Deserters two hundred years ago
Not so long ago, reports began to appear on the Internet that almost 40 thousand Russian soldiers deserted in France when Russian troops entered Paris in 1814. The figure is very large and this alone raises doubts. It turns out that our whole army fled there, and this, most likely, simply could not be.
But there are interesting facts showing that the problem of desertion existed. It is known, for example, that in accordance with a special order for the army, leaving the barracks where the soldiers were stationed was very difficult, especially for the lower ranks. Was our emperor ashamed of his soldiers? Well, after all, he did not treat the officers very favorably. Why? Because the officers of the Russian army in Paris in 1814 were, as a rule, young people 20-30 years old (62%) or slightly older (30-35 years old - 13%); and … rather poor, since 73% of the officers-nobles did not have serfs, which means they lived on a salary that was very meager; moreover, 75% of them did not know French. That's how it turns out! True, 65% “knew how to read and write,” that is, had primary education, and another 10%. knew mathematics and took a step towards secondary education. Apparently, it seemed to Alexander I (and perhaps not without reason!) That our officers would not be able to make a proper impression on foreigners.
As for the lower ranks, here the fears were of a different order. Because more than 5,000 Russian soldiers were quite ready to become defectors. The fact is that they began to be hired by the French as workers: some to plow, some to engage in a craft, that is, an extra earnings permissible in the Russian army while living in barracks. Only it must be borne in mind that such a life in post-war, devastated France, where during the years of the Napoleonic wars, the male population was greatly reduced, and there were not enough men, could seem to them much more preferable than serving in the tsarist army. The French women gladly hired Russian soldiers, so they were locked up tightly in the barracks, fearing that the army would scatter and remain in France. And it was not without reason that the Moscow Governor-General F. Rostopchin wrote to his wife at that time: “What a fall our army has reached, if old non-commissioned officers and ordinary soldiers remain in France … They go to farmers who not only pay them well, but they still give their daughters for them. " And, let us note, this is his point of view, and they, the "old people", just acted very sensibly!
If the problem with deserters had not been very acute, the well-known tsarist Manifesto of August 30, 1814 would not have included clause 15., their dwellings and their commands willfully, we grant forgiveness, if those who are inside Russia will return from this date within a year, and from foreign lands within two years."
Nevertheless, in the memoirs of A. M. Baranovich, information about 40 thousand deserters is nothing but a rumor. And it should be treated as a hearing. But the fact that some of the soldiers still managed to stay in France is undoubtedly evidenced by the words of F. Rostopchin. It is unlikely that he would have become indignant with two or three fugitive soldiers.
There also took place, so to speak, "national desertion." And even before the army entered the territory of France. It is known that of the 237 thousand people who were in the army on the western border (plus the reserves that were constantly arriving to him), only 120 thousand soldiers and officers were able to reach Borodino. Where have all the others gone? Were they all killed and wounded? A certain number died in the battles and died from wounds and diseases. However, the rest simply deserted.
Here is what General Tuchkov (3rd) wrote about this: “At the beginning of the army's retreat from our borders, first all Poles, then Lithuanians, and finally Belarusians, in the night marches of the regiments, lagging behind them, returned to their homes. And we can probably assume that from the beginning of the retreat from our borders to Smolensk, the army thus lost more than 10,000 people from the front. " "More than 10,000 men" is more than a division, and it is unlikely that the general exaggerated it so much. That is, Lithuanians, Poles and Belarusians simply threw their units and went home.
A burden to your fatherland
As for clause 15 of the Manifesto, there was no mobile communication at that time, and many of our fellow citizens simply could not read. So people could learn about the pardon only years later. But what was the attitude towards those who wished to return to the fatherland, is best described in the dispatch of K. V. Nesselrode of March 15, 1822: “His Imperial Majesty, having accepted this subject in respect, does not believe that the return of this kind of people would bring any benefit … it is by no means possible to suppose that they, after a long absence and after experiencing various changes, became alien to their fatherland, they could conveniently return to their former customs and accept their old way of life. Whatever state they enter into in Russia, one should assume that everyone will be more of a burden to their fatherland than they will bring it any benefit, and therefore the Russian government has no advantage to have these subjects, who, moreover, seem to spontaneously left their homeland. … His Imperial Majesty, of course, has no intention of completely forbidding them to return to Russia, if only they find an opportunity, but believes that the government is in no way obligated to give them the means."
As a result, the number of deserters only during the war in the Caucasus increased so that the Iranian Shah was able to organize them according to some data, a battalion, and according to others, even a whole regiment that actively participated in battles with the Shah's opponents and was distinguished by high discipline!
Deserters - "Persians"
One can quite easily understand the soldier deserters who escaped from the army in France. And the country is beautiful, and the people, in general, are Christians, even if they are "Khryans". It is more difficult when our Orthodox fled from the army to … the Persians, that is, the Muslims. And not just fled, but transferred to serve in the Persian army and then fought against their own co-religionists! Whether this means that the Russian army "got them" very much or such was the corruption of their nature, now it is impossible to find out. But the fact that since 1802 escapes from the army "to the Persians" were quite frequent, is confirmed by the research of Russian historians A. I. Krugova and M. V. Nechitailova "Russian deserters in the Iranian army (1805 - 1829)".
