General officers serving in the Red Army. Officers and generals of the tsarist army in the civil war

The fundamental political differences between the workers' and peasants' government, which took the helm after the October Revolution, and representatives of the bourgeois intelligentsia lost their importance when the threat from external enemies loomed over the country. When it comes to survival, and a ring of fronts is closing around the country, prudence dictates its own rules, and the place of ideological interests is taken by the desire to save the Fatherland, making concessions and compromises with internal opponents.

The civil confrontation significantly weakened the forces of the newly formed Red Army (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army). It was not possible to strengthen its command staff with young specialists from among the working people, because their training required time that simply did not exist. The need to immediately create a sufficiently strong regular army that would be able to repel not only the imperialist interventionists, but also the troops of the White Guards, led to the fact that the Soviet leadership considered it appropriate to use the accumulated military and theoretical experience of specialists who, before the events of 1917, served in The Tsar's army.

Having justified the need to use the significant cultural heritage of capitalism, Lenin turned to the country's governing bodies. He emphasized the need to pay special attention to attracting scientifically educated specialists not only in the military, but also in other fields, regardless of their origin and who they served before the advent of Soviet Power. It was certainly easy to set a goal, but how to achieve it? Most of the former nobles remained either hostile to Soviet power or took a wait-and-see attitude towards it. Confident that the revolution would bring only devastation and the fall of culture, they expected the inevitable death of the Russian intelligentsia. It was difficult for them to comprehend that, by meeting them halfway, the Soviet government was striving to transfer the most valuable achievements of the capitalist way of life to a renewed Russia.

The coercion factor would hardly have been able to produce positive results then. In addition, it was necessary to work not only to change the attitude of the intelligentsia towards the new government, but also to influence the negative attitude of the working masses towards former representatives of the bourgeoisie. Another problem was that some of the leading party workers did not at all share Lenin’s opinion on the need to cooperate with the side of the opposite worldview, even in conditions of total control over their activities. And of course, such interaction with people simply imbued with an ideology so alien to the Bolsheviks, quite often turned into sabotage. However, without using the knowledge and experience that the intelligentsia of Tsarist Russia received in the best educational institutions of Europe and while working in high official positions even before the revolution, it was impossible to raise the country and defeat external enemies.

In the end, many former officers and generals realized that Soviet power was the only force representing the national interests of Russia and capable of protecting the country from external enemies in a given period of time. All patriotic professional military men, who feel their connection with the people, considered it their duty to support the “reds” in the struggle for the independence of their homeland. The position of the new government on not encroaching on the political convictions of military specialists, which was even legally enshrined at the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets (dated July 10, 1918), was also of great importance. Unfortunately, we must not forget about other former nobles and officers who are ready to surrender our country to external enemies for desecration. They wanted in every possible way to get rid of the communists and their destructive ideas, not wanting to understand the consequences of such “devilish” deals.

The first steps towards cooperation became a good example for other military personnel who still doubted the correctness of such a decision. The generals who had already sided with the Bolsheviks called on the remaining officers of the Tsarist Army to come out to defend the country in the ranks of the Red Army. The remarkable words of their address have been preserved, clearly showing the moral position of these people: “At this important historical moment, we, senior comrades in arms, appeal to your feelings of devotion and love for the Fatherland, we ask you to forget all grievances and voluntarily join the Red Army. Wherever you are assigned, serve not out of fear, but out of conscience, so that, without sparing your life, with your honest service you can defend our dear Russia, preventing its plunder.”

There is no hiding the fact that to attract specialists from pre-revolutionary Russia, sometimes not entirely humane methods and means were used. Some historians are inclined to call the post-revolutionary period the “path to Golgotha” for the Russian intelligentsia, because repressive methods of forcing them to work for the Soviet regime were widespread. However, the highest authorities did not welcome such an attitude towards experts of noble origin, as evidenced by the order of the Presidium of the Cheka adopted on December 17, 1918. This document contains strict instructions to exercise special caution when holding bourgeois-noble specialists accountable for certain actions and to allow their arrest only if there are proven facts of anti-Soviet activity. The country could not afford to thoughtlessly throw away valuable personnel; difficult times dictated new rules. Also, contrary to numerous allegations about the forced involvement of military experts from Imperial Russia in the Red Army, it is worth noting that the negative transformations that took place in the army even before the revolution significantly changed the mood among the officers. This only contributed to the fact that with the advent of Soviet power, many senior army ranks considered it their duty, and not out of fear, to support the Bolsheviks in the battle for the Fatherland.

The result of the measures taken was that out of one hundred and fifty thousand professional military men who served in the officer corps of pre-revolutionary Russia, seventy-five thousand people fought in the Red Army against thirty-five thousand old officers in the service of the White Guards. Their contribution to the victory in the Civil War is undeniable; fifty-three percent of the command staff of the Red Army were officers and generals of the Imperial Army.

Since the situation required immediate and correct action, already in November 1917, none other than a hereditary nobleman, Lieutenant General of the former Imperial Army M.D. was appointed chief of staff and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the army. Bonch-Bruevich, nicknamed "Soviet general". It was he who had the opportunity to lead the Red Army in February 1918, created from separate units of the Red Guard and the remnants of the former Imperial Army. This was the most difficult period for the Soviet Republic, lasting from November 1917 to August 1918.

Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich was born in Moscow on February 24, 1870. His father was a land surveyor, a descendant of an old noble family. At twenty-one, Bonch-Bruevich graduated from the Konstantinovsky Land Survey Institute as a surveyor, and a year later from the Moscow Infantry Junker School. Until 1898, he studied at the Academy of the General Staff, where he remained until 1907 to teach tactics. He was a participant in the First World War. His brother, Vladimir Dmitrievich, was a Bolshevik since 1895, and was involved in the affairs of the Council of People's Commissars. Perhaps that is why, after the October Revolution, Bonch-Bruevich was the first of the generals to side with the new government and accept the position of chief of staff. His assistant was the former major general nobleman S.G. Lukirsky. Mikhail Dmitrievich died in 1956 in Moscow.

From the end of 1918, the newly established position of Commander-in-Chief of the country's Armed Forces was occupied by His Eminence S.S. Kamenev (but not the Kamenev who was later shot along with Zinoviev). Having headed an infantry division after the revolution, this most experienced career officer rose through the ranks at lightning speed.

