The name of Baron Wrangel is naturally associated with the events of the last period of the civil war, victorious for the Soviet regime - Perekop, Sivash, “the island of Crimea” - “the last inch of Russian land.” The originality of Wrangel’s personality and the richness of his biography with turbulent dramatic events have repeatedly attracted the attention of historians, publicists, and writers, who sometimes gave directly opposite assessments of his role and place in these events. The controversy surrounding this person continues to this day.
Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was born on August 28, 1878 (all dates according to the old style) in the city of Novo-Alexandrovsk, Kovno province, into a family of old Baltic nobles, dating back to the 13th century. Barons Wrangel (baronial dignity since 1653) owned lands in Livonia and Estland, granted by the masters of the Livonian Order and the Swedish monarchs. Military service was the main occupation, the purpose of life for most representatives of this family. 79 Barons Wrangel served in the army of Charles XII, of which 13 were killed in the Battle of Poltava and 7 died in Russian captivity. In Russian service, the Wrangels reached the highest military ranks during the reigns of Nicholas I and Alexander II. But his father, Nikolai Georgievich (who left very interesting memories and a remarkable essay on the gardening art of Russian estates) did not choose a military career, but became the director of the Equitable insurance company in Rostov-on-Don. Peter spent his childhood and youth in this city. Family N.G. Wrangel was not distinguished by wealth and family ties, acquaintances that could provide her children with quick career advancement. The future general had to “make a career” by relying only on his own strengths and abilities. Unlike many officers of that time, Pyotr Wrangel did not graduate from the cadet corps or military school. Having primary education at home, he continued his studies at the Rostov Real School, and then at the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg. Having received the profession of a mining engineer in 1900, young Wrangel was very far from a military career. After graduating from the institute, he underwent compulsory military service as a volunteer of the 1st category in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. Having risen to the rank of estandard cadet and having passed the test for the rank of cornet, he was enlisted in the guards cavalry reserve in 1902. Receiving his first officer rank and serving in one of the oldest guard regiments gradually changed his attitude towards a military career. General A.A. Ignatiev, Wrangel’s colleague in the guard, described this period in the life of Pyotr Nikolaevich in his memoirs: “At high society balls, he stood out with the jacket of a student at a mining institute; he was, it seems, the only student of a technical institute accepted in high society. Then I met him already a dashing estandard cadet of the Horse Guards... Over the course of several months of military service, Wrangel transformed into an arrogant guardsman. I advised the young engineer to leave the regiment and go to work in Eastern Siberia, which I had known since childhood. Strange as it may seem, my arguments worked, and Wrangel went to pursue a career in Irkutsk."
The undefined position of an official for assignments under the Irkutsk Governor-General, received by the young Wrangel, could hardly satisfy his ambitious and active nature. Therefore, immediately after the start of the war with Japan, he voluntarily joined the active army. As for A.I. Denikina, S.L. Markova, V.Z. Mai-Maevsky, A.P. Kutepov and other future generals of the White Army, the Russian-Japanese War became Wrangel’s first real combat experience. Participation in reconnaissance, daring raids and combat sorties as part of the detachment of General P.K. Rennenkampf strengthened his will, self-confidence, courage and determination. According to his closest ally, General P.N. Shatilov “during the Manchurian War, Wrangel instinctively felt that struggle was his element, and combat work was his calling.” These character traits distinguished Wrangel at all subsequent stages of his military career. Another trait of his character that appeared in the first years of military service is mental restlessness, a constant desire for greater and greater success in life, and the desire to “make a career” and not stop at what has already been achieved. The Russo-Japanese War brought P.N. to the head of the Transbaikal Cossack army. Wrangel's first awards were the Order of St. Anne, 4th class, and St. Stanislav, 3rd class, with swords and bow.
Participation in the war finally convinced Wrangel that only military service should become his life’s work. In March 1907, he returned to the ranks of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment with the rank of lieutenant. The obtained “military qualification” and combat experience made it possible to hope for an advantage when entering the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff - the cherished dream of many officers. In 1909, Wrangel successfully graduated from the academy, and in 1910 from the cavalry officer school, and upon returning to his native regiment in 1912, he became the commander of His Majesty’s squadron. After this, his future was quite clear - gradual advancement from rank to rank along the career ladder, measured regimental life, social balls, meetings, military parades. Now it was no longer a lanky student in a jacket from the Mining Institute, but a brilliant officer - a horse guardsman who attracted attention in the high society salons of St. Petersburg, Gatchina and Krasnoe Selo. An excellent dancer and conductor at balls, an indispensable participant in officer meetings, witty, easy to talk to, an interesting conversationalist - this is how his friends remembered Wrangel. True, at the same time, according to Shatilov, he “usually did not refrain from expressing his opinions openly”, gave “accurate” assessments to the people around him, his fellow soldiers, because of which “even then he had ill-wishers.” His marriage to his maid of honor, the daughter of the Chamberlain of the Supreme Court, Olga Mikhailovna Ivanenko, was also successful. Two daughters were soon born into the family - Elena and Natalya and a son Peter (the second son, Alexey, was born in exile). At the beginning of their married life, there were some complications associated with Pyotr Nikolaevich’s ongoing guards entertainment, and Olga Mikhailovna needed a lot of mental strength and tact in order to direct family life into a normal direction, to make it calm and durable. Mutual love and fidelity accompanied the spouses throughout their subsequent life together.
The officers of the Horse Guards were distinguished by their unconditional devotion to the monarchy. The commander of the “Chief Squadron,” Captain Baron Wrangel, fully shared these beliefs. “The army is out of politics”, “The Guard is on guard of the monarchy” - these commandments became the basis of his worldview.
August 1914 changed his fate: the Life Guards Horse Regiment went to the front and, during the fighting in East Prussia, acted as part of the army of General Rennenkampf. On August 6, 1914, a battle took place near the village of Kaushen, which became for Wrangel one of the most striking episodes of his military biography. The guards cuirassier regiments, dismounted, advanced at full speed on the German artillery batteries, which shot them at point-blank range. The losses were enormous. Captain Wrangel's squadron, the last reserve of the cuirassier division, captured the German guns with a sudden and swift cavalry attack, and the commander himself was the first to break into the enemy's positions. At the same time, all the officers in the squadron were killed, 20 soldiers were killed and wounded, but the battle was won.
For Kaushen, Wrangel was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. His photograph appeared on the pages of the Chronicle of War, the most popular illustrated military magazine. And although Wrangel did not have many opportunities to distinguish himself in major battles during the war - in the conditions of “trench warfare”, cavalry units were used mainly in reconnaissance - Captain Wrangel’s career began to quickly move up. In December 1914, he received the rank of colonel and became an aide-de-camp of His Majesty's retinue, and from October 1915 he commanded the 1st Nerchinsky Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army. In December 1916, Wrangel was appointed brigade commander of the Ussuri Cossack division, and in January 1917, at the age of 39, he was promoted to major general for “distinction in combat.”
The provisional government in the eyes of Wrangel had no authority, especially after the publication of the famous order No. 1, which introduced control of army committees over the command staff. Undisciplined, dissolute soldiers and endless rallies irritated the former Horse Guardsman. In relations with his subordinates, and even more so with the “lower ranks,” even in the conditions of the “democratization” of the army in 1917, he continued to support exclusively statutory requirements, neglecting the newly introduced forms of addressing soldiers as “You,” “citizen soldiers,” “citizens Cossacks" etc. He believed that only firm, decisive measures could stop the “collapse of the front and rear.” However, during the August speech of General L.G. Kornilov, Wrangel was unable to send his cavalry corps to support him. Having come into conflict with the “committee members,” Wrangel submitted his resignation. There was no hope of continuing his military career. "Democratic" Minister of War General A.I. Verkhovsky considered it impossible to appoint Wrangel to any positions “due to the conditions of the political moment and in view of the political figure.”
In Wrangel’s opinion, after August 1917, the Provisional Government demonstrated “complete impotence,” “the daily increasing collapse in the army cannot be stopped,” so the events of October 1917 seemed to him a logical result of “eight months of deepening the revolution.” “It was not just the weak-willed and incompetent government that was to blame for this disgrace. Senior military leaders and the entire Russian people shared responsibility with it. These people replaced the great word “freedom” with arbitrariness and turned the resulting freedom into rioting, robbery and murder...”
Wrangel did not participate in the formation of the White movement. At a time when, in the cold, gloomy days of November 1917, the first detachments of the future Volunteer Army (then still the “organization of General M.V. Alekseev”) were formed in Rostov-on-Don, when generals Kornilov and Denikin made their way to the Don from Bykhov , Markov, Romanovsky, after his arrest for participation in the “Kornilov rebellion,” Wrangel went to Crimea. Here in Yalta, at the dacha, he lived with his family as a private person. Since he did not receive a pension or salary at that time, he had to live on income from the estate of his wife’s parents in Melitopol district and bank interest.
