From n Kolchak's letter to his son Rostislav: "My dear dear Slavushok ... I would like you to go, when you grow up, along the path of serving the Motherland, which I have been following all my life. Read military history and the deeds of great people and learn from them how to act - this is the only way to become a useful servant of the Motherland. There is nothing higher than the Motherland and service to Her"

And the ice, and the fleet, and the scaffold. Who was, is and will be Admiral Kolchak for Russia?

The name of Admiral Kolchak is again in the center of political and cultural attention today. Why, after almost a century, they started talking about him again? On the one hand, his Arctic studies are of particular relevance due to the fact that an active struggle is now underway on the international arena for the redistribution of the territories of the Arctic Ocean. On the other hand, on October 9, a large-scale premiere of the film “ Admiral "(the picture comes out with a record number of copies - 1250), dedicated to life, career, love and death Kolchak. About about how great the role of Kolchak in Russian history, and about how interesting his fate can be today for a wide audience, " AiF ” asked the editor and one of the authors of the book to tell “ Admiral . Encyclopedia of Film” by Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuliya KANTOR.

Arctic Kolchak

- In my opinion, in Russian history, the beginning XX century it is difficult to find a figure more striking and ambiguous than Kolchak. If the historical and political mission of Kolchak can still be interpreted in different ways and needs a comprehensive study free from ideology, then his role as a scientist, researcher of the Arctic is unlikely to cause conflicting assessments. But, alas, until now it is still underestimated and little known.

The role of Kolchak as an outstanding military leader and naval commander during the First World War also deserves attention. He did a lot, firstly, to create the Russian military fleet as such. Secondly, Kolchak made a great contribution to the protection of the shores of the Baltic Sea. And the famous "mine nets" invented by him, which were placed from the enemy in the First World War, were also useful during the Great Patriotic War.

Path to Calvary

The figure of Kolchak caused and causes considerable controversy, primarily in connection with his activities as a politician. Yes, the admiral was absolutely not a politician. However, he assumed the position of Supreme Ruler with dictatorial powers. He did not have a political program as such, Kolchak did not know how to be a diplomat at all, he was a suggestible and gullible person, and this is disastrous even in simpler historical periods. In addition, the admiral was a man of duty and honor - "uncomfortable" qualities for a politician. But it would be naïve to assume that he is a democrat—his aspirations show a distinct authoritarianism. At the same time, the admiral was very vulnerable, reflective and insecure.

This becomes quite obvious when you read his personal correspondence. And at the same time, you understand what efforts it cost him, as he himself said, "to accept the cross of this power." Kolchak was well aware of what Golgotha ​​he was ascending to, and had a presentiment of how everything could end for him.

Today, a sufficient number of films about historical characters are being released, which can be referred to in Soviet time filmmakers were banned. But the interest in Kolchak is special. Both cinema and literature will remember him more than once. He is a complex, multifaceted personality, it is interesting to understand his life. And then, what is important for works of art, a strikingly beautiful, uncomplicated love story goes through Kolchak's biography - to Anna Timiryova . This is a novel, amazing in depth and tragedy, unfolding against the backdrop of dramatic historical events and having a documentary basis. And love is a theme for all time.

http://amnesia.pavelbers.com

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak. Born on November 4 (November 16), 1874 in St. Petersburg - shot on February 7, 1920 in Irkutsk. Russian military and political figure, oceanographer, polar explorer, naval commander. Admiral (1918). Supreme Ruler of Russia and Supreme Commander of the Russian Army (November 1918 - January 1920).

Father - Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak (1837, Odessa - April 4, 1913, St. Petersburg), Russian general, participant in the Crimean War, a major specialist in the field of artillery.

Mother - Olga Ilyinichna Kolchak (nee Posokhova; 1855-1894), from an Odessa merchant family, her father Ilya Mikhailovich was a hereditary honorary citizen and long-term vowel of the Odessa City Duma.

Admiral Kolchak was baptized on December 15, 1874 in the Trinity Church with. Aleksandrovsky St. Petersburg district. The godparents were the naval staff captain Alexander Ivanovich Kolchak (his uncle, his father's younger brother) and the widow of the collegiate secretary Daria Filippovna Ivanova.

His family belonged to the service nobility of the Russian Empire and was quite extensive; in different generations, Kolchaks often turned out to be associated with military affairs. According to one version, Kolchak's ancestor was a Turkish commander who converted to Islam, the Bosnian Serb Ilias Kolchak Pasha, commandant of the Khotyn fortress on the Dniester, captured by Field Marshal H. A. Minich in 1739.

Before entering school, he received family education under the guidance of his father and mother. Alexander received religious education from his mother, who took the children to church near the Obukhov plant.

In 1885-1888, Alexander studied at the 6th St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium, where he completed three classes out of eight. Representatives of all major classes and estates studied in the same class with Alexander. Alexander did not study well and when he was transferred to the 3rd grade, having received a deuce in Russian, a triple with a minus in Latin, a triple in mathematics, a triple with a minus in German and a deuce in French, he was almost left "for the second year." At the repeated oral exams in Russian and French, I corrected my grades by three with a minus and was transferred to the 3rd grade.

In 1888, "of his own free will and at the request of his father," Alexander entered the Naval School. There he studied diligently. In 1890, Kolchak went to sea for the first time. On May 12, upon arrival in Kronstadt, Alexander, along with other junior cadets, was assigned to the armored frigate Prince Pozharsky. On this ship, the flag of Rear Admiral F. A. Gerken, commander of the training squadron, was also raised. The squadron under his command, during the training voyage, called at Bjerko, Helsingfors, Revel, and on August 6 returned to Kronstadt. During the voyage, Kolchak, along with other younger students, was engaged in boats. By the end of the exercises, general rowing and sailing races took place, and then a landing exercise took place.

The English inventor and cannon king W. J. Armstrong suggested that Alexander go to England, study the business at his factories and become an engineer. However, the desire to "swim and serve at sea" in the desires and dreams of young Kolchak prevailed.

In 1892, Alexander was promoted to junior non-commissioned officer. With the transition to the cadet class, he was promoted to sergeant major as the best in science and behavior, among the few on the course, and was appointed mentor to a junior company.

In 1894, at the end of the graduation academic year, the midshipmen went through a difficult month-long voyage on the Skobelev corvette and began to pass the final exams. At the maritime exam, Kolchak was the only one from the class who answered all fifteen questions asked. As for the rest of the exams, Kolchak also passed all of them with excellent marks, except for the mine case. By order of September 15, 1894, Kolchak, among all issued midshipmen, was promoted to midshipman.

Having left the Naval Corps in the 7th Naval Crew, in March 1895 Kolchak was assigned to practice navigational work at the Kronstadt Naval Observatory, and soon he was appointed as a watch officer on the new armored cruiser of the 1st rank "Rurik", departing from Kronstadt to Dalniy East. Even then, he became interested in oceanography and hydrology of the Pacific Ocean, he was especially interested in its northern part - the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. In the future, he hoped to explore the southern polar seas, thought about a breakthrough to the South Pole and about the continuation of Russian research work in those latitudes, suspended after the expedition of F. F. Bellingshausen and M. P. Lazarev.

Independent scientific work and research of sea currents, which the young officer began to do, did not, however, correspond to the situation of the flagship warship, on which the squadron commander, Admiral E. I. Alekseev, was also located.

In 1897, Kolchak filed a report with a request to transfer him to the gunboat "Koreets", which was heading to the Commander Islands at that time, where the young officer planned to do research work, but instead he was sent as a watch teacher to the sail-propeller clipper "Cruiser ", which was used to train boatswains and non-commissioned officers. The Korean port of Gensan was chosen as the anchorage of the Cruiser, where Kolchak continued his hydrological research. The ship spent the winter of 1897/98 in Nagasaki.

On December 5, 1898, the Cruiser left Port Arthur at the disposal of the Baltic Fleet; on December 6, Kolchak was promoted to lieutenant.

While sailing in the Pacific Ocean, Kolchak learned that the ship Bakan was preparing for a trip to Svalbard as part of a Russian-Swedish expedition, and the newest powerful icebreaker Yermak was preparing to sail on a journey to the depths of the Arctic under the leadership of Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov . The young officer was familiar with Makarov's famous lecture "To the North Pole ahead", read by the admiral in 1897 in the Russian Geographical Society. Kolchak sought to get into one of these expeditions. But the icebreaker's crew was already completed, and it was impossible to switch from one ship to another without the sanction of the ministry.

In 1899, Kolchak brought together and processed the results of his own observations of the currents of the Japan and Yellow Seas and published his first scientific article, “Observations on surface temperatures and specific gravity of sea water, made on cruisers” in “Notes on Hydrography Published by the Main Hydrographic Department” Rurik" and "Cruiser" from May 1897 to March 1899".

Kolchak knew that the Academy of Sciences was preparing a project for the Russian Polar Expedition with the task of going through the Northern Sea Route from Kronstadt to Vladivostok, exploring the area of ​​the Arctic Ocean north of the New Siberian Islands and trying to find the legendary Sannikov Land. The well-known polar explorer E. V. Toll, whom Kolchak met in September 1899, was appointed to lead the expedition. Toll did not give a definite answer, and meanwhile Kolchak was assigned to the battleship Petropavlovsk and went on it to the Far East.

The service on the newest battleship captivated the young officer, but he soon saw that here "there is a service, but there is no practice, there is no way to swim and live." Kolchak decided to take part in the Anglo-Boer War that began in the fall of 1899. He was driven to this not only by a romantic desire to help the Boers, but also by the desire to gain experience in modern warfare, to improve in his profession. But soon, when the ship was in the Greek port of Piraeus, Kolchak received a telegram from the Academy of Sciences from E. V. Toll with a proposal to take part in the expedition on the Zarya schooner - the very one that he was so eager to get into in St. Petersburg. Toll was interested in the scientific work of the young lieutenant in the journal "Sea Collection". Kolchak announced his consent and was temporarily transferred from military service to the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

Alexander Kolchak and the Russian polar expedition (1900-1902)

In early January 1900, Kolchak arrived in St. Petersburg. The head of the expedition offered him to supervise the hydrological work, as well as to act as an assistant to the magnetologist. On June 8, 1900, the travelers set off. Having passed the Baltic Sea, rounded the Scandinavian Peninsula and loaded with coal in the Ekaterininskaya harbor (Kola Bay), on August 5, the sailors were already heading towards the Taimyr Peninsula.

On September 22, 1900, the expedition stopped for the winter on the western coast of Taimyr, in the area of ​​Colin Archer Bay.

Lieutenant Kolchak was in full charge of hydrological research, and was also engaged in hydrochemical research and observations on terrestrial magnetism, topographic work, conducted route surveys and barometric leveling, and during nights with clear skies determined the latitudes and longitudes of various geographical objects. Throughout the expedition, Kolchak compiled a detailed description of the coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean, studied the state and development of sea ice.

Kolchak accompanied Toll on his two sledge trips to the little-explored eastern part of the Taimyr Peninsula, to the Chelyuskin Peninsula (October 15-19, 1900 and April 6 - May 18, 1901). During the first trip, which took place in 30-degree frosts, Kolchak, who made astronomical clarifications of a number of points along the way, managed to make significant clarifications and corrections to the old map made as a result of the Nansen expedition of 1893-1896.

In the spring, in 41 days, Toll and Kolchak covered 500 miles of the way, doing route surveys and geological surveys. Due to the lack of dogs, it was often necessary to harness the dog teams themselves.

The role of Kolchak in the expedition is best evidenced by the certification given to him by Baron Toll himself in a report to the President of the Academy of Sciences, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. The expedition leader noted his energy and dedication to the cause of science and called the young lieutenant the "best officer" of the expedition.

In 1901, Toll immortalized the name of A. V. Kolchak, naming one of the islands discovered by the expedition in the Taimyr Bay and a cape in the same area after him. At the same time, Kolchak himself, during his polar campaigns, named another island and cape after his bride - Sofya Fedorovna Omirova - who was waiting for him in the capital. Cape Sofia retained its name to our time.

The navigation of 1901 lasted exactly 25 days, during which the yacht covered 1350 miles. On August 19, Zarya crossed the longitude of Cape Chelyuskin, becoming the 4th ship after Nordenskiöld's Vega with its auxiliary ship Lena and Nansen's Fram, which rounded the northern point of Eurasia.

On September 10, 1901, the second wintering of the expedition began off the western coast of Kotelny Island (Novosibirsk Islands). Kolchak, as during the first wintering in Taimyr, tried not to waste time and, at any opportunity, with his comrades or on his own, went to explore Kotelny Island, and in the spring - also Belkovsky.

Desperate to find Sannikov Land, Toll decided to at least explore the unexplored Bennett Island. On May 23, 1902, with three companions, he set off from the wintering place towards the island. After the completion of the work of the polar explorers (the Toll group and the Byalynitsky-Biruli group, which left on April 29 for the island of New Siberia), Zarya was supposed to pick up. On August 8, the remaining members of the expedition were able, freed from ice captivity, to go on the Zarya in the direction of the Bennett Islands and New Siberia, but in two weeks they could not break through the ice and were forced to turn south to the mainland, because otherwise the coal would have to return would not be enough.

On August 25, the Zarya, crippled by ice, barely crawled to the mouth of the Lena and approached the shore in Tiksi Bay - to the eternal parking lot. All the most valuable collections and equipment were reloaded on board the Lena steamer, on which the travelers reached Yakutsk. Leaving, Lieutenant Matisen, to whom Toll handed over the leadership of the expedition during his absence, ordered to prepare deer for Toll's group, and if he did not appear before February 1, to go to the island of New Siberia and wait for him there.

In early December 1902, Kolchak and other members of the expedition reached the capital.

For the Russian polar expedition, Lieutenant Kolchak was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree. On February 1, 1906, following the results of the expedition, he was also elected a full member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Based on the materials of the expedition, Kolchak carried out a fundamental study on the ice of the Kara and East Siberian seas, which was a new step in the development of polar oceanography. In his monograph "The Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas", which occupies more than 170 pages with 11 tables and 24 photographs of different forms of ice, the author, among other things, not only formulated the main directions of the movement of ice under the influence of winds and currents in the area of ​​the New Siberian Islands, but also proposed a scheme for the movement of the Arctic pack for the entire polar basin.

Alexander Kolchak and the Rescue Expedition of 1903

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, F. A. Matisen and A. V. Kolchak, having reported to the Academy of Sciences on the work done, reported on the hiking trip to Bennett Island undertaken by E. V. Toll. Considering the absence of any news about the fate of two groups of researchers who could not be taken away at the end of the expedition (the second was the group of Byalynitsky-Biruli), their fate was extremely worried by the Academy of Sciences, the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and the returning members of the expedition themselves.

A sense of responsibility and comradely duty pushed A.V. Kolchak to take quick and decisive action. Ready to personally lead the rescue expedition, he outlined his plan on paper and submitted the paper to the chairman of the Russian Polar Expedition Equipment Commission, Academician F. B. Schmidt.

On December 9, 1902, the Commission adopted the plan proposed by Kolchak for a sledge-boat trip to Bennett.

In the meantime, news came that Biruli's party had safely returned to the mainland from New Siberia, but he could not say anything about Toll's fate.

