NOVOROSSIYSKAYA STREET From 1833 to 1917, the city border passed here, and the New Border Road ran along the border, since 1849 - Border Street, which started from the junction of Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Prospekt and Vyborgskoye Highway (Engels Prospect), ran along the territory

Kuban-Novorossiysk operation 1920

FACTS: ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER THE REAL COST OF BEEF IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

FACTS: ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER THE REAL VALUE OF BEEF IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER Livestock and meat production are a major threat to the environment. They are the main cause of deforestation, soil erosion and desertification, water scarcity and

The collapse of the "white" movement in the South and the evacuation of Novorossiysk. part 63

(Continued. Previous chapter:)

It is important to note that almost until the very end of 1919, many “whites” in the South of Russia still believed in their imminent victory and, in the hope of future bullies, looted, actively engaged in real estate trading, speculation and even buying up land!
Here is what Lieutenant S. Mamontov recalls about this:
“One of the trains derailed and blocked the tracks.
- There, across the river, there are a lot of trains, and everything, everything is thrown into them.
I went to Colonel Shapilovsky.
- Well then. Take two wagons and some soldiers and go see if you can find something useful for the battery.
Ensigns Astafiev and Forberg joined me. Already on the way we met several Cossacks.
One of them held under his arm a large bundle of uncut "kerenok" - sheets of 800 and 1600 rubles - and distributed these sheets to those he met. I refused the list, but Astafiev, Forberg and the soldiers grabbed them.
All our expectations were exceeded. The compositions stood one to one and ad infinitum. All filled with different goods. I even got confused. What to take?
Cossacks and private individuals were already darting between the carriages.
First they loaded the linen into the wagons. But then there was a wagon with artillery harness. Part of the linen was thrown off and the harness was loaded. Suddenly they found new artillery clamps. They scratched behind the ear, threw out the rest of the linen and loaded the collars. There was no more room in the wagons. But suddenly they found saddles, and even new ones. Meeting. Saddles must be taken in any case. We throw out part of the harness and load the saddles. It seemed that you will not find the best, you can return ...
The wagons with the soldiers remained, and Astafyev and I walked along the wagons. One contains some boxes. I tore off the board and gasped. The boxes contained blue cloth robes and black ones. And every cavalryman dreamed of blue pants, but it was impossible to get blue cloth. I quickly covered the torn board so that the wandering Cossacks would not see it, and whispered to Astafyev:
- Run, bring carts, and most importantly - people.
He ran.

But the Cossacks, attracted by some predatory scent, rushed into the car. I had to lie down on the boxes to protect them from being plundered. Luckily, our soldiers showed up and we literally tore out a few crates. With pain in their hearts, they threw out several saddles and loaded boxes.
It was getting dark and we were pretty tired. Let's go home. Despite the darkness, they collected the entire battery and fairly distributed the booty among all the officers and soldiers, with the obligatory condition to sew blue pants for everyone right there in Kupyansk, and not send the booty to the Kuban, as is customary among the Cossacks ...

Astafiev found a lot of money in the compositions, and Forberg a bag with diamonds. Contrary to custom, they did not share, but kept. But Astafyev lost everything at cards, and Forberg bought plots in Sochi, and then shot himself.
The next day, with many wagons and soldiers, they went to pick up what they had thrown away and look for something else. But this turned out to be naivete on our part. Crowds of robbers snooped around, and only the most uninteresting remained in the trains, that no one took.

I think that, of course, it was hardly possible to “find” a bag with diamonds in an abandoned train, but on the sly “borrow” it from one of the local refugees or passengers - easily.

But, in any case, the very fact that the resourceful ensign Forberg, who “found” the diamonds, bought land plots in Sochi with them, and even in the fall of 1919, speaks volumes.
Then he apparently realized what a fool he was and shot himself.

General N.N. acted much smarter and more far-sighted. Yudenich.
On May 31, 1917, General N.N. Yudenich was dismissed from his post as commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Front by the military and naval minister of "democratic" Russia A.F. Kerensky.
One of his biographers tells what happened next:
“Together with his wife, Nikolai Nikolaevich moved from Tiflis to Petrograd, where he settled on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, in the temporarily empty apartment of his good friend Vice Admiral A.A. Khomenko.
When the general came to the bank to withdraw a small amount from his account, the manager recognized the Erzurum hero and advised him to take all the funds in cash, as well as urgently sell the house in Tiflis and land in Kislovodsk. The general followed the unexpected advice of an outsider and soon became convinced that he was right: the Yudenich family lived on the proceeds for several more years.
(Vyacheslav Bondarenko. "Heroes of the First World War." Moscow, Young Guard. 2013)
(However, we will talk about N.N. Yudenich's commercial talents later, but for now let's return to the main topic of this chapter).

About what happened in the autumn of 1919 in Novorossiysk, G.Ya. William:
“The main street in Novorossiysk is Serebryakovskaya. Approximately in the middle of this best, but nevertheless rather awkward and unattractive street, there was a lively coffee house called "Makhno's cafe." Here was the headquarters of the speculators, the so-called "black horde".
The horde was really black: in spirit and color.... Stylish brunettes: Constantinople Greeks, who swooped into the south engulfed in civil war, like crows on carrion, Jews - prevailed; although, of course, there was no shortage of representatives of the Slavic race ... "

Note that, according to G.Ya. William among the speculators of the "white" Novorossiysk "Jews prevailed."
To be honest, it surprised me quite a bit. I assumed that, given the high level of anti-Semitism among the white officers and the active use of anti-Jewish propaganda by Denikin's OSVAG, the role of Jewish businessmen in the "white" rear was not so conspicuous.
However, there is no reason not to trust this testimony of G.Ya. William (who was by no means an anti-Semite).
Let's continue his story:

“In the “Makhno cafe” prices were set for currency, for goods, values, and it replaced the stock exchange to such an extent that banks reckoned with it; and in local newspapers, in the reference department, quotes were printed under the general heading "cafe" (!!!).
Just as in the old days, it was printed: “stock exchange”.
In a vast, dirty hall, with a large stove in the middle, with stunted palm trees as the only decoration, there were many shabby tables, bare, littered with crumbs, drenched in coffee. The coffee shop was poorly lit. The electricity often did not burn, and then, by the light of the stearin cinders stuck in the bottles, she got the ominous appearance of a cave with feasting robbers. Greedy, restless, sparkling glances, sharp movements of southerners, rags and chic costumes - all this further increased the illusion. A blue veil of tobacco smoke and kitchen fumes always waved in the air, and always, especially in bad weather, there was such a crowd and crush, there were such queues around the tables, waiting for the last piece to be swallowed, that it was unpleasant to be with Makhno idle.

