Literary and historical notes of a young technician. General L. G. Kornilov: Hero or traitor
THE EVE, the “volunteers” attacked the positions of the Red Guards throughout the day, killing some of the best officers of the White Army - Colonel Nezhintsev, commander of the Kornilov regiment, and Captain Kurochkin, who led the partisan regiment.
Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was very upset about the death of his comrades. From the moment he said goodbye to Nezhintsev’s body, no one around him saw a smile on his face.
At night a council of war was held. In a cramped room gathered people who would have to wage a difficult struggle against the Bolsheviks for several years - generals Alekseev, Romanovsky, Markov, Bogaevsky, Denikin. They had to decide whether to continue the assault on Yekaterinodar or go back to the steppes, fighting off the advancing Red Guard detachments. The situation was extremely difficult: the Volunteer Army had already lost over a thousand people killed and wounded, people were exhausted physically and mentally, ammunition was running out. The Cossack detachments, on which such hopes were pinned, are melting before our eyes - the Cossacks, dissatisfied with the heavy fighting, simply go home.
- The situation is really difficult, and I see no other way out than the capture of Yekaterinodar. Therefore, I decided to attack along the entire front at dawn.
Everyone present understood perfectly well that the “volunteers” were fighting at the limit of human strength - it was the fourth day of a difficult battle. Kornilov himself understood this clearly, because he said:
- Of course, we can all die in this case. But, in my opinion, it is better to die with honor. Retreat is now tantamount to death: without shells and ammunition it will be a slow agony.
General Alekseev proposed postponing the assault on the city for at least a day to give the exhausted soldiers a break. Kornilov was forced to agree.
But fate decreed otherwise. At half past seven in the morning, the red battery, which had long been shelling the lonely farm where the commander’s headquarters was located, finally took its target: a grenade pierced the roof of the house and exploded under the table at which Kornilov was sitting. A few minutes later the general was gone...
LAVR Georgievich Kornilov was born on August 18, 1870 in the family of a retired cornet of the Siberian Cossack army in the village of Karakalinskaya. The family was large and not rich, so the boy had to help his parents run the peasant farm already from early years. And from childhood, Laurus showed a strong interest in learning - first he went to the local parish school, and then with great difficulty his father enrolled him in the Omsk Cadet Corps.
The Cossack boy quickly realized: if he wants to achieve something in life, then he will have to rely only on himself, and if so, then he needs to be the best in everything. He graduated from the Cadet Corps with the highest score and in 1889 he was enrolled as a cadet in the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. Three years later, having received the rank of second lieutenant, Lavr Kornilov was sent to serve in the Turkestan artillery brigade.
Hard service in a distant garrison broke the destinies and souls of many young officers. But Kornilov was never a cowardly person: having served the required qualifications and received the rank of lieutenant, he passed the most difficult entrance exams and became a student at the Academy of the General Staff, where he immediately stood out for his brilliant successes in all academic disciplines.
Phenomenal efficiency, passion for learning and interest in science distinguished Kornilov all his life - suffice it to say that by the age of thirty he independently learned English, German, French, Tatar and Persian.
Based on the results final exams At the academy, Lavr Georgievich was again among the first, receiving a small silver medal and the rank of captain ahead of schedule. His name was engraved on the honorary marble plaque of the academy.
As one of the best graduates, the young captain had the right to choose his future place of service. Brilliant military careers have always been made in capitals, but Kornilov amazed everyone by choosing... Turkestan, and the most remote region - the border with Afghanistan.
Here fate connected the officer with military intelligence. Over the course of five years, he managed to make business trips to Persia, Afghanistan, India and China. For seven months, with seven Cossacks, he wandered through the waterless deserts of Eastern Persia, changing his appearance, disguised as a merchant, then a dervish. The military-scientific reviews compiled by Lavr Georgievich based on the materials of these trips aroused envy and respect even among the vaunted British intelligence. Later, the headquarters of the Turkestan Military District published Kornilov’s works “Kashgaria, or Eastern Turkestan” and “Information concerning the countries adjacent to Turkestan”; these books became a serious scientific contribution to the ethnography and geography of Turkestan.
Almost simultaneously with the award, Lavr Georgievich received the rank of colonel, which gave the rights of hereditary nobility. It was already a brilliant career for a native of a poor Cossack family, but Kornilov’s star was still just rising.
After the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war with Japan, Kornilov served in the General Staff for about a year, and then spent four years as a military agent (attaché) in China, continuing to work in the interests of Russian military intelligence.
...On the very first day of the World War, July 19, 1914, Major General Kornilov left for the Southwestern Front, taking command of the 2nd Brigade of the 49th Infantry Division, and soon became commander of the 48th Infantry Division. This unit is known throughout Russia for its military affairs, receiving the name “steel”. It included the 189th Izmail, 190th Ochakovsky, 191st Largo-Kagulsky and 192nd Rymniksky regiments, covered with the glory of Suvorov and Rumyantsev.
Newspapers of that time called Kornilov “the new Suvorov”: his tactics were the main commandments of the “science of winning” - strength, speed and onslaught. A.I. Denikin recalled that what made Kornilov a true national hero were his traits such as “his ability to train troops, his personal courage, which terribly impressed the troops and created him great popularity among them, and finally, high compliance military ethics towards comrades."
During the withdrawal from the Carpathians in 1915, Kornilov's division was surrounded. The Austrians sent a truce with a proposal to surrender. Lavr Georgievich replied that he personally could not surrender, resigned his command of the division and, together with his headquarters, disappeared into the forest. However, a few days later, after fruitless attempts to cross the front line, this group of Russian officers was captured.
The Austrians placed the captured Russian general in Neugenbach Castle near Vienna, then transferred to Hungary, to the castle of Prince Esterhazy. Characteristic feature of that time: Kornilov, if desired, could be released to Russia - it was enough to give a receipt for non-participation in further hostilities. And although Lavr Georgievich refused, the conditions of his captivity were quite tolerable: good food, medical care (during the last battle the general received two wounds - in the leg and in the arm), the opportunity to shop in the nearest town and even the services of a person left with him orderly
Another sign of the era: while in captivity, General Kornilov was awarded by the highest decree the Order of St. George, 3rd degree - for courage and skillful leadership of troops; all lower ranks of the division received crosses, and worthy officers received the Order of St. George, 4th degree. When, three decades later, a new one began Great War, Russia was already completely different - a completely different “reward” awaited the soldiers for surrendering into enemy captivity...
...Kornilov would not have been Kornilov if he had calmly waited for the end of the war in captivity. Having barely recovered from his wounds, he began to prepare his escape. The first attempt failed - the captured officers tried to bribe the castellan of the castle to supply them with civilian clothes and passes, but he reported everything to his superiors. But a second one followed, which turned out to be successful: a Czech paramedic, for a lot of money, supplied the general with documents and a soldier’s uniform and took him out of the protected area. After wandering through the Romanian forests for almost a month, Lavr Georgievich was still able to reach the Danube and cross to the other side, finding himself at the disposal of the Russian army.
Escape from captivity made the name of General Kornilov famous. The fact is that by the fall of 1916, out of 60 Russian generals who were in captivity, only one escaped - Kornilov. Portraits national hero were published in all the illustrated magazines of Russia, and when he arrived in Petrograd, the Mikhailovsky Artillery School arranged a solemn celebration for its graduate.
In September 1916, the general left for the front again: he was appointed commander of the 25th Army Corps of the Special Army of the Southwestern Front.
But Lavra Georgievich did not have to fight there for long. In February 1917, the revolution broke out, and already in early March, by decree of the Minister of War of the Provisional Government, he was appointed commander of the Petrograd Military District. However, the district as such no longer existed - the Russian army was crumbling before our eyes and losing its combat effectiveness, and in the city itself the Petrosovet shared power with the Provisional Government.
On April 23, Kornilov sent a report to the Minister of War with a request to return him to the active army and in early May he was appointed to the post of commander of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front. The authority of the new commander among the officers was unusually high; they hoped for him and believed in him.
A few days after taking office, Lavr Georgievich received a memo from Captain M. Nezhintsev, which outlined considerations about the reasons for the disintegration of the army and measures to counteract it. The ideas of the young officer turned out to be in tune with the thoughts of the general himself and therefore received his full approval and support. In May 1917, Nezhintsev began the formation of the 1st Kornilov Shock Regiment. In theory, this unit was supposed to change the mood at the front by its example. In fact, the Kornilovites became the “Praetorian Guard” of the commander. Steel helmets, black and red shoulder straps, chevrons with a skull and crossbones, as well as iron discipline distinguished these fighters from the decayed mass of soldiers. Shock units began to form in other sectors of the Southwestern Front. They included officers, cadets and volunteer soldiers. The Kornilovites launched surprise attacks on the almost unhindered advancing enemy, stopped propagandized regiments fleeing from their positions, and destroyed bands of deserters in the rear.
Nevertheless, Lavr Georgievich himself well understood that strike units alone would no longer be able to have a significant impact on the combat effectiveness of the entire army. The front spontaneously collapsed. The report from the Military Council of the Southwestern Front to the Provisional Government said: “Most of the units are in a state of increasing disintegration. There can be no talk of power and obedience, persuasion and persuasion have lost power - they are responded to with threats, and sometimes with execution. There have been cases , that the given order to rush to support was discussed for hours, so the support was late for a day. Some units left their positions without permission, without even waiting for the enemy to approach...”
The situation was becoming catastrophic. In his area, Kornilov fought as best he could against the collapse of the Russian army. In particular, he stated that only at the cost of shooting a few scoundrels can thousands of innocents be saved, and he ordered murderers and marauders to be shot, and their corpses to be displayed at crossroads with inscriptions. All revolutionary rallies at front-line positions were prohibited under threat of the use of weapons.
