Troubles. 1919 year. 100 years ago, on December 18, 1919, the Krasnoyarsk operation of the Red Army began. On December 20, Soviet troops liberated Tomsk, on January 7, 1920 - Krasnoyarsk. Irkutsk was captured by the People's Revolutionary Army of the Political Center. On January 5, 1920, Kolchak resigned as the "supreme ruler".
Disaster development
On December 11, 1919, under pressure from the Pepelyaev brothers (the commander of the 1st Army Anatoly Pepelyaev and the head of the Siberian government Viktor Pepelyaev), Kolchak removed General Sakharov from the post of commander-in-chief. The new commander-in-chief was appointed General Kappel, who hoped to stop the enemy at the Yenisei line and get help from the Trans-Baikal troops of Ataman Semyonov. Kolchak appointed Semyonov commander of the troops of the Far East and the Irkutsk district, ordered the Cossacks to restore order in Irkutsk, where the SRs were preparing an uprising. The admiral himself hastened to the new capital - Irkutsk.
The rear was seething, believing that the war was lost. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks and other democrats got out of the underground, meetings were held everywhere, the announcement was made of "the transfer of power into the hands of the people." The slogan “Down with the war!” Gained popularity again. Rear units, garrisons quickly became victims of all sorts of propagandists. In Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok, Kolchak's power collapsed. The Czechs, who cared only about themselves and their looted property, again supported the socialists. Foreigners - "allies", merged Kolchak, and hastily tried to escape to the east on the best trains. And the English General Knox with a large staff of officers, and the head of the French mission Janin, the Americans, and other foreigners, commissioners under the Siberian government, railway and other commissions, all were in a hurry to the Pacific Ocean.
The catastrophe deepened. On December 14, 1919, units of the 27th Soviet division liberated Novonikolaevsk (Novosibirsk). By mid-December, Soviet troops reached the line of the Ob River. South of the railway, the partisans entered Semipalatinsk on December 3, they liberated Barnaul on December 10, Biysk on the 13th, and Ust-Kamenogorsk on the 15th. The resistance of the White Guards along the Transsib was practically paralyzed.
The retreating Kolchak people fell into the zone of action of the zone of action of the partisans. Already in the fall, detachments of Siberian partisans began to merge into whole "armies" - Kravchenko, Zverev, Shchetinkin, Mamontov, Rogov, Kalandarishvili. The "armies" of the rebels usually numbered several hundred or thousands of people, but they represented a real force, since all the local peasants joined them in major operations. For the time being, they kept in the depths of the Siberian taiga. But the Kolchak regime collapsed. Kolchak's units were falling apart, were demoralized. The Czechs stopped guarding the Siberian railway and only tried to escape with the looted goods. As a result, the partisans began to go out onto the railway, attacking the cities that had become defenseless. It was one of the terrible episodes of the Russian Troubles - the peasant war, the war of the peasants against any power and state, the war between the village and the city. In this situation, the arrival of the Red Army was a real salvation for the cities that fell prey to the rebels.
The Soviet command used the wide partisan movement in Siberia to their advantage. In December 1919 g.began joint operations of regular units of the Red Army and partisans in the main direction of the offensive. Located in the Minusinsk-Achinsk-Krasnoyarsk region, the Kravchenko-Shchetinkin partisan "army" numbered up to 15 thousand soldiers and consisted of 5 regiments. By order of the Soviet command, partisans from Altai began to be transferred to the Siberian Railway area. Also, partisans of Western Siberia began to be enrolled in the reserve regiments of the Red Army. Persons over 35 were exempt from service.
