The Caucasian native cavalry division, better known in history as the "Wild" division, was formed on the basis of the highest decree on August 23, 1914 in the North Caucasus and was staffed by volunteer mountaineers. The division consisted of six regiments of four hundred members: Kabardin, 2nd Dagestan, Chechen, Tatar (from the inhabitants of Azerbaijan), Circassian and Ingush.
But first, a little background. The widespread involvement of the indigenous population of the North Caucasus in Russian military service, primarily in militia units, began in the 1820s - 1830s. XIX century, at the height of the Caucasian war, when its specific protracted, partisan character was determined and the tsarist government set itself the task: on the one hand, “to have all these peoples in its dependence and to make them useful to the state”, i.e. promote the political and cultural integration of the highlanders into Russian society, and, on the other hand, save on the maintenance of regular units from Russia. Highlanders from among the "hunters" (ie volunteers) were involved in the permanent militia (in fact, combat units kept in a barracks position) and temporary - "for offensive military operations in detachments with regular troops or for the defense of the region in case of danger from hostile peoples ". The provisional militia was used exclusively in the theater of the Caucasian War.
However, until 1917, the tsarist government did not dare to enlist the mountaineers in military service en masse, on the basis of compulsory military service. This was replaced by a monetary tax, which from generation to generation began to be perceived by the local population as a kind of privilege. Before the start of the large-scale First World War, the Russian army did well without the highlanders. The only attempt to mobilize among the highlanders of the North Caucasus in 1915, in the midst of a bloody war, had barely begun: only rumors about the upcoming event caused strong fermentation in the mountainous environment and forced the idea to be postponed. Tens of thousands of highlanders of military age remained outside the unfolding world confrontation.
However, the highlanders who wished to voluntarily join the ranks of the Russian army were enrolled in the Caucasian native cavalry division created at the very beginning of the First World War, better known in history under the name "Wild".
The native division was headed by the emperor's brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, although he was in political disgrace, but very popular, both among the people and among the aristocracy. Therefore, service in the ranks of the division immediately became attractive to representatives of the highest Russian nobility, who occupied most of the command posts in the division. There were Georgian princes Bagration, Chavchavadze, Dadiani, Orbeliani, mountain sultans: Bekovich-Cherkassky, Khagandokov, Erivansky khans, Shamkhaly-Tarkovsky khans, the Polish prince Radziwill, representatives of the ancient Russian surnames of the princes Gagarin, Svyatopolysov-K, Tolstoy, Lodyzhensky, Polovtsev, Staroselsky; princes Napoleon-Murat, Albrecht, Baron Wrangel, Persian prince Fazula Mirza Qajar and others.
The peculiarities of the formation of the unit and the mentality of its personnel had a significant impact on the disciplinary practice in the units and the moral and psychological state of the riders (this is what the rank-and-file fighters of the division were called).
In the national regiments, a hierarchical structure was maintained, similar to the structure of a large late clan family characteristic of all mountain peoples. Many of the horsemen were close or distant relatives. According to the testimony of a young officer of the Ingush regiment A. P. Markov, representatives of the Ingush Malsagov family in this regiment were "so numerous that when the regiment was formed in the Caucasus, there was even a project to create a separate hundred from representatives of this surname." Representatives of several generations of the same family could often be found in the shelves. There is a known case when in 1914 a twelve-year-old teenager Abubakar Dzhurgaev went to war with his father.
In general, the number of those wishing to serve in the division always exceeded the regular capabilities of the regiments. Undoubtedly, the kinship of many horsemen contributed to the strengthening of discipline in the regiment. Some sometimes "went away" to the Caucasus, but with the obligatory replacement of themselves with a brother, nephew, etc.
The internal order in the division was significantly different from the order of the cadre units of the Russian army, the relations traditional for mountain societies were maintained. There was no reference to "you" here, officers were not regarded as masters, they had to earn the respect of the horsemen by bravery on the battlefield. Honor was given only to the officers of their regiment, less often - to the division, because of which "stories" often happened.
