CHAPTER XIII The end of Denikin's command. Entering Wrangel's command Before the Novorossiysk evacuation, Denikin's father-in-law, a major general, I don't remember his last name, came to me and began to probe whether Denikin could come to the Crimea. I did not immediately understand what he feared

Chapter 18 The Defeat of the Kwantung Army The history of the USSR's declaration of war on Japan is interesting in some details. The Americans believed that Soviet Union

The Defeat of Wrangel All the time that the struggle against the White Poles was going on, large White Guard forces were again gathering in southern Russia, now commanded by General Wrangel. With the support of the Entente, he managed to create long-term fortifications on narrow

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

Denikin's order stated: “§1. Lieutenant General Wrangel is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. §2. To everyone who honestly walked with me in a difficult struggle, a deep bow. Lord, give victory to the army, save Russia.” On the same evening, on board the English destroyer, General Denikin left the Russian land.

Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel (1878 - 1928) was born into a family belonging to an old German family. He graduated from the Rostov real school and the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg. He served as a private in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. In 1902, he passed the test for the cornet of the guard at the Nikolaev Cavalry School. During the Russo-Japanese War, at his own request, he was assigned to the Trans-Baikal Cossack Regiment and in December 1904 was promoted to centurion "for differences in cases against the Japanese." He was awarded the Orders of St. Anna, 4th degree, with the inscription "For Courage" and St. Stanislav with swords and a bow. Six years later, Wrangel graduated from the Academy General Staff, but remained in the Horse Regiment. In August 1914, Wrangel, commanding a squadron of this regiment, took a German battery in a horse attack and became the first St. George Knight great war. In December he was promoted to colonel, and for the battles of 1915 he was awarded the St. George weapon. From October 1915, Wrangel was appointed commander of the 1st Nerchinsk regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack army, in December 1916 - commander of the 2nd brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. In January 1917, he was promoted "for military distinction" to major general and temporarily took command of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. On September 9, 1917, he was appointed commander of the 3rd cavalry corps, but did not take command. After the Bolsheviks seized power, Wrangel retired from the army and left for Yalta. In August 1918, he arrived in the Volunteer Army and was appointed brigade commander in the 1st Cavalry Division, and then head of the division. In November 1918 he was appointed commander of the 1st cavalry corps and promoted to lieutenant general "for military distinctions". In December 1918, Wrangel was appointed to the post of commander of the Caucasian army, with which he made a campaign against Tsaritsyn. Wrangel had disagreements with General Denikin, in particular on the choice of the direction of the offensive against Moscow and on issues domestic policy. In November 1919, after an unsuccessful attack on Moscow, he was appointed commander of the Volunteer Army, but in January 1920 Wrangel resigned, considering the actions of General Denikin wrong. Having assumed command after the Novorossiysk catastrophe, General Wrangel, first of all, began to restore discipline and strengthen the morale of the troops. Wrangel admitted the possibility of carrying out broad democratic reforms, despite the conditions of the war. Being a monarchist by conviction, he believed, however, that the question of the form of state government could be decided only after "the complete cessation of unrest." After the evacuation from the Crimea, in Constantinople, General Wrangel sought to prevent the dispersion of the army, which was in the camps at Galliopoli and on the island of Lemnos. He managed to organize the transfer of military units to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. General Wrangel himself with his headquarters moved from Constantinople to Yugoslavia, to Sremski Karlovitsy. In an effort to keep the cadres of the Russian army abroad, in the hope of continuing the struggle, General Wrangel on September 1, 1924 ordered the creation of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS). In September 1927, General Wrangel moved with his family to Brussels, remaining the head of the EMRO. However, he soon fell unexpectedly seriously ill and died on April 25, 1928. It is very likely that the general was poisoned on the orders of the OGPU. Wrangel was buried in Belgrade in the Russian church of the Holy Trinity.

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

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

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

Certain successes were also achieved in foreign policy. France recognized the Government of the South of Russia de facto.

