Bochkareva Maria Leontievna (née Frolkova, July 1889 - May 1920) - often considered the first Russian female officer (produced during the 1917 revolution). Bochkareva created the first female battalion in the history of the Russian army. Cavalier of the George Cross.
In July 1889, the third child, daughter Marusya, was born to the peasants of the village of Nikolskoye, Kirillovsky district, Novgorod province, Leonty Semenovich and Olga Eleazarovna Frolkov. Soon the family, fleeing poverty, moved to Siberia, where the government promised the settlers large plots of land and financial support. But, apparently, it was not possible to get away from poverty here either. At the age of fifteen, Mary was married. The following entry was preserved in the book of the Resurrection Church dated January 22, 1905: “Afanasy Sergeevich Bochkarev, 23 years old, of the Orthodox faith, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district of the Semiluk volost of the village of Bolshoe Kuskovo, married the maiden Maria Leontievna Frolkova, of the Orthodox faith…” . They settled in Tomsk. Married life went wrong almost immediately, and Bochkareva broke up with her drunken husband without regret. Maria left him for the butcher Yakov Buk. In May 1912, Buk was arrested on charges of robbery and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed him on foot to Eastern Siberia, where they opened a butcher's shop for cover, although in reality Buk hunted in a gang of hunghuz. Soon the police came on the trail of the gang, and Buk was transferred to a settlement in the taiga village of Amga.
Although Bochkareva again followed in his footsteps, her betrothed took to drink and began to engage in assault. At this time the First World War broke out. Bochkareva decided to join the ranks of the army and, having parted with her Yashka, arrived in Tomsk. The military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Then Bochkareva sent a telegram to the tsar, which was unexpectedly followed by a positive response. So she 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.
In 1917, Kerensky turned to Bochkareva with a request to organize a "women's death battalion"; his wife and St. Petersburg institutes were involved in the patriotic project, with a total number of up to 2000 people. In an unusual military unit, iron discipline reigned: 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 three hundred. The rest separated into a special women's battalion that defended the Winter Palace during the October Revolution.
In the summer of 1917, Bochkareva's detachment distinguished itself at Smorgon; his steadfastness made an indelible impression on the command (Anton Denikin). After the shell shock received in that battle, warrant officer Bochkareva was sent to the Petrograd hospital for recovery, and in the capital she received the rank of second lieutenant, but soon after returning to her position she had to disband the battalion, due to the actual collapse of the front and the October coup.
Maria Bochkareva among the defenders of Petrograd
In winter, she was detained by the Bolsheviks on the way to Tomsk. After refusing to cooperate with the new authorities, she was accused of having relations with General Kornilov, the matter almost went to the tribunal. Thanks to the help of one of her former colleagues, Bochkareva broke free and, dressed in the outfit of a sister of mercy, traveled the whole country to Vladivostok, from where she sailed on a campaign trip to the USA and Europe.
In April 1918, Bochkareva arrived in San Francisco. With the support of the influential and wealthy Florence Harriman, the daughter of a Russian peasant crossed the United States and was awarded an audience with President Woodrow Wilson at the White House on July 10. According to eyewitnesses, Bochkareva's story about her dramatic fate and pleas for help against the Bolsheviks moved the president to tears.
Maria Bochkareva, Emmeline Pankhurst (British public and political figure, women's rights activist, leader of the British suffragette movement) and a woman from the Women's Battalion, 1917.
Maria Bochkareva and Emmeline Pankhurst
Journalist Isaac Don Levin, based on the stories of Bochkareva, wrote a book about her life, which was published in 1919 under the title "Yashka" and was translated into several languages.
After visiting London, where she met with King George V and secured his financial support, Bochkareva arrived in Arkhangelsk in August 1918. She hoped to raise local women to fight the Bolsheviks, but things went badly. General Marushevsky, in an order dated December 27, 1918, announced that the conscription of women for military service unsuitable for them would be a shame for the population of the Northern Region, and forbade Bochkareva to wear an officer's uniform self-appointed to her.
