In what proportions did the officers of the Russian Imperial Army share between the Whites and the Reds in the Civil. The quintessence of research is given in the book by V. Kozhinov “Russia. Century of the XX ”(former: an author with a pronounced monarchist orientation, in a sense, an anti-Soviet):

“Who knew how to collect information V.V. Shulgin wrote - and, as it is now found out, rightly - back in 1929: " Almost half of the officers of the General Staff remained with the Bolsheviks. And how many ordinary officers there were, no one knows, but a lot ", M.V. Nazarov refers to an article by an emigrant, General A.K. Baiov (by the way, his brother Lieutenant General K.K. Baiov served in the Red Army!), published in 1932 in the Parisian newspaper "Sentry", and a treatise by the excellent military historian A.G. Kavtaradze, published in 1988 in Moscow. But M.B. Nazarov takes on faith exactly the figure of A.K. Baiov, who was unable to calculate the number of officers in the Red Army. Meanwhile, A.G. According to documents, Kavtaradze established the number of generals and officers of the General Staff who served in the Red Army (the vast majority of them appear in his book even by name), and it turned out that not 20, but 33 percent of their total number ended up in the Red Army.

If we talk about the officer corps in general, in general, then they served in the Red Army, according to A.G. Kavtaradze, 70,000-75,000 people, that is, approximately 30 percent of its total composition (a smaller proportion than among the General Staff officers, which had its own significant reason). However, even this figure - 30 percent - is, in essence, disorienting. For, as A.G. Kavtaradze, another 30 percent of the officers in 1917 found themselves out of any army service at all (op. cit., p. 117). And this means that not 30, but about 43 percent of the officers available by 1918 served in the Red Army, while 57 percent (about 100,000 people) served in the White Army.

But what is particularly striking is the fact that "the most valuable and trained part of the officer corps of the Russian army - the corps of officers of the General Staff"(p. 181) 639 (including 252 generals) people ended up in the Red Army, which accounted for 46 percent - that is, in fact, about half - continued serve after October 1917 as officers of the General Staff; there were about 750 of them in the White Army (op. cit., pp. 196-197). So, almost half of the best part, the elite of the Russian officer corps, served in the Red Army!

Until recently, the figures given were not known to anyone: neither the Whites nor the Reds wanted to recognize this historical fact (since this revealed one of the true, but not honoring them, reasons for their victory over the Whites); however, this is still an indisputable fact. By the way, fiction has recreated it quite weightily; let us recall at least the image of Colonel of the General Staff Roshchin in A.N. Tolstoy. But this image, completely characteristic of the era, was perceived by most readers as a kind of exception, as a deviation from the "norm". Of course, one can try to argue that the generals and officers went to the Red Army under duress, or from hunger, or for the subsequent transition to the Whites (however, many more officers went from the White Army to the Red than vice versa). But when it comes to choices made by tens of thousands of people, such explanations don't seem credible. The situation is, no doubt, much more complicated.

By the way, a calculation was recently published according to which (quote) "the total number of career officers who participated in the civil war in the ranks of the regular Red Army was more than 2 times the number of career officers who took part in hostilities on the side of the Whites"("Questions of history", 1993, N 6, p. 189). But this is obviously an exaggeration. "Enough"; and the fact that the number of officers in the White Army did not greatly exceed their number in the Red.
* * *
To understand the mindset of a patriot who ended up in a white camp, read the memoirs of General Ya.A. Slashchev. And, of course, the work of A.N. Tolstoy "Walking through the torments".
* *
Bylym for reference: V.V. Shulgin is a monarchist,

Among the first measures taken by the Supreme Military Council after the conclusion of the Brest Peace was the creation of the so-called veil or Western veil. In modern literature, not without reason, this curtain is written about as the most important front of the Soviet Republic in the period from the spring-summer of 1918. Its creation coincided with the formation of the Red Army on a volunteer basis 71 . The creators of the curtain include M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, and a number of other former generals - V.N. Egoriev, D.P. Parsky, A.A. Samoilo, K.K. Baiova, P.P. Sytina, A.A. Svechina, V.V. Chernavin, A.V. Schwartz, B.V. Gerua, A.V. Novikova, N.G. Semenov 72 .

At the beginning of September 1918, the Supreme Military Council was abolished, and its headquarters was reorganized into the Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, a new body created on September 6, which directly supervised the army and navy, as well as all institutions of the military and naval departments. The leadership of the Revolutionary Military Council, along with others, included two former colonels - I.I. Vatsetis and S.S. Kamenev, one Admiral V. Altvater and not a single former general. But on the other hand, the Field Headquarters was headed by former generals N.I. Rattel, F.V. Kostyaev, M.D. Bonch-Bruevich and P.P. Lebedev. In modern literature, with reference to A.A. Brusilov, it is even written that P.P. Lebedev, who joined the Red Army in 1918 was, in fact, the true organizer and leader of the army» 73 .

In 1918, a significant number of former generals joined the Red Army

The assistant to the chief of the Field Staff was former General G.N. Khvoshchinsky, heads of departments of the General Staff, former generals V.I. Mikhailov, M.M. Zagyu, heads of departments - former generals V.A. Afanasiev, S.M. Volkov, N.G. Myslitsky, S.N. Savchenko, K.M. Ushakov, among the assistants to the heads of departments was the former General V.K. Peterson, and among the heads of departments, Generals A.A. Neznamov, S.K. Segercrantz. The supply inspector under the Chief of the Field Staff was the former General N.A. Suleiman. And this is not counting a number of officers who worked there 74 .

In general, in 1918 a significant number of former generals joined the Red Army. So, in May of this year, a former lieutenant general voluntarily joined the Red Army, who in 1917 was elected commander of the 9th Army Corps A.E. Snesarev, famous traveler and orientalist. He will initially become the military leader of the North Caucasian Military District, take part in the defense of Tsaritsyn, then he will command the Western Army, and from the summer of 1919 he will head the Academy of the General Staff. In 1928 he will become a Hero of Labor 75 .

Even earlier, in March 1918, the already mentioned F.F. Novitsky, who participated in the Russo-Japanese and World War I. He was a major general, a corps commander, and in the Red Army he held a number of command positions. During the Great Patriotic War, F.F. Novitsky was a teacher at the Military Academy. Frunze. His elder brother V.F. Novitsky rose to the rank of lieutenant general. He also joined the Red Army voluntarily, in October 1918. He taught at the Military Academy, and in 1922 he was a military expert of the Soviet delegation at the Hague Conference. V.F. Novitsky left a number of major works on military history, of which his two-volume work on the history of the First World War 76 stands out in particular.

General of Infantry N.A. Danilov, who commanded the army on the North-Western Front, also joined the Red Army in 1918. He would become a professor at the Military Academy of the Red Army, and in the early 30s. will be an inspector of the headquarters of the Red Army. In the same year, in February, Major General A.A. joined the Red Army. Samoilo, Chief of Staff of the 10th Army. During the Civil War, he would command the army and then the Eastern Front. He died in 1963 at the age of 94, having lived longer than other old generals who served in the Red Army. A.A. Samoilo left detailed memoirs, where, among other things, he wrote: My transition to the service of the Soviet power responded to the wave and my political convictions» 77 .

