There are so many legends about this amazing woman that it is difficult to say with complete certainty what is true and what is fiction. But it is reliably known that the King of England George V, during a personal audience, called a simple peasant woman, who only learned to read and write at the end of her life, “Russian Joan of Arc”, and V. Wilson honorably received in the White House. Her name is Bochkareva Maria Leontievna. Fate prepared for her the honor of becoming the first female officer in the Russian army.
Childhood, youth and only love
The future heroine of the women's battalion was born into a simple peasant family in the village of Nikolskaya, Novgorod province. She was the third child of her parents. They lived from hand to mouth and, in order to somehow improve their plight, moved to Siberia, where the government in those years launched a program to help immigrants. But the hopes were not justified, and in order to get rid of the extra eater, Mary was married early to an unloved person, and besides, a drunkard. From him she got the surname - Bochkareva.
Very soon, a young woman forever parted with her husband, who was disgusted with her, and begins a free life. Then she meets her first and last love in her life. Unfortunately, Maria was fatally unlucky with the men: if the first was a drunkard, then the second turned out to be a real bandit who took part in robberies along with a gang of "hunghuz" - immigrants from China and Manchuria. But, as they say, love is evil... His name was Yankel (Yakov) Buk. When he was finally arrested and escorted to Yakutsk by court, Maria Bochkareva went after him, like the wives of the Decembrists.
But the desperate Yankel was incorrigible and even in the settlement he hunted by buying stolen goods, and later by robberies. To save her lover from inevitable hard labor, Maria was forced to give in to the harassment of the local governor, but she herself could not survive this forced betrayal - she tried to poison herself. The story of her love ended sadly: Buk, having learned about what had happened, in the heat of jealousy attempted on the governor. He was tried and sent by escort to a deaf remote place. Maria never saw him again.
To the front with the personal permission of the emperor
The news of the outbreak of the First World War caused an unprecedented patriotic upsurge in Russian society. Thousands of volunteers were sent to the front. Their example was followed by Maria Bochkareva. The history of her enrollment in the army is very unusual. Turning in November 1914 to the commander of the reserve battalion, located in Tomsk, she was refused with ironic advice to ask permission personally from the Emperor. Contrary to the expectations of the battalion commander, she really wrote a petition addressed to the highest name. What was the general astonishment when, after a while, a positive answer came with the personal signature of Nicholas II.
After a short course of study, in February 1915, Maria Bochkareva finds herself at the front as a civilian soldier - in those years there was such a status for military personnel. Taking up this unfeminine business, she, along with men, fearlessly went into bayonet attacks, pulled the wounded out from under the fire and showed genuine heroism. Here, the nickname Yashka was assigned to her, which she chose for herself in memory of her lover - Yakov Buk. There were two men in her life - a husband and a lover. From the first she left her surname, from the second - a nickname.
When the company commander was killed in March 1916, Maria, taking his place, raised the fighters on the offensive, which became disastrous for the enemy. For her courage, Bochkareva was awarded the St. George Cross and three medals, and soon she was promoted to junior non-commissioned officer. Being on the front line, she was repeatedly wounded, but remained in the ranks, and only a severe wound in the thigh brought Maria to the hospital, where she lay for four months.
Creation of the first women's battalion in history
Returning to the position, Maria Bochkareva - the Knight of St. George and a recognized fighter - found her regiment in a state of complete decomposition. During her absence, the February Revolution took place, and endless rallies were held among the soldiers, alternating with fraternization with the "Germans". Deeply indignant at this, Maria looked for an opportunity to influence what was happening. Soon such an opportunity presented itself.
M. Rodzianko, chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, arrived at the front to conduct campaigning. With his support, Bochkareva ended up in Petrograd in early March, where she began to realize her long-standing dream - the creation of military units from patriotic female volunteers ready to defend the Motherland. In this undertaking, she met with the support of the Minister of War of the Provisional Government A. Kerensky and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General A. Brusilov.
In response to the call of Maria Bochkareva, more than two thousand Russian women expressed their desire to join the ranks of the unit being created with weapons in their hands. Worthy of attention is the fact that among them a significant part were educated women - students and graduates of the Bestuzhev courses, and a third of them had a secondary education. At that time, not a single male unit could boast of similar indicators. Among the "drummers" - this was the name assigned to them - there were representatives of all strata of society - from peasant women to aristocrats, bearing the loudest and most famous surnames in Russia.
The commander of the women's battalion, Maria Bochkareva, established iron discipline and the strictest subordination among her subordinates. The rise was at five in the morning, and the whole day until ten in the evening was filled with endless activities, interrupted only by a short rest. Many women, mostly from wealthy families, had difficulty getting used to simple soldier food and a strict routine. But this was not their greatest difficulty.
It is known that soon complaints began to come to the name of rudeness and arbitrariness on the part of Bochkareva. Even the facts of assault were indicated. In addition, Maria strictly forbade political agitators, representatives of various party organizations to appear at the location of her battalion, and this was a direct violation of the rules established by the February Revolution. As a result of mass discontent, two hundred and fifty "drummers" left Bochkareva and joined another formation.
Sending to the front
And then the long-awaited day came, when on June 21, 1917, on the square in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral, with a crowd of thousands of people, the new one received a battle flag. It was written on it: "The first women's command of the death of Maria Bochkareva." Needless to say, how much excitement the mistress of the celebration herself experienced, standing on the right flank in a new uniform? The day before, she was granted the rank of ensign, and Maria - the first female officer in the Russian army - was rightfully the heroine of that day.
But this is the peculiarity of all holidays - they are replaced by weekdays. So the festivities at St. Isaac's Cathedral were replaced by a gray and by no means romantic trench life. Young defenders of the Fatherland faced a reality that they had no idea about before. They found themselves among a degraded and morally decomposed mass of soldiers. Bochkareva herself in her memoirs calls the soldiers "unbridled shanty". To protect women from possible violence, it was even necessary to put sentries near the barracks.
However, after the very first military operation, in which the battalion of Maria Bochkareva participated, the “shocks”, having shown courage worthy of real fighters, were forced to treat themselves with respect. This happened in early July 1917 near Smorgan. After such a heroic beginning, even such an opponent of the participation of women's units in hostilities as General A.I. Kornilov was forced to change his mind.
