And the Dutov civil war. Ataman Dutov - biography. Mauser and gold watch for a terrorist attack

Family What we know about Dmitry Mikhailovich’s family life is mainly what pedigrees and property ownership documents are preserved. On April 7, 1632, the prince’s mother, Euphrosyne-Maria, died, having apparently taken monastic vows under the name Evznikei a long time ago; she was buried in

1. Family We would make a mistake if, taking into account only the strength of family ties and the reliability of support, we painted the internal life of the family in idyllic colors. The voluntary participation of relatives of one clan in a vendetta against another did not exclude the most cruel

Defeated by the Red Army and finding themselves outside of Russia, the leaders of the White movement did not at all consider their struggle to be over and did not tire of making loud statements about the imminent new liberation campaign.

The Bolsheviks decided not to wait for life itself to answer how real these dreams were and began to erase their enemies from political life one by one. They were deceived into entering the territory of Soviet Russia, where they were arrested and tried, persuaded to return to the USSR, and kidnapped. But most often they were liquidated right on the spot. The first such operation of the Cheka, which ended in success, was the murder of Ataman Dutov.

Irreconcilable fighter against the Bolsheviks

Ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks Alexander Ilyich Dutov was not one of the ordinary Cossacks. Born in 1879 in the family of a Cossack general, he graduated from the Orenburg Cadet Corps, then the Nikolaev Cavalry School, and in 1908, the Academy of the General Staff.

By November 1917, Colonel Dutov had two wars behind him (Russian-Japanese and German), orders, wounds, and shell shock. He was very popular among the Cossacks, who elected him as a delegate to the II All-Cossack Congress in Petrograd, and then as chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops.

The Orenburg Cossack ataman Dutov began to fight the Bolsheviks from the very first day. On November 8, 1917, he signed an order to non-recognize the Bolshevik coup in Petrograd in the Orenburg province and assumed full state executive power.

The vast territory of the Orenburg province was cleared of the Bolsheviks, and the owner here was the Cossack ataman Dutov and his Orenburg army. In November 1918, he unconditionally recognized Kolchak’s power, believing that personal ambitions must be sacrificed in the name of common victory.

In September 1919, Kolchak's army finally ran out of steam. One military defeat followed another. The Orenburg army was also defeated. On April 2, 1920, Dutov and the remnants of his troops (about 500 people) crossed the Russian-Chinese border. The ataman himself settled in the border fortress of Suidun, most of the Cossacks settled in the nearby city of Gulja.

Not accepting defeat

Dutov immediately declared that he was not going to give up: “The fight is not over. Defeat is not defeat yet” and issued an order to unite all anti-Bolshevik forces into the Orenburg Separate Army. His words “I will go out to die on Russian soil and will not return back to China” became the banner under which soldiers and officers who found themselves in China gathered.

For Turkestan security officers, Dutov became problem No. 1. White underground cells were discovered in the Semirechensk region, in the cities of Omsk, Semipalatinsk, Orenburg, and Tyumen. In the cities, Dutov’s appeals were found: “What is Ataman Dutov striving for?”, “Appeal to the Bolshevik,” “A word from Ataman Dutov to the Red Army soldiers,” “Appeal to the population of Semirechye,” “To the peoples of Turkestan,” etc.

In June 1920, the garrison of the city of Verny (Alma-Ata) rebelled against Soviet power. In November, the 1st battalion of the 5th border regiment rebelled and the city of Naryn was captured. And the threads from all these defeated underground organizations and suppressed rebellions led to the border fortress of Suidun to Ataman Dutov.

In the fall, security officers intercepted Dutov’s emissary to Fergana. It turned out that the ataman was conducting very successful negotiations with the Basmachi about a simultaneous attack on Soviet Russia. In the event of the first successes of the joint offensive of the Orenburg Separate Army and the “warriors of Allah,” Afghanistan could join the game. And at the center of all this stood Ataman Dutov.

In the depths of the Cheka, a daring idea arose to kidnap the formidable chieftain and try him in an open proletarian court. But who will undertake it and, most importantly, will be able to get close to the chieftain and complete the task? They began to look for such a person. And they found him.

"Prince" Chanyshev

Kasymkhan Chanyshev was born in the border city of Dzharkent (29 km from the border) into a wealthy Tatar family. He was considered a descendant of a prince or even a khan. For decades, the Chanyshev merchants carried out smuggling trade with China in opium and deer antlers, knew secret paths across the border, and had a network of suppliers and informants. Kasimkhan was desperately brave and himself repeatedly walked across the border with a group of horsemen personally devoted to him.

In addition to his native Tatar, he knew Russian and Chinese. He was a devout Muslim, respected Sharia law, and even before the revolution he made the hajj to Mecca. No one would be surprised if Kasimkhan became one of the leaders of the Basmachi movement during the revolution. But life sometimes throws out amazing twists.

