We continue our column dedicated to the figures of the Civil War of 1917-1922. Today we’ll talk about Anton Ivanovich Denikin, perhaps the most famous figure of the so-called “white movement”. This article will analyze the personality of Denikin and the white movement during the era of his leadership.
To begin with, let's give a brief biographical information. The future white dictator of the South of Russia was born on December 4 (16 old style) 1872 in the village of Shpetal Dolny, a Zavisla suburb of the city of Wloclawek, in the Warsaw province, which already belonged to the then decaying Russian Empire. The father of the future general was a retired border guard major, Ivan Denikin, a former serf, and his mother Elizaveta Wrzhesinskaya was from an impoverished Polish family of landowners.
Young Anton wanted to follow the example of his father to make a military career and at the age of 18, after graduating from the Łovichi Real School, he was enrolled as a volunteer in the 1st Infantry Regiment, lived for three months in a barracks in Plock and in June of the same year was accepted into the Kiev Infantry Junker School for a military school course. After completing this course, Denikin was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 2nd artillery brigade, which was stationed in the provincial town of Bela, in the Siedlce province of the Kingdom of Poland.
After several preparatory years, Denikin went to St. Petersburg, where he passed a competitive exam at the Academy of the General Staff, but at the end of the first year he was expelled for failing an exam in the history of military art. After 3 months, he retook the exam and was again accepted into the academy. On the eve of young Denikin's graduation, the new head of the Academy of the General Staff, General Nikolai Sukhotin, adjusted at his own discretion the lists of graduates who were to be assigned to the General Staff and... Denikin was not included in their number. Anton Ivanovich filed a complaint, but they tried to hush up the matter, inviting him to apologize - “to ask for mercy,” to which Denikin did not agree and his complaint was rejected for his “violent temper.”
After this incident, in 1900, Anton Ivanovich Denikin returned to Bela, to his native 2nd Artillery Brigade, where he stayed until 1902, when he wrote a letter to Minister of War Kuropatkin, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Far East, in order to ask to consider the long-standing situation. This action was a success - already in the summer of 1902 Anton Denikin was enrolled as an officer of the General Staff, and from that moment the career of the future “white general” began. Now let’s digress from a detailed biography and talk about his participation in the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars.
In February 1904, Denikin, who by this time had become a captain, received a secondment to the active army. Even before arriving in Harbin, he was appointed chief of staff of the 3rd brigade of the Zaamur district of the Separate Border Guard Corps, which stood in the rear and clashed with the Chinese robber detachments of Honghuz. In September, Denikin received the post of officer for assignments at the headquarters of the 8th Corps of the Manchurian Army. Then, upon returning to Harbin, he accepted the rank of lieutenant colonel and was sent to Qinghechen to the Eastern Detachment, where he accepted the post of chief of staff of the Transbaikal Cossack Division of General Rennenkampf.
Denikin received his first “baptism of fire” during the Battle of Tsinghechen on November 19, 1904. One of the hills in the battle area went down in military history under the name “Denikin” for repelling the Japanese offensive with bayonets. Afterwards he took part in intensive reconnaissance. Then he was appointed chief of staff of the Ural-Transbaikal division of General Mishchenko, where he proved himself to be a capable officer, and already in February-March 1905 he took part in the Battle of Mudken.
His fruitful activity was noticed by the highest authorities and “for distinction in cases against the Japanese” he was promoted to colonel and awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree with swords and bows, and St. Anne, 2nd degree with swords. After the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, he departed back to St. Petersburg in turmoil.
But the real “test” of his qualities came with the First World War. Denikin met her as part of the headquarters of the 8th Army of General Brusilov, for which the beginning of the war went well: it continued to advance and soon captured Lvov. After this, Denikin expressed a desire to move from a staff position to a field position, to which Brusilov agreed and transferred him to the 4th Infantry Brigade, unofficially called the “iron” brigade for its exploits in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78.
Under the leadership of Denikin, it won many victories over the Kaiser and Austro-Hungarian armies and was renamed “iron”. He particularly distinguished himself in the battle at Grodek, receiving the St. George's Arms for this. But these were only local successes, because the Russian Empire was not ready for war: the collapse of the army was observed everywhere; corruption simply flourished on a titanic scale, starting from the generals of the main Headquarters and ending with minor military officials; food did not reach the front, and cases of sabotage were frequent. There were also problems with the military-patriotic spirit. Inspiration was observed only in the first months of the war, and that was due to the fact that government propaganda widely used the patriotic feelings of the population, but as the supply situation worsened and losses grew, pacifist sentiments spread more and more.
At the beginning of 1915, the Russian Empire was suffering defeats on all fronts, maintaining a timid balance only on the border with Austria-Hungary, while German troops boldly advanced on the western borders of the Republic of Ingushetia, defeating the armies of Samsonov and Rennenkampf, one of the reasons for which was long-standing rivalry and mutual distrust between these generals.
Denikin at this time went to help Kaledin, together with whom he threw the Austrians behind a river called San. At this time, he received an offer to become the head of a division, but did not want to part with his “eagles” from the brigade, for which reason the authorities decided to deploy his brigade into a division.
In September, with a desperate maneuver, Denikin took the city of Lutsk and captured 158 officers and 9,773 enemy soldiers, for which he was promoted to lieutenant general. General Brusilov wrote in his memoirs that Denikin, “without any difficulties as an excuse,” rushed to Lutsk and took it “in one fell swoop,” and during the battle he himself drove a car into the city and from there sent Brusilov a telegram about the capture of the city by the 4th Infantry division. But, soon, Lutsk had to be abandoned to level the front. After this, relative calm established at the front and a period of trench warfare began.
The entire year of 1916 for Denikin was spent in constant battles with the enemy. On June 5, 1916, he re-took Lutsk, for which he was again awarded. In August, he was appointed commander of the 8th Corps and, together with the corps, was sent to the Romanian Front, where Romania, which had gone over to the Entente side, suffered defeats from the Austrians. There, in Romania, Denikin was awarded the highest military order - the Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd degree.
So, we have come to the most significant period of Denikin’s life and the beginning of his involvement in the political game. As you know, in February 1917, the February Revolution took place and a whole chain of events took place, as a result of which the tsar was overthrown, and a noisy bourgeoisie, but completely incapable of active action, came to power. We have already written about these events in “Politsturm”, therefore, we will not deviate from the given topic and return to Denikin.
In March 1917, he was summoned to Petrograd by the Minister of War of the new revolutionary government, Alexander Guchkov, from whom he received an offer to become chief of staff under the newly appointed Supreme Commander of the Russian Army, General Mikhail Alekseev. Denikin accepted this offer and on April 5, 1917, he assumed his new position, in which he worked for about a month and a half, working well with Alekseev. Then, when Brusilov replaced Alekseev, Denikin refused to be his chief of staff and on May 31 was transferred to the post of commander of the armies of the Western Front. In the spring of 1917, at a military congress in Mogilev, he was marked by sharp criticism of Kerensky's policies, the essence of which was the democratization of the army. At a meeting of Headquarters on July 16, 1917, he advocated the abolition of committees in the army and the removal of politics from the army.
As commander of the Western Front, Denikin provided support for the Southwestern Front. On the way to his new destination in Mogilev, he met with General Kornilov, in a conversation with whom he expressed his consent to participate in the uprising. The February government found out about this and already on August 29, 1917, Denikin was arrested and imprisoned in Berdichev prison (primarily because he expressed solidarity with General Kornilov in a rather harsh telegram to the Provisional Government). The entire leadership of his headquarters was arrested along with him. A month later, Denikin is transferred to Bykhov to an arrested group of generals led by Kornilov, along the way almost becoming a victim of soldier lynching.
The investigation into the Kornilov case dragged on due to the lack of substantiated evidence of the generals’ guilt, so they met the Great October Socialist Revolution while in custody.
The new government forgets about the generals for a while, and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Dukhonin, taking advantage of the opportune moment, releases them from the Bykhov prison.
At this moment, Denikin changed his appearance and moved to Novocherkassk under the name of “assistant to the head of the dressing detachment Alexander Dombrovsky,” where he began to take part in the formation of the Volunteer Army and became, in fact, the organizer of the so-called. "volunteer movement" and, accordingly, the first anti-Bolshevik movement in Russia. There, in Novocherkassk, he began to form an army, which initially consisted of 1,500 people. In order to get weapons, Denikin’s people often had to steal them from the Cossacks. By 1918, the army numbered about 4,000 people. Since then, the number of participants in the movement began to grow.
On January 30, 1918, he was appointed commander of the 1st Infantry (Volunteer) Division. After volunteers suppressed the workers' uprising in Rostov, the army headquarters moved there. Together with the Volunteer Army, on the night of February 8 to February 9, 1918, Denikin set out on the 1st Kuban Campaign, during which he became deputy commander of the Volunteer Army of General Kornilov. He was one of those who suggested that Kornilov send an army to the Kuban region.
An important moment for the volunteers was the assault on Yekaterinodar. They suffered heavy losses, ammunition was running out, and on top of that, Kornilov was killed by a shell. Denikin was appointed head of the volunteer army, who curtailed the offensive and withdrew the troops.
After the retreat, Denikin reorganizes the army, increases its strength to 8-9 thousand people, receives a sufficient amount of ammunition from allies abroad and begins the so-called. “2nd Kuban Campaign”, as a result of which the capital of the Kuban nobility, Ekaterinodar, where the headquarters was located, was taken. After the death of General Alekseev, supreme power passes to him. Autumn 1918 - winter 1919 General Denikin's troops recaptured Sochi, Adler, Gagra, and the entire coastal territory captured by Georgia in the spring of 1918.
On December 22, 1918, the troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army went on the offensive, which caused the collapse of the front of the Don Army. In such conditions, Denikin had a convenient opportunity to subjugate the Cossack troops of the Don. On December 26, 1918, Denikin signs an agreement with Krasnov, according to which the Volunteer Army merges with the Don Army. This reorganization marked the beginning of the creation of the AFSR ((Armed Forces of the South of Russia). The AFSR also included the Caucasian Army and the Black Sea Fleet.
The Denikin movement achieved its greatest success in 1919. The size of the army was, according to various estimates, about 85 thousand people. Entente reports for March 1919 drew conclusions about the unpopularity and poor moral and psychological state of Denikin’s troops, as well as their lack of their own resources to continue the fight. Therefore, Denikin is personally developing a military action plan for the spring-summer period. This was precisely the period of greatest success of the White Movement. In June 1919, he recognized the supremacy of the “Supreme Ruler of Russia” Admiral Kolchak over himself.
Denikin came to wide fame within Soviet Russia in connection with the offensive of his armies in June 1919, when “volunteer troops” took Kharkov (June 24, 1919) and Tsaritsyn (June 30, 1919). The mention of his name in the Soviet press became ubiquitous, and he himself was subjected to the most fierce criticism. In July 1919, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote an appeal with the title “Everyone to fight Denikin!”, which became a letter from the Central Committee of the RCP (b) to the party organizations, in which Denikin’s offensive was called “the most critical moment of the socialist revolution.” On July 3 (16), 1919, Denikin, inspired by the successes of previous campaigns, issued a Moscow Directive to his troops, providing for the ultimate goal of capturing Moscow - the “heart of Russia” (and at the same time the capital of the Bolshevik state). The troops of the All-Soviet Union of Socialists under the general leadership of Denikin began their famous “march against Moscow.”
September and the first half of October 1919 were the times of greatest success for Denikin’s forces in the central direction; in October 1919 they took Orel, and the advanced detachments were on the outskirts of Tula, but this was where luck stopped smiling on the White Guards.
A special role in this was played by the policy of the “whites” in the controlled territories, which included all sorts of anti-Soviet activities (“fighting the Bolsheviks to the end”), praising the ideals of “United and Indivisible Russia,” as well as the widespread and harsh restoration of the old landowner orders. Let us add to this that Denikin acted as a person who was strongly opposed to the creation of national outskirts - and this caused discontent on the part of the local population; also, the “white general” assumed the liquidation of the Cossacks (his own allies) and pursued a policy of active intervention in the affairs of the Verkhovna Rada.
The peasants, realizing the insignificance of the ideas and plans of the “whites”, the goal of which was not to improve the life of a simple worker, but to restore the old order and oppression, began, if they did not enroll en masse in the ranks of the Red Army, then to offer fierce resistance to “Denikinism” everywhere. By that time, Makhno's rebel army had inflicted a number of serious blows on the rear of the AFSR, and the troops of the Red Army, having created quantitative and qualitative superiority over the enemy in the Oryol-Kursk direction (62 thousand bayonets and sabers for the Reds versus 22 thousand for the Whites), in October 1919 went on a counter-offensive.
