Vasily Ivanovich
Battles and victories
Legendary figure Civil War in Russia, a people's commander, self-taught, who rose to high command positions due to his own abilities in the absence of special military education.
It is difficult to classify Chapaev as a traditional commander. This is, rather, a partisan leader, a kind of “red chieftain.”
Chapaev was born in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Kazan province, into a peasant family. Chapaev's grandfather was a serf. The father worked as a carpenter to support his nine children. Vasily spent his childhood in the city of Balakovo, Samara province. Due to the difficult financial situation of the family, Chapaev graduated from only two classes of parochial school. Chapaev worked from the age of 12 for a merchant, then as a floor worker in a tea shop, as an organ grinder's assistant, and helped his father in carpentry. After serving his military service, Chapaev returned home. By this time, he managed to get married, and by the beginning of the First World War he was already the father of a family - three children. During the war, Chapaev rose to the rank of sergeant major and participated in the famous Brusilov breakthrough, was wounded and shell-shocked several times, his military work and personal courage were noted by three St. George's crosses and the St. George medal.
Due to his injury, Chapaev was sent to the rear of Saratov, the garrison of which was subjected to revolutionary disintegration in 1917. Chapaev, who initially joined, according to the testimony of his comrade in arms, I.S., also took part in the soldiers’ unrest. Kutyakov, to the anarchists and ended up being the chairman of the company committee and a member of the regimental committee. Finally, on September 28, 1917, Chapaev joined the Bolshevik Party. Already in October 1917, he became the military leader of the Nikolaev Red Guard detachment.
Chapaev turned out to be one of the military professionals on whom the Bolsheviks of the Nikolaev district of the Samara province relied in the fight against the uprisings of peasants and Cossacks. He took the post of district military commissar. At the beginning of 1918, Chapaev formed and led the 1st and 2nd Nikolaev regiments, which became part of the Red Army of the Saratov Soviet. In June, both regiments were consolidated into the Nikolaev brigade, headed by Chapaev.
In battles with the Cossacks and Czech interventionists, Chapaev showed himself to be a firm leader and an excellent tactician, skillfully assessing the situation and proposing the optimal solution, as well as a personally brave commander who enjoyed the authority and love of the fighters. During this period, Chapaev repeatedly personally led troops into attack. Since the fall of 1918, Chapaev commanded the Nikolaev division, which, due to its small numbers, was sometimes called Chapaev’s detachment.
According to the temporary commander of the 4th Soviet army former General Staff Major General A.A. Baltiysky, in Chapaev, “the lack of general military education affects the technique of command and control and the lack of breadth to cover military affairs. Full of initiative, but uses it unbalancedly due to the lack of military education. However, Comrade Chapaev clearly identifies all the data on the basis of which, with appropriate military education, both technology and a justified military scope will undoubtedly appear. The desire to get military education, in order to get out of the state of “military darkness”, and then again join the ranks battle front. You can be sure that Comrade Chapaev’s natural talents, combined with military education, will give bright results.”
In November 1918, Chapaev was sent to the newly created Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army in Moscow to improve his education.
Shot from the chronicle. September 1918
The following passage will say a lot about his academic success: “I haven’t read about Hannibal before, but I see that he was an experienced commander. But I disagree with his actions in many ways. He made many unnecessary changes in sight of the enemy and thereby revealed his plan to him, was slow in his actions and did not show persistence in order to completely defeat the enemy. I had an incident similar to the situation during the Battle of Cannes. This was in August, on the N. River. We let up to two white regiments with artillery through the bridge to our bank, gave them the opportunity to stretch out along the road, and then opened hurricane artillery fire on the bridge and rushed into the attack from all sides. The stunned enemy did not have time to come to his senses before he was surrounded and almost completely destroyed. His remnants rushed to the destroyed bridge and were forced to rush into the river, where most of them drowned. 6 guns, 40 machine guns and 600 prisoners fell into our hands. We achieved these successes thanks to the swiftness and surprise of our attack.”
Military science turned out to be beyond the capabilities of the people's leader; after studying for several weeks, Chapaev voluntarily left the academy and returned to the front, to do what he knew and was able to do.
Studying at the academy is a good thing and very important, but it’s a shame and a pity that the White Guards are being beaten without us.
Subsequently, Chapaev commanded the Alexandrovo-Gai group, which fought the Ural Cossacks. The opponents were worth each other - Chapaev was opposed by Cossack cavalry formations of a partisan nature.
At the end of March 1919, Chapaev, by order of the commander of the Southern Group of the Eastern Front of the RSFSR M.V. Frunze was appointed head of the 25th Infantry Division. The division acted against the main forces of the Whites and took part in repelling the spring offensive of the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, participated in the Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa operations, which predetermined the failure of the Kolchak offensive. In these operations, Chapaev's division acted on enemy messages and carried out detours. Maneuver tactics have become business card Chapaev and his divisions. Even the whites singled out Chapaev and noted his organizational skills.
A major success was the crossing of the Belaya River, which led to the capture of Ufa on June 9, 1919 and the further withdrawal of the Whites. Then Chapaev, who was on the front line, was wounded in the head, but remained in the ranks. Was awarded for military distinction highest award Soviet Russia- the Order of the Red Banner, and his division was awarded honorary revolutionary Red Banners.
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Chapaev stood out as an independent commander from the non-commissioned officers of the old army. This environment gave the Red Army many talented military leaders, including such as S.M. Budyonny and G.K. Zhukov. Chapaev loved his fighters, and they paid him the same. His division was considered one of the best on the Eastern Front. In many ways, he was precisely the people's leader, who fought using guerrilla methods, but at the same time possessed a real military instinct, enormous energy and initiative that infected those around him. A commander who strived to constantly learn in practice, directly during battles, a man who was simple-minded and cunning at the same time. Chapaev knew very well the combat area, located on the far-from-center right flank of the Eastern Front. By the way, the fact that Chapaev fought in approximately the same area throughout his entire career is a weighty argument in favor of the partisan nature of his activities.
At the same time, Chapaev managed to fit into the structure of the Red Army, and was fully used by the Bolsheviks in their interests. He was an excellent commander at the divisional level, although not everything in his division was going well, especially in terms of discipline. It is enough to note that as of June 28, 1919, in the 2nd brigade of the division, “limitless drunkenness and outrages with strangers flourished - this does not indicate a commander at all, but a hooligan.” Commanders clashed with commissars, and there were even cases of beatings. The relationship between Chapaev and the commissar of his division D.A. was complicated. Furmanov, who met in March 1919. They were friends, but sometimes quarreled because of the explosive nature of the division commander.