In Crimea, he survived both the Crimean Tatar government and the Tauride Soviet Republic and the German occupation. During Soviet rule in the Crimea, Wrangel almost died from the tyranny of the Sevastopol Cheka, but thanks to the happy support of his wife (the chairman of the revolutionary tribunal, “Comrade Vakula,” was amazed at the marital fidelity of Olga Mikhailovna, who wished to share the fate of captivity with her husband), he was released and went into hiding until the arrival of Germans, in Tatar villages.
After the beginning of the German occupation and the coming to power of Hetman Skoropadsky, Wrangel decides to return to military service and first tries to enroll in the ranks of the emerging army of “independent Ukraine”, and then goes to Kuban, where by this time (summer 1918) fierce battles of the Volunteer Army had begun, set out on her 2nd Kuban campaign. By this time, a kind of hierarchy had developed in the White Army. It did not take into account past military merits, ranks, awards and titles. The main thing became participation in the fight against the Bolsheviks from the first days of the emergence of the White movement in the south of Russia. Generals, officers, participants in the 1st Kuban ("Ice") campaign - "pioneers", albeit in small ranks, as a rule, always enjoyed advantages when appointed to certain positions. In this situation, Wrangel did not have to count on receiving any significant rank. His fame as a cavalry commander helped. Thanks to his “past glory,” Wrangel was appointed commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, composed mainly of Kuban and Terek Cossacks. But serious problems awaited the general in this position.
The fact is that during the Civil War, Cossack units were very picky about their commanders. Cossack generals such as A.G. Shkuro, K.K. Mamantov, A.K. Guselshchikov, V.L. Pokrovsky were for the Cossacks the first among equals comrades in arms. The Cossacks did not accept the relationship between commanders and subordinates defined by the traditional charter. Obviously, Wrangel, who considered it necessary to restore statutory discipline in the Cossack regiments, caused alienation among some of his subordinates by his actions. And although alienation was later replaced by recognition from the majority of the ranks of the 1st Cavalry Division, and then the 1st Cavalry Corps, of which Wrangel became commander in mid-November 1918, relations with the Cossacks were not of the nature of “brotherly” trust. The white cavalry gradually learned to make flank attacks, regroup, quickly attack under enemy fire, and act independently, even without the support of infantry and artillery. This, of course, was the merit of Wrangel. His authority as a cavalry commander was confirmed during the October battles near Armavir, and in the battle for Stavropol, and during raids in the cold Stavropol and Nogai steppes.
By the end of 1918, the entire North Caucasus was controlled by the Volunteer Army. The 11th Soviet Army was defeated, its remnants retreated to Astrakhan. The White Army also suffered heavy losses, but there was victory behind it, and there was hope for future military successes. Pyotr Nikolaevich’s military career also continued. On November 22, 1918, for the battles near Stavropol, he was promoted to lieutenant general and began to command the Caucasian Volunteer Army. Now the former brilliant Horse Guardsman was distinguished by a black Circassian coat with the Order of St. George on the gazyrs, a black hat and a cloak. This is exactly how he remained in numerous photographs from the period of the Civil War and emigration. The name of the young army commander becomes known. A number of villages of the Kuban, Terek and Astrakhan troops accepted Wrangel as “honorary Cossacks”. On February 13, 1919, the Kuban Rada awarded him the Order of the Salvation of the Kuban, 1st degree.
But in January 1919, Pyotr Nikolaevich suddenly fell ill with typhus in a very severe form. On the fifteenth day of illness, doctors considered the situation hopeless. Denikin in “Essays on Russian Troubles” noted that Wrangel experienced his illness as “punishment for his ambition.” However, his biographers write that immediately after the arrival of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, there was an improvement. Wrangel undoubtedly owes his recovery to the caring care of his wife, who shared military service with him - she was in charge of a hospital in Yekaterinodar. The serious illness, however, seriously undermined the health of Pyotr Nikolaevich, who by that time had already suffered two wounds and a concussion.
The first disagreements between Wrangel and the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR date back to the spring of 1919. In a report addressed to Denikin, he argued for the need to concentrate the main attack of the AFSR on Tsaritsyn, after the capture of which it would be possible to unite with the armies of Admiral A.V. advancing towards the Volga. Kolchak. Such an operation made it possible, according to Wrangel, to create a united anti-Bolshevik front in the south of Russia, and the united white armies could hit “red Moscow” with redoubled force. Of course, according to this plan, the main blow to the connection with Kolchak was to be delivered by Wrangel’s Caucasian Army. This report, according to Denikin, testified to the “ambitious plans” of the baron, who sought to “stand out” during the upcoming operation. Wrangel, in turn, condemned Denikin’s desire to advance on Moscow, “so as not to share the laurels of victory with Kolchak.” Wrangel saw the main reason for abandoning his plan in the personal antipathy toward himself on the part of the Commander-in-Chief. According to him, “the son of an army officer, who himself spent most of his service in the army, he (Denikin - V.Ts.), having found himself at its top, retained many of the characteristic features of his environment - provincial, petty-bourgeois, with a liberal tint. From this environment, he remained with an unconscious prejudiced attitude towards the "aristocracy", "court", "guard", a painfully developed scrupulousness, an involuntary desire to protect his dignity from illusory attacks. Fate unexpectedly dumped on his shoulders a huge, alien to him state work, threw him into the very a whirlpool of political passions and intrigues. In this work, alien to him, he was apparently lost, afraid of making mistakes, did not trust anyone, and at the same time did not find in himself sufficient strength to guide the ship of state through the stormy political sea with a firm and confident hand..."
Denikin really did not have the elegant guards gloss, secular manners and subtle political “feeling”. In comparison with him, a tall guard dressed in a black Circassian coat, with a loud voice, confident, decisive and quick in character and actions, Pyotr Nikolaevich, of course, won. In the description of the Commander-in-Chief given by Wrangel, the aristocratic guardsman’s hostility to the “army man” - Denikin, of low, in his opinion, origin and upbringing, is clearly visible.
Alienation towards Wrangel, in turn, was also manifested on the part of Denikin. Therefore, for example, preference when appointed in the spring of 1919 to the post of commander of the Volunteer Army was given not to Wrangel, but to Mai-Maevsky, who, although not a “pioneer,” was absolutely loyal to Headquarters and the Commander-in-Chief himself.
Although the Headquarters rejected the plan to attack the Volga, the capture of Tsaritsyn was necessary for the White Army. They could not attack Ukraine with Red Tsaritsyn in their rear. The headquarters decided to break through the Red positions with a concentrated attack of all cavalry regiments united in a group under the command of Wrangel. The Tsaritsyn operation, which ended victoriously on June 18, 1919, made the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasus one of the most famous and authoritative generals of the White Army. “Hero of Tsaritsyn,” as General Wrangel’s newspapers were now called, became known and popular in the white south. Helpful officials of the Propaganda Department hung his photographs everywhere, lurid, popular-style pictures in which the general was depicted in the pose of the “Bronze Horseman” - with his hand pointing to Moscow (a clear hint at the emergence of a new leader - “Peter IV”). The commander of the Caucasian Army was presented with the march “General Wrangel”, composed by one of the officers. Such inept, and perhaps deliberate, propaganda was perceived by Pyotr Nikolaevich himself without proper understanding - he was convinced of his popularity, considering it well deserved. Representatives of the Allies also drew attention to the young general. For the capture of Tsaritsyn he was awarded the English Order of St. Michael and George.
On June 20, 1919, in occupied Tsaritsyn, Denikin signed the “Moscow Directive,” which proclaimed the beginning of a campaign for “the liberation of the capital from the Bolsheviks.” But while the Volunteer Army was approaching Kyiv, Kursk, Voronezh, the Caucasian Army was able to advance only to the city of Kamyshin (60 versts from Saratov). And after the thousand-mile front of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, arched in the direction of Orel, Tula and Moscow, was broken in October 1919 and the troops began to retreat, Wrangel was appointed to command the Volunteer Army (instead of Mai-Maevsky). Denikin himself explained this appointment by the need to change tactics at the front. The created cavalry group under the command of Wrangel was supposed to stop the advance of the Red Army and defeat Budyonny’s corps. Politicians of the center-right Council of the State Unification of Russia (led by the former tsarist minister A.V. Krivoshein, P.B. Struve, N.V. Savich, S.D. Tverskoy), who supported the general, were also interested in such an appointment. Volunteering could be the last step to the post of Commander-in-Chief, and in this case the above-mentioned politicians could get into the formed government.
This appointment was preceded by events in the Kuban, of which Wrangel was a direct participant. Since the beginning of 1919, the Kuban parliament - the Rada - sought to establish the Kuban Army as an independent, separate state, with its own borders, a separate Kuban army, subordinate only to Cossack generals and officers. Speaking on behalf of the “independent Kuban” at the Paris Peace Conference, the Rada delegation entered into an alliance with the government of the Mountain Republic. This act became the reason for the “pacification” of the rebellious Rada, which was entrusted to Wrangel. On November 6, he gave the order for the arrest and transfer to a military court of 12 Rada deputies, and on November 7, one of them, A.I. Kalabukhov was publicly executed in Yekaterinodar. The “Kuban action,” carried out with the direct participation of Wrangel, of course, did not add sympathy to him from the Cossacks. In addition, the opposition in the Rada received a reason to accuse the Denikin government of “suppressing the interests of the Cossacks.”
