In 1995, a sensational interview was published in one of the central newspapers with the daughter of Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, the legendary commander, hero of the Civil War.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"

Klavdia Vasilievna told how, after one of the screenings of the film "Chapaev", two elderly Hungarians, who had once fought under her father, approached her. The Hungarians said that Chapaev died in a completely different way, according to the official version, according to which the divisional commander died in the waters of the Ural River, struck by a White Guard bullet.

According to them, Chapaev did not drown at all. They delivered their commander to the other side, where he died from the wounds received during the battle, after which he was buried with full honors. To prove their words, the former Red Army even brought Claudia Chapaeva a plan of the area, on which the burial place was marked. Then they told other equally sensational details. It turns out that the fatal shot for Chapaev was fired in the back and at close range.

Photo Hungarians-Chapaevs

Based on these testimonies, a version soon appeared that Chapaev was killed by his own. This publication stirred up a wave of controversy that has not subsided to this day. Here and there, new circumstances of the death of the legendary divisional commander emerge, fundamentally contradicting the official version. And the details are still not clear. Chapaev's death and who was responsible for his death.

The story told by the daughter of the famous division commander is really intriguing. Is everything we know about Chapaev's death from official sources a complete lie? What then are the true circumstances of his death? At the place indicated on the map by the Hungarians, there is no grave now. The river over the past decades could change its course, the banks are washed away and the grave could well be under water. Or she wasn't. Can Hungarians be trusted?

If you look at the facts of Chapaev's biography, you can see that many legends have developed around his name that do not correspond to reality. Like, for example, the "psychic attack" of the Kappelites. Allegedly, a whole horde in black uniforms with a banner with a skull and bones in close formation is advancing on the few Red Army soldiers. This scene has become one of the most iconic in Soviet cinema. But here's the problem. The Chapaevs in reality never met Kappel's troops on the battlefield. And the White Guards never wore such a uniform, not to mention the operetta banner.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Kappelevtsy

One more moment. In the film, Chapaev is a dashing horseman, rushing at the enemy with a saber drawn. In fact, Chapaev did not feel much love for horses. I preferred a car. We know the details of the death of the division commander from the book of political instructor Dmitry Furmanov. However, he was not with Chapaev during the last fight. That is, he cannot be an objective witness.

The Hungarians claimed that they had transported the wounded in the hand of Chapaev to the other side on a raft. He couldn't swim on his own. With one hand and given the blood loss is simply unrealistic.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Furmanov

Why is this man worthy of such mythologization? According to anecdotes, he is such a cheerful, rollicking man, a drunkard. In fact, Vasily Ivanovich did not drink alcohol at all, tea was his favorite drink. The orderly carried a samovar for him everywhere. Arriving at any location, Chapaev immediately began to drink tea and at the same time always invited the locals. So the glory of a very good-natured and hospitable person was established behind him. The film contains the following words of the protagonist: "You come to me at midnight after midnight. I drink tea - sit down to drink tea. I have dinner - please, eat. Here I am what kind of commander!"

The myth is that he was semi-literate. In fact, he was a very talented military leader and certainly literate. If the whites found out that Chapaev was against them, they developed operations with particular care. This speaks of Chapaev's authority not only among the Reds, but also among the Whites. One Chapaevsky regiment fought and successfully against an entire enemy division. Legends were written and songs sung about him.

Legend: Chapaev comes after the battle, takes off his overcoat, shakes it, and the bullets that hit him pour out of the overcoat. Mythologization took place immediately after Furmanov's book and the release of the film by the Vasiliev brothers. And until the 30s, they spoke of him very differently.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Attack

What happened in the last fight? It is generally accepted that the Reds were attacked by superior enemy forces. In fact, there were about 4 thousand Reds, which is much more than whites. According to the official version, Chapaev died on September 5, 1919 near the city of Lbischensk, now the village of Chapaev. At that time, the Ural Cossack army opposed the Reds in this area. In Lbischensk itself, the headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was located. In early September, the Whites carried out the Lbischensky raid - a daring breakthrough deep into the Reds' defenses. As a result, they utterly defeated the Chapaevs and destroyed their commander.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"

There are a lot of oddities in this whole story. The Cossacks, exhausted by the retreat, suddenly break the 25th division, which was considered one of the best in the Red Army? The division had artillery batteries and armored cars, and even 4 airplanes. At that time, a colossal strategic advantage. It was the pilots who were entrusted with the task of tracking the movement of the enemy and observing the surrounding area. However, for some reason the airplanes did not help Chapaev. How could such an experienced commander miss the movement of the whites, who for several days moved across the bare steppe to his headquarters? Air reconnaissance could not fail to notice detachments of Cossacks approaching Lbischensk. It remains to assume the betrayal of the pilots. According to eyewitnesses, during the attack on Lbischensk, two of the four airplanes flew over to the enemy's location.

