Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, his fate has made many sharp turns in a few years. At first he commanded the Black Sea Fleet, but instead of the historical laurels of the first Russian military leader who took the Dardanelles Bosphorus, he turned into a commander in front of the fleet that was losing discipline.
Then a new round of the admiral's incredible fate followed. The Americans showed an unexpected interest in him. The US military mission appealed to the Provisional Government with a request to send Kolchak to advise the allies on mine work and the fight against submarines. In Russia, the best domestic naval commander was no longer needed, and Kerensky could not refuse the "allies" - Kolchak was also sent to America. His mission is surrounded by secrecy, it is forbidden to mention it in the press. The path lies through Finland, Sweden and Norway. There are no German troops anywhere from the above countries, but Kolchak travels under a false name, in civilian clothes. His officers are also disguised. Why he resorted to such a disguise, the admiral's biographers do not explain to us …
In London, Kolchak made a number of important visits. He was received by the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Admiral Hall, and the First Lord of the Admiralty, Jellicoe, invited him. In a conversation with the admiral, the head of the British fleet expressed his private opinion that only a dictatorship can save Russia. History has not preserved the admiral's answers, but he stayed in Britain decently. Probably, sincere conversations with Kolchak were conducted by people from a completely different department. So gradually a person is probed, his character and habits are recognized. A psycho-portrait is drawn. In a couple of months, October will take place in Russia, the country allied to Great Britain will collapse into chaos and anarchy. She will no longer be able to fight Germany. The most senior British military see all this, they know the recipe for saving the situation - this is a dictatorship. But the British do not dare and do not even try to insist that Kerensky, smoothly leading the country to the Bolshevik revolution, take tough measures. They only share clever thoughts in personal conversations with the former Russian admiral. Why with him? Because the strong-willed and energetic Kolchak, along with General Kornilov, was considered a potential dictator. Why not help a strong-willed military man to take power instead of Kerensky's rag? Because the dictator will be needed not before October, but after! Russia must first be destroyed to the ground, and only then collected and restored. And this should be done by a person loyal to England. A person with affection and gratitude for the Foggy Albion. The British are looking for a future dictator, an alternative to Lenin. Nobody knows how events will turn out. Therefore, it is necessary to have names on the bench for both your revolutionaries, and your Romanovs, and a grateful strong-willed dictator …
Kolchak's stay in the United States in terms of the level of his visits is in no way inferior to his stay in London. He is hosted by the own father of the Federal Reserve, President Wilson. Again conversations, conversations, conversations. But in the naval ministry, the admiral was in for a surprise. It turned out that the offensive operation of the US naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea, for the sake of which he was, in fact, invited to consult, is canceled.
According to the book by the American professor E. Sissots "Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution," Trotsky sailed to Russia to make a revolution, having an American passport issued personally by Wilson. Now the president is talking with Kolchak, who will later become the white head of Russia. This is a casting.
Why did Kolchak come a long way to the American continent? So that we do not think that it was for the sake of intimate conversations that Kolchak was dragged across the ocean, a beautiful explanation was invented. For three weeks the former head of the Black Sea Fleet goes to the American sailors and tells them:
♦ on the state and organization of the Russian fleet;
♦ on general problems of mine warfare;
♦ introduces the device of Russian mine-torpedo weapons.
All these issues, of course, require the personal presence of Kolchak far away. Nobody, except the admiral (!), Can tell the Americans about the device of the Russian torpedo …
Here, in San Francisco, Kolchak learned about the Leninist coup that had taken place in Russia. And then he received … a telegram with a proposal to run for the Constituent Assembly from the Cadet Party. But it was not destiny to become a military admiral a parliamentary figure. Lenin dispersed the Constituent Assembly and deprived Russia of a legitimate government. The disintegration of the Russian Empire began immediately. Lacking the strength, the Bolsheviks held no one. Poland, Finland, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ukraine fell away.
Kolchak moved to Japan and again abruptly changed his life. He enters the service of the British. On December 30, 1917, the admiral was assigned to the Mesopotamian front. But Kolchak never made it to the place of his new service. About the reasons for this, he said during his interrogation: “In Singapore, the commander of the troops, General Ridout, came to me to greet me, gave me an urgent telegram sent to Singapore from the director of the Intelligence Department of the information department of the military general staff in England (this is military intelligence. - Ya. S). This telegram read: the British government … due to the changed situation on the Mesopotamian front … considers it … useful for the common allied cause that I return to Russia, that I am advised to go to the Far East to start my activities there, and this, from their point of view, is more profitable than my stay on the Mesopotamian front."
During interrogations before the execution, Kolchak confessed, realizing that this was his last chance to convey at least something to the descendants. In a letter to his beloved A. V. Timireva dated March 20, 1918, he only modestly says that his mission is secret. A little more than six months have passed since Kolchak's heartfelt conversations, as the incredible fate of the admiral began his ascension to the heights of Russian power. The British instruct him to put together anti-Bolshevik forces. The place of their organization is Siberia and the Far East. The first tasks are insignificant - the creation of white detachments in China, on the Chinese Eastern Railway. But the matter is stalled: there is no Civil War in Russia. Real, terrible and destructive. Kolchak returns to Japan, sits idle. Until the Czechoslovak revolt happens, which starts this most terrible of all Russian wars.
It is important to understand causation. First, Kolchak is "examined" and talked to him. Then, when he agrees to cooperate, they are officially accepted into the English service. This is followed by a series of small orders, a standby mode. And finally, the "English employee" Mr. Kolchak is abruptly brought to the stage and almost instantly … appointed the supreme ruler of Russia. Really interesting?