In March 1918, Major General A.A., Chief of Staff of one of the fronts of the First World War, voluntarily joined the Red Army. Svechin, who became a prominent Soviet military theorist and military historian. He was at first an assistant to the head of the Petrograd fortified region, then in various staff positions. From October 1918 A.A. Svechin was a teacher at the Academy of the General Staff and then chairman of the Military Historical Commission on the use of the experience of the First World War. Also in March of the same year, Major General F.V. joined the Red Army. Kostyaev, who was appointed chief of staff of the Pskov region, and somewhat later, in the fall of 1918, became chief of staff of the Northern Front. Later, he was on a teaching job and prepared a number of works on military history and theory.

In 1918, former generals P.P. went over to the side of Soviet power. Lebedev, D.N. Reliable, A.V. Stankevich, V.I. Selivachev and many others. The old generals also went to the Red Army in 1919. One of them was General of Infantry A.M. Zaionchkovsky participated in the Russo-Japanese and World War I, during which he consistently commanded a division, corps and army. During his service in the Red Army, he was chief of staff of the army, and from 1922 he was a professor at the Military Academy of the Red Army. Zaionchkovsky is a well-known specialist in military history, the author of works on the history of the Crimean War and the First World War. In the same 1919, the former Minister of War of the Provisional Government, A.I. Verkhovsky. He was also a participant in the Russo-Japanese and World War I. After the February Revolution, he, the commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District, was an opponent of the Kornilov rebellion. His last rank in the old army was major general. After switching to the side of Soviet power, he was in staff positions, as well as in scientific and teaching work. In 1922 he was one of the military experts of the Soviet delegation at the Genoa Conference. In general, at one time it was believed that in the spring of 1919 there were a little over 200 former generals and about 400 former colonels and lieutenant colonels in the Red Army 78 .

The transfer of former generals to the side of the Soviet army is also known at a later time. In 1920, one of the most prominent commanders of Russia of that time, A.A., joined the Red Army. Brusilov. He was also a participant in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. In the Red Army, he was chairman of the Special Meeting under the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic, then became an inspector of the Red Army cavalry. Since 1924, Brusilov was with the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR for especially important assignments79. In general, in connection with the attack in the spring of 1920 on Soviet Russia by Poland, a new stage of entry into the Red Army of former generals and officers followed. Generals such as A.A. Brusilov, A.M. Zaionchkovsky, V.N. Klembovsky, A.E. Gutor and others appealed " To all former officers, wherever you are", in which they called " voluntarily go with complete selflessness and hunting to the Red Army ...» 80. As is known, V.I. Lenin, who emphasized that even the former tsarist generals recognize the claims of Poland as unfair and go to help us» 81 .

The fate of Lieutenant General Ya.A. Slashchev. He finished World War I with the rank of colonel, then was an active participant in the white movement, commanded a brigade, division, and corps. He was one of the white leaders of the Crimea. However, in August 1920, he came into conflict with Wrangel and was removed from command of the corps. Already in exile, he publicly spoke out against Wrangel, was tried and demoted to the rank and file. At the end of 1921, he returned to Soviet Russia, received an amnesty, then was a teacher at the well-known courses for commanders "Shot". Thanks to Slashchev's appeal to former soldiers and officers of the White Army, many of them returned to their homeland. In general, only from the General Staff of the generals who went over to the side of the Soviet power, whom we have not yet named, should we mention the generals from the infantry D.V. Balanina, P.S. Balueva, L.N. Belkovich, N.P. Mikhnevich, V.A. Olokhova, A.A. Polivanova, D.S. Shuvaeva. In addition, there were significant groups of generals from the cavalry, lieutenant generals, major generals, a list of which is given in the monograph by A.G. Kavtaradze - the best study to this day on this problem, written by the son of one of the military specialists 82 .

A special conversation about the engineering cadres of the old army and navy, as well as about artillerymen. It is noted in the literature that in artillery the percentage of noble generals was even higher than in other branches of the military and reached 98%. The bulk of artillery officers reacted to the October Revolution with distrust. But back in October 1917, the All-Russian Conference of Plant Representatives unanimously elected the head of the 2nd department of technical artillery institutions, Major General V.S. Mikhailov. In 1918 he was elected head of the Main Artillery Directorate, and in 1919 he became managing director of the Central Board of Artillery Plants 84 . V.M. Mikhailov is the author of a very remarkable monographic work "Essays on the history of the military industry."

It is also noteworthy that on February 23, 1918, the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy joined the Red Army in full force. General Yu.M. was placed at the head of the Artillery Inspectorate. Scheidemann, who held this position until 1921. Moreover, having moved to the side of Soviet power, the Main Artillery Directorate continued its work almost completely in the pre-revolutionary composition. In May 1919, there were 29 generals and a total of 184 former officers 85 working in it. Some other generals who served in the engineering department also collaborated with the Soviet government: N.G. Vysochansky, V.N. Dekhanov, N.V. Shulga 86. Military engineers were former generals V.P. Apyshkov, M.A. Bogdanovsky, K.I. Velichko, N.L. Kirpichev, V.A. Pykhachev, A.A. Satkevich, I.P. Stavitsky, S.A. Tsabel, A.V. Schwartz, A.P. Shoshin, V.V. Yakovlev 87 . According to modern researchers, the potential of military artillery specialists was used even more fully than in the White Army 88 .

A number of prominent naval figures also collaborated with the Soviet government. In addition to the already mentioned Rear Admiral V.M. Altvater, a participant in the First World War, assistant chief of the Naval General Staff, the first commander of the Naval Forces of the Soviet Republic, a number of other admirals should be mentioned. Rear Admiral A.V. Nemitz, whose democratic views emerged during the revolution of 1905-1907, when he refused to participate in the execution of revolutionary sailors, at the end of 1917 was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet and went over to the side of Soviet power shortly after the October Revolution. Interestingly, during the Civil War, he at one time took part in ground military operations, being the chief of staff of the Southern Group of Forces of the 12th Army under the command of I.E. Yakir. This group carried out the Southern Campaign, well-known in the history of the Civil War, the plan of which was developed primarily by Nemitz. Then he returned to the fleet and from February 5, 1920 to November 22, 1921. was the commander of the naval forces of the Soviet Republic. Subsequently, he was a teacher at military academies 89 .

The fate of M.V. Ivanov, a participant in the First World War, a captain of the 1st rank, who since the summer of 1917 became the commander of the 2nd brigade of cruisers of the Baltic Fleet. On October 27, 1917, according to the old style, he became a member of the Supreme Naval Collegium, then on November 4 he was also appointed Comrade of the Naval Minister, and on November 7 he was already the manager of the Naval Ministry. On November 21 (December 4) of the same year, the 1st All-Russian Congress of the Navy decided to assign M.V. Ivanov "for devotion to the people and the revolution" the rank of Rear Admiral. This was the first such appropriation after the October Revolution. He did a great deal of work to establish the work of the Naval Ministry already in the conditions of Soviet power. Later he worked at the headquarters of the Southern Front, an inspector of the troops of the Cheka, was engaged in the protection of the maritime borders of the Land of Soviets. In 1936 M.V. Ivanov became the Hero of Labor. Also in 1917, captain of the first rank E.A. went over to the side of Soviet power. Behrens, who became Chief of the Naval General Staff in November of the same year. From April 24, 1919 to February 5, 1920, he commanded the naval forces of the Republic 90 . Berens was still a participant in the Russo-Japanese War, he sailed as a navigator on the legendary cruiser Varyag, on board of which he fought in the famous battle of Chemulpo. Early 20s. he was for especially important assignments at the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, and in 1924 he was the naval attache of the USSR in England and France.