Sergei Sergeevich Kamenev was born into the family of a military engineer from Kyiv. He graduated from the Kiev Cadet Corps, the Alexander Military School and the St. Petersburg Academy of the General Staff. He was highly respected by the soldiers. During World War I, Kamenev held various staff positions. At the beginning of the revolution, Kamenev read a collection of Lenin and Zinoviev called “Against the Current,” which, in his words, “opened up new horizons for him and made a stunning impression.” In the winter of 1918, he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army and led the operations to destroy Denikin, Wrangel and Kolchak. Kamenev also helped suppress resistance in Bukhara, Fergana, Karelia, and the Tambov province (Antonov's uprising). From 1919 to 1924 he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army. He created a plan for the defeat of Poland, which was never implemented due to the opposition of the leadership of the Southwestern Front (represented by Egorov and Stalin). After the end of the war, he held major positions in the Red Army, was one of the founders of Osoaviakhim, and conducted research in the Arctic. In particular, Kamenev organized assistance to the Chelyuskin, lost in ice, and the Italian Nobile expedition.

The direct subordinate of Sergei Sergeevich Kamenev and his first assistant was a hereditary nobleman, head of the Field Headquarters of the Red Army P.P. Lebedev, who held the rank of major general in the Imperial Army. Having replaced Bonch-Bruevich in this post, Lebedev skillfully led the Field Headquarters throughout the war (from 1919 to 1921), actively participating in the preparation and conduct of major operations.

Pavel Pavlovich Lebedev was born in Cheboksary on April 21, 1872. Coming from a family of impoverished nobles, he received his education at public expense. He graduated with honors from the Cadet Corps, the Alexander Military School, and the Academy of the General Staff. With the rank of staff captain, Lebedev was assigned to the General Staff, where, thanks to his extraordinary abilities, he quickly made a brilliant career. Participated in the First World War. He refused to go over to the side of the whites and after a personal invitation from V.I. Lenin joined the Bolshevik army. Considered one of the main developers of operations to destroy N.N.’s troops. Yudenich, A.I. Denikina, A.V. Kolchak. Lebedev was distinguished by amazing endurance, worked seven days a week, and returned home only at four o’clock in the morning. After the end of the Civil War, he remained to work in leadership positions in the Red Army. Lebedev was awarded the highest awards of the Soviet Republic. He died on July 2, 1933 in Kharkov.

Another hereditary nobleman A.A. Samoilo was a direct colleague of Lebedev, holding the post of chief of the All-Russian General Staff. Having risen to the rank of major general in the Imperial Army, Alexander Alexandrovich, after the revolutionary changes of October, went over to the side of the Bolsheviks, and for his significant services he was awarded numerous orders and medals, including two Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Alexander Alexandrovich Samoilo was born on October 23, 1869 in the city of Moscow. His father was a military doctor from the family of hetmans of the Zaporozhye Army. In 1898, Alexander Alexandrovich graduated from the General Staff Academy. During the war he served on the General Staff in the operations department. On the side of the “Reds”, he took part in negotiations with Germany (in Brest-Litovsk), with Finland (in April 1920), with Turkey (in March 1921). He is the prototype of the main character of the novel “I Have the Honor,” written by Valentin Pikul. He died in 1963 at the age of ninety-four.

An outsider may have the false impression that Lenin and Trotsky, when deciding on candidates for the highest command posts, certainly sought to appoint representatives of the Imperial Corps of Generals to them. But the truth is that only those who were awarded such high military ranks had the necessary skills and abilities. It was they who helped the new government instantly navigate the most difficult situation and defend the freedom of the Fatherland. The harsh conditions of wartime quickly placed people in their rightful places, pushing forward real professionals and “pushing aside” those who only seemed so, being in fact ordinary “revolutionary babbles.”

Based on a detailed card index of Russian army officers compiled for October 1917, as well as further verification of the received data with later ones, the most true information about the number of military ranks of the Imperial Army who served on the side of the new government was determined. Statistics show that during the Civil War, 746 former lieutenant colonels, 980 colonels, and 775 generals served in the army of workers and peasants. And the Red Fleet was generally an aristocratic military unit, since after the October events the General Staff of the Russian Navy almost in its entirety went over to the side of the Bolsheviks and selflessly fought on the side of Soviet power throughout the civil war. The commanders of the flotilla during the war were former rear admirals of the Imperial Navy and hereditary nobles: V.M. Altvater, E.A. Behrens and A.V. Nemitz. They also completely voluntarily supported the new government.

Vasily Mikhailovich Altfater was born in Warsaw into the family of a general on December 4, 1883 and received an excellent education. He took part in the defense of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. He showed himself to be a courageous man when rescuing the crew of the battleship Petropavlovsk. During World War I he worked in the Naval Administration. Having gone over to the Bolshevik side in 1917, Vasily Mikhailovich became the first commander of the RKKF. This is what he wrote in his statement: “Until now, I served only because I considered it necessary to be useful to Russia. I didn't know you and didn't trust you. Even now I don’t understand much, but I am convinced that you love Russia more than many of us. That's why I came to you." V.M. Altvater died of a heart attack on April 20, 1919 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Separately, we can note the white officers and generals who emigrated to China and returned to Russia from China in the 20s and 30s. For example, in 1933, together with his brother, Major General A.T. Sukin, Colonel of the General Staff of the Old Army went to the USSR, Nikolai Timofeevich Sukin, a lieutenant general in the White armies, a participant in the Siberian Ice Campaign, in the summer of 1920 he temporarily held the post of chief of staff of the commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Russian Eastern outskirts, in the USSR he worked as a teacher of military disciplines. Some of them began working for the USSR back in China, such as a colonel of the old army, in the Kolchak army, Major General Tonkikh I.V. - in 1920, in the armed forces of the Russian Eastern outskirts, he served as chief of staff of the marching ataman, in 1925 he lived in Beijing. In 1927, he was an employee of the military attache of the plenipotentiary mission of the USSR in China; on 04/06/1927 he was arrested by the Chinese authorities during a raid on the premises of the plenipotentiary mission in Beijing, and probably after that he returned to the USSR. Also, while still in China, another high-ranking officer of the White Army, also a participant in the Siberian Ice Campaign, Alexei Nikolaevich Shelavin, began to collaborate with the Red Army. It’s funny, but this is how Kazanin, who came to Blucher’s headquarters in China as a translator, describes his meeting with him: “In the reception room there was a long table set for breakfast. A fit, graying military man sat at the table and ate oatmeal from a full plate with appetite. In such stuffiness, eating hot porridge seemed to me a heroic feat. And he, not content with this, took three soft-boiled eggs from the bowl and threw them onto the porridge. He poured canned milk over it all and sprinkled it thickly with sugar. I was so hypnotized by the enviable appetite of the old military man (I soon learned that it was the Tsarist General Shalavin, who had transferred to Soviet service), that I saw Blucher only when he was already standing completely in front of me.” Kazanin did not mention in his memoirs that Shelavin was not just a tsarist, but a white general; in general, in the tsarist army he was only a colonel of the General Staff. A participant in the Russian-Japanese and World Wars, in Kolchak’s army he held the positions of chief of staff of the Omsk Military District and the 1st Combined Siberian (later 4th Siberian) Corps, participated in the Siberian Ice Campaign, served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Eastern Outskirts and the Amur Provisional government, then emigrated to China. Already in China, he began to collaborate with Soviet military intelligence (under the pseudonym Rudnev), in 1925–1926 - military adviser to the Henan group, teacher at the Whampoa military school; 1926-1927 - at the headquarters of the Guangzhou group, helped Blucher evacuate from China and himself also returned to the USSR in 1927.

