There are so many legends about this amazing woman that it is impossible to say one hundred percent whether it is true or fiction. But it is reliably known that an ordinary peasant woman, who remained illiterate for almost her entire adult life, was called by King George V during a personal meeting “the Russian Joan of Arc.” Fate was destined for her to become the first female officer in the Russian army. The whole truth about the women's battalion death - in our article.
Youth, childhood, love
The creator of the women's death battalion, Maria Bochkareva, was born in a small village in the Novgorod province into an ordinary working-class family. In addition to her, her parents had two more children. They lived quite poorly and, in order to improve their deplorable situation, decided to move to Siberia, where at that time the government provided assistance to newcomers. But hopes were not justified, so it was decided to marry Maria to a man whom she did not love, and who was also a drunkard. She got her famous surname from him.
After a short period of time, Maria Bochkareva (the women's death battalion was her idea) breaks up with her husband and begins a free life. It was at that time that she was lucky enough to meet her first and only love. Unfortunately, she had no luck with the stronger sex: while the first was a constant drinker, the second was a criminal and member of the Honghuz gang, which included people from Manchuria and China. His name was Yankel Buk. When he was arrested and redirected to Yakutsk, Bochkareva followed him, as the wives of the Decembrists did.
Sad outcome of the relationship
But the desperate Yakov could not be corrected, and even while in the settlement, he sold stolen goods, and later took up robberies. In order to prevent her beloved from going to hard labor, Maria had to follow the lead of the local governor, who harassed her. Subsequently, she was unable to survive her own betrayal and tried to poison herself. This difficult story ended in tears: upon learning about what had happened, the man, in the heat of anger, tried to kill the official. He was put on trial and sent to an unknown location, after which contact with his loved one was lost.
To the front by imperial favor
The outbreak of war led to an unprecedented surge of patriotic feelings. A huge number of volunteers went to the front, and Maria Leontievna Bochkareva did the same. The story of her entry into service is quite interesting. Arriving in 1914 to the commander of the reserve battalion, which was located in Tomsk, she was faced with a disregardful attitude and ironic advice to make a similar request to the Emperor. Contrary to his expectations, the woman dared to write a petition. To the surprise of the public, she soon received a positive response signed by Nicholas II.
After an accelerated training course, in February of the following year, Maria Leontyevna Bochkareva found herself at the front as a civilian soldier. Having taken on such a difficult task, she, along with the rest of the soldiers, went into bayonet attacks, helped the wounded escape from fire, and also showed real heroism. She was given the nickname Yashka, which she invented for herself in honor of her lover.
When the company commander died in March 1916, Maria took over his post and led her comrades in an offensive that became devastating. For the courage shown in the offensive, the woman received the St. George Cross, as well as three medals. While at the forefront, she was wounded more than once, but despite this, she was still in service. Only after being seriously wounded in the thigh was she sent to the hospital, where she spent several months.
Creation of women's death battalions
Returning to duty, Bochkareva found her own regiment in complete disintegration. While she was away, the February Revolution happened, and the soldiers endlessly rallied and tried to “fraternize” with the Germans. Maria, who did not want to put up with such a situation, never tired of looking for an opportunity to influence the situation. Very soon a similar opportunity presented itself.
The chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma was sent to the front to carry out propaganda work. Bochkareva, having secured his support, went to Petrograd, where she began to implement her long-standing idea - the opening of military formations, which included women ready to defend the Motherland. In her endeavor, she felt the support of the Minister of War Kerensky, as well as Brusilov, who was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief General. Thus began the history of the women's death battalion.
Battalion composition
In response to the calls of the courageous woman, several thousand Russian women responded, wanting to take up arms in the ranks of the new unit. It is worth noting the fact that most of them were literate girls - graduates of the Bestuzhev courses, and a third had a secondary education. At that time, no unit consisting of men could show such indicators. Among the shockwomen were representatives of all walks of life - from simple peasant women to aristocrats (bearers of famous surnames).
Among the subordinates in the women's death battalion (1917), commander Bochkareva immediately established strict discipline and strict subordination. The rise took place at five in the morning, and until ten in the evening there were constant classes with little rest. Many women who previously lived in fairly wealthy families found it difficult to accept soldier life and the established routine. But this was not their greatest difficulty.
Complaints about the commander
As the sources say, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief soon began to receive complaints regarding arbitrariness, as well as rude treatment on the part of the commander of the women’s death battalion in the First World War. The reports noted facts of beatings. In addition, the appearance within its walls of agitators conducting political activities, representatives of all kinds of parties, was strictly prohibited, which was a violation of the rules adopted as a result of the uprising. As a result of a large number of disagreements, 250 shockwomen left the 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion and moved to another formation.
Sending to the front
Soon the twenty-first of June 1917 arrived, the day when, in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral, in front of a large audience, the newly created unit was awarded the honor of receiving a battle flag. Needless to say, what emotions was experienced by the hero of the occasion, who stood in a new uniform.
But the holiday was replaced by trench life. The young defenders were faced with realities that they had never even imagined before. They found themselves in the midst of morally corrupt and degrading soldiers. In order to protect them from violence, it was sometimes necessary to post sentries on duty at the barracks. But after the first real battle, where Maria’s battalion took direct part, showing unprecedented courage, the shock troops began to be treated with respect.
Hospital and inspection of new units
The Women's Death Battalion in the First World War took part in operations along with other units and suffered losses. Maria Bochkareva, who received a severe concussion on July 9, was sent to Petrograd for treatment. During the period that she spent at the front, her ideas about the women's patriotic movement found a wide response in the capital. New formations were created, which were staffed by defenders of the Fatherland.
After being discharged from the hospital, by order of Kornilov, Bochkareva was given the task of checking such units. The results of the inspection were extremely negative. None of the battalions were truly combative. However, the atmosphere of turmoil that hovered in Moscow did not allow any tangible results to be achieved in a short time.
Soon the initiator of the creation of women's death battalions is sent to her native unit, but right now her fighting spirit is cooling down a little. She has said more than once that she was disappointed in her subordinates and believes that they should not be sent to the front. Maybe her demands on her subordinates were too high, and what she, a combat officer, could handle without problems was beyond the capabilities of ordinary women.
Features of the deadly part
Due to the fact that all these events were close to the episode with the defense of the Winter Palace (government residence), it is worth understanding in more detail what the military unit, the creator of which was Bochkareva, was then. In accordance with the law, the women's death battalion (historical facts confirm this) was equated to an independent unit and in its status corresponded to a regiment in which 1000 soldiers served.
The officer corps included representatives of the strong half who had considerable experience acquired on the fronts of the First World War. The battalion should not have had any political overtones. Its main purpose is to protect the Fatherland from external enemies.
Palace defense
Suddenly, one of the units of the women's death battalion in the First World War receives an order to go to Petrograd, where a parade was supposed to take place on October 24th. In reality, this was only an excuse to attract shockwomen to defend the facility from the Bolshevik attack with weapons in their hands. During this period, the palace garrison consisted of units of Cossacks and cadets, and therefore had no real military power.
The women who arrived at the scene were ordered to defend the southeastern wing of the building. For the first 24 hours they managed to push back the Red Guards and take control of the Nikolaevsky Bridge. But a day later, troops of the revolutionary committee settled around the building, which resulted in a fierce clash.
