Find Chapaev! Where was the legendary hero of the Civil War buried? How and where Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich died: history and interesting facts.

We remember Chapaev from books and films, we tell jokes about him. But real life the red divisional commander was no less interesting. He loved cars, argued with the teachers of the military academy. And Chapaev is not a real surname.

Hard childhood

Vasily Ivanovich was born into a poor peasant family. The only wealth of his parents is nine eternally hungry children, of which the future hero civil war was sixth.

As the legend says, he was born prematurely and kept warm in his father's fur mitten on the stove. His parents assigned him to the seminary in the hope that he would become a priest. But when once guilty Vasya was put in a wooden punishment cell in a severe frost in one shirt, he escaped. He tried to be a merchant, but he couldn’t - the main trading commandment disgusted him too much: “If you don’t deceive, you won’t sell, you won’t cheat, you won’t profit.” “My childhood was dark and difficult. I had to humiliate myself and starve a lot. From an early age, he ran around strangers, ”the divisional commander later recalled.

"Chapaev"

It is believed that the family of Vasily Ivanovich bore the name of Gavrilov. "Chapaev" or "Chepai" was the nickname that the grandfather of the divisional commander, Stepan Gavrilovich, received. Either in 1882, or in 1883, they loaded logs with their comrades, and Stepan, as the eldest, constantly commanded - “Chop, scoop!”, Which meant: “take it, take it”. So it stuck to him - Chepai, and the nickname later turned into a surname.

They say that the original "Chepai" became "Chapaev" with the light hand of Dmitry Furmanov, the author of the famous novel, who decided that "it sounds better this way." But in the surviving documents from the time of the civil war, Vasily appears under both options.

Perhaps the name "Chapaev" appeared as a result of a typo.

Academy student

Chapaev's education, contrary to popular belief, was not limited to two years of parochial school. In 1918, he was enrolled in the military academy of the Red Army, where many fighters were "driven" to improve their general literacy and strategy training. According to the memoirs of his classmate, the peaceful student life weighed heavily on Chapaev: “Damn it! I'm leaving! To come up with such nonsense - fighting people at a desk! Two months later, he filed a report with a request to release him from this "prison" to the front.

Several stories have been preserved about Vasily Ivanovich's stay at the academy. The first says that in a geography exam, in response to a question from an old general about the significance of the Neman River, Chapaev asked the professor if he knew about the significance of the Solyanka River, where he fought with the Cossacks. According to the second, in a discussion of the battle of Cannae, he called the Romans "blind kittens", telling the teacher, a prominent military theorist Sechenov: "We have already shown generals like you how to fight!"

Motorist

We all imagine Chapaev as a courageous fighter with a fluffy mustache, a naked saber and galloping on a dashing horse. This image was created by the national actor Boris Babochkin. In life, Vasily Ivanovich preferred cars to horses.

Even on the fronts of the First World War, he received a serious wound in the thigh, so riding became a problem. So, Chapaev became one of the first red commanders who moved to the car.

He chose iron horses very meticulously. The first - the American "Stever", he rejected due to strong shaking, the red "Packard", which replaced him, also had to be abandoned - he was not suitable for military operations in the steppe. But the "Ford", which squeezed 70 miles off-road, the red commander liked. Chapaev also selected the best drivers. One of them, Nikolai Ivanov, was practically taken to Moscow by force and put as the personal driver of Lenin's sister, Anna Ulyanova-Elizarova.

Women's deceit

The famous commander Chapaev was the eternal loser on the personal front. His first wife, the petty-bourgeois Pelageya Metlina, whom Chapaev's parents disapproved of, calling her "the city white-handed woman", gave birth to three children for him, but she did not wait for her husband from the front - she went to a neighbor. Vasily Ivanovich was very upset by her act - he loved his wife. Chapaev often repeated to his daughter Claudia: “Oh, you are beautiful. Looks like a mother."

The second companion of Chapaev, however, already a civilian, was also called Pelageya. She was the widow of Vasily's comrade-in-arms, Pyotr Kamishkertsev, to whom the division commander promised to take care of his family. At first he sent her benefits, then they decided to move in together. But history repeated itself - during the absence of her husband, Pelageya had an affair with a certain Georgy Zhivolozhinov. Once Chapaev found them together and almost sent the unfortunate lover to the next world.

When the passions subsided, Kamishkertseva decided to go to the world, took the children and went to her husband's headquarters. The children were allowed to visit their father, but she was not. They say that after that she took revenge on Chapaev, giving the Whites the location of the Red Army troops and data on their numbers.

fatal water

The death of Vasily Ivanovich is shrouded in mystery. On September 4, 1919, Borodin's detachments approached the city of Lbischensk, where the headquarters of Chapaev's division was located with a small number of fighters. During the defense, Chapaev was severely wounded in the stomach, his soldiers put the commander on a raft and ferried across the Urals, but he died from loss of blood. The body was buried in the coastal sand, and the traces were hidden so that the Cossacks would not find it. Searching for the grave subsequently became useless, as the river changed its course. This story was confirmed by a participant in the events. According to another version, being wounded in the arm, Chapaev drowned, unable to cope with the current.

“Maybe he floated out?”

Neither the body nor the grave of Chapaev could be found. This gave rise to a completely logical version of the surviving hero. Someone said that due to a severe wound, he lost his memory and lived somewhere under a different name.

Some claimed that he was safely transported to the other side, from where he went to Frunze, to be responsible for the surrendered city. In Samara, he was put under arrest, and then they decided to officially “kill the hero”, ending his military career with a beautiful end.

This story was told by a certain Onyanov from the Tomsk region, who allegedly met his aged commander many years later. The story looks doubtful, because in the difficult conditions of the civil war it was inappropriate to "scatter" experienced military leaders, who were highly respected by the soldiers.

Most likely, this is a myth generated by the hope that the hero was saved.

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There are many legends and myths about the life and death of Chapaev. And it's not that the truth is not known! By no means! The events are quite meticulously documented. I offer you two views on historical event They do not radically contradict each other, but complement each other. First, White's point of view.

