Wrangel red. Black Baron without a royal throne

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army lieutenant general,
baron Petr Nikolaevich Wrangel.

Wrangel Petr Nikolaevich, baron (1878 – 1928). Coming from a noble family of Swedish origin, he studies to become a mining engineer, then enters the military service, participates in the Russo-Japanese War, and later, during the First World War, distinguishes itself in East Prussia and Galicia. After October revolution Having refused to go into the service of the Ukrainian Hetman Skoropadsky, who is supported by the Germans, he joins the Volunteer Army. IN April 1920 he becomes the successor Denikin , when he, having retreated to Crimea, leaves command of the White army. Taking advantage of the outbreak of war with Poland To regroup his troops, Wrangel goes on the offensive in Ukraine and forms a government that France recognizes. In the fall of the same year, pressed by the Red Army (which had a free hand after the truce with Poland), he retreated to the Crimea and in November 1920 organized the evacuation of 140 thousand military and military personnel to Constantinople. civilians. Having settled with his headquarters and part of the troops, first in Turkey, then in Yugoslavia , he refuses to continue the armed war and moves to Belgium, where he dies in 1928.

Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich (August 15, 1878, Novo-Alexandrovsk, now Zarasai Literary SSR, April 25, 1928, Brussels), Russian Lieutenant General. army (1917), one of the leaders of the southern. counter-revolution during the Civil. wars and military interventions in Russia. Graduated from the Mining Institute (1901), Military. General Staff Academy (1910). In 1902, being a volunteer, he was promoted to officer. Russian-Japanese participant and the 1st World War, commanded Cav. body. After Oct. revolution fled to Crimea and in Aug. 1918 entered the Denikin Volunteer Army, was a cavalry comr. divisions, then corps. In the spring of 1919 he became the head of the White Guard. Caucasian Army, Dec. 1919 - Jan. 1920 teams. Volunteer Army. Ambition, careerism, and the desire to take a leading role in the White Guard movement led V. to a conflict with the leader of the South. counter-revolution by A.I. Denikin, who sent him abroad. In April 1920, at the insistence of the Entente, V. was appointed commander-in-chief of the so-called. Russian army in Crimea. Undertook political, economic. and military measures to save the remains of the south. counter-revolution (see Wrangelism). In 1920, the army of V. was defeated by the Soviets. Army, V. himself, along with part of his troops, fled abroad. In 1924, a right-wing monarchy was created in France. Rus. All-Military Union (EMRO), led an active anti-Soviet movement. activity.

Materials from the Soviet Military Encyclopedia in 8 volumes, volume 2 were used.

Captain Wrangel Petr Nikolaevich,
student at the General Staff Academy. 1908

Poisoned with Koch's stick

WRANGEL Petr Nikolaevich (08/15/1878-04/25/1928). Colonel (12/12/1914). Major General (01/13/1917). Lieutenant General (11/22/1918). Graduated from the Mining Institute (1901), Nikolaev Academy General Staff(1910) and Officer's Course cavalry school(1911). Participant in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905: in the 2nd Verkhneudinsk and 2nd Argun Cossack regiments. Participant of the First World War: squadron commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, 05.1912 - 09.1914; chief of staff cavalry division, 09-12.1914; in the retinue (adjutant) of Emperor Nicholas II, 12.1914 - 10.1915; commander of the 1st Nerchinsky regiment, 10.1915-12.1916; commander of the 2nd Ussuri brigade cavalry divisions, 12.1916-01.1917; commander of the 7th Cavalry Division, 01 - 07.1917; from 07/10/1917 commander of the Consolidated Cavalry Corps, 07 - 09.1917. Relinquished command of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, 09.1917; left for Crimea (outside the army), 10.1917 - 07.1918. In the White movement: from 08/28/1918, brigade commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and from 08/31/1918 - commander of the 1st Cavalry Division; 08-11.1918; commander of the 1st cavalry corps, 11.1918 - 01.1919. By agreement between Generals Denikin and Krasnov, on December 26, 1918, a unified command of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) was formed, which included both the Volunteer Army and the Don Army under a common High Command General Denikin. At the same time, General Wrangel was appointed commander of the Volunteer (Caucasian) Army, replacing General Denikin in this post, 05/01/08/1919. Sick of typhus 02-03.1919. Commander of the Caucasian Army of the All-Soviet Union of Socialist Republics, 05/08–12/04/1919. Commander of the Volunteer Army, 12/4/1919-01/02/1920. On behalf of Denikin, he was sent to Kuban to form new divisions, 22-29.12.1919. Left for Constantinople (Türkiye) from Crimea 01/14/1920. In exile (Türkiye) due to disagreements with Denikin 02.28 - 03.20.1920. On 03/23/1920 he took command of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR), replacing Denikin by decision (vote) of the Military Council in Crimea convened to resolve this issue. Commander of the AFSR, 03.23-05.11.1920. On April 28, 1920, he reorganized the former Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) into the Russian Army. Commander of the Russian Army (Crimea, Novorossiya, Northern Tavria), 04/28 - 11/17/1920. Evacuated from Crimea on November 17, 1920. In exile: from 11.1920 - Turkey, from 1922 - Yugoslavia and from 09.1927 - Belgium. 09/01/1924 created the Russian All-Military Union - EMRO, which united former Russian military personnel of all branches of the White and Russian armies. Died 04/25/1928 in Brussels (Belgium), buried in Belgrade, Serbia.
According to one version, supported by his daughter (1992), General Wrangel was killed (poisoned with Koch’s wand) by his former orderly - an NKVD agent who visited him 10 days before Wrangel’s death. After this visit, Wrangel suddenly fell ill with a severe and acute form of tuberculosis, which he had never suffered from before (his daughter suggests that the former orderly managed to plant artificial deadly poisonous bacteria in Wrangel’s food, created in special laboratories of the NKVD).

Materials used from the book: Valery Klaving, Civil War in Russia: White Armies. Military historical library. M., 2003.

Wrangel at the headquarters train, Tsaritsyn 1919.

"Combat work is his calling"

Wrangel Peter Nikolaevich (1878 - 1928, Brussels) - military leader, one of the leaders of the counter-revolution. Came from hereditary nobles of St. Petersburg, lips. Wrangel's father was the director of an insurance company in Rostov-on-Don. Here Wrangel spent his childhood and youth. He studied first at home, then at the Rostov real school, and completed his secondary education in St. Petersburg, where he entered the Mining Institute, which he graduated in 1901. He volunteered for military service in 1902, passed the exam for the officer rank and, Having retired to the reserve, he went to Irkutsk as an official for special assignments under the Governor General. In Siberia, Wrangel was caught up in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904 - 1905, to which he volunteered. His colleague General P.N. Shatilov recalled this period of Wrangel’s life: “He instinctively felt that struggle was his element, and combat work was his calling.” After the end of the war, Wrangel studied at the Nikolaev General Staff Academy, graduating in 1910. In 1911 he took a course at the Officer Cavalry School and the following year became commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. With the outbreak of the First World War on August 6. 1914, near the village of Kaushen, he attacked a German battery on horseback and captured it, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George 4th degree. He commanded a regiment, brigade, division and was promoted to major general. He was appointed to command the 3rd Cavalry Corps, but, as his “track record” states, “due to Bolshevik coup refused to serve the enemies of the Motherland and did not take command of the corps." Wrangel went to the Crimea, then to the Don, where he joined the Volunteer Army. Wrangel became commander of the Caucasian Volunteer Army, but when at the end of the year the Whites began to suffer defeats, relations worsened between Wrangel and A.I. Denikin, who had different understandings of priority military tasks. In 1920, Wrangel became commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces in southern Russia and made an unsuccessful attempt to create a state in Crimea ( Government of the South of Russia), in which reforms would be carried out that would make it possible to fight the Bolsheviks as an example of a better social order. As a result of the agrarian reform, peasants received the right of personal ownership of the land they used, and could also purchase part of the landowner's land for ransom (a fifth of the annual harvest for 25 years). Considering that the land was already in fact owned by the peasants, and payments were burdensome, the law caused discontent among the peasants. The “local government reform” also failed. The most difficult economic situation in Crimea, forced requisitions from the population, lack of support from peasants, Cossacks, workers, etc. led Wrangel, regardless of his personal aspirations, to collapse. After 8 months, the Crimean state ceased to exist. After the Red Army broke through Perekop in 1920, Wrangel, along with the remnants of the army, fled from Crimea to Turkey. In 1921 - 1927, Wrangel, while remaining commander-in-chief, lived in the town of Sremski Karlovci in Serbia, where he wrote notes about the civil war in southern Russia (Memoirs of General Baron P.N. Wrangel. M., 1992.). A convinced monarchist, Wrangel represented the right wing of the Russian emigration, was the creator of the “Russian All-Military Union,” the purpose of which was to preserve officer cadres for future struggle.

