In March 1920, after the Novorossiysk disaster, the death of the Northern and Northwestern fronts, the position of the White Cause seemed doomed. The White regiments that arrived in Crimea were demoralized. England, the most loyal ally it seemed, refused to support the White South. All that remained of the recently formidable Armed Forces of Southern Russia was concentrated on the small Crimean peninsula. The troops were consolidated into three corps: Crimean, Volunteer and Donskoy, numbering 35 thousand soldiers in their ranks with 500 machine guns, 100 guns and with an almost complete absence of equipment, carts and horses. On April 4, 1920, General Denikin resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia and, at the request of the Military Council assembled on this issue, transferred them to Lieutenant General Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel.

Having assumed command after the Novorossiysk disaster, General Wrangel, first of all, began to restore discipline and strengthen the morale of the troops. Wrangel allowed for the possibility of carrying out broad democratic reforms, despite the conditions of the war. Being a monarchist by conviction, he believed, however, that the question of the form of government could be resolved only after the “complete cessation of the unrest.”

Wrangel was required to clearly define the goals of the White movement. On March 25, 1920, during a prayer service on Nakhimovskaya Square in Sevastopol, the new Commander-in-Chief stated that only the continuation of the armed struggle against Soviet power was the only possibility for the White movement. “I believe,” he said, “that the Lord will not allow the destruction of a just cause, that He will give me the mind and strength to lead the army out of a difficult situation.” But this required the restoration of not only the front, but also the rear.

The principle of one-man dictatorship was preserved. “We are in a besieged fortress,” Wrangel argued, “and only a single firm government can save the situation. We must beat the enemy, first of all, now is not the place for party struggle. For me there are neither monarchists nor republicans, but only people of knowledge and labor.” Wrangel invited P.A. Stolypin’s closest assistant A.V. to the post of Prime Minister of the Government of the South of Russia. Krivoshein. The head of the resettlement department and employee of Krivoshein, Senator G.V. Glinka, received the Department of Agriculture, former deputy State Duma N.V. Savich became the State Comptroller, and the famous philosopher and economist P. B. Struve became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Intellectually it was the strongest government in Russia; politically it consisted of politicians from the center and moderate right-wing orientation.

Wrangel was convinced that “it is not by a triumphal march from Crimea to Moscow that Russia can be liberated, but by the creation, at least on a piece of Russian land, of such an order and such living conditions that would attract all the thoughts and strength of the people groaning under the red yoke.” Crimea was supposed to become a kind of “experimental field” on which it would be possible to create a “model of White Russia”, an alternative to “Bolshevik Russia”. IN national policy, relations with the Cossacks, Wrangel proclaimed the federal principle. On July 22, an agreement was concluded with the atamans of the Don, Kuban, Terek and Astrakhan (generals A.P. Bogaevsky, G.A. Vdovenko and V.P.L. Yakhov), which guaranteed the Cossack troops “complete independence in their internal structure.”

Some progress has been made in foreign policy. France recognized the Government of Southern Russia de facto.

But main part Wrangel's policy was land reform. On May 25, on the eve of the White Army's offensive, the “Order on Land” was promulgated. “The army must carry the land with bayonets” - this was the meaning of the agrarian policy. All land, including that “seized” from the landowners during the “black redistribution” of 1917–1918, remained with the peasants. The “Order on Land” assigned land to the peasants as their property, although for a small ransom, it guaranteed them freedom local government through the creation of volost and district land councils, and landowners could not even return to their estates.

The reform of local self-government was closely related to land reform. “To whom the land belongs, the administration of zemstvo affairs is the responsibility, and that is the answer for this matter and for the order in which it is conducted” - this is how Wrangel defined the tasks of the new volost zemstvo in the order of July 28. The government has developed a draft system of universal primary and secondary education. The effectiveness of land and zemstvo reforms, even in conditions of instability of the front, was high. By October, elections of land councils were held, the allocation of plots began, documents on peasant ownership of land were prepared, and the first volost zemstvos began work.

The Third Army Corps of General Yakov Slashchev (renamed Crimean in February), after the defeat of Makhno, was ordered to defend Northern Tavria, while the units of Generals Bredov and Schilling rolled back to the southwest - to Odessa. Slashchev had at his disposal only about 4-5 thousand people in two infantry divisions. The commander-in-chief himself was distinguished by great ambition and a touch of adventurism, but also had undoubted abilities, drive, initiative and determination. In the winter of 1920, Slashchev’s corps managed to repel several attacks on Northern Tavria. At this time, fierce battles broke out on Perekop, which gave the White Army a chance and a respite in Crimea.

The continuation of the armed struggle in Tavria in 1920 required a reorganization of the army. During April–May, about 50 different headquarters and departments were liquidated. The Armed Forces of southern Russia were renamed the Russian Army, thereby emphasizing the continuity from regular army Russia before 1917. The reward system was revived. Now for military distinctions they were awarded the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the status of which was close to the status of the Order of St. George.

Military operations in the summer-autumn of 1920 were distinguished by great tenacity. On June 8, the Russian army broke out of the Crimean “bottle”. Fierce fighting continued for five days. The desperately defending Reds were thrown back to the right bank of the Dnieper, losing 8 thousand prisoners, 30 guns and leaving behind large warehouses of military supplies during the retreat. The task assigned to the troops was completed, and the exits from Crimea are open. July and August passed in continuous battles. In September, during the offensive on Donbass, the Russian army achieved its greatest successes: it defeated the red cavalry corps of D.P. The rednecks, the Cossacks of the Don Corps, liberated one of the centers of Donbass - Yuzovka. Soviet institutions were hastily evacuated from Yekaterinoslav. The struggle of the Russian army lasted five and a half months on the plains of Northern Tavria on the front from the Dnieper to Taganrog. Assessing the fighting spirit of the White army, the Central Committee of the Communist Party, in a directive letter sent to all organizations, wrote: “Wrangel’s soldiers are united superbly in their units, they fight desperately and prefer suicide to surrender.”

A landing was also made in Kuban, and although it was not possible to maintain a bridgehead there, many Kuban residents had the opportunity to escape from the Red authorities to the white Crimea. The Reds crossed the Dnieper at Kakhovka on August 7 and began to push back Wrangel’s forces. The Whites failed to liquidate the Kakhovka bridgehead. After Chelyabinsk, Orel and Petrograd, this was the fourth victory of the Reds, which decided the outcome of the Civil War. Wrangel faced the same failure that a year earlier had nullified all of Denikin’s successes: the front had stretched, and the few regiments of the Russian Army could not hold it.