It was after this that the defenders of the residence, not wanting to give their lives for the newly appointed government, began to retreat from their positions. The women managed to hold out the longest, and only at ten o’clock were negotiators sent out with a statement of surrender. This opportunity was provided, but only on the conditions of complete disarmament.
The arrival of the Bolsheviks and subsequent events
After an armed coup in October, the decision was made to disband the Women's Death Battalion of the First World War, but it was dangerous to return home in uniform. Not without the participation of the Security Committee, the women managed to find civilian clothes in order to get to their homes.
It has been confirmed that during the events described, Maria Leontyevna was at the front and did not take part in them. Despite this, there is a myth that she commanded the defenders of the palace.
In the future, fate threw up many more unpleasant surprises. During the outbreak of the civil war, Bochkarev found himself between two fires. At first, in Smolny, the highest ranks of the new government persuaded her to take command of the Red Guard unit. After this, Marushevsky, the commander of the White Guards, also tried to win her over to his side. But everywhere she refused: it was one thing to fight against foreigners and defend her homeland, another thing was to kill her own compatriots. Maria almost paid with her freedom for her refusal.
Legendary life
After the capture of Tomsk, Bochkareva herself came to the commandant’s office to hand over her weapons. After some time, she was taken into custody and sent to Krasnoyarsk. The investigators were in prostration, not knowing what to present to her. But the head of the special department, Pavlunovsky, arrives in the city from the capital. Without even trying to study the situation superficially, he makes a decision - to shoot, which was done. Maria Bochkareva was killed on May sixteenth, 1919.
But her life was so unusual that her death gave rise to a huge number of legends. It is impossible to say exactly where Maria Leontyeva’s grave is located. Because of this, rumors arose that she managed to avoid execution, and she lived until the forties, taking for herself a completely different name.
But the main legend, of course, remains the woman herself, whose biography can be used to make an exciting film novel.
In different historical eras and in different parts of the world, when due to constant wars the ranks of men were greatly thinned, women created their own fighting units. In Russia, during the First World War, so-called women's death battalions also appeared. The first such unit was headed by Maria Bochkareva, one of the most unlucky and extraordinary women of that difficult time.
How was the life of the future heroine?
Maria Leontievna Frolkova was born in 1889 in the Novgorod region into a very poor peasant family. When Marusya was six years old, the family moved to Tomsk in search of a better life, since the government promised considerable benefits to immigrants to Siberia. But hopes were not justified. At the age of 8, the girl was given “to the people.” Marusya worked from morning to night, enduring constant hunger and beatings.
In her early youth, Maria met Lieutenant Vasily Lazov. In an effort to escape from the hopeless situation surrounding her, the girl fled with him from her parents' house. However, the lieutenant disgraced her and abandoned her. After returning home, Maria was beaten so severely by her father that she suffered a concussion. Then, at the age of 15, Maria was married to Japanese war veteran Afanasy Bochkarev. The marriage was unsuccessful: the husband drank heavily and beat his young wife. Maria tried to escape from him and somehow get settled in life, but her husband found her, brought her home and everything continued as before. The girl repeatedly tried to take her own life. The last time she was saved by the robber and gambler Yankel Buk, who was part of the international gang of Honghuz. He did not let her drink a glass of vinegar. Maria became his partner.
Some time later, Yankel Buk was caught and exiled. Bochkareva followed him into exile. But there he began to drink and engage in assault. There is evidence that one day Buk, suspecting his girlfriend of treason, tried to hang her. Maria realized that she had fallen into another trap, and her active nature began to look for a way out. She went to the police station, where she spoke about the many unsolved crimes of her partner. However, this act only worsened her situation.
When the First World War began, Bochkareva turned to the commander of the Tomsk battalion with a request to enlist her as a soldier. The commander laughed it off and advised her to turn to the emperor himself. However, Maria’s existence was so terrible that she really decided to take this step: she found a person who helped her compose and send a telegram to Nicholas II, in which she asked to enlist her in the active army. Apparently, the telegram was written by a professional, because the tsar agreed to such a violation of army discipline.
Life among soldiers and participation in battles
When Maria Bochkareva went to the front, her fellow soldiers perceived her ironically. Her military nickname was “Yashka”, after her second husband. Maria recalled that she spent the first night in the barracks handing out blows to her comrades. She tried to visit not a soldier’s bathhouse, but a city one, where they threw something heavy at her from the threshold, mistaking her for a man. Later, Maria began to wash with her squad, occupying the far corner, turning her back and threatening to scald if harassed. Soon the soldiers got used to her and stopped mocking her, recognizing her as “one of their own”; sometimes they even took her with them to the brothel as a joke.
After all the ordeals, Maria had nothing to lose, but she got a chance to advance and improve her social status. She showed considerable courage in battles and pulled out fifty wounded from under fire. She herself was wounded four times. Returning from the hospital, she received the most cordial welcome in the unit, probably for the first time in her life being in a friendly environment. She was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer and awarded the St. George Cross and three medals.
First Women's Death Battalion
In 1917, Duma deputy Mikhail Rodzianko proposed the idea of creating a women's military brigade. The front was falling apart, cases of flight from the battlefield and desertion were widespread. Rodzianko hoped that the example of fearless patriotic women would inspire the soldiers and unite the Russian army.
Maria Bochkareva became the commander of the women's death battalion. More than 2,000 women responded to her call, wanting to defend the country with arms in hand. Many of them were from among the romantic St. Petersburg institutes, carried away by patriotic ideas and having absolutely no idea about real military life, but willingly posing in soldier’s image for photographers. Bochkareva, seeing this, immediately demanded that her subordinates strictly adhere to her requirements: unquestioning obedience, no jewelry and a haircut. There were also complaints about Maria’s heavy hand, which could, in the best sergeant-major traditions, slap people in the face. Those dissatisfied with such orders quickly dropped out, and 300 girls of various origins remained in the battalion: from those born in peasant families to noblewomen. Maria Skrydlova, the daughter of a famous admiral, became Bochkareva’s adjutant. The national composition was different: Russians, Latvians, Estonians, Jews and even one Englishwoman.
The women's battalion was escorted to the front by about 25 thousand men from the St. Petersburg garrison, who themselves were in no hurry to expose their foreheads to a bullet. Alexander Kerensky personally presented the detachment with a banner on which was written: “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” Their emblem was a skull and crossbones: not a pirate sign, but a symbol of Calvary and the atonement for the sins of mankind.
How were women warriors perceived?
At the front, the girls had to fight off the soldiers: many perceived the female recruits exclusively as legal prostitutes. Prostitutes accompanying the army often dressed in something like a military uniform, so the girls’ ammunition did not stop anyone. Their military position was besieged by hundreds of fellow soldiers who had no doubt that an official brothel had arrived.
But that was before the first battles. Bochkareva’s detachment arrived at Smorgon and on July 8, 1914, entered into battle for the first time. Over three days, the women's death battalion repelled 14 German attacks. Several times the girls went on counterattacks, entered into hand-to-hand combat and knocked out German units from their positions. Commander Anton Denikin was impressed by the women's heroism.
