© Goncharov V.L., compilation, preface, articles of authorship, 2010

©LLC Veche Publishing House, 2010

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From the compiler

The Tsaritsyn epic of 1918 was extremely unlucky in Soviet historiography. Immediately becoming a bone of contention in the political leadership of the Bolsheviks, it inevitably turned out to be mythologized - and these myths changed in accordance with the direction of the "general line". Historians of the 1920s, many of whom were connected in one way or another with Trotsky, tried to downplay Tsaritsyn's strategic role in the campaign of the first year of the Civil War, although it was completely impossible to deny it.

From the beginning of the 1930s, when Stalin firmly established himself in power in the USSR, and the entire leadership of the armed forces was gradually concentrated in the hands of Voroshilov, the situation changed dramatically. Now Tsaritsyn has become an official myth, demonstrating both the military qualities of the leaders of his defense and the cunning of the demonic Trotsky. Alexei Tolstoy's novel "Bread" was dedicated to the events related to the defense of Tsaritsyn - by the way, an excellent example of artistic reconstruction, which on the whole quite adequately reflected the outline of both military and political events.

In the 1950s, after the death of Stalin, the exposure of the "cult of personality" and the disgrace of Voroshilov as a member of the "anti-party group", the role of Tsaritsyn's defense was again revised. She was not hushed up, but moved into the shadows, joining a number of other episodes of the Civil War. This was largely due to the unofficial desire to mention the name of Stalin as little as possible, and without him it was impossible to adequately present the history of the Tsaritsyn epic.

As a result, the importance of Tsaritsyn was again underestimated, and without a correct understanding of it, it became impossible to adequately assess the strategic pattern of the entire 1918 campaign. In fact, the city on the Volga provided communications between Central Russia and Astrakhan, the Caspian Sea and the North Caucasus, from where not only food, but also oil went to the Center. And at the same time, he turned out to be the wedge that divided the White Guard forces in the Don and Kuban with Eastern Front on the Volga, which arose as a result of the Czechoslovak revolt.

Here is what the emigrant historian, the former White Guard general Zaitsov, writes about the significance of this point in his Essays on the History of the Russian Civil War:

“The liberation of the Don, the return of the Volunteer Army from the campaign against the Kuban, and the formation of a front on the Volga naturally raised the question of coordinating the efforts of these three main groups of Russian counterrevolution. And this problem from a military point of view was the problem of Tsaritsyn.

Any advance of the Donets to the northeast, to join the Samara Front of the People's Army, was flanked by Tsaritsyn. The Red Forces of the North Caucasus were based on it. Tsaritsyn, on the other hand, secured Astrakhan for the Bolsheviks, which separated the Ural Cossacks from the southeastern Cossacks ... Tsaritsyn secured possession of the Caspian Sea and the Urbach-Astrakhan railway connecting it with the center.

This collection does not pretend to put an end to the history of the defense of Tsaritsyn and the events around it. Rather, this is just a selection of materials intended for further research on this issue. The collection is based on the work of a prominent Soviet military historian V.M. Melikov "The Heroic Defense of Tsaritsyn", published in the second edition in 1940 and is still the most detailed study on this topic. As an appendix to it, a selection of documents taken from two fundamental collections of documents of the Civil War - "Directives of the High Command of the Red Army" (1969) and the first volume of "Directives of the Command of the Fronts of the Red Army" (1971) is given. The documents are located in chronological order, which better helps to understand their internal logic; they, like the work of Melikov, are accompanied by comments, including those linking the content of the operational description with the content of certain orders and reports.

In addition, the collection includes two articles analyzing various aspects of the actions of the Soviet leadership during the defense of Tsaritsyn based on modern materials.

Komdiv V.A. MELIKOV, Professor of the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army

Heroic defense of Tsaritsyn

Part one. Voroshilov's campaign

Chapter I. The invasion of the Austro-German troops into the Soviet Republic in 1918

Although on March 3, 1918, the Kaiser government signed a peace treaty in Brest-Litovsk, the German-Austrian troops continued their offensive against Ukraine. Long before February 18, 1918, the counter-revolutionary Central Ukrainian Rada sold the Ukraine to German imperialism. Overthrown by the Ukrainian workers and peasants at the end of January 1918, the Central Rada managed to flee to Zhytomyr. On February 9, she signs an agreement with the German government, according to which not only the sale of Ukraine to German imperialism is formalized, but German and Austrian troops are to occupy these vast lands.

On February 18, German-Austrian troops invade Ukraine, continuing their offensive until the end of May 1918, having occupied Ukraine, the Donetsk coal basin, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus in three and a half months.

The German high command, having sent 29 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions to the Ukraine, with a total strength of up to 300,000 fighters with 1,000 guns, expected that these troops would very quickly, briefly fulfill their task. But already from the first days of the Austro-German-Haidamak offensive it became clear that the enemy would face a big, severe struggle for every step forward.

Before turning to a description of the hostilities in Ukraine during this period, let us briefly consider the general military-political situation for Kaiser Germany, as well as those strategic plans German imperialism, which he worked out in 1918, before his invasion of the Ukraine.

