There are so many legends about this amazing woman that it is difficult to say with complete certainty what is true and what is fiction. But it is known for certain that a simple peasant woman, who only learned to read and write at the end of her life, was called “Russian Joan of Arc” by the King of England George V during a personal audience, and V. Wilson was honorably received in the White House. Her name is Bochkareva Maria Leontievna. Fate prepared for her the honor of becoming the first female officer in the Russian army.
Childhood, youth and only love
The future heroine of the women's battalion was born into a simple peasant family in the village of Nikolskaya, Novgorod province. She was the third child of her parents. They lived from hand to mouth and, in order to somehow improve their plight, moved to Siberia, where the government in those years launched a program to help immigrants. But the hopes were not justified, and in order to get rid of the extra eater, Mary was married early to unloved person and besides, a drunkard. From him she got the surname - Bochkareva.
Very soon, a young woman forever parted with her husband, who was disgusted with her, and begins a free life. Then she meets her first and last love in her life. Unfortunately, Maria was fatally unlucky with the men: if the first was a drunkard, then the second turned out to be a real bandit who took part in robberies along with a gang of "hunghuz" - immigrants from China and Manchuria. But, as they say, love is evil... His name was Yankel (Yakov) Buk. When he was finally arrested and escorted to Yakutsk by court, Maria Bochkareva went after him, like the wives of the Decembrists.
But the desperate Yankel was incorrigible and even in the settlement he hunted by buying stolen goods, and later by robberies. To save her lover from inevitable hard labor, Maria was forced to give in to the harassment of the local governor, but she herself could not survive this forced betrayal - she tried to poison herself. The story of her love ended sadly: Buk, having learned about what had happened, in the heat of jealousy attempted on the governor. He was tried and sent by escort to a deaf remote place. Maria never saw him again.
To the front with the personal permission of the emperor
The news of the outbreak of the First World War caused Russian society unprecedented patriotic upsurge. Thousands of volunteers were sent to the front. Their example was followed by Maria Bochkareva. The history of her enrollment in the army is very unusual. Turning in November 1914 to the commander of the reserve battalion, located in Tomsk, she was refused with ironic advice to ask permission personally from the Emperor. Contrary to the expectations of the battalion commander, she really wrote a petition addressed to the highest name. What was the general astonishment when, after a while, a positive answer came with the personal signature of Nicholas II.
After short course training, in February 1915, Maria Bochkareva finds herself at the front as a civilian soldier - in those years there was such a status for military personnel. Taking up this unfeminine business, she, along with men, fearlessly went into bayonet attacks, pulled the wounded out from under the fire and showed genuine heroism. Here, the nickname Yashka was assigned to her, which she chose for herself in memory of her lover - Yakov Buk. There were two men in her life - a husband and a lover. From the first she left her surname, from the second - a nickname.
When the company commander was killed in March 1916, Maria, taking his place, raised the fighters on the offensive, which became disastrous for the enemy. For her courage, Bochkareva was awarded the St. George Cross and three medals, and soon she was promoted to junior non-commissioned officer. Being on the front line, she was repeatedly wounded, but remained in the ranks, and only a severe wound in the thigh brought Maria to the hospital, where she lay for four months.
Creation of the first women's battalion in history
Returning to the position, Maria Bochkareva - the Knight of St. George and a recognized fighter - found her regiment in a state of complete decomposition. During her absence, the February Revolution took place, and endless rallies were held among the soldiers, alternating with fraternization with the "Germans". Deeply indignant at this, Maria looked for an opportunity to influence what was happening. Soon such an opportunity presented itself.
The chairman of the Provisional Committee arrived at the front to carry out campaigning. State Duma M. Rodzianko. With his support, Bochkareva ended up in Petrograd in early March, where she began to realize her long-held dream - the creation of military units from patriotic female volunteers ready to defend the Motherland. In this undertaking, she met with the support of the Minister of War of the Provisional Government A. Kerensky and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General A. Brusilov.
In response to the call of Maria Bochkareva, more than two thousand Russian women expressed their desire to join the ranks of the unit being created with weapons in their hands. Worthy of attention is the fact that among them a significant part were educated women - students and graduates of the Bestuzhev courses, and a third of them had a secondary education. At that time, not a single male unit could boast of similar indicators. Among the "drummers" - this was the name assigned to them - there were representatives of all strata of society - from peasant women to aristocrats, bearing the loudest and most famous surnames in Russia.
The commander of the women's battalion, Maria Bochkareva, established iron discipline and the strictest subordination among her subordinates. The rise was at five in the morning, and the whole day until ten in the evening was filled with endless activities, interrupted only by a short rest. Many women, mostly from wealthy families, had difficulty getting used to simple soldier food and a strict routine. But this was not their greatest difficulty.
It is known that soon complaints began to come to the name of rudeness and arbitrariness on the part of Bochkareva. Even the facts of assault were indicated. In addition, Maria strictly forbade political agitators, representatives of various party organizations from appearing at the location of her battalion, and this was a direct violation of the rules established by the February Revolution. As a result of mass discontent, two hundred and fifty "drummers" left Bochkareva and joined another formation.
Sending to the front
And then the long-awaited day came, when on June 21, 1917, on the square in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral, with a crowd of thousands of people, the new one received a battle flag. It was written on it: "The first women's command of the death of Maria Bochkareva." Needless to say, how much excitement the mistress of the celebration herself experienced, standing on the right flank in a new uniform? The day before, she was granted the rank of ensign, and Maria - the first female officer in the Russian army - was rightfully the heroine of that day.