Hospital in Petrograd and inspection of new units
The women's battalion participated in the battles on a par with all other units and, just like them, suffered losses. Having received a severe concussion in one of the battles that took place on July 9, Maria Bochkareva was sent for treatment to Petrograd. During her stay at the front in the capital, the women's patriotic movement she started was widely developed. New battalions were formed, staffed from voluntary defenders of the Fatherland.
When Bochkareva was discharged from the hospital, by order of the newly appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief L. Kornilov, she was instructed to inspect these units. The test results were very disappointing. None of the battalions was a sufficiently combat-ready unit. However, the situation of revolutionary turmoil that reigned in the capital hardly made it possible to achieve a positive result in a short time, and this had to be put up with.
Soon Maria Bochkareva returns to her unit. But since that time its organizational ardor has somewhat cooled down. She repeatedly stated that she was disappointed in women and henceforth does not consider it expedient to take them to the front - "sissies and crybabies." It is likely that her demands on her subordinates were extremely high, and what she, a military officer, was capable of was beyond the capabilities of ordinary women. Cavalier of the St. George Cross, Maria Bochkareva was by that time promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
Features of the "Women's Battalion of Death"
Since, chronologically, the events described are approaching the famous episode of the defense of the last residence of the Provisional Government (the Winter Palace), we should dwell in more detail on what the military unit created by Maria Bochkareva was at that time. The "Women's Battalion of Death" - as it is customary to call it - in accordance with the law, was considered an independent military unit and was equated in status with a regiment.
The total number of female soldiers was one thousand people. The officers were completely manned, and all of them were experienced commanders who had gone through the fronts of the First World War. The battalion was stationed at the Levashovo station, where the conditions necessary for training were created. In the disposition of the unit, any agitation and party work was strictly prohibited.
The battalion was not supposed to have any political overtones. His purpose was to defend the Fatherland from external enemies, and not to participate in internal political conflicts. The battalion commander was, as mentioned above, Maria Bochkareva. Her biography is inseparable from this combat formation. In the fall, everyone expected an ambulance to be sent to the front, but something else happened.
Defense of the Winter Palace
Unexpectedly, an order was received to one of the battalion units to arrive in Petrograd on October 24 to participate in the parade. In reality, this was only a pretext for attracting "shock women" to defend the Winter Palace from the Bolsheviks who had begun an armed uprising. At that time, the palace garrison consisted of scattered units of Cossacks and junkers of various military schools and did not represent any serious military force.
The women who arrived and settled in the empty premises of the former royal residence were entrusted with the defense of the southeastern wing of the building from the side of Palace Square. On the very first day, they managed to push back a detachment of the Red Guards and take control of the Nikolaevsky bridge. However, the very next day, October 25, the building of the palace was completely surrounded by troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and a shootout soon began. From that moment on, the defenders of the Winter Palace, not wanting to die for the Provisional Government, began to leave their positions.
The cadets of the Mikhailovsky School were the first to leave, followed by the Cossacks. The women held out the longest and only by ten o'clock in the evening they sent the parliamentarians with a statement of surrender and a request to let them out of the palace. They were given the opportunity to withdraw, but under the condition of complete disarmament. After some time, the women's unit in full force was placed in the barracks of the Pavlovsky Reserve Regiment, and then sent to the place of its permanent deployment in Levashovo.
Seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and subsequent events
After the October armed coup, it was decided to liquidate the women's battalion. However, it was too dangerous to return home in military uniform. With the help of the "Committee of Public Security" operating in Petrograd, the women managed to get civilian clothes and in this form to get to their homes.
It is absolutely reliably known that during the period of the events in question, Bochkareva Maria Leontievna was at the front and did not take any personal part in them. This is documented. However, the myth that it was she who commanded the defenders of the Winter Palace was firmly rooted. Even in the famous film by S. Eisenstein "October" in one of the characters one can easily recognize her image.
The further fate of this woman was very difficult. When the civil war began, the Russian Joan of Arc - Maria Bochkareva - was literally between two fires. Having heard about her authority among the soldiers and fighting skills, both warring parties tried to attract Maria into their ranks. At first, in Smolny, high-ranking representatives of the new government (according to her, Lenin and Trotsky) persuaded the woman to take command of one of the Red Guard units.
Then General Marushevsky, who commanded the White Guard forces in the north of the country, tried to persuade her to cooperate and instructed Bochkareva to form combat units. But in both cases, she refused: it is one thing to fight foreigners and defend the Motherland, and quite another to raise a hand against a compatriot. Her refusal was absolutely categorical, for which Maria almost paid with her freedom - the enraged general ordered her arrest, but, fortunately, the English allies stood up.
Maria's foreign tour
Her further fate takes the most unexpected turn - following the instructions of General Kornilov, Bochkareva travels to America and England for the purpose of agitation. She went on this voyage, dressed in the uniform of a sister of mercy and carrying false documents with her. It is hard to believe, but this simple peasant woman, who could barely read and write, behaved with dignity at a dinner at the White House, where President Wilson invited her on America's Independence Day. She was not at all embarrassed at the audience that the King of England arranged for her. In Mary, she arrived in an officer's uniform and with all military awards. It was the English monarch who called her the Russian Joan of Arc.
Of all the questions Bochkareva asked the heads of state, she found it difficult to answer only one: is she for the Reds or for the Whites? This question made no sense to her. For Mary, both of them were brothers, and the civil war caused only deep sorrow in her. During her stay in America, Bochkareva dictated her memoirs to one of the Russian emigrants, which he edited and published under the name "Yashka" - the front-line nickname of Bochkareva. The book was published in 1919 and immediately became a bestseller.
Last task
Soon Maria returned to Russia, engulfed in civil war. She fulfilled her campaigning mission, but categorically refused to take up arms, which caused a break in relations with the command of the Arkhangelsk Front. The former enthusiastic reverence was replaced by cold condemnation. The experiences associated with this caused a deep depression, from which Maria tried to find a way out in alcohol. She noticeably fell, and the command sent her away from the front, to the rear city of Tomsk.