Such decisive actions against the backdrop of a general empty talk shop under revolutionary slogans gained the general even greater popularity, and they began to talk about him as a possible “savior of Russia.” When, on July 18, 1917, Kornilov was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief, many officers began to hope that the Russian army could still be saved from shame. As soon as he took office, Lavr Georgievich immediately began sketching out draft laws that could return the army to combat effectiveness and mobilize the entire country to support military operations. It was supposed to reintroduce the death penalty (it was abolished by decree of the Provisional Government) for agitators, instigators, and distributors of panic rumors and subversive literature.
However, Kornilov almost immediately began to have strong friction with the head of the Provisional Government, A.F. Kerensky, for whom the extraordinary popularity of the new commander-in-chief suggested thoughts of a possible coup and military dictatorship. However, Alexander Fedorovich was not so wrong in his suspicions. Having lost faith in the empty chatter of the Provisional Government, Kornilov really began to lean towards the idea that at the moment when the country was dying, one should not speak, but act. He proposed introducing General Krymov’s 3rd Cavalry Corps into Petrograd “to restore order.” Still obviously unaware of anything, Kerensky approved the proposal - and only when the troops were already on the way did it suddenly dawn on the minister-chairman... The very next day, all the capital's newspapers called Kornilov a state traitor. In response, Lavr Georgievich published his statement, which said: “I, General Kornilov, the son of a Cossack peasant, declare to everyone and everyone that I personally do not need anything except the preservation of Great Russia, and I swear to bring the people through victory over the enemy to the Founding meeting, at which he himself will decide his destinies and choose the way of his new state life, I am not able to betray Russia into the hands of its original enemy - the German tribe and make the Russian people slaves of the Germans, and I prefer to die on the field of honor and battle, so as not to see. shame and disgrace of the Russian land..." With this, Kornilov ignored Kerensky's order to remove him from office. Then Kerensky declared General Kornilov a rebel and appealed to the Bolsheviks to “stand up for the defense of the revolution.” As you know, they responded immediately, as they saw opening opportunities to achieve their goals. Subsequent events showed that the Bolsheviks made a successful bet in this political game.
Hundreds of Bolshevik agitators were sent to meet Krymov’s corps, who played the main role in disrupting the Kornilov uprising. General Krymov himself shot himself.
Convinced that further resistance was useless and even criminal in relation to the people who trusted him, Kornilov surrendered and was arrested. However, the emergency commission of inquiry did not find any corpus delicti in the general’s actions.
The arrested generals and officers were placed in Bykhov, 50 kilometers from Mogilev. True, the security of the improvised prison was provided by three hundred Tekinsky cavalry regiment, completely devoted to Kornilov.
Having barely seized power, the Bolsheviks tried to quickly take military power into their own hands and at the same time destroy their most dangerous political enemy. For this purpose, former warrant officer N. Krylenko was sent to Mogilev Headquarters with a detachment of revolutionary sailors. But on the eve of their arrival, General Dukhonin, who had recently been appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief, ordered the release of all those arrested.
On November 19, General Kornilov, at the head of the Tekinsky regiment, went to the Don in marching order. And the very next day N. Dukhonin was torn to pieces by the red sailors.
Kornilov and his loyal Tekins covered about 400 km in seven days; on November 26, the detachment came across an ambush, retreated, but a day later, while crossing the railroad, they came under fire from an armored train. It became clear that they were already looking for the fugitives. Therefore, not wanting to further endanger the people loyal to him, Lavr Georgievich changed into civilian clothes and went on alone. Only a week later he reached Novocherkassk. Ironically, a little earlier, also disguised and made up, Kerensky also arrived in Rostov - this is how their struggle for power ended.
In Novocherkassk, Kornilov, together with General Alekseev, began active work to form an army capable of resisting the new government. By mid-January 1918, a small army was created - about 5,000 people, which included the officer regiment of General Markov, the Kornilov shock regiment of Colonel Nezhintsev, the partisan regiment of General Bogaevsky, the cadet battalion of General Borovsky, the Czechoslovak engineer battalion, 3 cavalry divisions and 4 artillery batteries (8 guns).
For a number of reasons, the army headquarters moved to Rostov, where the final formation of the Volunteer Army units was carried out. Kornilov spent all his time in continuous work. The general's enormous authority and personal charm greatly contributed to the influx of volunteers into units of the new army. The writer Roman Gul, a participant in the first campaign of the Dobrarmiya, recalled later: “What pleasantly amazed everyone when meeting Kornilov was his extraordinary simplicity. In Kornilov there was not a shadow or a hint of bourbonism, so often found in the army. His Excellency", "General of the Infantry". Simplicity, sincerity, gullibility merged in him with an iron will, and this produced a charming impression.
There was something “heroic” about Kornilov. Everyone felt this and therefore followed him blindly, with delight, through fire and water.”
The ring of red troops around Rostov was steadily narrowing, and Kornilov decided to go on a campaign. On the night of February 9, 3,700 volunteers entered the Don steppe - the last soldiers of the Russian Empire. Of these, 2,350 people were officers, among whom were 36 generals and 242 staff officers; 1,848 people became officers on the fronts of the World War - 351 staff captains, 394 lieutenants, 535 second lieutenants and 668 warrant officers.
On February 13, the commander convened a meeting that was supposed to decide what to do next - go to Yekaterinodar, where there were volunteer formations, or go to the area of winter camps, camps of Don herds, away from the Bolshevik areas. Generals Lukomsky and Popov spoke in favor of the second option, since at the winter quarters, located away from the railway and covered from the north by the Don, it was possible to replenish the convoy, change the horse train and rest a little. However, the steppe region presented many difficulties for the small but monolithic Dobrarmiya: it was impossible to split it up; it would only be necessary to settle in winter huts in small detachments. As a result, Lavr Georgievich decided: we are going to Ekaterinodar.
By this time, the Volunteer Army had already covered 250 miles, easily knocking down weak Red Guard barriers. But the Kuban Military Revolutionary Committee and the commander of the Red troops, Avtonomov, had already managed to gather large enough forces to fight the White Guards. Now it was almost impossible to avoid a major battle with the Red Guards.
On March 2, the Whites occupied the village of Zhuravskaya with a fight, and the next day the real battle for Korenovskaya began. Here Kornilov put everything on the line - the last supply of ammunition was issued from the convoy, and at the decisive moment the last reserve went into battle. At the cost of incredible efforts and great sacrifices, Korenovskaya was taken, the way to Ekaterinodar was opened, and the supply of ammunition was replenished. But here, in Korenovskaya, Lavr Georgievich received the news that on March 1, Pokrovsky’s Kuban volunteers left Ekaterinodar and went beyond the Kuban. It was a heavy blow - the operation lost all meaning.
Kornilov decided to leave Kuban. But to do this, it was necessary to break through the advancing Red detachments and at the same time be able to preserve the bridge across the Kuban, which the Reds would try to destroy at the first opportunity. While Bogaevsky's regiment with great difficulty repelled the attacks of the Red Guards, the cadets and the Kornilov regiment captured the bridge. The volunteer army miraculously escaped from the encirclement.
However, things didn’t get any easier on the left bank either. In one day, the army fought about forty miles - the regiments were melting, the convoy with the wounded was increasing before our eyes, there was very little ammunition left, and the resistance of the Red troops was increasing.
The most difficult path was to Novodmitrovskaya: freezing rain poured down, all the roads turned into a mess of mud and snow. On the approaches to the village we had to ford a stormy river. By evening, frost unexpectedly struck, people and horses were covered with an ice crust - subsequently not only this transition, but the entire campaign from February 9 to April 30, 1918 was called “Ice.”
The village was supposed to be stormed from several sides, but it turned out that the officer regiment of General Markov, who was the first to cross, found himself alone in front of enemy positions. Markov decided: “That’s it, gentlemen officers, on a night like this we will all rest here in the field. We must go to the village!” The regiment struck with bayonets and with one attack drove the Red Guards out of Novodmitrovskaya.
For several days preparations were underway for the attack on Yekaterinodar. The Kuban Cossacks began to arrive, increasing the number of the Dobrarmiya to 6 thousand people. A number of regiments were able to be deployed into brigades.
Kornilov's plan was to defeat the red detachments south of Yekaterinodar, thereby ensuring the army a crossing, and increase the supply of ammunition due to captured warehouses, and then take the Elizavetinskaya village with a surprise attack - there was a ferry crossing there. After this, the Volunteer Army was supposed to cross the Kuban and attack Ekaterinodar.
Kornilov was preparing a springboard for an attack on the city: Bogaevsky’s brigade, after a heavy battle, captured the surrounding villages of Grigorievskaya and Smolenskaya, Erdeli’s cavalry captured Elizavetinskaya, and a little later, the Markov and Bogaevsky brigades occupied Georgie-Afipskaya, capturing a convoy with precious shells.
But fate had already turned its back on the White Guards. First of all, the headquarters of the Volunteer Army underestimated the enemy's strength. Kornilov was also mistaken, leaving almost a third of his best forces to cover the convoy with the wounded and civilians: according to General Denikin, in this case, “over the tactical principles that required the rapid concentration of all forces for a decisive blow, the sense of humanity triumphed - the enormous moral strength of the leader, attracting the hearts of warriors to him and at the same time sometimes constraining the scope of strategy and tactics."
