So what was it? On the night of February 6-7, 1921 in China, in the town of Suidun, in his office, Ataman Alexander Dutov was shot dead at close range. Thus, in 1942, the life of the main enemy of the Bolsheviks ended after the October Revolution.

But his story didn't end there. The life and struggle of ataman Dutov still causes a lot of controversy. Some still consider him a bandit and an enemy of the Soviet regime, others - a hero of Russia, who fought against the communists for a democratic Russia.

Kazakh modern historiography does not yet give any assessment of the personality of Alexander Dutov. But Kazakh historians clearly do not agree with the interpretation that Dutov - folk hero Russia. AT recent history In Kazakhstan, Alexander Dutov still bears the label shaped by the propaganda clichés of the Soviet era. Almost none of the Kazakh historians study Dutov's activities on the territory of modern Kazakhstan.

- Our main focus falls on either 1916, or the foundation of autonomy, or then already the 30s - famine, and so on. But the Civil War is almost now not studied. It is believed that it seems to be irrelevant, that these are all the problems of Soviet Russia, - a doctor of historical sciences, a professor at one of the universities of Kazakhstan, who did not want his name to be mentioned, told our radio Azattyk.

"WE HAVE A PROVOCATOR'S FIGURE OF LENIN"

The military ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army, Alexander Dutov, was one of the first in Russia, already in October 1917, opposed the Bolsheviks. “This is a curious physiognomy: medium height, shaved, round figure, hair cut with a comb, cunning lively eyes, knows how to behave, a perspicacious mind” - such a portrait of Alexander Dutov was left in the spring of 1918 by his contemporary.

Then the military ataman was 39 years old. In October 1917, on an emergency military circle, he was appointed head of the Orenburg military government.

Alexander Dutov was born on August 5, 1879 in the city of Kazalinsk, Syrdarya region, in the family of a captain, a Cossack officer. The father of the future Cossack leader, Ilya Petrovich, a military officer of the era of the Turkestan campaigns, in September 1907, upon dismissal from service, was promoted to the rank of major general. Mother, Elizaveta Uskova, is the daughter of a constable, that is, an officer Cossack troops, a native of the Orenburg province.

Dutov was not an ideal person, did not stand out for his abilities, had numerous weaknesses inherent in ordinary people, but at the same time he still showed qualities that allowed him to Time of Troubles stand at the head of one of the largest Cossack troops in Russia.

Dutov graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps in 1897, and two years later - the Nikolaev Cavalry School, was promoted to the rank of cornet and sent to the first Orenburg Cossack regiment, stationed in Kharkov.

On March 20, 1916, Alexander Dutov volunteered for the active army. A month after the February Revolution of 1917, he was elected chairman of the All-Russian Union of the Cossack Army, in April of the same year he headed the congress of Russian Cossacks in Petrograd. In his political views, Dutov stood for republican and democratic positions.

Since October of the same year, Alexander Dutov has been constantly in Orenburg. He signed an order for the army on non-recognition on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army of the power of the Bolsheviks, who carried out a coup in Petrograd.

Alexander Dutov took control strategically important region, blocking communication with Turkestan and Siberia. The ataman was faced with the task of holding elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintaining stability in the province and the army until its convocation. The Bolsheviks who arrived from the center were seized and put behind bars.

In November, Alexander Dutov was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly from the Orenburg Cossack Host. In his speech at this meeting, he said:

“Today we are living through the Bolshevik days. We see in the twilight the outlines of tsarism, Wilhelm and his supporters, and the provocative figure of Vladimir Lenin and his supporters clearly and definitely stands before us: Trotsky-Bronstein, Ryazanov-Goldenbach, Kamenev-Rosenfeld, Sukhanov-Gimmer and Zinoviev-Apfelbaum. Russia is dying. We are present at her last breath. Was Great Russia from the Baltic Sea to the ocean, from the White Sea to Persia, there was a whole, great, formidable, powerful, agricultural, laboring Russia - it does not exist.

Having fled from the encirclement of the Red Army detachment to China in 1920, Alexander Dutov sets the goal of uniting all the anti-Bolshevik forces of Western China for a campaign against Soviet Russia. He issues an order to unite the anti-Bolshevik forces in Western China to the Orenburg separate army.

"DIRECT RELATIONS WITH THE ENTENTE"

The presence of significant anti-Bolshevik forces organized and hardened by years of struggle near the borders of Soviet Russia could not but disturb the power of the Soviets. The Soviet leadership was even more worried about the undeniable growth in the authority of Ataman Dutov. Semirechensk Bolsheviks and security officers at any moment could be cut off from Moscow. In addition, the Cossack ataman established contact with representatives of the Entente.

“The French, the British and the Americans have direct contact with me and help us,” Dutov wrote. The day is near when this help will be even more real. Having done away with the Bolsheviks, we will continue the war with Germany, and I, as a member of the Constituent Assembly, assure you that all treaties with the Allies will be renewed. The Czechoslovak Corps is fighting with us."

Therefore, it was urgently necessary to stop the anti-Bolshevik activities of Ataman Dutov and the Cossacks under his leadership.

The chairman of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK), Felix Dzerzhinsky, wanted not only to kill the ataman, but to execute him in public. Therefore, a special operation was developed to kidnap him. However, having studied the location of the ataman's detachment and the way of life of Alexander Dutov, the scouts came to the conclusion that the abduction was technically impossible. Then a second plan arose to destroy it on the spot.

According to the famous Soviet film "The End of the Ataman", we know that the Ataman was killed by Chekist Chadyarov. It must be assumed that the screenwriter Andron Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky came up with such a collective surname for the main character of the picture for a reason. It is known from Soviet intelligence documents that a certain Makhmud Khodzhamyarov fired the shot. The special group was led by Kasymkhan Chanyshev. In many Soviet sources, he was called nothing more than an "agent of the red special services."

A smuggler and a Chekist in one person?

Who is he, Kasymkhan Chanyshev? In some sources, he is listed as the head of the Dzharkent district police or Khorgos. Other witnesses of that era, even among relatives, called him an opium smuggler. He smuggled opium and antler antlers to China and brought gold from there. He had a large network of both suppliers and dealers on both sides of the border.

There is a version that the murder of Ataman Dutov, a longtime friend of his uncle Kasymkhan Chanyshev, was not done of his own free will and not on duty. The Chekists forced him to do this by arresting his parents, wife and children. He was threatened that if he did not return from China or kill Dutov, then his family would simply be shot.

Judging by the stories of his relatives and descendants, Kasymkhan Chanyshev never served either in the police or in counterintelligence, much less was an officer in the Red Army. He had “business relations” with the Chekists - for a certain bribe, they turned a blind eye to his illegal business activities.

Alexander Dutov trusted Kasymkhan Chanyshev. He even had things to do. We can say that the ataman and his Cossacks were in some way his clients. Coming from a wealthy Tatar family, Kasymkhan Chanyshev could not support the ideas of the Bolsheviks. His numerous relatives also suffered from their dispossession.