The entry of the United States of America into the world war on the side of the Entente drastically changed the balance of power between the two imperialist coalitions, not in favor of the powers of the Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey).

The economic and political situation of Germany, which played a leading role in this union, was critical by the beginning of 1918. The military dictatorship of Ludendorff and Hindenburg subjugated all the resources of the state. Famine raged inside the country and at the front. High mortality from systematic malnutrition severely weakened the population and armies of the Central Powers. Dissatisfaction and indignation with the Kaiser government and command grew not only among the working people, but also among the soldier masses. Already at the end of 1917, the government and the German high command were faced with a dilemma: either immediately end the war and conclude an unfavorable peace, or concentrate the last forces and in 1918 achieve victory in the main Franco-British theater of operations.

Article d.h.s. Ganina about the role of Stalin in the defense of the city of Tsaritsyn, about how he exposed the White Guard underground and did not allow the surrender of the city and the front.

First of all, the whites' testimonies about Stalin are interesting, as well as the refutation of common tales that "white officers were drowned in barges near Tsaritsyn."
Well, Nosovich himself was a rather cunning and dodgy person who led the Reds by the nose for a long time, until Comrade Stalin crossed his path.

A few years ago in France, the author of these lines discovered a unique personal archive of a white agent in the Red Army, General Anatoly Leonidovich Nosovich (1878-1968). The officer's documents made it possible to lift the veil of secrecy over the events of the defense of Tsaritsyn in 1918 and the confrontation between the commissars led by I.V. Stalin and white underground workers at the headquarters of the North Caucasian Military District.

A.L. Nosovich (sitting second from left) and A.E. Snesarev (sitting third from left) at the front. March 1917

Tsaritsyn underground

In the spring and summer of 1918, a combat-ready Red Army was gradually created in Soviet Russia. In May 1918, a system of military districts emerged, among which was the North Caucasian. Strategically located important region, this district extended to the entire South of Russia, covering the vast territories not occupied by the Germans from the Azov-Black Sea coast and the borders of Ukraine to the Volga region. The district headquarters was in Tsaritsyn. The value of the district was exceptional. It was within its borders that armed clashes with the Don Cossacks and the Volunteer Army took place, the main front of the Civil War, the South, was born. The successes of the Whites on this front subsequently almost led to the collapse of the Bolshevik regime.

Qualified military specialists, former officers of the old army, were involved in the creation of the district administration and leadership of the troops. Thus, an experienced former general A.E. Snesarev, who later proved himself well in the Red Army. The headquarters of such a significant district inevitably attracted the attention of the enemy. On the instructions of the Moscow white underground, former General A.L. Nosovich, who occupied the most important post of chief of staff of the district. To implement his plan, Nosovich took advantage of friendly ties with Snesarev, which he had developed even before the revolution. Nosovich attracted a number of other underground officers as his assistants. First of all, the adjutant, former second lieutenant L.S. Sadkovsky and secretary, former lieutenant S.M. Kremkov.

L.S. Sadkovsky (standing) with his mother and brother

The fates of these people are like a detective. Sadkovsky fled to the Whites, then was captured by the Reds, chose the church path and became a bishop, died in 1948 in the Pskov-Caves Monastery. Kremkov stayed with the Reds, hid his underground work, was awarded the order Red Banner, made a career, later became chief of staff of the corps, was arrested in the "Spring" case, spent several years in camps, and in 1935 shot himself. For many years, the former white underground worker was in love with the famous revolutionary L.M. Reisner.

The position for assignments under Nosovich was taken by the former second lieutenant P.A. Tarasenkov. Comrade Nosovich, former Colonel V.P. Chebyshev, took over as head of the district artillery department. Came from Petrograd former captain 2nd rank P.Ya. Lokhmatov, who became Chebyshev's assistant. Another assistant to Nosovich turned out to be former Colonel A.A. Sosnitsky, who joined the organization already in Tsaritsyn. An acquaintance of Nosovich, former Colonel A.N. Kovalevsky, received the position of head of the mobilization department, but the degree of his involvement in underground work remains in question.

Snesarev suspected something was wrong. On May 18, 1918, he wrote in his diary: "In Soviet[s?] circles, the version is that Nosovich is gathering his guards[s], relatives, counter-revolutionaries ... This is a lie, and isn't he the author?" Over time, suspicions strengthened, but Snesarev did not betray his employee.

The underground workers maintained contact with Moscow with the help of couriers. Nosovich made contact with Colonel Khristich from the Serbian military mission and the French consul Charbaud, through whom he received information from the French military mission in Moscow.

The chief of staff of the district was entrusted with the task of forming five divisions. But for two and a half months he did not organize a single military unit. Seeing in the events that took place the continuation of the First World War and seeing in the Bolsheviks German agents, Nosovich led the fight against the transfer Black Sea Fleet the Germans. According to the testimony of the underground, during the period of the emergence of the Red Army, the very demand for discipline and legality introduced disorganization into the control system. Involuntary assistants were the commander of the Tsaritsyn Front I.V. Tulak and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Tsaritsyno Council Ya.Z. Erman. They, according to Nosovich, had a difficult relationship with the district headquarters, and the white agent skillfully fomented the conflict.

