General Kornilov was and remains one of the most interesting and controversial historical figures in Russian history. He swore allegiance to the emperor, arrested the empress, wanted to overthrow the provisional government, and died at the hands of the Bolsheviks.

Versions of origin

Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was born in Ust-Kamenogorsk on August 30, 1870. What is significant for Kornilov is that even his origins are still debated by historians. According to one version, his father, Georgy Nikolaevich, was a former cornet of the 7th Siberian Cossack Regiment. Eight years before Laurus was born, he left the Cossack class and moved to the rank of collegiate registrar.

According to the Omsk writer-local historian Vladimir Shuldyakov, Kornilov was born into the family of a hereditary Cossack Georgy Nikolaevich Kornilov - the son of an interpreter from the Karkaraly village of the Siberian Cossack Army, who married a local Cossack woman Praskovya Ilyinichna Khlynovskaya, whose family included Kalmyks - hence Lavr, the fourth child in the family , had a characteristic “oriental appearance”.

According to another version, historian Shovunov, Lavr Kornilov is Lavga Gildzhirovich Deldinov. He was born into the family of a Kalmyk Cossack and a Russian Cossack woman in the Don village of Semikarakorskaya. When the family broke up, young Lavga was adopted by his uncle Georgy Kornilov, who lived in Ust-Kamenogorsk and was registered as Lavr.

There is another version that Kornilov’s mother was Kazakh, and in this case Lavr Georgievich did not have a drop of Russian blood.

"Quiet, modest, kind"

Lavr Kornilov was from the breed of tenacious, stubborn and ambitious provincials who were not used to being patronized. At the military school, the cadet Kornilov was given the following description:

“Quiet, modest, kind, hardworking, obedient, efficient, friendly, but due to lack of education he seems rude... Being very proud, inquisitive, taking science and military affairs seriously, he promises to be a good officer.”

Short, thin, inconspicuous, he stood out during the training process, perhaps, only for his exotic appearance, but every time exams and passing tests became his “finest hour” for Kornilov. He showed brilliant knowledge in all sciences and disciplines. Kornilov could have had a quiet military career at the Academy, but he chose a different path.

War Hero

After the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Kornilov was eager to go to the front and won the position of headquarters officer of the 1st Brigade of the Combined Rifle Corps. In fact, he began to act as chief of staff.

His characterization was impeccable: “...Health is good, mental abilities are outstanding, moral qualities are very good... strong will, hardworking and with great ambition... due to excellent abilities, as well as great pride, he will cope with all sorts of things...”.

Kornilov became a hero of the Russian-Japanese War, distinguished himself in the battle of Mukden (took command and led units out of encirclement), and received the St. George Cross, 4th degree.

Orientalist intelligence officer

Lavr Kornilov was not only a talented military leader, but also a successful intelligence officer. From 1907 to 1910 he served as a military agent in China. Thanks to Kornilov, the Russian Empire received large amounts of intelligence data.

The productivity of Lavr Georgievich's work was rooted in the strictest discipline, which Kornilov himself followed and which he expected from his subordinates. Lieutenant Colonel Afanasyev, who served as Kornilov’s assistant in Mukden, wrote reports several times about Kornilov’s overly authoritarian leadership style.

Last Hero

Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was the last military leader appointed to his position by Nicholas II. The Emperor signed the appointment a few hours before his abdication, at the insistence of the Chairman of the Duma M.V. Rodzianko.

Kornilov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Petrograd district, because in this place they wanted to see “a valiant military general, whose name would be popular and authoritative among the population...”.

And Kornilov was famous. His military successes, his successful escape from Austrian captivity, made him a real example. At the same time, it must be said that his military glory was far from clear. Brusilov wrote about him:

“It’s a strange thing, General Kornilov never spared his division: in all the battles in which it participated under his command, it suffered horrific losses, and yet the officers and soldiers loved him and believed him. True, he did not spare himself, he was personally brave and climbed forward headlong.”

Loyal Subject

One of the first assignments that Lavr Georgievich personally took on was the arrest of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Later she recalled this: “Kornilov behaved these days like a true loyal subject.”

It must be said that Kornilov took up his duties with his characteristic zeal. He called for an end to anarchy, for the militarization of the entire country, and believed that it was necessary to create not one army, but three: at the front, in the rear and on the railways. Kornilov had prepared a program for the militarization of the country, the introduction of the death penalty, the fight against agitators, and the influence of the Soviets. What was surprising was that Kerensky supported him.

Kornilov mutiny

The so-called Kornilov rebellion is still one of the most mysterious events in Russian history. Neither his motives nor what the military leader wanted to achieve are fully understood.

One thing is clear: by trusting politicians, primarily Alexander Kerensky, Lavr Kornilov was mistaken. Kerensky, with the help of Lvov, staged a provocation at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, where it was said that Kornilov was planning a rebellion. After this, Kornilov was removed from the post of commander-in-chief. It was a shock for him; Lavr Georgievich did not even immediately believe that he had been declared a traitor.

Kerensky was forced to turn to the Bolsheviks for support. They immediately created the slogan: “Whoever is for Kornilov is against the revolution, whoever is against the revolution is against the people, whoever is against the people is against the salvation of the homeland.”
As a result, the units moving towards St. Petersburg were stopped.

The legendary “Wild Division” also went over to the side of the Petrograd Soviet. Ironically, just at that time the All-Russian Muslim Congress was taking place in Petrograd, the agitators from which were sent towards the Native Division and stopped it. Kornilov’s speech was called an attempt to return the monarchy, although Kornilov’s words are known, which he said when it came to the return of the monarchy: “I will not go on any more adventures with the Romanovs.”

The reaction of the former emperor to newspaper reports about “Kornilov’s treason” was interesting. Colonel Romanov was very indignant and “said with bitterness: “Is this Kornilov a traitor?”

The ambiguity of the results of the rebellion is still noted by historians. It was after Kornilov’s speech that the Bolsheviks were able to act, arm the Red Guard, and the process of Bolshevisation of the soviets began.

An outstanding Russian military leader, General of the General Staff from Infantry. Military intelligence officer, diplomat and traveler-researcher. Hero of the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars. Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army (August 1917). Participant of the Civil War, one of the organizers and Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army, leader of the White movement in the South of Russia, pioneer.

Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was born on August 18, 1870 in Ust-Kamenogorsk, in the family of the former cornet of the 7th Siberian Cossack Regiment, Yegor (Georgy) Kornilov, who 8 years before the birth of his son left the Cossack class and became a collegiate registrar. It is believed that Kornilov’s paternal ancestors came to Siberia with Ermak’s squad. In 1869, Georgy Kornilov received the position of clerk at the city police in Ust-Kamenogorsk, a good salary and purchased a small house on the banks of the Irtysh, where the future general was born.

L. G. Kornilov’s mother, Maria Ivanovna, a simple Kazakh woman from the nomadic “Argyn” clan from the banks of the Irtysh, devoted herself entirely to raising children, being illiterate, she was distinguished by an inquisitive mind, a high thirst for knowledge, excellent memory and enormous energy.

According to other sources, the real name and surname of General Lavr Kornilov is Lorya Gildinov (in another spelling Deldinov), and his parents were Kalmyks. Lorya Gildinov-Deldinov allegedly received the name Laurus and the surname Kornilov from his stepfather, captain of the Siberian Cossack army. According to other sources, this is simply a legend: according to the preserved memories of Kornilov’s sister, the boy was born into the family of Georgy Nikolaevich Kornilov in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. In her words, “Kalmyk appearance” is explained by his ancestors not from his father’s side, but from his mother’s side - Praskovya Ilyinichna Khlynovskaya.

However, Marshal of the Soviet Union B. M. Shaposhnikov, who served in Tashkent in the 1st Turkestan Rifle Battalion back in 1903, wrote in his memoirs that second lieutenant Pyotr Kornilov, “the brother of the later notorious General Kornilov,” also served with him. Kornilov’s parents, according to the younger Kornilov’s story, lived in Western Siberia. His father was Russian, he held the position of translator for the district chief, and his mother was a simple Kyrgyz. Hence the Mongolian type of face that the children inherited.” It is known that in Tsarist Russia the Kazakhs were called Kirghiz.

The same Tsvetkov reports: “Suvorin cited evidence from the head of the criminal police, Kolpachev, who remained in Yekaterinodar and was a witness to the destruction of the body: “The corpse was not Kornilov, I can assure you for sure. This man was more than average height (Kornilov was short), - brown-haired - (Kornilov was dark-haired.) The face of the corpse was of the Russian type... The eyes were not at all Kyrgyz, as Kornilov had them - with a slight slant." It is unlikely that General Kornilov hid his Kyrgyz origin from those around him. Everyone knew who he was.

L.G. Kornilov himself wrote the following about himself: “I, General Kornilov, the son of a Cossack peasant, declare to everyone and everyone that I personally do not need anything except the preservation of Great Russia, and I swear to bring the people - through victory over the enemy - until the Constituent Assembly, at which he himself will decide his destinies and choose the way of the new state life.”

At the age of two, little Laurus and his family moved to the village of Karkaralinskaya, Semipalatinsk province, where he spent his childhood and which in some documents is designated as the place of his birth. The ability for foreign languages ​​from his father and grandfather, who served as interpreters in the Cossack army, was passed on to Laurus, which was later used in his service to the Fatherland.

Despite frequent travel, the father was seriously involved in the religious education of his children, and therefore the Law of God became Laurus’s favorite subject. Later, Lavr Georgievich asked to give part of the officer’s salary sent to his sister to the local Orthodox church.

After Lavr graduated from primary school in 1882, the family moved again, this time to the city of Zaisan on the border with China. When his father began serving there as a translator for the head of the local military garrison, all of Lavr’s interests were concentrated around the military, and this situation intensified his love for military service, campaigns and maneuvers.

In Zaisan, Laurus began to prepare to enter the Siberian Emperor Alexander I Cadet Corps, immediately into the 2nd grade. There were no teachers in Zaisan, Lavr prepared on his own, only in mathematics he managed to take a few lessons from one of the garrison officers.

In the cadet corps

In the summer of 1883, young Kornilov was enrolled in the Siberian Cadet Corps in the city of Omsk. At first, he was accepted only by those “coming”: they successfully passed exams in all subjects except French, since there were no appropriate tutors in the Kyrgyz steppe. However, after a year of study, the new student, with his perseverance and excellent certifications (average score 11 out of 12), achieved a transfer to the “state kosht”. His brother Yakov was also enrolled in the same corps.

