Tsarist generals in the Red Army. Officers and generals of the tsarist army in the civil war

I was asked about them some time ago. Here is the information. Source: http://admin.liga-net.com/my/analytics/nobles-backbone-rkka.html

For some time now it has become fashionable for us to sympathize with the whites. They are de nobles, people of honor and duty, "the intellectual elite of the nation." Almost half of the country remembers its noble roots.
It has become fashionable on occasion to cry about the innocently murdered and exiled nobles. And, as usual, the Reds, who treated the “elite” in such a way, are blamed for all the troubles of the present time. Behind these conversations, the main thing becomes invisible - the Reds still won that fight, and after all, the “elite” of not only Russia, but also the strongest powers of that time, fought with them.

And why did the current “noble gentlemen” take that the nobles in that great Russian turmoil were necessarily on the side of the whites? Other nobles, like Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, did much more for the proletarian revolution than Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Let's turn to the facts.

75,000 former officers served in the Red Army, while about 35,000 of the 150,000 officer corps of the Russian Empire served in the White Army.

On November 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks came to power. Russia by that time was still at war with Germany and its allies. Like it or not, you have to fight. Therefore, already on November 19, 1917, the Bolsheviks appointed the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief ... a hereditary nobleman, His Excellency Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich.

It was he who would lead the armed forces of the Republic in the most difficult period for the country, from November 1917 to August 1918, and from the scattered units of the former Imperial Army and Red Guard detachments, by February 1918, he would form the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. March to August M.D. Bonch-Bruevich will hold the post of military head of the Supreme Military Council of the Republic, and in 1919 - chief of the Field Headquarters Rev. Military Council of the Republic.

At the end of 1918, the post of Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic was established. We ask you to love and favor - his honor, Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic, Sergey Sergeevich Kamenev (not to be confused with Kamenev, who was then shot together with Zinoviev). Regular officer, graduated from the Academy of the General Staff in 1907, colonel of the Imperial Army. From the beginning of 1918 to July 1919, Kamenev made a lightning career from the commander of an infantry division to the commander of the Eastern Front, and, finally, from July 1919 until the end of the Civil War, he held the post that Stalin would occupy during the Great Patriotic War. From July 1919 not a single operation of the land and sea forces of the Soviet Republic was complete without his direct participation.

Sergei Sergeevich was greatly assisted by his immediate subordinate, His Excellency Pavel Pavlovich Lebedev, Chief of the Field Staff of the Red Army, a hereditary nobleman, Major General of the Imperial Army. As chief of the Field Staff, he replaced Bonch-Bruevich and from 1919 to 1921 (almost the entire war) he headed it, and from 1921 he was appointed chief of staff of the Red Army. Pavel Pavlovich participated in the development and conduct of the most important operations of the Red Army to defeat the troops of Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, Wrangel, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Red Banner of Labor (at that time the highest awards of the Republic).

One cannot ignore Lebedev's colleague, the Chief of the All-Russian General Staff, His Excellency Alexander Alexandrovich Samoilo. Alexander Alexandrovich is also a hereditary nobleman and Major General of the Imperial Army. During the Civil War, he headed the military district, the army, the front, worked as a deputy for Lebedev, then headed the All-Glavshtab.

Isn't it true that an extremely interesting trend can be traced in the personnel policy of the Bolsheviks? It can be assumed that Lenin and Trotsky, when selecting the highest command cadres of the Red Army, made it an indispensable condition that these were hereditary nobles and regular officers of the Imperial Army with a rank no lower than a colonel. But of course it is not. Just a tough wartime quickly put forward professionals and talented people, also quickly pushing all kinds of "revolutionary balabolkas".
Therefore, the personnel policy of the Bolsheviks is quite natural, they needed to fight and win right now, there was no time to study. However, it is truly surprising that the nobles and officers went to them, and even in such numbers, and served the Soviet government, for the most part, faithfully.

There are often allegations that the Bolsheviks drove the nobles into the Red Army by force, threatening the families of officers with reprisals. This myth has been stubbornly exaggerated for many decades in pseudo-historical literature, pseudo-monographs and various kinds of "research". This is just a myth. They served not out of fear, but out of conscience.

And who would entrust command to a potential traitor? Only a few betrayals of officers are known. But they commanded insignificant forces and are a sad, but still exception. The majority honestly performed their duty and selflessly fought both with the Entente and with their "brothers" in class. They acted as true patriots of their Motherland should.

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet is generally an aristocratic institution. Here is a list of his commanders during the Civil War: Vasily Mikhailovich Altfater (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral of the Imperial Navy), Evgeny Andreevich Berens (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral of the Imperial Navy), Alexander Vasilyevich Nemitz (personal data are exactly the same).

Why are there commanders, the Naval General Staff of the Russian Navy, almost in full force, went over to the side of the Soviet government, and remained in charge of the fleet throughout the Civil War. Apparently, Russian sailors after Tsushima perceived the idea of ​​a monarchy, as they say now, ambiguously.

Here is what Altfater wrote in his application for admission to the Red Army: “I have served so far only because I considered it necessary to be useful to Russia where I can, and in the way I can. But I did not know and did not believe you. Even now I still don’t understand much, but I am convinced ... that you love Russia more than many of ours. And now I have come to tell you that I am yours."

I believe that the same words could be repeated by Baron Alexander Alexandrovich von Taube, Chief of the Main Staff of the Red Army Command in Siberia (former Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army). Taube's troops were defeated by the White Czechs in the summer of 1918, he himself was captured and soon died in a Kolchak prison on death row.

And a year later, another "red baron" - Vladimir Aleksandrovich Olderogge (also a hereditary nobleman, major general of the Imperial Army), from August 1919 to January 1920, commander of the Red Eastern Front - finished off the White Guards in the Urals and eventually liquidated Kolchakism .

At the same time, from July to October 1919, another important front of the Reds - the South - was headed by His Excellency, former Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army Vladimir Nikolaevich Egoriev. The troops under the command of Yegoriev stopped Denikin's offensive, inflicted a number of defeats on him and held out until the reserves approached from the Eastern Front, which ultimately predetermined the final defeat of the Whites in the South of Russia. In these difficult months of fierce battles on the Southern Front, Egoriev's closest assistant was his deputy and at the same time the commander of a separate military group, Vladimir Ivanovich Selivachev (hereditary nobleman, lieutenant general of the Imperial Army).

As you know, in the summer-autumn of 1919, the Whites planned to victoriously end the Civil War. To this end, they decided to launch a combined strike in all directions. However, by mid-October 1919, the Kolchak front was already hopeless, there was a turning point in favor of the Reds and in the South. At that moment, the Whites made an unexpected blow from the northwest. Yudenich rushed to Petrograd. The blow was so unexpected and powerful that already in October the Whites found themselves in the suburbs of Petrograd. The question arose about the surrender of the city. Lenin, despite the well-known panic in the ranks of his comrades, the city decided not to surrender.

And now the Red 7th Army is advancing towards Yudenich under the command of his high nobility (former colonel of the Imperial Army) Sergei Dmitrievich Kharlamov, and a separate group of the same army under the command of His Excellency (Major General of the Imperial Army) Sergei Ivanovich Odintsov enters the White flank. Both are from the most hereditary nobles. The outcome of those events is known: in mid-October, Yudenich was still examining Red Petrograd through binoculars, and on November 28 he was unpacking his suitcases in Reval (a lover of young boys turned out to be a useless commander ...).

northern front. From the autumn of 1918 to the spring of 1919, this was an important sector of the struggle against the Anglo-American-French invaders. So who is leading the Bolsheviks into battle? First, His Excellency (former Lieutenant General) Dmitry Pavlovich Parsky, then His Excellency (former Lieutenant General) Dmitry Nikolaevich Nadezhny, both hereditary nobles.

It should be noted that it was Parsky who led the Red Army in the famous February battles of 1918 near Narva, so it is largely thanks to him that we celebrate February 23rd. His Excellency, Comrade Nadezhny, after the end of the fighting in the North, will be appointed commander of the Western Front.

This is the situation with the nobles and generals in the service of the Reds almost everywhere. We will be told: you are exaggerating everything here. The Reds had their own talented military leaders and not from nobles and generals. Yes, there were, we know their names well: Frunze, Budyonny, Chapaev, Parkhomenko, Kotovsky, Shchors. But who were they in the days of decisive battles?

When the fate of Soviet Russia was being decided in 1919, the most important was the Eastern Front (against Kolchak). Here are his commanders in chronological order: Kamenev, Samoilo, Lebedev, Frunze (26 days!), Olderogge. One proletarian and four nobles, I emphasize - in a vital area! No, I do not want to belittle the merits of Mikhail Vasilyevich. He is a really talented commander and did a lot to defeat the same Kolchak, commanding one of the military groups of the Eastern Front. Then the Turkestan Front under his command crushed the counter-revolution in Central Asia, and the operation to defeat Wrangel in the Crimea is deservedly recognized as a masterpiece of military art. But let's be fair: by the time the Crimea was taken, even the whites did not doubt their fate, the outcome of the war was finally decided.

Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny was the army commander, his Cavalry Army played a key role in a number of operations of some fronts. However, we should not forget that there were dozens of armies in the Red Army, and to call the contribution of one of them decisive in victory would still be a big stretch. Nikolai Alexandrovich Shchors, Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, Alexander Yakovlevich Parkhomenko, Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky - commanders. By virtue of this alone, with all their personal courage and military talents, they could not make a strategic contribution to the course of the war.

But propaganda has its own laws. Any proletarian, having learned that the highest military positions are occupied by hereditary nobles and generals of the tsarist army, will say: “Yes, this is contra!”

Therefore, a kind of conspiracy of silence arose around our heroes in the Soviet years, and even more so now. They won the Civil War and quietly disappeared into oblivion, leaving behind yellowed operational maps and mean lines of orders.
But “their excellencies” and “high nobility” shed their blood for the Soviet power no worse than the proletarians. Baron Taube has already been mentioned, but this is not the only example.