Tables were served by chic waiters, often glittering with jewels that they got from God knows where and at what cost. Working at "Makhno" without a salary, it seems, even paying for lunch and tea, these young ladies earned fabulous money.
The heroes of the home front, who fought at the tables from morning to night - and, by the way, inflicting much more damage on the volunteers than the Bolsheviks - were generous. The city was on a diet; for many, simple bread and a piece of bacon were considered a luxury; ordering with aplomb a portion of sausages with cabbage worth big money, the horde “kept style” and, wanting to show off the breadth of nature, threw large Don credit cards “for tea” to the “young ladies”. Grave hyenas, vultures of various sizes felt here, at Makhno, the minions of happiness and showed it without hesitation.
"Yurko and Panika" - the common name of speculators - determined the exchange rate of Russian and foreign currencies, bought up gold and jewelry, bought up all sugar, all available bread, textiles, bills of sale for houses and estates, shares of railways and joint-stock companies. Here it was possible to purchase a permit for import and export, a reserved seat to Rostov, a ticket for a cabin on a steamer, a separate carriage and a whole train specially designed for military cargo to the front. Here they traded medicines and consignments of equipment, in the fruitless expectation of which the volunteers froze near Orel and Kharkov in whole divisions.
In warm, fine weather, the "black horde" poured out of the cafe on Serebryakovskaya. Almost opposite, in a large gloomy four-story building, was the commandant's office. During the daytime, another crowd gathered on the sidewalk opposite the control: sunburnt, badly dressed, armed to the teeth officers who came on business and on a visit from the front. These destitute, exhausted marching and fighting life; Exhausted by longing for hungry wives and children, people with undisguised sharp hatred glanced at the other side of the street, where predatory, well-fed figures were rushing around like mad. Occasionally a casual remark was heard:
- Eh, I would put on both sides of Serebryakovskaya on the battery, and buckshot! ..
Or:
- In checkers to them, marauders! ..
From this, of course, one should not conclude that among the "black horde" there were no people with officer and general shoulder straps, with metal wreaths on the St. George ribbon for the famous "ice" campaign; people with golden weapons and on crutches.
Everyone was speculating in Novorossiysk: telephone ladies and engineers, charitable ladies and port workers, high school students and policemen, priests and “trading bodies”. The old men and children, the invalids on crutches and the seven-pound moneybags speculated; The last beggar and the first rich man.
Even representatives of the highest civil and military administration speculated. One day the secretary of a senior volunteer dignitary, a venerable general with Vladimir around his neck, came to our office.
“I have the most exciting news,” he said, sitting down at the table. - Only, please - not for publication! .. Today, on behalf of the general, I drew up a draft order for the eviction from the city of all persons who are not in the state or in the public service, who arrived after such and such a date. His Excellency made a significant amendment to the project - one can directly say that he created a new object for speculation! ..
The general sighed and hopelessly drooped his beautiful graying head.
- My project had in mind Exclusively speculators: after all, there is nothing to breathe from them! And what do you think? The general allowed the residence of servants of persons in the service. Judge for yourselves, what will be the sale and purchase of all sorts of cooks, lackeys and other positions now ?! And without this bacchanalia is complete.
The general was right: everything that was done against speculation turned fatally in its favor. I don't know if the places in the cemetery were speculated; but tickets to the number baths were speculated, and very profitable.

During the day, crowds of foreign sailors and soldiers roamed the city. They bartered for pounds and francs, buying Teke and Persian carpets, spread by Armenians for sale right on the pavement. They sold shoes, underwear, canned milk and jerseys, fabrics and biscuits, greedily buying up gold things from hands and in stores. The officers who received bread from the commissariat sent their batmen to the line near the bakeries, themselves, with revolvers in their hands, demanded that they sell bread without a queue, seize it all, in a herd, and sell it through the same merchants at exorbitant prices.
They speculated with warrants for the requisition of houses and apartments, they speculated with rooms. Newsboy boys, among whom there were many children of intelligent parents, earned hundreds of rubles a day from newspaper speculation, and this money was immediately drunk away and lost at cards and toss.

Such a “feast during the plague” took place in the rear of the White Army in the South of Russia, literally on the eve of its collapse.
And this collapse was not far off.
A series of "evacuations" of large cities began, traditionally accompanied by panic, looting and confusion. "Mutual bitterness, enmity, betrayal reigned."
That's what G.Ya. William recalled this:

“The evacuation of Taganrog captured me in Yekaterinodar. Panic and confusion began there. Government quarters seized the city's main street, Krasnaya. Entire stores were thrown out.
At this very time the head of the garrison issued an order forbidding requisitions. And the institutions themselves did not know where they were going, where they would stay. Dual power was already beginning to operate after the forced reconciliation with the Kuban government. Yes, in fact, not dual power, but anarchy, military terror and bureaucratic anarchy. The townsfolk froze in fear, burning with hatred for the volunteers. They saw this and, clutching their weapons in despair, trembled.
Mutual bitterness, enmity, betrayal reigned. The results of arbitrariness and predation had an effect. Railway authorities sold trains to government agencies.
The machinists carried only for money and alcohol, or with revolvers put to their temples. Endless lines of pedestrians and carriages, cars and riders stretched along the impassable dirt of the roads - to the "Big Water", to Novorossiysk.
At st. Yekaterinodar, I met Denikin, the general on duty at the headquarters. He had just got out of the car in which the headquarters arrived - with ladies, with children, with dogs.
I asked where he was going. The duty general replied:
- I don't know myself
It became clear to me that it was all over.”

Well, since the general on duty at Denikin's headquarters himself did not really know where he was going, what can we say about other, less informed military leaders, or ordinary inhabitants.
By the way, now for some reason it is believed that Denikin was a kind of “good grandfather” and in his armies in the Civil year there was almost democracy, and law and order reigned in the rear.
(In this, he is often contrasted with the “dictator” Kolchak, who generally “didn’t get along” with the “red bastard” and those who did not support his “white” army enough).

And here is what G.Ya. William:

“When I returned, General Korvin-Krukovsky was raging in Novorossiysk, endowed with unlimited powers by General Denikin, soundly drunk, foul-mouthed, he was terrible. The units retreating to Novorossiysk were detained by frightened officers near the village of Krymskaya and lived on robberies. Thank God that Korvin-Krukovsky had a sober adjutant, a humane and intelligent person, and that the dictator who had not slept was soon guessed to be removed.
Something unimaginable was going on near Bolshaya Vody. The streets of Novorossiysk were crowded with officers with rifles, revolvers, and hand grenades. Their confusion and fear, however, were such that if there hadn’t been a handful of English troops and an English battleship behind the pier in the city, some dozen thugs “would have seized power without resistance. And this is despite the fact that guard officers' companies with songs walked through the streets at night ...

No one knew where the front was. The rumors were the most incredible.
They were waiting for the landing of 50,000 Serbian troops and complained about the French, who allegedly did not let them in. They were waiting for the Greens to take the city. In the event of a catastrophe, the officers decided to seize the ships that were in the port by force of arms and kill all the civilians who wanted to escape with them. It was dangerous to go outside; an order was issued to mobilize all men under 54 to dig trenches, and the police used it in their own way. People were seized and forced to pay off. The head of the guard, the same one who captured the office of the military governor in the very office, and only the head of the office saved him, grabbed his hand and dragged him into his office, where he sat out.

I was interested in the figure of the aforementioned "relentlessly drunk" General Korvin-Krukovsky.
It would seem, why did good grandfather Denikin give such an eternally drunk and swearing "commander" the key post of military commander of Novorossiysk ?! Maybe by mistake, Anton Ivanovich simply did not know the "moral and business qualities" of this commander ?!
As it turns out, he knew, and perfectly well. True, in his multi-volume memoirs, he did not pedal their acquaintance too much.

As it turns out, Alexei Vladimirovich Korvin-Krukovsky (1872-1943) was commissioned to the rank of colonel back in February 1915. From 1915 he commanded the 6th Finnish Regiment. In July 1917, he "became famous" as the commander of a punitive detachment that suppressed the protests of soldiers in Tsaritsyn against their sending to the front.
In the Volunteer Army Korvin-Krukovsky from December (!) 1917.
From that moment until November 1918, he held the most important position of commandant of the headquarters of the Volunteer Army.
Interestingly, he was awarded the rank of Major General in January (!!!) 1918. (It would be interesting to know by whom? Most likely, Kolnilov, or Alekseev personally. There was no other legal authority at the head of the emerging "white" movement at that time).
So A.I. Denikin, of course, knew Major General A.V. Korvin-Krukovsky from the very beginning of the "white" movement and appreciated his "talents".
At the beginning of 1919, Korvin-Krukovsky ingloriously commanded the Crimean Infantry Division, in this post he even managed to announce mobilization in the Crimea, which was then canceled by the Crimean regional government.
Then (from May to December 1919) General Korvin-Krukovsky was "in the reserve of ranks."
From this quiet swamp, he was nominated for the post of military commandant of Novorossiysk, which he held from December 1919 to April 1920.
(After the completion of the evacuation of Novorossiysk, he was a general on duty at the headquarters of the Russian army of Wrangel, (from April to November 1920), then in exile, he lived in Belgrade).
To put it bluntly, it didn’t matter with the “cadres” in Denikin’s army, if such “perpetually drunk” generals were appointed to key positions.
There is nothing surprising in the fact that the evacuation of Novorossiysk became, under the leadership of such leaders, one of the most shameful disasters of Denikin's army - no.