But this is the peculiarity of all holidays - they are replaced by weekdays. Here and to replace the celebrations at St. Isaac's Cathedral gray and by no means romantic trench life came. Young defenders of the Fatherland faced a reality that they had no idea about before. They found themselves among a degraded and morally decomposed mass of soldiers. Bochkareva herself in her memoirs calls the soldiers "unbridled shanty". To protect women from possible violence, it was even necessary to put sentries near the barracks.
However, after the very first military operation, in which the battalion of Maria Bochkareva participated, the “shocks”, having shown courage worthy of real fighters, were forced to treat themselves with respect. This happened in early July 1917 near Smorgan. After such a heroic beginning, even such an opponent of the participation of women's units in hostilities as General A.I. Kornilov was forced to change his mind.
Hospital in Petrograd and inspection of new units
The women's battalion participated in the battles on a par with all other units and, just like them, suffered losses. Having received a severe concussion in one of the battles that took place on July 9, Maria Bochkareva was sent for treatment to Petrograd. During her stay at the front in the capital, the women's patriotic movement she started was widely developed. New battalions were formed, staffed from voluntary defenders of the Fatherland.
When Bochkareva was discharged from the hospital, by order of the newly appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief L. Kornilov, she was instructed to inspect these units. The test results were very disappointing. None of the battalions was a sufficiently combat-ready unit. However, the situation of revolutionary turmoil that reigned in the capital hardly made it possible to achieve a positive result in a short time, and this had to be put up with.
Soon Maria Bochkareva returns to her unit. But since that time its organizational ardor has somewhat cooled down. She repeatedly stated that she was disappointed in women and henceforth does not consider it expedient to take them to the front - "sissies and crybabies." It is likely that her demands on her subordinates were extremely high, and what was within her power - combat officer, was beyond the capabilities of ordinary women. Cavalier George Cross, Maria Bochkareva was by that time promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
Features of the "Women's Battalion of Death"
Since, chronologically, the events described are approaching the famous episode of the defense of the last residence of the Provisional Government (the Winter Palace), we should dwell in more detail on what the military unit created by Maria Bochkareva was at that time. The "Women's Battalion of Death" - as it is customary to call it - in accordance with the law, was considered an independent military unit and was equated in status with a regiment.
The total number of female soldiers was one thousand people. The officers were completely manned, and all of them were experienced commanders who had gone through the fronts of the First World War. The battalion was stationed at the Levashovo station, where the conditions necessary for training were created. In the disposition of the unit, any agitation and party work was strictly prohibited.
The battalion was not supposed to have any political overtones. His purpose was to defend the Fatherland from external enemies, and not to participate in internal political conflicts. The battalion commander was, as mentioned above, Maria Bochkareva. Her biography is inseparable from this combat formation. In the fall, everyone expected an ambulance to be sent to the front, but something else happened.
Defense of the Winter Palace
Unexpectedly, an order was received to one of the battalion units to arrive on October 24 in Petrograd to participate in the parade. In reality, this was only a pretext for attracting "shock women" to defend the Winter Palace from the Bolsheviks who had begun an armed uprising. At that time, the palace garrison consisted of scattered units of Cossacks and junkers of various military schools and did not represent any serious military force.
The women who arrived and settled in the empty premises of the former royal residence were entrusted with the defense of the southeastern wing of the building from the side Palace Square. On the very first day, they managed to push back a detachment of the Red Guards and take control of the Nikolaevsky bridge. However, the very next day, October 25, the building of the palace was completely surrounded by troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and a shootout soon began. From that moment on, the defenders of the Winter Palace, not wanting to die for the Provisional Government, began to leave their positions.
The cadets of the Mikhailovsky School were the first to leave, followed by the Cossacks. The women held out the longest and only by ten o'clock in the evening they sent the parliamentarians with a statement of surrender and a request to let them out of the palace. They were given the opportunity to withdraw, but under the condition of complete disarmament. After some time, the women's unit in full strength was placed in the barracks of the Pavlovsky Reserve Regiment, and then sent to the place of its permanent deployment in Levashovo.
Seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and subsequent events
After the October armed coup, it was decided to liquidate the women's battalion. However, it was too dangerous to return home in military uniform. With the help of the "Committee of Public Security" operating in Petrograd, the women managed to get civilian clothes and in this form to get to their homes.
It is absolutely reliably known that during the period of the events in question, Bochkareva Maria Leontievna was at the front and did not take any personal part in them. This is documented. However, the myth that it was she who commanded the defenders of the Winter Palace was firmly rooted. Even in the famous film by S. Eisenstein "October" in one of the characters one can easily recognize her image.
The further fate of this woman was very difficult. When the civil war began, the Russian Joan of Arc - Maria Bochkareva - was literally between two fires. Having heard about her authority among the soldiers and fighting skills, both warring parties tried to attract Maria into their ranks. At first, high-ranking representatives in Smolny new government(according to her, Lenin and Trotsky) persuaded the woman to take command of one of the Red Guard units.
Then General Marushevsky, who commanded the White Guard forces in the north of the country, tried to persuade her to cooperate and instructed Bochkareva to form combat units. But in both cases, she refused: it is one thing to fight foreigners and defend the Motherland, and quite another to raise a hand against a compatriot. Her refusal was absolutely categorical, for which Maria almost paid with her freedom - the enraged general ordered her arrest, but, fortunately, the English allies stood up.
