During the collapse of the power of the Kolchak government in Siberia, Kappel’s troops remained the only forces loyal to him. After leaving Omsk, it was Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel that Kolchak intended to transfer the powers of the “Supreme Ruler”. Kappel was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the White Troops of Siberia. He was one of the few white military leaders at that time who remained optimistic and faithful to his duty.
At the beginning of December 1919, the Kappelites suppressed the pro-Socialist Revolutionary uprising of the Siberian Barabinsky regiment under the command of Colonel Ivakin. With communications broken and the front destabilized, Kappel tried to hold the Barnaul-Biysk region. However, in conditions of complete decay and confusion, almost daily riots and betrayals of the command staff, the Whites were forced to retreat. After the loss of Novonikolaevsk, Kappel's troops with continuous battles retreat along the railway, experiencing enormous hardships in conditions of 50-degree frost. V.O Kapel managed to unite all the remaining forces into a fist - about 30 thousand people. But the “stabs in the back” from yesterday’s allies and comrades followed one after another.
By order of the commander of the Czechs and Slovaks in Siberia, Syrov, the locomotive was removed from the Supreme Ruler. This meant the actual surrender of Kolchak and the “gold reserves” that came with him from Omsk to the Reds.
While in Achinsk, Kappel challenged Syrovoy to a duel. He did not answer the call, but soon his subordinates took away the locomotive that was carrying his train to Krasnoyarsk from Kappel. Thus, Kolchak found himself in complete isolation, and the Kapelevites again had to move towards Krasnoyarsk on foot.
At this time, not only the red forces, but also a very large movement of “greens” under the leadership of Rogov entered the fight against the Kappelites. As a result of the betrayal of another yesterday's comrade-in-arms, General Zinevich, Kappel's army was surrounded near Krasnoyarsk. The pro-Bolshevik Zinevich demanded that Kappel surrender. Having bypassed the city, the Kapelevites broke out of the encirclement. Having received a telegram from Kolchak with the order to suppress Zinevich’s rebellion, Kappel decided to storm Krasnoyarsk. On January 5 - 6, 1920, during fierce battles, his forces managed to break through bypassing the city, but Kappel was unable to suppress the rebellion. He allowed fighters who did not want or could not join the forces of the Transbaikal government of Ataman Semenov to surrender to the “Socialist Revolutionary-Bolshevik” troops near Krasnoyarsk. This freed the general’s army from an unnecessary burden and rallied under his hand only people devoted to the White idea.
When entering Krasnoyarsk, the Bolsheviks themselves “took care” of the rebels: all the white officers who remained in the city who were loyal to them, including General Zinevich, were shot.
The railway, convenient for escape, had to be abandoned, as information was received about the Reds occupying the railway stations east of Krasnoyarsk. On January 6, 1920, Kappel’s army leaves the city and follows the frozen Yenisei.
January 7, 1920 In the village of Chistoostrovskaya, a meeting of the heads of Kappel’s units was convened. It was decided to move to Irkutsk in order to unite with the troops of Ataman Semyonov and free Kolchak and the “gold reserve”. Kappel decisively rejected General Perkhurov's proposal to move north in order to approach Irkutsk without losses along the deserted Angara. A delay in the outflanking maneuver would certainly have cost the admiral his life. At that moment, General Kappel still hoped to save him, so he chose to follow the bed of the Kan River - the most direct and dangerous path.
The tragic and dangerous “Ice March” has begun.
This is how campaign participant V.O. describes the progress of the Kappelites. Vyrypaev:
“The advanced units, having descended along a very steep and long road overgrown with large trees, were presented with a picture of a smooth, arshin-thick snow cover lying on the ice of the river. But under this cover, water flowed across the ice, coming from non-freezing hot springs from the neighboring hills. With the horses' feet, the snow mixed with water at 35 degrees below zero turned into sharp, shapeless lumps that quickly became icy. On these icy, shapeless lumps, horses damaged their legs and became incapacitated. They tore their hoof rims, from which blood streamed.
An arshin or more thick, the snow was soft as fluff, and the man who got off his horse sank until the water flowed over the ice of the river. The felt boots quickly became covered with a thick layer of ice frozen to them, making it impossible to walk. Therefore, progress was terribly slow. And a mile or so behind the forward units there was a good winter road along which slowly, with long stops, stretched an endless line of countless carts and sleighs filled with a wide variety of poorly dressed people.
In deathly silence, snow began to fall and did not stop falling in large flakes for almost two days; it quickly became dark, and the night dragged on almost endlessly, which had a depressing effect on the psyche of people, as if they were trapped and moving forward one and a half to two miles per hour.
Those walking somehow straight through the snow, at stops, as if under hypnosis, sat on the snow in which their feet were buried. The felt boots did not allow water to pass through because they were so frozen that when water came into contact with them, it formed a waterproof ice crust. But this bark froze so hard that my legs refused to move. Therefore, many continued to sit when they needed to move forward, and, unable to move, remained sitting, forever covered with snow flakes.”
Within one month, exhausted people in inhumane conditions managed to overcome more than a thousand kilometers - the path from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk through snowy roads and January frost.
According to eyewitnesses, General Kappel, feeling sorry for his horse, walked almost the entire time of crossing the Kan River. He fell into the wormwood, but continued to walk, his feet being frozen and he getting pneumonia. Gangrene began, and the regimental doctor in the nearest village was forced to amputate the general’s several toes on one foot and part of the foot of the other. Kappel after this continued to remain at the head of his troops. He could only stay on his horse while tied to the saddle. Kappel's men, in spite of everything, stubbornly advanced towards Irkutsk.