Let's see how these events were described by their direct participant, lieutenant S. Mamontov:
"Novorossiysk...
At one name I shudder. A huge bay, a cement plant, mountains without any vegetation and a strong north-east wind. Everything is grey, the color of cement.
In this port of the Black Sea, our retreat from Orel ended through the entire south of European Russia. It had long been known that our troops could only evacuate from this port in the Caucasus to move to the Crimea, which was still holding out. The rest of Russia was lost to us.
They knew it... and yet the vast hangars were filled with unexported goods. Nothing was prepared for evacuation.
A dozen steamboats, already stuffed to overflowing with private property, logistics, and refugees. The infirmaries are overflowing with the wounded and sick, without any hope of leaving.
Treason? No I do not think so. General Denikin was a good general, but apparently a bad organizer. He did not cope with the evacuation. On paper reports, everything was probably fine.
Exhausted, tired and morally undermined, the army dragged itself with such difficulty to Novorossiysk in order to see overflowing ships and wharfs clogged with people. How many of us came? Nobody knew for sure. Maybe a hundred thousand, maybe twenty.
The Russian units are better preserved than the Cossacks. Most of the Cossacks lost their units, discipline and fighting efficiency. Therefore, our division was placed on the front on the hills around the city.

Hangars were set on fire in the evening. We watched this great fire from the mountain. A pillar of fire, a mile in diameter, rose straight up to the sky. At the level of the peaks of the mountains, the smoke caught by the northeast broke at a right angle and went into the sea. The sight is amazing, but creepy. The hangars burned for several days.
At first we had confidence in the organization of the evacuation. Then there were doubts and soon the conviction that no one was in charge of the evacuation.

During these few days that we were in Novorossiysk, the ships could easily make two voyages and, having unloaded the refugees in Kerch, return for us. No, for some reason they all stood motionless, overloaded with people. Why? We decided to go and see for ourselves…
The vast piers were literally crammed with wagons, horses and people. Getting to the steamers was unthinkable. Nobody ordered. The steamboats, as far as one could see from afar, were packed with people back to back. We were very worried.
Driving past burning hangars behind a concrete wall, I decided to see what was there ...
There were wagon trains. One of the first wagons had English uniforms. At this time gunshots were heard.
We marauders were in a panic. I grabbed a pack of English trousers and climbed back. There was a push on the wall and I almost released my prey.
It turned out that the largest English ship, the "Emperor of India", fired from the bay in the direction of Tonnelnaya, 18 miles away. Fired the largest guns, probably sixteen inches. The breaks were barely audible. We immediately took off our old and lousy pants and put on new ones. The rest I distributed to the people of my tools.
I went to Shapilovsky, where I found Kolzakov and other colonels. I told what we saw in the port.
- The ships are full, there is no more room. Nobody is in charge. If we want to board transports, we must rely only on ourselves and we must act immediately. If we wait for orders, we risk staying with the Reds.
My words clearly disturbed the colonels, which I was pleased with. Now they will do something rather than sit back and wait for someone to pick them up and put them on the boat.
We ate canned “corned beef”, which someone got the same way I got my pants. They washed it down with wonderful wine taken in Abrau-Dyurso. The commissariat prepared nothing for our parish. It abandoned everything and fled to the ships. It was with such parasites that the transports were filled. And we, the army, have no place!
Finally, in the morning, on the third day, the division went to the port. The road went past the infirmary.
Wounded officers on crutches begged us to take them with us, not to leave them red. We passed in silence, looking down and turning away. We were very ashamed, but we ourselves were not sure whether we could get on the steamers.
So much time has passed and the wounded officers have not been evacuated! An unforgivable sin…”

Some points of this story by Lieutenant Mamontov need to be commented on.
- note that it was clear to everyone that the evacuation of the defeated remnants of the "white" troops of the South of Russia to the Crimea could be made from the only major port that remained in the hands of Denikin: Novorossiysk. But for the ORGANIZATION of this very evacuation, NOTHING was really done.
(As it turned out, commanding a punitive detachment, or wiping your pants in the "reserve of ranks" was much more difficult than organizing the evacuation).
But the “whites” then had the most favorable conditions for it: they had absolute dominance on the Black Sea, having many dozens of combat and transport ships, which were supported by the Entente warships, which were in charge there, as if at home.

The most powerful English dreadnought "Emperor of India" mentioned by Lieutenant Mamontov, after all, not only at the request of the "white" command fired at the positions of the "red" troops from its 16 dm guns, but also transported units and leadership of the "white" army, generally acted in its interests .
(For example, it was on it that the British brought to the Crimea, in 1920, Baron Wrangel.
On another English dreadnought "Marlboro", back in April 1919, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (the Younger) went into emigration forever.
Warships of the English, French, Goic and Romanian fleets participated in the evacuation of the White troops from Odessa in January 1920 (we will talk about this shameful deed in the next chapter).

At the same time, there was no particular military pressure from the “red” troops on the receding remnants of the “white” units.
The main role was played by demoralization and "loss of heart" and discipline among the bulk of the "white" troops.
Here is what A.I. himself wrote about this. Denikin in his memoirs:

“In terms of the tonnage and the morale of the troops, their simultaneous, systematic evacuation through the port of Novorossiysk was unthinkable: there was no hope for the possibility of loading all the people, not to mention the artillery, wagon train, horses and supplies that were to be abandoned. Therefore, in order to preserve the combat effectiveness of the troops, their organization and materiel, I also planned another route - through Taman.

Even in the directive of March 4, when retreating across the Kuban River, the Volunteer Corps was entrusted, in addition to defending its lower reaches, to cover part of the forces of the Taman Peninsula near Temryuk. The reconnaissance of the route between Anapa and the Tamanskaya station gave quite favorable results; the peninsula, enclosed by water barriers, provided great convenience for defense; the whole way there was under the cover of ship artillery, the width of the Kerch Strait is very small, and the transport flotilla of the Kerch port is quite powerful and could be easily reinforced. I ordered the vehicles to be rushed to Kerch...
On March 7, I gave my last directive in the Caucasian theater: the Kuban army, which had already abandoned the line of the Belaya River, to hold on to the Kurga River; The Don Army and the Volunteer Corps to defend the line of the Kuban River from the mouth of the Kurga to the Akhtanizovsky Estuary; The Volunteer Corps now part of the forces, bypassing in a roundabout way, take the Taman Peninsula and cover the northern road from Temryuk from the Reds.

None of the armies followed the directive...

The Bolsheviks, with negligible forces, easily crossed the Kuban and, encountering almost no resistance, reached its left bank near Yekaterinodar, cutting the front of the Don army.
The corps of General Starikov, detached from it to the east, went to join the Kuban. Two other Don corps, almost without stopping, moved in discordant crowds in the direction of Novorossiysk.
Many Cossacks abandoned their weapons or whole regiments went over to the “greens”; everything got mixed up, mixed up, all communication between the headquarters and the troops was lost, and the train of the commander of the Don Army, already powerless to control the troops, daily in danger of being captured, slowly made its way to the west through a sea of ​​people, horses and wagons.

I emphasize once again that THIS assessment of the state of the “white” troops and the complete loss of control over them is given not by some “Jewish propagandist of Trotsky”, but by General A.I. Denikin, personally.