Book materials used: Shikman A.P. Figures national history. Biographical reference book. Moscow, 1997

General P.N. Wrangel, Chairman of the Civil Government of Crimea A.V. Krivoshein and General P.N. Shatilov. 1920

White Guard

Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich (1878-1928) - Lieutenant General of the General Staff. He graduated from the Rostov Real School and the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg. He entered service on September 1, 1891 as a private in the Life Guards Horse Regiment. In 1902 he passed the test for a guard cornet at Nikolaevsky cavalry school and by order of October 12 he was promoted to cornet and enlisted in the reserves. During the Russo-Japanese War at will assigned to the 2nd Verkhneudinsky Regiment of Transbaikal Cossack army. In December 1904, he was promoted to centurion - “for distinction in cases against the Japanese” and awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree with the inscription “For bravery” and St. Stanislav with swords and a bow. On January 6, 1906, he was transferred to the 55th Finnish Dragoon Regiment and promoted to headquarters captain. March 26, 1907 - transferred to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment as a lieutenant. In 1910 he completed a course at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, but remained “of his own free will” to serve in the ranks of his Life Guards Cavalry Regiment 1). In 1913 . - captain and squadron commander. Knight of St. George- for the capture of a German battery on horseback, according to the order of the 1st Army of August 30, 1914. In September 1914, he was appointed assistant regiment commander. Awarded St. George's weapon. On December 12, 1914 he was promoted to colonel. From October 1915, he was appointed commander of the 1st Nerchinsky Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army, and on December 16, 1916, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. On January 13, 1917, he was promoted to major general “for military distinction” and temporarily took command of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. On July 9, 1917, he was appointed commander of the 7th Cavalry Division, and the next day, July 10, he was appointed commander of the consolidated cavalry corps. For covering the retreat of the infantry to the line of the Zbruch River, during the Tarnopol breakthrough of the Germans in July 1917, by resolution of the Duma of the units of the consolidated corps he was awarded a soldier's St. George's Cross 4th degree. On September 9, 1917, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, but did not take command.

He arrived in the Volunteer Army on August 25, 1918. On August 28 he was appointed brigade commander in the 1st Cavalry Division, on August 31 - temporary commander, and on October 31 - chief. On November 15, 1918 he was appointed commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps and on November 22 of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant general - “for combat distinctions" On December 26, 1918, at the Torgovaya station, General Denikin met with Don Ataman General Krasnov, at which it was considered necessary to introduce a unified command and subordinate the Don Army to General Denikin. By virtue of this decision, on December 26, 1918 (January 8, 1919), General Denikin became the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the South of Russia (VSYUR). Thus, the post of Commander of the Volunteer Army became vacant. Already on December 27, 1918, General Wrangel was appointed to the post of Commander of the Volunteer Army. On January 10, 1919, in connection with the division of the Volunteer Army into the Crimean-Azov Army under General Borovsky and the Caucasian Army, General Wrangel was appointed commander of the Caucasian Volunteer Army. On the same day, January 10, 1919, General Wrangel issued an order to the Caucasian Volunteer Army, in which he noted the valor of the 1st Cavalry Corps and other troops, thanks to which Kuban and the Stavropol province were liberated, and set the task of liberating the Terek. At the end of January 1919, General Wrangel fell ill with typhus in severe form. At this time and... D. army commander, his chief of staff, General Yuzefovich, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR, carried out the transfer of the main units of the Caucasian Volunteer Army to the Donbass. At the end of March, having recovered from his illness, General Wrangel arrived in Yekaterinodar and discovered that the main volunteer regiments had been consolidated into the corps of General May-Maevsky and were leading heavy fighting in the coal basin. In this regard, on April 4, 1919, he submitted a secret report to General Denikin with a proposal to consider “our main and only operational direction to be the direction to Tsaritsyn, which makes it possible to establish direct contact with the army of Admiral Kolchak.” General Denikin did not agree with this proposal of General Wrangel, because he considered the shortest line to Moscow through Kharkov - Orel - Tula as the main direction for the offensive. It was from this time that serious disagreements began between General Wrangel and General Denikin, which later turned into a painful conflict. On April 24, 1919, in a letter from the Chief of Staff of the AFSR, General Romanovsky, General Wrangel was asked to take command of the new Kuban army, the Caucasian Volunteer Army should be simply renamed Volunteer, and General May-Maevsky should be appointed commander. Initially, General Wrangel refused this proposal, but when the offensive of the 10th began Red Army from Velikoknyazheskaya to Torgovaya, which threatened the rear of the Volunteer Army, General Wrangel agreed to the persistent request of Generals Denikin and Romanovsky to take command of a group of troops, composed mainly of cavalry corps, to repel the offensive of the 10th Red Army under the command of Egorov. On May 2, 1920, a fierce battle began near Velikoknyazheskaya, during which General Wrangel personally led his troops into an attack, inflicted a decisive defeat on the 10th Red Army and forced it to hastily retreat to Tsaritsyn.

After the battle of Velikoknyazheskaya, General Wrangel remained commander of the Caucasian Army, which now included mainly Kuban units. On May 8, 1920, the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR, General Denikin, ordered General Wrangel to capture Tsaritsyn. On June 18, General Wrangel captured Tsaritsyn, and on June 20, Commander-in-Chief General Denikin arrived in Tsaritsyn, who then gave the order with his famous “Moscow Directive.” According to this directive, General Wrangel was asked to go to the Saratov-Balashov front and then attack Moscow through Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir. At the same time, General Mai-Maevsky was ordered to attack Moscow in the direction of Kursk - Orel - Tula. General Wrangel considered the “Moscow Directive” a “death sentence for the armies of Southern Russia.” There was no maneuver in it and the dispersion of forces was allowed. At this time (that is, at the end of June 1919, when the armies of Admiral Kolchak were retreating), General Wrangel proposed to General Denikin “to concentrate a large cavalry mass in 3-4 corps in the Kharkov region” and act with this cavalry mass in the direction shortest to Moscow together with Volunteer Corps of General Kutepov. However, all these proposals were ignored, and only when the complete insolvency of General Mai-Maevsky and the catastrophic situation at the front of the Volunteer Army was revealed, General Wrangel was appointed commander of the Volunteer Army and commander-in-chief of the Kharkov region on November 26, 1919. Due to the deep breakthrough of Budyonny’s cavalry and the lack of a sufficient number of combat-ready cavalry in the Volunteer Army, General Wrangel, in a report dated December 11, 1919, proposed to withdraw the right group of the army to the line of the Mius River - Novocherkassk, and the left group to the Crimea. General Denikin did not agree with this, since he believed that the Volunteer Army should under no circumstances be separated from the Don Army. On the same day, December 11, a meeting was held in Rostov between the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR with the commander of the Don Army, General Sidorin, and with the commander of the Volunteer Army, General Wrangel. At this meeting, the Commander-in-Chief announced his decision to consolidate the Volunteer Army into a separate Volunteer Corps and operationally subordinate it to the commander of the Don Army, General Sidorin. General Wrangel was entrusted with the formation of new Cossack corps in the Kuban and Terek. On December 21, 1919, General Wrangel gave a farewell order to the Volunteer Army and left for Yekaterinodar, where he discovered that the same task of mobilizing the Cossacks had been entrusted to the Commander-in-Chief, General Shkuro. On December 26, 1920, General Wrangel arrived in Bataysk, where the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief was located, and received orders to go to Novorossiysk and organize its defense. However, soon an order came to appoint General Lukomsky as Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Region. Finding himself out of work, General Wrangel settled in Crimea, where he had a dacha. On January 14, 1920, he unexpectedly received from General Schilling, who had left Odessa and arrived in Sevastopol, an offer to accept the post of his military assistant. Negotiations on this issue with the Commander-in-Chief's headquarters dragged on. Many public figures, as well as General Lukomsky and the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Nenyukov and his chief of staff, Rear Admiral Bubnov, proposed appointing General Wrangel to replace General Schilling, who had been compromised by the Odessa evacuation. Having received no answer, General Wrangel resigned on January 27, 1920. On February 8, 1920, General Denikin gave an order to the General Staff “to dismiss from service” both Generals Wrangel and Shatilov, as well as General Lukomsky, Admiral Nenyukov and Admiral Bubnov. At the end of February 1920, General Wrangel left Crimea and arrived in Constantinople. On March 18, 1920, General Wrangel and other prominent generals of the White armies of Southern Russia received a telegram from General Denikin inviting them to arrive on the evening of March 21 in Sevastopol for a meeting of the Military Council chaired by cavalry general Dragomirov to elect a successor to the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR.

Baron Wrangel (center) at Zeon Castle with friends.
Standing from left to right: second from left - Nikolai Mikhailovich Kotlyarevsky, secretary of General Wrangel; Natalya Nikolaevna Ilyina, Sergey Aleksandrovich Sokolov-Krechetov,Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin .

On the morning of March 22, 1920, General Wrangel arrived in Sevastopol in English battleship"Emperor of India". On Military Council, meeting on March 22, General Wrangel was unanimously elected as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. On the same day, General Denikin gave the order for his appointment. Having taken command, General Wrangel first of all began to restore discipline and strengthen the morale of the troops. By April 28, 1920, he reorganized them into the Russian Army. The government of the South of Russia, created by him, issued a declaration on the national question and proposed to determine the form of government in Russia by “free will” within the framework of a broad federation. Along with this, the government began to implement a number of reforms; in particular, the “law on land”, “law on volost zemstvos”, etc. were adopted. Having received de facto recognition from France, General Wrangel began organizing the 3rd Russian Army (the Russian army in Crimea was divided into two armies) in Poland . Having carried out a number of successful operations in Northern Tavria, General Wrangel faced a significant increase in the forces of the Red Army in the summer and autumn, especially after the Riga Truce with Poland. The unsuccessful outcome of General Ulagai's landing on the Kuban in August 1920 and the Trans-Dnieper operation in September significantly reduced the strength of General Wrangel's Russian Army, and at the end of October 1920 it was forced to retreat to the Crimea. The evacuation of the army and everyone from Crimea in November 1920 was skillfully carried out by the headquarters of General Wrangel, and above all by the new commander Black Sea Fleet Admiral Kedrov.

In Constantinople, finding himself without funds, General Wrangel sought to prevent the dispersal of the army, which was in camps in Gallipoli and on the island of Lemnos. He managed to organize the move military units to Bulgaria and to the Kingdom of SHS, where they were accepted for residence. General Wrangel himself with his headquarters moved from Constantinople to the Kingdom of the SHS, to Sremski Karlovitsy, in 1922. In an effort to preserve the cadres of the Russian army abroad in the new, emigrant, conditions, General Wrangel gave September 1, 1924 (confirmed December 1 of the same year ) order to create the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), initially consisting of 4 departments: 1st department - France and Belgium, 2nd department - Germany, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania; 3rd department - Bulgaria and Türkiye; 4th Division - Kingdom of the CXC, Greece and Romania. In September 1927, General Wrangel moved with his family from the Kingdom of the CXC to Belgium - to Brussels, where he soon unexpectedly became seriously ill and died on April 25, 1928. He was buried in Belgrade in the Russian Church of the Holy Trinity.

Peru of General Wrangel belongs to: Notes: In 2 hours// [Sat.] White Case: Chronicle of the White Struggle. Materials collected and developed by Baron P. N. Wrangel, Duke G. N. Leuchtenberg and His Serene Highness Prince A. P. Lieven. Ed. A. A. von Lampe. Book V, VI. Berlin: Bronze Horseman, 1928.

The second (reprint) edition was published in one volume: Memoirs: At 2 hours. Frankfurt am Main: Posev, 1969.

1) See: Order No. 17 of 1911 on the General Staff // List of the General Staff. 1912. P. 757.

Prayer service in units of the Russian army.
Ahead is Wrangel P.N. followed by Bogaevsky, Crimea, 1920.

P.N. Wrangel during the creation of the EMRO(a). Paris, 1927.

White hero

Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich (1887-1928) - Lieutenant General of the General Staff. He graduated from the Rostov Real School and the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg. He entered service on September 1, 1891 as a private in the Life Guards Horse Regiment. During the Russo-Japanese War in December 1904, he was promoted to centurion - “for distinction in cases against the Japanese” and awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree with the inscription “For Bravery” and St. Stanislav with swords and a bow. In 1913 - captain and squadron commander. During the First World War - Knight of St. George - according to the order of the 1st Army of August 30, 1914 - for the capture of a German battery on horseback. In September 1914 he was appointed assistant regiment commander. Awarded the Arms of St. George. On December 12, 1914 he was promoted to colonel. From October 1915, he was appointed commander of the 1st Nerchinsky Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army, and on December 16, 1916 - commander of the 2nd Brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. On January 13, 1917, he was promoted to major general “for military distinction” and temporarily took command of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. July 9, 1917 appointed commander of the 7th Cavalry Division, and the next day, July 10, commander of the consolidated cavalry corps. For covering the retreat of the infantry to the line of the Zbruch River, during the Tarnopol breakthrough of the Germans in July 1917, by a resolution of the Duma of the units of the consolidated corps, he was awarded the soldier's St. George Cross, 4th degree. On September 9, 1917, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, but did not take command.

He arrived in the Volunteer Army on August 25, 1918, and in the same year, he was promoted to lieutenant general - “for military distinction.” On December 26, 1918, at Torgovaya station there was a meeting between General Denikin and Don Ataman General Krasnov, at which it was recognized necessary introduction unified command and subordination of the Don Army to General Denikin. By virtue of this decision, on December 26, 1918 (January 8, 1919), General Denikin became the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the South of Russia (VSYUR). Thus, the post of Commander of the Volunteer Army became vacant. Already on December 27, 1918, General Wrangel was appointed to the post of Commander of the Volunteer Army. On January 10, 1919, in connection with the division of the Volunteer Army into the Crimean-Azov Army under General Borovsky and the Caucasian Army, General Wrangel was appointed commander of the Caucasian Volunteer Army. On the same day, January 10, 1919, General Wrangel issued an order to the Caucasian Volunteer Army, in which he noted the valor of the 1st Cavalry Corps and other troops, thanks to which Kuban and the Stavropol province were liberated, and set the task of liberating the Terek. At the end of January 1919, General Wrangel fell ill with typhus in severe form. At this time and... D. army commander, his chief of staff, General Yuzefovich, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR, carried out the transfer of the main units of the Caucasian Volunteer Army to the Donbass. At the end of March, having recovered from his illness, General Wrangel arrived in Yekaterinodar and discovered that the main volunteer regiments brought into the corps of General May-Maevsky and are fighting heavy battles in the coal basin. In this regard, on April 4, 1919, he submitted a secret report to General Denikin with a proposal to consider “our main and only operational direction to be the direction to Tsaritsyn, which makes it possible to establish direct contact with the army of General Kolchak.” General Denikin did not agree with this proposal of General Wrangel, because he considered the shortest line to Moscow through Kharkov-Orel-Tula as the main direction for the offensive. It was from this time that serious disagreements began between General Wrangel and General Denikin, which later turned into a painful conflict. On April 24, 1919, in a letter from the Chief of Staff of the AFSR, General Romanovsky, General Wrangel was asked to take command of the new Kuban Army, rename the Caucasian Volunteer Army simply to the Volunteer Army, and appoint General May-Maevsky as commander. Initially, General Wrangel refused this proposal, but when the 10th Red Army began its offensive from the Grand Ducal to Torgovaya, threatening the rear of the Volunteer Army, General Wrangel agreed to the persistent request of Generals Denikin and Romanovsky to take command of a group of troops composed mainly of cavalry corps , to repel the offensive of the 10th Red Army under the command of Egorov. On May 2, 1920, a fierce battle began near Velikoknyazheskaya, during which General Wrangel personally led his troops into an attack, inflicted a decisive defeat on the 10th Red Army and forced it to hastily retreat to Tsaritsyn. After the battle of Velikoknyazheskaya, General Wrangel remained commander of the Caucasian Army, which now included mainly Kuban units. On May 8, 1920, the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR, General Denikin, ordered General Wrangel to capture Tsaritsyn. On June 18, General Wrangel captured Tsaritsyn, and on June 20, Commander-in-Chief General Denikin arrived in Tsaritsyn, who then gave the order with his famous “Moscow Directive”. According to this directive, General Wrangel was asked to go to the Saratov-Balashov front and then attack Moscow through Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir. At the same time, General Mai-Maevsky was ordered to attack Moscow in the direction of Kursk-Orel-Tula. General Wrangel considered the “Moscow Directive” “a death sentence for the armies of Southern Russia.” There was no maneuver in it and the dispersion of forces was allowed. At this time (that is, at the end of June 1919, when the armies of Admiral Kolchak were retreating), General Wrangel suggested to General Denikin “to concentrate a large cavalry mass of 3-4 corps in the Kharkov region” and act jointly with this cavalry mass in the direction shortest to Moscow with the Volunteer Corps of General Kutepov. However, all these proposals were ignored, and only when the complete insolvency of General Mai-Maevsky and the catastrophic situation at the front of the Volunteer Army was revealed, General Wrangel was appointed commander of the Volunteer Army and commander-in-chief of the Kharkov region on November 26, 1919. Due to the deep breakthrough of Budyonny’s cavalry and the lack of a sufficient number of combat-ready cavalry in the Volunteer Army, General Wrangel, in a report dated December 11, 1919, proposed to withdraw the right group of the army to the line of the Mius River - Novocherkassk, and the left group to the Crimea. General Denikin did not agree with this) because he believed that the Volunteer Army should under no circumstances be separated from the Don Army. On the same day, December 11, a meeting was held in Rostov between the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR with the commander of the Don Army, General Sidorin, and with the commander of the Volunteer Army, General Wrangel. At this meeting. The Commander-in-Chief announced his decision to consolidate the Volunteer Army into a separate Volunteer Corps and operationally subordinate it to the commander of the Don Army, General Sidorin. General Wrangel was entrusted with the formation of new Cossack corps in the Kuban and Terek. On December 21, 1919, General Wrangel gave a farewell order to the Volunteer Army and left for Yekaterinodar, where he discovered that the same task of mobilizing the Cossacks had been entrusted to the Commander-in-Chief, General Shkuro. On December 26, 1920, General Wrangel arrived in Bataysk, where the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief was located, and received orders to go to Novorossiysk and organize its defense. However, soon an order came to appoint General Lukomsky as governor-general of the Novorossiysk region. Finding himself out of work, General Wrangel settled in Crimea, where he had a dacha. On January 14, 1920, he unexpectedly received from General Schilling, who had left Odessa and arrived in Sevastopol, an offer to accept the post of his military assistant. Negotiations on this issue with the Commander-in-Chief's headquarters dragged on. Many public figures, as well as General Lukomsky and the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Nenyukov and his chief of staff, Rear Admiral Bubnov, proposed appointing General Wrangel to replace General Schilling, who had been compromised by the Odessa evacuation. Having received no answer, General Wrangel resigned on January 27, 1920. On February 8, 1920, General Denikin gave an order to the General Staff “to dismiss from service” both Generals Wrangel and Shatilov, as well as General Lukomsky, Admiral Nenyukov and Admiral Bubnov. At the end of February 1920, General Wrangel left Crimea and arrived in Constantinople. On March 18, 1920, General Wrangel and other prominent generals of the White armies of Southern Russia received a telegram from General Denikin inviting them to arrive on the evening of March 21 in Sevastopol for a meeting of the Military Council chaired by cavalry general Dragomirov to elect a successor to the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR.