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

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

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

The military operations of the summer-autumn of 1920 were distinguished by great persistence. On June 8, the Russian army broke out of the Crimean "bottle". Fierce fighting continued for five days. The desperately defending Reds were driven back to the right bank of the Dnieper, losing 8,000 prisoners, 30 guns, and leaving large depots of ammunition during the retreat. The task assigned to the troops was completed, and the exits from the Crimea were opened. July and August passed in continuous battles. In September, during the attack on the Donbass, the Russian army achieved its greatest success: it defeated the red cavalry corps of D.P. Rednecks, Cossacks of the Don Corps liberated one of the centers of Donbass - Yuzovka. Soviet institutions were hastily evacuated from Yekaterinoslav. Five and a half months lasted the struggle of the Russian army on the plains of Northern Tavria on the front from the Dnieper to Taganrog. Assessing the fighting spirit of the White Army, the Central Committee Communist Party in a directive letter sent to all organizations, he wrote: “Wrangel’s soldiers are united superbly, they fight desperately and prefer suicide to surrender.”

A landing was also made in the Kuban, and although the bridgehead could not be held there, many Kubans got the opportunity to leave the Red authorities for the white Crimea. On August 7, the Reds crossed the Dnieper near Kakhovka and began to push Wrangel's forces. The Whites failed to liquidate the Kakhovka bridgehead. After Chelyabinsk, Orel and Petrograd, this was the fourth victory of the Reds, which decided the outcome of the Civil War. Wrangel was in for the same failure that a year earlier had nullified all of Denikin's successes: the front was stretched out, and the few regiments of the Russian army could not hold him.

The main feature of all the hostilities of this period was their continuity. Calming down on one sector of the front, battles immediately flared up on another, where the White regiments that had just left the battle were being transferred. And if the Reds, having a numerical superiority, could replace one division with another, then on the side of the Whites, everywhere and everywhere they fought with more and more new Red units, suffering heavy and irreparable losses, the same Kornilovites, Markovites, Drozdovites and other old units. Mobilizations exhausted human resources in the Crimea and Northern Tavria. In fact, the only source of replenishment, with the exception of several thousand "Bredovites" who arrived from Poland, were Red Army prisoners of war, and they were by no means always reliable. Poured into the White troops, they lowered their combat effectiveness. The Russian army literally melted away. In the meantime, the Soviet government persistently persuaded Poland to conclude peace, and, despite the persuasion of Wrangel, and the fact that the actions of the Poles had by this time been successful, they yielded to the Bolsheviks and began negotiations with them. The truce concluded on October 12 between Soviet Russia and Poland was a disaster for the Russian army: it allowed the red command to transfer from Western Front to the South most of the liberated forces and bring the number of troops to 133 thousand people against 30 thousand soldiers of the Russian army. The slogan was thrown: "Wrangel is still alive - finish him off without mercy!"

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

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

... Then here, in the Crimea, was the old priest Mokiy Kabaev - the same Ural Cossack who went with a cross against the Bolsheviks (see 2.2.16). He was not going to put up with the fact that there was almost no hope left for the Whites. The officer of the Ural Cossack army, who left memories of Kabaev, was then treated in Sevastopol from a wound. He described his unexpected meeting with this unshakable man in his faith. “One day, leaving the Cathedral after mass, I saw a familiar figure. It was Kabaev. He was on crutches, with his head uncovered, in some kind of hospital gown and with an eight-pointed cross on his chest. Passers-by mistook him for a beggar, and some gave him their pennies, but he did not take them. I approached him. He did not recognize me, and when I said that I was from the Urals, he became agitated and quickly began to tell that he wanted to gather the crusaders and go to liberate Russia and his native Army. In Sevastopol, many knew Kabaev, who more than once, having gathered a handful of people somewhere around him, urged them to go with the cross to liberate Russia from the atheists. He was considered a holy fool - they laughed, joked, scolded. “And only occasionally some woman, handing him a hundred-dollar piece of paper, said: “Pray, dear, for the soul of the newly deceased warrior ...” He did not take money, but took out an old shabby commemoration book and with a trembling hand entered the name of the murdered one ... ". After the departure of Wrangel's army from the Crimea, Mokiy Alekseevich Kabaev took refuge in the Chersonese monastery. On May 4, 1921, Kabaev was issued a pass, and he went home to Uralsk, but on May 19 he was captured in Kharkov, identified, incriminating documents were found with him that he was a priest in the Ural Cossack army. Mokiy Alekseevich was taken to Uralsk under escort on June 14, 1921 and, after a short investigation, was shot with two Cossacks on August 19, 1921 - A. Tregubov. "The last legend of the rebellious Urals" // "Sanitsa", No. 1 (50), January 2008, - p. 29-31.