Chapaev - Furmanov. Ufa, June 1919: “Comrade Furman. Please pay attention to my note to you, I am very upset by your departure, that you took my expression personally, of which I inform you that you have not yet managed to bring me any harm, and if I am so frank and a little hot , not at all embarrassed by your presence, and I say everything that is in my thoughts against some individuals, which you were offended by, but so that there are no personal scores between us, I am forced to write a report on my removal from office, rather than be in disagreement with my closest employee , which I am informing you about as a friend. Chapaev
After the Ufa operation, the Chapaev division was again transferred to the front against the Ural Cossacks. It was necessary to operate in the steppe area, far from communications (which made it difficult to supply the division with ammunition), in hot conditions with the superiority of the Cossacks in the cavalry. This situation constantly threatened the flanks and rear. The struggle here was accompanied by mutual bitterness, atrocities against prisoners, and uncompromising confrontation. As a result of a Cossack horse raid in Soviet rear, the headquarters of the Chapaev division in Lbischensk, located at a distance from the main forces, was surrounded and destroyed. On September 5, 1919, Chapaev died: according to some sources, while swimming across the Urals, according to others, he died from wounds during a shootout. Chapaev's death, which occurred as a result of carelessness, was a direct consequence of his impetuous and reckless character, expressing the unbridled element of the people.
Chapaev's division later participated in the defeat of the Ural separate army, which led to the destruction of this army of Ural Cossacks and the death of thousands of officers and privates during the retreat through the desert regions of the Eastern Caspian Sea. These events fully characterize the cruel fratricidal essence of the Civil War, in which there could be no heroes.
in Pugachev, Saratov region
Chapaev lived a short (died at 32 years old), but bright life. Now it is quite difficult to imagine what he really was like - too many myths and exaggerations surround the image of the legendary division commander. For example, according to one version, in the spring of 1919 the Reds did not surrender Samara to the enemy only because of the firm position of Chapaev and Frunze and contrary to the opinion of military experts. But, apparently, this version has nothing to do with reality. Another later legend is that L.D. fought against Chapaev in every possible way. Trotsky. Unfortunately, even today such propaganda legends have their short-sighted supporters. In fact, on the contrary, it was Trotsky who awarded Chapaev a gold watch, distinguishing him from other commanders. Of course, it is difficult to classify Chapaev as a traditional commander. This is, rather, a partisan leader, a kind of “red chieftain.”
Some legends were no longer created official ideology, but by the people's consciousness. For example, that Chapaev is the Antichrist. The demonization of the image was characteristic reaction people on the outstanding qualities of this or that figure. It is known that Cossack atamans were demonized in this way. Chapaev eventually entered into folklore in his more modern form- as the hero of many popular jokes. However, the list of Chapaev legends is not exhausted. Consider the popular version that Chapaev fought against the famous General V.O. Kappel. In reality, they most likely did not fight directly against each other. However, in the popular understanding, a hero like Chapaev could only be defeated by an opponent equal in strength to him, which Kappel was considered to be.
Appeal to the enemy: “I am Chapaev! Drop your weapons!
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev had no luck with an objective biography. After the publication in 1923 of the book by D.A. Furmanov and, in particular, after the release of the famous film by S.D. in 1934. and G.N. Vasilyev “Chapaev”, who was by no means a figure of the foreground, was once and for all included in the cohort of selected heroes of the Civil War. This group included those who were safe in politically(mostly already deceased) red military leaders (M.V. Frunze, N.A. Shchors, G.I. Kotovsky and others). The activities of such mythologized heroes were covered only in a positive light. However, in the case of Chapaev, not only official myths, but also fiction firmly obscured the real historical figure. Similar situation was reinforced by the fact that many former Chapaevites occupied high positions in the Soviet military-administrative hierarchy for a long time. At least one and a half dozen generals alone emerged from the ranks of the division (for example, A.V. Belyakov, M.F. Bukshtynovich, S.F. Danilchenko, I.I. Karpezo, V.A. Kindyukhin, M.S. Knyazev, S.A. Kovpak, V.N. Luchinsky, N.M. Panfilov, S.I. Petrenko-Petrovsky . The Chapaevites, along with the cavalrymen, formed a kind of veteran community in the ranks of the Red Army, kept in touch and helped each other.
Turning to the fates of other people's leaders of the Civil War, such as B.M. Dumenko, F.K. Mironov, N.A. Shchors, it’s hard to imagine Chapaev surviving until the end of the war. The Bolsheviks needed such people only during the fight against the enemy, after which they became not only inconvenient, but also dangerous. Those of them who did not die due to their own recklessness were soon eliminated.
Ganin A.V., Ph.D., Institute of Slavic Studies RAS
Literature
Daines V.O. Chapaev. M., 2010
Kutyakov I. Chapaev's combat path. Kuibyshev, 1969
Simonov A. Chapaev's first detachment // Motherland. 2011. No. 2. P. 69-72
Ganin A. Chapai at the Academy // Motherland. 2008. No. 4. P. 93-97
Chapai is too affectionate. From Furmanov’s personal archive / Publ. A.V. Ganina // Motherland. 2011. No. 2. P. 73-75
Internet
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Nikiforov Yu.A., Ph.D., Head. Department of History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Moscow State Pedagogical University. Sholokhov
Where did Chapaev die and how did it happen? A clear answer to this question, alas, no. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - legendary personality times of the Civil War. The life of this person, starting from a young age, is filled with mysteries and secrets. Let's try to unravel them based on some historical facts.
The Mystery of Birth
The hero of our story lived only 32 years. But what kind! Where Chapaev died and where he was buried is an unsolved mystery. Why did this happen? Eyewitnesses of those distant times differ in their testimony.
Ivanovich (1887-1919) - this is how historical reference books present the date of birth and death of the legendary commander.
It’s only a pity that history has preserved more about the birth of this man reliable facts than about death.
So, Vasily was born on February 9, 1887 in the family of a poor peasant. The very birth of the boy was marked by the mark of death: the midwife who delivered the birth of the mother of a poor family, seeing the premature baby, prophesied his quick death.
The grandmother came out to the stunted and half-dead boy. Despite the disappointing forecasts, she believed that he would pull through. The baby was wrapped in a piece of cloth and warmed near the stove. Thanks to the efforts and prayers of his grandmother, the boy survived.
Childhood years
Soon the Chapaev family is in search of better life moves from the village of Budaiki, in Chuvashia, to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev province.