Rodzianko’s calculations did not come true: the male combat units continued to take cover in the trenches while the girls rose to attack. The battalion lost 30 soldiers, about 70 were wounded. Bochkareva herself was wounded for the fifth time and spent a month and a half in the hospital. She was promoted to second lieutenant, and the battalion moved to the rear. After the October Revolution, on Bochkareva’s initiative, her detachment was disbanded.
Alternative battalion of college girls
Those girls who were weeded out by Bochkareva created the Petrograd Women's Death Battalion. Here it was allowed to use cosmetics, wear elegant underwear and have beautiful hairstyles. The composition was fundamentally different: in addition to the romantic graduates of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens, the battalion was joined by adventurers of various kinds, including prostitutes who decided to change their field of activity. This second detachment, formed by the Women's Patriotic Union, was supposed to defend the Winter Palace in Petrograd. However, when Zimny was captured by the revolutionaries, this detachment did not offer resistance: the girls were disarmed and sent to the barracks of the Pavlovsky regiment. The attitude towards them was exactly the same as initially towards the front-line girls. They were perceived exclusively as girls of easy virtue, treated without any respect, raped, and soon the Petrograd Women's Battalion was disbanded.
Refusal to cooperate with the Bolsheviks in favor of the White Guards
After the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky considered Maria Bochkareva a suitable candidate for organizing the Soviet women's movement. However, Maria refused, citing her reluctance to further take part in battles. She went over to the side of the White movement, but did not really participate in the hostilities and made an attempt to go to her family in Tomsk. On the way, Bochkareva was captured by the Bolsheviks, from whom she managed to escape in the costume of a nurse. Having reached Vladivostok, the Russian Amazon left for San Francisco. In America, she was supported by one of the leaders of the suffragette movement, the wealthy Florence Harriman. She organized Maria a tour throughout the country giving lectures. In 1918, Bochkareva was received by President Woodrow Wilson, whom she asked for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. It is known that the head of the White House shed tears after the Russian Amazon told him about the vicissitudes of her difficult fate.
Then Mary arrived in London and had the honor of talking with King George. The latter promised her financial and military support. She returned to her homeland with the English military corps. From Arkhangelsk she went to the capital of the White Guards, Omsk, joining the army of Alexander Kolchak, who invited her to form a women’s detachment. This attempt was unsuccessful. By the way, Kolchak, in Maria’s opinion, was too indecisive, as a result of which the Bolsheviks everywhere went on the offensive.
Mysteries of extraordinary fate
There are different versions about Maria's arrest. According to one of them, she voluntarily came to the Cheka and surrendered her weapons. In any case, on January 7, 1920, she was arrested. The investigative process lasted several months, the court hesitated in making a decision. It is believed that on May 16, 1921, Bochkareva was shot in Krasnoyarsk according to the resolution of security officers Ivan Pavlunovsky and Isaac Shimanovsky. However, it is known that Mary had influential defenders and there was an active struggle for her release. Her biographer S.V. Drokov believes that the order to execute remained only on paper and was not carried out, and in fact this extraordinary woman was rescued by an American journalist originally from Odessa, Isaac Levin. This version says that Maria subsequently met one of her former fellow soldiers, a widower with children, and married him.
There are so many legends about this amazing woman that it is difficult to say with complete confidence what is true and what is fiction. But it is reliably known that King George V of England, during a personal audience, called a simple peasant woman, who only learned to read and write at the end of her life, “the Russian Joan of Arc,” and V. Wilson received her with honor in the White House. Her name is Bochkareva Maria Leontievna. Fate had prepared for her the honor of becoming the first female officer in the Russian army.
Childhood, youth and only love
The future heroine of the women's battalion was born into a simple peasant family in the village of Nikolskaya, Novgorod province. She was the third child of her parents. They lived from hand to mouth and, in order to somehow improve their plight, moved to Siberia, where the government in those years launched a program to help migrants. But hopes were not justified, and in order to get rid of the extra food, Maria was married off early to an unloved man, and also a drunkard. From him she got the last name - Bochkareva.
Very soon the young woman parted forever with her husband, who had become disgusting with her, and began a free life. That's when she meets her first and last love in her life. Unfortunately, Maria was fatally unlucky with men: if the first was a drunkard, the second turned out to be a real bandit who took part in robberies along with a gang of “hunhuz” - immigrants from China and Manchuria. But, as they say, love is evil... His name was Yankel (Yakov) Buk. When he was finally arrested and taken to Yakutsk in court, Maria Bochkareva went after him, like the wives of the Decembrists.
But the desperate Yankel was incorrigible and even in the settlement he traded in purchasing stolen goods, and later in robbery. In order to protect her lover from inevitable hard labor, Maria was forced to give in to the advances of the local governor, but she herself could not survive this forced betrayal - she tried to poison herself. Her love story ended sadly: Buk, having learned about what had happened, in the heat of jealousy, attempted to assassinate the governor. He was tried and deported in a convoy to a remote, remote place. Maria never saw him again.
To the front with the personal permission of the emperor
The news of the outbreak of the First World War caused an unprecedented patriotic upsurge in Russian society. Thousands of volunteers went to the front. Maria Bochkareva followed their example. The story of her enlistment in the army is very unusual. Turning in November 1914 to the commander of the reserve battalion located in Tomsk, she was refused with ironic advice to ask permission personally from the Emperor. Contrary to the expectations of the battalion commander, she actually wrote a petition addressed to the highest name. Imagine everyone’s amazement when, after some time, a positive answer came with the personal signature of Nicholas II.
After a short course of training, in February 1915, Maria Bochkareva found herself at the front as a civilian soldier - that was the status of military personnel in those years. Having taken on this unfeminine task, she, along with men, fearlessly went into bayonet attacks, pulled the wounded out from under fire and showed true heroism. Here she acquired the nickname Yashka, which she chose for herself in memory of her lover, Yakov Buk. There were two men in her life - her husband and her lover. She got her last name from the first one, and her nickname from the second one.
When the company commander was killed in March 1916, Maria, taking his place, raised the soldiers on an offensive that became disastrous for the enemy. For her courage, Bochkareva was awarded the St. George Cross and three medals, and soon she was promoted to junior non-commissioned officer. While on the front line, she was repeatedly wounded, but remained in service, and only a severe wound in the thigh brought Maria to the hospital, where she spent four months.
Creation of the first ever women's battalion
Returning to her position, Maria Bochkareva, a Knight of St. George and a recognized fighter, found her regiment in a state of complete disintegration. During her absence, the February Revolution took place, and endless rallies took place among the soldiers, alternating with fraternizations with the “Germans.” Deeply outraged by this, Maria looked for an opportunity to influence what was happening. Soon such an opportunity presented itself.
The Chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, M. Rodzianko, arrived at the front to conduct campaigning. With his support, Bochkareva ended up in Petrograd in early March, where she began to realize her long-standing dream - the creation of military units of patriotic female volunteers ready to defend the Motherland. In this endeavor, she met with the support of the Minister of War of the Provisional Government A. Kerensky and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief General A. Brusilov.
In response to Maria Bochkareva’s call, more than two thousand Russian women expressed a desire to take up arms in the ranks of the unit being created. It is worthy of attention that among them a significant part were educated women - students and graduates of the Bestuzhev courses, and a third of them had secondary education. At that time, no men’s unit could boast of such indicators. Among the “shock women” - this is the name that stuck to them - there were representatives of all strata of society - from peasant women to aristocrats, bearing the loudest and most famous surnames in Russia.