Here Bochkareva was destined to serve the Fatherland for the last time - after the persuasion of the Supreme Admiral A.V. Kolchak, she agreed to form a volunteer sanitary detachment. Speaking to numerous audiences, Maria in a short time managed to attract more than two hundred volunteers to her ranks. But the rapid offensive of the Reds prevented the completion of this matter.
A life that became a legend
When Tomsk was captured by the Bolsheviks, Bochkareva voluntarily appeared at the commandant's office and handed over her weapons. The new authorities refused her offer of cooperation. After some time, she was arrested and sent to Krasnoyarsk. The investigators of the Special Department were confused, since it was difficult to bring any charge against her - Maria did not participate in the hostilities against the Reds. But, to her misfortune, the deputy head of the special department of the Cheka, IP Pavlunovsky, arrived in the city from Moscow - a stupid and ruthless executioner. Without delving into the essence of the matter, he gave the order - to shoot, which was executed immediately. Maria Bochkareva died on May 16, 1919.
But the life of this amazing woman was so unusual that her very death gave rise to many legends. It is not known exactly where the grave of Maria Leontievna Bochkareva is located, and this gave rise to rumors that she miraculously escaped execution and lived under a false name until the end of the forties. There is another unusual plot generated by her death.
It is based on the question: “Why was Maria Bochkareva shot?” Because they could not bring direct charges against her. In response to this, another legend claims that the brave Yashka hid American gold in Tomsk and refused to tell the Bolsheviks its whereabouts. There are many more incredible stories. But the main legend is, of course, Maria Bochkareva herself, whose biography could serve as a plot for the most exciting novel.
From a family of illiterate peasants, Maria Bochkareva was clearly an extraordinary person. Her name thundered throughout the Russian Empire. Still: a female officer, Knight of St. George, organizer and commander of the first female "battalion ...
From a family of illiterate peasants, Maria Bochkareva was clearly an extraordinary person. Her name thundered throughout the Russian Empire. Still: a female officer, St. George Knight, organizer and commander of the first female "death battalion". She met with Kerensky and Brusilov, Lenin and Trotsky, Kornilov and Kolchak, Winston Churchill, King George V of England and US President Woodrow Wilson. All of them noted the extraordinary fortitude of this woman.
Maria Bochkareva
The hard lot of a Russian woman
Maria Bochkareva (Frolkova) was from Novgorod peasants. In the hope of a better life, the Frolkov family moved to Siberia, where land was distributed to the peasants for free. But the Frolkovs could not raise the virgin lands, settled in the Tomsk province, lived in extreme poverty. At the age of 15, Marusya was married, and she became Bochkareva. Together with her husband, she unloaded barges, worked in the asphalt laying team. Here, for the first time, the extraordinary organizational skills of Bochkareva manifested themselves, very soon she became an assistant foreman, 25 people worked under her supervision. And her husband remained a laborer. He drank and beat his wife with mortal combat. Maria fled from him to Irkutsk, where she met with Yakov Buk. Maria's new common-law husband was a player, moreover, with criminal inclinations. As part of a gang of hunghuz, Yakov participated in robbery attacks. In the end, he was arrested and exiled to the Yakutsk province. Maria went after her beloved to the distant Amga. Jacob did not appreciate the feat of self-sacrifice of a woman who loves him and soon began to drink and beat Maria. There seemed to be no way out of this vicious circle. But the First World War broke out.
Private Bochkareva
On foot through the taiga, Maria went to Tomsk, where she appeared at the recruiting station and asked to be recorded as an ordinary soldier. The officer reasonably suggested that she sign up as a nurse for the Red Cross or some auxiliary service. But Maria certainly wanted to go to the front. Having borrowed 8 rubles, she sent a telegram to the Highest Name: why was she denied the right to fight and die for the Motherland? The answer came surprisingly quickly, and, by the highest permission, an exception was made for Mary. Thus, “Private Bochkareva” appeared in the lists of the battalion. They cut her hair like a typewriter and gave her a rifle, two pouches, a tunic, trousers, an overcoat, a hat, and everything else that a soldier should have.
On the very first night, there were those who wanted to check “by touch”, but is this unsmiling soldier really a woman? Maria turned out to have not only a strong character, but also a heavy hand: without looking, she beat the daredevils with everything that came to hand - boots, a bowler hat, a pouch. And the fist of the former asphalt paver turned out to be not at all a lady's. In the morning, Maria didn’t say a word about the “night fight”, but in the classroom she was among the first. Soon the whole company was proud of their unusual soldier (where else is there such a one?) And was ready to kill anyone who would encroach on the honor of their “Yashka” (Maria received such a nickname from fellow soldiers). In February 1915, the 24th reserve battalion was sent to the front. Maria refused the offer of the officers to go in a staff car near Molodechno and arrived with everyone else in a wagon.
Front
On the third day after arriving at the front, the company in which Bochkareva served went on the attack. Of the 250 people, 70 reached the line of wire barriers. Unable to overcome the barriers, the soldiers turned back. Less than 50 reached their trenches. As soon as it got dark, Maria crawled to the neutral zone and dragged the wounded into the trench all night. She saved almost 50 people that night, for which she was nominated for an award and received the St. George Cross of the 4th degree. Bochkareva went on attacks, night sorties, captured prisoners, not one German "took a bayonet." Her fearlessness was legendary. By February 1917, she had 4 wounds and 4 St. George awards (2 crosses and 2 medals), on the shoulders of a senior non-commissioned officer.
Year 1917
At that time, the army was in complete chaos: privates were given equal rights with officers, orders were not carried out, desertion reached unprecedented proportions, decisions on the offensive were made not at headquarters, but at rallies. The soldiers are tired and do not want to fight anymore. Bochkareva does not accept all this: how is it, 3 years of war, so many victims, and all for nothing ?! But those campaigning at the soldiers' rallies for the "war to the bitter end" are simply beaten. In May 1917, M. Rodzianko, chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, arrived at the front. He met with Bochkareva and immediately invited her to Petrograd. According to his plan, Maria should become a participant in a series of propaganda actions for the continuation of the war. But Bochkareva went further than his plans: on May 21, at one of the rallies, she put forward the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a “Shock Women's Death Battalion”.
