Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born in 1874. His father was a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. At the age of 18, the young man entered the Naval Cadet Corps, where he studied for six years.
Kolchak entered the Cadet Corps from an ordinary St. Petersburg gymnasium. He was interested in exact sciences and loved making things. Upon graduation from the cadet corps in 1894, he was promoted to midshipman.
In the period from 1895 to 1899, he traveled around the world three times, during which he was engaged in scientific work, studied oceanography, maps of currents and the coast of Korea, hydrology, tried to learn Chinese and prepared for a south polar expedition.
In 1900 he took part in the expedition of Baron E. Toll. In 1902, he went in search of the baron’s expedition that had remained to spend the winter in the north. Having examined the expected route of the expedition on the wooden whaler "Zarya", he managed to find the baron's last stop and determine that the expedition was lost. For participation in the search expedition, Kolchak received the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree.
Soon the Russo-Japanese War began. Alexander asked to be sent to the combat area. While the issue of transfer to the front was being decided, Kolchak managed to marry Sofya Fedorovna Omirova. Soon he is sent to the front, to Port Arthur, under the command of.
In Port Arthur, he served on the cruiser Askold, then transferred to the minelayer Amur, and eventually began to command the destroyer Angry. A Japanese cruiser was blown up by a mine set by Kolchak. Soon he became seriously ill and transferred to ground service. Alexander Vasilyevich commanded a battery of naval guns. After the surrender of the fortress, he was captured by the Japanese and returned to his homeland through America.
For the courage and bravery shown during the defense of the fortress, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne and the Order of St. Stanislaus. After returning to St. Petersburg, Kolchak was registered as disabled and sent to the Caucasus for treatment. Until mid-1906, he worked on his expedition materials, supplemented them, edited them, and put them in order. Compiled the book “Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas,” published in 1909. For his work he was awarded the highest award of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society - a large gold medal.
In January 1906, Kolchak became one of the founders of the officers' Naval Circle of St. Petersburg. The circle developed a program for the creation of the Naval General Staff. This body was supposed to prepare the fleet for war. As a result, such a body was created in April 1906. Kolchak became one of its members.
Alexander Vasilyevich showed himself excellently in the first years. Protected St. Petersburg from naval shelling and German landings, placing 6 thousand mines in the Gulf of Finland. In 1915 he personally developed an operation to mine enemy naval bases. Thanks to him, the losses of the German fleet were many times greater than ours. In 1916, he received the rank of Admiral, and became the youngest naval commander in the entire history of the Russian fleet. On June 26, Alexander Vasilyevich is appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet, conducts a number of successful military operations against Turkey, and completely dominates the Black Sea. He is developing a plan for the capture of Constantinople, everything is ready for execution, but a revolution breaks out...
Kolchak, like all officers, is dissatisfied with the order to “democratize the army” and actively expresses his opinion. The admiral is removed from command and returns to Petrograd. He goes to the USA as a mine expert, where he greatly helped the Americans, and they offered him to stay. Alexander Vasilyevich faces a difficult question: personal happiness or self-sacrifice and suffering in the name of Russia.
The Russian public has repeatedly approached him with an offer to lead the fight against the Bolsheviks, he makes a difficult choice in favor. The admiral arrives in Omsk, where the role of minister of war is prepared for him in the Socialist Revolutionary government. After some time, the officers carry out a coup, and Alexander Kolchak is proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Kolchak's army numbered about 150 thousand people. The admiral restored laws in Siberia. To date, there are no documents confirming the fact of the “white terror” against workers and peasants, which Soviet historians and propagandists love to talk about. Things at the front went well at first. The front was advancing, and even a joint campaign against Moscow was planned. However, Kolchak, like the last Emperor of Russia, was faced with human vice and baseness. There was betrayal, cowardice and deceit all around.
Alexander Vasilyevich was not a puppet of the Entente, and the allies eventually betrayed the Admiral. He was repeatedly offered help “from outside”; the Finns wanted to send a 100,000-strong army into Russia in exchange for part of Karelia, but he said that “he doesn’t trade with Russia” and refused the deal. The position of the White armies in Siberia was deteriorating, the rear was falling apart, the Reds brought about 500 thousand people to the front. In addition to all this, a general epidemic of typhus began, and the white army became heavier and heavier.
The only hope for salvation was, but due to certain circumstances, Vladimir Oskarovich did not perform a miracle. Soon the Reds were already not far from Omsk, the headquarters was evacuated to Irkutsk. The admiral was stopped at one of the stations; he was betrayed by the Czechoslovak corps, which, in exchange for free passage to Vladivostok, handed the admiral over to the Bolsheviks. Kolchak was arrested and on February 7, 1920 he was shot along with his minister Pepelyaev.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak is a worthy son of his Fatherland. His fate is as tragic as the fate of other figures of the white movement. He died for an idea, for the Russian people. The main tragedy in life is love. Kolchak was a family man, but he met Anna Vasilievna Timeryaeva, for whom he was inflamed with great love, and who was with him until the very end. He divorced his first wife. Kolchak’s son from his first marriage fought in the French Navy during World War II.
Authors: Member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, participant and disabled person of the 2nd group of the Second World War, participant in the defense of Moscow, retired guard lieutenant colonel Ulyanin Yuri Alekseevich;
Chairman of the Public Council for the Protection and Preservation of the Memorial and Monuments at the Church of All Saints on the Falcon, participant and disabled person of the 2nd group of the Second World War, participant in the defense of Moscow Gitsevich Lev Alexandrovich;
General Director of the Orthodox Funeral Center of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, WWII participant, former partisan Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Kuznetsov;
Chairman of the Board of REVISTOO "Volunteer Corps", grandson of staff captain Dmitry Sergeevich Vinogradov - participant in the 1st Kuban "Ice" campaign of the Volunteer Army in 1918. Lamm Leonid Leonidovich.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born on November 4 (16), 1874. His father, Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, became a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. After retiring with the rank of major general of artillery, he wrote the famous book “On Malakhov Kurgan.”
A.V. Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps with the Admiral Ricord Award. In 1894 he was promoted to midshipman. In 1895 - promoted to lieutenant.
KOLCHAK - POLAR EXPLORER (beginning of career)
From 1895 to 1899 Kolchak circumnavigated the world three times. In 1900, Kolchak took part in an expedition to the Arctic Ocean with the famous polar explorer Baron Eduard Toll, who was trying to find the legendary lost “Sannikov Land”. In 1902 A.V. Kolchak is seeking permission from the Academy of Sciences and funding for an expedition to search for Baron Toll and his companions who remained to spend the winter in the North. Having prepared and led this expedition, Kolchak and six associates on the wooden whaler "Zarya" examined the New Siberian Islands, found Toll's last site and determined that the expedition had died. During this expedition, Kolchak became seriously ill and almost died from pneumonia and scurvy.KOLCHAK DURING THE RUSSIAN-JAPANESE WAR
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, as soon as the Russian-Japanese War began (not having fully recovered), in March 1904 he went to Port Arthur to serve under Admiral Makarov. After the tragic death of Makarov, Kolchak commanded the destroyer "Angry", which made a series of bold attacks on the enemy's strongest squadron. During these military operations, several Japanese ships were damaged and the Japanese cruiser Tacosago was sunk. For this he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree. During the last 2.5 months of the siege of Port Arthur, Kolchak successfully commanded a battery of naval guns, which inflicted the heaviest losses on the Japanese. For the defense of Port Arthur, Kolchak was awarded a Golden Weapon with the inscription “For Bravery.” Respecting his courage and talent, the Japanese command left Kolchak one of the few in captivity with a weapon, and then, without waiting for the end of the war, granted him freedom. On April 29, 1905, Kolchak returned to St. Petersburg.MILITARY AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES OF KOLCHAK FROM 1906 to 1914.
In 1906, with the formation of the Naval General Staff, Kolchak became the head of its Statistical Department. And then he headed the unit for the development of operational and strategic plans in the event of war in the Baltic. Appointed as a naval expert in the 3rd State Duma, Kolchak, together with his colleagues, developed the Large and Small shipbuilding programs for the reconstruction of the Navy after the Russo-Japanese War. All the calculations and provisions of the Program were so flawlessly verified that the authorities allocated the necessary funds without delay. As part of this project, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak in 1906-1908. personally oversaw the construction of four battleships.In 1908, at the suggestion of the famous polar explorer Vilkitsky, Kolchak organized a sea expedition along the coast of Siberia. This expedition marked the beginning of the development of the Northern Sea Route. For this, with the active participation of Kolchak in 1908-1909. A project is being developed and the construction of the famous icebreakers "Vaigach" and "Taimyr" is being organized. In 1909-1911 Kolchak is on a polar expedition again. As a result, he obtained unique (still not outdated) scientific data.