One can name many more famous names of officers and generals of the old army, who selflessly fought on the side of the Red Army and commanded entire fronts that ultimately defeated the White Guard hordes. Among them, the former Lieutenant General Baron Alexander Alexandrovich von Taube, who became the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army in Siberia, stood out. The brave military leader was captured by Kolchak in the summer of 1918 and died on death row. And a year later, the hereditary nobleman and Major General Vladimir Aleksandrovich Olderogge, commanding the entire Eastern Front of the Bolsheviks, completely destroyed the White Guards in the Urals and completely eliminated the Kolchakism. At the same time, the Southern Front of the Reds, led by experienced lieutenant generals of the old Army Vladimir Nikolaevich Egoryev and Vladimir Ivanovich Selivachev, stopped Denikin’s army, holding out until reinforcements arrived from the East. And this list can go on and on. Despite the presence of “home-grown” Red military leaders, among whom there are many legendary names: Budyonny, Frunze, Chapaev, Kotovsky, Parkhomenko and Shchors, in all main directions at the decisive moments of the confrontation, those same “hated” representatives of the former bourgeoisie were at the helm. It was their talent in managing armies, coupled with knowledge and experience, that led the troops to victory.

The laws of Soviet propaganda did not allow for a long time to objectively highlight the role of certain layers of military personnel of the Red Army, belittling their importance and creating a certain halo of silence around their names. Meanwhile, they honestly played their role during a difficult period for the country, helped win the Civil War and went into the shadows, leaving only military reports and operational documents about themselves. However, they, like thousands of other people, shed their blood for the Fatherland and are worthy of respect and memory.

As an objection to the assertions that Stalin and his comrades later deliberately destroyed representatives of the noble intelligentsia through their repressive measures, we can only say that all the war heroes mentioned in the article above, like many other military specialists, quietly lived to old age with the exception of those who died in battle. And many representatives of the junior officers managed to make a successful military career and even become Marshals of the USSR. Among them are such famous military leaders as former second lieutenant L.A. Govorov, staff captains F.I. Tolbukhin and A.M. Vasilevsky, as well as Colonel B.M. Shaposhnikov.

Of course, one should not deny that, in Lenin’s words, “excesses” and ill-considered actions were observed on the ground, there were undeserved arrests and overly harsh sentences, but talking about prepared mass repressions aimed at destroying the noble military corps is completely unfounded. It is much more instructive to remember how the rest, the “white” officers, with whom it is now fashionable to sympathize and sing their praises, fled to French and Turkish cities at the first threat. Saving their own skins, they gave everything they had to the direct enemies of Russia, who at the same time were fighting with their compatriots. And these are those who swore allegiance to the Motherland and promised to defend the Fatherland until their last breath. While the Russian people fought for their independence, such “officers”, not worthy to bear such a high rank, sat in Western taverns and brothels, wasting money that they took out of the country when they escaped. They have long discredited themselves in

Here we are talking only about 185 generals who served at the Headquarters of the Red Army. Most of them served in the Red Army voluntarily, and only six were mobilized.

The lists are taken from the book by A.G. Kavtaradze “Military specialists in the service of the Republic of Soviets 1917-1920.”. USSR Academy of Sciences, 1988

The same list of generals of the General Staff of the Imperial Army who served at the Headquarters of the Red Army includes officers with the rank of colonel, lieutenant colonel and captain. The entire list (including generals) is 485 people.

In order to evaluate the stunning figure of 185 generals in the service of the Red Army, it is interesting to compare it with the figure for the number of generals of the General Staff on the eve of the Great War. On July 18, 1914, the corps of officers of the General Staff (General Staff) consisted of 425 generals. At the end of the war there were undoubtedly more of them. An indicative figure will still be the ratio of 185 to 425, which is 44%. Forty-four percent of the tsarist generals of their total number on the eve of the war went into the service of the Red Army, i.e. served on the red side; Of these, six generals served by mobilization, the rest voluntarily.

It is worth naming these six generals who did not want to voluntarily serve in the Red Army and served against their desire, due to mobilization, i.e. under duress, which does them credit. All six are major generals: Alekseev (Mikhail Pavlovich, 1894), Apukhtin (Alexander Nikolaevich, 1902), Verkhovsky (Alexander Ivanovich, 1911), Solnyshkin (Mikhail Efimovich, 1902) and Engel (Viktor Nikolaevich, 1902). The years in which they graduated from the Academy of the General Staff are indicated in brackets. The ranks of colonels, lieutenant colonels and captains also include a very large number of people who served in the Red Army.

The total figure of 485 officers of the Tsarist General Staff, as well as the figure of 185 of the generals on this list who served in the General Staff of the Red Army, is also unexpected.

Of the other career officers of the Imperial Army, 61 people are listed, 11 of them with the rank of general, in the list entitled “Military specialists - army commanders.” (Probably, this list should be understood in the sense that 61 people occupied high command positions in the Red Army, since the Reds could not have 61 armies.)

The list indicating 185 tsarist generals in the service of the Red Army should be understood, apparently, in the sense that most of them with the rank of generals worked in Soviet headquarters and of these 11 people were at the fronts.

In addition to the General Staff officers who made up the Soviet General Staff, the author provides lists of officers by type of weapon and specialty that were not part of the Soviet General Staff.

Among them there were also many officers in the ranks of generals. Without giving their names, we will indicate their number:

If we add to the previous figure of officers in the rank of general in the General Staff of the Red Army 185, the figure in the above table is 99, the total number of tsarist generals in Soviet service will be 284 people.

The number 284 is so impressive that it raises doubts. Did the Soviet historian include officers of the tsarist army who did not actually serve on the red side?