On February 9, 1903, Kolchak went to Irkutsk, and by March 8, all participants in Kolchak's enterprise gathered in Yakutsk. Passing along the Aldan River and its tributary the Nera, the travelers reached Verkhoyansk, crossing the Verkhoyansk Range and passing along the mouth of the Sartangu River. Further, the expedition members crossed the Kular ridge and on April 10 were already in the village of Kazachiy on the Yana. Simultaneously with the advance of the rescue party to the Novosibirsk Islands, one of the Zarya whaleboats was sent along with equipment and food for the rescuers.

On May 5, 1903, Kolchak set out from the mainland in the direction of the New Siberian Islands, with Bennett Island as his ultimate goal. The total number of the expedition was 17 people, including seven people of the so-called whaleboat team (the head of the expedition, two sailors and four Mezen Pomors). The expedition was accompanied by 10 sleds with food, clothing, ammunition, each of which was dragged by 13 dogs. The whaleboat itself was loaded onto 2 sledges, which were dragged by 30 dogs. Snow and ice became loose, the dogs pulled with difficulty, although the whole expedition walked in straps and harnessed along with the dogs. We walked only at night, when it was freezing, but all the same, the dogs refused to pull for more than six hours, and it was possible to pass only a few miles a day. On May 23, the travelers reached Kotelny Island.

On July 18, when the wind drove the ice away from the shore, seven people continued their journey on a whaleboat across the sea towards Faddeevsky Island. In this passage, travelers were accompanied by constant solid snow, which turned into streams of water and soaked people stronger than rain. At Cape Vysokiy on the island of New Siberia, according to the agreement, the head of the auxiliary group, Brusnev, was waiting for them. Back in March, he managed to find here Toll's first note (dated July 11, 1902), where the baron reported about being sent to Bennett Island. After resting for a day at Brusnev, the whaleboat team continued on their way to Bennett Island.

On the open sea they went either by oars or by sail. It was snowing incessantly, covering the whaleboat with a damp soft cover, which, melting, soaked people worse than rain and made them feel colder than on a frosty winter day. On August 4, they landed on Bennett Island and began searching for traces of Toll's group. At Cape Emma, ​​Kolchak found a bottle with a note and a plan of the island, which Toll left here, as agreed before parting for the winter.

The transition through the glacier almost ended tragically for Kolchak: having miscalculated the jump through the crack, he fell into the icy water and lost consciousness from the temperature shock. This bathing in icy water affected Kolchak's health for the rest of his life.

On the eastern coast of the island, in Toll's kitchen, Toll's last note was found, addressed to the president of the Academy of Sciences and containing a brief report on the work done on the island. The note ended with the words: “Let's go south today. We have provisions for 14-20 days. Everyone is healthy. October 26, 1902".

Kolchak spent three days on the island, visiting all three of its ends. Kolchak named the northeastern tip of the island Cape Emmeline Toll, the southeastern one - the Chernyshev Peninsula, and Kolchak named the cape on this peninsula Sofia in honor of his bride Sofia Fedorovna. The highest mountain was named De Long, the other became known as Mount Toll. Two glaciers on the tops of these mountains have been named after Seeberg.

Having found out everything that it was possible to find out about the fate of Toll, on August 7 Kolchak and his people set off on the return journey. They took with them documents and a small part of the geological collections abandoned by Baron Toll when leaving the island. In early January 1904, Kolchak and his companions reached Verkhoyansk. On January 26, having arrived in Yakutsk, Kolchak gave a telegram to the president of the Academy of Sciences, in which he said that Toll's party left Bennett Island in the autumn of 1902 and disappeared without a trace. This telegram from Kolchak was published by many newspapers.

Kolchak's expedition reached its goal and returned without losses in its composition, which its leader could be proud of. In addition to searching for Toll's group, Kolchak's expedition also solved important research problems. Kolchak discovered and described geographic objects unknown before him, clarified the outlines of the coastline, and clarified the characteristics of ice formation.

The famous traveler P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky assessed Kolchak's expedition as "an important geographical feat." In 1906, the Russian Geographical Society awarded Kolchak its highest award, the Konstantinovsky Medal. Kolchak was the fourth of the polar travelers who received this honorary award; before him, only three famous polar explorers were awarded this medal: F. Nansen, N. Nordenskiöld and N. D. Yurgens.

Alexander Kolchak and the Russo-Japanese War

Upon arrival in Yakutsk, Kolchak learned about the attack of the Japanese fleet on the Russian squadron on the Port Arthur roadstead and about the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. On January 28, 1904, he contacted Konstantin Konstantinovich by telegraph and asked for his transfer from the Academy of Sciences to the Naval Department. Having received permission, Kolchak petitioned for a direction to Port Arthur. Having handed over the affairs of the expedition, on March 9 he went to the Far East.

Kolchak arrived in Port Arthur on March 18. The next day, the lieutenant met with the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral S. O. Makarov, and asked for an assignment to a combat position. However, Makarov appointed him as a watch officer on the cruiser of the 1st rank "Askold". Two weeks later, Admiral Makarov, whom Kolchak considered his teacher, died aboard the squadron battleship Petropavlovsk, which was blown up by a Japanese mine.

Kolchak, who most of all disliked monotonous and routine work, achieved his transfer to the Amur mine layer. The transfer took place on 17 April. Four days later, he was appointed commander of the destroyer "Angry". The ship belonged to the second detachment of destroyers, inferior to the best ships of the first detachment and therefore employed in guarding the entrance to the harbor or escorting minesweepers. Appointment to such a job was another disappointment for the young officer eager to fight. Nevertheless, Kolchak did an excellent job with his duties and was of great benefit to the cause of protecting Port Arthur.

On May 1, for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities in the east, Kolchak had a chance to take part in a serious and dangerous mission. On this day, the operation began, developed by the commander of the Amur mine layer, Captain 2nd Rank F.N. Ivanov. While the "Amur" was engaged in the installation of a mine can, "Angry" under the command of Kolchak, together with the "Ambulance" walked with trawls ahead of the "Amur", clearing the way for him. The next day, the Japanese battleships "Hatsuse" and "Yashima" were blown up by placed mines, which became the loudest success of the First Pacific Squadron in the entire campaign.

Kolchak's first independent command of a warship continued until October 18, with an almost month-long break for treatment in the hospital from pneumonia. Kolchak on his destroyer daily trawled the outer raid, was on duty at the passage to the bay, fired at the enemy, laid mines. He chose a place to install the can, but on the night of August 24 he was prevented by three Japanese destroyers. The officer showed perseverance - on the night of August 25, the "Angry" again went to sea, and Kolchak set 16 mines in the place he had chosen, 20½ miles (38 km) from the harbor. There is an assumption that it was on these mines that the Japanese cruiser Takasago blew up and sank. Kolchak was proud of this success, mentioned it in his 1918 autobiography and during interrogation in Irkutsk in 1920.

From September 19, destroyers and gunboats were transferred to permanent duty near the entrance to the outer roadstead. Mines were laid periodically. However, the service on the destroyer was becoming more and more monotonous by this time, and Kolchak regretted that he was not in the thick of things, where the fate of Port Arthur was being decided.

On October 18, Kolchak, at his own request, due to his state of health, was transferred to the land front, where by that time the main events of the military campaign had moved. Here he commanded a battery of different-caliber guns at the artillery position "Armed Sector of the Rocky Mountains", the general command of which was carried out by Captain 2nd Rank A. A. Khomenko. Kolchak's battery included two small batteries of 47 mm guns, a 120 mm gun firing at distant targets, a battery of two 47 mm and two 37 mm guns. Later, Kolchak's economy was reinforced with two more old guns from the light cruiser Razboinik.

During the siege of Port Arthur, Lieutenant Kolchak kept records in which he systematized the experience of artillery firing and collected evidence of an unsuccessful July attempt to break through the ships of the Port Arthur squadron to Vladivostok, showing himself again as a scientist - artilleryman and strategist.

By the time of the capitulation of Port Arthur, Kolchak became seriously ill: a wound was added to the articular rheumatism. On December 22, he was admitted to the hospital. In April, the hospital was evacuated by the Japanese to Nagasaki, and the sick officers were asked to be treated in Japan or return to Russia. All Russian officers preferred their Motherland. On June 4, 1905, Kolchak arrived in St. Petersburg, but after another exacerbation, he again ended up in the hospital.

For "guard service and guarding the passage to Port Arthur, shelling of enemy positions" carried out during the command of "Angry", on November 15, 1904, A. V. Kolchak was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree with the inscription "For Courage". On December 12, 1905, “for distinction in cases against the enemy near Port Arthur,” the lieutenant was awarded the St. George weapon with the inscription “For Bravery.” To the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree, which Kolchak was awarded for the Russian polar expedition, in 1906 he was granted swords. In the same year, he was awarded a silver medal in memory of the Russo-Japanese War. Later, in 1914, Kolchak was awarded the badge of a participant in the defense of Port Arthur.

Then he took up the processing of materials from polar expeditions, which turned out to be so rich that a special commission of the Academy of Sciences was created to study them, which worked until 1919. Work on the report on the rescue expedition led by Kolchak was completed on November 12, 1905, the report was published in the Izvestiya of the Russian Geographical Society, and on January 10, 1906, Kolchak, based on this report, made a brief report at a meeting of the Russian Geographical Society. Kolchak's article "The last expedition to Bennett Island, equipped by the Academy of Sciences to search for Baron Toll" was published in Izvestia of the Academy of Sciences. In 1906, the Main Hydrographic Department of the Naval Ministry published three maps prepared by Kolchak.

In 1907, a translation into Russian of the work of M. Knudsen "Tables of freezing points of sea water", prepared by Kolchak, was published.

In 1909, Kolchak published his largest study - a monograph summarizing his glaciological research in the Arctic - "Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas", but did not have time to publish another monograph dedicated to the cartographic work of Toll's expedition.

Alexander Kolchak and the St. Petersburg Naval Circle

Like most Russian officers, Kolchak was very upset by the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the actual death of the fleet. In the capital, on the initiative of young officers, a Petersburg Naval Circle, which was subsequently chaired by A. V. Kolchak. On the initiative of the members of the circle, in April - June 1906, the Naval General Staff was created, which, as stated in the decree, "has the subject of its activities to draw up a war plan at sea and measures to organize the combat readiness of the naval armed forces of the Empire." Kolchak was one of the authors of the note on the organization of the MGSH and on May 1, 1906, he took up a responsible post in the new institution - he became the head of the department of Russian statistics.

The "naval qualification" was soon abolished, which made it difficult for young naval officers to advance in the service. Because of this qualification, Kolchak served as a lieutenant for almost 10 years, during which time he took part in two polar expeditions and the defense of Port Arthur. On June 11, 1907, Kolchak was awarded the rank of captain-lieutenant restored in the fleet. In the same year, he was granted "swords" and "bows" to the Order of St. Vladimir, received for the feat of the rescue expedition of 1903.

As a generator of ideas and organizer, Kolchak provided big influence for young officers. In the Naval General Staff, Kolchak headed a commission to study the military reasons that led to the defeat in the battle of Tsushima. The historian Khandorin noted that Kolchak considered it a serious mistake of the Russian command not to take measures to disrupt the radio communications of the Japanese, which played a tremendous role in the battle.

Kolchak was an expert on the state defense commission of the State Duma, he made presentations in it and in other public meetings. On December 21, 1907, in his circle, transferred to the Naval General Staff, Kolchak delivered a report prepared on the basis of his theoretical work “What kind of fleet does Russia need”. The report was subsequently repeated in the Club of Public Figures in the capital, in the Kronstadt Society of Navy Officers and in the Society of Advocates of Military Knowledge. In 1908, Kolchak's work was published in the 6th and 7th issues of the Marine Collection. The article, distinguished by its realism and adherence to principles, became the theoretical justification for the entire Russian military shipbuilding in the years preceding the outbreak of the First World War. The principles outlined in his lectures were further developed already in Soviet times.

Alexander Kolchak and Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean

While serving in the Naval General Staff, Kolchak did not cease to be interested in the North, was a member of the commission of the Northern Sea Route and continued scientific research. In 1906, a commission headed by Admiral V.P. Verkhovsky was created to study the issue of the Northern Sea Route. The Commission instructed Kolchak to draw up a report for the Minister of Marine on the conditions of navigation along the Arctic coast of Russia. The note was prepared by Kolchak in September 1906.

Major-General A. I. Vilkitsky, who headed the Main Hydrographic Department of the Naval Ministry, cherished the dream of opening the Great Northern Route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Vilkitsky enlisted the support of the government and decided to organize an expedition. He turned to Kolchak with a proposal to resume research work in the Arctic Ocean, get involved in the preparation of the expedition and be one of its leaders. Kolchak accepted this offer.

According to the plan developed by the Verkhovsky commission, it was supposed to send three detachments of two ships each to the complex expedition, to build 16 geophysical stations on the Arctic coast and islands. Kolchak, in collaboration with F. A. Mathisen, developed an expedition project using icebreaker-type steel vessels. The project was presented to Vilkitsky and received approval. On May 29, 1908, even before the construction of the Vaigach and Taimyr icebreakers was completed, Kolchak was appointed commander of the Vaigach icebreaker. On September 30, he was enrolled in the 2nd Baltic naval crew and left the Naval General Staff.

The ships were considered military, the degree of their reliability and unsinkability was very high for their time. Icebreakers served researchers and rescuers for a long time and made it possible to make major geographical discoveries, including the discovery of the archipelago of Emperor Nicholas II Land (now Severnaya Zemlya) and laying the Northern Sea Route. Both in the creation of these icebreakers, which were built at the Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant in St. Petersburg, and in general in the development of the icebreaker fleet, Kolchak's merits were great. However, in Soviet literature and historiography they were hushed up.

October 28, 1909 "Vaigach" and "Taimyr" went to sea, with four naval officers and 38-40 crew members on board. Having passed the Baltic, North, Mediterranean, Red Seas and the Indian Ocean, on June 3, 1910, the expedition arrived in Vladivostok. Vessels were repaired here, the head of the expedition, Colonel of the Corps of Naval Navigators I. S. Sergeev, a well-known hydrograph, arrived at the Vaigach.

Kolchak was burning with the idea of ​​​​opening the Northern Sea Route and infected his companions with this idea, the enthusiasm of the expedition members was high.

For navigation in 1910, the Main Hydrographic Directorate set the task of passing into the Bering Strait and surveying this area. Cape Dezhnev was chosen as the main point for surveying and astronomical work. The main part of the work of the expedition was planned for the spring of 1911. Part of the work related to the plan of 1910 was completed by the expedition, all research work on the cape, in which Kolchak also took part, was done.

On August 17, 1910, the ships left the Golden Horn Bay and approached Kamchatka, after which they crossed the Avacha Bay and reached Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Having passed Cape Dezhnev, the expedition entered the Arctic Ocean. After standing for a week near the village of Uelen, the expedition moved west. On September 20, the icebreakers set off back to Vladivostok. On the way in the Gulf of Natalia, they described the bays of Peter and Paul, making adjustments to the available maps.

October 20 returned to Vladivostok. Kolchak, however, was called to St. Petersburg to continue his service in the Naval General Staff. And although he was annoyed to refuse further participation in the expedition, which was given so much effort and which had good prospects, Kolchak agreed to the proposal to continue working in the General Staff.

Returning to the Naval General Staff as chief of the 1st operational unit (planning fleet operations in the Baltic), in 1911-1912 Kolchak was engaged in bringing the shipbuilding program and preparing the fleet for war. According to the program, one of the authors of which was Kolchak, high-speed, maneuverable, well-armed ships were built in Russia.