Nosovich’s work was as follows: “I had to not be late to bring discord and confusion by the time of the offensive, and the second was to hold out fruitful work in case the offensive was late until the last opportunity and at the right time to move from covert work at headquarters to active field work, providing direct assistance to the attackers with the help of counter-revolutionary action".

At the end of July 1918, Nosovich handed over to the Cossacks a plan to capture the village of Nizhne-Chirskaya, recommending the optimal direction of the counterattack. To organize an uprising in Tsaritsyn, a connection with the local officer underground was required. By the beginning of July, such a connection was established, it was possible to count on 500-600 officers. To arm the rebels, Chebyshev organized at the Tsaritsyn station an untouchable mobile reserve for 1000 rifles and 10-20 machine guns with ammunition.

I.V. Stalin. 1918

"Smart Commissar Dzhugashvili"

Of course, underground workers could not carry out subversive activities, remaining unexposed for a long time. Moreover, on May 31, 1918, a member of the Council of People's Commissars was sent to Tsaritsyn, People's Commissar on affairs of nationalities I.V. Stalin as the general head of the food business in the South of Russia, endowed with emergency powers.

The arrival of Stalin complicated the work of the underground, and subsequently led to the removal of Nosovich and his arrest. Stalin did not confine himself to food matters, but took all the questions of the defense of the South into his own hands, in connection with which a confrontation with the military could not but arise. Nosovich in the report white command noted that the work was hindered by the appearance of the "energetic and intelligent commissar Dzhugashvili, who solved my problem and, having arrested me, Kovalevsky and the entire artillery department, snatched the initiative from my hands. Stalin guessed about my work, but the general ... situation did not let him in hands enough material for my condemnation.

The white intelligence officer testified that the commissars' suspicions were justified: "Of course, our activities, although from the point of view of the letter of the law are quite correct, caused a lot of criticism from commanders, and especially the former Tsaritsyn leaders and, it must be confessed, that in spirit and instinct they were absolutely right. Terrible words: counter-revolutionaries and White Guards have long been uttered. Anonymous and open friendly warnings to rush and leave Tsaritsyn were not uncommon. But, I repeat, events were brewing. We had to remain at our post until the end. By the actions of [I.V.] Stalin and [S.K.] Minin, I was almost completely out of work. But their too energetic and, no doubt, against the rules established by the center, the measures and actions created strained relations between the commissariat of the North Caucasus, which, with their appearance, remained, in fact, out of work.

Indeed, having found a number of shortcomings in the work of the district military commissariat, from the second half of July 1918, Stalin and his associates, contrary to the military policy of the center, took a number of steps to eliminate the district headquarters.

As a result of Stalin's pressure, Snesarev was summoned to Moscow on July 19 to report to the Supreme Military Council, and was de facto recalled from the district. In connection with the departure of Snesarev, Nosovich became an acting director. military instructor. This made the white agent, as he wrote, "the sovereign arbiter of the fate of Tsaritsyn, remaining de jure subordinate to my commissars [K.Ya.] Zedin and [A.G.] Selivanov. During this period, I could surrender Tsaritsyn to the white forces at any given moment But I repeat ... There was not a word or a word about volunteers. And the Don command did everything not to take this necessary junction of routes and communications with the forces advancing from Siberia. "

N.A. County Commissioners Anisimov and K.Ya. Zedin were sent on long business trips. The management of operations passed to the Military Council of the district, consisting of I.V. Stalin, S.K. Minin and A.N. Kovalevsky (temporarily).

Chief of Staff of the 4th Rifle Corps S.M. Kremkov (left) and corps commander I.S. Kutyakov in Kislovodsk. October 1929

"Barge Policy"

The Military Council on August 4, 1918, "in order to improve the supply of the front" liquidated the district artillery department, and the district headquarters was also liquidated, replaced by the operational department under the Military Council. The next day, employees of the artillery department were arrested, who were placed in a floating prison on barges in the middle of the Volga. Allegations of barge sinking are fiction. After Tsaritsyn was occupied by the Whites in 1919, the Special Commission for Investigating the Atrocities of the Bolsheviks, which was under the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the South of Russia, examined the barges and compiled detailed description these floating prisons. In particular, the difficult conditions of keeping those arrested on barges with the onset of cold weather in the autumn of 1918 were specially noted, but there was no talk of flooding.

There was a reason to arrest artillerymen. According to Nosovich, their activities can be characterized as active sabotage. White subsequently confirmed the fact of a conspiracy of gunners.

Nosovich was removed from his post, and K.E. was introduced to the Military Council of the district instead of Kovalevsky on August 4. Voroshilov. The defeat of the district military commissariat did not stop there - on August 6, the district economic department was liquidated. On August 10, 1918, Nosovich and Kovalevsky were arrested.

A.N. Kovalevsky

However, they did not hit the barge.

