In February 1946, the representative of the Soviet mission for repatriation in England was informed that a wounded Canadian officer in a hospital near London urgently wanted to see him. The officer, a former prisoner of the Mauthausen concentration camp, considered it necessary to inform the Soviet representative of “extremely important information.”
The Canadian major's name was Seddon De-Saint-Clair. “I want to tell you about how Lieutenant General Dmitry Karbyshev died,” the officer said when the Soviet representative appeared at the hospital.
The story of a Canadian military man was the first news about Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev since 1941...
Cadet from an unreliable family
Dmitry Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 into a military family. Since childhood, he dreamed of continuing the dynasty started by his father and grandfather. Dmitry entered the Siberian Cadet Corps, however, despite the diligence shown in his studies, he was listed among the “unreliable” there.
The fact is that Dmitry’s older brother, Vladimir, participated in a revolutionary circle created at Kazan University, together with another young radical, Vladimir Ulyanov. But if the future leader of the revolution got away with only expulsion from the university, then Vladimir Karbyshev ended up in prison, where he later died.
Despite the stigma of being “unreliable,” Dmitry Karbyshev studied brilliantly, and in 1898, after graduating from the cadet corps, he entered the Nikolaev Engineering School.
Of all the military specialties, Karbyshev was most attracted to the construction of fortifications and defensive structures.
The talent of the young officer first clearly manifested itself during the Russian-Japanese campaign - Karbyshev strengthened positions, built bridges across rivers, installed communications and conducted reconnaissance in force.
Despite the unsuccessful outcome of the war for Russia, Karbyshev showed himself to be an excellent specialist, which was noted with medals and the rank of lieutenant.
From Przemysl to Perekop
But in 1906, Lieutenant Karbyshev was dismissed from service for freethinking. True, not for long - the command was smart enough to understand that specialists of this level should not be thrown away.
On the eve of the First World War, Staff Captain Dmitry Karbyshev designed the forts of the Brest Fortress - the same ones in which thirty years later Soviet soldiers would fight the Nazis.
Karbyshev spent the First World War as a division engineer of the 78th and 69th infantry divisions, and then as the head of the engineering service of the 22nd Finnish Rifle Corps. For bravery and bravery during the storming of Przemysl and during the Brusilov breakthrough, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Order of St. Anne.
During the revolution, Lieutenant Colonel Karbyshev did not rush about, but immediately joined the Red Guard. All his life he was faithful to his views and beliefs, which he did not renounce.
In November 1920, Dmitry Karbyshev was engaged in engineering support for the assault on Perekop, the success of which finally decided the outcome of the Civil War.
Missing
By the end of the 1930s, Dmitry Karbyshev was considered one of the most prominent experts in the field of military engineering not only in the Soviet Union, but also in the world. In 1940 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and in 1941 - the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences.
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, General Karbyshev worked on the creation of defensive structures on the western border. During one of his trips to the border, he was caught by the outbreak of hostilities.
The rapid advance of the Nazis put the Soviet troops in a difficult situation. The 60-year-old general of the engineering forces is not the most necessary person in units that are threatened with encirclement. However, they failed to evacuate Karbyshev. However, he himself, like a real combat officer, decided to break out of Hitler’s “bag” together with our units.
But on August 8, 1941, Lieutenant General Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in a battle near the Dnieper River, and was captured in an unconscious state.
From that moment until 1945, a short phrase would appear in his personal file: “Missing in action.”
The German command was convinced: Karbyshev among the Bolsheviks was a random person. A nobleman, an officer in the tsarist army, he would easily agree to go over to their side. In the end, he and the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) joined only in 1940, apparently under duress.
However, very soon the Nazis discovered that Karbyshev was a tough nut to crack. The 60-year-old general refused to serve the Third Reich, expressed confidence in the final victory of the Soviet Union and did not in any way resemble a man broken by captivity.
In March 1942, Karbyshev was transferred to the Hammelburg officer concentration camp. It carried out active psychological treatment of high-ranking Soviet officers in order to force them to go over to the German side. For this purpose, the most humane and benevolent conditions were created. Many who suffered hardships in ordinary soldier camps broke down on this. Karbyshev, however, turned out to be from a completely different text - no benefits or concessions could “reforge” him.
Soon Colonel Pelit was assigned to Karbyshev. This Wehrmacht officer had an excellent command of the Russian language, since he had served in the tsarist army at one time. Moreover, Pelit was a colleague of Karbyshev while working on the forts of the Brest Fortress.
Pelit, a subtle psychologist, described to Karbyshev all the advantages of serving great Germany, offering “compromise options for cooperation” - for example, the general is engaged in historical works on the military operations of the Red Army in the current war, and for this in the future he will be allowed to travel to a neutral country.
However, Karbyshev again rejected all the options for cooperation proposed by the Nazis.
Incorruptible
Then the Nazis made their last attempt. The general was transferred to solitary confinement in one of the Berlin prisons, where he was kept for about three weeks.
After that, his colleague, the famous German fortifier Professor Heinz Raubenheimer, was waiting for him in the investigator’s office.
The Nazis knew that Karbyshev and Raubenheimer knew each other; moreover, the Russian general respected the work of the German scientist.
Raubenheimer voiced to Karbyshev the following proposal from the authorities of the Third Reich. The general was offered release from the camp, the opportunity to move to a private apartment, as well as full financial security. He will have access to all libraries and book depositories in Germany, and will be given the opportunity to become acquainted with other materials in areas of military engineering that interest him. If necessary, any number of assistants were guaranteed to set up the laboratory, carry out development work and provide other research activities. The results of the work should become the property of German specialists. All ranks of the German army will treat Karbyshev as a lieutenant general of the engineering troops of the German Reich.
A middle-aged man who had gone through hardships in the camps was offered luxurious conditions while retaining his position and even his rank. He was not even required to denounce Stalin and the Bolshevik regime. The Nazis were interested in Karbyshev’s work in his main specialty.
Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev understood perfectly well that this was most likely the last proposal. He also understood what would follow the refusal.
However, the courageous general said: “My convictions do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for a country that is at war with my Motherland.”
The Nazis really counted on Karbyshev, on his influence and authority. It was he, and not General Vlasov, according to the original plan, who was supposed to lead the Russian Liberation Army.