At the same time, Kolchak taught in officer classes, as well as in the courses of the naval department of the Nikolaev Naval Academy. Kolchak wrote the theoretical works "On the battle formations of the fleet", "On the battle". In 1912, Kolchak's book "Service of the General Staff" was published with the stamp "not subject to disclosure" - an overview of the activities of the naval general staffs of the leading world powers.

April 15, 1912 Kolchak was appointed commander of the destroyer "Ussuriets" and went to the base of the mine division in Libau.

In May 1913, Kolchak was appointed to command the destroyer "Border Guard", which was used as a messenger ship for Admiral Essen. On June 25, after demonstration demonstrations of mine laying in Finnish skerries, Minister I. K. Grigorovich gathered on board the "Border Guard" , Essen. The sovereign was pleased with the state of the teams and ships, Kolchak and other commanders of the ships were declared "nominal royal favor." At the headquarters of the commander of the fleet, they began to prepare papers for the production of Kolchak in the next rank.

On December 6, 1913, “for distinction in service,” Kolchak was promoted to captain of the 1st rank, and after 3 days he was already appointed acting head of the operational department of the headquarters of the commander of the naval forces of the Baltic Fleet.

On July 14, 1914, Kolchak began to fulfill the duties of the flag-captain for the operational part at the headquarters of Essen. On this day, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor - the French president came to visit Russia.

As one of the closest assistants to the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Kolchak focused on preparatory measures for the rapidly approaching big war. Kolchak's duties included inspecting detachments of the fleet, naval bases, developing protective measures, and mining.

Alexander Kolchak during World War I

On the evening of July 16, 1914, the headquarters of Admiral Essen received a cipher from the General Staff about the mobilization of the Baltic Fleet from midnight on July 17. All night long, a group of officers led by Kolchak was engaged in drawing up instructions for the battle. To protect the capital from the attack of the German fleet, the Mine Division set up minefields in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. The first two months of the war, Kolchak fought as a flag captain, developing operational tasks and plans, while always striving to take part in the battle itself.

In August, near the island of Odensholm, the German cruiser Magdeburg, which had run aground, was captured. A German signal book was found among the trophies. From it, the Essen headquarters learned that the Baltic Fleet was opposed by rather small forces of the German fleet. As a result, the question was raised about the transition of the Baltic Fleet from silent defense to active operations.

In early September, the active operations plan was approved, Kolchak went to defend him at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, however Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich recognized the active operations of the Baltic Fleet as premature. In the autumn of 1914, the Essen headquarters decided to take advantage of the weakened vigilance on the part of the Germans, confident in the passive tactics of the Russian naval forces, and "fill up the entire German coast with mines." Kolchak developed a mine blockade of German naval bases. The first mines were laid in October 1914 near Memel, and already on November 4, the German cruiser Friedrich Karl sank in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthis mine bank. In November, a mine bank was placed near the island of Bornholm.

At the end of December 1914, near the island of Rügen and the Stolpe Bank, on the routes by which German ships sailed from Kiel, minefields were laid, in which Kolchak took an active part. Subsequently, the small cruisers Augsburg and Gazelle were blown up by mines.

In February 1915, Captain 1st Rank A.V. Kolchak took command of a special-purpose semi-division of four destroyers of the Border Guard type. During the minefield operation in the Danzig Bay, Kolchak had to apply his experience of sailing in the Arctic - there was already a lot of ice in the sea. All the destroyers successfully reached the place where the minefield was laid, but the Rurik cover cruiser ran into the stones and got a hole. Kolchak led his ships further without cover. On February 1, 1915, Kolchak, in the most difficult weather conditions, set up to 200 mines in the bay, brilliantly solving the task of the campaign, and successfully returned his ships to the base.

In August 1915, the German fleet, turning to active operations, attempted to break into the Gulf of Riga. It was minefields that stopped him: having lost several destroyers on Russian mines and damaging some cruisers, the Germans soon canceled their plans due to the threat of new losses. This then led to the disruption of the offensive of their ground forces on Riga, since it was not supported from the sea by the fleet.

In early September 1915, due to the injury of Rear Admiral P. L. Trukhachev, the post of head of the Mine Division was temporarily vacated, and Kolchak was entrusted with it. Having accepted the division on September 10, Kolchak began to establish ties with the ground command. With the commander of the 12th Army, General R. D. Radko-Dmitriev, they agreed to jointly prevent the German offensive along the coast. Kolchak's division had to repel the large-scale German offensive that had begun, both on water and on land. In autumn, the Germans landed troops on the southern coast of the Gulf of Riga and launched an offensive against the army of Radko-Dmitriev.

Kolchak began to develop a landing operation in the German rear. Despite the opposition of the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet, Alexander Vasilyevich managed to insist on his own, although he had to reduce the scale of his operation to a minimum. On October 6, a detachment of 22 officers and 514 lower ranks on two gunboats under the cover of 15 destroyers, the battleship Slava and the Orlitsa air transport set off on a campaign. A. V. Kolchak personally supervised the operation. On October 9, secretly from the Germans, the detachment landed on the shore, removed the guard post near the lighthouse and defeated the infantry company sent by the Germans. Seaplanes and destroyers helped the paratroopers from the sea. As a result of the landing, an enemy observation post was liquidated, prisoners and trophies were captured. The ratio of losses was 40 people killed on the German side against 4 wounded on the Russian side. The demonstration conducted by Kolchak was a clear proof of the possibility of similar operations by forces of larger formations. The Germans were forced to take troops from the front to protect the coastline and anxiously await Russian maneuvers from the Gulf of Riga.

Serious assistance to the army units was provided by Kolchak's ships in the future, supporting them in the most difficult situation with massive shelling of enemy units. On November 2, 1915, Nicholas II, according to the report of Radko-Dmitriev, awarded Kolchak the Order of St. George, 4th degree. This award was presented to Alexander Vasilievich for commanding the Mine Division.

On December 19, Kolchak, bypassing the post of chief of the primary tactical formation of destroyers, was already again accepting the Mine Division, and this time already as its current commander, on a permanent basis. However, even for a short time at the headquarters, Captain Kolchak managed to do a very important thing: he developed a plan for the operation to mine Vindava, which was successfully implemented later. For the Germans, Kolchak's surprise in this area was so unexpected that a cruiser and a number of destroyers of the German fleet were immediately blown up here.

In addition to laying minefields, Kolchak often led groups of ships under personal command into the sea to hunt for various enemy ships, guard service. One of these exits ended in failure, when the patrol ship Vindava was lost. However, failures were the exception. The fame that Kolchak won for himself was well-deserved: by the end of 1915, the losses of the German fleet in terms of warships exceeded similar Russian ones by 3.4 times; in terms of merchant ships - 5.2 times.

In the spring campaign of 1916, when the Germans launched an offensive against Riga, the role of the Kolchak cruisers Slava, Admiral Makarov and Diana was to shell and impede the advance of the enemy. To exclude the possibility of moving along the part of the coast under the control of the Germans, enemy submarines and transports, Kolchak began to mine these sections of the coast with the help of shallow-draft minelayers.

The war allowed Kolchak to show new facets of his talent, after polar voyages, scientific works and staff reform creativity, Alexander Vasilyevich revealed himself as a naval commander and a miner. With the adoption on August 23, 1915, by Nicholas II of the rank of Supreme Commander in Headquarters, the attitude towards the fleet began to change for the better. Kolchak also felt this. Soon, his introduction to the next military rank began to move.

In the rank of rear admiral, Kolchak took part in the raiding actions of the light forces of the Baltic Fleet on German communications, in particular in attempts to interrupt the transportation of iron ore from Sweden to Germany. The first transport attack was unsuccessful. The second campaign - on May 31, 1916 - was planned to the smallest detail, and the meeting with the German convoy took place in Norrköping Bay. Having discovered the caravan, Kolchak attacked it at night, dispersed it, and sank the escort ship.

The last task that Kolchak was engaged in in the Baltic Fleet was to develop a major landing operation in the German rear in the Gulf of Riga.

On June 28, 1916, by decree of the emperor, in violation of the rights of seniority, Kolchak was promoted to vice admiral and appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet, thus becoming the youngest of the fleet commanders of the warring powers. At the same time, as modern historians note, the command of the warring fleet was entrusted to the admiral, who neither in peacetime nor in wartime commanded a ship of the 1st rank, not to mention the command of the "backbone" of the military fleets of that time - a connection of heavy ships. Kolchak was assigned a salary of 22 thousand rubles a year and an additional sea allowance, 2 thousand rubles were allocated for moving to Sevastopol.

Alexander Kolchak - Commander of the Black Sea Fleet

At the beginning of September 1916, Alexander Vasilyevich was in Sevastopol, having visited Headquarters on the way and receiving secret instructions from the Sovereign and his chief of staff. Kolchak's meeting with Nicholas II at Headquarters was the third and last. Kolchak spent one day at Headquarters on July 4, 1916. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief told the new commander of the Black Sea Fleet about the situation on the fronts, conveyed the content of the military-political agreements with the allies on the imminent entry into the war of Romania. At Headquarters, Kolchak was acquainted with the decree on awarding him the Order of St. Stanislav, 1st degree.

The arrival of Kolchak became an occasion for revival for the Black Sea Fleet. The first task set by Kolchak to the fleet was to clear the sea of ​​enemy warships and stop enemy shipping in general.

Taking advantage of the experience of his service in the Baltic, Kolchak continued the mining of the Bosphorus begun by his predecessor, Admiral Eberhard, and also mined the coast of Turkey, which almost deprived the enemy of the opportunity to act actively. But Kolchak had nothing to do with the tactically most successful part of the minefields at the mouth of the Bosphorus, since they were put up before he took office as commander of the fleet.

At the end of July, the operation to mine the Bosphorus began. The submarine "Crab" began the operation, setting 60 minutes in the very throat of the strait. Then, on the orders of Kolchak, the entrance to the strait was mined from coast to coast. After that, Kolchak mined the exits from the Bulgarian ports of Varna, Zonguldak, which hit the Turkish economy hard. To maintain minefields in combat readiness at a distance of 50-100 miles from the Bosphorus, a detachment of ships consisting of a dreadnought, a cruiser and several destroyers was always on duty, and a submarine was constantly on duty near the Bosphorus.

For a long time, enemy ships disappeared from the Black Sea altogether. At the end of October 1916, the German submarine B-45 was blown up by mines near Varna, and at the end of November another B-46 near the Bosphorus. By the end of 1916, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet accomplished his task by firmly locking the German-Turkish fleet, including the Goeben and Breslau, in the Bosphorus, and easing the tension of the transport service of the Russian fleet.

All-Russian fame came to Kolchak. Central newspapers began to publish articles about him, to place his portraits on their pages. The first article about the commander of the Black Sea Fleet - "The New Admiral" - was published on August 13, 1916 by the capital's edition "New Time". A month later, the first literary portrait of Kolchak was published in the same newspaper - "With the commander on the high seas." On September 29, a photograph of Kolchak was published in the Evening Time newspaper.

At the same time, Kolchak's service in the Black Sea Fleet was marked by a number of failures and losses, which might not have happened. The biggest loss was the death on October 7, 1916 of the flagship of the fleet, the battleship Empress Maria. 15 minutes after the first explosion, the commander on the boat approached the side of the sinking ship. Kolchak's first order was to take Catherine the Great away from Maria, after which, despite the ongoing explosions, the admiral boarded the battleship and personally supervised the flooding of the cellars and the localization of the fire. With these measures, the commander saved the city and the raid. However, attempts to put out the fire were unsuccessful.

The naval department of the Headquarters and the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet developed a simple and daring plan for the Bosphorus operation. According to this plan of the sailors, which was developed with the direct participation of Kolchak, it was decided to deliver an unexpected and swift blow to the center of the entire fortified area - Constantinople. The operation was planned by the sailors for September 1916.

It was supposed to combine the actions of the ground forces on the southern edge of the Romanian front with the actions of the fleet. The English fleet could also take part in the operation, advancing along the Aegean Sea.

Nicholas II fully supported the sailors' operation plan, but General Alekseev tried to defend his own plan, which required the unrealistic removal of ten infantry divisions from the front. At the same time, it took three to four months to form and train an airborne detachment, in connection with which the operation was postponed until April - May 1917. Alekseev, who was counting on a victorious conclusion to the war as a result of the upcoming spring offensive in Galicia, did not object to the preparation of the landing force.

Since the end of 1916, comprehensive practical preparations for the Bosphorus operation began: they carried out training in landing, firing from ships, reconnaissance campaigns of destroyer detachments to the Bosphorus, comprehensively studied the coast, and carried out aerial photography. A special landing division of the Black Sea Marine Corps was formed, headed by Major General A. A. Svechin and Chief of Staff Colonel A. I. Verkhovsky, which was personally supervised by Kolchak.

On December 31, 1916, Kolchak ordered the formation of the Black Sea Air Division, the detachments of which were supposed to be deployed in accordance with the arrival of naval aircraft. On this day, Kolchak, at the head of a detachment of three battleships and two air transports, undertook a campaign to the coast of Turkey, however, due to increased excitement, the bombardment of the enemy’s coast from seaplanes had to be postponed.

When evaluating the combat work of the Black Sea Fleet during the period of A. V. Kolchak's command, modern historians note that the fleet has achieved great success during this time. Enemy submarines were driven to bases, the enemy suffered very significant losses, and his fleet lost the opportunity to enter the Black Sea, attacks on the Russian coast were suppressed.

Alexander Kolchak and the February Revolution

It is known that in August 1916, Kolchak was visited by a member of the Progressive Bloc of the State Duma M. V. Chelnokov, who was a member of the group of conspirators. The chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M.V. Alekseev, who was in the Crimea from the autumn of 1916 on treatment, twice summoned Kolchak and his chief of staff to report on the situation in the Black Sea. In addition to these two official meetings, there were also other private conversations. According to Kolchak, he often had to communicate with Alekseev on state topics. Kolchak was informed about political events in the country from both official and unofficial sources. He did not remain an outside observer, trying with all his might to prevent the growth of revolutionary sentiment and to protect the fleet entrusted to him from impending upheavals.

The events of February 1917 in the capital found Vice Admiral Kolchak in Batum, where he went to meet with the commander of the Caucasian Front, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich to discuss the schedule of shipping and the construction of a port in Trebizond. On February 28, the admiral received a telegram from the Naval General Staff about a riot in Petrograd and the capture of the city by the rebels.

On February 28, Kolchak sailed from Batum and arrived in Sevastopol on March 1. Even from Batum, he ordered to interrupt the telegraph and postal communications of Crimea with the rest of the territories of Russia - in order to prevent panic and the spread of unverified rumors. It was ordered to send all incoming telegrams to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.

In Sevastopol, Kolchak got acquainted with several telegrams addressed to him. M. V. Rodzianko reported on the uprising in the capital and the transfer of power to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. Maritime Minister I.K. Grigorovich informed that "The Committee of the State Duma is gradually restoring order," and talked about the order of Admiral A.I. Nepenin, which announced the events in Petrograd to the Baltic Fleet. The telegram of M. V. Alekseev informed in detail about the events from February 25 to 28 in the capital. The head of the naval headquarters of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Admiral A. I. Rusin, informed about the rebellion in Petrograd, the unrest in Kronstadt and ordered "to take all measures to maintain calm in the fleet." At a meeting of senior commanders, convened by the admiral, it was decided to inform the crews of the ships about the uprising in the capital of Russia. Kolchak simultaneously disavowed his order on the information blockade of the Crimea, which no longer made sense due to the acceptance of German telegrams in the fleet with messages about the revolution in Petrograd, and decided to take the initiative in his own hands, informing the fleet about the events through his own orders.