In the spring of 1919, in the battles near Yamburg, the White Guards captured and executed the brigade commander of the 19th rifle division, the former major general of the Imperial Army A.P. Nikolaev. The same fate befell in 1919 the commander of the 55th Infantry Division, former Major General A.V. Stankevich, in 1920 - commander of the 13th Infantry Division, former Major General A.V. Sobolev. Remarkably, before his death, all the generals were offered to go over to the side of the whites, and everyone refused. The honor of a Russian officer is dearer than life.

That is, do you think they will tell us that the nobles and the regular officer corps were for the Reds?
Of course, I am far from this idea. Here it is simply necessary to distinguish "nobleman" as a moral concept from "nobility" as a class. The noble class almost entirely ended up in the camp of the whites, it could not be otherwise.

It was very comfortable for them to sit on the neck of the Russian people, and they did not want to get off. True, even white help from the nobles was simply scanty. Judge for yourself. In the turning point of 1919, around May, the number of shock groups of the White armies was: Kolchak's army - 400 thousand people; Denikin's army (Armed forces of the South of Russia) - 150 thousand people; Yudenich's army (North-Western Army) - 18.5 thousand people. Total: 568.5 thousand people.

Moreover, these are mainly "bast shoes" from the villages, who, under the threat of execution, were driven into service and who then with whole armies (!), Like Kolchak, went over to the side of the Reds. And this is in Russia, where at that time there were 2.5 million nobles, i.e. at least 500 thousand men of military age! Here, it would seem, is the shock detachment of the counter-revolution ...

Or take, for example, the leaders of the white movement: Denikin is the son of an officer, his grandfather was a soldier; Kornilov is a Cossack, Semyonov is a Cossack, Alekseev is the son of a soldier. Of the titled persons - only Wrangel, and even that Swedish baron. Who is left? The nobleman Kolchak is a descendant of a captive Turk, but Yudenich with a surname very characteristic of a “Russian nobleman” and a non-standard orientation. In the old days, the nobles themselves defined such their brothers in class as poor-born. But “in the absence of fish, cancer is a fish.”

You should not look for the princes Golitsyn, Trubetskoy, Shcherbatov, Obolensky, Dolgorukov, Count Sheremetev, Orlov, Novosiltsev and among the less significant figures of the white movement. The "boyars" sat in the rear, in Paris and Berlin, and waited for some of their lackeys to bring others on the lasso. Didn't wait.

So Malinin's howls about the lieutenants Golitsins and the Obolensky cornets are just a fiction. They did not exist in nature... But the fact that the native land is burning under the feet is not just a metaphor. She really burned under the troops of the Entente and their "white" friends.

But there is also a moral category - "nobleman". Put yourself in the place of "His Excellency" who went over to the side of Soviet power. What can he expect? At most - a commander's ration and a pair of boots (an exceptional luxury in the Red Army, the rank and file were shod in bast shoes). At the same time, the suspicion and distrust of many "comrades", the watchful eye of the commissar is constantly nearby. Compare this with the 5,000 rubles of the annual salary of a major general in the tsarist army, and after all, many excellencies also had family property before the revolution. Therefore, selfish interest for such people is excluded, one thing remains - the honor of a nobleman and a Russian officer. The best of the nobles went to the Reds - to save the Fatherland.

During the days of the Polish invasion of 1920, thousands of Russian officers, including the nobles, went over to the side of Soviet power. From the representatives of the highest generals of the former Imperial Army, the Reds created a special body - a Special Conference under the Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Republic. The purpose of this body is to develop recommendations for the command of the Red Army and the Soviet Government to repel Polish aggression. In addition, the Special Meeting appealed to former officers of the Russian Imperial Army to come out in defense of the Motherland in the ranks of the Red Army.

The wonderful words of this address, perhaps, fully reflect the moral position of the best part of the Russian aristocracy:

“At this critical historical moment in our national life, we, your senior comrades-in-arms, appeal to your feelings of love and devotion to the Motherland and appeal to you with an urgent request to forget all grievances,<...>voluntarily go with complete selflessness and hunting to the Red Army to the front or to the rear, wherever the government of Soviet Workers 'and Peasants' Russia appoints you, and serve there not out of fear, but for conscience, so that by your honest service, not sparing your life, to defend in no matter what becomes dear to us Russia and not allow it to be plundered.

The appeal is signed by their Excellencies: General of the Cavalry (Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in May-July 1917) Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov, General of the Infantry (Minister of War of the Russian Empire in 1915-1916) Alexei Andreevich Polivanov, General of the Infantry Andrei Meandrovich Zaionchkovsky and many other generals of the Russian Army.

In absolute terms, the contribution of Russian officers to the victory of Soviet power is as follows: during the Civil War, 48.5 thousand tsarist officers and generals were drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. In the decisive year of 1919, they accounted for 53% of the entire command staff of the Red Army.

I would like to finish this brief review with examples of human destinies, which in the best possible way refute the myth of the pathological villainy of the Bolsheviks and the total extermination of the noble classes of Russia by them. I will note right away that the Bolsheviks were not stupid, therefore they understood that, given the difficult situation in Russia, they really needed people with knowledge, talents and conscience. And such people could count on honor and respect from the Soviet government, despite their origin and pre-revolutionary life.

Let's start with His Excellency General of Artillery Alexei Alekseevich Manikovsky. Aleksey Alekseevich, back in the First World War, headed the Main Artillery Directorate of the Russian Imperial Army. After the February Revolution, he was appointed Comrade (Deputy) Minister of War. Since the Minister of War of the Provisional Government, Guchkov, knew nothing about military matters, Manikovsky had to become the actual head of the department. On a memorable October night in 1917, Manikovsky was arrested along with the rest of the members of the Provisional Government, then released. A few weeks later, he was arrested again and again released; he was not seen in conspiracies against the Soviet regime. And already in 1918 he headed the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, then he would work in various staff positions in the Red Army.

Or, for example, His Excellency Lieutenant General of the Russian Army, Count Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev. During the First World War, he served as a military attaché in France with the rank of major general and was in charge of arms purchases—the fact is that the tsarist government prepared the country for war in such a way that even cartridges had to be purchased abroad. For this, Russia paid a lot of money, and they lay in Western banks.

After October, our faithful allies immediately laid their hands on Russian property abroad, including government accounts. However, Aleksey Alekseevich got his bearings faster than the French and transferred the money to another account, inaccessible to the allies, and besides, in his own name. And the money was 225 million rubles in gold, or 2 billion dollars at the current gold rate. Ignatiev did not succumb to persuasion to transfer funds from either the Whites or the French. After France established diplomatic relations with the USSR, he came to the Soviet embassy and modestly handed over a check for the entire amount with the words: "This money belongs to Russia." The emigrants were furious, they decided to kill Ignatiev. And his own brother volunteered to be the killer! Ignatiev miraculously survived - a bullet pierced his cap a centimeter from his head.

We invite each of you to mentally try on the cap of Count Ignatiev and think about whether you are capable of this? And if we add to this that during the revolution the Bolsheviks confiscated the Ignatyev family estate and the family mansion in Petrograd?

And the last thing I would like to say. Remember how Stalin was accused in his time, imputing to him that he killed all the tsarist officers and former nobles who remained in Russia. So, none of our heroes was subjected to repression, everyone died a natural death (of course, except for those who died on the fronts of the Civil War) in glory and honor. And their younger comrades, such as: Colonel B.M. Shaposhnikov, staff captains A.M. Vasilevsky and F.I. Tolbukhin, Lieutenant L.A. Govorov - became Marshals of the Soviet Union.

History has long put everything in its place and no matter how they try to misrepresent it, all sorts of Radzins, Svanidzes and other riffraff who do not know history, but know how to get money for lying, the fact remains: the white movement has discredited itself. For the most part, these are punishers, marauders and just a petty crook in the service of the Entente ...

Tsarist officers in the Red Army

Quote:
The myth that only officers and nobles fought in the ranks of the White movement, and the Red Army was led by "the best sons of the working people" ...

... still dominates our understanding of the history of the Civil War.

The barefoot and semi-literate Chapaev, developing a battle plan with the help of potatoes, and the villager Bozhenko, whipping his messengers with a whip - such were the images of red commanders in old Soviet films. "Belyakov" in them was usually portrayed as arrogant nobles, wiping their foreheads with a lace handkerchief and yelling "get out, you brute!" An invention of the scriptwriters that causes nothing but a smile.

In fact, lieutenants Golitsyn, cornets Obolensky and other representatives of the ancient and wealthy princely families packed their gold in suitcases and went into exile long before the start of the Civil War. Where, sitting in the silence of Parisian restaurants and listening to sad romances, they dropped a tear in a glass of wine for “perishing Russia”. However, the aristocracy was not going to protect it from "Bolshevism".

Indeed, we will not find anyone from the St. Petersburg elite at the head of the anti-Bolshevik movement. Well, perhaps with a big stretch one can attribute to it the former imperial adjutant wing Pavlo Skoropadsky, and even that comfortably settled down at the post of hetman of the UNR. Among the leaders of the white armies, there were none at all.

Lieutenant General Anton Ivanovich Denikin was the grandson of a serf who was recruited. His friend and colleague L. G. Kornilov was the son of a cornet of the Siberian Cossack army. Of the Cossacks were Krasnov and Semyonov, and Adjutant General Alekseev was born in the family of a soldier who, with his perseverance, earned himself the rank of major. "Blue bloods" (in the old sense of this expression) were only the Swedish Baron Wrangel and the descendant of the captured Turkish Pasha A.V. Kolchak.

But what about the prince and general A.N. Dolgorukov, you ask. However, judge for yourself who this commander of the army of the Hetman's UNR can be called, who abandoned his troops and, together with Skoropadsky, fled to Germany even before Petliura approached Kyiv. It was he who became the prototype of the "canal Belorukov" - the character of Bulgakov's story "The White Guard".