By the end of October, in fierce battles that went on with varying success south of Orel, the troops of the Southern Front (commander A.I. Egorov) defeated small units of the Volunteer Army, and then began to push them back along the entire front line. In the winter of 1919-1920, Denikin’s troops abandoned Kharkov, Kyiv and Donbass. In March 1920, the retreat of the White Guards ended in the “Novorossiysk disaster”, when the White troops, pressed to the sea, were evacuated in panic, and a significant part of them were captured.
Lack of unity within the southern counter-revolution, heterogeneity of goals of the struggle; the sharp hostility and heterogeneity of the elements that made up the body of the white power of the South of Russia; vacillation and confusion in all areas of domestic policy; inability to cope with issues of establishing industry, trade and foreign relations; complete uncertainty in the land issue - these are the reasons for the complete defeat of Denikinism in November - December 1919
Shocked by the defeat, Denikin resigns from the post of commander-in-chief, and Baron Wrangel takes his place, immediately criticizing Denikin’s “Moscow Directive”. But Wrangel is no longer able to return the previous success to the “white movement,” which from now on is doomed to defeat. On April 4, 1920, General Denikin ingloriously left Russia on an English destroyer, never to return to it again.
08/07/1947. – General Anton Ivanovich Denikin died in the USA
(December 4, 1872–August 7, 1947) – Lieutenant General, founder of the White Volunteer Army. Born in the Warsaw province in the family of a major, who had risen from the serfs. Mother is Polish. He graduated from the Lovichi Real School, military school courses at the Kiev Infantry Junker School (1892) and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff (1899).
He began his service at the military headquarters of the Warsaw Military District. While serving as senior adjutant at the headquarters of the 2nd Cavalry Corps in March 1904, he submitted a report on transfer to the active army and was appointed staff officer for special assignments at the headquarters of the 8th Army Corps. Awarded the Order of St. Stanislav and St. Anne, 3rd degree with swords and bows and 2nd degree with swords. Promoted to the rank of colonel - “for military distinction.” In March 1914 he was promoted to major general.
He threw out the slogan: “Everyone to fight Denikin!” All the forces of the Southern and part of the forces of the South-Eastern fronts were concentrated against him. At the same time, by agreement with the Bolsheviks, Makhno, with his raid across Ukraine, destroyed the white rear there, and troops against the Makhnovists had to be withdrawn from the front. Both the Petliurists and the Poles helped the Bolsheviks by agreeing to a truce and allowing them to free up their forces to fight Denikin. Having created a threefold superiority over the Whites in the main, Oryol-Kursk, direction (62 thousand bayonets and sabers for the Reds versus 22 thousand for the Whites), in October the Red Army launched a counteroffensive. Denikin's army suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat. In the winter of 1919-1920, she left Kharkov, Kyiv, Donbass, Rostov-on-Don.
The military failure undermined the morale of the army and was accompanied by disintegration in the rear. “Every day is a picture of theft, robbery, violence throughout the entire territory of the armed forces,” Denikin wrote to his wife. “The Russian people have fallen so low from top to bottom that I don’t know when they will be able to rise out of the mud.” The commander-in-chief was unable to take decisive measures to restore order. Bolshevik propaganda also contributed to the decomposition, especially of the peasantry.
In February-March 1920, there was a defeat in the battle for Kuban, due to the disintegration of the Kuban Army, as the Kuban Rada sought to establish the Kuban Army as an independent state by concluding an alliance with the highlanders. After which the Kuban Cossack units of the AFSR completely disintegrated, which led to the collapse of the White front, the retreat of the remnants of the White Army to Novorossiysk, and from there on March 26-27, 1920, a retreat by sea to the Crimea.
Before this decree of Admiral Kolchak, on January 05, 1920, General Denikin was declared the successor to the official Russian government, that is, the Supreme Ruler of Russia, but this could not change anything. Failures, criticism from General Wrangel and other military leaders who had lost faith in their Commander-in-Chief, and the catastrophic evacuation from Novorossiysk forced Denikin to resign, and by decision of the Military Council on March 22, transfer the post of Commander-in-Chief to General Wrangel.
On April 4, 1920, General Denikin, on an English destroyer, left with his family for England, and from there soon to Belgium, out of protest against the negotiations on trade with the Bolsheviks begun by the British government. In Brussels, Denikin began work on his five-volume work "Essays on the Russian Troubles", which he continued in Hungary (1922-1926) and finished in 1926. Then Denikin moved to France and began work on other books: "Officers" (1928) and “The Old Army” (1929), communicated with the writer, but avoided participation in other white emigrant organizations. He often gave presentations on political topics, and in 1936 he began publishing the newspaper “Volunteer”.
At this time, in anticipation of what was brewing in Russian emigration, the question was discussed: who to be with when it begins. A small group of fellow patriots promoted support for the “Russian people,” that is, the USSR. The bulk of the white emigration hoped for the Anti-Comintern (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). Denikin believed that “it is completely groundless to attribute ideological foundations to the Rome-Berlin axis and the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo triangle”; their goals are the redivision of the world, because Hitler “trades with Moscow to the fullest.” Therefore, Denikin sharply criticized pro-German sentiments; as in the civil war, he remained a supporter of an alliance with France. But, on the other hand, he regretted that France made a bet on Poland, and then entered into an alliance with the USSR and “threw National Russia completely off the table.” Therefore, Denikin noted with disappointment the lack of ideological motives in democracies, which also pursue their colonial geopolitical interests, and even the “greatest” democracy, the USA, “has a weakness for the regimes of Moscow and Barcelona”... Emphasizing that Russia in general has no friends, Denikin formulated a double task: it is necessary to overthrow Soviet power and defend Russian territory, but the participation of emigrants in a foreign invasion of Russia is unacceptable ("The Russian Question in the Far East", 1939, 2nd ed.).
More numerous right-wing circles of the EMRO considered such a position to be theoretically correct, but practically unfeasible. They called it “chasing two hares,” arguing that “the only hare that should now be chased is the fall of the Bolsheviks throughout Russia.”
The beginning of September 1, 1939 found General Denikin in the south of France in the village of Montay-au-Vicomte, where he had left Paris to work on his autobiographical book “The Path of the Russian Officer.” At the beginning of the German occupation of France in May-June 1940, Denikin tried to drive his car towards the Spanish border, but the Germans beat him to it. I had to stay near Biarritz under German occupation in difficult material conditions.
In May 1945, Denikin returned to Paris and in November, taking advantage of the invitation of one of his comrades, he moved to the United States. There he addressed letters to General Eisenhower and American politicians with an appeal to stop the “second emigration”). In particular, in October 1946, in a letter to Senator Arthur Vanderberg, Denikin wrote: “Now that so much of what is happening behind the Iron Curtain has become clear, when there have already been so many living witnesses to the indescribable cruelty with which the communist dictatorship treats with a person, US public opinion should understand why these Russian people are most afraid of... returning to their homeland. Has history ever known such a phenomenon, that tens, hundreds of thousands of people, taken from their native country, where their whole life was spent, and where, therefore, all their interests were concentrated, where their families and loved ones remained, would not only resist with all their might their return, but the mere possibility of it would drive them to madness, to suicide...”
Frequent praise of Denikin by Red patriots supposedly for his “approval of the victories of the Red Army” distorts the real attitude of the white general to this issue (see below an excerpt from his “Address”). In May 1946, in one of his letters to his long-time assistant, Colonel Koltyshev, Anton Ivanovich wrote: “After the brilliant victories of the Red Army, many people began to have an aberration... somehow faded, the side of the Bolshevik invasion and occupation of neighboring states faded into the background, which brought them ruin, terror, Bolshevisation and enslavement... You know my point of view. The Soviets are bringing a terrible disaster to the peoples, striving for world domination. Brazen, provocative, threatening former allies, raising a wave of hatred, their policies threaten to turn into dust everything that has been achieved by the patriotic upsurge and blood of the Russian people... and therefore, true to our slogan - “Defense of Russia”, defending the inviolability of Russian territory and the vital interests of the country , we do not dare in any form to identify ourselves with Soviet policy – the policy of communist imperialism.”
Anton Ivanovich died of a heart attack on August 7, 1947 at the University of Michigan Hospital and was buried in a cemetery in Detroit. On December 15, 1952, the remains of General Denikin were transferred to St. Vladimir Orthodox Cemetery in Cassville, New Jersey.
As for Anton Ivanovich’s family, in 1918 in Novocherkassk, 45-year-old Denikin married Ksenia Vasilyevna Chizh, who came to him from Kyiv, where in 1914 they first met. His wife accompanied him all subsequent years, supporting him in all the trials of fate. Their daughter Marina (born 1919) became a French writer under the pseudonym Marina Gray, but, unfortunately, without having the necessary knowledge or spiritual and political qualities to act as a historian or politician. She tried to highlight precisely the worst, liberal-Februaryist features of her father’s worldview for the Western public.
On October 3, 2005, the ashes of General Anton Ivanovich Denikin and his wife, along with the remains of the philosopher and his wife, were transported to Moscow as part of V.V.’s propaganda campaign. Putin for a demonstrative burial in the Donskoy Monastery. The reburial was carried out with the consent of Denikin’s daughter. One of the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation (V.R. Medinsky) correctly called this “a sign of mercy of the victors towards defeated enemies.”
Graves of Denikin and his wife, and his wife
on the territory of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow
From the "Address" of Gen. Denikin (1946)
...Nothing has changed in the basic features of the psychology of the Bolsheviks and in their practice of governing the country. Meanwhile, in the psychology of Russian emigration, unexpected and very abrupt shifts have recently occurred, from non-condemnation of Bolshevism to its unconditional acceptance... To our deepest regret, our emigrant church, under the leadership of Metropolitan Eulogius, overshadowed the change of leadership with spiritual authority...
The first period of the war... Defense of the Fatherland. Brilliant victories of the army. The increased prestige of our Motherland... The heroic epic of the Russian people. In our thoughts and feelings we were one with the people.
With the people, but not with the authorities.
Both “Soviet patriots” and Smenovekhites play on this chord, glorifying the Soviet government in a friendly chorus, which supposedly “prepared and organized the victory” and therefore “must be recognized by the national government...”. But the Soviet government set itself the goal not of the good of Russia, but of the world revolution, even introducing a corresponding provision into the regulations of the Red Army... The Soviets, just like Hitler, were going to “blow up the world” and for this purpose they created such colossal weapons. Meanwhile, if there had been a national Russia, with an honest policy and strong alliances, there could have been no “Hitler danger”, there would have been no World War II itself.
But when the Red Army went beyond the Russian lands, the Bolshevik Janus turned his true face to the world. And then a split began in the emigrant psychology. For, as Soviet strategy on Russian bayonets brought to the peoples liberation, Soviet policy translated it into enslavement. It is absurd to apply such terms as “the historical task of Russia”, “Slavophilism”, “unification of the Slavs” to the enslaving agreements concluded by the Soviets with the communist and communism governments, which they forcibly installed, under the dull murmur of the peoples. On the contrary, the Soviet occupation discredits the idea of Slavic unity, arousing bitterness, disappointment, even hostility against the USSR, alas, identified with Russia.
Finally, the third stage: the war is over, the struggle for peace is underway. Instead, the Soviets are pursuing a defiant policy that threatens to turn the outside world against them, threatening our homeland with new innumerable disasters of the 3rd World War, with unprecedented horrors. Hatred towards the USSR, which has been muted for now, is growing more and more...
In my opinion, a historical paradox occurred - the whites, who wanted a “united and indivisible Russia,” did everything to ensure that vast territories were lost to it. The British, French, Americans and others like them helped the White Guards without thanks, pursuing their own interests in separating Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Kola Peninsula, Central Asia, the Far East from Russia and bringing these territories under their control. With the victory of the white army, the “allies” would be able to firmly gain a foothold in these territories and neither Kolchak, nor Denikin, nor Yudenich would simply have enough strength to expel them. The Reds, often considering Russia as a bundle of brushwood for fueling the fire of the world revolution, like not paradoxically, they did everything to preserve the unity of the country, which they generally succeeded in doing.