Since December 1914, the division was on the Southwestern Front and proved itself well in battles against the Austro-Hungarian army, which was regularly reported in orders from higher authorities. Already in the first, December battles, the 2nd brigade of the division, consisting of the Tatar and Chechen regiments, distinguished itself by counterattacking enemy units that penetrated into the rear near the village of Verkhovyna-Bystra and heights 1251. The brigade bypassed the Austrians from the rear on bad roads and deep snow and dealt a crushing blow enemy, taking prisoner 9 officers and 458 privates. Colonel K. N. Khagandokov was promoted to the rank of major general, and many horsemen received their first military awards - the "soldier" St. George's crosses.
Soon, one of the main heroes of this battle, the commander of the Chechen regiment, Colonel Prince A. S. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. He fell in battle on February 15, 1915, when he personally directed the actions of his regiment in battle and received three wounds, two of which were fatal.
One of the most successful battles of their divisions was on September 10, 1915. On this day, hundreds of the Kabardian and 2nd Kabardian regiments secretly concentrated near the village of Kulchitsy in order to facilitate the advance of the neighboring infantry regiment in the direction of Hill 392, the Michal-Pole farm and the village of Petlikovtse- Nové on the left bank of the Strypi river. Although the task of the cavalry was only reconnaissance of the enemy's positions, the commander of the Kabardin regiment, Prince F. N. Bekovich-Cherkassky took the initiative and, taking advantage of the opportunity, dealt a crushing blow to the main positions of the 9th and 10th Gonvend regiments near the village of Zarvinitsa, taking 17 officers, 276 Magyar soldiers, 3 machine guns, 4 telephones prisoner. At the same time, he had only 196 horsemen of Kabardians and Dagestanis and lost in battle two officers, 16 horsemen and 48 horses killed and wounded. Note that valor and heroism in this battle was shown by the mullah of the Kabardin regiment Alikhan Shogenov, who, as stated in the award list, “in the battle on September 10, 1915 near the village. Dobropol, under the strongest machine-gun and rifle fire, accompanied the advancing units of the regiment, with his presence and speeches he influenced the Mohammedan horsemen, who showed extraordinary courage in this battle and captured 300 Hungarian infantrymen.
The "Wild Division" also took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough in the summer of 1916, although it did not manage to seriously distinguish itself there. The reason for this was the general orientation of the command of the 9th Army to use cavalry in the form of an army reserve, and not as an echelon for the development of success, as a result of which the entire army cavalry was scattered brigade along the front and did not have a significant impact on the course of battles. Nevertheless, in a number of battles, the mountain riders of the division managed to distinguish themselves. For example, even before the start of the general offensive, they contributed to the forcing of the Dniester River that divided the opposing sides. On the night of May 30, 1916, the chieftain of the Chechen regiment, Prince Dadiani, with fifty of his 4th hundred, swam across the river near the village of Ivanie under fierce enemy rifle and machine-gun fire, and seized the bridgehead. This made it possible for the Chechen, Circassian, Ingush, Tatar regiments, as well as the Zaamur regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division to cross to the right bank of the Dniester.
The feat of the Chechens, who were the first of the Russian troops to cross to the right bank of the Dniester, did not pass by the highest attention: Emperor Nicholas II awarded all 60 Chechen horsemen who participated in the crossing with St. George's crosses of various degrees.
As you can see, the swift cavalry throws often brought the riders of the Indigenous Division considerable booty in the form of prisoners. It should be said that the highlanders often dealt with the captured Austrians in a savage way - they cut their heads off. In the report of the chief of staff of the division in October 1916 it was reported: "Few enemies were taken prisoner, but many were hacked to death." The leader of Yugoslavia, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, who was lucky - in 1915, being a soldier of the Austro-Hungarian army, he was not hacked to death by the "Circassians", but was only captured: " We staunchly repulsed the attacks of the infantry advancing on us along the entire front, he recalled, but suddenly the right flank wavered and the cavalry of the Circassians, natives of the Asian part of Russia, poured into the gap. No sooner had we come to our senses than they swept through our positions in a whirlwind, dismounted and rushed into our trenches with peaks at the ready. One Circassian with a two-meter lance flew at me, but I had a rifle with a bayonet, besides, I was a good swordsman and repulsed his attack. But, reflecting the attack of the first Circassian, he suddenly felt a terrible blow in the back. I turned around and saw the distorted face of another Circassian and huge black eyes under thick eyebrows. " This Circassian drove the future marshal with a lance under the left shoulder blade.