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

Nikolai Turoverov dedicated poems to these battles for Perekop:

“... We were few, too few.

From the enemy crowds the distance darkened;

But it sparkled with a solid brilliance

Steel drawn from the scabbard.

Last fiery impulses

The soul was filled

In the iron roar of breaks

The waters of the Sivash boiled.

And everyone was waiting, heeding the sign,

And a familiar sign was given ...

The regiment went on the last attack,

Crowning the path of their attacks…”

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

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

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

“Order of the ruler of the South of Russia and the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. October 29 (s.s.) 1920 Sevastopol.

Russian people! Left alone in the fight against the rapists, the Russian army is fighting an unequal battle, defending the last piece of Russian land where law and truth exist.

In the consciousness of the responsibility that lies on me, I am obliged to foresee all accidents in advance.

By my order, the evacuation and boarding of ships in the ports of the Crimea has already begun for all those who shared the path of the cross with the army, the families of military personnel, officials of the civil department with their families, and individuals who could be in danger in the event of the arrival of the enemy.

The army will cover the landing, bearing in mind that the vessels necessary for its evacuation are also in full readiness in ports, according to the established schedule. To fulfill the duty to the army and the population, everything has been done within the limits of human strength.

Our further paths are full of uncertainty.

We have no other land except Crimea. There is no state treasury. Frankly, as always, I warn everyone of what awaits them. May the Lord send strength and wisdom to all to overcome and survive the Russian hard times.

General Wrangel"

At about 10 o'clock, General Wrangel with the commander of the fleet, Vice-Admiral Mikhail Alexandrovich Kedrov, bypassed the loaded ships on a boat. Junkers lined up in the square. Greeting them, General Wrangel thanked them for their glorious service and gave them the order to load. The head of the American military mission, Admiral McColley, warmly shaking the hand of the Commander-in-Chief before the formation of the cadets, said: "I have always been an admirer of your cause and more than ever I am today." At 2:40 p.m., the boat with General Wrangel on board left the pier and headed for the cruiser General Kornilov. One after another, the ships went out to sea ... It got warmer, the sea was calm ... General Wrangel, as promised, with honor withdrew the army and navy. About 146,000 people were taken out on 126 ships, including 50,000 army officers and 6,000 wounded. The rest are personnel of military and administrative rear institutions, in a small number of military families, civil refugees. The steamers put out to sea, overcrowded to the extreme. All holds, decks, walkways, bridges were literally packed with people.

“I remember the bitterness of the salty wind,

Overloaded ship roll;

A strip of blue felt

The land disappeared in the mist;

But no screams, no moans, no complaints,

No outstretched hands to the shore.

– Silence of crowded decks

Tightened like a stretched bow;

Tightened up and stayed that way

The string of our souls forever.

It seemed to me like a black abyss

There is blue water overboard ... ”Turoverov wrote.

On the cruiser "General Kornilov" the Commander-in-Chief went around all the ports of loading - Yalta, Feodosia, Kerch. The French and British warships assisting in the evacuation saluted him with their last salute as Head of the Russian State. The cruiser responded with a salute to the salute. From the raid of Feodosia on November 17 at 15:40, General Wrangel ordered "General Kornilov" to head for the Bosphorus ... The armed struggle against the Bolsheviks in the South of Russia was over with weapons in hand, resisting the enemy to the last inch of Russian land.

The Bolsheviks promised to forgive all the White soldiers and officers who would not leave the Crimea, but would surrender to their mercy. The Bolsheviks, as always, deceived. 55 thousand people who believed and remained were killed on the orders of Bela Kun and Rozalia Zemlyachka, who unconditionally carried out the will of Lenin.

P.N. Wrangel Memoirs. Frankfurt-Main, 1969. or other editions.

Crimea. Wrangell. 1920 M., 2006.

N.G. Ross. Wrangel in the Crimea. Frankfurt/Main, 1982.