Having passed the final exams with excellent marks, Laurus receives the right to choose a military school for further education. Love for mathematics and special success in this subject determined Kornilov’s choice in favor of the prestigious (the most capable cadets traditionally flocked here) Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St. Petersburg, where he entered on August 29, 1889.

Service in the Russian Army

Artillery School

The move from Omsk to St. Petersburg marks the beginning of the independent life of a 19-year-old cadet. The father could no longer help Lavra with money, and Kornilov had to earn his own living. He gives mathematics lessons and writes articles on zoogeography, which brings in some income, from which he even manages to help his elderly parents.

At the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, as well as in the cadet corps, studies went “excellent”. Already in March 1890, Kornilov became a school non-commissioned officer. However, Lavr Georgievich received relatively low points for behavior, due to an unpleasant story that occurred between him and one of the school officers, who allowed himself an offensive tactlessness towards Kornilov, and unexpectedly received a rebuff from the proud cadet. “The officer was furious and had already made a sharp movement, but the imperturbable young man, maintaining an outwardly icy calm, lowered his hand on the hilt of his sword, making it clear that he intended to stand for his honor to the end. The head of the school, General Chernyavsky, saw this and immediately recalled the officer.” Considering the talents and universal respect that Kornilov enjoyed, this offense was forgiven.

In November 1891, in his last year at the school, Kornilov received the title of harness cadet.

On August 4, 1892, Kornilov completed an additional course at the school, which gives priority when assigned to service, and put on the shoulder straps of a second lieutenant. The prospect of serving in the Guard or in the capital's military district opens before him, however, the young officer chooses the Turkestan Military District and is assigned to the 5th battery of the Turkestan Artillery Brigade. This is not only a return to their small homeland, but also an advanced strategic direction in the then emerging conflicts with Persia, Afghanistan and Great Britain.

In Turkestan, in addition to his routine service, Lavr Georgievich is engaged in self-education, educating soldiers, and studying oriental languages. However, Kornilov’s irrepressible energy and persistent character do not allow him to remain a lieutenant, and two years later he submits a report to enter the Academy of the General Staff.

General Staff Academy

In 1895, having brilliantly passed the entrance exams (average score 10.93, in five disciplines - out of a maximum of 12), he was enrolled in the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. While studying at the Academy in 1896, Lavr Georgievich married the daughter of the titular adviser Taisiya Vladimirovna Markovina, and a year later their daughter Natalya was born. In 1897, having graduated from the Academy with a small silver medal and “with his name entered on a marble plaque with the names of outstanding graduates of the Nikolaev Academy in the conference hall of the Academy,” Kornilov, who received the rank of captain ahead of schedule (with the wording “for the successful completion of an additional course”), again refused his place in St. Petersburg and chooses service in

Turkestan Military District.

Geographical expeditions

From 1898 to 1904 he served in Turkestan as an assistant to the senior adjutant of the district headquarters, and then as a staff officer for assignments at headquarters. At the risk of his life, disguised as a Turkmen, he conducted a reconnaissance of the British fortress of Deidadi in Afghanistan. He makes a series of long-term research and reconnaissance expeditions in Eastern Turkestan (Kashgaria), Afghanistan and Persia - he studies this mysterious region, meets with Chinese (Kashgaria was part of China) officials and entrepreneurs, and establishes an agent network. The result of this trip will be the book “Kashgaria or Eastern Turkestan” prepared by Lavr Georgievich, which has become a significant contribution to geography, ethnography, military and geopolitical science and has brought the author well-deserved success. This work was also noticed by British specialists. As the modern researcher M.K. Baskhanov has established, the cartographic material for the English edition of “Military Report on Kashgaria” of 1907 represents plans of cities and fortifications of Eastern Turkestan, published in the work of L.G. Kornilov. Captain Kornilov's service in Turkestan did not go unappreciated - for these expeditions he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd degree, and was soon sent on a new assignment to the little-studied areas of Eastern Persia.

The “Steppe of Despair”, along which the unprecedented campaign of Russian scouts under the command of Captain L. G. Kornilov took place - the first Europeans to pass this way - on the maps of Iran contemporary to the events described was indicated by a white spot with the mark “unexplored lands”: “hundreds of miles of endless sand, wind , scorching rays of the sun, a desert where it was almost impossible to find water, and the only food was flour cakes - all travelers who had previously tried to explore this dangerous area died from unbearable heat, hunger and thirst, so British explorers avoided the “Steppe of Despair”. »

In addition to the German and French languages ​​required for a graduate of the General Staff, he mastered English, Persian, Kazakh and Urdu well.

From November 1903 to June 1904 was in India for the purpose of “studying the languages ​​and customs of the peoples of Balochistan”, and in fact - to analyze the state of the British colonial troops. During this expedition, Kornilov visits Bombay, Delhi, Peshawar, Agra (the military center of the British) and other areas, observes British military personnel, analyzes the condition of the colonial troops, and contacts British officers who are already familiar with his name. In 1905, his secret “Report on the Trip to India” was published by the General Staff.

It was in Turkestan that the main talents of Lavr Georgievich, an intelligence officer and researcher, were revealed.

Military agent in China

In 1907-1911 - Having a reputation as an orientalist, Kornilov served as a military agent in China. He studies Chinese, travels, studies the life, history, traditions and customs of the Chinese. Intending to write a big book about the life of modern China, Lavr Georgievich writes down all his observations and regularly sends detailed reports to the General Staff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among them, of great interest are, in particular, the essays “On the Police of China”, “Telegraph of China”, “Description of the maneuvers of Chinese troops in Manchuria”, “Security of the Imperial City and the project for the formation of the Imperial Guard”.

In China, Kornilov helps Russian officers arriving on business trips (in particular, Colonel Mannerheim), makes connections with colleagues from different countries, and meets with the future president of China - at that time a young officer - Chiang Kai-shek.

In his new position, Kornilov paid a lot of attention to the prospects for interaction between Russia and China in the Far East. Having traveled to almost all the major provinces of the country, Kornilov understood perfectly well that its military-economic potential was still far from being used, and its human reserves were too large to be ignored: “...being still too young and being in the period of its formation, the Chinese army is still discovering there are many shortcomings, but... the available number of Chinese field troops already represents a serious fighting force, the existence of which has to be taken into account as a potential enemy...” As the most significant results of the modernization process, Kornilov noted the growth of the railway network and the rearmament of the army, as well as a change in the attitude towards military service on the part of Chinese society. Being a military man became prestigious; military service even required special recommendations.

In 1910, Colonel Kornilov was recalled from Beijing, however, he returned to St. Petersburg only after five months, during which he traveled through Western Mongolia and Kashgaria in order to familiarize himself with the Chinese armed forces on the borders with Russia.

The activities of Kornilov as a diplomat of this period were highly appreciated not only in his homeland, where he received the Order of St. Anne, 2nd degree and other awards, but also among diplomats from Britain, France, Japan and Germany, whose awards also did not spare the Russian intelligence officer.

From February 2, 1911 - commander of the 8th Estonian Infantry Regiment. From June 3, 1911 - head of a detachment in the Zaamursky district of a separate border guard corps (2 infantry and 3 cavalry regiments). After a scandal that ended with the resignation of the head of the Zaamursky OKPS district, E.I. Martynov, he was appointed commander of the brigade of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed in Vladivostok.

Supreme Commander

Already on July 19 of the General Staff, General of the Infantry L. G. Kornilov was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief, replacing General Brusilov in this post, who was led by the soldiers’ committees, which led to the disintegration of the army and the loss of control over the troops, which, at the slightest onslaught of the enemy, left en masse positions and went to the rear. Lavr Georgievich does not immediately accept this position, but first, within three days, he stipulates the conditions under which he is ready to agree to accept it: non-interference by the government in appointments to senior command positions, the speedy implementation of the army reorganization program, the appointment of General Denikin as commander of the Southwestern Front. After long negotiations, the parties managed to reach a compromise, and Kornilov accepted a post that made him the second person in the state, a major political figure capable of influencing events taking place in the country. This appointment was met with great joy among officers and the conservative public. This camp had a leader in whom they saw hope for the salvation of the army and Russia.

To restore discipline in the army, at the request of General Kornilov, the Provisional Government introduces the death penalty. Using decisive and harsh methods, using in exceptional cases the execution of deserters, General Kornilov returns the Army's combat capability and restores the front. At this moment, General Kornilov became a people’s hero in the eyes of many; great hopes began to be placed on him and they began to expect the salvation of the country from him.

Taking advantage of his position as Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Kornilov presents demands to the Provisional Government known as the "Kornilov Military Program". In Moscow at the State Meeting on August 13-15, General. Kornilov, in his extensive report, pointed out the catastrophic situation at the front, the destructive effect on the masses of soldiers of the legislative measures taken by the Provisional Government, and the ongoing destructive propaganda sowing anarchy in the Army and the country.

Under arrest in Bykhov

After the failure of his speech, Kornilov was arrested and the general and his associates spent the period from September 1 to November 1917 under arrest in Mogilev and Bykhov. At first, the arrested were placed in the Metropol Hotel in Mogilev. Along with Kornilov in Mogilev, his chief of staff, General Lukomsky, General Romanovsky, Colonel Plyushchevsky-Plyushchik, Aladin, several officers of the general staff and the entire executive committee of the officers' union were also arrested.

The Tekin Regiment formed by Kornilov provided security for the arrested, which ensured the safety of the arrested. To investigate what happened, an investigative commission was appointed (chaired by the chief military prosecutor Shablovsky, members of the commission were military investigators Ukraintsev, Raupach and Kolosovsky). Kerensky and the Council of Workers' Deputies demanded a military trial of Kornilov and his supporters, but the members of the investigative commission treated those arrested quite favorably.

On September 9, 1917, the cadet ministers resigned as a sign of solidarity with General Kornilov.

Some of those arrested who did not take an active part in the Kornilov uprising (General Tikhmenev, Plyushchevsky-Plyushchik) were released by the investigative commission, while the rest were transferred to Bykhov, where they were placed in the building of an old Catholic monastery. Kornilov, Lukomsky, Romanovsky, General Kislyakov, Captain Bragin, Colonel Pronin, Ensign Nikitin, Colonel Novosiltsev, Captain Rodionov, Captain Soets, Colonel Resnyansky, Lieutenant Colonel Rozhenko, Aladin, Nikonorov were transported to Bykhov.

Another group of arrested supporters of Kornilov: generals Denikin, Markov, Vannovsky, Erdeli, Elsner and Orlov, captain Kletsanda (Czech), official Budilovich were imprisoned in Berdichev. The chairman of the investigative commission, Shablovsky, managed to achieve their transfer to Bykhov.