For more than a decade, the Tatar merchants Chanyshevs have been successfully trading in the Xinjiang province. Kasimkhan's uncle lived permanently in Ghulja, where he had trading houses and was considered the richest man in the region. Kasymkhan Chanyshev, thanks to his uncle, was a member of Dutov's house. He was well acquainted with many of Dutov's people. The ataman's personal translator, Colonel Ablaykhanov, was a childhood friend of Kasymkhan.

Thinking through the special operation, the special services of the new government could not but take advantage of this circumstance. Only Kasymkhan Chanyshev could approach the ataman himself, and accordingly, only he had a real chance to kill him.

In Soviet and émigré literature there are many versions of this successful operation for the Chekists. Let us dwell on a document from the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia. In particular, on the report of Mahmud Khodjamyarov.

“At the entrance to Dutov,” he wrote, “I handed him a note, he began to read it, sitting on a chair at the table. During the reading, I imperceptibly drew a revolver and shot Dutov in the chest. Dutov fell off his chair. Dutov's adjutant, who was here, rushed to me, I shot him at point-blank range in the forehead. He fell, dropping a burning candle from a chair. In the dark, I found Dutov with my foot and shot him again.

MAUSER AND GOLD WATCH FOR A TERRORIST ACT

Thus, the famous ataman Dutov was killed by the Uighur Mahmud Khodjamyarov. What they often wrote with pride in the Soviet newspapers in the Uighur language. M. Ruziev, in his book “The Revived Uyghur People”, with reference to the newspaper “Stalin Zholy”, dated November 7, 1935, writes that Khodzhamyarov received a Mauser from the hands of Felix Dzerzhinsky with an engraved inscription: “For personally carried out a terrorist act on ataman Dutov to comrade Khodzhamyarov.”

In independent Kazakhstan, the attitude towards Dutov's personality has not changed. With regard to the Kazakh people, he played a negative role, and the Dutov government supported the colonial policy in our territory.

In addition to the Mauser, Mahmud Khodjamyarov was presented with a gold watch. Kasymkhan Chanyshev was awarded only a gold watch. The order of Felix Dzerzhinsky says: "For direct leadership of the operation." H. Vakhidov mentions this in his article in the Prostor magazine for 1966.

History does not say what Kasymkhan Chanyshev did after the successful conduct of an important special operation by the Chekists. There is evidence that he was repressed in 1937 and shot in the same year. In the 1960s he was rehabilitated.

VESCHDOK - THE HEAD OF THE ATAMAN

The detachment of Kasimkhan Chanyshev, consisting of nine people, jumped on ready-made horses and galloped away under the cover of night. The pursuit of the Cossacks was unsuccessful, because, contrary to the expectations of the Dutovites, Chanyshev and Khodzhamyarov did not gallop towards the Soviet border, but in the opposite direction - to Gulja. They hid in Uncle Chanyshev's spacious mansion. They could not return home without providing the Chekists with evidence of the murder they had committed.

Many Russians living in China came to the funeral of the ataman and the Cossacks Lopatin and Maslov who died with him. The emigrant Elena Sofronova, who lived there in those years, describes the funeral of the ataman in her book “Where are you, my Motherland?” , published in Moscow in 1999:

“... The funeral of Dutov took place with magnificent celebration and music: a coffin with the deceased was carried in front, and behind him moved numerous people. Dutov was buried in the small cemetery of Dorzhinki, located approximately four kilometers from Suidun. The three basmachs who came to Dutov, i.e. Chanyshev, Khodzhamyarov and Baismakov, were envoys from Soviet Union to complete the above task. Two or three days after the funeral, at night, Dutov's grave was dug up by someone, and the corpse was beheaded and not buried. The stolen head was needed by the killers in order to convince those who sent that the task had been completed with accuracy.

V. Mishchenko, a re-emigrant from Xinjiang, also wrote about this: “In the first week after the funeral, the Ataman’s grave was opened and the corpse was beheaded. The killer needed the head as evidence for presentation to the Cheka about the fulfillment of the task, so that the killer's family, taken hostage by the Chekists, was released.

That is, the Russians living in China understood who defiled the tomb of the ataman. Moreover, they knew that Chanyshev's family was being held hostage.

Five days later, after the participants of the operation returned home with the head of the chieftain, on February 11, a telegram was sent from Tashkent to Moscow, to the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Its text was first published in 1999 in one of the central Russian newspapers:

“In addition to the telegram sent to you, we inform you of the details sent through the Dzharkent group of communists on February 6, General Dutov and his adjutant and two Cossacks of the ataman’s personal retinue were killed under the following circumstances, period the two remaining to cover the retreat killed two Cossacks from the personal guard of the ataman who rushed to shoot at the apartment, ours returned safely to Dzharkent today.

"DUTOV WAS NOT AN IDEAL PERSON"

Thus ended the life of the ataman General Alexander Dutov, who laid the foundation for the White movement in the East of Russia. The elimination of such a major political and military figure as Dutov dealt a severe blow to the Orenburg Cossacks.

Researcher military history Russia at the end of the 19th - the first quarter of the 20th century Andrei Ganin writes in his book about the ataman:

“Of course, Dutov was not an ideal person, he did not stand out for his abilities, he had numerous weaknesses inherent in ordinary people, but at the same time he nevertheless showed qualities that allowed him in troubled times to stand at the head of one of the largest Cossack troops in Russia, to create his own completely out of nothing a combat-ready army and lead a merciless fight against the Bolsheviks; he became the spokesman of hopes, and sometimes even the idol of hundreds of thousands of people who believed him.

Alexander Dutov expressed his political views in an interview with the Siberian Telegraph Agency:

“I love Russia, in particular my Orenburg region, this is my whole platform. I have a positive attitude towards the autonomy of the regions, and I myself am a big regionalist. I did not recognize the party struggle and do not recognize it. If the Bolsheviks and anarchists found a real way of salvation, the revival of Russia, I would be in their ranks, Russia is dear to me, and the patriots, no matter what party they belong to, will understand me, as I will understand them. But I must say bluntly: “I am a supporter of order, discipline, firm power, and at a time like now, when the existence of a whole huge state is at stake, I will not stop before executions. These executions are not revenge, but only an extreme means of influence, and here for me everyone is equal - Bolsheviks and non-Bolsheviks, soldiers and officers, our own and others ... "

According to the candidate of historical sciences Yerlan Medeubaev, if historians Russian Federation reconsidered the role of Alexander Dutov in the history of the White Cossacks, the counter-revolutionary movement, in the Civil War, presenting him as a patriot of monarchical Russia, the Kazakh modern historiography did not change the attitude towards Dutov's activities.