The following year, she was already in Tomsk under the banner of Admiral Kolchak, trying to put together a battalion of nurses. She regarded Kolchak's flight from Omsk as a betrayal, voluntarily appeared before the local authorities, who took a written undertaking not to leave her.
Siberian period (19th year, on the Kolchak fronts...)
A few days later, during a church service, 31-year-old Bochkareva was taken into custody by security officers. Clear evidence of her betrayal or collaboration with the whites could not be found, and the proceedings dragged on for four months. According to the Soviet version, on May 16, 1920, she was shot in Krasnoyarsk on the basis of the resolution of the head of the Special Department of the Cheka of the 5th Army, Ivan Pavlunovsky, and his deputy Shimanovsky. But in the conclusion of the Russian prosecutor's office on the rehabilitation of Bochkareva in 1992, it is said that there is no evidence of her execution.
Women's battalions
M. V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a propaganda trip to the Western Front, where Bochkareva served, specifically asked to meet with her and took her with him to Petrograd to agitate the "war to a victorious end" in the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the congress of soldiers deputies of the Petrosoviet. In a speech to the delegates of the congress, Bochkareva for the first time voiced her idea of \u200b\u200bcreating shock women's "death battalions". After that, she was invited to a meeting of the Provisional Government to repeat her proposal.
“I was told that my idea was excellent, but I need to report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Brusilov and consult with him. Together with Rodzyanka, I went to Brusilov’s Headquarters. Brusilov told me in the office that you rely on women, and that the formation of a women’s battalion is the first in the world. Can't women dishonor Russia? I told Brusilov that I myself am not sure about women, but if you give me full authority, then I guarantee that my battalion will not dishonor Russia. Brusilov told me that he believes me, and will do her best to help in the formation of the women's volunteer battalion."
Battalion recruits
On June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony of presenting a new military unit of a white banner with the inscription "The first women's military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva" was held. On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation "On the formation of military units from female volunteers."
“Kerensky listened with obvious impatience. It was obvious that he had already made a decision on this matter. He had only one doubt: whether I could maintain high morale and morality in this battalion. Kerensky said that he would allow me to begin formation immediately<…>When Kerensky escorted me to the door, his eyes rested on General Polovtsev. He asked him to give me any help needed. I almost suffocated with happiness."
The commander of the Petrograd Military District, General P. A. Polovtsov, conducts a review of the 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion. Summer 1917
First of all, front-line soldiers, who were still in the imperial army, some of them were Knights of St. George, and women from civil society - noblewomen, students, teachers, workers, were recorded in the ranks of the "shocks". The percentage of soldiers and Cossacks was large: 38. In the battalion of Bochkareva, both girls of many famous noble families of Russia, as well as simple peasant women and servants were represented. Maria N. Skrydlova, the daughter of the admiral, served as Bochkareva's adjutant. By nationality, the volunteers were mostly Russian, but there were also other nationalities - Estonians, Latvians, Jews, and an Englishwoman. The number of women's formations ranged from 250 to 1500 fighters each. The formation took place exclusively on a voluntary basis.
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 due to the intensifying processes of destruction of the entire state, the creation of these women's shock parts were never completed.
Recruit training
Women's Battalion. Camp life training.
