Chasing the red fox
Blucher reached the highest posts in the Red Army, was awarded the highest ranks and awards for his military operations during the civil war, reminiscent of the course of maneuvering sly foxes. His red mark, the trace of the “red fox”, Blucher left almost the entire territory of the Urals, managing to defeat his opponent with unexpected decisions, who seemed to have overtaken him and could have fallen down on the spot. Happiness, special military happiness, and the talent of a warrior were with Blucher. But in 1938, his life and career quickly ended.
He was born in 1890 in the village of Barschynka, Yaroslavl Province. In the summer of 1914, when the First World War began, he was drafted into the army and sent to the front in September. In January, 1915 was severely wounded at Ternopil. In March, 1916, the medical commission found him unfit for further service in the army and sent him to the reserve with a first-class pension. He went to Nizhny Novgorod, where he found work at the Sormovsky Shipbuilding Plant, and then moved to Kazan. Here in 1916, he joined the ranks of the RCP (B.).
When the question arose of appointing the commander-in-chief of the Orenburg front, the Ural regional party committee put forward Blucher, who already had quite a large combat experience, for this post. He was subordinated to the Ural detachment as part of the 1 Ural Infantry Regiment, the Catherine Cavalry Squadron, the Chelyabinsk Detachment of the People's Mines and the Chelyabinsk Battery with a total number of about two thousand.
In Buzuluk, the Blucher detachment joined up with the Zinoviev detachment (800 fighters) and other units. For two days - 19 and 20 of May - in the area of the stanitsas of Tatishcheva and Donetsk they broke the White Cossacks and broke through the defenses.
“The position of Orenburg is strong and secure,” wrote Blucher 27 in May. “Yesterday, a strong detachment attacked the Cossacks in the Prechistenskaya district on the Orsk railway and on the railway line to Buzuluk ... We are preparing a broad and deep operation against the Cossack forces.”
However, Blucher did not succeed in carrying out these plans: the mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps began. The Red detachments were practically surrounded, and 28 of June was decided to evacuate at the meeting: part of the troops went south, the other, led by Blyukher and Kashirin, went north. It was decided to make their way into the industrial regions of the Urals in order to unite there with other units of the Red Army.
In the meantime, the White Czechs took the city of Orenburg on 26 and moved to Troitsk to join up with units of the White Army. Therefore, the chairman of the local Trinity Council, Jacob Applebaum, sent an urgent telegram: An extremely difficult situation was created in Troitsk. Blucher, who is well acquainted with the locality and has already led the suppression of the Cossack insurgency, is badly needed here. Encourage arrival from Orenburg to Troitsk Blucher. ”
But Blucher did not have time. Troitsk was busy. And it was decided to merge all the units that were retreating to Verkhneuralsk into the Troitsky detachment. His commander was elected Cossack Nicholas Tomin.
The partisan leadership did not have a single boss. Began diarchy. Blucher was on the sidelines. In Verkhneuralsk another squad was formed under the command of Ivan Kashirin. In mid-July 1918, an urgent meeting of the commanding staff was held, at which there was no consensus on leaving the encirclement. Nikolai Kashirin offered to break through Verkhneuralsk - Miass to Yekaterinburg. Blucher did not support this proposal because he proposed to go to the north through mining and metallurgical areas. “Moving around the working districts,” he said, “we will significantly strengthen our ranks at the expense of the workers of the factories, while moving to Verkhneuralsk, through the areas covered by the uprising of the White Cossacks, we will not achieve our goal.”
However, most of the commanders favored Kashirin’s plan and appointed him as a partisan commander in chief. Two days later, the detachment set off, but when faced with White Cossacks at Mount Izvoz, the Red partisans were forced to return to Beloretsk.
But Blucher was not used to being on the sidelines. And soon circumstances favor him to become the commander-in-chief of the partisans. On the way, Kashirin was wounded and, therefore, at the next meeting in early August, the partisans elected Blyukher as their commander in chief. He does not accept the plan to leave the environment of the former commander and insists on his previously proposed.
But the first thing Blucher engaged in the reorganization of guerrilla groups of the army type. Firstly, he became the sole leader - the head of the Combined Ural detachment. Only the commanders of the detachments submitted to him: Uralsky — I.S. Pavlishchev, Troitsky — N.D. Tomin The detachments also included separate military units: in Verkhneuralskaya — Verkhneuralsky and Beloretsk rifle regiments, 1-th Verkhneuralsk and Beloretsk rifle regiments, 1-th Verkhneuralsky Cossack cavalry regiment and artillery battery.