CHAPAYEV - DESTROY!

What do we know about the life and death of Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - a man who has truly become an idol for the older generation? What his commissioner Dmitry Furmanov told in his book, and even, perhaps, what everyone saw in the film of the same name. However, both of these sources turned out to be far from the truth.
The destruction of the legendary hero of the Reds - V.I. Chapaev with the headquarters and a significant part of the 25th Infantry Division, which was considered invincible, crushed the famous Kappelites, is one of the most outstanding and amazing victories of the White Guards over the Bolsheviks. Until now, this special operation, which should go down in the history of military art, has not been studied. About what actually happened on that distant day, September 5, 1919, and how a large Red detachment led by Chapaev was destroyed, our today's story.

Retreat

It was August 1919. On the Ural front, the Cossacks, desperately resisting, retreated under the powerful onslaught of the 4th and 11th Red armies. The Soviet command paid special attention to this front, realizing that it was through the lands of the Ural Cossack army the easiest way was to unite the troops of Kolchak and Denikin, that the Ural Cossacks could keep under constant threat the connection between Soviet Russia and red Turkestan, and also that this area was strategically important, since it was not only a grain granary capable of feeding large army but also a territory rich in oil.

Ural Cossacks

At this time, the Ural Cossacks were in a difficult situation: most of its territory was under the occupation of the Reds and was ruined by them; a typhoid epidemic raged among the population and personnel of the army, daily pulling out dozens of irreplaceable fighters; not enough officers; the army experienced a catastrophic shortage of weapons, uniforms, ammunition, shells, medicines, and medical personnel. The Ural Cossacks largely had to get everything in battle, since there was almost no help from Kolchak and Denikin. At this time, the Bolsheviks had already pushed the Whites behind the village of Sakharnaya, beyond which the sandy, infertile lower reaches of the Ural River began, where there was nothing to feed the horses. A little more - and the Cossacks will lose their horses, their main strength ...

"Adventure"

To try to find a way out, the ataman of the Urals, Lieutenant-General V.S. Tolstov, convened a circle of officers from hundreds to corps commanders. On it, the old commanders, headed by General Titruev, spoke in favor of holding a routine offensive operation, proposing to combine the equestrian units of the Urals from 3 thousand drafts into 3 lavas and attack the well-fortified village of Sakharnaya with 15 thousand red infantry, a large number of machine guns and guns. Such an attack across the steppe, flat as a table, would be obvious suicide, and the plan of the "old men" was rejected. They accepted the plan proposed by the "young people", which the "old people" called "adventure". According to this plan, a small but well-armed detachment of the best fighters on the most enduring horses stood out from the Ural separate white army, which was supposed to secretly go through the location of the red troops, without engaging in battle with them, and penetrate deep into their rear. Just as secretly, he had to approach the Lbishenskaya village, occupied by the Reds, take it with a sudden blow and cut off the Red troops from the bases, forcing them to retreat. At this time, the Cossack patrols caught two Red orderlies with secret documents, from which it became clear that the headquarters of the entire Chapaev group was located in Lbischensk, depots of weapons, ammunition, ammunition for two rifle divisions, and the number of Red forces was determined. According to Dmitry Furmanov, commissar of the 25th Infantry Division, "the Cossacks knew this and took this into account in their undeniably talented raid ... They had very strong hopes for their operation, and therefore put the most experienced military leaders in charge."

Special squad

The White Guard special detachment included the Cossacks of the 1st division of the 1st Ural Corps, Colonel T.I. Sladkov, and the White Guard peasants, Lieutenant Colonel F.F. Combat General N.N. Borodin was placed at the head of the detachment with a total strength of 1192 people with 9 machine guns and 2 guns. On the campaign, they ordered to take food only for a week and more cartridges, abandoning the convoy for speed of movement.
The task before the detachment was almost impossible: Lbischensk was guarded by the forces of the Reds up to 4000 bayonets and checkers with a large number of machine guns, during the day two red airplanes patrolled the village area. To carry out a special operation, it was necessary to travel about 150 kilometers across the bare steppe, and only at night, since daytime movement could not have gone unnoticed by the red pilots. In this case, the further conduct of the operation became meaningless, since its success depended entirely on surprise.

Special squad goes on a raid

On August 31, at nightfall, a white special detachment left the village of Kalenoy for the steppe to the west. During the entire raid, both Cossacks and officers were forbidden to make noise, talk loudly, or smoke. Naturally, we didn’t have to think about any fires, I had to forget about hot food for a few days. The refusal from the usual rules of military operations of the Cossacks - dashing horse attacks with a whistle and a boom with naked sparkling checkers - was also not understood by everyone. Some of the participants in the raid grumbled: "Well, what kind of war is this, we sneak at night like thieves! .." All night, at high speed, the Cossacks went as deep as possible into the steppes so that the Reds would not notice their maneuver. In the afternoon, the detachment received a 5-hour rest, after which, having entered the Kushumskaya lowland, it changed the direction of movement and went up the Ural River, being 50-60 kilometers from it. It was a very exhausting campaign: on September 1, the detachment stood all day in the steppe in the heat, being in a swampy lowland, the exit from which could not go unnoticed by the enemy. At the same time, the location of the special squad was almost noticed by the red pilots - they flew very close by. When airplanes appeared in the sky, General Borodin ordered the horses to be driven away into the reeds, carts and cannons to be thrown with branches and armfuls of grass, and to lie down next to them. There was no certainty that the pilots had not noticed them, but they did not have to choose, and the Cossacks, with the onset of night, had to go on an accelerated march in order to get away from the dangerous place. By evening, on the 3rd day of the journey, Borodin's detachment cut the Lbishensk-Slomikhinsk road, approaching Lbischensk by 12 versts.
In order not to be discovered by the Reds, the Cossacks occupied a depression not far from the village itself and sent patrols in all directions to reconnaissance and capture "tongues". Ensign Portnov's patrol attacked the Reds' grain convoy, partially capturing it. The captured guards were taken to the detachment, where they were interrogated and found out that Chapaev was in Lbischensk. At the same time, one Red Army soldier volunteered to show his apartment. It was decided to spend the night in the same depression, wait out the day there, during which to put oneself in order, rest after a hard hike and wait until the alarm raised by the patrols subsided. On September 4, reinforced patrols were sent to Lbischensk with the task not to let anyone in there and not to let anyone out, but also not to come close, so as not to alert the enemy. The patrols caught all 10 Reds who tried to drive to Lbischensk or leave it, no one was missed.