<<Даже такой либеральный деятель, как кн. Г.Н. Трубецкой, высказал Деникину «убеждение, что в Одессе, так же, как и в Париже, дает себя чувствовать настойчивая работа масонов и евреев, которые всячески хотят помешать вмешательству союзников в наши дела и помощи для воссоздания единой и сильной России. То, что прежде казалось мне грубым вымыслом, либо фантазией черносотенников, приписывавших всю нашу смуту работе "жидо-масонов", – с некоторых пор начало представляться мне имеющим несомненно действительную почву».>>
Underestimation of the “Zionist Freemasonry” proclaimed by Herzl in 1897. and funded
clans of the Rothschilds and Rockefellers and became the reason for the death of the “white movement” in Russia, where the rabid clique of Zionists was led by Lenin and Trotsky. Stalin, who built state capitalism - socialism after the abolition of the NEP, proclaimed by Lenin, was unable to completely destroy its members, who hid mainly in the Caucasus and the south of Ukraine among the Khazar and Karaite Jews. Moreover, a Jew
Hitler managed to deceive Stalin with his opus “Mein Kampf”, which he created on the advice of
Rothschilds. This explains Stalin’s confusion during the first days of the war. At the beginning of hostilities, the Zionist creatures of the western part of the USSR, who did not have their own historical homeland, fled to Alma-Ata and Tashkent and sat out there.
Nowadays, do not notice this trash, hiding behind the screen of the Holocaust and tearing
to control the world economy is extremely dangerous.
Talent will repaint the army red and white and destroy it. The Russians are still being persecuted by the Jewish authorities in Russia.
Very important material for me in the matter of learning the historical truth and changing my psychological feeling in relation to the past of Russia. Thank you.
I read the memoirs of the civil war by Wrangel, Krasnov, and Deninkin himself, and I got the impression that it was Denikin who turned out to be the gravedigger of the white movement.
And I also got the impression that Denikin had similar strategic thoughts with Tukhachevsky about “expanding the basis of war,” i.e. the desire to seize as many territories as possible to increase military potential. For Tukhachevsky this desire ended in defeat near Warsaw, for Denikin in the defeat of the White Army
Anton Ivanovich Denikin (December 4 (16), 1872, Wloclawek, Russian Empire - August 8, 1947, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) - Russian military leader, hero of the Russo-Japanese and First World Wars, General Staff lieutenant general (1916), pioneer, one of the main leaders (1918-1920) of the White movement during the Civil War. Deputy Supreme Ruler of Russia (1919-1920).
In April-May 1917, Denikin was the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, then the commander-in-chief of the Western and Southwestern Fronts.
In January 1919, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, General A.I. Denikin transferred his Headquarters to Taganrog.
On January 8, 1919, the Volunteer Army became part of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR), becoming their main strike force, and General Denikin headed the AFSR. On June 12, 1919, he officially recognized the power of Admiral Kolchak as the “Supreme Ruler of the Russian State and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armies.”
By the beginning of 1919, Denikin managed to suppress the Bolshevik resistance in the North Caucasus, subjugate the Cossack troops of the Don and Kuban, removing the pro-German-oriented General Krasnov from the leadership of the Don Cossacks, receive a large amount of weapons, ammunition, equipment through the Black Sea ports from Russia’s Entente allies, and July 1919 to begin a large-scale campaign against Moscow.
From mid-October 1919, the position of the white armies of the South noticeably worsened. The rear areas were destroyed by Makhno's raid on Ukraine, and troops against Makhno had to be withdrawn from the front, and the Bolsheviks concluded a truce with the Poles and Petliurists, freeing up forces to fight Denikin. In February-March 1920, there was a defeat in the battle for Kuban, due to the disintegration of the Kuban army (due to its separatism - the most unstable part of the AFSR). After which the Cossack units of the Kuban armies completely disintegrated and began en masse to surrender to the Reds or go over to the side of the “greens,” which led to the collapse of the White front, the retreat of the remnants of the White Army to Novorossiysk, and from there on March 26-27, 1920, a retreat by sea to Crimea.
After the death of the former Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral Kolchak, all-Russian power was supposed to pass to General Denikin. However, Denikin, given the difficult military-political situation of the Whites, did not officially accept these powers. Faced with the intensification of opposition sentiments among the white movement after the defeat of his troops, Denikin resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR on April 4, 1920, and transferred command to Baron Wrangel. Slobodin V.P. The White Movement during the Civil War in Russia (1917?1922). -- Tutorial. - M.: MJI Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 1996. -80 p.
Having come to the leadership of the white movement after the death of M.V. Alekseev, A.I. Denikin continued to work on improving the system of organizing power. On March 6, 1919, he approved a number of bills on the organization of civil government.
The main ideas of the bills: local unification of the highest civil and military authorities in the person of the commander-in-chief; creation of a vertical structure of civil governance; concentration in the hands of the commander of the State Guard for the protection of public order; creating conditions for the development of a network of local city and zemstvo self-government.
When organizing power in the South of Russia, the leaders of the white movement sought, under the guise of a one-man dictatorship, to create a wide network of local democratic representative zemstvo and city institutions in order to form a solid base of their power and, in the future, transfer to the regions the full scope of solving local self-government issues.
As for the organization of power in other areas of the white movement, over time it took approximately the same form as in the South, with certain features.
In 1920, Denikin moved with his family to Belgium. He lived there until 1922, then in Hungary, and from 1926 in France. Gordeev Yu. N. General Denikin. Military historical essay. - M.: Arkayur, 1993. - 192 s He was engaged in literary activities, gave lectures on the international situation, and published the newspaper “Volunteer”. Remaining a staunch opponent of the Soviet system, he called on emigrants not to support Germany in the war with the USSR. After the occupation of France by Germany, he refused German offers to cooperate and move to Berlin. Denikin was forced to change his place of residence so often by lack of money.
The strengthening of Soviet influence in European countries after World War II forced A.I. Denikin moved to the USA in 1945, where he continued to work on the book “The Path of a Russian Officer” and gave public presentations. In January 1946, Denikin appealed to General D. Eisenhower to stop the forced extradition of Soviet prisoners of war to the USSR.
In general, Denikin A.I. had a great influence on the formation and development of the white movement in Russia, while he also developed many bills of the Provisional Government.
Anton Ivanovich
Battles and victories
Russian military leader, politician, one of the main leaders of the White movement in Russia during the Civil War.
During the First World War, he commanded the 4th Infantry Brigade (later expanded into a division), which received the nickname “Iron”. During the Civil War he was Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (1918-1920), achieving the greatest successes in the fight against the Reds.
Anton Ivanovich Denikin was born in a village near the Polish city of Wloclawek. His father, Ivan Efimovich, came from serfs. Due to conscription, he was drafted into the army, where, after 22 years of service, he passed the exam for the first officer rank. He retired in 1869 with the rank of major. The father instilled in his son a deep religiosity with which Anton Ivanovich spent his entire life. His mother, Elizaveta Fedorovna, was Polish, and Denikin’s childhood itself was spent in a city where the main population was Poles and Jews. He himself spoke passable Polish and was devoid of any xenophobic sentiments. Since childhood, he observed the impotence of the domestic national policy, which set the task of Russifying the region. Denikin’s family lived quite poorly; this is where we should look for the reasons for his heightened sense of social justice (which sometimes backfired on Anton Ivanovich) and commitment to liberal views.
Denikin’s father died when he was thirteen years old, which further constrained the family’s financial situation, and Anton Ivanovich himself was forced to earn extra money as a tutor. After graduating from the Lovichi Real School (where he showed good abilities in mathematics), he entered the Kiev Infantry Junker School, which he graduated in 1892 and received the rank of second lieutenant. Being one of the best in his studies, he chose as his place of service the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, which was located in the provincial town of Bela (Sedlce province).
Lieutenant Denikin. 1895
The fate of a provincial officer did not appeal to young Denikin. Soon he entered the elite Nikolaev General Staff Academy. True, in his first year he failed the exam in military history (he was asked what the situation was at exactly 12 o'clock during the Battle of Wagram), but the next year he passed the exams again and subsequently graduated from the academy. In the year of graduation, her boss, General Sukhotin, personally (in violation of the established law) changed the procedure for determining the final score; as a result, Denikin was not assigned to the General Staff.
And here the character of the young officer emerged. He filed a complaint to the minister, and proceedings began. As a result, he was asked to withdraw the complaint and write a pitiful letter asking for mercy. Denikin refused, saying: “I don’t ask for mercy. I only achieve what is rightfully mine.” The petition to the Highest Name also remained unanswered. But Denikin was never included in the General Staff, as the then Minister of War Kuropatkin said in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, “for his character.”
Denikin's camp meeting took place at the headquarters of the Warsaw Military District. The chief of staff, General Puzyrevsky, twice wrote petitions to St. Petersburg regarding Denikin, receiving the following answer the third time: “The Minister of War forbade the initiation of any petition about Captain Denikin.” As a result, I had to return to my brigade. By the way, a few years later Anton Ivanovich wrote a personal letter to Kuropatkin, where he described this whole story in detail. To the minister’s credit, he admitted that he had acted unfairly, and at his first audience with the emperor, he achieved Denikin’s inclusion in the General Staff.
Even then, Anton Ivanovich began to actively publish various feuilletons, articles and essays in the military press. In them, he denounced bureaucracy, demanded a more humane attitude towards soldiers, and also defended officer traditions. Denikin believed that apart from the army and navy, Russia could not have reliable allies; he saw danger from Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and Japan. Moreover, with regards to the latter, his voice joined the chorus of those who did not consider it a significant military figure and predicted a quick victory over it.
In the summer of 1902, Anton Ivanovich became the senior adjutant of the headquarters of the 2nd Infantry Division, and in the fall, for qualification, he left to command a company in the 183rd regiment. At the beginning of 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, and Denikin achieved an appointment to the front. First, he was appointed chief of staff of the 3rd brigade of the Zaamursky district of a separate border guard corps, which was located in the far rear. He did not want to stay away from the main events, and therefore asked for an appointment to the front. By a lucky coincidence, he became the chief of staff of the Transbaikal Cossack division, commanded by the famous general P.K. von Rennenkampf. It was under the leadership of this undoubtedly talented military leader (at the division and corps level) that Anton Ivanovich began to comprehend real military science in combat conditions.
In the battles near Tsinghechen at the end of November 1904, he commanded the vanguard (1 battalion, 4 hundred Cossacks and a mountain battery), which valiantly repelled enemy attacks for five days. The hill where the fighting took place was even nicknamed “Denikin’s”. In February 1905, he became chief of staff of the Ural-Transbaikal Cossack division, arriving there together with Rennenkampf, who temporarily replaced the wounded General Mishchenko. Here Denikin took part in the unsuccessful battle of Mukden for us. After the retreat of the Russian army, the cavalry on the right flank was again led by General Mishchenko, a man whose name was then resounding throughout Russia, and many officers and soldiers specially left their units to serve under his command. Denikin remained chief of staff. Let us note a very interesting trait of his character, namely the ability to get along with his superiors: first, he managed to establish relations with the very difficult Rennenkampf, and then with his almost “mortal enemy” Mishchenko.
Despite the lull, Mishchenko's cavalry detachment in the following months carried out a series of daring raids behind enemy lines, destroying railways, destroying enemy companies, seizing military property and valuable correspondence. For military distinctions, Denikin was promoted to colonel. As Mishchenko wrote in an order for his detachment: “In fairness, I must recognize the activities of this worthy officer of the General Staff as highly useful both in relation to the internal life of the division’s units, and especially in combat service, which was very difficult and responsible.”
All this time during his combat life and service with the division, Colonel Denikin showed outstanding energy, efficiency, diligence, correct understanding and love for military affairs.
General P.I. Mishchenko
After the end of the war, it was assumed that Anton Ivanovich would receive the post of chief of staff of the division, but while there was a long journey through revolution-torn Siberia (where the officers had to actually seize a train to break into central Russia), all vacant positions were distributed. After much clarification, he was offered a temporary position as a staff officer at the headquarters of the 2nd Cavalry Corps in the familiar Warsaw Military District. The temporary appointment lasted a whole year. A heightened sense of justice again surged in Denikin, he wrote a not entirely correct petition to the General Staff, from where he received an offer to become the chief of staff of the 8th Siberian Division. The telegram stated: “In case of refusal, he will be removed from the candidate list.” To which Anton Ivanovich sent an even less correct telegram: “I don’t want to,” after which he was offered the normal position of chief of staff of the 57th reserve brigade in Saratov.
Commander of the Arkhangelsk Regiment Denikin A.I. Zhitomir, 1912
At this time, Denikin continued to actively speak in the military press with journalistic articles. Some of them concerned military life, others described the events of the Russian-Japanese War, and others were devoted to an analysis of the reasons for the failures in the fields of Manchuria and the inadequacy of the military reforms that had begun. Like many liberal-minded military men, Anton Ivanovich pinned his hopes on renewal, calling for a focus on officer cadres (to improve the selection system and provide an opportunity for creative initiative), as well as to pay attention to the development of aviation and motor transport. On the eve of the First World War, Denikin wrote that Russia was not ready for a future war (“A new war would be a misfortune for us”), and therefore believed that “our poor dark country now, at the dawn of a renewed state system, needs peace more than ever and prosperity." It is worth noting that he focused mainly on politics in the Far East, clearly exaggerating the military threat from China.