SITUATION IN UKRAINE In 1920, characterized by the end of the civil war (Soviet-Polish war, the defeat of Wrangel's army in the Crimea, the Petliura and White Guard troops on the Right Bank of Ukraine), the policy of the Bolsheviks in the field of economics - war communism. The Civil War is the greatest drama of the 20th century. This armed struggle that lasted for several years between various groups of the population, with the active intervention

foreign forces, has gone through various stages and stages, has taken various forms, including uprisings, mutinies, scattered clashes, large-scale military operations with the participation of regular armies, the actions of armed detachments behind the lines of existing governments and state formations. The war was fought on fronts, the total length of which reached 8 thousand km. The result - economic ruin, famine in cities, paralysis of railways, acute class struggle, revelry

banditry, sabotage, etc. The Soviet-Polish war - the civil war was ending, but at that time a new threat appeared - now from Poland. In the policy of pushing neighboring states to war against the Republic of Soviets by the Entente countries, Poland occupied not the last place. The coalition has repeatedly sought to influence

Poland so that it would provide more active assistance to the White Guard armies, especially during Denikin's campaign against Moscow. With their help, 740 thousand Polish army was armed, which in April 1920 launched an offensive against Ukraine, occupied Zhytomyr and Kyiv. Outcome - fierce fighting on the Polish front ended with a peace treaty signed on October 12, 1920. "War Communism" - domestic politics

Soviet state in the conditions of the Civil War. The policy of "War Communism" was aimed at overcoming the economic crisis and was based on theoretical ideas about the possibility of the direct introduction of communism. Main features: nationalization of all large and medium industry and most of the small enterprises; food dictatorship, surplus appropriation, direct product exchange between town and countryside; replacement

private trade in the state distribution of products on a class basis (card system); naturalization of economic relations; universal labor service; equality in wages; military command system for managing the entire life of society. The main elements of "war communism" Centralized management of the nationalized industry. Private property was abolished altogether, and a state monopoly of foreign trade was established.

A strict sectoral system of industrial management was introduced. Violent cooperation. At the direction of the party, individual peasant farms were united into collective farms, and state farms were created. The Decree on Land was actually cancelled. The land fund was transferred not to the working people, but to communes, state farms, and labor artels. The individual peasant could only use the remnants of the land fund.

Equal distribution Naturalization of wages. The Bolsheviks viewed socialism as a commodityless and moneyless society. This led to the abolition of the market and commodity-money relations. Any non-state trade was prohibited. The policy of "war communism" led to the destruction of commodity-money relations. Products and manufactured goods were distributed by the state in the form of natural rations,

which was different for different categories of the population. Equal wages were introduced among workers (an illusion of social equality). As a result, speculation and the "black market" flourished. The depreciation of money led to the fact that the population received free housing, utilities, transport, postal and other services. The militarization of labor. From January 1920, labor armies began to be created by transferring

active armies on the labor situation and the association of reserve and reserve troops. Industrial enterprises have increased the length of the working day and introduced a seven-day working week. Enterprises worked according to military laws, and all workers were considered mobilized, for absenteeism or unauthorized leaving of the workplace, people were tried according to the laws of war. Prodrazvyorstka - the obligatory delivery of all surplus food by the peasants to the state on a firm basis.

price. However, in fact it was a confiscation of food: the money was completely devalued; moreover, not only surpluses were confiscated, but often the seed fund, and what the peasant left to feed his family. The authorities also determined the norms for the supply of agricultural products by the village not so much based on the capabilities of the village, but on the needs of the army and the urban population. From the beginning of 1919, the surplus was introduced for bread,

1920 - for potatoes, vegetables, etc. Prodrazverstka was implemented by violent methods with the help of food detachments. Food detachments - food detachments (mostly armed) of workers and poor peasants and fighters of the CHON. Conducted surplus appraisal in the countryside; acted jointly with the committees and local Soviets. They were created by the bodies of the People's Commissariat for Food (they were part of the Prodarmia), trade unions, factory committees, local Soviets (procurement, harvesting and procurement,

harvesting and requisitioning detachments; head of the Military Food Bureau of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions); half of the collected grain was received by the organization that sent the detachment. The policy of "war communism" caused mass discontent among the general population, especially the peasantry. Peasants in entire villages organized detachments to combat sub-detachments. The disarmament of the Red Army detachments by the peasants was not uncommon.

