How the “allies” helped the whites
The help by the allies was provided to the extent that: on the one hand, measures were taken so that the Bolsheviks did not gain a decisive upper hand, but on the other hand, so that the whites could not overthrow them.
“We do not trade Russia” famous words of General Denikin. This is the answer to the question about the reasons for the defeat of the White movement. Reading the memoirs of the White Guards, one involuntarily is struck by the spiritual nobility of these people. They are patriots, Russian people to the bone. RISKING LIFE, THEY are trying with all their might to save their homeland. The generals understand the struggle against Bolshevism as their duty, as a continuation of the service to the country, which made their temples gray-haired, and their breasts showered with orders. The leaders of the White movement, without exception, make the same mistake, which will cost them defeat. They consider the "allies" of Russia to be noble people like themselves, and they endow with qualities that gentlemen from London and Paris had no mention of.
If generals Krasnov, Denikin and Wrangel had at least a general idea of who was engaged in the destruction of Russia, they would not expect from this side any help in the matter of its restoration. If the leaders of the White movement knew about the behind-the-scenes agreements of the Entente with the Bolsheviks, if they had looked suddenly into the dark rooms of the western offices in Moscow! If only they knew how much money the Socialist-Revolutionary and Bolshevik parties grew and strengthened!
Had, Had, Had ...
“For Great, United and Indivisible Russia” - the White Guards who fought with the Bolsheviks raised toasts. And they did not think that for more than a hundred years the goals of British politics were completely different: “For Weak, Fragmented and Divided Russia”! How could the Anglo-Saxons, pursuing diametrically opposed goals, help the Russian White Guards? Yes, and “helped”, strictly adhering to their own interests. The leaders of the White movement did not want to notice, did not want to think about the reasons for the traitorous behavior of yesterday’s “brothers but arms". Instead of the gradual realization of the liquidation of Russia, Denikin, Kolchak and Wrangel saw only inexplicable things and strange behavior of representatives of the Entente.
Now is the time to recall the myths of the Civil War that have developed over the past decades. The West was interested in creating them, aspiring to hide the ends in the water, and the Bolsheviks, who “miraculously” kept themselves in power. The first was to disguise his assistance to Lenin in the seizure of power and in its further retention. The second was extremely important to hide the foreign roots of the coup and exaggerate their own merits in the victory. So what are these myths? They can be divided by the time of occurrence: the old “Soviet” and the new “anti-Soviet”.
Soviet historiography left us a whole bunch of stamp-myths about our “allies” in the Entente:
♦ the first myth: a foreign intervention was carried out aimed at overthrowing the Soviet regime;
♦ myth two: the "allied" governments in the Civil War supported the whites and provided them with tremendous assistance.
In the modern "anti-Soviet" presentation, the picture will turn out to be somewhat different:
♦ third myth: in the Civil War, the “allies” supported good whites;
♦ The fourth myth: the bad Reds were supported by the Germans.
And the "new" and "old" myths are equally far from reality. Take, for example, today's bulging up of the thesis about the support of the Bolsheviks by Germany. If you stupidly take it on faith, then a simple scheme emerges: the Germans are bad, and the British and French, who do not help in red, are good. Simple and clear. Actually, for this simple conclusion all the lies about the Civil War and lined up. The Soviet scheme from the modern differed in minor details. Open any of our textbooks before the 1985 year, and you will read that in the Civil War both the “allies” and the Germans supported bad whites, and the good reds managed to smash them all with exceptionally advanced Marxist teachings under the guidance of a wise communist party. Well, we will understand.
Let's start with the myth of the first: foreign intervention was carried out aimed at overthrowing the Soviet power. To clarify the situation, we turn to the original sources: “For three years on the territory of Russia, there were armies of the British, French, and Japanese. Without a doubt, the most insignificant exertion of the forces of these three powers would be quite enough to defeat us in a few months, if not a few weeks. ”
This is the formulation of Lenin. Difficult to argue with Ilyich - he is right for one hundred percent. In a few weeks, the British and French could strangle the Bolshevik revolution. But then a big Russia would appear on the world map again. Then there would be no civil war. The factories had not collapsed, thousands of kilometers of railway tracks, hundreds of bridges would not have been destroyed. Millions of Russian people remained alive, millions more babies would be born, and to this day the people of a great country would be one and indivisible. The objectives of British intelligence were diametrically opposed ...
It is hard to believe, but foreign intervention, which began in Russia, as we are assured by official historians, to overthrow the Soviet government, was launched from the “light” hand of Lev Davydovich Trotsky. We were the first to receive the honor of receiving British soldiers from our northern ports. As a matter of fact. The Murmansk Port and the Murmansk Railway were built in 1916 for the supply of military equipment and materials from Britain and France to Russia. By the time Russia left the war with Germany, millions of tons of military cargo had accumulated in the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. It was the presence of this military ammunition that gave the "allies" a wonderful official reason for interfering in the affairs of Russia.
Lenin, maneuvering between the Entente and the Germans, chooses the second - the option of cooperation. To comply with external decency, the Bolshevik authorities played the appearance of "allied" troops on Russian soil, as a performance. Everything had already been agreed upon at the backroom negotiations, but Petrograd itself could not simply invite the interventionists — that would be too much. In Murmansk at the time, the rules of the Council of Deputies, chaired by the former docker Alexei Yuriev, ruled. When Marshal Mannerheim, with the help of the Germans, defeated the Finnish Bolsheviks, a theoretical possibility arose of attacking the Finns and Germans against Murmansk. 1 March 1918, Yuryev telegraphed to Petrograd about the situation and reported that the British admiral Kemp offered any help, including military forces, to repel a possible attack by the Germans on the port. Now the situation was different - comrades in the field are asking for support. In response, Comrade Trotsky instructs Yuriev "to accept any assistance from Allied missions."