In 1917, Kasimkhan joined the Bolsheviks, and in 1918 he formed a Red Guard detachment from his horsemen, captured Jankert, established Soviet Power in it and took on the troublesome position of chief of the district police.

At the same time, Chanyshev had an uncle (a highly respected wealthy merchant) living in China in the city of Gulja; Kasimkhan’s father’s gardens were confiscated, and numerous relatives suffered from dispossession. According to the security officers, Chanyshev could well play the role of someone offended by the Soviet Government, and his position as chief of police was supposed to be the bait that Ataman Dutov would fall for.

The operation has begun

In September 1920, Chanyshev and several horsemen made his first trip to Gulja. It was assumed that in the city Chanyshev would meet with Milovsky, who lived there, the former mayor of Dzhankert (he and Chanyshev were once connected by “trade affairs”), and then “act according to the circumstances,” as a representative of the Cheka told Chanyshev. A few days later Chanyshev returned.

His report delighted the security officers immensely. Kasymkhan managed not only to meet with Milovsky, but also made contact with Colonel Ablaykhanov, who served as a translator under Dutov, and he promised Chanyshev to organize a meeting with the ataman.

Chanyshev walked across the border five more times, met with Dutov twice, managed to convince him of his dislike for the Soviet Power, of the existence of an underground organization in Dzhankert, transferred a certain amount of weapons and “arranged” a man ataman - a certain Nekhoroshko - to work in the police.

One of Chanyshev’s horsemen, Makhmud Khojamiarov, regularly delivered messages from Nehoroshko to Suidun: the spy reported that everything was ready in Dzhankert and they were just waiting for the ataman to start the uprising. As soon as the Dutovites cross the border, Chanyshev’s policemen will capture the city, surrender it and themselves will join Dutov.

In turn, the security officers received information about the forces that Dutov had at his disposal. And this information was alarming.

The situation becomes more complicated, plans change

According to Chanyshev, the ataman had 5-6 thousand bayonets, two guns, and four machine guns at his disposal. In Gulja, Dutov organized a factory for the production of rifle cartridges. The Orenburg Separate Army was not at all a myth, as some had hoped. In addition, Dutov had connections with underground organizations in Przhevalsk, Talgar, Verny, Bishkek, Omsk, Semipalatinsk, ready to rebel at his signal.

At the beginning of January 1921, in the Peganovskaya volost of the Ishim district, several clashes between peasants and soldiers of food detachments took place. Within a few days, unrest engulfed the entire district and spread to neighboring Yalutorovsky. This was the beginning of the West Siberian uprising, which would soon cover the Tyumen, Omsk, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg provinces and in which about 100,000 people would take part.

The Cheka decided that there could be no further delay. They gave up on the plan to lure Dutov for reconnaissance and negotiations with the “leaders of the underground movement” to the territory of Soviet Russia, capture him and try him in a “merciless proletarian court”, and decided to limit himself to liquidation.

On January 31, a group of six people crossed the Soviet-Chinese border. The eldest in the group was Chanyshev, who had orders to eliminate Dutov as soon as possible. To prevent Kasimkhan from being tempted to stay in China without completing the task, 9 of his relatives were arrested in Jankert.

For several days, Chanyshev and his horsemen circled around Suidun, hoping to watch for Dutov outside the fortress, until a messenger from Dzhankert arrived and conveyed that if Chanyshev did not carry out the liquidation by February 10, the hostages would be shot. For Chanyshev there was no other choice but to hold an action in the fortress itself.

Death of the Ataman

On the evening of February 6, a group of horsemen rode through the open gate into Suidong. Here they separated. One remained at the gate. His task was to prevent the guards from closing the gate so that the liquidators could leave unhindered. The two dismounted and took up positions near Dutov’s house - they would come to the aid of the main group if anything went wrong or a chase began. The three drove up to the chieftain's house. The sentry asked: "Who?" - “A letter from the Prince to Ataman Dutov.”

Mahmukh Khadzhamiarov and Kudduk Baismakov had already delivered reports from Dzhankert to Dutov more than once; they knew them by sight. The sentry unlocked the gate. The trio dismounted. One remained with the horses in front of the gate, two went into the yard. Baismakov started a conversation with the guard, and Khadzhamiarov, accompanied by an orderly, entered the house. "From the Prince!" - He handed Dutov a letter.

The chieftain sat down at the table, unfolded the note and began to read: “Mr. chieftain, we’ve had enough of waiting, it’s time to start, everything is done. We’re ready. We’re just waiting for the first shot, then we won’t sleep.” Dutov finished reading and raised his eyes: “Why didn’t the Prince come himself?”

Instead of answering, Khadzhamiarov pulled out a revolver from his bosom and shot at the chieftain at point-blank range. Dutov fell. The second bullet hit the orderly in the forehead. The third - into the chieftain lying on the floor. The sentry standing at the gate turned towards the shots and at that moment Baismakov stabbed him in the back with a knife. The liquidators ran out into the street, jumped on their horses and galloped through the streets of Suidong.