Among the horsemen, robberies were common, both in relation to prisoners and in relation to the local population, which they also considered a conquered enemy. Due to national and historical characteristics, robbery during the war was considered a military valor among the horsemen, and peaceful Galician peasants very often became its victims. Hiding when the regiments of local residents appeared, the horsemen "saw off with intent and unfriendly glances, like prey that was clearly eluding them." The division chief received continuous complaints "about violence perpetrated by the lower ranks of the division." At the end of 1915, a search in the Jewish town of Ulashkovitsy resulted in mass pogroms, robberies and rapes of the local population.
In all fairness, it must be said that, as far as possible, strict discipline was maintained in the regiments. The most severe punishment for the riders was the exclusion from the regiment's lists "for incorrigibly bad behavior" and the "placement" of those guilty at their place of residence. In their native villages, their shameful expulsion from the regiment was announced. At the same time, the forms of punishment used in the Russian army turned out to be completely unacceptable for the horsemen. For example, there is a known case when one Tatar (Azerbaijani) horseman shot himself immediately after attempting to publicly flog him, even though the flogging was canceled.
The medieval, in fact, manner of waging war by the highlanders contributed to the formation of a very peculiar, as they would say now, the image of the division. In the minds of the local population, a stereotype even formed, according to which any robber and rapist was designated by the term "Circassian", although the Cossacks also wore Caucasian uniforms.
It was very difficult for the officers of the division to overcome this prejudice; on the contrary, the fame of an unusually wild, cruel and brave army was cultivated and spread by journalists in every possible way.
Materials about the native division often appeared on the pages of various illustrated literary publications - "Niva", "Chronicle of War", "Novoye Vremya", "War" and many others. Journalists in every possible way emphasized the exotic appearance of her soldiers, described the horror that the Caucasian horsemen instilled in the enemy - the multi-tribal and poorly motivated Austrian army.
The comrades in arms who fought shoulder to shoulder with the mountain horsemen retained the most vivid impressions of them. As the newspaper Terskie Vedomosti noted in February 1916, the riders amaze anyone who encounters them for the first time. "Their peculiar views on the war, their legendary courage, reaching purely legendary limits, and the whole flavor of this peculiar military unit, consisting of representatives of all the peoples of the Caucasus, can never be forgotten."
During the war years, about 7000 highlanders passed through the ranks of the "Wild" division. It is known that by March 1916 the division had lost 23 officers, 260 horsemen and lower ranks in killed and dead from wounds. There were 144 officers and 1,438 horsemen wounded. Many horsemen could be proud of more than one St. George award. It is curious to note that for non-Russians in the Russian Empire, a cross was provided with the image not of St. George - the defender of Christians, but with the state emblem. The riders were very indignant that they were given a "bird" instead of a "horseman" and, in the end, achieved their goal.
And soon the "Wild Division" had its role in the great Russian drama - the revolutionary events of 1917.
After the summer 1916 offensive, the division was occupied with positional battles and reconnaissance, and from January 1917 it was on a calm sector of the front and did not take part in hostilities anymore. Soon she was taken to rest and the war ended for her.
The materials of the inspections of the regiments in February 1917 showed that the unit went to rest in perfect order, representing a strong combat unit. During this period, the command of the division (Chief N. I. Bagratiton, Chief of Staff P. A., Crimean Tatar and Turkmen regiments. Bagration and Polovtsev traveled with this proposal to Headquarters, proving that "the highlanders are such a wonderful fighting material" and even persuaded the emperor to this decision, but did not find support from the General Staff.
The horsemen of the "Wild" division greeted the February revolution with confusion. After Nicholas II, the recent head of the division, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, abdicated the throne.