The main feature of all military operations of this period was their continuity. Calming down on one sector of the front, battles immediately broke out on another, where the White regiments that had just emerged from the battle were transferred. And if the Reds, having a numerical superiority, could replace one division with another, then on the White side, everywhere and everywhere they fought with more and more new Red units, suffering heavy and irreparable losses, the same Kornilovites, Markovites, Drozdovites and other old units. Mobilizations have exhausted human resources in Crimea and Northern Tavria. In fact, the only source of replenishment, with the exception of several thousand “Bredovites” who arrived from Poland, remained Red Army prisoners of war, and they were not always reliable. Infused into the White troops, they reduced their combat effectiveness. The Russian army was literally melting away. Meanwhile, the Soviet government persistently persuaded Poland to conclude peace, and, despite Wrangel’s entreaties, and the fact that the Poles’ actions by this time were successful, they yielded to the Bolsheviks and began negotiations with them. The truce concluded on October 12 between Soviet Russia and Poland became a disaster for the Russian army: it allowed the Red command to transfer Western Front to the South most of the liberated forces and increase the number of troops to 133 thousand people against 30 thousand soldiers of the Russian army. The slogan was thrown: “Wrangel is still alive - finish him off without mercy!”

Given the current situation, General Wrangel had to decide the question: should he continue fighting in Northern Tavria or withdraw the army to the Crimea and defend the positions of Perekop? But the retreat to Crimea doomed the army and population to hunger and other hardships. At a meeting of General Wrangel with his closest assistants, it was decided to take the battle to Northern Tavria.

At the end of October, terrible battles began that lasted a week. All five red armies Southern Front went on the offensive with the task of cutting off the Russian army’s route of retreat to Crimea. Budyonny's corps broke through to Perekop. Only the resilience of the regiments of General Kutepov’s 1st Corps and the Don Cossacks saved the situation. Under their cover, regiments of the Russian army, armored trains, wounded and convoys were “drawn” back into the “Crimean bottle”. But even now hope did not disappear. Official statements spoke of “wintering” in Crimea and the inevitable fall Soviet power By the spring of 1921, France hastened to send transports with warm clothes for the army and civilian population to Crimea.

The White units with incredible efforts held back the Reds in the positions of Perekop. “I can’t say exactly how long we spent in the battles at Perekop. – Lieutenant Mamontov wrote. – There was one continuous and very stubborn battle, day and night. Time is confused. It could be just a few days, more likely a week, or maybe ten days. Time seemed like an eternity to us in terrible conditions.”

Nikolai Turoverov dedicated poems to these battles for Perekop:

“...There were few of us, too few.
The distance grew dark from the enemy crowds;
But it sparkled with a hard shine
Steel taken out of the scabbard.
The last fiery gusts
The soul was filled
In the iron roar of explosions
The waters of Sivash boiled.
And everyone waited, listening to the sign,
And a familiar sign was given...
The regiment went into the last attack,
Crowning the path of his attacks..."

The Red Army command was not going to wait for spring. On the third anniversary of October 1917, the assault on Perekop and Genichensk began. The attempted regroupings of the white troops were not completed - the regiments had to go into battle without preparation or rest. The first assault was repulsed, but on the night of November 8 the Reds went on the offensive. During three days and for four nights along the entire line of the Perekop Isthmus, fierce attacks by the infantry and cavalry of the 6th Red Army and counterattacks by the infantry units of General Kutepov and the cavalry of General Barbovich alternated. Departing with heavy losses (especially in command staff), in these last battles the white warriors showed an example of almost incredible resilience, and high self-sacrifice. The Reds already knew about their victory, and yet the Whites’ counterattacks were swift and sometimes forced the Reds to falter and roll back. The commander of the Red Southern Front reported to Lenin on November 12: “Our losses are extremely heavy, some divisions have lost 3/4 of their strength, and the total loss reaches at least 10 thousand people killed and wounded during the assault on the isthmuses.” But the red command was not embarrassed by any sacrifices.

On the night of November 11, two Red divisions broke through the last position of the Whites, opening their way to the Crimea. “One morning,” recalls Lieutenant Mamontov, “we saw a black line to the south of us. She moved from right to left, deep into Crimea. It was the red cavalry. She broke through the front south of us and cut off our path to retreat. The whole war, all the sacrifices, suffering and losses suddenly became useless. But we were in such a state of fatigue and stupor that we accepted the terrible news almost with relief: “We are leaving to load onto ships to leave Russia.”

General Wrangel gave the troops a directive - to break away from the enemy, go to the shore for loading onto ships. The evacuation plan from Crimea was ready by this time: General Wrangel, immediately after taking command of the army, considered it necessary to protect the army and population in case of disaster at the front. At the same time, Wrangel signed an order announcing to the population the abandonment of the Crimea by the army and the boarding of all those who were in immediate danger from enemy violence. The troops continued to retreat: the 1st and 2nd corps to Yevpatoria and Sevastopol, the cavalry of General Barbovich to Yalta, the Kuban to Feodosia, the Don to Kerch. On the afternoon of November 10, General Wrangel invited representatives of the Russian and foreign press and acquainted them with the current situation: “The army, which fought not only for the honor and freedom of its homeland, but also for the common cause of world culture and civilization, abandoned by the whole world, is bleeding. A handful of undressed, hungry, exhausted heroes still continue to defend the last inch of their native land and will hold out to the end, saving those who sought protection behind their bayonets.” In Sevastopol, the loading of infirmaries and numerous departments was carried out in in perfect order. The last loading cover was entrusted to the outposts of the cadets of the Alekseevsky, Sergievsky artillery and Don Ataman schools and the units of General Kutepov. All loading was ordered to be completed by noon on November 14th.

At about 10 o'clock, General Wrangel with the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kedrov, went around the loading ships on a boat. The cadets lined up in the square. Having greeted them, General Wrangel thanked them for their glorious service and gave them the order to load. The head of the American military mission, Admiral McCauley, warmly shaking the hand of the Commander-in-Chief in front of the formation of cadets, said: “I have always been an admirer of your work and more than ever I am one today.” At 14:40, the boat with General Wrangel on board left the pier and headed for the cruiser General Kornilov. The ships, one after another, went out to sea... It got warmer, the sea was calm... General Wrangel, as promised, withdrew the army and navy with honor. About 146 thousand people were transported on 126 ships, including 50 thousand army officials and 6 thousand wounded. The rest are personnel of military and administrative rear institutions, in a small number families of military personnel, and civilian refugees. The ships set out to sea, extremely crowded. All the holds, decks, passages, and bridges were literally packed with people.

On the cruiser "General Kornilov" the Commander-in-Chief visited all the loading ports - Yalta, Feodosia, Kerch. French and English warships who helped in the evacuation, saluted him with the last salute as the Head of the Russian state. The cruiser responded with salute to salute. From the raid of Feodosia on November 17 at 15:40, General Wrangel ordered “General Kornilov” to head for the Bosphorus... The armed struggle with the Bolsheviks in the South of Russia was over with weapons in hand, resistance to the last inch of Russian soil.

The Bolsheviks promised to forgive all White soldiers and officers who did not leave Crimea, but surrendered to their mercy. The Bolsheviks deceived. 55 thousand people who believed and remained were killed on the orders of Bela Kun and Rosalia Zemlyachka, who carried out Lenin’s will.