But all the plans of the Nazis were dashed by Karbyshev’s inflexibility.
Gravestones for the Nazis
After this refusal, the Nazis put an end to the general, defining him as “a convinced, fanatical Bolshevik, whose use in the service of the Reich is impossible.”
Karbyshev was sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he was subjected to extreme hard labor. But here, too, the general surprised his comrades in misfortune with his unbending will, fortitude and confidence in the final victory of the Red Army.
One of the Soviet prisoners later recalled that Karbyshev knew how to cheer up even in the most difficult moments. When the prisoners were working on making gravestones, the general remarked: “This is the work that gives me real pleasure. The more tombstones the Germans demand from us, the better, which means things are going well for us at the front.”
He was transferred from camp to camp, the conditions became more and more harsh, but they failed to break Karbyshev. In each of the camps where the general found himself, he became a real leader of spiritual resistance to the enemy. His tenacity gave strength to those around him.
The front was moving to the West. Soviet troops entered German territory. The outcome of the war became obvious even to convinced Nazis. The Nazis had nothing left but hatred and the desire to deal with those who turned out to be stronger than them, even in chains and behind barbed wire...
Major Seddon De-Saint-Clair was one of several dozen prisoners of war who managed to survive the terrible night of February 18, 1945 in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
“As soon as we entered the camp, the Germans forced us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and launched jets of ice water on us from above. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. Many fell to the floor and died immediately: their hearts could not stand it. Then we were ordered to put on only underwear and wooden stocks for our feet and were kicked out into the yard. General Karbyshev stood in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We realized that we were living our last hours. A couple of minutes later, the Gestapo men, standing behind us with fire hoses in their hands, began pouring streams of cold water on us. Those who tried to evade the stream were hit on the head with batons. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with their skulls crushed. I saw how General Karbyshev also fell,” said the Canadian major.
The general’s last words were addressed to those who shared his terrible fate: “Cheer up, comrades! Think about the Motherland, and courage will not leave you!”
Hero of the Soviet Union
With the story of the Canadian major, the collection of information about the last years of General Karbyshev’s life, spent in German captivity, began. All collected documents and eyewitness accounts spoke of the exceptional courage and perseverance of this man.
On August 16, 1946, for the exceptional tenacity and courage shown in the fight against the German invaders in the Great Patriotic War, Lieutenant General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1948, a monument to the general was unveiled on the territory of the former Mauthausen concentration camp. The inscription on it reads: “To Dmitry Karbyshev. To a scientist. To the warrior. Communist. His life and death were a feat in the name of life.”
A combat officer and engineer, designer of the fortifications of the Brest Fortress, in fascist captivity exceeded the norm for the production of granite slabs for dead SS men.
"The Grave Digger of Fascism"
Cutting granite is not an easy task, especially when you are already well over sixty and your strength is running out. As if forgetting about age and fatigue, this man worked, encouraging his neighbors and reminding them at any time what this damned stone was intended for. Granite dust settled in my lungs, tearing them apart like sandpaper. But he did not let up, demonstrating desperate zeal. He made stone tombstones.
In 1944, German combat losses were growing every day. Granite tombstones were already reserved only for senior Wehrmacht officers and SS officers, but more and more of them were needed. This means, even in such a terrible way, he and his comrades in the Flossenbürg concentration camp contributed to the “funeral” of the German Nazi vermin. This man's name was Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, Lieutenant General of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.
Builder of Brest
No matter how harsh the realities of war are, generals are not often captured, much less generals of this level. Dmitry Mikhailovich became a legend even before the Great Patriotic War. Perhaps, all over the world there is an officer of the engineering forces involved in field and long-term fortifications who would not be familiar with the works of General Karbyshev. In Nazi Germany, his work was known and highly respected. It was not without reason that, long before the start of the war, a special case was opened against General Karbyshev in Berlin, which stated that if he was captured, the general should be treated with the highest respect and try with all our might to persuade him to cooperate.
When, in 1941, the seriously shell-shocked Lieutenant General Karbyshev was actually captured in the battle of the Dnieper, the German command rejoiced, sincerely hoping to get the great fortifier into their service. There were grounds for such hopes. It seemed to them that Karbyshev was only a forced “fellow traveler” of the Soviet regime. Why would a lieutenant colonel of the Russian imperial army suddenly seriously seek the victory of the world proletariat?
Indeed, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev came from Siberian Cossacks, a hereditary nobleman, his father and grandfather were military men. And he himself did not see any other path for himself than military service for God, the Tsar and the Fatherland. True, from a young age, from the time he studied in the cadet corps, Karbyshev was already considered unreliable. The reason for this was not the young cadet’s own merits - his older brother Vladimir, a student at Kazan University, together with another Vladimir, Ulyanov, participated in the famous university unrest. But if the future leader of the revolution was only expelled for this and even subsequently passed the exams as an external student, then Dmitry’s older brother went to prison, where after some time he fell ill and died.
Dmitry graduated with honors from the Siberian Cadet Corps and entered the Nikolaev Engineering School. Then there was the Russian-Japanese War, in which Lieutenant Karbyshev was awarded a number of military awards, in particular the Order of St. Vladimir with swords and bow. However, already in 1906, the brave lieutenant was thrown out of the army on charges of agitation among the soldiers. At that time, such cases were resolved quickly and unequivocally in a military court - execution. However, the officer's court of honor ruled otherwise, and Karbyshev was simply dismissed.
True, it did not last long - the very next year he was again restored to rank and sent as a company commander to the Vladivostok fortress sapper battalion. And two years later, the well-proven military officer entered the Nikolaev Military Academy in St. Petersburg. At the end of it, staff captain Karbyshev was sent to the city of Brest-Litovsk for the reconstruction and further strengthening of the famous Brest Fortress. Largely thanks to his labors, it acquired the power that allowed even the garrison, which did not have time to prepare, to hold the fortress against many times superior enemy forces. So, without any exaggeration, we can consider General Karbyshev the defender of the Brest Fortress.