The role of the old generals in the Civil War was undoubtedly very significant. Some of them are A.A. Samoilo, P.P. Lebedev, V.A. Olderogge, D.N. Reliable, P.P. Sytin, V.N. Egoriev, D.P. Parsky commanded the fronts. They also commanded armies. In addition, the armies were also commanded by former generals A.A. Baltic, M.N. Vasilevna. Zhdanov, E.A. Iskritsky, A.V. Novikov, S.I. Odintsov, A.K. Remezov, A.E. Snesarev, N.V. Henrikson, V.V. Chernavin. Former generals even more often served as chiefs of staff of fronts and armies, and also held other command positions. Their fate was different. From the hands of the whites, except for General A.A. Taube fell on A.V. Stankevich, A.P. Nikolaev, A.V. Sobolev. It is known that A.V. Stankevich, who voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1918 and commanded the 55th Rifle Division there because of the betrayal of the chief of staff of this division, former General A.A. Laurica was captured by the White Guards and the offer to go over to their side was categorically refused. A.V. Stankevich was hanged by them, but then in 1919, by order of the Revolutionary Military Council, he was reburied on Red Square. In 1920 he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

A similar fate awaited the former General A.V. Sobolev, who commanded the 7th Infantry Division and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1919. In the following February, 1920, he was also captured by the Whites and, refusing to go to their service, was shot. Another former Major General A.P. Nikolaev, who commanded the brigade, was captured by the Whites in May 1919, and was also killed by them for refusing to go to their service. In 1920 he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. And the former Lieutenant General A.P. Vostrosablin, who went over to the side of Soviet power in 1918, died after being seriously wounded in 1921.

Some former generals died fighting in the Civil War or as D.P. Parsky died of illness. There are also some examples of going to the whites. In addition to the cases already mentioned, one can mention the betrayal of the first chief of the All-Russian General Staff, Lieutenant General N.N. Stogov, who went over to the side of the Whites and then played a prominent role in emigration 91 . One of the leaders of military intelligence, former General P.F., also ran over to the Whites. Ryabikov 92 . There were also those who were repressed in the late 1920s, for example, V.S. Mikhailov, N.G. Vysochansky, V.N. Dekhanov, N.V. Shulga. The literature provides statistics on arrests in 1930-1931. during the so-called Operation Spring. Then 20 former generals were arrested, and only 172 former military specialists. Some of them were even shot. But most received short sentences, and some were released altogether. Subsequently, a number of prominent artillerymen, including those arrested in the Vesna case, will be awarded the State Prize.

Even more military specialists were repressed in the 1930s. - A.E. Snesarev, A.A. Svechin, A.I. Verkhovsky and others. But there are also known former generals who lived a long life and died of natural causes. M.D. became Soviet lieutenant generals. Bonch-Bruevich, N.F. Drozdov, A.A. Ignatiev, F.F. Novitsky, A.A. Samoilo, and Vice Admiral A.V. Nemitz. A.V. Nemitz died at the age of 88 in 1967 and apparently was the last to pass away from the life of the old generals and admirals who linked their fate with the Red Army. It is curious that naming the most authoritative and recognized leaders of the Soviet military elite of the 20s, and highlighting the seven commanders, the modern author S.T. Minakov mentions, along with M. Tukhachevsky and S. Budyonny, A. Brusilov, A. Snesarev, A. Zayonchkovsky, A. Svechin and P. Lebedev, that is, five generals 94 . Leaving aside the dubious term elite, in relation to the leaders of the Red Army and the specific seven (the author does not include M.V. Frunze in its composition, recognizing, however, his military talent and the fact that he was an outstanding military leader 95), one cannot but recognize the undoubted the authority in the Red Army of a number of old generals who won respect for themselves with their undoubted business and human qualities.

From the point of view of saving one's own life, serving with the Reds was also more promising

In general, speaking of the military specialists of the Red Army, one must take into account both their total number and their relative weight in relation to the former officer corps of the old army. In the literature, it was generally accepted that approximately 75,000 military specialists served in the Red Army. Of these - 775 former generals, 980 colonels, 746 lieutenant colonels 96 . If we take into account that in October 1917 the entire officer corps of the old army was approximately 250 thousand people, then about 30% joined the Red Army. This is a very large percentage, given the social nature of the October Revolution and the fact that hereditary nobles among generals accounted for 87.5%, staff officers - 71%, and chief officers - 50.4% 97 . In 1913, the percentage of nobles among generals was even higher, accounting for 89.2% among generals, 72.6% for staff officers, and 35-50% for chief officers. Recently, somewhat different data on the number of military specialists in the Red Army began to appear in the literature. S. Volkov operates with a total figure of 276 thousand officers, including those who did not return to duty by the time of the October Revolution. The whites, in his opinion, had 62%, the Bolsheviks, respectively, only 19-20%, but without taking into account the former white officers taken prisoner, 5-6% served in the armies of the newly formed states and only 10% did not participate for various reasons in the Civil War. He also made casualty counts among the officer corps. In his opinion, over 60% of the officers died in the ranks of the Whites, over 10% among the Reds, 4-5% in the national armies, and 22-23% fell victims of anti-officer terror 99 .

It is difficult to say which figures are closer to the truth - A. Kavtaradze or S. Volkova. New, impartial and thorough calculations are needed. In any case, if in the Red Army there were only 20% of the former officers, and those who switched from whites to reds should also be included in them, then this percentage, given the class composition of the former officers, was quite high. And the fact that 5-6 times fewer officers died in the ranks of the Red Army than in the white also says a lot. From the point of view of saving one's own life, serving with the Reds was also more promising, not to mention the fact that it was they who won a landslide victory.

The reasons for the entry into the Red Army of the former officers and generals have repeatedly attracted the attention of researchers. Sometimes generalizations were made. They are also made in modern literature. In one of the books specially dedicated to Soviet managers, it is noted " the tragedy of people forced to defend a power alien to them, moreover, under the control and supervision of political commissars who did not trust them. Most of them, with hesitations and worries, entered the service of the Red Army, forced by material deprivation or under the threat of repression. A certain part of the military specialists went over to the side of the "Reds", having adopted the Bolshevik ideas, believing that the Soviet government was fighting for the "happiness of the people" 100 .

How to understand that 775 former generals, that is, as Bonch-Bruevich wrote, “ the best generals of the tsarist army”, joined the Red Army, being almost 90% of noble origin? Of course, there was a material need, and the need for the usual service, there were also suspicions on the part of the commissars. But you need to see the main thing. The further, the more the former generals became convinced that the Bolsheviks stood up for the reconstruction of a great country and that, with all the difficulties and even, sometimes, discontent, the masses still support them. It is no coincidence that even A.I. Denikin wrote that he became more and more convinced that the Russian people themselves were against them, that is, against the Whites. The support of the people, the focus on recreating a great country, progressive transformations in various fields convinced these old generals of the correctness of their choice.