By this time, the center began to take measures to curb Tsaritsyn's arbitrariness. Some of the Tsaritsyn Bolsheviks also did not agree with Stalin's actions. On August 10, 1918, the Supreme Military Council decided to stop the liquidation of the district's institutions. On the spot, the line of the center was carried out by representatives of the Higher Military Inspectorate N.I. Podvoisky, as a result of whose intervention, on August 13, Nosovich and Kovalevsky were released on bail by the inspectorate. Their failure to complete tasks was attributed to sabotage local authorities and unresponsiveness of the center. The military experts were to be sent for interrogation to Balashov and further to Moscow, from where they were appointed.

On the same day, Nosovich and Kovalevsky, together with the inspection on the steamer "Groza", left for Kamyshin, which saved them.

Was Stalin right?

The Tsaritsyn arrests in August 1918 were carried out out of Stalin's desire for full power in the North Caucasus and due to distrust of the military experts. But, despite a different background, the figures of the anti-Bolshevik underground, including Nosovich himself and his employees, were under arrest. On the night of August 18, the Tsaritsyn Cheka arrested members of the underground officer organization of engineer N.P. Alekseev, with whom Nosovich had a connection (the Chekists did not know about this). At least 23 people (mostly junior officers) were shot. Had Nosovich lingered in Tsaritsyn, his fate would have been unenviable.

Often there are statements that in Tsaritsyn I.V. Stalin showed excessive cruelty, conspiracy cases were fabricated, military experts were unreasonably terrorized, and that the Tsaritsyn experience was the first test of the subsequent methods of Stalin's repressive policy. But such assessments contradict White's evidence.

The inhospitable Tsaritsyn Nosovich, who left during interrogations, confused the representatives of the Higher Military Inspectorate and did not give himself away. He denied connection with the underground, stating that "the post is almost a permanent temporary military instructor in such a way that, in any case, I'm not talking about 2 heads, so that, being the chief of staff, I can hold any threads of a conspiracy in my hands." Suspicions were removed from the military experts, and Nosovich received a new high appointment as assistant commander of the Soviet Southern Front.

Nosovich was an adventurous person. Having exhausted the possibilities of secret work, on October 24, 1918, he stole an official car, captured the commissar and went over to the side of the whites, passing them important information. The Stalinist group in the RCP(b) presented the incident as proof that their leader was right.

Nosovich tried to pass off his escape as a capture, so as not to let down his comrades in the underground. But this attempt was not crowned with success. Already on November 10, A.N. was arrested. Kovalevsky, November 14 - P.Ya. Lokhmatov and V.P. Chebyshev. According to some reports, Chebyshev managed to escape to the Whites, was promoted to general, but in the summer of 1919 he died under the same Tsaritsyn. According to other sources, he was shot. Lokhmatov and Kovalevsky were shot.

The fate of Nosovich himself turned out well - he emigrated to France and lived in Nice until 1968.

Anton Denikin Side forces Losses Audio, photo, video at Wikimedia Commons

Defense of Tsaritsyn- military campaign of the Red troops against the White troops for control of the city of Tsaritsyn during the Russian Civil War.

In Soviet historiography, three stages were distinguished in the defense of Tsaritsyn - according to the number of repulsed attempts by white troops to capture the city: first defense of Tsaritsyn in July-September 1918; second defense of Tsaritsyn in September-October 1918; third defense of Tsaritsyn in January-February 1919.

In May-June 1919, as a result of another offensive by the White troops, the Red Army left the city. In August 1919 - January 1920 already white army led defensive operations that ended with the final transfer of Tsaritsyn into the hands of the Red troops.

Military-political situation

Thanks to a significant working population, Tsaritsyn was one of the main revolutionary centers of the southeast. European Russia. In economic and military terms, it was important for both sides as an industrial center, and the strategic importance of Tsaritsyn was determined by the intersection of communications here that connected the central regions of the country with the Lower Volga region, the North Caucasus and Central Asia, and through which the center was supplied with food, fuel, etc. For the command of the Don Army, the capture of Tsaritsyn created the possibility of connecting with the troops of the Orenburg ataman Alexander Dutov and provided the right flank of the Cossack army in March 1918 in the main Voronezh direction for General Pyotr Krasnov.

As a result of a serious clash between Snesarev and Stalin and Voroshilov, Snesarev and his entire staff were arrested. Moscow, however, demanded that Snesarev be released and that his orders be followed. The arriving Moscow commission, headed by A. I. Okulov, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, decided to leave Stalin and Voroshilov in Tsaritsyn, and recall Snesarev to Moscow. Formally, Snesarev remained the military leader of the district until September 23, 1918. In fact, Stalin became the military leader in the North Caucasus and in the Tsaritsyn region.