Karbyshev accepted the revolution immediately and unconditionally. His service in the Red Army was to a large extent consistent with the way of thinking and views that had already developed over the years of his army career. Among his merits we can mention the capture of the fortifications of the Perekop Wall and the creation of defensive fortified areas in the battles both against Kolchak and against Wrangel. After the end of the Civil War, Karbyshev headed the military committee of the main engineering department of the Red Army, then taught at the Frunze Military Academy. He draws up plans to break through the Finnish defense - the Mannerheim Line, famous for its impregnability. He came up with the idea and plan for fortified areas along the western borders of the USSR, which, if used correctly, could, if not stop, then delay the Nazis for a long time at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. However, political reasons prevailed over military ones; the desire to fight on foreign territory “with little blood, with an iron blow” led to a significant weakening of unfinished and underequipped fortified areas, which allowed the Germans to tear them apart without much difficulty.
Just at this very time, in the first days of the war, Lieutenant General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev inspected his brainchild. The honored 60-year-old general was offered security and a plane to fly to Moscow, but he did not want to flee from the battlefield - it was unbecoming for a Russian officer to evade fire! He retreated in battles all the way to the Dnieper, where the fatal misfortune happened.
Old friends
But, as indicated in the personal card of the famous fortifier, the attitude towards the prisoner was very respectful, he was provided with medical care and placed in comfortable conditions, as if he was not a prisoner, but a guest. It was him, not General Vlasov, the Nazis saw a likely unifier of the anti-Soviet armed forces. A Wehrmacht colonel named Pelit, also a former tsarist officer, and also a colleague of Dmitry Mikhailovich at the Brest Fortress. Having failed to obtain consent for Karbyshev to go over to the side of the fascists, Pelit came from the other side: Karbyshev is engaged in scientific works, “researching the operations of the Red Army in this war,” and for this he is subsequently allowed to travel to any other neutral country of his choice. The captured general again responded with a categorical refusal.
Lieutenant General To break Dmitry Mikhailovich’s stubbornness, he was thrown into a Berlin prison, which had a very harsh regime. And then they handed it over to another old acquaintance of the general - professor Heinz Raubenheimer. He voiced the last proposal of the German command: liberation from the camp, the creation of a research laboratory with an arbitrary number of assistants to carry out fortification development work. But this “friend” of Karbyshev returned with nothing. Karbyshev stated: “My beliefs do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. “I am a soldier and remain faithful to my duty, but he forbids me to work for a country that is at war with my Motherland.”
Unbroken Prisoner
The German command set itself the task of suppressing and morally destroying the intractable fortifier. It was then that the fortress builder had to turn into a fortress himself. But the general could not be broken, at some point the Germans realized that the “shock worker”, consistently exceeding the plan, was simply mocking their deaths, and even demonstrating a vivid example of perseverance and good spirits. From that moment on, Karbyshev began his wanderings through concentration camps, which ended on February 18, 1945 in the Mauthausen death camp. Knowing that Soviet troops were approaching, the Nazis took the prisoners of war out into the cold and, forcing them to undress, began pouring cold water on them from hoses. General Karbyshev, who was trying to evade the jet, had his head broken with a baton. His death became known much later - from a fellow Canadian major who miraculously escaped De Saint Clair. Then his testimony, given to the Soviet military representative in the hospital, was confirmed by several more eyewitness accounts.
Generals are not often captured; during the entire war the Red Army lost a little more than eighty people in this way. Some of them died on the spot, some were tortured in camps, some disgraced their name forever by agreeing to collaborate with the fascists. After the war, 26 generals returned to their homeland, some of them were restored to rank and were soon quietly dismissed from the ranks of the armed forces. But only one was awarded the highest award of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union not for exploits on the battlefield, but precisely for actions in captivity - lieutenant general, a man of unbroken will, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev.
I was still a teenager, about 12-13 years old, when one day my mother showed me a textbook on the history of the USSR for the 4th grade. He says: “These are the textbooks we used to study in our time.” It was simply called “Stories on the History of the USSR.” 
I don’t know whether I still have it or not, but I looked at the shabby antique quite greedily. Well, of course: the textbook is almost 30 years old, although others will object to me: why even keep such old stuff at home. But nevertheless, it was a certain memory. One day, while looking through the paragraphs of a textbook, I came across a curious episode of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. About 12-13 years have passed since then, but I remember the story that I want to tell you now. Even though it shows a fragment of this man’s life, I cannot ignore it. Moreover, this year is associated with the Victory Anniversary, and October 14 marks the 135th anniversary of his birth. February 18 marked the 70th anniversary of his martyrdom. I am practically not familiar with his biography, so I will have to use the material that is on the Internet. The only thing I know about him is how he died. Before his death, he said: “I am a communist! I know that we will win, and death and damnation await all of you!” This quote caught my eye in that textbook and I still remember it. And this man’s name was Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev.
This man is hardly remembered now. The younger generation probably doesn’t even know his name anymore. But it is precisely such examples that these young people need to be educated on. If you want to raise die-hard heroes, not amorphous soda drinkers. Let's remember our Russian heroes. They deserve it. This is the only way to preserve the connection between generations. The name of the man who became a symbol of the unbending will of the Russian officer, perseverance and courage is Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. Hero of the Soviet Union. Already in Soviet school they talked a little about him. The Nazis tortured General Karbyshev by pouring cold water on him in winter. That's all that the average student of the USSR knew about him. Today's schoolchildren practically do not know Karbyshev. There are, of course, exceptions...11.04. 2011 “A public meeting dedicated to the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Fascism was held in Vladivostok. About a hundred members of the city and regional organizations of former prisoners, veterans, representatives of the city administration, military personnel, schoolchildren and students gathered at the monument to the hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Karbyshev.” Do your children know this surname? Fix this gap. Tell your children about Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev...
DMITRY Mikhailovich Karbyshev - Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor, Tatar by origin, ancestral Siberian Cossack. A couple of weeks before the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was sent to Grodno to assist in defensive construction on the western border. On August 8, while trying to escape from encirclement in the area north of Mogilev, he was shell-shocked and captured by the Nazis.
Childhood, youth, beginning of service
Born in the city of Omsk in the family of a military official. Baptized Tatar. At the age of twelve he was left without a father. The children were raised by their mother. Despite great financial difficulties, Karbyshev brilliantly graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps and in 1898 was admitted to the St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School. In 1900, after graduating from college, he was sent to serve in the 1st East Siberian Engineer Battalion, as head of the cable department of a telegraph company. The battalion was stationed in Manchuria.