In this regard, the evolution of the views of M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, who believed that " The civil war in Russia began even before the Great October Socialist Revolution» 101 . And then he wrote: “ I have always been clear about the anti-people nature of all these white formations, which were only a front for foreign interference in the internal affairs of Russia.» 102 . And, speaking of himself as an old regime general, he showed in his detailed memoirs how he came to understand the ideas of Lenin and the October Revolution. It was the convinced old generals who served in the Red Army who defeated the white generals. And their merits were recognized by V.I. Lenin emphasized the role of tens of thousands of old officers and " only with the help of them, as he emphasized, The Red Army could win the victories that it won". Moreover, he also wrote that " without them there would be no Red Army» 103 . This was a high assessment of the role of former military specialists, who made up a significant part of the command staff of the Red Army. In 1918, military specialists accounted for 75% of the command staff of the Red Army, in 1919 - 53%, in 1920 - 42%, and at the end of 1921 - 34% 104 . Among them, as one could see, a special role was played by the old generals, who made a significant contribution to the creation and development of a new army, which then fell to the responsible mission of defeating world fascism.

71. Strekalov I.I. The construction of the Red Army in the curtain troops (spring - summer 1918). Author's abstract ... Ph.D. M., 2001, p. 3.

72. Egoriev V.N. From the life of the western veil // Stages of a long journey. Memories of the Civil War. M., 1962, p. 138; Kavtaradze A.G. Decree. cit., p.201.

73. Minakov S.T. Soviet military elite of the 1920s (composition, evolution, socio-cultural characteristics and political role). Eagle, 2000, p. 28.

74. Kavtaradze A.G. Decree. cit., p.199.

75. See: V. Dudnik, D. Smirnov. All life is for science // Military History Journal. 1955, no. 2.

76. See: Leonidov V.F. Vasily Fedorovich Novitsky (on the centenary of his birth) // Military History Journal. 1960, no. 3.

77. Samoilo A. Two lives. M., 1958, p.182.

78. Op. Quoted from: Fedyukin S.A. Soviet power and bourgeois specialists. M., 1965, p. 68.

79. See: Brusilov A.A. My memories. M., 1943.

80. Fedyukin S.A. Decree. op., p. 70.

81. Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T.41, p. 121.

82. Kavtaradze A.G. Decree. cit., pp. 236-258.

83. Savchenko O.I. Decree. op., p. 11, 13.

84. General V.S.Mikhailov…, p. 4-5, 25.

85. Savchenko O.I. Decree. cit., pp.14-15.

86. General V.S.Mikhailov…, p. 81-82.

87. Kavtaradze A.G. Decree. cit., p.179.

88. Savchenko O.I. Decree. op. With. fifteen.

89. See: Commander of the naval forces of the republic // Marine collection. 1969, no. 5.

90. Gimpelson E.G. Decree. cit., p.112.

91. Molodtsygin M.A. Decree. op., p. 97; Russian military emigration ... T.4, p. 277, 297, 329.

92. Kolpakidi A., Prokhorov D. Decree. cit., p.58.

93. Savchenko O.I. Decree. op., p. 21.

94. Minakov S.T. Soviet military elite of the 1920s: composition, socio-cultural characteristics and political role. Abstract dis… d.h.s. Eagle, 2000, p.34.

95. Ibid., p.34, 43-44.

96. Kavtaradze A.G. Decree. op., p. 176-178; Gimpelson E.G. Decree. op., p. 112.

97. Kavtaradze A.G. Decree. op., p. 21, 178.

98. Op. Quoted from: Fedyukin S.A. Decree. op., p. 51.

99. Volkov S. The tragedy of Russian officers. The officer corps of Russia in the revolution, the Civil War and in a foreign land. M., 2002, p. 398.

100. Gimpelson E.G. Decree. op., p. 113.

101. Bonch-Bruevich M.D. Decree. op., p. 233.

102. Ibid., p.234.

103. Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 40, p. 199, 218.

104. Great October socialist revolution. Encyclopedia. M., 1987, p.91.

Instead of an epigraph:
“... in the Red Army by June 22, 41, there was the only officer of the tsarist army who was not subjected to repression - Marshal B.M. Shaposhnikov” (Vladimir Strelnikov “Secret Statistics of the Great War”, “Evening Moscow”, May 13, 1996)
“During the repressions of the late 30s ... the last former officers who held prominent positions in the army were also exterminated, so that by the beginning of the war only a few hundred former officers remained in the ranks of the army (some of them continued to hold important posts up to the commanders of the fronts) "(S.V. Volkov" The tragedy of Russian officers ").

Perhaps, for some, the first statement will seem like the ravings of a madman, but in fact this historical question is relevant in our time. The second quote from the book of a fairly well-known historian is interesting for its inconsistency: “the LAST former officers who held PROMINENT posts in the army were exterminated”, and at the same time “by the beginning of the war, several hundred former officers remained in the ranks of the army”, and even held "important posts" They were probably the "most recent" officers. But something else interested me - how many former officers served in the Red Army by 1941? In this book by Volkov, despite the rich factual material (the book is literally replete with figures), this question is bypassed. It was not possible to find any generalizing work either in the literature or on the Internet, so I started searching myself. As a starting point, I took the statistical collection "The Red Army in June 1941." 2003 edition. Now, 10 years later, there is more information on such statistics, and the collection itself also contains a number of inaccuracies. The result turned out to be far from expected, but, as they say, what are rich with. Therefore, the figures below are not complete and I would be grateful for any additional information on this topic.
To complete the picture, I took into account not only the commanders of the former officers who were in the ranks before the war, but also those who served during the Great Patriotic War in the Red Army, RKKF, NKVD, NKGB, since the difference between the employees of the first two and the last two departments is rather subtle.
The term “official of the tsarist army” in this case is not entirely accurate, because many servicemen received officer shoulder straps already under the Provisional Government, many were promoted, including becoming generals or admirals, and some of the office work machine that worked by inertia issued new shoulder straps already under Soviet rule - until the mass demobilization of the army in early 1918. Therefore, I will use the term of the 20-40s - the "old army", meaning that the Red, White, armies of the newly formed states on the territory of the collapsed Russian Empire are the "new" armies. Further in the text, the phrase "officer of the old army" will be used, for brevity "officer sa".
So:
From 06/22/1941 to 09.05.1945 in the ranks of the Red Army, RKKF, NKVD, NKGB at different times, in different (combat and non-combat) positions, in different (command, political, etc.) compositions, in ranks from lieutenant to Marshal of the Soviet Union (and similar ones: “military engineer”, military lawyer, etc.) served 450 commanders who served in the old army and navy in ranks from ensign to lieutenant general (and similar naval ones). Indeed, several hundred. This number includes those who served the entire war or only part of it:
- those who died for any reason or were taken prisoner;
- those who retired during the war due to old age or health reasons (for example, Lieutenant General of the Red Army, aka Lieutenant General SA D.N. Nadezhny) or vice versa, who returned from retirement to serve in connection with the outbreak of war;
- imprisoned as a result of pre-war repressions and released during the war (for example, second lieutenant S.A., divisional commander, then Lieutenant General of the Red Army M.F. Bukshtynovich) or vice versa, convicted by tribunals during the war;
-non-professional military men who worked before the war in a civilian specialty or were in party work, joined the army with the outbreak of war and received military ranks (for example, ensign S.A., red partisan commander in civilian, partisan commander in WWII, major general Red Army A.K. Flegontov)

DO NOT INCLUDED in the indicated number those who for any reason did not serve in the armed forces during the war, including those who were repressed before the war, released but did not return to the army, rehabilitated in the 50s and then reinstated in the army with the assignment of ranks .