Already from 1915, the British battleship, a cruiser and six minesweepers were in the roads of Murmansk - they accompanied the ships with military supplies supplied to Russia. The landing did not present any difficulties; in fact, the British simply had to descend from the deck to the shore.
In other words, the minister of the Soviet government, the right hand of Lenin, the only one who, apart from Ilyich, was aware of all the secret agreements, gave the nod to the landing of British interventionists. A funny picture is obtained, just a theater of the absurd: the soldiers of the Entente go to defend the "German spies" of Lenin and Trotsky from the German troops ...
World politics, for the look of a frown on her brow, looked favorably at the destruction of the Russian Empire by a handful of resolute Bolsheviks. To understand this, just look at one very interesting document. The Bolshevik Izvestia, after all the world publications, publish the "Fourteen Points" by President Wilson. These are his proposals to Germany and its partners to make peace. They were published at the beginning of January 1918, that is, in the midst of negotiations in Brest.
We agree peace proposals are always good. It is at least a little, but the hope that millions of men will return to their wives and children, and millions of women will not wear black widow's headscarves. The peacemaker's rush is noble, but it is important to understand what exactly the American president is proposing. Previously, his appeals to Germany were like empty declarations. Now Wilson is concrete and very detailed. Let's walk right through the document, setting out its essence. In brackets we give the translation: let's change the diplomatic language to a human one. So, fourteen points of Wilson, that so admired the Bolsheviks.
1. We need to start peace talks (consider the terms of the surrender of Germany and its allies, they are listed below).
2. Freedom of Shipping (German submarines must break the blockade of England and stop sinking "allied" ships. The blockade of Germany itself may continue).
3. Freedom to trade (The American economy is full of goods, they must be transported to ruined Europe, the same German submarines are hindering this).
4. Guarantees of national disarmament to the utmost minimum compatible with state security (opponents of the Entente must disarm).
5. Fair resolution of all colonial disputes (so that such disputes no longer exist, the winners will take away all the colonies from Germany).
7. Belgium must be liberated and restored (at the expense of Germany, of course).
8. Liberate the territory of France (Alsace and Lorraine Germany must give to France).
9. Italy need to fix the boundaries (that is, add pieces of Austrian territory to it, which the Serbs who provoked the war counted on).
10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary should receive the broadest autonomy (that is, Austria-Hungary should disintegrate and actually cease to exist).
11. The occupied by the Germans and Austrians Romania, Serbia and Montenegro must be liberated. Serbia also provide access to the sea (again at the expense of poor Austrians).
12. Turkish regions of the Ottoman Empire should receive sovereignty, other peoples of this empire also (the end of the Turkish Empire, its collapse); Dardanelles must be open to the free passage of ships and trade of all nations. (full control over the straits by the "allies").
13. An independent Polish state should be created with free access to the sea. (this can be done only from pieces of Russian and German territory, the German port of Danzig (Gdynia) will be handed over to Poland and East Prussia will be cut off from the rest of Germany).
14. A common union of nations must be created. (future League of Nations, modern UN).
Everything is concrete and understandable. But where is Russia? About this item number six. We deliberately missed it. There we are talking about us. But read this item best last. In the end. So to speak, for better understanding and assimilation.
6. The liberation of all Russian territories and the resolution of all issues affecting Russia, which guarantees it the fullest and freest assistance from other nations in obtaining a full and unobstructed opportunity to make an independent decision on its own political development and its national policy and to ensure a warm welcome in the community free nations with the type of government she chooses for herself.
Like this. Do you understand anything in this six-sentence sentence? Re-read it again. Again, nothing is clear? You can try again. Although useless. There is no thought in this mass of letters and words. Except for one thing - keep yourself, loved ones, free hand. It turns out funny: to restore Belgium, to free Romania, to create Poland, to Serbia an access to the sea. And what about Russia? Her - “The fullest and freest assistance from other nations in obtaining a full and unimpeded opportunity to make an independent decision”. That is nothing! Nothing but empty, non-binding words.
Wilson’s statement in parts of our country is the best illustration of Lntant’s clear focus on the elimination of Russian statehood. It is impossible to help any of the sides opposing the Civil War - the Russians will have to be free. The red weapons are full - all the warehouses of the tsarist army, all the military factories in their territory. And giving rifles and machine guns to white is an intervention. You can not give money to the fighters for the integrity of Russia - it will also be a violation of the "free will". And Lenin has almost all the treasures of the State Bank.
In this situation, the outcome of the struggle of white and red can be predicted in advance. In fact, the Civil War has not really begun, and the fighters for the restoration of Russian statehood have already betrayed. ” It is not without reason that the Soviet newspapers publish Wilson’s message, and that’s why the Bolsheviks rejoice - there will be no white help. Such a declaration gives you free hand in making any actions against Russia. You can explain everything your heart desires: they say, we tried and - hereinafter referred to as a six-story pile of empty words.
US President Woodrow Wilson
After all, about all participants of the war, about all the orphans and the poor, about Poland and Belgium, Serbia and Romania are written by US President Woodrow Wilson directly and specifically. Only about Russia is abstract and vague to the limit. Why? Because if you write in essence, you should get something like this: liberate the territories of the Russians, drive out the usurpers of the government and hold new free elections under the control of some international commission, or even convene the old Constituent Assembly. Let him decide how to live Russia further. In such a Russia, Lenin and the Bolsheviks have no place, and any other government does not recognize the separation of national suburbs, the distancing of Ukraine and Transcaucasia. Russia will once again become Great, United and Indivisible. And it will require its participation in the reparations and contributions of the victors in the First World War. The restoration of Russia will eliminate all efforts and costs of its collapse. So it turns out that it is impossible to write about Russia specifically about the American president. And so you can arrange colloquiums and disputes on the interpretation of the muddy text of Wilson's sixth paragraph, devoted to Russia. Well, who understood what “To provide her with a warm welcome in the community of free nations with the type of government she chooses for herself”?