Things went a little better for the family: Vasily was even sent to study science at the parish educational institution. But the boy was not destined to receive a full education. In a little more than 2 years, he only learned to read and write. The training ended after one incident. The fact is that in parochial schools it was the practice to punish students for misconduct. Chapaev did not escape this fate either. In the cold winter, the boy was sent to a punishment cell with virtually no clothes. The guy did not intend to die from the cold, so when it was no longer bearable to endure the cold, he jumped out of the window. The punishment cell was very high - the guy woke up with broken arms and legs. After this incident, Vasily did not go to school anymore. And since education was closed for the boy, his father took him to work, taught him carpentry, and they built buildings together.
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, whose biography grew with new and incredible facts every year, was remembered by his contemporaries after another incident. It was like this: during work, when it was necessary to install a cross on the very top of a newly built church, showing courage and skill, Chapaev Jr. took on this task. However, the guy could not resist and fell from a great height. Everyone saw a true miracle in the fact that after the fall Vasily did not have even a small scratch.
In the service of the Fatherland
At the age of 21, Chapaev began military service, which lasted only a year. In 1909 he was fired.
By official version, the reason was the illness of a serviceman: Chapaev was found to have an unofficial reason that was much more serious - Vasily’s brother, Andrei, was executed for speaking out against the tsar. After this, Vasily Chapaev himself began to be considered “unreliable.”
Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich, whose historical portrait emerges as the image of a man prone to bold and decisive actions, once decided to start a family. He got married.
Vasily's chosen one, Pelageya Metlina, was the daughter of a priest, so the elder Chapaev opposed these marriage ties. Despite the ban, the young people got married. Three children were born in this marriage, but the union broke up due to Pelageya’s betrayal.
In 1914, Chapaev was again called to serve. The First World War brought him awards: the St. George Medal and the 4th and 3rd degrees.
In addition to awards, soldier-Chapaev received the rank of senior non-commissioned officer. All achievements were gained by him during six months of service.
Chapaev and the Red Army
In July 1917, Vasily Chapaev, having recovered from his injury, joined an infantry regiment whose soldiers supported revolutionary views. Here, after active communication with the Bolsheviks, he joined the ranks of their party.
In December of the same year, the hero of our story becomes commissar of the Red Guard. He suppresses peasant uprisings and goes to study at the General Staff Academy.
For the smart commander, a new assignment will soon arrive - Chapaev is sent to the Eastern Front to fight with Kolchak.
After the successful liberation of Ufa from enemy troops and participation in military operation After the release of Uralsk, the headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was suddenly attacked by the White Guards. According to the official version, Vasily Chapaev died in 1919.
Where did Chapaev die?
There is an answer to this question. Tragic event happened in Lbischensk, on But historians are still arguing about how the famous commander of the Red Guard died. There are many different legends about the death of Chapaev. A lot of “eyewitnesses” tell their truth. Still, researchers of Chapaev’s life are inclined to believe that he drowned while swimming across the Urals.
This version is based on an investigation conducted by Chapaev’s contemporaries shortly after his death.
The fact that the division commander’s grave does not exist and his remains were not found gave rise to a new version that he escaped. When the Civil War ended, rumors began to circulate among the people about the rescue of Chapaev. It was rumored that he, having changed his last name, lived in Arkhangelsk region. The first version is confirmed by a film that was released on Soviet screens in the 30s of the last century.
Film about Chapaev: myth or reality
In those years, the country needed new revolutionary heroes with an unblemished reputation. Chapaev's feat was exactly what Soviet propaganda felt necessary.
From the film we learn that the headquarters of the division commanded by Chapaev was taken by surprise by the enemies. The advantage was on the side of the White Guards. The Reds fired back, the battle was fierce. The only way to escape and survive was to cross the Urals.
While crossing the river, Chapaev was already wounded in the arm. The next enemy bullet killed him and he drowned. The river where Chapaev died became his burial place.
However, the film, which was admired by all Soviet citizens, caused indignation among Chapaev's descendants. His daughter Claudia, referring to the story of Commissar Baturin, claimed that his comrades took his father to the other side of the river on a raft.
To the question: “Where did Chapaev die?” Baturin answered: “On the bank of the river.” According to him, the body was buried in the coastal sand and disguised by reeds.
Already the great-granddaughter of the red commander initiated the search for her great-grandfather’s grave. However, these plans were not destined to come true. At the place where, according to legend, the grave should have been located, a river now flowed.
Whose testimony was used as the basis for the film script?
How Chapaev died and where, the cornet Belonozhkin told after the end of the war. From his words, it became known that it was he who fired a bullet at the sailing commander. A denunciation was written against the former cornet, he confirmed his version during interrogation, and it was the basis for the film.
Belonozhkin's fate is also shrouded in mystery. He was convicted twice and amnestied the same number of times. He lived to a very old age. He fought during World War II, lost his hearing due to shell shock, and died at the age of 96.
The fact that Chapaev’s “killer” lived to such an old age and died a natural death suggests that representatives of the Soviet government, who took his story as the basis for the film, did not themselves believe in this version.
Version of the old-timers of the village of Lbischenskaya
How Chapaev died, history is silent. We can draw conclusions by referring only to eyewitness accounts, conducting all kinds of investigations and examinations.
The version of the old-timers of the village of Lbischenskaya (now the village of Chapaevo) also has the right to life. The investigation was conducted by Academician A. Cherekaev, and he wrote down the history of the defeat of Chapaev’s division. According to eyewitnesses, the weather on the day of the tragedy was autumn-like cold. The Cossacks drove all the Red Guards to the banks of the Urals, where many soldiers actually threw themselves into the river and drowned.
The victims were due to the fact that the place where Chapaev died is considered enchanted. No one has ever managed to swim across the river there, despite the fact that local daredevils, in honor of the memory of the deceased commissioner, organize such swims every year on the day of his death.
What Cherekaev learned about Chapaev’s fate was that he was caught, and after interrogation, under guard, he was sent to Guryev to Ataman Tolstov. This is where Chapaev's trail ends.
Where is the truth?
The fact that Chapaev’s death is indeed shrouded in mystery is an absolute fact. And researchers of the legendary division commander’s life have yet to find out the answer to this question.
It is noteworthy that the newspapers did not report Chapaev’s death at all. Although at that time the death of such a famous person was considered an event that was learned about from newspapers.
They started talking about Chapaev’s death after it was published. famous film. All the eyewitnesses of his death spoke at almost the same time - after 1935, in other words, after the film was shown.
In the encyclopedia "Civil War and military intervention in the USSR” the place where Chapaev died is also not indicated. The official, generalized version is indicated - near Lbischensk.
Let's hope that with the power of new research, this story will one day become clearer.