Of these 450 red commanders in the old army, two were lieutenant generals, twelve were major generals, two were rear admirals, the rest were no higher than a colonel (captain of the 1st rank). In addition, thirteen of them were White Guard officers, and two received general's shoulder straps in the White Army. Six more before entering the Red Army served as officers in the freshly minted national (Ukrainian, Baltic, Caucasian) armies. The most famous representative of the first category is Marshal of the Soviet Union L.A. Govorov, the second - again, Marshal of the Soviet Union I.Kh. Bagramyan. And, finally, two more managed to serve both the Whites and in the national armies, and only then - in the Red.
Further, from the same 450 commanders as of 06/21/1941. in the ranks were 103 commanders with a rank no higher than a colonel (and equal to him). At least 94 of them later became generals or admirals.
As of 06/21/1941, the share of former officers of S.A. in the ranks of the Red Army looks like this:
Marshals of the Soviet Union - 20% (out of 5 - one Shaposhnikov). In general, out of 22 Marshals of the USSR born before 1900, S.A. were seven - 32%. Of these, five died as a result of repressions, officers of the S.A. of them were two.
Note: I met the statement that Marshal of the USSR S.K. Timoshenko in the old army was not a non-commissioned officer, but a lieutenant, but he hid it. Haven't found any confirmation of this yet.

Army generals - 40% (two out of five).
The highest percentage of officers with.a. in the Red Army was among the lieutenant generals - 57.4% and, strange as it may seem, among the commanders - those who have not yet been recertified as generals - 43.3%.
Among the major generals, the share of officers with.a. much lower - 25.1%, but it must be borne in mind that many of them did not serve in the old army at all, simply because of their age. This is especially true for the "young" branches of the military, primarily for aviation. Very many major generals of aviation in 1941. was not 40 years old. Among the combined arms major generals, an officer with.a. was every third.

The highest percentage of S.A. officers at that time it was observed among admirals - 66.7% (two out of three), except for them - among vice admirals -60%. But among the rear admirals - only 22.2%.

This is by rank. And this is according to the positions on 06/21/1941:
Neither the People's Commissar of Defense, nor the Chief of the General Staff by S.A. were not, but
among the commanders of the districts (one of them was called the commander of the front), the share of officers of the S.A. 41.2%.
- among their deputies - 52.9%
-among district chiefs of staff -47%
Among army commanders - 65%
Among the corps commanders:
- shooting -30.4%
- mechanized - 23%
- airborne - 0% - again the same trend about the "young" military branches.
But according to the "old" types of troops:
- cavalry -50%

During the war, according to the positions, the statistics are as follows:
The Supreme Commander-in-Chief was not an officer, but among those who headed the General Staff during the war, S.A. was 75%.
Among the commanders (at the same time) of the ground fronts - 40.5%.
Among the chiefs of staff of the fronts - 30.2%

Among the commanders of the armies - 32%, and broken down by type of troops:
- separate, shock, combined arms - 39.6%
And then again the same rejuvenation system:
- tank - 15.4%
- sappers - 12.5% ​​(according to incomplete data)
- air - 7.4% (average age of commanders in 1941 -38 years)
- Air defense - 0% (before 1900, only one was born).

Among the listed red commanders there were many nobles, both personal and hereditary. Since 1856 personal nobility was acquired with the rank of staff captain (headquarters captain, cavalier, in the fleet - lieutenant), hereditary - colonel (captain of the 1st rank). Thus, Marshal of the USSR B.M. Shaposhnikov, Vice Admirals A.V. Nemitz and A.V. Shtal were hereditary nobles, Marshals of the USSR A.M. Vasilevsky and F.I. Tolbukhin - personal. There were also titled nobles in the Red Army (the most famous example is Major General of the old and Lieutenant General of the Red Army Count A.A. Ignatiev).

On this dry statistics we will finish, we will consider some personal data.
The officers of S.A. reached high government positions in their careers. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky (Chief of the General Staff and Minister of the Armed Forces) and Commissar of State Security of the 1st rank, then General of the Army V.N. Merkulov (Minister of State Security), by the way, is also a hereditary nobleman and on the maternal line of princely blood. Officer S.A. there was such a very well-known (in the worst sense of the word) personality in the army of that time as the chairman of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, an arm military lawyer, then Colonel General of Justice V.V. Ulrikh.
Of the people with rather exotic biographies, A.Ya.Kruse should be noted. Lieutenant colonel of the old army, he rose to major general in Kolchak's army, by 1941 he moved down to colonel in the Red Army and ended his career in the rank of lieutenant general of the Soviet Army.
No less interesting is the fate of V.M. Dogadin. Colonel S.A. he, as his relative assures, "received major-general epaulettes for the construction of the Perekop fortifications from Baron Wrangel." According to the words attributed to Dogadin himself: “the Bolsheviks literally climbed the mountains of their corpses onto the Perekop bastions he built” (http://magazines.russ.ru/zerkalo/2004/24/sm10.html). It is curious: now some historians, trying to explain the breakthrough of the Reds through Perekop, say that its famous fortifications existed only on paper. And if this is so, and taking into account that V.M. Dogadin later served quietly in the Red Army, what should one think about him personally and about his service with the Whites?
And by the way, let's turn to other characters in Russian history with even more interesting biographies.
The general's son (i.e., a hereditary nobleman), Lieutenant B.V. Dyushen, a member of the RSDLP (m) from 1903 (! - I.S.) fought on the side of the whites in civilian life, including participating in the well-known anti-Bolshevik rebellion in Yaroslavl (of course, MERCIOUSLY and BLOODY suppressed by the Bolsheviks), and later served in the Propaganda Department (party-revolutionary training came in handy!) At the army headquarters of N.N. Yudenich (and they also say that the White Guards were clean-cutters before propaganda did not humiliate themselves). He rose to the rank of captain, emigrated, in exile he STARTED COOPERATING with the OGPU. In 1926 returned to the USSR, worked in the People's Commissariat for Education. In 1935 he was arrested and convicted as a counter-revolutionary, in 1940. released early. He did not return to the People's Commissariat of Education, but entered the service of ... the NKVD. Colonel.
Another example is even worse. Served in the old army staff captain (and therefore a nobleman) VL Abramov. In March 1918 joined the Red Army (if in March, it means voluntarily, the Bolsheviks introduced mobilization later), from which a couple of months later he RAN to the Whites. Then he was captured by the Reds and ... stayed with them to serve. Now it's forever. Later he moved ... again to the NKVD. Major General. You can't say anything, a suitable contingent to fight the counter-revolution! And how not to remember the old truth that a good specialist will not be left without a job!
But all this is nonsense compared to how V.J.Skaistlauks served. Lieutenant of the Russian army, general of the Latvian, since 1940. - Major General of the Red Army, since 1943 - Standartenführer, since 1944 - SS Oberführer (somewhere between a colonel and a brigadier general). You have to be able to do this!