In 1910, Denikin received command of the 17th Arkhangelsk Infantry Regiment, and at the beginning of 1914 he became acting general for assignments at the headquarters of the Kyiv Military District. In June 1914, he was awarded the rank of major general.
With the outbreak of World War I, Denikin found himself on the Southwestern Front, which fought against the Austro-Hungarian troops. Initially, he took the position of Quartermaster General of the 8th Army of General A.A. Brusilova, who was on the left wing and together with the 3rd Army N.V. Ruzsky in early August developed an offensive in Eastern Galicia. Since the Austrians delivered the main blow to the north, the main battles broke out there, and therefore the advance of Brusilov’s troops in the first days did not meet resistance. In mid-August, on the Rotten Lipa River, Ruzsky, with the support of Brusilov, defeated the relatively weak Austrian forces and occupied Lvov.
Denikin did not like staff work, he was eager to go into battle and got himself an appointment as commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade, called up as an “iron” brigade: during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78. she was part of General Gurko’s detachment, which fought fierce battles on Shipka. In the hands of Anton Ivanovich, this brigade again won a number of brilliant victories.
The position of the brigade (division) in the 8th Army was completely special. The iron shooters almost did not have to take part in positional standing, which was at times long and boring. Usually, after a bloody battle, the brigade was withdrawn by Brusilov to the “army commander’s reserve” only to be thrown again two or three days later at someone else’s rescue into the thick of the battle, into a breakthrough or into the chaos of retreating units. We often suffered heavy losses and changed fourteen corps in this order. And I am proud to note that the Iron Division has earned the honorary title of "fire brigade" of the 8th Army.
A.I. Denikin
For a long time, the 4th Infantry Brigade was in cooperation with the no less valiant 12th Cavalry Division A.M. Kaledin and the 48th Infantry Division L.G. Kornilov, and the chief of staff of the front until March 1915 was General M.V. Alekseev. All of them would later become the heads of the White movement in the south of Russia.
An excellently educated officer who went through combat school with Rennenkampf and Mishchenko, Denikin at the head of the brigade found himself “in the right place”: he was rightfully one of the best brigade and division commanders of that war. At the beginning of September 1914, his units took part in the battles near Grodek, repelling an attempt by the Austrians to gain revenge by attacking the flank of the 8th Army. For these events he was awarded the St. George's Arms: “For the fact that you were in battle from 8 to 12 September. 1914, at Grodek, with outstanding skill and courage, they repelled the desperate attacks of an enemy superior in strength, especially persistent on September 11, when the Austrians tried to break through the center of the corps; and in the morning of September 12. They themselves went on a decisive offensive with the brigade.”
In September, Denikin's brigade took part in the further pursuit of the defeated Austrians, who were retreating across the river along the entire front. San. However, the situation soon changed dramatically: the Germans, together with their allies, launched an attack on Warsaw, while the Austrians launched their own offensive in Galicia. Thus began the bloody battles on the river. San and Khyrov, which went on throughout October and ended with a general encirclement of the enemy. In them, the “iron brigade” showed miracles of courage and courage. So, on October 11 (24), without any artillery preparation, Denikin broke through the enemy’s defense lines and, having written a quick telegram “We beat and drive the Austrians,” began the pursuit, during which he captured the village. Mountain Meadow. For the enemy, the Russian breakthrough was so unexpected that it caused panic in the rear. Moreover, in Gorny Meadow there was the headquarters of the group of Archduke Franz Joseph, who barely managed to avoid capture. The success of Denikin's brigade provided important assistance to the overall advancement of the army, and Anton Ivanovich himself was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class.
At the end of October, the enemy began to retreat along the entire front and the 8th Army reached the Carpathians. If in November the main operations unfolded in the Lodz area (an unsuccessful attempt to invade Germany) and in the direction of Krakow, then Brusilov was given a generally passive task: to operate in the Carpathians, protecting the left flank of the entire front from possible surprises from Hungary. Brusilov decided to occupy the Carpathian passes. Thus began stubborn battles in the Carpathians, which continued with varying success until April 1915. Denikin’s brigade was actively transferred from one sector to another, ensuring the advancement of Russian troops. For the battles of January 1915, Denikin was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. As stated in the award order: “Being part of the 2nd Cavalry Corps and personally directing the actions of the 4th Infantry Brigade entrusted to him, under strong and effective fire, he knocked out the enemy, who showed great tenacity, from a number of trenches and threw him over the river. San on the Smolnik - Zhuravin section. The capture of the tactically important, heavily fortified heights 761-703-710 contributed so much to the victorious success of the entire Lutovi operation that without the capture of these heights the mentioned success would have been impossible. Trophies: 8 machine guns and over 2,000 prisoners.”
At the beginning of March, the brigade fought the hardest battles near Mount Odrin. Here she found herself almost completely surrounded, and behind her was a deep river. San with one bridge for crossing. The riflemen were bleeding again, but did not retreat so as not to expose the neighboring 14th Infantry Division to attack. Only by order of the superiors was the brigade then withdrawn to San. Note that by the beginning of April 1915, the 8th Army still found itself on the western slope of the Carpathians.
In April, a month after the fall of the largest Austrian fortress of Przemysl, Emperor Nicholas II arrived at the front. The 1st company of the 16th rifle regiment was put on the guard of honor. As Brusilov later wrote: “I reported to the sovereign that the 16th regiment, as well as the entire rifle division called Zheleznaya, stood out for its special valor throughout the entire campaign and that, in particular, the 1st company had these days, a brilliant deed, destroying two companies of the enemy.” Around the same time, in the spring of 1915, Denikin was offered to lead an infantry division, but he refused, saying that with his “iron shooters” he could do more. As a result, the brigade was deployed into a division.
During the battles for the Carpathians, the armies of the Southwestern Front suffered heavy losses. The high consumption of ammunition coincided with a crisis in military supplies. Moreover, in mid-April the enemy concentrated a large group and broke through the Russian front in the Gorlitsa area. Thus began the bloody battles that ended with the Great Retreat of the Russian armies. Denikin recalled: “The battle of Przemysl in mid-May. Eleven days of the fiercest battle of the Iron Division... Eleven days of the terrible roar of German heavy artillery, literally tearing down entire rows of trenches along with their defenders... And the silence of my batteries... We could not respond, there was nothing with which to respond. Even the most limited amount of cartridges for guns was issued. The regiments, exhausted to the last degree, repelled one attack after another... with bayonets or, in extreme cases, shooting at point-blank range. I saw how the ranks of my shooters were thinning, and I felt despair and a sense of absurd helplessness.”
All summer, the troops of the Southwestern Front fought back, sometimes launching counterattacks, and retreated, managing to avoid complete defeat. In mid-August, the 1st Austro-Hungarian Army launched an offensive around the flank of the 8th Army. The situation was saved by the new 39th Corps (it consisted of spare parts, and therefore its combat strength was minimal) and the 4th Infantry Division.
The division's position was unusually difficult. The Austrians, bringing more and more forces into the battle, spread to the left, to cover the right flank of the army. In accordance with this, my front lengthened, eventually reaching 15 kilometers. The enemy forces outnumbered us significantly, almost three times, and it was impossible to defend under such conditions. I decided to attack.
A.I. Denikin
Denikin went on the attack three times, thereby delaying the enemy’s outflanking wing. In the first half of September, due to the general situation, the 8th Army withdrew.
However, Brusilov soon managed to win a private victory, and, building on his success, he sent the 4th Infantry Division to Lutsk. The frontal attack failed. Then the 30th Corps of General Zayonchkovsky was sent to bypass, but it was also stopped by enemy troops. The situation on Denikin’s front was deteriorating: “Our situation is at its peak. We have no choice but to attack,” he said. On September 10 (23), during a daring attack, Lutsk was captured, and Denikin entered the city in the ranks of the first line. 128 officers and 6,000 lower ranks were taken prisoner, 3 guns and 30 machine guns became trophies. Soon Zayonchkovsky’s units also arrived, he sent a report to army headquarters that he had entered the city, Brusilov made a comic note on it: “... and captured General Denikin there.” For the feat of capturing Lutsk (which, however, later had to be abandoned), Anton Ivanovich was promoted to lieutenant general, and was later awarded the St. George weapon, decorated with diamonds. In fact, in two years of war, Denikin received four of the highest “St. George” awards: the maximum that a division chief could count on at that time.
At the beginning of October, the 4th Infantry Division took part in the capture of Czartorysk, when the 1st Crown Prince Grenadier Regiment was defeated. 138 officers, 6,100 lower ranks were captured, and 9 guns and 40 machine guns were taken.
The last glorious page in the history of the “iron riflemen” was the Brusilov breakthrough, which began at the end of May 1916. At that time, Denikin’s division was part of the 8th Army, commanded by General Kaledin. Artillery preparation began at four in the morning on May 22 and continued throughout the day. By the morning of the next day, passages had been created for a direct attack. Then Denikin gave order No. 13: “Today at 9 o’clock I order the division to attack and may God help us!”
The attack began successfully: in just half an hour, the division captured all three lines of enemy defense (the only exception was the left flank, where the battle for the 1st line dragged on). By evening the task was completed. Then a telegram of gratitude followed from the army commander: “I thank you with all my heart, as well as all the heroic riflemen for their glorious heroism and impeccable valor today.”
On May 24, the 4th Infantry Division gave chase. Denikin followed his units, which were moving forward non-stop. Seeing the success of the offensive, he, unable to resist, declared, addressing the 16th Infantry Regiment in reserve: “For tomorrow I give you Lutsk.” By the evening of the next day, after a stubborn battle, the riflemen actually broke into the city, capturing 4,500 prisoners. At the same time, the offensive proceeded so rapidly that contact with the corps headquarters was temporarily lost. In total, during these days, 243 officers, 9,626 lower ranks, more than 500 wounded, 27 guns, 37 machine guns, mortars and bomb launchers, a lot of weapons and shells were captured. The losses were: among officers - 16 killed, 25 wounded and 2 shell-shocked, among lower ranks - 694 killed, 2867 wounded.
Over the next few days, the division remained in its positions, primarily conducting reconnaissance and providing support to the neighboring 2nd Infantry Division. On June 4, the order came to defend the captured lines. By that time, the Germans had already arrived to help the Austrians, which meant that Denikin had to repel the attacks of a more skilled enemy. The enemy was pressing. By noon, some regiments were repulsing the 8th attack, but the division held out, although it lost 13 officers and 890 riflemen.
The following days passed in heavy fighting, and on June 8 the division was withdrawn to prepared positions. From June 5 to 10, it lost 9 officers and 781 lower ranks killed, 33 officers and 3,202 lower ranks wounded, 5 officers and 25 lower ranks were shell-shocked, and 18 officers and 1,041 lower ranks remained on the battlefield. 8 officers and 611 enemy soldiers were captured, 3 machine guns were captured. Denikin's division fought defensive battles and launched private counterattacks. Despite serious efforts, the Austrians were never able to break through the defenses (breakthroughs in individual areas, as a rule, were quickly eliminated). On June 18 alone, 13 captured enemy officers, 613 lower ranks, passed through the division headquarters. In the order of the army commander, the 2nd and 4th rifle divisions were called the core, pride and glory of the 8th Army.
On June 21-22, the division fought demonstration battles. Losses amounted to 420 riflemen and 351 lower ranks in the 199th regiment. As the division's war log stated: “The demonstration was too costly, although it apparently achieved its goal. Reason: one company went forward and broke into the enemy’s forward trenches; the neighbors did not want to lag behind. The uncontrollable rush forward created the illusion of little resistance from the enemy; however, the large number of losses does not confirm this.”
In July, Denikin’s troops went on the offensive three times and managed to move forward somewhat, but failed to break the defense line. On August 18, attempts were made to attack the enemy again, chemical shells were even used, but neither Denikin nor other commanders were able to achieve significant success. After initial successes at the end of May - June, the offensive impulse died down, and the Brusilov breakthrough never achieved its strategic goal: the withdrawal of Austria-Hungary from the war.
On September 8, Denikin was nevertheless promoted: he was appointed commander of the 8th Army Corps, at the head of which he first took part in the unsuccessful battles near Kovel, and then was transferred to the Romanian front in order to save the defeated ally.