Maria's foreign tour
Her further fate takes the most unexpected turn - following the instructions of General Kornilov, Bochkareva travels to America and England for the purpose of agitation. She went on this voyage, dressed in the uniform of a sister of mercy and carrying false documents with her. It is hard to believe, but this simple peasant woman, who could barely read and write, behaved with dignity at a dinner at the White House, where President Wilson invited her on America's Independence Day. She was not at all embarrassed at the audience that the King of England arranged for her. In Mary, she arrived in an officer's uniform and with all military awards. It was the English monarch who called her the Russian Joan of Arc.
Of all the questions Bochkareva asked the heads of state, she found it difficult to answer only one: is she for the Reds or for the Whites? This question made no sense to her. For Mary, both of them were brothers, and the civil war caused only deep sorrow in her. During her stay in America, Bochkareva dictated her memoirs to one of the Russian emigrants, which he edited and published under the name "Yashka" - the front-line nickname of Bochkareva. The book was published in 1919 and immediately became a bestseller.
Last task
Soon Maria returned to Russia, engulfed in civil war. She fulfilled her campaigning mission, but categorically refused to take up arms, which caused a break in relations with the command of the Arkhangelsk Front. The former enthusiastic reverence was replaced by cold condemnation. The experiences associated with this caused a deep depression, from which Maria tried to find a way out in alcohol. She noticeably fell, and the command sent her away from the front, to the rear city of Tomsk.
Here Bochkareva was destined to last time to serve the Fatherland - after the persuasion of the Supreme Admiral A. V. Kolchak, she agreed to form a volunteer sanitary detachment. Speaking to numerous audiences, Maria a short time managed to attract more than two hundred volunteers to its ranks. But the rapid offensive of the Reds prevented the completion of this matter.
A life that became a legend
When Tomsk was captured by the Bolsheviks, Bochkareva voluntarily appeared at the commandant's office and handed over her weapons. The new authorities refused her offer of cooperation. After some time, she was arrested and sent to Krasnoyarsk. The investigators of the Special Department were confused, since it was difficult to bring any charge against her - Maria did not participate in the hostilities against the Reds. But, to her misfortune, the deputy head of the special department of the Cheka, I.P. Pavlunovsky, arrived in the city from Moscow - stupid and ruthless executioner. Without delving into the essence of the matter, he gave the order - to shoot, which was executed immediately. Maria Bochkareva died on May 16, 1919.
But the life of this amazing woman was so unusual that her very death gave rise to many legends. It is not known exactly where the grave of Maria Leontievna Bochkareva is located, and this gave rise to rumors that she miraculously escaped execution and lived under a false name until the end of the forties. There is another unusual plot generated by her death.
It is based on the question: “Why was Maria Bochkareva shot?” Because they could not bring direct charges against her. In response to this, another legend claims that the brave Yashka hid American gold in Tomsk and refused to tell the Bolsheviks its whereabouts. There is also a number of incredible stories. But the main legend is, of course, Maria Bochkareva herself, whose biography could serve as a plot for the most exciting novel.
There are so many legends about this amazing woman that it does not allow one hundred percent to say whether this is true or fiction. But it is reliably known that an ordinary peasant woman, who almost all conscious life remained illiterate, King George V during personal meeting called the "Russian Joan of Arc". She was destined to become the first female officer in Russian army. The whole truth about the women's death battalion is in our article.
Youth, childhood, love
The creator of the women's death battalion, Maria Bochkareva, was born in a small village in the Novgorod province in an ordinary working-class family. Her parents also had two more children. They lived quite poorly and, in order to improve their deplorable situation, they decided to move to Siberia, where at that time the government provided assistance to newcomers. But the hopes did not come true, so it was decided to marry Mary to a man whom she did not love, and who was also a drunkard. From him she got a well-known surname.
After a short period of time, Maria Bochkareva (the female death battalion was her idea) breaks up with her husband and begins a free life. It was at that time that she was lucky to meet her first and only love. Unfortunately, she was not at all lucky with the stronger sex: if the first one constantly drank, then the second one was a criminal and a member of the Honghuz gang, which included people from Manchuria, as well as China. His name was Yankel Buk. When he was arrested and redirected to Yakutsk, Bochkareva followed him, as the wives of the Decembrists did.
The sad end of the relationship
But the desperate Jacob could not be corrected, and even while in the settlement, he sold stolen goods, and later took up robberies. In order to prevent her beloved from going to hard labor, Mary had to follow the lead of the local governor, who harassed her. Subsequently, she could not survive her own betrayal, trying to poison herself. This difficult story ended in failure: upon learning of what had happened, the man, in the heat of anger, tried to kill the official. He was put on trial and sent to an unknown destination, after which contact with his beloved was lost.
To the front by imperial grace
The outbreak of war led to an unprecedented outburst of patriotic feelings. A huge number of volunteers left for the front, and Maria Leontyevna Bochkareva also entered. The history of her entry into the service is quite interesting. Arriving in 1914 to the commander of the reserve battalion, which was located in Tomsk, she was faced with a disdainful attitude and ironic advice to make a similar request to the Emperor. Contrary to his expectations, the woman dared to write a petition. To the surprise of the public, a positive response was soon delivered to her under the personal signature of Nicholas II.
After a crash course in February next year, Maria Leontievna Bochkareva ended up at the front as a civilian soldier. Taking on such a difficult task, she, along with the rest of the soldiers, went on bayonet attacks, helped the wounded get out of the fire, and also showed real heroism. She was given the nickname Yashka, which she invented for herself in honor of her lover.
When death overtook the company commander in March 1916, Maria took over his post and led her comrades on the offensive, which became devastating. For the courage that was shown in the offensive, the woman received the St. George Cross, as well as three medals. Being at the forefront, she was wounded more than once, but, despite this, she was still in the ranks. Only after a severe wound in the thigh was she sent to the hospital, where she spent several months.