The following fact is also interesting: despite the fact that in 1914 there were about 500 thousand male nobles in the Russian Empire (from princes to the most seedy landowners and newly-produced nobles), more than half of them preferred to avoid military service - with all sorts of tricks, otherwise and simply by bribes avoiding conscription. Therefore, already in 1915, the “ignorant” began to be mass-produced into officer positions, giving them the ranks of ensigns and second lieutenants.

As a result, by October 1917, there were about 150 thousand officers in the Russian army, including military specialists (engineers and doctors). However, when in December of the same year Kornilov and Denikin began to form their Volunteer Army, only one and a half thousand officers and the same number of cadets, students and ordinary citizens responded to their call. Only by 1919 their number increased by an order of magnitude. Kolchak, on the other hand, had to mobilize former officers by force - and they fought with great reluctance.

What did the rest of “their nobility” do, who did not emigrate to Paris and did not hide behind the stove at home? You will be surprised, but 72 thousand former tsarist officers served in the Red Army.

The first of them went there completely voluntarily. The most famous of the “repairers” was Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Muravyov, who in January 1918 with just one consolidated brigade (about 6 thousand Donetsk Red Guards and Slobozhansky Cossacks) made a 300-kilometer march and took Kyiv, effectively defeating the Central Rada. By the way, the battle near Kruty was an ordinary firefight, and not 300, but only 17 cadets and students died there. And yet Muravyov was not a Bolshevik, but a Social Revolutionary.

On November 19, 1917, the Bolsheviks appointed a hereditary nobleman, Lieutenant General M. D. Bonch-Bruevich, who, in fact, created the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) as Chief of the Supreme Headquarters of the Armed Forces. The first detachments of which were led into battle on February 23, 1918 by the nobleman and Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky. And in 1919, it was headed by the regular tsarist colonel Sergei Sergeevich Kamenev (who had nothing to do with the opportunist who was later shot). It is to him that the honor of defeating the White armies belongs.

Major Generals P. P. Lebedev and A. A. Samoilo worked in the main headquarters of the Red Army, since 1920 - the famous General Brusilov.

The person who first appreciated the indispensability of the old leading cadres was Trotsky. Having traditionally quarreled with the faithful Leninists, he insisted on his own and first announced a voluntary conscription, and then the mobilization of all former officers and generals. Which subsequently, in the late 1920s, became the reason for the dismissal and even arrests of some of them on charges of involvement in "Trotskyism."

Among the "gold chasers" who served the victory of the proletariat, one should note Colonel Kharlamov and Major General Odintsov, who defended Petrograd from Yudenich. The southern front was commanded by lieutenant generals Vladimir Yegoriev and Vladimir Selivachev, both hereditary nobles. In the east, against Kolchak, the real barons Alexander Alexandrovich von Taube (who died in white captivity) and Vladimir Alexandrovich Olderogge fought, who just defeated the army of the "Omsk ruler".

Not only Taube died at the hands of his former colleagues. So, the whites captured and shot brigade commander A. Nikolaev, division commanders A.V. Sobolev and A.V. Stankevich - they were all former tsarist generals. The military attache of the Russian Empire in France, Count Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev, almost lost his life, who after the revolution refused to give the Entente 225 million rubles in gold from the Entente, saving them for Soviet Russia. The eccentric (by our standards) unmercenary count did not succumb to intimidation and bribery, survived the assassination attempt, but handed over the bank account data only to the Soviet ambassador. And only in 1943, the former tsarist major general received a promotion - the rank of lieutenant general of the Soviet army.

Contrary to stories about admirals torn to pieces by sailors, most of the owners of gilded daggers were not drowned in the canal and did not follow Kolchak, but went over to the side of the Soviet government. Captains and admirals joined the Bolsheviks with entire crews and staffs, and remained in their positions. It is thanks to this that the fleet of the USSR preserved ancient traditions and was considered a "reserve of aristocrats".

Surprisingly, even some White Guard officers and generals entered the service of their former enemies. Among them, Lieutenant General Yakov Slashchev, the last defender of the White Crimea, is especially famous. Despite the reputation of one of the worst opponents of the Bolsheviks and a war criminal (he massively hanged captured Red Army soldiers), he took advantage of the amnesty, returned to the USSR and was forgiven. Moreover, he got a job as a teacher at a military school.

Ivan Purgin

Taken from http://www.from-ua.com/kio/b3461d724d90d.html

Quote:
HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE GENERALS OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY WAS IN THE CORPS OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE WORKERS' AND PEASANTS' RED ARMY (RKKA) in the years from 1918 to 1920.
This number does not include generals who held other positions in the Red Army. Most of the 185 were in the service of the Red Army voluntarily, and only six were mobilized.

The lists are taken from the book by A.G. Kavtaradze "Military specialists in the service of the Republic of Soviets 1917-1920". USSR Academy of Sciences, 1988
The same list of generals of the General Staff of the Imperial Army who served in the General Staff of the Red Army includes officers with the rank of colonel, lieutenant colonel and captain. The entire list (including generals) is 485 people.

In order to estimate the deafening figure of 185 generals in the service of the Red Army, it is interesting to compare it with the number of generals of the General Staff on the eve of the Great War. On July 18, 1914, the corps of officers of the General Staff (General Staff) consisted of 425 generals. At the end of the war there were undoubtedly more of them. An indicative figure will still be the ratio of 185 to 425, which is 44%. Forty-four percent of the tsarist generals out of their total number on the eve of the war transferred to the service of the Red Army, i.e. served on the red side; of these, six generals served on mobilization, the rest voluntarily.

It is worth naming these six generals who did not want to voluntarily serve in the Red Army and served against their will, on mobilization, i.e. under duress, which does them credit. All six major generals: Alekseev (Mikhail Pavlovich, 1894), Apukhtin (Alexander Nikolaevich, 1902), Verkhovsky (Alexander Ivanovich, 1911), Solnyshkin (Mikhail Efimovich, 1902) and Engel (Viktor Nikolaevich, 1902). The years in which they graduated from the Academy of the General Staff are given in parentheses. The ranks of colonels, lieutenant colonels and captains also include a very large number of people who served in the Red Army.
The total figure - 485 officers of the tsarist General Staff, as well as the number 185 of the number of generals on this list who served in the General Staff of the Red Army, is also unexpected.
Of the other career officers of the Imperial Army, 61 people are listed, of which 11 are in the rank of general, in the list under the heading "Military specialists - commanders of the armies." (Probably, this list should be understood in the sense that 61 people occupied high command positions in the Red Army, since 61 armies could not exist among the Reds.)

The list indicating 185 tsarist generals in the service of the Red Army should be understood, apparently, in the sense that most of them in the rank of generals worked in the Soviet headquarters, and 11 of them were at the fronts.
The author of the source that served as the basis for this article cites numerous documents on which he compiled his lists, which eliminates doubts about their fidelity.
In addition to the officers of the General Staff who made up the Soviet General Staff, the author gives lists of officers by types of weapons and specialties that were not part of the Soviet General Staff.

Answers and comments:
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Interestingly, after the civil war - Zhorik_07.10.2010 (14:38) (91.185.247.181)

After the repressions of the 30s and 40s, did any of these generals remain ???

You have to dig, it's interesting for yourself - Kuzmich ... 07.10.2010 (14:57) (84.237.107.243)

But apparently many died when Tukhachevsky began to fight the military experts, and then the struggle between Stalin and Trotsky also knocked them down, but we know Marshal Timoshenko, we know the heroic General Karbyshev

Interesting. - Timur07.10.2010 (17:42) (193.28.44.23)

And how did they deal with the oath? As far as I remember, the oath was given directly to the Tsar. After the abdication of Nicholas II, the relationship between the state and the officers stopped or what?. Although the Provisional Government was still ... Confused

They swore allegiance to the young republic of councils ... somewhere in the 18-19 years .. - af07.10.2010 (20:30) (80.239.243.67)

You need to watch a good Soviet film "Two Comrades Were Serving" .. Where Tabakov plays, that's where they show how they swear allegiance to the new state along with Lenin

Marshal of the Soviet Union Govorov - Behemoth 07.10.2010 (17:49) (88.82.169.63)

Not only was he a tsarist officer, but he served in civilian life with Kolchak. And nothing.

Here - mosq07.10.2010 (23:33) (213.129.61.25)

http://eugend.livejournal.com/106031.html
The commanders of the fronts during the civil years are painted.
Part died a natural death
Most of them were shot.

The Bolsheviks were very grateful people. - Komanche *08.10.2010 (00:18) (109.197.204.227)

Either you have to constantly prove your necessity, or...

The Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave.

What can we say about people who were forced to serve contrary to their conscience?

You forgot Brusilov. - Hm08.10.2010 (02:04) (80.83.239.6)

Until his death in 1926 he was a member of the council of the Revolutionary Military Council, holding high positions.

There is also Semyon Budeny))) died a natural death - Zhorik_08.10.2010 (10:40) (91.185.247.181)

Survived 1 world, civil and great patronymic.
although he served in the tsarist army in the lower ranks.

Interesting post, Kuzmich! - acapulco08.10.2010 (15:11) (80.73.86.171)

I answer Zhorik:
the most famous (to me) tsarist officers in the Second World War:
Bagramyan WW1 ensign. WWII army general
Karbyshev WW1 lieutenant colonel. WWII lieutenant general
Lukin WW1 lieutenant. WWII lieutenant general
Ponedelin WW1 ensign. WWII Major General
Tolbukhin WW1 staff captain. WWII marshal
Tyulenev WW1 ensign. WWII army general
and the most famous
Shaposhnikov WW1 colonel. WWII marshal

This is from the side of the Red Army. I don’t want to write about Krasnov and his brew. - acapulco08.10.2010 (15:12) (80.73.86.171)

Interesting. - Genghis08.10.2010 (20:09) (91.211.83.40)

Highly.
Somehow I cited facts about the service of specialists in the State Planning Committee of the USSR and in other people's commissariats, but there the numbers are even higher.
In essence, the plan for industrialization, collectivization, etc. made by the "former", but under the guidance of the "new". I don't think they only worked at gunpoint. Obviously, there was both enthusiasm and creativity. Those. Faith in the correctness of the chosen path and the grandeur of the tasks to be solved.