Photo by Claudia Vasilievna Chapaeva

It turns out that Chapaev's daughter has been collecting bit by bit information about that last fight of her father for 25 years. Moreover, she managed to communicate with the very pilots who killed Chapaev. Claudia Vasilievna claimed that when she asked the pilots why they behaved so shamefully, they replied that they were well paid and they wanted to live. Allegedly, later these people occupied quite high positions in the Red Army. The daughter also reports the names of these traitor pilots: Sladkovsky and Sadovsky. But bad luck, these names do not appear in the list of pilots of the Chapaev division.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"

Still, the fact is that Chapaev did not know about the approach of the White Cossacks. There is another version that the assistant commander Orlovsky, the head of the operational unit, betrayed. It was to him that the pilots reported all the information. But one questionable point. It is known that Chapaev had a nose for his comrades-in-arms, would he really not have smelled treason? In addition, Orlovsky repeatedly proved his loyalty to the commander in battle. All the same, the version of Orlovsky's betrayal is unlikely. As for the pilots, it is unlikely that the whites would be able to recruit them as soon as possible. All the pilots could not go on a betrayal at once.

And here's another one version. The pilots had some very weighty argument. Order of the High Command of the Red Army. During the turbulent years of the civil war, this could well have happened. Chapaev's daughter also assures that her father was wanted to be killed by her own people, because he interfered with everyone. His tough temper and independence irritated many in the Bolshevik leadership. Another important point. Chapaev was a complete Cavalier of St. George. This suggests that he used to be selflessly devoted to the tsarist regime. This could be an argument for the Red leadership to liquidate it.

A photo. Real Chapaev - St. George Cavalier

Furmanov describes such a case, which was included in the film, when Chapaev is asked by the peasants: "Are you, Vasily Ivanovich, for the Bolsheviks or for the Communists?" And he couldn't answer. But the Bolsheviks adhered to the iron rule. Those who are not with us are against us. Chapaev, even after such an innocent episode, could well have been blacklisted.

Was there a confrontation between Chapaev and the leadership of the Bolsheviks? The document has been archived. This is the protocol of the special department of November 2, 1918. "We listened to the case of Comrade Chapaev. We decided to remove Comrade Chapaev from office by disciplinary procedure, put on trial and shoot. In view of a possible rebellion in the army, seek the assistance of Comrade Trotsky, suggest that he summon Comrade Chapaev to his place for a report. "However, according to his daughter, Chapaev was warned about the real reason for the call to Moscow, and he sent Trotsky a telegram:" Do you need to kill me? So take it and kill it. But for my sake, killing the entire division is a crime. " Realizing that the situation is heating up, Trotsky decides to personally visit Chapaev. However, his visit to the division hardly resembled a friendly one. Trotsky apparently perceived Chapaev as an anarchist.

A photo. Real Chapaev

The fact is. Trotsky always went to the troops on the same armored train. When he went to Chapaev, there were two armored trains. And the armored train is power. When they arrived, they did not leave for several hours. It is felt that Trotsky did not trust Chapaev. Here is a vivid picture of Trotsky's attitude towards Chapaev. Just an amazing picture. When Chapaev reported on the situation at the front, Trotsky was eating a watermelon and spitting out the bones. So boorishly behaved towards the commander in the presence of his troops. After this, relations between Chapaev and the leadership of the Bolsheviks escalated to the limit. In the summer of 1919, Lenin suggested that Kamenev take Chapaev's place. He refuses. Then in Moscow they decide to put Chapaev on a starvation ration. Cut off his supply of food and weapons.

And then even more interesting. It is known that it was Trotsky who sent those airplanes to Chapaev's division, which later played a fatal role. That is, it was Trotsky who obeyed the pilots. So it was Trotsky who probably ordered Chapaev.

Photo river Ural

According to the testimony of the Hungarians, their commander was shot in the back and at close range. Similarly, a week earlier, the legendary commander Shchors was killed in Ukraine. A few years later, also under unclear circumstances, the famous Kotovsky was also shot dead. There is a version that this was done by Trotsky's people. However, historians treat this version with distrust. Trotsky, although he was the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, was not Chapaev's immediate superior. And Trotsky had no good reason to conflict with the divisional commander, whom he saw a couple of times in his life.

Feeling how huge Chapaev's authority in the troops, how much he does not look like an anarchist at all, Trotsky does not dare to arrest him. Instead, he takes out a gold watch and hands it to Chapaev with a silver checker. There was a conflict between Chapaev and Trotsky based on the fact that Chapaev is an upstart, a person who makes too many independent decisions and thus, as it were, discredits the leadership, the military policy of the Red Army. But still it is impossible to say unequivocally that Trotsky "ordered" Chapaev.

There was such an interesting figure - the commander of the 4th Army, Hwesin. Chapaev wrote: "Khvesin betrayed me, he is a scoundrel." The betrayal consisted in the fact that Khvesin did not give Chapaev certain reinforcements, an armored division, a car, or something else. This document came to Khwesin. When the question was discussed that the Red Army should get rid of Chapaev, Khvesin, on the contrary, supported his divisional commander, was not offended by the accusations, and he himself flew off his post. This was long before Chapaev's death.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"

In the Civil War, destinies were instantly broken and heroes were born just as instantly. Anyone could fall into favor or out of favor. If, for example, they wanted to shoot Chapaev a year ago, then it cannot be argued that a year later he was framed and killed like that.

It is also hard to imagine that Trotsky would have removed Shchors, Kotovsky, Chapaev at the height of the war. The Bolshevik leadership needed them alive at that moment much more. The bullet that killed Chapaev could have been a Cossack. The Whites, having captured Lbishensk, searched among the dead for the divisional commander, but did not find it. So if he died, then on the other side.

Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"

There is another version. Chapaev was not killed at all, but survived. For all the fantasticness of this version, it has some grounds. The story is next. In 1972, an inconspicuous old man dies in one of the Kremlin hospitals. However, he is buried in a prestigious metropolitan cemetery. On the tombstone is: Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. Suppose the wounded Chapaev was transported across the Urals, then he had to heal the wound somewhere, come to his senses. Some time passed, maybe several months, and after recovering, Chapaev went to Frunze and demanded that those who betrayed him be punished. And Frunze told him: "You died for everyone. The division was named after you. So live for yourself and don't you dare tell anyone that you are that same Chapaev." That is, he has already become a legend, at least among the soldiers of the Red Army. Dead Chapaev - a fearless hero - turned out to be much more necessary for the Soviet government than a living one.

Vasily Ivanovich grieved, but in the end agreed to silence. But after the premiere of the film about himself in the mid-30s, he still could not resist, and he told his secret. For this, the obstinate division commander was first sent to camps, and then put in a psychiatric hospital. There were 5 Chapaevs in each ward. There, completely broken, Vasily Ivanovich quietly grew old and died.

The archives preserved the memories of the soldiers of the 25th division who allegedly met with their "dead" commander in the early 30s and even after the Great Patriotic War. But it is not possible to verify this evidence. Witnesses are long gone. So the version remains the version. No grave with the name Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev was found in the famous Moscow cemeteries.

One military historian claims that at first Chapaev was indeed buried on the banks of the Ural River, but later, when the Red Army launched a counteroffensive, the soldiers dug up the grave of their commander and transported the body to Uralsk, where they were reburied in a cemetery near St. Nicholas Church. One of the old residents of the city of Uralsk, a certain Stepan Prokhorov, claimed that as a child he saw how two Red Army soldiers from the 25th division brought the body of their commander to the city. Initially, Chapaev was allegedly going to have a solemn funeral. But then a strange order came - to bury in a common grave, and then we'll figure it out. Later, the same Prokhorov, driving with the boys around the cemetery, allegedly saw a metal sheet stuck into one of the graves, on which it was written: "Four communists and Chapaev are buried here." The boy reported what he saw to his father, a party worker. But he ordered his son to keep his mouth shut to avoid trouble. The history is strange.

St. Nicholas Church in Uralsk still exists. Near it is a small cemetery with many old obelisks with stars. Chapaev's grave is not here, at least not signed.

The Soviet government did everything possible to turn a living person into a monument, as it succeeded more than once. And to distort the true facts of his biography as much as possible.

He was respected not only by the Reds but also by the Whites. He was loved by both fighters and peasants. And it was for what. In Soviet times, the Reds were exalted in our country, and the Whites were portrayed as such scoundrels. Now it's the other way around. All the bastards are already red. In fact, everything is not so. The civil war is a great national tragedy. And we must pay tribute to all the dead. And even more so fought honestly for the idea. Chapaev was like that.

And the testimonies of the Hungarians still must be recognized as authentic. After all, they did not have any selfish motives. They were not looking for any glory, but only wanted to tell their daughter how her father died. And then in 1919 they saved their commander. There is no reason not to trust them.

Who is Chapaev? This is not just a soldier of two armies, this is a whole symbol of the era of the collapse of empires and revolutions.

He played a significant role in the Civil War on the territory of the Russian Empire. The Red Army soldiers under his leadership inflicted a heavy defeat on General Kolchak on the Eastern Front. Chapaev himself was a symbol of red Cossack courage. His image was actively used for agitation and propaganda both during the Civil War and in the Soviet Union.

Vasily Chapaev: biography

Born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the Kazan province. His parents were ordinary peasants. Regarding the name of Vasily Ivanovich, there is no exact information. As the brother of the famous Red Army soldier recalled, the surname Chapaev was at first a nickname. Allegedly, Vasily's grandfather worked as a foreman in a construction artel and constantly shouted to his subordinates: "Chepay! Chepay" "("take"). Since then, they began to call him Chapaev, which soon became a surname. This was confirmed by Ivanovich himself. The nationality of the "red" Cossack is still unclear.According to some sources, his mother was a Chuvash.

The Chapaev family was quite large. In addition to Vasily, there were six children. Parents worked hard, but still the family lived in poverty. Therefore, a few years after the birth of their last child, they move to the Samara province. Vasily's father, who wanted to give his son an education, sends him to a church school. At that time, she was sponsored by her father's cousin. Initially, the parents wanted Vasily to become a priest, like some other relatives. However, in the fall of 1908, Chapaev was drafted into the army. His unit is stationed in Kyiv. However, a few months later, Vasily was transferred to the reserve. Who Chapaev was, they did not know in the Kiev Military District, so it is impossible to determine the exact reason for such a strange decision. According to the official version, the dismissal was due to illness. In Soviet times, there was a popular theory that Vasily was expelled from the army due to political unreliability. Upon arrival home, he is granted the rank of a militia warrior.

At home, Vasily works as a carpenter. Soon he marries Pelagia Metlina, who is the daughter of a local priest. In the nine hundred and ninth year they are married. Almost immediately they move to Dimitrovgrad and live there. In the fourteenth year, the First World War begins. All military reserves are called up to the imperial troops, and Chapaev is no exception. The biography of Vasily as a military man begins just then.