"Death Battalion" by Maria Bochkareva
The idea was approved and supported by the commander-in-chief Brusilov and Kerensky, who then held the post of military and naval minister. Within a few days, more than 2,000 female volunteers signed up for the battalion in response to Maria's call to the women of Russia to shame the men with their example. Among them were bourgeois and peasant women, domestic servants and university graduates. There were also representatives of noble families of Russia. Bochkareva established strict discipline in the battalion and supported it with her iron fist (in the full sense of the word - she beat the mugs like a real old-time wahmister). A number of women who did not take Bochkarev's measures to manage the battalion broke away and organized their shock battalion (it was he, not the Bochkarev, who defended the Winter Palace in October 1917). Bochkareva's initiative was picked up throughout Russia: in Moscow, Kiev, Minsk, Poltava, Simbirsk, Kharkov, Smolensk, Vyatka, Baku, Irkutsk, Mariupol, Odessa, infantry and cavalry women's units and even women's naval teams (Oranienbaum) began to be created. (True, the formation of many was never completed)
female recruits in Petrograd in 1917
On June 21, 1917, Petrograd escorted shock women to the front. With a huge gathering of people, the banner was handed to the battalion, Kornilov handed Bochkareva a nominal weapon, and Kerensky - ensign's shoulder straps. On June 27, the battalion arrived at the front, and on July 8 entered the battle.
The vain victims of the women's battalion
The fate of the battalion can be called tragic. The women who went on the attack really dragged the neighboring companies with them. The first line of defense was taken, then the second, the third ... - and that's it. Other parts did not rise. Reinforcements did not arrive. The drummers repulsed several German counterattacks. There was a threat of encirclement. Bochkareva ordered to retreat. The positions taken in battle had to be abandoned. The battalion's casualties (30 killed and 70 wounded) were in vain. Bochkareva herself in that battle was seriously shell-shocked and sent to the hospital. After 1.5 months, she (already in the rank of second lieutenant) returned to the front and found the situation even worse. Shock women served on an equal footing with men, were called up for reconnaissance, rushed into counterattacks, but the example of women did not inspire anyone. 200 surviving shock girls could not save the army from decay. Clashes between them and the soldiers, who were striving to "bayonet to the ground - and home" as soon as possible, threatened to escalate into a civil war in a single regiment. Considering the situation hopeless, Bochkareva disbanded the battalion, and she herself left for Petrograd.
In the ranks of the White movement
She was too prominent a figure to disappear imperceptibly into Petrograd. She was arrested and taken to Smolny. Lenin and Trotsky talked to the famous Maria Bochkareva. The leaders of the revolution tried to attract such a bright personality to cooperation, but Maria, citing injuries, refused. Members of the White movement were also looking for meetings with her. She also told the representative of the underground officer organization, General Anosov, that she would not fight against her people, but she agreed to go to the Don to General Kornilov as a liaison organization. So Bochkareva became a participant in the Civil War. Disguised as a sister of mercy, Mary went south. In Novocherkassk, she handed over letters and documents to Kornilov and went, already as the personal representative of General Kornilov, to ask for help from the Western powers.
Diplomatic mission of Maria Bochkareva
Following through all of Russia, she reached Vladivostok, where she boarded an American ship. On April 3, 1918, Maria Bochkareva went ashore in the port of San Francisco. Newspapers wrote about her, she spoke at meetings, met with prominent public and political figures. The envoy of the White movement was received by US Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State Lansing and US President Woodrow Wilson. Then Mary went to England, where she met with the Minister of War Winston Churchill and King George V. Mary begged, persuaded, persuaded all of them to help the White Army, with money, weapons, food, and they all promised her this help. Inspired, Maria goes back to Russia.
In the whirl of the fronts of the Civil War
In August 1918, Bochkareva arrived in Arkhangelsk, where she again took the initiative to organize a women's battalion. The government of the Northern Region reacted coolly to this initiative. General Marushevsky frankly stated that he considers the involvement of women in military service a disgrace. In June 1919, a caravan of ships left Arkhangelsk heading east. In the holds of the ships there are weapons, ammunition and ammunition for the troops of the Eastern Front. On one of the ships - Maria Bochkareva. Her goal is Omsk, her last hope is Admiral Kolchak.
She reached Omsk and met with Kolchak. The admiral made a strong impression on her and instructed the organization of a sanitary detachment. For 2 days, Maria formed a group of 200 people, but the front was already cracking and rolling east. In less than a month, the "third capital" will be abandoned, Kolchak himself has less than six months to live.
Arrest - sentence - death
In the tenth of November, Kolchak left Omsk. Maria did not leave with the retreating troops. Tired of fighting, she decided to reconcile with the Bolsheviks and returned to Tomsk. But her glory was too odious, the burden of Bochkareva's sins before the Soviet government was too heavy. People who took a much less active part in the White movement paid for it with their lives. What can we say about Bochkareva, whose name has repeatedly flashed on the pages of white newspapers. On January 7, 1920, Maria Bochkareva was arrested, and on May 16 she was shot as "an implacable and worst enemy of the Workers 'and Peasants' Republic." Rehabilitated in 1992.
The name will return
Maria Bochkareva was not the only woman who fought in the First World War. Thousands of women went to the front as sisters of mercy, many made their way to the front, posing as men. Unlike them, Maria did not hide her belonging to the female sex for a single day, which, however, does not in the least detract from the feat of other “Russian Amazons”. Maria Bochkareva should have taken her rightful place on the pages of a Russian history textbook. But, for well-known reasons, in Soviet times, the slightest mention of it was diligently erased. Only a few contemptuous lines of Mayakovsky remained in his poem "Good!".
The future heroine of the Russian-American blockbuster "Battalion", which our modern "patriots" watch with aspiration, Maria Bochkareva was born in 1889 in the family of peasants in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, Leonty and Olga Frolkov. The family, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to Siberia, where fifteen-year-old Maria was married to a local drunkard. Bochkareva after some time left her husband for the butcher Yakov Buk, who led a local gang of robbers. In May 1912, Buk was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed Yasha on foot to Eastern Siberia, where the two of them again opened a butcher's shop to avert their eyes, although in fact Buk, with the participation of his mistress, organized a gang of hunghuz and traded in the usual robbery on the high road. Soon the police came on the trail of the gang, Buk and Bochkareva were arrested and transferred to a settlement in the remote taiga village of Amga, where there was already no one to rob.