In 1906, for his exploration of the Russian North, Kolchak was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir and the “Great Constantine Medal,” which was awarded to only three polar explorers, including Fridtjof Nansen. His name was given to one of the islands in the Novaya Zemlya area (now Rastorguev Island). Kolchak became a full member of the Imperial Geographical Society. From that moment on, they began to call him “Kolchak-polar”. Maps of the Russian North compiled by Kolchak were used by Soviet polar explorers (including military sailors) until the end of the 50s.
In 1912, Kolchak was invited by Rear Admiral von Essen to serve at the Headquarters of the Baltic Fleet. Von Essen appoints Kolchak to the position of flag captain of the operational part of the Headquarters. Together with von Essen, Kolchak is developing plans to prepare for a possible war with Germany at sea.
KOLCHAK IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
The Kaiser's high command hoped to begin the blitzkrieg on land against France with a sudden, treacherous and crushing blow to the Russian Capital, St. Petersburg, from the sea. The huge German fleet in the Baltic under the command of Henry of Prussia was preparing in the first days of the war (as if on parade) to enter the Gulf of Finland. German ships, unexpectedly coming close to St. Petersburg, were supposed to bring down hurricane fire from 12-inch Krupp heavy-duty guns on Government and military institutions, land troops and within a few hours capture all the most important objects of the Capital and take Russia out of the war.These Napoleonic plans of Kaiser Wilhelm were not destined to come true. In the first hours of the First World War, on the orders of Admiral von Essen and under the direct leadership of Kolchak, the mine division laid 6,000 mines in the Gulf of Finland, which completely paralyzed the actions of the German fleet on the approaches to the Capital. This thwarted the enemy's blitzkrieg at sea, saving Russia and France.
In 1941, on the initiative of the People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (who studied the actions of the Baltic Fleet during the First World War), this plan was repeated in the first days of the Great Patriotic War to organize the defense of the Gulf of Finland and Leningrad.
In the fall of 1914, with the personal participation of Kolchak, a unique (unparalleled in the world) mine blockade operation of German Naval bases was developed. Several Russian destroyers made their way to Kiel and Danzig and laid out several fields of minefields on the approaches to them (under the noses of the Germans).
In February 1915, Captain 1st Rank Kolchak, as commander of a special-purpose semi-division, personally undertook a second daring raid. Four destroyers again approached Danzig and laid down 180 mines. As a result of this, 4 German cruisers, 8 destroyers and 11 transports were blown up in minefields (exposed by Kolchak). Later, historians would call this operation of the Russian fleet the most successful in the entire First World War.
Largely thanks to Kolchak’s talent, the losses of the German fleet in the Baltic exceeded our losses in warships by 3.5 times, and in the number of transports by 5.2 times.
April 10, 1916 Kolchak was awarded the rank of rear admiral. After this, his mine division destroyed a caravan of German ore carriers traveling under a powerful convoy from Stockholm. For this success, the Emperor promoted Kolchak to vice admiral. He became the youngest admiral and naval commander in Russia.
June 26, 1916 Kolchak is appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet. At the beginning of July 1916, a squadron of Russian ships (during the operation developed by Kolchak) overtook and during the battle seriously damaged the German cruiser Breslau, which had previously shelled Russian ports with impunity and sank transports on the Black Sea. Kolchak successfully organizes military operations for a mine blockade of the Eregli-Zongulak coal region, Varna and other Turkish enemy ports. By the end of 1916, Turkish and German ships were completely locked in their ports. Kolchak even counts six enemy submarines that were blown up near the Ottoman coast. This allowed Russian ships to carry out all the necessary transportation across the Black Sea, as in peacetime. During the 11 months of his command of the Black Sea Fleet, Kolchak achieved absolute combat dominance of the Russian fleet over the enemy.
FEBRUARY REVOLUTION
Admiral Kolchak began preparations for the Great Bosphorus landing operation, with the goal of capturing Constantinople and removing Turkey from the war. These plans are interrupted by the February revolution. Order No. 1 of the Council of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies abolishes the disciplinary power of commanders. Kolchak is trying to actively fight against revolutionary defeatist agitation and propaganda conducted by left-wing extremist parties with money from the German General Staff. June 10, 1917 The Provisional Government (under pressure from the left-radical opposition) recalls the dangerous admiral to Petrograd in order to send the proactive and popular naval commander away. Members of the Government listen to Kolchak's report on the catastrophic collapse of the army and navy, the possible future loss of statehood and the inevitability of the establishment in this case of a pro-German Bolshevik dictatorship. After this, Kolchak is sent to the USA as a world-renowned expert in mine affairs (away from Russia). In San Francisco, Kolchak was offered to stay in the United States, promising him a chair in mine engineering at the best naval college and a rich life of pleasure in a cottage on the ocean. Kolchak said no. He traveled around the world to Russia.
THE OCTOBER COUP AND THE CIVIL WAR IN Yokohama Kolchak learns about the October Revolution, the liquidation of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the negotiations started by the Bolsheviks with the Germans. The admiral goes to Tokyo. There he hands the British ambassador a request for admission into the English army, even as privates. The ambassador consults with London and Kolchak is sent to the Mesopotamian front. On the way there, in Singapore, he is overtaken by a telegram from the Russian envoy to China, Kudashev. Kolchak goes to Beijing. In China, he creates the Russian armed forces to protect the Chinese Eastern Railway. In November 1918, Kolchak arrives in Omsk. He is offered the post of War and Naval Minister in the Government of the Directory.
Two weeks later, White officers carry out a coup and arrest the left-wing members of the Directory - the socialist revolutionaries (who, after February 1917, in alliance with the Bolsheviks, left Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists, actively participated in organizing the collapse of the Imperial Army and Navy, atheistic anti-Orthodox agitation and propaganda). After this, the Council of Ministers of the Siberian Government was formed, which offered Kolchak the title of “Supreme Ruler of Russia.”
KOLCHAK AND THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
In January 1919, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon blessed the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak to fight the godless Bolsheviks. At the same time, Patriarch Tikhon refused to bless the command of the Volunteer Army of the South of Russia, since among them were the main culprits of the abdication and subsequent arrest of Sovereign Nicholas 2 in February 1917, including generals Alekseev and Kornilov. Admiral Kolchak was actually not involved in these tragic events. That is why at the beginning of January 1919 (crossing the front line) a priest sent by Patriarch Tikhon came to see Admiral Kolchak. The priest brought the Admiral a personal letter from the Patriarch with a blessing and a photograph of the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the St. Nicholas Gate of the Moscow Kremlin, which was sewn into the lining of a peasant scroll.TEXT OF PATRIARCH TIKHON'S MESSAGE TO ADMIRAL KOLCHAK
“As is well known to all Russians and, of course, to Your Excellency,” this letter said, “before this Icon, revered throughout Russia, every year on December 6, on the day of winter St. Nicholas, a prayer was offered, which ended with the nationwide singing of “Lord, save Thy people” by all those praying on their knees. And so on December 6, 1918, the people of Moscow, faithful to Faith and tradition, at the end of the prayer service, knelt down and sang: “God bless.” The arriving troops dispersed the worshipers, shooting at the Icon with rifles and guns. The saint was depicted on this icon of the Kremlin wall with a cross in his left hand and a sword in his right. The bullets of the fanatics lay around the Saint, not touching the Saint of God anywhere. The shells, or rather, fragments from explosions, knocked off the plaster on the left side of the Wonderworker, which destroyed almost the entire left side of the Saint on the Icon a hand that held a cross.On the same day, by order of the authorities of the Antichrist, this Holy Icon was hung with a large red flag with a satanic emblem. An inscription was made on the Kremlin wall: “Death to faith is the opium of the people.” The next day, December 7, 1918, many people gathered for a prayer service, which, undisturbed by anyone, came to an end! But when the people, kneeling down, began to sing “God Save!” - the flag fell from the Image of the Wonderworker. the atmosphere of prayerful ecstasy is beyond description! It had to be seen, and whoever saw it remembers and feels it today. Singing, sobbing, screams and raised hands, shooting from rifles, many wounded, some were killed. and.the place was cleared.
The next early morning, by my Blessing, the Image was photographed by a very good photographer. The Lord showed the Perfect Miracle through His Saint to the Russian people in Moscow. I am sending a photographic copy of this Miraculous Image as Mine to you, Your Excellency, Alexander Vasilyevich - Blessing - to fight the atheistic temporary power over the suffering people of Rus'. I ask you to consider, venerable Alexander Vasilyevich, that the Bolsheviks managed to recapture the left hand of the Pleasant with the cross, which is, as it were, an indicator of the temporary trampling of the Orthodox Faith. But the punishing sword in the right hand of the Wonderworker remained to help and Blessing Your Excellency, and your Christian struggle for the salvation of the Orthodox Church and Russia."