After the October Revolution, it became clear that the Bolsheviks would soon send a detachment against Headquarters. There was no point in staying in Bykhov. The chairman of the investigative commission, Shablovsky, based on the investigation data, by November 18 (December 1), released all those arrested except five (Kornilov, Lukomsky, Romanovsky, Denikin and Markov).

On November 19 (December 2), the remaining five left Bykhov. Kornilov decided to go to the Don in marching order with his Tekinsky regiment. The Bolsheviks managed to track down the regiment's route and it was fired upon from an armored train. After crossing the Seim River, the regiment found itself in a poorly frozen swampy area and lost many horses. Finally, Kornilov left the Tekins, deciding that it would be safe for them to go without him, and disguised as a peasant, with a false passport, he set off alone by rail. On December 6 (19), 1917, Kornilov arrived in Novocherkassk. Other Bykhov prisoners arrived in different ways on the Don, where they began to form the Volunteer Army to fight the Bolsheviks.

White matter

Kornilov became a co-organizer of the Volunteer Army on the Don. After negotiations with General Alekseev and representatives of the Moscow National Center who came to the Don, it was decided that Alekseev would take charge of financial affairs and issues of foreign and domestic policy, Kornilov - the organization and command of the Volunteer Army, and Kaledin - the formation of the Don Army and all matters relating to the Don Cossacks

At the request of Kornilov, Alekseev sent General Flug to Siberia with the aim of uniting anti-Bolshevik organizations in Siberia.

Death

March 31 (April 13), 1918 - killed during the assault on Ekaterinodar. “The enemy’s grenade,” wrote General A.I. Denikin, “only one hit the house, only in Kornilov’s room when he was in it, and killed only him alone. The mystical veil of the eternal mystery covered the paths and accomplishments of an unknown will.”

The coffin with Kornilov’s body was secretly buried (and the grave was “razed to the ground”) during the retreat through the German colony of Gnachbau.

The fate of the body of General Kornilov

The next day, April 3 (16), 1918, the Bolsheviks, who occupied Gnachbau, first of all rushed to look for allegedly “treasuries and jewelry buried by the cadets” and accidentally dug up a grave and took the general’s body to Yekaterinodar, where it was burned.

The document of the Special Commission to Investigate the Atrocities of the Bolsheviks stated: “Individual exhortations from the crowd not to disturb the deceased person, who had already become harmless, did not help; the mood of the Bolshevik crowd rose... The last shirt was torn off the corpse, which was torn into pieces and the scraps were scattered around... Several people were already on the tree and began to lift the corpse... But then the rope broke and the body fell onto the pavement. The crowd kept arriving, became agitated and noisy... After the speech, they began shouting from the balcony that the corpse should be torn to shreds... Finally, the order was given to take the corpse out of town and burn it... The corpse was no longer recognizable: it was a shapeless mass, disfigured by blows from sabers, throwing it to the ground... Finally, the body was brought to the city slaughterhouses, where they took it off the cart and, covering it with straw, began to burn it in the presence of the highest representatives of the Bolshevik government... One day it was not possible to finish this work: the next day they continued to burn the pitiful remains; burned and trampled underfoot.”

The fact that the Bolsheviks dug the general’s body out of the grave and then, after a long dragging around the city, destroyed it, was not known in the Volunteer Army. After the capture of Yekaterinodar by General Denikin’s army 4 months later during the Second Kuban Campaign, on August 6, 1918, a ceremonial reburial of General Kornilov was scheduled in the tomb of the cathedral.

Organized excavations discovered only the coffin with the body of Colonel Nezhentsev. In the dug up grave of L. G. Kornilov, they found only a piece of a pine coffin. The investigation revealed the terrible truth. Lavr Georgievich's family was shocked by what happened.

The place where General Kornilov died

Taisiya Vladimirovna, the wife of Lavr Georgievich, who came to her husband’s funeral and hoped to see him at least dead, accused generals Denikin and Alekseev of not taking the body of the deceased Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army with the army and refused to attend the funeral service - the widow’s grief was very difficult. She did not survive her husband by much and soon died on September 20, 1918 - six weeks after her husband. She was buried next to the farm where Lavr Georgievich’s life ended. At the site of the death of General Kornilov - he and his wife - two modest wooden crosses were erected by volunteers.

Generals of the First World War [Russian army in persons] Runov Valentin Aleksandrovich

General Lavr Kornilov

General Lavr Kornilov

Many compatriots name the name of General Lavr Georgievich Kornilov among the prominent military figures of the First World War. On the one hand, this is justified, on the other hand, it is somewhat exaggerated. But in any case, the personality of General L. G. Kornilov deserves to be described in more detail simply because on July 19, 1917, by decree of the Provisional Government, having successively identified himself in other positions, he was appointed to the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. By his fate, he was a very complex and contradictory person with great ambitions and a strong character, precisely the one who is carried upward by the muddy wave of revolution, but who does not allow this wave to subjugate himself and boldly raises the sail in any wind.

Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was born on August 18 (30), 1870 in Ust-Kamenogorsk. His father, a Cossack from the village of Karakalinskaya of the Siberian Cossack Army, having risen to the first officer rank, cornet, retired and returned to his native village, where he began to serve in the civil service as a volost clerk. Laurus received his initial education at a local parish school. The family was large, and he had to help a lot both at home and in the field. At the same time, he not only studied well, but even independently prepared to enter the cadet corps and by the age of 30 had mastered English, French, German, Tatar and Persian. The boy realized early on: if you want to achieve something in life, you have to be the best.

The Kornilov Cadet Corps graduated with the highest score among cadets, and the path was open for him. In August 1889, Lavr became a cadet at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, and after graduating in 1892, he went to the Turkestan Artillery Brigade.

For many, his appointment to Turkestan meant the end of his military career. But this did not concern Kornilov. He endured all the hardships of service and, having received the rank of lieutenant, in the fall of 1896 he became a student at the Academy of the General Staff. Study conditions are tough: one failure in the exam means expulsion. A similar fate befell his classmate A.I. Denikin, who failed the first-year exam on the history of wars and military art. True, he was one of the many expelled who was able to re-enter the academy and graduate. Lavr Georgievich knew how to learn lessons from the sad experiences of others and tirelessly prepared in all subjects of study. Kornilov is first again: a small silver medal, the rank of captain ahead of schedule, his name on the honorary marble plaque of the academy. “A modest and shy army artillery officer, thin, short, with a Mongolian face, was little noticeable at the academy and only during the exams he immediately stood out for his brilliant successes in all sciences,” recalled another of Kornilov’s classmates at the academy, General African Petrovich Bogaevsky.

Perhaps, not only ordinary officers, but also hereditary nobles with titles and estates would consider this their finest hour. The best graduates of the academy enjoyed an advantage when choosing their future place of service. But the restless Lavr Kornilov chose Turkestan, and not Tashkent, which by that time was already quite settled by the Russians, but the troubled border with Afghanistan.

Here his fate developed in such a way that it could serve as a plot for not one, but several adventure novels. Over five years (from February 1899 to March 1904) he made a number of official trips to Persia, Afghanistan, India and China. As a military intelligence officer, in 1901, with four Cossacks, he wandered for seven months through the deserts of Eastern Persia, which were considered impassable. He had to change his appearance, transform into a Muslim, pretend to be an Eastern merchant. The military-scientific reviews of the countries of the Middle East compiled by Kornilov were the envy of renowned British specialists, and Lavr Georgievich’s works “Kashtaria, or Eastern Turkestan” and “Information concerning the countries adjacent to Turkestan” published by the headquarters of the Turkestan Military District became a serious contribution to geography and ethnography of the region.

In September 1904, at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, Kornilov was appointed as a staff officer in command of the 1st Infantry Brigade, with which he entered Manchuria and took part in the battles of Sandenu and Mukden. In the last of them, during a general retreat, he withdrew from the battle three rifle regiments that were threatened by encirclement. For this he received the Order of St. George, 4th degree - the object of dreams of young officers. The rank of colonel received at the same time gave him the rights of hereditary nobility.

After the conclusion of peace, Lavr Georgievich served in Petrograd for 11 months as a clerk in the department of the Quartermaster General of the General Staff. In 1907, he was appointed military agent (attaché) to China. For four years Colonel Kornilov waged a quiet war of smiles and omissions on the diplomatic front. And despite the fact that the governments of France, England, Germany, China and Japan bestowed their orders on him, he did not become more compliant or accommodating.

Carpathians. Austrian troops near the Uzhog Pass.

Upon returning from China, Kornilov was appointed commander of the 8th Estland Infantry Regiment, located near Warsaw. Having barely had time to accept this unit, he was transferred to the Trans-Amur border guard district and appointed commander of the 2nd detachment, which consisted of two infantry and three cavalry regiments. Lavr Georgievich is promoted to the rank of major general. Here, on the orders of the commander of the district troops, General E. I. Martynov, Kornilov conducted an inquiry into the supply of troops located in Manchuria with substandard products. As a result, the case was transferred to a military investigator. By order of the prosecutor's supervision, the deputy commander of the district's troops, Lieutenant General Savitsky, and other officials of the economic department were brought into the investigation as defendants.

However, the then chief of the border guard, Kokovtsev, who tried to cover up these flagrant abuses, obtained in February 1913 the highest order to terminate the investigative proceedings. After this, the commander of the district troops, General Martynov, retired. He published some investigation materials, for which he was put on trial. General Kornilov was returned to the military department with the appointment of commander of the 1st brigade of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed on Russky Island in Vladivostok.

With the outbreak of World War I, Major General L. G. Kornilov took command of the 2nd Brigade of the 49th Infantry Division, and was soon appointed to the post of chief of the 48th Infantry Division of the 8th Army, commanded by A. A. Brusilov .

Soon, Lavr Georgievich was appointed to the post of commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which included the 189th Izmail, 190th Ochakovsky, 191st Largo-Kagulsky and 192nd Rymniksky regiments, covered with the names of Rumyantsev and Suvorov.

There were heavy battles. On September 6, the enemy attacked the 24th Rifle Corps, which included the 48th Infantry Division. Resting against Mikolaev with its left flank, the right flank of the corps moved forward and was captured by the Austrians. Their attacks followed one after another. There was a threat of a breakthrough of the defense on the flank of the 48th division. At this moment, General Kornilov personally led his last reserve - an infantry battalion, reinforced by a machine gun team - into a counterattack. For a short time he stopped the enemy. But soon the 48th Division, again bypassed, was forced to retreat, having lost about 30 guns and many soldiers and officers.

