Russia (bbabo.net), - February 10 at 09.00 Moscow time, the editors of the publication will present to teachers, librarians, university students of the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region a webinar on the topic "Volochaev Days. The 100th anniversary of the battle on the June-Koran hill, which predetermined the outcome Civil War in the Far East". The editor of the journal, Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrey Ganin, the writer, author of the publication Vasily Avchenko, and the director of the Khabarovsk Regional Museum named after N. I. Grodekov Ivan Kryukov will speak to teachers and students. At the end, the speakers will answer the questions of the meeting participants.

To the attention of Russian school history teachers!

If you are interested in this form of work of the editorial staff of the journal with school teachers of history - write to us. "Rodina" is ready to hold an open history lesson on topics of interest to you in any region of our Motherland.

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Fierce February June-Koran Text: Andrey Ganin (Doctor of Historical Sciences) In 1908, 40 versts west of Khabarovsk, at the foot of the June-Koran hill ("meeting place of all tribes" in Tungus-Manchu etymology), the Kuban Cossack Volochaev with built a house with a family of 16 souls. By the name of the first settler, this place became known as the village of Volochaevka. But it is unlikely that in the most nightmarish dream Volochaev could have imagined that in some fourteen years a real battle would break out here, in which the Russians would brutally kill the Russians...

Maneuvering

By 1922, the Civil War continued only in the Far East. Denikin and Wrangel, Kolchak and Yudenich have long been defeated by the Reds. The remnants of the Kolchakites, who did not want to surrender to the mercy of the winners, left for Transbaikalia in early 1920, having made the Siberian Ice Campaign in terrible conditions. There they joined forces with the forces of Ataman G.M. Semenov, forming the troops of the Russian eastern outskirts, later renamed the Far Eastern Army.

The Red Army stopped at the turn of Lake Baikal and did not pursue the whites further - in Transbaikalia the Japanese invaders controlled the situation, and Soviet Russia was not going to get involved in a full-scale war with Japan.

Japan did not want such a war either.

However, a way was found to solve this problem, which suited all parties. Now it would be called a proxy war, that is, a conflict in which they are fighting with proxy wars. Whites began to fight for the Japanese, and for the Reds - the People's Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the formally independent Far Eastern Republic (FER), created in April 1920.

In July, the FER agreed with the Japanese command on neutrality and the withdrawal of troops from Transbaikalia, which predetermined the departure of the Whites from there. In October, the people's army occupied Chita, and in November, the white troops, numbering about 20 thousand people, moved through the territory of China to Primorye.

However, it was no longer quite an army. The weapons had to be surrendered when crossing the Chinese border, so the whites actually arrived in Primorye as refugees, retaining only their organization.

However, the situation soon deteriorated sharply.

Coup

On May 26, 1921, a coup took place in Vladivostok. The Primorsky regional administration of the Far Eastern Republic, headed by the Bolshevik V.G., was overthrown. Antonov. Power passed to the congress of non-socialist organizations of the Far East, which elected the Provisional Amur Government headed by attorney at law S.D. Merkulov.

So the Southern Primorye turned out to be cut off from the Far Eastern Republic.

Following the Belopovstanskaya army began to form under the command of General V.M. Molchanov, who, having received a certain amount of weapons, in November 1921 intensified operations against the Far Eastern partisans and began the Khabarovsk campaign. On December 22, Khabarovsk fell, the White Rebels, having captured artillery, drove the enemy beyond the Amur and launched an offensive along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Captured Volochaevka, Olgokhta passing behind it ...

On February 10-12, 1922, a decisive battle took place near Volochaevka, which predetermined the outcome of the Khabarovsk campaign of the Whites and the entire Civil War in the Far East.

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General Molchanov's order

The June-Koran hill near Volochaevka was a convenient position for the Whites to defend: a dominant height, from which a snowy plain without any vegetation stretched further 4-5 versts to the west. It was only necessary to strengthen the position, and frontal attacks became suicide. In addition, 25 miles west of Volochaevka there were no settlements where the advancing troops could hide. The Whites, who occupied Volochaevka on the night of January 6, used these advantages and made the center of their defense.