On the morning of March 22, 1920, General Wrangel arrived in Sevastopol on the English battleship Emperor of India. At the Military Council, which met on March 22, General Wrangel was unanimously elected as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. On the same day, General Denikin gave the order for his appointment. Having taken command, General Wrangel first of all began to restore discipline and strengthen moral condition troops. By April 28, 1920, he reorganized them into the Russian Army. The government of Southern Russia he created issued a declaration on national question and proposed to determine the form of government in Russia by “free expression” within the framework of a broad federation. Along with this, the government began to implement a number of reforms; in particular, the “law on land”, “law on volost zemstvos”, etc. were adopted. Having received de facto recognition from France, General Wrangel began organizing the 3rd Russian Army (the Russian army in Crimea was divided into two armies) in Poland. Having carried out a number of successful operations in Northern Tavria, General Wrangel faced a significant increase in the forces of the Red Army in the summer and autumn, especially after the Riga Truce with Poland. The unsuccessful outcome of General Ulagai's landing on the Kuban in August 1920 and the Trans-Dnieper operation in September significantly reduced the strength of General Wrangel's Russian Army, and at the end of October 1920 it was forced to retreat to the Crimea. The evacuation of the army and everyone from Crimea in November 1920 was skillfully carried out by the headquarters of General Wrangel, and, above all, by the new commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Kedrov.

In Constantinople, finding himself without funds, General Wrangel sought to prevent the dispersal of the army, which was in camps in Gallipoli and on the island of Lemnos. He managed to organize the transfer of military units to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, where they were accepted for residence. General Wrangel himself and his headquarters moved from Constantinople to Yugoslavia, to Sremski Karlovitsy, in 1922. In an effort to preserve the cadres of the Russian army abroad in the new, emigrant, conditions, General Wrangel gave September 1, 1924 (confirmed December 1 of the same year) order to create the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), initially consisting of 4 departments: 1st department - France and Belgium, 2nd department - Germany, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania; 3rd department - Bulgaria and Türkiye; 4th Division - Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania. In September 1927, General Wrangel moved with his family from Yugoslavia to Belgium - to Brussels, where he soon unexpectedly became seriously ill and died on April 25, 1928. He was buried in Belgrade in the Russian Church of the Holy Trinity.

General Wrangel's books belong to Peru: "The Caucasian Army" (1928), "The Last Commander-in-Chief" (1928).

Biographical information is reprinted from the magazine "Russian World" (educational almanac), No. 2, 2000.

Wrangel and Gen. Magene (France) in Crimea.

P.N. Wrangel at the portrait of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. Paris, 1927.

Member of the White movement

Wrangel Peter Nikolaevich (15.8.1878, Novo-Alexandrovsk, Kovno province - 22.4.1928, Brussels, Belgium), baron, lieutenant general (22.11.1918). He received his education at the Mining Institute, after which in 1901 he volunteered in the Life Guards Horse Regiment. Passed the officer exams to become a guard officer at the Nikolaev Cavalry. college (1902), graduated from Nikolaev military academy(1910). Participant in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-05, during which he commanded a hundred of the 2nd Argun Kaz. Regiment of Transbaikal Kaz. divisions. In Jan. 1906 transferred to the 55th Finnish Dragoon Regiment. In Aug. 1906 returned to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. From May 22, 1912, temporarily commander, then commander of His Majesty's squadron, at the head of which he entered world war. From September 12, 1914 he was chief of staff of the Consolidated Cossack Division, and from September 23. assistant commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment for combat units. For the battles in 1914, one of the first Russians. there were officers awarded the order St. George, 4th degree (10/13/1914), 4/13/1915 awarded the Arms of St. George. From October 8, 1915, commander of the 1st Nerchinsky Regiment of the Transbaikal Kazakh. troops. From 12/24/1916 commander of the 2nd, 19/1/1917 - 1st brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. 23 Jan V. was appointed temporary commander of the Ussuri Cavalry Division, and from July 9 - commander of the 7th Cavalry. division, from July 10 - consolidated cavalry. body. On July 24, by resolution of the Corps Duma, he was awarded the soldier's St. George's Cross of the 4th degree for distinction in covering the infantry's retreat to the Sbruga line on July 10-20. 9 Sep. V. was appointed commander of the III Cavalry Corps, but because former commander gen. P.V. Krasnov was not removed and did not take command. After October revolution V. went to the Don, where Gen. joined the ataman. A.M. Kaledin, whom he helped in the formation of the Don Army. After Kaledin’s suicide, V. joined the Volunteer Army on August 28, 1918. From 31 Aug. Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, from November 15. - 1 cavalry corps, from December 27. - Volunteer Army. 10.1.1919 V. was appointed commander of the Caucasian Volunteer Army. Since November 26, 1919, commander of the Volunteer Army and commander-in-chief of the Kharkov region. 20 Dec due to the disbandment of the army, he was placed at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR. 8.2.1920 due to disagreements with the gene. A.I. Denikin dismissed.

After Denikin’s resignation, by decision of the majority of the highest command staff VSYUR. On March 22, 1920, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the All-Soviet Union of Socialist Republics on May 2 - Russian Army. Concentrating it in the Crimea, he launched an offensive to the north, but failed on November 14. was forced to evacuate with the army to Turkey. In 1924 he created the EMRO, which united white military emigration.

Material used from the book: Zalessky K.A. Who was who in the First World War. Biographical encyclopedic dictionary. M., 2003

P.N. Wrangel. 1920

Baltic German

Baron P.N. Wrangel came from the ancient Baltic German family, known since the 13th century. Representatives of this family served as masters Livonian Order, then to the kings of Sweden and Prussia, and when the Eastern Baltic became part of Russian state- Russian emperors.

Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was born on August 28, 1878 in the town of Novo-Alexandrovsk, in Lithuania. But soon the family moved to Rostov-on-Don, where the father of the future leader of the white movement, Nikolai Georgievich Wrangel, became director of an insurance company.

Peter Wrangel, after completing his studies at a real school in Rostov, went to the capital, where he successfully graduated from the Mining Institute. But he never became an engineer. Departing as expected Russian citizen, military service, he served in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, known for its distinction in many battles. In 1902, he passed the exams for the officer rank and went into the reserve, but was not in the civil service for long. When the Russo-Japanese War began, Wrangel joined the Transbaikal Cossack Army. He showed courage in battles, earned an order and early promotion in rank. From that time on, the choice was irrevocably made in favor of a military career. In 1909, Wrangel graduated from the General Staff Academy, then the Officer Cavalry School.

In the very first battles of the First World War, Wrangel, who commanded a squadron of guards cavalry, gained fame as a hero. On August 6, 1914, in a battle with the Germans near the town of Kaushen, it was his squadron that with a bold attack took the German position, for which there was a stubborn bloody battle. Wrangel was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. In December of the same 1914, he was promoted to colonel; in October 1915, he was entrusted with command of the 1st Nerchinsk Cossack Regiment of the Ussuri Division. In this post, he again managed to distinguish himself, especially in the battle in the Wooded Carpathians on August 22, 1916. Then, already on the eve of the revolution, Wrangel commanded the 1st Cavalry Brigade and for some time the entire Ussuri Division.

Wrangel, a supporter of the monarchy, perceived the February Revolution without optimism. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1917, he again distinguished himself on the battlefields of the First World War and was awarded the Soldier's Cross of St. George, 4th degree.