General A.I. Denikin, who commanded the neighboring 4th Brigade at that time, explains the unsuccessful actions of the division in his memoirs by saying that “the division had not previously been distinguished by its stability. Very soon,” he continues, “in the hands of Kornilov, it became an excellent combat unit.” Subsequently, while commanding interacting formations, the generals met several times. And then Anton Ivanovich Denikin noted such features of Kornilov as “his ability to train troops, his personal courage, which terribly impressed the troops and created great popularity for him among them, and finally, high observance of military ethics towards his comrades - a property that was often sinned against many bosses."

Carpathians. Russian infantry positions.

In November 1914, General Kornilov's division made its way to Hungary. The 4th Infantry Brigade also operated side by side with it. It seems that if their breakthrough had been developed by the main forces of the 8th Army, then the result of the then Battle of Galicia would have been much more significant. But the breakthrough of Kornilov and Denikin could not be supported by the commander of the 2nd Combined Cossack Division, General Pavlov, who followed them in the second echelon of the army. Instead of breaking into the operational space of the Hungarian Plain, immediately taking poorly covered Budapest, and then creating an immediate threat to Vienna, the formations of the 8th Army, on the orders of General N.I. Ivanov, turned north. As a result, the initiative in Hungary was lost. The Austrians, who came to their senses and the Germans who came to their aid, unanimously attacked Kornilov’s division and Denikin’s brigade.

On the evening of November 27, an order was received for the 48th Division to withdraw in a northwestern direction. She had to retreat along the only free steep mountain road covered with snow. The Austrians cut off the path near the town of Sina. To enable his artillery to pass through the village, Kornilov, gathering up to an infantry battalion, led it into a counterattack. The next day, the division broke out of the encirclement, leaving not a single gun to the enemy and bringing with it more than two thousand prisoners.

General Kornilov's military activity in Galicia ended very tragically in the spring of 1915.

The 48th Division, operating as part of the 24th Corps, occupied fortified positions in the left combat sector 30 kilometers southwest of Dukla. On the right was the 49th division of the same corps, on the left was the 12th division of the 12th corps. In the last days of April, German and Austrian troops under the general leadership of Field Marshal August Mackensen, having defeated the main forces of the Russian 3rd Army on the Dunajec, went on the offensive in the direction of Przemysl, Lvov. Soon the enemy entered the flank and rear of the 24th Corps.

The threat looming over his right flank forced General Tsurikov to order a retreat. In the first half of the day on April 23, the 48th Division, leaving a 20-kilometer fortified line, retreated 25–30 kilometers, occupying a line that was unequipped in terms of engineering. Late in the evening, Lavr Georgievich received a new order to withdraw the division to the Rogl - Senyava line, located 15–20 kilometers away. The corps commander went to the rear, leaving the organization of the formation's withdrawal to the division commanders.

Objectively speaking, the 48th Division could well have avoided encirclement. But Kornilov, having no information from his neighbors, misjudged the situation. Instead of quickly carrying out the received order, he indulged in illusions about going on the offensive on the flank of the enemy group, which was pushing back parts of the neighboring 49th division. Meanwhile, the brigade of the 2nd German Corps, using the retreat of the 49th Division, had already occupied commanding heights on the retreat routes of the 48th Infantry Division. General Kornilov ordered the 192nd regiment, two battalions of the 190th and a battalion of the 189th regiments to push back the enemy. The attack, carried out without the support of artillery fire, failed. The attackers, having suffered heavy losses, lay down and dug in. On the morning of April 24, Kornilov sent the following report to the corps commander in Krosno: “The situation of the division is very difficult, assistance from the 49th Division and the 12th Corps is urgently needed.” But General Tsurikov received it only in the evening and did not have time to take any measures.

L. G. Kornilov in captivity.

By noon, it became clear to Lavr Georgievich that if there was any further delay in the division’s withdrawal, things could take a bad turn. Therefore, he ordered the artillery brigade to advance through Mshana and Tilova to Dukla, and from there through Jasionka and Lubatovka to Iwonicz. However, when approaching Mshan, it turned out that the Germans were in Tilov. A report was immediately sent to the division commander. The artillery brigade under the command of Colonel Trofimov began firing at the enemy. The 189th Infantry Regiment soon arrived to support her. But while deploying for the attack, he was fired upon by machine gun fire from Mszana. The soldiers rushed into the forest in panic. A few hours later, the Austrians captured about 3 thousand people.

By 6 p.m., German troops occupied Dukl, and the advanced units of the Austrians occupied Trzitsiana. The encirclement ring closed. Capitulation in such conditions would be quite natural. No one in those years would have judged the division commander for not wanting to kill people in vain. But Kornilov would not have been Kornilov if he had not tried to break out of the encirclement. At dusk the division made a breakthrough. Luck smiled only on the 191st Regiment and the battalion of the 190th Regiment. The banners of all regiments were preserved. The battalion of the 192nd Rymnik Regiment covering the retreat was almost completely killed. At dawn, enemy fire fell on those remaining surrounded from all sides. The Russians fought back desperately. To the German envoy’s proposal to surrender, General Kornilov replied that he could not do this personally and, having relinquished command of the division, disappeared with his headquarters into the forests. Soon, almost three and a half thousand soldiers and officers who survived surrendered to the Germans. And the general, wounded in the arm and leg, and the seven people who left with him wandered through the mountains for several days without food or medicine, hoping to cross the front line. On April 28, completely exhausted, they were captured by the Austrians.

The actions of the 48th Division, despite the sad outcome, were highly appreciated by the commander of the troops of the Southwestern Front, General N.I. Ivanov, who appealed to higher authorities with a petition to reward the valiantly fighting units of the division and especially its commander. The Emperor responded to this by awarding General Kornilov the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. All lower ranks were awarded the Cross of St. George, and officers who distinguished themselves in battle were awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

Captured General L. G. Kornilov talks with the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army, Joseph of Hamburg.

Kornilov's captivity also deserves a special narrative. Finding himself in the hands of the Austrians, Lavr Georgievich was initially placed in the castle of Neugenbach, near Vienna, and then transported to Hungary to the castle of Prince Esterhazy in the village of Leka. Captivity for the general in those years today may seem almost like a resort. Good food, medical care, the opportunity to use the services of a batman, and do shopping. In principle, it would be possible to gain freedom altogether by signing a signature on further non-participation in hostilities. But Kornilov had firm ideas about honor and military duty. He languished terribly in captivity and was eager for combat activity. Moreover, his unsatisfied ambition haunted him. Lavr Georgievich could not come to terms with the fact that at the age of 45 his military career came to an end.

...Leka Castle is very well guarded. Together with Kornilov, there was also General E. I. Martynov, who returned to service at the beginning of the war, whose reconnaissance glider was shot down by the enemy over Lvov. In the spring of 1916, the prisoners decided to escape. Documents were needed to travel safely around the country. They decided to bribe the castellan of the castle. However, he reported everything to his boss. The Austrian colonel conducted an inquiry and confiscated a civilian suit found in Martynov’s room. Kornilov remained on the sidelines, due to the fact that his name was not mentioned during the conversation with the castellan. After this incident, security was tightened. Escape from Leka Castle has become almost impossible.

Kornilov learned that several Russian officers who were in the camp in the village of Kassek had reliable documents. Lavr Georgievich planned to escape from the hospital camp in Kassek. In order to get there, he almost stopped eating and drank strongly brewed tea - chifir, thereby causing rapid heartbeat. In June 1916 he was admitted to the hospital. After some time, his messenger D. Tsesarsky was sent there too. Through him, Kornilov managed to come to an agreement with the Czech paramedic F. Mrnyak. For 20 thousand crowns in gold, he undertook to free him from captivity. In the last days of July, he obtained all the necessary documents, dressed Kornilov in an Austrian soldier's uniform, took him out of the hospital and delivered him by rail to the Romanian border.

They missed Kornilov only a few days later, during the funeral service for the Russian officer who died in the camp. The general did not show up for the ritual ceremony, and such an attitude towards the memory of a comrade in arms was considered an emergency. Paramedic Mrnjak was soon caught. He was tried and sentenced to death by hanging. Subsequently, the punishment was replaced by imprisonment for 25 years.

Supreme Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov and N. N. Dukhonin.

Kornilov, after wandering through the forest for several days, went to the Danube and safely got to the opposite bank. Eyewitnesses describe subsequent events this way. “In the early morning of August 28, 1916, a group of Russian soldiers, either those who had escaped from Austrian captivity or deserters, were driven to a dusty square in the Romanian town of Turnu Severian. Gaunt, ragged, barefoot, they looked tired and gloomy. The Russian staff captain who came out to them announced that Romania had just entered the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary and that after verification they would all be transferred to the unit being formed here to be sent to the front.

He was about to leave, when suddenly a short, skinny prisoner covered with reddish stubble separated from the line. He shouted in a sharp, hoarse voice: “Wait! I'll tell you who I am! “Probably an officer,” thought the captain. “It’s not good for me to put everyone under the same brush...” “Are you an officer? – he asked as sympathetically as possible. - In what rank? The man stood swaying: spasmodic, gurgling sounds escaped from his throat. Finally he controlled himself and said loudly: “I am Lieutenant General Kornilov! Give me shelter!

On August 31, Kornilov was already in Bucharest, from there he went through Kyiv to Mogilev. The Tsar received him at Headquarters, presenting him with the previously awarded St. George Cross of the 3rd degree. The division commander who escaped from captivity became very popular in Russia. Reporters interviewed him. His portraits were published in illustrated magazines. In Petrograd he was honored by the cadets of the Mikhailovsky School, from which Lavr Georgievich once graduated. One of them read his own poems in his honor. Siberian Cossacks from the village of Karkalinskaya, to which Kornilov was assigned, sent their fellow countryman a gold pectoral cross.

At the end of February - beginning of March 1917, the monarchy in Russia, as is known, fell. Duma figures M.V. Rodzianko and A.I. Guchkov wished to see a military general popular among the soldiers as commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District.

The activities of the first “revolutionary” commander of the Petrograd Military District had to begin with an “action”, which he later did not like to remember, but which some monarchists were not very inclined to forget. Three days after arriving in Petrograd (March 8), Kornilov, accompanied by a group of staff officers, arrived in Tsarskoe Selo and arrested Empress Alexandra Fedorovna (the arrested Nicholas II was on his way from Mogilev to Tsarskoe Selo at that time). In an interview with Petrograd newspapers, Lavr Georgievich said that he acted on the instructions of the Minister of War A.I. Guchkov, who was guided by a certain political calculation: the arrest of the Empress by the commander of the military district was supposed to produce, in his opinion, the impression on the mass of soldiers of a complete break between the new command and the old regime.