The real concern of the “allies” was caused by completely different facts. To destroy the Russian economy, to turn the country into ruins, we need a civil war and someone must start it. However, the courageous resistance of the Cossacks Don Cossack troops and the noble impulse of the first volunteers were soon to end. No matter how good the Cossacks were, they could not resist all of Russia. There was discontent with the Bolshevik power, but it did not translate into open armed struggle elsewhere in the Russian land. The Cossacks would be smashed, the Bolsheviks would slap the tiny Volunteer Army of General Kornilov, and that would all be over. Civil war, destructive and merciless - will not. And then the words of Lenin from the article “The Next Tasks of the Soviet Power” will sound like a death knell in accordance with the “union” plan: “But, basically, the task of suppressing the resistance of the exploiters has already been solved.”
Little benefit from the fact that the British and French intelligence services managed to bring extremists and experimenters to power in Russia. The simple logic of public administration will quickly force Lenin and his associates not to destroy, but to create. Imagine how much earlier Russia (even if red) would restore its forces if the Civil War had ended, so plainly and not starting. Or it would not exist at all ...
The fuel for the Civil War was presented to us by the “allies”. The role of the spark in the barrel with gunpowder was played by our Slav brothers: the Czechs and Slovaks. Now they are citizens of two different states, and then were subjects of the same Austro-Hungarian empire. During World War I, soldiers and officers of the Slavs had sympathy for Russia and preferred to surrender rather than fight "for the Kaiser and the monarchy." The surrender of soldiers of Czech nationality has become a widespread phenomenon. Once more than two thousand soldiers and officers of the 28 Prague Regiment with all their weapons and ammunition went over to the side of Russia in an organized manner. It was from these valiant warriors that a hull was formed, which, like a gasoline canister thrown into a smoldering fire, caused an explosion and a full-scale war in Russia.
After October, Russia is written off from the political map of the world, no one is going to reckon with it. Including change their orientation and brothers Slavs. The leadership of the Czechoslovakians petitioning the French government and President Poincaré to recognize all Czechoslovak military formations as part of the French army. Consent was obtained, and from December 1917, the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia was formally subordinated to the French command. The Bolsheviks did not object: so what with the fact that two superbly armed divisions, trained and equipped with Russian treasuries have been declared part французский army! (In fact, this is the French, not the Czech troops showed a strange sluggishness during the attack on Yekaterinburg, where the family of Nicholas II was waiting for their terrible fate. Then their slowness becomes understandable and explainable.)
Then the intrigues began. It was announced that the Czechs would go to the Western Front, but for some reason not through Murmansk, as planned earlier, but by the most distant road - through Vladivostok. Thanks to such a winding path, the echelons of the Czechoslovakians stretched out over a large area — along the Volga, the Urals and the whole of Siberia. Why did they decide to intervene in the Russian civil strife and began to revolt instead of quickly leaving the borders of Russia? The answer is simple - "Allied" representatives gave them money. Of course, not every ordinary soldier, but their leadership. 3 March 1918, the organization of the Czechs National Council received the first installment from the French consul in the amount of 1 million rubles. March 7 - 3 million replenish the treasury of Czechoslovak divisions, March 9 - another 2 million, March 25 - 1 million, March 26 - 1 million. Total French consul transferred 8 million rubles in less than a month. There were other payments. The total number of assets received is given in the newspaper Prūkopnik Svoboda: 11 million 118 thousand rubles. And this is only from "grateful" France. The British also threw 80 thousand pounds.
In order for the heavy cart to roll to the edge, someone has to push it. The mutiny of the Czechoslovaks began in Chelyabinsk - several corps officers were arrested by local Chekists for "contact with counter-revolutionary elements." In response, the Czechs seized the station and demanded the release of their countryman. 25 May 1918 of the year, signed by Trotsky, an order was issued to disarm the Czechoslovak units, which had to send weapons, but it was too late. Disciplined troops of the 40-thousandth Czech corps quickly captured a vast territory. National anti-Bolshevik forces will be grouped around them. Strictly speaking, a large-scale war on the mutual extermination of the Russians began precisely with the Czechoslovak insurgency. Later, the merits of Czechs and Slovaks will not be forgotten. The grateful Entente will hasten to carve out independent Czechoslovakia for saws.
The fire of Russian civil strife is ignited. The main thing now for the "allies" - do not let it fade. Velye necessary as a means of maximum weakening of the Red Army. Therefore it is necessary to encourage and support them. So that the war would last as long as possible, so that Russia would weaken as much as possible ...
Understanding the logic of the behavior of the British and French, we can easily understand the absurdity of the second myth: the “allied” governments in the Civil War supported the whites and provided them with tremendous help. Not to be unfounded, we begin to understand thoroughly. First in terms. What is help? “Assistance in something, in any activity; support, ”the dictionary tells us. Let's figure out whether there was "support", whether "assistance" was rendered to the White Guards.
Let's start with the support of the diplomatic and governmental. This is an extremely interesting topic. In the head of the inhabitant there is a little confusion. Since the Bolsheviks are called by the historian “usurpers” and “invaders” of power, an inexperienced reader has the impression that the Reds seized Russia from the legitimate government. Therefore, they were rebels. In fact, the process of seizing power by the Bolsheviks was so well prepared by Kerensky that it was necessary to seize the country, to beat it back not red, but white! They were the rebels against the central Leninist power. In such a situation, the legitimization of their actions was incredibly important for the fighters against Bolshevism. It was necessary to show that they are the legal authority in Russia, and the Leninists who captured Russia are the occupiers and the criminals. In such a situation, only foreign recognition of the white government could give it such a “legal” status.