Meanwhile, in Pskov on the evening of March 1, the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front, General Ruzsky, negotiated on behalf of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma with Nicholas II, who had arrived from Headquarters, inducing him to decide on the establishment of a government responsible to the Duma. His position was supported by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev. After several hours of difficult negotiations, Nicholas II gave in and agreed to the formation of a responsible ministry. The next day, however, in a conversation over a direct wire between Duma Chairman Rodzianko and General Ruzsky, the question was already raised about the abdication of Nicholas II. On the evening of March 2, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet received a telegram from Alekseev, in which, for information, the texts of telegrams from the commanders of the fronts to Nicholas II with requests for renunciation were cited. The informing telegram did not require a response, but the commanders of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets behaved differently in the same situation: on March 2, Nepenin sent a telegram to the Sovereign in which he joined the requests to abdicate, and Kolchak decided not to participate in the telephone meeting that took place on March 2 at all.

As for the political views of Alexander Vasilyevich, until March 1917, his monarchism was completely indisputable. After the revolution, for obvious reasons, Kolchak did not advertise his views and considered it untimely to advertise his own monarchism.

Despite all the efforts of the commander, it was not possible to completely eliminate unrest in the fleet. On March 3, midshipman Fok committed suicide on the Catherine the Great, against the backdrop of spy mania among the sailors and demands for the removal of officers with German surnames. On March 4, the sailors demanded the arrival of the fleet commander on the ship. Kolchak visited the ship, but only after the report of his commander, and not under pressure from the team. Outraged by the behavior of the sailors, the admiral spoke sharply and impartially to the crew lined up on the deck. He rejected suspicions of treason among officers with German surnames and refused to write them off to shore.

On March 4, by order of Kolchak, the Krymsky Vestnik newspaper reported on the abdication of Nicholas II and the formation of the Provisional Government. The fleet took the news calmly, but on the same day rallies began in Sevastopol, and Kolchak held a review of units on March 5 to defuse the situation. After the show, rallies began again. On one of them they began to demand the arrival of the admiral. Kolchak at first did not want to go, but, in order not to inflame passions, he agreed. He ordered those gathered to disperse, but the sailors locked the gates and demanded that the Black Sea Fleet speak and send a welcoming telegram to the Provisional Government. Kolchak made a short speech and promised to send a telegram. After that, he was released. In telegrams sent to G. E. Lvov, the Provisional Government, A. I. Guchkov, M. V. Rodzianko, on behalf of the Black Sea Fleet and the inhabitants of Sevastopol, Kolchak welcomed the government and expressed the hope that it would bring the war to victory.

On March 10, in order to interrupt the series of rallies and demonstrations, Kolchak took the fleet to sea, considering that combat work would be the best counter to the "deepening of the revolution." Another reason for Kolchak's success in maintaining the combat capability of the fleet was the ability to compromise in a difficult situation, to show flexibility, strong-willed effort and endurance to cope with his own unbalanced and quick-tempered character.

Kolchak, by pre-emptive orders, was able to prevent extreme manifestations in the fleet associated with the movement for the abolition of shoulder straps and saluting. The commander did not interfere with the sailors' ideas about renaming warships, which was also reflected in his orders. By his order, the Sevastopol police and gendarme corps were disbanded, and political prisoners were released from prisons. On March 19, the admiral approved the project, which introduced new naval organizations - committees - into the legal channel and subordinated to the commander.

After the plans of the masses under the influence of the revolutionary frenzy to dig up the ashes of the “counter-revolutionary admirals” participating in the Defense of Sevastopol, who died during the Crimean War and rested in the Vladimir Cathedral of Sevastopol, became known, and in their place to rebury Lieutenant Schmidt and his comrades who were shot In the November 1905 Sevastopol uprising - the remains of Schmidt and the sailors shot with him, by order of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral A.V. Kolchak, were expedited transported to Sevastopol, where they were temporarily buried in the Intercession Cathedral. This order of Kolchak allowed to bring down the intensity of passions.

On April 15, 2017, the admiral arrived in Petrograd at the call of Minister of War Guchkov. The latter hoped to use Kolchak as the head of a military coup to eliminate dual power and establish a military dictatorship and suggested that Alexander Vasilyevich take command of the Baltic Fleet. The alleged appointment of Kolchak to the Baltic was linked to the creation of a separate army "for the defense of Petrograd." Given that the Germans did not pose any threat to the capital at that time, the goals of creating such an army lay in the plane of Guchkov's attempts to restore order in Petrograd. Kolchak's appointment to the Baltic did not take place.

In Petrograd, the admiral witnessed armed demonstrations by soldiers and believed that they must be suppressed by force. Kolchak considered the refusal of the Provisional Government to Kornilov, the commander of the capital's military district, to suppress an armed demonstration a mistake, along with the refusal to act in the same way if necessary in the fleet.

On April 25, 1917, Kolchak spoke at a meeting of officers with a report "The situation of our armed forces and relations with the allies." Kolchak demanded an end to reforms based on the "conceit of ignorance" and to accept the forms of discipline and organization of internal life already adopted by the Allies. Kolchak's report made a great impression on the listeners and inspired them. The commander left the podium to applause. The Moscow City Duma printed Kolchak's speech in a circulation of several million copies.

In May, there was a sharp conflict between Kolchak and TsVIK because of the arrest by the latter of the assistant to the chief commander of the port, Major General N.P. Petrov, who was convicted by the Soviet of allegedly stealing state property and speculating on it. Kolchak did not approve the arrest order and drove out the delegation that came to him. Then the TsVIK arrested Petrov on his own initiative without the sanction of the fleet commander. On May 12, Admiral Kolchak, accustomed to the unconditional execution of his orders, sent a telegram to the Provisional Government describing the confrontation and asking him to replace him with another person. Arriving on May 17 in Sevastopol, he settled for some time the conflict between the TsVIK and Kolchak.

After the departure of Kerensky, confusion and anarchy in the Black Sea Fleet began to intensify. The distrust of the sailors towards the officers and personally the commander was aggravated by a military failure - on the night of May 13, when trying to lay mines almost at the mouth of the Bosphorus from self-propelled longboats launched from Russian battleships remaining 10 miles (16 km) from the coast, an unauthorized mine explosion occurred, causing chain reaction of explosions of other mines. Two boats out of four sank, 15 sailors and officers died, 29 people were injured. After this incident, the teams began to refuse to go to sea on risky missions.

The last weeks of his command of the fleet, Kolchak no longer expected and did not receive any help from the government, trying to solve all problems on his own. However, his attempts to restore discipline met with opposition from the rank and file of the army and navy. On June 3, a half-crew meeting demanded the removal of Kolchak, Chief of Staff M.I. Smirnov and a number of other officers from their posts. On June 4, the commander telegraphed to Kerensky that the agitation of the Baltic delegation had become "very widespread" and that the local forces were not coping with it.

On June 6, Kolchak sent a telegram to the Provisional Government informing him that the rebellion had taken place and that in the current situation he could no longer remain in command. Without waiting for an answer, he transferred command to Rear Admiral V.K. Lukin, thus committing a disciplinary offense, because he had no right to leave his post without an order from the Provisional Government.

Kolchak's report to the Provisional Government on the Sevastopol events was scheduled for June 13. Until that day, journalists from the capital managed to interview the admiral, in which Alexander Vasilyevich spoke about the reasons that forced him to leave the Black Sea Fleet. The article dealt with the inability of G. E. Lvov to govern the country. The question of dictatorship was also touched upon. In the context of the article, Admiral Kolchak acted as the dictator chosen by the people.

On June 17, Kolchak met with American Admiral J. G. Glennon at the Winter Palace. The head of the American delegation, E. Ruth, was also present at the talks. Kolchak was invited to take part in the Dardanelles operation of the American fleet. In essence, it was about his direct participation in the hostilities of the American fleet. The admiral understood this and agreed. The Russian naval mission consisting of A. V. Kolchak, M. I. Smirnov, D. B. Kolechitsky, V. V. Bezuar, I. E. Vuich, A. M. Mezentsev left the capital on July 27, 1917. Alexander Vasilyevich got to the Norwegian city of Bergen under a false name - in order to hide his traces from German intelligence. From Bergen the mission proceeded to England.

In England, Kolchak spent two weeks: he got acquainted with naval aviation, submarines, anti-submarine warfare tactics, and visited factories. Alexander Vasilyevich developed good relations with the English admirals, the allies confidentially initiated Kolchak into military plans. In London, Kolchak was introduced to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral John Jellicoe. They discussed mining, talked about naval aviation. Kolchak asked permission to take part in one of her operations. The reconnaissance flight in a twin-engine aircraft made a great impression on the Russian admiral. In England, Alexander Vasilyevich also met several times with the Chief of the English Naval General Staff, General Hall.

On August 16, the Russian mission on the cruiser Gloncester left Glasgow for the shores of the United States, where it arrived on August 28, 1917. It turned out that the American fleet had never planned any Dardanelles operation. The main reason for Kolchak's trip to America disappeared, and from that moment on his mission was of a military-diplomatic nature. Kolchak stayed in the USA for about two months. On October 16, Kolchak was received by American President V. Wilson.

Kolchak, at the request of his fellow allies, worked at the American Naval Academy, where he advised students of the academy on minecraft, of which he was a recognized master. At the invitation of the Minister of the Navy, he got acquainted with the American fleet and took part in naval maneuvers on the flagship Pennsylvania for more than 10 days.

Kolchak believed that the mission to America had failed. It was decided to return to Russia. In San Francisco, already on the west coast of the United States, Kolchak received a telegram from Russia with a proposal to put forward his candidacy for the Constituent Assembly from the Cadet Party in the Black Sea Fleet District, to which he agreed, but his response telegram was late. On October 12 (25), Kolchak and officers set off from San Francisco to Vladivostok on the Japanese ship Karyo-Maru.

Two weeks later, the ship arrived in the Japanese port of Yokohama. Here Kolchak learned about the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, about the beginning of negotiations between the government and the German authorities in Brest about a separate peace, more shameful and enslaving than which Kolchak could not imagine.

He decided, as a representative of the former Russian government, which was bound by certain obligations with the Entente, to continue the war. He gave his officers complete freedom to remain abroad or go home, but in the current situation he considered his return to Russia impossible and announced his non-recognition of a separate peace to the allied British government. He also asked to be accepted into the service "however and wherever" to continue the war with Germany. Kolchak explained the choice of England by the best relations that he had with representatives of this country during his trip abroad.

Soon Kolchak was summoned to the British embassy and informed that Great Britain willingly accepted his offer. On December 30, 1917, Kolchak received a message about his appointment to the Mesopotamian Front. In the first half of January 1918, Kolchak left Japan via Shanghai for Singapore.

In March 1918, having arrived in Singapore, Kolchak received a secret order to urgently return to China to work in Manchuria and Siberia. The change in the decision of the British was due to the persistent petitions of Russian diplomats and other political circles, who saw in the admiral a candidate for the leaders of the anti-Bolshevik movement.

With the arrival of Kolchak in China, the period of his foreign wanderings ended. Now the admiral faced a political and military struggle against the Bolshevik regime inside Russia. The place of organization of forces was supposed to be the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). In Beijing, Kolchak met with the head of the CER, General D. L. Horvat, who told Kolchak about the need to register an admiral in the states of the CER to manage the protection of the railway and the entire military-strategic side of the matter related to saving the CER as Russian property.

On May 10, 1918, at a meeting of the shareholders of the CER, Kolchak was introduced to the board and appointed chief inspector of the security guards of the CER with simultaneous leadership of all Russian armed forces in its right-of-way.

On June 30, Kolchak, having transferred command to General B.R. Khreschatitsky, left for Japan. The purpose of the trip, in addition to clarifying relations with the Japanese, was the desire to establish contacts with representatives of other countries, to receive support from them in military development. Ambassador V.N. Krupensky organized a meeting between Kolchak and the Chief of the Japanese General Staff, General Ihara, and his assistant, General G. Tanaka. The meeting did not bring results. On September 16, Alexander Vasilyevich left Japan. Realizing that the Japanese would interfere with his work in the Far East, he intended to make his way to the South of Russia.

Alexander Kolchak in the Civil War

Kolchak arrived in Vladivostok on September 19-20, 1918. In Vladivostok, Kolchak studied the situation on the eastern outskirts of the country, learned about the meeting of representatives of various democratic forces held in Ufa and about the formation of the Directory, which claimed the role of the "Provisional All-Russian Government" - a united anti-Bolshevik government on the territory from the Volga to Siberia. Upon learning of Kolchak's arrival, many naval officers wanted to meet with him. At a private meeting with them, the admiral said that of the competing governments, he would support the Siberian one, since it appeared without external influence and was able to mobilize the population, which meant significant support for the government by citizens.

Kolchak traveled through Siberia as a private citizen in civilian clothes. On October 13, 1918, in his movement to the Don, he arrived in Omsk, planning to spend only a few days here. First of all, Alexander Vasilyevich established contact with representatives of the Volunteer Army. In Omsk, a meeting took place between Kolchak and the commander-in-chief of the troops of the Directory, General V. G. Boldyrev. After this meeting, Kolchak sent a letter to General Alekseev about his desire to serve under him.

By the time he arrived in Omsk, Kolchak had firmly established himself in the idea that the only way to defeat Bolshevism could be only a military dictatorship. At the same time, on the instructions of the underground anti-Bolshevik organization National Center, a prominent Siberian cadet, a former deputy of the IV State Duma, V.N. Pepelyaev, left Moscow for Siberia and Manchuria. From the National Center, he had a special task and significant powers - in favor of establishing a one-man dictatorship. With the death of Alekseev, the admiral's candidacy for dictatorship became indisputable.

November 5, 1918 Kolchak was appointed military and naval minister of the Provisional All-Russian Government. On November 7, Alexander Vasilievich began to fulfill his new duties, with his first orders starting the formation of the central bodies of the Military Ministry and the General Staff. The next day, Kolchak went to the front for a personal acquaintance with the position of the army and its command staff.

Admiral Kolchak - Supreme Ruler of Russia

After a series of military defeats and the loss of Izhevsk (November 7), the authority of the Directory fell in the eyes of the army. The provisional All-Russian government did not have real power, and with the failures at the front, the mood of the officers became more and more conservative. The Social Democratic Directory found itself isolated from the military - the only real anti-Bolshevik force. A government crisis has matured, caused by the dissatisfaction of the military environment.

Kolchak's arrival in Omsk coincided with the conflict between the Directory and the Council of Ministers. Kolchak, a hardliner, was involved in this struggle on the side of the Council of Ministers.

The military formed the striking force of the conspiracy against the Directory. On November 18, Cossack officers arrested the Social Revolutionaries - representatives of the left wing of the Provisional All-Russian Government. The battalion of the protection of the Directory, which consisted of the Social Revolutionaries, was disarmed.