The commander of the women's battalion, Maria Bochkareva, established iron discipline and the strictest subordination among her subordinates. We got up at five in the morning, and the whole day until ten o’clock in the evening was filled with endless activities, interrupted only by short rests. Many women, mostly from wealthy families, had difficulty getting used to the simple soldier’s food and strict routine. But this was not the biggest difficulty for them.
It is known that soon complaints about rudeness and arbitrariness on the part of Bochkareva began to be received. Even facts of assault were indicated. In addition, Maria strictly forbade political agitators and representatives of various party organizations from appearing at the location of her battalion, and this was a direct violation of the rules established by the February Revolution. As a result of mass discontent, two hundred and fifty “shock women” left Bochkareva and joined another formation.
Sending to the front
And then the long-awaited day came when, on June 21, 1917, on the square in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral, with a crowd of thousands of people, the new one received a battle flag. It was written on it: “The first women’s team of death of Maria Bochkareva.” Need I say how much excitement the hostess of the celebration herself, standing on the right flank in a new uniform, experienced? The day before, she was awarded the rank of ensign, and Maria, the first female officer in the Russian army, was rightfully the heroine of that day.
But this is the peculiarity of all holidays - they are replaced by everyday life. So the celebrations at St. Isaac's Cathedral were replaced by a gray and by no means romantic trench life. Young defenders of the Fatherland were faced with a reality that they had no idea about before. They found themselves among the degraded and morally corrupt mass of soldiers. Bochkareva herself, in her memoirs, calls the soldiers “an unbridled rogue.” To protect women from possible violence, they even had to post sentries near the barracks.
However, after the very first combat operation, in which Maria Bochkareva’s battalion took part, the “shock workers”, showing courage worthy of real fighters, were forced to treat themselves with respect. This happened in early July 1917 near Smorgan. After such a heroic beginning, even such an opponent of the participation of female units in hostilities as General A.I. Kornilov was forced to change his mind.
Hospital in Petrograd and inspection of new units
The women's battalion participated in battles along with all other units and, just like them, suffered losses. Having received a severe concussion in one of the battles that took place on July 9, Maria Bochkareva was sent for treatment to Petrograd. During her stay at the front in the capital, the women's patriotic movement she started developed widely. New battalions were formed, staffed by voluntary defenders of the Fatherland.
When Bochkareva was discharged from the hospital, by order of the newly appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief L. Kornilov, she was instructed to inspect these units. The test results were very disappointing. None of the battalions was a sufficiently combat-ready unit. However, the atmosphere of revolutionary turmoil that reigned in the capital hardly made it possible to achieve a positive result in a short time, and this had to be tolerated.
Soon Maria Bochkareva returns to her unit. But since that time, her organizational fervor has cooled somewhat. She repeatedly stated that she was disappointed in women and henceforth did not consider it advisable to take them to the front - “sissies and crybabies.” It is likely that her demands on her subordinates were extremely exaggerated, and what she, a combat officer, could do was beyond the capabilities of ordinary women. Recipient of the St. George Cross, Maria Bochkareva had by that time been promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
Features of the "Women's Death Battalion"
Since the chronology of the events described is close to the famous episode of the defense of the last residence of the Provisional Government (Winter Palace), we should dwell in more detail on what the military unit created by Maria Bochkareva was at that time. The “Women's Death Battalion” - as it is commonly called - in accordance with the law, was considered an independent military unit and was equal in status to a regiment.
The total number of female soldiers was one thousand. The officer corps was entirely composed of men, and all of them were experienced commanders who had served on the fronts of the First World War. The battalion was stationed at Levashovo station, where the necessary conditions for training were created. Any campaigning and party work was strictly prohibited within the unit's location.
The battalion was not supposed to have any political overtones. Its purpose was to defend the Fatherland from external enemies, and not to participate in internal political conflicts. The battalion commander was, as mentioned above, Maria Bochkareva. Her biography is inseparable from this combat formation. In the fall, everyone expected to be sent to the front quickly, but something different happened.
Defense of the Winter Palace
Unexpectedly, an order was received for one of the battalion units to arrive in Petrograd on October 24 to take part in the parade. In reality, this was only a pretext for attracting the “shock women” to defend the Winter Palace from the Bolsheviks who had begun an armed uprising. At that time, the palace garrison consisted of scattered units of Cossacks and cadets from various military schools and did not represent any serious military force.
The women, who arrived and settled in the empty premises of the former royal residence, were entrusted with the defense of the southeastern wing of the building from Palace Square. On the very first day, they managed to push back a detachment of Red Guards and take control of the Nikolaevsky Bridge. However, the very next day, October 25, the palace building was completely surrounded by troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and a firefight soon began. From that moment on, the defenders of the Winter Palace, not wanting to die for the Provisional Government, began to leave their positions.
The cadets of the Mikhailovsky School were the first to leave, and the Cossacks followed them. The women held out the longest and only by ten o’clock in the evening did they send out the envoys with a statement of capitulation and a request to be released from the palace. They were given the opportunity to leave, but on condition of complete disarmament. After some time, the full female unit was stationed in the barracks of the Pavlovsk reserve regiment, and then sent to its permanent location in Levashovo.
Bolshevik seizure of power and subsequent events
After the October armed coup, a decision was made to liquidate the women's battalion. However, returning home in military uniform was too dangerous. With the help of the “Committee of Public Safety” operating in Petrograd, the women managed to get civilian clothes and in this form get to their homes.
It is absolutely reliably known that during the period of the events in question, Maria Leontyevna Bochkareva was at the front and did not take any personal part in them. This is documented. However, the myth is firmly rooted that it was she who commanded the defenders of the Winter Palace. Even in S. Eisenstein’s famous film “October” you can easily recognize her image in one of the characters.
The further fate of this woman was very difficult. When the civil war began, the Russian Joan of Arc - Maria Bochkareva - found herself literally between two fires. Having heard about her authority among the soldiers and combat skills, both opposing sides tried to attract Maria to their ranks. At first, in Smolny, high-ranking representatives of the new government (according to her, Lenin and Trotsky) persuaded the woman to take command of one of the Red Guard units.
Then General Marushevsky, who commanded the White Guard forces in the north of the country, tried to persuade her to cooperate and entrusted Bochkareva with the formation of combat units. But in both cases she refused: it is one thing to fight with foreigners and defend the Motherland, and quite another thing to raise a hand against a compatriot. Her refusal was absolutely categorical, for which Maria almost paid with her freedom - the enraged general ordered her arrest, but, fortunately, the English allies stood up.
Maria's foreign tour
Her further fate takes the most unexpected turn - fulfilling the instructions of General Kornilov, Bochkareva goes to America and England for the purpose of campaigning. She went on this voyage, dressed in the uniform of a nurse and carrying false documents. It’s hard to believe, but this simple peasant woman, who barely knew how to read and write, behaved very dignified at a dinner in the White House, where President Wilson invited her on America’s Independence Day. She was not at all embarrassed at the audience that the King of England gave her. Maria arrived in an officer’s uniform and with all the military awards. It was the English monarch who called her the Russian Joan of Arc.