In order No. 572 of February 5, 1922, General V.M. Molchanov emotionally and passionately called on his comrades-in-arms for a decisive battle:

“The question of our very being requires the full exertion of all forces to achieve victory. The one who passionately desires it wins. We live with victory. Failure can deprive us of our very existence as an anti-Bolshevik organization.To you, senior leaders, I appeal to you to instill a passionate spirit of victory into the hearts of your subordinates.

We must talk with everyone and electrify everyone ... I am convinced that we can still inflict such a defeat on the enemy that he will not recover for a long time ... Victory is needed and must be.

Strict calculation in everything, in every little thing.

Tirelessly, consolidate yourself, but this is not enough, introduce everyone that in no case should you throw the wire.

The enemy responded no less emotionally and harshly.

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Letter from Commander-in-Chief Blucher

February 9, 1922, Commander-in-Chief of the NRA FER V.K. Blucher sent a letter to General Molchanov, offering to stop useless resistance and not to fight with his country on Japanese money. In case of surrender, he guaranteed life.

“Only extra blood has been shed by the already exhausted Russian people, but they will not surrender their revolutionary gains and their new free statehood to anyone.

I am a soldier of the revolution and I want to speak to you before I start the last conversation in the language of cannons.

There was no answer.

Disposition

White entrenched in the area between the Tunguska River and the railway line. From one to three rows of barbed wire, machine-gun nests, trenches in the snow lined with bags of earth, lined with snow and in some places doused with water were installed. The strongest positions are in the area of ​​the June-Koran hill, while the railway was covered only by armored trains and machine-gun nests. However, according to the testimony of the Whites, the Reds exaggerated the importance of the fortifications.

The fortified area was occupied by a group of Colonel A.G. Argunov: 2675 bayonets and sabers, 26 machine guns and six guns, two armored trains ("Kappelevets" with two guns and nine machine guns and "Volzhanin" with two guns). A group of General I.N. Nikitin.

The forces of the Eastern Front of the People's Revolutionary Army are estimated at 7600 bayonets and sabers, 300 machine guns, 30 guns. The troops of the front were divided into two groups: Inskaya under the command of Ya.Z Pokus and Transbaikal under the command of N.D. Tomina. In Soviet times, it was claimed that the Whites near Volochaevka were significantly superior to the Reds, however, according to the calculations of modern researchers, the balance of forces was different: on the main direction, by February 12, the ratio of forces in the infantry was 4.2:1 in favor of the NRA. In terms of machine guns, the Reds outnumbered the Whites by 7.6 times, in terms of guns - by 3.5 times. There was equality in armored trains, and the whites had no tanks.

Nevertheless, the preparation of the attackers for battle left much to be desired. Armored trains were inactive due to a malfunction of the bridge over the river Poperechka, 6 km from Volochaevka. There were no means to overcome the barbed wire. Colonel A.G. Efimov recalled in exile:

"The whites were not better armed, but much weaker than their opponent ... But there is a hole in the old woman. Having at their disposal a variety of samples of the latest military equipment, the red commanders forgot to supply their infantry with the simplest and most necessary tool - scissors for cutting wire obstacles" 4. Only on the third day of fighting, on the night of February 12, was it possible to restore the bridge and use armored trains.

Above Volochaevka there were 30-35-degree frosts. The blow in the main direction was delivered by the Consolidated Rifle Brigade of Ya.Z. Pokus, who attacked the positions of the Whites at the station, in the village of Volochaevka and on the June-Koran hill.

Fight.

February 10

The 5th rifle and 4th cavalry regiments bypassed Volochaevka from the north and reached the wire. In the center of the hill, a battalion of the Special Amur Regiment attacked with the support of two tanks, one of which broke down and the other was hit. The artillery of the bypass column lagged behind and was used inefficiently. Detour in deep snow exhausted the fighters.