Vasily Chapaev was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Kazan province, into a Russian peasant family. Vasily was the sixth child in the family of Ivan Stepanovich Chapaev (1854-1921).
Some time later, in search of a better life, the Chapaev family moved to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev district, Samara province. Ivan Stepanovich enrolled his son in a local parish school, the patron of which was his wealthy cousin. There were already priests in the Chapaev family, and the parents wanted Vasily to become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise.
In the fall of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army and sent to Kyiv. But already in the spring of the following year, for unknown reasons, Chapaev was transferred from the army to the reserve and transferred to first-class militia warriors. According to the official version, due to illness. The version about his political unreliability, because of which he was transferred to the warriors, is not confirmed by anything. Before the World War, he did not serve in the regular army. He worked as a carpenter. From 1912 to 1914, Chapaev and his family lived in the city of Melekess (now Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region) on Chuvashskaya Street. Here his son Arkady was born. At the beginning of the war, on September 20, 1914, Chapaev was called up for military service and sent to the 159th reserve infantry regiment in the city of Atkarsk.
Chapaev went to the front in January 1915. He fought in the 326th Belgorai Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Infantry Division in the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front in Volyn and Galicia. Was wounded. In July 1915 he graduated from the training team, received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, and in October - senior officer. He finished the war with the rank of sergeant major. For his bravery, he was awarded the St. George Medal and soldiers' St. George Crosses of three degrees.
February revolution met in a hospital in Saratov; On September 28, 1917 he joined the RSDLP(b). He was elected commander of the 138th reserve infantry regiment stationed in Nikolaevsk. On December 18, the district congress of Soviets elected him military commissar of the Nikolaev district. In this position he led the dispersal of the Nikolaev district zemstvo. Organized a district Red Guard of 14 detachments. He took part in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn), then (in the spring of 1918) in the campaign of the Special Army to Uralsk. On his initiative, on May 25, a decision was made to reorganize the Red Guard detachments into two Red Army regiments: them. Stepan Razin and them. Pugachev, united in the Pugachev brigade under the command of Chapaev. Later he took part in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People's Army, from whom he recaptured Nikolaevsk, renamed Pugachev in honor of the brigade. On September 19, 1918, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Division. From November 1918 to February 1919 - at the Academy of the General Staff. Then - Commissioner of Internal Affairs of the Nikolaev district. From May 1919 - brigade commander of the Special Aleksandrovo-Gai Brigade, from June - head of the 25th Infantry Division, which participated in the Bugulminsky and Belebeyevsky operations against Kolchak’s army. Under the leadership of Chapaev, this division occupied Ufa on June 9, 1919, and Uralsk on July 11. During the capture of Ufa, Chapaev was wounded in the head by a burst from an aircraft machine gun.
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev died on September 5, 1919 as a result of a deep raid by the Cossack detachment of Colonel N. N. Borodin (1192 soldiers with 9 machine guns and 2 guns), which culminated in an unexpected attack on the well-guarded (about 1000 bayonets) and located in the deep rear of the city of Lbischensk (now the village of Chapaev, West Kazakhstan region of Kazakhstan), where the headquarters of the 25th division was located.
In 1908, Chapaev met 16-year-old Pelageya Metlina, the daughter of a priest. On July 5, 1909, 22-year-old Vasily Ivanovich Chepaev married a 17-year-old peasant woman from the village of Balakova, Pelageya Nikanorovna Metlina (State Archives of the Saratov Region F.637. Op.7. D.69. L.380ob-309.). They lived together for 6 years and had three children. Then the First began world war, and Chapaev went to the front. Pelageya lived in his parents’ house, then went with the children to a neighbor’s conductor.
At the beginning of 1917, Chapaev went to his native place and intended to divorce Pelageya, but was satisfied with taking the children from her and returning them to their parents’ house. Soon after this, he became friends with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of Pyotr Kamishkertsev, a friend of Chapaev, who died of a wound during the fighting in the Carpathians (Chapaev and Kamishkertsev promised each other that if one of the two was killed, the survivor would take care of his friend’s family). In 1919, Chapaev settled Kamishkertseva with her children (Chapaev’s children and Kamishkertsev’s daughters Olympiada and Vera) in the village. Klintsovka at the division’s artillery depot, after which Kamishkertseva cheated on Chapaev with the head of the artillery depot, Georgy Zhivolozhinov. This circumstance was revealed shortly before Chapaev’s death and dealt him a strong moral blow. IN last year During his life, Chapaev also had affairs with a certain Tanka the Cossack (the daughter of a Cossack colonel, with whom he was forced to part with moral pressure Red Army soldiers) and the wife of Commissar Furmanov, Anna Nikitichnaya Steshenko, which led to an acute conflict with Furmanov and served as the reason for Furmanov’s recall from the division shortly before Chapaev’s death
Chapaev, according to her, immediately went back to division headquarters. Soon after this, Pelageya decided to make peace with her common-law husband and headed to Lbischensk, taking little Arkady with her. However, she was not allowed to see Chapaev. On the way back, Pelageya stopped at the white headquarters and reported information about the small number of forces stationed in Lbischensk. According to K. Chapaeva, she heard Pelageya boasting about this already in the 1930s. However, it should be noted that since the population of Lbischensk and the surrounding area, consisting of Ural Cossacks, completely sympathized with the whites and maintained contact with them, the latter were intimately aware of the situation in the city. Therefore, even if the story of Pelageya Kamishkertseva’s betrayal is true, the information she provided was not of particular value. There is no mention of this report in the White Guard documents.
Chapaev's division, which broke away from the rear and suffered big losses, in early September, settled down to rest in the Lbischensk area, and in Lbischensk itself the division headquarters, supply department, tribunal, revolutionary committee and other divisional institutions with a total number of almost two thousand people were located. In addition, there were about two thousand mobilized peasant transport workers in the city who did not have any weapons. The city was guarded by a division school of 600 people - it was these 600 active bayonets that were main force Chapaev at the time of the attack. The main forces of the division were located at a distance of 40-70 km from the city.