In general, nothing but their own carelessness prevented the “whites” from taking into account the lessons of the shameful and catastrophic evacuation of Odessa (in January 1920) and preparing in advance for the planned and organized evacuation of their troops from Novorossiysk;
- The distance by sea from Novorossiysk to the ports of Crimea is quite small. With a competent organization of the evacuation, each ship could make several trips back and forth, and not hang around for a long time (it is not known why) in the roadstead of Novorossiysk.
- The first on the ships (both during the evacuation of Odessa and Novorossiysk) were the quartermasters, headquarters and authorities, who, as a result, safely sailed away from there, leaving their troops and even WOUNDED officers to their fate. Nothing more shameful for the reputation of these "nobles" and it is impossible to think of;

General A.I. Denikin, in his memoirs, was also forced to admit the unimaginable chaos and shame that occurred during the evacuation of Novorossiysk:
“Novorossiysk of those days, largely already unloaded from the refugee element, was a military camp and a rear nativity scene. Its streets were literally crowded with young and healthy deserter warriors. They went on a rampage, organized rallies reminiscent of the first months of the revolution, with the same elementary understanding of events, with the same demagogy and hysteria. Only the composition of the protesters was different: instead of "comrade soldiers" there were officers. Under the guise of lofty motives, they set about organizing "military societies", the hidden purpose of which was to seize, if necessary, ships ...
On the morning of March 12, General Sidorin came to me. He was depressed and looked at the position of his army completely hopeless. Everything fell apart, everything flowed wherever they looked, no one wanted to fight anymore, obviously they would not go to the Crimea. The Don commander was mainly preoccupied with the fate of the Don officers, lost in the agitated mass of Cossacks. They were in mortal danger if they surrendered to the Bolsheviks. Sidorin determined their number at 5 thousand. I assured him that all the officers who could get to Novorossiysk would be put on ships.

But as the wave of the Don people rolled up to Novorossiysk, the situation became more and more clear, and moreover, in a sense unexpected for Sidorin: the hesitation gradually dissipated, and the entire Don army rushed to the ships. For what - it is unlikely that they were then aware of a clear account. Under the pressure of demands addressed to him from all sides, General Sidorin changed his tactics and, in turn, turned to the Headquarters with a demand for ships for all units in sizes that were clearly unfeasible, just as the planned evacuation of troops unwilling to fight, led by commanders who ceased to obey, is generally impossible.

Meanwhile, Novorossiysk, overcrowded beyond all measure, had become literally impassable, flooded with human waves, hummed like a devastated beehive. There was a struggle for a "place on the ship" - a struggle for salvation ... Many human dramas played out on the haystones of the city in these terrible days.
A lot of bestial feeling poured out in the face of impending danger, when naked passions drowned out conscience and man became a fierce enemy.

The decay and loss of combat effectiveness of the Cossack units were so obvious that they were not even put on guard around Novorossiysk.

No attempt was made to organize the defense of Novorossiysk (with the huge mass of troops accumulated there, if they had at least some combat capability, it would not be difficult to try to do this) was also made. Few people wanted to fight the "Reds" and die at the same time.
Over all, one desire pressed as soon as possible to sail to the Crimea, or to escape to Georgia;

Emigrant historian P.A. Varnek in his article "Off the coast of the Caucasus in 1920" noted that one of the reasons for the lack of "white" steamers to evacuate the army from Novorossiysk was the fact that in this (war) time they carried out commercial flights (!!!) plans and tasks of the allies from the Entente:

“It should be noted that at this time most of the large steamships and some of the transports, partly on the charter of the French and English governments, were beyond the straits and could not be returned in a short time.
The transports and steamships that were in the Crimea were sent to Novorossiysk, as well as four steamships mobilized from the naval base in Constantinople. Steamboats had to be supplied with coal and other materials, some of them should be freed from cargo, which was an obstacle to their quick arrival in Novorossiysk. Despite all the measures taken, the amount of concentrated tonnage did not allow immediately taking the entire mass of people who should have been evacuated, but at the suggestion of the naval command, the evacuation was to last several days, which would allow transports, due to the short distance to the port of unloading Feodosia (transition 12–15 hours), make two or more trips.
But it didn't really happen...
No measures were taken to create a temporary port defense around Novorossiysk, and in fact the rearguards retreated, dealing only with the Red cavalry.

During the loading, which took place in an atmosphere of panic and confusion, there were heartbreaking scenes.
One of them, most likely, was taken as the basis for the well-known footage of the loading of the battery of Lieutenant Brusentsov during the flight from the Crimea, filmed in the movie “Two Comrades Were Serving”.
See what Lieutenant S. Mamontov recalled about his evacuation from Novorossiysk:

“We waited at the pier near the steamer all day. Evening has come.
- I can't take anyone else. There is no place, - the captain shouted into the mouthpiece.
I have sixty artillerymen here,” Sapegin answered. - You will take them all, even if there is no place.
- Impossible. The ship will capsize. You see.
"You will take us all," Sapegin repeated very decisively. - And if there is no place, then I will create it.
He removed his carbine from behind his back. Now we all put down our saddles and, with carbines in our hands, grouped ourselves around Sapegin, who was standing on a pile of sacks. There was silence all around. The shutters were latched. The unfortunate cadet huddled in the gangway. What could he do?
- I'll give you three minutes to think. Then I will shoot, - Sapegin said very calmly, but firmly.
We would shoot. It was a matter of life and death. In addition, all sorts of rear men, egoists and cowards were crammed on the ship, because of which we lost the war. And this bastard wanted to leave, and leave us, the army! So no! Of course, if there were troops or wounded, they would not shoot, but these rear rats did not arouse any regret in us.
A painful moment of silence passed.
... Okay ... Let's take gunners, but without saddles and luggage.
In a good hour ... And look without betrayal. I will follow.
Gunners, throw your saddles into the sea... No hesitation. I order you... But keep the carbines - you may need them.
One by one we boarded the barge and then onto the steamer. Finally it was my turn. On the board I got to the barge, so full of people that I had to walk on the shoulders to get on the steamer. There they picked me up like a package and passed me to each other. The thought flashed: would they throw me into the sea? But no. I was lowered onto the deck at the opposite railing.
I grabbed it and could put one foot on the deck. There was no other place. Behind my shoulders was a carbine and on my shoulder were saddlebags, which I removed from the saddle. At that moment I was selfishly happy: saved!!! Or almost ... Of course, it is terrible that so many people cannot leave and end up with the Bolsheviks. The catastrophe of the white movement is irreparable. The loss of the battery, the Fool and my roots is a great misfortune ... But I am on a steamer, and this is the main thing ... I leaned on the railing and, squeezed by my neighbors, fell asleep soundly, standing on one leg.

Isn't it true that the scene is very reminiscent of the one that was filmed by the creators of the famous film?!
Only in real life everything was much more tragic, shameful and mediocre:

“A strong navy of the Western powers was in the bay. Several very large English ships, one French, one Italian and even one American. It seemed to us that under the protection of such a mighty fleet, nothing unpleasant could happen to us. This fleet, after all, has such powerful artillery, and in case of need it could freely take ten thousand people and even more ...
He took five or eight hundred men to keep up visibility and not make his light gray decks too dirty.
I slept soundly and without dreams all night. In the morning I was awakened by gunshots. Two red three-inch guns, apparently a platoon of a horse battery, were bombarding the bay. Of course, their attention was attracted by the largest dreadnought, to which their shells could not cause any harm. They were attracted by the light coloring and elegant forms of the "Emperor of India".
This was our luck, because for simple transports their shells would have been fatal. But we were dark, plain, and they did not pay attention to us.
The shells, falling into the water, raised high columns of water, as in old paintings. I watched this spectacle with interest, surprised as an artilleryman that they did not get into the ships. They must be terribly worried.
This shooting caused a short panic among the crowded people on our ship Ayu-Dag. But the commanding voice of the captain reassured her.
- I will order to throw overboard all who are worried. Stay still so that the boat does not capsize.
The deck was loaded beyond measure, and the hold was not enough.
Several shells fell in the vicinity of the Emperor of India and, to our amazement, the huge dreadnought smoked and took off running, dragging the entire navy with it.