The first miscalculations of the Reds

As it turned out, the red foragers noticed the patrols, but Chapaev did not attach much importance to this. He and the divisional commissar Baturin only laughed at the fact that "they go to the steppe." According to red intelligence, fewer and fewer fighters remained in the ranks of the whites, who retreated further and further to the Caspian. Naturally, they could not believe that the Whites would dare such a bold raid and be able to slip through the dense ranks of the Red troops unnoticed. Even when it was reported that an attack had been made on the convoy, Chapaev did not see the danger in this. He considered that these were the actions of someone who had wandered far from his patrol. By his order, on September 4, 1919, scouts - horse patrols and two airplanes carried out search operations, but did not find anything suspicious. The calculation of the White Guard commanders turned out to be correct: it could never have occurred to any of the Reds that the White detachment was located near Lbischensk itself, under the noses of the Bolsheviks! On the other hand, this shows not only the wisdom of the commanders of the special detachment who chose such a good place for parking, but also the negligent performance of their duties by the red intelligence: it is hard to believe that the mounted scouts did not meet the Cossacks, and the pilots could not notice them from a height!
When discussing the plan to capture Lbishensk, it was decided to take Chapaev alive, for which a special platoon of the lieutenant Belonozhkin was allocated. This platoon was given a difficult and dangerous task: to attack Lbishensk in the 1st chain, while occupying its outskirts, it had to, without paying attention to anything, together with the Red Army soldier who volunteered to show Chapaev’s apartment, rush there and grab the red commander. Esaul Faddeev proposed a more risky but sure plan for capturing Chapaev; the special platoon was to go on horseback and, quickly sweeping through the streets of Lbischensk, dismount at Chapaev's house, cordon it off and take the commander sleeping. This plan was rejected because of the fear that most of the people and the cavalry of the platoon might die.

Capture of Lbischensk

At 10 pm on September 4, 1919, the special squad went to Lbischensk. Before leaving, Colonel Sladkov addressed a parting word to the fighters, asking them to be together in battle, when taking the village, not to get carried away collecting trophies and not to disperse, as this could lead to a disruption of the operation. He also reminded that in Lbi-shchensk there is worst enemy the Ural Cossacks - Chapaev, who mercilessly destroyed the prisoners, that twice he slipped out of their hands - in October 1918 and in April 1919, but on the third time he must be liquidated. After that, they read a common prayer and moved. We approached 3 versts to the village and lay down, waiting for dawn. According to the plan for the capture of Lbischensk, Poznyakov's soldiers attacked the middle of the village, which stretched along the Urals, most of the Cossacks were supposed to act on the flanks, 300 Cossacks remained in reserve. Before the start of the attack, grenades were distributed to the participants in the assault, the commanders of hundreds received orders: after occupying the outskirts of Lbischensk, collect hundreds of platoons, each platoon was charged with cleaning one of the sides of the street, having a small reserve with them in case of unexpected counterattacks.
The enemy did not suspect anything, it was quiet in the village, only the dog barked.
At 3 o'clock in the morning, still in the darkness, the chains of whites moved forward. The scouts who came forward captured the red guards. Without a single shot fired, the outskirts of the village were occupied, the detachment began to be drawn into the streets. At that moment, a rifle salvo rang out into the air - it was the guard of the Reds who was at the mill and noticed the advance of the Whites from it. He immediately ran away. The "cleansing" of Lbischensk began. According to the participant of the battle Yesaul Faddeev, "yard after yard, house after house" platoons "cleared" those who surrendered peacefully were sent to the reserve. Grenades flew into the windows of houses, from where fire was opened on the Whites, but most of the Reds, taken by surprise, surrendered without resistance. In one house, six regimental commissars were captured. A participant in the battle, Pogodaev, described the capture of six commissars as follows; "... One's jaw jumps. They are pale. Two Russians keep themselves calmer. But they also have doom in their eyes. They look at Borodin with fear. Their trembling hands reach for their visors. They salute. This turns out to be ridiculous. On caps - red stars with a sickle and a hammer, there are no epaulets on overcoats",
There were so many prisoners that at first they were shot, fearing an uprising on their part. Then they began to drive them into one crowd.
The fighters of the special detachment, embracing the village, gradually converged towards its center. A wild panic began among the Reds, in their underwear they jumped out through the windows into the street and rushed about in different directions, not understanding where to run, as shots and noise were heard from all sides. Those who managed to grab their weapons randomly fired in different directions, but there was little harm from such shooting for the Whites - the Red Army men themselves suffered mainly from it.

How Chapaev died

The special platoon, allocated to capture Chapaev, broke through to his apartment - headquarters. The captured Red Army soldier did not deceive the Cossacks. At this time, the following was happening near Chapaev's headquarters. The commander of the special platoon, Belonozhkin, immediately made a mistake: he did not cordon off the whole house, but immediately led his people to the courtyard of the headquarters. There, the Cossacks saw a saddled horse at the entrance to the house, which someone was holding inside by the rein closed door. The answer to Belonozhkin's order to those in the house to leave was silence. Then he shot through the house skylight. The frightened horse shied aside and dragged the Red Army soldier holding him out from behind the door. Apparently, it was Chapaev's personal orderly Petr Isaev. Everyone rushed to him, thinking that this was Chapaev. At this time, the second person ran out of the house to the gate. Belonozhkin shot him with a rifle and wounded him in the arm. This was Chapaev. In the ensuing confusion, while almost the entire platoon was occupied by a Red Army soldier, he managed to escape through the gate. In the house, except for two typists, no one was found. According to the testimonies of the prisoners, the following happened: when the Red Army soldiers rushed to the Urals in a panic, they were stopped by Chapaev, who rallied about a hundred fighters with machine guns around him, and led a counterattack on Belonozhkin’s special platoon, who had no machine guns and was forced to retreat. Having knocked out the special platoon from the headquarters, the Reds sat down behind its walls and began to shoot back. According to the prisoners, during a short battle with a special platoon, Chapaev was wounded for the second time in the stomach. The wound turned out to be so severe that he could no longer direct the battle and was transported across the Urals on the boards. Sotnik V. Novikov, who was watching the Urals, saw how someone was transported across the Urals against the center of Lbischensk before the very end of the battle. According to eyewitnesses, on the Asian side of the Ural River, Chapaev died from a wound in the stomach.