That is why the "allies" almost until the very end of the Civil War did not officially recognize a single White regime. They did not recognize the red ones either, and this gave London and Paris complete freedom of maneuver. All the breakaway pieces of the Russian Empire received recognition of Great Britain and France in a few din.
The head of the British government, Lloyd George, was also frank: “The expediency of helping Admiral Kolchak and General Denikin is all the more debatable is that they are fighting for a united Russia. It’s not for me to indicate whether this slogan is in line with UK policy. One of our great men, Lord Beaconsfield, saw in huge, mighty and great Russia, rolling like a glacier towards Persia, Afghanistan and India, the most formidable danger to the British Empire. ”
And white leaders were waiting for the conscience of the Western world to wake up and they will fomoglasno declare who is the legitimate government of Russia. It was extremely important, because the official recognition entailed many consequences:
♦ Whites got the opportunity to use the financial assets belonging to the Tsarist and Provisional governments, which remained in the West;
♦ embassies on the territory occupied by the Bolsheviks were to be closed;
♦ the contacts of the "deputy" ambassadors with Lenin and Trotsky could no longer be maintained officially;
♦ The population of Russia received a clear and understandable signal who the victorious powers favored (even the most inveterate communists could not hope to win in a real struggle with the whole world).
All this created serious prerequisites for the defeat of the Reds and the victory of the whites. But this is exactly what should have been avoided. Especially when the stubborn perseverance of the Russian generals became clear and their unwillingness to trade in the interests of their country. After all, the creation of a “sanitary” cordon between Russia and Germany was one of the indispensable slopes of English politics. To this end, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland and Finland were created. Other tidbits should be split off from Russia: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Central Asia. If the supreme ruler of Russia, Admiral Kolchak, had recognized the separation from her of everything that the British wanted to separate, he would have become dearer to them to Lenin, which so often demonstrated the dangerous talent of the organizer.
So, we were convinced that the White movement did not receive political support. With military help things were even worse. At the beginning of June 1918, Trotsky told one of the employees of the German diplomatic mission: “We are already deceased; it's up to the undertaker now. ”
The Bolsheviks can only be defeated by quickly organizing the Russian army. We must hurry - Trotsky and his assistants complement the commanders of the Red Army with executions and persuasion. Soon, undisciplined gangs threaten to become a disciplined force. But while it is not there, the march to Moscow promises to be easy. Red Army soldiers will surrender, go over to the side of the whites. The main thing is to show that the Entente supports the White movement, still to give some weapons and money - and the victory is already in your pocket. And Krasnov and Denikin are waiting for help. But she is still not there. Because the “allies” do not need a quick end to the Civil War. They do not need and easy victory of the White Guards. For them, the ideal option: painful long struggle, in the whirlwind of which the fleet, the economy and the royal family will disappear. Russia itself will disappear ...
Almost nine months, the most difficult of the first months, the "allies" left the White movement alone with their fate! At that moment, when Lenin and Trotsky did not yet have a real fighting force, the "allies" did not give the whites either their troops, or weapons, or money. General Denikin says this: “The main source of supply until February 1919 was the Bolshevik reserves we were taking.” Baron Wrangel echoes him: "The supply of the army was purely random, mainly at the expense of the enemy." But poorly organized (for now) Soviet troops are all in abundance. In order to best understand the sides' arms at the start of the Civil War, one must imagine that the Reds had weapons. all multi-million royal army, and the whites only that they captured from the red! “The lack of ammunition was sometimes catastrophic,” Denikin writes. - Uniforms - some obnozhki ...
Sanitary supplies can be considered non-existent. There are no medicines, no dressings, no laundry. There are only doctors who are powerless to fight disease. ” Here is such a white army: lousy, barefoot and without cartridges. Only when the Red Army had grown on the other side of the barricades did the supply of arms and ammunition go. Otherwise, the red would quickly defeat the whites ...
But maybe the British and French gave the fighters for Russia instead of weapons of money? They can not send troops - but they can give money ?! “From the allies, contrary to the established opinion, we did not receive a single penny,” General Denikin debunks the myth.
Further in his memoirs Denikin draws a sad picture. In addition to soldering, the soldiers of the Volunteer Army received a monetary allowance in 1918 - 30 rubles per month, officers from ensigns to commander-in-chief from 270 to 1000 rubles. The cost of living for at least one worker at a time 660-780 rubles! But the officers and soldiers of the family, wife and children. They are waiting for a miserable, hungry existence. And - not a penny from the British and French ...
Let's go back to the Russian North. After the Red Guards and the British soldiers fought together with the White Finns, the situation changed a bit. The White Guards staged a coup, and a government emerged in Arkhangelsk under the chairmanship of the former People's Volunteer Tchaikovsky. Soon he was replaced by the military dictatorship of General Miller. But the essence does not change. The power belongs in the Russian North not to the Russians, but to the British. And they are in no hurry to attack the red Petrograd. They have completely different tasks. The main one is control over the systematic liquidation of Russia. All other current actions are dictated by the execution of this main goal.
By August 1918, the Antantian soldiers in the North are already more than 10 thousands. And they move to Petrograd. At least that's what textbooks write. stories. But there will be no limit to our surprise when, in the same books, we read that, in a hurry to “strangle” the young Soviet Republic, British troops develop an amazing agility. In two months, they advanced deep into Russian territory by as much as 40 km! Moving with a snail's speed, despite the lack of resistance from the red. Then they stopped altogether. General Marushevsky, the last chief of staff of the Russian army under the Provisional Government, one of the leaders of the White Guards in the North, explained this situation this way: “The Russian military command was deprived of independence and fulfilled the intentions of the Allied headquarters. The weight of my instructions on the need for an offensive, especially on the Dvina and Murmansk fronts, was rejected by the Allies because of the lack of troops and the unreliability of the population sympathizing with the Bolsheviks.
