The first thing that in the spring of 1917, sergeant major of the Belgorai infantry regiment Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev heard about the young revolutionary republic that had arisen in Petrograd, was that she adopted a decree allowing divorce. "A revolution is a good thing," Chapaev approved and, having secured a vacation, went home to his wife, to get a divorce ... The divisional commander Chapaev's weakness was cars. He had a scarlet Stever, confiscated in favor of the revolution from some bourgeois, a blue Packard, repulsed from Kolchak, and a yellow luxurious high-speed Ford.
This miracle of the American automobile industry developed an unimaginable speed for those times - 50 kilometers per hour! And it was equipped in the manner of a carriage - a machine gun looked out through a hole cut in the rear window. Half a dozen Red Army men were packed into the salon together with the divisional commander, and more than once the crazy Chapaevsky Ford, outstripping not only the main forces of the division, but also the vanguard, and even the reconnaissance sent forward, single-handedly burst into some White Cossack village and opened desperate fire. It happened that Vasily Ivanovich and his handful of fighters were already drinking tea in a hastily arranged hut as headquarters, when his powerful, but slow-moving division - by the way, infantry, and not at all cavalry, as in the film "Chapaev", was pulled up to the liberated village.
Yes, and Vasily Ivanovich himself, contrary to the image created in the cinema by the Vasiliev brothers, did not like horse riding and "did not feel" horses, as his own father, Ivan Stepanovich Chapaev, who served as a groom in the division, repeatedly blamed him. Once, returning from the battle, Vasily Ivanovich threw the team in the yard, not bothering to order to unharness it. And then, as if it were a sin, there was no felt under the saddles, and the horse's backs were worn to blood. Ivan Stepanovich looked, frowned, and went to the headquarters hut, playing with his whip as he walked. The divisional commander resignedly demolished his father's hand-applied "science", and then stood on his knees for another hour, basya: "Tyatya, forgive me, I missed it out of stupidity!" And no one in the division was surprised at such a thing ...
Down with women! Chapaev had more and more relatives, neighbors, relatives of neighbors and neighbors of relatives. This division was something like a small, but warlike peasant nomadic republic - with its own arable lands, mills, bakeries, furniture factories and even schools that Vasily Ivanovich established with each company: in addition to arithmetic and calligraphy, the law of God was taught there. Chapaev himself was a pious peasant, and on the eve of the battle he bowed down to the ground in front of the icon.
The house where Vasily Chapaev was born. Now a museum
The morals in the division were patriarchal. “For looting and robbery, lash, and then drive me with a whip. To demote officers to the rank and file for playing a coin for money. For leaving the unit for fornication to a neighboring village - arrest for three days, ”read the order of Vasily Ivanovich. Alas! The latter measure had to be resorted to often. After all, what was sorely lacking in the small Chapayev state was women! At first, the soldiers and commanders took their wives with them, but they quickly started a quarrel on the topic "whose husband is more important." And the division commander decided to send all the women to the rear.
And all the same, the strife over women in the division did not stop. The officers went out of their way to attach their wives to positions at the headquarters and thus save them from "deportation." As a result, the staff of typists, stenographers and telegraphists was so bloated that whites joked: "Obviously, the Bolsheviks write a lot."
Vasily Ivanovich himself lived as a boar. Not out of asceticism - he just was catastrophically unlucky in his personal life. And all because once in my life I didn’t listen to my father ...
Vasily Chapaev and his father - Ivan Stepanovich Chapaev
Two Pelagia. The sixth child in the family of a village carpenter, Vasily was born very premature and, according to legend, for the first months of his life he warmed up in his father's fur mitten on the stove. At the age of twelve, he had to leave his native village Budaiki (now it is within the Cheboksary) and go to the city to serve a merchant. That merchant beat him up for his honesty - God-fearing Vasya refused to cheat and weigh the buyers.
By the age of twenty-one, Vasily returned home safely and began carpentry with his father and brothers. They went with the shabashki all the Samara province and the neighboring Ural district (later Chapaev will fight in the same places, and will be able to navigate there without any map). That spring of 1908, the Chapaevs contracted to build a temple in Samara itself. There, two wonderful events happened to Vasily. The first is that, while installing a cross on the dome, he could not resist and flew from a twenty-meter height to the ground, but remained unharmed - not counting the tiny scar over his upper lip, which he covered, growing a lush mustache. And second, he fell mortally in love with a worker from a Samara confectionery factory - sixteen-year-old Pelageya Metlina.
Ivan Stepanovich did not approve of the choice of his son: “Is this a woman? Beloruchka city! He only knows how to put sweets in boxes. " But Pelageya had such shiny black cherry-shaped eyes, such a mischievous smile, such curly, silky hair, and also a voice - ringing, ringing like a bell ... In a word, Chapaev could not resist.
Feldwebel Chapaev with his wife Pelageya Nikanorovna, 1916
For seven years Vasily and Pelageya lived in perfect harmony. Children were born one by one. "A spitting-out black-eyed mother bitch," Chapaev marveled, watching his wife fiddle with two babies, already carrying a third under her heart. And then the happiness ended: it was 1915, and Vasily was taken to the war. He served as a scout for two years. He rose to the rank of a non-commissioned officer, was wounded three times, shell-shocked a dozen times, became for courage and military talent a full St. George Knight, that is, he had the St. George Crosses of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees, as well as the St. George medal with a bow.
And Pelageya, meanwhile, was homesick, bullied, and began to openly get confused with a neighbor, about which his father wrote to his son at the front. Yes, only to divorce the unfaithful, but still beloved wife, Vasily did not succeed at that time - having arrived on vacation, he looked at Pelageya and immediately forgave her everything. To celebrate, we went to the photographer and took a picture: the gallant Georgievsky Cavalier with his beautiful wife ... And then the vacation ended, Vasily Ivanovich went to the front, and Pelageya took up the old. It ended with the fact that she completely went to her lover, leaving the children: Arkasha, who had barely learned to walk, three-year-old Klava and four-year-old Sasha. And Pelagein's lover left seven children with a paralyzed wife (they were then fed by the compassionate Chapaev).
Since then, Vasily Ivanovich saw his unfaithful wife only once, and then by chance - he was driving in a chaise, she was walking along the road towards. Chapaev got down from the box, caught up with Pelageya, grabbed her hand: "Come back, I ask you by God!" And in the meantime he had another wife sitting in the chaise - also, by a strange coincidence, Pelageya. And the same dissolute!
Children of Vasily Chapaev in 1922
Teach a scientist. Chapaev had a friend at the front - Pyotr Kameshkertsev. They immediately agreed: if one is killed, the other then takes care of his family. Peter was killed at the very end of the war in the Carpathians. And faithful to his word, Chapaev went to the village of Berezovo to look for Peter's widow Pelageya Efimovna and two daughters - Olympias and Vera. I found them, wanted to take the girls to my place, and Pelageya Kameshkertseva, a middle-aged, broad-boned woman, said: "Why, take us all together."