Only on January 21, 1920, due to the deterioration of his condition, Kappel handed over command of the troops to General Wojciechowski (who took office after Kappel’s death). A big battle took place near Nizhneudinsk, as a result of which the partisans and the East Siberian Red Army were thrown back, and Kappel’s troops opened the way to Lake Baikal, to unite with Ataman Semenov. In Nizhneudinsk, Kappel organized a meeting on January 22, 1920, where it was decided to speed up the movement of troops to Irkutsk in two columns, take it on the move, release Kolchak and the gold reserve, after which establish contact with Semenov and create a new battle front. According to the plan he proposed, two columns of white troops were supposed to unite at Zima station and here prepare for the decisive rush to Irkutsk. After this meeting, Kappel dictates an appeal to the peasants of Siberia with a call to come to their senses and support the whites.
IN. Kappel died from blood poisoning during the retreat of the army in the village of Verkhneozerskaya (Verkhneudinsk region) on January 25, 1920 (according to other sources - on January 26, 1920 - from pneumonia). The coffin with the body of General Kappel was taken to Transbaikalia, and then to Harbin and buried at the altar of the Iveron Church. Subordinates whom he saved in the winter of 1919 - 1920. from death, a monument was erected to Kappel in Harbin. In 1955, at the proposal of the USSR government, the monument and tombstone of V.O.’s wife. Kappel were demolished by the communist authorities of the People's Republic of China. In 2006, the ashes of V.O. Kappel was transported to Russia.
On February 6, 1920, the Kappelites, exhausted and tired, broke through to the outskirts of Irkutsk. They were unable to occupy the city and free Kolchak. The very next day, February 7, 1920, the former Supreme Ruler was shot. The bulk of the “gold reserves” fell to the Bolsheviks. Historians still argue about the fate of the remaining part.
Perhaps General Kappel’s last “ice campaign” is not the most significant event in the history of Russia and the white movement. The heroic efforts and courageous self-sacrifice of the participants in the campaign were not destined to solve the main strategic tasks, turn the tide of the White struggle in Siberia, or save themselves and their loved ones from persecution and death.
Kornilov’s “Ice Campaign” began the white movement in Kuban. This first campaign of the “doomed” also did not bring almost any real results, but remained in memory as an example of unaccountable courage and service to the white idea. Kappel’s “Ice Campaign” in Siberia, already “at the close” of the white movement, in defiance of all those who were disappointed and surrendered, set an example of fidelity to convictions and duty, fidelity to the idea of selfless service to Russia. The feat of the lost, but unbroken, unchangeable people deserves to be talked about and remembered.
During the defensive battles of the summer - autumn of 1919, Kappel’s corps, being in the most critical sectors of the front and fighting against the most combat-ready units of the Red Army, including the famous 25th Chapaev Rifle Division, became famous for its “psychic attacks” in full force, was practically destroyed destroyed.
At the beginning of November 1919, the front moved close to Omsk, and on November 14, the city, left without a fight, was occupied by the attackers. Troops loyal to the Siberian government actually continued to control only cities and large settlements located along the lines of railways and rivers. In conditions of close pursuit, stubborn rearguard battles did not bring success, and attempts at counterattacks quickly fizzled out. The troops began a rapid retreat beyond the Ob, leaving Barnaul on December 11, Biysk on December 13, and Novonikolaevsk on December 14.
Thus began the Great Siberian Ice Campaign. However, many believe that it began even earlier - on October 21 of the same year - with the retreat of the White armies from the Tobol River.
Appointed on December 11 as Commander of the Eastern Front, General V.O. Kappel began a retreat to Krasnoyarsk, hoping to restore the front on the Yenisei River and establish contact with the Transbaikal troops of Ataman G.M. Semenov. On December 16, the army, having avoided encirclement at the Taiga station by a roundabout maneuver, set out on a campaign in two columns. The first moved along the Old Siberian Highway along the railway, the second along a country road 50 versts to the south. On January 3, having traveled over 400 miles, all three armies concentrated near Krasnoyarsk. Due to the threat of complete encirclement, at a meeting of senior commanders of each unit, it was decided to provide an independent choice of actions. As an organized force, the army ceased to exist for a time. Separate detachments (including Jaeger, Ural, Volzhsky and Izhevsk), formed under the leadership of General V.O. Kappel's Combined Army Group managed to knock down enemy barriers and go around Krasnoyarsk from the north, with the ultimate goal of reaching Chita. Breaking away for a while from pursuit by a sudden maneuver along the Yenisei River, the main forces of the group then descended onto the Kan River, starting to move in the direction of Kansk. On January 15, 1920, after a difficult 105-verst trek across taiga roads, the city was taken. The troops, having again broken out onto the Siberian Highway, rushed south and on January 22 captured Nizhneudinsk on the move.
On the Kan River, Kappel fell into a wormwood and froze his legs, which is why he developed gangrene. His legs had to be amputated, but he continued to lead the troops even when he could only stay on a horse while tied to the saddle. In Nizhneudinsk, Kappel organized a meeting on January 22, 1920, where it was decided to speed up the movement of troops to Irkutsk in 2 columns, take it on the move, release Kolchak and the gold reserve, after which establish contact with Semyonov and create a new battle front. According to the plan he proposed, 2 columns of white troops were supposed to unite at Zima station and here prepare for the decisive rush to Irkutsk. After this meeting, Kappel appealed to the peasants of Siberia to come to their senses and support the whites, saying that they would receive from the Reds not freedom and land, but slavery and persecution of the Faith.
Due to a severe deterioration in his health as a result of a previous operation and injury, having become convinced of the impossibility of further commanding the army, on January 21 (according to other sources, January 26), 1920, Kappel handed over command of the troops to General Woitsekhovsky. Kappel died from blood poisoning in the village of Verkhneozerskaya (Verkhneudinsk region) on January 25, 1920 (according to other sources - on January 26, 1920 - from pneumonia). His last words were: “Let the troops know that I was devoted to them, that I loved them and proved this by my death among them.”