According to the observations of contemporaries, "the horsemen, with the wisdom inherent in the Caucasian mountaineers, treated all the" achievements of the revolution "with gloomy mistrust."
“The regimental and centenary commanders tried in vain to explain to their“natives”that this had happened… The“natives”did not understand a lot and, above all, did not understand how it was possible to be“without a tsar”. The words "Provisional Government" did not say anything to these dashing riders from the Caucasus and absolutely did not wake up any images in their eastern imaginations. "Revolutionary neoplasms in the form of divisional, regimental, and so on. committees also affected the Indigenous Division. However, the senior command staff of the regiments and divisions took an active part in their "arrangement", and the divisional committee was headed by the commander of the Circassian regiment, Sultan Crimea-Girey. The division has preserved the veneration of rank. The most revolutionary hotbed in the division was the team of machine gunners from the Baltic Fleet, assigned to the formation even before the revolution. In comparison with them, "the natives looked much more tactful and restrained." So, already at the beginning of April P. A. Polovtsev could announce with relief that in his native Tatar regiment "is leaving the crucible of the revolution in perfect order." The situation was similar in other regiments. Historian O. L. Opryshko explains the preservation of discipline in the division by a special atmosphere that is not typical for other parts of the Russian army: the voluntary nature of service and the blood and country ties that held the military collective together.
In March-April, the division even strengthened its strength due to the arrival of the Ossetian foot brigade (3 battalions and 3 infantry hundreds), formed at the end of 1916, and a "reserve cadre" regiment - a spare part of the division previously stationed in the North Caucasus. On the eve of the June 1917 offensive of the troops of the Southwestern Front of the division, General L. G. Kornilov. The army, in his own words, was “in a state of almost complete disintegration … Many generals and a significant part of regimental commanders were removed from their posts under pressure from the committees. With the exception of a few parts, fraternization flourished …”. The "Wild Division" was among the units that retained their military appearance. After reviewing the division on June 12, Kornilov admitted that he was happy to see it "in such amazing order." He told Bagration that "at last he was breathing military air." In the offensive that began on June 25, the 8th Army operated quite successfully, but the operation of the Southwestern Front failed after the first counterattacks by German and Austrian troops. A panicky retreat began, spurred on by the defeatist agitation of the Bolshevik agitators, first by units of the 11th Army, and then by the entire Southwestern Front. General P. N., who has just arrived at the front. Wrangel watched as “the“democratized army”, not wanting to shed its blood to“save the conquests of the revolution,”fled like a herd of sheep. The bosses deprived of their power were powerless to stop this crowd. " The "Wild Division", at the personal request of General Kornilov, covered the withdrawal of Russian troops and participated in counterattacks.
General Bagration noted: "In this chaotic retreat … the importance of discipline in the regiments of the Indigenous Cavalry Division was clearly revealed, the orderly movement of which brought peace to the panicky elements of non-combatants and carts, which were joined by deserters of the infantry of the XII Corps from positions."
The division's organization, which was atypical for that time, had long earned it the reputation of being "counter-revolutionary," which worried both the Provisional Government and the Soviet government in equal measure. During the retreat of the troops of the Southwestern Front, this image was strengthened due to the fact that hundreds of divisions took upon themselves to protect the headquarters from possible attempts by deserters. According to Bagration, "the mere presence of … Caucasians will curb the criminal intent of deserters, and if necessary, hundreds will appear on alarm."
In July and August, the situation at the front deteriorated rapidly. Following the defeat of the Southwestern Front, Riga was left without resistance and a part of the Northern Front began a disorderly retreat. A real threat of capture by the enemy loomed over Petrograd. The government decided to form a Special Petrograd Army. In the officer-generals and right-wing circles of Russian society, the conviction was ripening that it was impossible to restore order in the army and the country and stop the enemy without liquidating the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. The leader of this movement was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, General Kornilov. Acting in close connection with representatives of the Provisional Government and with their consent (High Commissioner at Headquarters M. M. Filonenko and Chief Executive of the War Ministry B. V. Savinkov), Kornilov at the end of August began to concentrate troops in the vicinity of Petrograd at the request of Kerensky himself, who feared a Bolshevik action. His immediate goal was the dispersal of the Petrosovet (and, in case of resistance, the Provisional Government), the declaration of a temporary dictatorship and a state of siege in the capital.