It was done like this. In the fall of 1918, Kolchak arrives in Vladivostok. Our hero arrives not alone, but in a very interesting company: together with the French ambassador Repier and the English general Alfred Knox. This general is not simple: until the end of 1917, he served as British military attaché in Petrograd. Before his eyes, let us not be modest, with his active participation, two Russian revolutions took place. Now the task of the gallant general is exactly the opposite - to make one counter-revolution. Who to support and who to bury in this struggle will be decided in London. On the political chess board, you have to play for both blacks and whites. Then, whatever the outcome of the game, you win.
Further events develop rapidly. This always happens in the careers of those in whom British intelligence is interested. At the end of September 1918, Kolchak, together with General Knox, arrived in the capital of White Siberia - Omsk. He has no position, he is a private, civilian. But on November 4, the admiral was appointed military and naval minister in the All-Russian Provisional Government. Two weeks later, on November 18, 1918, by the decision of the council of ministers of this government, all power in Siberia was transferred to Kolchak.
Kolchak becomes the head of Russia a little over a month after his arrival in it.
Moreover, he himself does not arrange any conspiracy for this and does not make any efforts. Some force does everything for him, already putting Alexander Vasilyevich in front of a fait accompli. He accepts the title of the supreme ruler and becomes the de facto dictator of the country, the bearer of supreme power. There was no legal basis for this. The government that handed over power to Kolchak was itself elected by a handful of deputies from the dispersed Constituent Assembly. In addition, it made its "noble" step as a result of the coup, being arrested.
The Russian patriots breathed a sigh of hope. Instead of talkers, a man of action came to power - so it seemed from the outside. In fact, in order to understand the tragedy of the admiral's position, one must remember that it was not Kolchak himself who came to power, but it was given to him! For such a gift as power over all of Russia and the conditions were tough. It is necessary to be "democratic", it is necessary to use the socialists in the power structures, it is necessary to put forward slogans that are obscure to ordinary peasants. All this seems like an insignificant price to pay for the opportunity to form an army and defeat the Bolsheviks; this is nothing compared to the opportunity to save Russia. Kolchak agrees. He does not know that these factors will lead him to complete collapse in a year …
When we evaluate Kolchak as a statesman, we must remember how briefly he occupied the highest position of power in Russia. It is easy to count: he became the supreme ruler on November 18, 1918, renounced power on January 5, 1920. Kolchak lost real power in November 1919, when the entire white statehood in Siberia collapsed under the weight of military failures and rear SR betrayal. The admiral was in power for only a year.
And almost immediately he began to demonstrate his independence and stubborn disposition to his English friends. Following General Knox, other representatives of the "allies" came to Siberia. For communication with the army of Admiral Kolchak, France sent General Janin. After visiting the supreme ruler of Russia, Janin informed him of his authority to take command not only of all the forces of the Entente in this theater, but also of all the white armies in Siberia. In other words, the French general demanded complete submission from the head of the Russian state. At one time, both Denikin and other leaders of the White movement recognized Kolchak as the Supreme Ruler of Russia, that is, in fact, the dictator of the country. The "allies" did not recognize him, but at that time they did not recognize Lenin either. In addition, Kolchak is not just the head of the country, but also the head of the armed forces - the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. All white armies formally obey him. Thanks to the subordination of all the other White Guards to the admiral, the French actually crushed the entire White movement under themselves.
Henceforth, orders to Russian patriots were to come from Paris. This is a complete loss of national independence. This subordination killed the idea of Russian patriotism, because Kolchak could be called a "spy of the Entente" in response to accusations of Lenin and Trotsky of aiding the Germans.
Kolchak rejects Janen's proposal. Two days later, the Frenchman comes again. What he spoke with Kolchak is not known for certain, but a consensus was found: “Kolchak, as the Supreme Ruler of Russia, is the commander of the Russian army, and General Janin is all foreign troops, including the Czechoslovak corps. In addition, Kolchak instructs Zhanen to replace him at the front and be his assistant."
When such “faithful helpers” stand behind you, your defeat and death is only a matter of time. The interventionists behaved in a peculiar way, supposedly who had come to help the Russians put things in order. The Americans, for example, established such "good-neighborly relations" with the red partisans, which greatly contributed to their strengthening and disorganization of Kolchak's rear. The matter went so far that the admiral even raised the question of the withdrawal of American troops. An employee of the Kolchak administration, Sukin, reported in a telegram to the former foreign minister of tsarist Russia, Sazonov, that "the withdrawal of American troops is the only means of maintaining friendly relations with the United States." The fight against the Bolsheviks was not included in the plans of the "interventionists". For 1 year and 8 months of "intervention" the Americans out of about 12 thousand of their soldiers lost 353 people, of which only 180 (!) People in battles. The rest died from disease, accidents and suicide. By the way, losses of such a ridiculous order are very common in the statistics of intervention. What kind of real struggle against the Bolsheviks can we talk about?
Although outwardly, the Americans did work useful for the white government. They seriously tackled the problem of the Trans-Siberian Railway, sending 285 railway engineers and mechanics to maintain its normal functioning, and in Vladivostok they set up a plant for the production of wagons. However, such a touching concern is by no means a desire to quickly restore Russia and establish transportation within the country. The Americans themselves need to take care of the Russian railways. It is precisely with him that a significant part of the Russian gold reserve and many other material values will be exported abroad. To make it more convenient, the "allies" conclude an agreement with Kolchak. From now on, the protection and functioning of the entire Trans-Siberian Railway becomes the business of the Czechs. Poles and Americans. They fix it, they provide the job. They protect it and fight the partisans. It would seem that the white troops are freed up and can be sent to the front. This is so, only in the Civil War the rear sometimes becomes more important than the front.