Creation of women's death battalions
Returning to duty, Bochkareva found her own regiment in absolute decay. During the time she was away, the February Revolution happened, and the soldiers held endless meetings and tried to "fraternize" with the Germans. Maria, who did not want to put up with such a situation, did not get tired of looking for an opportunity to influence the situation. Very soon, a similar case presented itself.
To carry out propaganda work, the chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma was sent to the front. Bochkareva, enlisting his support, went to Petrograd, where she began to realize her long-standing idea - the opening of military formations, which included women who were ready to defend their homeland. In her undertaking, she felt the support of the Minister of War Kerensky, as well as Brusilov, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief General. Thus began the history of the women's death battalion.
Composition of the battalion
In response to the calls of a courageous woman, several thousand Russian women responded, who wanted to join the ranks of the new unit with weapons in their hands. It is worth noting the fact that most of them were literate girls - graduates of the Bestuzhev courses, and a third had a secondary education. Such indicators for that period could not be shown by any unit consisting of men. Among the drummers were representatives of all walks of life - from simple peasant women to aristocrats (bearers of high-profile surnames).
Among the subordinates in the women's death battalion (1917), commander Bochkareva immediately established strict discipline and strict subordination. The rise took place at five in the morning, and until ten in the evening there were constant classes with little rest. Many women who previously lived in fairly wealthy families had difficulty accepting the soldier's life and the approved routine. But this was not their greatest difficulty.
Complaints about the commander
As the sources say, complaints soon began to come to the name of the Supreme Commander regarding arbitrariness, as well as rude attitude on the part of the commander of the female death battalion in the First World War. In the reports, facts of beatings were noted. In addition, under a strict ban was the appearance within its walls of agitators leading political activity, representatives of various parties, which was a violation of the rules adopted following the uprising. As a result a large number disagreements, 250 shock women left the 1st Petrograd women's death battalion and moved to another formation.
Sending to the front
Soon the twenty-first of June 1917 came, the day when, in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral, with a large audience, the newly created unit was honored to receive a battle flag. Needless to say, what emotions the “culprit” of the celebration experienced, which was in a new uniform.
But in place of the holiday, trench life came into reality. Young defenders faced realities that they had not even suspected before. They were at the center of the morally decomposed and degrading soldiers. In order to protect them from violence, it was sometimes necessary to put up sentries who were on duty at the barracks. But after the first real battle, where Maria's battalion took a direct part, showing unprecedented courage, they began to treat the shock women with respect.
Hospital and inspection of new units
The women's death battalion in the First World War took part in operations along with other units and suffered losses. Maria Bochkareva, who received a severe concussion on July 9, was sent to Petrograd for treatment. During the period that she spent at the front, her ideas about the women's patriotic movement found a wide response in the capital. New formations were created, which were staffed by the defenders of the Fatherland.
After being discharged from the hospital, by order of Kornilov, Bochkareva was given the task of checking such units. The results of the inspection were extremely negative. None of the battalions were truly fighting. However, the atmosphere of unrest that soared in Moscow did not allow to achieve any tangible results in a short time.
Soon, the initiator of the creation of women's death battalions went to native part, but right now her fighting spirit is cooling down a bit. She has repeatedly said that she was disappointed in her subordinates, and believes that they should not be sent to the front. Maybe her demands on her subordinates were too high, and what she, a combat officer, coped with without problems, went beyond the capabilities of ordinary women.
Features of the death part
In view of the fact that all these events were close to the episode with the defense of the Winter Palace (government residence), it is worthwhile to understand in more detail what the military unit was then, the creator of which was Bochkareva. Under the law, the Women's Death Battalion ( historical facts this is confirmed) was equated to an independent unit and, in terms of its status, corresponded to a regiment in which 1000 fighters served.
The officers included representatives of the strong half, who had considerable experience acquired on the fronts of the First World War. The battalion was not supposed to have a political color. Its main purpose is to protect the Fatherland from enemies from outside.
Palace defense
Unexpectedly, one of the divisions of the women's death battalion in World War I receives an order to go to Petrograd, where a parade was to take place on October 24th. In reality, this was only an excuse to involve shock women in protecting the object from the offensive of the Bolsheviks with weapons in their hands. IN given period the garrison of the palace consisted of divisions of Cossacks and junkers, so it had no real military power.
The women who arrived at the scene were ordered to defend the southeast wing of the building. For the first time in a day they managed to throw back the Red Guards and take the Nikolaevsky bridge into their own hands. But a day later, the troops of the revolutionary committee settled around the building, the result was a violent clash.
It was after this that the defenders of the residence, not wanting to give their lives for the newly appointed government, began to retreat from their positions. The women managed to stand the longest, and only by ten o'clock did they send out negotiators with a statement of surrender. Such an opportunity was provided, but only on the terms of complete disarmament.
The arrival of the Bolsheviks and further events
After the armed coup that took place in October, a decision is made to disband the women's death battalion of the First World War, but it was dangerous to return home in uniform. Not without the participation of the Security Committee, the women managed to find civilian clothes in order to get to their native places.
It is confirmed that during the events described, Maria Leontyevna was at the front and did not take part in them. Despite this, there is a myth saying that she commanded the defenders of the palace.