In a curious book "The Civil War 1918-1921" you can easily find the facts of interest to us: "... After a long lull in November 1918, the enemy (the British) tried to advance along the Arkhangelsk railway." And further: "The sluggishness of the initial actions of the English command allowed the Soviet command to gather sufficient forces to protect the Soviet Northern theater"2. Slowly testing the ground, the "allies" moved forward, however, having met minimal resistance from the Red Army, they immediately stopped. The motivation of such a strange "speed" of the English movement is extremely interesting. It turns out that for the success of the offensive, the commander of the British General Bullet needs at least five more battalions. You compare the value of these two quantities:
♦ five battalions (several thousand soldiers);
♦ saving Russia.
If you give the Bullet these five battalions, it will take Petrograd, the Bolsheviks will be defeated, the Civil Troubles will end and the exhausted Russia will breathe freely. Incomparable values. However, you probably will not be surprised to learn that neither the British nor the French command could give these necessary troops. The Soviet military figures who wrote the book “The Civil War 1918 — 1921” tell in detail about the “campaign” of the British to Petrograd, but their story quickly begins to resemble a bad joke:
“We turned to the highest military authority of the Allies - Marshal Foch. The latter considered it expedient that the USA send these five battalions from America directly to Arkhangelsk. However, the US government rejected this request. Thus, the question of sending five new battalions to Arkhangelsk has grown to an international event ... Pul stood and waited. "
Under-the-scenes arrangements of the “allies” with the Bolsheviks lead to surprising difficulties. Neither the English, nor the French have no free five battalions. Their armies are made up of several million people, November 1918 of the year. The world war is over, but for some reason there is no free troops for the entire Entente. Whether or not to send five battalions is not decided by anyone, but by President Wilson himself.
♦ The same one that signed the Federal Reserve Act in December 1913.
♦ The one that formed the Federal Reserve System, which created the global dollar monopoly.
It is impossible to build while the golden ruble and the German gold mark existed ...
Will President Wilson give his consent to sending troops to crush those Bolsheviks, who help to liquidate the vast continental empire, secured by the gold ruble? They, fighting for the "world revolution", eliminate the competitors of the Anglo-Saxons. It is easy to guess that Wilson does not give his consent. Five battalions are not located. The Bolsheviks may not worry about their Northern Front ...
It takes another year. In the second half of September 1919, the “allies” were quickly evacuated from the Russian North. What do you think the British will do with the numerous military stocks accumulated on the piers of the northern ports, for which they allegedly landed in Russia? Knowing the true goals of the British, you can easily guess.
Before leaving Murmansk and Arkhangelsk "allies", instead of transferring reserves и shells Russian, drowned all the equipment. “Cars, airplanes, shells, cartridges, fuel, and a large number of all kinds of uniforms, that is, everything that Russian troops needed, were burned or thrown into the water.”
“This was done in broad daylight, in front of numerous viewers, leaving a funeral impression,” writes an eyewitness. After the departure of the British supply was literally from the bottom of the sea. Recently, the program "Time" showed a report from Arkhangelsk. The port began the extraction and liquidation of a multitude of projectiles and ammunition lying at the bottom of the bay. At the risk of life, divers get all this rusted good out of the water. So, these are the stocks drowned by the British in the fall of 1919, and not the “echo” of the Great Patriotic War.
So what was the help of the Western democracies to the White Guards? What is the support that the leaders of England have been constantly talking about? France and the United States, but now they say modern historians? Reading the memoirs of the white generals, you are convinced of the opposite: the Anglo-Saxons do not help. World War I ended. The "allies" left a lot of ammunition and various military trifles, useful only during hostilities. Denikin asks to transfer this unnecessary property to him. The answer is negative: "The French did not want to provide us with enormous reserves, their own and American, left after the war and constituting shy rubbish, which did not pay for its storage costs and was subject to urgent liquidation."
No money was given, no weapons were sent for free. So what are the history books talking about, how did the “allies” help the white ones? The answer is as simple as the sentence: nothing. “Whether we were not logical enough, whether the French were too inert, but economic relations with France were also not getting better ... It was no longer help, but just barter and trade,” - notes General Denikin.
All "allied help" is not help in the usual human sense, but PURCHASE! All supplies are bought for money or changed for raw materials that Russia is rich in. The White Army also received gold: in the summer of 1918, in Kazan, the White Guards intercepted half of Russia's gold reserves. Then the gold was sent to Kolchak - hundreds of tons of gold, platinum, silver, jewelry for a fantastic amount of 1 billion 300 million gold rubles (in 1914 prices of the year). But even for this money it was extremely difficult to buy from the "allies".
And the whole horror of the situation was that Kolchak and Denikin had nowhere to buy weapons and equipment, except from them. Trade was not mutually beneficial. One side is always cheating on the other. This is not about inflated prices and poor quality goods. We are talking about the system, about the direct betrayal; when one side of its pre-planned actions cause damage to the other. Here is just one example. After sending one or two transports with an insignificant amount of stocks, the French government ultimatum, says General Denikin, that "Forced to stop sending ammunition", If we “We will not accept the obligation to supply wheat with the appropriate amount”. This is at the height of the fighting. Until you pay, I will not give you ammo. So says the “union” French government with the Russians. This is pure betrayal. But gentle General Denikin will also softly write in his memoirs, speaking of France: “As a result, we received no real help from her: neither solid diplomatic support ... nor credit, nor supplies.”