Liberation of Tomsk
From Novonikolaevsk, units of the Red Army launched an offensive on Tomsk and Mariinsk. The 30th and 27th rifle divisions were advancing in the vanguard. In Tomsk there were quite a few different white troops, the main forces of Pepeliaev's 1st Army. However, it was not possible to organize the defense of the city. The troops had already completely disintegrated, were out of control and did not even want to leave to the east. Pepeliaev, seeing this situation, fled from Tomsk (although before that he accused General Sakharov of surrendering Omsk). Then typhus knocked him down, and in the spring of 1920 the general fled to China. On the evening of December 20, 1919, the 2nd Brigade of the 30th Division entered the city without meeting any resistance anywhere. The Kolchak units remaining in Tomsk laid down their arms. At this time, the red command even preferred not to bother with numerous prisoners of Kolchak and white refugees, they were simply disarmed and released to their homes.
At the same time, other regiments of the 30th division and parts of the 27th division reached the Taiga junction station. Here the Red Army for the first time overtook the rearguard of the interventionist troops - the 5th division of the Polish legionnaires. The Poles covered the evacuation by rail. The Soviet 27th division, supported by partisans, struck a powerful blow on the enemy on December 23. At the same time, the workstations revolted. Soviet troops practically completely destroyed 4 thousand. enemy regiment, which was supported by two armored trains and artillery. Both armored trains and over 20 guns were captured. Two other Polish regiments of 8 thousand people were defeated at Anzhero-Sudzhensk and laid down their arms.
So the Czechs did not want to fight, the main obstacle to the rapid advance of the Reds to the east was only distance, fatigue of troops from constant movement, winter, snow drifts on the roads, bridges blown up by Kolchakites, other railway structures, poor condition of tracks clogged with damaged steam locomotives, burned carriages and abandoned trains. In addition, crowds of refugees and released prisoners interfered, who independently sought salvation, dying in masses from cold, hunger and typhus. Sometimes the Kappelites appeared, wandering through the snow, periodically reminding themselves to the red vanguards.
Battle of Krasnoyarsk
South of the railway, where units of the 35th division were advancing, Kuznetsk was occupied on December 26. On December 28, 1919, Soviet troops, with the support of partisans, liberated Mariinsk, on January 2, 1920 - Achinsk. Here the Red Army units were joined with the partisans of Kravchenko and Shchetinkin.
The Red Army was to take the last major enemy stronghold in Siberia - Krasnoyarsk. The 1st Siberian Corps under the command of General Zinevich was located here. The city had large stocks of weapons, ammunition and equipment. This was the last major base of the Kolchak army. The remnants of the broken white units retreated here. The white command hoped to detain the Reds in the Krasnoyarsk region, retain Eastern Siberia, and restore the army for a new campaign in the spring of 1920. But nothing came of it.
The commander of the garrison, General Zinevich, having waited until the five letter trains of Kolchak passed to the east, beyond Krasnoyarsk, broke away from the active army, raised a mutiny. On December 23, he handed over civil authority to the “Committee for Public Security,” which shared the political platform of the Irkutsk Political Center (Social Revolutionaries). Zinevich began negotiations on an armistice with the Reds by telegraph and demanded the same from the retreating White troops under the command of Kappel. Thus, Kolchak was cut off from his troops, without protection in the midst of a hostile environment. It is possible that the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Czechs and Western "allies" carried out this operation on purpose in order to put Kolchak in a desperate situation.
And the active army under the command of Kappel was put on the brink of complete destruction, finding itself between two fires, losing the last support base and supply line. The Kolchakites tried to drag out negotiations with Zinevich, at this time they were in a hurry to Krasnoyarsk as best they could. The units moved at accelerated marches through dense forests, deep snow, making an unprecedented campaign in history, losing every day the horse train, part of the convoy and artillery. It was especially difficult for the troops of the 3rd Army, which was moving south of the railway, where there were almost no roads, through high terrain overgrown with taiga. Defense and rearguard battles in order to delay the Red Army had to be completely abandoned. It was necessary to quickly reach Krasnoyarsk, while it was still possible to break through. The enemy forces in Krasnoyarsk were constantly being strengthened. Shchetinkin's partisan army marched down the Yenisei from Minusinsk.