The Lbishchensky raid by Colonel Borodin’s detachment began on the evening of August 31. On September 4, Borodin’s detachment secretly approached the city and hid in the reeds in the backwaters of the Urals. Air reconnaissance (4 airplanes) did not report this to Chapaev, apparently due to the fact that the pilots sympathized with the whites (after the death of Chapaev, they all flew over to the side of the whites). At dawn on September 5, the Cossacks attacked Lbischensk. Panic and chaos began, some of the Red Army soldiers crowded into Cathedral Square, were surrounded there and taken prisoner; others were captured or killed while clearing the city; only a small part managed to break through to the Ural River. All prisoners were executed - they were shot in batches of 100-200 people on the banks of the Urals. Among those captured after the battle and shot was divisional commissar P. S. Baturin, who tried to hide in the oven of one of the houses. The chief of staff of the Ural White Army, Colonel Motornov, describes the results of this operation as follows:
As documents testify, for the capture of Chapaev, Borodin assigned a special platoon under the command of the guard Belonozhkin, who, led by a captured Red Army soldier, attacked the house where Chapaev was quartered, but let him go: the Cossacks attacked the Red Army soldier who appeared from the house, mistaking him for Chapaev himself, in while Chapaev jumped out the window and managed to escape. While fleeing, he was wounded in the arm by Belonozhkin's shot. Having gathered and organized the Red Army soldiers who fled to the river in panic, Chapaev organized a detachment of about a hundred people with a machine gun and was able to throw back Belonozhkin, who did not have machine guns. However, in the process he was wounded in the stomach. According to the story of Chapaev's eldest son, Alexander, two Hungarian Red Army soldiers put the wounded Chapaev on a raft made from half a gate and transported him across the Urals. But on the other side it turned out that Chapaev died from loss of blood. The Hungarians buried his body with their hands in the coastal sand and covered it with reeds so that the Cossacks would not find the grave. This story was subsequently confirmed by one of the participants in the events, who in 1962 sent a letter from Hungary to Chapaev’s daughter with detailed description death of the division commander. The investigation carried out by whites also confirms these data; from the words of captured Red Army soldiers, “Chapaev, leading a group of Red Army soldiers towards us, was wounded in the stomach. The wound turned out to be so severe that after that he could no longer lead the battle and was transported on planks across the Urals... he [Chapaev] was already on the Asian side of the river. Ural died from a wound in the stomach.” The place where Chapaev was supposedly buried is now flooded - the river bed has changed.
Memory:
The Chapaevka River and the city of Chapaevsk in the Samara region were named in his honor.
In 1974, the Chapaev Museum was opened in Cheboksary near his birthplace.
In the city of Pugachev, Saratov region, there is a house-museum where Vasily Ivanovich lived and worked in 1919. The Chapaevskaya 25th Infantry Division was formed in this city.
In the village of Krasny Yar, Ufa region of the Republic of Bashkortostan, there is a house-museum named after the 25th Infantry Division in the building that housed the division headquarters and a field hospital during the liberation of Ufa.
There is a museum of V.I. Chapaev located in the village of Lbischenskaya (now the village of Chapaev, West Kazakhstan region) on the site last fight division chief, has existed since the 1920s. It is located in the house where the headquarters of the 25th Infantry Division was located.
There is a house-museum of V. I. Chapaev located in Uralsk (West Kazakhstan region)
There is also a house-museum of V. I. Chapaev in the city of Balakovo, Saratov region (Address of the directorate: 413865, Saratov region, Balakovo, Chapaev St., 110). Founded in 1948 as a branch of the Pugachev Memorial House-Museum of V. I. Chapaev. In 1986, it became a branch of the Saratov Regional Museum of Local History. The initiators of the creation of the museum in parental home The Chapaevs were represented by the Chapaevites and the red partisans of the city of Balakovo and the region. Since this city is the second homeland of the Red Army commander V.I. Chapaev, famous during the Civil War. It was in the Sirotskaya Sloboda (former outskirts of the city of Balakovo), where the house-museum of V. I. Chapaev is now located, that his childhood and teenage years, the formation of his personality. This memorial museum shows the peaceful period in the life of the famous division commander.
In St. Petersburg, in school No. 146 of the Kalininsky district, a museum named after V. I. Chapaev was created by teachers and students in the 1970s. Groups of students acted as tour guides. Meetings were held with veterans of the legendary 25th division. Performances were held in which school students also acted as actors.
A river cruise double-deck motor ship of Project 305 was named in honor of Vasily Ivanovich.
Big anti-submarine ship(BOD) project 1134A type "Kronstadt"
Who is Chapaev? This is not just a soldier of two armies, this is a whole symbol of the era of the collapse of empires and revolutions.
He played a significant role in the Civil War in the territory Russian Empire. The Red Army soldiers under his leadership inflicted a heavy defeat on General Kolchak on the Eastern Front. Chapaev himself was a symbol of Red Cossack courage. His image was actively used for agitation and propaganda both during the Civil War and in the Soviet Union.
Vasily Chapaev: biography
Born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the Kazan province. His parents were ordinary peasants. Regarding the name of Vasily Ivanovich accurate information No. As the brother of the famous Red Army soldier recalled, the surname Chapaev was first a nickname. Allegedly, Vasily’s grandfather worked as a foreman in a construction team and constantly shouted to his subordinates: “Chepai! Chepai” (“take”). From then on, they began to call him Chapaev, which soon became a surname. This was confirmed by Ivanovich himself. The nationality of the “red” Cossack still unclear. According to some sources, his mother was Chuvash.
The Chapaev family was quite large. In addition to Vasily, there were six children. The parents worked hard, but the family still lived poorly. Therefore, a few years after the birth of their last child, they moved to the Samara province. Vasily's father, who wanted to give his son an education, sends him to a church school. At that time, she was sponsored by her father's cousin. Initially, the parents wanted Vasily to become a priest, like some other relatives. However, in the fall of 1908, Chapaev was drafted into the army. His unit is stationed in Kyiv. However, after a few months Vasily is transferred to the reserve. The Kiev Military District did not know who Chapaev was, so it is impossible to accurately determine the reason for such a strange decision. According to the official version, the dismissal was due to illness. In Soviet times there was popular theory, according to which Vasily was expelled from the army due to political unreliability. Upon arrival home, he is granted the rank of militia warrior.
At home, Vasily works as a carpenter. Soon he marries Pelagia Metlina, who is the daughter of a local priest. In nine hundred and nine they got married. Almost immediately they move to Dimitrovgrad and live there. In the fourteenth year, the First World War begins. All reserve military personnel are drafted into the imperial troops, and Chapaev is no exception. Vasily’s biography as a military man begins precisely then.
First World War
Vasily Ivanovich was mobilized into the one hundred and fifty-ninth reserve regiment, which was stationed in the city of Atkarsk.
There he undergoes training and retraining. Two months later he is sent to the front. They arrive in Galicia, where fierce battles take place against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. In the cold winter of the fifteenth, the siege of Przemysl continued. Russian troops began preparing an operation to break through into Hungarian territory. To do this, it was necessary to reach the Hungarian Plain, which was prevented by the fortifications of the Austrians in the Carpathians. In mid-January, an almost simultaneous offensive began warring parties. Army German Empire planned to lift the siege of the strategically important Przemysl and go to the rear of the Russian troops.