Russian-Japanese, World War I
During the Russian-Japanese War, as part of the battalion, he strengthened positions, installed communications equipment, built bridges, and conducted reconnaissance in force. Participated in the battle of Mukden. Awarded orders and medals. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant.
After the war he served in Vladivostok. In 1911 he graduated with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy. According to the assignment, Staff Captain Karbyshev was sent to Brest-Litovsk to serve as commander of a mine company. There he took part in the construction of forts at the Brest Fortress.
A participant in the First World War from day one. He fought in the Carpathians as part of the 8th Army of General A. A. Brusilov (Southwestern Front). He was a division engineer of the 78th and 69th Infantry Divisions, then the head of the engineering service of the 22nd Finnish Rifle Corps. At the beginning of 1915, he took part in the assault on the Przemysl fortress. Was injured. For bravery and bravery he was awarded the Order of St. Anna and promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1916 he was a participant in the famous Brusilov breakthrough.
Joining the Red Army
In December 1917, in Mogilev-Podolsky, D. M. Karbyshev joined the Red Guard. Since 1918 in the Red Army. During the Civil War, he participated in the construction of the Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Troitsky, and Kurgan fortified areas, and provided engineering support for the Kakhovka bridgehead. He held responsible positions at the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District. In 1920, he was appointed chief of engineers of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front. In the fall of 1920, he became assistant chief of engineers of the Southern Front. He supervised the engineering support for the assault on Chongar and Perekop.
Academy named after Frunze, General Staff Academy
In 1923-1926, chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Red Army. Since 1926 - teacher at the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze. In 1929, he was appointed author of the project “The Lines of Molotov and Stalin.” In February 1934, he was appointed head of the department of military engineering at the Military Academy of the General Staff.
Since 1936, he was assistant to the head of the department of tactics of higher formations of the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1938 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. In the same year he was confirmed in the academic rank of professor. In 1940, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops. In 1941 he received the academic degree of Doctor of Military Sciences.
Karbyshev is responsible for the most complete research and development of the issues of using destruction and barriers. His contribution to the scientific development of issues of crossing rivers and other water barriers is significant. He published more than 100 scientific papers on military engineering and military history. His articles and manuals on the theory of engineering support for combat and operations, and the tactics of engineering troops were the main materials for the training of Red Army commanders in the pre-war years.
In addition, Karbyshev was a consultant to the Academic Council on restoration work in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, of which I.V. Trofimov was appointed scientific director and chief architect.
Soviet-Finnish War
Participant in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. As part of the group of the deputy head of the Main Military Engineering Directorate for defensive construction, he developed recommendations for the troops on engineering support for breaking through the Mannerheim Line.
At the beginning of June 1941, D. M. Karbyshev was sent to the Western Special Military District. The Great Patriotic War found him at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Grodno. After 2 days he moved to the headquarters of the 10th Army. On June 27, the army headquarters was surrounded. In August 1941, while trying to get out of encirclement, General Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in a battle in the Dnieper region, near the village of Dobreika, Mogilev region of Belarus. In an unconscious state he was captured.
The path through the concentration camps and death
Karbyshev was held in German concentration camps: Zamosc, Hammelburg, Flossenbürg, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen. I have repeatedly received offers to cooperate from the camp administration. Despite his age, he was one of the active leaders of the camp resistance movement. On the night of February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria), along with other prisoners (about 500 people), he was doused with water in the cold and died. It has become a symbol of unbending will and perseverance.
Awards
On August 16, 1946, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner and the Red Star.
A monument was erected to the Hero of the Soviet Union D. M. Karbyshev at the entrance to the memorial on the site of the Mauthausen camp. Monuments to D. M. Karbyshev were also erected in Moscow, Kazan, Vladivostok, Samara, Tolyatti, Omsk and Pervouralsk, Nakhabino, and a bust in Volzhsky. A boulevard in Moscow, Karbysheva Street (St. Petersburg), streets in Kazan, Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine), Sumy, Belaya Tserkov, Lutsk, Krivoy Rog (Ukraine), Chuguev (Ukraine), Balashikha, Krasnogorsk, Minsk, Brest bear his name. Belarus), Kiev, Tolyatti, Samara, Perm, Kherson, Gomel, Ulyanovsk, Volzhsky, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk and Omsk.
A number of schools in the former Soviet Union are named after D. M. Karbyshev. In Omsk, a children's health camp is named after D.M. Karbyshev. The name of D. M. Karbyshev was given to one of the electric trains operating on the Riga direction of the Moscow Railway.
A minor planet in the solar system is also named after him.
The poem “Dignity” by S. A. Vasiliev is dedicated to the feat of D. M. Karbyshev.
Proceedings
Engineering preparation of the borders of the USSR. Book 1, 1924.
Destruction and obstruction. 1931, joint with I. Kiselev and I. Maslov.
Engineering support for combat operations of rifle formations. Part 1-2, 1939-1940.
Karbyshev spent 3.5 years in fascist dungeons. Unfortunately, there are still no scientific studies (or at least truthful publications) about that tragic and heroic period in the life of the great Soviet general. For several years in Moscow they knew nothing at all about Karbyshev’s fate. It is noteworthy that in his “Personal File” in 1941 an official note was made: “Missing in action.”
Therefore, it is no secret that some domestic publicists began to “give out” absolutely incredible “facts” such as the fact that the Soviet government in August 1941, having learned about the capture of Karbyshev, proposed to the Germans to arrange an exchange of the Soviet general for two Germans, however in Berlin such an exchange was considered “unequal.” In fact, our command at that time did not even know that General Karbyshev had been captured.