Admiral Kolchak, having read the Patriarch’s letter, said: “I know that there is a sword of the state, a surgeon’s lancet. I feel that it is the strongest: the spiritual sword, which will be an invincible force in the crusade - against the monster of violence!”
At the insistence of the Siberian bishops, a Temporary Higher Church Administration was created in Ufa, headed by Archbishop Sylvester of Omsk. In April 1919, the Omsk Council of the Clergy of Siberia unanimously constituted Admiral Kolchak as the temporary head of the Orthodox Church in the Siberian territories liberated from the Bolsheviks - until the liberation of Moscow, when His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon will be able (not embarrassed by the atheists) to fully begin his duties. At the same time, the Omsk Cathedral decided to mention Kolchak’s name during official church services. These resolutions of the Council have not yet been canceled!
On Kolchak’s personal instructions, investigator for particularly important cases Sokolov organized an investigation into the villainous murder of the Romanov Imperial Family in Yekaterinburg.
Admiral Kolchak declared a crusade. He gathered more than 3.5 thousand Orthodox clergy, including 1.5 thousand military clergy. On Kolchak’s initiative, separate combat units were formed, consisting only of clergy and believers (including Old Believers), which was not the case with Kornilov, Denikin and Yudenich. These are the Orthodox squad of the “Holy Cross”, “333rd regiment named after Mary Magdalene”, “Holy Brigade”, three regiments of “Jesus Christ”, “Virgin Mary” and “Nicholas the Wonderworker”.
Military units were created from believers and clergy of other faiths. For example, Muslim detachments of the “Green Banner”, “Battalion of Defenders of the Jewish Faith”, etc.
URAL WORKERS IN KOLCHAK'S ARMY
Kolchak's army numbered only 150 thousand people at the front. Its main striking force was the Izhevsk and Votkinsk divisions (under the command of General Kappel), formed entirely from craftsmen and workers who, at the end of 1918, rebelled against the policy of war communism, expropriation and equalization. These were the best highly qualified workers of military factories in the Ural cities of Izhevsk and Votkinsk in Russia and in the world. The workers went into battle against the Bolsheviks under a red banner on which was written “In the fight you will find your right.” They had almost no ammunition. They were obtained from the enemy in psychic bayonet attacks. The Ural workers launched bayonet attacks to the rollicking sounds of accordions and the music of “Varshavyanka,” to which they composed their own words. Izhevsk and Votkintsy literally terrified the Bolsheviks, sweeping away entire regiments and divisions.ZINOVIY SVERDLOV (PESHKOV) IN THE SERVICE OF KOLCHAK
Zinovy Sverdlov (Peshkov), the brother of Yakov Sverdlov, who was the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Bolsheviks and Lenin’s right hand, took part in the fight against the Bolsheviks under Kolchak. At the beginning of 1919, Zinovy sent a telegram to his brother Yakov: “Yashka, when we take Moscow, we will hang Lenin first, and you second, for what you did to Russia!”KOLCHAK'S TRUE RELATIONS WITH INTERVENTERS
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was never a “puppet of the interventionists,” as Soviet agitprop claimed. His relations with the “interventionist allies” were extremely strained. At the beginning of 1919, the French general Janin arrived in Omsk. On behalf of Lloyd George and Clemenceau, he presented Kolchak with an ultimatum to submit to him (Janin) not only the allied, but also all Russian White troops in Siberia and declaring him (Janin) Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Otherwise, Kolchak will not receive any help from France and England. Kolchak sharply responded that he would rather refuse outside support than agree to the subordination of all Russian troops to a foreign general and the ENTENTE. In September 1919, the allies of the ENTENTE countries demanded the removal of all Russian units from Vladivostok. Kolchak responded with a telegram to the commander of the Russian garrison, General Rozanov: “I command you to leave all Russian troops in Vladivostok and not to withdraw them anywhere without my order. The demand of the allies is an encroachment on the sovereign rights of Russia.”
At the same time, General Mannerheim offered Kolchak assistance to the 100,000-strong Finnish Army in exchange for the transfer of part of the Karelian Isthmus to Finland and the deployment of Finnish occupation troops in Petrograd. Kolchak replied: “I don’t trade with Russia!”
The admiral only made economic concessions to the ENTENTE. His Government allowed the placement of foreign concessions in Siberia and the Far East (including the creation of free economic zones there) for 15-25 years, the creation of industrial enterprises and the development of natural resources, with the aim of using the capital of the Entente countries to restore the Russian economy after the Civil War. “When Russia gets stronger and the time comes, we will throw them out of here,” Kolchak said.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC GOALS OF KOLCHAK
Admiral Kolchak restored the laws of the Russian Empire in Siberia. He himself and his Government never set as their goal the destruction of entire social groups and layers of the population. So far, not a single directive from A.V. has been found. Kolchak on the mass White terror against workers and peasants. Lenin’s Bolsheviks (at the beginning of the First World War) promised to “translate the imperialist war into a civil war,” and having seized power in October 1917, they openly proclaimed mass revolutionary terror and the complete destruction of all “counter-revolutionary classes” - the gene pool of the Russian nation - officers, cadets, clergy, merchants, nobles, highly skilled craftsmen and wealthy peasants.After the end of the Civil War, the Siberian government hoped to achieve class, civil, interethnic and interreligious reconciliation of various segments of the population and political parties (without the far left and without the far right). Therefore, in 1919, the Kolchak government banned the activities of both far-left extremist parties (Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries) and far-right Black Hundred organizations. A unique economic program for a state-regulated market economy was developed, including the creation of an industrial base in Central and Western Siberia, the development of arable land and natural resources, and the increase in the population of Siberia by 1950-70. up to 200-400 million people.
DEATH OF ADMIRAL KOLCHAK
In 1919 (realizing the catastrophe threatening Soviet power) the Bolsheviks were forced to abandon the export of the world revolution. All combat-ready units of the Red Army, intended for the revolutionary conquest of Central and Western Europe, were sent to the Eastern Siberian Front against Kolchak. By mid-1919, more than half a million Soviet troops, including 50 thousand “red internationalists”: Chinese, Latvians, Hungarians and other mercenaries, were operating against the 150,000-strong Kolchak army. Lenin's government, through its secret emissaries in Paris, London, Tokyo, and New York, began secret negotiations with the Entente. The Bolsheviks were forced to reach a secret compromise agreement with the ENTENTE on leasing and granting concessions to foreign capital after the Civil War, the creation of a Free Economic Zone in the form of the so-called. Far Eastern Republic. In addition, the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were promised to create a coalition Government with the Bolsheviks.In the midst of hostilities, a terrible typhus epidemic began in the troops of Admiral Kolchak. More than half of all troops were put out of action. At the same time, the “allies” completely stopped the supply of weapons and medicine, secretly canceling all previous agreements and military orders abroad already paid for in gold. With the consent of General Janin, the Czechoslovak Corps, at the most desperate moment, completely blocked the strategic Nikolaevsk-Irkutsk railway. The only artery connecting the rear with the front. With the consent of the ENTENTE, the command of the Czech Corps was transferred on January 6, 1920 to the Irkutsk Bolshevik-Left Socialist Revolutionary Political Center of Admiral Kolchak (by this time he had resigned all powers and transferred them to Ataman Semenov and General Denikin). For this, General Janin (with the consent of the Lenin government) transferred part of Russia's gold reserves to the Czechs. The Izhevsk and Votkinsk divisions (under the command of General Kappel), marching to Irkutsk to the rescue of Kolchak, approached the city outskirts too late.
On February 7, 1920, by verdict of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee, Admiral A.V. Kolchak was shot without trial on the bank of the Ushakovka River, a tributary of the Angara. The murder of the Admiral was sanctioned (with the knowledge of the ENTENTE) by an arch-secret telegram personally from Ulyanov-Lenin to the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee. Before the execution, Kolchak refused to be blindfolded and presented his silver cigarette case to the commander of the firing squad
It is not customary to write or talk about Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, but this man left an indelible mark on our history. He is known as an outstanding scientist, the hero of Port Arthur, a brilliant naval commander and at the same time as a cruel dictator and Supreme Ruler. In his life there were victories and defeats, as well as one love - Anna Timireva.
Biographical facts
On November 4, 1874, in the small village of Aleksandrovskoye, near St. Petersburg, a boy was born into the family of military engineer V.I. Kolchak. Alexander received his primary education at home, and then studied at a men's gymnasium, where he did not achieve much success. Since childhood, the boy dreamed of the sea, so he entered the Naval School without any problems (1888-1894). And here his talent as a sailor was revealed. The young man completed his studies brilliantly with the Admiral P. Ricord Prize.
Marine research activities
In 1896, Alexander Kolchak began to seriously engage in science. First, he received the position of assistant observer on the cruiser Rurik, stationed in the Far East, then spent several years on the clipper Cruiser. In 1898, Alexander Kolchak became a lieutenant. The young sailor used the years spent at sea for self-education and scientific activity. Kolchak became interested in oceanography and hydrology, even publishing an article about his scientific observations during cruises.