V.I. Chapaev participated in the Carpathian operation. Stubborn fighting ensued in the mountains. The battles took place in the most difficult weather conditions. By this time the passes were almost completely covered with snow. It also affected the well-being of soldiers who grew up on flat terrain. Chapaev was wounded in one of the battles and was in the hospital for some time.
Battle of the Carpathians
After difficult battles, Russian troops still managed to occupy dominant heights and win tactically. However, in the spring a massive enemy offensive began. German army was going to attack from East Prussia and encircle Russian troops in the Warsaw area. At this time, a significant part of the imperial army was stuck in difficult transitions in the Carpathians and could not move quickly. The Russian army was extremely poorly equipped. The Germans and Austrians had total superiority in both heavy guns and machine guns. For example, the Germans had ninety-six machine guns, and Russian troops none. V.I. Chapaev was among those retreating from Poland in 1915. This defeat neutralized all the gains of the Russian army in the campaign of the fourteenth year and in the Carpathian operation. But the most severe blow was the moral blow.
Breakthrough of Russian troops
Who Chapaev was became known in the Belgorai regiment during the famous summer of the sixteenth year, a massive Russian offensive began near Lutsk. The goal was to occupy Galicia and Volyn, to capture the enemy enemy group. After several hours of artillery preparation, the troops of the entire front went on the offensive. Already on the first day they managed to break through the first line of defense and capture many trophies. By September the operation was completed. The Germans and Austrians lost one and a half million soldiers killed, wounded and captured. For his courage, Vasily Chapaev received the St. George Cross.
Returning home
Chapaev returned home with the rank of sergeant major. For a long time was in the hospital. At this time, changes were brewing in the country. Chapaev, like millions of Russian workers, was extremely dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country. The standard of living was deteriorating, the social gap between the nobles and the “masses” was simply monstrous. Plus, no one cares understandable war Thousands of soldiers were dying every day. As a result, popular unrest reached its peak in February.
A revolution began in St. Petersburg. The Tsar abdicated the throne, and power passed to the Provisional Government. Vasily Ivanovich reacted positively to the new changes. In September '17 he joined the Bolshevik Party. As a person with combat experience, he was highly valued. Therefore he is appointed commander infantry regiment.
Beginning of the Civil War
After Vasily showed his skills, he was appointed commissioner of the entire county. Almost autonomously he was engaged in the formation of combat communist detachments. For quite short term he managed to organize the Red Guard of 14 battalions. Almost from the very beginning of the war, the entire Ural region was occupied by whites. This is due to the compact residence of the Cossacks in this territory. Therefore, Chapaev’s detachments operated in extremely difficult conditions. The Whites did not even need to conduct thorough reconnaissance, because wherever the Reds appeared, among local population there were people who reported on their numbers, weapons and other important information.
Red offensive
In winter, fierce battles broke out near Tsaritsyn.
General Kaledin had at his disposal selected fighters who had good combat experience behind them. And many studied military craft from childhood. But Chapaev managed to train peasants and workers in a short time so that they fought on an equal basis with the military. After this, his connections were included in Special army. As part of it, Vasily Ivanovich took personal part in the campaign against Uralsk. During the fighting he was wounded in the head. After the end of the campaign, he reorganized, dividing the guards into two regiments, which he united into a brigade under his command.
In the summer of '18 it was in full swing. Czechoslovak interventionists captured Nikolaevsk, in which less than a year ago proclaimed Soviet power with the active participation of Chapaev himself. Almost the entire Ural region came under the control of the whites. The Pugachev brigade (one of the regiments bore the name of Pugachev) besieged the city and, after several days of heavy fighting, recaptured it. During the battles for Nikolaevsk, the Red Army fought so desperately that many whites fled from the battlefield. After that, the entire north of Russia knew who Chapaev was. In the winter of 1918, Vasily Ivanovich undergoes training at the General Staff Academy. After this he receives the position of commissioner.
Army commander
Six months later, Chapaev commands a brigade, and a month later - a division. Troops are conducting an offensive on the Eastern Front against one of the best generals white - Kolchak. With the support of the Turkestan army, Bugulmi and Bugurslan districts were taken by the Reds. The front passed through the Ufa province. About thirty thousand soldiers began the offensive on May twenty-fifth, and by the end of June Kolchak's troops fled the province. Chapaev took part in the assault on Ufa. During the battle, he was wounded in the head by an air machine gun, but survived.
The commander of the Red Army continued to lead military operations in extremely difficult conditions. After a rapid offensive, Chapaev’s fighters pushed forward strongly and were exhausted. Therefore, in the fall of the eighteenth we stopped in Lbischensk to rest and wait for reinforcements to arrive. All administrative military institutions are located in the city itself. However, there were very few fighters. The garrison consisted of six hundred bayonets, commanded by Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. The civil war squeezed the last juice out of the torn country. Therefore, peasants who did not know how to handle weapons were mobilized into the Red Army. About two thousand of these recruits were also in Lbischensk, but were not armed. The main forces of the division were located forty kilometers from the city.
Raid of the White Cossacks
The white Colonel Borodin decided to take advantage of the weakness of the Chapaevsky garrison. Under the cover of darkness on the last day of summer, his detachment, consisting of selected fighters, left Kalyonoy and went on a raid. The Red Army soldiers had four airplanes at their disposal. They were doing reconnaissance around the city.
However, the pilots were mobilized from the local population, and, apparently, sympathized with the whites. Therefore, on September 4th, Borodin’s detachment quietly approached the city. The commander of the Red Army, Chapaev, was in Lbischensk at that time. At dawn, the Cossacks attacked the city. The surprise factor worked - panic began. The Red Army soldiers tried to organize resistance in the chaos. The battle lasted about six hours.
Death
Many were captured. But some managed to break through to the Ural River. They tried to swim to the other side, despite the current. Chapaev was among them. The hero of the Civil War was seriously wounded in the stomach, but still continued to fight. According to the official version, after the arrival of the main part of the Cossacks, he ran to the river. He was almost halfway through when a bullet hit him in the head. He died barely reaching the shore. The monument to Chapaev was simple - made of reeds and algae. The Red Army soldiers who buried the glorious commander were afraid that the whites would find the burial place.
Memory
After the end of the Civil War, thanks to Soviet propaganda, Chapaev became one of its most striking symbols. Several films were made about him, many songs and poems were written. The image of a dashing red Cossack has become an element of folklore. In jokes, Chapaev became something like Lieutenant Rzhevsky.