- In independent Kazakhstan, the attitude towards the personality of Dutov has not changed. He still remains a class enemy, the organizer of the White Cossack movement, in the Turgai region, at the hands of which a lot of the local population died. With regard to the Kazakh people, he played a negative role, and the Dutov government supported the colonial policy on our territory, - Yerlan Medeubaev, candidate of historical sciences, head of the department, told our radio Azattyk national history Aktobe state university named after Kudaibergen Zhubanov.

Defeated by the Red Army and found themselves outside Russia, the leaders of the White movement did not at all consider their struggle to be over and did not get tired of making loud statements about the imminent new liberation campaign. The Bolsheviks decided not to take risks and began to cross out their enemies from political life one by one. They were tricked into the territory of Soviet Russia, where they were arrested and tried, persuaded to return to the USSR, and abducted. But more often than not, they were eliminated right on the spot. The first such operation of the Cheka, which ended in success, was the assassination of Ataman Dutov.

Difficult Cossack

Ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks Alexander Ilyich Dutov was not an ordinary Cossack. Born in 1879 in the family of a Cossack general, he graduated from the Orenburg Cadet Corps, then the Nikolaev Cavalry School, and in 1908 the Academy of the General Staff. By November 1917, Colonel Dutov had two wars behind him (Russian-Japanese and German), orders, wounds, shell shock. He was very popular among the Cossacks, who elected him a delegate to the II General Cossack Congress in Petrograd, and then chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack troops.

The vast territory of the Orenburg province was cleared of the Bolsheviks, and the Cossack ataman Dutov and his Orenburg army became the master here.

The Orenburg Cossack ataman Dutov began to fight the Bolsheviks from the very first day. On November 8, 1917, he signed an order on non-recognition in the Orenburg province of the coup committed by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd and assumed full executive power.

The vast territory of the Orenburg province was cleared of the Bolsheviks, and the Cossack ataman Dutov and his Orenburg army became the master here.

In November 1918, he unconditionally recognized the power of Kolchak, believing that personal ambitions must be sacrificed in the name of a common victory.

In September 1919, Kolchak's army finally ran out of steam. One military defeat followed another. The Orenburg army was also defeated.

On April 2, 1920, Dutov and the remnants of his troops (about 500 people) crossed the Russian-Chinese border. The ataman himself settled in the border fortress of Suidun, most of the Cossacks settled in the nearby city of Gulja.

Defeat is not defeat

Dutov immediately declared: “The fight is not over. Defeat is not yet a rout, ”and issued an order to unite all anti-Bolshevik forces into the Orenburg separate army. His words “I will go out to die on Russian soil and will not return to China!” became the banner under which the soldiers and officers who ended up in China gathered.

For the Turkestan Chekists, Dutov became problem No. 1. Cells of the white underground were found in the Semirechensk region, Omsk, Semipalatinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen. Dutov’s appeals were found in the cities: “What is Ataman Dutov striving for?”, “Appeal to the Bolshevik”, “Ataman Dutov’s word to the Red Army”, “Appeal to the population of Semirechye”, “Peoples of Turkestan”, etc.

In June 1920, the garrison of the city of Verny (Alma-Ata) rebelled against the Soviet regime. In November, the 1st battalion of the 5th border regiment mutinied, and the city of Naryn was captured. The strings from all the defeated underground organizations and suppressed rebellions led to the Suidun border fortress to Ataman Dutov.

In autumn, the security officers intercepted the emissary Dutov, who was sent to Fergana. It turned out that the ataman was negotiating with the Basmachi about a simultaneous attack on Soviet Russia. In the event of the first successes of the joint offensive of the Orenburg separate army and the "warriors of Allah", Afghanistan could join the game.

In the bowels of the Cheka, a bold idea arose to kidnap Ataman Dutov and try him in an open proletarian court. But who can complete the task? They began to look for such a person. And found.

"Prince" Chanyshev

Kasimkhan Chanyshev was born in the border town of Dzharkent (29 km from the border) into a wealthy Tatar family. He was considered a descendant of a prince or even a khan. For decades, the Chanyshev merchants had been smuggling opium and antler antlers with China, knew secret paths across the border, and had a network of suppliers and informers. Kasymkhan was desperately brave and he himself repeatedly walked across the border. In addition to his native Tatar, he also knew Russian and Chinese. He was a devout Muslim, respected Sharia law, and even before the revolution he made a hajj to Mecca. No one would be surprised if Kasymkhan became one of the leaders of the Basmachi movement during the revolution. But life sometimes throws out amazing knees.

In 1917, Kasymkhan joined the Bolsheviks, and in 1918 he formed a Red Guard detachment from his horsemen, captured Dzharkent, established Soviet power in it, and took on the troublesome position of chief of the district police. True, this did not save the numerous relatives of the newly-minted Bolshevik from dispossession. Gardens were confiscated from Ka-symkhan's father, and his own uncle, a respected wealthy merchant, was forced to move to China. In a word, according to the Chekists, Chanyshev was quite suitable for the role of someone offended by the Soviet regime, and his position as chief of police was supposed to be the bait that Ataman Dutov would fall for.

Operation started

In September 1920, Chanyshev, with several horsemen, made his first trip to Gulja. It was assumed that there Kasymkhan would meet with Milovsky, the former mayor of Dzharkent (once he and Chanyshev were connected by trade). Further, by order of the Cheka, he had to act according to the circumstances.

Chanyshev returned a few days later. His report immensely delighted the Chekists. Kasymkhan managed not only to meet with Milovsky, but also made contact with Colonel Ablaykhanov. The latter acted as an interpreter under Dutov and promised Chanyshev to arrange a meeting with the ataman.

Chanyshev crossed the border five more times. He met with Dutov twice, managed to convince him of his dislike for the Soviet regime, of the existence of an underground organization in Dzharkent, handed over a certain amount of weapons and got a job in the police chieftain - a certain Bad. One of Chanyshev's horsemen, Makhmud Khodzhamiarov, regularly delivered messages from Nehoroshko to Suidun: a spy reported that everything was ready in Dzharkent and they were just waiting for the chieftain to start an uprising. As soon as the Dutovites crossed the border, Chanyshev's militiamen would seize the city, surrender it, and join Dutov themselves.

In turn, the Chekists received information about the forces that Dutov had. And the information was disturbing.

Plans are changing

According to Chanyshev, the ataman had at his disposal 5-6 thousand bayonets, two guns, four machine guns. In Ghulja, Dutov organized a factory for the manufacture of rifle cartridges. The Orenburg separate army was not at all a myth, as some had hoped. In addition, in Przhevalsk, Talgar, Verny, Bishkek, Omsk, Semipalatinsk, Dutov had connections with underground organizations ready to raise a rebellion at his signal.

In early January 1921, in the Peganovskaya volost of the Ishim district, several clashes between peasants and food detachment fighters took place. In a few days, unrest swept the entire county and spread to the neighboring Yalutorovsky. This was the beginning of the West Siberian uprising, which soon affected the Tyumen, Omsk, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg provinces ...