We, of course, found specialists: - Wait, they are only moving away to open fire that will topple the mountains.
But the fleet simply and shamefully ran in front of two red three-inchers. Two years later, the same fleet also fled before the Turkish guns of Kemal Pasha.
This unexpected flight sowed panic among the transports. Everyone raised anchor. Two empty transports have just entered the bay. They also began to roll. A cry of desperation rose from the crowd on the wharfs. Like a living river, the crowd rushed along the bank in the direction of Tuapse. But already at the southern tip of the bay, a red machine gun began to chirp. The road to Tuapse was cut off. Rowing boats floated along the bay. Some daredevils tried to swim to the steamers.
Our ship "Ayu-Dag" ran like the others. He was towing a barge. The cable broke, and despite the screams of the people on the barge, he continued to flee.
I think it would be better for us if the international military fleet did not come to Novorossiysk at all. We relied too much on his protection, and his unexpected flight sowed panic among the steamers. The role of this mighty fleet remained a mystery to me. Why did he fire the day before without any apparent need at Tonnelnaya, and why did he not fire today when it was necessary? I can't believe the fleet was scared of two 3-inchers. Then why was he in Novorossiysk?
To run away at the first shot and destroy the legend of “the power of the West” among the Russian Reds and Whites, and among the Turks, and among many others, who used to believe in him?
A good salvo from this fleet could revive our hope, make the Bolsheviks think, and even change the course of history. But, passionately awaited by us, this volley did not follow.
Only one small black destroyer did not start to run. It was the only Russian warship. He went to the middle of the bay and silenced the red guns with his machine guns. Then he went south and fired on a red machine gun that blocked the road in Tuapse. He returned to the bay, stopped the empty fleeing steamers. He forced one empty to take some of the people from the overloaded steamer, sent the other to Tuapse. The captains followed his orders because he was very determined.
- Take the barge in tow, otherwise I'll torpedo you.
In a word, the captain of the destroyer brought some order to the general mess. I think he was the only one who didn't lose his head. Other bosses - and after all, they should have been decent - did not show themselves in any way.
We were very lucky - the sea was calm and none of the overloaded ships capsized.
Subsequently, the high command was accused of taking Russian units and refusing to take the Cossacks. This is not entirely fair. I do not think that there was an evil intention, but simply an inability. No one was in charge of the landing. Parts sat down on their own. Those parts that retained discipline could sink in because they represented strength. The Cossacks, in most cases, lost their formations, discipline and rallied. They clearly expressed hostility to the high command, and it is quite understandable that the command did not want to bring the infection into the Crimea.
Now this is indignantly denied by the Cossacks, but then it was just so.
In addition, not all Cossacks rallied, and there were quite a few Cossack units who moved to the Crimea ...
That is, I want to say that the non-protesting Cossacks were willingly taken, but they did not want to take the protesters and did the right thing.
There were quite a few line Kuban Cossacks in our battery, and they all moved to the Crimea and remained in the battery to the end.

Novorossiysk was a disaster for the white movement. We have lost a huge, fertile and densely populated territory, all the material and probably two-thirds of our army. How many officers left in the infirmaries shot themselves? How many were shot and how many drowned in the bay? In Novorossiysk, the results of a two-year glorious struggle perished.

The allied fleet was present at the same time as a spectator. Our army has never experienced such a catastrophe in battles with the Reds. And so, this catastrophe was caused to her by her own general staff. General Denikin had to relinquish command; General Wrangel took over.
We headed to the Crimea to continue the struggle with more experience and lesser illusions. This happened in late March or early April 1920.”

And here is how the emigrant historian P.A. described the evacuation of Novorossiysk in his article. Warneck:
“In fact, in view of the fact that the only road leading from the Kuban was clogged with convoys, artillery and countless carts of refugees, and along the railway for several kilometers from the station there were abandoned trains with quartermaster loads, armored trains and passenger cars, the departure of the units occurred very late . The connection between the troops and the command was broken and was only more or less carried out by mounted orderlies.
Most of the soldiers from the mobilized and former prisoners, not wanting to be evacuated, threw down their weapons and fled, but many others, afraid of being late for the ships, left their units and hurried to the port ...

On March 25, intensive loading began, but the combat units arrived only the next day. From each part, a guard was installed in advance at the base of the pier, which allowed only those that belonged to it to the transport assigned to it. But on the oil pier, at which the minesweeper No. 412, intended for the evacuation of teams of armored trains, stood guard, armed French sailors carried guards, and English soldiers checked the documents of British transports.
A dense crowd stood at the piers and tried in every possible way to break through to the steamers, and only the threat of the use of weapons could keep them. On the gangways of some steamers there was an incredible crush and fights, during which people fell into the water; in the struggle for a place, distraught people pushed the stretcher with the seriously wounded and the sister who tried to protect him ...

A few kilometers from the port, an ambulance train (probably more than one) got stuck, the personnel of which, leaving the seriously wounded, fled. The only exceptions were the two voluntarily remaining sisters.

Shocked by the defeat and the futility of all the bloody sacrifices and two years of effort and deprivation, some of the officers openly accused General A.I. Denikin and his staff of the ongoing tragedy.
One officer detachment came to the pier, at which the "Tsesarevich George" was moored; by this time, General A.I. Denikin and his staff had already switched to a cruiser.
The head of the arriving detachment said that he wanted to see the commander in chief. Fearing evil, the commander of the "George" Captain 2nd Rank M.V. Dombrovsky advised General A.I. Denikin to go from the other side to the destroyer "Captain Sakei", which he did, taking with him only a few people of his headquarters. "Captain Saken" immediately withdrew and anchored in the distance. It can be considered that from that moment the high command disintegrated, and any leadership of the evacuation ceased to exist.

In total, several dozen Entente warships arrived at the Novorossiysk port. The British fleet was represented by the dreadnought "Emperor of India", the cruiser "Calypso", the seaplane carrier "Pegasus" and five destroyers. France sent two armored cruisers, a gunboat and two destroyers. Americans - cruiser "Galveston" and two destroyers. The Italians - the cruiser "Etis", the Greeks - the destroyer "Iepaz".
They sometimes fired at the positions of the "red" troops, but could do little on the land front, where there was a complete disaster.

On the morning of March 27, 1920, everything was over in Novorossiysk.
P.A. Warnek described it this way:
“The port was empty, but on its eastern side, near the cement pier and in the area of ​​​​the eastern pier, there was a crowd of many thousands, mainly Cossacks, but also other military men, as well as refugees with women and children and their carts loaded with all sorts of belongings. There was a whole camp of Kalmyks, among which were camels. The entire port area was crowded with abandoned carts, cars, cannons and tanks, and there were thousands of abandoned horses, which, having got used to caring for them by people, for the most part remained in place. Making their way with difficulty through all this "porridge", most of the hussars reached the eastern pier a kilometer long and, in the hope that more steamers would come, made their way to its end. For the most part, the crowd on the shore was passively waiting for their fate, many women were crying, but it should be noted that there were also thousands of soldiers from the mobilized and former prisoners who had no desire to evacuate.
But there were cases when some desperate officers, preferring death to captivity, shot themselves. The more energetic ones searched the port for boats and abandoned small boats, and on them, sometimes without oars, rowing only with boards and hands, they went beyond the entrance beacons, where they were picked up by destroyers.
In the area of ​​the station and in the northern part of the port, the warehouses of the English base and the army were on fire, and there was a robbery of the abandoned property ...