Having become a divisional commander, Vasily Ivanovich settled his wife and five children (three of his own, two adopted) in the village of Klintsovka, at the division's artillery warehouse. Once every three or four weeks I came to them on a visit from the front, as if with a carpenter's coven. And each time he sent a telegram ahead of himself to the head of the artillery warehouse - Georgy Zhivolozhinov. Like, tell Pelageya in advance, let him bake the pies, wash the hut, comb the children’s hair. And once the telegraph failed, and Chapaev came home as a surprise. The bedroom door was locked. Vasily Ivanovich tugged and tugged, called: "Fields, it's me!" ... He didn't even have time to understand anything when they started shooting from behind the door. It turned out - Zhivozhinov, who had secretly visited Chapaev's wife for a long time. Vasily Ivanovich spat and left. And Zhivozhinov, frightened, fled from the division to Serov's gang ...
Since then, Chapaev seemed to be looking for death. He drove without security, walked to his full height in the trenches, and, most importantly, became impudent with his superiors.
Vasily Chapaev often sought death himself ...
Once, in the Nikolaevsk area, the Chapaevites stood on the low left bank of the river, and the Cossacks on the high right bank, in number they outnumbered the Reds by five times, and the only bridge in the whole district was theirs. Vasily Ivanovich received an order to retreat. And he publicly declared this order stupid. He ordered to collect cattle in the villages and sent them to the bridge, following a handful of Red Army men. The heat was terrible, dusting in a column, and then there were hundreds of horse and cow hooves ... In general, the whites did not see from afar and decided that Chapaev had moved the main forces to the bridge. And the divisional commander, meanwhile, was secretly wading around them. And he won! Only here at the headquarters of the army they took offense at him ...
They stopped delivering ammunition to Vasily Ivanovich - he fought as a trophy. They did not give reinforcements when he was surrounded - he escaped on his own. Once people from the Cheka came to Vasily Ivanovich - a rumor instantly spread among the soldiers that they wanted to arrest "Chapay", and half an hour later the headquarters hut was surrounded by a dense ring of armed Chapayev associates. Finally, the division was taken away from Vasily Ivanovich by order of the army commander - so what? He formed a new one in four days. In the end, they found an original method against the unsinkable divisional commander - they sent him to Moscow, to the Academy of the General Staff, to study. “To teach intelligently is only to spoil,” Chapaev sighed sadly, but nevertheless obeyed.
He arrived in the capital in a black cloak, with a cardboard case in his hands. He settled down in the luxurious hotel "Knyazhy Dvor". I conscientiously attended classes at the Academy. “Where is the Po River?” The geography teacher asked Vasily Ivanovich. Chapaev was angry: “What other Po? Do you know where the Solonka River is? But there are fights there now ”...
First Commissar Chapaeva Sergei Zakharov (left) and Vasily Chapaev near the staff car at Nikolaevsk station, Eastern Front, September 1918
Two months later, Vasily Ivanovich escaped from the Academy. He could be severely punished for disobeying an order. But the matter ended in trifle - a political commissar was sent to look after the recalcitrant, uncontrollable Chapaev. It was an aspiring writer Dmitry Andreevich Furmanov.
Blue Naya... In his diary, Furmanov described his first meeting with Chapaev as follows: “Before me appeared in appearance a typical sergeant-major, with a long mustache, thin hair adhered to his forehead, blue eyes, understanding” ...
Generally speaking, there was most likely no particular understanding in Vasily Ivanovich's gaze at that first moment of acquaintance. The fact is that, bursting into the hut to the commissioner, Chapaev first of all saw a woman in disability on the bed. It was Dmitry Andreevich's wife, Anna Nikitichna Steshenko. Furmanov, in love, called her Blue Naya. “Send it out in 24 hours!”, The misogynist Chapaev decided.
And the soldier and commander Chapaev was brave and prominent ...
This is how the confrontation between the division commander and the political commissar began, which Furmanov later described as purely political. Dmitry Andreevich sent his telegrams to his superiors, Vasily Ivanovich - his own. And both demanded to send a commission. While the messages were being exchanged, Anna Nikitichna wasted no time - she set up a trench theater in the division.
The troupe, consisting mainly of Nai herself (occasionally joined by random actors or some of the Red Army soldiers), traveled to the brigades. The spectators were seated in an amphitheater: the first row was lying, the second was sitting on benches, the third was standing, and the fourth was on horseback. For some time now, they began to see Vasily Ivanovich quite often in the honorary, sitting row ...
He no longer so passionately sought to have Naya removed from the division's combat position ... What to do? Fell in love! It's just that such as Anna Nikitichna - hair-eyed, cropped, with heels, in a word, the ladies of the capital, Chapaev has never met in his lifetime. She flirted with him, played and hardly knew exactly how far she was ready to go.
Anna Steshenko with Dmitry Furmanov
Furmanov went crazy with jealousy. He sent denunciations to the Cheka against the opponent, accused him of anarchism, betrayal of the ideals of the revolution and even deceit: they say, the division commander specially adjusts so that he, Furmanov, every time finds himself in the most dangerous places battles, just like the biblical king David sent his lawful husband Bathsheba to death. Dmitry Andreevich also wrote to Chapaev himself. Here are excerpts: “K low man there is nothing to be jealous, and of course I am not jealous. Such rivals are not dangerous, a lot of such fellows have already passed us by. ... She is really outraged by your impudence, and in her note, it seems, she expressed her contempt for you quite clearly. " Just a letter from Pushkin to Baron Heckern on the eve of the duel! Chapaev did not understand these subtleties and in response simply called Furmanov a "groom".
In the meantime, the affairs of Vasily Ivanovich and Anna were gradually advancing. A great tactician - he decided to blackmail her, threatening to marry a telegraph operator, and Anna Nikitichna almost flinched. It is not known how all this would have ended if, finally, the long-awaited commission arrived at the division headquarters. It was headed by Valerian Kuibyshev, he recognized Furmanov as the culprit of the conflict and sent him out of the division - alas! - together with the "trench theater". Frustrated, Vasily Ivanovich vowed by all means, by hook or by crook, to return Naya to the division, but he did not have time - after all, he had only a month and a half to live ...
Why didn't the telegraph work?“I am expecting a disaster from day to day. It does not happen only because of the sluggishness of the white command. The headquarters in Lbischensk is bare, along with warehouses and carts, "wrote Vasily Ivanovich, when, by order of his superiors, his division was scattered throughout the Ural district, so that between the brigades there were 100-200 versts each.
Chapaev, Furmanov (top), Petr Isaev (Petka, bottom left) and Semyon Sadchikov, Chapaev's entrusted party
Chapaev, commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Soviet regiment Ivan Kutyakov, battalion commander Bubenets and commissar Semennikov, 1918
... Whatever it was, but on the night of September 5, three thousand Chapayev's fighters stood to death against a twelve-thousandth detachment of whites. There was still hope for the military talent of Vasily Ivanovich, who more than once found a way out of the most hopeless situations. But at about five in the morning, a stray White Guard bullet hit the divisional commander in the stomach, and he lost consciousness. The soldiers began to retreat indiscriminately ...
About Petka and Anka the machine gunner. Thousands of Soviet boys watched the film "Chapaev" a hundred times, desperately hoping: maybe this time the divisional commander will not drown in the Urals? But in fact, Chapaev, most likely, just did not drown ...