One way or another, within three days the Volunteer Army crossed to the left bank of the Kuban, and on March 27 the battle for Yekaterinodar began. Bogaevsky’s brigade went on the offensive, and by noon the next day had driven the Red units back to a line of farmsteads three miles from the city. On March 28 and 29, the battle became even more fierce. Having lost more than 1,000 people, the White Guards managed to clear the outskirts and even get hold of the city outskirts. The mood at the commander's headquarters rose, and people began to hope to capture the city. Kornilov was in a hurry to attack the city, realizing that the volunteer forces were running out. Denikin later wrote: “In war, decisions are often made that seem reckless and simply risky. The first sometimes end successfully, the second often. Success in this case creates an aura of insight and genius for the commander, failure reveals only one negative side of the decision.
Kornilov took a risk and... died before the Ekaterinodar drama ended. Rock suddenly lowered the curtain, and no one will know what her epilogue would have been like."
By March 30, it became clear that the white troops were exhausted. But there was no longer a choice: the city had to be taken - or perish. However, the decisive assault was no longer destined to begin: at 7.30 in the morning, General Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was killed.
Anton Ivanovich Denikin took over command of the Volunteer Army. His order was immediately announced, which contained the following words: “At 7:30 a.m. on March 31, General Kornilov was killed by an enemy shell that hit the army headquarters. A man who loved Russia more than himself and could not bear its shame died the death of a brave man. ... Our loss is great, but may our hearts not be troubled by anxiety and may our will to continue the struggle not weaken. The volunteer army left Ekaterinodar, its soldiers had to drink to the bottom the bitter cup of a fratricidal war: ahead were four years of heavy fighting in the south of Russia, the result of which was defeat and a hasty evacuation from Crimea, and then a mournful, impoverished life in a foreign land. But that's a completely different story.
The bodies of Kornilov and Nezhintsev were buried at night in a vacant lot behind the German colony of Gnachbau, 50 versts from Ekaterinodar. No crosses were erected, the graves themselves were razed to the ground, but still, the very next day the Reds discovered the burials. The corpses were dug up, taken to the city, later the bodies were burned and the ashes were scattered in the steppe.
Thus ended the earthly journey of the “last soldier of the empire,” the Russian officer Lavr Georgievich Kornilov.
ATTITUDES towards the personality of General Kornilov changed several times over the seven decades of Soviet power - from “enemy of the people” to “a worthy adversary” and back. In fairness, it should be noted that even the worst enemies of the white movement spoke about it with a touch of respect - given the character of the Bolsheviks, this says a lot. For example, in Alexei Tolstoy’s textbook novel “Walking Through Torment” you can see the following passage: “The Kornilov campaign was a failure. The main leaders and half of its participants died. It seemed that the future historian would need only a few words to mention it.
In fact, Kornilov’s “Ice March” was of extreme importance. The Whites found in it for the first time their language, their legend, received military terminology - everything, right down to the newly established White Order, depicted on St. George's ribbon sword and crown of thorns."
Today, when Russia is once again recovering with great difficulty after tremendous upheavals, the image military general Kornilov, a brave soldier who selflessly served his country all his life and did not hide behind the soldiers, cannot be forgotten. Lavr Georgievich was poorly versed in politics, so he was mistaken in many ways, but he was a man of flesh and blood. And an honest soldier’s death on the battlefield justifies a lot.
Lavr Kornilov was born in 1870 in a rather poor large family. His father was an officer. There was never enough money to live, so we had to save on everything. At the age of 13, Lavra was assigned to study at the Omsk Cadet Corps. He studied diligently and always had the highest scores in all disciplines.
After completing his studies at the Cadet Corps, the young man continued to work on his education at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. Subsequently, Lavr Georgievich graduated with honors from the Academy of the General Staff. Being an exemplary cadet, Kornilov could apply for assignment to a good regiment and quickly make a career.
But Laurus chose the Turkestan Military District. During several years of service on the borders of the Russian Empire, Kornilov managed to visit Afghanistan, Persia, India and China. The officer spoke several languages. Carrying out intelligence operations, Kornilov easily posed as a traveler or merchant.
Kornilov met the beginning of the Russian-Japanese War in India. Having received the news that Russia had entered the war, he immediately asked to join the active army. The officer received a position in one of the headquarters of the rifle brigade. At the beginning of 1905, his unit was surrounded. Kornilov led the brigade's rearguard and broke through the enemy's defenses with a daring attack. Thanks to his ingenuity and determination, three regiments were able to escape from encirclement.
For his participation in the war with Japan, Lavr Kornilov was presented with the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and was also awarded the Arms of St. George. Kornilov was awarded the rank of colonel.
In the service of the Tsar and the Fatherland
At the end of the war, Kornilov served in China for several years, resolving diplomatic issues. In 1912 he became a major general. Kornilov showed his best side during the years of the imperialist war. The division commanded by the general was called "Steel".
Kornilov was a fairly tough leader; he did not spare either himself or his soldiers. However, his business qualities aroused respect among his subordinates.
In April 1915, Kornilov was wounded and ended up in Austrian captivity. He managed to escape. The general moved through Romania to Russia, where he was greeted with honor. Kornilov's merits were rewarded: he received the Order of St. George, 3rd degree.
Years of testing
Kornilov welcomed the February revolution, pinning hopes that the country would finally enter a period of renewal. In March 1917, he was appointed commander of the Petrograd Military District. Considered until that time to be a convinced monarchist, Kornilov took part in the arrest of the royal family, carried out by decision of the Provisional Government. Subsequently, the actions of the new government aroused indignation among the general: he criticized the order to introduce the principles of democracy into the army. He did not want to witness the disintegration of the troops, so he preferred to go to the front.
Before Kornilov’s eyes, the Russian army was losing its combat effectiveness. The provisional government also could not get out of the protracted political crisis. Under these conditions, Lavr Kornilov decides to lead the army units subordinate to him to Petrograd.
On August 26, 1917, Kornilov announced an ultimatum to the Provisional Government. The general demanded that all power in the country be transferred to him. The head of government, Kerensky, immediately declared Kornilov a traitor and accused him of organizing a coup. But the Bolsheviks played the main role in eliminating the famous “Kornilov rebellion”. Lenin's party succeeded in short term mobilize forces to counter the rebel general. Participants in the failed coup were taken into custody.
After October Revolution Kornilov, together with his loyal subordinates, fled to the Don. In alliance with generals Denikin and Alekseev, he participated in the creation of the Volunteer Army, which marked the beginning of the White Guard movement.
General Kornilov was killed on April 13, 1918 during the assault on Krasnodar. One of the shells hit the house where the general was.
Generals of the First World War [Russian army in persons] Runov Valentin Aleksandrovich
General Lavr Kornilov
General Lavr Kornilov
Many compatriots name the name of General Lavr Georgievich Kornilov among the prominent military figures of the First World War. On the one hand, this is justified, on the other hand, it is somewhat exaggerated. But in any case, the personality of General L. G. Kornilov deserves to be described in more detail simply because on July 19, 1917, by decree of the Provisional Government, having successively designated himself in other positions, he was appointed to the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. According to his fate, he was a very complex and contradictory person with great ambitions and strong character, precisely those who are carried upward by the muddy wave of revolution, but who do not allow this wave to subjugate themselves and boldly raise the sail in any wind.
Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was born on August 18 (30), 1870 in Ust-Kamenogorsk. His father, a Cossack from the village of Karakalinskaya of the Siberian Cossack Army, having risen to the first officer rank, cornet, retired and returned to his native village, where he began to serve in the civil service as a volost clerk. Laurus received his initial education at a local parish school. The family was large, and he had to help a lot both at home and in the field. At the same time, he not only studied well, but even independently prepared to enter the cadet corps and by the age of 30 had mastered English, French, German, Tatar and Persian. The boy realized early on: if you want to achieve something in life, you have to be the best.
The Kornilov Cadet Corps graduated with the highest score among cadets, and the path was open for him. In August 1889, Lavr became a cadet at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, and after graduating in 1892, he went to the Turkestan Artillery Brigade.
For many, his appointment to Turkestan meant the end of his military career. But this did not concern Kornilov. He endured all the hardships of service and, having received the rank of lieutenant, in the fall of 1896 he became a student at the Academy of the General Staff. Study conditions are tough: one failure in the exam means expulsion. A similar fate befell his classmate A.I. Denikin, who failed the first-year exam on the history of wars and military art. True, he was one of the many expelled who was able to re-enter the academy and graduate. Lavr Georgievich knew how to learn lessons from the sad experiences of others and tirelessly prepared in all subjects of study. Kornilov is first again: a small silver medal, the rank of captain ahead of schedule, his name on the honorary marble plaque of the academy. “A modest and shy army artillery officer, thin, short, with a Mongolian face, was little noticeable at the academy and only during the exams he immediately stood out for his brilliant successes in all sciences,” recalled another of Kornilov’s classmates at the academy, General Afrikan Petrovich Bogaevsky.
Perhaps, not only ordinary officers, but also hereditary nobles with titles and estates would consider this their finest hour. The best graduates of the academy enjoyed an advantage when choosing their future place of service. But the restless Lavr Kornilov chose Turkestan, and not Tashkent, which by that time was already quite settled by the Russians, but the troubled border with Afghanistan.
Here his fate developed in such a way that it could serve as a plot for not one, but several adventure novels. Over five years (from February 1899 to March 1904) he made a number of official trips to Persia, Afghanistan, India and China. As a military intelligence officer, in 1901, with four Cossacks, he wandered for seven months through the deserts of Eastern Persia, which were considered impassable. He had to change his appearance, transform into a Muslim, pretend to be an Eastern merchant. The military-scientific reviews of the countries of the Middle East compiled by Kornilov were the envy of renowned British specialists, and Lavr Georgievich’s works “Kashtaria, or Eastern Turkestan” and “Information concerning the countries adjacent to Turkestan” published by the headquarters of the Turkestan Military District became a serious contribution to geography and ethnography of the region.