On January 31, a group of six people crossed the Soviet-Chinese border. Chanyshev, the senior in the group, had an order to liquidate Dutov, and as soon as possible. And so that Kasymkhan would not be tempted to stay in China without completing the task, nine of his relatives were arrested in Dzharkent.

For several days, Chanyshev and his horsemen circled around Suidun, hoping to watch for Dutov outside the fortress. But the envoy, who arrived from Dzharkent, said: if Chanyshev does not liquidate before February 10, the hostages will be shot. For Kasymkhan, there was no other choice but to hold an action in the fortress itself.

Death of chieftain

On the evening of February 6, a group of riders rode through the open gates into Suidun. Here they split up. One remained at the gate. His task was to prevent the guards from closing the gate so that the liquidators could leave without hindrance. Two dismounted and took up positions near Dutov's house: they were supposed to come to the aid of the main group in case something went wrong. The sentry asked: "Who?" - "Letter to Ataman Dutov from the prince."

Mahmud Khodzhamiarov and Kudduk Baysmakov more than once delivered reports to Dutov from Dzharkent, they were known by sight. The guard unlocked the gate. The trio dismounted. One remained with the horses in front of the gate, two went into the yard. Baysmakov started a conversation with the sentry, and Khodzhamiarov, accompanied by an orderly, entered the house. "From the prince!" - he handed Dutov a letter.

The chieftain sat down at the table, unfolded the note and began to read: “Mr. chieftain, stop waiting for us, it's time to start, everything is done. Ready. We are only waiting for the first shot, then we will not sleep either.” Dutov finished reading and raised his eyes: “Why didn’t the prince come himself?”

Instead of answering, Hodzhamiarov pulled out a revolver from his bosom and fired at the ataman point-blank. Dutov fell. The second bullet - in the forehead of the orderly. The third - in the ataman lying on the floor. The sentry standing at the gate turned to the shots, and at that moment Baismakov stabbed him in the back with a knife. The liquidators ran out into the street, mounted their horses and galloped through the streets of Suidun.

Last point in operation

The Cossacks, who rushed to look for the murderers of the ataman, did not find anyone. And it is not surprising, since the Dutovites rushed towards the Soviet-Chinese border, and Chanyshev and horsemen galloped in the opposite direction - to Gulja. There they intended to sit out with their uncle for several days, rightly believing that it was too early for them to return to Soviet Russia, not knowing for sure whether Dutov had been killed or only wounded.

Ataman Dutov died on February 7 at 7 am from an internal hemorrhage as a result of a liver injury. He and two Cossacks who died with him - sentry Maslov and orderly Lopatin - were buried on the outskirts of Suidun in a Catholic cemetery. The orchestra played. The Cossacks, who saw off their ataman on his last journey, wept and swore revenge. A few days after the funeral, the ataman's grave was desecrated: unknown dug up the body and beheaded him.

On February 11, Chanyshev returned to Dzharkent with one hundred percent proof of the completion of the assignment - Dutov's head. The hostages were released. And a telegram went to Moscow about the liquidation of one of the most dangerous enemies Soviet power.

Klim Podkova

For you and a reward

The Chekists thanked the killers of Dutov. Hodzhamiarov received from the hands of Dzerzhinsky a gold watch and a Mauser with an engraving "For personally carried out a terrorist act on ataman Dutov to comrade Khodzhamiarov." Chanyshev, as the direct leader of the operation, - a gold watch, a personalized carbine and a safe-conduct signed by the security officer of the country No. 2 Peters: “The bearer of this, comrade Chanyshev Kasymkhan, on February 6, 1921, committed an act of republican significance, which saved several thousand lives of the working masses from attack gangs, and therefore the named comrade from the outside is required Soviet authorities attentive attitude and the aforementioned comrade is not subject to arrest without the knowledge of the Plenipotentiary Representation.

Alas, high awards did not save the above-mentioned comrades from purges in the era of the Great Terror. Khodzhamiarov was shot in 1938. A few years earlier, Chanyshev fell under the deadly rink of repression. The letter of protection did not help him either: Peters, who signed it, turned out to be an enemy of the people himself and was shot.

The first pancake is lumpy

An exemplary operation to eliminate Dutov cannot be considered in any way. Its successful completion was the result of a fortunate combination of circumstances and desperate improvisation on the spot. But the Chekists learned quickly. This was followed by actions against Kutepov and Miller, Savinkov and Konovalets, Bandera and many others, which can no longer be called amateurish ...

Source - Wikipedia

Date of birth 5 (17) August 1879
Place of Birth Russian empire, Syrdarya province, Kazalinsk
Date of death February 7, 1921 (aged 41)
place of death Republic of China, Suidong
Affiliation Russian Empire Russian republic white movement
Type of troops cavalry
Years of service 1897 - 1921
Rank cornet (1899) staff captain (1908) military foreman (1912) colonel (1917) lieutenant general (1919) Commanded: Orenburg separate army (October 1918 - September 21, 1919)
Battles/wars Russo-Japanese War First World War: Brusilovsky breakthrough Civil war in Russia: The offensive of Kolchak's army Hunger campaign
Awards and prizes Order of St. Anne, 2nd class Order of St. Anne, 3rd class with swords and bow Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd class

Alexander Ilyich Dutov (August 5 (17), 1879, Kazalinsk - February 7, 1921, Suidun, China) - from the family of a Cossack officer, ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks, colonel (1917), lieutenant general (1919).

The father of the future Cossack leader, Ilya Petrovich, a military officer of the era of the Turkestan campaigns, in September 1907, upon dismissal from service, was promoted to the rank of major general. Mother - Elizaveta Nikolaevna Uskova - the daughter of a constable, a native of the Orenburg province. Alexander Ilyich himself was born during one of the campaigns in the city of Kazalinsk, Syrdarya region.
A. I. Dutov graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps in 1897, and then the Nikolaev Cavalry School in 1899, was promoted to the rank of cornet and sent to the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, stationed in Kharkov. Then, in St. Petersburg, he completed courses at the Nikolaev Engineering School on October 1, 1903 and entered the Academy of the General Staff, but in 1905 Dutov volunteered for the Russo-Japanese War, fought as part of the 2nd Manchurian Army, where for " excellent, diligent service and special works ”during the hostilities he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd degree. Upon returning from the front, AI Dutov continued his studies at the Academy of the General Staff, which he graduated in 1908 (without being promoted to the next rank and being assigned to the General Staff). After graduating from the Academy, Staff Captain Dutov was sent to the Kyiv Military District to the headquarters of the 10th Army Corps to get acquainted with the service of the General Staff. From 1909 to 1912 he taught at the Orenburg Cossack cadet school. Through his activities at the school, Dutov earned the love and respect of the cadets, for whom he did a lot. In addition to the exemplary performance of their official duties, he organized performances, concerts and evenings at the school. In December 1910, Dutov was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree, and on December 6, 1912, at the age of 33, he was promoted to the rank of military foreman (the corresponding army rank was lieutenant colonel). In October 1912, Dutov was sent to Kharkov for a year of qualified command of the 5th hundred of the 1st Orenburg Cossack regiment. After the expiration of his command term, Dutov passed a hundred in October 1913 and returned to the school, where he served until 1916.