World War I

Vasily Ivanovich was mobilized in the 159th reserve regiment, which was stationed in the city of Atkarsk.

There he undergoes training and retraining. Two months later he was sent to the front. They arrive in Galicia, where fierce battles are unfolding against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. In the cold winter of the fifteenth, the siege of Przemysl continued. Russian troops began to prepare an operation to break through to the territory of Hungary. To do this, it was necessary to go to the Hungarian plain, which was prevented by the fortifications of the Austrians in the Carpathians. In mid-January, an almost simultaneous offensive by the opposing sides began. The army of the German Empire planned to lift the siege of the strategically important Przemysl and go to the rear of the Russian troops.

V. I. Chapaev participated in the Carpathian operation. Stubborn battles ensued in the mountains. The battles took place in the most difficult weather conditions. The passes by this time were almost completely covered with snow. It also affected the well-being of soldiers who grew up on flat terrain. Chapaev was wounded in one of the battles and was in the hospital for some time.

Battle in the Carpathians

After heavy fighting, the Russian troops still managed to occupy the dominant heights and win tactically. However, in the spring began a mass offensive of the enemy. The German army was going to attack from East Prussia and encircle the Russian troops in the Warsaw area. At this time, a significant part of the imperial army was stuck in difficult passages in the Carpathians and could not move quickly. The Russian army was extremely poorly equipped. The Germans and Austrians had a total superiority in both heavy guns and machine guns. For example, the Germans had ninety-six machine guns, while the Russian troops had none. V. I. Chapaev was part of those retreating from Poland in 1915. This defeat leveled all the gains of the Russian army in the campaign of the fourteenth year and in the Carpathian operation. But the moral blow was the strongest.

Breakthrough of Russian troops

Who Chapaev was, it became known in the Belgorai regiment during the famous summer of the sixteenth year, a massive Russian offensive near Lutsk began. The goal was the occupation of Galicia and Volhynia, the capture of the enemy enemy grouping. After several hours of artillery preparation, the troops of the entire front went on the offensive. Already on the first day they managed to break through the first line of defense and capture many trophies. By September, the operation was completed. The Germans and Austrians lost one and a half million soldiers killed, wounded and captured. For his courage, Vasily Chapaev received the St. George Cross.

Homecoming

Chapaev returned home with the rank of sergeant major. For a long time he was in the hospital. At this time, changes were brewing in the country. Chapaev, like millions of Russian workers, was extremely dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country. The standard of living was deteriorating, the social gap between the nobles and the "masses" was simply monstrous. Plus, thousands of soldiers died every day in an incomprehensible war. As a result, the unrest among the people reached its peak in February.

A revolution has begun in St. Petersburg. The tsar abdicated, and power passed to the Provisional Government. Vasily Ivanovich reacted positively to the new changes. In September 1717, he joined the Bolshevik Party. As a person with combat experience, he was very much appreciated. Therefore, he is appointed commander of an infantry regiment.

Beginning of the Civil War

After Vasily showed his skills, he was appointed commissioner of the whole county. Almost autonomously, he was engaged in the formation of combat communist detachments. In a fairly short time, he managed to organize the Red Guard from 14 battalions. Almost from the very beginning of the war, the entire Ural region was occupied by the Whites. This is due to the compact residence of the Cossacks in this territory. Therefore, Chapaev's detachments operated in extremely difficult conditions. The Whites did not even need to conduct thorough reconnaissance, because wherever the Reds appeared, there were people among the local population who reported on their numbers, weapons and transmitted other important information.

Red offensive

In winter, fierce battles flared up near Tsaritsyn.

General Kaledin had at his disposal selected fighters who had good combat experience behind them. And many were trained in military craft from childhood. But Chapaev managed in a short time to train the peasants and workers so that they fought on a par with the military. After that, his units were included in the Special Army. In its composition, Vasily Ivanovich took a personal part in the campaign against Uralsk. During the fighting he was wounded in the head. After the end of the campaign, he reorganized, breaking the guards into two regiments, which he united into a brigade under his command.

In the summer of the eighteenth year in full swing. The Czechoslovak invaders captured Nikolaevsk, where they proclaimed Soviet power less than a year ago with the active participation of Chapaev himself. Almost the entire Ural region came under the control of the Whites. The Pugachev brigade (one of the regiments was named after Pugachev) besieged the city and after several days of heavy fighting recaptured it. During the battles for Nikolaevsk, the Red Army fought so desperately that many whites fled the battlefield. After that, the whole north of Russia knew who Chapaev was. In the winter of the eighteenth year, Vasily Ivanovich is studying at the Academy of the General Staff. After that, he receives the position of commissioner.

army commander

Six months later, Chapaev commanded a brigade, and a month later, a division. The troops are advancing on the Eastern Front against one of the best White generals - Kolchak. With the support of the Turkestan army, the Bugulmi and Bugurslanovsky districts were taken by the Reds. The front passed through the Ufa province. About thirty thousand soldiers launched an offensive on the twenty-fifth of May, and by the end of June, Kolchak's troops fled from the province. Chapaev took part in the assault on Ufa. During the battle, he was wounded in the head from an aircraft machine gun, but survived.

