Ataman-sadness … This is how the Don was nicknamed the hero of the Great War, the ataman of the Great Don Army, Aleksey Maksimovich Kaledin (1861-1918), who passed away when it seemed to him that there was no longer any possibility for the Don to resist the onslaught of the godless pro-German forces … But Kaledin had and another nickname - "Don Hindenburg", given after the brilliant Brusilov breakthrough in 1916, when Kaledin's 8th army rushed forward at the forefront of the main attack …
Before the fatal shot, which cut short his life in 57, the general from the cavalry Kaledin passed the glorious military path of a Russian officer, a zealous defender of the Fatherland.
Alexey Kaledin was born in the village of Ust-Khoperskaya in the family of a Don Cossack officer who rose to the rank of colonel.
Aleksey Kaledin's grandfather, Major of the Russian Army Vasily Maksimovich Kaledin, fought bravely in the Cossack corps of the "vikhor-ataman" Matvey Ivanovich Platov against the French during the period of the most intense struggle against Napoleon's army in 1812-1814. and in one of the last battles he lost his leg. The father of the future general and chieftain, Maxim Vasilyevich Kaledin, "colonel of the times of the Sevastopol defense" (according to other sources - a military sergeant major, which corresponded to the army rank of lieutenant colonel) managed to convey to his son his love for his native land, for military affairs, to which he himself devoted his entire arduous life …
Kaledin's mother was a simple Cossack and loved her son dearly, beholding the baby and singing Cossack lullabies to him. “This is the grain from which the appearance of the white leader and chieftain grew,” noted one of Kaledin's biographers
Having received his initial military education at the Voronezh military gymnasium, the Cossack Alexei Kaledin entered the Mikhailovskoye artillery school, after which in 1882 he was assigned to the Far East, to the horse-artillery battery of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army. While still a young officer, Alexei stood out for his focus on service issues, seriousness beyond his age and strict concentration in the performance of his duties. He was noted for his remarkable ability to learn and an irrepressible craving for new knowledge, which already in 1887 allowed him to enter the Academy of the General Staff. Having brilliantly graduated from it and received the aiguillettes of an officer of the General Staff, Alexei Maksimovich continued his service in the Warsaw military district, and then on the Don, at the headquarters of the Don Cossack army, which became a true forge of brilliant cavalrymen of Russia.
In 1903, Kaledin became the head of the Novocherkassk Cossack cadet school, in which he quickly created conditions most favorable for the training and education of future Cossack officers. In 1910, Kaledin's transition to combat positions took place, which armed him with invaluable experience, which was so useful in the severe trials of the Great War. After commanding the 2nd Brigade of the 11th Cavalry Division for a year and a half, in 1912 he led the 12th Cavalry Division, which he turned into an excellently trained combat unit, one of the best in the Russian cavalry, which was shown by the war that soon broke out.
In World War I, the cavalry no longer had the dominant role of the "queen of the fields", but in the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front, Kaledin's cavalry were always the most active fighting force. It is not without reason that the name of the chief of the 12th cavalry division was mentioned more and more often in the victorious reports of the Battle of Galicia in 1914. Already on August 9, 1914near Ternopil, Divisional Commander Kaledin received his baptism of fire, showing courage and composure, and the famous Akhtyr hussars who fought under his command were again crowned with victorious laurels. For the battles on August 26-30 near Lvov, General Kaledin was awarded the St. George Arms, in October 1914 he deservedly received the Order of St. George of the 4th degree (in 1915 he will also be awarded the Order of St. George of the 3rd class).
In early February 1915, fierce battles began with Austro-Hungarian troops in the Carpathians. Kaledin with the division was in the thick of the battles, as evidenced by the memories of Denikin, who was then in command of the 4th Iron Brigade, which was part of Kaledin's division.
“During the … February battles,” wrote Anton Ivanovich, “Kaledin unexpectedly drove up to us.
The general climbed the cliff and sat down next to me, the place was under heavy fire. Kaledin talked calmly with officers and riflemen, interested in actions and our losses. And this simple appearance of the commander encouraged everyone and aroused trust and respect for him
Operation Kaledin was crowned with success. In particular, the Iron Brigade took possession of a number of command heights and the center of enemy positions - the village of Lutovisko, capturing over two thousand prisoners and throwing the Austrians back beyond the San.