Kolchak tried to achieve recognition from the West. To him, who came to Russia at the suggestion of the British and French, it seemed incredible the lack of their official support. And it was postponed all the time. Constantly promised and never happened. It was necessary to be even more "democratic" and less "reactionary". Although Kolchak already agreed to:
♦ convocation of the Constituent Assembly as soon as it takes Moscow;
♦ refusal to restore the regime destroyed by the revolution;
♦ recognition of the independence of Poland;
♦ recognition of all external debts of Russia.
But Lenin and the Bolsheviks were always even more compliant and more compliant. In March 1919, Kolchak rejected a proposal to start peace negotiations with the Bolsheviks. Again and again he demonstrated to the emissaries of the West that the interests of Russia are above all for him. He gave up trying to divide Russia and Denikin. And then the British, French and Americans finally decide to bet on the Bolsheviks. It was from March 1919 that the West took a course towards the final elimination of the White movement.
But it was in the spring of 1919 that it seemed that the white victory was already close. The red front is about to collapse completely. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov writes in his memoirs: “Thus, the Bolsheviks were under threat from the northwest, south and east. The Red Army was still in its infancy, and Trotsky himself doubted its fighting efficiency. We can safely admit that the appearance of a thousand heavy guns and two hundred tanks on one of the three fronts would save the whole world from a constant threat."
You just need to help the white armies a little, just a little, and the bloody nightmare will end. The hostilities are large-scale, therefore they require a large amount of ammunition. War is a breakthrough that devours resources, people and money in huge quantities. It's like a huge furnace of a steam locomotive, where you have to throw, throw, throw. Otherwise, you won't go anywhere. Here's another riddle for you. Did the "allies" provide assistance to Kolchak at this decisive moment? Was the "coal" thrown into his war furnace? Do not suffer in thought - here is the answer from the memoirs of the same Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov: “But then something strange happened. Instead of following the advice of their experts, the heads of the allied states adopted a policy that made Russian officers and soldiers experience the greatest disappointments in our former allies and even admit that the Red Army protects the integrity of Russia from the encroachments of foreigners."
Let us digress for a minute and recall again that the excitement of the offensive in 1919 struck Denikin, Yudenich, and Kolchak. All their armies are not fully formed, not trained and not armed. And yet the whites are stubbornly marching forward towards their doom. Marvelous. As if some kind of eclipse came over them all. The Whites are going to take Moscow, but they only attack it not simultaneously, but at different times, in turn. This will enable Trotsky to smash them piece by piece.
“The position of the Bolsheviks in the spring of 1919 was such that only a miracle could save them. It happened in the form of the adoption in Siberia of the most absurd plan of action, "- writes in his memoirs" The Catastrophe of the White Movement in Siberia "Professor of the Academy of the General Staff D. V. Filatyev, who was Kolchak's assistant to the commander-in-chief for supplies. Miracles breathed on us again. In our history, they are invariably associated with the activities of British intelligence. If we were to see under whose pressure Kolchak’s military plans were adopted, then it will become completely clear to us who this time was behind the curtains of the Russian turmoil.
In the spring of 1919, the supreme ruler of Russia had two options for action. DV Filat'ev described them wonderfully.
"Caution and military science demanded to take the first plan in order to go towards the goal, albeit slowly, on the right," writes General Filatyev. Admiral Kolchak chooses an offensive. You can also attack in two directions.
1. Putting a barrier in the direction of Vyatka and Kazan, direct the main forces to Samara and Tsaritsyn in order to join Denikin's army there and only then move together with him to Moscow. (Baron Wrangel unsuccessfully tried to obtain Denikin's approval for the same decision.)
2. Move in the direction of Kazan-Vyatka with a further exit through Kotlas to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, to the huge reserves of equipment concentrated there. In addition, this significantly reduced the time of delivery from England, because the way to Arkhangelsk is incomparably shorter than the way to Vladivostok.
Military science is no less complex than nuclear physics or paleontology. She has her own rules and dogmas. There is no need to take big risks without special need; the enemy should not be allowed to beat himself in parts, freely moving forces along the internal operational lines; you yourself should beat the enemy with all your might. Choose Kolchak to attack Samara-Tsaritsyn, and all the rules of military art will be observed.
Not one of these advantages did not give the direction of all forces to Vyatka, because in this direction it was possible to count on complete success only on one assumption that the Bolsheviks would not guess to concentrate forces against the Siberian army, having weakened the pressure on Denikin for a while. But there was no reason to base your plan on the enemy's senseless or illiterate actions, except for your own frivolity."
General Filatyev is not right, it was not at all frivolity that carried Kolchak towards the disastrous path. After all, to the horror of their military. Kolchak chose … an even more unsuccessful strategy! The third option, the most unsuccessful, provided for a simultaneous offensive against Vyatka and Samara. On February 15, 1919, a secret directive of the supreme ruler of Russia was promulgated, prescribing an offensive in all directions. This led to the divergence of the armies in space, actions at random and to the exposure of the front in the gaps between them. The same mistake will be made by Hitler's strategists in 1942, advancing simultaneously on Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The Kolchak offensive will also end in complete collapse. Why did the admiral choose such an erroneous strategy? He was persuaded to accept it. Incidentally, it was precisely such a disastrous offensive plan that was considered and approved by the French General Staff. The British insisted on it, too. Their reasoning was compelling. We can read about her in General Sakharov's White Siberia:
On April 12, 1919, Kolchak issues another directive and decides to start … a general offensive against Moscow. Stalin's "Short Course VKI (b)" speaks well of the level of White's readiness:
It turns out, barely issuing a directive (April 12) and starting to attack, the admiral's troops were immediately, in April, defeated. And already in June-July, the Reds, having thrown back his armies, broke out into the operational space of Siberia. Having advanced only two months, Kolchak's troops rushed uncontrollably to retreat. And so we ran to the very end and complete collapse. Analogies involuntarily come to mind …
… Summer of 1943, Soviet troops are preparing to inflict a terrible blow on the Hitlerite Wehrmacht. Operation Bagration has been carefully thought out. As a result, a large German army grouping will cease to exist. This will be in reality, but if the Stalinist offensive developed according to the principles of Kolchak and Denikin, then instead of Warsaw, Soviet tanks would again be at Stalingrad, or even near Moscow. That is, the collapse of the offensive would be complete. Yes, not one offensive, but the whole war …
To summarize, it was impossible for Kolchak to attack. But he not only did this, but also sent his armies along diverging lines. And even in this illiterate plan, he made another mistake, sending his most powerful army to Vyatka, that is, to a secondary direction.