World War I
On March 20, 1916, Dutov volunteered for the active army, in the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, which was part of the 10th Cavalry Division of the III Cavalry Corps of the 9th Army Southwestern Front. He took part in the offensive of the Southwestern Front under the command of Brusilov, during which the 9th Russian Army, where Dutov served, defeated the 7th Austro-Hungarian Army in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers. During this offensive, Dutov was wounded twice, the second time seriously. However, after two months of treatment in Orenburg, he returned to the regiment. On October 16, Dutov was appointed commander of the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, together with Prince Spiridon Vasilyevich Bartenev. Dutov's attestation, given to him by Count F. A. Keller, says: “ Recent fights in Romania, in which the regiment took part under the command of the military foreman Dutov, give the right to see him as a commander who is well versed in the situation and makes appropriate decisions energetically, which is why I consider him an outstanding and excellent combat commander of the regiment. By February 1917, for military distinctions, Dutov was awarded swords and a bow to the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class. and the Order of St. Anne 2nd class.

After the February Revolution
After the February Revolution of 1917, he was elected in March 1917 chairman of the All-Russian Union of Cossack Hosts, in April of the same year he headed the congress of Russian Cossacks in Petrograd, in September he was elected ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks and head (chairman) of the military government. In his political views, Dutov stood for republican and democratic positions.

Anti-Bolshevik uprising by A. I. Dutov

October 1917 - another milestone in the rapid rise of Dutov. By October, the 38-year-old Dutov had grown from a run-of-the-mill staff officer into a major figure known throughout Russia and popular among the Cossacks. On October 26 (November 8), Dutov returned to Orenburg and began to work in his posts. On the same day, he signed an order for army No. 816 on non-recognition on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army, the power of the Bolsheviks, who carried out a coup in Petrograd. Dutov took control of a strategically important region that blocked communication with Turkestan and Siberia. The ataman was faced with the task of holding elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintaining stability in the province and the army until its convocation. On the whole, Dutov coped with this task. The Bolsheviks who arrived from the center were seized and put behind bars, and the decomposed and pro-Bolshevik garrison (due to the anti-war position of the Bolsheviks) of Orenburg was disarmed and sent home. In November, Dutov was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly (from the Orenburg Cossack army). Opening on December 7 the 2nd regular Military Circle of the Orenburg Cossack army, he said: “Now we are living through the Bolshevik days. We see in the twilight the outlines of tsarism, Wilhelm and his supporters, and the provocative figure of Vladimir Lenin and his supporters clearly and definitely stands before us: Trotsky-Bronstein, Ryazanov-Goldenbach, Kamenev-Rosenfeld, Sukhanov-Gimmer and Zinoviev-Apfelbaum. Russia is dying. We are present at her last breath. There was Great Russia from the Baltic Sea to the ocean, from the White Sea to Persia; People and weapons were needed to fight the Bolsheviks; he could still count on weapons, but the bulk of the Cossacks returning from the front did not want to fight, only in some places stanitsa squads were formed. Due to the failure of the Cossack mobilization, Dutov could only count on volunteers from officers and student youth, no more than 2 thousand people in total, including old people and youth. Therefore, at the first stage of the struggle, the Orenburg ataman, like other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik resistance, was unable to rouse and lead any significant number of supporters to the fight. Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks launched an offensive against Orenburg. After heavy fighting, the detachments of the Red Army under the command of Blucher, many times superior to the Dutovites, approached Orenburg and on January 31, 1918, as a result joint action with the Bolsheviks who settled in the city, they captured it. Dutov decided not to leave the territory of the Orenburg army and went to the center of the 2nd military district - Verkhneuralsk, located far from major roads, hoping to continue the fight there and form new forces against the Bolsheviks. But in March, the Cossacks also surrendered Verkhneuralsk. After that, the Dutov government settled in the village of Krasninskaya, where by mid-April it was surrounded. April 17, breaking through the encirclement of four partisan detachments and an officer platoon, Dutov escaped from Krasninskaya and went to the Turgai steppes. But in the meantime, the Bolsheviks, with their policy, embittered the main part of the Orenburg Cossacks, which had been neutral to the new government, and in the spring of 1918, out of touch with Dutov, a powerful insurrectionary movement began on the territory of the 1st military district, led by a congress of delegates of 25 villages and a headquarters headed by military foreman D. M. Krasnoyartsev. On March 28, in the village of Vetlyanskaya, the Cossacks destroyed a detachment of the chairman of the council of the Iletsk Defense P. A. Persiyanov, on April 2 in the village of Izobilnaya, a punitive detachment of the chairman of the Orenburg Military Revolutionary Committee, S. M. Tsviling, and on the night of April 4, a detachment of Cossacks of the military foreman N. V. Lukin and a detachment of S.V. Bartenev made a daring raid on Orenburg, occupying the city for some time and inflicting significant losses on the Reds. The Reds responded with cruel measures: they shot, burned the resisting villages (in the spring of 1918, 11 villages were burned), and they imposed indemnities. As a result, by June, more than 6,000 Cossacks took part in the insurrectionary struggle on the territory of the 1st military district alone. At the end of May, the Cossacks of the 3rd military district, supported by the rebel Czechoslovaks, joined the movement. The Red Guard detachments on the territory of the Orenburg army were defeated everywhere, and on July 3 Orenburg was taken by the Cossacks. A delegation was sent from the Cossacks to Dutov, as the legally elected military chieftain. On July 7, Dutov arrived in Orenburg and led the Orenburg Cossack army, declaring the territory of the Orenburg Cossack Circle a special region of Russia. On September 28, the Cossacks took Orsk, the last of the cities on the territory of the troops occupied by the Bolsheviks.
Thus, the territory of the army was completely cleared of the Reds for some time. Dutov's units became part of Admiral Kolchak's Russian Army in November. The Orenburg Cossacks with varying success fought against the Bolsheviks, but in September 1919 Dutov's Orenburg army was defeated by the Red Army near Aktobe. The chieftain with the remnants of the army retreated to Semirechye, where he joined the Semirechye army of ataman Annenkov. Due to the lack of food, the crossing of the steppes became known as the "Hunger March". Upon arrival in Semirechie, Dutov was appointed by Ataman Annenkov as the Governor-General of the Semirechensk Region. In May 1920, he moved to China along with the Semirechensk army of Ataman Annenkov.