The narrowed Bochkareva, from such grief and the inability to do what he loves, namely to rob, as is usual in Rus', took to drink and began to train in the massacre of his mistress. At this time, the First World War broke out, and Bochkareva decided to end her taiga-robber stage of life and go to the front, especially since Yashka became more and more brutal with longing. Only the entry into the army as a volunteer allowed Mary to leave the place of settlement, determined by the police. The male military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Bochkareva, not wanting to carry the wounded and wash the bandages, sent a telegram to the tsar with a request to give her the opportunity to shoot the Germans to her heart's content. The telegram reached the addressee, and the king unexpectedly received a positive answer. So the mistress of the Siberian robber got to the front.
At first, a woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment by her colleagues, but her bravery in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, she was given the nickname "Yashka", in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.
M. V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a campaign trip to the Western Front, where Bochkareva served, took her with him to Petrograd to agitate the “war to a victorious end” among the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the Congress of Soldiers’ Deputies of the Petrograd Soviet.
After a series of speeches by Bochkareva, Kerensky, in a fit of yet another propaganda adventurism, turned to her with a proposal to organize a "women's battalion of death." Both Kerensky and St. Petersburg institute girls were involved in this pseudo-patriotic project, with a total of up to 2000 girls. In an unusual military unit, arbitrariness reigned, to which Bochkareva was accustomed to in the army: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva "beats their faces like a real wahmister of the old regime." Not many survived such treatment: in a short time, the number of female volunteers was reduced to 300.
But nevertheless, on June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral in Petrograd, a solemn ceremony was held to present a new military unit with a white banner with the inscription "The first women's military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva." On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation "On the formation of military units from female volunteers." The appearance of the Bochkareva detachment served as an impetus for the formation of women's detachments in other cities of the country (Kiev, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but in connection with the historical development of events, the creation of these women's strike units it was never completed.
Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: rising at five in the morning, classes until ten in the evening, and simple soldier food. Women were shaved bald. Black epaulettes with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized "unwillingness to live if Russia perishes."
M. Bochkareva banned any party propaganda and the organization of any councils and committees in her battalion. Due to harsh discipline, a split occurred in the battalion that was still being formed. Some women made an attempt to form a soldiers' committee and sharply criticized Bochkareva's brutal management methods. There was a split in the battalion. M. Bochkareva was called in turn to the commander of the district, General Polovtsev and Kerensky. Both conversations were stormy, but Bochkareva stood her ground: she would not have any committees!
She reorganized her battalion. About 300 women remained in it, and it became the 1st Petrograd shock battalion. And from the rest of the women who disagreed with Bochkareva's command methods, the 2nd Moscow shock battalion was formed.
The 1st Battalion received its baptism of fire on July 9, 1917. The women came under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. Although the reports said that "the Bochkareva detachment behaved heroically in battle," it became clear that women's military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and later - to lieutenant. Such heavy losses of volunteers had other consequences for the women's battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women's "death battalions" for combat use, and already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary sectors (security functions, communications , sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking them to be fired from the "parts of death."
The second Moscow battalion, which had left the command of Bochkareva, was destined to be among the last defenders of the Provisional Government during the days of the October Revolution. Kerensky managed to inspect this single military unit the day before the coup. As a result, only the second company was selected to guard the Winter Palace, but not the entire battalion. The defense of the Winter Palace, as we know, ended in failure. Immediately after the capture of the Winter Palace, the most sensational stories about the terrible fate of the women's battalion defending the palace circulated in the anti-Bolshevik press. It was said that some female soldiers were thrown onto the pavement from the windows, almost all the rest were raped, and many committed suicide themselves, unable to survive all these horrors.
The city council appointed a special commission to investigate the case. On November 16 (3), this commission returned from Levashov, where the women's battalion was quartered. Deputy Tyrkova said: "All these 140 girls are not only alive, not only not injured, but also not subjected to those terrible insults that we have heard and read about." After the capture of Zimny, the women were first sent to the Pavlovsky barracks, where some of them were really treated badly by the soldiers, but that now most of them are in Levashov, and the rest are scattered in private houses in Petrograd. Another member of the commission testified that not a single woman was thrown out of the windows of the Winter Palace, that three were raped, but already in the Pavlovsk barracks, and that one volunteer committed suicide by jumping out of a window, and she left a note in which she writes that “ disappointed in her ideals.
The slanderers were also exposed by the volunteers themselves. “In view of the fact that in a number of places malicious persons are spreading false, unsubstantiated rumors that, allegedly, during the disarmament of the women’s battalion, sailors and Red Guards committed violence and excesses, we, the undersigned,” the letter from the soldiers of the former women’s battalion said, “ we consider it our civic duty to declare that nothing of the kind happened, that it is all lies and slander” (November 4, 1917)
In January 1918, the women's battalions were formally disbanded, but many of their members continued to serve in parts of the White Guard armies.
Maria Bochkareva herself took an active part in the White movement. On behalf of General Kornilov, she went to visit the best "friends" of Russia - the Americans - to ask for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. We observe approximately the same thing today, when various Parubiy and Semenchenko go to the same America to ask for money for the war with the Donbass and Russia. Then, in 1919, the help of Bochkareva, as well as today's emissaries of the Kyiv junta, was promised by the American senators. Upon returning to Russia on November 10, 1919, Bochkareva met with Admiral Kolchak. On his behalf, she formed a women's sanitary detachment of 200 people. But in the same November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Red Army, she was arrested and shot.
Thus ended the "glorious" path of the new idol of our patriotic public.
The women's death battalion in the First World War (photos are available in the article) arose at the behest of the Provisional Government. One of the main initiators of its creation was M. Bochkareva. The Women's Death Battalion in World War I was created to raise the morale of male soldiers who refused to go to the front.