However, a change of command in itself could not immediately improve the situation at the front; the new commander needed time to get his bearings in an unfamiliar theater of military operations. In conditions of weakness of military units, lack of normal supplies and communications, and lack of fortifications in the rear, carrying out a major offensive operation turned out to be impossible. At the end of 1919, units of the Volunteer Army were dismembered, the “white capitals” Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don were hastily evacuated, and the volunteer regiments, which had decreased by more than 10 times, retreated beyond the Don. The remnants of the Volunteer Army were consolidated into a corps under the command of General Kutepov, and Wrangel “due to the disbandment of the Army was placed at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief.”
Winter 1919/20 Wrangel's conflict with Headquarters and the Commander-in-Chief himself turned into open confrontation. In the southern Russian White movement, after the impressive successes of the summer-autumn of 1919, the sharp change in military happiness and the subsequent abandonment of a vast territory in just two months was perceived very painfully. To the question "Who is to blame?" it would seem that the orders for the army and Wrangel’s reports to Headquarters clearly answered. His correspondence with the Commander-in-Chief very soon became known at the front and in the rear.
Wrangel’s greatest dissatisfaction was caused by the “vices” of the white south, sharply outlined in the report dated December 9, 1919. Written clearly in non-statutory language, the report gave an eloquent assessment of the reasons for the defeat of the “march on Moscow”: “Continuously moving forward, the army was stretched, units were upset, the rear grew enormously... The war turned into a means of profit, and contentment with local means - into robbery and speculation... The population, who greeted the army as it advanced with sincere delight, who had suffered from the Bolsheviks and longed for peace, soon began to experience the horrors of robbery and violence and arbitrariness. As a result, the collapse of the front and uprising in the rear... There is no army as a fighting force."
In January 1920, Wrangel left for Crimea. The personification of the “criminal rear” for Wrangel and his entourage was now the Commander-in-Chief of New Russia, General N.N. Shilling. The officers of the Black Sea Fleet, the chairman of the Special Meeting, General Lukomsky, telegraphed to Headquarters: “there is great excitement against Schilling. There is only one way out - the immediate appointment of Wrangel in Schilling’s place.” Finally, “public figures” of Crimea turned to Headquarters with a demand to place “at the head of power in Crimea... a person who, through his personal qualities and military merits, has earned the trust of both the army and the population” (that is, Wrangel - V.Ts.). The appeal was signed by A.I. Guchkov, Prince B.V. Gagarin, N.V. Savich, future head of the Wrangel Department of Agriculture G.V. Glinka and others. Pressure on Headquarters came in several directions and Denikin had to get the impression that the front and rear fully supported Wrangel. It is noteworthy that in this “march to power”, the main role was no longer played by Wrangel, but by those political groups and circles (primarily the aforementioned Council of the State Association of Russia) that supported him, based on purely practical calculations - having replaced the Commander-in-Chief, they themselves would come to power. Of course, it was supposed to carry out not only a change of leadership, but also a change in the political course of the southern Russian White movement.
Wrangel was sincerely convinced that both the army and the rear wanted a change in the leadership of the white movement, only based on the need for a more effective fight against Soviet power. The predominance of personal ambition in the relationship between the Commander-in-Chief and Wrangel is also evidenced by the words of General B.A. Shteifon: “In terms of their mentality, character and their worldviews, Denikin and Wrangel were completely different people. And fate wanted such different natures to internalize, each quite independently, the same conviction. General Denikin and General Wrangel suspected each other of that their differences... are explained not by ideological considerations, but exclusively by personal motives. This tragic, but completely conscientious error entailed many sad and serious consequences..."
The final act of this conflict was the dismissal of Wrangel by order of the Commander-in-Chief of February 8, 1920.
In the last days of February, the Wrangel family left Crimea, going to Constantinople with the intention of going further to Serbia. Together with them, Krivoshein, Struve, and Savich left the white south. The armed struggle in the Crimea and the North Caucasus seemed to them hopelessly lost, and Denikin’s position was doomed. Unexpectedly, news came from Sevastopol about the upcoming Military Council, at which it was supposed to decide the issue of appointing a new Commander-in-Chief.
The outcome of the Military Council held on March 21-22, 1920 was essentially a foregone conclusion. And on March 22, 1920, Denikin issued the last order, transferring the powers of the Commander-in-Chief to Lieutenant General Baron Wrangel. Thus ended the “Denikin period” in the history of the white movement in southern Russia. The new Commander-in-Chief had to resolve the problems left over from the past.
Many people in White Crimea were oppressed by the realization of the futility of the struggle against Soviet power. If the “march against Moscow” ended in defeat, can we hope for the possibility of a successful defense of Crimea? A clear, definite word was required from Wrangel about what awaited the white Crimea next. And this “word” was pronounced on March 25, 1920 during a solemn parade and prayer service on Nakhimovskaya Square in Sevastopol. “I believe,” said the last Commander-in-Chief of the white south, “that the Lord will not allow the destruction of a just cause, that He will give me the intelligence and strength to lead the army out of a difficult situation. Knowing the immeasurable valor of the troops, I unshakably believe that they will help me fulfill my duty to homeland and I believe that we will wait for the bright day of the resurrection of Russia." Wrangel said that only the continuation of the armed struggle against Soviet power was the only possible thing for the white movement. But this required the restoration of the white front and rear, now on the territory of the “island of Crimea” alone.
The principle of a one-man military dictatorship, established in the white south since the time of the first Kuban campaigns, was strictly observed by Wrangel in 1920. Not a single significant law or order could be put into effect without his sanction. “We are in a besieged fortress,” Wrangel argued, “and only a single, firm government can save the situation. We must defeat the enemy first of all, now is not the place for party struggle, ... all parties must unite into one, doing non-party business work. A significantly simplified apparatus "My government is built not from people of any party, but from people of action. For me there are neither monarchists nor republicans, but only people of knowledge and labor."
Wrangel defined the main task of his government as follows: “...It is not by a triumphal march from Crimea to Moscow that Russia can be liberated, but by the creation, at least on a piece of Russian land, of such an order and such living conditions that would attract all the thoughts and forces of those groaning under the red yoke of the people." Thus, a rejection of the main goal of the South Russian White movement - the occupation of Moscow - was proclaimed; an attempt was made to create a kind of springboard from Crimea on which a new political program could be implemented, to create a “model of White Russia”, an alternative to “Bolshevik Russia”.
Similar considerations were expressed by Wrangel in a conversation with V.V. Shulgin: “The policy of conquest of Russia must be abandoned... I am trying to make life possible in Crimea, even on this piece of land... to show the rest of Russia...; there you have communism, famine and the emergency, but here land reform is underway, order and possible freedom are being established... Then it will be possible to move forward, slowly, not as we walked under Denikin, slowly, consolidating what was captured. Then the provinces taken from the Bolsheviks will be a source of our strength, not weakness, as it was before...” But creating an “experimental field” for the future Russia from Crimea turned out to be impossible. Nevertheless, the experience of state building in 1920 is very indicative from the point of view of the evolution of the White movement in the south of Russia.
Thus, in national policy and relations with the Cossacks, the Government of the South of Russia defined its actions as a rejection of the principles of “one, indivisible Russia.” On July 22, in Sevastopol, an agreement was solemnly concluded with representatives of the Don, Kuban, Terek and Astrakhan (generals Bogaevsky, Vdovenko and Lyakhov), according to which the Cossack troops were guaranteed “complete independence in their internal structure and management.” In September - October, attempts were made to conclude an alliance with representatives of the Union of Mountain People of the North Caucasus; with the sanction of Wrangel, contacts were established with the grandson of Imam Shamil, an officer of the French service Said-bek, on the basis of recognition of the mountain federation. The attempt to establish an alliance with Makhno was also indicative. Emphasizing the “democraticism” of its policy, Wrangel’s government proposed that Makhno’s army become part of the White Army. And although the “father” himself demonstratively refused any contacts with the “counter-revolutionaries,” a number of smaller rebel detachments (atamans of Khmara, Chaly, Savchenko) supported Wrangel, publishing appeals calling for an alliance with the whites, and ataman Volodin even formed a “special partisan” in the Crimea detachment." All such actions were dictated by the calculation of creating a common front with everyone who, to one degree or another, expressed dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime. Thus, the state policy of White Crimea embodied the slogan proclaimed by Wrangel “with whomever you want - but for Russia,” that is, “against the Bolsheviks.”