While Zinevich was negotiating surrender with the Reds, planning to preserve the power of the Zemstvo Council (Social Revolutionaries) in the city, the local organization of the Bolsheviks prepared their uprising. On January 4, 1920, a Bolshevik uprising began in Krasnoyarsk. He was supported by the Yenisei partisans. Workers' detachments, soldiers and partisans who went over to their side, prepared the city for defense. On January 5, the advanced units of Kappel's army tried to recapture the city, but their weak attacks were repulsed. After that, Kappel and Voitsekhovsky decided to break through bypassing Krasnoyarsk to the east, they decided not to take the city, since the enemy received strong reinforcements. There was a threat that if the assault failed or was delayed, the Red Army would approach, and the Kolchakites would find themselves between a rock and a hard place. It was decided to bypass the city from the north.
On January 6, the Kolchakites went for a breakthrough. But at this time, Soviet troops overtook the remnants of the 2nd and 3rd white armies. Partisan detachments from Shchetinkin's "army" came to the aid of the Soviet troops. Kolchak people were surrounded. The army, which consisted of sled carts, rushed about. They tried to return to the west, then again turned east, or went south and north. There was no correct battle. Fights took place here and there, both sides defended and attacked. Some of the White Guard units surrendered, others fought desperately. A haphazard, chaotic battle in an area of tens of miles lasted all day. By nightfall, the white resistance was broken. On the night of January 6-7, units of the 30th Infantry Division entered Krasnoyarsk. In fact, the Kolchak army ceased to exist. In the Krasnoyarsk region, about 60 thousand Kolchak residents were killed, wounded or captured. According to other sources, about 20 thousand people. It is possible that a large figure includes all refugees, rear personnel, officials, civilians, etc. The White Guards lost all carts and artillery.
With Kappel, up to 12 thousand people made their way to the eastern bank of the Yenisei. The remaining white troops continued their march to Transbaikalia. Part of the troops with Kappel and Voitsekhovsky went north along the Yenisei, then moved along the Kan River to Kansk to re-enter the railroad. It was an extremely difficult route, almost without villages, that is, and supply of housing. In the area of the mouth of the Kan River, a detachment of General Perkhurov separated from the general column (after his capture of the people, General Sukin led the people), which moved further north along the Yenisei to its confluence with the Angara, then along the Angara to the mouth of the Ilim River, then along the Ilim to the village of Ilimsk and Ust-Kut (in March 1920 the remnants of the detachment reached Chita). Another group, which was soon headed by General Sakharov, continued to move along the Siberian highway and the railway, catching up with the previously departed units and detachments.
Rise of the Political Center
While the Red Army was completing the rout of the White Guards, major events took place in the Baikal region, which accelerated the fall of the Kolchak regime. In the second half of December 1919, uprisings of workers and soldiers began in the cities of Eastern Siberia. On December 17, Kirensk revolted. On December 21, the soldiers and workers of Cheremkhov revolted. The Czechs did not interfere. The Cheremkhovsky railway battalion joined the rebels. At the same time, the power of the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center was established in Nizhneudinsk and Balagansk.
The political center headed by Fedorovich, Akhmatov and Kosminsky tried to use the fall of the Kolchak government to establish its power in Siberia and the Far East, and to create a "democratic government". This idea was supported by the Czechs and the Entente, hoping with the help of the SRs to create a new puppet regime, to maintain control over Siberia and the Far East. The Social Revolutionaries were followed by many soldiers of the rear garrisons, who followed the slogan of turning the war with the Reds, officers and even commanders of formations (like General Zinevich in Krasnoyarsk). The positions of the Social Revolutionaries were especially strong in Irkutsk. A significant part of the officers of the Irkutsk garrison supported the SRs. Using this, the Socialist-Revolutionaries prepared an uprising. The rebels were led by Captain Nikolai Kalashnikov.