In a separate line, I want to highlight another category of red commanders - Soviet officers who are not officers of the S.A. In June 1941 thirteen people served in the Red Army (six of them had a rank higher than a colonel), who fought on the side of the whites in the civil war as "lower ranks" - soldiers or non-commissioned officers. One of them is Deputy Head of the MAIN POLITICAL DEPARTMENT ARMY COMMISSIONER 2nd rank V.N. Borisov, the other - Colonel N.S. Skripko, in the future - air marshal. In addition to these thirteen, one was a former officer in the Azerbaijani army, another was a private in the Georgian army, and the third (before the war he was in reserve) was a private in the Ukrainian army.

Epilogue
Over the past 25 years, one often hears that the Bolsheviks did badly in every business they undertook. It seems that the worst they managed to accomplish was the task of exterminating classes and estates.

Chapter first.

GENERALS OF THE RED ARMY

On May 7, 1940, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, new military ranks of the highest command staff were introduced in the Red Army: for combined arms commanders - major general, lieutenant general, colonel general, army general and Marshal of the Soviet Union; for commanders of military branches (artillery, aviation, tank troops, communications troops, engineering and technical troops) - major general, lieutenant general and colonel general with the addition of the name of the military branch to them, and for quartermasters - with the addition of the words "commander service ".

I.V. The draft of new military ranks was presented to Stalin by the People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov on March 17. In particular, it said: “... When discussing this issue with deputies, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to adopt in our army the same number of general ranks as it was in the tsarist army and takes place in a number of European armies - German, French, English. At this time, we have military ranks equal to those of a general, 5 (commander brigade, commander of division, commander, commander of the 2nd rank and commander of the 1st rank). It is advisable to combine the military ranks of divisional commander and corps commander in one rank of lieutenant general, and the military ranks of commander of the 2nd rank and commander of the 1st rank should also be combined in one rank of infantry general (artillery, cavalry, aviation, tank troops, etc.) . The next highest military rank in the Red Army is Marshal of the Soviet Union, which corresponds to the same rank in foreign bourgeois armies. We believe that there is no need to add any other military ranks above marshal. Please consider and approve…”

The corresponding document, namely the draft Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, signed by the leader, appeared on April 11, but it was not put into effect. It is quite possible that I. Stalin decided to once again check the reaction of the highest command staff to the upcoming introduction of new military ranks. Nevertheless, in it we can find the answer why all this was done: “The existing military ranks of the highest command of the Red Army - brigade commander, divisional commander, commander of the 2nd rank and commander of the 1st rank - are essentially abbreviated names of the corresponding higher positions in the army. When servicemen address each other, and especially in combat orders and reports, the existing military ranks of the highest command staff cause considerable inconvenience in practice. So, for example, a division commander with the rank of brigade commander is often called not a brigade commander, but a divisional commander, and an army commander with the rank of divisional commander or commander is called an army commander, etc.”

In a word, a little experience has shown that such a mixture of military ranks and positions must be eliminated, which was done on May 7 ...

As can be seen from the above dates, there was no need to argue and discuss for a long time. Comrade Stalin always had the last word, and he, as you know, was distinguished by intelligence, quick wit and even taste. This is how general ranks were first introduced in the Soviet Union, however, so far only for command personnel. The military-political, military-technical, military-medical, military-veterinary, legal, administrative and commissary commanding staff retained their previous ranks, which they would change by 1943. But the first of them to become full-fledged generals, of course, military-political workers. This will happen in the autumn of 1942, when Stalin finally abolishes the long-obsolete institution of military commissars.

It is noteworthy that the issue of general ranks, which actually replaced personal military ranks (before that there were categories of commanding staff by positions (13 categories)), introduced by a decree of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on September 22, 1935, was prompted by the war with Finland. The banal coincidence of the military ranks of the highest command personnel with the names of the positions, as it turned out, introduced great confusion into the command and control system. At a meeting held in mid-April 1940 (14-17) to summarize the experience of the Soviet-Finnish war, I. Stalin directly asked the top commanders: “Is it necessary to restore the rank of general?” And all the participants in the meeting, almost in unison, answered the leader that this must be done. Then, following the results of the meeting, the corresponding table was compiled, which includes all the planned and existing titles. And the day after the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, that is, on May 8, on the basis of it, the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 112 was announced, on the introduction of general ranks for the highest command staff.

In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the corresponding uniform was also established for the generals of the Red Army: full dress, casual and marching. At that time, everything was very simple, without any frills. The ceremonial items of uniform included: a ceremonial cap (in winter - a hat), a ceremonial overcoat, a uniform, trousers in boots (for building) or loose (out of order), boots (for building) or boots (out of order), gloves, a belt and checker on the waist belt. To items of everyday clothing: a cap, a hat, an overcoat, a khaki or white tunic (out of order), trousers in boots or loose boots, boots or boots, combat equipment and gloves. At the same time, a casual cap, hat, overcoat, khaki tunic, trousers with boots, boots and camping equipment were items of camping clothing.

Despite the simplicity of the new general's clothing, it nevertheless differed markedly from the uniform of the middle and senior command levels. For example, a cap, a uniform and a tunic were made from merino fabric. Boots and boots - from black chevro. The waist belt is made of brown saddle leather. There were other significant differences as well. For example, stripes, metal stars on the buttonholes from two to five, embroidered stars and squares from a wide golden galloon on the sleeves, buttons with the coat of arms of the USSR, a cockade on the headdress and a golden strap on the cap. There were other notable differences as well. In a word, the general had to outwardly fully correspond to his high military rank and his mission.

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The fundamental political differences between the workers' and peasants' power, which took the helm after the October Revolution, and the representatives of the bourgeois intelligentsia lost their importance when the country was threatened by external enemies. When it comes to survival, and the ring of fronts closes around the country, prudence dictates its own rules, and the place of ideological interests is taken by the desire to save the Fatherland, making concessions and compromises with internal opponents.

Civil confrontation significantly weakened the forces of the newly formed Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army). It was not possible to strengthen its commanding staff at the expense of young specialists from among the working people, because their training required time, which simply did not exist. The need for the immediate creation of a sufficiently strong regular army, which would be able to repel not only the imperialist interventionists, but also the troops of the White Guards, led the Soviet leadership to consider it appropriate to use the accumulated military and theoretical experience of specialists who, before the events of 1917, were in the service of Royal army.

Having substantiated the need to use the significant cultural heritage of capitalism, Lenin turned to the country's governing bodies. He emphasized the need to pay special attention to attracting scientifically educated specialists not only in the military, but also in other areas, regardless of their origin and who and to whom they served before the advent of Soviet power. Setting a goal was certainly easy, but how to achieve it? Most of the former nobles remained either hostile to the Soviet regime, or took a wait-and-see attitude towards it. Confident that the revolution would bring only destruction and the fall of culture, they expected the inevitable death of the Russian intelligentsia. It was difficult for them to comprehend that, in meeting halfway, the Soviet government was striving to transfer to a renewed Russia the most valuable achievements of the capitalist way of life.

The coercive factor would hardly have been able to give positive results then. In addition, it was necessary to work not only on changing the attitude of the intelligentsia towards the new government, but also to influence the negative attitude of the working masses towards the former representatives of the bourgeoisie. Another problem was that some of the leading party workers did not at all share Lenin's opinion about the need to cooperate with the opposite side in terms of worldview, even in conditions of total control over their activities. And of course, such interaction with people who were simply saturated with an ideology so alien to the Bolsheviks quite often turned into sabotage. However, without using the knowledge and experience that the intelligentsia of Tsarist Russia received in the best educational institutions of Europe and while working in high positions even before the revolution, it was impossible to raise the country and defeat external enemies.