Naturally, without faith in a better future, you will not raise the country.. - paylon08.10.2010 (22:52) (88.82.182.72)

The tsarist regime was so rotten that in Russia in 17 no one wanted to live under the tsar, so they turned him. And then chaos began, because there was no consensus on the development of the country. And the majority in the country were still for the Bolsheviks - otherwise no Lenin or Trotsky would have kept power. All revolutionaries know that it is not a problem to take power, it is a problem to keep it. This is where the support of the people is indispensable.
This I mean that the "former" also supported the idea of ​​building a just society. But what can I say, if such a frantic "contra" as General Slashchev (General Khlyudov in "Running") after the end of the civil war realized that he was wrong, returned from emigration and became a teacher of military art in Soviet (!) Russia.

Absolutely agree. - Genghis09.10.2010 (00:37) (91.211.83.40)

Namely, the support of the people was the basis of Soviet power.

Now it remains to explain this to the Leader :-) - Kuzmich ... 12.10.2010 (10:41) (84.237.107.243)

Peasant workers also seemed to be royal - *12.10.2010 (11:02) (94.245.156.33)

But above them stood (Shaposhnikov is an exception) there were guys who did not graduate from the academies - 10/116/2010 (00:43) (83.149.52.36)

Shoemaker Voroshilov, commander Budyonny, non-commissioned furrier Zhukov, criminal Dumenko, peasant Timoshenko, ensigns Kulik, Tukhachevsky.

In this case, the Wehrmacht was also led by field marshals who did not graduate not only from academies, - paylon10/16/2010 (03:27) (88.82.182.72)

But often ordinary military schools. And this did not prevent them from being military leaders, like ours.

Idea always comes first. - Genghis16.10.2010 (04:58) (91.211.83.40)

Therefore, the ideological always take up over the rest. No wonder they were in charge.

Why did officers march under the Bolshevik banner? - Matchmaker_16.10.2010 (12:16) (94.245.178.221)

At first, how correctly they wrote here due to the fact that due to the large loss of officers during WW1, cooks' children were made into officers, all these ensigns and lieutenants, regardless of party membership, social democrats, socialist-revolutionaries or anarchists en masse went to the Red Army.
In 1920, another turning point came, officers went to the Red Army, mostly generals who were either neutral or even served in the White Army. The Bolsheviks became sovereigns and more patriots than the most patriotic Whites. The power of things. Russia is such a country that the ruler, with his very personal liberalism, is forced to become a sovereign, otherwise he will not rule for long and everything will end in tears.

The weakening of the Red Army did not occur in the year 37, then, on the contrary, the army strengthened, but in 1930, when Tukhachevsky and his comrades unleashed the Spring case, which ended in the beating of those officers who actually commanded the Civil Red armies and defeated the whites.

Germans too - mosq16.10.2010 (13:37) (213.129.61.25)

Guderian, Goth, Manstein, Halder, Model (yes, in principle, everyone) in the First World War were maximum lieutenants.

By the way, Katukov was a milkman, and Major General Beke was a dentist, doctor of medicine :)

The level of training of commanders before the Second World War was below average. - min16.10.2010 (23:11) (83.149.52.36)

Thoughtless operations, offensives, the result is useless, unjustified losses. The time will come and the time will come, they will still be asked and discredited for all time, their people will be even more despised

The appraiser was found.-))) - Chingiz 10/16/2010 (23:53) (91.211.83.40)

Where did you read it or who said it?

1 - chipultipack17.10.2010 (16:23) (213.129.59.26)

Yes, the king's dafiga in red served. Especially the General Staff officers and narrow-profile specialists. They're in the center. headquarters served, i.e. in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and these cities were originally occupied by the communists and immediately rewritten and registered. The top like Brusilov immediately went as consultants to the Red Army, or kirdyk would have been for them. And if you take ensigns, then in fact they were not officers, but soldiers who had served from non-commissioned officers or teachers who had completed accelerated courses, petty officials and other shushara. This category was infected with Bolshevism no less than the peasants and workers. Therefore, ensigns like Krylenko, Sievers, Lazo are not an exception to the rule, but a pattern. And finally, what kind of news is that the officers served in full with the Reds? And for the loot and by conviction and by mobilization (mostly). The same thing that not all workers fought for the Reds, like many peasants.

But the Reds won - Kuzmich...10/18/2010 (16:52) (84.237.107.243)

And they won because more people went for them. The same hetman forcibly drove into his army, like Kolchak and everyone fled from them. If the Reds had fled like that, the Bolsheviks would have lost in the fall of 1918. You don't have to judge everything by the movie "Penal Battalion"

Kuzmich is right. The people decide everything. - Rais18.10.2010 (17:26) (91.185.232.193)

Chipultipec18.10.2010 (22:49) (213.129.59.26)

The Reds also had a lot of mobilized. Although fairness should be noted, at the end of 1920, out of 5.5 million army, 17% were volunteers. And that's about a million. How many white volunteers were there? As?

There were 12,000 volunteer officers in the Volunteer Army. The rest were mobilized. - Rais18.10.2010 (23:14) (91.185.232.193)

The Cossacks did not even want to volunteer with the whites.

WWII - Son of General Douglas10/19/2010 (11:24) (91.185.232.46)

In 1941, twice the hero of the USSR Yakov Smushkevich and his closest associates, all brilliant combat pilots, were shot without trial or investigation. Oh, how they could be useful to their people against the Germans!

As for Smushkevich, Rychagov and others. - Matchmaker_19.10.2010 (11:50) (94.245.178.221)

Excellent pilots turned out to be useless organizers.
The deplorable state of the Red Army Air Force was revealed in the very first period of the war.
We were inferior to the Germans in everything except personal training and the courage of the pilots.
But if the aviation generals were not to blame for the design weaknesses of the aircraft, although there is indirect guilt here too. That is their direct fault in organizational shortcomings.
These are the lack of radio communications, incorrect tactics, incorrect combat training, poor maneuvering of aircraft along the front, and lack of interaction with ground forces.
All this was corrected with great bloodshed already in the course of the war.
So they deserve their bullet.

More tsarist officers (rank given at the time of leaving the old army): - atgm10/19/2010 (14:54) (213.129.39.189)

Vasilevsky A.M. - staff captain
Karbyshev D.M. - lieutenant colonel
Govorov L.A. - lieutenant (at Kolchak - staff captain)
Tolbukhin F.I. - Ensign
Chapaev V.I. - Ensign
Merkulov V.N. - warrant officer (according to other sources - second lieutenant)
Bagramyan I.Kh. - warrant officer (in the Armenian army he had the rank of lieutenant or staff captain)
Tokarev F.V. - esaul (or podesaul?)
Blagonravov A.A. - second lieutenant
Filatov N.M. - lieutenant general
Fedorov V.G. - major general
Purkaev A.A. - Ensign
---
Etc. etc.

It should be noted - Behemoth 10/19/2010 (15:48) (88.82.169.63)

That an ensign was an officer rank, which was given to non-professional officers called up from the reserve.

Atgm 19.10.2010 (16:12) (213.129.39.189)

Most of the warrant officers on this list are non-commissioned officers who received the rank after short courses.

Chapay was a warrant officer - chipultipack20.10.2010 (17:55) (213.129.59.26)

According to our foreman. It doesn't smell like an officer. They also forgot Sobennikov - a lieutenant-guard under the tsar and commander of the North-Western Front in the summer of 1941 with Stalin.

Martusevich - Titicaca27.10.2010 (03:26) (95.73.72.222)

There was one general - still a tsarist major general - in the service of the Bolsheviks - Anton Antonovich Martusevich, a Lithuanian by birth. He was mobilized by the Reds in the spring of 1919, in Riga, and became the commander of the 1st division of the Latvian riflemen, which was part of the Soviet Latvian Army, which then captured most of Livonia and Courland. In the spring of 1919, the Germans and Estonians forced the Latvian Riflemen out of the territory of Latvia, and in the summer of 1919, the division of the Latvian Riflemen, into which the army was reduced, under the leadership of Martusevich, held the defense in the eastern part of Latvia. In September 1919, the Latvian riflemen, led by Martusevich, were transferred to the Karachev area, west of Orel, to the front of the fight against Denikin. A strike group is formed near Karachev consisting of the Latvian and Estonian rifle divisions and Primakov's red Cossacks for a concentric strike on the flank (according to Trotsky's plan ?) Denikin's elite units advancing on Oryol. Martusevich was appointed commander of the strike group. The offensive of Kutepov’s corps on Orel and the movement of the Red strike group to the flank of the Whites advancing on Orel began almost simultaneously - on October 11. On the thirteenth of October, the whites occupied Oryol, and on the fourteenth, during the parade, they learn about the appearance of units of the Red Army in their rear, near Kromy.
From October 15 to October 20, the Whites return from Orel to the south and enter (in parts) into bloody battles with the Red strike group. On December 20, the Estonian Red Division captures Orel. Denikin's attack on Moscow was thwarted.

On October 20, Army Commander Uborevich removed Martusevich from command of the strike group and division, allegedly for slowness and self-will. It was unfair, Martusevich's actions were always adequate to the situation and contributed to the defeat of Denikin near Orel.

After the capture of Orel, the Whites captured the tsarist Major General Stankevich, who served with the Bolsheviks (commander in the 14th Army), Denikin's colleague in the First World War. Stankevich was hanged in the presence of his daughter. Subsequently, the Bolsheviks buried Stankevich's ashes in Red Square. Another tsarist general, Sapozhnikov, was captured and executed by the Whites.

I never found, except for Brusilov, the generals who went over to the Reds - mosq27.10.2010 (05:06) (46.48.169.60)

And at least they achieved something.
Komfronty - all colonels-podkolkovniki
Commanders, divisional commanders are even lower in rank.