Party committee resistance

Esaul Faddeev saw how a group of Reds appeared from the direction of the river, counterattacked the Whites and settled in the headquarters. This group covered the Chapaev crossing, trying at all costs to detain the Whites, whose main forces had not yet approached the center of Lbischensk, and Chapaev was missed. The defense of the headquarters was headed by its chief, 23-year-old Nochkov, a former officer in the tsarist army. By this time, the detachment, which had settled in the headquarters, paralyzed all attempts by the Whites to capture the center of Lbischensk with brutal machine-gun and rifle fire. The headquarters was in such a place that all approaches to the center of the village could be shot from it. After several unsuccessful attacks, the Cossacks and soldiers began to accumulate behind the walls of neighboring houses. The Reds recovered, began to stubbornly defend themselves, and even made several attempts to counterattack the Whites. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses of the battle, the shooting was such that no one even heard commander's orders. At this time, part of the communists and soldiers of the red escort (execution) team, headed by Commissar Baturin, who had nothing to lose, occupied the party committee on the outskirts of the village with a machine gun, repelling white attempts to capture Chapaev's headquarters from the other side. On the third side, the Urals flowed with a high bank. The situation was so serious that a hundred Cossacks, blocking the road from Lbischensk, were pulled up to the village and attacked the party committee several times, but rolled back, unable to withstand the fire.

Red headquarters taken

At this time, the Cossacks of the cornet Safarov, seeing the delay at the headquarters, quickly jumped out on a cart 50 steps from him, hoping to suppress the resistance with machine-gun fire. They did not even manage to turn around: the horses that were carrying the cart, and everyone who was in it, were immediately killed and wounded. One of the wounded remained in the cart under the lead shower of the Reds. The Cossacks tried to help him, running out from behind the corners of the houses, but they suffered the same fate. Seeing this, General Borodin led his headquarters to his rescue. The houses were already almost cleared of reds, but in one of them a Red Army soldier hid, who, seeing the general's epaulettes flashing in the morning sun, fired from a rifle. The bullet hit Borodin in the head. This happened when the Reds no longer had any hope of holding the village behind them. Colonel Sladkov, who took command of the special detachment, ordered the machine-gun special platoon to take the house where Baturin sat down, and then take possession of the red headquarters. While some distracted the Reds, firing a firefight with them, others, taking two Lewis light machine guns, climbed onto the roof of a neighboring, higher house. After some half a minute, the resistance of the party committee was broken: the Cossack machine guns turned the roof of his house into a sieve, killing most of the defenders.
At this time, the Cossacks pulled up the battery. The Reds could not stand the cannon fire and fled to the Urals. The headquarters was taken. The wounded Nochkov was abandoned, he crawled under the bench, where he was found and killed by the Cossacks.

Losses of the Chapaevs

The only and major omission of the organizers of the Lbischensky raid was that they did not promptly send a detachment to the other side of the Urals that could destroy all the fugitives. Thus, for a long time, the Reds would not have known about the catastrophe in Lbischensk, continuing to send carts through it to Sakharnaya, which would invariably be intercepted by the Whites. During this time, it was possible to surround and liquidate the unsuspecting red garrisons not only of Sakharnaya, but also of Uralsk, thereby causing the collapse of the entire Soviet Turkestan front ...
A chase was sent for the few who had crossed the Urals, but they were not caught up. By 10 o'clock on September 5, the organized resistance of the Reds in Lbischensk was broken, and by 12 o'clock in the afternoon the battle had ceased. In the area of ​​​​the village, up to 1,500 Reds were killed, 800 were taken prisoner. Many drowned or were killed while crossing the Urals and on the other side. In the next 2 days of the Cossacks' stay in Lbischensk, about a hundred more Reds were caught hiding in attics, cellars, and haylofts. The population betrayed them all without exception. P.S. Baturin, the commissar of the 25th division, who replaced Furmanov, hid under the stove in one of the huts, but the hostess betrayed him to the Cossacks. According to the most conservative estimates, during the Lbischensky battle, the Reds lost at least -2500 killed and captured. The total losses of the whites during this operation amounted to 118 people - 24 killed and 94 wounded. The most severe loss for the Cossacks was the death of the valiant General Borodin.
Knowing nothing about the battle that had taken place, soon large red wagon trains, logistics agencies, staff workers, a school of red cadets, and a punitive "special purpose detachment" that were sadly "famous" during decossackization came to the village. From surprise, they were so confused that they did not even have time to resist. All of them were immediately captured. The cadets and the "special purpose detachment" were almost completely cut down by sabers.