The last point in the operation

The Cossacks rushed to look for the killers of their ataman and found no one. And it is not surprising, since the Dutovites rushed towards the Soviet-Chinese border, and Chanyshev and the horsemen rode in the completely opposite direction - to Gulja, where Kasymkhan’s uncle lived and where they intended to sit out for several days. They believed that it was too early for them to return to Soviet Russia, because they did not even know whether they had killed Dutov or only wounded him?

Ataman Dutov died on the morning of February 7 at 7 a.m. from internal hemorrhage as a result of a liver injury. He and two Cossacks who died with him - sentry Maslov and orderly Lopatin - were buried on the outskirts of Suidun in a Catholic cemetery. The orchestra played, the Cossacks who saw off their ataman on his last journey cried and swore revenge.

A few days after the funeral, the ataman’s grave was desecrated: unknown people dug up the coffin, and the corpse was beheaded. On February 11, Chanyshev returned to Jankert with 100% proof of the completion of the task - Dutov’s head. The hostages were released, and a telegram was sent to Moscow about the liquidation of one of the most dangerous enemies of Soviet Power.

Reward

Khodzhamyarov received from the hands of Dzerzhinsky a gold watch and a Mauser with the engraving “For the personally carried out terrorist act against Ataman Dutov to Comrade Khodzhamyarov.” Chanyshev as the immediate leader of the operation - a gold watch, a personalized carbine and a “safe conduct letter” signed by the country’s security officer No. 2 Peters: “The bearer of this, comrade Chanyshev Kasymkhan, on February 6, 1921, committed an act of national significance, which saved several thousand lives of the working masses from a gang attack, and therefore the named comrade requires attentive attention from the Soviet authorities and the said comrade is not subject to arrest without the knowledge of the Plenipotentiary Representation.”

However, such high awards did not protect them from purges during the era of the Great Terror. Khojdamiarov was shot in 1938; a few years earlier, he fell under the deadly rink of repressions of Chanyshev. The “safe conduct letter” did not help him either - Peters, who signed it, turned out to be an “enemy of the people” and was shot.

The operation to eliminate Dutov cannot be considered an exemplary operation. Its successful completion was the result of a lucky coincidence and desperate improvisation on the spot. But the security officers learned quickly. Then followed actions against Kutepov and Miller, Savinkov and Konovalets, Bandera and many others who could no longer be called amateurish.
But more about that next time.

02/07/1921. – Died in Suidong (China) after an assassination attempt the day before by security officers, white general Alexander Ilyich Dutov, ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks

(08/05/1879–02/07/1921) was born into the family of a Cossack officer in the city of Kazalinsk, Syrdarya region. He graduated from the Orenburg Cadet Corps (1889–1897), the Nikolaev Cavalry School (1897–1899), a course of science in the engineer brigade (1901), passed the exam at the Nikolaev Engineering School (1902), graduated from the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff in the 1st category, but without the right to be assigned to the General Staff (1904–1908).

He began his service in the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment in 1899. Cornet (1899), lieutenant (1903). Participant (1905), for which he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd degree and the rank of staff captain (1906). In 1909, esaul (1909), in 1912 - military foreman (corresponding to the rank of lieutenant colonel). In 1910, a new award was given - the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree. Full member of the Orenburg Scientific Archival Commission (1914–1915).

Ataman Dutov

From 1909 to 1912 Dutov taught at the Orenburg Cossack Junker School and earned the love and respect of the cadets, for whom he did a lot.

Before service

Alexander Ilyich Dutov was born in August 1879. The father of the future Cossack leader, Ilya Petrovich, a military officer from the era of the Turkestan campaigns, was promoted to the rank of major general in September 1907 upon his dismissal from service. Mother - Elizaveta Nikolaevna Uskova - the daughter of a police officer, a native of the Orenburg province. Alexander Ilyich himself was born during one of the campaigns in the city of Kazalinsk, Syrdarya region.

Alexander Ilyich Dutov graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps in 1897, and then from the Nikolaev Cavalry School in 1899, was promoted to the rank of cornet and sent to the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment stationed in Kharkov.

Then, in St. Petersburg, he graduated from courses at the Nikolaev Engineering School on October 1, 1903, now the Military Engineering and Technical University and entered the Academy of the General Staff, but in 1905 Dutov volunteered for the Russo-Japanese War, fought as part of the 2nd oh Munchhur Army, where for “excellent, diligent service and special labors” during hostilities he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree. Upon returning from the front, Dutov continued his studies at the Academy of the General Staff, which he graduated in 1908.

First years of service

After graduating from the Academy, Staff Captain Dutov was sent to become familiar with the service of the General Staff in the Kiev Military District at the headquarters of the 10th Army Corps. From 1909 to 1912 he taught at the Orenburg Cossack Junker School. With his activities at the school, Dutov earned the love and respect of the cadets, for whom he did a lot. In addition to the exemplary performance of his official duties, he organized performances, concerts and evenings at the school. In December 1910, Dutov was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, and on December 6, 1912, at the age of 33, he was promoted to the rank of military foreman (the corresponding army rank is lieutenant colonel).