According to Baron Wrangel, revolutionary events contributed to the country's slide into anarchy and disaster. It was no coincidence that he found himself among the supporters and active participants in the Kornilov uprising. General Krymov, who shot himself because of unfair accusations from Kerensky, was his immediate superior. But, despite the failure and arrest of Kornilov, Wrangel did not suffer for his support.

After the October Revolution, Pyotr Nikolaevich resigned and came to Crimea, where his wife’s estate was located. When Soviet power was established in Crimea, he was arrested based on false libel, but was soon released. Then Crimea was captured by the Germans.

In 1918, Wrangel, after visiting Ukraine, went to Kuban, to Yekaterinodar, and from that moment linked his fate with the Volunteer Army. On behalf of Denikin, he commanded first the 1st Cavalry Division, then the Cavalry Corps. A supporter of order and discipline, Wrangel tried to stop robberies and even executed several looters. But then he resigned himself to the inevitable and only tried to somehow streamline the division of the spoils.

Wrangel's actions at Armavir and Stavropol were marked by successes, followed by his appointment to the post of commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps and promotion to lieutenant general.

At the end of 1918, the Volunteer and Don armies formed the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, being united under the leadership of Denikin. Command of the Volunteer Army was transferred to Wrangel, and when at the beginning of 1919 the Volunteer Army was divided into two parts, Wrangel headed the Caucasian Volunteer.

It was during this period that disagreements began between Denikin and Wrangel regarding further actions. Contrary to the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief, who considered the Ukrainian direction to be the leading direction, Wrangel argued that it was necessary to move the main forces to the Volga region to join with Kolchak.

However, then a new responsible assignment followed - Wrangel was asked to command the entire white cavalry in the Manych direction. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Wrangel, who managed to find a way to cross the artillery to the other side of the Manych River (which had not been possible before), the Whites achieved success in this area. In early May, in three-day battles in the area of the Manych River, the Reds suffered a crushing defeat and began to retreat north. After this, Wrangel was given another task - the Caucasian Army was to take Tsaritsyn. And the order was successfully carried out - the city was taken by storm in mid-June 1919.

But the disagreements between Wrangel and Denikin regarding further actions were not resolved, since Wrangel considered the offensive planned by the Commander-in-Chief to be doomed to failure. o By order of Denikin, Wrangel's army headed north, towards Saratov, in order to then advance to Nizhny Novgorod, and from there to Moscow. But no reinforcements arrived, and the Reds put up fierce resistance. Among the population of the Volga region, the Caucasian Army did not meet with the expected support. All these circumstances led to further failures.

The Whites began to retreat and retreated to the Tsaritsyn positions. True, the Reds’ attack on Tsaritsyn was repulsed twice, and then Wrangel, having received reinforcements, even pushed the Reds back from the city. But overall the situation was unfavorable. I had to go on the defensive.

During decisive battles, who determined the fate of the white movement in southern Russia, Wrangel was in the Kuban, where he was supposed to pacify the separatist uprisings of part of the local leadership.

In the fall of 1919, there was a turning point in favor of the Reds. The Whites suffered defeats and retreated. Wrangel again expressed objections to Denikin’s proposal to retreat to the Don. He believed that military operations should be moved to the west, closer to the Poles. But Denikin did not agree, he believed that this would be regarded as a betrayal towards the Cossacks.

The conflict between Wrangel and Denikin reached such intensity that many believed that Wrangel was going to carry out a coup.

The disagreements were aggravated by the difference in political orientation of the white generals: Wrangel was supported by zealous supporters of the monarchy, while Denikin took a more liberal position and could find a compromise with the Republicans.

In conditions of military defeats and intrigues, on January 27, 1920, Wrangel submitted his resignation. In February, Denikin ordered the dismissal of Wrangel from service, then, at the request of the Commander-in-Chief, Wrangel left Russia and went to Constantinople, where his family had been sent shortly before.

But soon Wrangel received an invitation to take part in the Military Council, which was to elect a new Commander-in-Chief. He returned to Crimea and was elected Commander-in-Chief.

When Wrangel took command of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, the situation seemed hopeless. The British even advocated that the Whites surrender to the Bolsheviks, provided that the latter guaranteed amnesty to their defeated opponents.

I had to reorient myself towards France and, abandoning plans for a campaign against Moscow, try to gain a foothold at least in Crimea. The remaining troops there were reorganized and became known as the Russian Army. Those generals who previously participated in political intrigues, the new Commander-in-Chief sent him abroad. In Crimea, in white-controlled territory, Wrangel tried to establish order as much as possible, increase discipline, and put a stop to hooliganism and outrages.

Meanwhile, the situation had changed. The main forces of the Red Army were distracted by the war with Poland. Therefore, Wrangel even managed to go on the offensive in the summer of 1920. He captured Northern Taurida, sent troops to the Don and Kuban, tried to achieve coordination with the Poles and launch an offensive along the Dnieper.

But achievements achieved turned out to be fragile. The Whites were defeated on the Don, and then they had to withdraw troops from the Kuban. And when the Poles concluded a truce with the Soviet government, they collapsed last hopes. The Reds sent forces against Wrangel that were four times the size of his army. Within a few days, the White Guards were driven out of Tavria, and in November 1920 they were forced to leave Crimea. Together with P.N. Wrangel left 145 thousand people from Russia, and he was responsible for their placement in foreign countries. Peaceful refugees were placed in Balkan Orthodox countries, from where they gradually moved to other European states. The army was in Gallipoli and suffered many hardships. For a long time Wrangel still hoped to continue the fight against Soviet power, but unsuccessfully. Remaining | soldiers gradually began to be stationed in Slavic countries- Serbia and Bulgaria. Wrangel himself settled in Belgrade. On his initiative, the Russian All-Military Union (EMRO) was created in September 1924. But soon Wrangel handed over leadership of this organization former Commander-in-Chief Russian troops to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, a representative of the Romanov dynasty. Pyotr Nikolaevich himself moved to Belgium, where he wrote his memoirs. His health deteriorated due to illnesses and injuries. On April 12, 1928, Wrangel died. He was subsequently reburied in Orthodox church in Belgrade.

Materials used from the book: I.O. Surmin "The Most famous heroes Russia" - M.: Veche, 2003.

Kuban residents at the funeral of P. N. Wrangel.

The first grave of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army
General Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel
at the Uccle-Calevoet cemetery in Brussels.

Belgrade. Temple Holy Trinity,
where is the second and last grave of P.N. Wrangel

Wrangel with his wife.

Descendant of the Danish Wrangels

Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel 1878-1928. General Wrangel was a distant descendant of the Danish Wrangels, in the 17th - 18th centuries. moved to different countries Europe and Russia. In the Wrangel family there were 7 field marshals, more than 30 generals, 7 admirals, including in Russia this surname in different time worn by 18 generals and two admirals. Islands in the Arctic and Pacific oceans are named after the famous Russian navigator Admiral F. Wrangel.

A representative of the Russified Wrangel family, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel, was born in the city of Novo-Alexandrovsk (Zarasai), in Lithuania. By inheritance, he had the title of Russian baron, but had no estates or fortunes. Peter received his secondary education at a real school, and in 1896 he entered the St. Petersburg Mining Institute. Upon graduation, he was called up for active military service and volunteered in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment; After graduating from the regimental school, he passed the exam for the rank of cornet. Then he retired to the reserve, but in 1904 the Russian-Japanese War began, and 25-year-old Wrangel again put on officer's shoulder straps, going to the Far East. Acting as part of the 2nd Argun Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army, he showed courage and bravery, earning his first orders, at the end of 1904 he already commanded a hundred, and in September 1905 he became a captain ahead of schedule.

In 1906, Wrangel had a difficult mission - as part of the detachment of General A. Orlov, to pacify riots and stop the pogroms in Siberia that accompanied the revolution of 1905 - 1907. Then he served in the Finnish Regiment, again in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, in 1907 he became a lieutenant and entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, from which he graduated among the best - seventh on the list. The future Red Marshal B. Shaposhnikov studied on the same course with him. While studying at the academy, Pyotr Nikolaevich married a wealthy noblewoman O.M. Ivanenko, who was in the empress’s retinue.

Wrangel met the war of 1914 with the rank of guard captain and spent more than a year in the ranks of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, which was part of the troops of the 1st Army Northwestern Front. In one of the very first battles, on August 6 near Kraupishten, the captain distinguished himself by rushing with his squadron to a German battery and capturing it (the previous squadron that attacked the battery died). Wrangel's award was the Order of St. George, 4th degree. Subsequently, recalling this battle, Pyotr Nikolaevich explained his fearlessness by the knowledge that he wears the shoulder straps of an officer and is obliged to set an example of heroism to his subordinates.

After an unsuccessful East Prussian operation The front troops began to retreat, military operations proceeded sluggishly, nevertheless, Wrangel continued to receive awards, became an aide-de-camp, colonel, and holder of the St. George's Arms. His personal courage was undeniable, but it must be admitted that these awards were partly facilitated by the nobility of the Wrangel family and the influence of his wife, the empress's maid of honor. In October 1915, Pyotr Nikolaevich was sent to Southwestern Front, where he took command of the 1st Nerchinsky Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army. The commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, when transferring Wrangel, gave him the following description: “Outstanding courage. Understands the situation perfectly and quickly, very resourceful in difficult situations.”