Of all the questions asked to Bochkareva by the heads of state, she found it difficult to answer only one: is she for the Reds or for the Whites? This question made no sense to her. For Mary, both were brothers, and the civil war caused her only deep sorrow. During her stay in America, Bochkareva dictated her memoirs to one of the Russian emigrants, which he edited and published under the title “Yashka” - Bochkareva’s front-line nickname. The book was published in 1919 and immediately became a bestseller.
Last task
Soon Maria returned to Russia, engulfed in civil war. She fulfilled her propaganda mission, but categorically refused to take up arms, which caused a breakdown in relations with the command of the Arkhangelsk Front. The former enthusiastic veneration was replaced by cold condemnation. The experiences associated with this became the cause of deep depression, from which Maria tried to find a way out of alcohol. She noticeably sank, and the command sent her away from the front, to the rear city of Tomsk.
Here Bochkareva was destined to serve the Fatherland for the last time - after the persuasion of Supreme Admiral A.V. Kolchak, she agreed to form a volunteer sanitary detachment. Speaking to numerous audiences, Maria in a short time managed to attract more than two hundred volunteers into her ranks. But the rapid advance of the Reds prevented this matter from being completed.
A life that became a legend
When Tomsk was captured by the Bolsheviks, Bochkareva voluntarily came to the commandant’s office and surrendered her weapons. The new authorities refused her offer of cooperation. After some time, she was arrested and sent to Krasnoyarsk. Investigators of the Special Department were confused, since it was difficult to bring any charges against her - Maria did not participate in hostilities against the Reds. But, to her misfortune, the deputy head of the special department of the Cheka, I.P. Pavlunovsky, a stupid and merciless executioner, arrived in the city from Moscow. Without delving into the essence of the matter, he gave the order to shoot, which was carried out immediately. The death of Maria Bochkareva occurred on May 16, 1919.
But the life of this amazing woman was so unusual that her death itself gave rise to many legends. It is not known exactly where the grave of Maria Leontyevna Bochkareva is located, and this gave rise to rumors that she miraculously escaped execution and lived under a false name until the end of the forties. There is another extraordinary plot generated by her death.
It is based on the question: “Why was Maria Bochkareva shot?”, because they could not bring direct charges against her. In response to this, another legend claims that the brave Yashka hid American gold in Tomsk and refused to tell the Bolsheviks its location. There are a number of other incredible stories. But the main legend is, of course, Maria Bochkareva herself, whose biography could serve as a plot for the most exciting novel.
In the early morning of July 8, 1917, extraordinary excitement reigned at the location of the 525th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Siberian Corps near the Bogushevsky forest in the Molodechno region near Smorgon. Why, on this day the “women” should start fighting the Germans! Laughter, and that's all! They sent a whole battalion of living women - the soldiers were amused. "Women's Death Battalion" is a circus! There was no longer any discipline at the front, order number one of the Provisional Government made itself felt, allowing the privates to choose their own commanders and discuss whether to obey the orders of the officers or not. The commander of the women's battalion, in which iron discipline reigned, wrote this: “... never before have I met such a ragged, unbridled and demoralized bunch of people called soldiers.”
Suddenly, most of the corps refuses to go into battle at all. Endless rallies begin - to fight or not to fight. For the women's battalion such questions did not arise. They were volunteers and were ready to carry out orders at any time. Although artillery preparation had already been carried out and the front lines of the Germans were pretty battered, no one except the women’s battalion was going to go on the attack. Meanwhile, 75 officers who remained faithful to the oath, led by the commander of the 525th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ivanov, approached them and asked to join the women's battalion.
Under desperate German fire, the combined unit took the first line of German trenches in the summer and continued to advance on the edge of the Novospassky and Bogushevsky forests. Seeing the heroism of women and officers, the shamed soldiers began to rise to the attack. As a result, the front was broken through for 4 versts and advanced 3.5 versts in depth. But, occupying the German trenches, the soldiers come across huge stocks of beer and vodka. That's all. Drunkenness and looting ensued. The offensive stalled. The regimental report said this:
“...the companies became sensitive and fearful even to their own shots, not to mention enemy fire. A striking example of this in this regard is the lagging position on the western edge of the Novospassky forest, which was abandoned only by rare enemy fire. Even the victory did not bring the soldiers to consciousness; they refused to remove the trophies, but at the same time, many remained on the battlefield and robbed their own comrades. Crowds of soldiers, loaded with German rubbish, went deep into the rear, where trade in German things took place during the battle. The women, judging by the reports, fought as follows: On July 7, the 525th Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Division received an order to move to a position in the Krevo area. The women's battalion included in the regiment was located on the right flank along with the 1st battalion. On the morning of July 9, the regiment reached the edge of the Novospassky forest and came under artillery fire. Over the course of two days, he repelled 14 enemy attacks and, despite heavy machine-gun fire, launched counterattacks several times. According to the testimony of the regiment's officers, the women's battalion behaved heroically in battle, always in the front line, serving on an equal basis with the soldiers. His losses in the battles of July 9-10 were: 2 killed, 33 wounded and shell-shocked, 5 of them seriously, 2 missing.”
General A.I. Denikin later wrote: “What can I say about the “women’s army”?.. I know the fate of Bochkareva’s battalion. He was met by the unbridled soldier environment mockingly and cynically. In Molodechno, where the battalion was originally stationed, at night it had to set up a strong guard to guard the barracks... Then the offensive began. The women's battalion, attached to one of the corps, valiantly went on the attack, not supported by the “Russian heroes.” And when the pitch hell of enemy artillery fire broke out, the poor women, having forgotten the technique of loose formation, huddled together - helpless, alone in their section of the field, loosened by German bombs. We suffered losses. And the “heroes” partly returned, and partly did not leave the trenches at all.”
Who is warrant officer Maria Bochkareva, by the way, who was wounded in that memorable battle near Molodechno and promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and what kind of “women’s death battalion” did she lead?
Maria Bochkareva
In 1919, Bochkareva’s memoirs “Yashka. My life as a peasant, an officer and an exile.” The book is not a reliable source, because it was written from the words of a not particularly literate woman - only at the age of 26 she was able to read syllables for the first time in her life, and then write her name. The book she studied from was a popular detective story in Russia about the American detective Nick Carter.
Maria Bochkareva (Frolkova) was born in July 1889 in the family of Leonty Semenovich and Olga Eleazarovna Frolkova, in the village of Nikolskoye, Kirillovsky district, Novgorod province. Besides her, there were two more daughters in the family. When the girl turned six years old, the family moved to Siberia to receive a plot of land under the resettlement program. Marusya was sent to work as a servant, first to look after the child, then to the shop. At the age of 16, Maria gets married. There is an entry in the book of the Ascension Church dated January 22, 1905: “In his first marriage, Afanasy Sergeevich Bochkarev, 23 years old, of the Orthodox faith, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district, Semiluzhskaya volost, the village of Bolshoye Kuskovo,” married “the maiden Maria Leontyeva Frolkova. .. of the Orthodox religion, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district, Novo-Kuskovskaya volost, Ksenyevsky village.”
Mary's marriage was not easy. Afanasy drank, she worked hard. She laid pavements in Irkutsk. At first she was a worker, then an assistant foreman. She cannot stand her husband's drinking bouts, breaks up with him, becomes seriously ill, and loses her job. He is hired again as a servant.