The monument to Chapaev, already made of stone, stands in many cities of the post-Soviet space.
130 years ago, February 9, 1887, was born future hero Civil War, people's commander Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. Vasily Chapaev fought heroically during the First World War, and during the Civil War he became a legendary figure, a self-taught man who rose to high command positions due to his own abilities in the absence of special military education. He became a real legend when not only official myths, but also artistic fiction firmly overshadowed the real historical figure.
Chapaev was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the village of Budaika in Chuvashia. The Chapaevs' ancestors lived here for a long time. He was the sixth child in a poor Russian peasant family. The child was weak and premature, but his grandmother delivered him. His father, Ivan Stepanovich, was a carpenter by profession, had a small plot of land, but his bread was never enough, and therefore he worked as a cab driver in Cheboksary. Grandfather, Stepan Gavrilovich, was written as Gavrilov in the documents. And the surname Chapaev came from the nickname - “chapai, chapai, chain” (“take”).
In search of a better life, the Chapaev family moved to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev district, Samara province. Since childhood, Vasily worked a lot, worked as a sex worker in a tea shop, as an assistant to an organ grinder, a merchant, and helped his father in carpentry. Ivan Stepanovich assigned his son to the local parochial school, whose patron was his wealthy cousin. There were already priests in the Chapaev family, and the parents wanted Vasily to become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise. At church school, Vasily learned to write and read syllables. One day he was punished for a crime - Vasily was put in a cold winter punishment cell in only his underwear. Realizing an hour later that he was freezing, the child broke the window and jumped from the height of the third floor, breaking his arms and legs. Thus ended Chapaev’s studies.
In the fall of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army and sent to Kyiv. But already in the spring of the next year, apparently due to illness, Chapaev was transferred from the army to the reserve and transferred to first-class militia warriors. Before the First World War he worked as a carpenter. In 1909, Vasily Ivanovich married Pelageya Nikanorovna Metlina, the daughter of a priest. They lived together for 6 years and had three children. From 1912 to 1914, Chapaev and his family lived in the city of Melekess (now Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region).
It is worth noting that family life Things didn’t work out for Vasily Ivanovich. Pelageya, when Vasily went to the front, went with the children to a neighbor. At the beginning of 1917, Chapaev went to his native place and intended to divorce Pelageya, but was satisfied with taking the children from her and returning them to their parents’ house. Soon after this, he became friends with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of Pyotr Kamishkertsev, a friend of Chapaev, who died of a wound during the fighting in the Carpathians (Chapaev and Kamishkertsev promised each other that if one of the two was killed, the survivor would take care of his friend’s family). However, Kamishkertseva also cheated on Chapaeva. This circumstance was revealed shortly before Chapaev’s death and dealt him a strong moral blow. In the last year of his life, Chapaev also had an affair with the wife of Commissar Furmanov, Anna (there is an opinion that it was she who became the prototype of Anka the Machine Gunner), which led to an acute conflict with Furmanov. Furmanov wrote denunciations against Chapaev, but later admitted in his diaries that he was simply jealous of the legendary division commander.
At the beginning of the war, on September 20, 1914, Chapaev was called up for military service and sent to the 159th reserve infantry regiment in the city of Atkarsk. In January 1915, he went to the front as part of the 326th Belgorai Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Infantry Division from the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front. Was wounded. In July 1915 he graduated from the training team, received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, and in October - senior officer. Participated in the Brusilov breakthrough. He finished the war with the rank of sergeant major. He fought well, was wounded and shell-shocked several times, and for his bravery was awarded the St. George Medal and soldiers' St. George Crosses of three degrees. Thus, Chapaev was one of those soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the tsarist imperial army who went through the most severe school of the First World War and soon became the core of the Red Army.
Civil war
I met the February revolution in a hospital in Saratov. On September 28, 1917 he joined the RSDLP(b). He was elected commander of the 138th reserve infantry regiment stationed in Nikolaevsk. On December 18, the district congress of Soviets elected him military commissar of the Nikolaev district. Organized a district Red Guard of 14 detachments. He took part in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn), then in the spring of 1918 in the campaign of the Special Army to Uralsk. On his initiative, on May 25, a decision was made to reorganize the Red Guard detachments into two Red Army regiments: named after Stepan Razin and named after Pugachev, united into the Pugachev brigade under the command of Vasily Chapaev. Later he participated in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People's Army, from whom Nikolaevsk was recaptured, renamed Pugachev.
On September 19, 1918, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Division. In battles with the Whites, Cossacks and Czech interventionists, Chapaev showed himself to be a strong commander and an excellent tactician, skillfully assessing the situation and proposing the optimal solution, as well as a personally brave man who enjoyed the authority and love of the fighters. During this period, Chapaev repeatedly personally led troops into attack. According to the temporary commander of the 4th Soviet Army of the former General Staff, Major General A. A. Baltiysky, Chapaev’s “lack of general military education affects the technique of command and control and the lack of breadth to cover military affairs. Full of initiative, but uses it unbalancedly due to the lack of military education. However, Comrade Chapaev clearly identifies all the data on the basis of which, with appropriate military education, both technology and a justified military scope will undoubtedly appear. The desire to receive a military education in order to get out of the state of “military darkness”, and then again join the ranks of the battle front. You can be sure that Comrade Chapaev’s natural talents, combined with military education, will give bright results.”
In November 1918, Chapaev was sent to the newly created Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army in Moscow to improve his education. He stayed at the Academy until February 1919, then he left his studies without permission and returned to the front. “Studying at the academy is a good thing and very important, but it’s a shame and a pity that the White Guards are being beaten without us,” said the red commander. Chapaev noted about the accounting: “I haven’t read about Hannibal before, but I see that he was an experienced commander. But I disagree with his actions in many ways. He made many unnecessary changes in sight of the enemy and thereby revealed his plan to him, was slow in his actions and did not show persistence in order to completely defeat the enemy. I had an incident similar to the situation during the Battle of Cannes. This was in August, on the N. River. We let up to two white regiments with artillery through the bridge to our bank, gave them the opportunity to stretch out along the road, and then opened hurricane artillery fire on the bridge and rushed into the attack from all sides. The stunned enemy did not have time to come to his senses before he was surrounded and almost completely destroyed. His remnants rushed to the destroyed bridge and were forced to rush into the river, where most of them drowned. 6 guns, 40 machine guns and 600 prisoners fell into our hands. We achieved these successes thanks to the swiftness and surprise of our attack.”