On January 29, after a stubborn battle, parts of his column captured Zima. An ultimatum was sent to the Irkutsk Political Center by telegraph. Building on their success, the 3rd Army continued its frontal attack on the city. The remnants of the 2nd Army moved around from the north. On February 7, both columns broke into the Innokentyevskaya station, taking up vanguard positions on the western bank of the Angara.
While preparing for the final assault, the command suddenly received an armed protest from the Czechoslovak troops and notification of the death of A.V. Kolchak. New circumstances made continuation of the operation pointless. In the evening of the same day, the army circled Irkutsk from the south and north in two marching columns, and descended along the Angara River to Lake Baikal, occupying the Listvennichnoye station on February 9. From here, on February 10, in conditions of beginning ice drift, the troops began the crossing, which successfully ended on February 14 with the withdrawal of covering units. Concentrating on the eastern coast of Lake Baikal in Mysovsk, the army continued its retreat. Under pressure from numerous partisan detachments, she was forced to make the last 600-verst trek across the wild steppes of Transbaikalia. By the beginning of March, its remnants reached Chita. For 4 months, under conditions of virtual encirclement, betrayal of the rear, and the seizure of the railway by Czechoslovak troops, people walked from Omsk to Transbaikalia approximately 3,000 versts (from Tobol a thousand versts further). Of the 350,000 people who were part of the army of the Supreme Ruler in August, no more than 30,000 people managed to leave Transbaikalia (half of them were sick with typhus). Reformed into the 2nd (Siberian) and 3rd (Volga) army corps, together with the troops of Ataman G.M. Semenov formed the Russian Far Eastern Army.
On the evening of February 11, 1920, the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front, General S. N. Voitsekhovsky (in fact, already the commander of the new, “Kappel” army, into which all the remnants of the armies of the Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak were fused), completed the crossing of Lake Baikal and reached the Mysovsk station , where at that moment the forward posts of the troops of Ataman G.M. Semenov and the Japanese were located. This meant for the Kappel group an exit from encirclement, the successful completion of a breakthrough, the like of which can hardly be found in world military history. Therefore, this day became the official date of completion of the “Great Siberian Ice March”. And it was on this day that the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front, Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky, ordered the establishment of the Insignia of the Military Order “For the Great Siberian Campaign,” as well as the regulations on its awarding and a description of the badge itself.
Addition and results of the trip
The ice campaign across the Siberian plains, mountains, steppes and forests began in early October 1919, when several tens of thousands of soldiers, Cossacks and officers of the armies of the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak began their retreat from the Tobol River to the East. The White command planned to stop the Red advance, first along the Ishim River and then on the Irtysh. However, it was not possible to stay at these lines: a hasty and disorderly evacuation of the white capital, Omsk, abandoned on November 14, began.
Retreating, the whites advanced to the East as best they could: on foot, on sleighs, on horseback. The situation was aggravated by the congestion of the railway, which did not allow the trains to move normally. The army was flooded with military families and refugees fleeing the Bolsheviks. The catastrophic situation ruined all strategic plans of the command: the pressing Red Army was pressing behind, countless red partisan detachments were waiting ahead.
Due to overcrowding in overnight accommodations, malnutrition and terrible sanitary conditions, typhus epidemics began to rage among the white troops to such an extent that sometimes only a few dozen healthy people remained in the units (hundreds of sick people, completely unconscious, were carried on sleighs).
The 2nd and 3rd White armies retreated in parallel along the Trans-Siberian Railway, suffering huge losses. The passage through the Shcheglovskaya taiga was especially difficult (we had to retreat along a forest clearing in the wild taiga without settlements for almost 120 versts), in which the 3rd Army was almost completely destroyed. When the train exploded at the Achinsk station, almost 1,500 people died, including the entire convoy of the Commander-in-Chief.
On December 11, General V.O. was appointed Commander of the Eastern Front. Kappel, who began a retreat to Krasnoyarsk with the expectation of restoring the front on the Yenisei River. On the approaches to Krasnoyarsk, it became known about the betrayal of the head of the city garrison, General A.K. Zinevich. The assault attempts were unsuccessful: during the Krasnoyarsk disaster, the Whites lost at least 90% of all retreaters.
Due to the threat of complete encirclement, each unit was given the choice of an independent path. Separate detachments, formed led by General V.O. Kappel's Combined Army Group managed to knock down enemy barriers and go around Krasnoyarsk from the north. In Nizhneudinsk, all surviving units were reunited. Here it became known about the uprising that took place in Irkutsk and the extradition of Admiral A.V. to the Bolsheviks. Kolchak. It was decided to hastily advance on Irkutsk. On January 26, 1920, after the death of V.O. Kappel, General S.N. took command of all white forces. Voitsekhovsky. Approaching Irkutsk, the Whites sent an ultimatum to hand over the Supreme Ruler and prepared for the assault. However, suddenly the command received an armed protest from the Czechoslovak troops and notification of the death of A.V. Kolchak. Circumstances made continuation of the operation pointless.
In the evening of the same day, the army circled Irkutsk in two marching columns and descended along the Angara River to Lake Baikal: on February 14, in conditions of beginning ice drift, the troops crossed to the eastern shore. Under pressure from numerous partisan detachments, the army was forced to make the last 600-verst trek across the wild steppes of Transbaikalia. By the beginning of March, its remnants, having completed a campaign of unprecedented complexity, called the Great Siberian Ice, reached Chita. Units of the army together with the troops of Ataman G.M. Semenov formed the Russian Far Eastern Army.