By that time, Denikin had become quite widely known as one of the most successful division commanders. Of course, he was a brilliant tactician, he knew how to control his units, despite the severity of the battle, understood the psychology of soldiers and had a “Suvorov” eye. The main thing is that Denikin was not afraid of the offensive, comparing favorably with many other commanders. Of course, during impulses he sometimes fell into euphoria, which led to an underestimation of the enemy’s strength and high losses. The successes of the “iron riflemen” sometimes aroused the envy of neighboring units and complaints that their own merits were underestimated. So, when transferring Denikin to a new position, General V.I. Sokolov left the following lines in his notes: “The VIII Corps knew Denikin for a long time as the head of the 3rd Infantry, the so-called iron, first brigade, and then the division - from military meetings and joint affairs in 1915 and 1916. We knew that this was a man of immense ambition, to satisfy which he went by all means, including the cheapest advertising, but at the same time he was certainly a brave man, not only with military, but also with civic courage.” A.A. gave approximately the same assessment. Brusilov: “Denikin, who played such a big role later, was a good military general, very smart and decisive, but he always tried to force his neighbors to work decently in their favor, in order to facilitate the task given to him for his division; his neighbors often complained that he wanted to attribute their military distinctions to himself. I considered it natural that he would try to reduce the number of casualties of the units entrusted to him, but, of course, all this should be done with a certain tact and in a certain size.”
Anton Ivanovich greeted the February Revolution with hope for positive changes in the country and the army, but the subsequent turmoil and collapse of the armed forces hit his illusions. Not without the patronage of Minister of War A.I. Guchkov, he first became assistant to the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (at that time General M.V. Alekseev was at the head of the armies), and then chief of staff. Together with Alekseev, he stood at the origins of the Union of Army and Navy Officers - a professional organization that managed to unite those who did not accept the collapse of the army and were ready to speak out in the name of saving Russia.
After Alekseev's resignation in May 1917, Denikin headed the Western Front. In mid-July, during a meeting of senior leaders in the presence of Prime Minister A.F. Kerensky, he sharply opposed the murderous policies of the Provisional Government, calling for the dissolution of military committees, restoration of discipline and not to interfere with the army in politics. Kerensky thanked him for his honest report. According to available information, at that time Anton Ivanovich was among those who were planned to be appointed to the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief instead of A.A. Brusilov, however, due to support from Savinkov, this post was taken by L.G. Kornilov. Denikin soon headed the Southwestern Front.
He supported Kornilov's speech and, together with him and other generals, was arrested. They managed to escape only after the October Revolution. Denikin ended up on the Don, where he took part in the creation of the Volunteer Army, the main inspirer of which was M.V. Alekseev. At the end of January 1918, Denikin was appointed head of the 1st Volunteer Division, and then deputy commander of Kornilov. After his tragic death at the end of March in the battles for Ekaterinodar, Denikin became commander of the Volunteer Army.
It was under his leadership that the volunteers were able to achieve the greatest success in the south of Russia. By the end of the year, Kuban and the North Caucasus were liberated. At the end of December, Denikin signed an agreement with the Don Army. As a result, the united Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) were created, of which he became the head.
The spring of 1919 brought new successes. In May-June, the Bolsheviks were defeated on the Don and Manych, and Denikin captured the Carboniferous region - the fuel and metallurgical base of southern Russia. At the same time, he received military assistance (albeit in insufficient quantities) from his Entente allies, which also contributed to the strengthening of his army. At the end of June, Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav were taken, and Tsaritsyn fell on June 30. Here Anton Ivanovich signed the well-known “Moscow directive”, which directed the main blow to Moscow. Denikin’s headquarters at that time was under the influence of euphoria from the successes achieved, and therefore scattered its forces and also underestimated the enemy. Back in the summer, General P.N. Wrangel proposed to advance on Saratov and unite with Kolchak’s army, but Anton Ivanovich rejected this proposal. In his defense, we can say that at that time Kolchak’s army was already suffering defeats, retreating to the Urals. Moreover, she herself did not seek to connect with Denikin.
However, the offensive continued. In the summer, Denikin returned Poltava, Odessa and Kyiv; at the beginning of September, white troops entered Kursk, and on September 30 - into Orel. At some point, the Bolsheviks almost lost heart: the evacuation of government institutions to Vologda had already begun, and an underground party committee was being created in Moscow. However, these were Denikin's last victories. By that time, Makhno’s rebel army had dealt a number of serious blows to the rear of the AFSR, while the Reds managed to gather a strong fist. It also affected that, despite his military talents, Denikin turned out to be a weak politician, unable (like other white generals) either to offer a clear and attractive idea or to stabilize the political situation in the rear.
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At the end of September, the Reds launched a counter-offensive, inflicting a number of major defeats on the Whites. By the end of the year, they left Kharkov, Kyiv and Donbass. At the same time, unrest in the rear intensified, a conflict broke out between Denikin and General Wrangel, and rumors, intrigues and conspiracies multiplied. He was unable to retain power in his hands against the backdrop of unexpected defeats. At the end of March 1920, the unsuccessful evacuation of Novorossiysk began, which dealt the final blow to Denikin. On April 4 (17), the Military Council appointed Baron Wrangel as commander-in-chief of the AFSR, and Denikin left for England.
A painful farewell to my closest colleagues at Headquarters and the convoy officers. Then he went downstairs to the premises of the security officer company, which consisted of old volunteers, most of them wounded in battle; I was connected with many of them by the memory of the difficult days of the first campaigns. They are excited, muffled sobs can be heard... Deep excitement overcame me too; a heavy lump in my throat made it difficult to speak...
When we went out to sea, it was already night. Only bright lights dotting the thick darkness still marked the shore of the abandoned Russian land. They fade and go out.
Russia, my Motherland...
A.I. Denikin
In exile, Denikin lived for a short time in England, Belgium and Hungary, until he settled in France in 1926. He wrote memoirs and various historical studies (some have not yet been published), gave lectures, and took part in the lives of our emigrants. With the outbreak of World War II, he tried to escape to the Spanish border, but was captured by the Nazis. He repeatedly rejected cooperation with the Nazis. After the end of World War II, he emigrated to the United States (he obtained a visa through the Polish embassy as being born on the territory of modern Poland). He died in 1947 and was buried with military honors. In 2005, his remains, on behalf of V.V. Putin were transferred to their homeland.
PAKHALYUK K.,
member of the Russian Association of Historians of the First World War,
head of the Internet project “Heroes of the First World War”
Sources and literature
RGVIA F. 2498. Op. 2. D. 95 (magazine of military operations of the 4th Infantry Division)
Brusilov A.A. My memories. M., 2002
Terebov O.V. A.I. Denikin is against bureaucracy, window dressing and arbitrariness. Military-historical magazine. 1994. No. 2
Ippolitov G. Denikin. M., 2006 (ZhZL)
White movement. Historical portraits: L.G. Kornilov, A.I. Denikin, P.N. Wrangel... Comp. A.C. Kruchinin. M., 2006
Internet
Readers suggested
Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich
Shein Alexey Semyonovich
The first Russian generalissimo. Leader of the Azov campaigns of Peter I.
Uborevich Ieronim Petrovich
Soviet military leader, commander of the 1st rank (1935). Member of the Communist Party since March 1917. Born in the village of Aptandrius (now Utena region of the Lithuanian SSR) in the family of a Lithuanian peasant. Graduated from the Konstantinovsky Artillery School (1916). Participant of the 1st World War 1914-18, second lieutenant. After the October Revolution of 1917, he was one of the organizers of the Red Guard in Bessarabia. In January - February 1918 he commanded a revolutionary detachment in battles against Romanian and Austro-German interventionists, was wounded and captured, from where he escaped in August 1918. He was an artillery instructor, commander of the Dvina brigade on the Northern Front, and from December 1918 head of the 18th Infantry divisions of the 6th Army. From October 1919 to February 1920, he was the commander of the 14th Army during the defeat of the troops of General Denikin, in March - April 1920 he commanded the 9th Army in the North Caucasus. In May - July and November - December 1920, commander of the 14th Army in battles against the troops of bourgeois Poland and the Petliurites, in July - November 1920 - 13th Army in battles against the Wrangelites. In 1921, assistant commander of the troops of Ukraine and Crimea, deputy commander of the troops of the Tambov province, commander of the troops of the Minsk province, led the military operations during the defeat of the gangs of Makhno, Antonov and Bulak-Balakhovich. From August 1921 commander of the 5th Army and the East Siberian Military District. In August - December 1922, Minister of War of the Far Eastern Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the People's Revolutionary Army during the liberation of the Far East. He was commander of the troops of the North Caucasus (since 1925), Moscow (since 1928) and Belarusian (since 1931) military districts. Since 1926, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, in 1930-31, deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and chief of armaments of the Red Army. Since 1934 member of the Military Council of NGOs. He made a great contribution to strengthening the defense capability of the USSR, educating and training command staff and troops. Candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1930-37. Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee since December 1922. Awarded 3 Orders of the Red Banner and Honorary Revolutionary Weapon.
Soldier, several wars (including World War I and World War II). passed the way to Marshal of the USSR and Poland. Military intellectual. did not resort to “obscene leadership”. He knew the subtleties of military tactics. practice, strategy and operational art.
Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich
Successes in the Crimean War of 1853-56, victory in the Battle of Sinop in 1853, defense of Sevastopol 1854-55.
Full Knight of the Order of St. George. In the history of military art, according to Western authors (for example: J. Witter), he entered as the architect of the “scorched earth” strategy and tactics - cutting off the main enemy troops from the rear, depriving them of supplies and organizing guerrilla warfare in their rear. M.V. Kutuzov, after taking command of the Russian army, essentially continued the tactics developed by Barclay de Tolly and defeated Napoleon’s army.
Shein Mikhail Borisovich
He headed the Smolensk defense against Polish-Lithuanian troops, which lasted 20 months. Under the command of Shein, multiple attacks were repelled, despite the explosion and a hole in the wall. He held back and bled the main forces of the Poles at the decisive moment of the Time of Troubles, preventing them from moving to Moscow to support their garrison, creating the opportunity to gather an all-Russian militia to liberate the capital. Only with the help of a defector, the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to take Smolensk on June 3, 1611. The wounded Shein was captured and taken with his family to Poland for 8 years. After returning to Russia, he commanded the army that tried to recapture Smolensk in 1632-1634. Executed due to boyar slander. Undeservedly forgotten.
Khvorostinin Dmitry Ivanovich
An outstanding commander of the second half of the 16th century. Oprichnik.
Genus. OK. 1520, died on August 7 (17), 1591. At voivode posts since 1560. Participant in almost all military enterprises during the independent reign of Ivan IV and the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich. He has won several field battles (including: the defeat of the Tatars near Zaraisk (1570), the Battle of Molodinsk (during the decisive battle he led Russian troops in Gulyai-gorod), the defeat of the Swedes at Lyamitsa (1582) and near Narva ( 1590)). He led the suppression of the Cheremis uprising in 1583-1584, for which he received the rank of boyar.
Based on the totality of merits of D.I. Khvorostinin stands much higher than what M.I. has already proposed here. Vorotynsky. Vorotynsky was more noble and therefore he was more often entrusted with the general leadership of the regiments. But, according to the commander’s talats, he was far from Khvorostinin.
Drozdovsky Mikhail Gordeevich
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War! Under his leadership, the USSR won the Great Victory during the Great Patriotic War!
Rurik Svyatoslav Igorevich
Year of birth 942 date of death 972 Expansion of state borders. 965 conquest of the Khazars, 963 march south to the Kuban region, capture of Tmutarakan, 969 conquest of the Volga Bulgars, 971 conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom, 968 founding of Pereyaslavets on the Danube (the new capital of Rus'), 969 defeat of the Pechenegs in the defense of Kyiv.
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not resemble real military history. It looks like a prequel to "300 Spartans" (20,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet attacks, "This is madness! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). A golden, platinum page of Russian history, combining the carnage of madness with the highest tactical skill, amazing cunning and stunning Russian arrogance
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel, chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment. He showed himself most clearly in the Persian Company of 1805; when, with a detachment of 500 people, surrounded by a 20,000-strong Persian army, he resisted it for three weeks, not only repelling the attacks of the Persians with honor, but taking fortresses himself, and finally, with a detachment of 100 people, he made his way to Tsitsianov, who was coming to his aid.
Donskoy Dmitry Ivanovich
His army won the Kulikovo victory.
Ridiger Fedor Vasilievich
Adjutant General, Cavalry General, Adjutant General... He had three Golden sabers with the inscription: “For bravery”... In 1849, Ridiger took part in a campaign in Hungary to suppress the unrest that arose there, being appointed head of the right column. On May 9, Russian troops entered the Austrian Empire. He pursued the rebel army until August 1, forcing them to lay down their arms in front of Russian troops near Vilyagosh. On August 5, the troops entrusted to him occupied the Arad fortress. During the trip of Field Marshal Ivan Fedorovich Paskevich to Warsaw, Count Ridiger commanded the troops located in Hungary and Transylvania... On February 21, 1854, during the absence of Field Marshal Prince Paskevich in the Kingdom of Poland, Count Ridiger commanded all troops located in the area of the active army - as a commander separate corps and at the same time served as head of the Kingdom of Poland. After the return of Field Marshal Prince Paskevich to Warsaw, from August 3, 1854, he served as Warsaw military governor.