The trophies taken in Lbischensk turned out to be huge. Ammunition, food, equipment for 2 divisions, a radio station, machine guns, cinematographic cameras, 4 airplanes were captured. On the same day, one more was added to these four. The red pilot, not knowing what had happened, landed in Lbischensk. There were other trophies too. Colonel Izergin talks about them like this: “In Lbischensk, Chapaev’s headquarters was located not without amenities and a pleasant pastime: among the prisoners - or trophies - there were big number typists and stenographers. Obviously, in the red headquarters they write a lot ... "

"I rewarded myself"

Not without curiosities. Pogodaev describes one of them: “The Cossack Kuzma Minovskov galloped up to Myakushkin on horseback. Instead of a cap, he had a pilot’s helmet on his head, and as many as five orders of the Red Banner adorned his chest from one shoulder to the other. “What the hell, what a masquerade, Kuzma ?! Do you wear orders of the Reds?!” Myakushkin asked him menacingly. “Yes, I took off the rubber cap from the Soviet pilot, and we got these orders at the Chapaev headquarters. There are several boxes of them ... The guys took as much as they wanted ... The prisoners say: Chapaya had just been sent to the Red Army for fighting, but he didn’t even have time to distribute them - we came here ... But how, in a fair fight he earned. That Petka and Ma-karka should have been worn, and now the Cossack Kuzma Potapovich Minovskov is wearing ... Wait until you are rewarded - you rewarded yourself, "the soldier answered. Nikolai marveled at the inexhaustible cheerfulness of his Cossack and let him go ... "

Reasons for the defeat

Furmanov, speaking about the reasons for such a stunning defeat of the Reds, writes that in Chapaev’s entourage there was someone who removed the most “vigilant fighters of the revolution” - the Red cadets from the guard, and that during the battle in Lbischensk itself, a rebellion was raised by the inhabitants of the village at the very the wrong moment for the Bolsheviks, and that warehouses and offices were captured immediately. Not a single document speaks in favor of Furmanov's arguments. Firstly, it was impossible to put the cadets on guard, since they simply were not in Lbischensk on September 4, because they did not have time to arrive there and arrived when everything was over. Secondly, only children, decrepit old men and women remained among the inhabitants of Lbischensk, and all men are in the ranks of the whites. Thirdly, about where the Reds are, and in what place they are the most important points, told the captured guards.
As reasons for the complete success of the Whites, one should note the highest professionalism of the White Guard command and officers, the dedication and heroism of the rank and file, and the carelessness of Chapaev himself.
Now about the "inconsistencies" of the film and the book "Chapaev". This article is based on archival materials. "Why then was it necessary to deceive the people with the beautiful death of Chapai?" the reader will ask. Everything is simple. Such a hero as Chapaev, in the opinion of the Soviet authorities, should have died as a hero. It was impossible to show that he almost fell asleep in captivity and was taken out of the battle in a helpless state and died from a wound in the stomach. It turned out somehow ugly. In addition, there was a party order: to expose Chapaev in the most heroic light! For this, they invented a white armored car that did not really exist, which he allegedly threw grenades from the headquarters. If there were armored cars in the White detachment, then it would be immediately revealed, since the noise of engines in the silence of the night can be heard in the steppe for many kilometers!

conclusions

What was the significance of the Lbischenskaya special operation? Firstly, it showed that the actions of relatively small special forces in the course of one strike, which in total it took 5 days, you can nullify the two-month efforts of an enemy many times superior. Secondly, results were achieved that are difficult to obtain by conducting fighting"in normal mode": the headquarters of the entire military group of the Red Army of the Turkestan Front was destroyed, there was a break in communication between the red troops and their demoralization, which forced them to flee to Uralsk. As a result, the Reds were thrown back to the borders, from where they launched their offensive against the Urals in July 1919. The moral significance for the Cossacks of the very fact that Chapaev, who boasted at every rally of crushing victories over the Urals (in fact, not a single regiment of Cossacks was defeated by him), was destroyed by their own hands, was truly enormous. This fact showed that even the best Red commanders can be successfully beaten. However, the White Guards were prevented from repeating such a special operation in Uralsk by the inconsistency of actions between the commanders, the catastrophic development of the typhus epidemic among the personnel and the sharp increase in the Red forces on the Turkestan front, which were able to recover only after 3 months due to the collapse of the Kolchak front.

Sergei Balmasov.
magazine "Soldier of Fortune"

A native of Chuvashia, who became a symbol of the Great Russian Revolution

Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev is known as one of the most notable heroes of the Civil War. The division commander of the Red Army left a bright mark on national history and to this day occupies a special position in popular culture. The name of the commander is alive in the memory of contemporaries - books are tirelessly written about him, films are made, songs are sung, and jokes and fables are composed. The biography of the Red Guard is full of contradictions and secrets.

life lines
According to legend, the surname Chapaev came from the word "chepay" (take, pick up), which was used during various works. At first, this word was the nickname of the hero's grandfather, then it turned into a generic surname.

early years
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - comes from a peasant family, the son of a carpenter. His parents lived in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Simbirsk province. This place was one of the Russian villages located around the city of Cheboksary. Here Vasily was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887.

Vasily grew up in a large family and was the sixth child. Soon after his birth, the family moved to the Samara province - to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaevsky district. The Chapaev children were forced to leave the school they attended in Budaika and look for work. Vasily managed to learn only the alphabet. Parents wished their child a better life, so Vasily was sent to a parochial school to get an education.

Metric record of 1887 about the birth of V. I. Chapaev

The father and mother hoped that the son would become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise. In the fall of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army - from this period, his military career is counted down. He began to serve in Kiev, however, not for long. Already in the spring of 1909 he was transferred to the reserve - he was transferred to the first-class militia warriors.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1909

Historians do not know the exact reason for this decision. According to one version, this was due to his political unreliability, but no evidence of this was found. Most likely, the dismissal is due to Chapaev's illness.

Even in his youth, Vasily Chapaev received the nickname Ermak. It accompanied the hero all his life, becoming his underground nickname.

On the fronts of the First World War
In the battles of May 5-8, 1915, near the Prut River, Vasily Chapaev showed great personal courage and stamina. A few months later, for success in the service, he immediately received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, bypassing the rank of corporal.

On September 16, 1915, Chapaev was awarded the St. George Cross of the IV degree. For the capture of two prisoners near the town of Snovidov, he was again awarded the St. George Cross, but already of the III degree.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1916

Chapaev was a holder of three degrees of the St. George Cross. For each sign, a soldier or non-commissioned officer received a salary of a third more than usual. The salary grew until it reached double size. The surplus salary remained after retirement and was paid for life. Widows received the sum of money a year after the death of the gentleman.