Chapaev was appointed commissioner of internal affairs of the Nikolaev district. From May 1919 - brigade commander of the Special Aleksandrovo-Gai Brigade, from June - 25th Infantry Division. The division acted against the main forces of the Whites, participated in repelling the spring offensive of the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, and participated in the Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa operations. These operations predetermined the transition of the Red troops Ural ridge and the defeat of Kolchak's army. In these operations, Chapaev's division acted on enemy messages and carried out detours. Maneuver tactics became a feature of Chapaev and his division. Even white commanders singled out Chapaev and noted his organizational skills. A major success was the crossing of the Belaya River, which led to the capture of Ufa on June 9, 1919 and the further retreat of the White troops. Then Chapaev, who was on the front line, was wounded in the head, but remained in the ranks. For military distinctions he was awarded the highest award of Soviet Russia - the Order of the Red Banner, and his division was awarded the honorary revolutionary Red Banner.
Chapaev loved his fighters, and they paid him the same. His division was considered one of the best on the Eastern Front. In many ways, he was precisely the people's leader, at the same time possessing a real gift for leadership, enormous energy and initiative that infected those around him. Vasily Ivanovich was a commander who strived to constantly learn in practice, directly during battles, a simple and cunning man at the same time (this was the quality of a true representative of the people). Chapaev knew very well the combat area, located on the far-from-center right flank of the Eastern Front.
After the Ufa operation, Chapaev's division was again transferred to the front against the Ural Cossacks. It was necessary to operate in the steppe area, far from communications, with the superiority of the Cossacks in the cavalry. The struggle here was accompanied by mutual bitterness and uncompromising confrontation. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev died on September 5, 1919 as a result of a deep raid by the Cossack detachment of Colonel N.N. Borodin, which culminated in an unexpected attack on the city of Lbischensk, located in the deep rear, where the headquarters of the 25th division was located. Chapaev's division, separated from the rear and suffering heavy losses, settled down to rest in the Lbischensk area at the beginning of September. Moreover, in Lbischensk itself the division headquarters, supply department, tribunal, revolutionary committee and other divisional institutions were located.
The main forces of the division were removed from the city. The command of the White Ural Army decided to launch a raid on Lbischensk. On the evening of August 31, a selected detachment under the command of Colonel Nikolai Borodin left the village of Kalyonoy. On September 4, Borodin’s detachment secretly approached the city and hid in the reeds in the backwaters of the Urals. Air reconnaissance did not report this to Chapaev, although it could not have detected the enemy. It is believed that due to the fact that the pilots sympathized with the whites (after the defeat, they went over to the side of the whites).
At dawn on September 5, the Cossacks attacked Lbischensk. A few hours later the battle was over. Most The Red Army soldiers were not ready for the attack, panicked, were surrounded and surrendered. It ended in a massacre, all the prisoners were killed - in batches of 100-200 people on the banks of the Urals. Only a small part was able to break through to the river. Among them was Vasily Chapaev, who gathered a small detachment and organized resistance. According to the testimony of the General Staff of Colonel M.I. Izergin: “Chapaev himself held out the longest with a small detachment, with whom he took refuge in one of the houses on the banks of the Urals, from where he had to survive with artillery fire.”
During the battle, Chapaev was seriously wounded in the stomach, he was transported to the other side on a raft. According to the story of Chapaev's eldest son, Alexander, two Hungarian Red Army soldiers put the wounded Chapaev on a raft made from half a gate and ferried across the Ural River. But on the other side it turned out that Chapaev died from loss of blood. The Red Army soldiers buried his body with their hands in the coastal sand and covered it with reeds so that the whites would not find the grave. This story was subsequently confirmed by one of the participants in the events, who in 1962 sent a letter from Hungary to Chapaev’s daughter with a detailed description of the death of the red division commander. The white investigation also confirms these data. According to the words of captured Red Army soldiers, “Chapaev, leading a group of Red Army soldiers towards us, was wounded in the stomach. The wound turned out to be so severe that after that he could no longer lead the battle and was transported on planks across the Urals... he [Chapaev] was already on the Asian side of the river. Ural died from a wound in the stomach.” During this battle, the White commander, Colonel Nikolai Nikolaevich Borodin, also died (he was posthumously promoted to the rank of major general).
There are other versions of Chapaev’s fate. Thanks to Dmitry Furmanov, who served as a commissar in Chapaev’s division and wrote the novel “Chapaev” about him and especially the film “Chapaev,” the version of the death of the wounded Chapaev in the waves of the Urals became popular. This version arose immediately after the death of Chapaev and was, in fact, the fruit of an assumption, based on the fact that Chapaev was seen on the European shore, but he did not swim to the Asian shore, and his body was not found. There is also a version that Chapaev was killed in captivity.
According to one version, Chapaev was eliminated as a disobedient people’s commander (in modern concepts, "field commander"). Chapaev had a conflict with L. Trotsky. According to this version, the pilots, who were supposed to inform the division commander about the approach of the Whites, were carrying out orders from the high command of the Red Army. The independence of the “red field commander” irritated Trotsky; he saw in Chapaev an anarchist who could disobey orders. Thus, it is possible that Trotsky “ordered” Chapaev. Whites acted as a tool, nothing more. During the battle, Chapaev was simply shot. Using a similar scheme, Trotsky eliminated other Red commanders who, not understanding international intrigues, fought for the common people. A week earlier, Chapaev was killed in Ukraine legendary division commander Nikolay Shchors. And a few years later, in 1925, also under unclear circumstances The famous Grigory Kotovsky was also shot. In the same 1925, Mikhail Frunze was killed on the surgical table, also by order of Trotsky’s team.
Chapaev lived a short (died at 32 years old), but bright life. As a result, the legend of the red division commander arose. The country needed a hero whose reputation was not tarnished. People watched this film dozens of times; all Soviet boys dreamed of repeating Chapaev’s feat. Subsequently, Chapaev entered folklore as the hero of many popular jokes. In this mythology, the image of Chapaev was distorted beyond recognition. In particular, according to anecdotes, he is such a cheerful, rollicking person, a drinker. In fact, Vasily Ivanovich did not drink alcohol at all; his favorite drink was tea. The orderly took the samovar with him everywhere. Having arrived at any location, Chapaev immediately started drinking tea and always invited the locals. Thus, his reputation as a very good-natured and hospitable person was established. One more thing. In the film, Chapaev is a dashing horseman, rushing towards the enemy with a saber drawn. In fact, Chapaev did not feel much love for horses. I preferred a car. The legend that has become widespread that Chapaev fought against the famous General V.O. Kappel is also untrue.
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