At the training camp in Levashevo
Mounted scouts of the Women's Battalion
Volunteers during rest hours
Officially, as of October 1917, there were: 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion, 2nd Moscow Women's Death Battalion, 3rd Kuban Women's Shock Battalion (infantry); Maritime women's team (Oranienbaum); Cavalry 1st Petrograd Battalion of the Women's Military Union; Minsk separate guard squad of female volunteers. The first three battalions visited the front, only the 1st battalion of Bochkareva was in the battles
The mass of soldiers and the Soviets perceived the "women's battalions of death" (however, like all other "shock units") "with hostility." Front-line shock workers were not called anything other than prostitutes. In early July, the Petrograd Soviet demanded that all "women's battalions" be disbanded, both because they were "unsuitable for military service" and because the formation of such battalions "is a covert maneuver of the bourgeoisie that wants to wage war to a victorious end"
Solemn farewell to the front of the First Women's Battalion. Photo. Moscow Red Square. summer 1917
The women's battalion goes to the front
On June 27, the "death battalion" consisting of two hundred volunteers arrived in the active army - in the rear units of the 1st Siberian Army Corps of the 10th Army of the Western Front in the area of the city of Molodechno. On July 7, the 525th Kyuryuk-Darya Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Infantry Division, which included shock women, received an order to take up positions at the front near the town of Krevo. The "death battalion" took up positions on the right flank of the regiment. On July 8, the first battle of the Bochkareva battalion took place. In the bloody battles that lasted until July 10, 170 women participated. The regiment repelled 14 German attacks. Volunteers went on the counterattack several times. Colonel V.I. Zakrzhevsky wrote in a report about the action of the "death battalion":
The detachment of Bochkareva behaved heroically in battle, all the time in the front line, serving on a par with the soldiers. During the attack of the Germans, on his own initiative, he rushed as one in a counterattack; brought cartridges, went into secrets, and some went into reconnaissance; With their work, the death team set an example of courage, courage and calmness, raised the spirit of the soldiers and proved that each of these female heroes is worthy of the title of a warrior of the Russian revolutionary army.
Private of the Women's Battalion Pelageya Saygin
The battalion lost 30 men killed and 70 wounded. Maria Bochkareva, herself wounded in this battle for the fifth time, spent 1½ months in the hospital and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.
In hospital
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"
One of the women's death battalions (1st Petrograd, under the command of the Life Guards of the Keksholmsky Regiment: 39 Staff Captain A. V. Loskov), together with junkers and other units loyal to the oath, took part in the defense of the Winter Palace in October 1917. where the Provisional Government was located.
On November 7, the battalion stationed near the Levashovo station of the Finnish Railway was supposed to go to the Romanian Front (according to the plans of the command, it was supposed to send each of the formed female battalions to the front to raise the morale of male soldiers - one for each of the four fronts of the Eastern Front) .
1st Petrograd Women's Battalion
But on November 6, the battalion commander Loskov received an order to send the battalion to Petrograd "for the parade" (in fact, to protect the Provisional Government). Loskov, having learned about the real task, not wanting to involve volunteers in a political confrontation, withdrew the entire battalion from Petrograd back to Levashovo, with the exception of the 2nd company (137 people).
2nd company of the 1st Petrograd women's battalion
The headquarters of the Petrograd Military District tried, with the help of two platoons of volunteers and units of cadets, to ensure the wiring of the Nikolaevsky, Palace and Liteiny bridges, but the Sovietized sailors frustrated this task.
Volunteers on the square in front of the Winter Palace. November 7, 1917
The company took up defensive positions on the first floor of the Winter Palace in the area to the right of the main gate to Millionnaya Street. At night, during the storming of the palace by the revolutionaries, the company surrendered, was disarmed and taken to the barracks of the Pavlovsky, then the Grenadier Regiment, where some shock women were “mistreated” - as a specially created commission of the Petrograd City Duma established, three shock women were raped (although, perhaps, few dared to admit it), one committed suicide. On November 8, the company was sent to the place of its former deployment in Levashovo.
After the October Revolution, the Bolshevik government, which had set a course for the complete collapse of the army, for an immediate defeat in the war and for the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany, was not interested in preserving the "shock units". On November 30, 1917, the Military Council of the still old War Ministry issued an order to disband the "women's death battalions". Shortly before this, on November 19, by order of the Military Ministry, all female soldiers were promoted to officers, "for military merit." However, many volunteers remained in their units until January 1918 and beyond. Some of them moved to the Don and took part in the fight against Bolshevism in the ranks of the White movement.
Women's Death Battalion 1917
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 units 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.
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. In order 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 from appearing 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 direction 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.