In September 1904, at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, Kornilov was appointed as a staff officer in command of the 1st Infantry Brigade, with which he entered Manchuria and took part in the battles of Sandenu and Mukden. In the last of them, during a general retreat, he withdrew from the battle three rifle regiments that were threatened by encirclement. For this he received the Order of St. George, 4th degree - the object of dreams of young officers. The rank of colonel received at the same time gave him the rights of hereditary nobility.
After the conclusion of peace, Lavr Georgievich served in Petrograd for 11 months as a clerk in the department of the Quartermaster General of the General Staff. In 1907, he was appointed military agent (attaché) to China. For four years Colonel Kornilov waged a quiet war of smiles and omissions on the diplomatic front. And despite the fact that the governments of France, England, Germany, China and Japan bestowed their orders on him, he did not become more compliant or accommodating.
Carpathians. Austrian troops near the Uzhog pass.
Upon returning from China, Kornilov was appointed commander of the 8th Estonian Infantry Regiment, located near Warsaw. Having barely had time to accept this unit, he was transferred to the Trans-Amur border guard district and appointed commander of the 2nd detachment, which consisted of two infantry and three cavalry regiments. Lavr Georgievich is promoted to the rank of major general. Here, on the orders of the commander of the district troops, General E.I. Martynov, Kornilov conducted an inquiry into the supply of substandard products to the troops located in Manchuria. As a result, the case was transferred to a military investigator. By order of the prosecutor's supervision, the deputy commander of the district's troops, Lieutenant General Savitsky, and other officials of the economic department were brought into the investigation as defendants.
However, the then chief of the border guard, Kokovtsev, who tried to cover up these flagrant abuses, obtained in February 1913 the highest order to terminate the investigative proceedings. After this, the commander of the district troops, General Martynov, retired. He published some investigation materials, for which he was put on trial. General Kornilov was returned to the military department with the appointment of commander of the 1st brigade of the 9th Siberian rifle division, stationed on Russky Island in Vladivostok.
With the outbreak of World War I, Major General L. G. Kornilov took command of the 2nd Brigade of the 49th Infantry Division, and was soon appointed to the post of chief of the 48th Infantry Division of the 8th Army, commanded by A. A. Brusilov .
Soon, Lavr Georgievich was appointed to the post of commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which included the 189th Izmail, 190th Ochakovsky, 191st Largo-Kagulsky and 192nd Rymniksky regiments, covered with the names of Rumyantsev and Suvorov.
There were heavy battles. On September 6, the enemy attacked the 24th Rifle Corps, which included the 48th Infantry Division. Resting against Mikolaev with its left flank, the right flank of the corps moved forward and was captured by the Austrians. Their attacks followed one after another. There was a threat of a breakthrough of the defense on the flank of the 48th division. At this moment, General Kornilov personally led his last reserve - an infantry battalion, reinforced by a machine gun team - into a counterattack. For a short time he stopped the enemy. But soon the 48th Division, again bypassed, was forced to retreat, having lost about 30 guns and many soldiers and officers.
General A.I. Denikin, who commanded the neighboring 4th Brigade at that time, explains the unsuccessful actions of the division in his memoirs by saying that “the division had not previously been distinguished by its stability. Very soon,” he continues, “in the hands of Kornilov, it became an excellent combat unit.” Subsequently, while commanding interacting formations, the generals met several times. And then Anton Ivanovich Denikin noted such features of Kornilov as “his ability to train troops, his personal courage, which terribly impressed the troops and created great popularity for him among them, and finally, high observance of military ethics towards his comrades - a property that was often sinned against many bosses."
Carpathians. Russian infantry positions.
In November 1914, General Kornilov's division made its way to Hungary. The 4th Infantry Brigade also operated side by side with it. It seems that if their breakthrough had been developed by the main forces of the 8th Army, then the result of the then Battle of Galicia would have been much more significant. But the breakthrough of Kornilov and Denikin could not be supported by the commander of the 2nd Combined Cossack Division, General Pavlov, who followed them in the second echelon of the army. Instead of breaking into the operational space of the Hungarian Plain, immediately taking the weakly covered Budapest, and then creating an immediate threat to Vienna, the formations of the 8th Army, on the orders of General N. I. Ivanov, turned north. As a result, the initiative in Hungary was lost. The Austrians, who came to their senses and the Germans who came to their aid, unanimously attacked Kornilov’s division and Denikin’s brigade.
On the evening of November 27, an order was received for the 48th Division to withdraw in a northwestern direction. She had to retreat along the only free steep mountain road covered with snow. The Austrians cut off the path near the town of Sina. To enable his artillery to pass through the village, Kornilov, gathering up to an infantry battalion, led it into a counterattack. The next day, the division broke out of the encirclement, leaving not a single gun to the enemy and bringing with it more than two thousand prisoners.
General Kornilov's military activity in Galicia ended very tragically in the spring of 1915.
The 48th Division, operating as part of the 24th Corps, occupied fortified positions in the left combat sector 30 kilometers southwest of Dukla. On the right was the 49th division of the same corps, on the left was the 12th division of the 12th corps. In the last days of April, German and Austrian troops under the general leadership of Field Marshal August Mackensen, having defeated the main forces of the Russian 3rd Army on the Dunajec, went on the offensive in the direction of Przemysl, Lvov. Soon the enemy entered the flank and rear of the 24th Corps.
The threat looming over his right flank forced General Tsurikov to order a retreat. In the first half of the day on April 23, the 48th Division, leaving a 20-kilometer fortified line, retreated 25–30 kilometers, occupying a line that was unequipped in terms of engineering. Late in the evening, Lavr Georgievich received a new order to withdraw the division to the Rogl - Senyava line, located 15–20 kilometers away. The corps commander went to the rear, leaving the organization of the formation's withdrawal to the division commanders.
Objectively speaking, the 48th Division could well have avoided encirclement. But Kornilov, having no information from his neighbors, misjudged the situation. Instead of quickly carrying out the received order, he indulged in illusions about going on the offensive to the flank of the enemy group, which was pushing back parts of the neighboring 49th division. Meanwhile, the brigade of the 2nd German Corps, using the retreat of the 49th Division, had already occupied commanding heights on the retreat routes of the 48th Infantry Division. General Kornilov ordered the 192nd regiment, two battalions of the 190th and a battalion of the 189th regiments to push back the enemy. The attack, carried out without the support of artillery fire, failed. The attackers, having suffered heavy losses, lay down and dug in. On the morning of April 24, Kornilov sent the following report to the corps commander in Krosno: “The situation of the division is very difficult, assistance from the 49th Division and the 12th Corps is urgently needed.” But General Tsurikov received it only in the evening and did not have time to take any measures.
L. G. Kornilov in captivity.
By noon, it became clear to Lavr Georgievich that if there was any further delay in the division’s withdrawal, things could take a bad turn. Therefore, he ordered the artillery brigade to advance through Mshana and Tilova to Dukla, and from there through Jasionka and Lubatovka to Iwonicz. However, when approaching Mshan, it turned out that the Germans were in Tilov. A report was immediately sent to the division commander. The artillery brigade under the command of Colonel Trofimov began firing at the enemy. The 189th Infantry Regiment soon arrived to support her. But while deploying for the attack, he was fired upon by machine gun fire from Mszana. The soldiers rushed into the forest in panic. A few hours later, the Austrians captured about 3 thousand people.
By 6 p.m., German troops occupied Dukl, and the advanced units of the Austrians occupied Trzitsiana. The encirclement ring closed. Capitulation in such conditions would be quite natural. No one in those years would have judged the division commander for not wanting to kill people in vain. But Kornilov would not have been Kornilov if he had not tried to break out of the encirclement. At dusk the division made a breakthrough. Luck smiled only on the 191st Regiment and the battalion of the 190th Regiment. The banners of all regiments were preserved. The battalion of the 192nd Rymnik Regiment covering the retreat was almost completely killed. At dawn, enemy fire fell on those remaining surrounded from all sides. The Russians fought back desperately. To the German envoy’s proposal to surrender, General Kornilov replied that he could not do this personally and, having relinquished command of the division, disappeared with his headquarters into the forests. Soon, almost three and a half thousand soldiers and officers who survived surrendered to the Germans. And the general, wounded in the arm and leg, and the seven people who left with him wandered through the mountains for several days without food or medicine, hoping to cross the front line. On April 28, completely exhausted, they were captured by the Austrians.
The actions of the 48th Division, despite the sad outcome, were highly appreciated by the commander of the troops of the Southwestern Front, General N.I. Ivanov, who appealed to higher authorities with a petition to reward the valiantly fighting units of the division and especially its commander. The Emperor responded to this by awarding General Kornilov the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. All lower ranks were awarded the Cross of St. George, and officers who distinguished themselves in battle were awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.
Captured General L. G. Kornilov talks with the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army, Joseph of Hamburg.
Kornilov's captivity also deserves a special narrative. Finding himself in the hands of the Austrians, Lavr Georgievich was initially placed in the castle of Neugenbach, near Vienna, and then transported to Hungary to the castle of Prince Esterhazy in the village of Leka. Captivity for the general in those years today may seem almost like a resort. Good food, medical care, the opportunity to use the services of a batman, and do shopping. In principle, it would be possible to gain freedom altogether by signing a signature on further non-participation in hostilities. But Kornilov had firm ideas about honor and military duty. He languished terribly in captivity and was eager for combat activity. Moreover, his unsatisfied ambition haunted him. Lavr Georgievich could not come to terms with the fact that at the age of 45 his military career came to an end.