Not without reason, fearing his displacement, on August 27 A. F. Kerensky removed Kornilov from the post of supreme commander-in-chief, after which the latter moved his troops to Petrograd. On the afternoon of August 28, a cheerful and confident mood prevailed at Headquarters in Mogilev. General Krasnov, who arrived here, was told: “No one will defend Kerensky. This is a walk. Everything is prepared. " The defenders of the capital themselves later admitted: "The behavior of the troops of Petrograd was below any criticism, and the revolution near Petrograd, in the event of a collision, would find the same defenders as the fatherland near Tarnopol" (meaning the July defeat of the Southwestern Front).
As a striking force, Kornilov chose the 3rd Cavalry Corps of the Cossacks under the command of Lieutenant General A. M. Krymov and the Indigenous Division, "as units capable of resisting the corrupting influence of the Petrograd Soviet …". Back on August 10, by order of the new Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General of Infantry L. G. Kornilov, the "Wild Division" began a transfer to the Northern Front, in the area of the Bottom station.
It is characteristic that rumors about the transfer of the division to Petrograd to "restore order" have been around for a long time, and its officers had to periodically appear in the press with refutations.
According to A. P. Markov, the transfer of the division to Petrograd was planned back in December 1916 - the tsarist government expected it to "strengthen the garrison" of the capital, no longer relying on the propagandized spare infantry units. According to the first historiographer of the division N. N. Breshko-Breshkovsky, reactionary and monarchist sentiments prevailed among the officers. In the mouth of the protagonist of his chronicle novel, he puts such a characteristic exclamation: “Who can resist us? Who? These rotten gangs of cowards who have not been on fire …? If only we could reach, physically reach Petrograd, and there is no doubt about success! … All military schools will rise, all the best will rise, everything that only craves a signal to liberate from the gang of international criminals who have settled in Smolny! …"
By order of General Kornilov of August 21, the division was deployed into the Caucasian native cavalry corps - a very controversial decision (at that time the division had only 1350 checkers with a large shortage of weapons) and untimely due to the tasks ahead of it. The corps was supposed to consist of two divisions, two-brigade composition. Using his powers as the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces, Kornilov transferred the 1st Dagestan and Ossetian cavalry regiments from other formations for these purposes, deploying the latter in two regiments. General Bagration was appointed head of the corps. The 1st division was led by Major General A. V. Gagarin, the 2nd - by Lieutenant General Khoranov.
On August 26, General Kornilov, being at the Mogilev Headquarters, ordered the troops to march on Petrograd. By this time, the indigenous corps had not yet completed its concentration at the Dno station, so only some of its parts (the entire Ingush regiment and three echelons of the Circassian) moved to Petrograd.
The interim government took emergency measures to detain the trains moving from the south. In many places, railway tracks and telegraph lines were destroyed, congestions at stations and railway tracks and damage to steam locomotives were organized. The confusion caused by the delay in movement on 28 August was exploited by numerous agitators.
Units of the "Wild Division" had no connection with the head of the operation, General Krymov, who was stuck at st. Luga, neither with the head of the division Bagration, who did not advance with his headquarters from st. Bottom. In the morning of August 29, a delegation of agitators of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the executive committee of the All-Russian Muslim Council from among the natives of the Caucasus arrived at the commander of the Circassian regiment, Colonel Sultan Crimea-Girey - its chairman Akhmet Tsalikov, Aytek Namitokov and others. restoration of the monarchy and, consequently, the danger to the national movement in the North Caucasus. They called on their fellow countrymen not to interfere in any way "in the internal strife of Russia." The audience before the delegates was divided into two parts: the Russian officers (and they made up the overwhelming majority of the command staff in the native echelons) without exception stood for Kornilov, and the Muslim horsemen, according to the feelings of the speakers, did not understand the meaning of the events at all. According to the testimony of the members of the delegation, junior officers and horsemen were "completely unaware" of the goals of their movement and "were greatly depressed and depressed by the role that General Kornilov wants to impose on them."