After the arrest of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Council of Ministers recognized the Directory as non-existent, announced the assumption of all the fullness of the supreme power and declared the need for "complete concentration of military and civilian power in the hands of one person with an authoritative name in military and public circles," who will lead on the principles of unity of command. It was decided "to temporarily transfer the exercise of supreme power to one person, relying on the assistance of the Council of Ministers, giving such a person the name of the Supreme Ruler." The “Regulations on the temporary structure of state power in Russia” (the so-called “Constitution of November 18”) was developed and adopted, which established, in particular, the procedure for the relationship between the Supreme Ruler and the Council of Ministers. The commander-in-chief of the troops of the Directory, General V. G. Boldyrev, the manager of the CER, General D. L. Horvat, and the Minister of War and Navy, Vice Admiral A. V. Kolchak, were considered as candidates for "dictators". The Council of Ministers voted to elect Kolchak.

Kolchak was promoted to full admiral, he was transferred to the exercise of supreme state power and awarded the title of Supreme Ruler. All the armed forces of the state were under his command. The supreme ruler could take any measures, up to emergency ones, to provide for the armed forces, as well as to establish civil order and legality.

Kolchak announced his consent to the election and, by the first order in the army, announced the adoption of the title of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of all land and sea forces. The Entente countries supported Kolchak. The supreme ruler proclaimed the first, most important task to strengthen and increase the combat capability of the army, the second - "victory over Bolshevism", the third task, the solution of which was recognized as possible only if victory was proclaimed "the revival and resurrection of the perishing state".

The activities of the new government were declared aimed at ensuring that “the temporary supreme power of the Supreme Ruler and Supreme Commander-in-Chief could transfer the fate of the state into the hands of the people, leaving them to arrange state administration of their own free will.”

After coming to the supreme power, Kolchak canceled the order that Jews, as potential spies, were to be evicted from the 100-verst frontline zone.

The most important ideological constant of Kolchak's rule was the formula-slogan of "restoring the rule of law." On November 28, at a meeting with representatives of the press, Kolchak declared: "Order and law in my eyes are constant companions, inextricably linked with each other." "Legality" was planned to be ensured by restoring the succession of Russian power - as stated, the new Russian government (Kolchak's government) acted, "accepting the power of the former Provisional Government, which was formed in March 1917, and setting it as its task to strengthen its authority as a single power, successor to historical power of the Russian State.

Kolchak's coming to power, the concentration of military, political and economic power in his hands made it possible for the Whites to recover from the defeats they suffered in the Volga region in the autumn of 1918. Thus, as a result of the events of November 18, 1918, the anti-Bolshevik movement was transformed into the White movement.

Kolchak hoped that under the banner of the fight against the Reds he would be able to unite the most diverse political forces and create a new state power. At first, the situation on the fronts favored these plans. In December 1918, the Siberian army occupied Perm, which was of great strategic importance and had substantial stocks of military equipment.

Kolchak organized an investigation into the case of the massacre of the Bolsheviks with the family of Emperor Nicholas II, entrusted this to investigator N. A. Sokolov, who, on the basis of excavations, collection and analysis of documents, search and interrogation of witnesses, established the time, place and circumstances of the tragedy, although the remains of those killed before the retreat of the Russian army from Yekaterinburg in July 1919 did not have time to find.

Russia's gold reserves

With most of Russia's gold reserves at his disposal, Kolchak did not allow his government to spend gold, even to stabilize the financial system and fight inflation (fueled by the runaway issue of Kerenok and tsarist rubles by the Bolsheviks). Kolchak spent 68 million rubles on the purchase of weapons and uniforms for his army. On the security of 128 million rubles, loans were received from foreign banks: the proceeds from the placement were returned to Russia. On October 31, 1919, the gold reserve under heavy guard was loaded into 40 wagons, and accompanying personnel were in 12 wagons.

The Trans-Siberian Railway, stretching from Novonikolaevsk to Irkutsk, was controlled by the Czechs, whose main task was their own evacuation from Russia. Only on December 27, 1919, the headquarters train and the train with gold arrived at the Nizhneudinsk station, where representatives of the Entente forced Admiral Kolchak to sign an order to renounce the rights of the Supreme Ruler of Russia and transfer the echelon with gold reserves under the control of the Czechoslovak Corps. On January 15, 1920, the Czech command handed over Kolchak to the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center, which a few days later handed over the admiral to the Bolsheviks. On February 7, the Czechoslovaks handed over 409 million gold rubles to the Bolsheviks in exchange for guarantees of the unhindered evacuation of the corps from Russia. The People's Commissariat for Finance of the RSFSR in June 1921 compiled a certificate from which it follows that during the reign of Admiral Kolchak, Russia's gold reserves decreased by 235.6 million rubles, or 182 tons. Another 35 million rubles from the gold reserves disappeared after it was handed over to the Bolsheviks, while being transported from Irkutsk to Kazan.

Spring offensive of Kolchak's army (1919)

On December 20, the 7th Ural division of General V.V. Golitsyn and the 2nd Czechoslovak division broke into Kungur from different sides, knocking out the 30th division of V.K. Blucher from there. Having suffered significant losses, the Soviet troops retreated to Perm, surrounded by several rows of trenches and barbed wire, which the Red Command hoped to hold. Kolchak's troops, having cut the railway, did not allow units of Blucher's division to reinforce the garrison of the city, which fell on December 24. More than 30,000 Red Army soldiers, 120 guns, over 1,000 machine guns, 9 armored trains, 180 trains, a river flotilla and the entire convoy of the defeated 3rd Red Army, which lost half of its strength as a result of the December battles, were taken prisoner. In some directions, the Reds surrendered in whole regiments, for example, the 4th Kama Regiment. Success was achieved by the white units without the help of the Czechs who had left the front.

The announcement of the capture of Perm caused an enthusiastic reaction in Omsk. The Council of Ministers decided to award Kolchak, who was and acted throughout the operation in a combat situation, with the Order of St. George 3rd degree for his great contribution to the preparation of the operation. In connection with the capture of Perm, the Prime Minister of France sent a personal congratulation to the Supreme Ruler.

At the beginning of 1919, Kolchak reorganized the troops. The former Yekaterinburg Group of Forces was transformed into the Siberian Army, headed by General Gaida. The Western Army was commanded by General M.V. Khanzhin, who was operationally subordinated to the Southern Army Group of General P.A. Belov adjoining his left flank.

The Eastern Front of the Red Army had strong flanks and a weak center, which made it possible for the Eastern Front of the Russian Army to strike at the center of Soviet Russia. According to the strategic plan of Kolchak's Headquarters, in the first phase of the operation, an offensive was to take place in the Perm-Vyatka and Samara-Saratov direction. If successful, the offensive was to continue with two main attacks in both directions and develop into an offensive against Moscow from the north, south and east. The general offensive was planned by the Stavka for April 1919.

In early March, having forestalled the offensive of the Red Army, Kolchak's armies hit the joint between the left flank of the 5th and the right 2nd Soviet armies, which largely determined the success of White's further actions. Going on the offensive, the troops of the Russian army began to quickly approach the Volga. The right-flank Siberian army launched an offensive in the Vyatka direction and united with the troops of the Arkhangelsk government. Parts of the Western Army of General Khanzhin in March took Birsk, Ufa, Sterlitamak, in April - Menzelinsk, Belebey, Buguruslan, Bugulma, Naberezhnye Chelny. The Siberian army in April took the Votkinsk plant, Sarapul, Izhevsk plant.

At the end of April, Kolchak's armies reached the approaches to Kazan, Samara, Simbirsk, occupying large territories with important industrial and agricultural resources. The population of these regions exceeded 5 million people. The occupation of these areas opened the direct road to Moscow for Kolchak's armies.

"Flight to the Volga", as the spring offensive of 1919 began to be called, made a strong impression on contemporaries. In the bourgeois and public circles of Russia, there was an upsurge associated with the hope of an early victory over the Bolsheviks. Kolchak was congratulated on the success of the offensive, in particular, by French Prime Minister J. Clemenceau, British Minister of War and French Foreign Minister S. Pichon. The Bolsheviks also reacted to the successes of the White movement in the East of Russia. declared Kolchak the main enemy of the Soviet Republic and called for "strain all forces in the fight against him." In the summer of 1919, the Soviet government placed a $7 million bounty on Kolchak's head.

Significantly increased the authority of Kolchak. Allied help began to arrive. On May 30, 1919, the Commander-in-Chief of the VSYUR, the General, recognized the authority of Admiral Kolchak as the Supreme Ruler of the Russian State and submitted to him as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army. Around Kolchak, unified armed forces were created and the Russian state was formed, although it consisted of three separate parts.

Retreat of Kolchak's army (1919)

By the beginning of May, the general offensive of Kolchak's armies bogged down. By mid-1919, the size of the Red Army reached 1.5 million people. The Bolsheviks restored their numerical superiority on the Eastern Front, concentrating a 33,000-strong grouping in the main direction. "Everything on Kolchak!" - read the slogan of the Bolshevik government these days. On April 7, 1919, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) declared the Eastern Front to be the main one. received at his disposal four armies, whose total number was 80 thousand people and twice the number of fighters in the Western army of General Khanzhin.

However, the offensive of the Reds, which began on April 28, 1919, ran into stubborn resistance from the Whites. The threatening situation in which the Whites found themselves intensified the uprising of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Kuren, which was joined by four more regiments and a Jaeger battalion, which became the main factor that determined the breakthrough of the front by the Reds. Many white commanders subsequently spoke in the vein that it was these events that became the root cause of the defeat of the Western and other armies of the Eastern Front. The Western army had to retreat. In other directions, the whites continued their offensive.

On June 9, the red units took Ufa. After the retreat from the Volga region, Kolchak lost his strategic initiative. The fighting capacity of the army has decreased.

In June, Kolchak rejected the proposal of K. G. Mannerheim to move the 100,000-strong Finnish army to Petrograd in exchange for recognition of Finland's independence, saying that he would "never give up for any momentary benefits" "the idea of ​​a great indivisible Russia."

On June 20, personnel changes were made. Kolchak secured the post of supreme commander of the armed forces Russian state, Diterikhs took the post of commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front vacated by Kolchak. Instead of Khanzhin, General K. V. Sakharov became the commander of the Western Army.

In July, the adventurous plan of Lebedev and Sakharov failed to lure the 5th Red Army into Chelyabinsk, and then surround it and defeat it. The Western and Siberian armies retreated into the Trans-Urals.

Kolchak made efforts to strengthen the centralization of power: by his decree of August 7, the Council of the Supreme Ruler, which consisted of close ministers, was given additional powers to organize defense. The bureaucracy was drastically reduced. Kolchak stepped up propaganda among the troops, appealed to the peasants and soldiers. His order of July 28 obliged the officers to explain to the soldiers the goals of the war: the unity and integrity of Russia, the solution of vital issues for the people through the National Constituent Assembly, the protection of the Orthodox faith and national shrines. Liberal newspapers came out with calls to strengthen the defense of the state. White airplanes began to drop proclamations on the positions of the Bolsheviks. To compromise the Bolsheviks, false decrees of Soviet power and issues of the Pravda newspaper were printed. Courses for military informers were opened, which trained professional agitators in the troops.

The main task of the Eastern Front of the Whites was to assist the forces of Denikin in their attack on Moscow, to divert parts of the Bolsheviks. The Whites won their last offensive battle on the Eastern Front - the September Tobolsk operation. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Kolchak, personally planned the landing operations of the last offensive of his three armies and the actions of the Ob-Irtysh flotilla, hoping to sail to Tyumen. The Reds were thrown back from the Tobol River by 100 km. The September victories, after long setbacks, were seen as a turning point in the civil war. Kolchak decided to take a step that he did not want to take during the period of retreat, so that this could not be interpreted as a manifestation of weakness in power - the transformation of the State Economic Conference into a body elected by the population.

After the September battles on the Tobol, a lull followed. In mid-October, the Reds launched an offensive with fresh forces. The Whites surrendered their strongholds. The retreat of the white units began. The Reds were unable to break through the front, but captured bridgeheads on the left bank of the Tobol. Realizing that further struggle for positions near Tobol would lead to the final exhaustion of the troops, the commander of the Eastern Front, General Dieterikhs, decided to start a strategic retreat with the cession to the enemy of a significant territory of White Siberia, including, possibly, Omsk itself, and then striking the enemy from the depths of his positions . However, this plan did not take into account that the surrender of the capital would set in motion all the forces hostile to Kolchak in the rear of the army.

Diterikhs was summoned to Kolchak, while General K. V. Sakharov, with feigned indignation, supported the Supreme Ruler and spoke in defense of the Omsk defense plan. Diterichs was recalled to the rear to form volunteer units, and Sakharov was appointed in his place. After the abandonment of Petropavlovsk, Omsk was under attack from two sides: along the converging lines of the railway from Petropavlovsk and Ishim. At the same time, Sakharov was unable to organize either a defensive line, or the defense of Omsk, or an organized retreat. As a result, the Whites were late with the evacuation of the capital, which was carried out only on November 10th. The Supreme Ruler himself decided to retreat with the army, betting that his presence in the ranks of the active troops would help raise their spirits.

With the abandonment of Omsk, the armies of the Eastern Front began their "Great Siberian Ice Campaign". The command of the Eastern Front planned to delay the advance of the Reds at the turn of the Ob River. The army was supposed to be replenished at the expense of rear formations, and the front to be restored at the turn of Tomsk - Novonikolaevsk - Barnaul - Biysk. However, the troops by this time controlled only large settlements, in many of which rebellions were raised. Despite stubborn rearguard battles, it was not possible to organize the defense, and Barnaul was abandoned on December 11, Biysk on December 13, and Novonikolaevsk on December 14.

In November 1919, the conflict between the government of the Russian state and the command of the Russian army, on the one hand, and the Czechoslovak political and military leadership, on the other, turned into a clash. On November 13, the leaders of the Czechoslovaks in Russia published a political memorandum in the newspapers of Siberia, filled with complaints and attacks against the Russian authorities. Enraged by the actions of Czechoslovak politicians, Kolchak on November 25 demanded that the Council of Ministers stop relations with the Czechoslovak leadership.

The Trans-Siberian Railway at that time was controlled by the Czechoslovak Corps, which received an order not to let the Russian military echelons east of the Taiga station pass until all the Czechoslovaks with "acquired property" had passed. The actions of the allies turned the military failures of the Eastern Front of the Whites into a catastrophe for the entire White movement in the East of Russia: the army was cut off from the rear, deprived of the opportunity to receive ammunition in time and evacuate the wounded.

On December 11, Kolchak deposed and brought General K. V. Sakharov under investigation for the criminal abandonment of Omsk. General V. O. Kappel was appointed the new Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front, who planned to restore the front along the Yenisei and establish contact with the Trans-Baikal troops of Ataman G. M. Semenov. The admiral hurried to the new capital - Irkutsk, since the garrison of the city was weak, and N. Kalandarishvili's partisan detachment was approaching him.

General Zhanen, with the hope of seizing the gold reserves of Russia, ordered not to let Kolchak's letter train go further than Nizhneudinsk. On December 25, the echelons of the Supreme Ruler of Russia were stopped by the Czechoslovaks on the way to the Nizhneudinsk station. The Czech officer reported that, by order of the headquarters of the Allied Forces, Kolchak's trains were being delayed "until further notice" and made an attempt to disarm the convoy of the Supreme Ruler. The Czechoslovaks forcibly took away and stole two steam locomotives pulling the "golden echelon" and the train of the Supreme Ruler. Russian echelons were cordoned off by Czech troops, communication with the outside world could now only be carried out through them. Under the guise of protection from attack, the Czechoslovaks actually took the Supreme Ruler of Russia under arrest. The Nizhneudinsk sitting lasted about two weeks.