With his Cossack regiment, Wrangel fought against the Austrians in Galicia and took part in the famous " Brusilov breakthrough" 1916, then in defensive positional battles. He continued to place combat valor, military discipline, the honor and intelligence of the commander at the forefront. If an officer gave an order, Wrangel said, and it was not carried out, “he is no longer an officer, he has officers’ there are no shoulder straps." New steps in Pyotr Nikolaevich's military career were the rank of major general and his appointment as commander of the 2nd brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division, then as head of this division.

He associated Russia's failures in the First World War with weakness and moral degradation senior management led by Nicholas II Romanov. “I know them all well,” Wrangel said about the Romanovs. “They cannot rule because they don’t want to... They have lost their taste for power.” After February revolution In 1917, he swore allegiance to the Provisional Government and soon became commander of the corps. Among the troops, broken by the fruitless war, the Baron General continued to be respected; evidence of this was the decision of the St. George Duma, elected from the rank and file, to award him the soldier's St. George Cross (this was in June 1917).

But the collapse of the army, unbearable for Wrangel, continued full swing. Shortly before October events Pyotr Nikolaevich, under the pretext of illness, asked for leave and went to Crimea, where he spent about a year, distancing himself from everything. In the summer of 1918, he shook off his torpor and decided to take action. In August, Wrangel arrived in Kyiv to visit General Skoropadsky, but soon became disillusioned with former commander Life Guards Horse Regiment: the general, who became hetman, did not want to think about the revival of Russia and focused on the “Ukrainian statehood.” In September, Pyotr Nikolaevich appeared in Yekaterinodar, at the headquarters of the Volunteer Army, to join the fighting ranks of the White movement.

Kindly received by A. Denikin, Wrangel received a cavalry brigade into his command and became a participant in the second Kuban campaign of the Volunteer Army. He quickly proved himself to be an excellent cavalry commander, able to correctly assess the situation, make decisions on the spot, and act boldly and decisively. Recognizing his qualities as a commander, Denikin assigned him the 1st Cavalry Division, two months later promoted him to commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps, and promoted him to lieutenant general in December. Tall, lean, in an invariable Circassian coat and a crooked hat, Wrangel made an impression with his gallant Horse Guards bearing, impressed the troops with his demeanor, energy and self-confidence, bright, emotional speeches. His written orders were distinguished by the clarity of their demands combined with the pathos of patriotic appeals.

With the creation of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia on January 8, 1919, Denikin, who headed them, entrusted Wrangel with the post of commander of the Volunteer Army, which formed the backbone of Denikin’s troops. Having completed the conquest of the North Caucasus by spring, the Volunteer Army launched active operations in Ukraine, Crimea and on the Manych River. During the period of success, the first signs of weakening military discipline and the development of the disease of looting began to appear, which many generals justified by the weakness of the supply of troops. Unlike them, Wrangel did not put up with robberies and repeatedly carried out public executions of looters.

Meanwhile, the offensive front of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia was expanding, and on May 22, Wrangel received under his command the newly formed Caucasian Army, intended for operations in the Lower Volga. Already on May 24, his troops crossed the Sal River and, having advanced with battles to Tsaritsyn, on June 30 captured the city, which in 1918 General Krasnov unsuccessfully besieged for four months. Continuing to move north along the Volga, Wrangel took Kamyshin and created a threat to Saratov. The Reds, having brought up large forces, including Budyonny's cavalry corps, were able to stop the Caucasian army. Giving up his last reserves to the Volunteer Army, which was rushing towards Tula and Moscow, Wrangel by the beginning of September was forced to retreat to Tsaritsyn. In October, he again went on the offensive, but worse was ahead: the Volunteer Army, unable to withstand the counterattacks of the Red Southern Front, rolled back, and a general retreat began. Trying to save the situation, Denikin replaced the demoralized commander of the Volunteer Army, General Mai-Maevsky, with Wrangel on December 5, but it was too late. At the beginning of January 1920, the remnants of the Volunteer Army were consolidated into a corps under the command of Kutepov, and Wrangel was instructed to go to Kuban to form new cavalry regiments there.

Failures strained relations between Denikin and Wrangel. Back in the summer of 1919, Pyotr Nikolayevich criticized the commander-in-chief’s decision to attack Moscow and openly reproached him for his reluctance to go east, to unite with Kolchak. (It is curious that Kolchak, in turn, was reproached in Siberia for the fact that the unification of the white forces of the South and East did not take place.) Wrangel, while in the Kuban, continued to criticize Denikin, finding flaws in his strategy, methods of military leadership, and civil policy . Anton Ivanovich, who had long endured such criticism, which in his opinion was unfair and opportunistic, finally sharply condemned it, and at his request, Wrangel was forced to leave the army and went to Constantinople.

Having gathered the remnants of the Armed Forces of the South in Crimea in March 1920, Denikin, not finding the strength to take further active action, decided to resign and asked the Military Council to find a replacement for him. The Military Council, which met in Sevastopol, initially tried to dissuade Denikin, and when he announced the irrevocability of his decision, he voted to appoint Wrangel as the new commander-in-chief. Arriving in Sevastopol at the beginning of April, he promised nothing other than “to lead the Army out of its difficult situation with honor,” and even made the members of the Military Council sign a subscription that they would not demand an offensive from him. At the same time, Wrangel was not going to capitulate without a fight.

With a titanic effort, he set about putting the army in order and reorganizing it. The new commander-in-chief dismissed from its ranks generals Pokrovsky and Shkuro, whose troops were distinguished by indiscipline and robberies. Having come out with the slogan “Help me, Russian people, save my homeland,” Wrangel renamed the Armed Forces of the South into the Russian Army. The government of the South of Russia led by him developed an agrarian reform program acceptable to the peasants, but the peasantry, exhausted by the war, for the most part was in no hurry to follow the Russian army. Realizing that they needed successes to encourage the troops, Wrangel in June undertook a bold offensive operation in Northern Taurida and took possession of it, taking advantage of the diversion of the main forces of the Red Army to the war with Poland. In August, General Ulagai’s amphibious assault was sent to Kuban, but, not meeting the support of the Cossacks there, he returned to Crimea. In September - October, Wrangel tried to take active steps to capture Donbass and break through to Right Bank Ukraine. By this time, the Russian army already numbered up to 60 thousand people, compared to 25 thousand in June.

The truce between Soviet Russia and Poland changed the situation. At the end of October, five red armies of the Southern Front (commander M. Frunze), including two cavalry armies ( total number Front troops - over 130 thousand people) attacked Wrangel's Russian army. In a week they liberated Northern Tavria, and then, breaking through the Perekop fortifications, moved to the Crimea. To Wrangel’s credit, he skillfully managed the withdrawal of his troops and managed to prepare for evacuation in advance. Several tens of thousands of Russian army soldiers and refugees on Russian and French ships left Crimea and found refuge in Turkey.

Not wanting to leave the Russian army in trouble, Wrangel spent about a year with it in Turkey, maintaining order in the troops and fighting hunger. His subordinates gradually dispersed, about seven thousand deserted and went to Russia. At the end of 1921, the remnants of the army were transferred to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, where many soldiers and officers subsequently settled; others were drawn further by fate.

To replace the collapsed Russian Army, Wrangel founded the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS) in Paris with departments in countries where former officers and participants of the White movement were located. The EMRO was distinguished by its uncompromising attitude towards Soviet Russia and developed plans to mobilize its members in right moment, conducted intelligence work, had a combat department (headed by Kutepov), which prepared armed actions in the USSR.

Wrangel did not stop fighting the Bolsheviks until his death, which befell him at the age of 49, in 1928 (according to one unproven version, he was poisoned). From Brussels, where he died, his body was transported to Yugoslavia and solemnly buried in one of Orthodox cathedrals. A procession with wreaths stretched across the whole of Belgrade. After Wrangel's death, two volumes of his Notes were published in Berlin.

Book materials used: Kovalevsky N.F. History of Russian Goverment. Biographies of famous military figures of the 18th - early 20th centuries. M. 1997

Photo materials from Wrangel’s page were prepared by Igor Marchenko.

Literature:

Entente and Wrangel: Sat. Art. Vol. 1M.; Pg.: Gosizdat, 1923. - 260 p.

Vashchenko P.F., Runov V.A. The revolution is defended: [To the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Wrangel’s troops] // Military. thought. - 1990. -No. 19-- P. 46-51.

Wrangel Petr Nikolaevich // Military Encyclopedia: In 8 volumes. T. 2.- M.: Voenizdat, 1994. -P. 295 - 296.

Wrangel P.N. Memoirs of General Baron P.N. Wrangel. 4.1-2.-M.: TERRA, 1992.