The Ural detachment consisted of the 1 Ural Infantry Regiment, a separate Catherine squadron and the Chelyabinsk Battery.
The third, Troitsky detachment included the 17 th Ural rifle and 1 th Orenburg Cossack cavalry named after Stepan Razin regiment, artillery battery.
On the night of August 5, the Combined Urals Detachment secretly left Beloretsk, passing the white-faced cordons. In the morning they learned that the partisans still safely left Beloretsk. Corps commander General Khanzhin on the same day told the commander of the Volga front, Colonel Chechek, that he “organized persecution and ambushes to prevent Red from breaking through and entering the Belaya valley,” and asked the partisans to be cut off from Ufa and Sterlitamak. At the same time, Khanzhin ordered increased persecution. “It is necessary to use all measures,” he wrote, “to the destruction of the Kashirin and Blucher detachments, not paying attention to the fatigue of the units. Rest later. It is impossible to miss a favorable environment. ”
Meanwhile, having overcome the mountain ranges, having made a flank march along the Belaya River to the north, Blucher led his detachment to the Epiphany Glassworks (later renamed Krasnousolsk). And on August 16 the Reds moved on to the Arkhangelsk Plant. According to historians, the All-round Ural detachment now numbered about nine thousand people.
On the Sim River, the whites caught up with the squad Blucher. General Khanzhin ordered all measures to be taken so that “the Reds would not be allowed onto the right bank of the river Sim and liquidated here.”
The position of the red detachment was complicated by the extremely poor supply of ammunition. Blucher ordered the entire commanding staff to closely monitor the expenditure of ammunition and shells, to fire only the groups, "by no means allowing shooting at single people."
The situation was difficult. Some units blocked the way for the Red detachments from the front on the northern bank of the Sim River, other white units had to deliver a powerful blow from the rear and press the Reds against the river.
What did Blücher do in this seemingly hopeless situation? He ordered the Ural and Arkhangelsk detachments to force the Sim River, to establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank, to build a bridge as soon as possible in order to ensure the crossing of the remaining units. At the same time, the other Red detachments were supposed to detain the Whites for at least two or three days at the turn of the two Zilim and Belaya rivers. But in order to successfully accomplish the task, it was necessary to divert the enemy’s attention from the direction of the main attack, and Blucher instructed Tomin's detachment to begin a false crossing over the Belaya River near the village of Shareevo.
But until the end of the plans Blucher was not destined to come true. White went on the offensive. Fierce fighting began in all directions. They lasted about 12 days.
Meanwhile, the Ural and Archangel Red detachments crossed the Sim River, captured the bridgehead and began to build a bridge. By the evening he was ready. Reds were shipped all night. Seeing this, the White Command hastily began to pull up reserves to dump the Reds into the turbulent Sim River. But then Blucher overtook them. His cavalrymen broke into the camp of the whites from the flanks and dealt a very significant blow.
The combined detachment at the time was able to break away from the pursuit and went to the Samaro-Zlatoust railway east of Ufa. The unexpected appearance of large Red forces near Ufa led to the mobilization of "all officers, sub-ensigns, sergeants, non-commissioned officers and their respective ranks residing in Ufa." White was able to surround the red. To break out of the White Guard ring, it was necessary to quickly break through the Samaro-Zlatoust railway. For this, Blucher singled out three detachments: Arkhangelsk, Verkhneuralsk and Ural. The main task and the main burden fell on the Upper Unit.
Before the start of the operation, Blucher spoke to his exhausted fighters and put forward the following as the main motivation: “To make every effort to accomplish the breakthrough task, remembering that our failure would put us in a hopeless situation, success promises us a way out and connection to our troops, secured rear, well-established allowance and firearms supply base. ”
But the guerrillas did not differ in combat discipline, and this could play a fatal role. One of the commanders recalled: “The regiments are scattered in their original positions. And it was enough for the fighters to see Iglino and the railway, as the right-flank battalion of the Beloretsk regiment, despite the warning to wait for the command, arbitrarily rose and shouting "Hurray" went on the offensive. This moment almost proved fatal for our squad. ”
After letting the Reds in close range, the whites struck them with a strong flank attack. The battalion began to retreat. With great difficulty under the fire of white, the Reds began to retreat from the village of Kaltymanovo. But the commander of the second, Belorechensk battalion was already in a hurry to help them. They managed to stop the whites. Meanwhile, the cavalry regiment of Galunov struck the flank and rear of the whites. The blow was unexpected. The position of the red has changed dramatically. White rushed to retreat to the railway.