In 1899, a new expedition around the Arctic Ocean. Together with Eduard von Tol, a geologist and Arctic explorer, the young explorer spent some time on Lake Taimyr. Here he continued his scientific research. Thanks to the efforts of the young assistant, a map of the shores of Taimyr was compiled. In 1901, Toll, as a sign of respect for Kolchak, named one of the islands in the Kara Sea after him. The uninhabited island was renamed by the Bolsheviks in 1937, but in 2005 the name of Alexander Kolchak was returned to it.
In 1902, Eduard von Toll decides to continue the expedition to the north, and Kolchak is sent back to St. Petersburg to deliver the scientific information already collected. Unfortunately, the group got lost in the ice. A year later, Kolchak organized a new expedition to find the scientists. Seventeen people on twelve sleighs drawn by 160 dogs, after a three-month trip, reached Bennett Island, where they found diaries and belongings of their comrades. In 1903, Alexander Kolchak, exhausted by a long adventure, headed to St. Petersburg, where he hoped to marry Sofia Omirova.
New challenges
However, the Russo-Japanese War disrupted his plans. Kolchak’s bride soon went to Siberia herself, and the wedding took place, but the young husband was forced to immediately go to Port Arthur. During the war, Kolchak served as commander of a destroyer, and then was put in charge of a littoral artillery battery. For his heroism, the admiral received the Sword of St. George. After the humiliating defeat of the Russian fleet, Kolchak was captured by the Japanese for four months.
Upon returning home, Alexander Kolchak became captain of the second rank. He devoted himself to the revival of the Russian fleet and takes part in the work of the Naval Headquarters, formed in 1906. Together with other officers, he actively promotes the shipbuilding program to the State Duma and receives some funding. Kolchak participates in the construction of two icebreakers, Taimyr and Vaygach, and then uses one of these ships for a mapping expedition from Vladivostok to the Bering Strait and Cape Dezhnev. In 1909, he published a new scientific study on glaciology (the study of ice). A few years later, Kolchak becomes captain of the first rank.
World War I test
With the outbreak of World War I, Kolchak was offered to become the head of the Bureau of Operations of the Baltic Fleet. He demonstrates his tactical skills and builds an effective coastal defense system. Soon Kolchak receives a new rank - rear admiral and becomes the youngest Russian naval officer. In the summer of 1916, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Fleet.
Drawn into politics
With the advent of the February Revolution of 1917, Kolchak assured the provisional government of his loyalty to him and expressed his readiness to remain in office. The admiral did everything possible to save the Black Sea Fleet from chaotic disintegration and managed to preserve it for some time. But the disorganization spreading throughout all services began to gradually undermine it. In June 1917, under threat of mutiny, Kolchak resigned and left office (either voluntarily or by force, depending on which version of the historical record is preferred). By that time, Kolchak was already considered a potential candidate for the post of new leader of the country.
Life abroad
In the summer of 1917, Admiral Kolchak went to America. There he is offered to stay forever and head the mining department at one of the best military schools, but the admiral rejected this opportunity. On his way home, Kolchak learned of the revolution that overthrew the short-lived Russian Provisional Government and handed power to the Soviets. The admiral asked the British government to allow him to serve in its army. In December 1917, he received approval and went to the Mesopotamian front, where Russian and British troops were fighting the Turks, but was redirected to Manchuria. He tried to gather troops to fight the Bolsheviks, but this idea was unsuccessful. In the fall of 1918, Kolchak returned to Omsk.
Homecoming
In September 1918, the Provisional Government was formed and Kolchak was invited to become Minister of the Navy. As a result of a coup d'etat, during which Cossack detachments arrested the commanders-in-chief of the Provisional All-Russian Government, Kolchak was elected Supreme Ruler of the state. His appointment was recognized in several regions of the country. The new ruler found himself responsible for the gold reserves of the former Russian Empire. He managed to gather large forces and launch a war against the Bolshevik Red Army. After several successful battles, Kolchak’s troops had to leave the occupied territories and retreat. The fall of the regime of Alexander Kolchak is explained, according to various sources, by various factors: lack of experience in leading ground forces, misunderstanding of the political situation and dependence on unreliable allies.
In January 1920, Kolchak transferred the post to General Denikin. A few days later, Alexander Kolchak was arrested by Czechoslovak soldiers and handed over to the Bolsheviks. Admiral Kolchak was sentenced to death, and on February 7, 1920 he was executed without trial. According to the most common version, the body was thrown into a hole in the river.
Personal life of the famous admiral
Kolchak's personal life has always been actively discussed. The admiral had three children with his wife Sophia, but two girls died in infancy. Until 1919, Sofia waited for her husband in Sevastopol, and then moved to Paris with her only son Rostislav. She died in 1956.
In 1915, 41-year-old Kolchak met with the young 22-year-old poetess Anna Timireva. They both had families, but did develop long-term relationships. A few years later, Timireva divorced and was considered the admiral’s common-law wife. Having heard about Kolchak's arrest, she voluntarily settled in prison to be closer to her beloved. Between 1920 and 1949, Timireva was arrested and exiled six more times, until she was rehabilitated in 1960. Anna died in 1975.
- For his scientific and military activities, Alexander Kolchak earned 20 medals and orders.
- When he was removed from command of the Black Sea Fleet, Kolchak broke his award saber in front of the sailors and threw it into the sea, saying: “The sea awarded me - to the sea and I return it!”
- The admiral's burial place is unknown, although there are many versions.
Agree, we know little about the personality of such a great man. Perhaps Kolchak was from a different camp and held different views, but he was devoted to Russia and the sea.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (November 4 (16), 1874, St. Petersburg province - February 7, 1920, Irkutsk) - Russian politician, vice admiral of the Russian Imperial Fleet (1916) and admiral of the Siberian Flotilla (1918). Polar explorer and oceanographer, participant in expeditions of 1900–1903 (awarded by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society with the Great Constantine Medal).
Participant in the Russian-Japanese, World War I and Civil Wars. Leader and leader of the White movement in the East of Russia. The Supreme Ruler of Russia (1918–1920), was recognized in this position by the leadership of all white regions, “de jure” by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, “de facto” by the Entente states.
Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak
After the February Revolution of 1917, Kolchak was the first in the Black Sea Fleet to swear allegiance to the Provisional Government.
In the spring of 1917, Headquarters began preparing an amphibious operation to capture Constantinople, but due to the disintegration of the army and navy, this idea had to be abandoned. He received gratitude from the Minister of War Guchkov for his quick and reasonable actions, with which he contributed to maintaining order in the Black Sea Fleet.
However, due to defeatist propaganda and agitation that penetrated after February 1917.
into the army and navy under the guise and cover of freedom of speech, both the army and the navy began to move towards their collapse. On April 25, 1917, Alexander Vasilyevich spoke at a meeting of officers with a report “The situation of our armed forces and relations with the allies.”
Among other things, Kolchak noted: “We are facing the collapse and destruction of our armed force, the old forms of discipline have collapsed, and new ones have not been created.”
Kolchak demanded an end to homegrown reforms based on “conceit of ignorance” and to accept the forms of discipline and organization of internal life already accepted by the Allies.
On April 29, 1917, with the sanction of Kolchak, a delegation of about 300 sailors and Sevastopol workers left Sevastopol with the goal of influencing the Baltic Fleet and the armies of the front, “to wage the war actively with full effort.”
In June 1917, the Sevastopol Council decided to disarm officers suspected of counter-revolution, including taking away Kolchak’s St. George’s weapon - the golden saber awarded to him for Port Arthur.
The admiral chose to throw the blade overboard with the words: “The newspapers don’t want us to have weapons, so let him go to sea.” On the same day, Alexander Vasilyevich handed over the affairs to Rear Admiral V.K. Lukin. Three weeks later, the divers lifted the saber from the bottom and handed it to Kolchak, engraving on the blade the inscription: “To the Knight of Honor Admiral Kolchak from the Union of Army and Navy Officers.” At this time, Kolchak, along with the General Staff, General of Infantry L.
G. Kornilov, was considered as a potential candidate for military dictator.
It was for this reason that in August A.F. Kerensky summoned the admiral to Petrograd, where he forced him to resign, after which, at the invitation of the command of the American fleet, he went to the United States to advise American specialists on the experience of Russian sailors using mine weapons in the Baltic and Black Seas in the First World War.
According to Kolchak, there was another, secret, reason for his trip to the USA: “...Admiral Glenon told me in top secret that in America there was a proposal to take active action by the American fleet in the Mediterranean Sea against the Turks and the Dardanelles. Knowing that I was engaged in similar operations, adm. Glenon told me that it would be desirable for me to give all the information on the question of landing operations in the Bosporus.