But the main part of the entire internal life of the white Crimea in 1920 was the land reform, designed to create a new social base for the White movement, a wealthy and middle peasantry capable of supplying the army and rear, supporting the white power. This “reliance on the peasants” would ensure, in Wrangel’s opinion, “victory over Bolshevism.” On May 25, 1920, on the eve of the White Army’s offensive in Northern Tavria, the “Order on Land” was promulgated. “The army must carry the land with bayonets” - this was the main meaning of the agrarian policy of the White Crimea. All land, including that “seized” by peasants from landowners during the “black redistribution” of 1917-1918. remained with the peasants. No one had the right to deprive them of it. But, in contrast to the demagoguery of the Bolshevik “decrees,” the “Order on Land” assigned the land to the peasants, albeit for a small ransom, and guaranteed them freedom of local self-government (the creation of volost and district land councils - here Wrangel was not afraid to use even the “revolutionary "the term is councils), and the former landowners did not even have the right to return to their estates.
The last pages of the history of the civil war in the south of Russia became in Wrangel’s life a time of the highest tension of forces and energy in organizing the struggle to retain the “last inch of Russian land” - the white Crimea. Eyewitnesses noted a constant state of enormous internal excitement in the Commander-in-Chief. Shulgin recalled that “a high-voltage current was felt in this man. His psychic energy saturated the environment,... faith in his work and the ease with which he bore the weight of power, power that did not crush him, but, on the contrary, inspired him, “It was they who did this job of holding Taurida, a thing bordering on miraculous.” Conscientiously trying to understand all the circumstances of the issues under consideration, Wrangel did not consider himself entitled to leave any case or petition without consideration. Not having sufficient knowledge of many civil issues, he entrusted their consideration to his assistants. He himself spoke about this: “The trouble is that they come to me with various questions about the state structure, about all sorts of economic and trade issues - what can I tell them? I have to believe those who tell me. I don’t like that. Give me a cavalry corps and I’ll show you!”
Wrangel personally conducted military reviews, awarded distinguished soldiers and officers, and presented banners. One of the participants in the last review of the Kornilov shock division (September 1, 1920) recalled: “The arrival of the Commander-in-Chief, his fiery speech and his inimitable cry (there is no other way to express it) - “Eagles Kornilovites!” - were accompanied by me with continuous nervous trembling and internal sobbing that almost reached the point of explosion... The powerful, hoarse voice of the Commander-in-Chief seemed strained and seemed to express the strained Volunteer Army.”
The army gradually became imbued with confidence that the Commander-in-Chief would be able to get it out of any difficult situation.
His wife in Crimea continued to engage in charitable activities. With her funds, a hospital was organized in Sevastopol, charity evenings and concerts were repeatedly held, the proceeds from which went to help wounded soldiers and civilian refugees.
The continuation of the armed struggle in white Tavria in 1920 was impossible without a well-organized, disciplined army. During April - May, about 50 different headquarters and departments, “regiments”, “divisions” and “detachments” were liquidated, the entire composition of which did not exceed several dozen fighters. The Armed Forces of southern Russia were renamed the Russian Army, thereby emphasizing the continuity from the regular army of Russia until 1917. The reward system was revived. Now, for military distinctions, they were not promoted to the next rank, as was done under Denikin (25-year-old generals were already serving in the army), but were awarded the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the status of which, developed by Wrangel, was close to the status of the Order of St. George.
By the beginning of the offensive into Northern Taurida, the Russian army was fully prepared, the units had replenished their ranks, received new uniforms and weapons. The battles that unfolded in the vast Tauride steppes were distinguished by great tenacity and fierceness. In June, as a result of an operation prepared by Wrangel’s headquarters, one of the best red cavalry corps under the command of D.P. was defeated. Rednecks. At the same time, the Red troops managed to cross the Dnieper and in the Kakhovka region seize a bridgehead, which over the next months, until October, would constantly threaten the rear of the White Army with a blow towards Perekop and its encirclement in Northern Tavria. July and August passed in continuous battles, during which the strength of the army was reduced by more than half, and the reinforcements that arrived from the Russian units interned in Poland, the mobilized Taurian citizens, in their fighting qualities were lower than the first volunteer cadres tested in the battles. Even Red Army prisoners of war were placed in the ranks of the white regiments, often surrendering again in the first battle. In September, during the offensive towards Donbass, the Russian army achieved its greatest successes. In a raid, the Cossacks of the Don Corps captured one of the centers of Donbass - Yuzovka, and Soviet institutions were hastily evacuated from Yekaterinoslav. But here Wrangel faced the same failure that a year earlier had nullified all the successes of Denikin’s armies. The front stretched again, and the few regiments of the Russian army were unable to hold it.
The counteroffensive of the Red Army, which began in mid-October, was so strong and rapid that the weakened units of the Russian Army were unable to hold the front. Budyonny's corps broke through to Perekop, threatening to cut off the escape route to Crimea. Only the steadfastness and courage of the regiments of the 1st Corps of General Kutepov and the Don Cossacks saved the situation of the White Army, and most of it went to the Crimea. The defeat in Northern Tavria became obvious. After the retreat to the Crimea, the last hope remained for the possibility of successful defense on the “impregnable” fortifications at Perekop and Chongar, as was constantly announced in the white press. All official statements spoke about the possibility of “wintering” in Crimea, that by the spring of 1921, Soviet power would be undermined by the discontent of peasants and workers and a new “exit from Crimea” would be much more successful than in 1920.
But the Soviet command was not going to wait for spring. On the third anniversary of October 1917, the assault on the Perekop fortifications began. The regroupings of troops undertaken on Wrangel's initiative were not completed by the time of the assault and the white regiments had to launch counterattacks without the necessary preparation and rest. By the evening of October 28, on the third day of the assault, General Kutepov telegraphed to Headquarters that the Perekop fortifications had been broken through. The unexpectedly rapid fall of Perekop required Wrangel to make immediate decisions that could save the army and the rear. “A thunderstorm was approaching, our fate hung in the balance, it was necessary to exert all our spiritual and mental strength. The slightest hesitation or oversight could ruin everything.” In the current situation, Wrangel was able to quickly implement the developed evacuation plan.
On October 29, the Ruler of the South of Russia and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army issued an order to abandon Crimea. Noting the heroism of the troops and calling on the civilian population to endure, the order, at the same time, warned those who were going to share its future fate with the white army: “To fulfill our duty to the army and the population, everything within the limits of human strength has been done. Our future paths are full unknown. We have no other land except Crimea. There is no state treasury either. Frankly, as always, I warn everyone about what awaits them." The government of Southern Russia "advised all those who were not in immediate danger from enemy violence to remain in Crimea." According to eyewitnesses, everyone who decided to leave Crimea could do so without hindrance. In all ports, with the exception of Feodosia, loading took place in an orderly and calm manner. The troops broke away from the pursuit of the Reds for several passages and boarded the ships without any particular difficulties. Wrangel was one of the last to leave the Sevastopol pier. Having made a speech to the guard of cadets, the Commander-in-Chief on the afternoon of November 1, 1920 boarded the cruiser General Kornilov. On November 3, the cruiser approached Feodosia, where Wrangel supervised the loading of the Cossacks. After this, a squadron of 126 ships (the majority of warships and transports of the Black Sea Fleet) entered the open sea. The last period of the “White struggle” in the south of Russia ended, and with it the peak of General Wrangel’s military and state activities went into history.
More than 145 thousand people left White Crimea. Almost half of them were military. Now Wrangel was faced with the task of settling a huge number of military and civilian refugees, doomed to a half-starved existence. The Commander-in-Chief was convinced of the need to use the army to continue the “fight against Bolshevism” in the near future. On March 22, 1921, on the anniversary of taking command of the White Army, Wrangel addressed his comrades with an order in which he wrote: “With unshakable faith, like a year ago, I promise you to emerge from new trials with honor. All the strength of mind and will "I give to the service of the army. Officers and soldiers, the army and Cossack corps are equally dear to me... Like a year ago, I urge you to rally tightly around me, remembering that our strength is in unity." Even on February 15, 1921, during the review, Wrangel declared: “just as the sun broke through the dark clouds, so it will illuminate our Russia... in less than three months... and I will lead you forward to Russia.”
In Gallipoli, where the regimented units of the former Volunteer Army were located, the position of the troops was especially difficult. The camp was built literally on bare ground. Unfortunately, the army rarely saw its commander in chief. The French command, which controlled the presence of the White army in Turkey, vigilantly ensured that the Commander-in-Chief's communication with his army was as rare as possible. But even in isolated cases (Wrangel visited Gallipoli on December 18, 1920 and February 15, 1921) of military reviews and parades, the army felt the former strength and authority of its last commander. For most fighters, Wrangel remained the leader, or rather, the symbol of the white movement for the revival of Russia. One of the officers described the reason for such admiration for the Commander-in-Chief: “We believed in General Wrangel. We believed unconsciously... It was faith in man..., in his high qualities and admiration for the bearer of the White idea, for which thousands of our brothers laid down their lives The visits of the Commander-in-Chief acquired a very special meaning - holidays for the entire mass, who sought... to express their deep faith in him... The army lived and realized itself..., a close cohesion appeared again, the personal began to dissolve in the powerful consciousness of a single collective, and this team was again embodied in one dear and beloved person...".