Margelov Vasily Filippovich
Author and initiator of the creation of technical means of the Airborne Forces and methods of using units and formations of the Airborne Forces, many of which personify the image of the Airborne Forces of the USSR Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces that currently exists.
General Pavel Fedoseevich Pavlenko:
In the history of the Airborne Forces, and in the Armed Forces of Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, his name will remain forever. He personified an entire era in the development and formation of the Airborne Forces; their authority and popularity are associated with his name not only in our country, but also abroad...
Colonel Nikolai Fedorovich Ivanov:
Under the leadership of Margelov for more than twenty years, the airborne troops became one of the most mobile in the combat structure of the Armed Forces, prestigious for service in them, especially revered by the people... A photograph of Vasily Filippovich in demobilization albums was sold to soldiers at the highest price - for a set of badges. The competition for admission to the Ryazan Airborne School exceeded the numbers of VGIK and GITIS, and applicants who missed out on exams lived for two or three months, before the snow and frost, in the forests near Ryazan in the hope that someone would not withstand the load and it would be possible to take his place .
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Prince Monomakh Vladimir Vsevolodovich
The most remarkable of the Russian princes of the pre-Tatar period of our history, who left behind great fame and good memory.
Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich
Hero of the Russian-Persian War of 1804-1813. At one time they called Suvorov of the Caucasus. On October 19, 1812, at the Aslanduz ford across the Araks, at the head of a detachment of 2,221 people with 6 guns, Pyotr Stepanovich defeated the Persian army of 30,000 people with 12 guns. In other battles, he also acted not with numbers, but with skill.
Izylmetyev Ivan Nikolaevich
Commanded the frigate "Aurora". He made the transition from St. Petersburg to Kamchatka in a record time for those times in 66 days. In Callao Bay he eluded the Anglo-French squadron. Arriving in Petropavlovsk together with the governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Zavoiko V. organized the defense of the city, during which the sailors from the Aurora, together with local residents, threw the outnumbered Anglo-French landing force into the sea. Then he took the Aurora to the Amur Estuary, hiding it there After these events, the British public demanded a trial of the admirals who lost the Russian frigate.
Slashchev Yakov Alexandrovich
A talented commander who repeatedly showed personal courage in defending the Fatherland in the First World War. He assessed rejection of the revolution and hostility to the new government as secondary compared to serving the interests of the Motherland.
General Ermolov
Stalin (Dzhugashvilli) Joseph
Monomakh Vladimir Vsevolodovich
Dolgorukov Yuri Alekseevich
An outstanding statesman and military leader of the era of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Prince. Commanding the Russian army in Lithuania, in 1658 he defeated Hetman V. Gonsevsky in the Battle of Verki, taking him prisoner. This was the first time since 1500 that a Russian governor captured the hetman. In 1660, at the head of an army sent to Mogilev, besieged by Polish-Lithuanian troops, he won a strategic victory over the enemy on the Basya River near the village of Gubarevo, forcing hetmans P. Sapieha and S. Charnetsky to retreat from the city. Thanks to the actions of Dolgorukov, the “front line” in Belarus along the Dnieper remained until the end of the war of 1654-1667. In 1670, he led an army aimed at fighting the Cossacks of Stenka Razin, and quickly suppressed the Cossack rebellion, which subsequently led to the Don Cossacks swearing an oath of allegiance to the Tsar and transforming the Cossacks from robbers into “sovereign servants.”
Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich
Because he inspires many by personal example.
His Serene Highness Prince Wittgenstein Peter Christianovich
For the defeat of the French units of Oudinot and MacDonald at Klyastitsy, thereby closing the road for the French army to St. Petersburg in 1812. Then in October 1812 he defeated the corps of Saint-Cyr at Polotsk. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian-Prussian armies in April-May 1813.
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
Well, who else but him is the only Russian commander who has not lost more than one battle!!!
Saltykov Petr Semenovich
One of those commanders who managed to inflict exemplary defeats on one of the best commanders in Europe in the 18th century - Frederick II of Prussia
Romodanovsky Grigory Grigorievich
There are no outstanding military figures on the project from the period from the Time of Troubles to the Northern War, although there were some. An example of this is G.G. Romodanovsky.
He came from a family of Starodub princes.
Participant of the sovereign's campaign against Smolensk in 1654. In September 1655, together with the Ukrainian Cossacks, he defeated the Poles near Gorodok (near Lvov), and in November of the same year he fought in the battle of Ozernaya. In 1656 he received the rank of okolnichy and headed the Belgorod rank. In 1658 and 1659 participated in hostilities against the traitor Hetman Vyhovsky and the Crimean Tatars, besieged Varva and fought near Konotop (Romodanovsky’s troops withstood a heavy battle at the crossing of the Kukolka River). In 1664, he played a decisive role in repelling the invasion of the Polish king’s 70 thousand army into Left Bank Ukraine, inflicting a number of sensitive blows on it. In 1665 he was made a boyar. In 1670 he acted against the Razins - he defeated the detachment of the chieftain's brother, Frol. The crowning achievement of Romodanovsky's military activity was the war with the Ottoman Empire. In 1677 and 1678 troops under his leadership inflicted heavy defeats on the Ottomans. An interesting point: both main figures in the Battle of Vienna in 1683 were defeated by G.G. Romodanovsky: Sobieski with his king in 1664 and Kara Mustafa in 1678
The prince died on May 15, 1682 during the Streltsy uprising in Moscow.
Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich
“There is a city in vast Russia to which my heart is given, it went down in history as STALINGRAD...” V.I. Chuikov
Dragomirov Mikhail Ivanovich
Brilliant crossing of the Danube in 1877
- Creation of a tactics textbook
- Creation of an original concept of military education
- Leadership of the NASH in 1878-1889
- Enormous influence in military matters for a full 25 years
Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich
Commander of the First Cavalry Army of the Red Army during the Civil War. The First Cavalry Army, which he led until October 1923, played an important role in a number of major operations of the Civil War to defeat the troops of Denikin and Wrangel in Northern Tavria and Crimea.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He led the armed struggle of the Soviet people in the war against Germany and its allies and satellites, as well as in the war against Japan.
Led the Red Army to Berlin and Port Arthur.
Markov Sergey Leonidovich
One of the main heroes of the early stage of the Russian-Soviet war.
Veteran of the Russian-Japanese, First World War and Civil War. Knight of the Order of St. George 4th class, Order of St. Vladimir 3rd class and 4th class with swords and bow, Order of St. Anne 2nd, 3rd and 4th class, Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd and 3rd th degrees. Holder of the St. George's Arms. Outstanding military theorist. Member of the Ice Campaign. An officer's son. Hereditary nobleman of the Moscow Province. He graduated from the General Staff Academy and served in the Life Guards of the 2nd Artillery Brigade. One of the commanders of the Volunteer Army at the first stage. He died the death of the brave.
Grand Duke of Russia Mikhail Nikolaevich
Feldzeichmeister-General (commander-in-chief of the artillery of the Russian Army), youngest son of Emperor Nicholas I, Viceroy in the Caucasus since 1864. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in the Caucasus in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Under his command the fortresses of Kars, Ardahan, and Bayazet were taken.
Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich
Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky (September 18 (30), 1895 - December 5, 1977) - Soviet military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1943), Chief of the General Staff, member of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. During the Great Patriotic War, as Chief of the General Staff (1942-1945), he took an active part in the development and implementation of almost all major operations on the Soviet-German front. From February 1945, he commanded the 3rd Belorussian Front and led the assault on Königsberg. In 1945, commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East in the war with Japan. One of the greatest commanders of the Second World War.
In 1949-1953 - Minister of the Armed Forces and Minister of War of the USSR. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945), holder of two Orders of Victory (1944, 1945).
Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich
During the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-1791, F. F. Ushakov made a serious contribution to the development of sailing fleet tactics. Relying on the entire set of principles for training naval forces and military art, incorporating all the accumulated tactical experience, F. F. Ushakov acted creatively, based on the specific situation and common sense. His actions were distinguished by decisiveness and extraordinary courage. Without hesitation, he reorganized the fleet into battle formation even when approaching the enemy directly, minimizing the time of tactical deployment. Despite the established tactical rule of the commander being in the middle of the battle formation, Ushakov, implementing the principle of concentration of forces, boldly placed his ship in the forefront and occupied the most dangerous positions, encouraging his commanders with his own courage. He was distinguished by a quick assessment of the situation, an accurate calculation of all success factors and a decisive attack aimed at achieving complete victory over the enemy. In this regard, Admiral F. F. Ushakov can rightfully be considered the founder of the Russian tactical school in naval art.
Peter the First
Because he not only conquered the lands of his fathers, but also established the status of Russia as a power!
Istomin Vladimir Ivanovich
Istomin, Lazarev, Nakhimov, Kornilov - Great people who served and fought in the city of Russian glory - Sevastopol!
Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich
Participant of the First World War (served in the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment) and the Civil War. During the First World War, he fought on the Southwestern Front and took part in the Brusilov breakthrough. In April 1915, as part of the guard of honor, he was personally awarded the St. George Cross by Nicholas II. In total, he was awarded the St. George Crosses of III and IV degrees and medals “For Bravery” (“St. George” medals) of III and IV degrees.
During the Civil War, he led a local partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German occupiers together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, then he was a fighter in the 25th Chapaev Division on the Eastern Front, where he was engaged in the disarmament of the Cossacks, and participated in battles with the armies of generals A. I. Denikin and Wrangel on the Southern Front.
In 1941-1942, Kovpak's unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-1943 - a raid from the Bryansk forests to Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought through the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand kilometers, defeating enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the German occupiers.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union:
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 18, 1942, for the exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, the courage and heroism shown during their implementation, Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 708)
The second Gold Star medal (No.) was awarded to Major General Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 4, 1944 for the successful conduct of the Carpathian raid
four Orders of Lenin (18.5.1942, 4.1.1944, 23.1.1948, 25.5.1967)
Order of the Red Banner (12/24/1942)
Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, 1st degree. (7.8.1944)
Order of Suvorov, 1st degree (2.5.1945)
medals
foreign orders and medals (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia)
Grachev Pavel Sergeevich
Hero of the Soviet Union. May 5, 1988 “for completing combat missions with minimal casualties and for the professional command of a controlled formation and the successful actions of the 103rd Airborne Division, in particular, in occupying the strategically important Satukandav pass (Khost province) during the military operation “Magistral” "Received the Gold Star medal No. 11573. Commander of the USSR Airborne Forces. In total, during his military service he made 647 parachute jumps, some of them while testing new equipment.
He was shell-shocked 8 times and received several wounds. Suppressed the armed coup in Moscow and thereby saved the system of democracy. As Minister of Defense, he made great efforts to preserve the remnants of the army - a similar task to few people in the history of Russia. Only because of the collapse of the army and the reduction in the number of military equipment in the Armed Forces was he unable to victoriously end the Chechen War.
Chichagov Vasily Yakovlevich
Superbly commanded the Baltic Fleet in the campaigns of 1789 and 1790. He won victories in the battle of Öland (7/15/1789), in the Revel (5/2/1790) and Vyborg (06/22/1790) battles. After the last two defeats, which were of strategic importance, the dominance of the Baltic Fleet became unconditional, and this forced the Swedes to make peace. There are few such examples in the history of Russia when victories at sea led to victory in the war. And by the way, the Battle of Vyborg was one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of ships and people.
Sheremetev Boris Petrovich
Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
It is certainly worthy; in my opinion, no explanation or evidence is required. It's surprising that his name isn't on the list. was the list prepared by representatives of the Unified State Examination generation?
Yulaev Salavat
Commander of the Pugachev era (1773-1775). Together with Pugachev, he organized an uprising and tried to change the position of the peasants in society. He won several victories over the troops of Catherine II.
Ivan III Vasilievich
He united the Russian lands around Moscow and threw off the hated Tatar-Mongol yoke.
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
In front of the Kazan Cathedral there are two statues of the saviors of the fatherland. Saving the army, exhausting the enemy, the Battle of Smolensk - this is more than enough.
Svyatoslav Igorevich
I would like to propose the “candidacies” of Svyatoslav and his father, Igor, as the greatest commanders and political leaders of their time, I think that there is no point in listing to historians their services to the fatherland, I was unpleasantly surprised not to see their names on this list. Sincerely.