Regarding this landing operation, he asked me not to tell anyone anything and not even to inform the government about it, since he would ask the government to send me to America, officially to report information on mine affairs and the fight against submarines.”
In San Francisco, Kolchak was offered to stay in the United States, promising him a chair in mine engineering at the best naval college and a rich life in a cottage on the ocean.
Kolchak refused and went back to Russia.
Arriving in Japan, Kolchak learned about the October Revolution, the liquidation of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the negotiations begun by the Bolsheviks with the Germans. He agreed to a telegram proposing his candidacy for the Constituent Assembly from the cadets and a group of non-party members in the Black Sea Fleet District, but his response was received late. The admiral left for Tokyo.
There he handed the British ambassador a request for admission into the English army “at least as privates.” The ambassador, after consultations with London, handed Kolchak a direction to the Mesopotamian front. On the way there, in Singapore, he was overtaken by a telegram from the Russian envoy to China, Kudashev, inviting him to Manchuria to form Russian military units. Kolchak went to Beijing, after which he began organizing Russian armed forces to protect the Chinese Eastern Railway.
However, due to disagreements with Ataman Semyonov and the manager of the CER, General Horvat, Admiral Kolchak left Manchuria and went to Russia, intending to join the Volunteer Army of Generals Alekseev and Denikin.
He left behind a wife and son in Sevastopol.
On October 13, 1918, he arrived in Omsk, from where the next day he sent a letter to General Alekseev (received on the Don in November - after Alekseev’s death), in which he expressed his intention to go to the South of Russia in order to come at his disposal as a subordinate.
Meanwhile, a political crisis broke out in Omsk. On November 4, 1918, Kolchak, as a popular figure among officers, was invited to the post of Minister of War and Navy in the Council of Ministers of the so-called “Directory” - the united anti-Bolshevik government located in Omsk, where the majority were Socialist Revolutionaries. On the night of November 18, 1918, a coup took place in Omsk - Cossack officers arrested four Socialist Revolutionary leaders of the Directory, led by its chairman N.
D. Avksentiev. In the current situation, the Council of Ministers - the executive body of the Directory - announced the assumption of full supreme power and then decided to hand it over to one person, giving him the title of Supreme Ruler of the Russian State.
Kolchak was elected to this post by secret ballot of members of the Council of Ministers. The admiral announced his consent to the election and with his first order to the army announced that he would assume the title of Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
After coming to power, A.V. Kolchak canceled the order that Jews, as potential spies, were subject to eviction from the 100-verst front-line zone.
Addressing the population, Kolchak declared: “Having accepted the cross of this government in the extremely difficult conditions of the civil war and the complete breakdown of state life, I declare that I will not follow either the path of reaction or the disastrous path of party membership.”
Next, the Supreme Ruler proclaimed the goals and objectives of the new government. The first, most pressing task was to strengthen and increase the combat capability of the army. The second, inextricably linked with the first, is “victory over Bolshevism.” The third task, the solution of which was recognized as possible only under the condition of victory, was proclaimed “the revival and resurrection of a dying state.”
All the activities of the new government were declared aimed at ensuring that “the temporary supreme power of the Supreme Ruler and Supreme Commander-in-Chief could transfer the fate of the state into the hands of the people, allowing them to organize public administration according to their will.”
Kolchak hoped that under the banner of the fight against the Reds he would be able to unite the most diverse political forces and create a new state power.
At first, the situation at the fronts was favorable to these plans. In December 1918, the Siberian Army occupied Perm, which had important strategic importance and significant reserves of military equipment.
In March 1919, Kolchak’s troops launched an attack on Samara and Kazan, in April they occupied the entire Urals and approached the Volga. However, due to Kolchak’s incompetence in organizing and managing the ground army (as well as his assistants), the militarily favorable situation soon gave way to a catastrophic one.
The dispersion and stretching of forces, the lack of logistics support and the general lack of coordination of actions led to the fact that the Red Army was able to first stop Kolchak’s troops and then launch a counteroffensive. The result was a more than six-month retreat of Kolchak’s armies to the east, which ended with the fall of the Omsk regime.
It must be said that Kolchak himself was well aware of the fact of a desperate personnel shortage, which ultimately led to the tragedy of his army in 1919.
In particular, in a conversation with General Inostrantsev, Kolchak openly stated this sad circumstance: “You will soon see for yourself how poor we are in people, why we have to endure even in high positions, not excluding the posts of ministers, people who are far from corresponding to the places they occupy , but this is because there is no one to replace them...”
The same opinions prevailed in the active army. For example, General Shchepikhin said: “... it’s incomprehensible to the mind, it’s like surprise how long-suffering our passion-bearer is, an ordinary officer and soldier.
What kind of experiments were not carried out with him, what kind of tricks our “strategic boys” - Kostya (Sakharov) and Mitka (Lebedev) - did not throw out with his passive participation - and the cup of patience has not yet overflowed...”
In May, the retreat of Kolchak’s troops began, and by August they were forced to leave Ufa, Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.
Units of the armies controlled by Kolchak in Siberia carried out punitive operations in areas where the partisans operated; detachments of the Czechoslovak Corps were also used in these operations.
Admiral Kolchak’s attitude towards the Bolsheviks, whom he called “a gang of robbers”, “enemies of the people”, was extremely negative.
On November 30, 1918, Kolchak's government passed a decree, signed by the Supreme Ruler of Russia, which provided for the death penalty for those guilty of "obstructing" the exercise of power by Kolchak or the Council of Ministers.
Member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionaries D.
F. Rakov was arrested on the night of the coup in Omsk on November 18, 1918, which put Kolchak in power. Until March 21, 1919, he was imprisoned in several prisons in Omsk under the threat of execution. A description of his time in prison, sent to one of Rakov’s comrades, was published in 1920.
in the form of a brochure entitled “In the dungeons of Kolchak. Voice from Siberia."
The political leaders of the Czechoslovak corps B. Pavlu and V. Girsa in an official memorandum to the allies in November 1919 stated: “The unbearable condition in which our army is, forces you to turn to the allied powers with a request for advice on how the Czechoslovak army could provide its own security and free return to their homeland, the issue of which is resolved with the consent of all the Allied powers.
Our army agreed to guard the highway and communication routes in the area designated for it and performed this task quite conscientiously. At the moment, the presence of our troops on the highway and its protection is becoming impossible simply because of aimlessness, as well as due to the most elementary requirements of justice and humanity.
While guarding the railway and maintaining order in the country, our army is forced to maintain the state of complete arbitrariness and lawlessness that has reigned here.
Under the protection of Czechoslovakian bayonets, local Russian military authorities allow themselves to take actions that would horrify the entire civilized world. The burning of villages, the beating of hundreds of peaceful Russian citizens, the execution without trial of representatives of democracy on simple suspicion of political unreliability are common occurrences, and responsibility for everything before the court of the peoples of the whole world falls on you: why did we, having military force, not resist this lawlessness? .
According to G.
K. Hins, with the publication of this memorandum, Czech representatives were looking for justification for their flight from Siberia and evasion of support for the retreating Kolchak troops, and also sought rapprochement with the left.
Simultaneously with the release of the Czech memorandum in Irkutsk, the demoted Czech general Gaida attempted an anti-Kolchak coup in Vladivostok on November 17, 1919.
In the Yekaterinburg province, one of the 12 provinces under Kolchak’s control, at least 25 thousand people were shot, and about 10% of the two million population were subjected to corporal punishment.
They flogged both men, women and children.
During the suppression of the Bolshevik armed uprising on December 22, 1918, according to official data in Omsk, 49 people were shot by the verdict of a military court, 13 people were sentenced to hard labor and prison, 3 were acquitted and 133 people were killed during the suppression of the uprising.
In the village of Kulomzino (a suburb of Omsk) there were more victims, namely: 117 people were shot by court verdict, 24 were acquitted, 144 were killed during the suppression of the rebellion.
More than 625 people were shot during the suppression of the uprising in Kustanai in April 1919, several villages were burned out. Kolchak addressed the following order to the suppressors of the uprising: “On behalf of the service, I thank Major General Volkov and all the gentlemen officers, soldiers and Cossacks who took part in the suppression of the uprising.
The most distinguished ones will be nominated for awards.”
On the night of July 30, 1919, an uprising broke out in the Krasnoyarsk military town, in which the 3rd regiment of the 2nd separate brigade and the majority of the soldiers of the 31st regiment of the 8th division took part, up to 3 thousand people in total. Having captured the military town, the rebels launched an attack on Krasnoyarsk, but were defeated, losing up to 700 people killed.
The admiral sent a telegram to General Rozanov, who led the suppression of the uprising: “I thank you, all the commanders, officers, riflemen and Cossacks for the job well done.”