On December 21, an uprising broke out in Cheremkhovo. Three days later, the uprising, which was prepared by the Bolshevik underground committees of the RCP (b) and the Political Center of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, began in Glazkov, a suburb of Irkutsk, and by the evening of December 27, in Irkutsk itself. Kolchak made an attempt to recapture the city with the help of Ataman Semenov's troops, but they failed to break into the city.

On January 3, 1920, in Nizhneudinsk, Kolchak received a telegram from the Council of Ministers signed by A. A. Cherven-Vodali, Khanzhin and Larionov demanding that he abdicate power and transfer it to A. I. Denikin as the new Supreme Ruler. The telegram of the Council of Ministers contained a forgery: allegedly, S. D. Sazonov had already telegraphed about the need to transfer power to Denikin, who in fact did not talk about the immediate transfer of power to the commander-in-chief of the All-Russian Union of Youth Leagues, but only about the appointment of the latter as the successor to the Supreme Ruler, so that in the event Kolchak leaves with political arena or from life not to lose "the achieved unification of all the forces fighting the Bolsheviks under one authority." The forgery was made so that Kolchak would not resist. Kolchak responded by telegram to the Council of Ministers that he agreed to transfer power to Denikin, but only upon arrival in Verkhneudinsk, simultaneously issuing his last decree on January 4 - on the prejudice of the transfer of power.

Kolchak and his assistants considered options for further action. A plan was put forward to withdraw to Mongolia, to the border with which an old tract 250 versts long led from Nizhneudinsk. Of course, the admiral should have been pursued. But he had a convoy of more than 500 fighters, with whom one could not be afraid of persecution. Kolchak caught fire with this plan, reminiscent of the campaigns of his youth. The admiral hoped for the loyalty of his soldiers and officers. Having collected the convoy, he announced that he was not going to Irkutsk, but was temporarily staying in Nizhneudinsk, offered to stay with him to all those who were ready to share his fate and believed in him, giving the rest freedom of action. By morning, out of 500 people, only ten remained with him. In one night, realizing that he was betrayed and there was no salvation, Kolchak turned gray.

Execution of Admiral Kolchak

Kolchak had little confidence in the allies, feeling from their behavior that he would be betrayed by them, but after long hesitation, he nevertheless decided to rely on them. He took a compartment in a second-class passenger car decorated with the flags of Great Britain, the United States, France, Japan and Czechoslovakia. General Janin received written instructions from the high commissars to ensure, if possible, Kolchak's safe passage to wherever he wanted. The phrase "if possible" was included in the instructions at Janin's insistence.

Kolchak's carriage was followed by the "golden echelon", transferred under Czech protection.

On January 10, the train left Nizhneudinsk and on January 15 arrived in Irkutsk. Upon arrival, Kolchak's carriage was cordoned off by a tight guard ring. The admiral learned that all the allied missions had left the city the day before. With the onset of dusk, the Czechoslovaks announced to Alexander Vasilyevich that they were handing him over to the local authorities. The arrest of the admiral and his transfer to the SR-Menshevik Political Center were agreed by the Czechs with representatives of the allies, became a measure "necessary for the security of the Czech army", were made to ensure the free movement of their echelons to the East.

Despite earlier assurances and guarantees of safety and protection, Janin and the Czechoslovaks betrayed the admiral. At about 9 pm, the Political Center announced to Kolchak and Pepelyaev that they had been arrested, after which they were placed in the building of the provincial prison. Kolchak, being a man of his word, wondered for a long time how General Zhanin (who later received the nickname “general without honor” for violating the officer’s word) could betray him. The act of transfer was drawn up at 21:55. The commander of the Japanese troops of Irkutsk, Colonel Fukuda, having learned about the arrival of the Supreme Ruler in the city, turned to Yan Syrovy with a request to transfer Alexander Vasilyevich under the protection of the Japanese battalion, to which he received the answer that Kolchak had already been extradited to the rebels.

The tragic outcome was accelerated by Kolchak's telegraph order to Vladivostok, which became known to the Czechoslovak command, to check all valuables and property taken out by Czech legionnaires.

On January 21, interrogations of Kolchak by the Extraordinary Investigative Commission began, which were of particular importance to the admiral. During the interrogations, the admiral behaved calmly and with great dignity, thus causing involuntary respect from the investigators, talking in detail about his life and willingly answering questions. At the same time, Kolchak tried not to name names, and, without shifting responsibility for certain events to others, took it upon himself. Realizing that these interrogations are a kind of “memoirs” and his last word for posterity, Kolchak was frank and open, sought to leave for history both his own biographical data and information about important historical events in which he happened to be. Kolchak described the Arctic epic in detail, without dropping a word either about the hardships of the path, or about the island named after him. Having seized power in Irkutsk, the Bolsheviks replaced the chairman of the commission of inquiry with their protege Samuil Chudnovsky, who from the first day in this position began to infringe and sting the interrogated.

Loyal to Kolchak, General Kappel, at the head of the remnants of the Eastern Front that still remained combat-ready, hurried to his rescue - despite the severe cold and deep snow. As a result, while crossing the Can Kappel river, he fell through the ice with his horse, frostbitten his legs, and already on January 26 he died of pneumonia.

Nevertheless, the White troops under the command of General Wojciechowski continued to move forward. There were only 4-5 thousand fighters left. Voitsekhovsky planned to storm Irkutsk and save the Supreme Ruler and all the officers languishing in the prisons of the city. Sick, frostbitten, on January 30 they went to the railway line and defeated the Soviet troops sent against them at the Zima station. After a short rest, on February 3, the Kappelites moved to Irkutsk. They immediately took Cheremkhovo, 140 km from Irkutsk, dispersing the miners' squads and shooting the local Revolutionary Committee. General Voitsekhovsky could count on the implementation of his plan to save Kolchak no more than 5 thousand fighters, who were stretched along the road so that it would take at least a day to get them to the battlefield. The army had four operational and seven dismantled guns with limited ammunition. In most divisions, there were no more than two or three machine guns with a small number of cartridges.

In response to the commander's ultimatum Soviet troops Zverev about the surrender, Voitsekhovsky sent a counter ultimatum to the Reds demanding the release of Admiral Kolchak and the persons arrested with him, the provision of fodder and the payment of an indemnity in the amount of 200 million rubles, promising to bypass Irkutsk in this case. The Bolsheviks did not comply with the demands of the Whites, and Voitsekhovsky went on the attack: the Kappelites broke through to Innokentievskaya, 7 km from Irkutsk. The Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee declared the city under a state of siege, and the approaches to it were turned into continuous lines of defense. The battle for Irkutsk began - according to a number of estimates, it had no equal in the entire Civil War in terms of the fierceness and fury of the attacks. No prisoners were taken. The Kappelites took Innokentievskaya and were able to break through the Reds' urban defense lines.

The storming of the city was scheduled for 12 noon. At that moment, the Czechoslovaks intervened in the events, concluding an agreement with the Reds, aimed at ensuring their own unhindered evacuation. Signed by the head of the 2nd Czechoslovak division, Kreichy, a demand was sent to the Whites not to occupy the Glazkovsky suburb under the threat of the Czechs coming out on the side of the Reds. Wojciechowski would no longer have the strength to fight a fresh, well-armed Czech army. At the same time, news came of the death of Admiral Kolchak. Under the circumstances, General Voitsekhovsky ordered the offensive to be cancelled. Kappelevtsy began to retreat to Transbaikalia with battles.

On the night of February 6-7, 1920, Admiral Kolchak and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian government Viktor Pepelyaev were shot without trial - by decree No. 27 of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee, signed by Alexander Shiryamov (chairman), as well as Snoskarev, Levenson (committee members) and committee manager Oborin.

According to a number of modern historians, the liquidation of the leader of the White Guard movement in Siberia and the Russian Far East, Admiral Kolchak, was carried out on the direct order of Lenin.

The text of the decree on their execution was first published in an article by the former chairman of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee, Shiryamov.

According to a widespread version, the execution took place on the banks of the Ushakovka River near the Znamensky Convent. Chudnovsky supervised the execution. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the hole. Participants in the execution noted that the admiral met death with soldierly courage, maintaining his dignity even in the face of death.

February 7 - on the day of the execution of the Supreme Ruler - in the course of negotiations with representatives of the 5th Red Army, the Czechs signed an agreement with the Bolsheviks to leave the admiral "at the disposal Soviet power under the protection of Soviet troops.

The symbolic grave of Kolchak is located at the place of his "rest in the waters of the Angara" not far from the Irkutsk Znamensky Monastery, where the cross is installed.

An attempt at legal rehabilitation of Kolchak

In the early 1990s, Academician D.S. Likhachev, Vice Admiral V.N. Shcherbakov announced the need to assess the legality of the sentence passed on the admiral by the Bolshevik Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee. In the late 1990s, Yu. I. Skuratov, who held the post of Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation at that time, and A. V. Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, spoke out for the rehabilitation of Kolchak.

In 1998, S. Zuev, head of the Public Foundation for the creation of a temple-museum in memory of the victims of political repression, sent an application to the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office for the rehabilitation of Kolchak, which reached the court. On January 26, 1999, the military court of the Trans-Baikal Military District (ZabVO) recognized Kolchak as not subject to rehabilitation, since, from the point of view of military lawyers, despite his broad powers, the admiral did not stop the terror carried out by his counterintelligence against the civilian population.

Admiral's defenders disagreed with these arguments. Hieromonk Nikon (Belavenets), head of the organization "For Faith and Fatherland", appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (SC) with a request to file a protest against the refusal to rehabilitate Kolchak. The protest was submitted to the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court, which, having considered the case in September 2001, decided not to challenge the decision of the Military Court of the ZabVO. The members of the Military Collegium decided that the admiral's merits in the pre-revolutionary period could not serve as a basis for his rehabilitation: the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee sentenced the admiral to death for organizing military operations against Soviet Russia and mass repressions against civilians and Red Army soldiers and, therefore, was right .

Admiral's defenders decided to appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (CC), which ruled in 2000 that the ZabVO court had no right to consider the case "without notifying the convicted person or his defense lawyers about the time and place of the trial." Since the court of the ZabVO in 1999 considered the case on the rehabilitation of Kolchak in the absence of defenders, then, according to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the case should be considered again, already with the direct participation of the defense. In 2004, the Constitutional Court noted that the case for the rehabilitation of Kolchak was not closed, as the Supreme Court had previously decided. The members of the Constitutional Court saw that the court of first instance, where the question of the rehabilitation of the admiral was first raised, violated the legal procedure.

In March 2019, the FSB removed the classification from Kolchak's criminal case. At the same time, access to the materials remains limited, since Kolchak was not rehabilitated.

Admiral Kolchak

Personal life of Alexander Kolchak:

Wife - Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak (nee Omirova), was born in 1876 in Kamenets-Podolsky, Podolsk province (now Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine). Her father was a real Privy Councilor Fyodor Vasilyevich Omirov. Mother Daria Fedorovna, nee Kamenskaya, was the daughter of Major General, Director of the Forestry Institute F. A. Kamensky, sister of the sculptor F. F. Kamensky. A hereditary noblewoman, Sofya Fedorovna was brought up at the Smolny Institute and was educated (she knew seven languages, she knew French and German perfectly), beautiful, strong-willed and independent in character, which in many ways later affected her relationship with her husband.

By agreement with Kolchak, they were supposed to get married after his first expedition. In honor of Sophia (at that time the bride) a small island in the Litke archipelago and a cape on Bennett Island were named. The wait dragged on for several years.

Three children were born in the marriage. The first girl was born in January 1908 and did not live even a year. Son Rostislav was born on March 9, 1910. Daughter Margarita (1912-1914) caught a cold while fleeing from the Germans from Libava and died.

Sofya Fedorovna lived in Gatchina, then in Libau. After the shelling of Libava by the Germans at the beginning of the war (August 2, 1914), she fled, leaving everything except a few suitcases (Kolchak's state-owned apartment was then looted, and his property perished). From Helsingfors she moved to her husband in Sevastopol, where during the Civil War she waited for her husband to the last. In 1919, she managed to emigrate from there: the British allies provided her with money and provided her with the opportunity to travel by ship from Sevastopol to Constanta.

Then she moved to Bucharest, and then went to Paris. She died in the Longjumeau hospital in Paris in 1956 and was buried in the main cemetery of the Russian diaspora - Sainte-Genevieve de Bois. The last request of Admiral Kolchak before the execution was: "I ask you to inform my wife, who lives in Paris, that I bless my son." “I'll let you know,” answered S. G. Chudnovsky, an employee of the Cheka, who was in charge of the execution.

Son Rostislav left Russia in 1919 with his mother and went first to Romania, and then to France, where he graduated from the Higher School of Diplomatic and Commercial Sciences and in 1931 joined the Algiers Bank. The wife of Rostislav Kolchak was Ekaterina Razvozova, daughter of Admiral A.V. Razvozov. In 1939, Rostislav Alexandrovich was mobilized into the French army, fought on the Belgian border and was taken prisoner by the Germans in 1940, after the war he returned to Paris. In poor health, he died on June 28, 1965, and was buried next to his mother in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, where his wife was later buried. Their son Alexander Rostislavovich (1933-2019) lived in Paris.

Sofia Fedorovna - wife of Alexander Kolchak

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born on November 4 (16), 1874, in St. Petersburg. First he was educated at home, then he was assigned to a gymnasium. By religion, Alexander was Orthodox, which he repeatedly emphasized.

At the exam, when transferring to the third grade, he received a "3" in mathematics, "2" in Russian and "2" in French, for which he almost turned out to be a repeater. But soon he corrected the "deuces" to "triples" and was transferred.

In 1888, young Kolchak became a student at the Naval School. There the situation has changed beyond recognition. The former loser literally “fell in love” with his future profession and began to treat his studies very responsibly.

Participation in a polar expedition

In 1900, Kolchak joined the polar expedition led by E. Toll. The purpose of the expedition was to explore the area of ​​the Arctic Ocean and try to find the semi-mythical Sannikov Land.

According to the leader of the expedition, Kolchak was an energetic, active and devoted person to science. He called him the best officer of the expedition.

For participation in the study, Lieutenant A. V. Kolchak was awarded the fourth degree by Vladimir.

Participation in the war

At the end of January 1904, Kolchak applied for a transfer to the Naval Department. When it was granted, he filed a petition in Port Arthur.

In November 1904, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne for his service. In December 1905 - St. George's weapon. Returning from Japanese captivity, he received the Order of Stanislav of the second degree. In 1906, Kolchak was solemnly awarded a silver medal in memory of the war.

In 1914, he, a participant in the defense of Port Arthur, was awarded a badge.

Further activities

In 1912, Kolchak received the rank of flank captain. During the First World War, he actively worked on a plan for a mine blockade of German bases.

In 1916, he received the rank of vice admiral. The Black Sea Fleet was under his command.

A staunch monarchist, after the February Revolution, he nevertheless swore allegiance to the Provisional Government.

In 1918 he joined the Directory, a secret anti-Bolshevik organization. By this time, Kolchak was already Minister of War. When the leaders of the movement were arrested, he received the post of Commander-in-Chief.

At first, fate favored General Kolchak. His troops took the Urals, but soon the Red Army began to push him. In the end, he was defeated.

Soon he was betrayed by the Allies and handed over to the Bolsheviks. February 7, 1920 A. Kolchak was shot.