Dmitry Karbyshev began his “camp journey” in a distribution camp near the Polish city of Ostrov Mazowiecki. Here the prisoners were registered, sorted, and interrogated. In the camp, Karbyshev suffered from a severe form of dysentery. At dawn of one cold October day in 1941, a train crowded with people, among whom was Karbyshev, arrived in Zamosc, Poland. The general was settled in barracks No. 11, which later became firmly assigned the name “general’s barracks.” Here, as they say, there was a roof over your head and almost normal food, which was a rarity under captivity. The Germans, according to German historians, were almost sure that after everything they had experienced, the outstanding Soviet scientist would have “feelings of gratitude” and agree to cooperate. But this did not work - and in March 1942, Karbyshev was transferred to a purely officer concentration camp in Hammelburg (Bavaria). This camp was special - intended exclusively for Soviet prisoners of war. His command had a clear directive - to do everything possible (and impossible) to win over the “unstable, wavering and cowardly” Soviet officers and generals to Hitler’s side. Therefore, the appearance of legality and humane treatment of prisoners was observed in the camp, which, admittedly, gave its positive results (especially in the first year of the war). But not in relation to Karbyshev. It was during this period that his famous motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over yourself! The main thing is not to fall to your knees before the enemy.”
PELIT AND THE HISTORY OF THE RED ARMY
At the beginning of 1943, Soviet intelligence learned that the commander of one of the German infantry units, Colonel Pelit, was urgently recalled from the Eastern Front and appointed commandant of the camp in Hammelburg. At one time, the colonel graduated from the cadet school in St. Petersburg and had an excellent command of the Russian language. But it is especially noteworthy that the former officer of the tsarist army Pelit once served in Brest together with captain Karbyshev. But this fact did not evoke any special associations among Soviet intelligence officers. They say that both traitors and real Bolsheviks served in the tsarist army.
But the fact is that it was Pelit who was instructed to conduct personal work with the “prisoner of war, lieutenant general of the engineering troops.” The colonel was warned that the Russian scientist was of “particular interest” for the Wehrmacht and especially for the Main Directorate of the German Engineering Service. Every effort must be made to make it work for the Germans.
In principle, Pelit was not only a good expert in military affairs, but also a well-known master of “intrigue and intelligence” in German military circles. Already at the first meeting with Karbshev, he began to play the role of a man far from politics, a simple old warrior, who sympathized with the honored Soviet general with all his soul. At every step, the German tried to emphasize his attention and affection for Dmitry Mikhailovich, called him his guest of honor, and showered him with pleasantries. Without sparing color, he told the military general all sorts of tall tales that, according to information that had reached him, the German command had decided to grant Karbyshev complete freedom and even, if he so desired, the opportunity to travel abroad to one of the neutral countries. Needless to say, many prisoners could not resist such a temptation, but not General Karbyshev. Moreover, he immediately realized the true mission of his long-time colleague.
I will note in passing that during this period it was in Hammelburg that German propaganda began to develop its “historical invention” - here a “commission was created to compile the history of the Red Army’s operations in the current war.” Leading German experts in this field, including SS officers, arrived at the camp. They talked with the captured officers, defending the idea that the purpose of compiling “history” was purely scientific, that the officers would be free to write it in the way they wished. It was reported in passing that all officers who agreed to write the history of the operations of the Red Army would receive additional food, comfortable premises for work and housing, and, in addition, even a fee for “literary” work. The focus was primarily on Karbyshev, but the general categorically refused “cooperation”; moreover, he was able to dissuade most of the remaining prisoners of war from participating in Goebbels’ “adventure.” The attempt by the fascist command to organize a “Commission” ultimately failed.
BELIEF AND FAITH
According to some reports, by the end of October 1942, the Germans realized that with Karbyshev “everything is not so simple” - attracting him to the side of Nazi Germany was quite problematic. Here is the content of one of the secret letters that Colonel Pelit received from a “higher authority”: “The high command of the engineering service again contacted me about the prisoner Karbyshev, a professor, lieutenant general of the engineering troops, who is in your camp. I was forced to delay the resolution of the issue, since I was counting on the fact that you would carry out my instructions regarding the said prisoner, be able to find a common language with him and convince him that if he correctly assessed the situation that had developed for him and met our wishes, a good future awaited him. However, "Major Peltzer, whom I sent to you for inspection, stated in his report the general unsatisfactory implementation of all plans concerning the Hammelburg camp and in particular the prisoner Karbyshev."
Soon the Gestapo command ordered Karbyshev to be taken to Berlin. He guessed why he was being taken to the German capital.
The general was placed in a solitary cell without windows, with a bright, constantly flashing electric lamp. While in the cell, Karbyshev lost track of time. The day here was not divided into day and night, there were no walks. But, as he later told his fellow prisoners, apparently at least two or three weeks passed before he was called in for the first interrogation. This was a common technique of jailers,” Karbyshev later recalled, analyzing this whole “event” with professorial precision: the prisoner is brought into a state of complete apathy, atrophy of will, before being taken “for promotion.”
But, to Dmitry Mikhailovich’s surprise, he was met not by a prison investigator, but by the famous German fortifier Professor Heinz Raubenheimer, about whom he had heard a lot over the past two decades, whose works he had closely followed in special magazines and literature. They met several times.
The professor politely greeted the prisoner, expressing regret for the inconvenience caused to the great Soviet scientist. Then he took out a sheet of paper from the folder and began to read the previously prepared text. The Soviet general was offered release from the camp, the opportunity to move to a private apartment, as well as full financial security. Karbyshev will have access to all libraries and book depositories in Germany, and will be given the opportunity to get acquainted with other materials in areas of military engineering that interest him. If necessary, any number of assistants were guaranteed to set up the laboratory, carry out development work and provide other research activities. Independent choice of topics for scientific development was not prohibited; permission was given to travel to the front lines to test theoretical calculations in the field. True, there was a reservation - except for the Eastern Front. The results of the work should become the property of German specialists. All ranks of the German army will treat Karbyshev as a lieutenant general of the engineering troops of the German Reich.
Having carefully listened to the terms of the “cooperation”, Dmitry Mikhailovich calmly replied: “My convictions do not fall out along with my teeth from the lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and remain faithful to my duty. And he forbids me to work for a country that is at war with my homeland."
ABOUT GRAVE PLATES
The German did not expect such stubbornness. Somehow, with your favorite teacher it would be possible to come to a certain compromise. The iron doors of the solitary slammed shut behind the German professor.