After the defeat in the fall of 1918, Bolshevik detachments settled in the taiga, mainly north of Krasnoyarsk and in the Minusinsk region, and, replenished with deserters, began to attack the communications of the White Army.
In the spring of 1919, they were surrounded and partly destroyed, partly driven even deeper into the taiga, and partly fled to China.
The peasantry of Siberia, as well as throughout Russia, who did not want to fight in either the Red or White armies, avoiding mobilization, fled to the forests, organizing “green” gangs. This picture was also observed in the rear of Kolchak’s army. But until September - October 1919, these detachments were small in number and did not pose a particular problem for the authorities.
But when the front collapsed in the fall of 1919, the collapse of the army and mass desertion began.
Deserters began en masse to join the newly activated Bolshevik detachments, causing their numbers to grow to tens of thousands of people.
As A.L. Litvin notes about the period of Kolchak’s rule, “it is difficult to talk about support for his policies in Siberia and the Urals, if out of approximately 400 thousand Red partisans of that time, 150 thousand
acted against him, and among them 4-5% were wealthy peasants, or, as they were called then, kulaks.”
In 1914-1917, about a third of Russia's gold reserves were sent for temporary storage to England and Canada, and about half were exported to Kazan. Part of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire, stored in Kazan (more than 500 tons), was captured on August 7, 1918 by the troops of the People's Army under the command of the General Staff of Colonel V.
O. Kappel and sent to Samara, where the KOMUCH government was established. From Samara, gold was transported to Ufa for some time, and at the end of November 1918, the gold reserves of the Russian Empire were moved to Omsk and came into the possession of the Kolchak government. The gold was deposited in a local branch of the State Bank. In May 1919, it was established that in total there was gold worth 650 million rubles (505 tons) in Omsk.
Having at his disposal most of Russia's gold reserves, Kolchak did not allow his government to spend gold, even to stabilize the financial system and fight inflation (which was facilitated by the rampant issue of “kerenoks” and tsarist rubles by the Bolsheviks).
Kolchak spent 68 million rubles on the purchase of weapons and uniforms for his army. Loans were obtained from foreign banks secured by 128 million rubles: proceeds from the placement were returned to Russia.
On October 31, 1919, the gold reserves, under heavy security, were loaded into 40 wagons, with accompanying personnel in another 12 wagons.
The Trans-Siberian Railway, from Novo-Nikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk) to Irkutsk, was controlled by the Czechs, whose main task was their own evacuation from Russia. Only on December 27, 1919, the headquarters train and the train with gold arrived at the Nizhneudinsk station, where representatives of the Entente forced Admiral Kolchak to sign an order to renounce the rights of the Supreme Ruler of Russia and transfer the train with the gold reserve to the control of the Czechoslovak Corps.
On January 15, 1920, the Czech command handed Kolchak over to the Socialist Revolutionary Political Center, which within a few days handed the admiral over to the Bolsheviks. On February 7, the Czechoslovaks handed over 409 million rubles in gold to the Bolsheviks in exchange for guarantees of the unhindered evacuation of the corps from Russia.
In June 1921, the People's Commissariat of Finance of the RSFSR drew up a certificate from which it follows that during the reign of Admiral Kolchak, Russia's gold reserves decreased by 235.6 million rubles, or 182 tons.
Another 35 million rubles from the gold reserves disappeared after it was transferred to the Bolsheviks, during transportation from Irkutsk to Kazan.
On January 4, 1920, in Nizhneudinsk, Admiral A.V. Kolchak signed his last Decree, in which he announced his intention to transfer the powers of the “Supreme All-Russian Authority” to A.
I. Denikin.
Until the receipt of instructions from A.I. Denikin, “the entirety of military and civil power throughout the entire territory of the Russian Eastern Outskirts” was granted to Lieutenant General G.M. Semyonov.
On January 5, 1920, a coup took place in Irkutsk, the city was captured by the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center.
On January 15, A.V. Kolchak, who left Nizhneudinsk on a Czechoslovak train, in a carriage flying the flags of Great Britain, France, the USA, Japan and Czechoslovakia, arrived on the outskirts of Irkutsk. The Czechoslovak command, at the request of the Socialist Revolutionary Political Center, with the sanction of the French General Janin, handed over Kolchak to his representatives. On January 21, the Political Center transferred power in Irkutsk to the Bolshevik Revolutionary Committee. From January 21 to February 6, 1920, Kolchak was interrogated by the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry.
V. Kolchak and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia V.N. Pepelyaev were shot on the banks of the Ushakovka River without trial, by order of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee. The resolution of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee on the execution of the Supreme Ruler Admiral Kolchak and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pepelyaev was signed by A.
Shiryamov, the chairman of the committee and its members A. Snoskarev, M. Levenson and the committee manager Oborin. The text of the resolution on the execution of A.V. Kolchak and V.N. Pepelyaev was first published in an article by the former chairman of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee A.
Shiryamova. In 1991, L. G. Kolotilo made the assumption that the execution order was drawn up after the execution, as an exculpatory document, because it was dated the seventh of February, and S. Chudnovsky and I. N. Bursak arrived at the pre-Gubchek prison at two o’clock in the morning on the seventh of February , allegedly already with the text of the resolution, and before that they made up a firing squad of communists.
In the work of V.I. Shishkin in 1998, it is shown that the original of the resolution available in the GARF is dated the sixth of February, and not the seventh, as indicated in the article of A. Shiryamov, who compiled this resolution. However, the same source contains the text of a telegram from the Chairman of the Sibrevkom and member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army I.
N. Smirnova, which says that the decision to shoot Kolchak was made at a meeting on February 7th. In addition, Kolchak’s interrogation continued all day on February 6th. The confusion in dates in the documents casts doubt on the drawing up of the execution order before it was carried out.
According to the official version, the execution was carried out out of fear that General Kappel’s units breaking through to Irkutsk had the goal of freeing Kolchak.
However, as can be seen from the research of V.I. Shishkin, there was no danger of Kolchak’s release, and his execution was just an act of political retribution and intimidation. According to the most common version, the execution took place on the banks of the Ushakovka River near the Znamensky Convent. The execution was led by Samuil Gdalyevich Chudnovsky. According to legend, while sitting on the ice awaiting execution, the admiral sang the romance “Burn, burn, my star...”. There is a version that Kolchak himself commanded his execution.
After the execution, the bodies of the dead were thrown into the hole.
Movie hero and his prototype.
A sensational film directed by A.
Kravchuk's "Admiral" 2008 contains an apologetic interpretation of the image of the famous leader of the White movement, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, while historians, far from canonizing this historical character, insist that this is a pseudo-historical melodrama, and the screen hero is too far from the real one. What is the proportion of truth and fiction in the film version of historical events?
Still from the film *Admiral*, 2008
Assessments of the film “Admiral” range from “shift of emphasis” to “rape of history in a sophisticated form,” but critics are unanimous on one thing - there are too many deviations from historical truth, omissions and outright lies.
This can be seen both at the level of detail (inaccuracies in officer uniforms, in the depiction of ships - a destroyer instead of a destroyer) and in larger forms (the filmmakers “forgot” that Anna Timireva had a son from her legal husband, whom she left from -for love for Kolchak).
Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timireva
Anna Timireva really divorced her husband in order to become Kolchak’s common-law wife, and when he was arrested, she voluntarily went to prison after him.
After the death of the admiral, she spent 30 years in prisons, camps and exile.
But excessive attention to the love line of the plot - the history of Kolchak’s relationship with Anna Timireva - led to the fact that no attention was paid to significant facts of his biography.
For example, there is no mention of how the admiral proved himself in the Russo-Japanese War, or of his participation in polar expeditions.
Kolchak's common-law wife Anna Timireva
What remains behind the scenes is that Kolchak was a rather cruel military leader and became famous for his merciless terror - his troops burned out entire settlements, killing tens of thousands of people.
In the Yekaterinburg province alone, Kolchak’s men shot over 25,000 people.
His personality receives extremely mixed assessments from historians; he was too controversial for such a flat and “cardboard” image on the screen.
Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak
Admiral Kolchak
Historian Andrei Sinelnikov claims that the events of 1916-1917.
in the film are completely fictitious: no German armored cruiser in April 1916. Kolchak did not lure any mines and did not fire at it from a cannon.
The cruiser Friedrich Karl really existed, but it exploded on Russian minefields back in 1914, without Kolchak’s participation.
Alexander Kolchak in life and in cinema.
In the role of admiral - Konstantin Khabensky
When in the film Kolchak is introduced as the commander of the cruiser "Slava", this is also an obvious inconsistency: the admiral never commanded warships over 750 tons with a displacement; usually these were destroyers, but not cruisers and battleships.
Sofya Fedorovna Omirova-Kolchak, legal wife of the admiral, in life and in films
Many legends and speculations about Kolchak’s life were born from the admiral’s interrogations in Irkutsk, during which, according to historians, the naval commander exaggerated his merits.