By 17 o'clock, the Reds, without breaking the wire barriers, withdrew. But the first battle made it possible to reveal the enemy grouping, to determine its strengths and weaknesses.

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February 11

White again repelled all attacks in the central direction, and the people's army spent the whole day in the snow in front of the wire fences. But, since the enemy did not try to counterattack, the Reds got a break, put the troops in order and repaired the bridge.

Armored trains largely turned the tide of the battle.

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February 12

From 7.30 in the morning after artillery preparation, the Consolidated Rifle Brigade went on the offensive in the central direction and after a three-hour battle at 11:32 o'clock occupied the station and the village of Volochaevka. Bypass column V.A. Gultzgof, with a force of a battalion and a squadron with two guns, hit the rear of Volochaevka from the south of the railway, and on the night of February 12 set fire to the bridge in the rear of the Whites and forced the Kappelevets armored train to retreat from Volochaevka.

The main blow was inflicted on the site of the 6th Infantry Regiment. Armored train N 8, with the support of field artillery, went on the offensive, calling on itself the fire of white artillery. The maneuver was a success, he allowed the infantry to finally overcome the wire. The battalion of the 5th rifle regiment, which occupied the June-Koran hill, did not have to engage in hand-to-hand combat - the whites simply retreated.The losses of the NRA amounted to more than 550 people killed and up to 1250 wounded and frostbite. White losses, according to some sources, are up to 400 killed and more than 700 wounded. Only two weeks later the fallen were buried.

Commander of the 6th Infantry Regiment A.N. Zakharov recalled:

"I saw a lot of fights. There were many difficult moments and difficult situations, much was forgotten, but for the rest of my life I have in my memory every hour, every moment of the 48 terrible hours near Volochaevka"5.

The Whites retreated by rail, maintaining order - they did not leave a single gun or machine gun for the Reds. The Reds were tired and stopped pursuing. But the outcome of the operation was clear.

Blucher's second letter

On February 14, 1922 Khabarovsk was taken by the People's Revolutionary Army. The White Rebels withdrew to Primorye under the protection of Japanese bayonets.

On February 23, Commander-in-Chief Blucher sent a new letter to General Molchanov with a proposal to surrender:

“I would like to know how many victims, how many Russian corpses are still needed to convince you of the futility and fruitlessness of your last attempt to fight with the strength of the revolutionary Russian people, who are building their new statehood on the ashes of economic ruin?

How many Russian martyrs have you been ordered to throw at the foot of Japanese and other foreign capital? ... No, General, we will not allow it. We, peasants, defending our native property, our native revolutionary Russian land, for the first time in centuries have seen our truly people's power.

Many years later, an audio interview with 84-year-old General V.M. will be recorded in San Francisco. Molchanov. He also recalled Blucher's letters:

“When Blucher took command and began to counterattack us, he wrote me letters in which he asked me to end the war and offered me a military position in the Red Army that corresponded to my abilities ... How could I, being against the Bolsheviks, go with them "I simply did not answer any letters"7.

CLOSE-UP

Eye on the line of fire

Text:Alexander Filimonenko

The only panorama in Russia dedicated to the Civil War can be seen in the Khabarovsk Grodekov Museum

The idea to create a majestic panorama of the Battle of Volochaev was put forward by the director of the museum, Vsevolod Sysoev, back in the late 1960s. In the early seventies, the well-known battle painters Sergei Agapov and Anatoly Garpenko took up the idea, planning to complete the 43-meter canvas by the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War in the Far East. Under a large-scale order, the painters were provided with a gym in one of the Moscow schools. However, the first option was rejected by experts - and the nature in the area of ​​the hill is not Far Eastern, and trenches with dugouts were "borrowed" from the Great Patriotic War.