... When, at the end of the 1940s, the Vasiliev brothers' film was brought to Budapest, two old Hungarians turned to the Soviet embassy. In 1919, they served in the Chapayev division as part of a small Hungarian revolutionary detachment. Their story sounded quite plausible: they say, they personally tried to save the seriously wounded divisional commander, putting him on the gate and ferrying him across the Urals. And on the other side they saw that Vasily Ivanovich was dead, and dug a grave in the loose sand with their hands. So there is a mistake in the film! “Comrades, but Chapaev is not just a historical figure, this is a myth!”, They explained to the veterans. They didn’t agree, they got excited. On leaving the embassy they were arrested ...
... And yet historians do not undertake to say exactly how Vasily Ivanovich died. Officially, until recently, he was listed as missing. Both red and white tried to find his body, a huge reward was promised. Pelageya Efimovna was summoned to Moscow for identification several times - in vain. And his father, Ivan Stepanovich Chapaev, went to fortune-tellers, and they unanimously assured that Vasily was alive. After that, rumors spread that the archives contained the protocols of the interrogation of Chapaev by the counterintelligence of the Ural Cossacks. Allegedly, the whites captured the seriously wounded Vasily Ivanovich, they left him and began to persuade him to go over to their side. But Chapaev refused and was shot. Supporters of this version believe that after learning that the whites had shot Vasily Ivanovich, his best friend, Pyotr Isaev, committed suicide ...
... Peter Semyonovich Isaev - the same "orderly Petka", known from Furmanov's story, the Vasiliev brothers' film, as well as from countless folk anecdotes, in fact served not as an orderly at all, but as the head of the communications battalion and was the same age as Chapaev. And, indeed, on September 5, 1920, at a commemoration for the division commander, he poured himself a glass of vodka, drank it, said: "Forgive me, Vasily Ivanovich!" and fired a bullet in the forehead. Further more. In 1934, after looking at the painting "Chapaev", Isaev's widow hanged herself. Barely a literate village woman, she accepted everything that was shown on the screen at face value - including Petka's love with Anka the machine-gunner ...
... By the way, there was never any Anka in the division at all. But there was a nurse, Maria Andreevna Popova, at whom the wounded machine-gunner once pointed a revolver and thus forced him to lie down at the machine gun and shoot at the enemies, which Maria Andreevna then recalled with a shudder for many years. She became Anka only in honor of Anna Nikitishna. After Furmanov's death (and Dmitry Andreevich died in 1930 from a very suspicious meningitis), Naya became the sovereign mistress of his literary heritage and, naturally, was invited by a consultant to shoot Chapaev. It was she who advised to revive the plot with a fictional romantic line - the real love dramas, which abounded in the life of Vasily Ivanovich, were not suitable for myth-making ...
Pelageya Kamishkertseva (center), Alexander Chapaev (far left), Arkady Chapaev (standing behind Kamishkertseva), Klavdia Chapaeva (to the right of Kamishkertseva)
How Chapaev's sons rescued Zhivozhnov. As for both Pelagia, their fate is unenviable. The first in the twenties, when famine raged in the south of Russia, remembered the abandoned children. The boys lived with their stepmother and did not live in poverty. But the daughter Claudia went to her grandmother and grandfather, and when they died, she was left alone. Cases of cannibalism were not uncommon that year, children were especially defenseless. So the mother began to rush to her daughter in the city of Balakovo from her new home in Syzran. It was a frosty February, Pelageya was in the process of demolition, and her roommate, worrying about her and not wanting to let go, took all her shoes out of the house. I had to walk tens of kilometers barefoot on the Volga ice. In a word, Pelageya caught a cold and, catching a glimpse of her daughter, died.
Chapaev's second wife threw all her mental strength to protect her lover from repression. Zhivolozhnov was arrested many times, but Klavdia Efimovna took Chapaev's sons to the investigator, and they confirmed that they were being raised and fed by none other than "Uncle Georgy". And yet, in 1929 Zhivolozhnov was exiled to Karaganda, and then Pelageya Kameshkertseva went mad with grief - she was taken to a mournful house, to Samara ...
... Fortunately, none of Vasily Ivanovich's children disappeared in this whole cycle. Senior - Alexander became a career soldier, went through the entire Great Patriotic War and retired as a major general. Arkady became a pilot and tested fighters together with Valery Chkalov - and, like Chkalov, died on tests on the eve of the war. Well, Claudia, pushed around the orphanages, learned and became the main collector of materials about her heroic father. And all three were united by one thing - a persistent dislike for the popularly beloved film "Chapaev", which distorted the real life of their father.
Vasily Chapaev's children grew up worthy people
... After the release of the film, the Ural River changed its course, and now flows in the place that the old Hungarians indicated as the grave of Chapaev. So, it seems that the filmmakers were right about one thing: the legendary divisional commander found his last refuge at the bottom ...
We remember Chapaev from books and films, we tell jokes about him. But real life the red division commander was no less interesting. He loved cars, argued with the teachers of the military academy. And also Chapaev is not a real surname.
Hard childhood
Vasily Ivanovich was born into a poor peasant family. The only wealth of his parents is nine eternally hungry children, of which the future hero of the Civil War was the sixth.
As the legend says, he was born premature and warmed up in his father's fur mitten on the stove. His parents assigned him to seminary in the hope that he would become a priest. But when once the guilty Vasya was put in a wooden punishment cell in one shirt in the bitter frost, he fled. He tried to be a merchant, but he could not - he was too disgusted by the basic trade commandment: "If you don't cheat, you won't sell, if you don't weigh it, you won't make money." “My childhood was gloomy and difficult. I had to humiliate myself and starve a lot. From an early age I roamed about strangers, ”the division commander recalled later.
"Chapaev"
It is believed that the family of Vasily Ivanovich bore the name of the Gavrilovs. "Chapaev" or "Chepay" was the nickname that the grandfather of the division commander, Stepan Gavrilovich, received. Either in 1882, or in 1883, they loaded logs with their comrades, and Stepan, as a senior, constantly commanded - "Chepay, chepay!", Which meant: "Take, take." So it stuck to him - Chepay, and the nickname later turned into a surname.
They say that the original "Chepay" became "Chapaev" with the light hand of Dmitry Furmanov, the author of the famous novel, who decided that "it sounds better this way." But in the surviving documents from the civil war, Vasily appears under both options.
Perhaps the name "Chapaev" appeared as a result of a typo.
Academy student
Chapaev's education, contrary to popular belief, was not limited to two years of parochial school. In 1918 he was enrolled in the military academy of the Red Army, where many fighters were "herded" to improve their general literacy and strategy training. According to the recollections of his classmate, peaceful student life burdened Chapaev: “Damn it! I'm leaving! To come up with such an absurdity - fighting people at the desk! ". Two months later, he filed a report with a request to release him from this "prison" to the front.
Several stories have survived about Vasily Ivanovich's stay at the academy. The first one says that at the exam in geography, in response to the old general's question about the significance of the Neman River, Chapaev asked the professor if he knew about the significance of the Solyanka River, where he fought with the Cossacks. According to the second, in a discussion of the battle of Cannes, he called the Romans "blind kittens", telling the teacher, a prominent military theorist Sechenov: "We have already shown those like you, generals, how to fight!"
Motorist
We all imagine Chapaev as a courageous fighter with a fluffy mustache, a naked saber and galloping on a dashing horse. This image was created by the national actor Boris Babochkin. In life, Vasily Ivanovich preferred cars to horses.