The assumption may be the following: a Soviet historian could include in these lists of executed officers of the tsarist army in order to show the reader that the majority of tsarist officers, especially in the ranks of generals, served in the Soviet military service.

This assumption can be verified only by publishing in the foreign press the names of those listed in the lists of the Soviet historian and asking the descendants of career officers of the Imperial Army and Guard to check the Soviet source.

From my experience of life in the USSR, which is partially described in my “Memoirs”, published in foreign press, for example, in the newspaper “Russian Life” in San Francisco, I can give several examples of officers who remained on the red side. Among them is my uncle (my mother’s brother) Lavrenty Lavrentievich Buman, a black midshipman and midshipman of the fleet produced in 1916. Then Bek-Agamalov, a white midshipman, midshipman of the fleet, and Kedrov, who was with the rank of captain of the 2nd rank of the Soviet fleet.

All three hated Soviet power. All three were teachers at the Tolmachev Military-Political Academy in Petrograd. None of them were members of the USSR Communist Party.

My uncle Buman remained on the red side by inertia. He lived in Petrograd in 1917, got married and could not or did not want to flee to the south with his young wife and did not go into politics. He was mobilized by the Reds in 1918 into the Volga Flotilla, then was a civilian for many years, and then entered the aforementioned academy, from which he was soon dismissed for corresponding with foreign countries.

Agamalov and Kedrov continued to serve at the academy, but stopped acquaintance with my uncle after his dismissal. I will also mention Bellevich, a naval officer whom I met in 1935 in Vladivostok, where he commanded the schooner “Rabotnitsa” as an exile. He later died in the gold mines in Kolyma.

Thus, even from my very narrow circle of acquaintances in Soviet Petrograd, it is clear that the military of the tsarist era remained in the USSR and, apparently, there really were a lot of them.

Some time ago I was asked about them. Here's the information. Source: http://admin.liga-net.com/my/analytics/nobles-backbone-rkka.html

For some time now it has become fashionable for us to sympathize with whites. They are nobles, people of honor and duty, “the intellectual elite of the nation.” Almost half of the country remembers its noble roots.
It became fashionable, on occasion, to cry about the innocent murdered and expelled nobles. And, as usual, all the troubles of the present time are blamed on the Reds, who treated the “elite” this way. Behind these conversations, the main thing becomes invisible - the Reds won in that fight, and yet the “elite” not only of Russia, but also of the strongest powers of that time fought with them.

And why did the current “noble gentlemen” get the idea that the nobles in that great Russian turmoil were necessarily on the side of the whites? Other nobles, like Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, did much more for the proletarian revolution than Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Let's look at the facts.

75 thousand former officers served in the Red Army, while about 35 thousand of the 150 thousand officer corps of the Russian Empire served in the White Army.

On November 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks came to power. Russia by that time was still at war with Germany and its allies. Whether you like it or not, you have to fight. Therefore, already on November 19, 1917, the Bolsheviks appointed the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief... a hereditary nobleman, His Excellency Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich.

It was he who would lead the armed forces of the Republic during the most difficult period for the country, from November 1917 to August 1918, and from scattered units of the former Imperial Army and Red Guard detachments, by February 1918 he would form the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. From March to August M.D. Bonch-Bruevich will hold the post of military leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Republic, and in 1919 - chief of the Field Staff of the Rev. Military Council of the Republic.

At the end of 1918, the position of Commander-in-Chief of all Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic was established. We ask you to love and favor - His Highness the Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic Sergei Sergeevich Kamenev (not to be confused with Kamenev, who was then shot along with Zinoviev). Career officer, graduated from the General Staff Academy in 1907, colonel of the Imperial Army. From the beginning of 1918 to July 1919, Kamenev made a lightning-fast career from the commander of an infantry division to the commander of the Eastern Front and, finally, from July 1919 until the end of the Civil War, he held the post that would be occupied by Stalin during the Great Patriotic War. Since July 1919 Not a single operation of the land and naval forces of the Soviet Republic was completed without his direct participation.

Great assistance to Sergei Sergeevich was provided by his direct subordinate - His Excellency the Chief of the Field Headquarters of the Red Army Pavel Pavlovich Lebedev, a hereditary nobleman, Major General of the Imperial Army. As chief of the Field Staff, he replaced Bonch-Bruevich and from 1919 to 1921 (almost the entire war) he headed it, and from 1921 he was appointed chief of staff of the Red Army. Pavel Pavlovich participated in the development and conduct of the most important operations of the Red Army to defeat the troops of Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, Wrangel, and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Red Banner of Labor (at that time the highest awards of the Republic).

We cannot ignore Lebedev’s colleague, the head of the All-Russian General Staff, His Excellency Alexander Alexandrovich Samoilo. Alexander Alexandrovich is also a hereditary nobleman and major general of the Imperial Army. During the Civil War, he headed the military district, the army, the front, worked as Lebedev’s deputy, then headed the All-Russia Headquarters.

Isn't it true that there is an extremely interesting trend in the personnel policy of the Bolsheviks? It can be assumed that Lenin and Trotsky, when selecting the highest command cadres of the Red Army, made it an indispensable condition that they be hereditary nobles and career officers of the Imperial Army with the rank of no lower than colonel. But of course this is not true. It’s just that tough wartime quickly brought forward professionals and talented people, and also quickly pushed aside all sorts of “revolutionary talkers.”
Therefore, the personnel policy of the Bolsheviks is quite natural; they had to fight and win now, there was no time to study. However, what is truly surprising is that the nobles and officers came to them, and in such numbers, and served the Soviet government for the most part faithfully.

There are often allegations that the Bolsheviks forcefully drove nobles into the Red Army, threatening the families of officers with reprisals. This myth has been persistently exaggerated for many decades in pseudo-historical literature, pseudo-monographs and various kinds of “research”. This is just a myth. They served not out of fear, but out of conscience.

And who would entrust command to a potential traitor? Only a few betrayals of officers are known. But they commanded insignificant forces and are sad, but still an exception. The majority honestly performed their duty and selflessly fought both with the Entente and with their “brothers” in class. They acted as befits true patriots of their Motherland.

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet is generally an aristocratic institution. Here is a list of his commanders during the Civil War: Vasily Mikhailovich Altfater (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral of the Imperial Fleet), Evgeniy Andreevich Behrens (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral of the Imperial Fleet), Alexander Vasilyevich Nemitz (profile details are exactly the same).

What about the commanders, the Naval General Staff of the Russian Navy, almost in its entirety, went over to the side of Soviet power, and remained in charge of the fleet throughout the Civil War. Apparently, Russian sailors after Tsushima perceived the idea of ​​a monarchy, as they say now, ambiguously.