By order No. 1 of the military council of the North Caucasus Military District (military council of the North Caucasian Military District) dated July 22, a former colonel was temporarily appointed military instructor (military leader) of the district tsarist army A. N. Kovalevsky; Colonel A. L. Nosovich became the chief of staff of the district. At the same time, on July 24, Kovalevsky was introduced to the military council of the district. However, already on August 4, he was removed from all positions, since he considered the defense of the district a hopeless affair. By order of Stalin, the Tsaritsyno Cheka arrested all employees of the artillery department of the district headquarters, and the headquarters itself was liquidated (August 4). On August 6, the economic department of the district was liquidated. On August 10, Nosovich was also dismissed from the post of chief of staff of the district, and Nosovich and Kovalevsky were arrested for criminal inaction and sabotage. Nosovich and Kovalevsky soon, already on August 13, were released from arrest by order of Trotsky on bail of the inspection, which arrived in Tsaritsyn, headed by the chairman of the Higher Military Inspectorate, N. I. Podvoisky. On the same day, the released military experts, together with the inspection group, left for Kamyshin. On October 11, 1918, Nosovich, with secret documents, went over to the side of the Volunteer Army. This caused the second arrest of the district headquarters, Kovalevsky, by order of the Special Department for Combating Counter-Revolution and Espionage on the Southern Front, was shot in early December 1918 "for transmitting information of a military nature to the White Guards" and "connection with the leaders of the White Guard."

Mamantov K.K.

“The situation in the south is not easy. The military council received a completely unhinged inheritance, partly frustrated by the inertia of the former military instructor.

On August 5, K. E. Voroshilov, commander of the troops of the Tsaritsyno Front, was appointed a member of the Military Council of the North Caucasus Military District. The Tsaritsyno Committee of the RCP(b) sent M. L. Rukhimovich, A. Ya. Parkhomenko, and others to work in the North Caucasian Military District.

In early August, the operational group of Fitskhelaurov, advancing in the northern direction, having thrown back the red units for 150 km, reached the Volga from Tsaritsyn to Kamyshin, interrupting the communication of the Tsaritsyn group with Moscow.

Mamantov's group (12 thousand bayonets and sabers), advancing in the center, broke through the front on August 8 and threw the Reds from the Don to Tsaritsyn, capturing Kalach. On August 18, units of Mamantov captured the suburbs of Tsaritsyn, Sarepta and Yerzovka, and started fighting directly outside the city.

However, Polyakov's group, advancing along railway Tikhoretsk-Tsaritsyn from the area of ​​Velikoknyazheskaya station to the city from the south, which was supposed to provide the right flank and rear of the Mamantov group, got bogged down in local battles, did not reach Tsaritsyn, which allowed the Reds, pulling up reserves, on August 23 to strike at the flank and rear Mamantov's group. Mamantov's group was forced to start a retreat and by September 6 retreated to their original positions beyond the Don. The failure of the assault on Tsaritsyn was also facilitated by the fact that the Don army had practically no heavy weapons and combat infantry units.

However, despite the success, the position of the Tsaritsyn group of the Reds was unstable due to heavy losses: up to 60 thousand people were killed, wounded and captured. The next assault could be the last.

In mid-September 1918, the Don Army launched a second offensive against Tsaritsyn. 38 thousand bayonets and sabers, 138 machine guns, 129 guns, 8 armored trains were sent to storm the city. The 10th Red Army defending Tsaritsyn consisted of 40 thousand bayonets and sabers, 200 machine guns, 152 guns, 13 armored trains. On September 21, 1918, the Don Army went on the offensive and defeated the 10th Red Army, pushing it back from the Don to the suburbs of Tsaritsyn by the beginning of October. Fierce battles unfolded on September 27-30 in the central sector - in the Krivo-Muzginskaya area. At the end of September, the White Guards began to act around the city from the south, captured Gniloaksayskaya on October 2, and Tinguta on October 8. The Cossacks north and south of the city went to the Volga, cut the Tsaritsyn-Tikhoretskaya railway, taking the city in pincers.

Commander of the Steel Division D.P. Zhloba

In the first half of October, the Don Army drove the Reds out of the suburbs of Tsaritsyn: Sarepta, Beketovka, Otrada, reaching the last line of defense of the city by October 15, 1918. On October 15, 1918, in the Beketovka area, the Red Army soldiers of the 1st and 2nd peasant regiments went over to the side of the whites. There was a huge gap in the defense of the Reds.

To repel the enemy that had broken through to the suburbs, the command of the 10th Army used a column of armored trains under the command of F.N. An artillery group (about 100 guns), headed by M. I. Kulikov, interacted with the armored trains. Artillery and armored train fire inflicted great damage on the enemy. From the Volga, the troops of the 10th Army were supported by the ships of the flotilla.

The decisive assault on Tsaritsyn was scheduled by the command of the Don Army for October 17. The fate of the city seemed to be sealed.

The turn near Tsaritsyn in favor of the 10th Army was decided by the arrival from the Caucasus of the Steel Division of D.P. Zhloba, who quarreled with the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army of the North Caucasus Sorokin and took his division from Caucasian front to Tsaritsyn. The steel division arrived near Tsaritsyn and on October 15 dealt a crushing blow to the assault units of the Don Army from the rear. The blow between Tundutovo and Sarepta fell on the Astrakhan division of the Don army. During the 45-minute battle, the Steel Division utterly defeated the Astrakhan infantry, cavalry and artillery, and the commander of the Astrakhan detachment, General M. Demyanov, was killed and his headquarters was captured. After the defeat of the Astrakhan detachment, the Don troops of the North-Eastern Front, commanded by General K.K. Mamantov, were under the threat of encirclement and were forced to retreat from Tsaritsyn.