Even on the fronts of the First World War, he was seriously wounded in the thigh, so horse riding became a problem. So, Chapaev became one of the first red commanders who got into a car.
He chose iron horses very meticulously. The first - the American Stever, he rejected due to strong shaking, the red Packard, which replaced him, also had to be abandoned - it was not suitable for military operations in the steppe. But the "Ford", which squeezed 70 miles off-road, fell in love with the red commander. Chapaev also selected the best drivers. One of them, Nikolai Ivanov, was practically forcibly taken to Moscow and appointed as the personal driver of Lenin's sister, Anna Ulyanova-Elizarova.
Female deceit
The famous commander Chapaev was an eternal loser on the personal front. His first wife, a petty bourgeois woman Pelageya Metlina, whom Chapaev's parents did not approve of so much, calling him a “city white-handed woman,” bore him three children, but did not wait for her husband from the front - she went to a neighbor. Vasily Ivanovich was very upset by her act - he loved his wife. Chapaev often repeated to his daughter Claudia: “Oh, and you are beautiful. She looks like her mother. "
Chapaev's second companion, however, already a civilian, was also called Pelageya. She was the widow of Vasily's comrade-in-arms, Pyotr Kamishkertsev, to whom the division commander promised to take care of his family. First, he sent her benefits, then they decided to move in. But history repeated itself - during the absence of her husband, Pelageya started an affair with a certain Georgy Zhivolozhinov. Once Chapaev found them together and almost sent the unlucky lover to the next world.
When the passions subsided, Kamishkertseva decided to go to peace, took the children and went to her husband's headquarters. The children were allowed to see their father, but she was not. They say that after that she took revenge on Chapaev by giving the whites the location of the Red Army troops and data on their numbers.
Fatal water
The death of Vasily Ivanovich is shrouded in mystery. On September 4, 1919, Borodin's detachments approached the city of Lbischensk, where the headquarters of Chapaev's division was located with a small number of soldiers. During the defense, Chapaev was badly wounded in the stomach, his soldiers put the commander on a raft and sent him across the Urals, but he died of blood loss. The body was buried in the coastal sand, and the tracks were hidden so that the Cossacks would not find it. The search for the grave subsequently became useless, since the river changed its course. This story was confirmed by a participant in the events. According to another version, being wounded in the arm, Chapaev drowned, unable to cope with the current.
"Or maybe it came out?"
Neither the body nor the grave of Chapaev could be found. This gave rise to a completely logical version of the surviving hero. Someone said that due to a severe injury, he lost his memory and lived somewhere under a different name.
Some argued that he was safely transported to the other side, from where he went to Frunze, to be responsible for the surrendered city. In Samara, he was put under arrest, and then they decided to officially "kill the hero", ending his military career with a beautiful end.
This story was told by a certain Onyanov from the Tomsk region, who, allegedly, after many years met his aged commander. The story looks dubious, since in the difficult conditions of the civil war it was inappropriate to "scatter" experienced military leaders who were highly respected by the soldiers.
Most likely, this is a myth generated by the hope that the hero was saved.
How did Chapaev die?
5 (100%) 1 voteHow did Chapaev die?
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev- one of the most tragic and mysterious figures of the Civil War in Russia. This is due to the mysterious death of the famous red commander. Until now, discussions about the circumstances of the murder of the legendary commander do not subside.
The official Soviet version of the death of Vasily Chapaev says that the division commander, who, by the way, was only 32 years old at the time of his death, was killed in the Urals by White Cossacks from the combined detachment of the 2nd division of Colonel Sladkov and the 6th division of Colonel Borodin. The famous Soviet writer Dmitry Furmanov, who at one time served as the political commissar of the "Chapaevskaya" 25th rifle division, in his most famous book "Chapaev" told that the division commander was allegedly killed in the waves of the Urals.
First, about the official version of Chapaev's death. He died on September 5, 1919 on the Ural front. Shortly before the death of Chapaev, the 25th Infantry Division, which was under his command, received an order from the commander of the Turkestan Front, Mikhail Frunze, about active operations on the left bank of the Urals in order to prevent active interaction between the Ural Cossacks and the armed formations of the Kazakh Alash Horde.
The headquarters of the Chapayev division was at that time in the district town of Lbischensk. There were also governing bodies, including the tribunal and the revolutionary committee. The city was protected by 600 people from the divisional school, in addition, there were unarmed and untrained mobilized peasants in the city. Under these conditions, the Ural Cossacks decided to abandon a frontal attack on the Red positions and instead make a raid on Lbischensk in order to immediately defeat the division headquarters.
Colonel Nikolai Nikolayevich Borodin, the commander of the 6th division of the Ural separate army, headed the consolidated group of the Ural Cossacks, aimed at routing the Chapaevsky headquarters and personally destroying Vasily Chapaev. Borodin's Cossacks were able to approach Lbischensk, remaining unnoticed by the Reds. They succeeded thanks to the timely shelter in the reeds in the Kuzda-Gora tract.
At 3 am on September 5, the division launched an offensive against Lbischensk from the west and north. The 2nd division of Colonel Timofei Ippolitovich Sladkov moved from the south to Lbischensk. For the Reds, the situation was complicated by the fact that both divisions of the Ural army were staffed in the bulk of the Cossacks - natives of Lbischensk, who were well-versed in the terrain and could successfully operate in the vicinity of the town. The suddenness of the attack also played into the hands of the Ural Cossacks. The Red Army immediately began to surrender, only some units tried to resist, but to no avail.
Local residents - Ural Cossacks and Cossacks - also actively helped their fellow countrymen from the "Borodino" division. For example, the commissar of the 25th division Baturin was handed over to the Cossacks, who tried to hide in the oven. About where he climbed, said the hostess of the house where he lodged. Cossacks from Borodin's division staged a massacre of the captured Red Army soldiers. At least 1,500 Red Army soldiers were killed, another 800 Red Army soldiers remained in captivity. To capture the commander of the 25th division, Vasily Chapaev, Colonel Borodin formed a special platoon of the most trained Cossacks, whom he appointed the lieutenant Belonozhkin to command.
Belonozhkin's people found the house where Chapaev was quartered and attacked him. However, the division commander managed to jump out the window and run to the river. On the way, he gathered the remnants of the Red Army - about a hundred people. The detachment had a machine gun and Chapaev organized a defense. The official version says that it was during this retreat that Chapaev died. None of the Cossacks, however, could find his body, even in spite of the promised reward for the "Chapay's head". What happened to the division commander? According to one version, he drowned in the Ural River. According to the other, the wounded Chapaev was placed on a raft by two Hungarians - the Red Army and transported across the river.
However, during the crossing, Chapaev died of blood loss. The Hungarian Red Army soldiers buried him in the sand and covered the grave with reeds. By the way, Colonel Nikolai Borodin himself also died in Lbischensk, and on the same day as Vasily Chapaev. When the colonel drove along the street in a car, the Red Army soldier Volkov, who was hiding in a haystack, who served in the protection of the 30th squadron, killed the commander of the 6th division with a shot in the back.