Numerous protests by workers and peasants against the policy of "War Communism" showed its complete collapse, and in 1921 the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced. Liberation of the Crimea In the autumn of 1920, all the forces of Red Russia were mobilized against the prosperous White Crimea. But he has become a tough nut to crack. The Russian army consisted of experienced, well-trained soldiers and

officers (there were about 80 thousand of them), it was headed by an authoritative and talented leader, in the Perekop area, albeit not capital, but quite reliable fortifications were built, which were defended by strong artillery. However, more than a million people moved to the Crimea, which included the famous and very effective "flying carts" of the army of N. Makhno, who by this time had concluded a peace treaty with the "Reds" that was beneficial for himself. But as it turned out later, the advice was not going to be carried out, and after

the capture of the Crimea, the “Makhnovists” participating in this operation were treacherously killed. I will not write about the fierce battles of the Russian army with the Reds in Tavria, about its retreat to the isthmus, an entire literature is devoted to this. But even then, the position of the Crimea remained quite strong ... But then two unexpected events coincided in time - a rather rare cataclysm of nature and an appeal to whites

to the soldiers of General Brusilov, widely distributed by the Bolsheviks in the form of leaflets, which were scattered from the air by thousands of red planes ... First, about the whim of nature. In early November, a strong and steady north wind blew over the peninsula. The sea bays around the Perekop Isthmus began to shallow - the wind drove the water out of them to the south, to the sea. Some bays became so shallow that it was possible to ford them

On the night of November 7-8, the shock group of the 6th Red Army took advantage of this and in three places crossed the "rotten sea" - Sivash. Red Army soldiers carried rifles over their heads. Having made an eight-kilometer transition, the Soviet units reached the northern tip of the Lithuanian Peninsula, broke through the wire fences, defeated the Kuban brigade of General M.A. Fostikov and cleared almost the entire

Lithuanian peninsula and hit the rear of the Whites. Parts of the 15th and 52nd divisions reached the Perekop isthmus and moved to the Ishun positions. The counterattack launched on the morning of November 8 by the 2nd and 3rd infantry regiments of the Drozdov division was repulsed. The center of the terrible battles of those days was the famous Turkish Wall crossing the isthmus. Here, in front of the Turkish Wall, they lay down in the ground under blows many times

superior enemy, the best, selected units of the Russian army. Here, by the way, the historical regiments of the Imperial Russian Guard, formed back in the times of Peter the Great, ended their combat path. This is how the last battle of historical regiments was described by a participant in this battle, and later an emigrant D.I. Meisner: “... We were attacked by the red cavalry and horse batteries opened fire on us.

The remnants of the historical regiments of the old guard, marching with us, made an attempt to beat off the attack. Officers in fur hats with guard stars on them, with shoulder straps sewn into their overcoats so that there was no temptation to tear them off, tall, outwardly calm and confident, began to build chains of soldiers, giving the command to prepare for battle. These were officers of the once famous regiments - Preobrazhensky, Izmailovsky, Semenovsky ... But by that time, three of these regiments remained

four officers and two or three ensigns with many St. George's crosses ... I saw with my own eyes the last battle of the guards regiments ... ". And a day later, the Red troops broke through the last fortified positions of the Whites on the isthmus and rushed to Dzhankoy. The fate of the Crimea was decided. But the victory of the Soviet troops was won at a heavy price.

Only during the assault on Perekop and Chongar, the troops of the Southern Front lost 10 thousand people killed and wounded. The divisions that distinguished themselves during the assault on the Crimean fortifications were given honorary titles: the 15th - "Sivashskaya", the 30th rifle and 6th cavalry - "Chongarskaya", the 51st - "Perekopskaya". ... The tragedy of the Crimea, and consequently, the White movement can be explained by several reasons.

Firstly, the forces of the Reds were very large, they were incomparable with the forces of the Russian army of Baron Wrangel. Secondly, Russia's allies in the Entente actually refused to help the Whites, fearing to complicate relations with Soviet Russia in the future. Thirdly, in October the Soviet government signed a peace treaty with Poland, which made it possible to transfer well-trained and fired troops from the West to the South.

