The Despicable Bean

32


101 a year ago, 21 August 1915, perhaps the most inglorious, if not to say sharper, event in stories Russian army. Far from exhausting the possibilities of resistance, and in fact, the largest Russian fortress Novogeorgiyevsk surrendered without a fight. More precisely, not even a fortress, but a whole fortified area of ​​more than 200 square kilometers, which, in addition to the citadel, included 33 powerful reinforced concrete forts with numerous artillery.



The siege of Novogeorgievsk lasted only 10 days, while the number of besiegers was almost one and a half times smaller than the number of the garrison - 45 of the landver (that is, the militia) battalions against sixty-four. Only a few days the Germans fired on the fortress, and due to the lack of siege artillery, only a few forts of the northern part of the defensive perimeter came under fire. No southern forts and strongholds were fired at all. It should be noted that the guns in the fortress was 10 times larger than that of the besiegers.

However, on August 19, the commandant of the fortress, General Nikolai Bobyr, with the driver and adjutant, got into his car and drove off to surrender. It never occurred to anyone to stop and arrest him for treason. Moreover, the next day, already in captivity, he gave the order to surrender the fortress to the entire garrison, delivered by the German envoy. Amazingly, this treacherous order was executed immediately and without question. The defenders of Novogeorgievsk obediently laid down weapon.

23 Generals, 1200 Officers, and more than 83 Thousands of Soldiers surrendered in captivity - the case in Russia has never been seen before. Moreover, all fortifications, weapons and ammunition were handed over to the Germans safe and sound. In this regard, we must remember that when in March of the same year, after a six-month siege, the Austrian garrison of the fortress of Peremyshl surrendered, the Austrians blew up forts, guns and ammunition remnants before the surrender.

And in Novogeorgiyevsk the Germans got 1204 guns and more than a million (!) Projectiles for them. The Germans then actively used these guns on the western front, and their propaganda mockingly trumpeting the fact that the Russians excellently supplied Germany with artillery to fight against the allies. You can imagine how the British and French reacted to this ...

The famous military historian Kersnovsky in his book “The History of the Russian Army” directly calls Bobyr “contemptible,” however, in my opinion, this epithet deserves not only him, but all the officers and generals who followed his example. The shameful surrender of Novogeorgievsk was one of the most vivid examples of how rotten and rotten the royal army, including its command, was on the eve of the revolution.

In 1919, Bobyr was released from captivity, returned to Russia and lived quietly in the Crimea under the White Guards. For some reason, neither Denikin nor Wrangel made any claims to him. However, when the Bolsheviks came to the Crimea, the traitor was immediately put to the wall. Of course, the Reds did not shoot him for the surrender of Novogeorgievsk, but this is one of the cases when the victim of mass terror was the one who really deserved it.
On the screensaver is the German postcard 1915 of the year, on which Kaiser Wilhelm congratulates the soldiers on taking the New George Fortress. I didn’t find any normal quality photos of Boby, yes, I confess, I didn’t really want to.



The fortification scheme of Novogeorgievsk and the location of the German siege units on the eve of the surrender of the fortress.



The scheme of one of the Newgeorgian forts. Next are photographs of the fortifications of Novogeorgievsk taken at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.











Heavy fortress mortars captured by the Germans in Novogeorgievsk.



Soldiers of the garrison surrendered under escort leave the citadel on the pontoon bridge over the Vistula.



Germans in one of the forts. There are no signs of shelling on the fortifications.



Employees of a serf aeronautical company in German captivity.
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32 comments
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  1. +4
    27 August 2016 15: 40
    The beaver, before that, it seems, did not have any combat experience and bribes, they say, he took for a sweet soul.

    "The Germans got 1204 cannons and over a million (!) shells for them."