Maria Bochkareva
Since 1914, she was at the front with the rank of senior non-commissioned officer, having received the highest permission for this. Thanks to her heroism, by 1917 Maria Bochkareva became quite famous. Rodzianko, who arrived on the Western Front in April, secured a personal meeting with her, and then took her with him to Petrograd to conduct agitation for the struggle "to the bitter end" in the garrison troops and in front of the delegates of the Congress of the Petrosoviet. In her speech, Bochkareva put forward a proposal to form a women's death battalion. In the war, according to her, such a formation was extremely necessary. After that, she was invited to speak at a meeting of the Provisional Government.
Prerequisites for the formation of a detachment
During the First World War, women of all ages - schoolgirls, female students and representatives of other sectors of society - voluntarily went to the front. In the "Red Cross Bulletin" in 1915, a story appeared about 12 girls who fought in the Carpathians. They were 14-16 years old. In the very first battles, two schoolgirls were killed and 4 were wounded. The soldiers treated the girls in a paternal way. They got them uniforms, taught them how to shoot, and then signed them up under male names as privates. What made women who were pretty, young, rich or noble, plunge into military everyday life? Documents and memoirs point to many reasons. The main one, of course, was a patriotic impulse. It embraced the entire Russian society. It was the feeling of patriotism and duty that made many women change their elegant outfits for military uniforms or the clothes of sisters of mercy. Family circumstances were also important. Some women went to the front for their husbands, others, having learned about their death, joined the army out of a sense of revenge.
The developing movement for equality of rights with men also played a special role. The revolutionary 1917 gave women many opportunities. They received voting and other rights. All this contributed to the emergence of soldier detachments, which consisted entirely of women. In the spring and summer of 1917, units began to form throughout the country. Already from the name itself it was clear what the women's battalion of death was. In the First World War, the girls were ready to give their lives for their Motherland. About 2,000 girls responded to Bochkareva's call. However, only 300 of them were selected for the women's death battalion. In the First World War, the "shock girls" showed what Russian girls are capable of. With their heroism, they infected all the soldiers who participated in the battles.
Women's death battalion: the history of creation
The battalion was formed in a fairly short time. In 1917, on June 21, a solemn ceremony was held near St. Isaac's Cathedral on the square. On it, a new military formation received a white banner. On June 29, the Regulations were approved. It established the procedure for the formation of military units from female volunteers. Representatives of different strata of society were enrolled in the ranks of the "drummers". So, for example, Bochkareva's adjutant was the 25-year-old general's daughter Maria Skrydlova. She had an excellent education and knew five languages.
The women's death battalion in the First World War consisted of women serving in front-line units and ordinary citizens. Among the latter were noblewomen, workers, teachers, female students. Simple peasant women, servants, girls from famous noble families, soldiers, Cossacks - they and many others went to serve in the women's death battalion. The history of the creation of the part of Bochkareva began in a difficult time. However, this was the impetus for the unification of girls in soldier groups in other cities. Mostly Russian women entered the unit. However, it was possible to meet representatives of other nationalities. So, according to the documents, Estonians, Latvians, Jews also went to serve in the women's death battalion.
The history of the creation of the detachments testifies to the high patriotism of the fairer sex. Parts began to form in Kyiv, Smolensk, Kharkov, Mariupol, Baku, Irkutsk, Odessa, Poltava, Vyatka and other cities. According to sources, a lot of girls immediately signed up for the first women's death battalion. In the First World War, military formations numbered from 250 to 1500 people. In October 1917, the following were formed: the Naval team, the Minsk guard squad, the Petrograd Cavalry Regiment, as well as the First Petrograd, Second Moscow, Third Kuban women's death battalion. In the First World War (history testifies to this), only the last three detachments participated. However, due to the intensifying processes of the destruction of the Russian Empire, the formation of the units was never completed.
Public attitude
The Russian historian Solntseva wrote that the Soviets and the mass of soldiers perceived the female death battalion rather negatively. In the World War, however, the role of the detachment was quite significant. However, many front-line soldiers spoke very unflatteringly about the girls. In early July, the Petrograd Soviet demanded that all battalions be disbanded. It was said that these units were "unfit for service." In addition, the Petrograd Soviet regarded the formation of these detachments as a "hidden bourgeois maneuver", as a desire to bring the struggle to victory.
Women's death battalion in World War I: photos, activities
Part of Bochkareva arrived in the active army on June 27, 1917. The number of the detachment was 200 people. The female death battalion entered the rear units of the First Siberian Corps of the 10th Army on the Western Front. An offensive was being prepared for July 9th. On the 7th, the infantry regiment, which included the female death battalion, received an order. He was supposed to take a position at Krevo. On the right flank of the regiment was a shock battalion. They were the first to enter the battle, since the enemy, who knew about the plans of the Russian army, inflicting a preemptive strike, entered the location of our troops.
Within three days, 14 enemy attacks were repelled. Several times during this time the battalion made counterattacks. As a result, the German soldiers were driven out of the positions they had occupied the day before. In his report, Colonel Zakrzhevsky wrote that the women's death battalion in World War I behaved heroically, being constantly at the forefront. The girls served in the same way as the soldiers, on a par with them. When the Germans attacked, they all rushed to the counterattack, went on reconnaissance, brought cartridges. The women's death battalion in the First World War was an example of bravery, calmness and courage. Each of these girl-heroines is worthy of the highest title of Soldier of the revolutionary army of Russia. As Bochkareva herself testified, out of 170 strikers who took part in the battles, 30 people were killed and about 70 were wounded. She herself was wounded five times. After the battle, Bochkareva was in the hospital for a month and a half. For participation in the battles and the heroism shown, she was awarded the rank of second lieutenant.
Consequences of losses
Due to the large number of girls killed and wounded in the battles, General Kornilov signed an order prohibiting the formation of new death battalions to participate in the battles. The existing detachments were assigned only an auxiliary function. In particular, they were ordered to provide security, communications, act as sanitary groups. As a result, many volunteer girls who wanted to fight for their Motherland with weapons in their hands applied with written statements, which contained a request to dismiss them from the death battalion.