In addition, in less than a year under Kolchak's command of the Black Sea Fleet, Russian naval forces suffered their greatest losses of the entire war.
During the year of his reign, the admiral, through mass executions, aroused against himself the peasants of Siberia, who joined the partisans.
He was called a puppet in the hands of the Entente.
Anna Kovalchuk as Sofia Kolchak and Elizaveta Boyarskaya as Anna Timireva
In November 1918, Kolchak was elected Supreme Ruler of Russia, and by the spring of 1919 he managed to gather an army of 400 thousand people.
But already in the autumn of 1919
his troops suffer one defeat after another. In January 1920 he was arrested, and on February 7 he was shot without trial. Due to severe frosts, his body was not buried - he was thrown into an ice hole on the Angara.
Admiral Kolchak
Feature films often take too many liberties with historical facts.
Source
Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich (1874-1920), Russian admiral (1916), one of the leaders of the White movement.
in St. Petersburg in the family of an engineer, retired major general of naval artillery.
In 1894, Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps; in 1900-1902 participated in the polar expedition of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. commanded a destroyer, a minelayer, and then a battery in Port Arthur; was in captivity.
After the war, Kolchak and a group of naval officers prepared proposals for reform of the Russian navy. In 1914 he was appointed head of the operational department of the Baltic Fleet, and in July 1916.
Commander of the Black Sea Fleet with the rank of rear admiral. On June 9, 1917, in response to the demand of the ship committee to hand over his personal weapons, Kolchak with the words “You didn’t hand it to me, you won’t take it!” threw a golden saber with the inscription “For bravery” into the sea.
The next day he was recalled to Petrograd and sent to the United States as a mine specialist.
At the end of 1917, Kolchak arrived in the Far East. Heading to the Volunteer Army, he stayed in Omsk and on November 4, 1918, he was appointed Minister of Defense of the newly formed All-Russian Provisional Government.
On November 18, after the military coup in Omsk, the admiral, thanks to his enormous authority, was proclaimed “the supreme ruler of the Russian state.”
In this capacity he was recognized by the governments of the Entente countries and the United States, but relations with the allies did not work out. Kolchak’s main goal was the armed struggle against the Bolsheviks, but he also had to curb the allies in their encroachments on Russia’s sovereign rights.
After the defeat of the Eastern White Army, the admiral transferred his powers to A.I. Denikin on January 4, 1920. The troops of the Czechoslovak Corps, commanded by the chief officer of the Allied forces in Siberia, the French General Janin, handed Kolchak over to the temporary Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik “Political Center” in Irkutsk in exchange for free passage to Vladivostok.
A little later, the admiral ended up in the hands of the Bolsheviks.
One of the most interesting and controversial figures in the history of Russia of the twentieth century is A.V. Kolchak. Admiral, naval commander, traveler, oceanographer and writer. Until now, this historical figure is of interest to historians, writers and directors. Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is shrouded in interesting facts and events, is of great interest to his contemporaries. Based on his biographical data, books are created and scripts are written for the theater stage. Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich is the hero of documentaries and feature films. It is impossible to fully assess the significance of this personality in the history of the Russian people.
The first steps of a young cadet
A.V. Kolchak, admiral of the Russian Empire, was born on November 4, 1874 in St. Petersburg. The Kolchak family comes from an ancient noble family. Father - Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, major general of naval artillery, mother - Olga Ilyinichna Posokhova, Don Cossack. The family of the future admiral of the Russian Empire was deeply religious. In his childhood memoirs, Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich noted: “I am Orthodox, until the time I entered primary school I received education under the guidance of my parents.” After studying for three years (1885-1888) at the St. Petersburg Classical Men's Gymnasium, young Alexander Kolchak entered the Naval School. It was there that A.V. Kolchak, admiral of the Russian Fleet, first learned about naval sciences, which would later become his life’s work. Studying at the Naval School revealed A.V. Kolchak’s extraordinary abilities and talent for maritime affairs.
The future Admiral Kolchak, whose brief biography shows that his main passion was travel and sea adventures. It was in 1890, as a sixteen-year-old teenager, that a young cadet first entered the sea. This happened on board the armored frigate “Prince Pozharsky”. The training voyage lasted about three months. During this time, junior cadet Alexander Kolchak received his first skills and practical knowledge in maritime affairs. Later, during his studies in the Naval Cadet Corps, A.V. Kolchak repeatedly went on campaigns. His training ships were the Rurik and the Cruiser. Thanks to training trips, A.V. Kolchak began to substantively study oceanography and hydrology, as well as navigation maps of underwater currents off the coast of Korea.
Polar exploration
After graduating from the Naval School, young Lieutenant Alexander Kolchak submits a report for naval service in the Pacific Ocean. The request was approved, and he was sent to one of the naval garrisons of the Pacific Fleet. In 1900, Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is closely connected with scientific research of the Arctic Ocean, set off on the first polar expedition. On October 10, 1900, at the invitation of the famous traveler Baron Eduard Toll, the scientific group set off. The purpose of the expedition was to establish the geographical coordinates of the mysterious island of Sannikov Land. In February 1901, Kolchak made a big report about the Great Northern Expedition.
In 1902, on the wooden whaling schooner Zarya, Kolchak and Toll again set off on a northern voyage. In the summer of the same year, four polar explorers, led by the head of the expedition, Eduard Toll, left the schooner and set off on dog sleds to explore the Arctic coast. No one came back. A long search for the missing expedition brought no results. The entire crew of the schooner "Zarya" was forced to return to the mainland. After some time, A.V. Kolchak submits a petition to the Russian Academy of Sciences for a repeat expedition to the Northern Islands. The main goal of the campaign was to find members of E. Toll’s team. As a result of the search, traces of the missing group were discovered. However, there were no longer any living team members. For his participation in the rescue expedition, A.V. Kolchak was awarded the Imperial Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, 4th degree. Based on the results of the work of the polar research group, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was elected a full member of the Russian Geographical Society.
Military conflict with Japan (1904-1905)
With the beginning of the Russian-Japanese War, A.V. Kolchak asked to be transferred from the scientific academy to the Naval Military Department. Having received approval, he goes to serve in Port Arthur with Admiral S. O. Makarov, A. V. Kolchak is appointed commander of the destroyer "Angry". For six months the future admiral fought valiantly for Port Arthur. However, despite the heroic resistance, the fortress fell. The soldiers of the Russian army capitulated. In one of the battles, Kolchak is wounded and ends up in a Japanese hospital. Thanks to American military intermediaries, Alexander Kolchak and other officers of the Russian army were returned to their homeland. For his heroism and courage, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was awarded a personalized gold saber and a silver medal “In memory of the Russian-Japanese War.”
Continuation of scientific activities
After a six-month vacation, Kolchak again begins research work. The main theme of his scientific works was the processing of materials from polar expeditions. Scientific works on oceanology and the history of polar research helped the young scientist win honor and respect in the scientific community. In 1907, his translation of Martin Knudsen’s work “Tables of Freezing Points of Sea Water” was published. In 1909, the author’s monograph “Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas” was published. The significance of A.V. Kolchak’s works lay in the fact that he was the first to lay down the doctrine of sea ice. The Russian Geographical Society highly appreciated the scientific work of the scientist, presenting him with the highest award, the Golden Constantine Medal. A.V. Kolchak became the youngest polar explorer to receive this high award. All his predecessors were foreigners, and only he became the first holder of the high insignia in Russia.
Revival of the Russian Navy
The loss in the Russo-Japanese War was very hard to bear by the Russian officers. A.V. was no exception. Kolchak, admiral by spirit and researcher by vocation. Continuing to study the reasons for the defeat of the Russian army, Kolchak is developing a plan to create a Naval General Staff. In his scientific report, he expresses his thoughts on the reasons for military defeat in the war, what kind of fleet Russia needs, and also points out shortcomings in the defensive capabilities of sea vessels. The speaker's speech in the State Duma does not find proper approval, and A. V. Kolchak (admiral) leaves service in the Naval General Staff. A biography and photographs from that time confirm his transition to teaching at the Maritime Academy. Despite the lack of academic education, the leadership of the academy invited him to lecture on the topic of joint actions of the army and navy. In April 1908, A.V. Kolchak was awarded the military rank of captain of the 2nd rank. Five years later, in 1913, he was promoted to the rank of captain 1st rank.
Participation of A.V. Kolchak in the First World War
Since September 1915, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak has led the Mine Division of the Baltic Fleet. The location was the port of the city of Revel (now Tallinn). The main task of the division was the development of minefields and their installation. In addition, the commander personally conducted naval raids to eliminate enemy ships. This aroused admiration among ordinary sailors, as well as among the officers of the division. The commander's bravery and resourcefulness were widely appreciated in the fleet, and this reached the capital. On April 10, 1916, A.V. Kolchak was promoted to the rank of rear admiral of the Russian Fleet. And in June 1916, by decree of Emperor Nicholas II, Kolchak was awarded the rank of vice admiral, and he was appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Thus, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, admiral of the Russian Fleet, becomes the youngest of the naval commanders.