Death
On February 7, 1921, Ataman Dutov was killed in Suidun by agents of the Cheka under the leadership of Kasymkhan Chanyshev. The group of Chekists consisted of 9 people (all were Uighurs). During the first meeting, Chanyshev noted the tired look and certain skepticism of Dutov towards his messages and excellent knowledge of the affairs in Semirechye, which spoke of the excellent work of counterintelligence. During the second meeting, Dutov was shot at point-blank range in his office by group member Makhmud Khadzhamirov (Khodzhamyarov), along with two sentries and a centurion. Dutov and the guards killed with him during the battle were buried with military honors in Ghulja. Chekists returned back to Dzharkent. Members of a terrorist group (according to the terminology that already existed at that time, Cheka killers) became victims political processes 1930s The last participant in the operation lived on the territory of the Orenburg region, where he was exiled, until his death in 1968. On February 11, a telegram was sent from Tashkent about the execution of the task to the chairman of the Turkestan commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Turkestan Front G. Ya. Sokolnikov, and a copy of the telegram was sent to the Central Committee of the RCP(b).

Awards Order of St. Stanislaus 3rd class.
Order of St. Anne 3rd class swords and bow to the Order of St. Anne 3rd class
Order of St. Anne 2nd class

Literature
Ganin A. V. Ataman A. I. Dutov (Forgotten and unknown Russia. At a great turning point). - M.: "Tsentrpoligraf", 2006. - 623 p. - ISBN 5-9524-2447-3
Konstantin Artemyev - Ataman Dutov's last shelter
A. V. Ganin. Alexander Ilyich Dutov"Questions of History" 2005 No. 9. - S. 56-84
Andrey Ganin Alexander Ilyich Dutov. Biography
Ganin A.V., Semenov V.G. The officer corps of the Orenburg Cossack army. 1891-1945: A biographical guide. M., 2007 http://militera.lib.ru/bio/ganin_semyonov01/index.html
Akulinin I. G. Orenburg Cossack army in the fight against the Bolsheviks

Links:
1. Alekseev Mikhail Vasilyevich (1857-1918)
2. Constituent Assembly
3. Blucher Vasily Konstantinovich (1890-1938)
4. Semenov Grigory Mikhailovich ataman (1890-1946)
5. Guy (Gaya Dmitrievich Ezhishkyan) (1887-1937)
6. Akhmedov Ismail: At the Academy of the General Staff in Moscow. Purges.
7.

Ataman Dutov

From 1909 to 1912 Dutov taught at the Orenburg Cossack cadet school and earned the love and respect of the cadets, for whom he did a lot.

Before service

Alexander Ilyich Dutov was born in August 1879. The father of the future Cossack leader, Ilya Petrovich, a military officer of the era of the Turkestan campaigns, in September 1907, upon dismissal from service, was promoted to the rank of major general. Mother - Elizaveta Nikolaevna Uskova - the daughter of a constable, a native of the Orenburg province. Alexander Ilyich himself was born during one of the campaigns in the city of Kazalinsk, Syrdarya region.

Alexander Ilyich Dutov graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps in 1897, and then the Nikolaev Cavalry School in 1899, was promoted to the rank of cornet and sent to the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, stationed in Kharkov.

Then, in St. Petersburg, he completed courses at the Nikolaev engineering school October 1, 1903, now the Military Engineering and Technical University and entered the Academy of the General Staff, however, in 1905, Dutov volunteered for the Russo-Japanese War, fought in the 2nd Munchzhur Army, where for "excellent, diligent service and special works "during the hostilities was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 3rd degree. Upon returning from the front, Dutov continued his studies at the Academy of the General Staff, from which he graduated in 1908.

First years of service

After graduating from the Academy, Staff Captain Dutov was sent to the Kyiv Military District to the headquarters of the 10th Army Corps to get acquainted with the service of the General Staff. From 1909 to 1912 he taught at the Orenburg Cossack cadet school. Through his activities at the school, Dutov earned the love and respect of the cadets, for whom he did a lot. In addition to the exemplary performance of his official duties, he organized performances, concerts and evenings at the school. In December 1910, Dutov was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree, and on December 6, 1912, at the age of 33, he was promoted to the rank of military foreman (the corresponding army rank was lieutenant colonel).

In October 1912, Dutov was sent to Kharkov for a year of qualified command of the 5th hundred of the 1st Orenburg Cossack regiment. After the expiration of his command term, Dutov passed a hundred in October 1913 and returned to the school, where he served until 1916.

Dutov became known throughout Russia in August 1917, during the "Kornilov rebellion", without signing the Government Decree on treason by General Kornilov.

On March 20, 1916, Dutov volunteered for the active army, in the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, which was part of the 10th Cavalry Division of the III Cavalry Corps of the 9 Army of the Southwestern Front. He took part in the offensive of the Southwestern Front under the command of Brusilov, during which the 9th Russian Army, where Dutov served, defeated the 7th Austro-Hungarian Army in the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut. During this offensive, Dutov was wounded twice, the second time seriously. However, after two months of treatment in Orenburg, he returned to the regiment. On October 16, Dutov was appointed commander of the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, together with Prince Spiridon Vasilyevich Bartenev.

Dutov’s certification, given to him by Count F. A. Keller, says: “The last battles in Romania, in which the regiment took part under the command of military foreman Dutov, give the right to see him as a commander who is well versed in the situation and makes appropriate decisions energetically, by virtue of which I consider him an outstanding and excellent combat commander of the regiment. By February 1917, for military distinctions, Dutov was awarded swords and a bow to the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class. and the Order of St. Anne 2nd class.

Against the Bolsheviks

In the fall of 1917, Dutov took control of a strategically important region that blocked communication with Turkestan and Siberia.

Dutov became known throughout Russia in August 1917, during the Kornilov rebellion. Kerensky then demanded that Dutov sign a government decree in which Lavr Georgievich was accused of treason. The chieftain of the Orenburg Cossack army left the office, contemptuously throwing: “You can send me to the gallows, but I won’t sign such a paper. If necessary, I am ready to die for them.” Dutov immediately went from words to deeds. It was his regiment that defended the headquarters of General Denikin, pacified the Bolshevik agitators in Smolensk and guarded the last commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Dukhonin. A graduate of the Academy of the General Staff, Chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops of Russia Alexander Ilyich Dutov openly called the Bolsheviks German spies and demanded that they be judged according to the laws of war.

Dutov returned to Orenburg and began to work in his posts. On the same day, he signed an order for army No. 816 on non-recognition on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army, the power of the Bolsheviks, who carried out a coup in Petrograd.

“Until the restoration of the powers of the Provisional Government and telegraph communications, I take upon myself the fullness of the executive state power.” The city and province were declared under martial law. The created committee for the salvation of the motherland, which included representatives of all parties except for the Bolsheviks and the Cadets, appointed Dutov as the head of the armed forces of the region. Fulfilling his powers, he initiated the arrest of some members of the Orenburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies who were preparing an uprising. To accusations of striving to usurp power, Dutov answered with sorrow: “All the time you have to be under the threat of the Bolsheviks, receive death sentences from them, live at headquarters, not seeing your family for weeks. Good power!