IN further fate threw up many more unpleasant surprises. During the start civil war Bochkareva was between two fires. At first, in Smolny, the highest ranks of the new government persuaded her to take command of the Red Guard unit. After that, Marushevsky, the commander of the White Guards, also tried to win her over to his side. But everywhere she refused: it is one thing to fight against foreigners and defend your homeland, another thing is to kill your own compatriots. For her refusal, Maria almost paid with her freedom.
legendary life
After the capture of Tomsk, Bochkareva herself came to the commandant's office to hand over her weapons. Some time later, she was taken into custody and sent to Krasnoyarsk. The investigators were in prostration, not knowing what to present to her. But the head of the special department, Pavlunovsky, arrives in the city from the capital. Without even trying to study the situation superficially, he decides to shoot, which was done. Maria Bochkareva was killed on May 16, 1919.
But her life was so unusual that death gave rise to great amount legends. It is impossible to say exactly where the grave of Maria Leontieva is located. Because of this, rumors appeared that she managed to avoid execution, and she lived until the forties, taking on a completely different name.
But the main legend, of course, remains the woman herself, whose biography can be used to make an exciting film novel.
The future heroine of the Russian-American blockbuster "Battalion", which our modern "patriots" watch with aspiration, Maria Bochkareva was born in 1889 in the family of peasants in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, Leonty and Olga Frolkov. The family, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to Siberia, where fifteen-year-old Maria was married to a local drunkard. Bochkareva after some time left her husband for the butcher Yakov Buk, who led a local gang of robbers. In May 1912, Buk was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed Yasha on foot to Eastern Siberia, where the two of them again opened a butcher’s shop to avert their eyes, although in fact Buk, with the participation of his mistress, organized a gang of hunghuz and traded in the usual robbery on high road. Soon the police came on the trail of the gang, Buk and Bochkareva were arrested and transferred to a settlement in the remote taiga village of Amga, where there was already no one to rob.
The narrowed Bochkareva, from such grief and the inability to do what he loves, namely to rob, as is usual in Russia, took to drink and began to train in the massacre of his mistress. At this time, the First World War broke out, and Bochkareva decided to end her taiga-robber stage of life and go to the front, especially since Yashka became more and more brutalized with longing. Only the entry into the army as a volunteer allowed Mary to leave the place of settlement, determined by the police. The male military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Bochkareva, not wanting to carry the wounded and wash the bandages, sent a telegram to the tsar with a request to give her the opportunity to shoot the Germans to her heart's content. The telegram reached the addressee, and the king unexpectedly received a positive answer. So the mistress of the Siberian robber got to the front.
At first, a woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment by her colleagues, but her bravery in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, she was given the nickname "Yashka", in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.
M. V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a campaign trip to Western Front, where Bochkareva served, took her with him to Petrograd to agitate the "war to a victorious end" in the troops Petrograd garrison and among the delegates to the Congress of Soldiers' Deputies of the Petrosoviet.
After a series of speeches by Bochkareva, Kerensky, in a fit of yet another propaganda adventurism, turned to her with a proposal to organize a "women's battalion of death." Both Kerensky and Petersburg institute girls were involved in this pseudo-patriotic project, total number up to 2000 girls. In an unusual military unit, arbitrariness reigned, to which Bochkareva was accustomed to in the army: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva "beats the muzzle like a real wahmister of the old regime." Not many have withstood such a circumvention: for short term the number of female volunteers was reduced to 300.
But nevertheless, on June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral in Petrograd, a solemn ceremony was held to present a new military unit with a white banner with the inscription "The first women's military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva." On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation "On the formation of military units from female volunteers." The appearance of Bochkareva's detachment served as an impetus for the formation of women's detachments in other cities of the country (Kyiv, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but in connection with historical development events, the creation of these women's shock parts it was never completed.
Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: rising at five in the morning, classes until ten in the evening, and simple soldier food. Women were shaved bald. Black epaulettes with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized "unwillingness to live if Russia perishes."
M. Bochkareva banned any party propaganda and the organization of any councils and committees in her battalion. Due to harsh discipline, a split occurred in the battalion that was still being formed. Some women made an attempt to form a soldiers' committee and sharply criticized Bochkareva's brutal management methods. There was a split in the battalion. M. Bochkareva was called in turn to the commander of the district, General Polovtsev and Kerensky. Both conversations were stormy, but Bochkareva stood her ground: she would not have any committees!
She reorganized her battalion. About 300 women remained in it, and it became the 1st Petrograd shock battalion. And from the rest of the women who disagreed with Bochkareva's command methods, the 2nd Moscow shock battalion was formed.
The 1st Battalion received its baptism of fire on July 9, 1917. The women came under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. Although the reports said that "the Bochkareva detachment behaved heroically in battle," it became clear that women's military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and later - to lieutenant. Such heavy losses of volunteers had other consequences for the women's battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women's "death battalions" for combat use, and the already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary sectors (security functions, communications , sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking them to be fired from the "parts of death."
The second Moscow battalion, which had left the command of Bochkareva, was destined to be among the last defenders of the Provisional Government during the days of the October Revolution. Only this one military unit Kerensky managed to inspect the day before the coup. As a result, only the second company was selected to guard the Winter Palace, but not the entire battalion. The defense of the Winter Palace, as we know, ended in failure. Immediately after the capture of the Winter Palace, the most sensational stories about the terrible fate of the women's battalion defending the palace circulated in the anti-Bolshevik press. It was said that some female soldiers were thrown onto the pavement from the windows, almost all the rest were raped, and many committed suicide themselves, not being able to survive all these horrors.