And finally, General A.A. Brusilov signed a defeatist appeal to the Russian army. It is not for us to judge the illustrious hero of the Great War, the most authoritative commander, whose name is given to the most successful offensive operation of the Russian troops - the Brusilovsky breakthrough ... God's servant Alexei will answer for his act before the Lord's Court. And he called on the White fighters "to lay down their arms and not shed brotherly blood", promising

create the Crimean Red Army under his command, where they will all be accepted in the same ranks ... This appeal was also supplemented by numerous leaflets signed by Frunze and Lenin, who promised a complete amnesty to all ranks of the Wrangel army who would lay down their arms and remain in their homeland. Needless to say, all these promises turned out to be empty words ... Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Lieutenant General, Baron

Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel Briefly Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich, baron (1878 - 1928). Coming from a noble family of Swedish origin, he studies as a mining engineer, then enters military service, participates in the Russo-Japanese War, and later, already during the First World War, differs in East Prussia and in Galicia. After the October Revolution, refusing to go to the service of the Ukrainian hetman Skoropadsky, who was supported by the Germans, he joined in 1918

Volunteer army. In April 1920, he became Denikin's successor, when he, having retreated to the Crimea, left the command of the White Army. March 22, 1920 General Wrangel arrived in Sevastopol in English battleship"Emperor of India". The Military Council of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia met. The meeting was short-lived - nineteen of the most prominent generals who headed the formations and headquarters

The White Army, unanimously spoke out: General Baron Wrangel should be the new Commander-in-Chief. Pyotr Nikolayevich himself made an addition to the minutes of the meeting of the Military Council: “I shared the glory of victories with the Army and I cannot refuse to drink the cup of humiliation with it. Drawing strength from the support of my old associates, I agree to accept the position of Commander-in-Chief. Lieutenant General Baron P. Wrangel March 22, 1920

Sevastopol". Having taken command, General Wrangel first of all began to restore discipline and strengthen the morale of the troops. By April 28, 1920, he reorganized them into the Russian Army. And along with the restoration of its combat capability, he began to vigorously rebuild the Crimean economy and social policy in it. Taking care of the troops is the first concern of any commander, but Wrangel was also a senior administrative head in

Crimea. And in this capacity, he showed himself from an unexpected side for his subordinates. The general became a wise administrator, a consistent politician and a diligent business executive. Under his patronage, Wrangel created the civil government of the Crimea and appointed A.V. Krivoshein as its head. General P.N. Wrangel, chairman of the civil government

Kryma A.V. Krivoshein and General P.N. Shatilov. 1920 A.V. Krivoshein was a man of great ability and colossal experience in economic affairs. Once he was a friend of the Minister of Finance of Russia, managed the largest banks, for eight years he was the Chief Manager of Land Management and Agriculture of the Empire. It was Krivoshein that Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin instructed at one time to put into practice the famous

agrarian reform. This is the kind of person General Wrangel appointed Chairman of the Government of the South of Russia. And the South of Russia was then the Crimea. The government of the South of Russia created by him, which is recognized by France, issued a declaration on the national question and proposed to determine the form of government in Russia by "free will" within the framework of a broad federation.

Along with this, the government launched a series of reforms, A.V. Krivoshein and his subordinates knew how to work. In just three weeks, they developed new principles for relations between peasants and landowners, peasants and authorities. The Crimean government clearly benefited from Krivoshein's experience in implementing the Stolypin land reform. Crimea in 1920 became, as it were, a testing ground, on which Stolypin's ideas were fully introduced on a small scale.

principles of reforming Russia. In practice, this meant that the land was not in words, as it was in Soviet Russia, but in fact it was transferred to those who work on it, the peasants, “into eternal and hereditary property”, that only what was left over the peasant allotments was left to the big farmers, that the peasant was declared the full owner of what he had grown on his land. The new Crimean government acted decisively and quickly.

Already at the end of April, land was cut into the peasants - plots of fertile Crimean land. And on May 25, 1920, the orders of General Wrangel “On the Land”, “On Volost Zemstvos” that had the force of the Law for the Crimea, were published. The Crimean reform has gained legislative framework. The swift actions of the authorities had almost instantaneous effect.

the peasants hurried to take advantage of their new property. At the height of summer, the harvest ripened, and the military authorities began to purchase the amount of bread needed for the army at favorable prices for the peasants. The surplus was freely sold on the market. And what happened then was called the "Crimean miracle" - an abundance of bread, as it were, started the engine of the Crimean economy, small and even medium-sized industries began to work on the peninsula, new workplaces,

shops opened, goods appeared, markets rustled ... Crimea came to life! Here is what the well-known politician and writer Vasily Vitalyevich Shulgin, who secretly came there from Red Odessa, wrote about those days of Crimea: “... The streets are full of people and what kind of people, the former and even prettier ones, cabbies, cars, announcements of concerts and lectures. But most importantly, shops - they have everything you want ...