Anton Ivanovich Denikin
Already, it seems, we went over all kinds of “help” and “support”. But one thing is still forgotten. Could the "allies" to help the White Army with ideas and thoughts. Civil war is the struggle of ideas in its purest form. Who has better propaganda, he will quickly decompose the enemy, then hesitant and doubters will follow. To understand the reasons for the defeat of the White Guards, you just need to read their documents, familiarize yourself with the slogans and ideology with which the Russian White Guards went into battle. What was offered to Russian noli instead of Bolshevism? Let's read. Here is the first political appeal of the Volunteer Army to the Russian people, issued from the pen of General Denikin:
“The volunteer army set itself the goal of saving Russia by creating a strong, patriotic and disciplined army and ruthless struggle against Bolshevism, relying on all state-minded people. The future forms of the state structure of the army leaders (generals Kornilov, Alekseev) were not predetermined, making them dependent on the will of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly convened to establish a legal order in the country. ”
Let's fight the Bolsheviks, risk their lives. For what? Unclear. But in Omsk, the military dictatorship of Admiral Kolchak, who declared himself the supreme ruler of Russia, was established. He dispersed the local talkers of the “founders” and immediately after taking power, in November 1918 of the year, publishes a manifesto:
“The All-Russian Provisional Government collapsed. The Council of Ministers took full authority and handed it to me, Alexander Kolchak. Having accepted the cross of this power in the exceptionally difficult conditions of civil war and a complete breakdown of state life, I declare that I will not follow the path of reaction or the disastrous path of partisanship. I set as my main goal the creation of an efficient army, a victory over Bolshevism and the establishment of law and order, so that people can freely choose the form of government that they wish and implement the great ideas of freedom now proclaimed throughout the world. ”
What do we see? Again, go on to die for "the great ideas of freedom proclaimed throughout the snow," "so that the people may freely choose for themselves the form of government that they desire." Someone here and there sometimes, this line from the Soviet “militia” song best describes the program documents of all white leaders. They seem afraid to utter burning words, from which the hearts of patriots will light up and the eyes of tired and demoralized people will light up. As if something prevents them from uttering such words. Or does someone interfere?
"The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!" - say the Bolsheviks, gathering workers to fight Denikin, Kolchak and Yudenich. "For the great ideas of freedom!" - Kolchak answers them. What is he talking about? When did the Russian people feel with all their breasts this air of freedom, for which they now have to die? In February, when policemen and gendarmes with broken skulls lay on the streets of St. Petersburg? During the reign of Kerensky, when chaos and anarchy spilled out onto the streets? This has never happened in Russia. The Russian people did not breathe the air of freedom, and therefore white slogans were good for the USA, for France, but not for Russia. It is for this reason that the "allies * imposed them. Therefore there was no “triumphal march” of the White Guards around the country, but there was a triumphal march of Soviet power!
“If the white armies had advanced the idea of a peasant king, we would not have lasted a week,” - Trotsky will say later. This is the whole point of the “union” policy - to lead the Russian struggle against the Bolsheviks. To condition their assistance by the absence of monarchist slogans, to prevent the emergence of ideas for its restoration, but not to provide any assistance. Lead the struggle of Russian patriots to direct it to the right direction for themselves. Lead to eliminate this fight.
As a result, many memoirs of the White Guards are perplexed: the simple questions of the peasants, what they are fighting for and what the white power carries to the common man, educated officers find it difficult to answer. Because no one knows this answer. All white против the Bolsheviks. It is clear. But what they, nobody knows ...
Historians all the time sang to us that "the white army, the" black baron "again prepare the royal throne for us." They lied! None of the White Army did not set as its official goal the restoration of the monarchy.
Because then she would have received nothing from the "allies". At the first suspicion of "reactionary" howl, Western newspapers were raising, in unison with them, the leaders of the "democratic" opposition were outraged. After all, the very same persons who, after six months of rampant democracy under Kerensky, were able to quickly and effectively destroy the country, represent the Russian fighters against Bolshevism abroad. One of the brightest representatives of this cohort is Boris Alexandrovich Bakhmetyev.
Cadet, professor of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, in the crematorium which burned the corpse of Rasputin. In the years of the Provisional Government - Comrade Minister of Commerce and Industry, from April 1917 — Russia's Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the United States. Since the United States did not recognize either the Bolshevik or any other white government of Russia, the result was an interesting diplomatic situation. Mr. Bakhmetyev represented Russia and the government, which was not and never will be. And he didn’t just represent it, but single-handedly (!) Was disposing of the assets of the Provisional Government, which at one time were sent to the United States to purchase weapons there. Bakhmetyev’s sum turned out to be a hefty one - about 50 million dollars. To understand the magnitude of this amount, you can compare it with the gold reserves of Spain, exported by the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War in the USSR: 500 million dollars.
Modest Mr. Bakhmetyev was disposing with huge money. For the good of the motherland, of course. Of this amount, he:
♦ paid interest on loans taken by Russia to the United States;
♦ helped white governments.
The most interesting thing is that from the same money Bakhmetyev financed the American expeditionary corps in Russia. Thus, the American soldiers who had done so little to fight the Bolsheviks and so much helped to organize the correct export of Russian values abroad, were again at the Russian expense. US President Wilson was very grateful to Bakhmetyev for such care, and subsequent leaders of the country gave Bakhmetyev American citizenship. In his second homeland, the “temporary” ambassador quickly became a very rich man.