On September 27, 1915, in the battles between the villages of Tsuman and Karpinevka, Chapaev was wounded. He was sent to the hospital. He soon learned that he had been promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1917

Chapaev, having improved his health, returned to the Belgorai regiment, in which on June 14-16, 1916 he took part in the battles near the city of Kut. For these battles, Vasily was awarded the St. George Cross II degree. According to some reports, in the same summer, for the battles near the city of Delyatyn, he was awarded the St. George Cross of the 1st degree. But the documents confirming the award of this award have not been preserved.

At the end of the summer of 1916, Vasily fell seriously ill. On August 20, he was sent to the dressing detachment of the 82nd Infantry Division. He returned to his company only on September 10 and the next day he was wounded by shrapnel in his left thigh, after which he again began treatment.

October Revolution and Civil War

V. I. Chapaev, commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Soviet regiment I. Kutyakov, battalion commander I. Bubenets and commissar A. Semennikov. 1918

In July 1917, Chapaev ended up in the city of Nikolaevsk, where he was appointed sergeant major of the 4th company of the 138th reserve infantry regiment. This military unit was famous for its revolutionary spirit. It was here that the future red commander became close to the Bolsheviks. Soon he was elected to the regimental committee, and in the fall of 1917 he joined the council of soldiers' deputies.

On September 28, 1917, Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev joined the RSDLP (b) - the Bolshevik Party. In December, he became a Red Guard commissar and assumed the duties of head of the Nikolaevsk garrison.

The winter-spring of 1918 was a difficult period for the new government. At this time, Chapaev suppressed peasant unrest, fought against the Cossacks and soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps.

In films, most often, Chapaev is depicted with a sword on a dashing horse. However, in life, the commander preferred cars. First, he had a Stever (a bright red confiscated car), then a Packard taken from Kolchak, and after a while a Ford, which developed a good speed for the beginning of the 20th century - up to 50 km / h.

Chapaev horsemen. 1918

In November, a talented military man went to study at the General Staff Academy, but could not stay away from the front for a long time and already in January 1919 he fought in battle against the army of Admiral Kolchak.

IN AND. Chapaev visited wounded comrades in the hospital. On the left - I.K. Bubenets, commander of the battalion named after Stenka Razin of the regiment; on the right - I.S. Kutyakov, regiment commander. 1919

Circumstances of death
The legendary commander died during an unexpected attack by the White Guards on the headquarters of the 25th division. It happened on September 5, 1919 in the city of Lbischensk, West Kazakhstan region, which was located deep in the rear and well guarded. The Chapayevites felt safe here.

Chapaev's division was cut off from the main forces of the Red Army and suffered heavy losses. In addition to 2000 Chapaevs, there were almost as many mobilized peasants in the city who did not have any weapons. Chapaev could count on six hundred bayonets. The rest of the division's forces were removed 40-70 km from the city.

Wounded in the head V.I. Chapaev (in the center) and D.A. Furmanov (to his left) with the commanders of the 25th division. 1919

The combination of these factors led to the fact that the attack of the Cossack detachment in the early morning of September 5 turned out to be disastrous for the illustrious division. Most of the Chapayevites were shot or captured. Only a small part of the Red Guards was able to break through to the banks of the Ural River, including Chapaev. He was able to resist the advancing forces, but was wounded in the stomach.

Witness the last hours of the life of the hero was the eldest son Alexander. He said that the wounded father was placed on a raft for crossing the river, made from half a gate. However, some time later, sad news came - the commander died from great blood loss.

The death of V.I. Chapaev in the Ural River in the film "Chapaev" (1934)

Chapaev was hastily buried in the coastal sand, showered with reeds so that the Cossacks would not find the grave and abuse the body. Similar information was later confirmed by other participants in the events. But the legend, embodied in books and on the movie screen, that the divisional commander died in the stormy waves of the Ural River, turned out to be more tenacious.

Hundreds of streets and almost two dozen settlements, one river, a light cruiser and a large anti-submarine ship are named after Chapaev.

Personal life

Feldwebel Chapaev with his wife Pelageya Nikanorovna. 1916

V personal life the commander of the Red Army was not as successful as in military service.

Even before being sent to the army, Vasily met the young Pelageya Metlina, the daughter of a priest. After he was decommissioned in the summer of 1909, they got married. In six years of marriage, they had three children - two sons and a daughter.

Chapaev's life before the outbreak of the First World War was peaceful. He, like his father, worked as a carpenter. In 1912, together with his wife and children, he moved to the city of Melekess (today it is Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region), where he settled on Chuvashskaya Street. Here his youngest son Arkady was born.

The beginning of the war radically changed the life of Vasily Ivanovich. He began fighting with the 82nd Infantry Division against the Germans and Austrians.

At this time, his wife Pelageya, along with the children, went to a neighbor. Upon learning of this, Chapaev rushed to native home to divorce his wife. True, he limited himself to taking the children from his wife and moving them to their parents' house.

From an interview with Gordon Boulevard (September 2012):

“And a few years later, Pelageya left her children and ran away from the hero, the red commander. Why?

- She ran away before Chapaev became a commander, even in the imperialist one. She ran not from Vasily, but from her father-in-law, strict and tough. And she loved Vasily, gave birth to three children from him, only rarely saw her husband at home - he fought all the time. And she went to the carriage driver, who drove the horses in Saratov. He left nine children and a paralyzed wife for her.

When Vasily Ivanovich died, Pelageya was already pregnant with her second child from her lover. She rushed to the Chapaevs' houses to pick up the rest of the children, but her roommate locked her up. Pelageya nevertheless got out of the house and ran away in a light dress (and it was in November). On the way, she fell into a wormwood, she was miraculously saved by a peasant who was driving a cart, took her to the Chapaevs - there she died of pneumonia.

Then Chapaev entered into a close relationship with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of his friend Peter Kamishkertsev, who had previously died in battles near the Carpathians. Before the war, friends promised each other that the survivor would have to take care of the family of the deceased friend. Chapaev kept his promise.