On the eve of the speech, the counterintelligence of the headquarters of the Irkutsk military district was able to arrest the revolutionary committee of the SRs, only a few people disappeared. But the uprising could not be prevented. On December 24, by order of the Political Center, Kalashnikov and Merkhalev led the performance in Glazkov of the 53rd Siberian Rifle Regiment. At the same time, the Irkutsk brigade revolted. With the transfer of the local brigade to the rebels, important military warehouses of the Batareinaya station, which it guarded, ended up in their hands. Workers' squads were created in Glazkov and in the Znamenskoye suburb of Irkutsk. The rebels formed the People's Revolutionary Army, led by Kalashnikov.
However, the rebels could not immediately capture the entire city. The planned transition of a number of units in the city center to the side of the rebels was paralyzed due to the arrests of the leaders of the Political Center. The units that remained loyal to Kolchak (the most staunch were the cadets and cadets) were separated from the rebels by the still unfrozen Angara. The pontoon bridge was torn down by the ice drift, and the steamers were controlled by the invaders. The head of the Irkutsk garrison, Major General Sychev, planned to attack the rebels, but he was forbidden by the commander of the interventionists, General Janin. He declared the zone where the rebels were located neutral. Czech troops did not intervene.
Ataman Semyonov, whom Kolchak appointed commander of the troops of the Trans-Baikal, Amur and Irkutsk military districts, and promoted to lieutenant general, only now, after the uprising in Irkutsk, sensed a threat to himself. He sent a small detachment to Irkutsk headed by Major General Skipetrov (about 1,000 people). The Semyonovites arrived by rail to Irkutsk on December 30. They were supported by three armored trains. However, the white armored trains did not hit the Irkutsk station, since the railway workers started up a steam locomotive to meet the head armored train, damaging it and the track. Then White began to attack Glazkov. But their attack was stopped by the Czechs. They demanded the withdrawal of troops to the Baikal station, threatening otherwise to use armed force. The Czech armored train "Orlik" was more powerful in armament than the three armored trains of the Semyonovites combined. Lacking contact with the city, due to the small number and low combat capability of his detachment, the preparedness of the enemy's defense, large forces of workers 'and peasants' squads and partisans, Sceptrov retreated.
Then the Czech troops, with the support of the Americans, destroyed Semyonov's armored trains, defeated and captured the Semyonovites at the Baikal station and other points. Thus, the interventionists unblocked the section of the Siberian Railway, which was controlled by the ataman.
Meanwhile, the Kolchak units remaining in Irkutsk were completely disorganized under pressure from the interventionists. General Sychev with a group of officers fled for Baikal. On January 4, 1920, in the center of Irkutsk, the military-revolutionary organization of the Political Center raised an uprising, the remaining white units and local Irkutsk Cossacks went over to its side. The Irkutsk cadets held out for a while, then laid down their arms. Kolchak's government in Irkutsk was arrested. By January 5, all of Irkutsk was under the rule of the Political Center. The Provisional Council of the Siberian People's Administration, formed by the Political Center, declared itself to be the power in the territory "cleared of the power of reaction" from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk. The Provisional Council was declared the highest body of state and legislative power in Siberia, and the Political Center - the executive body of the Provisional Council.
Kolchak's "Nizhdeudinskoe sitting"
Preparations for the transfer of power to the SRs and the seizure of it were carried out with the consent of the interventionists, whose headquarters were at that time in Irkutsk. The Entente, making sure that the Kolchak regime was fully used, again tried to rely on the Socialist-Revolutionaries in order to maintain their presence in eastern Russia with their help. True, the Japanese at first had a different position than the Americans, British and French. The Japanese, in order to preserve their protege ataman Semyonov, to whom the "supreme ruler" had delegated great powers, tried to help the admiral. But under pressure from Janin and Grevs (American general, US representative in the Far East and Siberia), the Japanese soon yielded.
To strengthen the power of the Political Center, to give the Social Revolutionaries to take power in Irkutsk and other Siberian cities, the interventionists blocked Kolchak. On December 27, 1919, Kolchak reached Nizhneudinsk. Zhanen from Irkutsk ordered not to let the Kolchak train and the golden echelon pass further "for reasons of their safety." The Czechs blocked the convoy of the “supreme ruler,” uncoupled and hijacked steam locomotives. The protests came to nothing. Kolchak ordered Kappel to go to the rescue. The white commander could not carry out this order, his units were too far from Nizhneudinsk, making their way through dense forests, deep snow and fighting off the red ones.