The defeat of the armies of Kolchak (and Denikin and Yudenich) was not due to an incredible coincidence of circumstances, but because of their elementary violation of the basics of tactics and strategy, the foundations of the foundations of military art.
Were the Russian generals illiterate officers? Didn't they know the basics of the art of war? Only those on whom the fighters "for the One and the Indivisible" fully depended could force them to act contrary to common sense …
What will historians answer to this? Such, they say, are the generals of England. It happened by chance. The English gentleman was just bad at school and the military academy, so he was wrong. But all this, of course, with a smile, from a pure heart and without any backward intent. In France, absolutely "by accident", the generals are no better. The main adviser of the future destroyer Kolchak, General Janin, is the captain of the French army Zinovy Peshkov. Familiar surname?
Concurrently, this gallant French officer … the adopted son of Maxim Gorky and the brother of one of the Bolshevik leaders, Yakov Sverdlov. One can only guess what recommendations such an advisor made and for whom he ultimately worked. In such conditions, the very plan of offensive actions of the white admiral was indisputably known to Trotsky - hence the amazingly quick defeat of Kolchak. But at first it was still just a defeat. Military happiness changed many times during the Russian civil strife. White is coming today, red tomorrow. Temporary retreat and failure is not the end of the struggle, but only one stage. Siberia is huge, new units are being formed in the rear. There are many reserves, fortified areas have been created. For the defeat of the Kolchakites to turn into a catastrophe and the death of the entire White movement, the "allies" had to try. And the main role in strangling the White Guards was played by the Czechoslovakians. But we remember that these are not just Slavic soldiers - they are the official units of the French army, commanded by the French General Jeanin. So who ultimately eliminated Kolchak?
Having played the role of instigators of a real internecine war, the Czechs quickly left the front and went to the rear, leaving the Russians to fight with other Russians. They take the railroad under their care. They are busy with the best barracks, a huge number of carriages. The Czechs have the best weapons, their own armored trains. Their cavalry rides in saddles, not cushions. And all this power is in the rear, eating its cheeks on Russian grubs. When the White armies began to withdraw, the Czechs occupying the Trans-Siberian Railway undertook a hasty evacuation. They stole a lot of goods in Russia. The Czech corps numbered about 40 thousand soldiers and occupied 120 thousand railway cars. And all this colossus starts evacuating at once. The Red Army does not want to fight the Czechs, and the retreating Whites do not need another powerful enemy either. Therefore, they powerlessly look at the arbitrariness perpetrated by the Czechs. Not a single Russian echelon is allowed through by the Slav brothers. In the middle of the taiga there are hundreds of wagons with the wounded, women and children. It is impossible to bring ammunition to the army, because the retreating Czechs sent their echelons along both tracks of the road. They unceremoniously take the locomotives away from the Russian echelons, attaching them to their cars. And the drivers carry the Czech train until the locomotive becomes unusable. Then they throw him and take another, from the nearest non-Czech train. This is how the "circulation" of steam locomotives is disrupted, now it is simply impossible to take out valuables and people.
Further, the Taiga station, by order of the Czech command, does not allow anyone to pass at all, not even the echelons of Kolchak himself. General Kappel, appointed by the admiral to command the troops at this critical moment, sends telegrams to General Zhanen, begging him "to let our Minister of Railways manage the Russian railway." At the same time, he assured that there would be no delay or reduction in the movement of Czech echelons. There was no answer.
It is in vain that Kappel sends telegrams to General Janin, who formally commanded all the "allied" troops, including the Czechs. After all, the desire to block the road is not dictated by the selfish interests of Czech captains and colonels. This is a strict order of the generals. The impossibility of evacuation signs the death warrant for the White Guards. Terrible scenes are played out among the silent Siberian pines. Echelons of typhoid, standing in the forest. A pile of corpses, no medicine, no food. The medical staff fell on their own or ran away, the locomotive froze. All the inhabitants of the hospital on wheels are doomed. The Red Army men will find them later in the taiga, these terrible trains clogged by the dead …
Lieutenant-General Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel - a participant in the First World War, one of the most valiant white generals in the East of Russia, has established himself as a brave officer who until the end has kept his duty to the once given oath. He personally led subordinate units into attacks, paternally took care of the soldiers entrusted to him. This valiant officer of the Russian Imperial Army will forever remain a people's hero of the White Struggle, a hero who burned with the flame of an ineradicable faith in the revival of Russia, in the righteousness of his cause. A valiant officer, a fiery patriot, a man of a crystal soul and rare nobility, General Kappel went down in the history of the White movement as one of its brightest representatives. It is significant that when, during the Siberian Ice Campaign in 1920, V. O. Kappel (he was then in the position of Commander-in-Chief of the White armies of the Eastern Front) gave his soul to God, the soldiers did not leave the body of their glorious commander in the unknown icy desert,and made with him an unparalleled hardest crossing over Lake Baikal in order to worthily and according to the Orthodox rite to bury him in the land in Chita.