What were Kornilov’s own political aspirations at that time? On this occasion, his contemporary and politician V.B. Stankevich wrote: “In the executive committee, he said that he was against the tsarist regime. I don’t think that Kornilov would stoop to pretense. Undoubtedly, he sympathized with reform aspirations. But there is also no doubt that he was not a democrat, in the sense of giving power to the people: like any old military man, he was always suspiciously wary of the soldier and the “people” in general: they are nice people, to be sure, but you have to keep an eye on them, not then he will become spoiled and become unruly. He was against the tsarist system precisely because the government was beginning to lose its serious, businesslike character. The owner was very bad, and a new owner was needed, more intelligent and practical.”

So, the first position from the “hands” of the Provisional Government at a time when generals were expelled from the army by lists, regardless of their ranks, positions and merits. And this is understandable, the revolution purged its ranks, removing not only hostile but also suspicious people from high positions. Kornilov, apparently, was not one of them.

Having become the commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District, Lavr Georgievich found himself in the position of a person who is responsible for everything, but cannot make any independent decisions. The famous “Order No. 1” of the Petrograd Soviet tied him hand and foot. He abolished the practice of military honor. Titles were also cancelled. The general ceased to be “your excellency.” The soldier was no longer a “lower rank” and received the rights that the revolution had managed to bestow on the population of the country. Finally, committees and deputies to local Soviets were elected in all parts. The order stipulated that in “its political speeches the military unit is subordinate to the Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies and its committees.”

Kornilov realized: now it will be very difficult for officers to subjugate and keep armed people in obedience. The country was losing its army and began to fall into the abyss. “No one wanted to serve, discipline dropped to zero, officers could not say a word without the risk of being bayoneted,” he wrote. - Rallies and drunkenness - that was the way of life in the Petrograd Military District. Dual power - the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government are confused in their own orders, no one wants to carry them out, there is pure anarchy all around. Kornilov, at the request of the government, tried to stop the unrest that broke out in the capital using the traditional method of fighting rebellions: he brought the cadets of the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, who had maintained discipline, to the center of the city. This was perceived as an obvious threat to use weapons against the rioting rear guards. They pulled him back: “It’s impossible - after all, we have freedom!”

On April 23, Lavr Georgievich sent a report to the Minister of War with a request to return him to the active army. A.I. Guchkov considered it expedient to appoint him to the post of commander of the troops of the Northern Front, which became vacant after the dismissal of General N.V. Ruzsky. However, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M.V. Alekseev, categorically objected to such a decision, citing Kornilov’s insufficient command experience and the inconvenience of bypassing senior commanders - more experienced and familiar with the front, such as General A. Dragomirov. As a result, in early May, Kornilov was appointed to the post of commander of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front.

The troops at the front held a rally...

“The new commander’s acquaintance with the personnel began with the fact,” one of the officers of the intelligence department of the army headquarters, Captain Nezhentsev, later recalled, “that the built reserve units staged a meeting and all the arguments about the need for an offensive pointed out the unnecessaryness of continuing the “bourgeois” war led by “military officers.” “... When General Kornilov, after a two-hour fruitless conversation, exhausted morally and physically, went to the trenches, here he was presented with a picture that any warrior of the era could hardly have foreseen. We entered a fortification system where the trench lines of both sides were separated, or, more accurately, they were connected by wire fences...

The appearance of General Kornilov was welcomed... by a group of German officers who brazenly examined the commander of the Russian army. Behind them stood several Prussian soldiers... The general took the binoculars from me and, going out onto the parapet, began to examine the area of ​​​​future military clashes. To someone’s remark, no matter how the Prussians shot the Russian commander, the latter replied: “I would be infinitely happy - maybe at least this would sober up our soldiers and interrupt the shameful fraternization.”

At the site of a neighboring regiment, the army commander was greeted... by the bravura march of the German Jaeger Regiment, to whose orchestra our “brothers” - the soldiers - flocked. The general said: “This is treason!” - turned to the officer standing next to him, ordering him to tell the “brothers” of both sides that if the most shameful phenomenon did not stop immediately, he would open fire from his guns. The disciplined Germans stopped the game... and went to their line of trenches, apparently ashamed of the vile spectacle. And our soldiers, they held rallies for a long time, complaining about the “oppression of their freedom by the counter-revolutionary leaders.”

On June 18, 1917, the Southwestern Front went on the offensive. The 7th and 11th armies, in the direction of the main attack, advanced to a depth of 2 kilometers and froze in place. The soldiers held a rally.

The 8th Army of General Kornilov, operating in a secondary direction, began its offensive on June 21, as planned. In 6 days, her troops penetrated 18–20 km into the enemy’s defenses and captured Kalush. 800 officers and 36 thousand enemy soldiers were captured, 127 guns and mortars, and 403 machine guns were captured. The losses of the army itself amounted to 352 officers and 14,456 soldiers. This was the last successful operation of the Russian army in the 1917 campaign.

Meanwhile, the Southwestern Front was falling apart, and the Military Council of the front was sending panicked telegrams to the Provisional Government. The situation, according to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General A. A. Brusilov, was becoming catastrophic. The commander of the Southwestern Front, General A.E. Gutor, was no longer able to change the situation for the better. Therefore, a new leader was needed. The choice fell on General Kornilov, who alone showed the ability to control troops in difficult conditions. And L.G. Kornilov took over the Southwestern Front at the beginning of July 1917.

Lavr Georgievich was a supporter of strict management measures. In particular, he banned rallies and demanded the immediate restoration of the death penalty, which was abolished by decree of the Provisional Government of March 12, 1917. But this did not save the situation. By July 21, having left Galicia and Bukovina, the troops of the Southwestern Front rolled back to the lines from which they began the offensive in August 1914.

Central power was also rapidly weakening. A.F. Kerensky needed a person capable of supporting this power with harsh methods and saving the fronts from collapse. The choice fell on L. G. Kornilov. On July 19, 1917, he was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. Lavr Georgievich agreed to this position only after receiving assurance from the Provisional Government of complete non-interference in its operational orders, in the appointments of senior command personnel, as well as confirmation of the right to pursue a hard line at the front and in the rear, recognition of his responsibility not to the government, but “... before your own conscience and all the people."

But, having assumed the Supreme Command, Lavr Georgievich first of all took up political activity, putting forward a number of new demands to the Provisional Government. In particular, he demanded that the Provisional Government admit its guilt in humiliation, insult, deliberate deprivation of the rights and importance of officers, transfer the function of military lawmaking to the hands of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and, finally, “... expel all politics from the army, destroy the right of meetings...” cancel the declaration of the rights of a soldier, dissolve military committees, recall commissars. Kerensky did not like this. Kornilov clearly aspired to the role of military dictator.

On August 18, L. G. Kornilov, already as a recognized leader of the army, was solemnly welcomed in Moscow, where he arrived to participate in the State Conference. A.F. Kerensky was also a participant in this meeting, and could not help but note the enormous popularity of this general in military circles. This was becoming dangerous. The state conference did not solve the main problems of the country and the army, but widened the gap of mistrust between Kornilov and Kerensky.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the fronts and from the rear were extremely alarming. On August 20, the Germans occupied Riga. Ferment continued in the front-line units of the Russian army. The army was rapidly disintegrating, and every missed day could lead to disaster. Kornilov became convinced of the need to establish a military dictatorship in the country and quickly prepared for this.

Kornilov's speech was scheduled for the day of the celebration of the half-year anniversary of the revolution, that is, August 27, when workers' demonstrations were expected in Petrograd. Under the pretext of restoring order, the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was to be dispersed, and the Provisional Government was to be arrested. To implement this plan, the 3rd Cavalry Corps and the Caucasian “native” division, which was called “wild” behind their backs, were sent to the capital in advance. Subsequently, these formations were to form the basis of a separate Petrograd army, subordinate directly to Headquarters. From the Provisional Government, Kornilov disguised his intentions with the idea of ​​​​immediate “clearing” of Petrograd - removing from the city spare parts that had completely decomposed not so much under the influence of Bolshevik propaganda, but from “democratic” permissiveness.

Kerensky pretended to believe Kornilov, but took retaliatory measures. But he soon realized what a mistake he had made by agreeing to transfer the 3rd Cavalry Corps and the “wild” division to Petrograd. It became obvious that if the demands were not met, Kornilov, using armed force, would overthrow the Provisional Government and establish a military dictatorship.

But by revealing his plans, Kornilov thereby gave the Provisional Government the opportunity to prevent their implementation. Kerensky decided to take advantage of his opponent’s mistake and put an end to him. He demanded that the commander of the Northern Front army detain all military trains heading to the capital and send them back to their previous deployment points. And on the morning of August 27, in emergency editions of some metropolitan newspapers, Kornilov was called a state traitor.

Requisition of copper for the needs of the army.

Lavr Georgievich tried to finish the job he started. He addressed an appeal to all Russian people. But he was not heard. The government apparatus of Kerensky and the Bolsheviks did everything possible to prevent the establishment of a military dictatorship of the dying government. The next day, Kornilov received an order from Kerensky to immediately surrender his position to General Lukomsky and arrive in Petrograd.

Lavr Georgievich decided not to obey this order. Then, deciding on an extreme measure, Kerensky declared Kornilov a rebel and warned the Bolsheviks about the threat of a military coup. They reacted immediately. Hundreds of agitators were sent to meet the troops, who persuaded the soldiers “not to go against their people to please the generals and not to destroy the freedoms won with such difficulty when the war is about to be over and the time has come to enjoy their benefits.”

The combined efforts of the authorities and the Bolsheviks yielded results. The troops did not go to Petrograd. The commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, General A.M. Krymov, who led them, shot himself at 15:00 on August 31. News was received that, by order of the committees, the commander of the Southwestern Front, General Denikin, his chief of staff, General Markov, as well as some officers were arrested. The commander of the Northern Front, General Klembovsky, who did not follow the orders of the Provisional Government, was replaced by General Bonch-Bruevich. The commander of the Western Front, General Baluev, and the assistant commander of the Romanian Front, General Shcherbachev, sent telegrams expressing loyalty to the Provisional Government.

After this, the Provisional Government decided to neutralize Headquarters. A punitive detachment was created. But Lavr Georgievich, realizing the pointlessness of further resistance, decided to “submit and demand a trial, during which it will become clear that we really wanted to save the army and the Motherland.” Kerensky took over the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. By his order, Kornilov was arrested. The same fate befell Lukomsky, Romanovsky and some other generals. With this, the activities of General L.G. Kornilov in the events of the First World War practically ended. Ahead of him lay a fate connected with the fight against Bolshevism.