Discipline
She was tough enough. The women's death battalion in the First World War showed not only an example of courage and patriotism. The main principles were proclaimed:
Positive points
The women's death battalion in the First World War not only participated in battles. "Drummers" got the opportunity to master men's professions. For example, Princess Shakhovskaya is the world's first female pilot. In Germany, in 1912, she was issued a pilot's license. There, at the Johannistal airfield, she worked for some time as an instructor. At the beginning of the war, Shakhovskaya filed a petition to send her as a military pilot to the front. The emperor granted the request, and in November 1914 the princess was enrolled in the rank of ensign in the First Aviation Detachment.
Another striking example is Elena Samsonova. She was the daughter of a military engineer, she graduated from the gymnasium and courses in Peretburg with a gold medal. In the Warsaw hospital, Samsonova worked as a nurse. After that, she was enlisted as a driver in the 9th Army, located on the Southwestern Front. However, she did not serve there for long - about four months, and then was sent to Moscow. Before the war, Samsonova received a pilot diploma. In 1917, she was assigned to the 26th Aviation Detachment.
Protection of the Provisional Government
One of the "shock battalions" (First Petrograd, commanded by Staff Captain Loskov), together with cadets and other units, took part in October 1917 in protecting the Winter Palace. On October 25, the detachment, which was quartered at the Levashovo station, was supposed to head to the Romanian front. But the day before, Loskov received an order to send a unit "on parade" to Petrograd. In fact, it was supposed to provide protection
Loskov learned about the real task and did not want to involve his subordinates in political disagreements. He led the battalion back to Levashovo, except for the 2nd company of 137 people. With the help of two shock platoons, the headquarters of the Petrograd district tried to carry out the wiring of Liteiny, Dvortsovoy and But this task was thwarted by Sovietized sailors. The remaining company of strikers was located to the right of the main gate on the first floor of the palace. During the night assault, she surrendered, was disarmed. The girls were taken to the barracks, first by Pavlovsky, and then. According to some reports, a number of shock girls were "ill-treated." Subsequently, a special commission of the Petrograd Duma found that four girls were raped (although, probably, few were generally ready to admit it), and one committed suicide. On October 26, the company was poisoned back to Levashovo.
Squad liquidation
After the end of the October Revolution, the new Soviet government set a course for making peace, as well as withdrawing the country from the war. In addition, part of the forces was sent to eliminate the Imperial Army. As a result, all "shock units" were disbanded. The battalions were disbanded on November 30, 1917 by order of the Military Council of the former Ministry. Although shortly before this event, it was ordered to make all members of volunteer units for military merit into officers. Nevertheless, a large number of shock girls remained in positions until January 1918 and beyond.
Some women moved to the Don. There they took an active part in the fight against the Bolsheviks in the ranks. The last of the remaining units was the Third Kuban death battalion. He was quartered in Yekaterinodar. This shock unit was disbanded only by February 26, 1918. The reason was the refusal of the headquarters of the Caucasian district to provide further supplies to the detachment.
and form
Women who served in the Bochkareva battalion wore the symbol of "Adam's Head" on their chevrons. They, like other soldiers, passed the medical examination. Like men, girls cut their hair almost bald. During the hostilities, women's participation and asceticism acquired a mass character for the first time in history. There were more than 25,000 female volunteers in the Russian army at the front. A sense of patriotism and duty to the Fatherland led many of them to serve. Being in the ranks of the army changed their outlook.
Finally
It must be said that Kerensky played a special role in the creation of the first women's battalion. He was the first to support this idea. Kerensky received a huge number of petitions and telegrams from women who sought to join the ranks of the unit. He also received the minutes of the meetings and various notes. All these papers reflected the women's concern about the future fate of the country, as well as the desire to protect the Motherland and preserve the freedom of the people. They believed that to remain inactive is tantamount to shame. Women aspired to the army, guided solely by love for the motherland, the desire to raise the morale of the soldiers. The Main Directorate of the General Staff formed a special commission on labor service. At the same time, the headquarters of the military districts began to work to attract female volunteers to the army. However, the desire of women was so great that a wave of creation of military organizations spontaneously passed through the country.
In different historical epochs and in different parts of the world, when the ranks of men were greatly thinned due to constant wars, women created their own combat units. In Russia, during the First World War, the so-called women's death battalions also appeared. At the head of the first such unit was Maria Bochkareva, one of the most unfortunate and extraordinary women of that difficult time.
How was the life of the future heroine
Maria Leontyevna Frolkova was born in 1889 in the Novgorod region into a very poor peasant family. When Marusa was six years old, the family moved to Tomsk in search of a better life, as the government promised considerable benefits to the settlers in Siberia. But the hopes were not justified. At the age of 8, the girl was given "to the people." Marusya worked from morning to night, endured constant hunger and beatings.
In her early youth, Maria met Lieutenant Vasily Lazov. In an effort to escape from the hopeless situation surrounding her, the girl fled with him from her parents' house. However, the lieutenant disgraced her and abandoned her. After returning home, Maria was so severely beaten by her father that she received a concussion. Then, at the age of 15, Maria was married to a veteran of the Japanese war, Afanasy Bochkarev. The marriage was unsuccessful: the husband drank heavily and beat his young wife. Maria tried to escape from him and somehow settle in life, but her husband found her, returned her home, and everything continued as before. The girl repeatedly tried to commit suicide. The last time she was saved by the robber and gambler Yankel Buk, who is part of the international hunghuz gang. He didn't let her drink a glass of vinegar. Mary became his partner.
After some time, Yankel Buk was caught and exiled. Bochkareva followed him into exile. But there he began to drink and engage in assault. There is evidence that once Buk, suspecting his girlfriend of treason, tried to hang her. Maria realized that she had fallen into another trap, and her active nature began to look for a way out. She went to the police station, where she spoke about the many unsolved crimes of her partner. However, this act only worsened her situation.
When the First World War began, Bochkareva turned to the commander of the Tomsk battalion with a request to enlist her in the soldiers. The commander laughed it off and advised her to turn to the emperor himself. However, the existence of Mary was so terrible that she really decided to take this step: she found a person who helped her compose and send a telegram to Nicholas II, in which she asked to be enlisted in the army. Apparently, the telegram was written by a professional, because the tsar agreed to such a violation of army discipline.