Life in permafrost
The death battalion was commanded by an officer of the Russian army, Maria Bochkareva, a woman with a unique destiny. She was born in 1889, in an ordinary peasant family. A poor and large family lived in the Novgorod province, and then moved to Siberia. But even in new places, Maria's parents did not find happiness and wealth.
From an early age, the girl was forced to labor for the sake of an extra penny. At the age of 16, Maria married a peasant Afanasy Bochkarev, but her husband turned out to be a drunkard, he did not know how to manage and earn a living and loved. And as is often the case with Russian women, Maria was forced to take on the role of a breadwinner and breadwinner. A young woman went to work on the construction of the railway, as a laborer.
They paid her a little there, but even these pennies were taken away by the husband and drunk away, and in addition, he also beat his wife. Maria could not stand such a life for a long time and fled. Soon she met the owner of a butcher's shop, Yakov Buk, with whom she had a stormy romance. But it turned out that Yakov is a real bandit, the head of a gang of thieves. Soon he was arrested and sent by stage to Yakutsk, to an eternal settlement. Faithful in love Maria followed him, taking on all the hardships of everyday life in a new undeveloped place. But here Yakov also managed to "distinguish himself" and was first imprisoned, and then sent to a remote taiga village. Maria again went after him, although for a long time she had seen only beatings and insults from her "cavalier". Most likely, this was the reason for her decisive act - flight into the army.
In 1914, the news reached the northern wilderness with a great delay that the war with the Germans had begun. Bochkareva, without hesitation, packed up and left the disgusted Yakov for Tomsk. There she found the commander of the reserve battalion and demanded that he "register her as a soldier" and send her to the front. At first, the commander did not even listen to her, but Maria began her own military operations against him - she lay in wait in ambushes, begged, persuaded, sobbed. Nevertheless, although her desire already aroused sympathy among those around her, no one was going to take her to the front. Then Bochkareva took a desperate step - she sent a telegram to St. Petersburg addressed to the emperor, in which she asked to be allowed to serve for the glory of the Fatherland.
And soon a message came to Tomsk from ... Nicholas II. He expressed his approval and ordered the woman to be enlisted in the regiment. After the highest order, Maria Bochkareva was accepted into the army. At first, a short study in the rear followed, and in the spring of 1915, Maria ended up at war.
If up to this point it was possible to say that Bochkareva’s desire to be at the front was some kind of whim or a desire to escape from the hateful and hopeless reality, then her actions on the front line showed that she was actually a very brave woman and a real fighter. She boldly went on the attack and reconnaissance, was in no way inferior to men, was somewhat wounded, but always returned to duty. By 1917, she had already become a full Knight of St. George and received a promotion.
Naturally, a lot was said about the amazing woman-hero at the fronts and written in newspapers. Soon she became a very popular person, the mascot of the Russian army. At the same time, many correspondents were struck by her wise worldly views, wit and lively language.
Woman with a rifle
Meanwhile, serious social and political changes were approaching Russia, caused by the protracted war. The soldiers are tired of fighting, the peasants are tired of feeding the army. The crisis was resolved by the February Revolution. Maria Bochkareva was called to Petrograd as an expert on military issues. She, as a person who was intimately familiar with the subject, told the Provisional Government that morale in the units had fallen significantly and measures were needed to raise it.
It was then that it was decided to create a special women's battalion and send it to the front. Bochkareva was sure that the sight of weak women with rifles would inspire a demoralized army, and soldiers with renewed vigor would rush to fight the enemy, desertion and decay in the army would stop. But still, in the highest military circles, they doubted the success of such a bold experiment. General Brusilov asked Bochkareva: "Do you rely on women"? “I guarantee that my battalion will not disgrace Russia,” the female officer answered.
A call was made, and soon more than two thousand female volunteers were gathered. Among them, women were chosen not younger than 16 and not older than 40 years. Conscripts passed a medical examination, which weeded out the sick and pregnant.
Soon the first female death battalion was formed. Appeals and slogans appeared in the newspapers: “Not a single nation in the world has reached such a shame that instead of male deserters, weak women went to the front. The female army will be that living water that will make the Russian hero wake up.