Google to help you - Kuzmich ... 10/27/2010 (09:19) (84.237.107.243)

My son - said God :-)

2 mosq - Acapulco02.11.2010 (16:25) (94.245.131.71)

Look at the link:
http://bur-13.2x2forumy.ru/forum-f21/tema-t88.htm
there are more than a hundred names of tsarist generals who served in the Red Army.

But in the Second World War, none of the tsarist generals directly participated in the campaign. apparently by age. for example, the tsarist Rear Admiral Nemitz taught at the military academy during the war years.
but Marshal Shaposhnikov (colonel under the tsar) made an undoubted contribution to the victory of the Red Army near Moscow at the end of 1941, being the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army.
Quote:
Stalin enjoyed great respect. Boris Mikhailovich (along with Rokossovsky) was one of the few to whom he addressed by name and patronymic, and not "comrade Shaposhnikov", as to the rest of the leaders of the country and the army.

Stalin allowed the only person (except himself) to smoke in his office. it was Shaposhnikov.

Our Scriabin also moved to the camp of the Reds - 99902.11.2010 (14:14) (85.26.241.187)

The first and only tsarist officer from the Yakuts, a military surgeon, a lieutenant. Strod praised him in his memoirs as in 1923, Dr. Scriabin operated on the wounded Reds in the besieged Sasyl-Sysy. For 8 years he was engaged in field surgery in combat conditions from 1915-1923. Apparently it is possible that his fellow villager artist Skryabin took something from him for his image in Kochegar. But the truth is a different time. in the Carpathians, divorced, had a daughter from a Russian. True, he grew up to be the first People's Commissar of Health of the YASSR. It is not known exactly how he died, but there is evidence that he committed suicide, fearing reprisal from the Chekists, as the son of a rich man and as a former tsarist officer.

2.

The topic of the service of former white officers in the ranks of the Red Army is little studied, but extremely significant. Especially in the light of all sorts of myths planted by liberal historians and the media, from sweeping denial of the transfer of tsarist officers to the side of the new government to allegations that the Bolsheviks forcibly drove the nobles into the Red Army, threatening reprisals on the families of officers.

Meanwhile, the documents stored in the archives tell a completely different story. You just need to be interested in the history of your country and not take the word of the detractors.

There were examples of the transition of white officers to serve in the Red Army for ideological reasons from the very beginning of its creation, and many former officers of the tsarist and white armies continued their service later, including during the Great Patriotic War.

So, the captain of the old army K. N. Bulminsky, who commanded the battery at Kolchak, went over to the side of the Reds already in October 1918. Captain (according to other sources, lieutenant colonel) M. I. Vasilenko, who managed to serve in the army of Komuch, also switched to the Reds in the spring of 1919. At the same time, he held high positions during the Civil War - chief of staff of the Special Expeditionary Force of the Southern Front, commander of the 40th Infantry Division, commander of the 11th, 9th, 14th armies.

On November 19, 1917, a hereditary nobleman, lieutenant general of the Imperial Army M. D. Bonch-Bruyevich, was appointed chief of staff of the Supreme Commander. He led the Armed Forces of the Republic in the most difficult period for the country - from November 1917 to August 1918. And by February 1918, from the scattered units of the former tsarist army and Red Guard detachments, he formed the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. From March to August, M. D. Bonch-Bruevich served as military head of the Supreme Military Council of the Republic, and in 1919 - head of the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.

At the end of 1918, the post of Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic was established. S. S. Kamenev was appointed to this position. Colonel of the imperial army, Kamenev from the beginning of 1918 to July 1919 made a lightning career from the commander of an infantry division to the commander of the Eastern Front, and, finally, from July 1919 until the end of the Civil War, he held a post that during the Great Patriotic War would be occupy Stalin.

Chief of the Field Staff of the Red Army P.P. Lebedev - a hereditary nobleman, major general - held this post for almost the entire war, and since 1921 he was appointed chief of staff of the Red Army. Pavel Pavlovich participated in the development and conduct of the most important operations of the Red Army to defeat the troops of Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, Wrangel, was awarded the highest awards of the Republic - the Orders of the Red Banner and the Red Banner of Labor.

The head of the All-Russian General Staff, A. A. Samoilo, also a hereditary nobleman and major general, during the Civil War, headed the military district, the army, and the front.

However, modern liberals vehemently refute that the nobles and officers went to the Red Army, and even in such numbers. On the contrary, for many decades the myth has been circulated that the white officers had no other choice, because the Bolsheviks could have shot their families for refusing to serve.

But let's ask ourselves a question - what kind of madman could give power and entrust the command of districts, armies, fronts to a potential traitor, a person who serves for fear? Only a few betrayals of former officers are known. But they commanded insignificant forces and are a sad, but still exception. The majority honestly performed their duty and selflessly fought both with the Entente and with their "brothers" in the class. They acted as true patriots of their Motherland should.

The leadership of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet is very indicative in this respect. Here is a list of his commanders during the Civil War: V. M. Altvater (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral), E. A. Berens (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral), A. V. Nemitz (hereditary nobleman, rear admiral) . The Naval General Staff of the Russian Navy, almost in its entirety, went over to the side of the Soviet government, and remained in charge of the fleet throughout the Civil War. Apparently, Russian sailors after Tsushima perceived the idea of ​​a monarchy, as they say now, ambiguously.

Here is what Altvater wrote in his application for admission to the Red Army: “I have served until now only because I considered it necessary to be useful to Russia where I can, and in the way I can. But I did not know and did not believe you. Even now I still do not understand much, but I am convinced ... that you love Russia more than many of ours. And now I've come to tell you that I'm yours".

In the most critical areas - in command of the land fronts - there were almost exclusively officers of the tsarist army.

Baron A. A. von Taube was the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Command in Siberia. Taube's troops were defeated by the White Czechs in the summer of 1918, he himself was captured and soon died in a Kolchak prison on death row.

And another “red baron” - V. A. Olderogge (hereditary nobleman, major general), commander of the Red Eastern Front, finished off the White Guards in the Urals a year later and eventually liquidated Kolchakism.

From July to October 1919, another important front - the Southern - was headed by former Lieutenant General V.N. Egoriev. His troops stopped Denikin's offensive, inflicted a number of defeats on him and held out until the reserves approached from the Eastern Front, which ultimately predetermined the final defeat of the Whites in the South of Russia.

In the summer-autumn of 1919, Yudenich rushed to Petrograd from the northwest. The 7th Red Army under the command of former Colonel S. D. Kharlamov is advancing towards Yudenich, and a separate group of the same army under the command of former Major General S. I. Odintsov enters the White flank. Both are one of the most hereditary nobles. The outcome of those events is known: in mid-October, Yudenich was still examining Red Petrograd through binoculars, and on November 28 he was already unpacking his suitcases in Reval.

northern front. From the autumn of 1918 to the spring of 1919, this important sector of the struggle against the Anglo-American-French interventionists was first led by former Lieutenant General D.P. Parsky, then by former Lieutenant General D.N. Nadezhny, both hereditary nobles.

Note that it was D.P. Parsky who led the Red Army detachments in the famous February battles of 1918 near Narva, so thanks to him, too, we celebrate February 23rd. D. N. Reliable after the end of the fighting in the North will be appointed commander of the Western Front.

This is the situation with the nobles and generals in the service of the Reds almost everywhere.

After June 1919, the Red Army faced a new acute problem - a catastrophic shortage of command personnel. White officers who consciously went over to the side of Soviet power are no longer enough. This was due to the growth of the Red Army during the Civil War and the inability to quickly prepare qualified command cadres of worker and peasant origin.

Here is an excerpt from the report of the Commander-in-Chief to V.I. Lenin on the strategic position of the Republic and the quality of reserves, January 1919:

“On the Southern Front ... there is a particularly large shortage of experienced battalion commanders and above. Those who were previously in the aforementioned positions gradually fall out of action killed, wounded and sick, while their positions remain vacant for lack of candidates, or completely inexperienced and unprepared people get into very responsible command positions, as a result of which military operations cannot be properly tied up, the development of battle goes the wrong way, and the final actions, if they are successful for us, quite often cannot be used.

We solved this problem by mobilizing former officers of the old army. So, in 1918-1920. 48 thousand former officers were mobilized, about 8 thousand more came to the Red Army voluntarily in 1918. However, with the growth of the army by 1920 to a number of several million (first to 3, and then to 5.5 million people), the shortage of commanders only became even more aggravated.

In this situation, the command drew attention to the white officers taken prisoner or defectors, especially since by the spring of 1920, when the main white armies were basically defeated, the war in individual theaters of operations began to acquire a nationwide character (the Soviet-Polish war, and also fighting in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia, where the Soviet government acted as a collector of the old empire). On the one hand, many former white officers had time to become disillusioned with the politics and prospects of the White movement, and on the other hand, with the change in the nature of the war, patriotic sentiments intensified among the former officers.

During the days of the Polish invasion of 1920, thousands of Russian officers, including the nobles, went over to the side of Soviet power. From representatives of the highest generals of the former Imperial Army, a special body was created - a Special Conference under the Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Republic - with the aim of developing recommendations for the command of the Red Army and the Soviet Government to repel Polish aggression.

A special meeting appealed to the former officers of the Russian Imperial Army to defend the Motherland in the ranks of the Red Army:

“At this critical historical moment in our national life, we, your senior comrades-in-arms, appeal to your feelings of love and devotion to the Motherland and appeal to you with an urgent request to forget all grievances, ... voluntarily go with complete selflessness and hunt for front or to the rear, wherever the government of Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Russia appoints you, and serve there not out of fear, but out of conscience, so that by your honest service, not sparing your life, to defend Russia dear to us at all costs and not allow her plunder."

The appeal bears the signatures of Their Excellencies, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in May–July 1917, General A. A. Brusilov, Minister of War of the Russian Empire in 1915–1916. General A. A. Polivanov, General A. M. Zaionchkovsky and many others.