The commander of the Red Army continued to lead the fighting in extremely difficult conditions. After a swift offensive, Chapaev's fighters strongly broke forward and were exhausted. Therefore, in the fall of the eighteenth, we stopped in Lbischensk to rest and wait for reinforcements to arrive. All administrative military institutions are located in the city itself. However, there were very few fighters. The garrison consisted of six hundred bayonets, commanded by Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich. The civil war squeezed the last juices out of the torn country. Therefore, peasants who did not know how to handle weapons were mobilized into the Red Army. About two thousand of these recruits were also in Lbischensk, but were not armed. The main forces of the division were forty kilometers from the city.

Raid of the White Cossacks

The weakness of the Chapaevsky garrison decided to take advantage of the white colonel Borodin. Under the cover of night on the last day of summer, his detachment, consisting of selected fighters, departed from Kalyonoye and went on a raid. The Red Army soldiers had four airplanes at their disposal. They were doing reconnaissance around the city.

However, the pilots were mobilized from the local population and appeared to be sympathetic to the whites. Therefore, on September 4, Borodin's detachment quietly approached the city. The commander of the Red Army Chapaev at that time was in Lbischensk. At dawn, the Cossacks attacked the city. The surprise factor worked - panic began. The Red Army soldiers in chaos tried to organize resistance. The battle lasted about six hours.

Death

Many were taken prisoner. But some managed to break through to the Ural River. They tried to swim to the other side, despite the current. Among them was Chapaev. The hero of the Civil War was seriously wounded in the stomach, but still continued to fight. According to the official version, after the arrival of the main part of the Cossacks, he ran to the river. He was already halfway through when the bullet hit him in the head. He died as soon as he reached the shore. The monument to Chapaev was simple - made of reeds and algae. The Red Army soldiers who buried the glorious commander were afraid that the whites would find a burial place.

Memory

After the end of the Civil War, thanks to Soviet agitation, Chapaev became one of its most striking symbols. Several films were made about him, many songs and poems were written. The image of the dashing red Cossack has become an element of folklore. In jokes, Chapaev became something like Lieutenant Rzhevsky.

The monument to Chapaev, already made of stone, stands in many cities of the post-Soviet space.

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich a brief biography of a participant in the Civil and First World Wars, the head of the Red Army is set out in this article.

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich short biography

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich was born on January 28, 1887 in the village of Budaika in a peasant family. He was the sixth child in the family. A large family in search of a better life moved to the village of Balakovo. His parents sent him to a church school, hoping that his son would become a priest. But they didn't. But he married Pelageya Metlina, the daughter of a local priest. When he was drafted into the army, he served there for a year, and for health reasons the guy was commissioned.

Returning home, Chapaev worked as a carpenter until 1914, trying to feed his wife and three children. In January 1914, he was sent to the front of the First World War, where he showed himself to be a brave and skillful warrior. For courage and courage he was awarded the St. George medal and St. George's crosses. He received the title of Knight of St. George.

In 1917, when the Bolsheviks came to power, he took their side and showed himself to be an excellent organizer. While in the Saratov province, Chapaev created 14 detachments of the Red Guard. They successfully fought with General Kaledin. A year later, in May, the Pugachev brigade was formed from 14 detachments. Chapaev headed it.

His fame and popularity grew just before our eyes. In 1919, he was the commander of the 25th Infantry Division and conducted military operations against the White Army of Kolchak.

An early death prevented him from revealing the true talent of the commander September 5, 1919. The division of Vasily Ivanovich carried out an offensive operation and lagged behind the main part of the forces. They were attacked by the White Guard army of Borodin. Chapaev was wounded in the stomach and head, from which he died.

130 years ago, on February 9, 1887, the future hero of the Civil War, people's commander Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev was born. Vasily Chapaev fought heroically during the First World War, and during the Civil War he became a legendary figure, self-taught, who advanced to high command posts due to his own abilities in the absence of a special military education. He became a real legend when not only official myths, but also fiction firmly overshadowed the real historical figure.

Chapaev was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the village of Budaika in Chuvashia. The ancestors of the Chapaevs have lived here since ancient times. He was the sixth child in a poor Russian peasant family. The child was weak, premature, but his grandmother came out. His father, Ivan Stepanovich, was a carpenter by profession, had a small plot of land, but his own bread was never enough, and therefore he worked as a cab driver in Cheboksary. Grandfather, Stepan Gavrilovich, was written in documents as Gavrilov. And the surname Chapaev came from the nickname - “chapay, scoop, cling” (“take”).

In search of a better life, the Chapaev family moved to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaevsky district, Samara province. Since childhood, Vasily worked hard, worked as a sex worker in a tea shop, as an assistant to an organ grinder, a merchant, and helped his father in carpentry. Ivan Stepanovich assigned his son to the local parochial school, the patron of which was his wealthy cousin. There were already priests in the Chapaev family, and the parents wanted Vasily to become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise. In the church school, Vasily learned to write and read in syllables. Once he was punished for an offense - Vasily was put in a cold winter punishment cell in his underwear. Realizing an hour later that it was freezing, the child broke the window and jumped from the height of the third floor, breaking his arms and legs. Thus ended Chapaev's studies.