Personal life

Kolchak was married to S. F. Omirova. A hereditary noblewoman, a graduate of the Smolny Institute, Sophia was a strong personality. Their relationship with Alexander Vasilyevich was not easy.

Sofia Fedorovna gave Kolchak three children. Two girls died in early childhood, and the son Rostislav went through the Second World War and died in Paris in 1965.

The personal life of the admiral was not rich. His “late lover”, A. Timireva, was condemned several times after his execution.

Other biography options

• One of the islands in the Taimyr Bay, as well as a cape in the same region, is named after Kolchak.
• Alexander Vasilyevich himself gave the name to another cape. He named it Cape Sophia. This name has survived to our times.

Biography score

New feature! The average rating this biography received. Show rating

One of the most interesting and controversial figures in the history of Russia in the twentieth century is A. V. Kolchak. Admiral, naval commander, traveler, oceanographer and writer. Until now, this historical figure is of interest to historians, writers and directors. Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is shrouded in interesting facts and events, is of great interest to contemporaries. Based on his biographical data, books are created, scripts are written for the theater stage. Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich - the hero of documentaries and feature films. It is impossible to fully appreciate the significance of this person in the history of the Russian people.

The first steps of a young cadet

A. V. Kolchak, admiral of the Russian Empire, was born on November 4, 1874 in St. Petersburg. The Kolchak family comes from an ancient noble family. Father - Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, Major General of Naval Artillery, mother - Olga Ilyinichna Posokhova, Don Cossack. The family of the future admiral of the Russian Empire was deeply religious. In his childhood memoirs, Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich noted: "I am Orthodox, until the time I entered elementary school, I received under the guidance of my parents." After studying for three years (1885-1888) at the St. Petersburg Classical Men's Gymnasium, young Alexander Kolchak enters the Naval School. It was there that A. V. Kolchak, admiral of the Russian fleet, first learned naval sciences, which would later become his life's work. Studying at the Naval School revealed A.V. Kolchak's outstanding abilities and talent for maritime affairs.

The future Admiral Kolchak, whose brief biography shows that travel and sea adventures became his main passion. It was in 1890 that, as a sixteen-year-old teenager, a young cadet first went to sea. It happened on board the armored frigate "Prince Pozharsky". Training swimming lasted about three months. During this time, junior cadet Alexander Kolchak received the first skills and practical knowledge of maritime affairs. Later, during his studies at the Naval Cadet Corps, A. V. Kolchak repeatedly went on campaigns. His training ships were Rurik and Cruiser. Thanks to study trips, A.V. Kolchak began to study oceanography and hydrology, as well as navigational charts of underwater currents off the coast of Korea.

polar research

After graduating from the Naval School, young lieutenant Alexander Kolchak submits a report to the naval service in the Pacific Ocean. The request was approved, and he was sent to one of the naval garrisons of the Pacific Fleet. In 1900, Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is closely connected with scientific research Arctic Ocean, goes on the first polar expedition. On October 10, 1900, at the invitation of the famous traveler Baron Eduard Toll, the scientific group set off. The purpose of the expedition was to establish the geographical coordinates of the mysterious island of Sannikov Land. In February 1901, Kolchak made a big report about the Great Northern Expedition.

In 1902, on the wooden whaling schooner Zarya, Kolchak and Toll again set off for the northern voyage. In the summer of the same year, four polar explorers, led by the head of the expedition, Eduard Toll, left the schooner and set off on dog sleds to explore the coast of the Arctic. Nobody came back. A long search for the missing expedition did not bring any results. The entire crew of the Zarya schooner was forced to return to the mainland. After some time, A.V. Kolchak submits a petition to the Russian Academy of Sciences for a second expedition to the Northern Islands. The main goal of the campaign was to find the members of E. Toll's team. As a result of the search, traces of the missing group were found. However, the living members of the team were no longer there. For participation in the rescue expedition, A. V. Kolchak was awarded the Imperial Order of the 4th degree. According to the results of the work of the research polar group, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was elected a full member of the Russian Geographical Society.

Military conflict with Japan (1904-1905)

With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, A.V. Kolchak asks to be transferred from the scientific academy to the Naval War Department. Having received approval, he goes to serve in Port Arthur to Admiral S. O. Makarov, A. V. Kolchak is appointed commander of the destroyer "Angry". For six months, the future admiral fought valiantly for Port Arthur. However, despite the heroic confrontation, the fortress fell. The soldiers of the Russian army capitulated. In one of the battles, Kolchak is wounded and ends up in a Japanese hospital. Thanks to American military intermediaries, Alexander Kolchak and other officers of the Russian army were returned to their homeland. For his heroism and courage, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was awarded a nominal gold saber and a silver medal "In memory of the Russian-Japanese war."

Continuation of scientific activity

After a six-month vacation, Kolchak again starts research work. The main theme of his scientific works was the processing of materials from polar expeditions. Scientific works on oceanology and the history of polar research helped the young scientist to win honor and respect in the scientific community. In 1907, his translation of Martin Knudsen's "Tables of Freezing Points of Sea Water" was published. In 1909, the author's monograph "The Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas" was published. The significance of the works of A. V. Kolchak was that he was the first to lay the foundation for the doctrine of sea ice. The Russian Geographical Society highly appreciated the scientific activity of the scientist, presenting him with the highest award "Gold Konstantinovsky Medal". A. V. Kolchak became the youngest of the polar explorers who were awarded this high award. All predecessors were foreigners, and only he became the first Russian owner of a high distinction.

Revival of the Russian fleet

The loss in the Russo-Japanese War was very hard for the Russian officers. A.V. was no exception. Kolchak, an admiral in spirit and a researcher by vocation. Continuing to study the reasons for the defeat of the Russian army, Kolchak is developing a plan to create a Naval General Staff. In his scientific report, he expresses his thoughts about the reasons for the military defeat in the war, about what kind of fleet Russia needs, and also points out shortcomings in the defensive ability of naval vessels. The speech of the speaker in the State Duma does not find due approval, and A. V. Kolchak (admiral) leaves the service in the Naval General Staff. Biography and photos of that time confirm his transition to teaching at the Naval Academy. Despite the lack of an academic education, the leadership of the academy invited him to lecture on the joint actions of the army and navy. In April 1908, A. V. Kolchak was awarded military rank captain of the 2nd rank. Five years later, in 1913, he was promoted to the rank of captain of the 1st rank.

Participation of A. V. Kolchak in the First World War

Since September 1915, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak has been in charge of the Mine Division of the Baltic Fleet. The place of deployment was the port of the city of Revel (now Tallinn). The main task of the division was the development of minefields and their installation. In addition, the commander personally conducted sea raids to eliminate enemy ships. This caused admiration among ordinary sailors, as well as among the officers of the division. The courage and resourcefulness of the commander received wide appreciation in the fleet, and this reached the capital. April 10, 1916 A.V. Kolchak was promoted to the rank of rear admiral of the Russian fleet. And in June 1916, by decree of Emperor Nicholas II, Kolchak was awarded the rank of vice admiral, and he was appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Thus, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, admiral of the Russian fleet, becomes the youngest of the naval commanders.

The arrival of an energetic and competent commander was received with great respect. From the first days of work, Kolchak established strict discipline and changed the command leadership of the fleet. The main strategic task is to clear the sea of ​​enemy warships. To accomplish this task, it was proposed to block the ports of Bulgaria and the waters of the Bosphorus Strait. An operation was begun to mine the enemy coastlines. Admiral Kolchak's ship could often be seen performing combat and tactical missions. The commander of the fleet personally controlled the situation at sea. The special operation to mine the Bosphorus Strait with a swift blow to Constantinople was approved by Nicholas II. However, a daring military operation did not happen, all plans were violated by the February Revolution.

Revolutionary uprising of 1917

The events of the February coup of 1917 found Kolchak in Batumi. It was in this Georgian city that the admiral held a meeting with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, commander of the Caucasian Front. The agenda was to discuss the schedule of shipping and the construction of a seaport in Trabzon (Turkey). Having received a secret dispatch from the General Staff about a military coup in Petrograd, the admiral urgently returns to Sevastopol. Upon returning to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A.V. Kolchak orders the termination of the telegraph and postal communications of the Crimea with other regions of the Russian Empire. This prevents the spread of rumors and panic in the fleet. All telegrams were sent only to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.

Unlike the situation in the Baltic Fleet, the situation in the Black Sea was under the control of the admiral. A. V. Kolchak kept the Black Sea flotilla from revolutionary collapse for a long time. However, political events did not pass by. In June 1917, by decision of the Sevastopol Soviet, Admiral Kolchak was removed from the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet. During the disarmament, Kolchak, before the formation of his subordinates, breaks the award golden saber and says: “The sea rewarded me, I return the award to the sea.”

Russian admiral

Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak (Omirova), the wife of the great naval commander, was a hereditary noblewoman. Sophia was born in 1876 in Kamenetz-Podolsk. Father - Fedor Vasilyevich Omirov, Privy Councilor of His Imperial Majesty, mother - Daria Fedorovna Kamenskaya, came from the family of Major General V.F. Kamensky. Sofya Fedorovna was educated at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. A beautiful, strong-willed woman who knew several foreign languages, she was very independent in character.

The wedding with Alexander Vasilievich took place in the St. Kharlampievskaya Church in Irkutsk on March 5, 1904. After the wedding, the young spouse leaves his wife and goes to the army to defend Port Arthur. S.F. Kolchak, together with his father-in-law, goes to St. Petersburg. All her life, Sofya Fedorovna kept loyalty and devotion to her lawful spouse. She invariably began her letters to him with the words: "My dear and beloved, Sashenka." And she finished: “Sonia, who loves you.” Touching letters from his wife, Admiral Kolchak, shored up last days. Constant separation did not allow the spouses to see each other often. Military service required the fulfillment of duty.

And yet, rare moments of joyful meetings did not bypass loving spouses. Sofia Fedorovna gave birth to three children. The first daughter, Tatyana, was born in 1908, however, without having lived even a month, the child died. Son Rostislav was born on March 9, 1910 (died in 1965). The third child in the family was Margarita (1912-1914). When escaping from the Germans from Libava (Liepaja, Latvia), the girl caught a cold and soon died. Kolchak's wife lived for some time in Gatchina, then in Libau. During the shelling of the city, the Kolchak family was forced to leave their refuge. Having collected her things, Sophia moves to her husband in Helsingfors, where at that time the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet was located.

It was in this city that Sophia met Anna Timireva, the last love of the admiral. Then there was a move to Sevastopol. Throughout the Civil War, she waited for her husband. In 1919, Sophia Kolchak emigrated with her son. British allies help them get to Constanta, then there was Bucharest and Paris. Experiencing a difficult financial situation in exile, Sofya Kolchak was able to give a decent education to her son. Rostislav Aleksandrovich Kolchak graduated from the Higher Diplomatic School and worked for some time in the Algerian banking system. In 1939, Kolchak's son entered the service of the French army and soon fell into German captivity.

Sofia Kolchak will survive German occupation Paris. The death of the admiral's wife will occur in the Lunjumo hospital (France) in 1956. S.F. Kolchak was buried at the cemetery of Russian emigrants in Paris. In 1965, Rostislav Alexandrovich Kolchak died. The last refuge of the wife and son of the admiral will be the French tomb in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

The last love of the Russian admiral

Anna Vasilievna Timireva is the daughter of the outstanding Russian conductor and musician V. I. Safonov. Anna was born in Kislovodsk in 1893. Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timireva met in 1915 in Helsingfors. Her first husband is Sergey Nikolaevich Timirev. The love story with Admiral Kolchak still inspires admiration and respect for this Russian woman. Love and devotion made her go to a voluntary arrest after her lover. Endless arrests and exile could not destroy tender feelings, she loved her admiral until the end of her life. Having survived the execution of Admiral Kolchak in 1920, Anna Timireva was in exile for many years. Only in 1960 she was rehabilitated and lived in the capital. Anna Vasilievna died on January 31, 1975.

Foreign trips

Upon returning to Petrograd in 1917, Admiral Kolchak (his photo is presented in our article) receives an official invitation from the American diplomatic mission. Foreign partners, knowing his extensive experience in the mine business, ask the Provisional Government to send A. V. Kolchak as a military expert in the fight against submarines. A.F. Kerensky gives his consent to his departure. Soon, Admiral Kolchak went to England, and then to America. There he held military consultations and also took an active part in training maneuvers for the US Navy.

Nevertheless, Kolchak believed that his foreign voyage had failed, and a decision was made to return to Russia. While in San Francisco, the admiral receives a government telegram proposing to run for the Constituent Assembly. It burst out and violated all Kolchak's plans. The news of a revolutionary uprising finds him in the Japanese port of Yokohama. The temporary stop lasted until the autumn of 1918.

Events of the Civil War in the fate of A. V. Kolchak

After long wanderings abroad, A.V. Kolchak on September 20, 1918 returns to Russian soil in Vladivostok. In this city, Kolchak studied the state of military affairs and the revolutionary mood of the inhabitants of the eastern outskirts of the country. At this time, the Russian public more than once turned to him with a proposal to lead the fight against the Bolsheviks. October 13, 1918 Kolchak arrives in Omsk to establish a common command of the volunteer armies in the east of the country. After some time, a military seizure of power takes place in the city. A. V. Kolchak - Admiral, Supreme Ruler of Russia. It was this position that the Russian officers entrusted to Alexander Vasilyevich.

Kolchak's army numbered more than 150 thousand people. The coming to power of Admiral Kolchak inspired the entire eastern region of the country, hoping for the establishment of a tough dictatorship and order. A strong administrative vertical and the correct organization of the state were established. The main goal of the new military formation was to unite with the army of A.I. Denikin and march on Moscow. During the reign of Kolchak, a number of orders, decrees and appointments were issued. A. V. Kolchak was one of the first in Russia to begin an investigation into the death of the royal family. The award system of tsarist Russia was restored. At the disposal of Kolchak's army was a huge gold reserve of the country, which was taken from Moscow to Kazan with the aim of further moving to England and Canada. With this money, Admiral Kolchak (whose photo can be seen above) provided his army with weapons and uniforms.

Battle path and the arrest of the admiral

During the entire existence of the eastern front, Kolchak and his comrades-in-arms carried out several successful military attacks (Perm, Kazan and Simbirsk operations). However, the numerical superiority of the Red Army prevented a grandiose capture of the western borders of Russia. An important factor was the betrayal of the allies.

On January 15, 1920, Kolchak was arrested and sent to the Irkutsk prison. A few days later, the Extraordinary Commission began the procedure for investigative measures to interrogate the admiral. A. V. Kolchak, admiral (the protocols of interrogation testify to this), during the conduct of investigative measures, he behaved very worthily. Cheka investigators noted that the admiral answered all questions willingly and clearly, while not giving out a single name of his colleagues. The arrest of Kolchak lasted until February 6, until the remnants of his army came close to Irkutsk. In 1920, on the banks of the Ushakovka River, the admiral was shot and thrown into the hole. This is how the great son of his Motherland ended his journey.

Based on the events of hostilities in eastern Russia from the autumn of 1918 to the end of 1919, the book “Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak” was written, the author is S. V. Volkov.

Truth and fiction

To this day, the fate of this man is not fully understood. A. V. Kolchak is an admiral, unknown facts from whose life and death are still of interest to historians and people who are not indifferent to this person. One thing can be said quite definitely: the life of the admiral is a vivid example of courage, heroism and high responsibility to their homeland.