Yuri Vsevolodovich
Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich
01/28/1887 - 09/05/1919 life. Head of the Red Army division, participant in the First World War and the Civil War.
Recipient of three St. George's Crosses and the St. George's Medal. Knight of the Order of the Red Banner.
On his account:
- Organization of the district Red Guard of 14 detachments.
- Participation in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn).
- Participation in the campaign of the Special Army to Uralsk.
- Initiative to reorganize the Red Guard units into two Red Army regiments: them. Stepan Razin and them. Pugachev, united in the Pugachev brigade under the command of Chapaev.
- Participation in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People’s Army, from whom Nikolaevsk was recaptured, renamed Pugachevsk in honor of the brigade.
- Since September 19, 1918, commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Division.
- Since February 1919 - Commissioner of Internal Affairs of the Nikolaev district.
- Since May 1919 - brigade commander of the Special Alexandrovo-Gai Brigade.
- Since June - head of the 25th Infantry Division, which participated in the Bugulma and Belebeyevskaya operations against Kolchak’s army.
- Capture of Ufa by the forces of his division on June 9, 1919.
- Capture of Uralsk.
- A deep raid of a Cossack detachment with an attack on the well-guarded (about 1000 bayonets) and located in the deep rear of the city of Lbischensk (now the village of Chapaev, West Kazakhstan region of Kazakhstan), where the headquarters of the 25th division was located.
Rurikovich Yaroslav the Wise Vladimirovich
He dedicated his life to protecting the Fatherland. Defeated the Pechenegs. He established the Russian state as one of the greatest states of his time.
One of the most talented and successful commanders of the First World War. Coming from a poor family, he made a brilliant military career, relying solely on his own virtues. Member of the RYAV, WWI, graduate of the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. He fully realized his talent while commanding the legendary “Iron” brigade, which was then expanded into a division. Participant and one of the main characters of the Brusilov breakthrough. He remained a man of honor even after the collapse of the army, a Bykhov prisoner. Member of the ice campaign and commander of the AFSR. For more than a year and a half, possessing very modest resources and much inferior in numbers to the Bolsheviks, he won victory after victory, liberating a vast territory.
Also, do not forget that Anton Ivanovich is a wonderful and very successful publicist, and his books are still very popular. An extraordinary, talented commander, an honest Russian man in difficult times for the Motherland, who was not afraid to light a torch of hope.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich
981 - conquest of Cherven and Przemysl. 983 - conquest of the Yatvags. 984 - conquest of the Rodimichs. 985 - successful campaigns against the Bulgars, tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. 988 - conquest of the Taman Peninsula. 991 - subjugation of the White Croats. 992 - successfully defended Cherven Rus in the war against Poland. In addition, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles.
Oktyabrsky Philip Sergeevich
Admiral, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, commander of the Black Sea Fleet. One of the leaders of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1941 - 1942, as well as the Crimean operation of 1944. During the Great Patriotic War, Vice Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky was one of the leaders of the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Being the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, at the same time in 1941-1942 he was the commander of the Sevastopol Defense Region.
Three Orders of Lenin
three Orders of the Red Banner
two Orders of Ushakov, 1st degree
Order of Nakhimov, 1st degree
Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree
Order of the Red Star
medals
Dubynin Viktor Petrovich
From April 30, 1986 to June 1, 1987 - commander of the 40th combined arms army of the Turkestan Military District. The troops of this army made up the bulk of the Limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. During the year of his command of the army, the number of irretrievable losses decreased by 2 times compared to 1984-1985.
On June 10, 1992, Colonel General V.P. Dubynin was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation
His merits include keeping the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin from a number of ill-conceived decisions in the military sphere, primarily in the field of nuclear forces.
Duke of Württemberg Eugene
General of the Infantry, cousin of the Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. In service in the Russian Army since 1797 (enlisted as a colonel in the Life Guards Horse Regiment by Decree of Emperor Paul I). Participated in military campaigns against Napoleon in 1806-1807. For participation in the battle of Pułtusk in 1806 he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious, 4th degree, for the campaign of 1807 he received a golden weapon “For Bravery”, he distinguished himself in the campaign of 1812 (he personally led the 4th Jaeger Regiment into battle in the Battle of Smolensk), for participation in the Battle of Borodino he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious, 3rd degree. Since November 1812, commander of the 2nd Infantry Corps in Kutuzov's army. He took an active part in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814; units under his command particularly distinguished themselves in the Battle of Kulm in August 1813, and in the “Battle of the Nations” at Leipzig. For courage at Leipzig, Duke Eugene was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree. Parts of his corps were the first to enter defeated Paris on April 30, 1814, for which Eugene of Württemberg received the rank of infantry general. From 1818 to 1821 was the commander of the 1st Army Infantry Corps. Contemporaries considered Prince Eugene of Württemberg one of the best Russian infantry commanders during the Napoleonic Wars. On December 21, 1825, Nicholas I was appointed chief of the Tauride Grenadier Regiment, which became known as the “Grenadier Regiment of His Royal Highness Prince Eugene of Württemberg.” On August 22, 1826 he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1827-1828. as commander of the 7th Infantry Corps. On October 3, he defeated a large Turkish detachment on the Kamchik River.
Blucher, Tukhachevsky
Blucher, Tukhachevsky and the whole galaxy of heroes of the Civil War. Don't forget Budyonny!
Stessel Anatoly Mikhailovich
Commandant of Port Arthur during his heroic defense. The unprecedented ratio of losses of Russian and Japanese troops before the surrender of the fortress is 1:10.
Bobrok-Volynsky Dmitry Mikhailovich
Boyar and governor of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. "Developer" of the tactics of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
To a person to whom this name means nothing, there is no need to explain and it is useless. To the one to whom it says something, everything is clear.
Twice hero of the Soviet Union. Commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. The youngest front commander. Counts,. that he was an army general - but just before his death (February 18, 1945) he received the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Liberated three of the six capitals of the Union Republics captured by the Nazis: Kyiv, Minsk. Vilnius. Decided the fate of Kenicksberg.
One of the few who drove back the Germans on June 23, 1941.
He held the front in Valdai. In many ways, he determined the fate of repelling the German offensive on Leningrad. Voronezh held. Liberated Kursk.
He successfully advanced until the summer of 1943, forming with his army the top of the Kursk Bulge. Liberated the Left Bank of Ukraine. I took Kyiv. He repulsed Manstein's counterattack. Liberated Western Ukraine.
Carried out Operation Bagration. Surrounded and captured thanks to his offensive in the summer of 1944, the Germans then humiliatedly walked through the streets of Moscow. Belarus. Lithuania. Neman. East Prussia.
Yaroslav the Wise
Stalin (Dzhugashvili) Joseph Vissarionovich
He was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Soviet Union. Thanks to his talent as a Commander and Outstanding Statesman, the USSR won the bloodiest WAR in the history of mankind. Most of the battles of World War II were won with his direct participation in the development of their plans.
Momyshuly Bauyrzhan
Fidel Castro called him a hero of World War II.
He brilliantly put into practice the tactics of fighting with small forces against an enemy many times superior in strength, developed by Major General I.V. Panfilov, which later received the name “Momyshuly’s spiral.”
Ermak Timofeevich
Russian. Cossack. Ataman. Defeated Kuchum and his satellites. Approved Siberia as part of the Russian state. He dedicated his entire life to military work.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Personally took part in the planning and implementation of ALL offensive and defensive operations of the Red Army in the period 1941 - 1945.
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
The only commander who carried out the order of Headquarters on June 22, 1941, counterattacked the Germans, drove them back in his sector and went on the offensive.
Russian military leader, political and public figure, writer, memoirist, publicist and military documentarian.
Participant in the Russo-Japanese War. One of the most effective generals of the Russian Imperial Army during the First World War. Commander of the 4th Infantry "Iron" Brigade (1914-1916, from 1915 - deployed under his command to a division), 8th Army Corps (1916-1917). Lieutenant General of the General Staff (1916), commander of the Western and Southwestern Fronts (1917). An active participant in the military congresses of 1917, an opponent of the democratization of the army. He expressed support for the Kornilov speech, for which he was arrested by the Provisional Government, a participant in the Berdichev and Bykhov sittings of generals (1917).
One of the main leaders of the White movement during the Civil War, its leader in the South of Russia (1918-1920). He achieved the greatest military and political results among all the leaders of the White movement. Pioneer, one of the main organizers, and then commander of the Volunteer Army (1918-1919). Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (1919-1920), Deputy Supreme Ruler and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Admiral Kolchak (1919-1920).
Since April 1920 - an emigrant, one of the main political figures of the Russian emigration. Author of the memoirs “Essays on the Russian Time of Troubles” (1921-1926) - a fundamental historical and biographical work about the Civil War in Russia, the memoirs “The Old Army” (1929-1931), the autobiographical story “The Path of the Russian Officer” (published in 1953) and a number of other works.
Antonov Alexey Innokentievich
He became famous as a talented staff officer. He participated in the development of almost all significant operations of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War since December 1942.
The only one of all Soviet military leaders awarded the Order of Victory with the rank of army general, and the only Soviet holder of the order who was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
The largest figure in world history, whose life and government activities left a deep imprint not only on the fate of the Soviet people, but also on all humanity, will be the subject of careful study by historians for many more centuries. The historical and biographical feature of this personality is that she will never be consigned to oblivion.
During Stalin's tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Chairman of the State Defense Committee, our country was marked by victory in the Great Patriotic War, massive labor and front-line heroism, the transformation of the USSR into a superpower with significant scientific, military and industrial potential, and the strengthening of our country's geopolitical influence in the world.
Ten Stalinist strikes is the general name for a number of the largest offensive strategic operations in the Great Patriotic War, carried out in 1944 by the armed forces of the USSR. Along with other offensive operations, they made a decisive contribution to the victory of the countries of the Anti-Hitler Coalition over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II.
Minich Burchard-Christopher
One of the best Russian commanders and military engineers. The first commander to enter Crimea. Winner at Stavuchany.
Batitsky
I served in the air defense and therefore I know this surname - Batitsky. Do you know? By the way, the father of air defense!
Yudenich Nikolai Nikolaevich
October 3, 2013 marks the 80th anniversary of the death in the French city of Cannes of the Russian military leader, commander of the Caucasian Front, hero of Mukden, Sarykamysh, Van, Erzerum (thanks to the complete defeat of the 90,000-strong Turkish army, Constantinople and the Bosporus with the Dardanelles retreated to Russia), the savior of the Armenian people from the complete Turkish genocide, holder of three orders of George and the highest order of France, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honor, General Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich.
Romanov Alexander I Pavlovich
The de facto commander-in-chief of the allied armies that liberated Europe in 1813-1814. "He took Paris, he founded the Lyceum." The Great Leader who crushed Napoleon himself. (The shame of Austerlitz is not comparable to the tragedy of 1941)
A talented commander who distinguished himself during the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1608, Skopin-Shuisky was sent by Tsar Vasily Shuisky to negotiate with the Swedes in Novgorod the Great. He managed to negotiate Swedish assistance to Russia in the fight against False Dmitry II. The Swedes recognized Skopin-Shuisky as their undisputed leader. In 1609, he and the Russian-Swedish army came to the rescue of the capital, which was under siege by False Dmitry II. He defeated detachments of adherents of the impostor in the battles of Torzhok, Tver and Dmitrov, and liberated the Volga region from them. He lifted the blockade from Moscow and entered it in March 1610.
Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilievich
In the conditions of the disintegration of the Russian state during the Time of Troubles, with minimal material and personnel resources, he created an army that defeated the Polish-Lithuanian interventionists and liberated most of the Russian state.
Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich
Successfully commanded Soviet troops during the Great Patriotic War. Among other things, he stopped the Germans near Moscow and took Berlin.
Eremenko Andrey Ivanovich
Commander of the Stalingrad and South-Eastern Fronts. The fronts under his command in the summer and autumn of 1942 stopped the advance of the German 6th field and 4th tank armies towards Stalingrad.
In December 1942, the Stalingrad Front of General Eremenko stopped the tank offensive of General G. Hoth's group on Stalingrad, for the relief of the 6th Army of Paulus.
Linevich Nikolai Petrovich
Nikolai Petrovich Linevich (December 24, 1838 - April 10, 1908) - a prominent Russian military figure, infantry general (1903), adjutant general (1905); general who took Beijing by storm.
Bennigsen Leonty
An unjustly forgotten commander. Having won several battles against Napoleon and his marshals, he drew two battles with Napoleon and lost one battle. Participated in the Battle of Borodino. One of the contenders for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army during the Patriotic War of 1812!