In these battles, Aleksey Maksimovich was seriously wounded and ended up first in Lviv and then in Kiev military hospitals. From that time, rare photographs have survived, one of which shows the wounded Kaledin with his wife, a Swiss by birth. After completing a course of treatment, Alexey Maksimovich returned to the front.
Literally everywhere where the troops fought under the leadership of A. M. Kaledin, the Austro-Germans could not count on success … The commander of the 8th Army, General A. A. Brusilov, quickly convinced of the division's remarkable combat capabilities, began to direct it to the hottest sectors of the battle. Always cold-blooded, imperturbable and strict, Kaledin ruled the division with a firm hand, his orders were strictly carried out. They said about him that he did not send, as was the custom with other chiefs, but that he led regiments into battle. In the heavy battles of the Southwestern Front in the summer of 1915, when the Russian troops, under the onslaught of superior quantitatively and qualitatively German troops, rolled back, Kaledin's 12th Cavalry Division, along with the "Iron Division" A. I. Denikin, who was often transferred from one, the hottest area to another, earned the name of the "fire brigade" of the 8th Army.
When in 1915 Aleksey Maksimovich headed the 12th Army Corps of the 8th Army, he tried to plan the combat actions of all units subordinate to him to the smallest detail, but if he was convinced of the ability of any commander to act proactively and competently, he the sides immediately weakened. The silent and even gloomy corps commander was not distinguished by eloquence, but his frequent sincere communication on the front line with officers and soldiers, sometimes under fierce fire, aroused respect for him and the warm sympathy of the front-line soldiers …
After the Great Retreat of 1915, the war on the Eastern Front also assumed a positional character, for a long time neither the Russian army nor the Germans with their Austro-Hungarian allies succeeded in breaking through the defenses and conducting a deep offensive.
And at this time such generals as A. M. Kaledin. It was the cavalrymen who found the key to trench warfare: they were capable of breaking through the front to the full depth with the encirclement of the advanced units of the enemy armies
When in the spring of 1916 Brusilov headed the entire Southwestern Front, and the question of who to put at the head of the 8th Army, intended to play the main role in the upcoming breakthrough, was being decided, the new front commander hesitated for a long time, choosing from a number of candidates, and in the end agreed with the opinion of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Emperor Nicholas II, that no one better than Kaledin could be found for this role (although his rival was none other than another brilliant cavalryman, also a corps commander, Count Keller!).
Brusilov himself, characterizing Kaledin the military leader in his memoirs, written after the death of Alexei Maksimovich, when all Soviet historiography diligently inked him, wrote in the spirit of the times: “Kaledin was a very modest man, extremely silent and even gloomy, of a firm and somewhat stubborn character, independent, but not an extensive mind, rather narrow - what is called, walked in blinkers. He knew military affairs well and loved him, he was personally brave and decisive … He fought well at the head of a division … I appointed him a corps commander … And then it turned out that he was already a secondary corps commander, not decisive enough. His desire to do everything himself, completely not trusting any of his assistants, led to the fact that he did not have time and therefore missed a lot."
In practice, Kaledin showed the injustice of the last statement, successfully commanding not only the corps, but also the army.
The 8th Army operated in the main, Lutsk, direction. Having started the offensive on May 22, she already broke through the first line of defense of the Austrian 4th Army by the end of the next day. Two days later, Lutsk was taken. The Austrians fled to Kovel and Vladimir-Volynsky, abandoning everything in their path; more than 44 thousand people were captured.
By the way, Aleksey Alekseevich Brusilov was very jealous of military glory and with great displeasure perceived the nickname "Don Hindenburg", which had stuck to Kaledin after the Lutsk breakthrough, by analogy with the elderly German Field Marshal General, who, as the Germans wrote, arranged the "Cannes" of the 2nd Army A. V. Samsonov in the region of the Masurian Lakes in East Prussia in August the fourteenth …
The German command, taking urgent measures to help its allies to close the "Kovel hole", moved more and more divisions from the West to the East. Fearlessly repelling the counterattacks of the approaching enemy units, Kaledin's 8th Army stubbornly advanced forward, pushing back the Austro-German troops in its zone by 70-110 kilometers by the end of July, until it reached the swampy banks of the Stokhod River. At the end of July, the offensive of the troops of the Southwestern Front, poorly supported by neighboring fronts, completely stopped, and in the future the war was waged mainly positional. Naturally, the combat activity of Kaledin's army, like other field Russian armies, was dying out, especially since soon, in the winter of 1916/17, the orgy of "fraternization" initiated by the Austro-Germans, as it is now clear, with far-reaching goals, began …
Month after month of senseless standing in the trenches passed, and Alexei Maksimovich grew more and more gloomy, losing the last prospects of reviving the armed struggle. The extinction of the will to victory was facilitated by the crisis situation in Russia, which became more and more dangerous after the February Revolution of 1917. The "democratization" in the army, begun by the notorious order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet, irresistibly entailed a complete collapse of the armed forces.