In October 1912, Dutov was sent for a one-year qualification command of the 5th hundred of the 1st Orenburg Cossack regiment to Kharkov. After the expiration of his command, Dutov passed the hundred in October 1913 and returned to school, where he served until 1916.

Dutov became known throughout Russia in August 1917, during the “Kornilov Rebellion,” without signing the Government Decree on treason by General Kornilov.

On March 20, 1916, Dutov volunteered to join the active army, to the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, which was part of the 10th Cavalry Division of the IIIrd Cavalry Corps of the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front. He took part in the offensive of the Southwestern Front under the command of Brusilov, during which the 9th Russian Army, where Dutov served, defeated the 7th Austro-Hungarian Army between the Dniester and Prut rivers. During this offensive, Dutov was wounded twice, the second time seriously. However, after two months of treatment in Orenburg, he returned to the regiment. On October 16, Dutov was appointed commander of the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment together with Prince Spiridon Vasilyevich Bartenev.

The certification of Dutov, given to him by Count F.A. Keller, states: “The last battles in Romania, in which the regiment took part under the command of military foreman Dutov, give the right to see in him a commander who is well versed in the situation and makes appropriate decisions energetically, by virtue of which makes me consider him an outstanding and excellent combat commander of the regiment.” By February 1917, for military distinctions, Dutov was awarded swords and a bow to the Order of St. Anne, 3rd class. and the Order of St. Anne, 2nd class.

Against the Bolsheviks

In the fall of 1917, Dutov took control of a strategically important region that blocked communications with Turkestan and Siberia.

Dutov became known throughout Russia in August 1917, during the Kornilov Rebellion. Kerensky then demanded that Dutov sign a government decree in which Lavr Georgievich was accused of treason. The chieftain of the Orenburg Cossack army left the office, contemptuously saying: “You can send me to the gallows, but I won’t sign such a paper. If necessary, I am ready to die for them." From words, Dutov immediately got down to business. It was his regiment that defended General Denikin’s headquarters, pacified Bolshevik agitators in Smolensk and guarded the last commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Dukhonin. Alexander Ilyich Dutov, a graduate of the General Staff Academy and Chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops of Russia, openly called the Bolsheviks German spies and demanded that they be tried according to wartime laws.

Dutov returned to Orenburg and began working in his positions. On the same day, he signed an order for army No. 816 on the non-recognition of the Bolshevik power on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army, who carried out a coup in Petrograd.

“Pending the restoration of the powers of the Provisional Government and telegraph communications, I assume full executive state power.” The city and province were declared under martial law. The created Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland, which included representatives of all parties with the exception of the Bolsheviks and Cadets, appointed Dutov as head of the region’s armed forces. Exercising his powers, he initiated the arrest of some members of the Orenburg Council of Workers' Deputies who were preparing an uprising. To accusations of trying to usurp power, Dutov responded with grief: “You always have to be under the threat of the Bolsheviks, receive death sentences from them, live at headquarters without seeing your family for weeks. Good power!

Dutov took control of a strategically important region that blocked communications with Turkestan and Siberia. The ataman was faced with the task of holding elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintaining stability in the province and army until its convocation. Dutov generally coped with this task. The Bolsheviks who arrived from the center were captured and put behind bars, and the decayed and pro-Bolshevik garrison (due to the anti-war position of the Bolsheviks) of Orenburg was disarmed and sent home.

In November, Dutov was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly (from the Orenburg Cossack army).

Outlaw

The Bolshevik leaders quickly realized the danger the Orenburg Cossacks posed to them. On November 25, the Council of People's Commissars addressed the population about the fight against Ataman Dutov. The Southern Urals found themselves in a state of siege. Alexander Ilyich was declared an outlaw.

On December 16, the ataman sent out a call to the commanders of the Cossack units to send Cossacks with weapons to the army. To fight the Bolsheviks, people and weapons were needed; he could still count on weapons, but the bulk of the Cossacks returning from the front did not want to fight, only in some places village squads were formed. Due to the failure of the Cossack mobilization, Dutov could only count on volunteers from officers and students, no more than 2 thousand people in total, including old people and youth. Therefore, at the first stage of the struggle, the Orenburg ataman, like other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik resistance, was unable to rouse and lead any significant number of supporters to fight.

Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks began an attack on Orenburg. After heavy fighting, the Red Army detachments under the command of Blucher, many times superior to the Dutovites, approached Orenburg and on January 31, 1918, as a result of joint actions with the Bolsheviks settled in the city, captured it. Dutov decided not to leave the territory of the Orenburg army and went to the center of the 2nd military district - Verkhneuralsk, which was located far from major roads, hoping to continue the fight there and form new forces against the Bolsheviks.

On November 25, 1917, an appeal from the Council of People's Commissars to the population about the fight against Ataman Dutov appeared. The Southern Urals found themselves in a state of siege. Alexander Ilyich was declared an outlaw.