This is what Altvater wrote in his application for admission to the Red Army: “I have served until now only because I considered it necessary to be useful to Russia where I can, and in the way I can. But I didn’t know and didn’t believe you. Even now I still don’t understand much, but I am convinced... that you love Russia more than many of ours. And now I have come to tell you that I am yours.”

I believe that these same words could be repeated by Baron Alexander Alexandrovich von Taube, Chief of the Main Staff of the Red Army Command in Siberia (former Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army). Taube's troops were defeated by the White Czechs in the summer of 1918, he himself was captured and soon died in the Kolchak prison on death row.

And a year later, another “red baron”—Vladimir Aleksandrovich Olderogge (also a hereditary nobleman, major general of the Imperial Army), from August 1919 to January 1920, commander of the Red Eastern Front—finished off the White Guards in the Urals and eventually eliminated the Kolchak regime .

At the same time, from July to October 1919, another important front of the Reds - the Southern - was headed by His Excellency the former Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army Vladimir Nikolaevich Egoriev. The troops under the command of Yegoryev stopped Denikin’s advance, inflicted a number of defeats on him and held out until the arrival of reserves from the Eastern Front, which ultimately predetermined the final defeat of the Whites in the South of Russia. During these difficult months of fierce fighting on the Southern Front, Yegoriev’s closest assistant was his deputy and at the same time the commander of a separate military group, Vladimir Ivanovich Selivachev (hereditary nobleman, lieutenant general of the Imperial Army).

As you know, in the summer and autumn of 1919, the Whites planned to end the Civil War victoriously. To this end, they decided to launch a combined strike in all directions. However, by mid-October 1919, the Kolchak front was already hopeless, and there was a turning point in favor of the Reds in the South. At that moment, the Whites launched an unexpected attack from the northwest. Yudenich rushed to Petrograd. The blow was so unexpected and powerful that already in October the Whites found themselves in the suburbs of Petrograd. The question arose about surrendering the city. Lenin, despite the well-known panic in the ranks of his comrades, decided not to surrender the city.

And now the 7th Red Army is moving forward to meet Yudenich under the command of His Excellency (former Colonel of the Imperial Army) Sergei Dmitrievich Kharlamov, and a separate group of the same army under the command of His Excellency (Major General of the Imperial Army) Sergei Ivanovich Odintsov enters the White flank. Both are from the most hereditary nobles. The outcome of those events is known: in mid-October, Yudenich was still looking at Red Petrograd through binoculars, and on November 28 he was unpacking his suitcases in Revel (the lover of young boys turned out to be a useless commander...).

Northern front. From the autumn of 1918 to the spring of 1919, this was an important site in the fight against the Anglo-American-French interventionists. So who leads the Bolsheviks into battle? First, His Excellency (former Lieutenant General) Dmitry Pavlovich Parsky, then His Excellency (former Lieutenant General) Dmitry Nikolaevich Nadezhny, both hereditary nobles.

It should be noted that it was Parsky who led the Red Army detachments in the famous February battles of 1918 near Narva, so it is largely thanks to him that we celebrate February 23. His Excellency Comrade Nadezhny, after the end of the fighting in the North, will be appointed commander of the Western Front.

This is the situation with nobles and generals in the service of the Reds almost everywhere. They will tell us: you are exaggerating everything here. The Reds had their own talented military leaders, and they were not nobles and generals. Yes, there were, we know their names well: Frunze, Budyonny, Chapaev, Parkhomenko, Kotovsky, Shchors. But who were they in the days of the decisive battles?

When the fate of Soviet Russia was being decided in 1919, the most important was the Eastern Front (against Kolchak). Here are his commanders in chronological order: Kamenev, Samoilo, Lebedev, Frunze (26 days!), Olderogge. One proletarian and four noblemen, I emphasize - in a vital area! No, I don’t want to diminish the merits of Mikhail Vasilyevich. He is a truly talented commander and did a lot to defeat the same Kolchak, commanding one of the military groups of the Eastern Front. Then the Turkestan Front under his command crushed the counter-revolution in Central Asia, and the operation to defeat Wrangel in the Crimea is deservedly recognized as a masterpiece of military art. But let’s be fair: by the time the Crimea was captured, even the whites had no doubt about their fate; the outcome of the war was finally decided.

Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny was the army commander, his Cavalry Army played a key role in a number of operations on some fronts. However, we should not forget that there were dozens of armies in the Red Army, and to call the contribution of one of them decisive in victory would still be a big stretch. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Shchors, Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, Alexander Yakovlevich Parkhomenko, Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky - division commanders. Because of this alone, with all their personal courage and military talents, they could not make a strategic contribution to the course of the war.

But propaganda has its own laws. Any proletarian, having learned that the highest military positions are occupied by hereditary nobles and generals of the tsarist army, will say: “Yes, this is counter!”

Therefore, a kind of conspiracy of silence arose around our heroes during the Soviet years, and even more so now. They won the Civil War and quietly faded into oblivion, leaving behind yellowed operational maps and meager lines of orders.
But “their excellencies” and “high nobility” shed their blood for Soviet power no worse than the proletarians. Baron Taube has already been mentioned, but this is not the only example.

In the spring of 1919, in the battles near Yamburg, the White Guards captured and executed the brigade commander of the 19th Infantry Division, former Major General of the Imperial Army A.P. Nikolaev. The same fate befell the commander of the 55th Infantry Division, former Major General A.V., in 1919. Stankevich, in 1920 - commander of the 13th Infantry Division, former Major General A.V. Soboleva. What is noteworthy is that before their death, all the generals were offered to go over to the side of the whites, and everyone refused. The honor of a Russian officer is more valuable than life.

That is, you believe, they will tell us, that the nobles and the career officer corps were for the Reds?
Of course, I am far from this idea. Here we simply need to distinguish “nobleman” as a moral concept from “nobility” as a class. The noble class found itself almost entirely in the white camp, and it could not have been otherwise.

It was very comfortable for them to sit on the neck of the Russian people, and they did not want to get off. True, the help from the nobles to the whites was simply meager. Judge for yourself. In the turning point of 1919, around May, the number of shock groups of the white armies was: Kolchak’s army - 400 thousand people; Denikin’s army (Armed Forces of the South of Russia) - 150 thousand people; Yudenich's army (North-Western Army) - 18.5 thousand people. Total: 568.5 thousand people.

Moreover, these were mainly “lapotniks” from villages, who were forced into the ranks under the threat of execution and who then, in entire armies (!), like Kolchak, went over to the side of the Reds. And this is in Russia, where at that time there were 2.5 million nobles, i.e. at least 500 thousand men of military age! Here, it would seem, is the strike force of the counter-revolution...