The city council appointed a special commission to investigate the case. On November 16 (3), this commission returned from Levashov, where the women's battalion was quartered. Deputy Tyrkova said: "All these 140 girls are not only alive, not only not injured, but also not subjected to those terrible insults that we have heard and read about." After the capture of the Winter Palace, the women were first sent to the Pavlovsky barracks, where some of them were really mistreated by the soldiers, but that now most of them are in Levashov, and the rest are scattered in private houses in Petrograd. Another member of the commission testified that not a single woman was thrown out of the windows of the Winter Palace, that three were raped, but already in the Pavlovsk barracks, and that one volunteer committed suicide by jumping out of a window, and she left a note in which she writes that “ disappointed in her ideals.
The slanderers were also exposed by the volunteers themselves. “In view of the fact that in a number of places malicious persons are spreading false, unsubstantiated rumors that, allegedly, during the disarmament of the women’s battalion, sailors and Red Guards committed violence and excesses, we, the undersigned,” the letter from the soldiers of the former women’s battalion said, “ we consider it our civic duty to declare that nothing of the kind happened, that it is all lies and slander” (November 4, 1917)
In January 1918, the women's battalions were formally disbanded, but many of their members continued to serve in parts of the White Guard armies.
Maria Bochkareva herself took an active part in the White movement. On behalf of General Kornilov, she went to visit the best "friends" of Russia - the Americans - to ask for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. We observe approximately the same thing today, when various Parubiy and Semenchenko go to the same America to ask for money for the war with the Donbass and Russia. Then, in 1919, the help of Bochkareva, as well as today's emissaries of the Kiev junta, was promised by the American senators. Upon returning to Russia on November 10, 1919, Bochkareva met with Admiral Kolchak. On his behalf, she formed a women's sanitary detachment of 200 people. But in the same November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Red Army, she was arrested and shot.
Thus ended the "glorious" path of the new idol of our patriotic public.
The future heroine of the Russian-American blockbuster "Battalion", which our modern "patriots" watch with aspiration, Maria Bochkareva was born in 1889 in the family of peasants in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, Leonty and Olga Frolkov. The family, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to Siberia, where fifteen-year-old Maria was married to a local drunkard. Bochkareva after some time left her husband for the butcher Yakov Buk, who led a local gang of robbers. In May 1912, Buk was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed Yasha on foot to Eastern Siberia, where the two of them again opened a butcher's shop to avert their eyes, although in fact Buk, with the participation of his mistress, organized a gang of hunghuz and traded in the usual robbery on the high road. Soon the police came on the trail of the gang, Buk and Bochkareva were arrested and transferred to a settlement in the remote taiga village of Amga, where there was already no one to rob.
The narrowed Bochkareva, from such grief and the inability to do what he loves, namely to rob, as is usual in Russia, took to drink and began to train in the massacre of his mistress. At this time, the First World War broke out, and Bochkareva decided to end her taiga-robber stage of life and go to the front, especially since Yashka became more and more brutalized with longing. Only the entry into the army as a volunteer allowed Mary to leave the place of settlement, determined by the police. The male military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Bochkareva, not wanting to carry the wounded and wash the bandages, sent a telegram to the tsar with a request to give her the opportunity to shoot the Germans to her heart's content. The telegram reached the addressee, and the king unexpectedly received a positive answer. So the mistress of the Siberian robber got to the front.
At first, a woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment by her colleagues, but her bravery in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, she was given the nickname "Yashka", in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.
M. V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a propaganda trip to the Western Front, where Bochkareva served, took her with him to Petrograd to agitate the “war to a victorious end” among the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the Congress of Soldiers’ Deputies of the Petrograd Soviet.
After a series of speeches by Bochkareva, Kerensky, in a fit of yet another propaganda adventurism, turned to her with a proposal to organize a "women's battalion of death." Both Kerensky's wife and St. Petersburg institute girls were involved in this pseudo-patriotic project, up to 2000 girls in total. In an unusual military unit, arbitrariness reigned, to which Bochkareva was accustomed to in the army: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva "beats the muzzle like a real wahmister of the old regime." Not many survived such treatment: in a short time, the number of female volunteers was reduced to 300.
But nevertheless, on June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral in Petrograd, a solemn ceremony was held to present a new military unit with a white banner with the inscription "The first women's military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva." On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation "On the formation of military units from female volunteers." The appearance of the Bochkareva detachment served as an impetus for the formation of women's detachments in other cities of the country (Kyiv, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but in connection with the historical development of events, the creation of these women's strike units it was never completed.
Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: rising at five in the morning, classes until ten in the evening, and simple soldier food. Women were shaved bald. Black epaulettes with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized "unwillingness to live if Russia perishes."
M. Bochkareva banned any party propaganda and the organization of any councils and committees in her battalion. Due to harsh discipline, a split occurred in the battalion that was still being formed. Some women made an attempt to form a soldiers' committee and sharply criticized Bochkareva's brutal management methods. There was a split in the battalion. M. Bochkareva was called in turn to the commander of the district, General Polovtsev and Kerensky. Both conversations were stormy, but Bochkareva stood her ground: she would not have any committees!
She reorganized her battalion. About 300 women remained in it, and it became the 1st Petrograd shock battalion. And from the rest of the women who disagreed with Bochkareva's command methods, the 2nd Moscow shock battalion was formed.
The 1st Battalion received its baptism of fire on July 9, 1917. The women came under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. Although the reports said that "the Bochkareva detachment behaved heroically in battle," it became clear that women's military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and later - to lieutenant. Such heavy losses of volunteers had other consequences for the women's battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women's "death battalions" for combat use, and the already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary sectors (security functions, communications , sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking them to be fired from the "parts of death."