I was convinced, for example, that if we measure the earnings of an Odessa and Crimean worker, then the first one can buy two and a half poods of bread in the red country for his wages, and his Crimean comrade - five poods and more ... ". The position of the Crimea seemed especially strong after the Russian army, taking advantage of the outbreak of the war with Poland, carried out a successful offensive operation against the Bolsheviks and took possession of part of the Tauride lands adjacent to the peninsula.

In 1920, Crimea was the only territory in Europe that exported bread to the external market - to Constantinople and beyond ... So, under General Wrangel, Crimea became a "showcase of well-being" facing the whole of Russia, became a reproach to the red Kremlin. Such "propaganda by deed" was dangerous for the Bolsheviks. Crimea threatened to become an example of how life can and should be arranged...

That is why a hysterical campaign was launched in Soviet Russia against the White Crimea, against General Wrangel, whom they began to represent as "the main threat to the young republic of soviets." Everything was mobilized, even Mayakovsky, who in those days wrote the scurrilous "Tale of how a woman alone talked about Wrangel without any mind." The armistice between Soviet Russia and Poland changed the situation.

At the end of October, five red armies of the Southern Front (commander M. Frunze), including two cavalry armies (the total number of front troops - over 130 thousand people), attacked the Russian army of Wrangel. In a week they liberated Northern Tavria, and then, breaking through the Perekop fortifications, moved to the Crimea. To Wrangel's credit, he skillfully led the withdrawal of his troops and managed to prepare in advance

to evacuation. Not wanting to leave the Russian army in trouble, Wrangel spent about a year with her in Turkey, maintaining order in the troops and fighting hunger. His subordinates gradually dispersed, about seven thousand deserted and left for Russia. At the end of 1921, the remnants of the army were transferred to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, where many soldiers and officers later settled, others were further drawn by fate.

Instead of the collapsed Russian army, Wrangel founded the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS) in Paris with departments in the countries where they were former officers and members of the White movement. The ROVS was distinguished by its irreconcilable attitude towards Soviet Russia, developed plans for the mobilization of its members at the right time, conducted intelligence work, had a combat department (headed by Kutepov), which prepared armed actions in

THE USSR. Wrangel did not stop fighting the Bolsheviks until his death, which befell him at the age of 49, in 1928 (according to one of the unproven versions, he was poisoned). From Brussels, where he died, his body was transported to Yugoslavia and solemnly buried in one of the Orthodox cathedrals. A procession with wreaths stretched through Belgrade. After the death of Wrangel, two volumes of his "Notes" were published, published in

Berlin. Belgrade. Church of the Holy Trinity, where the second and last grave of P.N. Wrangel List of references Used materials of the book: Kovalevsky N.F. History of Russian Goverment. Biographies of famous military leaders of the 18th - early 20th centuries. M. 1997 Vashchenko P.F. Runov V.A. The revolution is defended: [On the 70th anniversary of the defeat of the troops

Politics of "War Communism" (1918 - 1920)

POLICY OF WAR COMMUNISM 1918 - 1920 The Civil War set the Bolsheviks the task of creating a huge army, the maximum mobilization of all resources, and hence the maximum centralization of power and subordinating it to the control of all spheres of the state's life. At the same time, the tasks of wartime coincided with the ideas of the Bolsheviks about socialism as a commodityless, marketless centralized society. As a result, the policy of war communism pursued by the Bolsheviks

in 1918-1920, it was built, on the one hand, on the experience of state regulation of economic relations during the First World War in Russia and Germany, on the other hand, on utopian ideas about the possibility of a direct transition to market-free socialism in the face of the expectation of a world revolution, which ultimately led to the acceleration of the pace socio-economic transformations in the country during the Civil War. The main elements of the policy of war communism.

In November 1918, the pro-army was dissolved and by a decree of January 11, 1919. surplus appropriation was carried out. The decree on land was practically canceled. The land fund was transferred not to all the workers, but, first of all, to state farms and communes, and secondly, to labor gangs and partnerships for the joint cultivation of the land, TOZs. Based on the decree of July 28, 1918, by the summer of 1920 up to 80 large and medium enterprises were nationalized. Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of July 22, 1918 on speculation prohibited any non-state trade.