    The figure on the shells, to be honest, is doubtful. given the general picture at the time in the Russian army on the supply of ammunition. request
    1. +13
      27 August 2016 18: 29
      By and large, this case speaks only about one thing: as far as the soldiers and non-commissioned officers were passive in that war, the officers and generals also forgot about the oath. No one (or almost no one) wanted to fight and did not understand: why Samsonov and Rennenkampf in East Prussia came out in defense of the Serb brothers; why the army is retreating from the trained fortified areas, having an advantage in men and weapons; why, at the height of the war with Germany, the tsar puts the Germans as chairman of the Council of Ministers.
      The old wording "For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland!" did not work anymore: you cannot fight for these principles just like that. Without any goals. For the murder of some crown prince.
      Lenin was right in calling this war imperialist. Patriotic wars begin for the Fatherland, they fight in great wars for great goals. And it was just war. Russian soldiers repaid French loans with their blood, that's all.
      1. +1
        29 August 2016 06: 55
        The old wording "For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland!" did not work anymore: you cannot fight for these principles just like that. Without any goals.

        What does it mean "you can't just fight" for your Fatherland? And what other goals are needed besides protecting the Motherland?
        World War I - Not Great? Is she "just like that"? Mdaaa, I have not seen this before.
        Would you write directly - I do not know the causes of the PMV. And the signature.
      2. +1
        1 October 2016 23: 06
        Well, it’s not just that they fought, the fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century Russia was firmly and firmly tied by our allies to themselves with their money, which is why the Russian peasants had to pay with their blood the debts of tsarist Russia to France and England, which grappled with Germany from - because of spheres of influence and redistribution of the colonies, but the protection of the Serbs is just an excuse to participate in the war, which both sides had been preparing for long before it began, and as it turned out, the Germans were better prepared than anyone else, because at the first stage they achieved very impressive successes.
    2. 0
      4 July 2017 18: 22
      A thousand shells per gun, especially if there are depots in the territory of the UR, are rather very few.
  2. +3
    27 August 2016 15: 43
    Well, what is special, now all the committees on rights, Mothers sodat and in general all "progressive" about the meaninglessness of resistance, and the value of life, above goals and ideals are hammered into more than one decade.
  3. +6
    27 August 2016 15: 51
    Bobyr is a "strong business executive"? Someone strongly resembles ..
  4. +3
    27 August 2016 16: 20
    Quote: Terner38
    Bobyr is a "strong business executive"? Someone strongly resembles ..

    Very, very reminiscent of today's cool executives.
  5. +5
    27 August 2016 16: 23
    General Bobyr also needs a commemorative plaque .. for example, in Yalta .. Anensky and Vladimir Cavalier, researcher, from May to October 1887 led the Sayan expedition to explore the border region of the Irkutsk province, a victim of red terror ... Why is it worse than Kolchak ..? smile
    1. +2
      27 August 2016 17: 39
      So straight Dalniy in the REV. Targeted and just with everything you need.
    2. +1
      27 August 2016 18: 15
      Or Mannerheim? Unfortunately, both the Russian Empire and modern Russia are full of all sorts of swindlers and the like. Well, he stops their Criminal Code, there is no execution or confiscation. This document has been written under the current leadership ..
  6. +2
    27 August 2016 17: 28
    Yes, not everyone fulfilled their military duty ... And he was awarded quite well ... If Wikipedia does not lie ... He had no combat experience, but apparently was considered a specialist in serf "sitting" ... The highest award is the Order of Alexander Nevsky, which the military general A. Brusilov did not have ...
    1. +2
      27 August 2016 18: 22
      It was 1915, patriotic moods were very strong, unlike the 17th. Strange everything or betrayal, or no one wanted to fight .. Russia was forced to intervene in this war, we did not need it.
  7. +10
    27 August 2016 17: 39
    Two days earlier, the Germans surrendered to another not weak Kovno fortress. In Kovno, the Germans took 20 000 prisoners and 450 serf guns, and in Novogeorgievsk 83 000 prisoners, including 23 generals and 2100 officers, 1200 (!!!) guns and more than 1 000 000 shells. Only four officers (Fedorenko, Stefanov, Ber, and Berg), being loyal to the oath, left the fortress and, having overcome a loose environment, 18 days crept through the rear of the enemy to their own. What is interesting 2 of 4 loyal officers oath were ethnic Germans. It should be noted that the mass surrender became a characteristic feature of the First World War, became the scourge of almost all the warring armies. Mass armies and mobilizations have created not only mass heroism, resilience, selflessness, but also mass panic, cowardice and mass surrender. In all, during World War I, around 8 000 000 people became prisoners of war. The German army captured about 2 500 000 people, the Russian army managed to capture about as many prisoners of war, French and British troops captured 720 000 people, the US Army captured 48 000 prisoners.
    1. +6
      27 August 2016 19: 59
      I wouldn’t exaggerate too much - along with the examples already given, the history of the WWII knew examples of exceptional stamina and heroism, and there were many of them. But as soon as it came to the defense of fortresses in the WWI, here's one example offhand ...
      One defense of the Osovets fortress is worth what - its defenders defended the fortress for six months, after enduring three assaults ... including the use of chemical weapons (the so-called attack of the dead) ...
      The fortress was abandoned only by order of the command, the troops left in perfect order, when its further retention was no longer practical ...
      So in war as in war, anything happens - it seems that the phrase attributed to Napoleon "Better a herd of rams headed by a lion than a herd of lions headed by a ram" is not meaningless - this is about the Novogeorgievsk fortress.
      1. 0
        21 October 2016 05: 58
        Osovets remained the only example. The rest of the fortresses surrendered without much struggle. And the war ended not brilliantly at all. Moreover, the notorious Bolsheviks here only carried out the will of the soldiers' masses. Even the very expression "obscene peace" was uttered by the soldiers' deputies who demanded peace on any terms. It was very difficult to explain to the army how it protects the fatherland in the Masurian Lakes. As Denikin recalled, no "for faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland" did not touch the soldiers at all. It was much clearer to them when the officers talked about the loss of territories and indemnities in case of defeat - the former peasants perfectly understood that they would have to give their money, and did not want it. But the propaganda in the Russian army in WWI was very poorly delivered.
  8. +1
    27 August 2016 21: 33
    Quote: ranger
    ADD A COMMENT