Or take, for example, the leaders of the white movement: Denikin is the son of an officer, his grandfather was a soldier; Kornilov is a Cossack, Semyonov is a Cossack, Alekseev is the son of a soldier. Of the titled persons - only Wrangel, and that Swedish baron. Who is left? The nobleman Kolchak is a descendant of a captured Turk, and Yudenich with a very typical surname for a “Russian nobleman” and an unconventional orientation. In the old days, the nobles themselves defined such class brothers as nobles. But “in the absence of fish, there is cancer – a fish.”

You should not look for Princes Golitsyn, Trubetskoy, Shcherbatov, Obolensky, Dolgorukov, Count Sheremetev, Orlov, Novosiltsev and among less significant figures of the white movement. The “boyars” sat in the rear, in Paris and Berlin, and waited for some of their slaves to bring others on the lasso. They didn't wait.

So Malinin’s howls about lieutenants Golitsins and cornets Obolenskys are just fiction. They did not exist in nature... But the fact that the native land is burning under our feet is not just a metaphor. It really burned under the troops of the Entente and their “white” friends.

But there is also a moral category - “nobleman”. Put yourself in the place of “His Excellency”, who went over to the side of Soviet power. What can he count on? At most, a commander's ration and a pair of boots (exceptional luxury in the Red Army; rank and file were shod in bast shoes). At the same time, there is suspicion and mistrust of many “comrades”, and the watchful eye of the commissar is constantly nearby. Compare this with the 5,000 rubles annual salary of a major general in the tsarist army, and yet many excellencies also had family property before the revolution. Therefore, selfish interest is excluded for such people, only one thing remains - the honor of a nobleman and a Russian officer. The best of the nobles went to the Reds to save the Fatherland.

During the Polish invasion of 1920, Russian officers, including nobles, went over to the side of Soviet power in the thousands. From representatives of the highest generals of the former Imperial Army, the Reds created a special body - a Special Meeting under the Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Republic. The purpose of this body is to develop recommendations for the command of the Red Army and the Soviet Government to repel Polish aggression. In addition, the Special Meeting appealed to former officers of the Russian Imperial Army to come to the defense of the Motherland in the ranks of the Red Army.

The remarkable words of this address, perhaps, fully reflect the moral position of the best part of the Russian aristocracy:

“At this critical historical moment in our national life, we, your senior comrades, appeal to your feelings of love and devotion to the Motherland and appeal to you with an urgent request to forget all grievances,<...>voluntarily go with complete selflessness and willingness to the Red Army at the front or to the rear, wherever the government of Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Russia appoints you, and serve there not out of fear, but out of conscience, so that with your honest service, not sparing your life, you can defend the no matter what becomes dear to us Russia and prevent its plunder.”

The appeal bears the signatures of their excellencies: General of the Cavalry (Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in May-July 1917) Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov, General of the Infantry (Minister of War of the Russian Empire in 1915-1916) Alexey Andreevich Polivanov, General of the Infantry Andrey Meandrovich Zayonchkovsky and many other generals of the Russian Army.

In absolute numbers, the contribution of Russian officers to the victory of Soviet power is as follows: during the Civil War, 48.5 thousand tsarist officers and generals were drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. In the decisive year of 1919, they made up 53% of the entire command staff of the Red Army.

I would like to end the brief review with examples of human destinies, which perfectly refute the myth about the pathological villainy of the Bolsheviks and their total extermination of the noble classes of Russia. Let me note right away that the Bolsheviks were not stupid, so they understood that, given the difficult situation in Russia, they really needed people with knowledge, talents and conscience. And such people could count on honor and respect from the Soviet government, despite their origin and pre-revolutionary life.

Let's start with His Excellency General of Artillery Alexei Alekseevich Manikovsky. Aleksey Alekseevich headed the Main Artillery Directorate of the Russian Imperial Army back in the First World War. After the February Revolution, he was appointed comrade (deputy) minister of war. Since the Minister of War of the Provisional Government, Guchkov, did not understand anything in military matters, Manikovsky had to become the de facto head of the department. On a memorable October night in 1917, Manikovsky was arrested along with the rest of the members of the Provisional Government, then released. A few weeks later he was arrested again and again released; he was not noticed in any conspiracies against Soviet power. And already in 1918 he headed the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, then he would work in various staff positions of the Red Army.

Or, for example, His Excellency Lieutenant General of the Russian Army, Count Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev. During the First World War, with the rank of major general, he served as a military attaché in France and was in charge of arms purchases—the fact is that the tsarist government prepared the country for war in such a way that even cartridges had to be purchased abroad. Russia paid a lot of money for this, and it was in Western banks.

After October, our faithful allies immediately laid their paws on Russian property abroad, including government accounts. However, Alexey Alekseevich got his bearings faster than the French and transferred the money to another account, inaccessible to the allies, and, moreover, in his own name. And the money was 225 million rubles in gold, or 2 billion dollars at the current gold rate. Ignatiev did not succumb to persuasion about the transfer of funds either from the Whites or from the French. After France established diplomatic relations with the USSR, he came to the Soviet embassy and modestly handed over a check for the entire amount with the words: “This money belongs to Russia.” The emigrants were furious, they decided to kill Ignatiev. And his brother volunteered to become the killer! Ignatiev miraculously survived - the bullet pierced his cap a centimeter from his head.

Let's invite each of you to mentally try on Count Ignatiev's cap and think, are you capable of this? And if we add to this that during the revolution the Bolsheviks confiscated the Ignatiev family estate and the family mansion in Petrograd?

And the last thing I would like to say. Remember how at one time they accused Stalin, accusing him of killing all the tsarist officers and former nobles who remained in Russia. So, none of our heroes were subjected to repression, all died a natural death (of course, except for those who fell on the fronts of the Civil War) in glory and honor. And their younger comrades, such as: Colonel B.M. Shaposhnikov, staff captains A.M. Vasilevsky and F.I. Tolbukhin, second lieutenant L.A. Govorov - became Marshals of the Soviet Union.

History has long put everything in its place and no matter how all sorts of Radzins, Svanidzes and other riffraff who don’t know history but know how to get money for lying try to distort it, the fact remains: the white movement has discredited itself. For the most part, these are punitive forces, looters and just a petty crook in the service of the Entente...

The topic of the service of former white officers in the ranks of the Red Army has been little studied, but is extremely significant. Especially in light of all sorts of myths propagated by liberal historians and the media, from sweeping denial of the transfer of tsarist officers to the side of the new government to allegations that the Bolsheviks forced nobles into the Red Army, threatening the families of officers with reprisals.