In 1919, the commander settled Kamishkertseva with all the children (Chapaev and a deceased friend) in the village of Klintsovka at an artillery depot.

Pelageya Kamishkertseva with all the children

However, shortly before his death, he learned about the betrayal of his second wife with the head of the artillery depot, which led him into a severe moral shock.

Chapaev's children

Alexander, Claudia and Arkady Chapaev

The eldest son, Alexander, followed in the footsteps of his father - he became a military man and went through the entire Great Patriotic War. Marked with three orders of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov III degree, Alexander Nevsky, Patriotic War I degree, Red Star and many medals.

Alexander finished his service with the rank of major general. Died in 1985. The youngest son, Arkady, became a pilot and died during a fighter training flight in 1939.

The only daughter, Claudia, was a party worker, collecting materials about her father all her life. She passed away in 1999.

From an interview with the Segodnya information portal (September 2012):

- Is it true that you named your daughter in honor of Vasily Ivanovich?

- Yes. I could not give birth for a very long time and became pregnant only at the age of 30. Then my grandmother came up with the idea that I should go to Chapaev's homeland. We asked for a petition from the authorities of the Republic of Chuvashia to help me give birth to a division commander in my homeland. They agreed, but on one condition that if there is a son, then we call him Vasily, and if there is a daughter, then Vasilisa. I remember that I had not yet left the hospital, and the first secretary of Chuvashia had already solemnly issued me a birth certificate for my daughter Vasilisa. Later, we put the baby in a cradle in the Chapaevs' house-museum, so that the energy of the family would be transferred to the great-great-granddaughter.

Evgenia Chapaeva, great-granddaughter of Vasily Chapaev, descendant of Claudia Chapaeva, author of the book "My Unknown Chapaev"

Chapaev's great-granddaughter Evgenia and her daughter Vasilisa. 2013

Chapaev in the cinema - a new look at history
In 1923, the writer Dmitry Furmanov created a novel about Vasily Ivanovich - "Chapaev". The author served as a commissar in Chapaev's division and was personally acquainted with the commander. In 1934, based on the materials of the book, a feature film of the same name was made.

A year after the premiere, the creators of the film Georgy and Sergey Vasiliev received an award for it at the 1st Moscow Film Festival. The chairman of the jury was Sergei Eisenstein, one of the most talented Soviet directors.

There was such a buzz around the film that in one of the cinemas it was shown daily for two years. "Chapaev" gained immense popularity in the USSR, and its plot formed the basis of folk art. People began to invent stories, make up legends and jokes about the heroes of the film. The film also impressed the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. In 1935, he wrote 2 poems that contain references to episodes of the film.

Who is Chapaev? This is not just a soldier of two armies, this is a whole symbol of the era of the collapse of empires and revolutions.

He played a significant role in the Civil War in the territory Russian Empire. The Red Army soldiers under his leadership inflicted a heavy defeat on General Kolchak on the Eastern Front. Chapaev himself was a symbol of red Cossack courage. His image was actively used for agitation and propaganda both during the Civil War and in the Soviet Union.

Vasily Chapaev: biography

Born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the Kazan province. His parents were ordinary peasants. Regarding the name of Vasily Ivanovich, there is no exact information. As the brother of the famous Red Army soldier recalled, the surname Chapaev was at first a nickname. Allegedly, Vasily's grandfather worked as a foreman in a construction artel and constantly shouted to his subordinates: "Chepay! Chepay" "("take"). Since then, they began to call him Chapaev, which soon became a surname. This was confirmed by Ivanovich himself. The nationality of the "red" Cossack is still unclear.According to some sources, his mother was a Chuvash.

The Chapaev family was quite large. In addition to Vasily, there were six children. Parents worked hard, but still the family lived in poverty. Therefore, a few years after the birth of their last child, they move to the Samara province. Vasily's father, who wanted to give his son an education, sends him to a church school. At that time, she was sponsored by her father's cousin. Initially, the parents wanted Vasily to become a priest, like some other relatives. However, in the fall of 1908, Chapaev was drafted into the army. His unit is stationed in Kiev. However, a few months later, Vasily was transferred to the reserve. Who Chapaev was, they did not know in the Kiev Military District, so it is impossible to determine the exact reason for such a strange decision. According to the official version, the dismissal was due to illness. In Soviet times, there was a popular theory that Vasily was expelled from the army due to political unreliability. Upon arrival home, he is granted the rank of a militia warrior.

At home, Vasily works as a carpenter. Soon he marries Pelagia Metlina, who is the daughter of a local priest. In the nine hundred and ninth year they are married. Almost immediately they move to Dimitrovgrad and live there. In the fourteenth year, the First World War. All military reserves are called up to the imperial troops, and Chapaev is no exception. The biography of Vasily as a military man begins just then.

World War I

Vasily Ivanovich was mobilized in the 159th reserve regiment, which was stationed in the city of Atkarsk.

There he undergoes training and retraining. Two months later he was sent to the front. They arrive in Galicia, where fierce battles are unfolding against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. In the cold winter of the fifteenth, the siege of Przemysl continued. Russian troops began to prepare an operation to break through to the territory of Hungary. To do this, it was necessary to go to the Hungarian plain, which was prevented by the fortifications of the Austrians in the Carpathians. In mid-January, an almost simultaneous offensive by the opposing sides began. The army of the German Empire planned to lift the siege of the strategically important Przemysl and go to the rear of the Russian troops.

V. I. Chapaev participated in the Carpathian operation. Stubborn battles ensued in the mountains. The battles took place in the most difficult weather conditions. The passes by this time were almost completely covered with snow. It also affected the well-being of soldiers who grew up on flat terrain. Chapaev was wounded in one of the battles and was in the hospital for some time.