By the beginning of 1919, private trading enterprises were completely nationalized or closed. After the end of the Civil War, the transition to the full naturalization of economic relations was completed. During the Civil War, a centralized state and party structure was created. Glavkism became the peak of centralization. In 1920, there were 50 central offices subordinate to the Supreme Economic Council, coordinating related industries and distributing finished products -

Glavtorf, Glavkozha, Glavkrakhmal, etc. Consumer cooperation was also centralized and subordinated to the People's Commissariat for Food. During the period of war communism wasintroduced universal labor service, the militarization of labor. The results of the policy of war communism. As a result of the policy of war communism, social and economic conditions were created for the victory of the Soviet Republic over the interventionists and the Whites. At the same time, the war and the policy of war communism had grave consequences for the country's economy.

By 1920, the national income fell from 11 to 4 billion rubles compared with 1913, the production of large-scale industry was 13 of the pre-war level, including heavy industry - 2-5. The food requisition led to a reduction in the sowing and gross harvest of the main agricultural crops. Agricultural output in 1920 amounted to two-thirds of the pre-war level. In 1920-1921. famine broke out in the country. The unwillingness to endure the surplus appraisal led to the creation of insurgent

foci in the Middle Volga region, on the Don, Kuban. Basmachi did not activate in Turkestan. In February - March 1921, the West Siberian rebelscreated armed formations of several thousand people. On March 1, 1921, a rebellion broke out in Kronstadt, during which political slogans were put forward Power to the Soviets, not to parties Soviets without Bolsheviks

socialism. After a broad discussion in late 1920 - early 1921, with the X Congress of the RCP on March 6, 1921, a gradual abolition of the policy of military communism began. References1. Gimpelson E. D. War communism M 2. Civil war in the USSR. T. 1-2 M 3. History of the Fatherland people, ideas, decisions. History essays

In 1920, the Volunteer Army under the leadership of General Wrangel was almost completely transferred to the Crimea. The number of whites was almost 25 thousand people. It mainly consisted of Donets, of which there were about 10 thousand, the rest - Kuban and small units. Only the troops of General Slashchev had combat readiness. They held the northern part of the Crimean peninsula and numbered 2 thousand checkers and 3.5 thousand bayonets.

The full offensive of the Red Army originates in Northern Tavria. The fighting began at the end of March. The 13th Army was advancing, but was repulsed by the Whites, who were firmly entrenched on the Perekop Isthmus. It was a significant setback for the Reds, leading to a chain of combat failures.

On May 25, the Whites launched an attack, which was supported by General Slashchev, and as a result, the Wrangel troops were able to advance to the northeast, while occupying a large territory of Northern Tavria and the city of Melitopol. The redneck with his consolidated corps came to the aid of the Reds, but was completely defeated by the Whites.

In the summer, the situation became critical, and the Soviet command transferred its Siberian reserves there. To defeat Wrangel, the Southern Front was created, which came under the command of Frunze. IN Soviet troops the 6th and 13th armies entered, and the 1st and 2nd cavalry units joined it a little later.

The White Guard command ordered Slashchev, who commanded the Zadneprovsky units, to immediately destroy the Right-Bank Red Troops. Slashchev dealt a strong blow, and the Reds had to retreat behind the Dnieper. Only the 51st Soviet division continued to hold fast on the Kakhovka bridgehead.

It is in Sev. Tavria began the defeat of Wrangel's troops in the Crimea. There was a turning point towards the Reds when the fresh Latvian and 15th Soviet divisions joined the 51st in the bridgehead. From that moment on, all attempts to attack Wrangel were successfully repelled. He decided to start hostilities in the Kuban and Don, but did not calculate, and his detachment, which landed near Mariupol, was completely destroyed by the Soviet army.

The White Guards suffered huge losses during these battles, losing more than half of their army and weapons. But, nevertheless, they remained a rather formidable force to be reckoned with.

The Red troops, which numbered approximately 100 thousand people, launched an offensive. The remaining army of Wrangel at that time already numbered 28 thousand people. The 6th was the first to attack Soviet army, and a couple of divisions crossed the bay.

At the same time, the 152nd division under the command of Blucher began to storm the Turkish Wall. General Wrangel tried to change the situation in his favor by sending a cavalry unit to the 15th division. But Makhno's army arrived in time to help the Reds, and as a result they resisted, and at the same time completely defeated Barbovich's White Guard corps.