The colonel's body was taken to the village of Kalyony in the Ural region, where he was buried with military honors. Nikolai Borodin was posthumously awarded the rank of Major General, so in many publications he is referred to as "General Borodin", although he was still a colonel during the storming of Lbischensk. In fact, the death of a military commander during the Civil War was not something extraordinary. However, in Soviet times, a kind of cult of Vasily Chapaev was created, who was remembered and revered much more than many other prominent red commanders.
To whom, for example, apart from professional historians - specialists in the history of the Civil War, today the name of Vladimir Azin, the commander of the 28th Infantry Division, who was captured by the Whites and was brutally killed (according to some sources, even torn alive, being tied to two trees or, according to another version, to two horses)? But during the years of the Civil War, Vladimir Azin was no less famous and successful commander than Chapaev.
First of all, let us recall that during the Civil War or immediately after its end, a number of Red commanders perished, moreover the most charismatic and talented, who enjoyed great popularity "among the people", but were very skeptical of the party leadership. Not only Chapaev, but also Vasily Kikvidze, Nikolai Shchors, Nestor Kalandarishvili and some other red commanders died under very strange circumstances. This gave rise to a fairly widespread version that the Bolsheviks themselves were behind their deaths, who were unhappy with the "deviation from the party course" of the listed military leaders.
And Chapaev, and Kikvidze, and Kalandarishvili, and Shchors, and Kotovsky came from the Socialist-Revolutionary and anarchist circles, which were then perceived by the Bolsheviks as dangerous rivals in the struggle for the leadership of the revolution. The Bolshevik leadership did not trust such popular commanders with a "wrong" past. Party leaders associated them with "partisanism", "anarchy", they were perceived as people unable to obey and very dangerous.
For example, Nestor Makhno was also a Red commander at one time, but then again opposed the Bolsheviks and turned into one of the most dangerous opponents of the Reds in Novorossiya and Little Russia. It is known that Chapaev had repeated conflicts with the commissars. Actually, due to conflicts, Dmitry Furmanov also left the 25th division, by the way, he himself is a former anarchist. The reasons for the conflict between the commander and the commissar lay not only in the "managerial" plane, but also in the sphere of intimate relations.
Chapaev began to show too persistent signs of attention to Furmanov's wife Anna, who complained to her husband, who openly expressed his displeasure with Chapaev and quarreled with the commander. An open conflict began, which led to the fact that Furmanov left the post of the division commissar. In that situation, the command decided that Chapaev was a more valuable personnel in the post of division commander than Furmanov was in the post of commissar. It is interesting that after the death of Chapaev, it was Furmanov who wrote a book about the division commander, in many respects laying the foundations for the subsequent popularization of Chapaev as a hero of the Civil War.
Quarrels with the divisional commander did not prevent his former commissar from maintaining respect for the figure of his commander. The book "Chapaev" became a really successful work of Furmanov as a writer. She caught the attention of all young Soviet Union to the figure of the red commander, especially since in 1923 the memories of the Civil War were very fresh. It is possible that if it were not for Furmanov's work, then the name of Chapaev would have suffered the fate of the names of other famous red commanders of the Civil War - only professional historians and residents of their native places would remember him. Chapaev has three children - daughter Claudius (1912-1999), sons Arkady (1914-1939) and Alexander (1910-1985). After the death of their father, they remained with their grandfather - the father of Vasily Ivanovich, but he died soon after. The children of the division commander ended up in orphanages.
They were remembered only after the book by Dmitry Furmanov was published in 1923. After this event, the former commander of the Turkestan Front Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze became interested in the children of Chapaev. Alexander Vasilyevich Chapaev graduated from a technical school and worked as an agronomist in the Orenburg region, but after military service in the army he entered a military school. By the time the Second World War began, he served as a captain at the Podolsk Artillery School, went to the front, after the war he served in artillery in command positions and rose to the rank of Major General, Deputy Artillery Commander of the Moscow Military District.
Arkady Chapaev became a military pilot, commanded an aircraft link, but died in 1939 as a result of an aircraft accident. Klavdia Vasilievna graduated from the Moscow Food Institute, then worked at party work. Meanwhile, another version, contradicting the official one, appeared about the circumstances of Vasily Chapaev's death, more precisely, about the motives for revealing the location of the red commander.
It was voiced back in 1999 by the daughter of Vasily Ivanovich, 87-year-old Klavdia Vasilievna, still alive at that time, to the correspondent of Argumenty i Fakty. She believed that the culprit of the death of her father, the famous chief of the division, was the stepmother, the second wife of Vasily Ivanovich Pelageya Kameshkertsev. Allegedly, she cheated on Vasily Ivanovich with the head of the artillery depot Georgy Zhivolozhinov, but was exposed by Chapaev. The divisional commander arranged a tough showdown for his wife, and Pelageya, out of revenge, brought white people to the house where the red commander was hiding.
At the same time, she acted out of momentary emotions, without calculating the consequences of her act and even, most likely, simply not thinking with her head. Of course, such a version could not have been voiced in Soviet times. After all, she would have questioned the created appearance of the hero, showing that passions, such as adultery and subsequent female revenge, were not alien to “mere mortals” in his family. At the same time, Klavdia Vasilievna did not question the version that Chapaev was transported across the Urals by the Hungarian Red Army, who buried his body in the sand. This version, by the way, does not contradict the fact that Pelageya could get out of Chapaev's house and “hand over” his whereabouts to the whites.
By the way, Pelageya Kameshkertseva herself was already in Soviet times placed in a psychiatric hospital and therefore even if her guilt in the death of Chapaev was found out, they would not have brought her to justice. The fate of Georgy Zhivolozhinov was also tragic - he was placed in a camp for agitating the kulaks against Soviet power. Meanwhile, the version of a cheating wife seems unlikely to many. Firstly, it is unlikely that the whites would begin to talk with the wife of the red division commander, and all the more they would believe her. Secondly, it is unlikely that Pelageya herself would have dared to go to the whites, as she could have feared reprisals. It's another matter if she was a "link" in the chain of treachery of the chief, which could have been organized by his haters from the party apparatus.
At that time, a rather tough confrontation was planned between the "commissar" part of the Red Army, focused on Leon Trotsky, and the "commander" part, to which the entire glorious galaxy of red commanders who had come out of the people belonged. And it was Trotsky's supporters who could, if not directly kill Chapaev with a shot in the back while crossing the Urals, then “substitute” him for the bullets of the Cossacks.
The saddest thing is that Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, a truly combatant and honored commander, no matter how you treat him, in the late Soviet and post-Soviet times, completely undeservedly became a character of completely stupid anecdotes, humorous stories and even television programs. Their authors scoffed at the tragic death of this man, at the circumstances of his life. Chapaev was portrayed as a narrow-minded person, although it is unlikely that such a character as a hero of jokes could not only lead a division of the Red Army, but also rise to the rank of sergeant-major in tsarist times.
Although the sergeant-major is not an officer, only the best of the soldiers, able to command, the most intelligent, and in war time- and brave. By the way, the ranks of the junior non-commissioned officer, and the senior non-commissioned officer, and the sergeant-major Vasily Chapaev received during the First World War. wound - shrapnel in the left leg. Chapaev's nobility as a person is fully demonstrated by the story of his life with Pelageya Kameshkertseva. When Chapaev's friend Pyotr Kameshkertsev was killed in battle during the First World War, Chapaev gave his word to take care of his children.