Dutov took control of a strategically important region that blocked communication with Turkestan and Siberia. The ataman was faced with the task of holding elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintaining stability in the province and the army until its convocation. On the whole, Dutov coped with this task. The Bolsheviks who arrived from the center were seized and put behind bars, and the decomposed and pro-Bolshevik garrison (due to the anti-war position of the Bolsheviks) of Orenburg was disarmed and sent home.

In November, Dutov was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly (from the Orenburg Cossack army).

Outlaw

The leaders of the Bolsheviks quickly realized what a danger the Orenburg Cossacks posed to them. On November 25, an appeal of the Council of People's Commissars to the population about the fight against Ataman Dutov appeared. The Southern Urals found itself in a state of siege. Alexander Ilyich was outlawed.

On December 16, the ataman sent out an appeal to the commanders of the Cossack units to send Cossacks with weapons to the army. People and weapons were needed to fight the Bolsheviks; he could still count on weapons, but the bulk of the Cossacks returning from the front did not want to fight, only in some places stanitsa squads were formed. Due to the failure of the Cossack mobilization, Dutov could only count on volunteers from officers and student youth, no more than 2 thousand people in total, including old people and youth. Therefore, at the first stage of the struggle, the Orenburg ataman, like other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik resistance, was unable to rouse and lead any significant number of supporters to the fight.

Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks launched an offensive against Orenburg. After heavy fighting, the detachments of the Red Army under the command of Blucher, many times superior to the Dutovites, approached Orenburg and on January 31, 1918, as a result of joint actions with the Bolsheviks who settled in the city, captured it. Dutov decided not to leave the territory of the Orenburg army and went to the center of the 2nd military district - Verkhneuralsk, located far from major roads, hoping to continue the fight there and form new forces against the Bolsheviks.

On November 25, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars addressed the population about the fight against ataman Dutov. The Southern Urals found itself in a state of siege. Alexander Ilyich was outlawed.

An emergency Cossack circle was convened in Verkhneuralsk. Speaking at it, Alexander Ilyich refused his post three times, referring to the fact that his re-election would anger the Bolsheviks.

But in March, the Cossacks also surrendered Verkhneuralsk. After that, the Dutov government settled in the village of Krasninskaya, where by mid-April it was surrounded. On April 17, having broken through the encirclement with the forces of four partisan detachments and an officer platoon, Dutov escaped from Krasninskaya and went to the Turgai steppes.

But in the meantime, with their policy, the Bolsheviks embittered the main part of the Orenburg Cossacks, which had been neutral to the new government, and in the spring of 1918, out of touch with Dutov, a powerful insurrectionary movement began on the territory of the 1st military district. Soon Dutov, as an elected member of the Constituent Assembly, joins the Samara government of KOMUCH. It was the Cossacks of Ataman Dutov who gave the committee's army combat readiness. The ataman invited to KOMUCH was given a magnificent meeting, appointing him the chief representative in the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army and the Turgai region. He won a number of victories over the Bolshevik troops. Samara historians write that Dutov immediately got down to business, but a month later KOMUCH was forced to protest against the methods by which the ataman put things in order in the areas entrusted to him.

Orientation to Siberia

In the spring of 1918, Dutov, as an elected member of the Constituent Assembly, joins the Samara government of KOMUCH.

Shortly after his return from Samara, he went to Omsk to establish contacts with the Siberian politicians. This trip should not be considered a manifestation of a double game. The Orenburg ataman adhered to his own political line, kept an eye on the political forces that surrounded him, and sometimes flirted with both, trying to achieve maximum benefits for his army. Considering that the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army was divided between the Samara and Omsk governments, Dutov, as the ataman of the entire army, had to maintain relations with both. In terms of its political orientation, the coalition (from the Socialist-Revolutionaries to the monarchists, with a predominance of representatives of the right wing) the Provisional Siberian Government that existed in Omsk was much more to the right of the Socialist-Revolutionary Komuch, which was one of the reasons for the sharp disagreements between them. In this situation, Dutov's visit to Siberia was considered by the Socialist-Revolutionaries almost as a betrayal of the interests of KOMUCH. Meanwhile, according to some reports, on July 24–25, 1918, an attempt was made on Dutov in Chelyabinsk, but the ataman was not injured.

On July 25, Dutov was promoted to major general by KOMUCH, but it seems that after a few days the leaders of the Committee regretted this. Dutov arrived in Omsk on July 26 and was received in the Council of Ministers in the evening of the same day; his first meeting with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Provisional Siberian Government P.V. Vologda. The Omsk visit caused an extremely negative reaction in Samara.

On August 4, Dutov returned from Omsk and took up operations at the front. fighting in August-September, they were characterized by attempts by the Orenburgers to take Orsk, the last center not controlled by the whites on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army. With varying success, there were battles in the Tashkent direction. Attempts to take Orsk dragged on until the end of September, and already in early October, in connection with the collapse of the Volga front, the Buzuluk front was formed in the north, which became the main one for the Orenburgers.

On November 18, 1918, as a result of a coup in Omsk, Kolchak came to power, becoming the Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of Russia. One of the first to enter his subordination was Ataman Dutov. He wanted to show by example what every honest officer should do. Parts of Dutov in November became part of the Russian army of Admiral Kolchak. Dutov played a positive role in resolving the conflict between Ataman Semyonov and Kolchak, urging the former to submit to the latter, since the candidates for the post Supreme Ruler obeyed Kolchak, called on the "Cossack brother" Semenov to let military supplies pass for the Orenburg Cossack army.

In the second half of 1918 - the first half of 1919, in a fierce struggle in the Urals and the Middle Volga region, the fate of Russia was decided.

In January 1919, units of the Separate Orenburg Army, having lost contact with the Separate Ural Army, retreated to the east, deep into the territory of the army. The Reds developed their success by advancing along the Orskaya line railway. A separate Orenburg army retreated with heavy fighting.

On September 18, 1919, the Southern Army was renamed the Orenburg Army, and on September 21, Dutov took command of it.

Failures led to the fact that the morale of the troops dropped sharply, the Cossacks began to arbitrarily go home and run over to the Reds. The significant overwork of the troops and the shortcomings of the militia staffing of the units also had an effect. For increase fighting spirit troops Dutov had to disband unreliable units, take measures to strengthen discipline, reform command staff army.

On May 23, Kolchak appointed Dutov as a field ataman of all Cossack troops and inspector general of the cavalry, retaining his position as well. military ataman Orenburg Cossack army.

On September 18, 1919, the Southern Army was renamed the Orenburg Army, and on September 21, Dutov took command of it. He took on a difficult economy - to retreat east along the Trans-Siberian Railway, the army collapsed and retreated non-stop across the bare, deserted steppe, lacking food. Only after receiving news of the fall of the capital of white Siberia, the retreat was continued, at the same time, the Reds reactivated.