Karbyshev was given salty food, after which he was denied water. We replaced the lamp - it became so powerful that even closing my eyelids, there was no rest for my eyes. They began to fester, causing excruciating pain. They were almost not allowed to sleep. At the same time, the mood and mental state of the Soviet general were recorded with German accuracy. And when it seemed that he was starting to turn sour, they came again with an offer to cooperate. The answer was the same - “no”. This went on for almost six months.
After this, Karbyshev was transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, located in the Bavarian mountains, 90 km from Nuremberg. He was distinguished by hard labor of particular severity, and the inhumane treatment of prisoners knew no bounds. Prisoners in striped clothes with their heads shaved in the shape of a cross worked from morning to night in granite quarries under the supervision of SS men armed with whips and pistols. A minute's respite, a glance thrown to the side, a word spoken to a neighbor at work, any awkward movement, the slightest offense - all this caused the furious rage of the overseers, beating with a whip. Shots were often heard. They shot me straight in the back of the head.
One of the Soviet captured officers recalled after the war: “Once Dmitry Mikhailovich and I were working in a barn, cutting granite posts for roads, facing and gravestone slabs. Regarding the latter, Karbyshev (who even in the most difficult situations had a sense of humor) suddenly remarked : “This is work that gives me true pleasure. The more gravestones the Germans demand from us, the better, which means things are going well for us at the front.”
Dmitry Mikhailovich's almost six-month stay at hard labor ended one August day in 1943. The prisoner was transferred to Nuremberg and imprisoned by the Gestapo. After a short “quarantine” he was sent to the so-called “block” - a wooden barracks in the middle of a huge cobblestone courtyard. Here many people recognized the general: some - as a colleague in the past, others - as a competent teacher, others - from printed works, some - from previous meetings in fascist dungeons.
Then came Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen - camps that will forever go down in human history as monuments to the most terrible atrocities of German fascism. Constantly smoking furnaces where the living and the dead were burned; gas chambers, where tens of thousands of people died in terrible agony; mounds of ash from human bones; huge bales of women's hair; mountains of shoes taken from children before sending them on their last journey... The Soviet general went through all this.
Three months before our army entered Berlin, 65-year-old Karbyshev was transferred to the Mauthausen camp, where he died.
UNDERWATER ICY
The death of Karbyshev first became known a year after the end of the war. On February 13, 1946, Canadian Army Major Seddon De-Saint-Clair, who was recovering in a hospital near London, invited a representative of the Soviet mission for repatriation in England to report “important details.”
“I don’t have long to live,” the major said to the Soviet officer, “so I’m worried about the thought that the facts known to me about the heroic death of the Soviet general, the noble memory of which should live in the hearts of people, will not go to the grave with me. I’m talking about the general -Lieutenant Karbyshev, with whom I had to visit the German camps."
According to the officer, on the night of February 17-18, the Germans drove about a thousand prisoners to Mauthausen. The frost was about 12 degrees. Everyone was dressed very poorly, in rags. “As soon as we entered the camp, the Germans drove us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and launched jets of ice water on us from above. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. Many fell to the floor and died immediately: their hearts could not stand it. Then we were ordered to put on only underwear and wooden stocks for our feet and kicked out into the yard. General Karbyshev stood in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We realized that we were living our last hours. A couple of minutes later the Gestapo men, standing behind us with fire cannons in their hands, began to water us streams of cold water. Those who tried to evade the stream were beaten on the head with batons. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with crushed skulls. I saw how General Karbyshev also fell,” the Canadian major stated with pain in his heart.
“On that tragic night, about seventy people remained alive. I can’t imagine why they didn’t finish us off. They must have been tired and put it off until the morning. It turned out that the Allied troops were approaching the camp closely. The Germans fled in panic... I ask you to write down my testimony and send them to Russia. I consider it my sacred duty to impartially testify to everything I know about General Karbyshev. By doing this I will fulfill my small duty to the memory of a great man,” the Canadian officer ended his story with these words.
Which is what was done.
On August 16, 1946, Lieutenant General Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As stated in the decree, this high rank was awarded to the hero general, who tragically died in fascist captivity, “for exceptional steadfastness and courage shown in the fight against the German invaders in the Great Patriotic War.”
On February 28, 1948, the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Group of Forces, Colonel General Kurasov and the Chief of the Engineering Troops of the Central Group of Military Forces, Major General Slyunin, in the presence of delegations from the troops of the honor guard group, as well as the government of the Republic of Austria, unveiled a monument and memorial plaque at the site where the Nazis brutally tortured General Karbyshev on the territory of the former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen.
In Russia, his name is immortalized in the names of military groups, ships and railway stations, streets and boulevards of many cities, and assigned to numerous schools. Between Mars and Jupiter, a small planet # 1959 - Karbyshev - travels along a circumsolar orbit.
In the early 1960s, the movement of young Karbyshevites took organizational form, the soul of which was Hero’s daughter Elena Dmitrievna, colonel of the engineering troops.
Materials used from the sites: perunica.ru and tatveteran.ru
Today, few people from the generation of 20 years old and younger will be able to tell anything intelligible about the legendary Soviet hero - Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. His name is well-known, mainly due to the large number of streets named after him in cities in the post-Soviet space; institutions named after him (for example, schools) are less common, but these are just the remaining fragments of that legend about a man whose fate was known once upon a time to every pioneer in every corner of the USSR...
Dmitry Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk into the family of a military official. At a young age, Dmitry was left without a father, however, he decided to follow in his footsteps and in 1898 he graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps, and two years later from the St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School. After graduating from college, Karbyshev, with the rank of second lieutenant, was appointed to serve as a company commander in the 1st East Siberian Engineer Battalion, which was located in Manchuria.
Dmitry Karbyshev took part in the Russian-Japanese War: as part of his battalion, he strengthened positions, built bridges and installed communications equipment. He showed himself to be a brave officer in the battles near Mukden, and it is not surprising that in two years of this war Karbyshev received five orders and three medals.
In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev was dismissed from the army into the reserve: according to documented sources, for agitation among the soldiers during that turbulent revolutionary time. A year later, however, Karbyshev was again called up to serve as a company commander of a sapper battalion: his knowledge and experience were useful in the reconstruction of fortifications in Vladivostok.
After graduating with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy in 1911, Dmitry Mikhailovich was assigned to Brest-Litovsk, where he took part in the construction of forts of the Brest-Litovsk Fortress.