Sotnik T. T. Shapkin, who served in the tsarist army as a non-commissioned officer for more than 10 years, went over to the side of the Red Army with his unit in 1920, and was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner for distinction in battles during the Soviet-Polish war. During the Great Patriotic War, with the rank of lieutenant general, he commanded a cavalry corps, became a hero of the Battle of Stalingrad, holder of four orders of the Red Banner.

Military pilot Captain Yu. I. Arvatov, who served in the "Galician Army" of the so-called "Western Ukrainian People's Republic" and defected to the Red Army in 1920, was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner for participation in the Civil War. There are many such examples.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the white officers who worked for the red intelligence. Many have heard about the red intelligence officer Makarov, the adjutant of the white general Mai-Maevsky, who served as the prototype for the protagonist of the film "His Excellency's Adjutant". However, this was far from an isolated example. Other officers also worked for the Reds, for example, Colonel Siminsky of the tsarist army, head of Wrangel intelligence. Information about the Wrangel army was transmitted by two more red scouts: Colonel Skvortsov and Captain Dekonsky. He worked for the Intelligence Agency of the Red Army from 1918 to 1920. and Colonel of the General Staff A.I. Gotovtsev, the future Lieutenant General of the Soviet Army.

In absolute terms, the contribution of Russian officers to the victory of Soviet power is as follows: during the Civil War, 48.5 thousand tsarist officers and generals were drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. In the decisive year of 1919, they accounted for 53% of the entire command staff of the Red Army. Of the 150,000 officer corps of the Russian Empire, 75,000 former officers served in the Red Army (of which 62,000 were of noble origin), while about 35,000 served in the White Army.

Contrary to liberal myths, the Bolsheviks were neither fools nor beasts. They searched and found among the former officers people with knowledge, talents and conscience. And such people could count on honor and respect from the Soviet government, despite their origin and pre-revolutionary life.

And the last. It is alleged that Stalin allegedly destroyed all the tsarist officers and former nobles who remained in Russia. So, the vast majority of the heroes named and not named by us were not subjected to repression, they died a natural death (of course, except for those who fell on the fronts of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars) in glory and honor. And their younger comrades, such as Colonel B. M. Shaposhnikov, staff captains A. M. Vasilevsky and F. I. Tolbukhin, lieutenant L. A. Govorov, became marshals of the Soviet Union.

History has long put everything in its place. The best people from among the White movement accepted Soviet power and served it faithfully. And a large part of the remaining whites discredited themselves as punishers, marauders and just petty crooks in the service of the Entente.

92. Adabash, Mikhail Alekseevich;
93. Akimov, Mikhail Vasilievich;
94. Alexandrov A.K.;
95. Alexandrov, Leonid Kapitonovich
96. Alekseev, Mikhail Pavlovich;
97. Alekseev, Yakov Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
98. Andronnikov, Alexander Semyonovich;
99. Anisimov Alexander Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
100. Artamonov, Nikolai Nikolaevich
101. Auzan, Andrei Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
102. Afanasiev, Vladimir Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
103. Akhverdov, Ivan Vasilyevich (Akhverdyan), served in the white and national armies;
104. Baranovsky, Vladimir Lvovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
105. Barmin, Ivan Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
106. Barsukov, Evgeny Zakharovich;
107. Bezrukov, Alexey Gerasimovich;
108. Belolipetsky, Valerian Erofeevich;
109. Belyaev, Alexander Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
110. Belyaev, Nikolai Semyonovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
111. Boin, Matvey Illarionovich;
112. Bonch-Bruevich, Mikhail Dmitrievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
113. Borodin, Matvey Illarionovich;
114. Buimistrov, Vladimir Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
115. Bursky, Pavel Dmitrievich;
116. Vasiliev Mikhail Nikolaevich;
117. Vasiliev, Nikolai Petrovich;
118. Verkhovsky, Alexander Ivanovich;
119. Verkhovsky, Sergei Ivanovich;
120. Vikhirev, Alexander Alexandrovich, served in the white and national armies;
121. Volkov, Sergei Matveyevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
122. Gabaev, Alexander Georgievich (Gabashvili);
123. Gamchenko, Evgeny Spiridonovich, served in the white and national armies;
124. Gatovsky Vladimir Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
125. Gegstrem, Evgeny-Alexander Elisovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
126. Gherardi, Andrei Andreevich;
127. Golovinsky, Alexey Vasilyevich;
128. Grishinsky, Alexei Samoilovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
129. Grudzinsky, Mikhail Tsarevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
130. Gutor, Alexander Evgenievich;
131. Davydov, Antony Dmitrievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
132. Dubinin, Roman Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
133. Diaghilev, Valentin Pavlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
134. Evreinov, Konstantin Leonidovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
135. Elizarov, Nikolai Stepanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
136. Zhdanko, Nikodim Nikodimovich;
137. Zhdanov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
138. Zhdanov, Nikolai Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
139. Zhelenin, Makarii Aleksandrovich;
140. Zabolotny, Arkady Moiseevich;
141. Zagyu, Mikhail Mikhailovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
142. Zaichenko, Zakhary Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
143. Ivanov, Vladimir Stepanovich;
144. Ignatiev, Alexei Alekseevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
145. Izmestiev, Pyotr Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
146. Iozefovich, Felix Dominikovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
147. Isaev, Ivan Konstantinovich;
148. Kabalov, Alexander Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
149. Kadomsky, Dmitry Petrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
150. Kadoshnikov, Andrei Fedorovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
151. Kamensky, Mikhail Pavlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
152. Kamensky, Sergei Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
153. Karatov-Karaulov, Nikolai Alexandrovich;
154. Karlikov, Vyacheslav Alexandrovich, served in the white and national armies;
155. Kedrin, Vladimir Ivanovich, served in the white and national armies;
156. Klimovich, Anton Karlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
157. Kolshmidt, Viktor Brunovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
158. Korsun, Nikolai Georgievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
159. Kostyaev, Fedor Vasilievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
160. Kosyakov, Viktor Antonovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
161. Kralotkin, Dmitry Alekseevich;
162. Kruger, Alexander Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
163. Kusonsky, Pavel Mikhailovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
164. Ladyzhensky, Gavriil Mikhailovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
165. Lazarev, Boris Petrovich, served in the white and national armies;
166. Lebedev, Dmitry Kapitonovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
167. Lebedev, Mikhail Vasilievich;
168. Lebedev, Pavel Pavlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
169. Levitsky, Vyacheslav Ivanovich;
170. Livadin, Georgy Vladimirovich;
171. Liventsev, Nikolai Denisovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
172. Lignau, Alexander Georgievich, served in the white and national armies;
173. Lukirsky, Sergei Georgievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
174. Maydel, Vladimir Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
175. Maidel, Ignatius Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
176. Maksimovsky, Nikolai Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
177. Martynov, Evgeny Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
178. Martynov, Konstantin Akimovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
179. Matyanov, Mikhail Ivanovich;
180. Makhrov, Nikolai Semyonovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
181. Meder, Alexander Arnoldovich;
182. Melnikov, Dmitry Antonovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
183. Menitsky, Joseph Boleslavovich-Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
184. Menchukov, Evgeny Alexandrovich;
185. Mikhailov, Viktor Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
186. Mikheev, Viktor Stepanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
187. Mikheev, Sergei Petrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
188. Montfort, Evgeny Orestovich (de Montfort), voluntarily joined the Red Army;
189. Mochulsky, Alexander Mikhailovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
190. Muratov, Vladimir Pavlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
191. Mukhanov, Alexander Vladimirovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
192. Myslitsky, Nikolai Grigorievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
193. Myasnikov, Vasily Emelyanovich, served in the white and national armies;
194. Neznamov, Alexander Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
195. Nikulin, Ivan Andreevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
196. Novakov, Evgeny Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
197. Novitsky, Fedor Fedorovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
198. Oboleshev, Nikolai Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
199. Odintsov, Sergei Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
200. Olderogge, Vladimir Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
201. Pavlov, Nikifor Damianovich, served in the white and national armies;
202. Panfilov, Pyotr Petrovich;
203. Pevnev, Alexander Leontyevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
204. Pestrikov, Nikolai Sergeevich;
205. Peters, Vladimir Nikolaevich (Kamnev), voluntarily joined the Red Army;
206. Peterson, Voldemar-Alexander Karlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
207. Plyushevsky-Plyushchik, Grigory Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
208. Pnevsky, Nikolai Vyacheslavovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
209. Popov, Vasily Fedorovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
210. Popov, Viktor Lukich, served in the white and national armies;
211. Popov, Nikolai Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
212. Putyata, Grigory Vasilyevich;
213. Radus-Zenkovich, Lev Apollonovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
214. Rattel, Nikolai Iosifovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
215. Remezov, Alexander Kondratievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
216. Rybakov, Ivan Ivanovich;
217. Rylsky, Konstantin Iosifovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
218. Savchenko, Sergey Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
219. Savchenko-Matsenko, Lev Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
220. Samoilo, Alexander Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
221. Sapozhnikov, Nikolai Pavlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
222. Satterup, Dmitry Vadimovich (Vladimirovich), voluntarily joined the Red Army;
223. Svalov, Pavel Nikolaevich;
224. Svechin, Alexander Andreevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
225. Segerkrantz, Sergei Karlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
226. Sedachev, Vladimir Konstantinovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
227. Seliverstov, Ivan Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
228. Selsky, Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich;
229. Semenov, Nikolai Grigorievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
230. Sergievsky, Dmitry Dmitrievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
231. Serebrennikov, Ivan Konstantinovich;
232. Serebryannikov, Vladimir Grigorievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
233. Sievers, Yakov Yakovlevich;
234. Sokiro-Yakhontov, Viktor Nikolaevich (Dmitry), served in the white and national armies;
235. Sokovnin, Vsevolod Alekseevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
236. Sokovnin, Mikhail Alekseevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
237. Solnyshkin, Mikhail Efimovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
238. Staal, German Ferdinandovich, served in the white and national armies;
239. Staev, Pavel Stepanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
240. Stable, Vladimir Iosafovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
241. Suvorov, Andrei Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
242. Suleiman, Nikolai Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
243. Sushkov, Vladimir Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
244. Sytin, Pavel Pavlovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
245. Taube, Sergei Ferdinandovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
246. Tigranov, Leonid Faddeevich (Levon Tatevosovich Tigranyan);
247. Tikhmenev, Yuri Mikhailovich (George), voluntarily joined the Red Army;
248. Tomilin, Sergei Valerianovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
249. Ushakov, Konstantin Mikhailovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
250. Fastykovsky, Mikhail Vladislavovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
251. Fedotov, Alexander Ippolitovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
252. Filatov, Nikolai Mikhailovich;
253. Fisenko, Mikhail Sergeevich;
254. Khvoshchinsky, Georgy Nikolaevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
255. Henrikson, Nikolai Vladimirovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
256. Tsygalsky, Mikhail Viktorovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
257. Chausov, Nikolai Dmitrievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
258. Cheremisinov, Vladimir Mikhailovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
259. Cherepennikov, Alexei Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
260. Shelekhov, Dmitry Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
261. Shemansky, Anatoly Dmitrievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
262. Shemyakin, Konstantin Yakovlevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
263. Ezering, Karl Ivanovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
264. Eigel, Nikolai Matveevich;
265. Envald, Mikhail Vasilievich;
266. Engel, Viktor Nikolaevich;
267. Yagodkin, Pavel Yakovlevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
268. Yakimovich, Alexander Alexandrovich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
269. Yakovlev, Alexander Alekseevich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;