Later, a government commission that investigated the essence of the Kornilov rebellion was forced to admit that it did not bring harm to the state of affairs on the fronts. The leadership of the troops continued continuously. Thus, the conclusion was made: there is no evidence to accuse General Kornilov of treason. At the conclusion of the commission’s work, it was concluded that “in view of the above and on the exact basis of the law of July 12, 1917 on the establishment of military revolutionary courts, the case of General Kornilov is not within the jurisdiction of the military revolutionary court. It is not within the jurisdiction of a military district or corps court due to the fact that the city of Mogilev is not located in the military area of ​​the theater of military operations, but is subject, on a general basis, to be sent to a court of a civilian department after a preliminary investigation has been carried out.”

On the night of September 12, those arrested were transported by rail to Bykhov, located 50 kilometers south of Mogilev. Here they were placed in the building of a women's gymnasium under the protection of Kornilov's personal convoy, consisting of three hundred and a machine-gun team of the Tekinsky regiment and a guard from the St. George battalion in the amount of 50 people.

On October 25, the Provisional Government was overthrown. A week later, the Supreme Command was taken over by General N.N. Dukhonin, who, having learned that a train of sailors headed by Ensign N.V. Krylenko, appointed by the Soviet Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was heading to Headquarters, ordered the release of L.G. Kornilov.

November 19, 1917. The clock showed 23 o'clock. Infantry General Lavr Georgievich Kornilov, having spent eleven weeks under investigation, was leaving the doors of the Bykhov prison. Soldiers of the Tekinsky regiment were already waiting for him. Having greeted them, he jumped on his horse and headed towards the Don. Four hundred horsemen rushed after him.

Supreme Commander-in-Chief Warrant Officer N.V. Krylenko, having learned about this, ordered Kornilov to be detained. Crossing the railroad bed at the Unecha station in the Chernigov region, the detachment came under heavy machine-gun fire from a Red Guard armored train and suffered heavy losses. The next day he came across an ambush set up in the forest. After crossing the Seim River, the detachment entered a frozen swampy area. The frost was severe, and the people were poorly dressed. The horses' shoes were broken. It was not always possible to obtain food and fodder from the local population.

Kornilov, believing that it would be safer for the Tekinites to go alone, on November 28 left his faithful comrades-in-arms and, dressed in peasant clothes, with a false passport in the name of Larion Ivanov, posing as a refugee from Romania, went to the Don alone.

At the beginning of December 1917, after an incredibly difficult journey, first in sleighs, then by train, Lavr Georgievich reached Novocherkassk. Here he soon met with General M.V. Alekseev and Elected Don Ataman A.M. Kaledin. We tried to work together to understand the current situation in the country and develop a joint line of behavior. But everyone had their own opinions on this matter.

Lavr Georgievich was eager for space where independent work was possible. “I know Siberia, I believe in Siberia,” he said. “I am convinced that it will be possible to put the matter on a broad scale there.” Here, General Alekseev alone can easily handle the matter. I feel that I won’t be able to stay here for long. My only regret is that I am being detained now and not allowed to go to Siberia, where it is necessary to begin work as soon as possible so as not to miss time.”

Attaching great importance to Siberia and the Volga region, Lavr Georgievich sent a number of letters to local leaders (including Pepelyaev) to these regions. At his request, General Flug was sent there, who was entrusted with the task of familiarizing Siberian politicians with what was happening in the South of Russia, trying to unite the officers and insist on the creation of an anti-Bolshevik front party there. Officers were sent to the Volga - to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan - with the aim of organizing anti-Bolshevik forces there and trying to raise an uprising.

At the end of December, the first meeting of representatives of the Moscow Center took place in Novocherkassk. It was formed in the fall in Moscow by members of the Cadet Party, merchants and industrialists, representatives of bourgeois liberal and conservative circles, the council of public organizations and the generals. The main issue to be resolved was the existence, management and ensuring unity in the Alekseevskaya organization. Essentially, it all came down to assessing the relationship between the two generals - Alekseev and Kornilov and determining the role of each of them. Public and military leaders were interested in preserving both of them in the interests of the army.

Representatives of the Moscow Center did not support Kornilov’s views. They insisted that he remain in the South of Russia, saying that the leaders of the anti-Bolshevik movement could count on moral and material support only if they all (M.V. Alekseev, L.G. Kornilov and A.M. Kaledin ) will work together, distributing roles and signing an agreement. It was also indicated that only after this agreement, signed by three generals, was transmitted to the representatives of England and France, one could count on receiving monetary assistance from the allies. The agreement took place. General Alekseev took charge of all financial affairs and issues related to foreign and domestic policy. General Kornilov became responsible for the organization and command of the volunteer army, and General Kaledin for the formation of the Don Army and management of all affairs of the Don Army.

At Christmas, an order was announced for General Kornilov to take command of the army, which from that day became officially known as the Volunteer Army. “Her commander that day,” recalled A.P. Bogaevsky, “was in a civilian suit and did not look particularly elegant: a crooked tie, a frayed jacket and high boots made him look like a petty clerk. Nothing in him reminded him of a hero of two wars, a holder of two degrees of the Order of St. George, a man of exceptional courage and willpower. Small, skinny, with a Mongolian face, poorly dressed, he did not represent anything majestic or warlike. At the same time, Lavr Georgievich looked to the future with hope and hoped that the Cossacks would take an active part in the formation of the Volunteer Army.”

So, at the beginning of 1918, General L. G. Kornilov took command of the army, which officially became known as the Volunteer Army. He commanded this army for only three months, completing the Ice Campaign, which became a legend in the annals of the white movement.

On March 31, 1918, General L. G. Kornilov, during the attack on Yekaterinodar, died from a direct hit by an artillery shell on the house from where he led the battle. His body was secretly buried in a vacant lot behind the German colony of Gnachbau, 50 miles north of Yekaterinodar. Neither a grave mound nor a cross was left at the burial site. Only a few people could indicate the exact burial place. However, after the Reds occupied the colony, the burial place of L. G. Kornilov was discovered, the corpse was dug up, taken to Yekaterinodar, burned, and the ashes scattered outside the city.

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Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was born on August 18, 1870 in the family of a retired cornet of the Siberian Cossack army in the small town of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk region, located in the steppe spurs of the Altai Mountains (in modern Kazakhstan). His father, Yegor Kornilov, was a simple Cossack from the Gorky Line, which was the name given in the 18th century to the line of steppe settlements of the Siberian Cossacks built under Peter the Great along the entire course of the Irtysh River. Kornilov’s mother was a Kyrgyz-Kaisach woman from a nomadic family that lived on the left bank of the Irtysh.

The mother often took her son Lavr to his native village, to his parents’ house. Therefore, Kornilov knew the language of the Kyrgyz-Kaisaks (the so-called Kazakh) since childhood.

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The strong blood of his steppe ancestors affected Kornilov’s appearance. He had characteristic cheekbones and narrow eyes. The Kornilov family had many children, and the boy had to experience hard peasant labor from childhood, helping his parents around the house. The inquisitive Cossack boy attended with interest the local two-year parochial school. The father managed to assign the grown-up Laurus to the 1st Siberian Emperor Alexander I Cadet Corps, which Kornilov graduated with the highest score.

In 1899, Kornilov became a cadet at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St. Petersburg, which he successfully graduated from in 1892. He was awarded the rank of second lieutenant and assigned to the Turkestan artillery brigade. Later, Kornilov said that “Service in Turkestan was the years of my commander’s training.”

Kornilov had an unaltered ability for languages. By the age of thirty, Laurus was fluent in Persian, Tatar, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, English, French and German. Having received another rank of lieutenant, Kornilov entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. Future Don Ataman General A.P. Bogaevsky recalled Kornilov during his service at the Academy:

A modest and shy army artillery officer, thin, short in stature, with a Mongolian face, was little noticeable at the academy and only during the exams he immediately stood out for his brilliant successes in all sciences."

Kornilov graduated from the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff in 1898 with the first class, receiving a small silver medal. Another reward for his successful studies was the early award of captaincy. His name adorned the honorary marble plaque of the academy. Captain Kornilov again chose the Turkestan Military District, the troubled border with Afghanistan, for further service.

In September 1901, he was appointed as a staff officer for (special) assignments at the same headquarters: that is, he joined military intelligence. From February 1899 to March 1904, Kornilov made long “service trips” incognito to Persia, Afghanistan, India and China. At that time, there was intense competition between Great Britain and Russia for influence in Asia.

L. Kornilov. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

In 1901, Kornilov married T.V. Markova. The young couple spent their honeymoon on a trip through the desert. The following year, Kornilov received the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is entrusted with editing a secret publication of the headquarters of the Turkestan Military District entitled “Information concerning the countries adjacent to the Turkestan Military District.” The military-scientific reviews of the countries of the Middle East, compiled as part of Kornilov’s duty, were the envy of British “specialists” in this Asian region.

In June 1904, Lieutenant Colonel Kornilov was transferred to St. Petersburg as head of the General Staff department. However, in September, the officer was sent to the war with Japan as a staff officer under the control of the 1st Infantry Brigade, then chief of staff of this brigade. In the area of ​​​​the village of Vazye, Lieutenant Colonel Kornilov led the soldiers in a bayonet attack and was able to lead the brigade out of the Japanese encirclement. For the courage shown in the battles near Mukden, the officer received the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and was promoted to colonel.

The period between the Russo-Japanese and the First World Wars revealed Colonel Kornilov's talents as a military diplomat. In 1907-1911, he served as a military attache in China, during which time he managed to study the Chinese language, way of life and way of life of the Chinese. The colonel sent reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire and the General Staff of the Imperial Army, telling about various aspects of life in China, the organization of the Chinese police, telegraph, and imperial guard. After spending four years in the military diplomatic service in China, Colonel Kornilov returned to combat service. In February - June 1911, he commanded the 8th Estland Infantry Regiment, then a detachment in the Zaamursky district of a separate border guard corps, a brigade as part of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division. In December 1911, 41-year-old Lavr Kornilov received the rank of major general in the Imperial Army.

General Kornilov went to the front of the 1st World War in 1914 at the head of the brigade of the 49th Infantry Division, but on August 25 he was appointed head of the 43rd Division, which in battles under his command acquired the name “Kornilov Iron”. At the beginning of 1915, for distinction in battles, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general - he was only 45 years old.

In April 1915, during the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Carpathians, his division, being in the rearguard, was surrounded on all sides by superior enemy forces. Kornilov himself, with a handful of brave men, covered the withdrawal of his division from encirclement; in a bayonet battle in the trenches, he was wounded and captured by the Austrians, along with six soldiers who remained with him until the last battle.