Karpenko V.V., Karpenko S.V. Wrangel in Crimea: East. novel. - M.: Spas, 1995. - 621 pp. - (Spas. History).

Karpenko S.V. The collapse of the last white dictator. - M.: Znanie, 1990. -64 p.- (New in life, science, technology. Series "History"; No. 7).

Lampe A.A., background. General Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel // New Sentinel, St. Petersburg. -No. 1.-S. 43-74.

Marchuk P. Way of the Cross of the White Army of the Black Baron: [P.N. Wrangel] // Motherland. - 1994. - No. 11. - P.24 - 33.

Alexander Kuprin. About Wrangel. Once again about Wrangel and, of course, not the last. 1921

Letter from S. Petlyura to the Chairman of the Council of People's Ministers of the UPR regarding negotiations with General Wrangel. October 9, 1920.

Slashchov-Krymsky Yakov Alexandrovich. Crimea, 1920. (there you can find a lot of interesting things about Wrangel).

People of the older generation well remember the famous Bolshevik hit “White Army, Black Baron,” but not everyone knows that it so darkly referred to Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich, whose biography formed the basis of this article. And few people know that he received this nickname during his lifetime not for any dark deeds, but only because of his passion for the black Circassian coat, which he preferred to an ordinary uniform.

Famous graduate of the Mining Institute

Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich was born on August 15, 1878 in the city of Novoaleksandrovsk, Kovno province. He inherited his baronial title from his ancestors, whose names appear in chronicles dating back to the 13th century. Representatives of the Wrangel family also occupied a worthy place among statesmen and scientists of subsequent centuries.

In his younger years, Pyotr Nikolaevich hardly thought about a military career; in any case, in 1896 he entered the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, after graduating from which he became an engineer. However, belonging to the highest aristocratic circle implied the presence officer rank, and in order not to break tradition, he served for two years as a volunteer in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, after which, having successfully passed the exam, he was promoted to cornet.

Official career and happy marriage

Having resigned, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel went to Irkutsk, where he was offered a very promising position as an official on special assignments under the Governor General. This is how he would have lived, climbing the steps of the career ladder at a set time, if not for the Russo-Japanese War. Without considering oneself the right to remain aloof from the events that took place on Far East, Pyotr Nikolaevich returns to the army and takes part in battles, where for his heroism he is awarded a number of awards and promoted to lieutenant. From now on, military service becomes his life's work.

Soon another important event occurs - he marries Olga Mikhailovna Ivanenko, the daughter of one of the dignitaries of the Supreme Court. This marriage, which resulted in four children, was a true gift from heaven for both, and, having gone through the most difficult trials together, hard years, the couple did not part until the death of Pyotr Nikolaevich.

New war and new differences

Returning to the capital, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel continued his education, this time within the walls of the Nikolaev Military Academy, after graduating from which he met the First World War as a squadron commander of the Horse Regiment. The next three years became a period of amazing growth in his officer's career. Having served at the front as a captain, in 1917 he returned with the rank of major general - holder of most of Russia's highest military awards. This is how the Motherland celebrated the battle path of its devoted soldier.

The path to the Volunteer Army

He perceived the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and the violence they committed as a crime, and, not wanting to participate in them, he and his wife left for Yalta, where at a dacha they owned he was soon arrested by local security officers. The Red Terror had not yet been unleashed, and just for belonging to noble class were not shot, therefore, not finding a reason for further detention, he was soon released.

When German units entered Crimea, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel received relative freedom of movement, and, taking advantage of it, left for Kyiv, where he hoped to establish cooperation with Hetman Skoropadsky. However, having arrived there and familiarized himself with the situation, he soon became convinced of the weakness and unviability of his pro-German government and, leaving Ukraine, departed for Yekaterinodar, which was occupied at that time by the Volunteer Army.

In August 1918, Lieutenant General Wrangel took command of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Volunteer Army. In battles with the red units, he showed an equally extraordinary military talent, as once on the fronts of the First World War, only now his compatriots became his opponents, which could not but affect the general morale of the commander.

Nevertheless, putting above all else the duty of a soldier who has sworn an oath of allegiance to the Tsar and the Fatherland, he devotes himself entirely to the fight, and soon he military works receive proper assessment - a new promotion in rank, this time he becomes a lieutenant general and a holder of new military awards.

The tactics he developed have gone down in the history of military art, in which cavalry units are not dispersed along the front line, but gathered into a single fist inflict a crushing blow on the enemy, which in most cases decides the outcome of the entire battle. This is how he managed to win a series major victories in the North Caucasus and Kuban.

Master of the south of Russia

Despite the success that invariably accompanied his units, Wrangel was forced to resign at the height of the war. The reason for this was his disagreements with the commander Southern Front General A.I. Denikin, only after whose departure he again continued his activities, taking his place.

From now on, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel became the sovereign master of the south of Russia. The white movement, which had previously swept the entire country, was practically suppressed by the beginning of 1920, and the capture of Crimea by units of the Red Army was essentially only a matter of time. Nevertheless, even in such a situation, when the outcome of the war was already predetermined, for six months he retained this last stronghold former Russia.

Latest efforts

Pyotr Nikolaevich is trying to turn the tide of events by attracting to his side the most diverse segments of the population of the southern regions of the country. For this purpose, he developed agrarian reform, if adopted, the bulk of agricultural land passed into the possession of peasants. Changes were also made to labor legislation to provide workers with increased wages. However, time was lost, nothing could be changed.

In the current situation, the only realistically feasible task was to ensure the evacuation of military units, as well as the civilian population who did not want to be under the rule of the Bolsheviks. Wrangel coped with this task brilliantly. Under his leadership, in November 1920, more than 146 thousand refugees were transported from Crimea to Constantinople. Together with them, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel left his homeland forever.

They deserve special attention, because they indicate that, once abroad, Wrangel did not fall out of the sight of the Russian special services; a real hunt was organized for him. The first link in this chain of events was an incident that occurred in the roadstead of Constantinople, where the yacht “Lucullus” was moored, on which Pyotr Nikolaevich lived with his family. One day she was sunk by a ship that came from Batum that crashed into her for no apparent reason. Then, fortunately, the couple were not injured, as they were on the shore.

Having moved to Europe and leading the union he created, which united more than 100 thousand. former members White movement, Pyotr Nikolaevich began to represent the Bolsheviks real danger, and on April 25, 1927, he was poisoned by a specially sent OGPU agent. Death overtook him in Brussels, where he worked as an engineer at one of the companies. His body was buried there.

How this and a number of other special operations to eliminate Wrangel were developed became known only during the years of perestroika after part of the archives of the special services were declassified. In subsequent years, the descendants of Wrangel Peter Nikolaevich transferred his ashes to Belgrade, where he was reburied in the fence Orthodox Church Holy Trinity.

His children Elena (1909 - 1999), Natalya (1913 - 2013), Alexey (1922 - 2005) and Peter (1911 - 1999), unlike their father, turned out to be long-lived, but none of them returned to Russia. The current generation of Wrangels also has no connection with their historical homeland.

Wrangel Petr Nikolaevich (nickname “Black Baron”) was born on August 15, 1878 in Russian Empire in Novo-Alexandrovsk (now the city of Zarasai in Lithuania). The Wrangel family had German roots.

Vocation

Pyotr Nikolaevich graduated with a gold medal (becoming the first student) from the Mining Institute in 1900 in St. Petersburg. In 1901 he was called up for military service and served in the Cavalry Regiment of the Emperor's Life Guards, and in 1902 he retired.

In 1904, during the Russian-Japanese War, P.N. Wrangel returned to military service as a volunteer. He was awarded orders for his bravery. The war ended in 1905, but Wrangel could no longer imagine himself without an army.

Family life

In 1907 he married the chamberlain's daughter imperial court Olga Ivanenko, which did not prevent him from graduating from the General Staff Academy in 1910 and receiving the rank of captain. By 1914, the baron was already a happy father of 3 children. Refused service in the General Staff and returned to the Cavalry Regiment.

World War I

The baron fought bravely on the fronts of the First World War. In 1917, Wrangel was awarded the rank of major general. After the October Revolution, the staunch monarchist Baron Wrangel resigned.

Civil War

For some time he lived in Crimea at the dacha with his family. He was under arrest by the Bolsheviks. However, due to lack of charges, he was released.

When appeared in Crimea German army, went to Kyiv, where Hetman P.P. Skoropadsky, a former colleague of Wrangel, ruled. Seeing the weakness of the hetman, behind whom the Germans stood, Wrangel left for Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar) and joined the Volunteer Army in 1918, formed by generals Alekseev, Kornilov and.

In the Volunteer Army, Wrangel was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. At the same time, he headed the 1st Cavalry Corps. In 1918-1919 he successfully fought against the Red Army. Rostov was captured, and later Tsaritsyn.

During this period, he had disagreements with Denikin. In February 1920, Wrangel resigned and left for Istanbul.