An emergency Cossack circle was convened in Verkhneuralsk. Speaking at it, Alexander Ilyich refused his post three times, citing the fact that his re-election would cause embitterment among the Bolsheviks.

But in March, the Cossacks also surrendered Verkhneuralsk. After this, Dutov’s government settled in the village of Krasninskaya, where by mid-April it was surrounded. On April 17, having broken through the encirclement with the forces of four partisan detachments and an officer platoon, Dutov broke out of Krasninskaya and went to the Turgai steppes.

But in the meantime, the Bolsheviks with their policies embittered the main part of the Orenburg Cossacks, who were previously neutral to the new government, and in the spring of 1918, without connection with Dutov, a powerful insurrectionary movement began on the territory of the 1st Military District. Soon Dutov, as an elected member of the Constituent Assembly, joins the Samara government of KOMUCH. It was the Cossacks of Ataman Dutov who gave the committee’s army combat effectiveness. The ataman invited to KOMUCH was given a magnificent meeting, appointing him chief commissioner in the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army and the Turgai region. He won a number of victories over the Bolshevik troops. Samara historians write that Dutov immediately got down to business, but within a month KOMUCH was forced to protest against the methods by which the ataman restored order in the areas entrusted to him.

Landmark to Siberia

In the spring of 1918, Dutov, as an elected member of the Constituent Assembly, joined the Samara government of KOMUCH.

Soon after returning from Samara, he went to Omsk to establish contacts with Siberian politicians. This trip should not be considered a double game. The Orenburg ataman adhered to his own political line, looked closely at the political forces that surrounded him, and sometimes flirted with both, trying to achieve maximum benefits for his army. Considering that the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army was divided between the Samara and Omsk governments, Dutov, as the ataman of the entire army, had to maintain relations with both. In terms of its political orientation, the coalition (from the Socialist Revolutionaries to the monarchists, with a predominance of representatives of the right wing) Provisional Siberian Government that existed in Omsk was significantly to the right of the Socialist Revolutionary KOMUCH, which was one of the reasons for the acute disagreements between them. In this situation, Dutov’s visit to Siberia was considered by the Social Revolutionaries almost as a betrayal of the interests of KOMUCH. Meanwhile, according to some sources, on July 24–25, 1918, an attempt was made on Dutov in Chelyabinsk, but the ataman was not injured.

On July 25, Dutov was promoted to major general by KOMUCH, but it seems that within a few days the leaders of the Committee regretted this. Dutov arrived in Omsk on July 26 and was received in the Council of Ministers in the evening of the same day; his first meeting took place with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Provisional Siberian Government P.V. Vologda. The Omsk visit caused an extremely negative reaction in Samara.

On August 4, Dutov returned from Omsk and began operations at the front. The fighting in August-September was characterized by attempts by the Orenburg residents to take Orsk - the last center not controlled by the whites on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army. Fighting also took place in the Tashkent direction with varying degrees of success. Attempts to take Orsk dragged on until the end of September, and already at the beginning of October, in connection with the collapse of the Volga Front, the Buzuluk Front was formed in the north, which became the main one for the Orenburg residents.

On November 18, 1918, as a result of a coup in Omsk, Kolchak came to power, becoming the Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of Russia. Ataman Dutov was one of the first to come under his command. He wanted to show by example what every honest officer should do. Dutov's units became part of the Russian army of Admiral Kolchak in November. Dutov played a positive role in resolving the conflict between Ataman Semyonov and Kolchak, calling on the former to submit to the latter, since the nominated candidates for the post of Supreme Ruler submitted to Kolchak, and called on the “Cossack brother” Semyonov to allow military cargo to pass for the Orenburg Cossack army.

In the second half of 1918 - the first half of 1919, the future fate of Russia was decided in a fierce struggle in the Urals and the Middle Volga region.

In January 1919, units of the Separate Orenburg Army, having lost contact with the Separate Ural Army, retreated to the east, deep into the territory of the army. The Reds developed their success by advancing along the Orsk railway line. The separate Orenburg army retreated with heavy fighting.

On September 18, 1919, the Southern Army was renamed the Orenburg Army, and on September 21, Dutov took command of it.

Failures led to the fact that the morale of the troops dropped sharply, the Cossacks began to go home without permission and run over to the Reds. Significant overwork of the troops and shortcomings in the militia staff also had an impact. To increase the morale of the troops, Dutov had to disband unreliable units, take measures to strengthen discipline, and reform the command staff of the army.

On May 23, Kolchak appointed Dutov as marching ataman of all Cossack troops and inspector general of the cavalry, while also retaining for him the position of military ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army.

On September 18, 1919, the Southern Army was renamed the Orenburg Army, and on September 21, Dutov took command of it. He accepted the difficult task of retreating east along the Trans-Siberian Railway, the army was collapsing and retreating non-stop across the bare, deserted steppe, experiencing a lack of food. Only after receiving news of the fall of the capital of White Siberia was the retreat continued, and at the same time the Reds became more active again.