Battle in the Carpathians

After heavy fighting, the Russian troops still managed to occupy the dominant heights and win tactically. However, in the spring began a mass offensive of the enemy. The German army was going to attack from East Prussia and encircle the Russian troops in the Warsaw area. At this time, a significant part of the imperial army was stuck in difficult passages in the Carpathians and could not move quickly. The Russian army was extremely poorly equipped. The Germans and Austrians had a total superiority in both heavy guns and machine guns. For example, the Germans had ninety-six machine guns, while the Russian troops had none. V. I. Chapaev was part of those retreating from Poland in 1915. This defeat leveled all the gains of the Russian army in the campaign of the fourteenth year and in the Carpathian operation. But the moral blow was the strongest.

Breakthrough of Russian troops

Who Chapaev was, it became known in the Belgorai regiment during the famous summer of the sixteenth year, a massive Russian offensive near Lutsk began. The goal was the occupation of Galicia and Volhynia, the capture of the enemy enemy grouping. After several hours of artillery preparation, the troops of the entire front went on the offensive. Already on the first day they managed to break through the first line of defense and capture many trophies. By September, the operation was completed. The Germans and Austrians lost one and a half million soldiers killed, wounded and captured. For his courage, Vasily Chapaev received the St. George Cross.

Homecoming

Chapaev returned home with the rank of sergeant major. For a long time he was in the hospital. At this time, changes were brewing in the country. Chapaev, like millions of Russian workers, was extremely dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country. The standard of living was deteriorating, the social gap between the nobles and the "masses" was simply monstrous. Plus, thousands of soldiers died every day in an incomprehensible war. As a result, the unrest among the people reached its peak in February.

A revolution has begun in St. Petersburg. The tsar abdicated, and power passed to the Provisional Government. Vasily Ivanovich reacted positively to the new changes. In September 1717, he joined the Bolshevik Party. As a person with combat experience, he was very much appreciated. Therefore, he is appointed commander of an infantry regiment.

Beginning of the Civil War

After Vasily showed his skills, he was appointed commissioner of the whole county. Almost autonomously, he was engaged in the formation of combat communist detachments. In a fairly short time, he managed to organize the Red Guard from 14 battalions. Almost from the very beginning of the war, the entire Ural region was occupied by the Whites. This is due to the compact residence of the Cossacks in this territory. Therefore, Chapaev's detachments operated in extremely difficult conditions. The Whites did not even need to conduct thorough reconnaissance, because wherever the Reds appeared, there were people among the local population who reported on their numbers, weapons and transmitted other important information.

Red offensive

In winter, fierce battles flared up near Tsaritsyn.

General Kaledin had at his disposal selected fighters who had good combat experience behind them. And many were trained in military craft from childhood. But Chapaev managed in a short time to train the peasants and workers so that they fought on a par with the military. After that, his units were included in the Special Army. In its composition, Vasily Ivanovich took a personal part in the campaign against Uralsk. During the fighting he was wounded in the head. After the end of the campaign, he reorganized, breaking the guards into two regiments, which he united into a brigade under his command.

In the summer of the eighteenth year in full swing. Czechoslovak invaders captured Nikolaevsk, where less than a year back proclaimed Soviet power with the active participation of Chapaev himself. Almost the entire Ural region came under the control of the Whites. The Pugachev brigade (one of the regiments was named after Pugachev) besieged the city and after several days of heavy fighting recaptured it. During the battles for Nikolaevsk, the Red Army fought so desperately that many whites fled the battlefield. After that, the whole north of Russia knew who Chapaev was. In the winter of the eighteenth year, Vasily Ivanovich is studying at the Academy of the General Staff. After that, he receives the position of commissioner.

army commander

Six months later, Chapaev commanded a brigade, and a month later, a division. The troops are advancing on the Eastern Front against one of the best White generals - Kolchak. With the support of the Turkestan army, the Bugulmi and Bugurslanovsky districts were taken by the Reds. The front passed through the Ufa province. About thirty thousand soldiers launched an offensive on the twenty-fifth of May, and by the end of June, Kolchak's troops fled from the province. Chapaev took part in the assault on Ufa. During the battle, he was wounded in the head from an aircraft machine gun, but survived.

The commander of the Red Army continued to lead the fighting in extremely difficult conditions. After a swift offensive, Chapaev's fighters strongly broke forward and were exhausted. Therefore, in the fall of the eighteenth, we stopped in Lbischensk to rest and wait for reinforcements to arrive. All administrative military institutions are located in the city itself. However, there were very few fighters. The garrison consisted of six hundred bayonets, commanded by Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich. The civil war squeezed the last juices out of the torn country. Therefore, peasants who did not know how to handle weapons were mobilized into the Red Army. About two thousand of these recruits were also in Lbischensk, but were not armed. The main forces of the division were forty kilometers from the city.

Raid of the White Cossacks

The weakness of the Chapaevsky garrison decided to take advantage of the white colonel Borodin. Under the cover of night on the last day of summer, his detachment, consisting of selected fighters, departed from Kalyonoy and went on a raid. The Red Army soldiers had four airplanes at their disposal. They were doing reconnaissance around the city.

However, the pilots were mobilized from the local population and appeared to be sympathetic to the whites. Therefore, on September 4, Borodin's detachment quietly approached the city. The commander of the Red Army Chapaev at that time was in Lbischensk. At dawn, the Cossacks attacked the city. The surprise factor worked - panic began. The Red Army soldiers in chaos tried to organize resistance. The battle lasted about six hours.

Death

Many were taken prisoner. But some managed to break through to the Ural River. They tried to swim to the other side, despite the current. Among them was Chapaev. The hero of the Civil War was seriously wounded in the stomach, but still continued to fight. According to the official version, after the arrival of the main part of the Cossacks, he ran to the river. He was already halfway through when the bullet hit him in the head. He died as soon as he reached the shore. The monument to Chapaev was simple - made of reeds and algae. The Red Army soldiers who buried the glorious commander were afraid that the whites would find a burial place.

Memory

After the end of the Civil War, thanks to Soviet agitation, Chapaev became one of its most striking symbols. Several films were made about him, many songs and poems were written. The image of the dashing red Cossack has become an element of folklore. In jokes, Chapaev became something like Lieutenant Rzhevsky.

The monument to Chapaev, already made of stone, stands in many cities of the post-Soviet space.