In Crimea

The departure was short-lived. After Denikin's resignation from the post of commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, Baron Wrangel became the new commander-in-chief in April 1920. During these difficult times for the White Army, Wrangel became the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army and the Ruler of the South of Russia. The remnants of the Russian army crossed to Crimea. Wrangel tried to gather strength, attracting new allies to his side, proposing social and political reforms.

In November 1920, the Red Army stormed Perekop and broke into Crimea. The baron, along with the remnants of the army, was evacuated to Istanbul.

Emigration

While in exile, Wrangel took over the leadership of the white movement.

From Istanbul in 1922 he moved with his family to Belgrade. Here in 1922 the baron’s 4th child was born.

In 1924, he transferred leadership of the white movement to one of the grand dukes.

In 1927 he moved to Brussels, where he died in 1928, presumably from tuberculosis. The family believed that the baron had been poisoned. The funeral took place in Brussels. In 1929, Baron Wrangel was reburied in Belgrade.

Interesting Facts

In his youth, Pyotr Nikolaevich was sometimes distinguished by his unbridled temper and repeatedly got into unpleasant situations. For example, he threw a man out of a window who had quarreled with his mother.
Among his friends he received the nickname Piper for his love for the brand of champagne of the same name.
Wrangel's ancestor in the 13th century was a knight Teutonic Order Henrycus de Wrangel.
Wrangel was a direct descendant of the Swedish field marshal Hermann the Elder. IN Swedish army 79 Wrangels served.
Baron Karl Wrangel, while in Russian service, captured the Turkish fortress of Bayazet in 1854.
A relative of the baron, Alexander Wrangel, captured Imam Shamil.
In Northern Arctic Ocean The island was named in honor of the navigator Ferdinand Wrangel.
Baron's uncle A.E. Wrangel was a close friend of F.M. Dostoevsky.
P.N. Wrangel is a distant relative of A.S. Pushkin through the “blackamoor Peter the Great” Hannibal.
Marshal of the USSR B.M. Shaposhnikov was a classmate of P.N. Wrangel at the Academy of the General Staff. The son of Pyotr Nikolaevich believes that Shaposhnikov slandered his father in his memoirs, deliberately distorting the facts.
Wrangel's mother, who bore the surname Dementieva-Maikova, lived in Petrograd during the Civil War, working in the Soviet museum.

Wrangel Petr Nikolaevich (1878-1928) - Russian military and political figure, one of the leaders of the White movement.

Born on August 15 (27), 1878 in Novoaleksandrovsk, Kovno province (modern Zarasai, Lithuania) into a noble family. Father N.E. Wrangel is a scion of an ancient Swedish baronial family; landowner and large entrepreneur. He graduated from the Rostov Real School (1896) and the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg (1901). In 1901 he entered the 1st category as a volunteer in the Life Guards Horse Regiment; in 1902 he was promoted to officer (guard cornet) and enlisted in the guards cavalry reserve.

In 1902-1904 - an official for special assignments under the Irkutsk Governor-General. During the Russo-Japanese War he volunteered for the front: with the rank of cornet he served in the 2nd Verkhneudinsk Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army, in the 2nd Argun Cossack Regiment and in the 2nd Hundred Separate division scouts; in September 1905 he was promoted ahead of schedule to the rank of captain. Behind military merits awarded the Order of St. Anne 3rd and 4th degree and St. Stanislav 3rd degree.

After the war, he decided to remain in military service. In January 1906 he received the rank of staff captain; transferred to the 55th Finnish Dragoon Regiment. In August 1906 he was assigned to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment; from March 1907 - lieutenant of the guard. In 1907-1910 he studied at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. After graduating from the Academy, he refused staff work. He returned to the Horse Regiment and in May 1912 became squadron commander. In August 1913 he was promoted to captain of the guard.

At the very beginning of the First World War, he distinguished himself in the battle of Kaushen (East Prussia); awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. In September 1914 he was appointed chief of staff of the Combined Cavalry Division, then assistant commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. In December he became aide-de-camp and colonel of the guard. In February 1915 he showed heroism during the Prasnysz operation (Poland); awarded the St. George's Arms. From October 1915 he commanded the 1st Nerchinsk Regiment of the Ussuri Cossack Division, and from December 1916 - the 1st Brigade of this division. In January 1917, he was promoted to major general for military services.

The February revolution was met with hostility. He fought for the preservation of military discipline, against the omnipotence of soldiers' committees. On July 9 (22), 1917, he became commander of the 7th Cavalry Division, and on July 11 (24) - commander of the Consolidated Cavalry Corps. During the Tarnopol breakthrough German troops(mid-July) covered the retreat of the Russian infantry to the Zbruch River; awarded the soldier's St. George Cross, 4th degree. In September 1917, in an atmosphere of increasing anarchy in the army, he refused his appointment to the post of commander of the Minsk Military District and resigned.

After the October Revolution, he left Petrograd for Crimea. In February 1918 he was arrested in Yalta by Black Sea sailors; barely escaped execution. He rejected the offer of P.P. Skoropadsky, who became the ruler of Ukraine with the support of Germany, to head the headquarters of the future Ukrainian army. In August 1918 he moved to Yekaterinodar, where he joined the Volunteer Army; appointed commander of the 1st Cavalry Division. Successfully fought against the Bolsheviks in Kuban. In November 1918, he was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of the 1st Cavalry Corps. On January 8, 1919, A.I. Denikin, who headed the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, handed over to him the post of commander of the Volunteer Army.

By the end of January 1919, his troops ousted the Bolsheviks from the North Caucasus. On May 22 he became commander of the Caucasian Army. Objected to strategic plan Denikin for the capture of Moscow, which provided for the division of the white forces into three strike groups. He led the offensive in the Saratovo-Tsaritsyn direction. Tsaritsyn took on June 30, Kamyshin on July 28. During the Red counteroffensive in August-September 1919, his troops were thrown back to Tsaritsyn. In October he resumed his offensive to the north, which was soon stopped.

Baron, Russian military leader, lieutenant general (1918). Participant in the Civil War of 1918-1920, one of the leaders of the white movement, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (1920).

Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was born on August 15 (27), 1878 in the city of Novoaleksandrovsk, Kovno province (now Zarasai in Lithuania) in the family of Baron Nikolai Egorovich Wrangel (1847-1923).

P. N. Wrangel spent his childhood and youth in: in this city, his father was the director of an insurance company. In 1896, the future military leader graduated from the Rostov Real School. In 1896-1901, he studied at the Mining Institute in, and received a degree in engineering.

In 1901, P. N. Wrangel volunteered in the Life Guards Horse Regiment. In 1902, having passed the exam at the Nikolaev Cavalry School, he was promoted to the Cornet Guard and enlisted in the reserve. After this, the young officer left the army and went to, where he served as an official on special assignments under the governor general.

With the beginning Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 P. N. Wrangel returned to military service. The baron volunteered to join the active army and was assigned to the 2nd Verkhneudinsk Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army. In December 1904, he was promoted to the rank of centurion "for distinguished service in cases against the Japanese" and awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th class, and St. Stanislaus, 3rd class, with swords and bow. In January 1906, Baron Wrangel was appointed to the 55th Finnish Dragoon Regiment with the rank of staff captain. In 1907, he returned to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment with the rank of lieutenant.

In 1910, P. N. Wrangel graduated from the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, in 1911 - the course of the Officer Cavalry School. At the beginning of the First World War, he was a squadron commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment with the rank of captain. In October 1914, Baron Wrangel was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, for an equestrian attack near Caushen, during which an enemy battery was captured. In December 1914 he was promoted to colonel, and in June 1915 he was awarded the honorary Arms of St. George.

During the First World War, P. N. Wrangel commanded a regiment, brigade, and division, and in 1917 he was promoted to major general “for military distinction.” He was appointed to command the 3rd Cavalry Corps, but “due to the Bolshevik coup, he refused to serve the enemies of the Motherland and did not take command of the corps.”

In 1918, P. N. Wrangel came to the Don, where he joined white movement and joined the Volunteer Army. In 1919 he became commander of the Caucasian Volunteer Army. Baron Wrangel's major military victory was the capture on June 30, 1919. In November 1919, P.N. Wrangel was appointed commander of the Volunteer Army forces operating in the Moscow direction. In December 1919, due to disagreements with the baron, he was forced to resign and go to Constantinople.

In March 1920, P. N. Wrangel took command of the Armed Forces of the South, replacing him in this post. In April 1920, he reorganized the All-Russian Socialist Republic into the Russian Army. During the period of leadership of the white movement, he made an unsuccessful attempt to create an independent state entity in Crimea.

In November 1920, P. N. Wrangel led the evacuation of the Russian army from Crimea. From that time on, he lived in exile in Turkey (1920-1922), Yugoslavia (1922-1927) and Belgium (1927-1928). In 1924, the baron created the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), the most significant association of right-wing monarchist circles of the Russian emigration.

P. N. Wrangel died on April 25, 1928 in Brussels (Belgium). In 1929, his ashes were transferred to Belgrade and solemnly reburied in the Russian Church of the Holy Trinity.