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
The greatest Russian commander! He has more than 60 victories and not a single defeat. Thanks to his talent for victory, the whole world learned the power of Russian weapons
Nevsky, Suvorov
Of course, the holy blessed prince Alexander Nevsky and Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov
Pozharsky Dmitry Mikhailovich
In 1612, during the most difficult time for Russia, he led the Russian militia and liberated the capital from the hands of the conquerors.
Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky (November 1, 1578 - April 30, 1642) - Russian national hero, military and political figure, head of the Second People's Militia, which liberated Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian occupiers. His name and the name of Kuzma Minin are closely associated with the country’s exit from the Time of Troubles, which is currently celebrated in Russia on November 4th.
After the election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the Russian throne, D. M. Pozharsky plays a leading role at the royal court as a talented military leader and statesman. Despite the victory of the people's militia and the election of the Tsar, the war in Russia still continued. In 1615-1616. Pozharsky, on the instructions of the tsar, was sent at the head of a large army to fight the detachments of the Polish colonel Lisovsky, who besieged the city of Bryansk and took Karachev. After the fight with Lisovsky, the tsar instructs Pozharsky in the spring of 1616 to collect the fifth money from merchants into the treasury, since the wars did not stop and the treasury was depleted. In 1617, the tsar instructed Pozharsky to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the English ambassador John Merik, appointing Pozharsky as governor of Kolomensky. In the same year, the Polish prince Vladislav came to the Moscow state. Residents of Kaluga and its neighboring cities turned to the tsar with a request to send them D. M. Pozharsky to protect them from the Poles. The Tsar fulfilled the request of the Kaluga residents and gave an order to Pozharsky on October 18, 1617 to protect Kaluga and surrounding cities by all available measures. Prince Pozharsky fulfilled the tsar's order with honor. Having successfully defended Kaluga, Pozharsky received an order from the tsar to go to the aid of Mozhaisk, namely to the city of Borovsk, and began to harass the troops of Prince Vladislav with flying detachments, causing them significant damage. However, at the same time, Pozharsky became very ill and, at the behest of the tsar, returned to Moscow. Pozharsky, having barely recovered from his illness, took an active part in defending the capital from Vladislav’s troops, for which Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich awarded him new fiefs and estates.
Ermolov Alexey Petrovich
Hero of the Napoleonic Wars and the Patriotic War of 1812. Conqueror of the Caucasus. A smart strategist and tactician, a strong-willed and brave warrior.
Kappel Vladimir Oskarovich
Perhaps he is the most talented commander of the entire Civil War, even if compared with the commanders of all its sides. A man of powerful military talent, fighting spirit and Christian noble qualities is a true White Knight. Kappel's talent and personal qualities were noticed and respected even by his opponents. Author of many military operations and exploits - including the capture of Kazan, the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, etc. Many of his calculations, not assessed on time and missed through no fault of his own, later turned out to be the most correct, as the course of the Civil War showed.
Prince Svyatoslav
Senyavin Dmitry Nikolaevich
Dmitry Nikolaevich Senyavin (6 (17) August 1763 - 5 (17) April 1831) - Russian naval commander, admiral.
for courage and outstanding diplomatic work shown during the blockade of the Russian fleet in Lisbon
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
Participated in the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-91 and the Russian-Swedish War of 1788-90. He distinguished himself during the war with France in 1806-07 at Preussisch-Eylau, and from 1807 he commanded a division. During the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-09 he commanded a corps; led the successful crossing of the Kvarken Strait in the winter of 1809. In 1809-10, Governor-General of Finland. From January 1810 to September 1812, the Minister of War did a lot of work to strengthen the Russian army, and separated the intelligence and counterintelligence service into a separate production. In the Patriotic War of 1812 he commanded the 1st Western Army, and, as Minister of War, the 2nd Western Army was subordinate to him. In conditions of significant superiority of the enemy, he showed his talent as a commander and successfully carried out the withdrawal and unification of the two armies, which earned M.I. Kutuzov such words as THANK YOU DEAR FATHER!!! SAVED THE ARMY!!! SAVED RUSSIA!!!. However, the retreat caused discontent in noble circles and the army, and on August 17 Barclay surrendered command of the armies to M.I. Kutuzov. In the Battle of Borodino he commanded the right wing of the Russian army, showing steadfastness and skill in defense. He recognized the position chosen by L. L. Bennigsen near Moscow as unsuccessful and supported M. I. Kutuzov’s proposal to leave Moscow at the military council in Fili. In September 1812, due to illness, he left the army. In February 1813 he was appointed commander of the 3rd and then the Russian-Prussian army, which he successfully commanded during the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-14 (Kulm, Leipzig, Paris). Buried in the Beklor estate in Livonia (now Jõgeveste Estonia)
Margelov Vasily Filippovich
Rurikovich Svyatoslav Igorevich
Great commander of the Old Russian period. The first Kiev prince known to us with a Slavic name. The last pagan ruler of the Old Russian state. He glorified Rus' as a great military power in the campaigns of 965-971. Karamzin called him “Alexander (Macedonian) of our ancient history.” The prince freed the Slavic tribes from vassal dependence on the Khazars, defeating the Khazar Khaganate in 965. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 970, during the Russian-Byzantine War, Svyatoslav managed to win the battle of Arcadiopolis, having 10,000 soldiers under his command, against 100,000 Greeks. But at the same time, Svyatoslav led the life of a simple warrior: “On campaigns he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate it like that; he did not have a tent , but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in their heads - the same were all the rest of his warriors. And he sent envoys to other lands [envoys, as a rule, before declaring war] with the words: “I’m coming to you!” (According to PVL)
Saltykov Pyotr Semyonovich
The commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Seven Years' War, was the main architect of the key victories of the Russian troops.
Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich
In World War I, commander of the 8th Army in the Battle of Galicia. On August 15-16, 1914, during the Rohatyn battles, he defeated the 2nd Austro-Hungarian Army, capturing 20 thousand people. and 70 guns. On August 20, Galich was captured. The 8th Army takes an active part in the battles at Rava-Russkaya and in the Battle of Gorodok. In September he commanded a group of troops from the 8th and 3rd armies. From September 28 to October 11, his army withstood a counterattack by the 2nd and 3rd Austro-Hungarian armies in battles on the San River and near the city of Stryi. During the successfully completed battles, 15 thousand enemy soldiers were captured, and at the end of October his army entered the foothills of the Carpathians.
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
It's simple - It was he, as a commander, who made the greatest contribution to the defeat of Napoleon. He saved the army under the most difficult conditions, despite misunderstandings and grave accusations of treason. It was to him that our great poet Pushkin, practically a contemporary of those events, dedicated the poem “Commander”.
Pushkin, recognizing Kutuzov's merits, did not oppose him to Barclay. In place of the common alternative “Barclay or Kutuzov,” with the traditional resolution in favor of Kutuzov, Pushkin came to a new position: both Barclay and Kutuzov are both worthy of the grateful memory of posterity, but Kutuzov is revered by everyone, but Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly is undeservedly forgotten.
Pushkin mentioned Barclay de Tolly even earlier, in one of the chapters of “Eugene Onegin” -
Thunderstorm of the twelfth year
It has arrived - who helped us here?
The frenzy of the people
Barclay, winter or Russian god?...
Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich
Participant in the Russo-Japanese and First World Wars, one of the main leaders (1918−1920) of the White movement during the Civil War. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in Crimea and Poland (1920). General Staff Lieutenant General (1918). Knight of St. George.
Belov Pavel Alekseevich
He led the cavalry corps during the Second World War. He showed himself excellently during the Battle of Moscow, especially in defensive battles near Tula. He especially distinguished himself in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation, where he emerged from encirclement after 5 months of stubborn fighting.
Udatny Mstislav Mstislavovich
A real knight, recognized as a great commander in Europe
My choice is Marshal I.S. Konev!
Active participant in the First World War and civil wars. Trench General. He spent the entire war from Vyazma to Moscow and from Moscow to Prague in the most difficult and responsible position of front commander. Winner in many decisive battles of the Great Patriotic War. Liberator of a number of countries in Eastern Europe, participant in the storming of Berlin. Underestimated, unfairly left in the shadow of Marshal Zhukov.
Generals of Ancient Rus'
Since ancient times. Vladimir Monomakh (fought the Polovtsians), his sons Mstislav the Great (campaigns against Chud and Lithuania) and Yaropolk (campaigns against the Don), Vsevood the Big Nest (campaigns against Volga Bulgaria), Mstislav Udatny (battle of Lipitsa), Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (defeated Knights of the Order of the Sword), Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Vladimir the Brave (the second hero of the Mamaev Massacre)…
Russian military leader, lieutenant general (1915). Participant in the Civil War of 1918-1920, one of the leaders of the white movement. Commander of the Volunteer Army (1918 - 1919), Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (1919-1920).
Anton Ivanovich Denikin was born on December 4 (16), 1872 in the village of Shpetal Dolny, a suburb of Wloclawek, a county town in the Warsaw province (now in Poland), in the family of a retired border guard major Ivan Efimovich Denikin (1807-1885).
In 1890, A.I. Denikin graduated from the Lovichi Real School. In 1890-1892, he studied at the Kiev Infantry Junker School, after which he was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade.
In 1895-1899, A.I. Denikin studied at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. He was enlisted as an officer of the General Staff in 1902.
With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, A.I. Denikin obtained permission to be seconded to the active army. He took part in battles and reconnaissance operations, and in February-March 1905 he took part in the Battle of Mukden. For distinction in cases against the enemy, he was promoted to colonel and awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 2nd degree with swords, and St. Anne, 2nd degree with swords.
In 1906, A.I. Denikin served as a staff officer for special assignments at the headquarters of the 2nd Cavalry Corps in Warsaw, and in 1907-1910 he was the chief of staff of the 57th Infantry Reserve Brigade in.
In 1910-1914, A.I. Denikin commanded the 17th Arkhangelsk Infantry Regiment in Zhitomir (now in Ukraine). In March 1914, he was appointed acting general for assignments under the Commander of the Kyiv Military District. On the eve of the outbreak of the First World War, A. I. Denikin was promoted to major general and confirmed in the post of quartermaster general of the 8th Army of General A. A. Brusilov.
In September 1914, A.I. Denikin was appointed commander of the 4th Infantry (“Iron”) Brigade, which in 1915 was deployed into a division. For the battle at Grodek in September 1914, he was awarded the honorary Arms of St. George; for the capture of the village of Gorny Luzhok, where the headquarters of the Austrian Archduke Joseph was located, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. A.I. Denikin took part in battles in Galicia and the Carpathian Mountains. For the battles on the San River he was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. Twice (in September 1915 and June 1916) troops under his command captured the city of Lutsk. For the first operation he was promoted to lieutenant general, for the second he was again awarded the honorary St. George's Arms with diamonds.
In September 1916, A.I. Denikin became commander of the 8th Army Corps on the Romanian Front. From September 1916 to April 1917 he was chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, in April - May 1917 he commanded the Western Front, and in August 1917 he became commander of the troops of the Southwestern Front.
For supporting the rebellion of General A.I. Denikin was imprisoned in the city of Bykhov. In November 1917, together with other generals, he fled to the Don, where he took part in the creation of the Volunteer Army. From December 1917 to April 1918, A.I. Denikin was the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, after his death he took command of it, in September 1918 he became the Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army, and from December 1918 to March 1920 he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South. In May 1919, A.I. Denikin recognized the power of the Supreme Ruler of the Admiral over himself, and from June 1919 he was considered the Deputy Supreme Ruler. After abdicating power in January 1920, he was announced as the admiral's successor as Supreme Ruler.
After the retreat of the White armies in the fall of 1919 - winter of 1920 and the catastrophic evacuation from A.I. Denikin was forced to transfer command of the Armed Forces of the South to Baron P.N. Wrangel. In April 1920, he left Crimea to emigrate on an English destroyer. Until August 1920, A.I. Denikin lived in England, in 1920-1922 - in Belgium, in 1922-1926 - in Hungary, in 1926-1945 - in France. In November 1945 he moved to the USA. During the years of emigration, A.I. Denikin published memoirs and works on the history of the Russian army and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The most famous were his five-volume work “Essays on the Russian Troubles” (1921-1923) and the book of memoirs “The Path of a Russian Officer” (1953).
A.I. Denikin died on August 8, 1947 at the University of Michigan Hospital Ann Arbor (USA). He was initially buried in Detroit; in 1952, his remains were transferred to the Orthodox Cossack St. Vladimir Cemetery in Keesville, New Jersey. In 2005, the remains of A.I. Denikin were transported to and reburied in the Donskoy Monastery cemetery.