Despite heavy losses, the death of the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak, Commander of the Eastern Front General V.O. Kappel, the army nevertheless completed a campaign unparalleled in heroism. Its main result was the continuation of the white struggle in Primorye in 1920-1922 and the convening of the Amur Zemsky Sobor. For the participants of the campaign in 1920, an order was established, the sign of which was an exact copy of the sign for the 1st Kuban Ice Campaign, but with a golden sword.
History gives everyone what they deserve. Almost 90 years later, a renewed Russia finally remembered one of its most faithful sons: in January 2007, General Kappel, who died on a cold afternoon in January 1920, was reburied with military honors in the Moscow St. Daniel Monastery. Let us also remember him. The psychic attack of the whites in the film “Chapaev” was watched with bated breath by more than one generation of residents of the USSR. She is the most impressive episode of the cult film. Slender ranks of officers with contemptuous fearlessness go to the trenches at full height, without bowing to the shots. When death overtakes someone, they close ranks together, hiding their losses. It seems that even a bullet is afraid of them. The confusion of the Chapaevites was transmitted to the audience. People, of course, rejoiced when the long-awaited Vasily Ivanovich flew out from behind the hill, putting the enemies to flight. However, involuntary respect for the “golden chasers” remained.
It was also evident in the words of the movie Red Army soldiers:
The Kappelites... They're walking beautifully! Intelligentsia…
Thanks to these shots, the name of General Kappel remained in the memory of the people. But only the last name. Few people knew the details about this amazing man with a tragic fate, mainly emigrants who were forced to leave the Fatherland back in 1920.
Full bow of the Knight of St. George
Vladimir Kapel was born in 1881 in the town of Belevo, Tula province. Oscar Pavlovich, his father, served as an orderly for General Skobelev, distinguished himself in the battles of the Russian-Turkish campaign, and received the St. George Cross for bravery. Grandfather was also a Knight of St. George. Naturally, coming from a glorious officer family, he followed in the footsteps of his parents.
Young cornet
He graduated from the cadet corps, and later from the Nikolaev Cavalry School. After college he was sent to the Novomirgorod regiment. Everyone in the regiment loved the young cornet. Disciplined, impeccably mannered, easy to communicate with – he endeared himself to everyone.
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Vladimir Kappel stole his beloved from her parents' house and married her in a rural church, since her parents were against marriage to a young officer
Kappel’s colleague, Colonel Sverchkov, recalled that even his appearance inspired sympathy. The gray, slightly sad eyes of Vladimir Oskarovich were especially beautiful. He stood out for his intelligence and erudition, he loved to talk with his fellow soldiers over a glass of wine, but he knew the limit in everything. Then, probably, few people realized that in the gentle, modest officer there lived desperate courage and enormous will.
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Oddly enough, Kappel also enjoyed great respect from his enemies. The Bolshevik newspaper "Red Star" called him "little Napoleon"
The first to notice Kappel’s determination was, perhaps, his wife Olga Sergeevna. Contrary to the wishes of her parents, Vladimir took her down the aisle on a sleigh in a snowstorm, just like in the old novel. They lived happily for several years until the First World War broke out. By that time, Kappel had graduated from the General Staff Academy. He went to war as a captain and ended the war as a lieutenant colonel.
October socialist revolution
Vladimir Oskarovich experienced the events of the February Revolution painfully. He was a convinced monarchist and sincerely believed that drastic changes would only harm the country. Proof of this was the ugly fraternization of soldiers with enemies, drunkenness, demagoguery and widespread desertion. To see all this for a hereditary officer, a man of duty and honor, who took an oath of allegiance to the Tsar and the Fatherland, was unbearable.
When the October Revolution took place and the decision on a shameful separate peace was made, Kappel was finally convinced that Russia had fallen into the hands of the German-Bolshevik conspirators. He abandons the collapsed front, tries to get to his family by roundabout routes, and in June 1918 he ends up in Samara. This city became the beginning of the high Sacrificial Path of Vladimir Kappel. By this time the Bolsheviks had been expelled from Samara.
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The volunteers of the detachment, observing him every day, living the same life with them, became more and more attached to their commander
First People's Army
The question arose who would lead the People's Army. There were no willing local officers, and Kappel was offered temporary command of the volunteers. He agreed because he was ready to fight in any capacity, just to free Russia from.
Vladimir Oskarovich had only 350 people at his disposal. This handful of people were sent to liberate Syzran. It seemed that the Reds, outnumbering the volunteers five times, would throw their hats at their enemies. But a miracle happened: a tiny detachment skillfully and effectively knocked the enemy out of the city. The volunteers found abandoned weapons and ammunition depots in their hands.
In the footsteps of Kappel's army. Military reconstruction The success stunned everyone, and Kappel immediately became famous. Glory rightfully belonged to Vladimir Oskarovich, because he was the soul of the operation. But the commander himself modestly shrugged it off and said that the victory was the merit of the “green cadet youth.”
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Admiral Kolchak was handed over by the Czechs to the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center. Having learned about this, Kappel challenged the commander of the Czechs and Slovaks in Siberia, Jan Syrov, to a duel, but did not receive an answer from him
A Thorn in the Body of Bolshevism
From that moment on, Kappel's name became a headache for the Red Command. Wherever he appeared, the enemy was completely beaten. The royal lieutenant colonel acted with speed and pressure. His troops, which were replenished with new volunteers, rapidly moved across the Middle Volga, stunning the enemy with the unpredictability of maneuver. In June 1918, the whites broke into Simbirsk.
Trotsky declared the Fatherland in danger, and appointed a cash prize of 50 thousand rubles for the head of the “bandit” Kappel. This order fell into the hands of the commander, he laughed: “I am dissatisfied - the Bolsheviks rated us very cheaply...”.
After the capture of Simbirsk, there were even more people willing to fight alongside the legendary Kappel.