In the meantime, the precinct in the Troitsky detachment was in a difficult position. Whites under the command of Colonel Kurushkin actively cramped the red squad. The guerrillas were forced, firing back to retreat to the Mikhailovsky farm. Their waste remained to cover two machine gunners of the 17 of the Ural regiment. They managed to keep whites under machine-gun fire for about an hour. That was enough for the main squad to break away from the pursuit. Having occupied the village of Kaltamanovo, the whites moved to the Mikhailovsky hamlet. They saw the deputies hastily left him. It seemed that whites were already overtaking the reds. But at that time, on Blücher’s order, a surprise attack was launched on the left flank of the Whites from the remaining fighters in the reserve. The blow was sudden, White could not regroup and resist.
Thanks to this maneuver, the partisans gained an advantage and were able to occupy a large section of the railway for five days. They destroyed and damaged more than thirty kilometers of the way (as historians say). For five days the communication between Ufa and Zatoust was interrupted. The case was complicated by the violation of military discipline in the White forces, arising for various reasons. While the Reds were able to maximally gather and go under a single ideological flag.
The commander of the Volga front, Colonel Chechek 31 of August 1918, reported: “The Reds group, operating in the area of Iglino-village station Zobovo, apparently escapes our attacks. The latter was considerably eased by the inaction of Colonel Kolesnikov, who was still to the east of the river Sim. According to reports, one of the Cossack volunteer regiments of this detachment voluntarily went to Verkhneuralsk. The Bashkir company rebelled and brought under escort to Ufa. Under the influence of fatigue, there is a desire among the units of the detachment to cease hostilities. ”
And there was another gift - military happiness is not uncommon in war. At that time, regular units of the Red Army were already operating south of Kungur. There was a front line. Blücher led his partisans there in order to cross the Ufa river as soon as possible - the last barrier separating the partisans from the regular units of the Red Army. Realizing how serious this maneuver of the Reds is in grave danger, General Timonov, who led all the White forces in the area, gave the order to 31 of August: "By all means catch and break the enemy."
The Whites knew very well that all the ferries on the Ufa River were destroyed, so they hoped to press the Reds to the river with a strong blow from the rear and finally crush them there. To increase the speed of pursuit, the commanders were ordered to "mobilize all the narrow-minded carts and put the infantry on the wagons, which they should follow until they reach the ultimate approach with the enemy when the battle begins."
All — both red and white — hurried to the river. Near the village of Krasny Yar, it seemed, at last, it was possible to catch the “red fox” - Blucher with his troops. The first to the river, September 1 came Ural squad. And then the river was not what it is now: about 200 meters wide and about five meters deep in some places. Began to look for a ford and hastily build rafts. The only ferry not destroyed by the whites could not transport such a large number of fighters. A small detachment of the Reds crossed over to the west bank and built a defense there for cover.
And at this time gradually all the partisan detachments concentrated around Krasny Yar.
Under the threat of executions, local residents on horses brought boards, brackets, logs, ropes to the river — everything needed to build a bridge.
The red ones had only one day. The next day, September 2, pulling up a large force to the crossing, whites struck from the front and rear. The battle went on for two days.
The red partisans who had crossed to the west bank also had difficulty restraining the attacks of the enemy. Red commander Pavlischev said that “the enemy is continuously attacking units, beating the flank, trying to press against Ufa. With great difficulty we restrain the pressure. I fear for the outcome of the battle. ” Blucher understands that it will not be possible to establish a crossing in this place.
At the same time, the white units are pushing the Troitsky detachment from the rear. To the left of them, Epiphany and Arkhangelsk detachments are fighting with the whites, moving across the path - to the Red Yar. The situation is desperate.
But Blucher was still in reserve Verkhneuralsky detachment. He decides to melt it on the west bank of the Ufa River, just to another place, not to the place where the first desperately fighting Reds are. And to prepare on the other side of the river another bridgehead for their partisans. It seemed to Blucher that this was the only correct way out of this situation. On the night of September 3, the Reds crossed the river.