The arrival of an energetic and competent commander was received with great respect. From the first days of work, Kolchak established strict discipline and changed the command leadership of the fleet. The main strategic task is to clear the sea of enemy warships. To accomplish this task, it was proposed to block the ports of Bulgaria and the waters of the Bosphorus Strait. An operation to mine enemy coastlines has begun. Admiral Kolchak's ship could often be seen performing combat and tactical missions. The fleet commander personally controlled the situation at sea. A special operation to mine the Bosphorus Strait with a swift attack on Constantinople received approval from Nicholas II. However, the daring military operation did not happen; all plans were disrupted by the February Revolution.
Revolutionary rebellion of 1917
The events of the February coup of 1917 found Kolchak in Batumi. It was in this Georgian city that the admiral held a meeting with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, commander of the Caucasian Front. The agenda was to discuss the maritime transport schedule and the construction of a seaport in Trebizond (Turkey). Having received a secret dispatch from the General Staff about the military coup in Petrograd, the admiral urgently returned to Sevastopol. Upon returning to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A.V. Kolchak gives an order to terminate telegraph and postal communications between Crimea and other regions of the Russian Empire. This prevents the spread of rumors and panic in the fleet. All telegrams were received only by the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.
Unlike the situation in the Baltic Fleet, the situation in the Black Sea was under the control of the admiral. A.V. Kolchak for a long time kept the Black Sea flotilla from revolutionary collapse. However, political events did not pass by. In June 1917, by decision of the Sevastopol Council, Admiral Kolchak was removed from the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet. During disarmament, Kolchak, in front of the formation of his subordinates, breaks the award's golden saber and says: “The sea rewarded me, I go to the sea and return the award.”
Russian admiral
Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak (Omirova), the wife of the great naval commander, was a hereditary noblewoman. Sophia was born in 1876 in Kamenets-Podolsk. Father - Fyodor Vasilyevich Omirov, Privy Councilor to His Imperial Majesty, mother - Daria Fedorovna Kamenskaya, came from the family of Major General V.F. Kamensky. Sofya Fedorovna was educated at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. A beautiful, strong-willed woman who knew several foreign languages, she was very independent in character.
The wedding with Alexander Vasilyevich took place in the St. Harlampies Church in Irkutsk on March 5, 1904. After the wedding, the young husband leaves his wife and goes to the active army to defend Port Arthur. S.F. Kolchak goes to St. Petersburg with his father-in-law. All her life, Sofya Fedorovna remained faithful and devoted to her legal husband. She invariably began her letters to him with the words: “My dear and beloved, Sashenka.” And she ended: “Sonya, who loves you.” Admiral Kolchak treasured his wife’s touching letters until his last days. Constant separations prevented the spouses from seeing each other often. Military service required fulfillment of duty.
And yet, rare moments of joyful meetings did not bypass the loving spouses. Sofya Fedorovna gave birth to three children. The first daughter, Tatyana, was born in 1908, but the child died before she even lived a month. Son Rostislav was born on March 9, 1910 (died in 1965). The third child in the family was Margarita (1912-1914). While escaping from the Germans from Libau (Liepaja, Latvia), the girl caught a cold and soon died. Kolchak’s wife lived for some time in Gatchina, then in Libau. When the city was shelled, the Kolchak family was forced to leave their refuge. Having collected her things, Sophia moved to her husband in Helsingfors, where at that time the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet was located.
It was in this city that Sophia met Anna Timireva, the admiral’s last love. Then there was a move to Sevastopol. She waited for her husband throughout the entire period of the Civil War. In 1919, Sophia Kolchak emigrated with her son. British allies help them get to Constanta, then Bucharest and Paris. Experiencing a difficult financial situation in exile, Sofya Kolchak was able to give her son a decent education. Rostislav Aleksandrovich Kolchak graduated from the Higher Diplomatic School and worked for some time in the Algerian banking system. In 1939, Kolchak’s son enlisted in the French army and was soon captured by the Germans.
Sophia Kolchak will survive the German occupation of Paris. The admiral's wife died in Lungumeau Hospital (France) in 1956. S.F. Kolchak was buried in the cemetery of Russian emigrants in Paris. In 1965, Rostislav Aleksandrovich Kolchak died. The final resting place of the admiral's wife and son will be the French tomb in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
The last love of a Russian admiral
Anna Vasilievna Timireva is the daughter of the outstanding Russian conductor and musician V.I. Safonov. Anna was born in Kislovodsk in 1893. Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timireva met in 1915 in Helsingfors. Her first husband is Sergei Nikolaevich Timirev. The love story with Admiral Kolchak still evokes admiration and respect for this Russian woman. Love and devotion forced her to go into voluntary arrest after her lover. Endless arrests and exiles could not destroy tender feelings; she loved her admiral until the end of her life. Having survived the execution of Admiral Kolchak in 1920, Anna Timireva remained in exile for many years. Only in 1960 was she rehabilitated and lived in the capital. Anna Vasilievna died on January 31, 1975.
Foreign trips
Upon returning to Petrograd in 1917, Admiral Kolchak (his photo is presented in our article) receives an official invitation from the American diplomatic mission. Foreign partners, knowing his extensive experience in mine affairs, ask the Provisional Government to send A.V. Kolchak as a military expert in anti-submarine warfare. A.F. Kerensky gives his consent to his departure. Soon Admiral Kolchak goes to England and then to America. There he conducted military consultations and also took an active part in training maneuvers for the US Navy.
Nevertheless, Kolchak believed that his foreign voyage was not a success, and a decision was made to return to Russia. While in San Francisco, the admiral receives a government telegram inviting him to run for membership in the Constituent Assembly. It thundered and disrupted all of Kolchak’s plans. The news of the revolutionary uprising finds him in the Japanese port of Yokohama. The temporary stop lasted until the fall of 1918.
Events of the Civil War in the fate of A.V. Kolchak
After long wanderings abroad, A.V. Kolchak returned to Russian soil in Vladivostok on September 20, 1918. In this city, Kolchak studied the state of military affairs and the revolutionary sentiments of the inhabitants of the eastern outskirts of the country. At this time, the Russian public repeatedly approached him with a proposal to lead the fight against the Bolsheviks. On October 13, 1918, Kolchak arrives in Omsk to establish overall command of the volunteer armies in the east of the country. After some time, a military takeover of power takes place in the city. A.V. Kolchak - admiral, Supreme Ruler of Russia. It was this position that the Russian officers entrusted to Alexander Vasilyevich.
Kolchak's army numbered more than 150 thousand people. The coming to power of Admiral Kolchak inspired the entire eastern region of the country, which hoped for the establishment of a strict dictatorship and order. A strong management vertical and proper organization of the state were established. The main goal of the new military formation was to unite with the army of A.I. Denikin and march on Moscow. During Kolchak's reign, a number of orders, decrees and appointments were issued. A.V. Kolchak was one of the first in Russia to begin an investigation into the death of the royal family. The award system of Tsarist Russia was restored. Kolchak’s army had at its disposal the country’s huge gold reserves, which were taken from Moscow to Kazan with the aim of further moving to England and Canada. With this money, Admiral Kolchak (whose photo can be seen above) provided his army with weapons and uniforms.
Battle path and arrest of the admiral
Over the entire existence of the eastern front, Kolchak and his comrades carried out several successful military attacks (Perm, Kazan and Simbirsk operations). However, the numerical superiority of the Red Army did not allow the grandiose seizure of the western borders of Russia to be carried out. An important factor was the betrayal of the allies.
On January 15, 1920, Kolchak was arrested and sent to Irkutsk prison. A few days later, the Extraordinary Commission began an investigative procedure to interrogate the admiral. A.V. Kolchak, admiral (interrogation protocols indicate this), behaved very dignified during the investigative measures. Cheka investigators noted that the admiral answered all questions willingly and clearly, without giving away any of the names of his colleagues. Kolchak's arrest lasted until February 6, until the remnants of his army came close to Irkutsk. In 1920, on the banks of the Ushakovka River, the admiral was shot and thrown into an ice hole. This is how the great son of his Fatherland ended his journey.
Based on the events of military operations in the east of Russia from the autumn of 1918 to the end of 1919, the book “Admiral Kolchak’s Eastern Front” was written, author - S.V. Volkov.
Truth and fiction
To this day, the fate of this man has not been fully studied. A.V. Kolchak is an admiral, unknown facts from whose life and death still arouse interest among historians and people who are not indifferent to this personality. One thing can be said quite definitely: the admiral’s life is a vivid example of courage, heroism and high responsibility to his homeland.
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