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Everyone who personally knew General Vladimir Kappel emphasized that he was always not only a skilled commander, but a person distinguished by personal courage
He attracted people not only with his military talent, but also with his humanity. He never shot captured Red Army soldiers; he himself often took a rifle and took part in battles, ate from a common cauldron, willingly talked with soldiers, shared his thoughts and plans. He was lovingly called: “Our Kappel.”
The main victory on the Volga for Vladimir Oskarovich was the capture of Kazan. was perfectly fortified, since the famous gold reserves of Russia were stored there. But on the evening of July 6, under the cover of rain and twilight, the white units, as always, suddenly and boldly attacked Kazan. In the morning, the tricolor Russian flag was already flying over the city. The gold was loaded onto the ship and sent to Samara, from where to Omsk to Admiral Kolchak.
In the early autumn of 1918, the Red Army received reinforcements. The forces became completely unequal, and Kappel with his Volga group retreated to the Urals. By winter, Kolchak’s order came to award him the rank of major general. “I would be more happy if they sent me an infantry battalion instead of production,” Vladimir Oskarovich said sincerely.
Examples of the power of words
He fought for Russia not for the sake of titles and awards, and on his jacket he wore only an academic badge and the St. George Cross, received back in the First World War. Sometimes he threw a simple jacket over his uniform, then the orders and insignia were not visible at all. Once, in such a “civilian” form, the general appeared at a rally of workers of the Ural Asha-Balashov plant.
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Being a convinced monarchist, Vladimir Oskarovich categorically rejected both the February revolution and the results of the October armed coup
Agitators worked here who incited people to commit an attempt on the life of the white bandit Kappel. After standing and listening to the angry shouts addressed to him, he asked to speak and quickly rose to the podium: “I am General Kappel... You want to kill me. I listened to you, listen to me too.”
The meeting froze in amazement. He told the miners what he was fighting for, what communism brought with it. The workers then carried their recent enemy in their arms to headquarters.
The general’s courage and selflessness sometimes surprised even those who knew him well. Later, already as commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, Kappel learned that his family, evacuated to Irkutsk, was in great need. He was asked to send a telegram to the commander of the Irkutsk district with an order to give ten thousand rubles to his mother-in-law and children. Vladimir Oskarovich refused: he did not see the possibility of returning such a lot of money to the treasury soon.
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The Reds, unable to cope with him in open battle, took his wife and two children hostage, who were then in Ufa
The Volga Corps, and then Kappel’s Third Army, remained the most combat-ready on Admiral Kolchak’s Eastern Front. The working units of the Izhevsk and Votkinsk factories were particularly resistant. It was the Izhevsk people, and not the officer regiment, who carried out the famous psychic attack near Ufa.
In the deep autumn of 1919, the attack of the Reds, who had established discipline and learned to fight, could not be contained. After the surrender of Omsk, the white armies rolled inexorably towards the Yenisei. At this critical moment, Admiral Kolchak persuades Lieutenant General Kappel to lead the Eastern Front with the words: “Vladimir Oskarovich, all hope is in you!” But it was no longer possible to stop the process of retreat. Kappel hoped for a fortified Krasnoyarsk, but rebels settled in the city who advocated peace and advised the commander-in-chief to lay down their arms. Kappel’s telegraph answer was devastating and short: “I don’t talk to traitors to the Motherland!”
He abandoned the headquarters train and mounted his horse. Having bypassed Krasnoyarsk under artillery fire, he gathered the randomly retreating units and set the task: to go to Transbaikalia to make it a stronghold of the White struggle. The Great Siberian Ice March, unparalleled in courage, began, stretching three thousand miles.
The railway was in the hands of the enemy. Therefore, the army, along with refugees, the wounded and the sick, had to move through the remote taiga, where there were almost no settlements. Kapel walked along with everyone else. Many noted that he was lightly dressed, but the commander-in-chief could not wrap himself in a fur coat when his subordinates were freezing in shabby overcoats.
On the Kan River, the general fell through the ice, continued walking in damp shoes and became frostbitten. Pneumonia began, then gangrene. In a taiga village, a regimental doctor, without tools, amputated Kappel’s toes with a kitchen knife.
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One of the participants in the levy campaign, A. A. Fedorovich, recalled: “The general, who had clenched his teeth in pain, pale, thin, and scary, was carried into the yard in his arms and put in the saddle. He touched his horse and rode out into the street - parts of his army were there.”
Crippled and in a semi-fainting state, the commander-in-chief demanded a horse and stayed in the saddle for some time so that the soldiers could see that he was with them. Only when Vladimir Oskarovich was no longer able to sit in the saddle and lost consciousness was he placed in the convoy. On the morning of January 26, 1920, the dying commander was placed in the infirmary of a Romanian train. But it was too late: a few hours later Kappel was gone.
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The general’s last words were: “Let the troops know that I was devoted to them, that I loved them and proved this with my death among them.”
Reburial of Kappel
He continued his path with the army after his death. Tired and exhausted people, for whom Kappel was a symbol of the White struggle, a symbol of honor and courage, could not part with their beloved commander. They carried his coffin off-road all the way to Chita. There Kappel was in full service and with honors. Later, his comrades-in-arms reburied their commander-in-chief in Harbin, fearing that the new government would violate the ashes. The money raised was used to erect a monument: a granite cross with a crown of thorns at the foot.