What was the fate of the Russian emigrants? It turned out differently for everyone. Some emigrated to Germany, but most settled in France. Baron Wrangel himself began to live in Serbia. There he founded the Russian General Military Union, an organization based on the traditions of the Russian Imperial Army and continued to engage in anti-Soviet activities and did not lay down the banner of the struggle for the revival of Russia (the EMRO had a military wing and a network of secret agents). At first it was headed by the baron himself, later Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, Alexander Kutepov and General Miller. It is worth saying that the Bolsheviks also resisted the EMRO well. NKVD officers managed to kidnap two generals at once: first Kutepov (his fate remained unclear), later Miller (they were shot in the dungeons of the Lubyanka). EMRO, by the way, still exists today. What can be said about the fate of other generals? Denikin lived in France and remained an implacable opponent of Soviet power, but when the Second World War came World War he flatly refused to swear allegiance to the Wehrmacht and gather an army for a campaign in Russia, because he understood that by doing so he would go against his Motherland and his people. Ataman Krasnov acted completely differently, entering into an alliance with Hitler and returning to the Don as part of the German armies.

- November, 19th 2009

At the intersection of the road from Kakhovka to Crimea with the Perekopsky shaft, a rather original monument was erected, dedicated to the three assaults on Perekop. The first assault took place back in 1920 - the Reds attack, the Whites defend, then there will be the Great Patriotic War, there will be the Red Army against the Germans and Romanians, even later there will be a labor assault, but today we are talking about the beginning of the last century.

November 8, 2010 will mark the 90th anniversary of the first assault on Perekop. Of course, there were much more than three assaults in the history of the Turkish Wall. We are, of course, talking about those assaults that the Soviet state cared about perpetuating the memory of.

Civil War, called in Russian Empire well-known events of 1917, in 1920 it was nearing completion. The storming of the Perekop fortifications ends the last stage of the struggle on the Wrangel Front, the last major front of the Civil War. Ukraine had powerful grain reserves. But the presence of Wrangel’s troops in Ukraine and a widely developed insurgent movement in the Ukrainian countryside eliminated “Ukrainian bread” from the food funds of the country of the Soviets. The proximity of Wrangel to the industrial Donetsk-Krivoy Rog region paralyzed the work of this only coal and metallurgical base at that time.

It is worth noting that already in August 1920, Wrangel’s government was officially recognized by France. In September, there were already missions of all the most important capitalist states in Crimea, including distant Japan and the USA.

The organizer of the expulsion of the troops of General P.N. Wrangel from Crimea was the Bolshevik M.V. Frunze, commander of the Southern Front at that time. Frunze fought against the Wrangelites together with the Insurgent Army of Father Makhno (N.I. Makhno), with whom in October 1920 he signed an agreement on unity of action against the white troops and established good personal relations.

Since the ideas of Bolshevism, both declarative and propaganda, and actual, are well known, let us dwell a little on the ideas of their Crimean opponent.
July 5, 1920 in the newspaper “ Great Russia» an interview was published with newspaper correspondent N.N. Chebyshev with General P.N. Wrangel.

“What are we fighting for?”

“To this question,” said General Wrangel, “there can only be one answer: we are fighting for freedom.” On the other side of our front, in the north, arbitrariness, oppression, and slavery reign. One can hold a wide variety of views on the desirability of this or that political system, you can be an extreme republican, a socialist and even a Marxist, and still recognize the so-called Soviet republic as an example of the most unprecedented sinister despotism, under the yoke of which Russia is perishing, and even its new, supposedly dominant, class of the proletariat, crushed to the ground, like everyone else the rest of the population. Now this is no secret in Europe either. The veil has been lifted over Soviet Russia. Nest of reaction in Moscow. There are enslavers sitting there, treating the people as a herd. Only blindness and dishonesty can consider us reactionaries. We are fighting for the emancipation of the people from the yoke, which they have not seen in the darkest times of their history.

In Europe, time was not understood for a long time, but now, apparently, they are beginning to understand what we are clearly aware of: everything global significance our domestic feud. If our sacrifices go to waste, then European society, European democracy will have to take up armed defense of its cultural and political conquests against the enemy of civilization, inspired by success.

“With all my soul I long for an end to the civil war.” Every drop of spilled Russian blood resonates with pain in my heart. But the struggle is inevitable until consciousness clears up, until people understand that they are fighting against themselves, against their rights to self-determination, until a real government, based on the principles of legality, security of personal and property rights, on the principles of respect for international obligations; there will never be lasting peace or improvement in Europe economic conditions. It will be impossible to conclude any more or less durable international agreement and agree on nothing properly. The cause of the Russian Army in Crimea is a great liberation movement. This Holy war for freedom and right.

Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel (08/15/1878 - 04/25/1928) - Russian, general, Knight of St. George, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in Crimea (1920) - advocated a federal structure future Russia. He was inclined to recognize the political independence of Ukraine. He developed a number of legislative acts on agrarian reform, including the “Land Law,” adopted by the government on May 25, 1920. He recognized the legal seizure of landowners’ lands by peasants in the first years of the revolution (albeit for a certain contribution to the state). He carried out a number of administrative reforms in Crimea, as well as a reform of local self-government. Promulgated a number of decrees on regional autonomy of Cossack lands.

Negotiations with the Bolsheviks, which the British government, which supported the Whites, insisted on, were absolutely unacceptable and even insulting to the White command. It was decided to continue the fight to the end. Wrangel's successes in the summer of 1920 alarmed the Bolsheviks. The Soviet press sounded the alarm, calling for the destruction of the “baron entrenched in the Crimea” and to drive him into the “Crimean bottle.”

In September 1920, the Wrangelites were defeated by the Reds near Kakhovka. On the night of September 8, the Red Army launched a general offensive, the goal of which was to capture Perekop and Chongar and break through to Crimea.

Attack of Perekop positions.

The battle began on November 8 at dawn on the approaches to the Lithuanian Peninsula. Having crossed the Sivash at night, the vanguards of the 52nd and 15th rifle divisions approached unnoticed 1 km to the Lithuanian Peninsula. Here they were already discovered by the enemy and got involved in a battle for the northern exits of this peninsula. By 7 o'clock the Red Army soldiers had overcome the resistance of the Kuban White Brigade and occupied the entire northern part of the peninsula. At about 8 o'clock the Reds occupied the entire Lithuanian peninsula.

By 10 o'clock, the Whites brought the nearest reserves into battle and launched a counterattack with the Drozdovskaya brigade from Karadzhanai, and with units of the II Corps from Karpova Balka to the southern exits from the peninsula. The counterattack was initially successful, parts of the Reds were pushed back, but then the Reds restored the position. The Turkish Wall, which was the basis of the line of fortifications, found itself under a decisive threat from the rear.

In the morning, due to thick fog, the artillery could not begin artillery preparation. Only at 9 o'clock the artillery preparation began. By 13:00, units of the 51st Infantry Division tried to advance to the wire barriers, but the White fire system was unbroken. Artillery preparation was extended by an hour. Meanwhile, by 1 p.m. the artillery began to feel a shortage of shells. The firing calculation was made before 12 o'clock, but it took much longer to shoot, and it turned out to be impossible to transport shells due to the completely open rear. Units of the 15th and 52nd Infantry Divisions were pushed back by a white counterattack, and in their rear areas the rising waters in Sivash became visible (they crossed the Sivash at low tide).