In the autumn of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army and sent to Kyiv. But already in the spring of next year, apparently due to illness, Chapaev was dismissed from the army to the reserve and transferred to the first-class militia warriors. Before the First World War, he worked as a carpenter. In 1909, Vasily Ivanovich married Pelageya Nikanorovna Metlina, the daughter of a priest. Together they lived for 6 years, they had three children. From 1912 to 1914, Chapaev and his family lived in the city of Melekess (now Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region).

It is worth noting that Vasily Ivanovich's family life did not work out. Pelageya, when Vasily went to the front, went with her children to a neighbor. At the beginning of 1917, Chapaev drove to his native places and intended to divorce Pelageya, but was content with taking the children from her and returning them to their parents' house. Soon after that, he got along with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of Peter Kamishkertsev, a friend of Chapaev, who died from a wound during the fighting in the Carpathians (Chapaev and Kamishkertsev promised each other that if one of the two was killed, the survivor would take care of the friend's family). However, Kamishkertseva also cheated on Chapaev. This circumstance was revealed shortly before the death of Chapaev and dealt him a strong moral blow. In the last year of his life, Chapaev also had an affair with the wife of Commissar Furmanov, Anna (it is believed that it was she who became the prototype of Anka the machine gunner), which led to a sharp conflict with Furmanov. Furmanov scribbled denunciations against Chapaev, but later admitted in his diaries that he simply envied the legendary division commander.

With the outbreak of war, on September 20, 1914, Chapaev was called up for military service and sent to the 159th reserve infantry regiment in the city of Atkarsk. In January 1915, he went to the front as part of the 326th Belgorai Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Infantry Division from the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front. Was injured. In July 1915 he graduated from the training team, received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, and in October - senior. Participated in the Brusilovsky breakthrough. He ended the war with the rank of sergeant major. He fought well, was wounded and shell-shocked several times, for his bravery he was awarded the St. George medal and the soldiers' St. George's crosses of three degrees. Thus, Chapaev was one of those soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the tsarist imperial army, who went through the cruelest school of the First World War and soon became the core of the Red Army.

Feldwebel Chapaev with his wife Pelageya Nikanorovna, 1916

Civil War

I met the February Revolution in a hospital in Saratov. September 28, 1917 joined the RSDLP (b). He was elected commander of the 138th infantry reserve regiment stationed in Nikolaevsk. On December 18, the district congress of Soviets elected the military commissar of the Nikolaevsky district. Organized the county Red Guard of 14 detachments. Participated in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn), then in the spring of 1918 in the campaign of the Special Army against Uralsk. On his initiative, on May 25, a decision was made to reorganize the Red Guard detachments into two regiments of the Red Army: named after Stepan Razin and named after Pugachev, united in the Pugachev brigade under the command of Vasily Chapaev. Later he participated in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People's Army, from whom Nikolaevsk was recaptured, renamed Pugachev.

September 19, 1918 was appointed commander of the 2nd Nikolaev division. In battles with whites, Cossacks and Czech interventionists, Chapaev showed himself to be a solid commander and an excellent tactician, skillfully assessing the situation and offering the best solution, as well as a personally brave man who enjoyed the authority and love of the fighters. During this period, Chapaev repeatedly personally led troops into the attack. According to the temporary commander of the 4th Soviet Army of the former General Staff, Major General A. A. Baltiysky, Chapaev’s “lack of general military education affects the technique of command and control and the lack of breadth to cover military affairs. Full of initiative, but uses it unbalanced, due to lack of military education. However, Comrade Chapaev clearly indicates all the data, on the basis of which, with an appropriate military education, both technology and a reasonable military scope will undoubtedly appear. The desire to get a military education in order to get out of the state of "military darkness", and then again join the ranks of the military front. You can be sure that the natural talents of Comrade Chapaev, combined with military education, will give bright results.

In November 1918, Chapaev was sent to the newly created Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army in Moscow to improve his education. He stayed at the Academy until February 1919, then arbitrarily dropped out of school and returned to the front. “Studying at the academy is a good and very important thing, but it’s a shame and a pity that the White Guards are beaten without us,” said the red commander. Chapaev noted about his studies: “I haven’t read about Hannibal before, but I see that he was an experienced commander. But I do not agree with his actions in many ways. He made many unnecessary reorganizations in front of the enemy and thereby revealed his plan to him, hesitated in his actions and did not show perseverance for the final defeat of the enemy. I had a case similar to the situation during the Battle of Cannes. It was in August, on the river N. We let up to two regiments of whites with artillery across the bridge to our bank, gave them the opportunity to stretch along the road, and then opened heavy artillery fire on the bridge and attacked from all sides. The stunned enemy did not have time to come to his senses, as he was surrounded and almost completely destroyed. The remnants of it rushed to the destroyed bridge and were forced to rush into the river, where most of them drowned. 6 guns, 40 machine guns and 600 prisoners fell into our hands. We achieved these successes thanks to the swiftness and surprise of our attack.