Kaledin, as a rather strict military commander, could not put up with the impudent self-will of the soldiers' committees, unrestrained rallies, and outright non-observance of military orders.
The front commander, Brusilov (already completely imbued with liberal aspirations), urgently wrote to General M. V. Alekseev: “Kaledin has lost his heart and does not understand the spirit of the times. It must be removed. In any case, he cannot remain on my front."
In April 1917, Alekseev found Kaledina, a position in Petrograd that looked like a sinecure, not related to combat service - a member of the so-called. "War Council". Kaledin realized that he was being offered a variant of honorable retirement, flavored with a high salary, and, having dissuaded his health undermined at the front and a desire for peace deserved at the 56th year of his life, he went home to the Don.
"My entire service," he said privately to confidants, "gives me the right not to be treated like a plug of various holes and positions, without asking about my gaze."
In Novocherkassk, Alexei Maksimovich was immediately offered the post of ataman of the Great Don Army. Initially, he replied with all his usual categoricalness: “Never! I am ready to give my life to the Don Cossacks, but what will be will not be the people, but there will be councils, committees, councilors, committee members. There can be no benefit. "But he still had to shoulder a responsible burden. On June 17, 1917, the Don military circle decided:" By the right of the ancient ordinariness of the election of military atamans, violated by the will of Peter I in the summer of 1709 and now restored, we have chosen you as our military chieftain … ".
Having accepted the chieftain's pernach like a heavy cross, the gloomy Kaledin uttered the prophetic words: "I came to the Don with the pure name of a warrior, and I will leave, perhaps with curses."
Remaining loyal to the Provisional Government, but seeing its weakness and pliability to the left radicals, which was especially clearly manifested in the July crisis of 1917, Kaledin began, at his discretion, to take measures to restore the ancient forms of government of the Don, refused to send Cossacks to pacify the rebellious troops and districts. On August 14, at a state meeting in Moscow, he made a number of proposals for saving from defeat in the war: the army should be out of politics; all Soviets and committees, both in the army and in the rear, with the exception of regimental, company and hundreds, should be disbanded; the declaration of a soldier's rights must be supplemented by a declaration of his duties; discipline in the army must be restored by the most decisive methods. "The time for words has passed, the patience of the people is running out," the Don chieftain threatened.
When the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov set out to restore order in the capital with the help of military force and was dismissed and arrested for this, Kaledin expressed his moral support to him. This was enough for the supporters of "revolutionary democracy" to declare the chieftain an accomplice in the "Kornilov conspiracy." Already on August 31, the prosecutor of the Novocherkassk judicial chamber received a telegram from Kerensky with a demand to "immediately arrest Kaledin, who by the decree of the Provisional Government on this August 31 was expelled from his post and put on trial for mutiny." But the Don government vouched for Kaledin, and then Kerensky backtracked, replacing the order for his arrest with a demand for the ataman to immediately come to Mogilev, to Headquarters, for personal explanations. But the Don Troops' circle gathered at the beginning of September declared Kaledin's complete innocence to the "Kornilov mutiny" and refused to extradite the ataman.
The seizure of power in Petrograd by the Bolsheviks, who overthrew the Provisional Government, Alexei Maksimovich unequivocally assessed as a coup d'etat and a grave crime. Before the restoration of order in Russia, he entrusted the Don military government with the entirety of executive state power in the region …
However, the activities of all kinds of councils and committees, inspired by Bolshevik propaganda, undermined the foundations of firm governance in the Don. The mood of the Cossacks was also influenced by the expectations of economic reforms, the broadcast promises of the Bolsheviks about land and peace. Morally depressed and inclined to believe the Bolshevik agitators, the Cossacks returned to the Don, leaving the front …
Kaledin gave refuge in the Don region to all the exiled, persecuted by the new central government and simply hiding from it. Former members of the State Duma, representatives of political parties that have become opposition, officers and even members of the Provisional Government flocked to the Don.