For Kolchak, the "Nizhneudin sitting" began. The station was declared "neutral". The Czechs acted as guarantors of the admiral's safety. Therefore, the rebels did not meddle here. Companions offered Kolchak to run to the border of Mongolia. An old road 250 miles long led there from Nizhneudinsk. Some of the gold could be loaded onto carts. There was a convoy for protection - more than 500 soldiers. However, Kolchak missed this chance. Gathering the soldiers, he said that he was not going to Irkutsk, but was temporarily staying in Nizhneudinsk. The admiral offered to stay with him to all those who are ready to share his fate and believe in him, giving the rest freedom of action. By morning, almost everyone was gone. The "supreme ruler" remained completely defenseless. The Czechs immediately took the golden echelon under their "protection". Communication was also in their hands, and Kolchak was completely cut off from the events taking place.
While Kolchak was in Nizhneudinsk, in Irkutsk, negotiations were held between his ministers, the "emergency troika" Minister of War, General Khanzhin, Minister of Railways Larionov and acting head of government, Interior Minister Cherven-Vodali, with representatives of the Political Center. The negotiations were conducted on the train of General Janin, on his initiative and under his chairmanship. That is, the West "led" Kolchak until the very last moment, first used and then passed. At first, Kolchak's "troika" resisted the conspiracy, but under pressure from the "allies" was forced to recognize the Political Center and accept the conditions put forward by it.
The interventionists demanded that Kolchak renounce the supreme power (he no longer had real power, but a legal act was required), guaranteeing in this case a safe trip abroad. It was a deception. The issue of extradition has already been resolved. Janin decided, with the help of Kolchak, to resolve the issue of the safe evacuation of foreign missions and troops to the east, plus the supply of their trains with coal. Also, the Entente needed his extradition to establish "friendship" with the new Siberian "democratic" government. The political center needed Kolchak to legally strengthen its power and to bargain with the Bolsheviks.
On January 3, 1920, in Nizhneudinsk, Kolchak received from the Council of Ministers a telegram signed by Cherven-Vodali, Khanzhin and Larionov demanding that he renounce power and transfer it to Denikin, as the new Supreme Ruler. On January 5, 1920, the troops of the Political Center established full control over Irkutsk. General Khanzhin was arrested. Kolchak's position was hopeless. In the west, the partisans and the Reds were advancing, in Nizhneudinsk - the rebels, in Irkutsk - the Political Center. On January 5, the admiral signed a renunciation of power, handing it over to Denikin, who was appointed deputy supreme commander in the summer. In the Russian East, all military and civilian power was transferred to Semyonov.
After that, the carriage with Kolchak and the golden echelon guarded by the Czechs were allowed to go to Irkutsk. On January 10, the train left Nizhneudinsk. At the Cheremkhovo station, the local revolutionary committee and the workers demanded that the admiral and gold be handed over to them. The Czechs managed to come to an agreement; representatives of the workers' squad were included in the guards. On January 15, the train arrived in Irkutsk. Additional guards were set up here. The "allies" have already fled from Irkutsk. In the evening, the Czechs announced to the admiral that they would hand him over to the local authorities. Kolchak and his Prime Minister Pepeliaev were imprisoned.
The Japanese did not know about this, they believed that Kolchak would be taken to the east. Upon learning of the admiral's betrayal, they protested and demanded the release of Kolchak. The fact is that the Japanese are a warrior nation, such dark deeds are not in their style. And the nations of the Western democracies - England, France and the United States - are merchants, they are always happy with a profitable deal, an agreement. Therefore, the voice of the Japanese remained lonely, no one supported them. The Japanese command had only a few companies in Irkutsk, so it could not confirm its opinion by force. As a result, the Japanese left the city.