    as in Russian-Japanese war is POSSIBLE! different court circles - "SPHERES" - circles played their own game. through "their" generals. for access to the body (to dishonor a competitor and raise his “hero” with the eyes of “MOST”.
    A year later, they calculated, we cleared, and rushed into the "last battle" (Brusilov's breakthrough) and the FSE ... that was the end of the Romanov dynasty. As the surrender of Manchuria and Poland was beneficial to some and not to other "spheres"
    The result of the Stalinist government (25 years) is the redemption of the betrayal of the 10s
    1. +4
      27 August 2016 23: 42
      Stalinist rule:
      4,5 million Soviet troops were captured in the Second World War.
      1. +1
        29 August 2016 07: 07
        keep in mind that in the second war the USSR fought with all of Europe! soldier
      2. +1
        30 August 2016 11: 13
        not just military personnel!
        in 41, up to 60% of the so-called "recruited"
        who generally did not belong to the army and did chores
        like the "hivi" helpschweliger (it seems) among the Germans.
        for example, about 300 thousand were captured in the Kiev boiler
        but for some reason everyone in the Red Army fighters recorded
        1. 0
          27 December 2016 06: 09
          Hilfsville.
      3. 0
        1 September 2016 12: 22
        The nature of the war was different. Normal armored vehicles appeared in massive quantities, first of all tanks - deep envelopes and, accordingly, "boilers" appeared. Hence such figures.
      4. +1
        1 October 2016 23: 22
        Is it possible to compare the scale of combat operations in 1 MV and in 2 MV, and the nature of combat operations is "blitzkrieg", high maneuverability, speed of movement of mechanized units, when in a few days whole formations and formations were surrounded without supply and control? in 1 MV there was nothing of the kind. And if we turn to statistics, then in the Second World War the ratio of prisoners and killed was in favor of the Red Army, in comparison with the Tsar's, that is, in general, they showed more stamina and courage, although there was everything, but nevertheless they understood better why they had to fight.
  9. +2
    28 August 2016 10: 12
    15 years, and already among the officers there has been decomposition .. if the command betrays .. surrenders to the enemy for no reason what a simple soldier does ... yes, for the king for the fatherland the decomposition of the tsar’s army didn’t always work out ... and the Bolsheviks certainly didn’t moreover .. and then they say they ruined the army with their propaganda. here is an example of Novogeorgevsk. how it started
  10. +4
    28 August 2016 15: 50
    By 1914, the Russian Empire was completely economically dependent on the Anglo-French bourgeoisie. British deftly brewed porridge, promising neutrality to Germany, if she declares war on Russia. In this war, both countries had to completely exhaust each other. But everything, as usual, went a little bit wrong! And this article only confirms that the revolution saved the country from death. And for those wishing to crunch with a French bun, the very place in modern Ukraine!
  11. 0
    30 August 2016 23: 37
    Quote: Vyacheslav Kondratiev
    45 landver (i.e., militia) battalions versus sixty-four