Wrangel's intransigence disturbed many. October 15, 1921 The floating headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief - the yacht "Lucullus", which was stationed in the Bosporus roadstead, was rammed by the Italian transport "Adria" and sank a few minutes later. The blow fell precisely on that part of the ship where the Commander-in-Chief's cabin was located. Wrangel and his family were saved by chance - at that time they were on the shore. The investigation into the accident was never completed, but at that time it was quite possible to assume the deliberate nature of the incident.
No longer counting on French support, Wrangel began to negotiate with the Balkan countries about providing refuge to units of the Russian army. Proceeding with great difficulty, they were successfully completed at the end of April 1921. Bulgaria agreed to station 9, and Serbia - 7,000 troops on its territory. At the end of 1921, the main part of the army was taken to these countries, and on May 5, 1923, the last soldier left Gallipoli.
A new stage in the life of the White Army and the last in the life of its Commander-in-Chief had begun. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, Wrangel moved with his family to Belgrade. Here, in Yugoslavia, he found himself at the center of the political passions that tore apart the Russian emigration. Former representatives of the left parties continued to demand that Wrangel cease supporting the army as an organized military force, while the right, the monarchists, intended to liberate Russia only if the army openly accepted the slogan of the revival of the monarchy. It largely depended on Pyotr Nikolayevich whether this slogan would be openly proclaimed in the military environment, or whether it would remain true to the traditional principle of “the army is out of politics.”
Wrangel responded to this by issuing “Order No. 82” on September 8, 1923. It clearly stated: “Now, after three and a half years of exile, the Army is alive; it has retained its independence, it is not bound by any treaties or obligations with states or parties...” The order prohibited army officers from joining the ranks of any political organizations, engage in any political activities. Moreover, an officer who preferred army politics had to leave its ranks. Wrangel’s own attitude to the idea of restoring the monarchy is very well characterized by his words: “The Tsar should appear only when the Bolsheviks are finished... when the bloody struggle that lies ahead with their overthrow has subsided. The Tsar must not only enter Moscow” but “white horse,” he himself should not have the blood of civil war on him - and he should be a symbol of reconciliation and supreme mercy.” The appearance of the “Tsar” in exile, without power and authority, was absurd for Wrangel.
After the army ceased to exist as a separate military structure, it was necessary to maintain its unity. The created and existing military alliances and regimental cells were to become the basis for the organization of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS). On September 1, 1924, an order was issued to create it. Its first chairman was Wrangel, who subjugated all military alliances from South America to Asia.
But while formally continuing to retain the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Wrangel had actually already moved away from its everyday problems. The last years of Wrangel's life were spent in Brussels. According to the memoirs of General Shatilov, “he was no longer attracted to society, he avoided it at all costs. He found pleasure only in conversations with people close to him... Not a trace remained of the habit of wealth, of the material comforts of life. The former harshness in judgments about people was replaced by tolerance and condescension... When you remember this time of his life, you can’t help but think that although he was still seemingly completely healthy, he already had a presentiment that his death was near.” Pyotr Nikolaevich again returned to the specialty with which he began his life's journey - the profession of a mining engineer. He paid a lot of attention to preparing for the publication of his memoirs. However, both volumes were able to see the light of day after his death. In February 1928, two months before his death, materials, an important role in the preparation of which for publication were played by his personal secretary N.M. Kotlyarevsky, were transferred to A.A. von Lampe - editor of the multi-volume publication "White Business". Refusing any fee for publication, Wrangel set the condition “that army units, military unions and their individual ranks should enjoy the greatest possible discount when purchasing books.”
The last days of Pyotr Nikolaevich’s life were spent surrounded only by his family and friends. His mother Maria Dmitrievna, wife Olga Mikhailovna and children were with him until the last minute. Wrangel's disease was difficult, with painful exacerbations and attacks. His once powerful body was weakened by previously suffered wounds and concussion, typhus, and constant nervous tension. His health was finally undermined by influenza, which turned into a severe form of tuberculosis and worsened nervous breakdown. The rapid, terrible development of the disease became the basis for a later version of poisoning. Professor of Medicine I.P. Aleksinsky recalled that General Wrangel complained of strong nervous excitement, which tormented him terribly: “My brain is tormenting me... I cannot rest from obsessive, bright thoughts... My brain is working feverishly against my wishes, my head is always busy with calculations, calculations , drawing up dispositions... Pictures of war are always in front of me and I write orders, orders, orders all the time...". Even during some improvement (ten days before his death), he “had a severe nervous attack. From some terrible internal excitement, he screamed for about forty minutes..., no efforts of those around him could calm him down.”
On April 12, 1928, at the age of 50, Lieutenant General Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel died in Brussels. “God save the army...” - these, according to eyewitnesses, were his last words. Later, his body was transported to Belgrade, and here on October 6, 1928 it was buried in a Russian Orthodox church, in a sarcophagus, under the shadow of bowed banners of Russian regiments. The burial of the last Commander-in-Chief became a kind of demonstration of the army’s loyalty to its leader. The funeral ceremony took place in a solemn atmosphere. The general's body was carried on an artillery carriage along the soldiers and officers of the White Army lined up in a guard of honor.
General Wrangel, his personality and his entire military biography became for the White Army the personification of an irreconcilable struggle, in the name of which it was impossible to yield, to deviate from the original traditions of the White movement. Despite the fact that the civil war had already ended, for those who shared their fate with the white army, finding themselves far from their homeland, Wrangel seemed to be a leader, a leader, under whose leadership one could hope for the success of the white struggle, for a quick return to Russia. It is precisely because of this that the personality of the last white Commander-in-Chief remained for a long time among the military emigration “beyond criticism.” The mistakes he made during the civil war were forgotten and forgiven, in particular, his conflict with Denikin, failures, miscalculations during the struggle in white Tavria in 1920 . Wrangel became an indisputable authority, and such an assessment of his activities became predominant in most works by authors of military emigration who wrote about the events of the civil war in southern Russia.
And for the former allies, Wrangel remained the leader of the White movement, an extraordinary personality; After his death, his wax figure was in the Gervin Museum in Paris, and at his funeral, along with the Russians, Serbian troops paid him their last respects.
Materials from his personal archive are stored at the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace (USA). Many of these documents were collected, systematized and preserved by Wrangel’s daughters, Elena and Natalya, and son Peter. It is also noteworthy that his youngest son Alexei became a historian and devoted his scientific work to studying the activities of his father, as well as researching the past of the Russian cavalry.
Leading the White movement in the south of Russia at the last stage of the armed struggle, Wrangel showed himself as a military leader and statesman, thanks to whom the political and ideological program of the White cause was finally formed. “White ideology” seemed to him not a simple antipode of the communist ideology, but an ideology necessary for the future “National Russia”, in which the interests of all classes and estates of Russian society should unite. In his opinion, the white cause, which had deep political foundations, was unable to develop its social base only due to the lack of sufficient time during the civil war.
Name: Wrangel Petr Nikolaevich
State: Russian empire
Field of activity: Army
Greatest Achievement: The struggle for autocracy against the Red Army. General
Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was born on August 27, 1878 into a family of German Russified aristocrats in Novoaleksandrovka.
He first received his education at the Rostov Real School. Then in 1901 he graduated from the Mining University in St. Petersburg, choosing engineering as his specialty. However, the young aristocrat did not forget about his military career. In the same year, Peter voluntarily joined the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. The following year, Wrangel is selected for a prestigious educational institution - the cavalry school in the capital of Russia and continues his academic path as a reserve lieutenant.
Participated in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War.
Wrangel joins the White Guard, fighting to preserve the old order. He leads the cavalry corps and begins successful attacks on the Red Army soldiers.
In February 1920, Pyotr Nikolaevich officially resigned and left with his family (wife Olga and four children - Peter, Natalya, Elena and Alexei) to Constantinople (Istanbul).
As a state, it had both advantages and disadvantages. However, these are the realities of many countries. However, a huge advantage of Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was its excellent military education - not only the children of aristocrats, but also mere mortals (if they had talent) were able to make a dizzying career in the military field. After the revolutionary upheavals of 1917, some went over to the side of the new, Soviet government, while others wanted to fight for autocracy to the end. One of these fighters was Pyotr Wrangel, the legendary “black baron” (he was so nicknamed for his signature style of clothing - a black Cossack Circassian coat).
The beginning of the way
Baron Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was born on August 27, 1878 into a family of German Russified aristocrats in Novoaleksandrovka (now the territory of Lithuania). His family tree dates back to the 13th century; Pyotr Nikolaevich’s ancestors lived in Estonia, Sweden, Russia, and were famous sailors and military leaders.
His father, Nikolai Wrangel, was a famous antiques collector and writer. Military service did not bypass him either (according to the law of that time, all aristocrats had to serve - for this they could receive various benefits from the state).