Life among soldiers and participation in battles
When Maria Bochkareva got to the front, fellow soldiers took her ironically. Her military nickname was "Yashka", after the name of her second husband. Maria recalled that she spent the first night in the barracks, handing out cuffs to her comrades-in-arms. She tried to visit not a soldier's bath, but a city one, where they threw something heavy at her from the threshold, mistaking her for a man. Later, Maria began to wash with her squad, occupying the far corner, turning her back and threatening to scald in case of harassment. Soon the soldiers got used to her and stopped scoffing, recognizing her as "their own", sometimes even for a joke they took her with them to a brothel.
After all the ordeals, Maria had nothing to lose, but she got a chance to advance and improve her social status. She showed considerable courage in the battles and pulled fifty wounded out of the fire. She was wounded four times. Returning from the hospital, she met the most cordial welcome in the unit, probably for the first time in her life being in a benevolent environment. She was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer and awarded the George Cross and three medals.
First Women's Death Battalion
In 1917, Duma deputy Mikhail Rodzianko proposed the idea of creating a women's military brigade. The front was falling apart, cases of flight from the battlefield and desertion were massive. Rodzianko hoped that the example of fearless patriotic women would inspire the soldiers and rally the Russian army.
Maria Bochkareva became the commander of the women's death battalion. More than 2000 women who wanted to defend the country with weapons in their hands responded to her call. Many of them were from among the romantic Petersburg institutes, carried away by patriotic ideas and absolutely unaware of real military life, but they willingly posed in front of photographers in a soldier's image. Bochkareva, seeing this, immediately demanded from her subordinates strict observance of her requirements: unquestioning obedience, no jewelry and a haircut. There were also complaints about the heavy hand of Maria, who could, in the best sergeant-major traditions, slap the face. Those dissatisfied with such orders were quickly weeded out, and 300 girls of various origins remained in the battalion: from those born in peasant families to noblewomen. Maria Skrydlova, the daughter of the famous admiral, became Bochkareva's adjutant. The national composition was different: Russians, Latvians, Estonians, Jews and even one Englishwoman.
The women's battalion was escorted to the front by about 25 thousand men of the St. Petersburg garrison, who themselves were in no hurry to expose their foreheads to a bullet. Alexander Kerensky personally presented the detachment with a banner on which was written: "The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva." Their emblem was a skull and crossbones: not a pirate sign, but a symbol of Golgotha and the atonement for the sins of mankind.
How women warriors were perceived
At the front, the girls had to fend off the soldiers: many took the female replenishment exclusively as legal prostitutes. The prostitutes accompanying the army often dressed in a semblance of a military uniform, so the girls' ammunition did not stop anyone. Their combat position was besieged by hundreds of fellow soldiers who had no doubt that an official brothel had arrived.
But that was before the first battles. Bochkareva's detachment arrived at Smorgon and on July 8, 1914, entered the battle for the first time. In three days, the women's death battalion repulsed 14 German attacks. Several times the girls went on counterattacks, engaged in hand-to-hand combat and knocked out the German units from their positions. Commander Anton Denikin was impressed by female heroism.
Rodzianko's calculations did not materialize: the male combat units continued to take cover in the trenches while the girls went on the attack. The battalion lost 30 fighters, about 70 were injured. Bochkareva herself was wounded for the fifth time and spent a month and a half in the hospital. She was promoted to second lieutenant, and the battalion withdrew to the rear. After the October Revolution, on the initiative of Bochkareva, her detachment was disbanded.
Alternate Institutional Battalion
Those girls who were weeded out by Bochkareva created the Petrograd Women's Battalion of Death. Here it was allowed to use cosmetics, wear elegant underwear and make beautiful hairstyles. The composition was fundamentally different: in addition to the romantic graduates of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, adventurers of various kinds, including prostitutes who decided to change their field of activity, joined the battalion. This second detachment, formed by the Women's Patriotic Union, was supposed to defend the Winter Palace in Petrograd. However, during the capture of Zimny by the revolutionaries, this detachment did not resist: the girls were disarmed and sent to the barracks of the Pavlovsky regiment. The attitude towards them was exactly the same as initially towards the front-line girls. They were perceived exclusively as girls of easy virtue, they were treated without any respect, raped, and soon the Petrograd Women's Battalion was disbanded.
Refusal to cooperate with the Bolsheviks in favor of the Whites
After the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky considered Maria Bochkareva a suitable candidate to organize the Soviet women's movement. However, Maria refused, citing her unwillingness to continue to take part in the battles. She went over to the side of the White movement, but she really did not participate in the hostilities and made an attempt to go to her relatives in Tomsk. On the way, Bochkareva was captured by the Bolsheviks, from whom she managed to escape in the costume of a sister of mercy. Having reached Vladivostok, the Russian Amazon left for San Francisco. In America, she was supported by one of the leaders of the suffragette movement, the wealthy Florence Harriman. She organized a tour of Mary throughout the country with lectures. In 1918, Bochkareva was received by President Woodrow Wilson, whom she asked for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. It is known that the head of the White House shed tears after the Russian Amazon told him about the vicissitudes of her plight.
Then Mary arrived in London and was honored to talk with King George. The latter promised her financial and military support. With the English military corps, she returned to her homeland. From Arkhangelsk, she went to the capital of the Whites, Omsk, joining the army of Alexander Kolchak, who invited her to form a women's detachment. This attempt was not successful. By the way, Kolchak, according to Maria, was too indecisive, as a result of which the Bolsheviks went on the offensive everywhere.
Riddles of an extraordinary fate
There are different versions about Mary's arrest. According to one of them, she voluntarily appeared in the Cheka and handed over her weapons. In any case, on January 7, 1920, she was arrested. The investigative process lasted several months, the court hesitated in making a decision. It is believed that on May 16, 1921, Bochkareva was shot in Krasnoyarsk on the resolution of the Chekists Ivan Pavlunovsky and Isaac Shimanovsky. However, it is known that Mary had influential defenders and there was an active struggle for her release. Her biographer S.V. Drokov believes that the execution order remained only on paper and was not carried out, and in fact this extraordinary woman was rescued by an American journalist from Odessa, Isaac Levin. This version says that Maria subsequently met one of her former fellow soldiers, a widower with children, and married him.