Karbyshev met the First World War as part of the 8th Army of General A. A. Brusilov, which fought in the Carpathians. In 1915, Karbyshev was one of the actively attacking the Przemysl fortress; in the battles he was wounded in the leg. For the heroism shown in these battles, Karbyshev received the Order of St. Anne with swords and was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Dmitry Karbyshev joined the Red Guard in December 1917, and from the next year he was already part of the Red Army. During the Civil War, Karbyshev helped strengthen military positions throughout the country - from Ukraine to Siberia. Since 1920, Dmitry Mikhailovich has been the engineering chief of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front; a little later he was appointed assistant chief of engineers of the Southern Front.
After the Civil War, Karbyshev taught at the Frunze Military Academy, and since 1934 he has worked as a teacher at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Karbyshev was popular among the students of the Academy. This is what Army General Shtemenko remembers about him: “...from him came the favorite saying of sappers: “One sapper, one axe, one day, one stump.” True, it was changed by wits; in Karbyshev it sounded like this: “One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row.”
In 1940, Karbyshev was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, and in 1941 he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Military Sciences (he has authored more than a hundred scientific works on military engineering and military science). His theoretical manuals on issues of engineering support during combat operations and tactics of engineering troops were considered fundamental materials in the training of Red Army commanders before the Great Patriotic War.
Dmitry Karbyshev participated in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, developing recommendations for engineering support for breaking the Mannerheim Line.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War found Karbyshev at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in the city of Grodno. Dmitry Mikhailovich is offered transport and personal security to return to Moscow, however, he refuses, preferring to retreat along with units of the Red Army. Having found himself surrounded and trying to get out of it, Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in a fierce battle (near the Dnieper, in the Mogilev region), and was captured by the Germans in an unconscious state.
From this moment begins the three-year history of Karbyshev’s captivity and his wanderings through Nazi camps.
In Nazi Germany, Karbyshev was well known: already in 1940, the IV Directorate of the RSHA of the Imperial Security Directorate opened a special dossier on him. The dossier was specially marked and was classified as “IV D 3-a”, which meant - in addition to monitoring activities - special treatment in case of capture.
He began his camp “path” in the Polish city of Ostrov Mazowiecki, where he was sent to a distribution camp. Soon Karbyshev is sent to a camp in the Polish town of Zamosc, Dmitry Mikhailovich is settled in barracks No. 11 (later called the general's). The Germans' expectation that, after the hardships of camp life, Karbyshev would agree to cooperate with them, did not materialize, and in the spring of 1942, Karbyshev was transferred to an officer concentration camp in the city of Hammelburg (Bavaria). This camp, consisting solely of a contingent of Soviet captured officers and generals, was special - the task of its leadership was to persuade prisoners to cooperate with Nazi Germany by any means. That is why in its atmosphere certain standards of legality and humane treatment were observed. However, these methods did not work on Dmitry Karbyshev; it was here that his motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over yourself! The main thing is not to fall on your knees before the enemy.”
Since 1943, “preventive work” with Karbyshev has been carried out by a former officer of the tsarist Russian army, Pelit (it is noteworthy that this Pelit once served with Dmitry Mikhailovich in Brest). Colonel Pelit was warned that the Russian military engineer was of particular interest to Germany, and accordingly, every effort must be made to win him over to the Nazi side.
The subtle psychologist Pelit got down to business with reason: playing the role of an experienced warrior, far from politics, he described to Karbyshev all the advantages of switching to the German side (fantastic in nature). Dmitry Mikhailovich, however, immediately saw through Pelit’s trick and stood his ground: I will not betray my homeland.
The Gestapo command decides to use slightly different tactics. Dmitry Karbyshev is taken to Berlin, where a meeting is organized for him with Heinz Raubenheimer, a famous German professor and expert in fortification engineering. In exchange for cooperation, he offers Karbyshev conditions for working and living in Germany, which would make him practically a free person. Dmitry Mikhailovich’s answer was exhaustive: “My beliefs do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for a country that is at war with my Motherland.”
After such a firm refusal, the tactics in relation to the Soviet general-prisoner of war change again - Karbyshev is sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, a camp famous for its hard labor and truly inhumane conditions towards prisoners. Dmitry Karbyshev's six-month stay in the hell of Flossenbürg ended with his transfer to the Nuremberg Gestapo prison. After which the camps where Karbyshev was assigned began to spin like a gloomy carousel. Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen - these truly nightmarish death camps through which Karbyshev had to go and in which, despite the inhuman conditions of existence, he remained a strong-willed and unbending person until his last days.
Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev died in the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen: he froze, being doused with water in the cold... He died heroically and martyrically, without betraying his Soviet Motherland.
The details of his death became known from the words of Canadian Army Major Seddon De-Saint-Clair, who also passed through Mauthausen. This was one of the first reliable information about Karbyshev’s life in captivity, - after all, he was then considered missing in the USSR at the very beginning of the war.
In 1946, Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And on February 28, 1948, a monument and memorial plaque were unveiled at the site of the former Mauthausen concentration camp, where Lieutenant General Karbyshev was brutally tortured.
Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev (14 (26).10.1880–18.02.1945)
Born in the city of Omsk. He came from a well-known officer dynasty in the Siberian Cossack Army. Then, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Siberian Cossacks settled in the southern Siberian lands, founded their capital - Omsk, to secure the northern outskirts of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) steppe for Russia, they began to build field fortifications in it, which became Cossack villages, and to develop fertile lands.
In those years, centurion Ivan Karbyshev was known among the Siberian Cossacks, who took an active part in a number of scientific expeditions to study the natural resources of Semirechye, the southeastern corner of modern Kazakhstan. With his “light hand”, when he was already with the rank of colonel, in 1854 in Semirechye, on the site of the Kazakh settlement of Almaty, the fortification of Verny was founded, which thirteen years later became the city of Verny.
D. M. Karbyshev’s grandfather at one time graduated from the military school of the Siberian Cossack Army, which was later transformed into the Omsk (Siberian) Cadet Corps. My father was finishing the same building. He distinguished himself in the Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853–1856, being awarded the military orders of Saints Anne and Stanislav, 3rd degree.