So rich that there is still an interesting archive on interest from his capital. Its full name is the Bakhmetyevsky archive of Russian, Eastern European history and culture. In fact - this is the archive of the White movement. These are more 200 boxes with documents related to Wrangel. These are almost 500 archive boxes of the Russian embassy in Washington. These are the personal archives of Denikin, Yudenich, Miller. The whole history of the struggle for the restoration and salvation of our country. All these treasures are contained only on interest from the founder’s capital. Like Alfred Nobel, his Nobel Prizes. How did Bakhmetyev earn huge sums of money being a simple professor at Columbia University in the USA?
We will not suspect the distinguished ambassador in impropriety. Without a doubt, he has not appropriated a cent from those 50 million, that handed out at his own discretion. When the Socialist-Revolutionaries Aksentyev and Chernov ruled in Siberia, the cadet Bakhmetyev gave them money. When Kolchak came to power, he stopped. General Denikin did not receive anything either when he was waging a deadly struggle against the Bolsheviks. But Baron Wrangel, who replaced him, received help with the evacuation of the army from the Crimea. Bakhmetyev did not allocate funds for the fight, he gave it for termination. And he built himself a small, modest match factory, which made him a millionaire. Where does the money for the construction of the enterprise? Probably took a loan. Interest-free and non-refundable ...
Modern myths about the Civil War are even more far from reality than their “Soviet” brethren. Recall these simple inventions:
♦ in the Civil War, “allies” supported good whites;
♦ bad reds were supported by the Germans.
If it is possible to devote thick volumes to the debunking of the first thesis, then we touched upon the second question only in passing. Germany practically did not provide military assistance and weapons assistance to the Bolsheviks. And the sympathies of the German officers are clearly not on the side of the reds. Colonel Drozdovsky, one of the most prominent heroes of the White movement, at the beginning of the 1918 of the year, at the height of the Bolshevik peace talks with Germany, formed a detachment and headed for General Kornilov to the Don. We had to go along with the German troops, and sometimes right across the territory they occupied: “We have strange relations with the Germans: precisely recognized allies, assistance, strict correctness, in clashes with Ukrainians are always on our side, unconditional respect ...” his diary Drozdovsky. “We pay strict correctness.”
Gradually, the sympathies of ordinary officers turn into politics. Germans support anti-Bolshevik Georgia and Ukraine. They begin to establish relations with the insurgent Cossacks of Krasnov. From the "allies" this ataman will not receive a single rifle, not a single cartridge. Germany behaves differently. But, by the way, the word to the chieftain Krasnov himself: “Everything lay in the Don army in fragments and desolation. The Ataman palace itself was dirtied by the Bolsheviks so that it was impossible to settle there immediately without repair. The churches were cursed, many villages were crushed. ”
The Bolsheviks are attacking Cossack villages, advancing to the south of Russia and German units. In Russian, the position of the Cossack affairs is called a strong obscene word, sounding very similar to the name of one fur animal. Red wave is preparing to flood the village. Something urgent needs to be done. And then the ataman Krasnov is decided on an unprecedented step: immediately after his election, 5 May 1918, he writes a letter ... to Kaiser Wilhelm! Ataman decides to enter into contact with the head of a hostile power. For that time, the step is phenomenally bold.
Pay attention to the date. The Brest Peace Treaty was signed long ago. And here Krasnov proposes to the Germans an alliance against the Soviet regime “advantageous” for Germany. Germany’s response was lightning fast. And positive - in three days, on May 8 in the evening, the German delegation came to the ataman. The Germans stated that they were not pursuing any aggressive goals and were interested in the restoration of complete order to the Don as soon as possible. Krasnov himself in one of his speeches before the Cossacks said bluntly: “Yesterday’s external enemy, the Austro-Germans, entered the borders of the Army to fight in alliance with us with gangs of Red Army soldiers and to set up a complete order on the Don. Knowing the strict discipline of the German army, I am confident that we will be able to maintain good relations until the Germans have to stay with us to maintain order and until we create our own army that can protect the personal safety and integrity of every citizen itself without the help of foreign units ".
So whose allies were Germans, reds or whites? 5 June 1918, the German authorities announced the official recognition of the ataman as a state authority. Note: "allies" right up to 1920, almost three of the year, did not recognize either one white government. Germany did it in one month!
Atman Peter Nikolaevich Krasnov
Next - began "interstate" relations. Germany does not rob the Cossacks, does not try to rob them as sticky, seizing the moment. Germany starts the correct trade. “To begin with, we figured out the exchange rate. For the German brand, 75 was given "Don" kopecks, ”writes the ataman Krasnov. In Rostov-liberated Rostov, a mixed Don-German export commission was formed to regulate trade issues. Don began to get sugar from Ukraine, and then had to start getting other scarce goods from Germany itself.
The head of the Don Cossacks followed the path of Lenin and was able to reach an agreement with Germany. Behind her wide back he managed to rebuild and arm his Cossack army. Weapons and ammunition were also purchased from the Germans. On the German-occupied Ukraine there were truly inexhaustible stocks of Russian weapons. His Germans sold, or rather changed, according to the established rate: one Russian rifle with 30 cartridges - for one pood of wheat or rye. The proposal was not limited to small arms - Krasnov signed a contract for the supply of airplanes, guns, shells. For the first month and a half, the Germans donated a three-line rifle, 11 guns, 651 machine guns, 46 88 artillery shells and 109 104 11 guns to the Don, Kuban and Volunteer Army 594 721. Even heavy weapons were sent to the Don army, the package of which the Germans had previously refused. In addition, the arsenals of Krasnov were replenished with 100 machine guns, 9 airplanes, 500 thousands of rifle cartridges and 10 thousands of shells.