In 1955, by order of the Soviet ambassador to China, the grave of the legendary white general was razed to the ground. But the memory of a real person cannot be erased. Decades passed, and descendants remembered Kappel. In 2006, devotees from the White Warriors organization found his burial place and transported Vladimir Oskarovich from a foreign land to his homeland, for the benefit of which he had given up in a terrible civil war
V. Perminov: General Kappel. - Pravaya.ru - Radical orthodoxy (undefined)Interview with Ruslan Gagkuev for the film “The Last Secret of General Kappel”About the author.Varzhensky served as a lieutenant in Kolchak’s army, in the spring of 1919 he was listed in the Ch
Erdyn regiment of the Perm division. Participant of the Great Siberian Ice March. He went into exile, where he died after 1972. The retreat of the Great French Army in 1812 from Moscow, the tragedy of which is so stunningly clearly marked in history and in our classical literature, can hardly not only compare, but even to get any closer to the trials that befell the entire nearly million-strong mass of people who began this terrible SiberianAn icy trek in a semi-wild, vast country, with cold in winter up to 50 degrees Reaumur and ended with an insignificant figure
living witnesses of 10-15 thousand people.The terrible Siberian winter came as quickly as it crowdedour enemy. To all physical and moral sufferingThere was one more thing added - frost. Lack of warm clothes especiallymade you feel it. People now died not only from a bullet or
After the surrender of Omsk, the morale of military units sharplydecreased, and only a few of them still retained, and then relatively, their discipline and some kind of combat effectiveness. Even in the mostIn some units, the idea prevailed not of fighting the enemy, but of personal salvation.ideas: how to get away from the enemy as quickly as possible.
Leaving behind us a dangerous obstacle - the Irtysh, whichWe crossed on ice that froze almost the day before our crossing.you, we went to Krasnoyarsk, to the Yenisei.
Kappel's army makes its march
Entering the treetormented forest, we seemed to find ourselves in the snowy kingdom of the legendary secretgi: a virgin white cover lay on bizarre centuries-old branchespine trees, spruce trees, larches and fir trees in such a layer that daylight is barelypenetrated through its thickness, and all this created the impression of a fantastic fairy tale.
Disturbing the peace of the winter sleep of the enchanted taiga, we walked along the clean, barely powdery ice of a river unknown to me. Moving with speedwith a height of no more than 20 versts per day, on the third day it is not quite usual -th journey under the snow, or rather, as if in a snow tunnel, weagain we reached the Siberian Highway near the village of Kovrovaya.
The path from Taiga station to Krasnoyarsk, a distance of 400 versts,during frequent skirmishes with small parties of partisans who are restlessor we, like bloodhounds of a hunted animal, were not aroused in us by fearto be killed - we have long been accustomed to the thought of death - butthe horror of being captured. That's what gave us the strength to go and go,and we, with the help of the same “push", making 20 versts a day, three weeks later, just before Christmas, we were near Krasnoyarsk.
While the entire retreating, or rather fleeing mass of people with wagon trains and an endless ribbon of barely moving trains approached to Krasnoyarsk, the latter was occupied by a strong detachment of partisansMoreTinkin, former staff captain from the sergeant majors, consisting of excellent hunter-shooters, who were said to be almost They hit you in the eye a mile away without missing a beat.
It was also known, according to rumors, that our white general Zinevich, commander of the Central Siberian the corps of the 1st Siberian Army of General Pepelyaev, with the entire garrison of Krasnoyarsk, moved to the stationrona red. Thus, in Krasnoyarsk it turned out to be an impressivecombat barrier against half-starved, exhausted and, moreover, morally depressed and poorly armed units of the Siberian and Volgaarmies, with a large percentage of sick people.
Given the current situation, having refused, after an unsuccessful attempt,torture, from the thought of taking Krasnoyarsk from the battle, our command noticedbut was confused, and a general organized plan for a breakthrough was developedbut there was none, and the commanders of individual units acted on their own initiative, without communication with others. The only thing iswas the general idea, this was to slip beyond the Yenisei, bypassing Krasno-yarsk from the north.
The detachment in which I was located chose a route about twenty milesty north of the city where the enemy is located. We moved butwhose, with all precautions, counting on who knows what,walked through a large village during the Christmas service in the localchurch, which we passed stealthily. And here I was waitingour enemy.
A fight ensued. Of course, this was only a guard guard...Victory remained with us, that is, we slipped beyond the Yenisei, butThis is not cheap: we suffered heavy losses. In this night battleAround Christmas I lost my younger brother, with whom I walked to Krasnoyarsk together. Here, near Krasnoyarsk, taking into account everyoneevacuating, our losses were no less than 90 percent of the entire moving mass. Did not pass beyond Krasnoyarsk, occupied by partisansnot a single echelon traveling by other routes.
The breakthrough of some part of the army near Krasnoyarsk and its departure beyond the Yenisei ends the first and, perhaps, most terrible period of the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, not only geographically, butsince we have entered a new and more difficult region of the Middle-Ci-Birskaya elevation, but also in spiritual and psychological significance this fight.
Here, and only here, near Krasnoyarsk - this, of course, is my personal opinion - our White movement suffered a complete collapse. Ifbefore that, there was still some hope of retaining part of the powerBirsk territory and resume the fight with new tenacity and lessmajor mistakes and blunders made by our politicalsemi-literate leaders, then after the defeat at Krasnoyarsk shecompletely collapsed even for the greatest optimists.
Thus ended the first stage of the Ice Siberian Campaign.
After Krasnoyarsk beyond the Yenisei, the army, although it consisted of the same militaryIndian units, as before, but in formation these units were far from those whose names they retained. They weren'talready divisions, brigades and regiments, and some pitiful remnants of them. To thatAt the time, the entire army was unlikely to exceed the number of 20—25 thousand people. I make this conclusion based on thethe lives of his regiment. Now it consisted of two battalions of three companiesnogo composition of 25-30 people in a company and regimental cavalry reconnaissance in150 horsemen, that is, a total of 300 fighters V regiment, but a non-combatant companythere was none at all.