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In captivity, Kornilov was well kept; the Austro-Hungarians treated him with all honors. The commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army, the Austrian Archduke Joseph of Habsburg, even met with him. In those years it was not something special. During the First World War, captured generals of the warring parties received good food, medical care, the opportunity to use the services of an orderly, and do some shopping. In principle, it would be possible to obtain personal freedom altogether, but under the obligatory condition of giving a signature on further non-participation in hostilities until the official end of the war.

At first, Kornilov was imprisoned in a camp under the name Nelenbach. Subsequently, being transferred from one camp to another, he passed through the Lek, Plaining, Furnace and, finally, Koseg camps. He tried to escape from them twice, but was unsuccessful both times. Finally, on July 29 (August 11), having changed his appearance, with the help of Czech soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army who sympathized with him and the head of the Trans-Amur district of the Border Guard, Lieutenant General E.I. Martynov, who later joined the Red Army, Kornilov managed to escape. He took the train to Bucharest. Then General Kornilov (according to his story) walked for several days to the Romanian border and here, after living for two days in the hut of the shepherd who was sheltering him, at night he crossed the border in the least guarded place indicated to him by the shepherd.

Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Lavr Georgievich Kornilov. Reproduction of TASS Photo Chronicle/

However, Major General M.A. Vasiliev, who commanded the 12th Infantry Division of the “Ukrainian State” in 1918, was illegally arrested by the “Galicians” on April 3, 1918 and handed over to the “allied” Austrian authorities. The officers spent about a month and a half in a prisoner of war camp, where, according to rumors, General Kornilov was kept in 1916. In Freistadt, a gray-fleeced division was formed from Russian prisoners of war for Hetman Skoropadsky. On the occasion of the departure of the newly formed units to Kyiv, a certain Austrian general arranged a farewell dinner, which was attended by the Austrian commandant and members of his headquarters. In his speech, the commandant expressed admiration for the courage of former enemies - officers of the Russian army. General Vasiliev in his response speech mentioned the brave and heroic escape from captivity of General Kornilov. At the same time, the commandant smiled sarcastically at these words. This embarrassed Vasiliev so much that he crumpled up his speech, sat down and turned to the commandant with the question of what caused his smiles. The commandant replied that now he could tell the truth and said that from the beginning of General Kornilov’s captivity, various officials from the command repeatedly came here to the camp where he was commandant and talked with General Kornilov, and when they were convinced that he agreed to work for the revolution , then he, the commandant, received an order to secretly transport Kornilov to the Russian side.

We changed Kornilov’s clothes and two of my officers took him in a car to our trenches, transported him across our last line and, showing him the exact location of the Russians, said goodbye to him.”

Whether this was true or not, Kornilov’s subsequent behavior in the February-March days of 1917 rather testifies in favor of this story. It is also surprising that according to the personal lists of Headquarters as of September 1916, there were 62 Russian generals in German and Austrian captivity, and only one Kornilov escaped from there.

It is noteworthy that during his time in captivity (!) General Kornilov was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree, by the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II. Prior to this, during the 1914-1915 years of his stay at the front, for personal valor and skillful command, Kornilov was awarded military orders three times: St. Anne, 1st class, St. Stanislav, 1st class, and St. Vladimir, 3rd class.

Kornilov, returning to his homeland through Bucharest, proceeded to Kyiv, and from there to Mogilev, where the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was located. There the general was warmly received by the Sovereign, who personally presented him with the previously awarded Order of St. George, 3rd degree. Meanwhile, a campaign began in Russia to glorify Kornilov in every possible way. His portraits were published in all Russian and allied illustrated magazines. From Mogilev, Kornilov arrived in St. Petersburg, where he was supposed to spend some time under the supervision of doctors to improve his health.

On September 13, 1916, he was appointed commander of the 25th Army Corps and was again sent to the Southwestern Front. The corps was part of the Special Army of cavalry general V.I. Gurko, who operated on the northern flank of the front. By this time, Kornilov was a reliable connection to the main organizer of the conspiracy against Emperor A.I. Guchkova. Kornilov’s name was included in Guchkov’s list of “Duma supporters.” In the midst of the conspiracy, in snowy Pskov, the conspirators represented by generals M.V. Alekseev and N.V. Ruzsky persistently persuaded the Emperor to appoint General Kornilov instead of N.I. Ivanov at the head of the St. George battalion, and then also persistently almost demanded that Emperor Nicholas II appoint General L.G. Kornilov to the post of head of the Petrograd Military District.

March 8, 1917, when General M.V. Alekseev, on instructions from the Duma conspirators, arrested the Sovereign, another general L.G. Kornilov arrested the Empress and the Tsar's Children in the Alexander Palace. Entering the palace, Kornilov, with a red bow on his chest, accompanied by A.I. Guchkov, demanded that the “former Tsarina” be woken up immediately. Approaching Kornilov and without shaking his hand, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna asked: “What do you need, general?” Kornilov stood up straight and in a respectful tone, said: “Your Imperial Majesty... You don’t know what’s going on in Petrograd and Tsarskoe... It’s very difficult and unpleasant for me to report to you, but for your safety I’m forced to tell you...” and hesitated. The Empress interrupted him: “I know everything very well. Have you come to arrest me?” “That’s right,” answered Kornilov. "Nothing else?" - "Nothing". Without another word, the Empress turned and went into her chambers.

Kornilov was completely on the side of the revolution:

I believe that the coup that took place in Russia is a sure guarantee of our victory over the enemy. Only a free Russia, having thrown off the oppression of the old regime, can emerge victorious from the real world struggle."

The new revolutionary commandant of Petrograd did not disdain to personally lead the organization of the mockery and destruction of the body of G.E. Rasputin, which was burned at the Piskarevskoye cemetery.

But another, probably the most monstrous in its cynicism, act of Lavr Kornilov is known. On April 6, 1917, this “hero” of the “bloodless” revolution and the future “hero” of the “white cause” awarded the St. George Cross to another “hero” of February, sergeant major of the Volyn Life Guards regiment T.I. Kirpichnikov. In February 1917, he was the organizer of a riot in his regiment and shot in the back, killing staff captain I.S., loyal to the Tsar and the Oath. Lashkevich. Kornilov did not disdain to shake hands stained with officer’s blood.

Beginning in August 1917, the British and French, realizing that the regime of A.F. Kerensky is not able to continue the war “to the victorious end”, they begin to secretly promote the figure of General Kornilov. He was predicted to become a military dictator. The “Kornilov project” was supervised by the former head of the Socialist Revolutionary Combat Organization B.V. Savinkov, long ago recruited by British intelligence.

Leaflet. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

However, Kornilov's speech was defeated. Not the least role here was played by the fact that Kerensky was supported by influential American forces who did not need a pro-British protege. The limited Kornilov was used in the “dark” and then sent to the Bykhov prison, from where he fled to the Don, where, together with generals M.V. Alekseev and A.I. Denikin began to gather officers into the Volunteer Army to fight the Bolsheviks. Moreover, the whole tragedy was that the success of this war directly depended on the repentance of the creators of the Volunteer Army for what they had done in March 1917. But there was no repentance. Instead, there were old speeches about a “new free Russia.”

The Kornilov shock regiment, going to fight the Bolsheviks, sang: " We do not regret the past, the Tsar is not an idol..." But at that moment, the Emperor and his Family were still alive and were in captivity in Tobolsk!

No less tragic was the fact that many Russian people, officers, cadets, cadets, and high school students responded to the call of Alekseev and Kornilov. They were united by one desire: to free the Motherland from its enslavers - the Bolsheviks. Hundreds of them began to flock to the Don and enroll in the Volunteer Army. The war hero, Knight of St. George and monarchist Colonel M.G. breaks through from Romania to Novocherkassk with his regiment. Drozdovsky.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

However, the commander of the III Cavalry Corps, cavalry general Count F.A. Keller refused to follow the Februaryist generals, declaring:

Kornilov - revolutionary general. I can lead an army only with God in my heart and the King in my soul. Only faith in God and the power of the Tsar can save us, only the old army and popular repentance can save Russia, and not a democratic army and a “free” people. We see what freedom has led us to: shame and unprecedented humiliation... Absolutely nothing will come of the Kornilov enterprise, mark my words[...] It will end in death. Innocent lives will be lost."

These words came true during Kornilov’s Ice Campaign of 1918, the goal of which was Yekaterinodar, and not Yekaterinburg, where the Tsar and his Family languished in chains.

God did not grant victory to the royal traitors who stood at the beginning of the Volunteer Army's path. It was necessary for their place to be taken by other people faithful to God and Russia. The best proof of this is the death of General Kornilov himself.

Enemy grenade, wrote General A.I. Denikin, - Only one got into the house, only into Kornilov’s room when he was in it, and killed only him alone. The mystical veil of primordial mystery covered the paths and accomplishments of the Unknown Will".

You can't say more precisely.

Secretly buried in the German colony of Gnachbau, the general’s body was dug out of it by the Bolsheviks who came here and transported to Yekaterinodar.

Some admonitions from the crowd, - stated in the document of the Special Commission to Investigate the Atrocities of the Bolsheviks , - they did not help not to disturb the deceased person, who had already become harmless; the mood of the Bolshevik crowd rose [...] The last shirt was torn off the corpse, which was torn into pieces and the fragments were scattered all around. Several people found themselves on a tree and began to lift the corpse. But the rope broke and the body fell onto the pavement. The crowd kept growing, getting excited and making noise. After the speech, they began to shout from the balcony that the corpse should be torn to shreds. Finally, the order was given to take the corpse out of town and burn it. The corpse was already unrecognizable: it was a shapeless mass, disfigured by blows from swords and thrown to the ground. The body was brought to the city slaughterhouses, where, covered with straw, they began to burn it in the presence of senior representatives of the Bolshevik government, who arrived at this spectacle in cars. One day it was not possible to finish this work: the next day they continued to burn the pitiful remains; burned and trampled underfoot and then burned again".

Coming from the lower classes, Kornilov welcomed the February Revolution of 1917 and the coming to power of the Provisional Government. He then said: “The old has collapsed! The people are building a new building of freedom, and the task of the people’s army is to fully support the new government in its difficult, creative work.” He also believed in Russia’s ability to bring the war to a victorious end.

Lavr Georgievich Kornilov 1870-1918. The path of General Kornilov reflected the fate of a Russian officer during a difficult and turning point period in Russian history. This path ended tragically for him, leaving in history a loud memory of the “Kornilov Rebellion” and the “Ice Campaign” of the Volunteer Army. Lavr Georgievich fully experienced the love and hatred of people: the courageous patriot general was selflessly loved by his comrades, reviled and hated by the revolutionaries. He himself did not strive for fame, acting as his conscience and convictions told him.