Film and article about Kappel: The last secret of General Kappel
In other formations, officers, officials and their families are fleeing from the Reds. These are tens of thousands of people. The shaft of the Red Army is rolling behind. But the cork organized by the Czechs does not dissolve in any way. Running out of fuel, water freezes in the locomotive. People go out and wander on foot through the taiga, along the railway. Real Siberian frost - minus thirty, or even more. How much froze in the forest, no one knows …
The White Army withdraws. This way of the cross would later be called the Siberian Ice Campaign. Three thousand kilometers through the taiga, through the snow, along the bed of frozen rivers. The departing White Guards carry all the weapons and ammunition. But you can't drag guns through the woods. The artillery rushes in. In the taiga, you cannot find food for horses either. The corpses of the unfortunate animals mark the departure of the remnants of the White Army with terrible milestones. There are not enough horses, and all unnecessary weapons have to be abandoned. They bring with them a minimum of food and a minimum of weapons. And this horror lasts for several months. Combat efficiency is rapidly decreasing. The number of cases of typhus is also growing rapidly. In small villages, where retreating people go for the night, the sick and wounded lie side by side on the floor. There is nothing to think about hygiene. The departed are being replaced by new parties of people. Where the patient slept, the healthy one lies down. There are no doctors, no medicines. There is nothing. The commander-in-chief, General Kappel, froze his legs, falling into the wormwood. In the nearest village with a simple knife (!) The doctor cut off his toes and a piece of the heel. No anesthesia, no wound treatment. Two weeks later, Kaniel died - pneumonia was added to the consequences of amputation …
And next to it, an endless belt of Czech echelons winds along the railway. The soldiers are fed, they are sitting in heating boxes, where fire crackles in the stoves. Horses chew on oats. The Czechs are going home. The railway line was declared neutral by them. There will be no clashes in it. The red squad will occupy the town, through which the Czech echelons stretch, but the whites cannot attack it. If you break the neutrality of the railway track, the Czechs threaten to strike.
The remains of the White Army are riding in a sleigh in the woods. The horses are dragging along heavily. There are no roads in the taiga. More precisely, there is - but only one.
Siberian highway - it is packed with carts of civilian refugees. Frozen women and children from the echelons that have long been frozen on the road blocked by the Czechs are slowly wandering along it. The Reds are pushing from behind. To get ahead, you have to literally sweep stuck carts and carts from the road. Bonfires of things and sledges are burning. No one hears cries for help. Your horse has fallen - you are lost. Nobody wants to put you on their sleigh - after all, if his horse dies too, what will happen to his children and his loved ones? And in the woods red partisan detachments roam. They deal with prisoners with particular cruelty. They do not spare refugees, they kill everyone. So people are sitting on frozen trains and quietly fading away in the cold, plunging into a "saving" dream …
The emergence of the partisan movement in Siberia is still waiting for its researcher. It explains a lot. Do you know under what slogan the Siberian partisans went into battle? Against Kolchak, this is a fact. But why did the peasants of Siberia fight with arms against the admiral's power? The answer lies in the propaganda materials of the partisans. The most significant and famous in Siberia was the detachment of the former staff captain Shchetinkin. Captain G. S. Dumbadze left an interesting description of the slogans under which he went into battle. A detachment of White Guards in the village of Stepnoy Badzhei captured the printing house of the Red Partisans. Drink thousands of leaflets: “I, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, secretly landed in Vladivostok in order, together with the people's Soviet government, to begin a struggle against the traitor Kolchak, who had sold himself to foreigners. All Russian people are obliged to support me. "No less striking is the end of that same leaflet: "For the Tsar and Soviet power!"
You still do not understand why the British insisted so that the White Guards did not put forward "reactionary" slogans?
But even in the current nightmare situation, the frozen White Guards had a chance to stop and repel the offensive of the Red Army. If in the rear the fire of the uprisings prepared by the Socialist-Revolutionaries had not burst out at once. According to the schedule, uprisings began almost simultaneously in all industrial centers. The many months of agitation of the Social Revolutionaries did their job. The Bolsheviks were much closer to them than the "reactionary" tsarist generals. In June 1919, the Siberian Union of Social Revolutionaries was created. Leaflets issued by him called for the overthrow of Kolchak's power, the establishment of democracy and an end! armed struggle against the Soviet regime. Almost simultaneously, on June 18-20, at the XI Congress of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party held in Moscow (!), Their main singing was confirmed. The main one of them is the preparation of the peasants' performance throughout the territory occupied by the Kolchakites on November 2 in Irkutsk - as the final stage - a new power body was created - the Political Center. It was he who was supposed to take power in the city, which was declared the white capital after the fall of Omsk.
Here it is just right to ask the question, why did the Socialist-Revolutionaries feel so at ease in the Kolchak rear? Where did counterintelligence look? Why didn't the Supreme Ruler of Russia burn this revolutionary snake's nest with a hot iron? It turns out that the British did not allow him to do this. They demanded in every possible way that this party be involved. They obstructed the establishment of order and the establishment of a real dictatorship, which was more than justified in the conditions of the Civil War. Why are the "allies" so fond of the Socialist-Revolutionaries? Why are they so strongly patronized? Thanks to the action of this party, in a few months between February and October, the Russian army lost its combat capability, and the state became incapacitated. White General Chaplin aptly described this fraternity as specialists “in matters of destruction and decomposition, but not in creative work”.
