruti compound took up defensive positions on the campus of Madrid. The fights in the Spanish capital were so fierce that in the 4 of the day only 700 people remained from the Column. Over a thousand anarchists died in battles with the Francoists, but at the cost of huge losses the enemy was stopped. 19 November 1936 Buenaventura Durruti went to the front - to personally take part in the hostilities, but on the way under unclear circumstances, he was wounded by a bullet in the chest. Seriously wounded Durruti was taken to the Ritz Hotel - to the Republican Police Hospital, where, despite the efforts of doctors, he died in the morning of November 20 1936. The glorified revolutionary and military commander was only forty years old. Two days after Durruti's death, his body was taken to Barcelona, where, with great honors, he was buried in Montjuic cemetery. Durruti’s funeral was attended by about 500 thousands of residents of Barcelona, surrounding towns and villages. It is not yet known under what specific circumstances Buenaventura Durruti died. The official version claims that the sniper, who was hiding on the upper floors of the Medical Clinic of the University of Madrid, shot at the anarchist commander. But many sources indicate that they shot at Durruti from close range. The opinions of the comrades of the perished in the anarchist movement were divided. Some considered the death of Durruti to be the revenge of the “fifth column” in the Republican ranks, others directly blamed the communists for this. 21 November 1936, the famous Russian anarchist émigré Vsevolod Volin, who published the newspaper Anti-Fascist Spain, received a telegram. It said that Durruti was killed by the Communists, who were competing with him for influence in the country. However, an hour later Volin received a second telegram. In it, the editor asked for the sake of preserving anti-fascist unity not to publish information that the Communists could have killed Durruti. There is a fourth version - that Buenaventura Durruti on the road could accidentally pull the trigger himself and die due to careless handling of a weapon.
Fate Columns
After the tragic death of Durruti, the Column, which by that time had lost more than 50% of its personnel, was led by Ricardo Sans. Under his command, she took part in the battles to defend Madrid. In April 1937, part of the Column of Durruti, which was on the defenses of Madrid, returned to Aragon, where it merged with the second part of the Column remaining in the province and continued to participate in the struggle against the Francoists. In January 1939, the Column of Durruti took part in the battle for Catalonia. After the withdrawal from Catalonia in the last months of the Spanish Civil War, the remnants of the Column of Durruti tried to organize partisan resistance in the Sierra del Cadi - in the Catalan Pyrenees. However, the failures that pursued the anarchists forced them to retreat to France. Many fighters of the Column of Durruti were arrested by the French authorities, some were sent to the construction battalions, erecting a defense line on the German border. Subsequently, part of the anarchists ended up in the Nazi concentration camps. A fairly large part of the Column of Durruti was enrolled in the French Foreign Legion and continued to serve in Chad. Some of Durruti's former fighters served in the 9th tank company of the 2nd Panzer Division of Free France. By the way, the first tank of Free France, which entered the liberated Paris, was the tank "Guadalajara" under the banner of the Spanish Republic.
Haji-Umar Mamsurov, aka “Colonel Xanthi”, returned to the Soviet Union. During the Soviet-Finnish War, he was Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Task Force on the Finnish Front, and from January 1940 commanded the Special Ski Brigade of the 9 Army. During the Great Patriotic War, Mamsurov was alternately in intelligence work and command positions in the army. He commanded a special operations group the Red Army Intelligence, was the commander of 114-Cavalry Division, deputy commander of 7-Cavalry Corps, Assistant Chief of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement and intelligence chief of staff, commander 2-Crimean Guards Cavalry Division. Until the last post, Hadji Umar Dzhiorovich was until August 1946, under his command the division fought in Western Ukraine against the Bandera underground. Then Mamsurov commanded the 3 th separate Yevpatoriya rifle brigade, the 27 th mechanized division of the 38 th army, the 27 th rifle corps and the 38 th army. In November 1956 was he who was one of the commanders of the Soviet units who suppressed the anti-communist insurgency in Hungary. After that, Haji-Umar was appointed deputy chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate, rising to the rank of colonel-general. Died in 1968
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