However, not only the Redneck division turned the tide. On October 17, all the artillery available at the front was concentrated on the offensive sector of the Don Army - more than 200 guns. When the Cossacks began their offensive, they were met with heavy artillery fire. At the same time, the Red Army men hit their ranks. As a result, the White offensive was repulsed.

The assault on the city failed, and the Reds launched a counteroffensive. On October 16-19, the 10th Army of the Red Army occupied Svetly Yar, Abganerovo, Chapurniki, Tundutovo, Chervlenoe. On October 21, the Salsk group of Bolsheviks, making their way from the south, joined with Tsaritsynskaya. With the combined efforts of the red 10th, 8th, 9th armies and the 1st Steel division of the Redneck, the white formations of the Don army were driven back from Tsaritsyn. Having suffered heavy losses, the Don army began to retreat and by October 25 retreated beyond the Don.

Brief chronology

A brief chronology of the events of the second defense of Tsaritsyn, associated with the activities of I.V. Stalin and K.E. Voroshilov:

• On September 15, a meeting of V. I. Lenin, Ya. M. Sverdlov and J. V. Stalin took place on the issues of the Tsaritsyn Front.
• On September 17, I. V. Stalin was appointed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council Southern Front. K. E. Voroshilov was appointed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front and assistant commander of the Southern Front.
• September 22 JV Stalin returns from Moscow to Tsaritsyn. Here, together with Voroshilov and Minin, he refused to comply with the decision of the highest military body of the republic, creating a separate military center. To this end, they renamed the Military Council of the North Caucasus Military District into the Military Revolutionary Council (VRS) of the Southern Front and refused to recognize the military specialist P.P. Sytin as commander of the Southern Front.
• October 3 JV Stalin and KE Voroshilov send a telegram to V. I. Lenin with a demand to discuss in the Central Committee the question of Trotsky's actions that threaten the collapse of the Southern Front. Their claims were rejected. conflict situation in Tsaritsyn, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) considered, instructing Sverdlov to call Stalin to a direct wire and indicate to him that submission to the Revolutionary Military Council of the republic was necessary.
• On October 4, Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army I. I. Vatsetis confirmed in a telegram addressed to Mekhonoshin: “The Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic categorically prohibits the independent transfer of units without the knowledge and consent of Commander Sytin. Comrade Stalin is invited to immediately leave for Kozlov to jointly carry out the tasks assigned to him with Sytin, and it is strictly forbidden to mix command functions. The Central Committee of the RCP (b) reorganized the RVS of the Southern Front, approving the composition: P. P. Sytin, K. A. Mekhonoshin, B. V. Legrand.
• On October 5, JV Stalin, by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), was recalled to Moscow.
• October 8 By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, JV Stalin is appointed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.
• October 11 JV Stalin returns from Moscow to Tsaritsyn. JV Stalin informs Ya. M. Sverdlov by direct wire about the situation on the Tsaritsyn front.
• October 18 JV Stalin telegraphs V. I. Lenin about the defeat of the Krasnov troops near Tsaritsyn.
• On October 19, JV Stalin was finally recalled from Tsaritsyn to Moscow.

The third defense of Tsaritsyn

On January 1, 1919, the Don Army launched its third offensive against Tsaritsyn. On December 21, the Ust-Medveditsky cavalry of Colonel Golubintsev launched an offensive, reaching the Volga north of Tsaritsyn and cutting the Bolshevik front. The Red Command deployed Dumenko's cavalry against Golubintsev. Fierce battles ensued, with varying success. Meanwhile, parts of General Mamantov came close to Tsaritsyn. To the south of Tsaritsyn, Gorodovikov's red cavalry was defeated and driven into the city outskirts. Due to frost and the moral decay of the Don army, the Don offensive against Tsaritsyn was stopped. In mid-February, units of the Don Army were forced to withdraw from Tsaritsyn.

On June 10 (June 23), the light armored train "Forward for the Motherland" arrived at the Zhutovo station. On June 12 (June 25), a heavy armored train "United Russia" arrived at the Sarepta station. The heavy armored train "John Kalita" from the 2nd armored train division, sent to help Wrangel, did not have time to approach the assault on Tsaritsyn, detained at Peschanookopskaya station. Measures were taken to hide from the Reds that the railway bridge over the Sal River had already been fixed and that the armored trains would be able to participate in the upcoming battle.

The people welcomed Denikin after the capture of Tsaritsyn. June 1919

Denikin and Wrangel at the parade in Tsaritsyn, 1919

Despite the tactical difficulties of attacking the Tsaritsyno fortified position from the south, along the Volga, the commander of the Caucasian army, General Wrangel, decided to strike the main blow in this direction.

On June 16 (June 29), at about 3 o'clock in the morning, the offensive of Wrangel's troops began.