Socialist-Revolutionaries hold posts in cooperatives, public organizations, and run large Siberian cities. And they are conducting an active secret struggle with … the White Guards. In stories about the death of Kolchak and his army, little attention is usually paid to this. In vain. “This underground activity of the Social Revolutionaries bore fruit much later. - General Sakharov writes in his memoirs "White Siberia", "and turned the front's failures into a complete catastrophe of the army, led to the defeat of the whole affair headed by Admiral L. V. Kolchak." The Social Revolutionaries begin anti-Kolchak agitation among the troops. It is difficult to answer adequately to Kolchak: the overthrow of the Bolshevik regime led to the restoration of the zemstvo and city self-government. These local authorities were elected under the laws of the Provisional Government in 1917; they are almost entirely composed of Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. It is impossible to disperse them - it is undemocratic, the "allies" will not allow scarlet. You cannot leave either - they are strongholds and centers of resistance to the imposition of strict order. Until his death, Kolchak did not solve this problem …
On December 21, 1919, an armed uprising of the Social Revolutionaries began in the Irkutsk province, two days later they took power in Krasnoyarsk, then in Nizhneudinsk. The rebellion involved units of the 1st White Army, which were in the rear in formation. The retreating demoralized, frozen parts of Kolchak, instead of reinforcements, meet rebels and red partisans. This stab in the back further undermines the morale of whites. The assault on Krasnoyarsk fails, the bulk of the retreating White Guards bypasses the city. Mass surrender begins.
The soldiers who have lost hope do not see the point in continuing the struggle. Refugees do not have the strength and ability to run further. However, a significant part of whites prefer to march into the unknown to the shameful surrender of the hated Bolsheviks. These irreconcilable heroes will go their way to the end. The frozen bed of the Angara River, new hundreds of kilometers of taiga trails, a huge ice mirror of Lake Baikal awaited them. About 10 thousand deadly tired White Guards came to the Transbaikalia ruled by Ataman Semyonov, bringing with them the same number of exhausted typhoid patients. The death toll cannot be counted …
Part of the Irkutsk garrison displayed the same fortitude. The last defenders of power are the same as elsewhere: cadets and Cossacks remain loyal to the oath. The Social Revolutionaries begin the seizure of the city on December 24, 1919. The uprising begins in the barracks of the 53rd Infantry Regiment. They are located on the opposite bank of the Angara from the troops loyal to Kolchak. It is impossible to quickly suppress the center of the rebellion. The bridge was "accidentally" dismantled, and all the ships are controlled by the "allies:" To suppress the uprising, the head of the Irkutsk garrison, General Sychev, introduces a state of siege. Since he cannot reach the rebels without the help of his "allies", he decides to try to reason with the rebellious soldiers with the help of shelling.
We will notice many "accidents" in this revolt of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. At the railway station of Irkutsk in recent weeks, Czech trains have been constantly moving to Vladivostok. But the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center just then begins its speech when the train station is … the train of General Zhanin himself. Not earlier, not later. To avoid misunderstanding, General Sychev notifies the Frenchman of his intention to begin shelling the rebel positions. The moment is critical - if the rebellion is suppressed now, the Kolchak government will have a chance of survival. After all, the government evacuated from Omsk is located in Irkutsk. (True, the admiral himself is not. Not wanting to part with the gold reserve, he and his echelons got stuck in Czech traffic jams in the Nizhneudinsk region.)
The actions of the "allies" in the Irkutsk events best illustrate their goals in the Russian Civil War.
General Janin categorically forbids striking the rebels. In case of shelling, he threatens to open artillery fire on the city. Subsequently, the "allied" general explained his act by considerations of humanity and a desire to avoid bloodshed. The commander of the "allied" forces, General Zhanin, not only banned the shelling, but also declared that part of Irkutsk where the rebels had accumulated as a neutral zone. It becomes impossible to liquidate the rebels, just as it is impossible not to pay attention to the ultimatum of the French general: there are about 3 thousand bayonets loyal to Kolchak in the city, the Czechs - 4 thousand.
But White doesn't give up. They are well aware that defeat in Irkutsk will lead to the complete destruction of Kolchak's power. The commandant mobilizes all officers in the city, teenage cadets are involved in the fight. The vigorous actions of the authorities stop the transfer of new parts of the garrison to the rebels. However, it is impossible for White to advance into the "neutral zone", so the Kolchak team is only defending. Other parts of the rebels come to the city, and they attack. The situation is hesitant, no one can get the upper hand. Fierce street fighting takes place daily. The turning point in the direction of government troops could have occurred on December 30, 1919, with the arrival in the city of about a thousand soldiers under the command of General Skipetrov. This detachment was sent by the ataman Semyonov, he also sent a telegram to Zhanen asking "either to immediately remove the rebels from the neutral zone, or not to obstruct the execution of the order by the troops subordinated to me to immediately suppress the criminal revolt and restore order."
There was no answer. General Janin did not write anything to Ataman Semyonov, but the actions of his subordinates were more eloquent than any telegram. At first, on the outskirts of the city, under various pretexts, they did not allow three white armored trains to pass. The Semenovites who arrived nevertheless launched an offensive without them, and the cadets from the city supported him. Then this "attack was repulsed by Czech machine-gun fire from the rear, while about 20 cadets were killed," wrote an eyewitness. The valiant Slavic legionnaires shot the advancing boys of the cadets in the back …
But even this could not stop the impulse of the White Guards. The Semenovites moved forward, and a real threat of defeat hung over the uprising. Then the Czechs, discarding all talk about neutrality, openly intervened in the matter. Referring to the order of General Janin, they demanded an end to hostilities and the withdrawal of the arriving detachment, threatening to use force in case of refusal. Unable to contact the Cossacks and Junkers in the city, a detachment of Semyonovites was forced to retreat at gunpoint from a Czech armored train. But the Czechs did not calm down on this. Apparently, in order to precisely secure the anti-Kolchak uprising, the "allies" disarmed the detachment of the Semenovites, treacherously attacking it!