Although the ladies who gathered for the war did not expect an easy life for themselves and were ready for hardships and hardships, nevertheless, the creation of the regiment was not without scandals associated with the service. There were complaints about the battalion commander - in connection with her cruelty and assault. Female soldiers claimed that Bochkareva "beats the faces like a real sergeant major of the old regime."
When they tried to influence the battalion commander, she replied that "the dissatisfied can go to hell." The dissatisfied really "got away" and ended up in another women's battalion, whose fate turned out to be terrible. It was he who guarded the Winter Palace on the fateful night of the October Revolution. Women were raped and killed...
But that will happen later. In the meantime, those who remained with Bochkareva were going to the front. After the split, the battalion became much calmer, and legends circulated about the iron discipline that reigned in it. Before being sent to the front, the banner was solemnly presented to the battalion on St. Isaac's Square. The ceremony was attended by Kerensky and other representatives of the Provisional Government. The battalion was escorted to the front and began to expect news of the strengthening of the military spirit.
Shooting in the basement
But, alas, this did not happen. On July 9, 1917, the women's battalion launched its first attack. Although the women tried to show their military skills, they did not do it as well as they would like, and the battalion suffered significant losses.
Denikin wrote in his memoirs: “I know the fate of the Bochkareva battalion. He was greeted by the unbridled soldier environment mockingly, cynically. In the town of Molodechno, where the battalion originally stood, at night it had to put up a strong guard to guard the barracks ... Then the offensive began.
The women's battalion, attached to one of the corps, valiantly went on the attack, not supported by the "Russian heroes". And, when the pitch hell of enemy artillery fire broke out, the poor women, forgetting about the technique of loose formation, huddled together - helpless, lonely in their area of \u200b\u200bfield loosened by German bombs. They suffered losses. And the “heroes” partly returned back, partly did not leave the trenches at all .... In the same battle, Maria Bochkareva was also wounded.
But the government decided to continue the experiment, and several more women's battalions were created. After returning from the hospital, Maria already commanded a regiment. But then the October Revolution took place, the regiment was disbanded, Bochkareva was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. She was offered to go over to the side of the Bolsheviks and fight the Whites, but she refused. At that time, the bloody terror was just beginning, the former tsarist officers had not yet been persecuted, and Bochkareva was soon released.
Maria decided to play on her side - by hook or by crook, she moved to the remaining territories of the Whites in the Volunteer Army. Soon, on the orders of General Kornilov, she went on a trip to the United States and England, where she met with Woodrow Wilson and the English king. The details of this trip are little known, its purpose was to ask for help from powerful allies. Returning to Russia, she ended up in Kolchak's army, but in November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Bolsheviks, she was arrested. The Chekists were engaged in her business for a long time, trying to find all connections with the White Guards. May 16, 1920 Maria Bochkareva was shot.
On August 31, the filming of the film "The Battalion of Death" began, telling the story of a women's battalion that fought on the fronts of the First World War. Filming will take place in the Northern capital, at the moment they are filming on Vasilkov Island.
So far, specific details about the plot of the film have not been disclosed, however, it is known that director Dmitry Meskhiev intends to create antique stylization not only with scenery and costumes, but also with image quality. It is not yet clear what this means, but, as the director said, there will be neither black and white film nor 3D format.As the creators say, the film "Death Battalion" is "a film about the heroism of Russian women" ... And how can you not believe it now, when it is known that for the sake of the picture almost 60 girls shaved their heads, and actress Maria Kozhevnikova is at the head of all.In addition to Maria Kozhevnikova, such famous actors as Marat Basharov, Maria Aronova and Evgeny Dyatlov, Vladimir Zaitsev are attached to the project. The director asks the actor Nikolai Auzin, from Tyumen, to remember especially. The director is sure that he has discovered a new star.The Death Squad release date is August 2014. The filming process is scheduled until December 2013.Shaved imageMaria Kozhevnikova ...
Original taken from melena1001