By 15 o'clock, the red units completed the occupation of the entire port and city.
Having made the necessary regrouping of the evacuees, in particular, freeing the Russian destroyers from passengers and giving them oil from the Emperor of India, in the afternoon the English squadron, the French cruiser Waldeck Rousseau and other ships headed for the Crimean coast. After 14 hours, on the initiative of Captain 1st Rank Lebedev, Restless went to Tuapse in order to find out if any troops had broken through there. Probably, the cruiser Jules Michelet and the destroyer Algerien, who were destined to carry out the last act of the Novorossiysk evacuation, remained in the Novorossiysk Bay to repair the car at Ansen Roux.

The remaining scattered parts of the Whites (mainly Cossacks), who remained in the Tuapse-Sochi region during March-April 1920, made attempts to either evacuate to the Crimea or break into Georgia. Some people succeeded, some didn't. The main reason for the failures was also the loss of combat capability and controllability in these parts. The bulk of the Cossacks then concentrated in the Sochi region.
Even Ataman Shkuro personally tried to "inspire" them to further fight against the "Reds", but without much success.

Here is what P.A. wrote about this last act of the Novorossiysk tragedy. Warnek in his article "Off the coast of the Caucasus in 1920":
“The position of the Cossacks in the small territory remaining at their disposal continued to deteriorate. In this truly paradise garden, which is the Black Sea coast in spring, when all the trees are in bloom, there was always a lack of food, and the Cossacks only found food with difficulty and starved. In view of this, by order of the Constantinople naval base, the passenger steamer "St. Nikolai, having loaded 50 tons of flour, was sent to Sochi on April 24. There he took on board 1100 sick and 400 other passengers and delivered them to Yalta. Seeing the futility of his persuasion, General Shkuro with his convoy left Yalta on an English destroyer.
But the end was fast approaching. Having pressed the Cossacks, on April 29, the red units occupied Sochi, and the Kuban, hoping to be allowed into Georgia, withdrew to the neutral zone; pursuing them, on May 2, the Reds reached the border. At the neutral zone, opposite the Veseliy farm, the English battleship Iron Duke, the destroyer, the Beshtau steamer that came from the Crimea, and the irreplaceable Typhoon with its bolinder were anchored.
On the Iron Duke was General Shkuro, who once again tried to influence the Cossacks. As a result, up to three thousand Cossacks were loaded on the Beshtau and the bolinder taken in tow, among them a military school and many officers. The ship could not accommodate more, and by the evening of May 3, all the ships went to sea.
Ataman N.A. Bukretov, through the mediation of General N.A. Morozov, entered into negotiations with the local red command and concluded with him, subject to non-repression of those who surrendered, a surrender agreement, but this condition was subsequently not recognized by the highest authorities.
Deceived by their leaders, the Cossacks wanted to lynch them, but N. A. Bukretov, Ivanis and Timchenko fled to Georgia. A certain number of Cossacks nevertheless decided not to give up and scattered in the surrounding mountains.
During this time, a not entirely clear incident occurred in Novorossiysk. On April 21, the Italian cruiser Etna entered the port, the commander of which stated that he had arrived in order to begin negotiations on the resumption of political relations between Italy and the RSFSR. The commander did not have documents confirming this diplomatic mission, and the Soviet authorities came to the conclusion that the Etna had come for the purpose of reconnaissance in favor of the whites, and decided to detain the cruiser. But on April 28, in the evening, the Etna weighed anchor and headed out to sea. A field battery and an armored train opened fire on the cruiser, illuminating it with a searchlight; "Etna" began to respond from her guns and went to sea without damage ...

On May 3, the naval command was reorganized in Sevastopol.
General P.N. Wrangel, finding the activities of Vice Admiral A.M. Gerasimov’s lack of energy and, in particular, the fact that he allowed his chief of staff, Captain 2nd Rank Ryabinin, to speak openly to officers about the hopelessness of the situation in Crimea and the need to end the Civil War (!!!), dismissed the admiral from his post and appointed Vice Admiral M P. Sablina as commander of the fleet and at the same time head of the Naval Administration. The post of chief commander of ports and ships, which was previously held by Admiral M.P. Sablin, was abolished.

The next chapter will deal with the evacuation of Odessa in January 1920.

In the photo: the White Guard armored train "To Moscow" abandoned by the "whites" near Novorossiysk.

Thousands of officers, soldiers, Cossacks of the White Army and civilians were destroyed. In total, they managed to take out about 33 thousand people.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 2

Three SECRETS OF NOVOROSSIYSK!!! Funnel. Fortress. Abrau Durso.

The death of the battleship Novorossiysk 1 series

Subtitles

Chronology of events

By March 11, 1920, the front line was only 40-50 kilometers from Novorossiysk. The Don and Kuban armies, by that time completely disorganized, retreated in great disorder. The defense was held only by the remnants of the Volunteer Army, by that time reduced to the Volunteer Corps, but they could hardly hold back the onslaught of the Red Army. The Cossacks failed to break through to Taman, and as a result, many of them ended up in Novorossiysk with the sole purpose of getting on the ships. In total, the grouping of the Armed Forces in the South of Russia in the Novorossiysk region on the eve of the evacuation was 25,200 bayonets and 26,700 cavalry. Meanwhile, there were not enough ships. Some of them were late due to stormy weather, some were unable to come to the rescue in time due to the quarantine established in foreign ports (all ships arriving from Russia with another batch of refugees were kept in quarantine for a long time due to a terrible typhoid epidemic, therefore they did not have time to make the required number of flights).

The command ordered the priority loading of the wounded and sick military personnel, but in fact it was not possible to transport the infirmaries, since there was no transport. Moreover, the military flocking to Novorossiysk began to arbitrarily occupy the ships, and the officials were more concerned about the export of property that could be sold at the end of the war.

On the night of March 26, in Novorossiysk, warehouses, oil tanks were burned and shells were blown up. The evacuation was carried out under the cover of the second battalion of the Royal Scottish Fusiliers (Royal Scots Fusiliers) and the Allied squadron under the command of Admiral Seymour, which shelled the mountains, preventing the Reds from approaching the city.

Officials involved in the evacuation

• The last commandant of Novorossiysk (from February to March 1920) was Major General Korvin-Krukovsky, Alexey Vladimirovich.
• The commission for organizing the evacuation was headed by General Kutepov.
• At the last moment (after March 20), the head of the communications service, Major General M. M. Ermakov, dealt with the evacuation of troops to the Crimea.
• The head of the Black Sea province and the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the South Russian government was N. S. Karinsky.

Vessels involved in the evacuation

Russia

Italy

Great Britain

• battleship "Emperor of India" (Emperor of India)
• "Hannover" (Hannover) (was captured from the Germans after the First World War).
• merchant steamer Bremerhaven (captured from the Germans after World War I).
• cruiser "Calypso" (HMS Calypso (D61))
• air transport "Pegasus" (HMS Pegasus  (1917))
• 5 destroyers

France

• dreadnought
• armored cruiser Waldeck Russo
• destroyer???
• gunboat???

Greece

• destroyer Ierax

USA

• destroyer???
• cruiser Galveston (USS Galveston (CL-19))

Dealing with prisoners

Covering the evacuation of the Volunteer Corps, the 3rd Kalmyk Don Regiment, consisting of the Salsk Kalmyk Cossacks, was left on the shore and, together with their families, following in the regiment's wagon train, was captured by the Reds. Captured Kalmyks were "passed" through the ranks, chopping every second with checkers. Many of the officers of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia who remained in Novorossiysk committed suicide, not wanting to be captured, and many of those who nevertheless were captured were executed. Here are typical memories of those events:

The moment of our captivity by the Bolsheviks defies description; some immediately preferred to end their lives. I remember the captain of the Drozdovsky regiment, who was standing not far from me with his wife and two children of three and five years old. Having crossed and kissed them, he shoots each of them in the ear, baptizes his wife, bids her farewell in tears; and now, shot, she falls, and the last bullet in herself ....