Finally, the bridge was ready. But Blucher was slow with the crossing. On both sides were fierce battles. There was a shortage of ammunition, people were extremely exhausted, but they were holding out because they knew that if they stopped the resistance, they would die at the hands of the whites.
The most dangerous was the detachment of whites, who moved from Ufa along the western bank of the river. They sought to break through to the crossing. The whole day was a fight. But Blucher very tightly organized a reconnaissance, which at some point found out that the whites poorly guarded their left flank, believing that they firmly pressed the Reds. And here again, Blucher was lucky. This area was occupied by the newly mobilized Tatars, who had not been properly trained. Blücher directs the cavalry to the weakened area, which causes a sudden blow. Two more detachments — Beloretsky and Verkhneuralsky, taking advantage of this, also launched an offensive. White did not expect this. In his notes, Blucher notes: “As a result of this battle, there was a complete rout of the enemy grouping here, who lost many dead and prisoners. According to preliminary calculations, three guns in good condition, 200 shells, eight machine guns, many rifles, cartridges and 200 prisoners fell into our hands here. ”
Most of the prisoners are Tatars. Prisoners are immediately treated ideologically and are urged to side with the Reds. To live captive Tatars want. For disagreement - execution. Tatars go over to the Reds. They formed a separate company, including it in the Beloretsk regiment.
The red partisans were finally able to break away from the many days of pursuit, and, having traveled 200 kilometers along the Kungur highway to the north, the September partisans 11 approached the village of Askino. Here they learned from the locals in the neighboring Tyuinoozersk parish that regular units of the Red Army operate.
But, to connect with the regular units of the Red Army, a certain cunning and skill was also required. After all, they could be mistaken for whites. And here begins what again suggests the idea of the ability of Blucher is a good idea of the situation and the ability to properly orient in it. Well, why not a “red fox” ?!
Blucher instructs the assistant chief of staff of the Troitsky detachment, Rusyaev, to establish contact and, before an important assignment, conducts with him many hours of instruction, as it were now said, giving detailed instructions on how to act properly. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed, it was necessary to act very carefully.
“It’s best to do this,” said Blucher, “it’s best to take a hundred Cossacks with you tomorrow morning; This is for the case, if instead of the red whites unexpectedly meet. In order for the Soviet troops to distinguish you from the White Guards, collect all the banners of the detachment and carry them in the head of the squadron, and attach long bow-shaped cloths to the peak shafts. ”
But Rusyaev was unable to fulfill the order of his commander exactly: instead of the red cloth, he showed white ones. That's how it was.
The next day, September 12, the Reds went to explore the village of Tyuino-Ozyorsk. At the same time, the commander of the regular 1 of the Soviet Birsky Third Army Regiment Vorobyov ordered the commander of the sixth company "in the morning of September 12 to launch an offensive in the direction of Tyuino-Ozyorsk-Askino and, if possible, take Askino, leaving a half-platoon of militants in Tyino-Ozersk" . The soldiers first arrived there.
The Blucherovites did not know that the regular units of the Red Army were moving towards them. After some time, the partisan hundred also approached. Rusyaev decided to send forward parliamentarians with a white flag. And then the unexpected happened. The Red Army soldiers decided that they were white and fired at them. Rusyaev, deploying a hundred, led her on the attack.
The half-platoon of the sixth company of the Red Army (15 fighters) began to withdraw. The guerrillas caught up with him. Now with red banners. Long argued that they are red partisans and want to connect, finally, with their own. They did not believe. Then Rusyaev offered to take him and four more soldiers to the nearest headquarters. But even there the battalion commander did not believe them either. Having contacted the regimental commander Vorobyov by telephone, the battalion commander reported that “he now has five people in the headquarters with well-armed men, they look extremely suspicious, they say they are going to Kungur. Weapons they do not apply, but in Kungur let them prepare. ”
But the regiment commander Vorobyov did not know anything about Blucher and his troops. Fearing provocation, he demanded that Rusyaev write a report, which the latter did, describing the main points of their combat path. The head of the newly created fifth Ural division, the former commander of the Trinity garrison of Shvansky, after reading the report that came to him, wrote: “I know Blucher and Rusyaev personally,” and ordered to establish contact with them.