Confusion began in the regiments of the division. The dominant mood of the horsemen was the unwillingness to interfere in the internecine struggle and fight against the Russians.
Colonel Sultan Crimea-Girey took the initiative of the negotiations, being essentially alone among the pro-Kornilov-minded officers. On the first day of negotiations, August 29, they managed to gain the upper hand and the chief of the echelon, Prince Gagarin, forced the delegation to leave. He planned to march to Tsarskoe Selo by the end of the day.
Of key importance were negotiations on the morning of August 30 at Vyritsa station, in which General Bagration, Muslim representatives, deputies of the Petrosovet, members of regimental and divisional committees, regimental commanders, and many officers took part. From Vladikavkaz came a telegram from the Central Committee of the Union of the United Mountaineers of the Caucasus, forbidding "on pain of the curse of your mothers and children to take part in an internal war waged for purposes unknown to us."
It was decided not in any way to participate in the campaign "against the Russians" and a delegation was elected to Kerensky, consisting of 68 people, led by Colonel Sultan of Crimea-Giray. On September 1, the delegation was received by the Provisional Government and assured the latter of its full submission. Bagration, who was reputed to be a weak-willed boss, took a passive position in the events that were taking place, preferring to go with the flow.
He was removed by the government, as were Gagarin and the chief of staff of the corps, V. Gatovsky. The corps was promised immediate dispatch to the Caucasus for rest and resupply. The command ("like a democrat") was taken over by the former chief of staff of the Indigenous Division, Lieutenant General Polovtsev, who had already served as commander of the Petrograd military district.
The regiments of the Indigenous Division refused to participate in the mutiny, but the Bolshevik propaganda did not take deep roots in it either.
In September 1917, a number of officers of the regiment appeared in the press, as well as at the 2nd General Congress in Vladikavkaz, with a statement that they did not fully know the goals of their movement to St. Petersburg.
In conditions when the civil war was already close, the motive of the interethnic clash associated with the use of the Indigenous Division in Kornilov's speech especially embarrassed the participants in the conflict, became a bogeyman, giving the impending events an ominous shade. Among the conspirators, the opinion was widespread, philistine at its core, that "the Caucasian highlanders do not care who to cut." B. V. Savinkov (at Kerensky's request), even before the government broke with Kornilov on August 24, asked him to replace the Caucasian division with regular cavalry, since "it is awkward to entrust the establishment of Russian freedom to the Caucasian highlanders."Kerensky, in a public order of August 28, personified the forces of reaction in the person of the "Wild Division": "He (Kornilov - AB) says that he stands for freedom, [a] sends a native division to Petrograd." The other three cavalry divisions of General Krymov were not mentioned by him. Petrograd, according to the historian G. Z. Ioffe, from this news "numb", not knowing what to expect from the "mountain thugs."
Muslim negotiators who campaigned in the regiments on August 28 - 31, against their will, were forced to exploit the national Islamic theme in order to drive a wedge between ordinary mountaineers and reactionary officers, largely foreign to the horsemen. According to A. P. Markov, the Georgians had to leave the Ingush regiment, the Ossetians had to leave the Kabardian regiment. An “unsympathetic situation” also developed in the Tatar regiment: pan-Islamist tendencies spread. Obviously, there was that painful point, pressing on which quickly demoralized the Caucasian horsemen. For comparison, it can be recalled that the socialist propaganda of the radical seamen of the machine-gun command after the February Revolution had almost no influence on the horsemen.
General Polovtsev, who received the corps in early September, found a picture of impatient expectation at the Dno station: "The mood is such that if the echelons are not given, the horsemen will march across the whole of Russia and she will not soon forget this campaign."
In October 1917, units of the Caucasian Native Cavalry Corps arrived in the North Caucasus in the regions of their formation and, willy-nilly, became participants in the revolutionary process and the Civil War in the region.