He came to Peter's widow Pelageya and told her that she alone would not be able to take care of Peter's daughters, so he would take them to the house of his father Ivan Chapaev. But Pelageya decided to get along with Vasily Ivanovich herself, so as not to part with the children. Feldwebel Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev finished the First World War as a Knight of St. George, having survived in battles with the Germans. A Civil War brought him death - at the hands of her fellow countrymen, and maybe those whom he considered companions.
In 1995, one of the central newspapers published a sensational interview with the daughter of Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, the legendary division commander, hero of the Civil War.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
Klavdia Vasilievna told how, after one of the screenings of the film "Chapaev", two elderly Hungarians, who had once fought under her father's command, approached her. The Hungarians said that Chapaev died in a completely different way, as the official version claims, according to which the division commander died in the waters of the Ural River, struck by a White Guard bullet.
According to them, Chapaev did not drown at all. They took their commander to the other side, where he died of wounds received during the battle, after which he was buried with all the honors. To prove their words, the former Red Army soldiers even brought Klavdia Chapaeva a plan of the area, on which the burial place was marked. Then they told other equally sensational details. It turns out that the fatal shot for Chapaev was fired in the back and at close range.
Photos hungarians-chapaevtsy
On the basis of these testimonies, a version soon emerged that Chapaev was killed by his own. This publication sparked a wave of controversy that continues to this day. Here and there, new circumstances of the death of the legendary division commander emerge, which fundamentally contradict the official version. And the details are still not fully clear death of Chapaev and who was responsible for his death.
The story told by the daughter of the famous division commander is truly intriguing. Is it really all that we know about the death of Chapaev from official sources - this is a complete lie? What, then, are the true circumstances of his death? At the place indicated on the map by the Hungarians, there is no grave now. Over the past decades, the river could change its course, the banks were washed away and the grave could well be under water. Or she wasn't there. Can you trust the Hungarians?
If you look at the facts of Chapaev's biography, you can see that many legends have formed around his name that do not correspond to reality. As, for example, the "psychic attack" of the Kappelites. Allegedly, a whole horde in black uniforms with a banner with a skull and bones in a close formation is advancing on the few Red Army soldiers. This scene has become one of the most iconic in Soviet cinema. But here's the bad luck. In reality, the Chapaevites never met Kappel's troops on the battlefield. And the White Guards never wore such a uniform, not to mention the operetta banner.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
One more point. In the film, Chapaev is a dashing horseman rushing towards the enemy with a sword bald. In fact, Chapaev had no particular love for horses. Preferred a car. We know the details of the death of the division commander from the book of political instructor Dmitry Furmanov. However, he was not with Chapaev during the last battle. That is, he cannot be an objective witness.
The Hungarians claimed that they had transported the wounded man on a raft to the arm of Chapaev to the other side. He could not swim on his own. With one hand and taking into account the blood loss, it is simply unrealistic.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Furmanov
Why did this person deserve such mythologization? According to anecdotes, he is such a cheerful, bumpy man, a drunkard. In fact, Vasily Ivanovich did not drink alcohol at all, his favorite drink was tea. The orderly drove a samovar everywhere for him. Arriving at any location, Chapaev immediately started drinking tea, and at the same time always invited the locals. So the fame of a very good-natured and hospitable person was established behind him. The film contains the following words of the protagonist: "You come to me at midnight after midnight. I drink tea - sit down to drink tea. I have lunch - please eat. Here I am, what a commander!"
It is a myth that he was semi-literate. In fact, he was a very talented military leader and certainly literate. If the whites found out that Chapaev was against them, they worked out the operations especially carefully. This speaks of the authority of Chapaev not only among the Reds but also among the Whites. One Chapaevsky regiment fought successfully against an entire enemy division. Legends were made about him and songs were sung.
Legend: Chapaev comes after the battle, takes off his overcoat, shakes it, and the bullets that hit him fall out of the overcoat. Mythologization took place immediately after Furmanov's book and the release of the film by the Vasiliev brothers. And until the 30s, they spoke about him very differently.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Attack
What happened in the last fight? It is believed that the Reds were attacked by superior enemy forces. In fact, there were about 4 thousand reds, which is much more than whites. According to the official version, Chapaev died on September 5, 1919 in the area of the city of Lbischensk, now this is the village of Chapaev. At that time, the Ural Cossack army opposed the Reds in this area. The headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was located in Lbischensk itself. In early September, the Whites carried out the Lbischen Raid - a daring breakthrough into the depths of the Reds' defense. As a result, they utterly defeated the Chapaevites and destroyed their commander.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
There are a lot of oddities in this whole story. Cossacks, exhausted by the retreat, suddenly break the 25th division, which was considered one of the best in the Red Army? The division had artillery batteries and armored cars, and even 4 airplanes. For those times, a colossal strategic advantage. It was the pilots who were entrusted with the task of tracking the movement of the enemy and observing the surrounding area. However, the airplanes did not help Chapaev for some reason. How could such an experienced commander miss the movement of the whites, who had been moving across the bare steppe to his headquarters for several days? Air reconnaissance could not fail to notice the detachments of the Cossacks, who were approaching Lbischensk. It remains to assume the betrayal of the pilots. According to eyewitnesses, during the attack on Lbischensk, two of the four airplanes flew to the enemy's location.
Photo Klavdia Vasilievna Chapaeva
It turns out that Chapaev's daughter has been collecting information bit by bit for 25 years about the last fight her father. Moreover, she managed to communicate with the very pilots who killed Chapaev. Klavdia Vasilievna claimed that when she asked the pilots why they behaved so shamefully, they replied that they were well paid and they wanted to live. Allegedly, later these people took up rather high posts in the Red Army. The daughter also tells us the names of these traitorous pilots: Sladkovsky and Sadovsky. But bad luck, these names are not on the list of pilots of the Chapaevsk division.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
Yet the fact is that Chapaev did not know about the approach of the White Cossacks. There is another version that the assistant division commander Orlovsky, the chief of the operational unit, betrayed him. It was he who was given all the information by the pilots. But one questionable point. It is known that Chapaev had a nose for comrades in arms, would he really not have sensed treason? In addition, Orlovsky repeatedly proved his loyalty to the commander in battles. All the same, the version of Orlovsky's betrayal is unlikely. As for the pilots, the whites would hardly be able to recruit them in the shortest possible time. All the pilots could not commit betrayal at once.
And here's another version... The pilots had some very compelling argument. Order of the high command of the Red Army. In the turbulent years of the civil war, this could well have happened. Chapaev's daughter also assures that her father wanted to kill her own people, since he interfered with everyone. His tough temper and independence irritated many in the Bolshevik elite. Another important point. Chapaev was a complete knight of St. George. This suggests that he was previously selflessly devoted to the tsarist regime. This could be an argument for the Red leadership to eliminate him.
Photo. The real Chapaev - the cavalier of St. George
Furmanov describes such a case, included in the film, when the peasants asked Chapaev: "Are you, Vasily Ivanovich, for the Bolsheviks or for the Communists?" And he couldn't answer. But the Bolsheviks adhered to an iron rule. He who is not with us is against us. Chapaev, even after such an innocent episode, could well have been blacklisted.