It is not surprising that with such a family biography, Petya decided to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. He first received his education at the Rostov Real School. Then in 1901 he graduated from the Mining University in St. Petersburg, choosing engineering as his specialty. However, the young aristocrat did not forget about his military career. In the same year, Peter voluntarily joined the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. The following year, Wrangel is selected for a prestigious educational institution - the cavalry school in the capital of Russia and continues his academic path as a reserve lieutenant.
For the first time, Peter is given the opportunity to show his knowledge and skills during. If before 1904 Wrangel hesitated whether to give preference to military service or switch to something else, then with the outbreak of the military conflict with Japan he makes the final decision to connect his life with the army. He enters (again as a volunteer) into the military unit of the Cossack regiment in Transbaikalia. For bravery and valor in battles, he was nominated for awards - the medals of St. Stanislaus and St. Anne, and he also received an award weapon.
In 1907 he was presented to the Tsar. Pyotr Nikolaevich had already been promoted to the rank of lieutenant and transferred to his regiment, from where he began his service, simultaneously continuing to improve his knowledge in military affairs and combat technology.
Participation in the First World War
Of course, few prominent military figures want to put into practice the knowledge acquired in educational institutions. But the beginning of the 20th century provided many of them with a chance to prove themselves in battle. In 1914, one of the most terrible pages in world history began -. Naturally, such a prominent officer as P.N. Wrangel, could not pass by. He held the rank of captain and commanded a squadron. Already from the first weeks of the war, it became clear that Wrangel was a born warrior - he managed to capture a German battery, for which he was nominated for one of the highest military awards and received the rank of colonel.
Wrangel's subsequent service was again associated with the Transbaikal Cossack Regiment. It is worth saying that Pyotr Nikolaevich’s rise through the ranks was long. But deserved. He proved with sweat and blood that he was worthy of each of the medals and orders given to him. On the battlefields, according to the recollections of his compatriots and colleagues, Wrangel was distinguished by incredible courage. Of course, he could not help but take part in the legendary (or Lutsk breakthrough, as it is sometimes called) - at that time Peter was on the Southwestern Front. The year 1917 was marked by new awards. A new rank was also granted - major general.
Wrangel in Crimea. Participation in the Civil War
In some matters, Wrangel behaved like a true aristocrat. This also applied to autocracy. He was one of the few military leaders who spoke negatively about Soviet power and met the 1917 revolution with hostility. they remembered it. They never forgave insults (just remember the further history of the young man and the struggle for power). After the victory of the October Revolution, Wrangel resigned from the army and went to Crimea, where he lived in his mansion in Yalta. The first wave of police came here to arrest Pyotr Nikolaevich. True, he was not detained for long and was soon released.
This event further strengthened Wrangel’s hatred of the Bolsheviks and Soviet power. He decides to start fighting. How? In a well-known way - war. It was during this period that the Civil War began in Russia, and Wrangel joined the White Guard, fighting to preserve the old order. He leads the cavalry corps and begins successful attacks on the soldiers. In 1919 he became commander of the Caucasian Army in southern Russia. Soon the city of Volgograd (formerly Tsaritsyn) falls into the hands of the army.
Defeat of Wrangel's army
His boss was the notorious Anton Denikin, with whom Wrangel had conflicts. proposed to quickly direct all forces to Moscow, but Wrangel insisted on advancing along the border of the city. In addition, this would give a chance to unite their forces with units. And then the White Guard would become invincible. However, Denikin rejected Wrangel's proposal and removed him from military service, despite the fact that Wrangel was right. Further battles with the Red Army proved this, but nothing can be corrected. In February 1920, Pyotr Nikolaevich officially resigned and left with his family (wife Olga and four children - Peter, Natalya, Elena and Alexei) to Constantinople (Istanbul).
Emigration and death
Since 1921, Wrangel lived in Serbia, then moved to Brussels, where he worked in his direct specialty - an engineer. The civil war in Russia was still ongoing, and Pyotr Nikolaevich did not forget his homeland and led the white movement from afar. In 1928, he suddenly fell ill with tuberculosis and died. His death gave rise to rumors that the Bolsheviks poisoned the former baron. Whether this is true or not, we will never know. And Wrangel himself was buried in Brussels, but a year later he was transported to Belgrade and reburied in the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity.
Pyotr Nikolaevich believed until the last in the victory of the White Army over the hated Bolsheviks. The soldiers respected him, he taught his subordinates to discipline and severely punished those who were guilty. Even when in 1920 it became clear that he would win, Wrangel took command of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia and continued the fight. He proposed creating a new democratic state in Crimea with freedom and a well-functioning economic mechanism. However, his dreams were not destined to come true, and the baron soon gave the order to evacuate from Crimea. Who knows, maybe the history of the Civil War would have turned out differently if Denikin had listened to the advice of the “Black Baron”. But history does not know the subjunctive mood.
Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich is a white general, nicknamed the Black Baron, commander of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia and the Russian Army. Brave, courageous, tall, in a black Circassian coat and burka, he terrified his enemies.
Pyotr Nikolaevich was born on August 15, 1878. in Novoaleksandrovsk, Kovno province (currently Zarasai, Lithuania) in a family of Baltic Germans.
ImageHis Low Saxon ancestors had lived in Estonia since the 13th century. In the 16th-18th centuries, branches of this family settled in Prussia, Sweden and Russia, and after 1920 - in France, the USA and Belgium.
For several centuries, the Wrangel family included famous navigators, military leaders and polar explorers. Peter Nikolaevich's father did not follow in the footsteps of his famous ancestors and chose a different path. He dreamed of the same fate for his son, whose childhood and youth were spent in Rostov-on-Don.
- Comes from a noble family. The genealogy of his ancestors dates back to the 13th century. The motto of the family was the saying: “You will break, but you will not bend” (“Frangas, non flectes”).
- On the wall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior the name of one of the ancestors who died in the Patriotic War of 1812 is immortalized.
- An island in the Arctic Ocean is named after his ancestor (F.P. Wrangel).
- His father was a writer, art critic and antiquarian, his mother was a museum worker.
Brief biography of Wrangel before the Civil War
In 1900, Wrangel completed his studies at the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg, received an engineering diploma and a gold medal. In 1901 he was called up for military service. The service takes place in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment in the status of a volunteer. Performs the duties of an official of special assignments under the Governor-General of Irkutsk.
Wrangel He retires with the rank of cornet. In 1902 he entered the Nikolaev Cavalry School in St. Petersburg. For his bravery and participation in hostilities in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905, he was awarded the Annin Weapon. In 1907, he was introduced to the emperor and transferred to his native regiment. He continued his studies at the Nikolaev Guards Academy and graduated from it in 1910.
At the beginning of the First World War he was already captain of the Horse Guards. In the very first battles he distinguished himself by capturing a German battery in a fierce attack near Kaushen on August 23. Among the first officers, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and on October 12, 1914 he received the rank of colonel.
Wrangel In the fall of 1915, he was sent to the Southwestern Front as commander of the 1st Nerchinsk Regiment of Transbaikal Cossacks. Wrangel did not rise up the career ladder very quickly, but deservedly so. Often his interlocutor was Nicholas II, with whom they talked for a long time on topics that worried them.
Unlike Kornilov and many colleagues, Wrangel did not support the February Revolution and the Provisional Government. He believed that revolutionary decrees and government actions undermined the basis of the army. He held a minor position and found himself an outsider in this political struggle.
Edikst He fought for discipline and opposed elected soldiers' committees. He tried to prove that abdication would worsen the situation in the country. wanted to involve him in the defense of Petrograd, but he resigned. After the revolution, Wrangel reunites with his family, who at that time settled in Crimea.
Civil War
In February 1918, the baron was arrested by sailors of the Black Sea Fleet. The intercession of his wife saves him from execution. During the occupation of Ukraine by German troops in Kyiv, a meeting took place between Wrangel and Hetman Skoropadsky, who had previously been colleagues.
Useful tips Pyotr Nikolaevich was disappointed with the Ukrainian nationalists surrounding Skoropadsky, as well as his dependence on the Germans. He goes to Kuban and joins General Denikin, who instructs him to curb one rebellious Cossack division. Wrangel not only calmed the Cossacks, but also created a unit with excellent discipline.
In the winter of 1918-1919, he led the Caucasian Army, occupied the Kuban and Terek basin, Rostov-on-Don, and took Tsaritsyn in June 1919. Wrangel's victories confirm his talent. During military operations, he limited as much as possible the violence that was inevitable in such conditions, and severely punished robberies and looting. At the same time, the soldiers respected him very much.
Chapaev In the summer of 1919, three armies of Denikin moved towards Moscow, one of them was commanded by Wrangel. His army advanced through Nizhny Novgorod and Saratov, but suffered heavy losses during the capture of Tsaritsyn. Wrangel criticized Denikin’s plan and considered it a failure. He was convinced that the attack on Moscow had to be carried out on one front.