Later, she meets Yankel Buk, falls in love with him, and he becomes her common-law husband. Buk, considered a law-abiding peasant of the Chita district, was engaged in robbery together with Chinese Honghuz bandits. With this money he opens a butcher shop. Maria has a happy family life. She has no idea about her husband's criminal business. But in May 1912, Yakov (Yankel) Buk was arrested, exile or hard labor awaited him.
Maria decided to share the fate of her loved one and in May 1913 she went with him on a convoy to Yakutsk. The distribution list for the administrative exile Yankel Gershev Buk reports that by decree of the Irkutsk Governor-General of August 18, 1912, he was expelled “under the public supervision of the police to the Yakut region for the entire duration of martial law in the Trans-Baikal region. Arrived in Yakutsk on July 14, 1913. To prevent Buk from being sent further to Kolymsk, Maria surrendered to the Yakut governor I. Kraft. Having a hard time experiencing her betrayal, she tried to poison herself. Kraft released Buk from prison, but demanded a new meeting with Bochkareva. The unfortunate woman told about Governor Buku, and he decided to kill him. But Buk was arrested in the governor’s office and deported to the Yakut settlement of Amga. Maria followed him again. However, from the memoirs one can understand that the relationship between Mary and Jacob was very tense; he was capable of beating or even killing his faithful wife for the slightest reason.
Now it is difficult to judge the truth of this information; perhaps the real facts of the life of this amazing woman are intertwined with the journalistic speculation of the American authors of the book, recording the story of her life.
Volunteers
Meanwhile, in August 1914, the First World War began. His personal life did not work out; we know nothing more about the fate of the robber Buk. Maria decided to become a soldier. She recalled: “My heart strove there - into a boiling cauldron, to be baptized in fire, to be tempered in lava. The spirit of sacrifice entered into me. My country was calling me."
Arriving in Tomsk in November 1914, Bochkareva turned to the commander of the 25th reserve battalion with a request to enroll her as a volunteer. Naturally, she is refused. Then she sends a telegram to the Tsar with her last money and, miraculously, receives the highest approval. In February 1915, the regiment formed in Siberia, together with the civilian Bochkareva, was assigned to the 2nd Army near Molodechno. Bochkareva ended up at the front line of the 5th Army Corps, in the 28th Polotsk Regiment of the 7th Division. When asked by her colleagues what to call her, short names and nicknames were then accepted in the army, Maria, remembering Buk, answered: “Yashka.” This name became her pseudonym for many years.
Maria turned out to be a brave soldier: she pulled the wounded from the battlefield, once pulled fifty people from the battlefield, and she herself was wounded four times. Moreover, she herself went on bayonet attacks in the advanced detachments! She was given the ranks of junior non-commissioned officer and senior non-commissioned officer and was entrusted with platoon command. She was awarded two St. George's crosses, two St. George's medals and the medal "For Bravery".
At the training camp in Levashovo
The February Revolution of 1917 brought discord among the troops and endless glorification of rallies. At one of these events, Bochkareva, who had already become a legendary war hero, met the Chairman of the IV State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, who invites her to Petrograd. There, during the congress of soldiers' delegates in the Tauride Palace, the idea came to her (or maybe it was suggested to her) about creating a women's battalion. Bochkareva, known throughout the front, is invited by A.F. Kerensky, she discusses her project with General A.A. Brusilov. Maria spoke at the Mariinsky Palace with an appeal:
“Citizens, everyone who values the freedom and happiness of Russia, hurry into our ranks, hurry, before it’s too late, to stop the decay of our dear homeland. By direct participation in hostilities, not sparing our lives, we, citizens, must raise the spirit of the army and through educational and propaganda work in its ranks, instill a reasonable understanding of the duty of a free citizen to his homeland... The following rules are mandatory for all members of the detachments:
1. Honor, freedom and the good of the homeland are in the foreground;
2. Iron discipline;
3. Firmness and steadfastness of spirit and faith;
4. Courage and bravery;
5. Accuracy, accuracy, perseverance and speed in executing orders;
6. Impeccable honesty and serious attitude to business;
7. Cheerfulness, politeness, kindness, friendliness, cleanliness and accuracy;
8. Respect for other people's opinions, complete trust in each other and the desire for nobility;
9. Quarrels and personal scores are unacceptable, as they degrade human dignity.”
Bochkareva speaks:
“If I undertake the formation of a women’s battalion, I will be responsible for every woman in it. I will introduce strict discipline and will not allow them to speak or roam the streets. When Mother Russia dies, there is neither time nor need to control the army through committees. Although I am a simple Russian peasant, I know that only discipline can save the Russian army. In the battalion I propose, I will have complete sole authority and seek obedience. Otherwise, there is no need to create a battalion.”
Soon her appeal was published in the newspapers. Many women had a great desire to enlist in the army; soon about two thousand applications fell on the table of the founders of the women's battalion. The Main Directorate of the General Staff took the initiative to divide all volunteers into three categories. The first was to include those who directly fight at the front; the second category is auxiliary units made up of women (communications, railway security); and finally, the third is nurses in hospitals. According to the conditions of admission, any woman aged 16 years (with parental permission) to 40 years old could become a volunteer. At the same time, she had to have an educational qualification and pass a medical examination, which identified and screened out pregnant women.
Women underwent a medical examination and had their hair cut almost bald. On the first day, Bochkareva expels 30 people from the battalion, and on the second - 50. The reasons are common - giggling, flirting with male instructors, failure to follow orders. She constantly encourages women to remember that they are soldiers and take their responsibilities more seriously.
1st Petrograd Women's Battalion
The recruits were quite educated, unlike the bulk of the army, where only a few were literate. And here up to 30 percent turned out to be student students (there were also Bestuzhevkas, graduates of the most prestigious women's educational institution) and up to 40 percent had a secondary education. There were sisters of mercy, domestic servants, peasants and bourgeois women, and university graduates. There were also representatives of very famous families - Princess Tatueva from a famous Georgian family, Dubrovskaya - the daughter of a general, N.N. was the battalion adjutant. Skrydlova is the daughter of an admiral of the Black Sea Fleet.
On June 21, the “Women's Battalion of Death” - as it was called because of strict discipline and a sincere desire not to spare life to defend the Motherland - was presented with a banner. General L.G. Kornilov presented Maria Bochkareva with a revolver and a saber with a gold hilt, Kerensky read out the order to promote her to ensign. 300 women from the initial recruitment went to the front lines on June 23, being assigned to the 172nd division of the 1st Siberian Corps.
Similar women's volunteer groups began to emerge everywhere. 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion, 2nd Moscow Women's Death Battalion, 3rd Kuban Women's Shock Battalion (infantry); Women's naval team in Oranienbaum; Cavalry 1st Petrograd Battalion of the Women's Military Union; Minsk separate guard squad of female volunteers.
At the beginning of 1918, all these formations were disbanded by the Soviet government.