At 1 p.m. 25 min. units of the 51st Division were ordered to "simultaneously and immediately attack the Turkish Wall." At 1 p.m. 35 min. parts of the division went on the offensive, but were repulsed by destructive machine-gun and artillery fire.

Around 10 p.m. The attackers managed to overcome the wire fences and get to the ditch, but here, in front of the wire running along the outer slope of the ditch, the attack again floundered, despite the exceptional heroism of the Red Army soldiers. Some regiments suffered up to 60% losses.

The Red Command gathered at dawn on November 9 to resume the attack along the entire front. All orders for this decision have been made. But the enemy assessed the situation differently: on the night of November 8-9, he hastily retreated to his Ishun positions. His departure was discovered by the Red units only on the morning of November 9. The Turkish rampart was taken, but the enemy still left, although broken, but not defeated.

Before the battles for the isthmuses of the Crimean peninsula, the number of whites, according to the intelligence data of the reds (subsequently confirmed by battles), was 9850 bayonets, 7220 sabers.

The number of Reds (according to V. Trandafilov’s “Perekop Operation of the Red Army”) was 26,500 bayonets and sabers on the Perekop Isthmus. The Whites on the isthmus had 467 machine guns against the Reds' 487 machine guns and 128 guns against the Reds' 91 guns.

However, ideas do not become true or false depending on the availability of military equipment and military success.

1920 became one of the most tragic pages in the history of Crimea, which was already oversaturated with dramatic events.

In 1920 Crimea survived the dramatic retreat of General Wrangel’s army, which ended with the Russian exodus abroad, and the most severe repressions against the remaining White Guards and other “class enemies” of the Soviet state.

Denikin’s troops, which had reached almost Moscow in the fall of 1919, began an equally rapid rollback back to the south. This was the nightmare of the White movement. And already in the spring of 1920, Crimea was forced to become the promised land and a symbol of salvation from the Bolshevik massacre.

On March 22 (April 5), 1920, General Denikin transferred his powers to Baron Wrangel and left Russia forever. As a military man, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel viewed the territory entrusted to him as a besieged fortress, in which absolute power was needed to restore order. He combined in himself the posts of commander-in-chief and ruler of the South of Russia. The volunteer army was renamed Russian. The new dictator had full power.

First of all, Wrangel was an exceptionally gifted military man. Him in short term managed to restore discipline, morale and faith in the leaders in the army. The troops that disintegrated during the retreat from Orel to Novorossiysk again became an army in in every sense this word. Robberies and, as a result, complaints from the population against volunteers also stopped completely. The baron's popularity was unusually great. Well-known Wrangel public figure and publicist Vasily Shulgin wrote: “Wrangel was born for power... Varyag-Wrangel was head and shoulders above everything around him. This is in the literal and figurative sense of the word...” There are several known statements by Wrangel regarding how he wanted to see his state - Crimea. Baron’s political collaborator G.V. Nemirovich-Danchenko reported that “Wrangel intends to transform Crimea into a small independent model state: with permission in favor of the cultivators of the land issue, with true civil liberties, with democratic institutions, with universities and other cultural institutions. Let them there, behind the red wall, hear about the “Earthly Paradise”, which is real not in the Soviet Republic, but in the white Crimea. Let them see and come to us; To everyone coming - our support and brotherly greetings. A model state is on the nose of the Bolsheviks - The best way propaganda for uprisings. And, moreover, the uprisings are not fruitless: somewhere in the South there is a base - Crimea with a government recognized by foreigners (in the summer of 1920, France de facto recognized the government of General Wrangel. - Note auto), with an army, with tanks and ammunition" ( State Archives Russian Federation, Patek V. “Plans of the Ruler of Crimea”).

In the spring of 1920, only Crimean peninsula, and under the control of the Bolsheviks - all of Russia. Could he hope that the situation in the country would change in favor of the White Guards? In a conversation with publicist Vasily Shulgin, Wrangel spoke in some detail about his political program: “I don’t make broad plans... I believe that I need to buy time... I understand perfectly well that nothing can be done without the help of the Russian population... The policy of conquest of Russia must be abandoned... You cannot fight with the whole world... You need to rely on someone... No in the sense of some kind of demagoguery, but in order to have, first of all, a reserve of human strength from which to draw; if I scatter, I won’t have enough... what I have now cannot be enough to hold on large territory... In order to hold it, you need to take people and bread right there on the spot... But in order for this to be possible, a certain psychological preparation is required. This psychological preparation, how can it be done? Not propaganda, really... Nobody believes words now. What am I trying to achieve? I am trying to make life possible in Crimea, at least on this piece of land... Well, in a word, to, so to speak, show the rest of Russia... you have communism there, that is, hunger and emergency situations, but here: land reform is underway, volosts are being introduced zemstvo, order and possible freedom are established... No one is strangling you, no one is torturing you - live as you lived... Well, in a word, an experimental field... And so I need to gain time... so that, so to speak, the glory will go: that you can live in Crimea . Then it will be possible to move forward..." ( Shulgin V.V. “Days. 1920: Notes").

Could there have been two Russias, red and white, in the specific historical conditions of that time? No! In the Soviet press already in the spring of 1920 you can find the expression “Crimean splinter”. And it is clear that the “thorn” must be removed immediately. But the operation to defeat the whites in Crimea began only in the fall. In the summer, the Soviet-Polish war did not allow the Bolsheviks to throw all their strength into the fight against the “black baron”. Wrangel’s entourage hoped that the “Bolshevik-Polish quadrille” would last a long time. Pyotr Nikolaevich openly supported the Poles in the war with Soviet Russia, stating that Piłsudski is not fighting “the Russian people, but the Soviet regime.” The signing of an armistice by Poland and the RSFSR in the fall of 1920 caused a real shock to Wrangel. In his “Notes,” Wrangel irritably commented on this as follows: “The Poles, in their duplicity, remained true to themselves” (P. N. Wrangel “Memoirs. In 2 parts.” 1916–1920). Realizing that difficult times had come, Wrangel at the end of October gave a secret order to begin preparations for evacuation. We must admit: the evacuation was carried out in an exemplary manner. The panic and chaos that reigned in Novorossiysk in last days Denikin's authorities were completely absent. Only after all the military personnel had been loaded onto the ships and there was no longer a single military unit left in Sevastopol, at 2:50 p.m. on November 2, 1920, General Wrangel arrived on the cruiser General Kornilov, accompanied by headquarters officials, and gave the order to disembark. anchors In total, 145,693 people were evacuated from Crimea, of which about 70 thousand were military personnel. The White cause in southern Russia suffered a final defeat.

General S.D. Pozdnyshev, who survived this evacuation with the army, recalled: “Gray crowds of silent people silently flocked to the embankments. A dull, ominous silence surrounded them. As if in the middle of a cemetery, this silent stream of people was moving; It was as if the breath of death was already blowing over these elegant, beautiful, once lively cities. It was necessary to drink the last cup of bitterness on my native land. Give up everything: family and friends, parental home, family nests, everything that was dear and sweet to the heart, everything that decorated life and gave meaning to existence; everything that needed to be abandoned, buried, lifting the cross onto one’s shoulders and with a devastated soul go into a strange, cold world towards the unknown.