The raid on the Urals was for Blucher another step towards the ascent to the highest command position in the Red Army. About Blucher spoke in Moscow. The order of the Revolutionary Council of the Republic stated: “Your heroic deeds will not be forgotten by the free Motherland. The Supreme Military Revolutionary Council of the Republic brings to you, the glorious soldiers of the Blucher squad, and your fearless commander Comrade Blucher are warmly grateful and hope that he will soon see you recover from the hard fighting in the ranks of his revolutionary forces and will hear about your great exploits again. ” .
The civil war continued. White attacked Perm, planning then, moving along the railway to Glazov and Vyatka, to unite with the Anglo-American allies. And Blucher, who so unexpectedly appeared with his seasoned fighters, was most welcome. At the end of September 1918, by order of the third army (then commanded by Berezin), the Urals partisan detachment was eliminated, brigades were formed from the fighters, which were incorporated into the Ural Red Army. Blücher was appointed head of the division.
His first order in the new position is to stop the enemy’s offensive on the Kungur direction, cut the West Ural railway in the vicinity of the Shemakha station and thus help the Third Ural Army to block the white path to Perm. And September 24 was the first battle as part of the regular units of the Red Army. Three days later, on September 27, they liberated Molebsky, September 30 - Irginsky plants, and October 2 - the city of Krasnoufimsk.
Increasing the pace, the fourth Ural army threw the whites beyond the line of the rivers Sylva, Batam, Bisert. Now White has asked for help. The commander of the Czechoslovak troops, General Radola Gaida, who fought against the Reds at that time, was a legendary personality and a bit odd in the military.
His fate, like the fate of Blucher, is full of unexpected, momentous turns. But if Blucher managed to live in this world until the 1938 year, then his opponent happened to see the Second World War as well.
A little about Hyde. This personality is worth it to build on it in more detail, and not to gallop on the presentation of the events of the times of the civil war, when daily battles brought one side, then another. You know, I met with one former participant in the civil war, who said the phrase surprisingly relevant today: “I fought for the Reds and the Whites. I fought against the Reds and against the Whites. ” Something similar is happening now in Ukraine. Modern story He will still endure on his foamy waves not one interesting fate, the story about which, perhaps, I will continue.
So, Hyde. Do you know how old he was when he was called the Siberian lion, the agent of the NKVD? He was only 26 years old. He led the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, who was going home, but on the way had numerous clashes with the Reds. Gaida gave the order to attack the Siberian cities, which, one after another, unprotected and weak, surrendered, not providing adequate resistance to well-trained Czech soldiers. Gaida actually became the head of the whole corps. Special fame brought him victory over the red, won in the battles for Perm and Yekaterinburg, which were taken white in record time. This greatly inspired the supporters of the white movement.
Gaida may have continued his liberation movement, but Kolchak’s offer to destroy his army and submit to Kolchak ruined him.
The diarchy that was observed in the small partisan detachment between Blyukher and Kashirin began. In both small and large military units, in the absence of clear and unquestioning leadership, the struggle of two commanders begins. And, often, this struggle is also happening at the interpersonal level. Gaida, who had enough glory and enthusiastic worship of the grateful inhabitants of the liberated cities, could not internally agree with many of Kolchak's orders.
And after all, his comrade Stefanik, a Slovak general, tried to dissuade Haida from this rash act. No, Gaida did not particularly listen to him, and became part of the Kolchak army.
This fusion of two armies did not bring victory to either one or the other and became one of the main reasons for the defeat of the whites. Guyda, as they say, "blew off the roof" from such a rapid take-off: he arranged pompous trips with his personal guard, dressed in a very elaborate, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, uniform. He began to carry himself as an actor, but not as a military man.
When Kolchak issued orders, Gaida did not want to carry them out.
All this military disharmony played into the hands of red. The Reds, having a few detachments in their composition, consisting mainly of poorly trained people from different segments of the population, but a built-up rigid hierarchical discipline, managed to win one victory after another.
And at this time, Kolchak simply simply expels Radol Gayd from his troops, removes him from the leadership and orders him to go home. However, Radola decides to organize a conspiracy against Kolchak. And when he failed, Hyde finally was sent home, where he did not calm down and took part in many political organizations. But compatriots, and especially the military, were wary of him after his voyage to Russia.