As a result, the troops were defeated by the Red Army. To prevent a catastrophe, Wrangel was sent to Kharkov, but upon arrival there he only became convinced that the White Army had been destroyed. The attempted conspiracy against Denikin failed, and Wrangel was again sent to Kuban.
White movement
In March 1920, the White Army suffered new losses, as a result of which it barely managed to cross to the Crimea. Denikin was blamed for the defeat. In April, after his resignation, Wrangel became the new commander-in-chief. “Russian Army” - this is the name given to the white forces that continued the fight against the Bolsheviks.
Livejournal Wrangel is looking not only for a military solution to problems, but also a political one. A provisional republican government was created in Crimea to unite the people who were disillusioned with the Bolsheviks. Wrangel's political program included theses about land, which should belong to the people and provide job guarantees for the population.
At that time, the white movement no longer received the support of the British, but Wrangel independently reorganized the army, numbering about 25 thousand soldiers. He hoped that the war between the Council of People's Commissars and Pilsudski's Poland would distract the Red forces, and he would be able to strengthen his positions in Crimea, after which he would launch a counter-offensive.
Peter Wrangel at the head of the White movement | Livejournal The Red attack on April 13 on the Perekop Isthmus was easily repulsed. Wrangel went on the attack, reached Melitopol and captured the lands adjacent to the peninsula from the north. In July, a new Bolshevik offensive was repelled, but already in September, after the end of the war with Poland, the Communists sent reinforcements to Crimea.
Defeat and evacuation
The number of troops of the Red Army was 100 thousand infantry units and 33 thousand 600 cavalry units. The Bolshevik forces were four times greater than the White forces. We had to retreat across the Perekop Isthmus. The Reds' first attempt to break through was stopped, but Wrangel realized that the offensive would resume. It was decided to prepare for evacuation.
Venagid For seven months, General Wrangel was at the head of Crimea, the last stronghold of Russian land free from the Bolsheviks. On November 7, 1920, troops under the command of Frunze broke into Crimea. The civilian population was evacuated under the cover of the defense of Perekop. While the enemy pressure was held back by the troops of General Kutepov, Wrangel was evacuating the population. Boarding of 126 ships was organized in five Black Sea ports.
Image Over the course of three days, 146 thousand people were evacuated, including 70 thousand soldiers. The French battleship Waldeck-Rousseau was sent to help refugees heading to Turkey, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania. Pyotr Nikolaevich ended up in Istanbul, then he settled in Belgrade. He led the white emigrant movement; in 1924 he resigned his leadership, handing it over to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich.
Personal life
In August 1907, Wrangel married Olga Mikhailovna Ivanenko, the daughter of a chamberlain and maid of honor of the empress’s court. His wife accompanies him at the front, working as a nurse. By 1914 he already had three children, and a fourth was born later. The children of Pyotr Nikolaevich and Olga Mikhailovna are Elena, Natalya, Peter and Alexey. The wife survived her husband by 40 years and died in 1968 in New York.
Pyotr Wrangel and Olga Ivanenko | Edikst Death
Pyotr Nikolaevich died on April 25, 1928 in Brussels from infection with tuberculosis. The family believed that he was poisoned by a secret agent of the GPU. On October 6, 1929, his body was reburied in Belgrade in the Church of the Holy Trinity. He left behind photographs, notes, memoirs and memoirs, quotes from which can be found in the works of modern historians and biographers.
On August 15 (August 27, new style), 1878, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was born - a military and political figure, one of the leaders of the White movement in southern Russia.
Until now, when the name Wrangel is mentioned, only the unforgettable words of the song by S. Pokras and P. Gorinshtein, which for a long time was known as the “March of the Red Army”, come to mind:
For several generations of Soviet people, the information about Baron P.N. was quite enough. Wrangel, which was contained in the simple words of revolutionary agitation.
The main points of Wrangel’s activities and his biography were actively studied by historians only in the “post-Soviet” period. However, there is still no consensus among researchers either about the military genius of the last commander-in-chief of the AFSR, or about the legitimacy of his “confrontation” with Denikin at one of the most turning points of the Civil War. For the ordinary person P.N. Wrangel is still known only as a thin cavalryman in a Caucasian Circassian coat, the legendary “black baron” who appeared on the political arena at the very end of the fratricidal war.
During the years of Soviet power, the real fate of the last commander-in-chief of the White armies was of interest only to the “competent authorities” and the foreign intelligence service. The latter slept and saw how to get rid of this odious figure. Even abroad, in the position of a powerless outcast, the “black baron” seemed to pose a potential threat.
How real was this threat? What really were the plans of the defeated general? The motives for his behavior? Why in April 1920, a talented cavalryman and one of the famous military leaders of the White forces, Baron P.N. Wrangel, took on the role of “scapegoat”? Why did you allow yourself to be crowned with the crown of thorns by the leader of the vanquished? How did you manage to get out of this situation with honor? Let's try to figure it out...
P.N. Wrangel was born in Novoaleksandrovsk, Kovno province. Father N.E. Wrangel is a scion of an ancient Swedish baronial family; landowner and large entrepreneur. Mother - Maria Dmitrievna Dementieva-Maikova, lived throughout the civil war in Petrograd under her last name. Only at the end of October 1920 did her friends arrange her escape to Finland.
In his youth P.N. Wrangel did not at all aspire to be a military man. He graduated from the Rostov Real School and the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg. Having received a diploma as a mining engineer, according to some sources, Pyotr Nikolaevich worked in his specialty in Irkutsk until 1902; according to others, in 1901 he volunteered in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, was promoted to officer (cornet of the guard) and enlisted in the guards cavalry reserve. From 1902 to 1904, he served as an official for special assignments under the Irkutsk Governor-General.
The future general decided to change his fate after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. With the outbreak of war, Wrangel volunteered for the front. From a cornet in the 2nd Verkhneudinsk Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army, he rose to the rank of captain of the Separate Scout Division and decided to remain in military service.
Lacking a basic military education, Wrangel entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. However, upon graduation from the academy, he refuses staff work. In 1910, the officer returned to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment and took command of the squadron.
In August 1907, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel married his maid of honor, daughter of the Chamberlain of the Supreme Court, Olga Mikhailovna Ivanenko. Subsequently, she bore him four children: Elena (1909), Peter (1911), Natalya (1914) and Alexei (1922).
At the very beginning of the First World War, being a captain of the guard, P.N. Wrangel distinguished himself in the battle near Kaushen (East Prussia). The captain talentedly and bravely carried out a cavalry attack, during which an enemy battery was captured. He was one of the first to be awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and 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 received the rank of guard colonel.
In February 1915, Colonel Wrangel showed heroism during the Prasnysz operation (Poland) and was awarded the St. George's Arms. From October 1915, he commanded the 1st Nerchinsk Regiment of the Ussuri Cossack Division. In December 1916, a cavalry brigade was already under his command. In January 1917, Wrangel was promoted to major general for his military services.
The newly minted general met the February Revolution and the abdication of Nicholas II with hostility. In the brigade entrusted to him, Wrangel fiercely, sometimes risking his life, fought against the omnipotence of the soldiers' committees, and advocated for the preservation of military discipline and the combat effectiveness of the Russian troops. For some time his struggle was crowned with success. In July 1917, Wrangel became commander of the Consolidated Cavalry Corps, which managed to maintain combat effectiveness and unity of command. During the Tarnopol breakthrough of German troops, Wrangel's corps covered the retreat of the Russian infantry to the Zbruch River. For personal courage, Wrangel was awarded the Soldier's Cross of St. George, 4th degree, by the Provisional Government. In September 1917 A.F. Kerensky tried to appoint a brave general as commander of the Minsk Military District. In a climate of anarchy and complete collapse in the army, Wrangel refused the appointment and pointedly resigned.
After the October Revolution, the general left Petrograd for Crimea. In February 1918, he was arrested in Yalta by Black Sea sailors and barely escaped execution. After the Germans arrived in Crimea, Wrangel went into hiding for a long time. Then he moved to Kyiv, where he rejected the offer of Hetman of Ukraine P.P. Skoropadsky to head the headquarters of the future Ukrainian army.
Only in August 1918 did the general end up in Yekaterinodar and join the Volunteer Army. Wrangel did not show himself in any way in the first, most difficult days of the formation of the white movement. He did not take part in the Kuban campaigns and did not have the authority of a “pioneer” general. Apart from his personal fighting qualities and previous exploits, he had nothing to take credit for. Having been appointed to the post of commander of a cavalry division, Wrangel successfully fought against the Bolsheviks in the Kuban. He quickly managed to win over the command of the volunteer forces, and already in November 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant general. January 8, 1919 A.I. Denikin, who headed the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, handed over to him the post of commander of the Volunteer Army.