The second Moscow battalion, which had left the command of Bochkareva, was destined to be among the last defenders of the Provisional Government during the days of the October Revolution. Kerensky managed to inspect this single military unit the day before the coup. As a result, only the second company was selected to guard the Winter Palace, but not the entire battalion. The defense of the Winter Palace, as we know, ended in failure. Immediately after the capture of the Winter Palace, the most sensational stories about the terrible fate of the women's battalion defending the palace circulated in the anti-Bolshevik press. It was said that some female soldiers were thrown onto the pavement from the windows, almost all the rest were raped, and many committed suicide themselves, not being able to survive all these horrors.
The city council appointed a special commission to investigate the case. On November 16 (3), this commission returned from Levashov, where the women's battalion was quartered. Deputy Tyrkova said: "All these 140 girls are not only alive, not only not injured, but also not subjected to those terrible insults that we have heard and read about." After the capture of the Winter Palace, the women were first sent to the Pavlovsky barracks, where some of them were really mistreated by the soldiers, but that now most of them are in Levashov, and the rest are scattered in private houses in Petrograd. Another member of the commission testified that not a single woman was thrown out of the windows of the Winter Palace, that three were raped, but already in the Pavlovsk barracks, and that one volunteer committed suicide by jumping out of a window, and she left a note in which she writes that “ disappointed in her ideals.
The slanderers were also exposed by the volunteers themselves. “In view of the fact that in a number of places malicious persons are spreading false, unsubstantiated rumors that, allegedly, during the disarmament of the women’s battalion, sailors and Red Guards committed violence and excesses, we, the undersigned,” the letter from the soldiers of the former women’s battalion said, “ we consider it our civic duty to declare that nothing of the kind happened, that it is all lies and slander” (November 4, 1917)
In January 1918, the women's battalions were formally disbanded, but many of their members continued to serve in parts of the White Guard armies.
Maria Bochkareva herself took an active part in the White movement. On behalf of General Kornilov, she went to visit the best "friends" of Russia - the Americans - to ask for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. We observe approximately the same thing today, when various Parubiy and Semenchenko go to the same America to ask for money for the war with the Donbass and Russia. Then, in 1919, the help of Bochkareva, as well as today's emissaries of the Kiev junta, was promised by the American senators. Upon returning to Russia on November 10, 1919, Bochkareva met with Admiral Kolchak. On his behalf, she formed a women's sanitary detachment of 200 people. But in the same November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Red Army, she was arrested and shot.
Thus ended the "glorious" path of the new idol of our patriotic public.
100 years ago, the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion was created, headed by Maria Bochkareva
On June 21, 1917, the Provisional Government issued an unusual order: on the initiative of the holder of the St. George Cross, Maria Bochkareva, a battalion, unprecedented in the Russian army, was created, which consisted entirely of women. She also led the new "army".
The glory of this woman during her lifetime - both in Russia and abroad - was not dreamed of by many modern "divas" from the world of show business. Reporters fought for the right to interview her, magazines published pictures of the female hero on the covers. Although Mary had neither beauty nor a mysterious love story.
However, the star of Maria Bochkareva burned brightly for only a few years. And then her life ended with an early and inglorious death.
Drunkard's wife, gangster's girlfriend, governor's mistress
Origin prepared for Mary an extremely unsightly and predictable fate: having been born in July 1889 in a poor peasant family, at the age of 16 she was married to Afanasia Bochkareva- a simple hard worker, eight years older than her. They lived in Tomsk; the newly-made husband suffered from alcoholism. And Maria, willy-nilly, began to look to the side.
Her gaze quickly fell on Yankel, or Jacob, Buk- a Jew who "officially" worked as a butcher, but in fact was a robbery in one of the Tomsk gangs. An affair began between them, but soon Yakov was arrested and sent along the stage to Yakutsk.
23-year-old Bochkareva decided to try the fate of the Decembrist on herself - and went after her beloved to the settlement. However, the dashing soul of Yankel did not allow him to live in peace there either: he started buying up stolen goods, and then, having sang with the same desperate ones, he launched an attack on the post office.
As a result, deportation to Kolymsk hung over Buk. The Yakut governor, however, did not refuse Mary, who asked for indulgence for her lover. But he also asked for something in return.
Bochkareva reluctantly agreed. But, having slept with an official, she felt such disgust for herself that she tried to poison herself. Yakov, having learned about what had happened, rushed to the governor and only miraculously did not solve the "seducer": they managed to twist him on the threshold of the office.
Mary's relationship with her lover crumbled to smithereens.
Unter Yashka
Who knows how it would have ended if on August 1, 1914 Russia had not entered the First World War. In the wake of the patriotic upsurge that swept the empire, the 25-year-old Bochkareva decided ... to break with the hateful "citizen" and join the soldiers.
Getting into the army, however, was not at all easy. At first, she was offered only to become a sister of mercy. And she wanted to fight for real. Jokingly or seriously, but the military gave her advice - to seek permission from the emperor himself NicholasII.
If Maria had a sense of humor, then she considered it inappropriate to apply it to this situation. Taking the last eight rubles she had left out of her pocket, Bochkareva went to the post office and sent a telegram to the highest name.
What was the general surprise when a positive answer soon came from St. Petersburg! Maria was enlisted as a civilian soldier.
To the questions of colleagues, what to call her, the woman began to answer: "Yashka." It must be admitted that in many pictures in uniform, Bochkareva is simply impossible to distinguish from a man.
Soon, the unit where Yashka was enrolled ended up at the front, and there Bochkareva was finally able to prove her worth. She fearlessly went on a bayonet attack, pulled the wounded from the battlefield and herself received several wounds. By 1917, she had risen to the rank of senior non-commissioned officer, and three medals and the St. George Cross flaunted on her chest.