Moreover, it should be emphasized that the Persians were extremely willing to accept fugitive Russian soldiers, citing the fact that in this way they would be able to "become better acquainted with their military teachings than with the teachings of the British." Therefore, they were readily accepted "with great benefits" for themselves, they were allowed not to accept Islam, have wives and even drink wine to their hearts' content, which many of the deserters from the Caucasian regiments did from morning to night. From the detachment of Colonel P. M. Karyagin in June 1805 fled to the Persians chief officer (30-year-old lieutenant of the 17th Jaeger Regiment Emelyan Kornilovich Lysenko), four non-commissioned officers and 53 privates, jaegers and musketeers. As a result, a whole Russian battalion was created in the Persian army, in 1821 it numbered "more than 2 tons", which, however, was an overestimated figure, since according to other sources its number was not more than 800 - 1000 people. But already in 1829 there were already 1400 people in it. and in fact it was a two-battalion regiment. And the “fugitives” fought with their own people, so there were stories that “in this case, the fugitive, before engaging in hand-to-hand combat with our soldier, began by calling out:“What province are you?”“The Russian command emphasized that “The presence of Russians deserters in the troops of the Crown Prince of Iran not only had a harmful effect on the morale of the Caucasian troops, especially the border troops, but diminished the dignity of the Russian name in the East and compromised the Russian army. " However, nothing could be done and the Russian battalion remained a privileged and in its own way unique military unit in the history of the Persian army of the 19th century.
When brother went against brother …
During the Civil War in Russia 1918-1922. desertion became widespread. In total, 2,846,000 people were identified who evaded the call to the Red Army, of which, under the influence of propaganda, 1,543,000 nevertheless realized their guilt and confessed, and another 837,000 were detained during the raids. Various measures were used as punishment: from conditional imprisonment and land to execution and confiscation of property. However, many deserters managed for the time being to hide in the ravines and in the mountains, where it was from them that partisan detachments of the "green" were formed, giving no mercy to either the white or the red. Sometimes whole armies were formed from them, like the "gangs" of Ataman Makhno and the rebel Grigoriev, but it happened that the "greens" fought alongside the Reds. For example, they liberated Crimea and Novorossiysk together, but then they did not receive any gratitude from the "allies", rather the opposite … True, the memory of this remained in the names of two streets: Krasno-Zelenaya in Novorossiysk and Krasno-Zelenykh in Anapa!
Military discipline before the war
They say that discipline in the army is the guarantee of its fighting efficiency. However, the state of military discipline in the Red Army on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was extremely alarming. If in the fourth quarter of 1940 there were 3669 emergencies, then in the first 1941 - 4649, that is, their number increased by 26.6%. As a result of all these emergencies, 10,048 people were out of action in 1940, of which 2,921 died and 7,127 were wounded. In the first quarter of 1941, 3,244, 945 of them were killed and 2,290 were wounded. Well, the daily average number of killed and wounded in 1940 it was 27-28 people, and at the beginning of the 41st it was already 36, and this is in the conditions of peace!
Beat your own so that strangers are afraid
With the beginning of the war, it came to assault and arbitrary extrajudicial executions. So, in the directive of the head of the political department of the Western Front No. 00205 of 29.07.41, cases of "unjustified shootings of soldiers and commanders" were already noted. In January-May 1944 alone, there were over 100 cases of assault and arbitrary executions on the 2nd Ukrainian Front. But then the victory was not far off and people felt it, not like in the fall of 1941. However, archival documents also report what happened that fall. So, in the tense days of fighting in October of the 41st on the Western Front, 20 people were shot in the 30th army, and 30 people in the 43rd army, and all of them out of court! Moreover, at the same time it became clear that, although this measure has a certain effect on people, it still does not give the desired result! For example, despite the executions of alarmists and cowards right on the battlefield, the 97th Infantry Division (Southwestern Front) from August 6 to 8, 1941, three times unorganizedly retreated from the battlefield, throwing weapons and ammunition! As a result, it lost up to 80% of its combat strength and almost the entire warhead. The 34th Army, as a result of a panic retreat from 10 to 26 August, lost 60% of its personnel, 34% of commanders, 90% of tanks, 75% of artillery pieces and many rifles and machine guns.
Automatic machine with article number
In the film "Suvorov", filmed in 1940, there are such shots: at an audience with Emperor Paul I, Suvorov says that "every soldier must understand his maneuver." To which Paul 1 replies: "The soldier is a mechanism provided by the article." Suvorov: “Mechanism means a fool. I don't command idiots. "It looked beautiful in the movies, but in real life, not all soldiers "understood their maneuver" and were people with a stable psyche. There is information on the Internet that despite the patriotic nature of the war against German Nazism, from 1941 to 1945, nearly one and a half million deserters were detained! It is indicated that 858, 2 thousand people were immediately transferred to their units and local military registration and enlistment offices. Then another 626 thousand people were arrested by the NKVD and the prosecutor's office. How reliable is the figure of 1.5 million? The data of the MoD archive, published in 1995, indicate that 265,104 people were convicted of malicious desertion and draft evasion! True, there were also such deserters that, being put on the wanted list, they managed to hide in the vastness of the USSR so much that they could not be found and punished. Someone managed to simulate different diseases, or even simply buy off! That is, either many deserters, it turns out, were not caught, or the first figure is overestimated. It is interesting that in total in the rifle division according to the wartime state (No. 04/400 dated 1941-05-04) there should have been 14,483 people. Well, and sentenced to death by the court was … 150,000 people, or almost 10 of these pre-war divisions! And here are the data on the number of servicemen convicted by the court for desertion during the war by years: 1941 - 30782, 1942 - 111004, 1943 - 82733, 1944 - 32723, 1945 - 6872. Total: 265104. Almost 26 full divisions. And this is 33% of the total number of those convicted in the army during the war years! Many tried to escape the war through self-harm. In 1941 there were 8105 such people, in 1942 - 35265, in 1943 - 16631, 1944 - 6959, in 1945 (even in the 45th!) - 1696. Total: 68656 people convicted of self-mutilation by court.