Was there a confrontation between Chapaev and the Bolshevik leadership? A document has been preserved in the archive. This is the protocol of the special department dated November 2, 1918. “We heard the case of Comrade Chapaev. prosecute and shoot... In view of a possible rebellion in the army, seek assistance from Comrade Trotsky, suggest that he summon Comrade Chapaev to his place for a report. "However, according to his daughter, Chapaev was warned about the real reason for the summons to Moscow, and he sent Trotsky a telegram:" Do you need to kill me? So take it and kill it. But for my sake, killing the entire division is a crime. "Realizing that the situation is heating up, Trotsky decides to personally visit Chapaev. However, his visit to the division hardly resembled a friendly one. Trotsky apparently perceived Chapaev as an anarchist.
Photo. Real Chapaev
The fact is. Trotsky always went to the troops on the same armored train. When he went to Chapaev, there were two armored trains. And an armored train is strength. When they arrived, they did not leave for several hours. One senses that Trotsky did not trust Chapaev. Here is a vivid picture of Trotsky's attitude to Chapaev. Just an amazing picture. When Chapaev reported on the situation at the front, Trotsky at that time was eating a watermelon and spitting out the bones. So he behaved rudely towards the commander in the presence of his troops. After that, relations between Chapaev and the Bolshevik leadership escalated to the limit. In the summer of 1919, Lenin invited Kamenev to take the place of Chapaev. He refuses. Then in Moscow they decide to put Chapaev on a hunger ration. They cut off supplies of food and weapons to him.
And then it's even more interesting. It is known that it was Trotsky who sent those airplanes that subsequently played a fatal role to the Chapaev division. That is, it was Trotsky who obeyed the pilots. So it was Trotsky who probably ordered Chapaev.
Photo Ural river
According to the testimony of the Hungarians, their commander was shot in the back and at close range. Similarly, a week earlier, the legendary division commander Shchors was killed in Ukraine. And a few years later, under unclear circumstances, the famous Kotovsky was also shot. There is a version that this was done by Trotsky's people. However, historians are skeptical about this version. Trotsky, although he was the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, was not Chapaev's immediate superior. And Trotsky had no compelling reason to conflict with the division commander, whom he saw a couple of times in his life.
Feeling how enormous Chapaev's authority in the troops is, how much he is not at all like an anarchist, Trotsky does not dare to arrest him. Instead, he takes out a gold watch and a silver checker hands it to Chapaev. There was a conflict between Chapaev and Trotsky based on the fact that Chapaev is an upstart, a man who makes too many independent decisions and thereby kind of discredits the leadership and the military policy of the Red Army. But still it is impossible to say unequivocally that Trotsky "ordered" Chapaev.
There was such an interesting figure - the commander of the 4th Army Khvesin. Chapaev wrote: "Khvesin betrayed me, he is a scoundrel." The betrayal consisted in the fact that Khvesin did not give Chapaev some reinforcements, an armored division, a car, or something else. This document came to Khvesin. When the question was discussed that the Red Army should get rid of Chapaev, Khvesin, on the contrary, supported his divisional commander, did not take offense at the accusations, and he himself fled from his post. This was long before Chapaev's death.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
In the Civil War, destinies instantly broke and heroes were born just as instantly. Anyone could fall into grace or into disgrace. If, for example, they wanted to shoot Chapaev a year ago, then it cannot be argued that a year later he was framed and killed.
It is also difficult to imagine that Trotsky would remove Shchors, Kotovsky, Chapaev at the height of the war. They were alive at that moment, the Bolshevik leadership needed much more. The bullet that killed Chapaev could have been a Cossack. The Whites, having captured Lbischensk, searched for the division commander among the killed, but did not find it. So if he died, then on the other side.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
There is another version. Chapaev was not killed at all, but survived. For all the fantasticness of this version, it has some grounds. The story is as follows. In 1972, an inconspicuous old man dies in one of the Kremlin hospitals. However, he is buried in the prestigious metropolitan cemetery. The tombstone reads: Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. Suppose the wounded Chapaev was transported across the Urals, then somewhere he had to heal the wound, come to his senses. Some time passed, maybe several months, and having recovered, Chapaev went to Frunze and demanded that those who betrayed him be punished. And Frunze told him: "You died for everyone. The division was named by your name. So live for yourself and don't dare tell anyone that you are that very Chapaev." That is, he has already become a legend, at least among the soldiers of the Red Army. The dead Chapaev, a fearless hero, turned out to be much more necessary for the Soviet regime than alive.
Vasily Ivanovich grieved, but in the end agreed to silence. But after the premiere of the film, in the middle of the 30s, he still could not resist, and he told his secret. For this, the obstinate divisional commander was first sent to the camps, and then taken to a psychiatric hospital. There were 5 Chapaevs in each ward. There, the finally broken Vasily Ivanovich quietly grew old and died.
The archives preserve the memories of the soldiers of the 25th division who allegedly met with their "deceased" commander in the early 30s and even after the Great Patriotic War. But it is not possible to verify this evidence. Witnesses have been dead for a long time. So the version remains the version. No graves with the name Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev have been found in well-known Moscow cemeteries.
One military historian claims that at first Chapaev was indeed buried on the banks of the Ural River, but later, when the Red Army launched a counteroffensive, the soldiers dug up the grave of their commander, and transported the body to Uralsk, where they were reburied in the cemetery near the St. Nicholas Church. One of the old residents of the city of Uralsk, a certain Stepan Prokhorov, claimed that as a child he saw how two Red Army men from the 25th division brought the body of their commander to the city. Initially, Chapaev was supposedly going to have a ceremonial funeral. But then a strange order was received - to bury in a common grave, and then we'll figure it out. Later, the same Prokhorov, chasing the boys around the cemetery, allegedly saw a metal sheet stuck into one of the graves, on which it was written: "Four Communists and Chapaevs are buried here." The boy reported what he saw to his father, a party worker. But he ordered his son to keep his mouth shut to avoid trouble. The story is strange.
The Nikolskaya Church in Uralsk still exists. Near her there is a small cemetery with many old obelisks with stars. Chapaev's grave is not here, at least not signed.
The Soviet government did everything possible to turn a living person into a monument, as it did more than once. And distort the true facts of his biography as much as possible.
He was respected not only by the reds but also by the whites. He was loved by both soldiers and peasants. And there was a reason. V Soviet times we praised the reds, and painted whites such scoundrels. Now it's the other way around. Already such scum are red. In fact, it’s not like that. The civil war is a great national tragedy. And we must pay tribute to all those who died. And even more so for those who fought honestly for the idea. Chapaev was like that.
And the testimonies of the Hungarians still need to be recognized as genuine. After all, they did not have any selfish motives. They were not looking for any glory, but only wanted to tell their daughter how her father died. And then in 1919 they rescued their commander. There is no reason not to trust them.
Where did Chapaev die and how did it happen? Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to this question. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev is a legendary personality during the Civil War. The life of this person, starting from a young age, is full of riddles and secrets. Let's try to solve them based on some historical facts.
The mystery of birth
The hero of our story lived only 32 years. But what kind! Where Chapaev died and where he is buried is an unsolved mystery. Why did it happen? Eyewitnesses of those distant times differ in their testimonies.
Ivanovich (1887-1919) - this is how the date of birth and death of the legendary commander is presented in historical reference books.
The only pity is that history has preserved more reliable facts about the birth of this person than about death.