With a slow gait, a dead stop-foot step, growing to the ground, thousands of people walked along the embankments and, petrified, dumb, climbed the ladder to the ships. Spasms in the throat were choking; Unbidden tears rolled down the women’s cheeks, and everyone’s heart tore with a burning funeral sob. And how misty and sad the eyes were when they looked at us for the last time. native land! It’s all over: the alarm words are rushing about: “Are you, immortal Rus', dead? Should we perish in a foreign sea? Farewell, my dear home! Farewell, Motherland! Goodbye Russia!

On the Grafskaya pier of Sevastopol there is an inconspicuous memorial plaque on which are engraved the following words: “In memory of compatriots forced to leave Russia in November 1920.” The whole tragedy of the Civil War is contained in one word “compatriots”.

Now Crimea still had to endure the Bolshevik purge of those who had relied on the word of Mikhail Frunze and the Wrangelists and other “bourgeois elements” who remained in Russia. Crimea had to “get acquainted” with “revolutionary legality” from Bela Kun, Rosalia Zemlyachka and their ilk. Having lost his son Sergei, who was shot in Feodosia, in this bacchanalia, the writer Ivan Shmelev in his poignant book “Sun of the Dead” called Zemlyachka and her comrades very precisely and simply: “people who want to kill.”

Famous throughout Soviet Union Polar explorer Ivan Papanin in his memoirs wrote about Zemlyachka as “an extremely sensitive, responsive woman,” gratefully mentioning that he was “like a godson for Rosalia Samoilovna.”

Under the patronage of Zemlyachka, Ivan Papanin received a high post - commandant of the Crimean Cheka. In his memoirs “Ice and Fire,” published in 1978, Ivan Dmitrievich wrote about this bloody episode of his biography: “Serving as commandant of the Crimean Cheka left a mark on my soul for many years. It’s not that I had to be on my feet for days and nights and conduct night interrogations. The pressure was not so much physical as moral. It was important to remain optimistic, not to become bitter, not to start looking at the world through dark glasses. The Cheka workers were orderlies of the revolution, they had seen enough of everything. We often came across animals that, through a misunderstanding, were called people...” Work as commandant of the Crimean Cheka, as Papanin wrote, led to “complete exhaustion nervous system" Until the end of his days, Papanin was proud of his participation in the executions of the counters. And in the memoirs of other old Bolsheviks one can often find the everyday mention: “We fired a volley from rifles at those who deserved it.”

The horror of the Civil War is precisely manifested in the fact that both whites and reds readily accepted the rules of the game, based on violence and fratricide. Thousands of people shot by security officers during the days of the nightmarish “Sun of the Dead” is a terrible episode that fits completely into the overall picture of the tragedy of what the enemy of the Bolsheviks, General Denikin, called in military terms clearly and clearly: “Russian earthquake.”

In July 1919, the Southern Front was declared the main front by the Bolsheviks. Fresh units were transferred to him, and party mobilization was carried out. V. Yegoriev (a member of the Front's Revolutionary Military Council) became the commander of the front, and S. Kamenev was appointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The slogan “Proletarian, on horseback!” was put forward, after which Red cavalry corps appeared, and then cavalry armies. This made it possible to nullify the white advantage in cavalry. For some time the Whites still moved forward, but by the end of October a turning point in the course of the campaign appeared. The shock corps of generals Kutepov, Mamontov and Shkuro were defeated, which was the beginning of the end of Denikin’s entire army.

The cavalry corps of S. Budyonny, then deployed to the 1st Cavalry Army, struck Voronezh and moved towards Donbass. Denikin’s men, cut in two by him, retreated to Odessa and Rostov-on-Don. In January 1920, troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of A. Egorov and the Southern Front under the command of V. Shorin recaptured Ukraine, Donbass, Don and the North Caucasus. Only uncoordinated actions near Novorossiysk by M. Tukhachevsky and S. Budyonny allowed the remnants Volunteer Army(about 50 thousand people) evacuate to Crimea, held by the small formations of General Ya. Slashchev. Denikin handed over overall command of the white forces in the south to General Baron P. Wrangel.

In June-August 1920, Wrangel's troops, leaving the Crimea, occupied Northern Tavria to the Dnieper and western Donbass. Thus, they provided great assistance to the Polish troops. Wrangel proposed leaving the landowner's land to the peasants and cooperation to the Ukrainian and Polish nationalists, but these measures were late and did not meet with confidence.

The end of hostilities with Poland allowed the Red Army to concentrate its main forces in the Crimean direction. In September 1920, the Southern Front (M. Frunze) was formed, which outnumbered the enemy. At the end of September - beginning of November, Wrangel made the last attempt to attack the Donbass and Right Bank Ukraine. Fighting began for Kakhovka. V. Blucher's units repulsed all the White attacks and launched a counter-offensive. In Northern Tavria alone, the Reds captured about 20 thousand people. Wrangel was locked up in Crimea. The entrance to it lay through the Perekop Isthmus, where the main line of defense ran along the 8-meter-high Turkish Wall, in front of which there was a deep ditch. Dozens of guns and machine guns guarded all approaches to it. The Lithuanian peninsula of Crimea came close to the mainland, but it could only be reached by crossing the Sivash (Rotten Sea).

On the night of November 8, 1920, several divisions of the Red Army crossed the Sivash ford, thereby diverting the White reserves. At the same time, other forces (Blücher's units and Makhno's detachments) attacked the Turkish Wall. With heavy fighting and thousands of casualties, the White positions at Perekop were broken through, and their attempts to organize resistance were unsuccessful. The Wrangel troops quickly retreated, having managed to evacuate about 150 thousand military and civilians to Turkey on French ships and taking away the remnants of the Black Sea military and merchant fleet. The last commander-in-chief of the White movement left Sevastopol on November 14. On November 15-17, the Red Army entered Sevasto-pol, Feodosia, Kerch and Yalta. Hundreds of officers who did not have time to evacuate were shot.

The capture of Crimea and the defeat of Wrangel meant the end of the largely civil war, although Far East it lasted until 1922.

M. V. FRUNZE. IN MEMORY OF PEREKOP AND CHONGAR

The armies of the Southern Front, having successfully completed their initial task - the defeat of the enemy's living forces north of the isthmuses, by the evening of November 3, stood close to the coast of Sivash, starting from Genichesk and ending with the Khorda area.

Eager, feverish work began to prepare for the crossing of the Chongar and Perekop isthmuses and the capture of Crimea.

Since, due to the rapid advance of our armies and the lack of established new lines of communication, command and control of troops from the location of the front headquarters (Kharkov) was impossible, I, with the field headquarters and members of the RVS Comrade. Vladimirov and Smilga went to the front on November 3. I planned Melitopol as the location of the field headquarters, where we set the task of getting there as soon as possible...

As you know, Crimea is connected to the mainland by 3 points: 1) the Perekop Isthmus, which is about 8 km wide, 2) the Salkovsky and Chongarsky bridges (the first railway), which are strings of bridge structures, partly erected on a dam, up to 8 m wide and long. up to 5 km, and 3) the so-called Arabat Spit, coming from Genichesk and having a length of up to 120 km with a width of 1/2 km to 3 km.