In the end, many former officers and generals came to the realization that Soviet power is the only force that represents the national interests of Russia and is able to protect the country from external enemies in this period of time. All patriotic professional soldiers, feeling their connection with the people, considered it their duty to support the "Reds" in the struggle for the independence of the Motherland. At the same time, the position of the new government on not encroaching on the political convictions of military specialists was also of great importance, which was even legally fixed at the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets (dated July 10, 1918). Unfortunately, we must not forget about other former nobles and officers who are ready to give our country to the outrage of external enemies. They wanted to get rid of the communists and their pernicious ideas in every possible way, not wanting to understand the consequences of such “devilish” deals.

The first steps towards cooperation have become a good example for other military men who still doubt the correctness of such a decision. The generals who had already gone over to the side of the Bolsheviks called on the rest of the officers of the Tsarist Army to defend the country in the ranks of the Red Army. The wonderful words of their appeal have been preserved, which clearly show the moral position of these people: “At this important historical moment, we, senior comrades in arms, appeal to your feelings of devotion and love to the Fatherland, we ask you to forget all insults and voluntarily go to the Red Army. Wherever you are appointed, to serve not for fear, but for conscience, so that, not sparing life, with your honest service to defend our dear Russia, not allowing it to be plundered.

There is no hiding the fact that sometimes not entirely humane methods and means were used to attract specialists from pre-revolutionary Russia. Some historians tend to call the post-revolutionary period "the road to Golgotha" for the Russian intelligentsia, because the repressive methods of forcing them to work for the Soviet government were widespread. However, the highest authorities did not welcome such an attitude towards connoisseurs of noble origin, as evidenced by the order of the Presidium of the Cheka adopted on December 17, 1918. This document contains strict instructions to exercise special caution when holding bourgeois-noble specialists accountable for certain actions and to allow their arrest only if there are proven facts of anti-Soviet activity. The country could not afford to mindlessly scatter valuable personnel, difficult times dictated new rules. Also, contrary to numerous allegations about the forced involvement of military experts of Imperial Russia in the Red Army, it is worth noting that the negative transformations that took place in the army even before the revolution significantly changed the mood among the officers. This only contributed to the fact that with the advent of Soviet power, many senior army officials considered it their duty, and not out of fear, to support the Bolsheviks in the battle for the Fatherland.

The result of the measures taken was that out of one hundred and fifty thousand professional soldiers who served in the officer corps of pre-revolutionary Russia, seventy-five thousand people fought in the Red Army against thirty-five thousand old officers in the service of the White Guards. Their contribution to the victory in the Civil War is undeniable, fifty-three percent of the command staff of the Red Army were officers and generals of the Imperial Army.

Since the situation demanded immediate and sure action, already in November 1917 none other than a hereditary nobleman, Lieutenant General of the former Imperial Army M.D. was appointed Chief of Staff and Supreme Commander of the Army. Bonch-Bruevich, nicknamed "Soviet General". It was he who happened to lead the Red Army in February 1918, created from separate units of the Red Guard and the remnants of the former Imperial Army. It was the most difficult period for the Soviet Republic, which lasted from November 1917 to August 1918.

Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich was born in Moscow on February 24, 1870. His father was a land surveyor, a native of an old noble family. At the age of twenty-one, Bonch-Bruevich graduated from the Konstantinovsky Land Survey Institute by profession as a geodesist, and a year later the Moscow Infantry Cadet School. Until 1898, he studied at the Academy of the General Staff, where he remained until 1907 to teach tactics. He was a participant in the First World War. His brother, Vladimir Dmitrievich, was a Bolshevik since 1895, he was engaged in the affairs of the Council of People's Commissars. Perhaps that is why, after the October Revolution, Bonch-Bruevich was the first of the generals to take the side of the new government and accept the post of chief of staff. His assistant was the former major general nobleman S.G. Lukirsky. Mikhail Dmitrievich died in 1956 in Moscow.

From the end of 1918, the newly established position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the country was occupied by His Excellency S.S. Kamenev (but not the Kamenev who was later shot along with Zinoviev). Having led an infantry division after the revolution, this most experienced regular officer quickly advanced through the ranks.

Sergei Sergeevich Kamenev was born into the family of a military engineer from Kyiv. He graduated from the Kyiv Cadet Corps, the Alexander Military School and the St. Petersburg Academy of the General Staff. He was highly respected by the soldiers. During World War I, Kamenev held various staff positions. At the beginning of the revolution, Kamenev read a collection of Lenin and Zinoviev entitled Against the Current, which, in his words, "opened new horizons for him and made a stunning impression." In the winter of 1918, by voluntary consent, he joined the Red Army and led operations to destroy Denikin, Wrangel and Kolchak. Kamenev also helped to suppress resistance in Bukhara, Ferghana, Karelia, in the Tambov province (Antonov's uprising). From 1919 to 1924 he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army. He created a plan for the defeat of Poland, which was never implemented due to opposition from the leadership of the Southwestern Front (represented by Yegorov and Stalin). After the end of the war, he held major positions in the Red Army, was one of the founders of Osoaviakhim, and conducted research in the Arctic. In particular, Kamenev organized assistance to the Chelyuskin, which was iced over, and to the Italian expedition Nobile.

The immediate subordinate of Sergei Sergeevich Kamenev and his first assistant was P.P. Lebedev, who under the Imperial Army was listed in the rank of major general. Replacing Bonch-Bruevich at the indicated post, Lebedev skillfully led the Field Staff throughout the war (from 1919 to 1921), actively participating in the preparation and conduct of major operations.

Pavel Pavlovich Lebedev was born in Cheboksary on April 21, 1872. Coming from a family of impoverished nobles, he received training at public expense. He graduated with honors from the Cadet Corps, the Alexander Military School, the Academy of the General Staff. With the rank of staff captain, Lebedev was assigned to the General Staff, in which, thanks to his extraordinary abilities, he quickly made a brilliant career. Participated in the First World War. He refused to go over to the side of the Whites, and after a personal invitation from V.I. Lenin joined the Bolshevik army. It is considered one of the main developers of operations to destroy the troops of N.N. Yudenich, A.I. Denikina, A.V. Kolchak. Lebedev was distinguished by amazing endurance, worked seven days a week, returning home only at four in the morning. After the end of the Civil War, he remained to work in leading positions in the Red Army. Lebedev was awarded the highest awards of the Soviet Republic. He died on July 2, 1933 in Kharkov.

Another hereditary nobleman A.A. Samoilo was a direct colleague of Lebedev, holding the post of chief of the All-Russian General Staff. Having risen to the rank of major general in the Imperial Army, after the revolutionary transformations in October, Alexander Alexandrovich went over to the side of the Bolsheviks, and for his significant services he was awarded numerous orders and medals, including two Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.

Alexander Aleksandrovich Samoilo was born on October 23, 1869 in the city of Moscow. His father was a military doctor from the family of the hetmans of the Zaporizhzhya Army. In 1898, Alexander Alexandrovich graduated from the Academy of the General Staff. During the war he served in the General Staff in the operations department. On the side of the "Reds", he took part in negotiations with Germany (in Brest-Litovsk), with Finland (in April 1920), with Turkey (in March 1921). It is the prototype of the protagonist of the novel "I have the honor", written by Valentin Pikul. He died in 1963 at the age of ninety-four.