In November - early December, the freed generals Alekseev, Kornilov, Denikin - Kaledin's comrades-in-arms in the Great War, arrived in Novocherkassk. Here they got the opportunity to begin the formation of the White Volunteer Army. But when Kerensky appeared in Novocherkassk, General Kaledin did not accept him, directly calling him a "rascal"
True, other politicians who declared themselves on the Don reproached the Don chieftain for being passive, for not going on a campaign against Petrograd and Moscow. So Kaledin answered in the spirit of his attitudes: “What have you done? The Russian public is hiding somewhere in the backyard, not daring to raise a voice against the Bolsheviks. The military government, putting the Don Cossacks on the map, is obliged to make an accurate account of all forces and to act as the sense of duty to the Don and to the Motherland prompts it."
Visitors of all stripes, calling on Kaledin to a merciless struggle and a campaign against St. Petersburg, on occasion could leave for the Kuban, the Volga, Siberia, while Alexei Maksimovich, realizing himself as an elected ataman, could no longer abandon the Don army. Until the last moment, he could not decide to shed Cossack blood …
But such a turning point could not be avoided. On the night of November 26, the Bolsheviks spoke out in Rostov and Taganrog, and the military revolutionary committees (VRK) took power in these major cities of the Don. Seeing the passivity of the Cossacks, who continued to believe in reconciliation with these military revolutionary forces, Kaledin accepted help from the nascent Volunteer Army. Volunteer detachments of General Alekseev occupied Rostov on December 2, and then military force began to restore order on the Don and in the Cossack region of Donbass. In December, a government was formed in Novocherkassk with the powers of the All-Russian - "Don Civil Union". It was headed by a newly minted "triumvirate": Alekseev was responsible for national domestic and foreign policy, Kornilov took over the organization and command of the Volunteer Army, and Kaledin was still responsible for managing the Don and the Don Cossack army. Although the military forces of the "Don Civil Union" were extremely insignificant, the challenge was thrown down to the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs.
Having made way for the White movement in Russia, Kaledin actually sacrificed himself: against the recalcitrant Don, who was the first to raise the banner of struggle, the Bolsheviks immediately threw all available military and propaganda forces, which were very significant at that time
At the end of December, the Red troops of the Southern Revolutionary Front under the command of Antonov-Ovseenko began an offensive operation. On the Don, they were helped by the city and village Soviets and the Military Revolutionary Committee, workers, Cossacks, who decorated their hats with red ribbons. On December 28, the Antonov-Ovseenko formations took Taganrog and moved to Rostov. On January 11, the Red Cossacks, who had gathered for a congress in the village of Kamenskaya, announced the overthrow of Kaledin, the Military Government and the creation of the Don Cossack Military Revolutionary Committee headed by the former assistant Podtelkov.
Ataman announced his resignation to the Army Circle. The circle did not accept her, but did not provide any specific assistance to Kaledin.
The tragic denouement was approaching. Don Cossack regiments began to leave the Troops Circle, announcing the transition under the red banners, some did not hesitate to literally sell their officers to the Bolsheviks for a monetary reward. The small detachments of the Good Army could no longer hold back the offensive of the Reds, and on January 28, General Kornilov informed Kaledin that the volunteers were leaving for the Kuban …
Kaledin urgently summoned the Don government, read this telegram from Kornilov and said that only 147 bayonets were found to defend the Don region.
In view of the hopelessness of the situation, he announced his resignation as a military chieftain and suggested that the government also resign … Kaledin interrupted the protracted conversation with a sharp remark: “Gentlemen, in short, time is running out. After all, Russia perished from the talkers."
On the same day, Alexei Maksimovich shot himself.
This is how the former commander of the 8th Army, the hero of the Lutsk Breakthrough, passed away. But his death was not in vain: many Cossacks took it as a last reproach for the fact that the Cossacks gave weakness in relations with the Bolsheviks, and as an impetus to finally stand under the white banners, continuing the struggle with the forces that they considered deeply anti-national, pro-German.
The educated "Don Salvation Circle" again picked up the banner of struggle, once raised, but so tragically abandoned by Kaledin … True, it was headed by General Krasnov, who himself soon became under the German banners, but this is a completely different song …