...Leka Castle is very well guarded. Together with Kornilov, there was also General E. I. Martynov, who returned to service at the beginning of the war, whose reconnaissance glider was shot down by the enemy over Lvov. In the spring of 1916, the prisoners decided to escape. Documents were needed to travel safely around the country. They decided to bribe the castellan of the castle. However, he reported everything to his boss. The Austrian colonel conducted an inquiry and confiscated a civilian suit found in Martynov’s room. Kornilov remained on the sidelines, due to the fact that his name was not mentioned during the conversation with the castellan. After this incident, security was tightened. Escape from Leka Castle has become almost impossible.
Kornilov learned that several Russian officers who were in the camp in the village of Kassek had reliable documents. Lavr Georgievich planned to escape from the hospital camp in Kassek. In order to get there, he almost stopped eating and drank strongly brewed tea - chifir, thereby causing rapid heartbeat. In June 1916 he was admitted to the hospital. After some time, his messenger D. Tsesarsky was sent there too. Through him, Kornilov managed to come to an agreement with the Czech paramedic F. Mrnyak. For 20 thousand crowns in gold, he undertook to free him from captivity. In the last days of July he got everything necessary documents, dressed Kornilov in an Austrian soldier's uniform, took him out of the hospital and delivered him by rail to the Romanian border.
They missed Kornilov only a few days later, during the funeral service for the Russian officer who died in the camp. The general did not show up for the ritual ceremony, and such an attitude towards the memory of a comrade in arms was considered an emergency. Paramedic Mrnjak was soon caught. He was tried and sentenced to death by hanging. Subsequently, the punishment was replaced by imprisonment for 25 years.
Supreme Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov and N. N. Dukhonin.
Kornilov, after wandering through the forest for several days, went out to the Danube and safely got out to the opposite bank. Eyewitnesses describe subsequent events this way. “In the early morning of August 28, 1916, a group of Russian soldiers, either those who had escaped from Austrian captivity or deserters, were driven to a dusty square in the Romanian town of Turnu Severian. Gaunt, ragged, barefoot, they looked tired and gloomy. The Russian staff captain who came out to them announced that Romania had just entered the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary and that after verification they would all be transferred to the unit being formed here to be sent to the front.
He was about to leave, when suddenly a short, skinny prisoner covered with reddish stubble separated from the line. He shouted in a sharp, hoarse voice: “Wait! I'll tell you who I am! “Probably an officer,” thought the captain. “It’s not good for me to put everyone under the same brush...” “Are you an officer? – he asked as sympathetically as possible. - In what rank? The man stood swaying: spasmodic, gurgling sounds escaped from his throat. Finally he controlled himself and said loudly: “I am Lieutenant General Kornilov! Give me shelter!
On August 31, Kornilov was already in Bucharest, from there he went through Kyiv to Mogilev. The Tsar received him at Headquarters, presenting him with the previously awarded St. George Cross of the 3rd degree. The division commander who escaped from captivity became very popular in Russia. Reporters interviewed him. His portraits were published in illustrated magazines. In Petrograd he was honored by the cadets of the Mikhailovsky School, from which Lavr Georgievich once graduated. One of them read his own poems in his honor. Siberian Cossacks from the village of Karkalinskaya, to which Kornilov was assigned, sent their fellow countryman a gold pectoral cross.
At the end of February - beginning of March 1917, the monarchy in Russia, as we know, fell. Duma figures M.V. Rodzianko and A.I. Guchkov wished to see a military general popular among the soldiers as commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District.
The activities of the first “revolutionary” commander of the Petrograd Military District had to begin with an “action”, which he later did not like to remember, but which some monarchists were not very inclined to forget. Three days after arriving in Petrograd (March 8), Kornilov, accompanied by a group of staff officers, arrived in Tsarskoe Selo and arrested Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (the arrested Nicholas II was on his way from Mogilev to Tsarskoe Selo at that time). In an interview with Petrograd newspapers, Lavr Georgievich said that he acted on the instructions of the Minister of War A.I. Guchkov, who was guided by a certain political calculation: the arrest of the Empress by the commander of the military district was supposed to produce, in his opinion, the impression on the mass of soldiers of a complete break between the new command and the old regime.
What were Kornilov’s own political aspirations at that time? On this occasion, his contemporary and politician V.B. Stankevich wrote: “In the executive committee, he said that he was against the tsarist regime. I don’t think that Kornilov would stoop to pretense. Undoubtedly, he sympathized with reform aspirations. But there is also no doubt that he was not a democrat, in the sense of giving power to the people: like any old military man, he was always suspiciously wary of the soldier and the “people” in general: they are nice people, to be sure, but you have to keep an eye on them, not then he will become spoiled and become unruly. He was against the tsarist system precisely because the government was beginning to lose its serious, businesslike character. The owner was very bad, and a new owner was needed, more intelligent and practical.”
So, the first position from the “hands” of the Provisional Government at a time when generals were expelled from the army by lists, regardless of their ranks, positions and merits. And this is understandable, the revolution purged its ranks, removing not only hostile but also suspicious people from high positions. Kornilov, apparently, was not one of them.
Having become commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District, Lavr Georgievich found himself in the position of a man who is responsible for everything, but cannot accept any independent decision. The famous “Order No. 1” of the Petrograd Soviet tied him hand and foot. He canceled the giveaway military honor. Titles were also cancelled. The general ceased to be “your excellency.” The soldier was no longer a “lower rank” and received the rights that the revolution had managed to bestow on the population of the country. Finally, committees and deputies to local Soviets were elected in all parts. The order stipulated that in “their political speeches military unit subordinate to the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and its committees."
Kornilov realized: now it will be very difficult for officers to subordinate armed people to their will and keep them in obedience. The country was losing its army and began to fall into the abyss. “Nobody wanted to serve, discipline dropped to zero, officers could not say a word without the risk of being bayoneted,” he wrote. - Rallies and drunkenness - that was the life of the Petrograd Military District. Dual power - the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government are confused in their own orders, no one wants to carry them out, there is pure anarchy all around. Kornilov, at the request of the government, tried to stop the unrest that broke out in the capital using the traditional method of fighting rebellions: he brought the cadets of the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, who had maintained discipline, to the center of the city. This was perceived as an obvious threat to use weapons against the rioting rear guards. They pulled him back: “It’s impossible - after all, we have freedom!”
On April 23, Lavr Georgievich sent a report to the Minister of War with a request to return him to the active army. A.I. Guchkov considered it expedient to appoint him to the post of commander of the troops of the Northern Front, which became vacant after the dismissal of General N.V. Ruzsky. However, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M.V. Alekseev, categorically objected to such a decision, citing Kornilov’s insufficient command experience and the inconvenience of bypassing senior commanders - more experienced and familiar with the front, such as General A. Dragomirov. As a result, in early May, Kornilov was appointed to the post of commander of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front.
The troops at the front held a rally...
“The new commander’s acquaintance with the personnel began with the fact,” one of the officers of the intelligence department of the army headquarters, Captain Nezhentsev, later recalled, “that the built reserve units staged a rally and all the arguments about the need for an offensive pointed out the unnecessaryness of continuing the “bourgeois” war led by “military officers.” “... When General Kornilov, after a two-hour fruitless conversation, exhausted morally and physically, went to the trenches, here he was presented with a picture that any warrior of the era could hardly have foreseen. We entered a fortification system where the trench lines of both sides were separated, or rather, they were connected by wire fences...
The appearance of General Kornilov was welcomed... by a group of German officers who brazenly looked at the commander of the Russian army. Behind them stood several Prussian soldiers... The general took the binoculars from me and, going out onto the parapet, began to examine the area of future military clashes. To someone’s remark, no matter how the Prussians shot the Russian commander, the latter replied: “I would be infinitely happy - maybe at least this would sober up our soldiers and interrupt the shameful fraternization.”
At the site of a neighboring regiment, the army commander was met... by the bravura march of the German Jaeger Regiment, to whose orchestra our “brothers” - the soldiers - flocked. The general said: “This is treason!” - turned to the officer standing next to him, ordering him to tell the “brothers” of both sides that if the most shameful phenomenon did not stop immediately, he would open fire from his guns. The disciplined Germans stopped the game... and went to their line of trenches, apparently ashamed of the vile spectacle. And our soldiers, they held rallies for a long time, complaining about the “oppression of their freedom by the counter-revolutionary leaders.”
On June 18, 1917, the Southwestern Front went on the offensive. The 7th and 11th armies, in the direction of the main attack, advanced to a depth of 2 kilometers and froze in place. The soldiers held a rally.
The 8th Army of General Kornilov, operating in a secondary direction, began its offensive on June 21, as planned. In 6 days, her troops penetrated 18–20 km into the enemy’s defenses and captured Kalush. 800 officers and 36 thousand enemy soldiers were captured, 127 guns and mortars, and 403 machine guns were captured. The losses of the army itself amounted to 352 officers and 14,456 soldiers. This was the last successful operation of the Russian army in the 1917 campaign.
Meanwhile, the Southwestern Front was falling apart, and the Military Council of the front was sending panicked telegrams to the Provisional Government. The situation, according to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General A. A. Brusilov, was becoming catastrophic. The commander of the Southwestern Front, General A.E. Gutor, was no longer able to change the situation for the better. Therefore, a new leader was needed. The choice fell on General Kornilov, who alone showed the ability to control troops in difficult conditions. And L.G. Kornilov took over the Southwestern Front at the beginning of July 1917.
Lavr Georgievich was a supporter of strict management measures. In particular, he banned rallies and demanded the immediate restoration of the death penalty, which was abolished by decree of the Provisional Government of March 12, 1917. But this did not save the situation. By July 21, having left Galicia and Bukovina, the troops of the Southwestern Front rolled back to the lines from which they began the offensive in August 1914.