The road went past the infirmary. The wounded officers, on crutches, begged us to take them with us, not to leave them red. We passed in silence, looking down and turning away. We were very ashamed, but we ourselves were not sure whether we could get on the steamers.

While the all-great wandered around the Kuban villages, in Novorossiysk the “one-in-divisibles” made a safe nest for themselves.

In February, trains came here continuously. Everything that had to do with the great and indivisible was hastily evacuated to the very last stage.

The sea was blue here. Dozens of ships, Russian and foreign, in the event of a penalty in the Kuban, could instantly accommodate five to ten thousand patented patriots and take them away to distant lands and distant seas from the Bolsheviks.

Many migrated here directly from Rostov. Others - after a short stop in Ekaterinodar.

"Evening Time" by Boris Suvorin was right there and did not stop saving Russia.

"Smoking room is alive!" wrote the democratic "Morning of the South" in Yekaterinodar, dedicating an epigram to the resilient Russian:

Careless and fervent, Unaware of worries, Again Boris Suvorin publishes a newspaper.

Living in Novorossiysk, Saves Russia with a cry. Like the Capitoline Restless Goose of old.

Again he blazes with anger, And in a fighting pose Again he threatens the left of His front line.

Have mercy: should he grieve and grieve: He can also publish a newspaper in Istanbul.

Yes, I do not lose hope of publishing “Evening Time” in Constantinople as well, and I will not have anything against the cooperation of the author of this epigram with me, ”answered the inoffensive Suvorin son.

Around Novorossiysk, the power of Dobrovoliya has already fallen. Gangs of greens circled around the city, like hungry winter packs of wolves around a human dwelling.

On the night of February 21, all the prisoners, including four hundred people, left the prison for the mountains. The officer company ran on alarm and arrived at the prison, but found it empty.

If it weren't for the British, the greens would have been in charge of the city for a long time.

Only British dreadnoughts and a detachment of Scottish riflemen guarded the last point of Denikin's state in the Caucasus.

“In Novorossiysk, the last center of monarchism,” wrote Free Kuban back in January.

It would be more correct to say:

In Novorossiysk, as in a huge cesspool, all the filth of the white camp has gathered.

Legal deserters, charity acrobats, unemployed administrators, politicians and other rear punks "formed" "crusading units" to cash in on a profitable business and to justify their eternal stay in good cities at a good distance from the front.

“In order to strengthen our heroic army,” Vechernoe Vremya reported on January 10, “the formation of crusader detachments began in Novorossiysk. One of the leaders of this organization, Major General Maksimov, reports that six months ago a group of social and political figures founded the brotherhood of St. John the Warrior in Odessa, which initially staged an ideological struggle against the Bolsheviks. However, life soon suggested that ideological struggle alone, that is, agitation, was not enough, and that it was necessary to fight the Bolsheviks with weapons (!). A project arose to organize a detachment of crusaders, inspired not only by political, but also by religious ideals. The commander-in-chief agreed, the recording gave tangible results. The Crusaders are already a real force, which is growing stronger and stronger every day. In the near future, the crusaders will be reduced to a large combat unit and then go to the front with weapons in their hands and with a cross in their hearts. Our distinctive sign is an eight-pointed cross on the chest. The mood of the crusaders is complete selflessness and readiness to give everything for the sake of the motherland. In the consciousness of the feat ahead of them, the crusaders decided to impose a three-day fast on themselves, confess and partake of St. secrets. The first official appearance of the crusaders in the ranks of the troops is expected on January 12, when they will take part in the solemn procession on the occasion of the stay in Novorossiysk of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Kursk.

In the oath of the "crusaders" were significant words:

“I undertake not to appropriate anything with impunity from the spoils of war and to keep the weak in spirit from violence and robbery.”

Prince Pavel Dolgoruky also "formed".

“In Novorossiysk,” Vechernoe Vremya wrote on February 29, “a society has opened for the formation of combat detachments to send them to the front to replenish parts of the Volunteer Army. The task is to call on all Russian people who are capable of bearing weapons, in a terrible hour for Russia, not to shy away from duty and join the detachments. Membership fee - 100 rubles. Both men and women can be members. Chairman of the Board Prince. Pavel Dolgoruky. Comrades of the Chairman: Gen. Obruchev and Professor Makletsov. Board members N.F. Ezersky, P. P. Bogaevsky, V. I. Snegirev.

Boris Suvorin himself also made an attempt on the philistine's pocket; busy collecting donations for the "army", which fled, throwing their last trousers, and refusing to defend against the green carts with their own good.

But the fools in Novorossiysk have bred.

“No one donated anything,” the businessman complained sadly, “but in Yekaterinodar, a certain swindler who extorted money from merchants by means of a false circular, in which a threat was placed that, in case of non-payment of the required amount, the perpetrators would be brought to court-martial, managed collect about a million rubles.

Suvorin vainly referred to Ekaterinodar and the past.

Such "donations" were collected with great success right there in Novorossiysk by all sorts of "crusaders", ranks of combat detachments and other rescuers of the fatherland, who demonstrated their combat readiness in church processions.

“Yesterday afternoon,” the same Vechernoe Vremya wrote on March 10, “on Serebryakovskaya Street, several persons in officer uniforms approached groups of speculators and asked if they had currency. After an affirmative answer, persons in officer uniforms demanded to show the currency, and then ... calmly put it in their pocket, saying: "We will show you, such and such, how to speculate." Currency speculation, of course, cannot be called a worthy occupation, but robbery in broad daylight can hardly be called that name.

Denikin, without a twinge of conscience, called Novorossiysk a "rear den."

The Reds were already approaching the city, but the Suvorins did not lose heart. The great and indivisible one who fed them, it turns out, has not yet died. K. Ostrozhsky on March 10 firmly stated:

“Pessimists, whose number is increasing every day, are whispering at all crossroads: “You see! You see, the results are good.” But that's not a problem. The idea of ​​struggle is still not dead. As long as at least one person remains in Russia who does not want to submit to the dictatorship of the proletariat, the idea of ​​fighting violence has not died. It's too early to draw final results. The army is now passing its most difficult way of the cross. But a bright, joyful resurrection awaits her.”

Behind the complete impossibility of flattering themselves with victories over the Bolsheviks, the rear den boasted of successes in the war with the greens. The headquarters of the commander-in-chief, who moved here, on March 9 reported with the most serious look:

“Our detachment, continuing the offensive from Kabardinka (twenty miles from Novorossiysk) to Gelendzhik (thirty-five miles from the same city), fought all day with the greens, who occupied the heights, and by evening occupied Maryina Roscha. Captured prisoners. Continuing the offensive, our units knocked down the greens from the heights and drove them into the mountains.

The Greens, whom the Socialist-Revolutionaries so desired to make their army, could still be beaten by Denikin's men.

Finally, in Novorossiysk, the air began to clear.

As soon as the Reds bypassed Krymskaya, all sorts of “crusaders”, “formers”, generals from speculation, headquarters and chief hooligans, priests, robbers, ladies-patronesses, ladies-prostitutes poured onto the steamers prepared for them, dragging mountains of property acquired under the banner of Denikin. When the frantic stream of fugitives reached Novorossiysk, the city was already empty. Everything that had to do with Dobrovoliya either had already sailed to the shores of the Crimea and Constantinople, or was sitting on steamboats, admiring the tragedy, the first act of which took place on the morning of March 13th.