Maria Bochkareva lived another fantastic few years. After the collapse of the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks coming to power, she, on instructions from Lavr Kornilov, went to the United States to ask for help from the allies to fight the new government. The poorly literate woman did not understand the intricacies of big politics, but she sincerely loved her Motherland. She achieved a meeting with US President Woodrow Wilson, and in Great Britain she met with King George the Fifth. This is how she very naively later talks about this audience during interrogation at the Cheka:
“In mid-August 1918, the king’s secretary arrived in a car and handed me a piece of paper that said that the King of England was receiving me for 5 minutes, and I put on a military officer’s uniform, put on the orders I received in Russia and, with my translator Robinson, went to king's palace She entered the hall, and a few minutes later the door opened and the King of England came out. He bore a great resemblance to Tsar Nicholas II. I went to meet the king. He told me that he was very glad to see the second Joan of Arc and as a friend of Russia, I greet you as a woman who has done a lot for Russia. In response, I told him that I consider it a great happiness to see the king of free England. The king invited me to sit down and sat down opposite me. The king asked what party I belonged to and whom I believed; I said that I don’t belong to any group, but that I only believe in General Kornilov. The king told me the news that Kornilov had been killed; I told the king that I don’t know who to believe now, and I don’t think about fighting in a civil war. The king told me: “You are a Russian officer,” I answered him yes; the king then said that “You have a direct duty to go to Russia, to Arkhangelsk, in four days, and I hope for you that you will work.” I told the King of England: “I obey!”
Energetic Maria travels to Arkhangelsk, Siberia, where she organizes combat battalions and medical teams, meets with Kolchak and other leaders of the White movement. But it is very difficult for a rather naive but honest woman to fully understand where the enemies are and where the friends are. Almost unbearable. The cunning British and other yesterday's allies are turning away from her.
When Soviet power was established in Toska, Maria Bochkareva “Yashka” came to the city commandant in December 1919, handed over a revolver to him and offered her services. The commandant sent her home. However, on January 7, 1920, she was arrested and put in prison, from where she was transferred to Krasnoyarsk in March.
In the conclusion to the final protocol of her interrogation dated April 5, 1920, investigator Pobolotin noted that “Bochkareva’s criminal activity before the RSFSR has been proven by the investigation... I believe that Bochkareva, as an irreconcilable and worst enemy of the workers’ and peasants’ republic, will be transferred to the disposal of the head of the special department of the Cheka of the 5th army.” .
On April 21, 1920, a resolution was passed: “For more information, the case, together with the identity of the accused, should be sent to the Special Department of the Cheka in Moscow.” On May 15, this resolution was revised and a new decision was made: Bochkareva should be shot.
March forward, forward to battle,
Women soldiers!
The dashing sound calls you into battle,
The adversaries will tremble!
(From the song of the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion)
Vladimir Kazakov
Bochkareva Maria Leontievna (née Frolkova, July 1889 - May 1920) - often considered the first Russian female officer (promoted during the 1917 revolution). Bochkareva created the first women's battalion in the history of the Russian army. Knight of the St. George's Cross.
In July 1889, the peasants of the village of Nikolskoye, Kirillovsky district, Novgorod province, Leonty Semenovich and Olga Eleazarovna Frolkova, had a third child - daughter Marusya. Soon the family, escaping poverty, moved to Siberia, where the government promised the settlers large plots of land and financial support. But, apparently, it was not possible to escape poverty here either. At the age of fifteen, Maria was married off. In the book of the Resurrection Church, the following entry dated January 22, 1905 was preserved: “In his first marriage, Afanasy Sergeevich Bochkarev, 23 years old, of the Orthodox faith, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district of the Semiluksk volost of the village of Bolshoye Kuskovo, married the girl Maria Leontyevna Frolkova, of the Orthodox faith...” . They settled in Tomsk. Married life almost immediately went wrong, and Bochkareva broke up with her drunkard husband without regret. Maria left him for the butcher Yakov Buk. In May 1912, Buk was arrested on charges of robbery and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed him on foot to Eastern Siberia, where they opened a butcher shop as a cover, although in reality Buk lived in a gang of Honghuz. Soon the police were on the trail of the gang, and Buk was transferred to a settlement in the taiga village of Amga. 
Although Bochkareva again followed in his footsteps, her betrothed started drinking and began to engage in assault. At this time the First World War broke out. Bochkareva decided to join the ranks of the active army and, parting with her Yashka, arrived in Tomsk. The military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Then Bochkareva sent a telegram to the Tsar, which unexpectedly received a positive response. That's how she got to the front.
At first, the woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment from her colleagues, but her courage in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, the nickname “Yashka” stuck to her, in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer. 
In 1917, Kerensky turned to Bochkareva with a request to organize a “women’s death battalion”; His wife and St. Petersburg institutes, totaling up to 2000 people, were involved in the patriotic project. In the unusual military unit, iron discipline reigned: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva was “beating people in the face like a real sergeant of the old regime.” Not many could withstand such treatment: in a short time the number of female volunteers was reduced to three hundred. The rest were assigned to a special women's battalion that defended the Winter Palace during the October Revolution.
In the summer of 1917, Bochkareva’s detachment distinguished itself at Smorgon; his tenacity made an indelible impression on the command (Anton Denikin). After a shell shock received in that battle, warrant officer Bochkareva was sent to recover in a Petrograd hospital, and in the capital she received the rank of second lieutenant, but soon after returning to her position she had to disband the battalion, due to the actual collapse of the front and the October Revolution.
Maria Bochkareva among the defenders of Petrograd
In winter, she was detained by the Bolsheviks on the way to Tomsk. After refusing to cooperate with the new authorities, she was accused of having relations with General Kornilov, and the matter almost came to court. Thanks to the help of one of her former colleagues, Bochkareva broke free and, dressed as a sister of mercy, traveled across the country to Vladivostok, from where she sailed on a campaign trip to the USA and Europe. 
In April 1918, Bochkareva arrived in San Francisco. With the support of the influential and wealthy Florence Harriman, the daughter of a Russian peasant crossed the United States and was granted an audience with President Woodrow Wilson at the White House on July 10. According to eyewitnesses, Bochkareva’s story about her dramatic fate and pleas for help against the Bolsheviks moved the president to tears.
Maria Bochkareva, Emmeline Pankhurst (British public and political figure, women's rights activist, leader of the British suffragette movement) and a woman from the Women's Battalion, 1917. 
Maria Bochkareva and Emmeline Pankhurst
Journalist Isaac Don Levin, based on Bochkareva’s stories, wrote a book about her life, which was published in 1919 under the title “Yashka” and was translated into several languages.
After visiting London, where she met with King George V and secured his financial support, Bochkareva arrived in Arkhangelsk in August 1918. She hoped to rouse local women to fight the Bolsheviks, but things went poorly. General Marushevsky, in an order dated December 27, 1918, announced that conscripting women for military service unsuitable for them would be a disgrace for the population of the Northern Region, and forbade Bochkareva to wear the officer’s uniform self-proclaimed to her.
The following year she was already in Tomsk under the banner of Admiral Kolchak, trying to put together a battalion of nurses. She regarded Kolchak’s flight from Omsk as a betrayal and voluntarily came to the local authorities, who took her undertaking not to leave.
Siberian period (19th year, on the Kolchak fronts...)
A few days later, during a church service, 31-year-old Bochkareva was taken into custody by security officers. Clear evidence of her treason or collaboration with the whites could not be found, and the proceedings dragged on for four months. According to the Soviet version, on May 16, 1920, she was shot in Krasnoyarsk on the basis of a resolution by the head of the Special Department of the Cheka of the 5th Army, Ivan Pavlunovsky, and his deputy Shimanovsky. But the conclusion of the Russian prosecutor's office on the rehabilitation of Bochkareva in 1992 said that there was no evidence of her execution.