It was the intervention of the "allies" that saved the heterogeneous forces of the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center from defeat. It was this that led to the defeat of the government forces. It was not accidental at all. To be convinced of this, it is enough to compare some dates.
♦ On December 24, 1919, the Irkutsk uprising began.
♦ On December 24, a train with a gold reserve, in which Kolchak was traveling, was detained by the Czechs in Nizhneudinsk for 2 weeks. (Why? The White Guards are beheaded, the appearance of Kolchak, beloved by the soldiers, can change the mood of the fluctuating units.)
♦ On January 4, 1920, the struggle in Irkutsk ends with the victory of the Social Revolutionaries.
♦ On January 4, Admiral Kolchak resigned as the supreme ruler of Russia and handed them over to General Denikin.
The coincidences are immediately noticeable. The Czechs, at the suggestion of General Janin, do not allow the rebellion to be suppressed in order to have a beautiful excuse not to let Kolchak into his new capital. The absence of an admiral and clear assistance to the "allies" helps the Socialist-Revolutionaries to win. As a result of this, Kolchak renounces power. Simple and beautiful. Historians tell us about cowardly Czechs who are allegedly trying to simply run away from the advancing Reds and are therefore interested in a calm path. Dates and numbers break naive theories in the bud. The soldiers of the Entente clearly and unequivocally began the struggle with the whites, only this was demanded by the prevailing circumstances.
After all, the "allies" had one more, very clear and specific goal. The extradition of Kolchak for reprisal is presented in red in historiography as a forced step by the Czechoslovakians. Foul-smelling, treacherous, but forced. Like, nothing else could be done by the noble general Janin to quickly and without loss take his subordinates out of Russia. So he had to sacrifice Kolchak and hand him over to the Political Center. Moan. Kolchak was handed over on January 15, 1920. But two weeks before that, the weak Social Revolutionary Political Center not only could not take power on its own, but was saved from defeat personally by General Janin and the Czechs. Just four
thousands of Slavic legionnaires could dictate their will to the whites and turn the situation at the most decisive moment in the direction they needed. Why? Because behind them stood the entire 40-thousandth Czechoslovak corps. This is power. Nobody wants to contact her - you start fighting the Czechs and add a strong enemy for yourself, and a strong friend for your opponent. That is why both the reds and whites are courting the Czechoslovakians as they can. And insolent Czechs take steam locomotives away from ambulance trains and leave them to freeze in the taiga.
If the "allies" wanted to take Kolchak out alive, no one would have prevented them from doing so. There was simply no such force. And the Reds did not really need the loser admiral. They do not like to talk about it out loud, they did not show it in the last film, but on January 4 Kochak abdicated power and went on under the guard-escort of the Czechs as a private person. Let us again recall the chronology of the Irkutsk events and draw attention to the fact that Kolchak was able to move forward with the golden echelon only after his abdication. He was detained by the Czechs on the orders of General Janin, ostensibly to ensure his safety.
It is costly for the representatives of the highest Russian authorities to “care” about their safety. Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky sent the family of Nicholas II to Siberia to provide for it. General Zhanin for the same did not let Kolchak's train to Irkutsk, where loyal cadets and Cossacks could take him under guard. In two weeks, this caring French general will quite calmly hand over the admiral in Irkutsk to representatives of the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center. But he gave the "soldier's word" that the life of the former Supreme Ruler was under the protection of the "allies". By the way, when Kolchak was needed by the Entente, a year ago, on the night of the coup that brought him to power, the house where he lived was taken under guard by the English unit. Now the Czechoslovakians have effectively taken on the role of his jailers.
It was not a weak newborn Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center that dictated its will to the Czechs. This "allied" command, conniving at the Socialist-Revolutionaries, helping them in every way, "appointed" a date for their performance in Irkutsk. It was it that "prepared" a new regime, to which "under the pressure of circumstances" it was in a hurry to hand over the admiral. Kolchak was not supposed to stay alive. But the Czechs themselves could not have shot him. Just like in the story with the Romanovs, who were supposed to fall at the hands of the Bolsheviks, the “allies” organized an SR bullet to the supreme ruler of Russia. And there were not only political reasons for this. Oh, anyone will understand these reasons! After all, we are talking about gold. Not about kilograms - about tons. About tens and hundreds of tons of precious metal …
There is much in common in the death of Kolchak and the family of Nicholas II. The newspaper "Version" No. 17 for 2004 published an interview with Vladlen Sirotkin, professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Doctor of Historical Sciences. We are talking about "Russian gold" located abroad and illegally appropriated by the "allies". It consists of three parts: "Tsarist," Kolchak "and" Bolshevik ". Pass is interested in the first two. The royal part consists of:
1) from gold mined in the mines, pirated by Japan in March 1917 in Vladivostok;
2) the second part: this is at least ten ships of the precious metal sent by the Russian government in 1908-1913 to the United States to create an international monetary system. There it remained, and the project was interrupted by the "accidental" outbreak of the First World War;
3) about 150 suitcases with jewels of the royal family that sailed to England in January 1917.
And so the "allied" special services, by the hands of the Bolsheviks, organized the liquidation of the entire royal family. This is a fat point in the history of "royal" gold. You don't have to give it away. There is no one else to ask the report - that is why the British and French do not recognize a single Russian government.