Meanwhile, documents stored in archives tell a completely different story. You just need to be interested in the history of your country and not take the word of the slanderers.

Examples of white officers transferring to serve in the Red Army for ideological reasons existed from the very beginning of its creation, and many former officers of the tsarist and white armies continued their service later, including during the Great Patriotic War.

Thus, captain of the old army K.N. Bulminsky, who commanded a battery at Kolchak, went over to the Red side already in October 1918. Captain (according to other sources, lieutenant colonel) M.I. Vasilenko, who managed to serve in the Komuch army, also went over to the Reds in the spring of 1919. At the same time, he held high positions during the Civil War - chief of staff of the Special Expeditionary Force of the Southern Front, commander of the 40th Infantry Division, commander of the 11th, 9th, 14th armies.

On November 19, 1917, a hereditary nobleman, Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army M.D. Bonch-Bruevich was appointed chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He led the Armed Forces of the Republic during the most difficult period for the country - from November 1917 to August 1918. And from scattered units of the former tsarist army and Red Guard detachments, by February 1918 he formed the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. From March to August, M.D. Bonch-Bruevich served as the military leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Republic, and in 1919 - the chief of the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.

At the end of 1918, the position of Commander-in-Chief of all Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic was established. S. S. Kamenev was appointed to this position. A colonel of the Imperial Army, Kamenev from the beginning of 1918 to July 1919 made a lightning-fast career from the commander of an infantry division to the commander of the Eastern Front and, finally, from July 1919 until the end of the Civil War, he held a post that during the Great Patriotic War would be occupy Stalin.

The Chief of the Field Staff of the Red Army, P. P. Lebedev, a hereditary nobleman, major general, held this post for almost the entire war, and in 1921 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Red Army. Pavel Pavlovich participated in the development and conduct of the most important operations of the Red Army to defeat the troops of Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, Wrangel, and was awarded the highest awards of the Republic - the Order of the Red Banner and the Red Banner of Labor.

The Chief of the All-Russian Main Staff A. A. Samoilo, also a hereditary nobleman and major general, headed a military district, army, and front during the Civil War.

However, modern liberals vehemently deny that nobles and officers joined the Red Army, and in such numbers at that. On the contrary, a myth has been circulating for many decades that white officers had no other choice, because the Bolsheviks could shoot their families for refusing to serve.

But let's ask ourselves a question - what kind of madman could invest power and entrust the command of districts, armies, fronts to a potential traitor, a person serving out of fear? Only a few betrayals of former officers are known. But they commanded insignificant forces and are sad, but still an exception. The majority honestly performed their duty and selflessly fought both against the Entente and their “brothers” in class. They acted as befits true patriots of their Motherland.

The leadership of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet is very indicative in this regard. Here is a list of his commanders during the Civil War: V. M. Altfater (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral), E. A. Behrens (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral), A. V. Nemitz (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral) . The Naval General Staff of the Russian Navy, almost in its entirety, went over to the side of Soviet power, and remained in charge of the fleet throughout the Civil War. Apparently, Russian sailors after Tsushima perceived the idea of ​​a monarchy, as they say now, ambiguously.

This is what Altvater wrote in his application for admission to the Red Army: “I have served until now only because I considered it necessary to be useful to Russia where I can, and in the way I can. But I didn’t know and didn’t believe you. Even now I still don’t understand much, but I am convinced... that you love Russia more than many of ours. And now I have come to tell you that I am yours".

In the most critical sectors - in command of the ground fronts - there were almost exclusively officers of the tsarist army.

Baron A.A. von Taube was the chief of the Main Staff of the Red Army command in Siberia. Taube's troops were defeated by the White Czechs in the summer of 1918, he himself was captured and soon died in the Kolchak prison on death row.

And another “red baron” - V. A. Olderogge (hereditary nobleman, major general), commander of the Eastern Front of the Reds, a year later finished off the White Guards in the Urals and eventually eliminated the Kolchakism.

From July to October 1919, another important front, the Southern Front, was headed by former Lieutenant General V.N. Egoryev. His troops stopped Denikin’s advance, inflicted a number of defeats on him and held out until the arrival of reserves from the Eastern Front, which ultimately predetermined the final defeat of the Whites in the South of Russia.

In the summer and autumn of 1919, Yudenich rushed from the northwest to Petrograd. The Red 7th Army under the command of former Colonel S.D. Kharlamov advances towards Yudenich, and a separate group of the same army under the command of former Major General S.I. Odintsov enters the White flank. Both are from the most hereditary nobles. The outcome of those events is known: in mid-October, Yudenich was still looking at Red Petrograd through binoculars, and on November 28 he was already unpacking his suitcases in Revel.

Northern front. From the autumn of 1918 to the spring of 1919, this important sector of the fight against the Anglo-American-French interventionists was led first by former Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky, then by former Lieutenant General D.N. Nadezhny, both hereditary nobles.

Let us note that it was D.P. Parsky who led the Red Army detachments in the famous February battles of 1918 near Narva, so thanks to him, too, we celebrate February 23rd. D.N. Nadezhny, after the end of the fighting in the North, will be appointed commander of the Western Front.

This is the situation with nobles and generals in the service of the Reds almost everywhere.

After June 1919, the Red Army faced a new acute problem - a catastrophic shortage of command personnel. There are no longer enough white officers who deliberately went over to the side of Soviet power. This was due to the growth of the Red Army during the Civil War and the inability to quickly train qualified command personnel of worker and peasant origin.

Here is an excerpt from the report of Commander-in-Chief V.I. Lenin on the strategic position of the Republic and the quality of reserves, January 1919:

“On the Southern Front... there is a particularly large shortage of experienced battalion commanders and above. Those who were previously in these positions gradually fall out of action, killed, wounded and sick, while their positions remain vacant for lack of candidates, or completely inexperienced and unprepared people find themselves in very responsible command positions, as a result of which combat operations cannot be started correctly, the development of the battle goes the wrong way, and the final actions, even if they are successful for us, very often cannot be used.”

This problem was solved by mobilizing former officers of the old army. So, in 1918–1920. 48 thousand former officers were mobilized, about 8 thousand more voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1918. However, with the growth of the army by 1920 to a number of several million (first to 3, and then to 5.5 million people), the shortage of commanders only worsened.