Women's battalions
M.V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a propaganda trip to the Western Front, where Bochkareva served, specifically asked for a meeting with her and took her with him to Petrograd to agitate “war to a victorious end” among the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the soldiers’ congress deputies of the Petrograd Soviet. In a speech to the delegates of the congress, Bochkareva first voiced her idea of creating shock women’s “death battalions.” After this, she was invited to a meeting of the Provisional Government to repeat her proposal.
“They told me that my idea was great, but I needed to report to Supreme Commander Brusilov and consult with him. I went with Rodzianka to Brusilov’s Headquarters. Brusilov told me in his office that you have hope for women, and that the formation of a women’s battalion is the first in the world. Can’t women disgrace Russia? I told Brusilov that I myself am not confident in women, but if you give me full authority, then I guarantee that my battalion will not disgrace Russia. Brusilov told me that he believes me, and will try in every possible way to help in the formation of a women’s volunteer battalion.”
Battalion recruits
On June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony was held to present the new military unit with a white banner with the inscription “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation “On the formation of military units from female volunteers.” 
“Kerensky listened with obvious impatience. It was obvious that he had already made a decision on this matter. He doubted only one thing: whether I could maintain high morale and ethics in this battalion. Kerensky said that he would allow me to begin formation immediately<�…>When Kerensky accompanied me to the door, his gaze settled on General Polovtsev. He asked him to provide me with any necessary assistance. I almost suffocated with happiness."
The commander of the Petrograd Military District, General P. A. Polovtsov, inspects the 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion. Summer 1917 
The ranks of the “shock women” included, first of all, front-line soldiers, of whom there were a certain number still in the imperial army, some of them were Knights of St. George, and women from civil society - noblewomen, student students, teachers, workers. The percentage of female soldiers and Cossack women was large: 38. Bochkareva’s battalion included girls from many of Russia’s famous noble families, as well as simple peasant women and servants. Maria N. Skrydlova, the admiral’s daughter, served as Bochkareva’s adjutant. By nationality, the volunteers were mostly Russian, but there were also other nationalities - Estonians, Latvians, Jews, and Englishmen. The number of women's formations ranged from 250 to 1,500 fighters each. The formation took place entirely on a voluntary basis. 
The appearance of Bochkareva’s unit served as an impetus for the formation of women’s units in other cities of the country (Kyiv, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but due to the intensifying processes of destruction of the entire state, the creation of these women’s units parts were never completed.
Recruit training
Women's Battalion. Camping life training.
At the training camp in Levashevo
Mounted Scouts of the Women's Battalion
Volunteers during rest hours
Officially, as of October 1917, there were: 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion, 2nd Moscow Women's Death Battalion, 3rd Kuban Women's Shock Battalion (infantry); Marine women's team (Oranienbaum); Cavalry 1st Petrograd Battalion of the Women's Military Union; Minsk separate guard squad of female volunteers. The first three battalions visited the front, only Bochkareva’s 1st battalion was in battle
The mass of soldiers and the Soviets perceived the “women’s death battalions” (as well as all other “shock units”) with hostility. The front-line soldiers did not call the shock workers anything other than prostitutes. At the beginning of July, the Petrograd Soviet demanded that all “women’s battalions” be disbanded, both because they were “unsuitable for military service” and because the formation of such battalions “is a secretive maneuver of the bourgeoisie who want to wage the war to a victorious end.”
Ceremonial farewell to the front of the First Women's Battalion. Photo. Moscow Red Square. summer 1917
On June 27, the “battalion of death” consisting of two hundred volunteers arrived in the active army - in the rear units of the 1st Siberian Army Corps of the 10th Army of the Western Front in the region of Molodechno. On July 7, the 525th Kyuryuk-Darya Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Infantry Division, which included shock troops, received an order to take positions at the front near the town of Krevo. The "Death Battalion" took up positions on the right flank of the regiment. On July 8, the first battle of Bochkareva’s battalion took place. 170 women took part in the bloody battles that lasted until July 10. The regiment repelled 14 German attacks. The volunteers launched counterattacks several times. Colonel V.I. Zakrzhevsky wrote in a report about the actions of the “death battalion”:
Bochkareva’s detachment behaved heroically in battle, always in the front line, serving on an equal basis with the soldiers. When the Germans attacked, on his own initiative he rushed as one into a counterattack; brought cartridges, went to secrets, and some to reconnaissance; With their work, the death squad set an example of bravery, courage and calmness, raised the spirit of the soldiers and proved that each of these female heroes is worthy of the title of warrior of the Russian revolutionary army.
Private of the Women's Battalion Pelageya Saigin
The battalion lost 30 people killed and 70 wounded. Maria Bochkareva, herself wounded in this battle for the fifth time, spent 1½ months in the hospital and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.
In hospital
Such heavy losses of volunteers also had other consequences for the women’s battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women’s “death battalions” for combat use, and the already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary areas (security functions, communications , sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking to be dismissed from the “death units”
One of the women's death battalions (1st Petrograd, under the command of the Life Guards Kexholm Regiment: 39 Staff Captain A.V. Loskov), together with cadets and other units loyal to the oath, took part in the defense of the Winter Palace in October 1917. , which housed the Provisional Government.
On November 7, the battalion, stationed near the Levashovo station of the Finnish Railway, was supposed to go to the Romanian Front (according to the command’s plans, each of the formed women’s battalions was supposed to be sent to the front to raise the morale of male soldiers - one to each of the four fronts of the Eastern Front) .
1st Petrograd Women's Battalion
But on November 6, battalion commander Loskov received orders to send the battalion to Petrograd “for a parade” (in fact, to guard the Provisional Government). Loskov, having learned about the real task, not wanting to drag volunteers into a political confrontation, withdrew the entire battalion from Petrograd back to Levashovo, with the exception of the 2nd company (137 people).
2nd company of the 1st Petrograd women's battalion
The headquarters of the Petrograd Military District tried, with the help of two platoons of volunteers and units of cadets, to ensure the construction of the Nikolaevsky, Dvortsovy and Liteiny bridges, but the Sovietized sailors thwarted this task.
Volunteers on the square in front of the Winter Palace. November 7, 1917
The company took up defensive positions on the ground floor of the Winter Palace in the area to the right of the main gate to Millionnaya Street. At night, during the storming of the palace by the revolutionaries, the company surrendered, was disarmed and taken to the barracks of the Pavlovsky, then the Grenadier regiment, where some shockwomen were “treated badly” - as a specially created commission of the Petrograd City Duma established, three shockwomen were raped (although, perhaps, few dared to admit it), one committed suicide. On November 8, the company was sent to its previous location in Levashovo.
After the October Revolution, the Bolshevik government, which set a course for the complete collapse of the army, immediate defeat in the war and the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany, was not interested in preserving the “shock units.” On November 30, 1917, the Military Council of the still old War Ministry issued an order to disband the “women’s death battalions.” Shortly before this, on November 19, by order of the War Ministry, all female military personnel were promoted to officers, “for military merit.” However, many volunteers remained in their units until January 1918 and beyond. Some of them moved to the Don and took part in the fight against Bolshevism in the ranks of the White movement.
Women's Death Battalion 1917