Other units were no better equipped. True, in terms of qualitycomposition was higher, since physically and morally healthy people prevailed in ita strong element who managed to endure all the difficulties and hardships of the campaign.In addition, now the army was no longer burdened with a mass of refugees, andtherefore, the units acquired greater mobility and combat effectiveness. Here the conviction of the incompatibility of our ideology with the Bolsheviks grew stronger, as well as the consciousness of our doom, from whichThis is only possible in a strong bond, when “one for all and all for one.”
Kappelites with a convoy.
If before Krasnoyarsk we walked into the unknown, now before usthere was already a defined goal, although still difficult to achieve, but the goal: there, beyond Baikal, in the unknown Chita, our, as it seemed to us then, like-minded Ataman Semenov, and the difficult path is already brightened up by thewith hope for a speedy end to our hardships.
From Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk there are still more than a thousand miles. We stood per-The early days of January 1920, and the Siberian frosts became more and more fierce day by day.
The local population, propagated by the Bolsheviks, was hostile towards us. It was almost impossible to get food and fodder. The typhus epidemic did not stop. Villages we came acrosson the way, sometimes they were completely empty and represented beforea terrible, unpleasant picture. Residents frightened by the spreadfalse rumors about our atrocities galloping ahead of us more -whist propagandists, ran away in fear into the wooded mountains, where they remained until we left their nests. In such villageswhere we found only sick old people who did not have the strength to go tomountains, and homeless or forgotten dogs, who, with their tails between their legs,timidly and guiltily they huddled around the empty huts, not even yelping. Were therecases that residents, leaving the village, left especially for us withpublic hut collected food and fodder, as it weredue tribute, wanting to appease our “greed” and thereby avoidthe inevitable, in their opinion, destruction of their native nest.
The Red partisans also did not sleep and hour by hour they all became impudentmore and more. Often the villages in which we envisaged developmentto make lodgings for the night, we had to take them from the battle and keep a strong guardprotection from gangs from the local population. I remember how one day...whose we came to a large village, which was shared by a small riveralmost into two equal parts. Having occupied apartments across the river, closer to the exit,Well, we settled down for the night... In the morning, just as dawn broke, the guard discovered that in the first half of the same village largegreat forces of the Reds... After a short fight we left and continuedway without serious pressure from the enemy.
I also remember another case when, after a long and exhaustingAfter crossing, having received information that there was no enemy nearby, we settled down for the day. Looking forward to a good holiday in a warm huta wealthy Siberian, we had fun playing cards until midnight. INthat evening I was especially lucky, and I won one million rubles forSiberian money. Having transferred the winnings to the regimental treasurer for safekeepingIn the cash drawer (we used to do this), I went to bed. But-whose, long before the late winter dawn, the Reds unexpectedly attacked, and after a short and disorderly firefight we retreated, andtreasurer along with the cash drawer, which contained minemillion went to the Reds. Episodes such as the ones just cited were not uncommon, and we considered them aschallenges of the hike.
In addition to oddities, there were also serious situations. In one of thewhere we ended up near the city of Kansk, located 200 versts toeast of Krasnoyarsk along the East Siberian railway.
Approaching Kansk, we already had information that it was occupied by the Red Army.mi. In order to avoid any unnecessary clashes, our hoursThese armies went around the city from the south along country roadsand moved 25 versts to the right of Kansk. In this direction, our vanguard entered one insignificant village, by name, it seemsXia, Golopupovka, and sent reconnaissance from himself in the direction of the neighboring village, located three or four miles ahead. The reconnaissance, which went beyond the outskirts, was immediately met by heavy enemy fire andwas forced to return back.
The attempt to knock down the Reds with the entire vanguard together also did not have any effect.success, and the detachment returned to its original position awaiting reinforcements. The army units that followed the lead detachment were drawn into the village one after another, and soon the entire army was concentrated in this small village. All the roads around us were occupied by the Reds, and we were in a trap in which we stayed for three whole days. It became impossible to stay any longer, since all food supplies were inthe villages were spent and famine was inevitable.
With mortal fear, biting his lips until it hurt so as not to escapegroaning, with a heart of stone we awaited our fate. The women behavedno worse than men and did not panic. Even the children didn’t cry and onlybut with horror gripping their little souls, they remained silent.
With just the memory of those distant experiences in a smallin a Siberian village even now, 40 years later, it gives me chillsfrost... Attempts to break through, made more than once in differentin these directions, both individual teams of dashing daredevils and entire units, were not successful... The command was confused... Dis-The body fell, and only fear kept everyone together.
On the third day, a military meeting of the commanders of the hour was convened.tey, including battalion commanders, which is the same as underKrasnoyarsk, decided to give each part a free choiceactions, that is, save yourself as best you can... And here are some, wanting to soften-to defeat the enemy, we went to Kansk, where the main headquarters of the Reds was located,willingly surrender to the mercy of the winner. Others, mainlycavalry units rushed to the south, without roads, through the forest, along the shortestnii to the Mongolian border. Still others decided to strike head-on again, ready to die or make their way to the east. Among the last was andour regiment, on whose initiative this direction was chosen. The regiment went, as it seemed to us then, to certain death first.
On the fourth day, early on a frosty morning, under some dullIn silence, as if doomed, we moved decisively. Ahead of thea team of mounted scouts, followed by infantry on carts, then a convoy withcarts of the sick, wounded, as well as women and children. Equestrian, out-for the cattle of the village, along the narrow road, at first at a light trot, and then into the quarry they rushed to the next village, standing on a lowhillock. Their task was to gallop through the village, even under fire, andturn towards it from the rear again when the infantry approaches from the front...
The Kappelites are preparing to attack. Winter 1920
This cannot be told... It must be experienced in order to understand all the joy and crazy amazement when the village where last nightthere was a strong barrier against which more than one of our attempts crashed,turned out to be empty. For reasons unknown to us, the Reds left, and wegot off with a slight fright, if you can call it “mild.”