Kornilov had neither titled ancestors, nor a rich inheritance, nor estates. He was born in the provincial town of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk province. His father, a Siberian Cossack, had the rank of retired cornet and served as a collegiate assessor; the family had many children and had difficulty making ends meet. The eldest of the children, Lavr, at the age of 13, managed to enter the Omsk Cadet Corps, where he studied with zeal and upon graduation had the highest score among the cadets. He had a great desire for military education, and the young officer soon entered the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St. Petersburg, and in 1892 he also graduated first. Then he served in one of the artillery brigades in Central Asia. He overcame the difficulties of Turkestan life relatively easily.

Three years later, Lieutenant Kornilov entered the Academy of the General Staff, again studied brilliantly, upon graduation he received a silver medal and the rank of captain ahead of schedule, his name was listed on the marble plaque of the academy. “A modest and shy artillery officer, thin, short in stature, with a Mongolian face, was little noticeable at the academy and only during exams he immediately stood out in all sciences,” recalled General A. Bogaevsky.

After graduating from the academy, you will have an advantage when choosing a future place of service. Lavr Georgievich chose... Turkestan Military District. The General Staff officer was entrusted with the mission of military intelligence on the Central Asian borders of Russia. For five years, from 1899 to 1904, he traveled thousands of kilometers, visited Persia, Afghanistan, China and India; Constantly risking his life, he changed his appearance, transformed himself into a Muslim, posed as a merchant, traveler, and played a complex game with rival English intelligence officers. The reviews of the countries of the Middle East that he prepared for the district headquarters and the general staff had not only military, but also scientific significance, some of them were published in magazines, and Kornilov’s work “Kashgaria and East Turkestan” was published as a book (1901). His name became famous.

In 1904 - 1905 Lavr Georgievich, as a headquarters officer of the 1st Infantry Brigade, participated in the Russian-Japanese War. Acting selflessly, he could have died more than once on foreign Chinese soil. In the unsuccessful Battle of Mukden, he fought through three infantry regiments from encirclement, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. During the war, he also received the rank of colonel, which gave him the right to hereditary nobility.

After the war, Kornilov was seconded to the Main Directorate of the General Staff, but the rebellious soul of the “son of the East” languished in the capital. In 1907 he left as a military attache to China. For four years he conducted diplomatic work there in the name of Russia's military interests, competing with diplomats from England, France, Germany, and Japan. Out of old habit, I traveled all over Mongolia and most of China. Returning to Russia, Lavr Georgievich accepted the position of commander of the 8th Estland Regiment in the Warsaw Military District, but soon left again for the East - to the Trans-Amur Border Guard District, where he became the head of the 2nd detachment. Since 1912 - brigade commander in the 9th East Siberian Rifle Division in Vladivostok.

In 1914, the First World War finally returned the veteran of the East to the West. Kornilov began the war as a brigade commander; from December 1914 he was assigned to lead the 48th Infantry Division, which was part of A. Brusilov’s 8th Army. The division consisted of regiments with glorious names: 189th Izmailsky, 190th Ochakovsky, 191st Largo-Kagulsky, 192nd Rymniksky. With them, Kornilov took part in the Galician and Carpathian operations of the troops of the Southwestern Front. His division burst into the territory of Hungary side by side with the 4th Infantry Brigade of General A. Denikin. Then the front troops had to retreat, and Kornilov more than once led battalions with bayonets, paving the way for those coming behind. For its valiant actions in battles and engagements, the 48th Division received the name "Steel". “It’s a strange thing,” Brusilov recalled, “General Kornilov never spared his division, and yet the officers and soldiers loved him and believed him. True, he did not spare himself.”

In the spring of 1915, German-Austrian troops in the Gorlitsa-Gromnik sector dealt a terrible blow to the troops of the Southwestern Front and split them in two. Ensuring the exit of his division from encirclement, the seriously wounded Kornilov with the remnants of the detachment was captured and sent to Austria-Hungary, to the city of Kessige. A year and three months later, he managed to escape from the prison hospital and make his way through Hungary and Romania to Russia. The concepts of military honor in the Russian army were different then, and the general who returned from captivity was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree, for his courage. In September 1916, Lavr Georgievich returned to the Southwestern Front, took command of the 25th Army Corps, and earned the rank of lieutenant general.

Coming from the lower classes, Kornilov welcomed the February Revolution of 1917 and the coming to power of the Provisional Government. He then said: “The old has collapsed! The people are building a new building of freedom, and the task of the people’s army is to fully support the new government in its difficult, creative work.” He also believed in Russia’s ability to bring the war to a victorious end. On March 2, the general, popular in the country and in the army, was appointed to the post of commander of the Petrograd Military District. On March 8, by order of War Minister Guchkov, he arrested the family of the dethroned tsar in Tsarskoye Selo (Nicholas II himself was arrested on the same day at Army Headquarters in Mogilev). The district commander was tasked with establishing order in the capital's garrison, excited by the revolution, but the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies prevented this in every possible way. Wounded and tired of the Petrograd nonsense, Kornilov, with a report dated April 23, demanded that he be returned to the active army.

At the beginning of May 1917, he received command of the 8th Army, which gave great names to Brusilov, Kaledin, Denikin and himself. In the June offensive of the troops of the Southwestern Front, the 8th Army acted most successfully; it managed to break through the enemy’s defenses, capture about 36 thousand people in 12 days, and occupy the cities of Kalush and Galich. But the other armies of the front did not support it, the front became feverish, soldiers’ rallies and anti-war resolutions of soldiers’ committees began. The offensive was disrupted, and on July 6 German troops launched a counteroffensive.

On the night of July 8, Kornilov was urgently appointed commander of the Southwestern Front, and on the 11th he sent a telegram to the Provisional Government in which he stated that the army propagated by the Bolsheviks was fleeing and demanded the introduction of courts-martial and the death penalty for deserters and looters. The next day his demand was granted. A week later, the withdrawal of troops stopped.

On July 19, Kornilov received an offer from Kerensky to become Supreme Commander-in-Chief and accepted it, stipulating as a condition complete non-interference in his operational orders. In the confrontation with the Bolsheviks, Kerensky needed the support of a firm and decisive general, although he feared that he would eventually want to remove the Provisional Government from power. Lavr Georgievich, judging by various evidence, really did not exclude such a scenario and his coming to power, but not individually, but at the head of a new national government. However, as subsequent events showed, Kornilov did not develop any specific plans in this regard. In August, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief came from Mogilev to Petrograd several times to participate in meetings, and each time at the station the general was warmly greeted by masses of people, he was showered with flowers and carried in their arms. At the State Meeting on August 14, Kornilov reported on the alarming situation at the front, especially near Riga, and called on the Provisional Government to take urgent, severe measures against the growing revolution.

The end was close. In connection with the threat of a Bolshevik coup in Petrograd, Kornilov, in agreement with Kerensky, on August 25 moved the cavalry corps of General A. Krymov and other troops to the capital. But here Kerensky, who received conflicting information through intermediaries about the intentions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, wavered, fearing for his power. On the morning of the 27th, he sent a telegram to Headquarters about the removal of Kornilov from his post and gave instructions to stop the troops moving towards Petrograd. In response, Kornilov made a radio statement about the treacherous policy of the Provisional Government and called on “all Russian people to save their dying Motherland.” For two days, he tried to gather forces around himself to fight against the Provisional Government, but the unexpectedness of what happened, a violent outburst of rumors and propaganda discrediting the “Kornilov mutiny,” broke his will. Like General Krymov, who was shocked by what happened and shot himself on August 31. Lavr Georgievich was in despair; only the support of his closest associates, his wife and the thought of thousands of officers who believed in him kept Kornilov from committing suicide.

On September 2, the newly appointed chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M. Alekseev, who fully sympathized with the “rebels,” was forced to announce Kornilov’s arrest. He sent him and other prisoners to the Bykhov prison, where he ensured their safety. Together with the former Supreme Commander-in-Chief, generals Denikin, Lukomsky, Romanovsky, Erdeli, Vannovsky, and Markov ended up in Bykhov. In less than two months, the Provisional Government, which had betrayed its military leaders, would be overthrown by the Bolsheviks and would itself find itself under arrest.

One of the Bykhov prisoners - General Romanovsky - said: “They can shoot Kornilov, send his accomplices to hard labor, but “Kornilovism” will not die in Russia, since “Kornilovism” is love for the Motherland, the desire to save Russia, and these high motives do not to throw any dirt at, not to trample under any haters of Russia."

After the Bolsheviks came to power, the threat of reprisals against the arrested generals grew every day. On the eve of the arrival of the Red Guard detachments in Bykhov, the acting commander-in-chief, General N. Dukhonin, ordered the release of Kornilov and his associates. On the night of November 19, they left Bykhov and moved to the Don. The next day, the revolutionary sailors who arrived in Mogilev, in the presence of the new commander-in-chief Krylenko, tore Dukhonin to pieces and violated his body.

At the beginning of December 1917, Kornilov came to the Don and, together with generals Alekseev, Denikin, and Ataman Kaledin, led the resistance to the Bolsheviks. On December 27, he took command of the White Volunteer Army, which then numbered about three thousand people. The development of events on the Don, which entailed the victory of the Soviets and the death of Ataman Kaledin, forced the Volunteer Army to move to the Kuban region in February 1918. In this “Ice March,” which took place in incredibly difficult weather conditions and in continuous skirmishes with Red Army detachments, Kornilov remained the idol of volunteers. “In it, as if in a focus,” Denikin wrote, “everything was concentrated: the idea of ​​struggle, faith in victory, hope of salvation.” In difficult moments of the battle, with complete disregard for danger, Kornilov appeared on the front line with his convoy and the tricolor national flag. When he led the battle under severe enemy fire, no one dared to ask him to leave the dangerous place. Lavr Georgievich was ready for death.

When approaching Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar), it turned out that it was occupied by the Reds, who had organized a strong defense. The first attack of the city by the small Volunteer Army was unsuccessful for her. Kornilov was adamant and on April 12 ordered a second attack. The next morning, he was killed by an explosion of an enemy shell: the shell pierced the wall in the house where the general was sitting at the table, and hit him with a shrapnel in the temple.

In the village of Elizavetpolskaya, a priest served a memorial service for the slain warrior Lavra. On April 15, in the German colony of Gnachbau, where the retreating army stopped, the coffin with Kornilov’s body was buried. The next day, the Bolsheviks, who occupied the village, dug a grave and took the general’s body to Yekaterinodar, where, after mockery, it was burned. The civil war in Russia flared up.