General Kelchevsky, Chief of Staff of the Don Army, who is also the Minister of War in the South Russian government, flew to Novorossiysk on an airplane to fuss about steamships for the Don people. Politics has already been forgotten. The Don wave rolled uncontrollably towards Novorossiysk. No force - neither Sidorin, nor the ataman, nor all three hundred members of the Circle - could turn her off the beaten path and direct her to the Sochi highway, bypassing Novorossiysk. Denikin promised...

When the great came to Novorossiysk, he was given ... one steamer!

Do not forget the morning of March 13 in life. Tens of thousands of people, horse and foot, blocked the port embankment, attacking the piers, near which the remnants of the great and indivisible were loaded. But the Don people everywhere saw in front of them volunteer machine guns or bayonets of Scottish shooters.

And more and more thousands came out of the mountains. People quickly jumped off the carts, threw all their possessions and rushed one by one to the piers.

In insane horror, others threw themselves into the water. The stubborn were thrown from the piers. Kornilovites drowned the Don colonel:

Selfish bastard! Get to the guard.

The All-Great, with the roar of the English cannons, frightening the Greens, rushed from side to side. They were looking for an ataman.

But he dug in at a cement plant, far from the city. Junkers of the Ataman School guarded his person from expressions of love by his subjects. The British secured a place for him on the steamer Baron Beck. Despair seized the crowds of red-lamps.

So what kind of bastards are we following? Where are they, leaders? What cracks did they crawl into?

It was the day of judgment. Great, terrible judgment. The Don Cossacks received retribution for that faith, for the blindness with which they fought “until victory”, following the call of ambitious generals and politicians who dug in behind the lines.

Denikin and Romanovsky did not trust the "democratically organized Cossacks" and were afraid to take them with them. The politicians of the All-Great have been breaking down for too long whether to lead their "people" to the general's Crimea or to "brotherly" Menshevik Georgia.

Satanel and General Kutepov. In the Kuban, he, the head of the "colored troops", had to obey the Don commander! He couldn't forget this.

Sitting on the steamers, Dobrovoliya enjoyed her terrible revenge. She settled accounts with the leaders and politicians of the Don Cossacks. The lower classes paid for the sins and mistakes of these latter.

Part of the Don people rushed on a disastrous campaign along the Sochi highway, along the seashore. A small number of them managed to submerge. Head of the British Mission, Gen. Holman, took pity on the great, allowing them to be taken to the English warships.

Where is this rubbish? Out! he shouted, noticing that sacks of banknotes were being dragged onto the ship.

About 100,000 people were taken prisoner by the Reds in Novorossiysk itself and 22,000 in Kabardinka. A huge percentage of the local captives were Donets.

I left miraculously.

I was wiped out by the crowd near the pier of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade. Several times I flew into the sea, twice I was knocked down. Finally, having somehow reached the stone wall that bounds the embankment, I climbed on top of it and got out to the English warehouses.

There was no crowd. It was run by individuals. Who dragged a pile of overcoats or jackets. Who immediately changed clothes, throwing horrendous rags onto the asphalt floor and pulling out any shirt, any trousers from the bales.

A good uncle, the king of England, brought here a lot of rubbish left over from the world war in exchange for Kuban bread.

The English are already gone from here.

Having got out to the station, I trudged into the city, crossing hundreds of sidings and crawling under empty cars, near which heaps of all kinds of property were lying.

I walked parallel to the embankment, behind the crowd. Thousands of abandoned horses, languishing with thirst, roamed right there. Rushing from side to side, they crushed piles of all household rubbish left on the ground. Their hooves often trampled bowls and plates, priestly vestments and various religious objects. Saving skins, mad people left everything to the mercy of fate.

A dull indifference to my future fate had long since taken possession of me. Previous hardships, a series of sleepless nights, chronic hunger, complete physical exhaustion devalued life, and, like a hand, removed the feeling of fear of captivity.

Staggering from fatigue, I passed Serebryakovka and turned right along Velyaminovskaya Street. Having got out of the city, I found a separate house in which my old friend, the postal official N-s, lived, and, as soon as I entered the apartment, I thumped on the bed and fell into oblivion under the crackle of the English cannons.

Get up and run immediately.

A candle is dimly lit in the room. There is silence on the street.

What time is it now?

Eleven o'clock at night. Don't hesitate.

I look at my friend in amazement and cannot recognize his face. It is cold, cruel and unforgiving.

Get up and leave quickly.

The Bolsheviks enter the city. Go away, for God's sake.

But where?

Wherever you want, only from my apartment. They will find you here, and I will not do well.

Is it possible to be offended by the philistine cowardice of people who are not involved in civil strife? Everyone cherishes his own life, his own little well-being.

A sigh of relief escapes my friend as I rise from the couch.

Have a nice trip... I'm sorry I'm so...

But I'm already at the door. On the street. Alone in the darkness of the night.

One - as if outcast from all mankind.

Damp... Disgusting... The watery mist was cut only by the glow of a huge fire in the port. It was the warehouses of English good that they did not have time to load.

Stop! Who goes? - an energetic shout is heard almost above the ear.

This is an outpost of the Markovites. They guard the entrance to the city. I named myself. Missed.

A quarter later, another outpost. Here are the same Markovites, but they speak more rudely.

Back! We can't miss. No Pedestrians.

Luckily for me, an armored car made its way past the outpost along the street, heading towards the city piers near the pier. I darted to the side and slipped through.

The embankment is crowded with people. I don't dare to approach. Drive, I think they will. And suddenly they sang the Don "national" anthem in an undertone.

I was in a hurry.

What's the part here?

Markovsky regiment.

What are the Donets in the Markov regiment?

We've only been Markovites since noon. "Nibilized". They picked us up on the streets. They say: you must be taken into our hands, then you will become soldiers. We have a whole platoon of the Don, in the 2nd company.

Where is your ship?

Here near the pier. Steamboat "Margarita". The regiment has already boarded. The first battalion in the outpost. In two hours, the posts will be removed and with God on the road.

How would I, villagers, with you?

We'll be happy. After all, his colonel will be at hand. It's easier with yours. And then there is another brother.

The Cossacks told me where to find the regiment commander, Captain Marchenko. He was a lanky, very haughty young man.

I announce to you that from now on you are a soldier of the 1st Markov officer regiment. We need people.

Welcome to the line, ”he said to me and shouted to a handsome, intelligent officer who was standing nearby:

Captain Nizhevsky! You have mobilized Doners, I have now mobilized a commander for them.

Having listened to these speeches with great amazement, I started to hint about my inability to fit into the ranks and about my main profession, but Captain Marchenko promptly put me down:

Now there is no one to judge. Now we have to fight. Fight until victory.

And ordered to supply me with a rifle and cartridges.

That's good! - the Cossacks rejoiced when they learned that I had been “nibilized”. - Why do they, the bad ones, think that we will stay to serve them? God would give to get to some volosts, and there in no time we will evacuate from the white hats. Al can't? Are we the merry army of the Don?

In the company of good-natured "kozun" I kept the rest of the night on the street. They got me a mug, and a spoon, and an English bag, picking up this stuff somewhere nearby, right from the ground. And when, before dawn, the outposts were removed, I went up the gangplank with them to the deck of the Margarita and fit in the stern, from which two dozen machine guns looked at the city.

Same newspaper, no. 488, art. "Results" Ostrozhsky.

Gene. Keyes, Holman's assistant, announced in advance that the English ship's artillery would not allow anyone to interfere with the boarding of the ships of the army of Gen. Denikin.

All Don Cossacks wear red stripes on their trousers and trousers.

The further fate of the South Russian counter-revolutionary armies is described in the books of the same author: “Under the banner of Wrangel”, 1925, Leningrad, publishing house “Priboy”, and “In the country of little brothers”, 1923, Moscow, publishing house "Moscow Worker".