Considering the main task to prevent the Reds from establishing a regular railway connection with Turkestan, Dutov fought for every piece of the railway track in the section between the Iletsk Protection and Aktyubinsk that was still under the control of the Cossacks. Preventing the connection of Turkestan with Soviet Russia was one of the main strategic tasks, and, to the credit of the South-Western, Separate Orenburg and Southern armies, which are sometimes considered almost worthless associations, this task was successfully solved until the end of hostilities on Southern Urals autumn 1919

But they ended in defeat. During this period, Dutov developed a plan for partisan actions, and then retreated to Semirechye. Dutov became the civil governor of the Semirechensk Territory. And in May 1920 he moved to China along with the Semirechensk army of Ataman Annenkov. On February 7, 1921, Ataman Dutov was killed in Suidun by agents of the Cheka during a special operation.

The White Guard commanders, forced to leave Russia, did not believe that the war with the Bolsheviks was over. Many of them tried to find allies on the side in order to return and liberate the country from red power. Such was Ataman Dutov. Having moved to China, he began to prepare a liberation campaign and maintained contact with numerous underground organizations. The Cheka could not wait until he gained enough strength. And so they prepared a special operation to eliminate Dutov.

Against the Bolsheviks

The future ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks was born in 1879. By the beginning of the First World War, he had behind him the end of the Orenburg cadet corps, Nicholas Cavalry School and the Academy of the General Staff. Alexander Ilyich had a chance to take part in Russo-Japanese War. Then there was the war with Germany. And by 1917, Dutov had many awards, several serious wounds, as well as unconditional authority among the Cossacks. He was even delegated to the Second General Cossack Congress in Petrograd. And then Dutov became chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops.

When the Bolsheviks carried out an armed coup d'état and seized power, Alexander Ilyich did not submit to them. In early November 1917, he signed a decree stating that the Orenburg province did not recognize the Bolshevik system. He officially became the head of the Orenburg province. In a short time, Dutov managed to clear his fiefdom from sympathizers with the red movement. And although Alexander Ilyich considered himself the master of the Orenburg land, he accepted Kolchak's power unconditionally. Ataman understood that in order to defeat the Bolsheviks, it was necessary to step over personal ambitions.

But still White lost. Kolchak's army was defeated, and soon Ataman Dutov himself drank the bitter cup of the vanquished. And in early April 1920, he, along with the remnants of the army, had to leave his native country. The defeated White Guards settled in the Chinese fortress of Suidun and the town of Ghulja. In spite of plight, Alexander Ilyich did not even think of giving up. He told his subordinates: “The fight is not over. Defeat is not defeat yet. The ataman gathered the scattered forces of the White Guards who had taken refuge in China and created the Orenburg Separate Army. And his phrase “I will go out to die on Russian soil and will not return to China” became the motto of all opponents of the Bolshevik government.

Alexander Ilyich launched a stormy activity, establishing contacts with the underground. He was preparing a liberation campaign, trying to attract as many people as possible to this. In fact, Dutov became a formidable adversary, who needed only time to successfully implement his plans. And the Chekists understood this very well. And when they learned about the successful negotiations between the ataman and the Basmachi, it became completely clear that they should not hesitate. Initially, it was decided to steal him from Suidun and give him to an open proletarian court. This responsible task was entrusted to a native of the city of Dzharkent, Tatar Kasymkhan Chanyshev. The Chanyshev family traced its history either from a certain prince, or from a khan. She was rich and powerful. The Chanyshevs were merchants and were active in trade with China. True, their business was smuggling, so merchants had to cross the border along secret paths. Yes, in the neighboring state they had extensive connections and informants.

All this predetermined the choice of Kasymkhan.

Secret agent

Chanyshev quickly assessed the situation and joined the Bolsheviks in 1917. He formed a detachment of the Red Guard from his horsemen, captured Jankert and declared it Soviet. And even the fact that many of his relatives were dispossessed did not affect Kasimkhan's political views. He continued to fight for the Bolsheviks and kept in touch with a relative who lived just in Ghulja. According to the Chekists, Chanyshev was ideally suited for the role of the offended by the Bolsheviks. Like, he fought for them, and they treated his numerous relatives so cruelly. And Kasymkhan agreed to perform an important task.

In the autumn of 1920, in the company of several devoted horsemen, he went to Gulja to carry out preparatory work. The operation lasted several days, after which they returned. Kasymkhan reported that he managed to get in touch with Colonel Ablaykhanov, Dutov's translator. And he promised Chanyshev to arrange a meeting with the ataman. In general, the result exceeded all expectations.

Then there were several more reconnaissance campaigns. Kasimkhan met with Dutov a couple of times, told him his legend and told him about the underground in Dzhankert. He assured the chieftain that in the event of a liberation campaign, they would be able to capture the city, and then support his movement. Alexander Ilyich believed and informed Kasimkhan about his grandiose plans. When the Chekists became aware of them, it was decided to speed up the operation. The fact is that behind Dutov there was already a big force that entangled many large cities. And the Orenburg Separate Army was numerous and combat-ready, and not imaginary, as some of the Bolsheviks wanted to think. The threat has become too scary.

And when the West Siberian uprising began in January 1921, the Chekists were alarmed. It was decided not to kidnap Dutov for a subsequent trial, but simply liquidate him. Chanyshev received a new assignment. And on the night of January 31 to February 1, a group of six people led by Chanyshev crossed the border. Kasymkhan wrote a letter to Dutov, in which he announced his readiness for an uprising: “Mr. Ataman. Stop waiting for us, it's time to start, everything is done. Ready. We are only waiting for the first shot, then we will not sleep either.” The message was delivered by Mahmud Khadjamirov. He, accompanied by orderly Lopatin, entered Dutov's house on February 6. As soon as Alexander Ilyich opened the letter, a shot followed. Having dealt with the ataman, Khadzhamirov also killed Lopatin. Meanwhile, another Chekist agent dealt with the sentry. And soon the whole group crossed the border without loss.

There is evidence that the Chekists did not trust Chanyshev, considering him double agent. Therefore, his relatives were taken hostage. And Kasymkhan was given a condition: either you eliminate Dutov, or you bury your relatives.

Ataman Dutov died the next day. The dream of dying on Russian soil was not destined to come true. He and the other two dead were buried in a cemetery near Seidun. A few days later, the grave of Alexander Ilyich was opened, and his body was beheaded. According to one version, Chanyshev took his head to prove the reality of Dutov's death. But there is no information to confirm this fact.

For the successful completion of an important task, the whole group received a reward. Khadzhamirov received from Dzerzhinsky a gold watch and a Mauser with a commemorative engraving. Chanyshev was presented with the award by Peters. Together with a gold watch, a personalized carbine, he also received a “safeguard certificate”: “The bearer of this comrade. On February 6, 1921, Chanyshev Kasymkhan committed an act of republican significance, which saved several thousand lives of the working masses from the attack of a gang, and therefore the named comrade is required from the Soviet authorities to be attentive and the said comrade is not subject to arrest without the knowledge of the Plenipotentiary Representation.

Kolchak and Dutov bypass the line of volunteers.