Opponents attributed him a connection with the Communists, accusing him of collaborating with the NKVD officers, and also attributed support to the Nazis. Which is not surprising. Radol, when he was removed from the management of military units in Czechoslovakia, was dismissed, out of spite everything went in the form of a tsarist general, and then he hit politics, leading the department of the fascist people's party. He was sent to prison, but after leaving there the restless Radola could not stop. True, this time he again radically revised his views and began to oppose the fascist parties, breaking off all sorts of relations with his supporters.
That for the Nazis, then against the Nazis, then for the whites, then against the whites. The restless souls of the times of the civil war were extremely inconsistent and contradictory not only in the course of hostilities, but also in the course of their later life.
In the 1939 year after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the German troops, 47-year-old Radola Gaida sat in his ancient estate and thought how to help the anti-fascist underground. And he helped, without fear of arrest. And in 1945, he was arrested for supporting the fascist regime - the old sins were not forgotten. Maybe Radol still lived, but only in prison he was tortured and beaten, and he died in the 1948 year. Surely he knew about the fate of his former opponents in the civil war. Maybe I heard about the fate of Blucher. But he could not calm down, otherwise he would not have got into politics. But they are used to being on the edge of time and being ahead of everyone: on horseback, in politics. The main thing is to be the first to attract attention. Psychiatrists would have diagnosed Rudole long ago, but he did not reach their hands.
That was a long time ago. But this prescription does not give rest to many generations and, unfortunately, history repeats itself, makes its turn, and we become new hostages of the next turn and cannot get out of it.
Blucher and his supporters were hostages too. But they did not know about it. They fought for their ideals. Improving your combat skills. Especially Blucher. This is what you need to have health and strength in order to continuously fight for a long time!
Only Blucher came out of his multi-day campaign in the rear of the whites, constantly pursued by the enemy's troops, and was immediately thrown into a new “hot” sector, against the aforementioned brave Czech with blue eyes and famously twisted up long mustaches. Blucher had brown eyes, and his mustaches were wide and small. He did not like long courtship. In the war, nothing should interfere with the war.
But for many days he could not sleep properly. Old wounds opened: during World War I, shrapnel shattered the hip joint, which caused one leg to become shorter than the other. For treatment, he was granted leave. And he went to his homeland. He returned to the front in mid-December 1918, at the height of the battles for Kungur and Perm.
There were brutal Siberian frosts. The fighters did not have warm uniforms. Due to the deep snow, the movement of the red parts was impossible. On the operational work did not have to talk. White, having a ski battalion, easily maneuvered in the right directions. This was one of the main reasons for the destruction of the first Kronstadt Regiment in the area of the Birch Mountain. “In the area of Birch Mountain, the battle has reached a high voltage,” Blucher reported. - Sailors repelled six attacks. The bypass of our left flank undertaken by enemy skiers was not a success. ” But in the villages of Upper and Lower Isad, the sailors were still surrounded by skiers and they all died.
Then Blucher sent to battle the Beloretsk workers regiment under the command of Pirozhnikov. Subsequently, Pirozhnikov recalled: “As I approached Sosnovka, I saw how Blyukher tried to delay the outgoing units. He looked menacing. By that time, our regiment arrived in time, turned around and immediately went on the attack. The fighters took the lead. And suddenly we see - the enemy goes to "cheers". The fight was short: the Whites were shot down and thrown a few kilometers. Blucher became a completely different person. He did not know what to do for joy, - so unexpectedly and heroically we broke the enemy. Blucher rushed to kiss me. He did not know how to express his feelings, he saw in me not the Pirozhnikov, but the entire regiment. ”
However, this victory was single. And Blucher no longer flourished as it did with Pirozhnikov. He grew gloomy every day and it was from what. They gradually retreated to Kungur, were able to hold back only for seven days the white units that 19 of December broke through to Kungur. In this critical situation - not enough strength to repel the attacks - Blucher went to the threatened area, dealt with and disentangled the case and always found a way out of the seemingly hopeless situation.
But December 21 Blucher left Kungur. Following Kungur on the night of December 25 Perm was commissioned. Then the struggle continued for the settlements.
Analyzing mistakes and losses, Blücher at this time hastily carried out the reorganization of his parts.
In early January, fierce battles were fought across the front. Some settlements changed hands four or five times. The main battles followed the paths of Perm - Okhansk and Kungur - Osa.