The Perekop and Chongar isthmuses and the southern bank of the Sivash connecting them represented one common network of fortified positions erected in advance, reinforced by natural and artificial obstacles and barriers. Construction began during the period of Denikin’s Volunteer Army, these positions were improved with special attention and care by Wrangel. Both Russians and, according to our intelligence data, French military engineers who used all the experience of the imperialist war in their construction took part in their construction. Concrete gun barriers in several rows, flanking buildings and trenches located in close fire connection - all this in one common system created a fortified zone, seemingly inaccessible to attack by open force...

On the Perekop Isthmus, our units of the 6th Army, even before October 30, building on the success achieved in the battles north of the isthmuses, captured two fortified lines of defense and the city of Perekop in a raid, but were unable to advance further and lingered in front of the third, most heavily fortified line the so-called Turkish Wall (an earthen rampart several fathoms high, built during the time of Turkish rule and closing the isthmus at its narrowest point).

By the way, in the rear of this position, at a distance of 15-20 km to the south, another line of fortifications was erected, known as the Yushun positions.

On Chongar, having captured all the fortifications of the Chongar Peninsula, we stood close to the blown up Salkovsky railway bridge and the burned Chongarsky one.

Thus, when determining the direction of the main attack, it was necessary to choose between Chongar and Perekop. Since Perekop, due to its large width, opened up wider opportunities in terms of deploying troops and generally provided more convenience for maneuvering, then, naturally, our decisive blow was aimed here.

But since, on the other hand, there were very strong enemy fortifications in front of us, and, naturally, his best units were supposed to be concentrated here, the attention of the front command was turned to finding ways to overcome the enemy’s line of resistance with a blow from our left flank.

In these views, I planned a detour along the Arabat spit of the Chongar positions with a crossing to the peninsula at the mouth of the river. Salgir, which is 30 kilometers south of Genichesk.

This lateral maneuver was carried out by Field Marshal Lassi in 1732. The armies of Lassi, having deceived the Crimean Khan, who stood with his main forces at Perekop, moved along the Arabat Spit and, having crossed to the peninsula at the mouth of Salgir, went to the rear of the Khan’s troops and quickly captured the Crimea.

Our preliminary reconnaissance in the direction south of Genichesk showed that here the enemy had only weak security from horse units...

We spent November 7 and 8 at the location of units of the 6th Army. On the 8th at about 4 o'clock. day, taking with us the commander of the 6th Army, Comrade Kork, we arrived at the headquarters of the 51st division, which was entrusted with the task of storming the Perekop Wall head-on. The headquarters was in the village. Chaplinka. The mood at the headquarters and among the division commander, Comrade Blucher, was elated and at the same time somewhat nervous. Everyone recognized the absolute necessity of attempting an assault, and at the same time it was clear that such an attempt would cost considerable casualties. In this regard, the division command felt some hesitation regarding the feasibility of the order for a night assault in the coming night. In the presence of the army commander, I directly, in the most categorical form, ordered the division commander to carry out the assault...

The fire from the enemy is intensifying, individual shells hit the area of ​​the road running along the northern bank of the Sivash, along which we are driving. A strong fire breaks out ahead and slightly to the left of us...

Developing its offensive further into the flank and rear of the enemy’s Perekop positions, the division, after its first successes, encountered stubborn resistance in the Karadzhanai area, who launched one of its best divisions, Drozdovskaya, into a counterattack, reinforced by a detachment of armored vehicles...

A very advantageous circumstance for us, which greatly facilitated the task of crossing Sivash, was a strong drop in the water level in the western part of Sivash. Thanks to the winds blowing from the west, the entire mass of water was driven to the east, and as a result, fords were formed in a number of places, although very muddy and viscous, but still allowing the movement of not only infantry, but also cavalry, and in some places even artillery. On the other hand, this point completely fell out of the calculations of the White command, which considered Sivash impassable and therefore kept relatively insignificant and, moreover, little-fired units, mainly from among the newly formed, in the areas of our crossings.

As a result of the first battles, the entire Kuban brigade of the general was surrendered to us. Fostikov, who just arrived from Feodosia...

I cannot forget the following fact: when I, at the headquarters of the 4th Army, informed the chief of the 30th Infantry Division, Comrade Gryaznov, and one of the brigade commanders who was with him, that Blucher (he, by the way, was previously Gryaznov’s commander on the Eastern Front) took Perekop, then both turned pale. A few minutes later I saw that Gryaznov and his brigade commander were no longer there, they had rolled off to their position. And a few hours later, the famous night assault by the regiments of the 30th division of the enemy’s Chongar positions began. On the morning of November 11, after a bloody battle, units of the division were already on the other side and, having overthrown the enemy, were rapidly advancing towards Dzhankoy.

This is how the fate of Crimea was decided, and with it the fate of the entire South Russian counter-revolution.

Victory, and a brilliant victory, was won along the entire line. But we got it at a high price. With the blood of 10 thousand of their best sons, the working class and peasantry paid for their final, fatal blow to the counter-revolution. The revolutionary impulse turned out to be stronger than the combined efforts of nature, technology and deadly fire.

OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE STAFF OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY. No. 661.

Having made peace with Poland and thereby freeing their troops, the Bolsheviks concentrated five armies against us, placing them in three groups near Kakhovka, Nikopol and Polog. By the beginning of the offensive, their total number had reached over one hundred thousand fighters, of which a quarter were cavalry.

Having pinned down our army from the north and northeast, the Red command decided to attack our left flank with its main forces and throw a mass of cavalry from the side of Kakhovka in the direction of Gromovka and Salkovo in order to cut off the Russian army from the isthmuses, pressing it to Sea of ​​Azov and opening up free access to Crimea.

Taking into account the current situation, the Russian army made an appropriate regrouping. The main cavalry mass of the enemy, the 1st Cavalry Army with Latvian and other infantry units, numbering more than 10,000 sabers and 10,000 bayonets, fell from the Kakhovsky bridgehead to the east and southeast, sending up to 6,000 cavalry to Salkovo. Having been shielded from the north by part of our forces, we concentrated a strike group and, attacking the Red cavalry that had broken through, pressed it to Sivash. At the same time, the glorious units of General Kutepov completely destroyed two regiments of the Latvian division, captured 216 guns and a lot of machine guns, and the Don captured four regiments and captured 15 guns, many weapons and machine guns. However, the overwhelming superiority of forces, especially cavalry, brought by the enemy to the battlefield in the amount of up to 25,000 horses, which attacked the army from three sides for five days, forced the Commander-in-Chief to decide to withdraw the army to the previously fortified Sivash-Perekop position, which provided all the benefits of defense . The continuous blows delivered by our army in the past battles, accompanied by the destruction of a significant part of Budyonny’s cavalry that broke through to our rear, gave the army the opportunity to retreat to a fortified position almost without losses.