Central power was also rapidly weakening. A.F. Kerensky needed a person capable of supporting this power with harsh methods and saving the fronts from collapse. The choice fell on L. G. Kornilov. On July 19, 1917, he was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. Lavr Georgievich agreed to this position only after receiving assurance from the Provisional Government of complete non-interference in its operational orders, in the appointments of senior command personnel, as well as confirmation of the right to pursue a hard line at the front and in the rear, recognition of his responsibility not to the government, but “... before your own conscience and all the people."
But, having assumed the Supreme Command, Lavr Georgievich first of all took up political activity, putting forward a number of new demands to the Provisional Government. In particular, he demanded that the Provisional Government admit its guilt in humiliation, insult, deliberate deprivation of the rights and importance of officers, transfer the function of military lawmaking to the hands of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and, finally, “... expel all politics from the army, destroy the right of meetings...” cancel the declaration of the rights of a soldier, dissolve military committees, recall commissars. Kerensky did not like this. Kornilov clearly aspired to the role of military dictator.
On August 18, L. G. Kornilov, already as a recognized leader of the army, was solemnly welcomed in Moscow, where he arrived to participate in the State Conference. A.F. Kerensky was also a participant in this meeting, and could not help but note the enormous popularity of this general in military circles. This was getting dangerous. The state conference did not solve the main problems of the country and the army, but widened the gap of mistrust between Kornilov and Kerensky.
Meanwhile, reports coming from the fronts and from the rear were extremely alarming. On August 20, the Germans occupied Riga. Ferment continued in the front-line units of the Russian army. The army was rapidly disintegrating, and every missed day could lead to disaster. Kornilov became convinced of the need to establish a military dictatorship in the country and quickly prepared for this.
Kornilov's speech was scheduled for the day of the celebration of the half-year anniversary of the revolution, that is, August 27, when workers' demonstrations were expected in Petrograd. Under the pretext of restoring order, the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was to be dispersed, and the Provisional Government was to be arrested. To implement this plan, the 3rd Cavalry Corps and the Caucasian “native” division, which was called “wild” behind their backs, were sent to the capital in advance. Subsequently, these formations were to form the basis of a separate Petrograd army, subordinate directly to Headquarters. From the Provisional Government, Kornilov disguised his intentions with the idea of immediate “clearing” of Petrograd - removing from the city spare parts that had completely decomposed not so much under the influence of Bolshevik propaganda as from “democratic” permissiveness.
Kerensky pretended to believe Kornilov, but took retaliatory measures. But he soon realized what a mistake he had made by agreeing to transfer the 3rd Cavalry Corps and the “wild” division to Petrograd. It became obvious that if the demands were not met, Kornilov, using armed force, would overthrow the Provisional Government and establish a military dictatorship.
But by revealing his plans, Kornilov thereby gave the Provisional Government the opportunity to prevent their implementation. Kerensky decided to take advantage of his opponent’s mistake and put an end to him. He demanded that the commander of the Northern Front army detain all military trains heading to the capital and send them back to their previous locations. And on the morning of August 27, in emergency editions of some metropolitan newspapers, Kornilov was called a state traitor.
Requisition of copper for the needs of the army.
Lavr Georgievich tried to finish the job he started. He addressed an appeal to all Russian people. But he was not heard. The government apparatus of Kerensky and the Bolsheviks did everything possible to prevent the establishment of a military dictatorship of the dying government. The next day, Kornilov received an order from Kerensky to immediately surrender his position to General Lukomsky and arrive in Petrograd.
Lavr Georgievich decided not to obey this order. Then, deciding on an extreme measure, Kerensky declared Kornilov a rebel and warned the Bolsheviks about the threat of a military coup. They reacted immediately. Hundreds of agitators were sent to meet the troops, who persuaded the soldiers “not to go against their people to please the generals and not to destroy the freedoms won with such difficulty when the war is about to be over and the time has come to enjoy their benefits.”
The combined efforts of the authorities and the Bolsheviks yielded results. The troops did not go to Petrograd. The commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, General A.M. Krymov, who led them, shot himself at 15:00 on August 31. News was received that, by order of the committees, the commander of the Southwestern Front, General Denikin, his chief of staff, General Markov, as well as some officers were arrested. The commander of the Northern Front, General Klembovsky, who did not follow the orders of the Provisional Government, was replaced by General Bonch-Bruevich. The commander of the Western Front, General Baluev, and the assistant commander of the Romanian Front, General Shcherbachev, sent telegrams expressing loyalty to the Provisional Government.
After this, the Provisional Government decided to neutralize Headquarters. A punitive detachment was created. But Lavr Georgievich, realizing the pointlessness of further resistance, decided to “submit and demand a trial, during which it will become clear that we really wanted to save the army and the Motherland.” Kerensky took over the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. By his order, Kornilov was arrested. The same fate befell Lukomsky, Romanovsky and some other generals. With this, the activities of General L. G. Kornilov in the events of the First World War practically ended. Ahead of him lay a fate connected with the fight against Bolshevism.
Later, a government commission that investigated the essence of the Kornilov rebellion was forced to admit that it did not bring harm to the state of affairs on the fronts. The leadership of the troops continued continuously. Thus, the conclusion was made: there is no evidence to accuse General Kornilov of treason. At the conclusion of the commission’s work, it was concluded that “in view of the above and on the exact basis of the law of July 12, 1917 on the establishment of military revolutionary courts, the case of General Kornilov is not within the jurisdiction of the military revolutionary court. It is not within the jurisdiction of a military district or corps court due to the fact that the city of Mogilev is not located in the military area of the theater of military operations, but is subject, on a general basis, to be sent to a court of a civilian department after a preliminary investigation has been carried out.”
On the night of September 12, those arrested were transported by rail to Bykhov, located 50 kilometers south of Mogilev. Here they were placed in the building of a women's gymnasium under the protection of Kornilov's personal convoy, consisting of three hundred and a machine-gun team of the Tekinsky regiment and a guard from the St. George battalion in the amount of 50 people.
On October 25, the Provisional Government was overthrown. A week later, the Supreme Command was taken over by General N.N. Dukhonin, who, having learned that a train of sailors headed by Ensign N.V. Krylenko, appointed by the Soviet Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was heading to Headquarters, ordered the release of L.G. Kornilov.
November 19, 1917. The clock showed 23 o'clock. Infantry General Lavr Georgievich Kornilov, having spent eleven weeks under investigation, was leaving the doors of the Bykhov prison. Soldiers of the Tekinsky regiment were already waiting for him. Having greeted them, he jumped on his horse and headed towards the Don. Four hundred horsemen rushed after him.
Supreme Commander-in-Chief Warrant Officer N.V. Krylenko, having learned about this, ordered Kornilov to be detained. Crossing the railroad bed at the Unecha station in the Chernigov region, the detachment came under heavy machine-gun fire from a Red Guard armored train and suffered heavy losses. The next day he came across an ambush set up in the forest. After crossing the Seim River, the detachment entered a frozen swampy area. The frost was severe, and the people were poorly dressed. The horses' shoes were broken. It was not always possible to obtain food and fodder from the local population.
Kornilov, believing that it would be safer for the Tekins to go alone, on November 28 left his faithful comrades and, dressed in peasant clothes, with a false passport in the name of Larion Ivanov, posing as a refugee from Romania, went to the Don alone.
At the beginning of December 1917, after an incredibly difficult journey, first in sleighs, then by train, Lavr Georgievich reached Novocherkassk. Here he soon met with General M.V. Alekseev and Elected Don Ataman A.M. Kaledin. We tried to work together to understand the current situation in the country and develop a joint line of behavior. But everyone had their own opinions on this matter.
Lavr Georgievich was eager for space where independent work was possible. “I know Siberia, I believe in Siberia,” he said. “I am convinced that it will be possible to put the matter on a broad scale there.” Here, General Alekseev alone can easily handle the matter. I feel that I won’t be able to stay here for long. My only regret is that I am being detained now and not allowed to go to Siberia, where it is necessary to begin work as soon as possible so as not to miss time.”
Attaching great importance to Siberia and the Volga region, Lavr Georgievich sent a number of letters to local leaders (including Pepelyaev) to these regions. At his request, General Flug was sent there, who was entrusted with the task of familiarizing Siberian politicians with what was happening in the South of Russia, trying to unite the officers and insist on the creation of an anti-Bolshevik front party there. Officers were sent to the Volga - to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan - with the aim of organizing anti-Bolshevik forces there and trying to raise an uprising.
At the end of December, the first meeting of representatives of the Moscow Center took place in Novocherkassk. It was formed in the fall in Moscow by members of the Cadet Party, merchants and industrialists, representatives of bourgeois liberal and conservative circles, the council of public organizations and the generals. The main issue to be resolved was the existence, management and ensuring unity in the Alekseevskaya organization. Essentially, it all came down to assessing the relationship between the two generals - Alekseev and Kornilov and determining the role of each of them. Public and military leaders were interested in preserving both of them in the interests of the army.
Representatives of the Moscow Center did not support Kornilov’s views. They insisted that he remain in the South of Russia, saying that the leaders of the anti-Bolshevik movement could count on moral and material support only if they all (M.V. Alekseev, L.G. Kornilov and A.M. Kaledin ) will work together, distributing roles and signing an agreement. It was also indicated that only after this agreement, signed by three generals, was transmitted to the representatives of England and France, one could count on receiving monetary assistance from the allies. The agreement took place. General Alekseev took charge of all financial affairs and issues related to foreign and domestic policy. General Kornilov became responsible for the organization and command of the volunteer army, and General Kaledin for the formation of the Don Army and management of all affairs of the Don Army.