By the end of January 1919, Wrangel's troops ousted the Bolsheviks from the North Caucasus. On May 22, he became commander of the Caucasian Army. In the summer of 1919, Wrangel objected to Denikin’s strategic plan to capture Moscow, which called for the division of White forces into three strike groups. At that time, he himself led the offensive in the Saratovo-Tsaritsyn direction. Tsaritsyn was taken on June 30, Kamyshin was taken on July 28. However, during the Red counteroffensive in August-September 1919, the troops of Wrangel’s Caucasian Army were thrown back to Tsaritsyn.
By mid-November 1919, differences between Denikin and Wrangel placed the latter at the center of political opposition to the command of the AFSR. The opposition existed in the right circles of the white movement since the end of 1918. She was not satisfied with both Denikin’s strategic mistakes and miscalculations, and the liberal democratic declarations, which were extremely inconsistently implemented by the commander-in-chief’s entourage. In fact, the Wrangel-Denikin confrontation in 1919 had not so much strategic as political roots. It was a conflict between convinced right-wing monarchists and moderate liberals, a conflict between the noble and guards elite and army servants of very “democratic” origin.
During the dizzying successes of the All-Soviet Union of Socialist Republics, in the summer of 1919, the opposition fell silent for a while, but when a tragic turning point in the course of the entire Civil War emerged in the fall, conservative monarchists led by Wrangel began to seek the removal of Denikin, accusing him of an erroneous strategy and inability to prevent the collapse of the army and rear. .
According to one of the first biographers A.I. Denikin, historian D. Lekhovich, “...Wrangel had a beautiful appearance and social splendor as an officer of one of the best cavalry regiments of the old imperial guard. He was impetuous, nervous, impatient, domineering, harsh, and at the same time had the qualities of a practical realist, extremely flexible in matters of politics.”
Outwardly unattractive, taciturn, Denikin never possessed Wrangel’s charisma and ability to arouse the sympathy of the masses. The commander-in-chief of the AFSR himself did not have a very high opinion of the leadership abilities of the general vying for his place. He considered Wrangel a talented cavalryman and nothing more. Wrangel failed to hold Tsaritsyn, but regularly bombarded Headquarters with letters and reports, which in form were more reminiscent of political pamphlets and were intended to undermine the authority of the commander-in-chief.
When on December 11, 1919, at the Yasinovataya station, Wrangel arbitrarily gathered, without Denikin’s knowledge, the commanders of the white armies in the south, the commander-in-chief did not have the slightest doubt about the impending conspiracy. The character of Anton Ivanovich and his human qualities did not allow him to immediately punish the “conspirators” with his power. On January 3, 1920, Wrangel was removed from all his posts and calmly left for Constantinople.
After the defeat of the Whites in the North Caucasus and the tragedy of the evacuation of the army from the ports of Odessa and Novorossiysk (March 1920), the demoralized, depressed Denikin decided to resign as commander in chief. On March 21, a military council was convened in Sevastopol under the chairmanship of General Dragomirov. According to the memoirs of P.S. Makhrov, the first to name Wrangel at the council was the chief of the fleet staff, captain 1st rank Ryabinin. The rest of the meeting participants supported him. On March 22, the new commander-in-chief arrived in Sevastopol on the English battleship Emperor of India and took command.
Why Wrangel himself needed this still remains a mystery. In the spring of 1920, the White Cause was already lost. Perhaps the exorbitant ambition and adventurism of the new commander-in-chief played a role, but, more likely, General Wrangel took on an unattractive role only because he did not want to deprive desperate people of their last hope.
The “revanchist” plans of the new command found a lively response in the army.
In the spring of 1920, the Reds were unable to immediately take the Perekop fortifications. The Whites managed to retain Crimea.
In the territory under his control, Wrangel tried to establish a regime of military dictatorship. Using cruel measures, he strengthened discipline in the army, prohibited robberies and violence against civilians. It was in the Crimea that Pyotr Nikolaevich received his nickname “the black baron” - based on the color of his unchanging black Circassian coat, in which he usually appeared in the army and in public.
In an effort to expand the social base of its power, Wrangel's government issued laws on land reform (the purchase by peasants of part of the landowners' lands), on peasant self-government and on state protection of workers from entrepreneurs. Wrangel promised to give the peoples of Russia the right to self-determination within the framework of a free federation, tried to create a broad anti-Bolshevik bloc with the Menshevik government of Georgia, Ukrainian nationalists, and the Insurgent Army of N.I. Makhno. In foreign policy he focused on France.
Taking advantage of Poland's attack on Soviet Russia, in June 1920 Wrangel's troops launched an attack on Northern Tavria. However, they were unable to capture Kuban, Donbass and Right Bank Ukraine. The hope for an uprising of the Don and Kuban Cossacks did not materialize. N.I. Makhno entered into an alliance with the Bolsheviks. The cessation of hostilities on the Polish Front made it possible for the Red Army to launch a counteroffensive. At the end of October - beginning of November 1920, Wrangel's troops were driven out of Northern Tavria. On November 7–12, the Reds took advantage of unusual weather conditions for the area. Ice began to form on the non-freezing Lake Sivash in November, and Frunze’s troops broke through the White defenses at Perekop.
To Wrangel’s credit, it should be noted that when evacuating troops from Sevastopol, he took into account all the mistakes of Denikin’s command in Novorossiysk and Odessa. 75 thousand soldiers of the Russian army and more than 60 thousand civilian refugees were taken to Turkey without any problems. The tragedy of Odessa and Novorossiysk did not repeat itself. Many of those who considered Wrangel an adventurer and an overbearing “upstart” changed their opinion about him.
After arriving in Constantinople, Wrangel and his family lived on the yacht Lucullus. On October 15, 1921, near the Galata embankment, the yacht was rammed by the Italian steamer Adria, coming from the Soviet Batum. The yacht sank instantly. Wrangel and his family members were not on board at that moment. Most of the crew members managed to escape. Only the watch chief, midshipman Sapunov, who refused to leave the yacht, the ship's cook and one sailor died. The strange circumstances of the death of the Lucullus aroused suspicion among many contemporaries of a deliberate ramming of the yacht, which is confirmed by modern researchers of the Soviet special services. The Red Army Intelligence Service agent Olga Golubovskaya, known in the Russian emigration of the early 1920s as the poetess Elena Ferrari, took part in the Luculla ram. The Wrangel family moved to Yugoslavia. In exile, the commander-in-chief tried to preserve the organizational structure and combat effectiveness of the Russian army. In March 1921, he formed the Russian Council (Russian government in exile). But the lack of financial resources and the lack of political support from Western countries led to the collapse of the Russian army and the cessation of the activities of the Russian Committee. In 1924, in an effort to maintain control over numerous officer organizations, Wrangel created the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS). This was an organization of an army that had switched to “self-sufficiency,” whose officers were supposed to take arms at the first opportunity for political revenge.
How realistic and far-reaching the plans of Wrangel’s organizations in exile were can be judged from the documents and correspondence of the heads of the central departments of the EMRO preserved in the Prague Archive (RZIA). It is unlikely that white emigrant “activism” in the 20s posed any danger to the Soviet country. In the absence of funds, in conditions of persecution by European governments, even the most active leaders of the White movement were forced to deal, first of all, with survival. Wrangel himself was no exception.
To the best of his ability, he provided material assistance to needy emigrant officers, warned them against participating in adventurist actions against Soviet Russia, and wrote memoirs. In 1926 he moved to Belgium, where he worked as an engineer in one of the Brussels companies. However, the interest of the Soviet intelligence services in the “black baron” still did not weaken.
On April 25, 1928, Wrangel died suddenly in Brussels under very mysterious circumstances. Among the causes of his death was a sudden infection with tuberculosis. It was a very popular disease among the Russian emigration, which took quite a long time to develop. However, according to contemporaries, two weeks before his death, Wrangel was absolutely healthy. According to the version of Pyotr Nikolaevich's relatives, he was poisoned by the brother of his servant, who was a Bolshevik agent. In October 1928, the remains of the last commander-in-chief were reburied in the Church of the Holy Trinity (Belgrade).
Petr Nikolaevich Wrangel
Having become the head of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, Lieutenant General Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was fully aware of the difficult, almost hopeless situation of the White Army, transported from Novorossiysk to Crimea.
Wrangel said that in the absence of allied help there is no way to count on a successful continuation of the struggle, and the only thing he can promise is not to bow the banner to the enemy and to do everything to withdraw the army and navy with honor from the current situation. To do this, he set himself the goal: “To create, at least on a piece of Russian land, such order and such living conditions that would attract all the thoughts and strength of the people groaning under the red yoke.”
The implementation of this goal came up against the desperate economic situation of Crimea, which is poor in natural resources. Whites vitally needed access to the rich southern districts of Northern Tavria. Meanwhile, the Reds fortified these territories in order to more firmly close the exit from the Crimean Peninsula.
Wrangel. The path of the Russian general. Movie one
The troops of General Wrangel, renamed at this time Russian army, already represented a serious force of 40 thousand people with the material part put in order. The troops had time to rest and recover from the heavy defeat. At least temporarily it was possible to be calm about the fate of Crimea.