Considering the main task to be not to allow the Reds to establish regular railway communications with Turkestan, Dutov fought for every piece of railway track in the section that still remained under Cossack control between Iletskaya Zashchita and Aktyubinsk. Preventing the union of Turkestan with Soviet Russia was one of the most important strategic tasks, and, to the credit of the Southwestern, Separate Orenburg and Southern armies, which are sometimes considered almost worthless associations, this task was successfully solved until the end of hostilities in the Southern Urals in the fall of 1919 G.

But they ended in defeat. During this period, Dutov developed a plan for partisan actions, and then retreated to Semirechye. Dutov became the civil governor of the Semirechensk region. And in May 1920 he moved to China along with the Semirechensk army of Ataman Annenkov. On February 7, 1921, Ataman Dutov was killed in Suidun by Cheka agents during a special operation.

Alexander Ilyich Dutov was born on August 5, 1879 in the family of a Cossack officer. He graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps, the Nikolaev Cavalry School and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. Participated in the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars. At the front he was shell-shocked and wounded. He met the February Revolution of 1917 as a military foreman and commander of the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment.

Cossack politician

In March 1917, the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Prince G. E. Lvov, gave permission to hold the first All-Cossack Congress in Petrograd “to clarify the needs of the Cossacks.” Alexander Dutov arrived in the capital as a delegate from the regiment. This is where his political career began. An unknown military foreman became one of the comrades (assistants) of the chairman of the Provisional Council of the Union of Cossack Troops A.P. Savateev. The Cossack delegates who remained in the capital after the congress prepared the opening of the second, more representative congress. There were no popular Cossack politicians in the country at that time, so Dutov, who was preparing its convocation, was unanimously elected chairman of the second congress. Soon he became chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops.

During the period of confrontation between the head of the Provisional Government A.F. Kerensky and General L.G. Kornilov in August - September 1917, Dutov took a neutral position, but was inclined to support the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Even then, Dutov formulated his political program: he firmly stood on republican and democratic positions. The Orenburg officer, who acquired political capital in the capital and by chance headed the representative body of the entire Cossacks, became famous among his fellow countrymen in the Urals. On October 1, 1917, the military circle in Orenburg elected him military chieftain. In Petrograd, Dutov was appointed chief commissioner of the Provisional Government for Food for the Orenburg Cossack Army, Orenburg Province and Turgai Region with the powers of a minister, as well as the rank of colonel.

Dutov came up with the idea of ​​holding in the capital on October 22, 1917, the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, a general demonstration of all Cossack units of the Petrograd garrison. The Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin (Ulyanov) feared that this demonstration would disrupt his plans to seize power, but did not allow the procession to take place. Lenin wrote about this on October 22-23, 1917 to Ya. M. Sverdlov: “The cancellation of the Cossack demonstration is a gigantic victory. Hooray! Advance with all our might, and we will win in a few days!”

“For the good of the Motherland and maintaining order...”

On October 26, 1917, Dutov returned to Orenburg and on the same day signed order No. 816 for the army on non-recognition of the violent seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. It said: “The military government considers... the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks to be criminal and completely unacceptable.<…>Due to the cessation of communications and communications with the central government and taking into account emergency circumstances, the Military Government, for the good of the Motherland and maintaining order, temporarily, until the restoration of the power of the Provisional Government and telegraph communications, took over from 20:00 on October 26th the full extent of executive state power in the army. Military Ataman, Colonel Dutov."

The decisive actions of the ataman were approved by the commissioner of the Provisional Government, representatives of local organizations and even the Council of Workers, Soldiers and Cossack Deputies. By order of Dutov, the Cossacks and cadets occupied the station, post office, and telegraph office in Orenburg; rallies, meetings and demonstrations were prohibited. Martial law was introduced, the Orenburg Bolshevik Club was closed, the literature stored there was confiscated, and the publication of the Proletary newspaper was banned.

A.I. Dutov took control of a strategically significant region that blocked communications with Turkestan and Siberia, which was important not only militarily, but also in the issue of food supply to central Russia. Dutov's performance overnight made his name known throughout the country. The Ataman had to organize elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintain order in the province and army until the convening of this body.

On the night of November 7, 1917, the leaders of the Orenburg Bolsheviks were arrested. Among the reasons for the detention: calls for an uprising against the Provisional Government, agitation among soldiers of the Orenburg garrison and workers, as well as the discovery of a carriage with hand grenades at the Orenburg station. In response to the arrests, a strike began in railway workshops and depots.

Ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks A.I. Dutov. Samara, 1918. Photo by E. T. Vladimirov

Meanwhile, groups of officers began to arrive in Orenburg, including those who had already taken part in the battles with the Bolsheviks in Moscow: this strengthened the position of supporters of armed resistance to the Reds. So, on November 7, 120 officers and cadets managed to get out of Moscow at once. For “self-defense and the fight against violence and pogroms, from whatever side they may come,” on November 8, 1917, the Orenburg City Duma created a special body - the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution, chaired by the mayor V.F. Baranovsky. It included 34 people: representatives of the Cossacks, city and zemstvo self-government, political parties (except for the Bolsheviks and Cadets), public and national organizations. Socialists played the leading role in the committee.

The Bolsheviks' attempts to seize power in the city did not stop. On the night of November 15, having gained control of the Orenburg Council of Workers', Soldiers' and Cossacks' Deputies, the Bolsheviks announced the creation of a military revolutionary committee and the transfer of full power to it. Dutov’s supporters reacted immediately: the venue for the meeting was cordoned off by Cossacks, cadets and police, after which all those gathered were detained. The threat of the Bolsheviks seizing power in the city was temporarily eliminated.

At the end of November 1917, Dutov was elected as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly from the Orenburg army. Not counting on seizing power from within, the Bolsheviks began an external blockade of the city. Food was not allowed to pass through the railway to Orenburg, and the passage of passengers, including soldiers returning from the front, was also blocked, which led to their accumulation at stations and an increase in discontent. On November 25, an appeal from the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars to the population was published calling for a fight against the atamans A. M. Kaledin and A. I. Dutov. The Southern Urals were declared to be under a state of siege, and the white leaders were outlawed. All Cossacks who went over to the side of the Soviet regime were guaranteed support.

Dutov also took his own measures. In Orenburg, instead of demobilizing the decayed garrison, older Cossacks were called up. In addition, the ataman had at his disposal the Cossacks of the reserve regiments and the cadets of the Orenburg Cossack School. On December 11, 1917, by a resolution of the military circle, the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution, the Bashkir and Kyrgyz congresses, the Orenburg Military District was formed within the borders of the Orenburg province and the Turgai region. On December 16, the ataman wrote a letter to the commanders of the Cossack units and called on them to send Cossacks with weapons to the army.

Dutov needed people and weapons. And if he could still count on weapons, then the bulk of the Cossacks returning from the front did not want to fight. Therefore, at the first stage of the struggle, the Orenburg ataman, like other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik resistance, was unable to raise and lead any significant number of supporters. Dutov could field no more than two thousand people against the Reds. The volunteer detachments organized at the end of 1917 in the Southern Urals consisted mainly of officers and students; village squads were also formed. With the assistance of the merchants and townspeople, it was possible to raise funds to organize the struggle.

Fight for Orenburg

By the beginning of 1918, over 10 thousand people had already been recruited to fight A.I. Dutov. On December 20, 1917, the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Orenburg province and Turgai region P. A. Kobozev sent an ultimatum to the ataman demanding that he stop resistance. There was no answer. Then, on December 23, the Reds launched an attack on Orenburg along the railway.

White managed to repel the first blow. With the approval of the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution and the small military circle, Dutov ordered to stop the pursuit of the enemy on the border of the province. At the Novosergievka border station it was planned to set up a barrier of officers, cadets and volunteer Cossacks numbering 100-150 people with a machine gun and conduct close-in mounted and human intelligence, having a reserve of 200 Cossacks with a machine gun at the Platovka station. These parts had to be replaced periodically. The remaining forces were planned to be withdrawn to Orenburg.

However, already on January 7, 1918, the Reds attacked again. Serious battles broke out in the area of ​​Novosergievka and Syrt stations. On January 16, a decisive clash took place near the Kargala station, in which even 14-year-old Orenburg cadets took part, responding to Dutov’s call. However, the whites' position was hopeless.

On January 18, 1918, the Dutovites left their capital, the volunteer detachments were disbanded to their homes. Those who did not want to lay down their arms retreated to Uralsk and Verkhneuralsk or temporarily took refuge in the villages. Ataman had to quickly leave Orenburg, accompanied by only six officers, with whom he took out military regalia and some weapons.

Turgai campaign

Despite the demand to detain Dutov, the promise of a reward for his capture and the almost complete lack of security for him, the village did not hand over the ataman. He decided not to leave the territory of the army and went to the center of the 2nd Military District - the city of Verkhneuralsk, which lay far from major roads and made it possible to continue the fight without losing control.

In March 1918, the Cossacks had to leave Verkhneuralsk under attacks from the Reds. The military government led by Dutov moved to the village of Krasninskaya and there in mid-April it was surrounded. It was decided to break through and go along the Ural River into the Kyrgyz steppes. On April 17, 1918, a detachment of 240 people, led by an ataman, broke out of Krasninskaya. A 600-mile trek to the Turgai steppe began. In Turgai, Dutov's partisans received significant warehouses of food and ammunition left after the pacification of the Kazakh rebellion in 1916. During their stay in the city (until June 12), the Cossacks rested, updated their equipment and replenished their horsepower.