The second largest part of Russian gold is "Kolchakovskoe". These are funds directed to Japan, England and the United States for the purchase of weapons. Both the samurai and the governments of England and the United States did not fulfill their obligations to Kolchak. Today, only the gold transferred to Japan is worth about $ 80 billion. Those who don't believe in politics, believe in economics! Selling and betraying the White movement was very profitable. Kolchak, after all, the noble general Janin and the Czechs really sold, and to be more precise, they exchanged them. For its issuance, the Reds allowed the Czechoslovakians to take with them one third of the gold reserves of the Russian treasury, kept by the admiral. This money will then form the basis of the gold reserve of independent Czechoslovakia. The situation is the same - the physical destruction of Kolchak put an end to the financial relations of the Entente with the white governments. No Kolchak, no one to ask for a report.
The numbers vary. Different sources estimate the amount of "Russian gold" in different numbers. But in any case, it is impressive. We are not talking about kilograms or even centners, but about tens and hundreds of tons of precious metal. The "allies" accumulated by the Russian people over the previous centuries were not transported in sacks and trunks, but by steamships and trains. Hence the discrepancy: a wagon of gold here, a wagon of gold there. Note that the White Guard gold is precisely "Kolchak", not "Dennkin", not "Krasnovskoe" and not "Wrangel". Let us compare the facts, and the "diamond" of the "union" betrayal will sparkle for us with one more facet. None of the white leaders were issued red and died during the Civil War, with the exception of Kornilov, who died in battle. Only Admiral Kolchak was captured by the Bolsheviks. Denikin went to England, Krasnov to Germany, Wrangel was evacuated from the Crimea along with the remnants of his defeated army. Only Admiral Kolchak, who was in charge of a huge gold reserve, was killed.
To be fair, let's say that the fact of Kolchak's death was so blatant that it caused a huge resonance. The "allied" governments even had to create a special commission to investigate the actions of General Janin. “However, the matter did not end with anything,” writes Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. - General Janin answered all the questions with a phrase that put the interrogators in an awkward position: "I must repeat, gentlemen, that there was even less ceremony with His Majesty Emperor Nicholas II."
It was not for nothing that the French general mentioned the fate of Nikolai Romanov. General Janin put his hand to the disappearance of materials about the murder of the royal family. The first part "mysteriously" disappeared on the road from Russia to Great Britain. This is, so to speak, the contribution of British intelligence. The French are contributing to this dark history. Already after Kolchak's death, in early March 1920, a meeting of the main participants in the investigation took place in Harbin: generals Dieterichs and Lokhvitsky, investigator Sokolov, Englishman Wilton and the teacher of Tsarevich Alexei. Pierre Gilliard.
The material evidence collected by Sokolov and all the materials of the investigation were in the carriage of the British Wilton, who had a diplomatic status. The question of sending them abroad was being resolved. At that moment, as ordered, a strike broke out at the CER. The situation became tense, and even General Dieterichs, who opposed the removal of materials, agreed with the opinion of the others. In writing to General Janen, the participants in the impromptu meeting asked him to ensure the safety of the documents and remains of the royal family, which were in a special chest. It contains bones, fragments of bodies. Due to the retreat of the whites, the investigator Sokolov did not have time to make an examination. He has no right to take them with him: the investigator only has access to the materials when he is an official person. Power disappears. From the very beginning, who has put in charge of the investigation, his powers also disappear. The rest of the participants in the investigation also have no right to export documents and relics.
The only way to save the evidence and the original documents of the investigation is to hand them over to Zhanen. In mid-March 1920, Dnterikhs, Sokolov and Gilliard handed over the materials they had to Zhanin, having previously removed copies of the documents. Having taken them out of Russia, the French general must hand them over to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov in Paris. To the great surprise of all the emigration, the Grand Duke refused to accept the materials and remains from Janin. We will not be surprised: we will only remember that the former commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich Romanov, among other "prisoners" was guarded by a wonderful detachment of the sailor Zadorozhny and was taken together with everyone on a British dreadnought to Europe. It was these docile members of the Romanov family that were saved from death.
After Romanov's refusal to accept the relics, General Janin did not find anything better than to hand them over to … the former Ambassador of the Provisional Government Girs. After that, the documents and remains were never seen again, and their further fate is not known for sure. When the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who declared himself the heir to the Russian throne, tried to find out their whereabouts, he did not receive an intelligible answer. Most likely, they were kept in safes by one of the Parisian banks. Then there was information that during the occupation of Paris by the German army, the safes were opened, and things and documents disappeared. Who did it and why is a mystery to this day …
Now let's move from distant Siberia to the north-west of Russia, Here the elimination of whites was not so large-scale, but it took place in the immediate vicinity of red Petrograd, the results for whites in their horror and degree of betrayal can compete with the tragedy of the death of Kolchak's army.
Literature:
Romanov A. M. Book of memoirs. M.: ACT, 2008. S. 356
Filatyev D. V. The Catastrophe of the White Movement and Siberia / Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak. M.: Tsengrnolgraf. 2004. S. 240.
Sakharov K. White Siberia / Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak. M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2004. S. 120.
Dumbadze GS What contributed to our defeat in Siberia in the Civil War Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak. M.: Centronoligraf. 2004. S. 586.
Novikov I. A., Civil War in Eastern Siberia, Moscow: Tseitrpoligraf, 2005, p. 183.
Ataman Semyonov. About myself. M.: Tseitrpoligraf, 2007. S. 186.
Bogdanov K. A. Kolchak. SPb.: Shipbuilding, 1993. S. 121
Romanov A. M. Book of memoirs. M.: ACT, 2008. S. 361