At this barrier, like at Krasnoyarsk, our army melted away even moremore. The units that headed for Kansk, according to the soldier’s messenger, remained there. Others who chose the path to Mongolia, making their way through the taiga in virgin deep snow, suffered many hardships, but in the end, with great losses, everythingThey again went out to the Siberian Highway and contacted us. We, who seemed to have taken the most wrong and dangerous direction, found ourselves - of course,relatively - in the most advantageous position.
From all the big and small skirmishes, where one way or another inevitableThere were losses, the army, although slowly but noticeably, decreased. Worry-suffering, difficult experiences and the ongoing epidemic of rashth and relapsing fever, since by this time in the retreating partsthere were no medical personnel or medicines, they also hada huge impact. The patients could not get to the hospital and remainedin their units, at best, under the supervision of their friends, spending most of their time in the harsh Siberian frost; surprisinglyAccording to everyone, they recovered quite quickly. Subsequently, I heard that this phenomenon gave medicine the idea of treating typhus with cold andthat this method was allegedly used successfully on practice.
For most of its journey the army moved along the railway lineroads and only occasionally, and then forcedly, deviated from its directmy direction. Therefore, we were living witnesses of how Czechs rode comfortably in classy carriages. They were driving in the directionIrkutsk, taking with them a lot of stolen Russian goods. Czechs,The Germanized Slavs greedily seized everything that came to their hands and had any value. They were carrying furniture, pianos, somegoods and even Russian women... But not many of the latter of good-flew to Vladivostok. On the Chinese Eastern Railway, the Czechs, under the pretext that there is a control that does not allow them to be transported further,hid their girlfriends in bags and threw them out of the train as they movedcarriages.
We could not forget that these Czechs were our recent enemies, thenour prisoners of war First World War, then our forcedallies who treacherously left the front on the Volga and Kama, including almost 40 thousand and exposed our flanks, which made it possiblethe enemy to threaten our rear. All this taken together, supplementedthe privileged position of these gentlemen at the moment, causedthere was impotent anger and bitter insult to national feelings, whichwhich amounted to hatred. Self-satisfied, well-fed, confident in the superiority of their strength, they cynically looked out from the windows of class carson the exhausted, hungry, poorly dressed and powerless real owners of the Russian land - participants in the tragic Ice Campaign. Similar the phenomenon could only happen during an unprecedented time of hardship in our history, and who is the culprit of these shameful pages of it - someday the truth will tellthe careful, strict judge is the Russian people themselves!
Czechoslovak legionnaires guard their train. The fur coats they are wearing are clearly stolen.
And, I believe, the train is not empty.
In addition to what has been said, we can cite as an illustrationmy personal case, which, I think, was not the only one. Pass-passing by a Czech train standing on the way, I caught up with onea well-fed Czech who sat on the step of the carriage and mockingly looked at us passing. In his hands he had a large piece of whiteand, as it seemed to me, very tasty bread. Noticing my hungrylook, he impudently offered to exchange bread for my revolver. I refused.Then he threw the bread far into the snowy bushes and, uttering an oath,stva, disappeared into the carriage.
Generally speaking, it is hardly possible to find suitable words and colors,to describe the feelings that we experienced during such meetingswasted away. Personally, powerless tears welled up in my eyes more than once, and the sameI saw tears in the eyes of others. These tears are still coming,although many, many years have run away since then... But it is impossible to forget.
When we approached Irkutsk, rumors reached the army that the Supreme Ruler was Admiral Kolchak, who, after the surrender of Omsk on November 14,November 1919, was traveling in a Czech train, on January 5, 1920 wasarrested by the Czechs, and on January 24 of the same year he was extradited in Irkutsk to the rednym with the permission of the French General Janin. As it turned outAfterwards, Admiral Kolchak was shot on February 7, 1920 in Irkuts-ke. It was just at the time when we were in his suburb, onArt. Innokentyevskaya.
Kolchak before execution
No matter how hard it was to survive the information received and no matter how great the anger and hatred towards the Czechs was, there was nothing to be done: whenI had to swallow this bitter pill too. If the admiral had walked with an artilleryMia, this would not have happened to him.
During the second period of our campaign, that is, in the Krasno-Yarsk-Irkutsk, we already considered General Kap to be the commander-in-chiefsinging, who was appointed to replace General Sakharov on December 111919. General Kappel I personally did not know or see, but his nameamong the troops was in an aura of glory as a fearless and kind knight -rya-commander. General Kappel, as they said, like a simple soldier,shared all the hardships and hardships with the army, without leaving it under any circumstances. Therefore, every participant in the Siberian campaign proudly calls himself a Kappelian, like the entire army, appropriated the name Kappelevskaya.
They say that General Kappeloffered to lie down
Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel. Photo from 1919
They say that General Kappel during a bypass of Krasnoyarsk from the northfaith along the Kan River, where the units he personally led marchedpaved their way across snow-covered ice into the ferocious SiberianIt was a cold frost, my legs were frozen and I got pneumonia. Ongangrene began in his legs, and somewhere in a remote Siberian village the doctorThor amputated his heels with a simple knife without any anesthesia andtoes. To the completely ill General Kappel offered to lie downto the Czech train hospital, but he flatly refused, saying: “Hundreds of soldiers die every day, and if I am destined to die, I will die among them.”
Kappel died on January 26, 1920, near Irkutsk, on the roadde U thai. His body was transported in a sleigh across Lake Baikal and buriedfirst in Chita, and then, with the loss of Transbaikalia, it was taken to Harbin andburied in the fence of Iverskoye temple, which, as far as I remember, was also called military. On the eve of his death, that is, January 25-rya, Kappel gave the order to appoint General Woitsekhovsky as headbut commander of the Siberian Army.