    Quote: Vyacheslav Kondratiev
    It should be noted that there were 10 times more cannons in the fortress than the besiegers.

    Quote: Vyacheslav Kondratiev
    fortress commandant General Nikolay Bobyr

    In fairness, it should be noted that the Germans' Landwehr troops were in no way inferior to the personnel. The landsturm units were somewhat weaker. They roughly corresponded to the Russian "young divisions". But in this case, the Germans did not use them.
    The total number of Russian battalions was not 64, but 52. At the same time, 16 battalions were a kind of analogue of German cadre and landwehr battalions. The "Young Division" was one of 12 battalions. And also there were 24 battalions of the militia, combined into 2 militia divisions. The latter were WITHOUT normal small arms, armed with something and somehow. They often had no military training at all.
    Those units where there were still normal rifles had no more than 30 rounds per rifle.
    There were no normal cannons in the fortress, everything from there had already been raked for a long time. All that remained was that no one needed.
    Beaver, despite his high rank, was not a real military man. It was a military official. There were plenty of such in the Russian army and navy - Rozhdestvensky, Kolchak, Makarov. The list goes on and on. For some reason, they were assigned to command units and formations.
    By the time of the siege of Novogeorgievsk, the front went far east. And there was no need to defend Novogeorgievsk. But according to the codes of that time, it was simply impossible to surrender the fortress, it was a military crime. Therefore Beaver left there to die. And the garrison too.
    Beaver did not want to. Garrison, too. Who can blame people for not committing suicide in an exotic way?
    After the delivery of Novogeorgievsk, the strengthening of Brest was ordered to be demolished. Because in this case it was no longer a fortress, but a field position. But it was possible to leave field positions, there was no military crime in this case.
    That's it. Before hysteria and rush charges, the author would be nice to figure out what was what.
    1. 0
      4 July 2017 18: 25
      Ah, in the 41, everyone who didn’t want to die would give up everything and give up at the first sign of encirclement, you would see a Bavarian beer now. The Germans are in Moscow, and at best they brought them to them, but they wiped the floor if they spilled it.
  12. 0
    27 October 2016 18: 44
    Quote: Sowjetmensch
    And it was just war. Russian soldiers repaid French loans with their blood, that's all.

    Another all fools, I'm one smart
    If Russia had not created an alliance with the Entente, Germany would have defeated everyone in turn. Do you yourself believe that the Germans are white and fluffy?
  13. 0
    27 October 2016 19: 12
    Quote: rjxtufh
    But according to the codes of that time, it was simply impossible to surrender the fortress, it was a military crime. Therefore Beaver left there to die. And the garrison too.
    Beaver did not want to. Garrison, too.

    And yet, and yet ... Although the front went ahead, the Germans didn’t have enough strength to take, and it was dangerous to remove personnel from the front. Yes, and in 1915 everything was not so pessimistic. The same Przemysl survived one siege in 1914 and almost endured before the German offensive of 1915, food ran out.
    Well, what about dying so for this army and feeding in peacetime. How is Pikul? "The moment has come when the crews of battleships have to work off the tons of meat and bread spent by the state ..." something like that.
    The same Stessel against this background looks just a hero
  14. 0
    27 October 2016 19: 14
    Quote: Uncle Murzik
    keep in mind that in the second war the USSR fought with all of Europe!

    Following your logic, Germany fought with the rest of the world
  15. 0
    4 July 2017 18: 21
    I don’t know about the fatherland, but they didn’t hit the dirt for faith and the priest-king.

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