Chapaev was appointed Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Nikolaevsky district. Since May 1919 - brigade commander of the Special Alexander-Gai Brigade, since June - of the 25th Infantry Division. The division acted against the main forces of the Whites, participated in repelling the spring offensive of the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, participated in the Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa operations. These operations predetermined the crossing of the Ural Range by the Red troops and the defeat of Kolchak's army. In these operations, Chapaev's division acted on enemy communications and carried out detours. Maneuvering tactics became a feature of Chapaev and his division. Even white commanders singled out Chapaev and noted his organizational skills. A major success was the crossing of the Belaya River, which led to the capture of Ufa on June 9, 1919 and the further retreat of the White troops. Then Chapaev, who was on the front line, was wounded in the head, but remained in the ranks. For military distinctions he was awarded the highest award of Soviet Russia - the Order of the Red Banner, and his division was awarded the honorary revolutionary Red Banner.

Chapaev loved his fighters, and they paid him the same. His division was considered one of the best on the Eastern Front. In many ways, he was precisely the leader of the people, while possessing a real gift for military leadership, great energy and initiative that infected those around him. Vasily Ivanovich was a commander who strove to constantly learn in practice, directly in the course of battles, a simple man and cunning at the same time (this was the quality of a real representative of the people). Chapaev knew perfectly well the area of ​​operations, located on the right flank of the Eastern Front, which was remote from the center.

After the Ufa operation, Chapaev's division was again transferred to the front against the Ural Cossacks. It was necessary to act in the steppe area, far from communications, with the superiority of the Cossacks in the cavalry. The struggle here was accompanied by mutual bitterness, uncompromising confrontation. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev died on September 5, 1919 as a result of a deep raid by the Cossack detachment of Colonel N. N. Borodin, which culminated in an unexpected attack on the city of Lbischensk, located in the rear, where the headquarters of the 25th division was located. Chapaev's division, which broke away from the rear and suffered heavy losses, settled down to rest in the Lbischensk region in early September. Moreover, the headquarters of the division, the supply department, the tribunal, the Revolutionary Committee and other divisional institutions were located in Lbischensk itself. The main forces of the division were removed from the city. The command of the White Ural Army decided to undertake a raid on Lbishensk. On the evening of August 31, a select detachment under the command of Colonel Nikolai Borodin left the village of Kalyon. On September 4, Borodin's detachment secretly approached the city and hid in the reeds in the backwaters of the Urals. Aerial reconnaissance did not report this to Chapaev, although it could not have detected the enemy. It is believed that due to the fact that the pilots sympathized with the whites (after the defeat, they went over to the side of the whites).

At dawn on September 5, the Cossacks attacked Lbischensk. A few hours later the battle was over. Most of the Red Army was not ready to attack, panicked, was surrounded and surrendered. It ended in a massacre, all the prisoners were killed - in batches of 100-200 people on the banks of the Urals. Only a small part was able to break through to the river. Among them was Vasily Chapaev, who gathered a small detachment and organized resistance. According to the testimony of the General Staff of Colonel M. I. Izergin: “Chapaev himself with a small detachment, with whom he took refuge in one of the houses on the banks of the Urals, had to survive the longest of all with artillery fire.”

During the battle, Chapaev was seriously wounded in the stomach, he was transported to the other side on a raft. According to the story of Chapaev's eldest son, Alexander, two Hungarian Red Army soldiers put the wounded Chapaev on a raft made from half a gate and transported him across the Ural River. But on the other side it turned out that Chapaev died from blood loss. The Red Army soldiers buried his body with their hands in the coastal sand and threw reeds so that the whites would not find the grave. This story was subsequently confirmed by one of the participants in the events, who in 1962 sent a letter from Chapaev's daughter from Hungary with a detailed description of the death of the Red Divisional Commander. The investigation conducted by the whites also confirms these data. From the words of the captured Red Army soldiers, “Chapaev, leading a group of Red Army soldiers towards us, was wounded in the stomach. The wound turned out to be so severe that after that he could no longer direct the battle and was transported across the Urals on the boards ... he [Chapaev] was already on the Asian side of the river. Ural died from a wound in the stomach. During this battle, the commander of the whites, Colonel Nikolai Nikolaevich Borodin, also died (he was posthumously promoted to the rank of major general).

There are other versions of Chapaev's fate. Thanks to Dmitry Furmanov, who served as a commissar in Chapaev's division and wrote the novel "Chapaev" about him and especially the film "Chapaev", the version of the death of the wounded Chapaev in the waves of the Urals became popular. This version arose immediately after the death of Chapaev and was, in fact, the fruit of an assumption, based on the fact that Chapaev was seen on the European coast, but he did not sail to the Asian coast, and his corpse was not found. There is also a version that Chapaev was killed in captivity.

According to one version, Chapaev eliminated his own as a disobedient people's commander (in modern terms, a "field commander"). Chapaev had a conflict with L. Trotsky. According to this version, the pilots, who were supposed to inform the divisional commander about the approach of the Whites, were following the order of the high command of the Red Army. The independence of the “red field commander” irritated Trotsky; he saw an anarchist in Chapaev who could disobey orders. Thus, it is possible that Trotsky "ordered" Chapaev. White acted as a tool, nothing more. During the battle, Chapaev was simply shot dead. According to a similar scheme, Trotsky and other red commanders were eliminated, who, not understanding international intrigues, fought for the common people. A week before Chapaev, the legendary division commander Nikolai Shchors was killed in Ukraine. A few years later, in 1925, the famous Grigory Kotovsky was also shot dead under unclear circumstances. In the same year, 1925, Mikhail Frunze was killed on the surgical table, also by order of Trotsky's team.