Major Generals who graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy

270. Grodsky, Georgy Dmitrievich;
271. Dekhanov, Vladimir Nikolaevich;
272. Durlyakhov, Rostislav Avgustovich (Durlyakher Robert Avgustovich);
273. Kozlovsky, David Evstafievich, voluntarily joined the Red Army;
274. Mikhailov, Vadim Sergeevich;
275. Sapozhnikov, Alexey Vasilievich;
276. Svidersky, Grigory Alekseevich;
277. Smyslovsky, Evgeny Kostantinovich;

Faced with the objective reality of a belligerent and collapsing state, the Soviets showed an excellent example of the transition from idealistic ideas to harsh realism, which shows quite well why it was they who won.
It is also a wonderful illustration for all those suffering from the "Russia we have lost"

Numbers and dates:
December 6, 1917 - the decree "On the equalization of all military personnel in rights", proclaiming the final removal from power of officers and the destruction of the officer corps itself;
Already in January 1918, the Bolsheviks first turned to military specialists. The post of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs was taken by Leon Trotsky, who shared Lenin's position on the involvement of military experts in the construction of the Soviet armed forces. It was Trotsky who signed the first appeal to an officer of the Russian army with a call to take part in the defense of the independence of the Motherland, as well as the decision of the Air Force and the People's Commissariat of War on the widespread recruitment of former officers and generals into the army under the control of military commissars.
On April 22, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree "On Compulsory Training in the Art of War", according to which universal military training was introduced, the abolition of the decree of December 6, 1917
On May 8, 1918, by order of Trotsky, a central military-administrative body was created - the All-Russian General Staff, which was entrusted with organizational issues of military development: mobilization, formation, organization, training of troops, development of charters, instructions, management of local military authorities.
In total, by the end of 1918, more than 22,000 former officers and generals were drafted into the Red Army. By 1920, among the command staff of the Red Army, former officers accounted for 92.3% of front commanders, 100% of front chiefs of staff, 91.3% of army commanders, 97.4% of army chiefs of staff, 88.9% of division chiefs and 97% - chiefs of staff of divisions.

Link: http://www.rg.ru/2013/01/29/belye.html
Full article:

Whites in red
95 years ago, tsarist officers were called to serve in the Red Army
Text: Yulia Kantor (Doctor of History)
29.01.2013, 00:29

“Only that revolution has any meaning that knows how to defend itself” - this thought of the leader of the world proletariat after the October Revolution (this is how the Bolsheviks themselves called the events of October 25, 1917 in documents) became a guide to action for the Soviet government.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was forced to admit: "The question of the structure of the Red Army was completely new, it was not even theoretically raised at all ... We went from experience to experience, ... groping ..., trying which way given the situation, the problem can be solved.

On January 28, 1918, a decree was issued on the creation of the Red Army. This is how the Soviet armed forces were born.

“The problem of power was the main one for Lenin and all those who followed him. This distinguished the Bolsheviks from all other revolutionaries. And they created a police state, in terms of methods of administration very similar to the old Russian state. But it is impossible to organize power, to subjugate the worker and peasant masses by force of arms, by pure violence ... Bolshevism entered Russian life as a highly militarized force," Nikolai Berdyaev wrote. The Bolsheviks did not have this "militarized force" after October - it arose thanks to the tsarist officers. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks turned to military specialists for the first time - otherwise it would have been pointless to try to hold on to power. The post of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs was taken by Leon Trotsky, who shared Lenin's position on the involvement of military experts in the construction of the Soviet armed forces. It was Trotsky who signed the first appeal to an officer of the Russian army with a call to take part in the defense of the independence of the Motherland, as well as the decision of the Air Force and the People's Commissariat of War on the widespread recruitment of former officers and generals into the army under the control of military commissars.

It must be said that the new leadership of the country took care of creating a qualified army only after it had completely destroyed the remnants of the old one. Indeed, on December 16, 1917, a decree “On the equalization of all military personnel in rights” was published, proclaiming the final removal from power of officers and the destruction of the officer corps as such, as well as a decree “On the elective beginning and organization of power in the army”. The desire to destroy the former system inevitably pushed the Bolsheviks to the disintegration of the old army.

The issue of using military experts from the tsarist army was discussed extremely harshly by the Bolshevik party elite. On the one hand, the Bolshevik ideologists reasonably believed that no matter how critical the tsarist officers were towards the autocracy, which was decaying by the beginning of the 20th century, but brought up in a monarchical spirit for centuries, it is unlikely that it will become a support for the regime that came to power through a coup. On the other hand, it was no less obvious that it was impossible to form a combat-ready army on the bare enthusiasm of a crowd electrified by agitators. Moreover, this enthusiasm was rapidly declining.

The creation of combat-ready armed forces was vital to the new government. “If we pose the question in the sense that we build communism only with the hands of pure communists, and not with the help of bourgeois specialists, then this is a childish idea ... Without the heritage of capitalist culture, we cannot build socialism. There is nothing to build communism from, except from what capitalism has left us," Lenin stated.

By the time the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, the Red Army consisted of disparate detachments and units controlled by various "soviets", emergency headquarters, committees, and commanders elected by the Red Army. There was no single governing body and formation of the Red Army. On March 4, 1918, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, signed by Lenin, the Supreme Military Council (VVS) was established with all the central bodies of the military department subordinate to it. The Air Force was entrusted with directing the construction of the army and navy on the basis of military science and directing their combat activities. The Supreme Military Council included 86 former tsarist officers, including 10 generals.

It is characteristic that although in the first months after the revolution the Bolsheviks did not systematically recruit officers for military service, many of them offered their services themselves. Usually they emphasized that they were striving to fight precisely against an external enemy, and not against the enemies of the Bolsheviks inside the country. But having signed up for the army, it would be impossible to choose which orders to obey, which ones not. And this was, of course, an immutable rule for the officers. Signing up for the General Staff or for some other army positions, they automatically went to the service of the new regime. Thus, the officers, who did not want to remain outside observers of what was happening, were forced to compromise - first of all with themselves.

General Pavel Petrov, a member of the White movement, recalled: “The Bolsheviks’ management was considered temporary ... the German front, despite the Brest Peace ... was considered in the thoughts of the officers to be restored. them as a betrayal of the former Russian army and the Volunteer Army being formed, others considered it possible to take part in the work on the condition that new units were created only to perform tasks at the front; still others considered it possible to work without any conditions, believing that it was necessary to create good units, stop the chaos, take over the military apparatus in order to use it according to the situation, the fourth were simply looking for work ... Only a small part went to the Red Army willingly ... Nobody yet realized that the Soviet government would require service from all the military without any reasoning and conditions, but it happened soon."

A group of generals led by Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich played the main role in attracting officers to the service of the Bolsheviks. As he himself wrote, the veil - the protection of external borders - "was at that time almost the only organization acceptable to many generals and officers of the tsarist army who avoided participation in the Civil War, but willingly went to the" veil ", work in which was like would be a continuation of the old military service." Thus, the Bolsheviks used the principle of substitution: they called on the officers, as it were, to fight an external enemy - the Entente interventionists. This was supposed to "lull the vigilance" of those who did not want to see the Fatherland as "socialist" at all, but wanted to protect its independence. So 775 tsarist generals and 1726 staff officers (980 colonels and 746 lieutenant colonels) came to the Red Army, that is, only two and a half thousand people.

General Alexander Svechin later wrote: "Until March 1918, I was hostile to the October Revolution. The German offensive forced me to opt for the Soviet side. In March 1918, I participated in a meeting in Smolny, then entered the Soviet service - first as chief of staff Western Veil, and two days later - the head of the Smolensk region (Smolensk, Orsha, Vitebsk), where he began to form three divisions. He was echoed by Colonel of the General Staff Konstantin Besyadovsky: “I must say that entering the Supreme Military Council for the service“ to the Bolsheviks ”was made not without difficult internal experiences: most of the officers who were not called up for service at that time and did not consider it possible to serve, turned away from us "volunteers. I think that in the current situation, when the Germans were in charge within our borders, one cannot remain an outside spectator and therefore began to work. The period of the civil war was not easy for me internally: on the one hand, I understood the need for this series of "applicants" from White Guard leaders, and on the other hand, it was painful to realize that our enemies are people who until recently were our environment, close to us. But I broke myself and worked. " Bonch-Bruevich also expressed similar thoughts of one of the first tsarist generals - volunteers of the Red Army, Lieutenant General Dmitry Parsky: hands when the Germans threaten St. Petersburg. You know, I am far from the socialism that your Bolsheviks preach. But I am ready to honestly work not only with them, but with anyone, even with the devil and the devil, if only to save Russia from German enslavement.. .". During the volunteer period of the formation of the Red Army (from January to May 1918), 8 thousand former tsarist officers joined it. The highest command positions in the troops were also mainly occupied by them. During the existence of the "veil" - in the first half of 1918 - all the command and staff positions of its sections and detachments (and the divisions deployed later on their basis) were occupied exclusively by "gold chasers".