At Christmas, an order was announced for General Kornilov to take command of the army, which from that day became officially known as the Volunteer Army. “Her commander that day,” recalled A.P. Bogaevsky, “was in a civilian suit and did not look particularly elegant: a crooked tie, a frayed jacket and high boots made him look like a petty clerk. Nothing in him reminded him of a hero of two wars, a holder of two degrees of the Order of St. George, a man of exceptional courage and willpower. Small, skinny, with a Mongolian face, poorly dressed, he did not represent anything majestic or warlike. At the same time, Lavr Georgievich looked to the future with hope and hoped that the Cossacks would take an active part in the formation of the Volunteer Army.”
So, at the beginning of 1918, General L. G. Kornilov took command of the army, which officially became known as the Volunteer Army. He commanded this army for only three months, completing the Ice Campaign, which became a legend in the annals of the white movement.
On March 31, 1918, General L. G. Kornilov, during the attack on Yekaterinodar, died from a direct hit by an artillery shell on the house from where he led the battle. His body was secretly buried in a vacant lot behind the German colony of Gnachbau, 50 miles north of Yekaterinodar. Neither a grave mound nor a cross was left at the burial site. Only a few people could indicate the exact burial place. However, after the Reds occupied the colony, the burial place of L. G. Kornilov was discovered, the corpse was dug up, taken to Yekaterinodar, burned, and the ashes scattered outside the city.
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From the book The Era of Russian Painting author Butromeev Vladimir VladimirovichKORNILOV Lavr Georgievich(1870-1918), Russian statesman and military leader, infantry general (1917). In July - August 1917, Supreme Commander-in-Chief. At the end of August (September) he started a rebellion (Kornilov rebellion). One of the organizers of the White Guard Volunteer Army (November-December 1917). Killed in battle near Ekaterinodar.
KORNILOV Lavr Georgievich, Russian military leader, one of the founders of the white movement, infantry general (1917).
Beginning of a military career
A hereditary Cossack, born into a cornet family. He graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps, the Mikhailovsky Artillery School (1892), and the Nikolaev General Staff Academy (1898, with a gold medal). In 1889-1904 he served in the Turkestan Military District in various staff positions, made a number of research and reconnaissance expeditions to East Turkestan, Persia and Afghanistan, and studied local languages. Published articles on Persia and India in magazines; prepared a secret publication of the district headquarters “Information concerning the countries adjacent to the Turkestan Military District.” In 1901 he published the book “Kashgaria and Eastern Turkestan”. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 he was on a business trip to India; achieved transfer to the active army. From September 1904 to May 1905 he held the position of staff officer of the 1st Infantry Brigade, in fact acting as chief of staff. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Mukden in February 1905, covering the retreat of the army. He was awarded many orders and the St. George's Arms, and was promoted to colonel “for military distinction.” In 1906-07 he served on the General Staff. In 1907-11 he was a military agent (attaché) in China. In 1911-12 - commander of the 8th Estonian Infantry Regiment, from 1912 - brigade commander of the 9th Siberian Infantry Division, already with the rank of major general.
On the fronts of the First World War
At the beginning of the First World War, the brigade commander of the 48th Infantry Division, from August 1914 the head of this division, which took part in all major battles in Galicia and the Carpathians. In August 1914 he was promoted to lieutenant general. In April 1915, during the general retreat of the Russian armies, Kornilov's division was surrounded and suffered heavy losses; he himself was wounded and captured, from which he escaped in July 1916, with the help of a Czech paramedic. Kornilov's escape caused a sensation; he was the only general who managed to escape from captivity. He was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree, for the battles in the Carpathians, although many considered him to be responsible for the defeat of the division. In the fall of 1916, Kornilov was appointed commander of the 25th Infantry Corps of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front.
Rapid ascent
After the February Revolution, the dizzying career of Kornilov began, who in five and a half months went from corps commander to Supreme Commander-in-Chief. On March 2, 1917, at the request of the Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, Nicholas II, simultaneously with his abdication of the throne, appointed Kornilov, a popular general of “simple” origin, as commander of the Petrograd Military District. On March 7, Kornilov, by order of the Provisional Government, arrested the empress and the royal children in Tsarskoye Selo. Being under the influence and patronage of the Octobrist Minister of War A.I. Guchkov, Kornilov largely shared his views. During the April crisis, he proposed to the Provisional Government to use force to disperse mass anti-war demonstrations, but his proposal was rejected. He resigned, not wanting to submit to the control of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Despite Guchkov's request, Supreme Commander-in-Chief M.V. Alekseev refused to appoint Kornilov as commander-in-chief of the Northern Front, citing his lack of experience in commanding large formations.
Since May 1917, Kornilov has been the commander of the 8th Army, which had the greatest success in the June offensive of the Southwestern Front, breaking through the front of the Austrian troops and capturing the city of Kalush. During the period of the general retreat of the Russian troops, which followed the failure of the June offensive and the Tarnopol breakthrough of the Germans, he held the front; was promoted to infantry general and on July 7 appointed commander-in-chief of the troops of the Southwestern Front. In a telegram to the Provisional Government he demanded the restoration of the death penalty at the front; Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government A.F. sanctioned all of Kornilov’s measures to strengthen discipline, introduced by him in person; On July 18, Kornilov was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He put forward a program to strengthen order and discipline at the front and in the rear, which included limiting the power of soldiers’ committees and commissars, introducing the death penalty in the rear, militarizing railways, etc. At the beginning of August this program was presented to Kerensky.
Kornilov mutiny
Took part in the State Moscow meeting on August 12-15. He arrived in Moscow on the second day after the opening of the meeting. At the Aleksandrovsky station (now Belorussky), Kornilov was given an enthusiastic meeting - he was carried out in their arms. The politically inexperienced general, under the influence of his adventurist entourage (V.S. Zavoiko, A.F. Aladin, M.M. Filonenko, etc.), clearly exaggerated his popularity in the country and the latter’s readiness to accept a military dictatorship. Through the mediation of the head of the military ministry, B.V. Savinkov and V.N. Lvov, he negotiated with Kerensky on the establishment of strong power. Kerensky perceived Kornilov's proposals in Lvov's broadcast as an ultimatum and an attempt on the power of the Provisional Government. On August 27, he sent a telegram to Kornilov demanding that he surrender the position of Commander-in-Chief and come to Petrograd. Kornilov did not obey and was declared a rebel. On August 28, Kornilov broadcast a statement on the radio about his goals - bringing the war to victory and convening the Constituent Assembly and moved parts of the 3rd Cavalry Corps of General A. M. Krymov to Petrograd. After an unsuccessful attempt to capture Petrograd, Krymov shot himself. The commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front, A.I., and other supporters of Kornilov at the front and in a number of cities in the country were arrested. On September 2, Kornilov was arrested by General M.V. Alekseev, appointed by the Commander-in-Chief, and imprisoned in Bykhov. In prison, the regime in which was very free, Kornilov, together with other participants in the speech, developed the so-called “Bykhov program”, which provided for the establishment of a strong government, the revival of the army, the convening of the Constituent Assembly, and the preservation of the main gains of the February Revolution.
On November 19, by order of the Commander-in-Chief N.N. Dukhonin, Kornilov and other prisoners were released. After Kornilov failed to make his way to the Don at the head of a small detachment of Tekins loyal to him, he, dressed in a soldier’s overcoat, reached Novocherkassk on December 6 with someone else’s documents.
At the head of the Volunteer Army
There, on the Don, Kornilov, together with Alekseev and Denikin, decided on the formation of the Volunteer Army; this process was hampered by hostile relations between Alekseev and Kornilov. The conflict was resolved through the mediation of Denikin, who proposed delimiting areas of responsibility and creating a “triumvirate” consisting of Alekseev, Kornilov and A. M. Kaledin, who headed the Don Civil Council. On December 25, Kornilov became commander of the Volunteer Army (its creation was announced on December 27). He led the army during the first Kuban (“Ice”) campaign, when, during two months of continuous fighting, it broke through from the Don to the Kuban in the hope of receiving the support of the Kuban Cossacks. After several unsuccessful attempts to take Yekaterinodar by storm, he insisted on resuming the assault, believing that this was the only way out; In case of failure, he intended to commit suicide. On the morning of March 31 (April 13), 1918, when it was planned to storm the city again, Kornilov was killed by the explosion of a single shell that flew into the headquarters building. After the death of Kornilov, Denikin, who replaced him, decided to retreat.
Kornilov's corpse was subsequently removed from the grave by the Reds, subjected to public mockery and burned.
Lavr Georgievich Kornilov (born August 18 (30), 1870 – died March 31 (April 13), 1918) Infantry General. Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Russia (July–August 1917) in World War I, 1914–1918. Commander, military intelligence officer, diplomat, traveler.
Origin
Lavr Kornilov was born into the family of a retired cornet of the Karkaralinskaya village of the Siberian Cossack army in the then small town of Ust-Kamenogorsk (now Kazakhstan).
Father Yegor Kornilov was a serving Siberian Cossack from the Gorky Line on the Irtysh. He served on horseback for 25 years and was able to receive his first officer rank of cornet. After retiring, he settled in Karkaralinskaya, becoming a clerk of the volost government. The mother was a simple Kazakh woman from the nomadic Argyn family.
After the Civil War ended, it was written for a long time that the white leader Kornilov came from the family of a tsarist official, keeping silent about his Cossack origin.
Kornilov Lavr Georgievich received a different spelling of his patronymic when someone from his superiors replaced the common people’s “Egorovich” with the more harmonious “Georgievich” in his officer’s record.