Chapaev lived a short (he died at 32), but a bright life. As a result, the legend of the red divisional commander arose. The country needed a hero whose reputation was not tarnished. People watched this film dozens of times, all Soviet boys dreamed of repeating Chapaev's feat. Subsequently, Chapaev entered folklore as the hero of many popular jokes. In this mythology, the image of Chapaev was distorted beyond recognition. In particular, according to jokes, he is such a cheerful, rollicking person, a drunkard. In fact, Vasily Ivanovich did not drink alcohol at all, tea was his favorite drink. The orderly carried a samovar for him everywhere. Arriving at any location, Chapaev immediately began to drink tea and, at the same time, be sure to invite the locals. So the glory of a very good-natured and hospitable person was established behind him. One more moment. In the film, Chapaev is a dashing horseman, rushing at the enemy with a saber drawn. In fact, Chapaev did not feel much love for horses. I preferred a car. The widespread legend that Chapaev fought against the famous General V. O. Kappel is also untrue.

Some authors express the opinion that the role of Chapaev in the history of the Civil War is very small, and it would not be worth mentioning him among other famous figures of that time, such as N. A. Shchors, S. G. Lazo, G. I. Kotovsky, if would not be a myth created from it. According to other sources, the 25th division played a big role in the zone of the South-Eastern Red Front in taking such provincial centers in the defense of Admiral Kolchak's troops as Samara, Ufa, Uralsk, Orenburg, Aktyubinsk. Subsequently, after the death of Chapaev, the operations of the 25th Infantry Division were carried out under the command of I. S. Kutyakov in the Soviet-Polish war.

Personal life

In 1908, Chapaev met 16-year-old Pelageya Metlina, the daughter of a priest. On July 5, 1909, 22-year-old Vasily Ivanovich Chepaev married a 17-year-old peasant woman from the village of Balakovo Pelageya Nikanorovna Metlina (State Archive of the Saratov Region F.637. Op.7. D.69. L.380ob-309.). Together they lived for 6 years, they had three children. Then the First World War began, and Chapaev went to the front. Pelageya lived in the house of his parents, then went with the children to a neighbor-conductor.

At the beginning of 1917, Chapaev drove to his native places and intended to divorce Pelageya, but was content with taking the children from her and returning them to their parents' house. Soon after that, he got along with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of Peter Kamishkertsev, a friend of Chapaev, who died from a wound during the fighting in the Carpathians (Chapaev and Kamishkertsev promised each other that if one of the two was killed, the survivor would take care of the friend's family). In 1919, Chapaev settled Kamishkertseva with their children (Chapaev's children and Kamishkertsev's daughters Olimpiada and Vera) in the village. Klintsovka at the artillery warehouse of the division, after which Kamishkertseva changed

Chapaev with the head of the artillery warehouse Georgy Zhivolozhinov. This circumstance was revealed shortly before the death of Chapaev and dealt him a strong moral blow. In the last year of his life, Chapaev also had affairs with a certain Tanka the Cossack (the daughter of a Cossack colonel, with whom he was forced to part under the moral pressure of the Red Army soldiers) and the wife of Commissar Furmanov, Anna Nikitichnaya Steshenko, which led to an acute conflict with Furmanov and was the reason for recall Furmanov from the division shortly before the death of Chapaev.

Chapaev's daughter Claudia was sure that it was Pelageya Kamishkertseva who killed him. She described the circumstances of the family drama as follows:

Dad comes home one day - he looks, but the door to the bedroom is closed. He knocks and asks his wife to open the door. And she has George. The father screams, and then Zhivolozhinov starts shooting through the door. His fighters were with dad, they went around the house from the other side, broke the window and let's shoot from a machine gun. The lover jumped out of the room and began to shoot with a revolver. My father and I miraculously escaped.

Chapaev army commissar

Pelageya Kamishkertseva (center), Alexander Chapaev (far left), Arkady Chapaev (standing behind Kamishkertseva), Claudia Chapaeva (to the right of Kamishkertseva)

Chapaev, according to her, immediately went back to the division headquarters. Soon after that, Pelageya decided to make peace with her common-law husband and went to Lbischensk, taking little Arkady with her. However, she was not allowed to see Chapaev. On the way back, Pelageya drove into the white headquarters and reported information about the small number of forces standing in Lbischensk.

According to K. Chapaeva, she heard Pelageya boast about this already in the 1930s. However, it should be noted that since the population of Lbischensk and its environs, which consisted of the Ural Cossacks, fully sympathized with the whites and maintained contact with them, the latter were aware of the situation in the city in detail. Therefore, even if the story of the betrayal of Pelageya Kamishkertseva is true, the information she reported was not of particular value. This report is not mentioned in the documents of the White Guards.

Chapaev's native children:

Alexander Vasilievich (1910-1985) - officer, went through the entire Great Patriotic War. He retired with the rank of Major General. The last post was Deputy Commander of Artillery of the Moscow Military District.

Claudia Vasilievna (1912-1999) - Soviet party worker, known as a collector of materials about her father.

Arkady Vasilyevich (1914-1939) - military pilot, died near Borisoglebsk during a training flight in a fighter.

Awards[edit |

Insignia of the Military Order of Saint George

George medal