In this situation, the command paid attention to white officers captured or defectors, especially since by the spring of 1920, when the main white armies were mostly defeated, the war in individual theaters of operations began to acquire a national character (the Soviet-Polish war, and also military operations in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, where Soviet power acted as the collector of the old empire). On the one hand, many former white officers became disillusioned with the policies and prospects of the White movement, and on the other hand, with the change in the nature of the war, patriotic sentiments intensified among the former officers.

During the Polish invasion of 1920, Russian officers, including nobles, went over to the side of Soviet power in the thousands. A special body was created from representatives of the highest generals of the former Imperial Army - a Special Meeting under the Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Republic - with the aim of developing recommendations for the command of the Red Army and the Soviet Government to repel Polish aggression.

A special meeting called on former officers of the Russian Imperial Army to come to the defense of the Motherland in the ranks of the Red Army:

“At this critical historical moment in our people’s life, we, your senior comrades, appeal to your feelings of love and devotion to the Motherland and appeal to you with an urgent request to forget all grievances, ... voluntarily go with complete selflessness and eagerness to the Red Army for front or to the rear, wherever the government of Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Russia appoints you, and serve there not out of fear, but out of conscience, so that through your honest service, not sparing your life, you can defend at all costs our dear Russia and prevent her plunder."

The appeal bears the signatures of their Excellencies, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in May–July 1917, General A. A. Brusilov, Minister of War of the Russian Empire in 1915–1916. General A. A. Polivanov, General A. M. Zayonchkovsky and many others.

Sotnik T.T. Shapkin, who served in the tsarist army for more than 10 years as a non-commissioned officer, in 1920 went over with his unit to the side of the Red Army, and was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner for distinguished service in battles during the Soviet-Polish War. During the Great Patriotic War, with the rank of lieutenant general, he commanded a cavalry corps, became a hero of the Battle of Stalingrad, and a holder of four Orders of the Red Banner.

Military pilot Captain Yu. I. Arvatov, who served in the “Galician Army” of the so-called “Western Ukrainian People’s Republic” and went over to the side of the Red Army in 1920, was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner for his participation in the Civil War. There are many similar examples.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the white officers who worked for red intelligence. Many have heard about the red intelligence officer Makarov, the adjutant of the white General Mai-Maevsky, who served as the prototype for the main character of the film “His Excellency’s Adjutant.” Meanwhile, this was far from an isolated example. Other officers also worked for the Reds, for example, Colonel of the Tsarist Army Siminsky, the head of Wrangel’s intelligence service. Information about Wrangel’s army was conveyed by two more Red intelligence officers: Colonel Skvortsov and Captain Dekonsky. He worked for the Red Army Intelligence Service from 1918 to 1920. and Colonel of the General Staff A.I. Gotovtsev, future lieutenant general of the Soviet army.

In absolute numbers, the contribution of Russian officers to the victory of Soviet power is as follows: during the Civil War, 48.5 thousand tsarist officers and generals were drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. In the decisive year of 1919, they made up 53% of the entire command staff of the Red Army. Of the 150 thousand officer corps of the Russian Empire, 75 thousand former officers served in the Red Army (of which 62 thousand were of noble origin), while in the White Army - about 35 thousand.

Contrary to liberal myths, the Bolsheviks were neither fools nor beasts. They searched and found among former officers people with knowledge, talents and conscience. And such people could count on honor and respect from the Soviet government, despite their origin and pre-revolutionary life.

And one last thing. It is alleged that Stalin allegedly destroyed all the tsarist officers and former nobles remaining in Russia. So, the overwhelming majority of the heroes named and not named by us were not subjected to repression; they died their own deaths (of course, except for those who fell on the fronts of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars) in glory and honor. And their younger comrades, such as Colonel B. M. Shaposhnikov, staff captains A. M. Vasilevsky and F. I. Tolbukhin, second lieutenant L. A. Govorov, became marshals of the Soviet Union.

History has long ago put everything in its place. The best people from the White movement accepted Soviet power and served it faithfully. And a considerable part of those who remained among the whites discredited themselves as punishers, looters and simply petty crooks in the service of the Entente.

Marshals of Victory: part - tsarist officers April 22nd, 2015

Marshals of the Soviet Union and commanders-in-chief of the Allied forces.

Closer to the summer of 1917, entire regiments began to withdraw from their positions and go home. The provisional government did not control the situation either at the front or in the rear. The collapse of the Russian Empire began. Only the coming to power of the Bolsheviks did not allow the transformation of Russia into many state entities, nor did it reduce its territory to the borders of the Moscow State. The country was experiencing a food crisis and a complete collapse of governance. At that time, the number of officer corps was, according to various estimates, 250-300 thousand people. A little more than one third of this number joined the white movement. Just under one third went to serve in the Red Army or went over to its side during the civil war. The rest of the officers avoided fighting on anyone's side. Some immediately went abroad. Many representatives of the bourgeoisie and landowners moved to distant lands. Among those who entered the service of the Reds were such authoritative tsarist generals as Brusilov, Polivanov, Manikovsky, Petin, Danilov, Bonch-Bruevich, Karbyshev and others. Later, the Soviet government mobilized up to 40 thousand military specialists of the former tsarist army into the Red Army. Many served well. Three of the first five marshals of the Soviet Union were former tsarist officers: Tukhachevsky, Blucher and Egorov. True, they all turned out to be involved in a conspiracy, the existence of which is now being talked about by current Russian historians. Among the marshals of Victory there were also former tsarist officers: Govorov, Meretskov, Vasilevsky, Shaposhnikov, Tolbukhin. It seems that Wrangel said that, with our personnel, we ensured the subsequent victories of the Red Army. The assertions of bourgeois historians that supposedly massive repressions among command personnel in the pre-war years were the reason for the defeats of the Red Army in the first years of the Great Patriotic War do not stand up to criticism. Most of those dismissed from the army for political reasons before the war were returned to the Red Army, among them the above-mentioned Meretskov, as well as generals Rokossovsky, Gorbatov, Petrovsky, Efremov and others. The last two generals died in battle. It should be noted that most of the Soviet commanders advanced during the war. Thus, the future Marshal Bagramyan began the war with the rank of colonel, and the chief marshal of aviation Golovanov was with the rank of lieutenant colonel, the chief marshal of the armored forces Rotmistrov was a colonel at the beginning of the war. The future marshals of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky, Malinovsky, Tolbukhin, Govorov began the war with the rank of major generals. There's a lot more I could say, but I'll finish. For informed people, fables and lies about the Soviet past are not dangerous. The main thing, as Marx seems to have said: “Question everything.” I’ll add on my own behalf: “If the information comes from corrupt bourgeois media or something is said by actors in low-quality films about our glorious Soviet Army”

V. Steletsky