Until now, I have not met anywhere a single mention of the joint hostilities of the Germans and the Bolsheviks against the White Guards. On the other hand, it was reliably established that German troops, Don Cossacks and the battalion of the Volunteer Army jointly beat in battles near the town of Nataisk of the Red Army. The Germans smashed the Bolsheviks and independently. Krasnov writes: “The Germans, with considerable losses for themselves, reflected the insane attempt of the Bolsheviks to land on the Taganrog Spit and take Taganrog. The Germans did not particularly willingly engaged in battles with the Bolsheviks, but when the military situation demanded it, they acted quite resolutely, and the Donians could be completely calm for the strip occupied by the German troops. The entire western border with Ukraine from Kantemirovka to the Sea of Azov, more than 500 miles long, was completely safe, and the Don government did not keep a single soldier here. ”
Is it possible to say that the Germans supported the Bolsheviks? The facts make us admit that the Germans were not allies of Lenin and his comrades, but their opponents of the Cossacks. And where were the French, the British, the Americans? Rumors about their landing went all the time. Not only white officers and Cossacks, but also Red Army men spoke about it. Krasnov writes about this: “The Bolsheviks, of course, knew about the events in the West and now led widespread propaganda that the Allies would never help either Denikin or the Don ataman, because Western Europe’s democracy with the Bolsheviks would at the same time not allow her soldiers went against the Bolsheviks. "
The Germans helped mostly Cossacks. Only because the Cossacks did not hinder and did not show hostility to the German army. Assistance would also be provided to the Denikin Volunteer Army. If ... not the resistance and the refusal of General Denikin herself. Cossack Colonel Polyakov, who fought in the ranks of the Don army, evaluates the missed opportunities as follows: “Both then and now I have no doubt that if the leaders of the Volunteer Army took a different course towards the Germans, we would be able to jointly, with the help of the Germans, quickly manage to use the richest reserves of Ukraine and the Romanian front, to create real armies into the depths of Russia, they would easily have coped with the Bolsheviks, who then, as we know, had no organized, reliable force. ”
But the leaders of the anti-Bolshevik forces, who determined the policies of the whites, like blind kittens, remained loyal to the "allies" and patiently waited for help from them. They were good people, but very bad politicians. There was a chance to save Russia, but to use it, Lenin had to have the flexibility. And to understand that it is the “allies” of Russia who are interested in its liquidation, and Germany’s “enemy” can render real assistance. But they did not understand, they did not realize ...
And then came November 1918 of the year - and Germany was gone. From this period, support and weapons could only be obtained from the Entente. Here the "allies" and showed their true face. They are closely watching the parity of forces, looking to white not suddenly become stronger than red. The British and French behave unpredictably all the way: they sell, they don't sell. Regulate a thin stream of supplies.
Once Kolchak comes, help will go to Denikin, when Denikin chokes, Kolchak will be helped. Help "allies" will not go where it is currently needed. Peter N. Wrangel testifies: “The widespread assistance promised by foreigners was already beginning to take its toll. Steamboats loaded with artillery and engineering property, uniforms and medicines continuously arrived in Novorossiysk. In the near future, the arrival of a large number of airplanes and tanks». This is exactly when the Kolchak fighters ran, having an acute shortage of ammunition. Because all the equipment sailed to Denikin, and not to Kolchak!
The supply tap opens, but the flow is rather meager. “Military supplies continued to flow, however, in sizes insufficient for the normal supply of our armies, but it was still the main source of their food supply” - this is Denikin about the same period, the second half of the 1919 year, when the British “generously” supply him instead of dying Kolchak. Adjusting the trickle of supply was simple enough. It is necessary to reduce - you drag out negotiations, talk about objective difficulties. It is necessary to speed up the delivery - do not say anything, but quickly carry the right weapon. Many dozens of tons of gold were sent by Kolchak abroad, but the response deliveries were delayed. Already in 1919, he said: "My opinion is that they are not interested in creating a strong Russia ... They don’t need it." But for the supply went all the same scoundrels "allies." After all, there are no other suppliers ...
You try to plan a major offensive operation, having in mind such a factor as an incomprehensible timetable for the supply of weapons. Maybe in September the “Allied” steamships would bring weapons, maybe in October, and not even an hour - and they would not bring them at all. Or they will deliver it not to you, but to Denikin. That is, not to SIBERIA, but to the Volga. In response to your bewilderment, they will smile and say something about “chaos on the Trans-Siberian Railway.” And your soldiers still need to shoot. And bandage the wounded, and change worn weapons. On the other hand, the trenches are red. They have all the warehouses of the royal army. There are enough weapons, foodstuffs from the peasants were taken away, the peasants themselves were driven into the trenches. Red Army soldiers are bad, but fed and clothed. The number of them many times more than you. In order to fight well, in parts the commissars are sitting, who will run and shoot them. Try to defeat such an opponent without regular military supplies, on the same enthusiasm.
But the red ones also have gold. After all, the opponents divided the gold reserve almost in half. And there are arms shipments to the Bolsheviks. Only in secret, in the framework of backroom arrangements. Direct evidence is difficult to find, indirect come across often. Professor Sutton writes, “That there is evidence from the State Department that weapons and equipment were supplied to the Bolsheviks. And in the 1919 year, when Trotsky publicly spoke with anti-American speeches, he simultaneously asked Ambassador Francis to send American military inspection teams to train the new Soviet army. ”
No wonder Ilyich appointed to direct the Red Army Trotsky, it seems that he is just a magician and illusionist. In the middle of 1919 in the Red Army there were 1,5 million fighters; at the end of 1918, less than 400 thousand. A hungry devastated country dressed for eight months, shod, armed, and fed more than MILLION OF NEW SOLDIERS. Where did all this equipment come from? It was purchased and delivered by the British, Americans and French. There is simply no place to take it anymore: there is no one else to take away and expropriate, and you can only buy from the winners in the world war.
How the “allies” helped the white (part of 2)
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