A third-party person may have a false idea that Lenin and Trotsky, when deciding on candidates for senior command posts, certainly sought to appoint representatives of the generals of the Imperial Corps to them. But the truth is that only those who were awarded such high military ranks possessed the necessary skills and abilities. It was they who helped the new government instantly orient themselves in the most difficult situation and defend the freedom of the Fatherland. The harsh conditions of wartime quickly placed people in their well-deserved places, pushing forward real professionals and "pushing" those who only seemed like that, being in fact the usual "revolutionary balabolka".

On the basis of a detailed file of officers of the Russian army compiled for October 1917, as well as further verification of the data obtained with later data, the most relevant information about the number of military officers of the Imperial Army who served on the side of the new government was determined. Statistics show that during the civil war, 746 former lieutenant colonels, 980 colonels, 775 generals served in the army of workers and peasants. And the Red Fleet was generally an aristocratic military unit, since the General Staff of the Russian Navy, after the October events, almost in its entirety went over to the side of the Bolsheviks and selflessly fought on the side of the Soviet government throughout the civil war. The flotilla commanders during the war were former rear admirals of the Imperial Navy and hereditary nobles: V.M. Altfater, E.A. Berens and A.V. Nemitz. They also voluntarily supported the new government.

Vasily Mikhailovich Altfater was born in Warsaw in the family of a general on December 4, 1883 and received an excellent education. He participated in the defense of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. He showed himself to be a courageous person when rescuing the team of the battleship Petropavlovsk. During the First World War he worked in the Naval Administration. Having gone over to the side of the Bolsheviks in 1917, Vasily Mikhailovich became the first commander of the RKKF. Here is what he wrote in his statement: “Until now, I served only because I considered it necessary to be useful to Russia. I didn't know you and didn't believe you. Even now there is much that I do not understand, but I am convinced that you love Russia more than many of ours. That's why I came to you." V.M. Altfater died of a heart attack on April 20, 1919 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Separately, one can note white officers and generals who emigrated to China and returned to Russia from China in the 20s and 30s. For example, in 1933, together with his brother, Major General A.T. Sukin, Colonel of the General Staff of the old army Nikolai Timofeevich Sukin left for the USSR, in the white armies lieutenant general, participant in the Siberian Ice Campaign, in the summer of 1920 temporarily served as chief of staff of the commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Russian Eastern outskirts, in the USSR he worked as a teacher of military disciplines. Some of them even in China began to work for the USSR, such as the colonel of the old army, in the Kolchak army, Major General Tonkikh I.V. Beijing. In 1927, he was an employee of the military attache of the plenipotentiary representation of the USSR in China, on 04/06/1927 he was arrested by the Chinese authorities during a raid on the premises of the embassy in Beijing, and probably after that he returned to the USSR. Also in China, another high-ranking officer of the White Army, also a participant in the Siberian Ice Campaign, Alexei Nikolaevich Shelavin, began to cooperate with the Red Army. It's funny, but this is how Kazanin, who came to Blucher's headquarters in China as an interpreter, describes the meeting with him: “There was a long table laid out for breakfast in the reception room. At the table sat a fit, graying military man and with appetite ate oatmeal from a full plate. In such closeness, eating hot porridge seemed to me a heroic feat. And he, not content with this, took three soft-boiled eggs from the bowl and dropped them onto the porridge. All this he poured with tinned milk and sprinkled thickly with sugar. I was so mesmerized by the enviable appetite of the old military man (I soon learned that it was the tsarist general Shalavin, who had transferred to the Soviet service), that I saw Blucher only when he was already standing right in front of me. Kazanin did not mention in his memoirs that Shelavin was not just a tsarist, but a white general; in general, in the tsarist army he was only a colonel of the General Staff. A participant in the Russian-Japanese and world wars, in the Kolchak army he served as chief of staff of the Omsk military district and the 1st Consolidated Siberian (later 4th Siberian) Corps, participated in the Siberian Ice Campaign, served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Eastern Outskirts and the Amur Provisional government, then emigrated to China. Already in China, he began to cooperate with Soviet military intelligence (under the pseudonym Rudnev), in 1925–1926 he was a military adviser to the Henan group, a teacher at the Whampu military school; 1926-1927 - at the headquarters of the Guangzhou group, helped Blucher evacuate from China and also returned to the USSR in 1927.

You can name many more well-known names of officers and generals of the old army, who selflessly fought on the side of the Red Army and commanded entire fronts, which eventually defeated the White Guard hordes. Among them, the former lieutenant general Baron Alexander Alexandrovich von Taube, who became the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army in Siberia, stood out in particular. The brave military leader was captured by Kolchak in the summer of 1918 and died on death row. And a year later, the hereditary nobleman and Major General Vladimir Alexandrovich Olderogge, commanding the entire Eastern Front of the Bolsheviks, completely destroyed the White Guards in the Urals, completely eliminated Kolchakism. At the same time, the Southern Front of the Reds, led by experienced lieutenant generals of the old Army, Vladimir Nikolaevich Egoryev and Vladimir Ivanovich Selivachev, stopped Denikin's army, holding out until reinforcements from the East arrived. And this list can go on and on. Despite the presence of "home-grown" red military leaders, among whom there are many legendary names: Budyonny, Frunze, Chapaev, Kotovsky, Parkhomenko and Shchors, in all the main directions at the decisive moments of the confrontation, those very "hated" representatives of the former bourgeoisie were at the helm. It was their talent in managing armies, multiplied by knowledge and experience, that led the troops to victory.

The laws of Soviet propaganda did not allow for a long time to objectively cover the role of certain sections of the military personnel of the Red Army, belittling their significance and creating a kind of halo of silence around their names. Meanwhile, they honestly fulfilled their role in a difficult period for the country, helped win the Civil War and went into the shadows, leaving only military reports and operational documents about themselves. However, they, like thousands of other people, shed their blood for the Fatherland and are worthy of respect and memory.

As an objection to the allegations that Stalin and his associates later deliberately destroyed representatives of the noble intelligentsia with their repressive measures, one can only say that all the war heroes mentioned in the article above, like many other military specialists, lived quietly to old age, with the exception of those who fell in battle. And many representatives of junior officers managed to make a successful military career and even become Marshals of the USSR. Among them are such well-known military leaders as the former second lieutenant L.A. Govorov, staff captains F.I. Tolbukhin and A.M. Vasilevsky, as well as Colonel B.M. Shaposhnikov.

Of course, one should not deny that, in the words of Lenin, “excesses” and ill-considered actions were observed on the ground, there were undeserved arrests and too harsh sentences, but it is completely unreasonable to talk about prepared mass repressions aimed at destroying the noble military corps. It is much more instructive to recall how the rest, the “white” officers, whom it is now fashionable to sympathize with and sing praises, at the first threat fled to French and Turkish cities. Saving their own skins, they gave everything they had to the direct enemies of Russia, who at the same time fought with their compatriots. And these are those who swore allegiance to the Motherland and promised to defend the Fatherland until their last breath. While the Russian people fought for their independence, such "officers", not worthy of such a high rank, sat in Western taverns and brothels, littering with money that they had taken out of the country during their escape. They have long discredited themselves in