Education
The father, with his position as an official class according to the Table of Ranks, with great difficulty managed to get his son into the Omsk Cadet Corps. Lavr Kornilov realized early on that in life he would have to make his way forward on his own. And the hereditary Siberian Cossack graduated from the corps with the highest score among his classmates, and as a result had the right to choose a school.
His choice fell on the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. His father, a retired Cossack cornet, gave him, along with parting words, the book “Collected Letters of an Old Officer to His Son,” on title page to which he wrote: “Whoever values money more than honor, resign from service. Peter the Great." These words became Lavr Georgievich’s life motto throughout his life.
...He graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in 1892, and at the same time he began army service as a second lieutenant in the Turkestan artillery brigade. Three years later, having already become a lieutenant, Kornilov passed the exams at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, from which he graduated in 1898 among the first with a small silver medal and the rank of captain ahead of schedule.
Service
Kornilov chose for his new service Turkestan Military District. He began working in the intelligence department of his headquarters. His first foreign business trip was Afghanistan, from where Lavr Georgievich returned with drawings of the Deidani fortress, which the British had built near the borders of Russia. Then there were business trips to Eastern Persia and Chinese Kashgaria. Knowledge of several eastern languages helped the scout to act successfully.
Russo-Japanese War
...Since the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, Kornilov finds himself in Manchuria as a senior officer at the headquarters of the 1st Infantry Brigade. Here he accomplished a feat for which he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. It was like that.
During the battle of Mukden, when the Russian army was retreating disorganized, three rearguard regiments - the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rifle regiments - were under the threat of complete encirclement. Kornilov led them and led them out of the encirclement, breaking through the enemy ring with a bayonet strike. At the same time, he showed fearlessness and command as a commander. Together with the Kornilov riflemen, a number of other units were able to escape from the encirclement.
Service after the war
After Japanese war Colonel Kornilov - military agent (attache) in China, in Beijing. For four years, he again worked for the military intelligence of the Russian General Staff.
Then he was appointed commander of the 2nd detachment of the Zaamur Border Guard Corps, guarding the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) and industrial enterprises in her zone. The detachment consisted of two infantry and three cavalry regiments. Almost at the same time as his appointment, Kornilov received the rank of major general.
1914, February - Major General Kornilov took command of the 1st brigade of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed on Russky Island in the sea fortress of Vladivostok...
First World War
Meeting L. G. Kornilov at the Aleksandrovsky (Belorussky) station in Moscow
With the outbreak of the First World War, he was mobilized to the front. He received command of the 48th “Steel” Infantry Division, which in the Russian army was also called “Suvorov”. This was evidenced by the historical names of its regiments: 189th Izmail, 190th Ochakovsky, 191st Largo-Kahulsky and 192nd Rymniksky. The division was part of Brusilov's 8th Army.
The fierce fighting that began gave the general the opportunity to show his will and ability to command the division. In the battles near the city of Mikolaev, he had the opportunity to lead his regiments out of encirclement: he broke through the closed ring of Austrian troops with a bayonet attack of the last divisional reserve with a force of one infantry battalion. Kornilov personally led him into hand-to-hand combat.
During the winter battles of 1914 in the Carpathian Mountains, when the Battle of Galicia was going on, the “Steel” division was among those that distinguished itself. Its commander received the rank of lieutenant general. His name became known on the Russian front of the First World War. General A.A. Brusilov wrote about him in his memoirs:
“It’s a strange thing, General Kornilov never spared his division, in all the battles in which it took part under his command, it suffered horrific losses, and yet the soldiers and officers loved him and believed him... True, he did not spare himself , personally was brave and climbed forward headlong..."
Austrian captivity. Escape
In the April battles of 1915, the 48th Division, which escaped during the offensive in the Carpathians, found itself surrounded by Austro-Hungarian and German troops at the Duklinsky Pass. Only one 191st Largo-Kagulsky regiment and a battalion of the 190th Ochakovsky regiment managed to escape from the encirclement. But they were able to take with them all the banners of the division, which gave them the right to restore it under its former name.
The division commander, wounded in the arm and leg, was captured. 1916, July - Kornilov, dressed in the uniform of an Austrian soldier, with the help of a Czech military paramedic F. Mrnyak, who was promised 20,000 gold crowns, managed to escape from the camp hospital through the territory of Hungary to Romania, and from there return to Russia.
There were more than 60 Russian generals in German and Austrian captivity during the war, and only one General Kornilov was able to escape, although other people also attempted to escape from captivity. granted to Lieutenant General L.G. Kornilov Order of St. George, 3rd degree. The award order stated:
“For the fact that during a stubborn battle in the Carpathians on the Dukla River on April 24, 1915, when the division he commanded was surrounded on all sides by an enemy superior in strength, he bravely fought his way over the corpses of the enemy blocking the road, thereby enabling parts of the division to join the troops of his corps."
1917
The Commander-in-Chief receives a review of the cadets, 1917.
The general, who escaped from captivity, became famous in a country that was waging a great war. After this, Kornilov’s rapid rise through the ranks began: commander of the 25th Rifle Corps; commander of the Petrograd Military District (in March 1917, by order of Kerensky, he arrested Empress Maria Fedorovna in Tsarskoe Selo); commander of the Brusilov 8th Army; Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the Southwestern Front.
At all these posts, Lavr Georgievich Kornilov, in the conditions of growing revolutionism, sought to preserve the combat effectiveness and organization of the troops, maintain military discipline in the units, and limit the activities of soldiers' committees and commissars of the Provisional Government.
Supreme Commander
Head of the Cabinet of Ministers A.F. Kerensky, seeing that power was leaving his hands to the Soviets, decided to appoint Kornilov, a popular infantry general in Russia with a “labor, Cossack pedigree,” as Supreme Commander-in-Chief, thereby intending to improve matters at the front. This decision took place on July 19, 1917. Thus, the Siberian Cossack found himself at the head of the Russian armed forces in the First World War. The newspapers called him “the first soldier of the revolution.”
But soon the general was able to become convinced of the complete insolvency of the Provisional Government. At the end of August, he attempted to create the Petrograd Separate Army to restore order in the decayed capital garrison and at least somehow isolate Kronstadt, which had long since begun to obey only the decisions of its Tsentrobalt.
Participants in this action along with him were Prime Minister Kerensky and the Minister of War, who was also recently the Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist Boris Savinkov. But at the decisive moment they “stepped aside,” and Kerensky declared the Supreme Commander-in-Chief a “rebel.”
Bykhov prison. Escape
Kornilov Lavr Georgievich with his closest assistants and associates, among whom were generals Denikin, Lukomsky, Markov, Erdeli and Romanovsky, ended up in the Bykhov prison under investigation. Kerensky, with such a tactical “move” of politics, was able to extend the existence of his “temporary” government for 2 months. The prisoners were guarded by soldiers of the St. George battalion and the Tekinsky cavalry regiment of horsemen of the Turkmen Teke tribe, personally loyal to Kornilov.
After October, it became clear that the new government was preparing reprisals against the Bykhov prisoners. The former Supreme Commander escaped from prison under the protection of the Tekin Regiment to the Don. On the way, the Tekins were ambushed and lost the opportunity to advance further. Kornilov, dressed in peasant clothes, with a false passport, went on alone and at the end of December 1917 arrived in Novocherkassk...
Volunteer Army
General Kornilov during the State Conference in Moscow. August 1917
In the capital of the Don Army, “under the roof” of Ataman Kaledin, the formation of white volunteer units took place by another Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Russia - Infantry General M.V. Alekseev. There have already been about 300 volunteers - officers, cadets, shock soldiers, high school students.
Kornilov, together with Alekseev, began to form Volunteer Army. On December 27, Lavr Georgievich became its commander, and Alekseev became its Supreme Leader. Replenishment of the army's ranks soon began to diminish: the Soviets established tight control over the railway stations. The reprisal against hostile class elements at that time was short.
But from time to time large groups of white volunteers arrived in Novocherkassk. These were: the Slavic Kornilovsky shock regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Nezhintsev (500 bayonets and 50 officers), the backbone of the St. George regiment, formed in Kyiv, cadets of the Kyiv military schools, senior students of the capital's Mikhailovsky and Konstantinovsky artillery schools.
The Don Ataman Kaledin helped a lot with weapons, provisions, and equipment. Weapons were taken from demobilized soldiers traveling by rail and captured from the Reds. It was bought from everyone who owned it and wanted to sell it.
1st Kuban campaign
When the ring of Red troops closed around the Don, and Ataman Kaledin shot himself, the Volunteer Army set out from Rostov on a campaign to Kuban, essentially leaving the encirclement. Of its 3,700 fighters, almost two-thirds were front-line officers. The campaign went down in history as the 1st Kuban (Ice) campaign. It began under the banner not of a “representative of the bourgeois-landowner class,” but of the son of a simple Cossack peasant, as Kornilov called himself.
In Kuban, continuous battles began with the Red troops, commanded by the former cornet Avtonomov and the former captain Sorokin. Heavy fighting takes place near the village of Vyselki, the villages of Korenovskaya and Ust-Labinskaya. Near the Circassian village of Shendzhiy, former military pilot V.L. joined forces with Kuban white volunteers. Pokrovsky.
Death of General Kornilov
Kornilov decided to storm the city of Yekaterinodar. The volunteer army, with a complete inequality of forces, tried to take the capital of the Kuban region for three days, suffering heavy losses in people.
On the morning of March 31 (April 13), an artillery shell that exploded in a small headquarters house deprived the Volunteer Army of its commander. The man who, at the very beginning of the Civil War in the vast expanses of Russia, led the White movement, died.