Tsaritsyn fell on June 17 (June 30) after a morning simultaneous concentrated attack of 17 tanks of the First Tank Division, formed in Yekaterinodar, and five armored trains: light Orel, General Alekseev, Forward for the Motherland, Ataman Samsonov" and heavy " United Russia ". Of the tanks formed into 4 tank detachments of 4 tanks, eight were heavy cannon Mk I, and nine were machine gun Mk A "Whippet", of which one ("extra", 17th) was "from sports" the British crew of the captain Cox. Part of the victory belonged to General Ulagai, who commanded the shock group in the 2nd and 4th Cavalry Corps, and General Pokrovsky, who went behind the Red lines.

On June 18 (July 2), a detachment of the commander of the Caucasian Army, General P. N. Wrangel, proceeded to Tsaritsyn through Sarepta. On June 20 (July 4), General A.I. further development summer campaign of 1919.

The commander of the Caucasian Volunteer Army, Baron Wrangel, in June 1919, during the fourth siege of Tsaritsyn, for the first time in history tank battles successfully applied a special strategy of tank combat. As part of a cavalry-mechanized group, tanks solved independent operational tasks.
White's victory was assured - Tsaritsyn fell. During the Second World War, the Wehrmacht troops adopted this tactic, and from November 1942, the military invention of Baron Wrangel began to be successfully used by Soviet troops.

Red Verdun
In the first year of the Civil War, Tsaritsyn was hard nut for the troops of the Don Ataman Krasnov. Three times he tried to take the city with a powerful cavalry attack, and three times the Cossack units of Mamontov and Fitskhelaurov rolled back behind the Don.
It was impossible to take the "Red Verdun", bristling with artillery batteries and armored trains, with the help of Cossack courage alone. The main obstacle for Krasnov's cavalry and infantry were barbed wire, behind which were machine-gun crews and rows of full profile trenches. The effective defense of Tsaritsyn was the merit of Dmitry Karbyshev, who in 1918 headed a separate engineering department of the North Caucasian Military District (in February 1945, Karbyshev was tortured to death in the Mauthausen concentration camp).

To take the "Red Verdun" the white troops needed a powerful and mobile weapon. In those years, tanks were such weapons. Ataman Krasnov was friendly with the German invaders. But they could not provide the Don ataman with tanks. The Entente countries, for obvious reasons, were not going to supply armored vehicles to the Kaiser's friend at all.
Tanks Great Britain placed at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, Anton Denikin, in 1919, when Krasnov left the political arena of Russia.

"Females" and "males"
In April 1919, in the Novorossiysk port on British ships the first batch of tanks arrived. They were divided into "females" and "males". To feminine attributed the light tank Mark-A ("Borzoya"), equipped with several Vickers machine guns, to the masculine - Mark-IV (V), armed in addition to machine guns, also with two rapid-fire 57-millimeter cannons. "Females" developed a speed of up to 13 km / h. "Males" did not accelerate faster than 6 km / h. The crew of tanks ranged from 3 to 9 people.

In April, training courses for tankers were opened in Ekaterinodar on the basis of the Nobel plant. English teachers taught. In three months, about 200 certified tankers were released.

Left - Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia General Denikin talking to the first graduates of the Yekaterinodar School of Tanks.
On the right is a certificate of graduation from school, which gave the right to enroll in the tank units of the White Army.

The work of a tanker at that time was very difficult. The temperature inside the car reached 50 degrees, gases penetrated into the cabin and did not erode. Tankers could stay in battle for no more than three hours, after which rest was necessary. They literally fell out of the cars in a semi-conscious state in "terrible in their mud suits, filled with oil and oil." Tankers were brought to their senses with ammonia and turpentine. After four months of being on the front line, the tankers were given leave.

Russian tankers received their first serious baptism of fire in the Donbass in the Yasenovatoe-Debaltsevo region. The monsters, invulnerable to machine-gun and artillery fire, caused panic among the Red Army soldiers.

In June, four tank detachments (four tanks each) were sent by rail to take Tsaritsyn. Wrangel placed two detachments near the southern defensive line. Here it was planned to deliver the main blow to the position of the Reds.

Wrangel's directive of June 27 read: “The group of General Ulagai - the 2nd Kuban, 4th cavalry corps, 7th infantry division, tank division, armored car division, four armored trains - to break through the enemy defenses and, developing an offensive along the Sarepta-Tsaritsyn railway, capture Tsaritsyn from the south. The 1st Kuban Corps, having allocated part of its forces to ensure maneuver from the north, advance in the general direction on the Rossoshinskiy-Gumrak farm in order to press the enemy to the Volga and cut off his escape route to the north. The beginning of the general offensive at dawn on June 29".

Breakthrough defense anchors
Early in the morning of June 29, Wrangel's armored vehicles moved from Sarepta to the southern fortified area of ​​the Tsaritsyn defenders. Eight tanks were ahead. One crew was British, under the leadership of Captain Cox. Foreigners took part in the battle "for the sake of sport." Tanks were followed by armored cars and cavalry. The 7th Infantry Division followed.