ORDER OF THE RULER OF THE SOUTH OF RUSSIA AND THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY

Russian people. Left alone in the fight against the rapists, the Russian army is waging an unequal battle, defending the last piece of Russian land where law and truth exist. Conscious of the responsibility that lies with me, I am obliged to anticipate all contingencies in advance. By my order, we have already begun evacuating and boarding ships in the ports of Crimea of ​​all those who shared the way of the cross with the army, the families of military personnel, officials of the civil department, with their families, and individuals who might be in danger if the enemy came. The army will cover the landing, remembering that the ships necessary for its evacuation are also in full readiness in the ports, according to the established schedule. To fulfill the duty to the army and the population, everything within the limits of human power has been done. Our further paths are full of uncertainty. We have no other land except Crimea. There is no state treasury either. Frankly, as always, I warn everyone about what awaits them.

May the Lord grant everyone strength and intelligence to overcome and survive the Russian hard times.

General Wrangel.

FROM THE MEMORIES OF P. N. WRANGEL

I headed towards the boat. The crowd waved handkerchiefs and many cried. A young girl came up. She, sobbing, pressed the handkerchief to her lips:

- May God bless you, Your Excellency. God bless you.

- Thank you, why are you staying?

- Yes, I have a sick mother, I can’t leave her.

- May God grant you happiness too.

A group of city government representatives approached; I was surprised to learn some of the most prominent representatives opposition public.

“You said it right, Your Excellency, you can walk with your head held high, in the consciousness of your duty accomplished.” Let me wish you a safe journey.

I shook hands, thanked...

Suddenly, the head of the American mission, Admiral McCauley, who was present there, approached. He shook my hand for a long time.

— I have always been a fan of your work and more than ever I am today.

The outposts sank. At 2 hours 40 minutes my boat left the pier and headed towards the cruiser General Kornilov, on which my flag flew up. “Hurrah” sounded from the loaded ships.

"General Kornilov" weighed anchor.

The ships, one after another, went to sea. Everything that barely floated on the water abandoned the shores of Crimea. There are several unusable ships left in Sevastopol, two old gunboats “Terets” and “Kubanets”, an old transport “Danube”, steam schooners “Altai” and “Volga” blown up by mines in the Sea of ​​Azov and old military ships with damaged mechanisms, even unusable for transporting people. Everything else was used. We anchored off Streletskaya Bay and stayed here until two and a half o'clock in the morning, waiting for loading last people in Streletskaya Bay and all the ships put to sea, after which, weighing anchor, they went to Yalta, where they arrived on November 2 at nine o’clock in the morning.

Around noon, the transports with the troops left. The ships, surrounded by people, passed by, and “Hurray” thundered. Great is the Russian spirit and vast is the Russian soul... At two o'clock in the afternoon we took off and went to Feodosia. We were followed by Admiral Dumesnil on the cruiser Waldeck-Rousseau, accompanied by a destroyer. Soon we met a huge transport “Don”, and “hurray” came from there. Hats flashed. On the transport was General Fostikov with his Kuban soldiers. I ordered the boat to be lowered and went to the Don. In Feodosia, loading was less successful. According to General Fostikov, the tonnage was not enough and the 1st Kuban division of General Deinega, without having time to dive, went to Kerch. General Fostikov's report raised doubts about the diligence he showed. Returning to the cruiser General Kornilov, I sent a radio telegram to General Abramov in Kerch, ordering him to wait and load the Kuban ships at all costs.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, "Waldeck-Rousseau" weighed anchor, firing a 21-shot salute - the last salute to the Russian flag in Russian waters... "General Kornilov" responded.

Soon a radio was received from Captain 1st Rank Mashukov: “The landing is complete, every last soldier has been taken. I am bringing General Kusonsky to report to the commander-in-chief. I'm going to connect. Nashtaflot." — At 3:40 a.m. “Gaydamak” returned. The landing went well. Troops from barges were reloaded onto the Rossiya. The ships went to sea. (On 126 ships, 145,693 people were taken out, not counting the ship’s crews. With the exception of those who died from the storm destroyer“Alive”, all ships arrived safely in Constantinople).

Night has fallen. The stars shone brightly in the dark sky and the sea sparkled.

The single lights of the native shore dimmed and died. The last one has gone out...

White Crimea, 1920 Slashchov-Krymsky Yakov Alexandrovich

I DEMAND A TRIAL OF SOCIETY AND GLASNOST (Defense and surrender of Crimea)

I DEMAND PUBLIC TRIAL AND PUBLICITY

(Defense and surrender of Crimea)

INTRODUCTION

At the end of March 1920, rumors about the departure of General Denikin ceased to be just rumors and already had some basis.

The situation at that time was pictured to me like this: the former Volunteer Army was hopelessly retreating. General Schilling from Odessa arrived in Crimea. There was something alarming.

The only armed forces were the troops whose selfless service held Crimea.

General Wrangel was seeking an appointment under General Schilling at this time. General Denikin, in view of the fall of Odessa, refused him this. General Wrangel nevertheless came to Crimea.

The situation became even more tense. The sympathies of society and most of the troops were on the side of General Wrangel. Wrangel's relationship with Schilling becomes strained.

General Schilling tells me that General Wrangel invited him to hand over command of the army (troops of Novorossiya and Crimea) to him (Wrangel).

One could have expected an order for the arrest of Wrangel and Schilling of Wrangel.

Then, to prevent events, I sent Colonel (now General) Petrovsky to General Wrangel with instructions to convey that I would not do anything anti-disciplinary, I am fully aware that General Schilling was discredited by the Odessa operation, I myself told him this in a private conversation, but, as a soldier, I won’t sully my honor.

General Wrangel replied to Petrovsky that he had not said anything like that and understood me completely.

After that, I visited both General Schilling and General Wrangel in Sevastopol - both of them were also with me in succession, and General Wrangel, in a personal conversation with me, stated that if he accepted the post of commander-in-chief, he would provide for all the fighters and their families even in the event of an unfortunate outcome of the campaign.

Then I met General Shatilov. I find out that there is nothing to count on Denikin; The troops finally don’t believe him, and the nightmarish evacuation of Novorossiysk begins.

At the same time, Wrangel was dismissed by Denikin and left for Constantinople.

All sympathy is on his side.

I am the first to inform him through Count Gendrikov: “You can’t go further, come back - but, for political reasons, connect our names, and give Shatilov the name of at least your assistant.”

Such was the situation of the moment.

Colonel Noga, a representative of the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Crimean Group, depicted this same situation in the official report of March 12, No. 6, in the following strokes:

It's good at the front.

After the Yushun battles, the enemy retreated from the Perekop Isthmus to the north, and we almost lost contact with him; explanation for this: in Ukraine, in the rear of the Reds, a peasant uprising arose led by Makhno, there are many others partisan detachments, which haunt the Reds. This is clearly visible to me from the red newspapers, letters from prisoners, etc. Both General Schilling and General Slashchov look at these phenomena very benevolently, but not knowing how headquarters views it, of course, measures to contact with the rebel Makhno and others - Naturally they don't accept it. I think this question of paramount importance, because I see in this the salvation of the general strategic position. It needs to be thoroughly clarified, and the sooner the better. In my opinion, this is such a serious moment that our motto should be: “ Those who are against the Reds are all with us».