The son of a Cossack officer, Dmitry Karbyshev, successfully graduated from the Omsk Cadet Corps in 1898. He entered the capital's Nikolaev Engineering School, which he graduated in 1900.
Dmitry Karbyshev in his youthThe Russian-Japanese War of 1904–1905 became a baptism of fire for the young officer. He served in an infantry division, constructing field fortifications, improving roads, building bridges and many other things that military engineers were required to do in the fields of Manchuria.
After that war, Dmitry Karbyshev, who already had military experience, entered the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy, from which he graduated among the best graduates in 1911.
From that 1911 until the very beginning of the First World War, D. M. Karbyshev participated in the construction of the Brest-Litovsk (Brest) Fortress. He built its forts and other fortifications as a divisional engineer.
When World War I began, Dmitry Karbyshev held the position of divisional engineer, first of the 69th and then of the 78th infantry divisions. Then he accepted the position of corps military engineer in the 22nd Finnish Army Corps. After this, he becomes a senior work producer in the Directorates of the Chiefs of Engineering Troops of the 11th and 8th Armies of the Southwestern Front.
D.M. Karbyshev ended the First World War with the rank of lieutenant colonel, having gained a wealth of experience as a military engineering practitioner during the three and a half years of war. After October 1917, he took the side of the Soviet regime, voluntarily joining the ranks of the Red Guard back in December.
First, his service takes place in the city of Mogilev-Podolsky as a detachment military engineer. Since 1918, Karbyshev has held new, higher positions. He becomes an engineer at the State Defense Engineering Collegium, then the chief of engineers of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front. He takes part in the construction of a number of fortified areas - Simbirsk, Samara and others.
At the end of the Civil War, Karbyshev was assistant chief of engineers of the Southern Front. He provided engineering preparation for the assaults on Perekop (Turkish Wall) and Chongar positions, which were occupied by the best units of General Wrangel’s Russian army for defense.
In 1921–1923, Dmitry Karbyshev held responsible positions at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea.
In 1923–1926, D. M. Karbyshev was a representative of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). At the same time, he is engaged in teaching at the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze.
From 1936 until the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he held the position of deputy head of the department of tactics of higher formations for engineering troops at the Military Academy of the General Staff.
In the pre-war years, Dmitry Mikhailovich was awarded the title of professor (1938) and the academic degree of Doctor of Military Sciences (1941). He was the author of more than a hundred scientific papers on various areas of military engineering and military history.
Students of the Military Construction Academy, led by Major D.M. Karbyshev. Moscow, 1941
Receives the rank of Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops in 1940.
His services to strengthening the defense of the state and improving domestic military engineering were awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Red Star.
At the beginning of June 1941, D. M. Karbyshev was sent to the Western Special Military District, where he inspected the progress of construction of fortifications of the 68th Grodno fortified region.
The Great Patriotic War found him at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Grodno. After 2 days he moved to the headquarters of the 10th Army. On June 27, the army headquarters was surrounded.
On August 8, 1941, while trying to get out of encirclement, General Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in a battle near the Dnieper River near the village of Dobreika, Mogilev Region, Belarusian SSR. In an unconscious state he was captured.
I have repeatedly received offers to cooperate from the camp administration.
According to the testimony of SD officer Khmyrov-Dolgoruky, an employee of Vlasov’s personal guard who supervised Vlasov, in order to hide his membership in the criminal SD organization, who spoke at Vlasov’s trial as his personal adjutant, the Nazis initially persuaded not Vlasov, but namely Dmitry Karbyshev, an Orthodox former lieutenant colonel of the tsarist army, for whom German was his native language, whose first wife was German, to take the post of commander of the “Russian Liberation Army”. But the Nazis wrote in their archives: “... This largest Soviet fortifier, a career officer of the old Russian army, a man who was over sixty years old, turned out to be fanatically devoted to the idea of fidelity to military duty and patriotism... Karbyshev can be considered hopeless in the sense of using us as a specialist military engineering." And the verdict of the Nazis in 1943 after two years of persuasion: “Send to the Flossenburg concentration camp for hard labor, no discounts on rank or age.”
Despite his age, Karbyshev was one of the active leaders of the camp resistance movement. He called not only Soviet, but all prisoners of war of the anti-Hitler coalition to remember their Fatherland and not cooperate with the enemy.
The last place of imprisonment for him was the Mauthausen concentration camp, located in the Mauthausen commune of the Perg region of the Reichsgau Upper Danube (German: Reichsgau Oberdonau) of the Great German Empire (now the Perg district is part of the federal state of Upper Austria of the Austrian Republic).
On the night of February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen concentration camp, along with about five hundred other prisoners, after brutal torture, Karbyshev was doused with water in the cold (air temperature about −12 °C) and killed. The body of D. M. Karbyshev was burned in the ovens of Mauthausen.
“... As soon as we entered the camp, the Germans drove us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and launched jets of ice water on us from above. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. Many fell to the floor and died immediately: their hearts could not stand it. Then we were ordered to put on only underwear and wooden stocks for our feet and were kicked out into the yard. General Karbyshev stood in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We realized that we were living our last hours. A couple of minutes later, the Gestapo men, standing behind us with fire hoses in their hands, began pouring streams of cold water on us. Those who tried to evade the stream were hit on the head with batons. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with their skulls crushed. I saw how General Karbyshev also fell. About seventy people survived that tragic night. I can’t imagine why they didn’t finish us off. They must have been tired and put it off until the morning. It turned out that allied troops were approaching the camp closely. The Germans fled in panic... I ask you to write down my testimony and send it to Russia. I consider it my sacred duty to impartially testify to everything I know about General Karbyshev. “I will fulfill my small duty to the memory of a big man,” - with these words, on February 13, 1946, Major Seddon de St. Clair of the Canadian Army, dying from the consequences of this execution in a hospital near London, ended his story to the representative of the Soviet repatriation mission in Great Britain.
On August 16, 1946, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. There are monuments to him in more than fifteen cities around the world. Dozens of streets and educational institutions are named after him. The poem “Dignity” by S. A. Vasiliev is dedicated to the feat of D. M. Karbyshev. In 1959, a minor planet in the solar system, discovered by Soviet scientists, was named after Karbyshev.