The attack of the strike group was supported by an armored train equipped with large-caliber naval long-range guns.
"Tanks rushed in the dust, as if in a smoke screen", an eyewitness recalled. - “They were walking along the front. At the barbed wire fences, under heavy enemy fire, the tanks stopped. Volunteer crew members climbed out of the cockpit. They anchored the barbed wire, and the tanks raked it into a shapeless pile. »

The fire of the Reds did not cause any damage to the tanks at all. They reached the level of the trenches with impunity and with longitudinal machine-gun and cannon fire swept away the first level of defense of the 37th division. The surviving Red Army soldiers in a panic began to flee to the rear, dragging fighters from the second and third lines of trenches. The armored cars and Babiev's cavalry following the tanks destroyed individual centers of resistance of the Reds, the infantry carried out a sweep behind them and escorted numerous prisoners to their rear. Within three hours, the 37th Red Division was defeated. Her neighbors hastily retreated to the northern outskirts of the city.

At noon, the tanks entered into battle with four armored trains of the Reds. They came close to them and became invulnerable - the shells flew high above the tanks, without causing them any harm. Three armored trains managed to go to the rear, and the fourth took the fight. One of the heavy tanks climbed the railroad embankment and smashed the rails.
With two accurate shots, he disabled the locomotive of the armored train and immobilized it. After a brief battle, the white infantry took the crew of the armored train prisoner. By evening, only one tank remained in service. The rest were hidden from the fire of the defenders of Tsaritsyn in the beam. They ran out of fuel and ammunition. The wagons with these stocks could not approach the tanks because of the dense fire of the Volga military flotilla.
On June 30, only one tank out of eight that took part in the assault on the city entered the streets of Tsaritsyn. He made rare shots - the ammunition was running out. With its imposing appearance, Mark-I instilled fear and panic in the Red Army soldiers, and pep in the White Guards. On July 3, during a military parade on the occasion of the capture of the Red Verdun, Wrangel awarded 17 tankers St. George's crosses and medals of the IV degree. Members of the British crew were also awarded. According to eyewitnesses, the British “they rejoiced at the crosses like children: they shouted and danced”.
From 5 to 9 September, the tank division again took part in the battles, this time on the northern outskirts of Tsaritsyn. In those days, a large landing detachment of sailors of the Volga-Caspian military flotilla under the leadership of Ivan Kozhanov landed in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe French Plant. He was supported by the 28th and 38th divisions of the X Red Army. With the help of tanks, the landing force was almost completely destroyed. The 28th division was also utterly defeated.

A blank hit the tank
In November, the Red Army soldiers learned how to fight British tanks. On the northern outskirts of Tsaritsyn, in the area of ​​​​the Market, the red artillerymen set up an ambush, hiding the gun behind the counters. A small detachment of Red Army soldiers simulated an offensive.

A tank advanced towards them. He slowly drove into the market and began to pursue the fleeing infantry. When the tank showed its side 20 meters from the hidden crew, a blank flew into it with a roar. She crushed the tank door. The second blank smashed his insides. Soon the second tank met the same fate.

In December, almost all the tanks at the disposal of the Caucasian army were surrounded in the same northern district of the city. The crews fled, and the tanks were left to rust under open sky. In the early 1930s, they were sent for remelting to the Stalingrad Tractor Plant.

Tanya-Vanka
The experience of fighting "tanks", as the Red Army called tanks, in the battles for Tsaritsyn formed the basis of the Guidelines for firing at tanks " Brief information about tanks (supplement to the order of the X Army No. 418 of 12/7/1919). There, in particular, it was pointed out the futility of firing at tanks from mortars. It was proposed to use 42-line guns and grenades. The proletarian poet Demyan Bedny also contributed to the fight against Wrangel's tanks. In the same 1919, he wrote the front-line song "Tanka-Vanka". Here is a fragment of this poem:

“Tanka went with a trump card,
Dust on the street chalk,
Instilled fear in Vanka,
It was forceful!
"Vanka, look: tanka, tanka! ..
Get up - stop thinking!
Somehow Vanka got brave -
Tanka, look, hooves apart!
Just like Vanka is a rejuvenator,
He takes aim.
Today he is a red gunner
In our artillery.
"Vanka, look: tanka, tanka! .."
"Oh you, blow it through!"
As Vanka fires at the tank, -
Tanka, look, the wheels are apart! ... "

In August 1920, the soldiers of the Red Army already without much difficulty and fear destroyed British tanks on the Kakhovka bridgehead. During its construction, military engineer D.M. Karbyshev took into account the lessons of the Tsaritsyn disaster. For the first time in the history of the Red Army, he used anti-tank mines here. In the same year, the first tank detachment appeared in the Red Army.

Captured from the whites, the tank "For Holy Russia", later renamed the "Moskvich Proletarian", in Kakhovka.

Vyacheslav YASHCHENKO

DISH "MAKI" COPPER PLATE
PLATE KUZNETSOV

ASHTRAY	A CUP	FRUIT BOWL	ICON
IRON	INKWELL	BOX	OAK POT

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