So, Vasily was born on February 9, 1887 in the family of a poor peasant. The very birth of the boy was already marked with the seal of death: the midwife who took birth from the mother of a poor family, seeing the premature baby, predicted a quick death to him.
A stunted and half-dead boy was left by his grandmother. Despite the disappointing forecasts, she believed that he would get out. The crumb was wrapped in a piece of cloth and warmed near the stove. Thanks to the efforts and prayers of his grandmother, the boy survived.
Childhood
Soon, the Chapaev family was looking for better life moves from the village of Budayki, in Chuvashia, to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev province.
The family's affairs went a little better: Vasily was even given to study science in the parish educational institution... But the boy was not destined to receive a full education. In a little more than 2 years, he only learned to read and write. Ended training after one incident. The fact is that in parish schools, the punishment of students for offense was practiced. Chapaev did not escape this fate either. In the cold winter, the boy was sent to the punishment cell with practically no clothes on. The guy was not going to die of the cold, therefore, when it was already unbearable to endure the frost, he jumped out of the window. The punishment cell was very high - the guy woke up with broken arms and legs. After this incident, Vasily no longer went to school. And since the training for the boy was closed, his father took him to work with him, taught him carpentry, and together they built buildings.
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, whose biography every year acquired only new and incredible facts, was remembered by contemporaries after one more incident. It was like this: during work, when a cross had to be installed on the very top of the newly built church, showing courage and dexterity, Chapaev Jr. took up this task. However, the guy could not resist and fell from a great height. Everyone saw a real miracle in the fact that after the fall there was not even a small scratch on Vasily.
Serving the Fatherland
At the age of 21, Chapaev began military service, which lasted only a year. In 1909 he was fired.
According to the official version, the reason was the serviceman's illness: Chapaev was found. The unofficial reason was much more serious - Vasily's brother, Andrei, was executed for speaking out against the tsar. After that, Vasily Chapaev himself began to be considered "unreliable".
Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich, whose historical portrait emerges as an image of a person inclined to courageous and decisive actions, once decided to start a family. He got married.
Vasily's chosen one, Pelageya Metlin, was the daughter of a priest, so the elder Chapaev opposed these marriage bonds. Despite the ban, the young got married. In this marriage, three children were born, but the union broke up due to the betrayal of Pelageya.
In 1914, Chapaev was again called up for service. The first World War brought him awards: the St. George Medal and the 4th and 3rd degree.
In addition to awards, soldier-Chapaev received the rank of senior non-commissioned officer. All achievements were acquired by him in six months of service.
Chapaev and the Red Army
In July 1917, Vasily Chapaev, having recovered from his injury, ended up in an infantry regiment, whose soldiers support revolutionary views. Here, after active communication with the Bolsheviks, he joins the ranks of their party.
In December of the same year, the hero of our story becomes the commissar of the Red Guard. He suppresses peasant uprisings and goes to study at the Academy of the General Staff.
For a sensible commander, a new assignment was soon found - Chapaev was sent to the Eastern Front to fight Kolchak.
After the successful liberation of Ufa from enemy troops and participation in the military operation to unblock Uralsk, the headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was suddenly attacked by the White Guards. According to the official version, in 1919 Vasily Chapaev died.
Where did Chapaev die?
The answer to this question does exist. A tragic event took place in Lbischensk, but historians still argue about how the famous commander of the Red Guard died. There are many different legends about the death of Chapaev. A lot of "eyewitnesses" tell their truth. Still, researchers of Chapaev's life are inclined to believe that he drowned while swimming across the Urals.
This version is based on an investigation carried out by Chapaev's contemporaries shortly after his death.
The fact that the division commander's grave does not exist and his remains were not found gave rise to new version that he was saved. When the Civil War ended, rumors began to circulate among the people about Chapaev's salvation. It was rumored that he, having changed his last name, lived in the Arkhangelsk region. The first version is confirmed by the film, which was released on Soviet screens in the 30s of the last century.
A film about Chapaev: myth or reality
In those years, the country needed new revolutionary heroes with an unblemished reputation. Chapaev's feat was exactly what Soviet propaganda felt the need for.
From the film we learn that the headquarters of the division commanded by Chapaev was taken by surprise by the enemies. The advantage was on the side of the White Guards. The Reds fired back, the battle was fierce. The only way to escape and survive was crossing the Urals.
Swimming across the river, Chapaev was already wounded in the arm. The next enemy bullet killed him and he drowned. The river where Chapaev died became his burial place.
However, the film, which was admired by all Soviet citizens, caused outrage among the descendants of Chapaev. His daughter Klavdia, referring to the story of Commissioner Baturin, claimed that his comrades in arms took her father to the other side of the river on a raft.
To the question: "Where did Chapaev die?" Baturin answered: "On the river bank." According to him, the body was buried in the coastal sand and camouflaged with reeds.
Already the great-granddaughter of the red commander initiated the search for the grave of her great-grandfather. However, these plans were not destined to come true. In the place where, according to legend, the grave was supposed to be, a river now flowed.
Whose testimony was taken as the basis for the film script?
How Chapaev died and where, the cornet Belonozhkin told after the end of the war. From his words it became known that it was he who fired a bullet at the floating commander. A denunciation was written against the former cornet, he confirmed his version during interrogation, and it was also the basis of the film.
Belonozhkin's fate is also shrouded in mystery. He was convicted twice, and amnestied the same number of times. He lived to a very old age. He fought during World War II, lost his hearing due to a concussion, and died at the age of 96.
The fact that the “killer” of Chapaev lived to such an old age and died a natural death suggests that the representatives of the Soviet government, taking his story as the basis of the film, did not believe in this version themselves.
The version of the old residents of the village of Lbischenskaya
How Chapaev died, history is silent. We can draw conclusions, referring only to eyewitness accounts, conducting all kinds of investigations and examinations.
The version of the old residents of the village of Lbischenskaya (now the village of Chapaevo) also has the right to life. The investigation was conducted by Academician A. Cherekaev, and he recorded the history of the defeat of Chapaev's division. According to eyewitness accounts, the weather on the day of the tragedy was cold in autumn. The Cossacks drove all the Red Guards to the banks of the Urals, where many soldiers, in fact, threw themselves into the river and drowned.
The victims were due to the fact that the place where Chapaev died is considered enchanted. No one has yet managed to cross the river there, despite the fact that the local daredevils, in honor of the memory of the deceased commissar, every year on the day of his death, arrange such swims.
About the fate of Chapaev, Cherekaev learned that he was caught, and after interrogation under guard he was sent to Guryev to the ataman Tolstov. At this, Chapaev's trail ends.
Where is the truth?
The fact that Chapaev's death is indeed shrouded in mystery is an absolute fact. And the answer to this question to researchers life path the legendary divisional commander is yet to be recognized.
It is noteworthy that the newspapers did not inform about Chapaev's death at all. Although then the death of such famous person was considered an event that was learned from the newspapers.
They began to talk about the death of Chapaev after the release of the famous film. All eyewitnesses to his death spoke at almost the same time - after 1935, in other words, after the screening of the film.
The encyclopedia "Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR" also does not indicate the place where Chapaev died. The official, generalized version is indicated - near Lbischensk.
Hopefully, with the power of the latest research, this story will someday be cleared up.
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