January 31 1919, Blucher was appointed deputy commander of the third army. And since April 3, he simultaneously began to perform the duties of the commandant of the Vyatsky fortifying area.
In early March, 1919, Kolchak's troops launched an offensive and occupied Okhansk, Osu, and moved towards Glazov. 3 Jun Eyes was busy.
But whites are discouraged. Frunze defeated Kolchak and July 1 liberated Perm and Kungur with his army. A further offensive required the strengthening of the left flank of the front — it was open and little secured by troops. In this regard, it was decided to create a new, 51-th Infantry Division and put at the head of her Blucher. The division consisted of units of the Special Brigade of the Third Army, the Northern Expeditionary Detachment and the fortress brigade of the Vyatka Fortification Region (151, 152, 153-I brigade).
On August 20, the division reached the Tobol River and forced it on the march. Developing the offensive, the 454 th regiment of the 51 division commanded by Boryaev crossed the Irtysh and by the evening of September 4 occupied Tobolsk. It was the first major victory.
The offensive continued. Red regiments (152-th brigade) moved up along both banks of the Irtysh, and the 51-division, led by Blucher, went along forest roads to the Ishim River. And the yard was already autumn, rain, water, mud, typhus, a breakdown in communication with the headquarters of the division. And - Kolchak. In September, the 1919 of the year between the two Siberian rivers - Tobol and Ishim - the fighting broke out. Reds were forced to retreat.
Kolchak's troops, meanwhile, dealt another powerful blow with the help of airplanes and ship flotilla. The Reds could not stand it and left Tobolsk.
White with a large assault force on board marched up along Tobol, having the task of connecting with their troops in the Yalutorovsk region, encircling the 151 Division and leaving the rear of the Third Red Army. White hoped that the Reds would break through a short way through the forests, would fall under a flanking blow and be defeated.
And then Blucher useful his experience of guerrilla warfare in the rear of the enemy, when he survived, thanks to unexpected, courageous maneuvers. This he did this time. The Red Fox again found a way out of all the snares and traps set by the hunters. On September 30, Blücher gathered the remnants of the 151 Brigade in the area of the Ashlykskaya settlement, created about two thousand fighters with 12-ti light guns, created a strike group and headed it to Tobolsk, to the rear of Kolchak. And again they were surrounded, and again it seemed that they could not hold out. But Blucher again orders his fighters to accomplish the impossible: they go through impassable swamps, make a multi-kilometer march and again go back to the white, smash them, acting with small forces.
October 22 Red seized Tobolsk.
And then he became easier. Blucher took part in almost all major liberation operations in Siberia, inflicting blows on Kolchak’s troops, from which they could no longer recover. Blucher could enjoy the results of his many years of struggle, which came to an end in Siberia: Kolchak lost support from the Allies when he rejected their proposal to transfer the gold reserves to Russia. Therefore, the Reds received an additional plus in their struggle. Moreover, the actions of the Czechs, who were not allowed to take the Russian army by rail and were arrested at one of the stations of Kolchak's wagon, “helped” them. In such conditions, it was extremely difficult to exert due resistance.
In mid-summer, Blucher is transferred to the Crimea. Began a new round of struggle with whites. But the details of this story will be the next time.
After the civil war, Blucher settled in Moscow, then he was assigned to go on a long reconnaissance mission to China under an assumed name. It is not known whether this activity brought a professional military, moral satisfaction, but in the future it was this circumstance that played its main, fatal role.
The Red Fox was not the same and was looking for a quiet shelter. But the country's leadership thought differently: Blucher was put at the head of the Far Eastern Front. The fatal operation at Lake Hassan was for Blucher his last military operation, which was unsuccessful. But nothing could be corrected, as it was during the years of the civil war, when he left alive and unscathed from the pursuit of the whites. "Red Fox" overtook their own, red. Disassembly began. Blacher was guilty. He remembered everything, especially his service in China. This became the ground for unwinding the charges. This is exactly what the NKVD commission did to investigate the first results of the failure of the operation at Lake Hassan.
But at interrogation, Blucher held out. He did not respond to questions provocateur. He was beaten by professionals, he held on, he still has military training. Almost all of his relatives were arrested and shot: wives (former and present), relatives. But this story requires a different story. And I was interested to learn about the maturing of Blucher in military affairs, how he grew up and was able to go through the war, where there could be several fronts.
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