However, to win the war, the efforts of one woman, albeit unusually strong body and in spirit, was not enough. Although the Provisional Government in February 17th started talking about “war to the bitter end,” the country was already in a pre-revolutionary fever, and the soldiers were tired of suffering defeat, rotting in the trenches and thinking about what was happening in their families. The army was falling apart before our eyes.
Death as a banner
The authorities frantically searched for a way to raise army morale. One of the leaders February Revolution Mikhail Rodzianko decided to go to the Western Front to agitate for the continuation of the war. But who will believe him, the “rear rat”, there? Whether it's a matter of taking Bochkareva with you, about which legends had already begun to circulate by that time and which was highly respected.
Arriving with Rodzianko in Petrograd, "unter Yashka" got to a meeting of the Congress of Soldiers' Deputies of the Petrosoviet, with whom she shared her idea of \u200b\u200bcreating women's volunteer battalions. "Death Squads" - such a name was proposed for the units. Say, if women are not afraid to die on the battlefield, then what is left for male soldiers who are suddenly afraid of war?
Bochkareva's appeal was immediately published in the newspapers, and with the approval of the Supreme Commander Alexey Brusilov recruitment to women's army teams began across the country.
There were surprisingly many people who wanted to join the army among Russian women. Among the several thousand who signed up for the battalions were female students, teachers, hereditary Cossack women, and representatives of noble families.
For a whole month, “new conscripts” were plowed in at army exercises, and on June 21, 1917, a very solemn ceremony took place on the square near St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Petrograd: a banner was handed over to the new unit, on which was inscribed: “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” After that, the battalion marched bravo through the city streets, where the soldiers were greeted by thousands of people.
The female face of war
Two days later, the unit went to Belarus, to the area of the Novospassky forest near Smorgon. And already on July 8, 1917, the "death battalion" entered the battle for the first time: the Germans wedged into the location of the Russian troops. For three days, Bochkareva and her colleagues repelled 14 enemy attacks.
Colonel Vladimir Zakrzhevsky later reported on the heroic behavior of the girls in battle and that they really set an example for others not only of courage, but also of calmness.
But the battalions of "Russian heroes" surrounding the women's team, in the words of the general Anton Denikin, at that moment they became frightened, gave up slack and were unable to support the fiery impulse of the soldiers. “When the pitch hell of enemy artillery fire broke out, the poor women, forgetting the technique of loose fighting, huddled together - helpless, lonely in their area of the field, loosened by German bombs,” the general later recalled. - We suffered losses. And the “heroes” partly returned back, partly did not leave the trenches at all.
Needless to say, this behavior of male soldiers led Bochkarev into an indescribable rage. Of the 170 members of her battalion, in the very first days of the fight with the enemy, 30 people were killed, more than 70 were wounded. The anger of the battalion commander was looking for an opportunity to fall on someone's head. And found.
Soon she came across a couple who hid behind a tree trunk for purely intimate purposes. Bochkareva was so enraged that she pierced the “girl” with a bayonet without hesitation. And the unfortunate lover cowardly ran away ...
White Music Revolutions
Three months later, the October Revolution broke out. Upon learning of him, Bochkareva was forced to dismiss the surviving subordinates home, and she herself went to Petrograd.
She was sure that the revolution "will lead Russia not to happiness, but to destruction", and that she was not on the way with the Reds. There was only one way out: to bet on the Whites and support them in every possible way.
In 1918, on behalf of General Lavra Kornilova left Vladivostok on a campaign tour of England and the United States. Her mission was to attract Western politicians to help the White movement. In the US, she met with the President Woodrow Wilson , in Britain - with the king George V.
Returning to Russia, she went to Siberia - to the admiral Alexander Kolchak, who proposed to repeat the experience with the death battalion and form a women's military sanitary detachment under the leadership of Bochkareva. "Yashka" began work, but the team she assembled turned out to be of no use to anyone: Kolchak's days were already numbered.
Left without a single thing that she knew how to do well, Maria gave up and took to drink. From time to time, she appeared at Kolchak's headquarters with demands to officially dismiss her with the right to wear a uniform and give her the rank of staff captain.
When the Reds took Tomsk, Bochkareva voluntarily came to the city commandant, handed over her weapons and offered Soviet power cooperation. At first, they took a written undertaking not to leave her and let her go home, but later, in early 1920, they arrested her.
The investigation could not prove her participation in "counter-revolutionary activities", so the special department of the 5th army wanted to transfer the case of Bochkareva to the Moscow Special Department of the Cheka. But to Maria's misfortune, the deputy head of the Special Department just arrived in Siberia at that time, Ivan Pavlunovskiy. He did not understand what could confuse the local Chekists in the history of the famous soldier, and drew a brief resolution on her case: “Bochkareva Maria Leontievna - shoot.”
On May 16, 1920, according to official figures, the sentence was carried out. A postscript about this is also preserved on the cover of the case.
Maria Leontievna was rehabilitated in 1992. At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation unexpectedly announced that there was no evidence of the execution of a woman in the archives.
Some historians believe that the former commander of the death battalion could still escape in 1920: having escaped from the Krasnoyarsk dungeons, she went to Chinese Harbin on false documents, changed her first and last name and settled somewhere in the vicinity of China-Eastern railway(CER). In the late 1920s, however, she could be forcibly deported to the USSR, like some other immigrants from Russia. Whether it was so or not - unfortunately, we are unlikely to ever know for sure.