For comparison: during the civil war, according to published sources, the Whites had several times more tsarist officers - 60 thousand in Denikin's army, 30 thousand in Kolchak. And there were also the formations of Wrangel, Krasnov, Kappel and others. But the white movement, mired in internal strife, was disunited and did not find the strength to unite even in the face of fatal danger. The red ones were monolithic.

On April 22, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree "On compulsory training in the art of war", according to which universal military training was introduced. At the same time, the Bolsheviks, realizing the futility of the institution of elective commanders, canceled the decree prescribing it. And finally, on May 8, on the orders of Trotsky, a central military-administrative body was created - the All-Russian General Staff, which was entrusted with the organizational issues of military development: mobilization, formation, organization, training of troops, development of charters, instructions, management of local military administration. At the head of the Vserosglavshtab was the Soviet, consisting of the chief of staff and two political commissars. It united the activities of all departments of the All-Russian Headquarters and was directly subordinate to the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs, and since September 1918 - to the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.

From the spring of 1918, the Bolsheviks had to abandon the principle of voluntary recruitment of military experts and move on to their forced mobilization. The registration of military experts followed the order of Trotsky, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, dated May 7, 1918. In Moscow, according to Izvestiya VTSIK, as of June 15, about 30,000 officers were registered, including 2,500 regular officers.

The vast majority of those called up honestly served the Soviet government, which was bitterly noticed in the opposition to the Bolsheviks, whose leaders understood that as long as the Reds had an army that was combat-ready, the hope of returning Russia to its full circle was ephemeral. The leader of the Cadets, Pavel Milyukov, stated: “Having joined the Red Army for one reason or another, military specialists, bound by the familiar atmosphere of strict military discipline, for the most part served the Soviet government faithfully and only in rare cases used their power over soldiers to prepare counter-revolutionary actions.” In total, by the end of 1918, more than 22,000 former officers and generals were drafted into the Red Army. By 1920, among the command staff of the Red Army, former officers accounted for 92.3% of front commanders, 100% of front chiefs of staff, 91.3% of army commanders, 97.4% of army chiefs of staff, 88.9% of division chiefs and 97% - chiefs of staff of divisions.

"They ... occupied posts of exceptional importance, ... working not out of fear, but out of conscience, with their operational orders caused a difficult situation for the armies of Denikin, Kolchak ..., created a military administrative apparatus, revived the Academy of the General Staff, the correct organization of the infantry, artillery and that peculiar system of conducting battles with large cavalry masses, which went down in history under the name of Budyonny's cavalry operations ... In order not to repeat well-known details, it is enough to compare the current Red Army, the current harmonious military apparatus with the chaos and confusion that we remember in the first months of Bolshevism.The whole arc from the transition from a battalion of ragamuffins to well-proportioned military units was achieved exclusively by the labors of military experts ... The Russian army and Russia perished at the hands of the people they cherished.More than Germans, more than international traitors, people must answer to posterity who went against happiness, against the honor of their uniform, against their former comrades. the editorial hand was felt at a critical moment by Kolchak, and Denikin, and Wrangel. They covered themselves with the names of unknown commissars and politicians. This will not save them either from our contempt or from the judgment of history," Denikin, defeated by his brothers, bitterly stated. It is no coincidence that a clever joke was born during the civil war: the Red Army is like a radish, red on the outside, but white on the inside. The tsarist officers won the war. .. from the royal officers.

Military specialists were placed under the strict control of the Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Military Council, commissars, and special departments. Lenin summed up with satisfaction: "Former officers in the Red Army are surrounded by such a situation, by such an enormous pressure of the Communists, that most of them are not able to escape from this network of communist organization and propaganda with which we surround them."

And yet the Bolsheviks cultivated antagonism between the tsarist officers and the overcoat-clad proletarian masses. "There is always a wide gulf between a soldier and an officer. A soldier is a peasant, a peasant or a worker, a black bone, a callused hand. An officer is a gentleman, most often a nobleman, blue-blooded, white-handed. A soldier can be afraid of an officer, he can respect him ... And all the same, they will always be strangers ... They came from different classes, "read one of their many propaganda leaflets. By forcibly mobilizing the "gold chasers" into their ranks, the government only intensified the confrontation it had inspired.

The officers who came to the service of the Bolsheviks found themselves in the most difficult moral situation: their lives or relative well-being were bought at the cost of a permanent conflict, both internal and external. People of their circle, recent colleagues, considered them renegades, and those who mobilized military experts did not trust them. The officers were not only prevented from "assimilating", organically growing into the new army environment - on the contrary, conditions were created for their segregation.

In Soviet historiography (with a few exceptions), it was customary to belittle the role of former tsarist officers in the Red Army in every possible way, and downplay their number so that there would be no contradiction to the statements of the thesis about the "leading role of the party", "red commanders - natives of their people." This "sterilization" of military-political history is all the more absurd because it does not even agree with the views of Lenin, who recognized the role of the tsarist officers: "If we had not taken them into service and forced them to serve us, we could not have created an army ... And only with the help of them the Red Army was able to win the victories that it won ... Without them, the Red Army would not exist ... When they tried to create the Red Army without them, it turned out partisanism, confusion, it turned out that we had 10-12 millions of bayonets, but there was not a single division, not a single division fit for war, and we were not capable of fighting with millions of bayonets against the regular white army, "he admitted after the end of the civil war.

Of course, in the development of Soviet military education, the tsarist officers, who received higher and secondary specialized education before the revolution, as well as teachers of pre-revolutionary military educational institutions, played an important role - the new government did not yet have its own teachers of such a level.

Despite the role played by the "military experts" in the formation of the Red Army and, accordingly, in strengthening the Soviet power, this government did not feel the slightest gratitude to them. This is not hard to see when reading the Bolshevik press of those years. For example, the Petrograd "Northern Commune" in a mocking editorial warned: "We say to the generals and officers who come to our service:" We cannot guarantee you that you will not be shot by the Red Army by mistake. But we can guarantee you that we will shoot you if you start cheating. And we even promise." Thus, the officers mobilized by the Bolshevik state for its construction and formation were reduced to the position of hostage slaves.

Gradually, the share of military experts in the command cadres of the Red Army was steadily declining: 75% in 1918, 53% in 1919, 42% in 1920 and 34% in 1921. The officers of the new system came to replace them - commanders from workers and peasants: that was the political setting. Characteristic in this regard is the frankly cynical warning of Grigory Zinoviev, chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, that the Soviet government takes former officers for the role of "orderlies" and throws them away like a "squeezed lemon" after use. Zinoviev did not lie. From the 1920s, military experts began to be expelled from the army, at first relatively gently - dismissing them from their jobs. Then - sending to exiles and camps, then - shooting. And in the early 30s, hundreds of military experts became victims of the extermination of former tsarist officers initiated by the party leadership and organized by the NKVD in the early 30s, which entered historiography as the "Spring" case. The survivors were repressed in 1937 - during the gloomy famous "Case of the Military". The totalitarian state, created and strengthened largely thanks to the tsarist officers, no longer needed them.
Ministry of Defense: gallery of portraits

Each power department has a portrait gallery of people who headed these departments at different times, regardless of what mark they left in history. In the corridors of the Ministry of Defense, such a gallery of portraits painted in oils existed under Sergei Ivanov. The gallery had portraits of Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, and Boris Yeltsin. However, Anatoly Serdyukov, having taken a high office, ordered an almost major overhaul. The portraits were removed and put away in a storage room. After the repair was completed, they were not returned to their original places.

However, on the website of the Ministry of Defense there is a gallery of ministers, starting with Sergei Vyazmitinov (1802-1808) and ending with Sergei Shoigu.

The military department of our country after the revolution of 1917 was repeatedly reformed and called differently. The first people's commissar for military affairs in the Soviet government was Nikolai Podvoisky (from November 1917 to March 1918). But the Red Army was created and actually commanded it from 1918 to 1925 by Leon Trotsky.

Then, in modern terms, the Ministers of Defense of the USSR were: Mikhail Frunze (January - October 1925); Kliment Voroshilov (November 1925 - May 1940); Semyon Timoshenko (May 1940 - July 1941); Joseph Stalin (July 1941 - March 1947); Nikolai Bulganin (March 1947 - March 1949); Alexander Vasilevsky (March 1949 - March 1953); again Nikolai Bulganin (March 1953 - February 1955); Georgy Zhukov (February 1955 - October 1957); Rodion Malinovsky (October 1957 - March 1967); Andrei Grechko (April 1967 - April 1976); Dmitry Ustinov (April 1976 - December 1984); Sergei Sokolov (December 1984 - May 1987); Dmitry Yazov (May 1987 - August 1991); Evgeny Shaposhnikov (August 1991 - June 1993).

The military department of the Russian Federation was headed by: Boris Yeltsin (March 1992 - May 1992); Pavel Grachev (May 1992 - June 1996); Igor Rodionov (July 1996 - May 1997); Igor Sergeev (May 1997 - March 2001); Sergei Ivanov (March 2001 - February 2007); Anatoly Serdyukov (February 15, 2007 - November 6, 2012). On December 7, 2012, Sergei Shoigu became the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. The first President of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin, was also the Supreme Commander in status, in the first months of the formation of the Russian army, he actually headed the military department of the country.

The youngest minister, at the age of forty, was Mikhail Frunze. The highest-ranking head of the military department in the USSR was Joseph Stalin, in the Russian Federation - Boris Yeltsin.

Prepared by Sergey Ptichkin
"Rossiyskaya Gazeta" - Federal issue No. 5993 (17)