The idea to recreate the picture of the battle, being ten thousand kilometers from Volochaevka, had to be abandoned. Now the matter is taken much more seriously. In the spring of 1971, Agapov and Gorpenko arrived at the battlefield. The command of the Far Eastern Military District allocated an engineering company for the construction of defensive lines. Servicemen in the form of People's Army soldiers stormed the fortifications. The artists drew...

The second version of the panorama was accepted - and approved! - Minister of Culture of the USSR Ekaterina Furtseva. Marshals Nikolai Krylov, Ivan Bagramyan, Vasily Chuikov acted as consultants. In the fall of 1974, the canvas, wound on a special drum, was delivered in a special wagon from the capital to Khabarovsk. Already during installation, it turned out that about a meter is not enough for a full circle. I had to urgently build up the canvas, finish the image ...

On April 30, 1975, the panorama was solemnly opened.

Volochaev panorama is the fifth in our country after Borodino, Stalingrad, Sevastopol and Trans-Siberian. It differs from its predecessors by its intimacy: you are standing some two meters from the canvas, and the filigree execution of the subject plan creates a striking effect of presence. Eye with the participants of the battle! Of course, there were some inaccuracies, as historians pointed out: the people's army went on the attack with a red banner, although there was a blue rectangle on the flag of the Far East; golden epaulettes gleam on the overcoats of the White Guards. There is no mention of hand-to-hand combat - the key plot of the panorama - in archival documents.

But this does not detract from the merits of the creators of this remarkable historical monument. And for many generations of schoolchildren, the lessons on the man-made Volochaevskaya Sopka remained in their memory for life.

For the heroism shown, the 6th Infantry Regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and received the honorary name Volochaevsky.

In the Consolidated Brigade, 67 people received the Order of the Red Banner, including brigade commander Yakov Pokus.

The civil war in the Far East continued until October 1922. After the Japanese announced their decision to leave Primorye, the People's Army went on the last offensive. October 25, without a single shot, they entered Vladivostok. There were no longer any Japanese or whites who had emigrated by sea.

VOLOCHAYEVTSY: AFTER THE BATTLE

Vasily Blyukher. Commander-in-Chief of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far East, later Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Arrested and died in a prison cell in November 1938. Rehabilitated for lack of corpus delicti. Two spouses were shot, the third passed through the camps. All were later rehabilitated.

Yakov Pokus. Commander of the Consolidated Rifle Brigade, later - divisional commander.

He was under arrest in 1938-1940, re-arrested in 1940, sentenced to ten years in labor camps and five years of disqualification. He died in Ustvymlag in September 1945. Rehabilitated.

Pavel Postyshev. Member of the Military Council of the Eastern Front of the Far Eastern Republic.

In February 1938, he was arrested along with his wife. Both are shot. Rehabilitated.

Pyotr Parfenov. Head of the political department of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic, author of the famous song "Through the valleys and the hills".

Shot in 1937. Rehabilitated.

Viktorin Molchanov. Commander of the Belopovstanskaya Army, Lieutenant General.

In the autumn of 1922 he left Russia forever. Lived in Korea, China, USA. He opened a chicken factory, which soon went bankrupt. Worked as a building administrator in San Francisco.

Died in 1975.

Afinogen Argunov. The commander of the White troops near Volochaevka.

In the autumn of 1922 he emigrated from Russia.

Killed in Harbin in 1932.

1. .. And in the Pacific Ocean they finished their campaign. Khabarovsk, 1932. S. 135.

2. Efimov A.G. Izhevtsy and Votkintsy. The struggle against the Bolsheviks 1918-1920. M., 2008. S. 325.

3. Levkin G.G. Volochaevka without legends. Khabarovsk, 1999, p. 64.

4. Efimov A.G. With Izhevsk and Votkinsk residents on the Eastern Front. Articles, letters, documents. M., 2013. S. 117.

5. Zakharov A.N. Far Eastern Perekop // Taiga hikes. M., 1936. S. 292.

6. Blucher V.K. Articles and speeches. M., 1963. S. 89.

7. Molchanov V.M. The last white general. M., 2009. S. 181.

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