The new Soviet government did not take into account the Cossack traditions and way of life, and spoke with the Cossacks mainly from a position of strength, which caused their acute discontent. Soon it grew into an armed confrontation and became their form of struggle for their rights and the possibility of free existence. In the spring of 1918, in the Orenburg region, without connection with Dutov, a powerful insurrectionary movement arose. It achieved significant success, and then the Czechoslovak Corps (a military unit of the Russian army, formed over the years from captured Czechs and Slovaks who wished to participate in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary) rebelled against the Reds. Soviet power in the Southern Urals fell. At the end of May, the rebels sent a delegation to Turgai to Dutov with a request to return to the army and lead the fight: a popular Cossack leader, Dutov could unite significant masses of Cossacks around himself. In addition, among the commanders of the rebel detachments and even the fronts, junior officers, unknown to the bulk of the Cossacks, predominated, while several staff officers (including those with academic education) and members of the Military Government went on the campaign with Dutov.

Between Samara and Omsk

News of the uprisings became the reason for the return of Dutov’s detachment to the army. Orenburg, which was occupied by rebels in early July 1918, solemnly honored the ataman. However, the difficulty at that time was that the territory of the army was administratively divided between two anti-Bolshevik governments: the Samara Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) and the Provisional Siberian Government in Omsk. The relationship between them was not easy, and Dutov was forced to maneuver.

At first, the ataman recognized Komuch and entered it as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly. On July 13, he left for Samara, from where he returned to the post of chief commissioner of Komuch in the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army, Orenburg province and Turgai region, after which he went to negotiate in Omsk.

On July 25, 1918, Dutov was promoted to major general by Komuch. On August 4 he returned from Omsk and took up operations at the front. Meanwhile, he had to explain himself to Samara, since the leaders of Komuch regarded the ataman’s visit to Siberia as almost a betrayal. On August 12, against the backdrop of the developing conflict with Komuch, the ataman took an unprecedented step - the autonomy of the territory of the army, announcing the creation of the Orenburg Army Region.

In one of his speeches, Dutov stated his political course: “We are called reactionaries. I don’t know who we are: revolutionaries or counter-revolutionaries, where we are going - left or right. One thing I know is that we are following an honest path to save the Motherland.” Dutov himself was a supporter of the Cadet Party program. His power in the Southern Urals was distinguished by democracy and tolerance of various political movements, including the Menshevik.

The ataman's daily work schedule has been preserved. His working day began at 8 a.m. and lasted at least 12 hours with virtually no breaks. Anyone could come to the ataman with their questions or problems.

In September 1918, A.I. Dutov took part in the work of the State Conference in Ufa, the purpose of which was to create a unified state power in the territory not controlled by the Bolsheviks. Ataman was elected a member of the Council of Elders and chairman of the Cossack faction. In his speech, Dutov emphasized the need to create a unified command and central authority. And his actions confirmed his commitment to these principles. When on November 18, 1918, as a result of a coup in Omsk, Admiral A.V. Kolchak came to power and became the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Dutov was one of the first to recognize him. By this time, Alexander Ilyich already had the rank of lieutenant general and commanded the Southwestern Army, which was based on formations of Orenburg and Ural Cossacks.

Under Kolchak's rule

At the beginning of 1919, the Whites again left Orenburg, lost contact with the Urals, but continued to block the railway communication between the Soviet center and Turkestan. Despite the setbacks, in March Dutov’s army (now called the Separate Orenburg Army) was able to take part in the general offensive of Kolchak’s troops.

Dutov, who was appointed marching ataman of all Cossack troops and inspector general of the cavalry of the Russian Army, spent the late spring and summer of 1919 mainly in Omsk and the Far East. In the fall of 1919, he again led the Orenburg army. Its units at the end of November - December 1919 made the most difficult Hunger March and went to Semirechye (Cossack region, now its territory is in the eastern part of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), where the army was brought together into a detachment under the command of General A. S. Bakich. Dutov himself became the civil governor of the Semirechensky region. In March 1920, under pressure from the Red troops, A.I. Dutov and his supporters had to leave their homeland and retreat to China through the Kara-Saryk glacial pass. In China, Dutov’s detachment was interned in the city of Suiding (now Shuiding, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China) and located in the barracks of the Russian consulate. Dutov did not lose hope of resuming the fight against the Bolsheviks and was active in this direction, trying to organize an anti-Bolshevik underground in the Red Army.

On February 6, 1921, Alexander Ilyich Dutov was mortally wounded by Soviet agents during an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap and transport him to the territory of the RSFSR. The next morning he died. The chieftain and the Cossacks who died with him were buried in a small cemetery near Suydin. According to some reports, a few days later, Dutov’s grave was dug up at night, and his body was beheaded: the killers had to provide proof of the ataman’s death. Apparently, this cemetery, like many other Russian cemeteries in China, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Photo (header): All-Russian Congress of Cossack units. The Presidium of the Congress headed by Ataman A.I. Dutov. Petrograd, July 7, 1917

Text: Andrey Ganin, Doctor of Historical Sciences