Front exclusively is held by the personality of General Slashchov; a “special” person, energetic, certainly brave and stops at nothing to achieve success at the front and counteract the collapse in the rear. He is the only one who has held Crimea until now, and he is the only one, invested with dictatorial power, who can hold it. The appointments of General Schilling and Pokrovsky were mistakes and only brought confusion, both in the rear and at the front.

I am especially afraid that some new appointments will follow, which will cause an absolute deterioration in the situation, both at the front and in the rear. If you can influence, then recommend that before arriving in Crimea and before personal negotiations with Slashchov, do nothing, otherwise you need to wait collapse and general death. We must remember that the front is held by Slashchov, the troops love him and he only they believe one, and all the abomination of his rear is only afraid of one thing.

The attitude towards your Volunteer Army and towards the Commander-in-Chief in almost all layers is negative: the senior officers are afraid that with the arrival of General Kutepov’s units, dual power will naturally occur.

We are afraid of an infection that could be brought in by tired and dissatisfied officers. We are afraid that the “Orlovschina” will quickly swell its ranks in the rear with dissatisfied arrivals. We are afraid that among the arrivals there will be people who want to continue the old policy here, which could destroy the beginnings of the unification of all the Ukrainian partisan detachments currently operating against the Bolsheviks.

In the rear (Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, etc.), as always, there is abomination: panic, speculation and political gossip, division into parties, quarrels, denunciations and squabbles - the worst thing is that all this scum is waiting for your arrival to interfere with countless projects, denunciations, complaints, etc.

General conclusion:

1) Slashchov holds the front and rear. The front will hold as long as it single-handedly will be at the head of the troops.

2) The attitude towards the incoming Volunteer Army is generally negative.

3) Society and officers are anxiously watching what is going to happen within two to three weeks (changes in command, policy, etc.).

General condition: restless and expectant. The Bolsheviks are ready to take active action at the first mistakes.

Signed: Colonel Noga

The situation was alarming.

The still distant thunderstorm seemed about to break through with all the force of an unbridled element. The tension grew, and the result was General Denikin’s order No. 004247 on the famous general’s council of deputies on March 21, 1920, caused by complete loss of spirit and the desire to get rid of everything. Here it is.

I propose to arrive in the evening of March 21 in Sevastopol for a meeting of the Military Council chaired by Cavalry General Dragomirov to elect a successor to the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR. The composition of the council: commanders of the Volunteer and Crimean Corps, their division chiefs, half of the brigade and regiment commanders. Based on the combat situation, the norm from the Crimean Corps may be reduced. The commandants of the fortresses, the commander of the fleet, his chief of staff, the head of the naval department, four senior combat commanders of the fleet. From the Don Corps, generals Sidorin and Kelchevsky and six persons from the generals and regiment commanders. From the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, the chief of staff and the general on duty, the head of the military department. Generals Wrangel, Ulagai, Bogaevsky, Shilling, Pokrovsky, Borovsky, Efimov, Yuzefovich and Toporkov. Feodosia, March 20, 1920 No. 004247. Denikin.

This order greatly surprised me, and I was able to answer only this way:

To General Denikin on No. 004247. In view of the seriousness of the issue, which will affect the entire state of affairs, and so that I do not find myself guilty before the Motherland and the ranks of my corps, I take the liberty of reporting that I consider it possible to appoint a successor only by you, since the elective principle I can't wrap my head around it. I flatter myself with the hope that Your Excellency will understand the honesty of my motives for this telegram. I'm waiting for an urgent response. Dzhankoy, March 20, 1920 No. 554. Slashchov.

I was still ordered to go...

I, like a soldier, carried out the repeated order and on the evening of March 21 I arrived from Dzhankoy in Sevastopol.

The impression is bleak.

General Dragomirov does not know what to do, and promises to turn to General Denikin for all the answers. Volunteer Corps led by General Kutepov and Vitkovsky proclaims “hurray” for General Denikin.

I had to stand up and ask, “What are we serving—the cause or the individuals?”

And repeat: “I do not recognize the elective principle.”

To this, General Dragomirov asked me: “Why don’t you follow the orders of the commander-in-chief? This is not an election, but a military council, which will only indicate to the commander-in-chief the desired name of the candidate.”

To this I replied: “I followed the commander-in-chief’s order and arrived here. The laws have not been changed, and the military council is composed of the senior commander (Denikin), who assembles it (and must chair it himself), and the commanders directly subordinate to him, and I see here - up to and including regiment commanders. The Crimean Corps, for defending Crimea, fielded three men, the Don Corps, six, and the Volunteer Corps, thirty.”

I was supported first by General Sidorin, and then by Ulagai and Borovsky.

General Dragomirov objected that he would ask General Denikin to equate the Crimean representatives with the rest.

To this I replied that I had said everything I could, the Crimean Corps would not participate in the elections, I had a battle at the front, and having carried out the order, I could not stay any longer.

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author

GIVING POSITION IN POST-SOVIET TERRITORY Even under Yeltsin in the 1990s, forced out of Europe and the world by ourselves, we at least remained a major regional power. During these years, the Kremlin was still “the source of legitimacy of post-Soviet regimes” (the expression of political scientist S.

From the book Life and Extraordinary Adventures of the Writer Voinovich (told by himself) author Voinovich Vladimir Nikolaevich

From the book Secrets of the Real Investigation. Notes of the investigator of the prosecutor's office on particularly important cases author Topilskaya Elena

Passing with tens Together with me, my friend from the flying club Vaska Onishchenko was preparing to enter the gliding school. He, like me, hoped that it would be a stepping stone to real aviation. We spent Sunday evenings together: we walked along Lenin Street, flirted with girls, but

From the book How Before God author Kobzon Joseph

From the book I Live Until Nausea author Tsvetaeva Marina

I demand a trial... for myself, if I’m guilty! Excursion over “Beijing” Journalists are usually interested in “salty” facts... They are not so much interested in the main thing in a person, but in what gives free rein to such a fantasy that no one will find enough. And so I am always indignant when

From the book If I Hadn’t Served in the Navy... [collection] author Boyko Vladimir Nikolaevich

A piece of Crimea Arrival in a furious snow storm in Koktebel. Gray sea. The enormous, almost physically burning joy of Max V<олошина>at the sight of Seryozha alive. Huge white bread.* * *Vision of Max B<олошина>on the foot of the tower, with Ten on his knees, frying onions. And while the bow

From the book Television. Off-screen awkward people author Visilter Vilen S.

SURRENDER TO SELF-GOVERNMENT One day, on the way out to sea, I went up to the wheelhouse to smoke and involuntarily heard a dialogue between the commander and the young senior assistant commander: “Chief mate! It's been 3 months already! When will you pass the test to operate a submarine?” “Comrade commander! I'm not ready yet, no

From the author's book

Dictator of Crimea Fortunately, on my thorny path in television, not often, but I met, as Yeshua used to say, as one of Mikhail Bulgakov’s heroes in “The Master and Margarita”, good people. This was Anna Mikhailovna Vinogradova in the Production Directorate