Defeat Kolchak, the white groups would not be able to create a strong unified power. For their political incapacity, Russia would pay off large territories with the Western powers

Admiral Kolchak until 1917 was incredibly popular in Russia due to his polar expeditions and activities in the fleet before and during the First World War. It was thanks to such popularity (whether it corresponded to real merits or not is a separate question) that Kolchak fell to play a significant role in the White movement.

Kolchak met the February Revolution as vice admiral as commander of the Black Sea Fleet. One of the first he swore allegiance to the Provisional Government. “Since the emperor has abdicated, by doing so he releases from all obligations that existed in relation to him ... I ... served not this or that form of government, but serve the motherland”, - he will say later during the interrogation of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission in Irkutsk.

Unlike the Baltic Fleet, the first days of the revolution in Sevastopol passed without massacres of sailors against officers. Sometimes this is presented as a brilliant merit of Kolchak, who managed to maintain order. In fact, however, even he himself named other reasons for calm. In winter, ice is in the Baltic, and the Black Sea Fleet went on combat missions all year round, and did not stand in ports for months. And because coastal agitation was subjected to less.

Commander-in-Chief Kolchak quickly began to adapt to the revolutionary innovations - the sailors' committees. He asserted that the committees "brought a certain calm and order." Been to meetings. Set the time for the election. Approved nominations.

The directors of the sweet film "Admiral" ignored the pages of the transcript of Kolchak's interrogation, which described this period, depicting only the commander's endless contempt for the rebellious "sailor mob".

“The revolution will bring enthusiasm ... to the masses and will make it possible to end this war victoriously ...”, “The monarchy is not able to bring this war to an end ...” - Kolchak later told the Irkutsk investigators about his then mentality. Many thought the same, for example, Denikin. The generals and admirals hoped for revolutionary power, but quickly became disillusioned with the Kerensky Provisional Government, which had shown complete impotence. The socialist revolution, which is understandable, they did not accept.

However, in his rejection of October and the truce with the Germans, Kolchak went further than others - to the British Embassy. He asked to serve in the British army. He explained such an act, so original for a Russian officer during interrogation, with fears that the German Kaiser would not prevail over the Entente, who “then will dictate his will to us”: "The only thing I can be of any use is to fight the Germans and their allies, whenever and as anyone."

And, we add, anywhere, even in the Far East. Kolchak went to fight there against the Bolsheviks under the British command, and he never hid this.

In July 1918, the British War Office even had to ask him to be more restrained: military intelligence chief George Mansfield Smith-Cumming ordered his agent in Manchuria, Captain L. Steveni, to immediately "explain to the admiral that it would be highly desirable that he remain silent about his connections with us" .

At this time, the power of the Bolsheviks beyond the Volga was in May-June 1918 almost everywhere overthrown with the help of a man traveling to Vladivostok Czechoslovak Corps, stretching in echelons along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. And with the help of the “real Russian naval commander” Kolchak, Great Britain could more effectively defend its interests in Russia.

After the overthrow of Soviet power in the Far East, political passions broke out. Among the contenders for power, the left-wing Samara Komuch stood out - socialists, members of the dispersed Constituent Assembly - and the right-wing Omsk Provisional Siberian Government (not to be confused with the Provisional Government of Kerensky). Only the presence of the Bolsheviks in power in Moscow prevented them from really grabbing each other's throats: being in an alliance, albeit a shaky one, the Whites were still able to hold the front line. The Entente did not want to supply small armies and the governments that were interrupted by them, because of their weakness they were not able to control even the already occupied territory. And in September 1918, a united white power center was created in Ufa, called the Directory, which included most of the former members of Komuch and the Provisional Siberian Government.

Under pressure from the Red Army, the Directory soon had to hastily evacuate from Ufa to Omsk. And I must say that the right elite of Omsk hated the left anti-Bolsheviks from Komuch almost as much as the Bolsheviks. The Omsk right did not believe in the "democratic freedoms" supposedly confessed by Komuch. They dreamed of a dictatorship. The Komuchevites from the Directory realized that a rebellion was being prepared against them in Omsk. They could hardly hope only for the help of the Czechoslovak bayonets and for the popularity of their slogans among the population.

And in such a situation, Vice Admiral Kolchak arrives in Omsk, ready to explode. He is popular in Russia. Great Britain believes him. It is he who looks like a compromise figure for the British and French, as well as the Czechs who were under the influence of the British.

The leftists from Komuch, hoping that London would support them as "more progressive forces", began, together with the rightists, to invite Kolchak to the post of naval minister of the Directory. He agreed.

And two weeks later, on November 18, 1918, a Bonapartist coup took place in Omsk. The directorate was removed from power. Its ministers transferred all powers to the new dictator, Kolchak. On that day, he became the "Supreme Ruler" of Russia. And it was then, by the way, that he was promoted to the rank of full admiral.

England fully supported Kolchak's coup. Seeing the inability of the left to create a strong government, the British preferred "more progressive forces" moderate right-wing representatives of the Omsk elite.

Kolchak's opponents on the right - ataman Semyonov and others - were forced to come to terms with the personality of the new dictator.
At the same time, one should not think that Kolchak was a democrat, as they often try to present him today.

The "democratic" language of negotiations between the Kolchak government and the West was an obvious convention. Both sides were well aware of the illusory nature of the words about the upcoming convocation of a new Constituent Assembly, which would supposedly consider the issues of the sovereignty of the national outskirts and the democratization of the new Russia. The admiral himself was by no means embarrassed by the name "dictator". From the very first days, he promised that he would overcome the “post-revolutionary collapse” in Siberia and the Urals and defeat the Bolsheviks, concentrating all civil and military power in the country in his hands.

In fact, however, it was not easy to concentrate power in your hands at that time.

By 1918, there were already about two dozen anti-Bolshevik governments in Russia. Some of them advocated "independence". Others are for the right to gather around themselves “one and indivisible Russia.” All this, by the way, contributed to the collapse of Russia and the control of the allies over it.

There were far fewer political divisions within the Bolshevik Party. At the same time, the territory of the RSFSR controlled by the Bolsheviks occupied the center of the country with almost all industrial and military enterprises and a wide transport network.

In such a situation, the isolated centers of whites could hardly help each other. Transport and telegraph worked through abroad. Thus, couriers from Kolchak to Denikin traveled by steamboats across two oceans and by several trains for months. The transfer of manpower and equipment, which was promptly carried out by the Bolsheviks, was out of the question.

Kolchak's political task was to ensure a balance between socialists, cadets and monarchists. Part of the left turned out to be outside the law, but it was vital to come to an agreement with the rest, preventing them from reorienting themselves to the Bolsheviks. However, if Kolchak had yielded to the left, he would have quickly lost the vital support of the right, who were already dissatisfied with the “leftism” of the course of power.

The right and the left pulled the ruler each in their own direction, it was not possible to reach a compromise between them. And soon Kolchak began to rush between them. Increasingly, the explosions of his emotions alternated with depression, apathy. This could not be overlooked by others. “It’s better if he were the most cruel dictator than that dreamer rushing about in search of the common good ... It’s a pity to look at the unfortunate admiral being pushed around by various advisers and speakers,” wrote right-minded General A. P. Budberg, one of the leaders of Kolchakovsky military ministry. He was echoed by Kolchak's consistent political opponent, Socialist-Revolutionary Founding Member E. E. Kolosov: “He was positively the same Kerensky ... (the same hysterical and weak-willed creature ...), only, having all his shortcomings, he did not have a single of his merits. Instead of rapprochement between left and right groups, a gulf widened between them.

On December 22, 1918, an anti-Kolchak uprising broke out in Omsk. Monarchist military circles, having suppressed it, at the same time dealt with 9 of the former Komuchevites who were in prison. The Komuchevites waited in prison for a court decision for their opposition to the admiral's authority.

D. F. Rakov, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, “founder” D.F. Rakov, who survived in the Omsk dungeons, recalled the bloody suppression of the uprising: “... No less than 1,500 people. Entire cartloads of corpses were transported around the city, as they carry sheep and pig carcasses in winter ... the city froze in horror. They were afraid to go outside, to meet each other.”

And the Socialist-Revolutionary Kolosov commented on this massacre in the following way: “It was possible, taking advantage of the turmoil, to get all the actual power into your own hands to suppress the rebellion and, having suppressed the rebellion, direct the tip of the same weapon ... against Kolchak’s “upstart” ... It turned out to cope with Kolchak not as easy as, for example, with the Directory. During these days, his house was heavily guarded ... by English soldiers, who rolled out all their machine guns right into the street.

Kolchak held on to the English bayonets. And, having ensured, with the help of the English guards, the rest of the "constituent members" who miraculously escaped execution from Siberia, was forced to hush up the case.

Ordinary performers were allowed to escape. Their leaders were not punished. The admiral did not have enough strength to break with the right-wing radicals. The same Kolosov wrote: “Ivanov-Rinov, who intensely competed with Kolchak, deliberately threw the corpses of the “founders” in his face ... in the expectation that he would not dare to refuse solidarity with them, and all this would bind him with a mutual bloody guarantee with the vicious of the reactionary circles.”

All Kolchak's reforms failed.

The ruler did not solve the land issue. The law he issued was reactionary for the left (restoration of private property) and insufficient for the right (lack of restoration of landownership). In the countryside, wealthy peasants were deprived of part of their land for monetary compensation that was unacceptable to them. And the Siberian poor, resettled by Stolypin on land unsuitable for farming and seizing suitable land from wealthy peasants during the revolution, was all the more dissatisfied. The poor were offered either to return what they had seized, or to pay dearly to the state for land use.

Yes, and the white army, freeing the territory from the Bolsheviks, often arbitrarily, disregarding the law, took away land from the peasants and returned it to the former owners. The poor, seeing the return of the bar, took up arms.

The White Terror in Siberia under Kolchak, through which food was confiscated from the population for the front and mobilization was carried out, was terrible. Only a few months of Kolchak's rule would pass, and at the headquarters the maps of Siberia would be painted with centers of peasant uprisings.

Enormous forces will have to be thrown into the fight against the peasants. And it will no longer be possible to understand in which cases the incredible cruelty of the punishers took place with the blessing of Kolchak, and in which - contrary to his direct instructions. However, there was no big difference: the ruler, who called himself a dictator, is responsible for everything that his government does.

Kolosov recalled how the rebellious villages were drowned in the hole:

“They threw a peasant woman there, suspected of Bolshevism, with a child in her arms. So they threw the child under the ice. It was called to deduce treason "with the root" ... "

The evidence for this is endless. The uprisings were drowned in blood, but they flared up again and again with even greater force. The numbers of the rebels exceeded hundreds of thousands. Peasant uprisings will be a verdict on a regime that has decided to conquer the people by force.

As for the workers, they did not experience such lack of rights as under Kolchak either under Nicholas II or under Kerensky. Workers were forced to work for meager wages. The 8-hour day and sickness funds were forgotten. The local authorities, who supported the manufacturers, closed the trade unions under the pretext of fighting Bolshevism. Minister of Labor Kolchak sounded the alarm in letters to the government, but the government was inactive. The workers of non-industrial Siberia were few in number and resisted weaker than the peasants. But they were also dissatisfied and joined the underground struggle.

As for the financial reform of Kolchak, as the Socialist-Revolutionary Kolosov accurately put it, of his unsuccessful reforms, one should give “the palm of primacy to the financial measures of Mikhailov and von Goyer, who killed the Siberian monetary unit ... (depreciated 25 times - M.M.) and enriched ... speculators" associated with the reformers themselves.

Minister of Finance I. A. Mikhailov was also criticized by the right wing in the person of General Budberg: “He does not understand anything in finance, he showed it on the idiotic reform of withdrawing the Kerenok from circulation ...”, “Reform ... on such a scale that Vyshnegradsky, Witte and Kokovtsev stayed, was carried out in a few days.

Products went up in price. Household goods - soap, matches, kerosene, etc. - became scarce. Speculators got rich. Theft flourished.

The capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway by itself did not allow delivering enough cargo from distant Vladivostok to supply Siberia and the Urals. The difficult situation on the overloaded railway was exacerbated by partisan sabotage, as well as constant "misunderstandings" between the whites and the Czechs guarding the highway. Corruption wreaked havoc. So, the Prime Minister of Kolchak, P.V. Vologodsky, recalled the Minister of Railways, L.A. Ustrugov, who gave bribes at the stations so that his train was allowed to go ahead.

Due to the chaos on the lines of communication, the front was supplied intermittently. Cartridge, gunpowder, cloth factories and warehouses of the Volga and Urals were cut off from the white army.

And foreigners brought weapons from different manufacturers to Vladivostok. Cartridges from one did not always fit the other. There was confusion in deliveries to the front, sometimes tragically reflected in combat capability.

The clothes for the front bought by Kolchak for Russian gold were often of poor quality and sometimes spread out after three weeks of wear. But even these clothes were delivered for a long time. Kolchakovets G.K. Gins writes: "The outfit ... rolled along the rails, as the continuous retreat did not make it possible to turn around."

But even the supply that reached the troops was poorly distributed. General M.K. Diterikhs, who inspected the troops, wrote: "The inaction of the authorities ... a criminal bureaucratic attitude to their duties" . For example, out of 45,000 sets of clothes received by the quartermasters of the Siberian Army, 12,000 went to the front, the rest, as the inspection established, were gathering dust in warehouses.

The malnourished soldiers on the front line did not receive food from the warehouses.

Theft of the rear, the desire to cash in on the war was observed everywhere. Thus, the French general Jeannin wrote: “Knox (English General - M.M.) tells me sad facts about the Russians. The 200,000 uniforms he supplied them with were sold for next to nothing and some of them ended up with the Reds.

As a result, General of the Allied Army Knox, according to the memoirs of Budberg, was nicknamed by Omsk newspapermen "Quartermaster of the Red Army". A mocking "letter of thanks" was composed and published on Trotsky's behalf to Knox for good supplies.

Kolchak failed to achieve competent campaigning. Siberian newspapers have become an instrument of information wars among the whites.

Strife grew within the white camp. Generals, politicians - everyone sorted out relations with each other. They fought for influence in the liberated territories, for supplies, for positions. They framed each other, denounced, slandered. Minister of the Interior V.N. Pepelyaev wrote: “We were assured that the Western Army ... stopped withdrawing. Today we see that she ... leaned back a lot ... Out of a desire to end (General - M.M.) Gaid here, they distort the meaning of what is happening. There must be a limit to this."

The memoirs of the Whites clearly show that in Siberia there were not enough competent commanders. Available, in conditions of poor supply and weak interaction between the troops, by May 1919 began to suffer successive defeats.

The fate of the Consolidated Shock Siberian Corps, completely unprepared for battle, but abandoned by the Whites to cover the junction between the Western and Siberian armies, is indicative. On May 27, the whites advanced without communications, field kitchens, wagon trains and partially unarmed. Company and battalion commanders were appointed only at the moment the corps advanced to the positions. Divisional commanders were generally appointed on May 30, during the rout. As a result, in two days of fighting, the corps lost half of its fighters, either killed or voluntarily surrendered.

By autumn, the Whites had lost the Urals. Omsk was surrendered by them practically without a fight. Kolchak appointed Irkutsk as his new capital.

The surrender of Omsk exacerbated the political crisis within the Kolchak government. The leftists demanded from the admiral democratization, rapprochement with the Social Revolutionaries and reconciliation with the Entente. The rightists, on the other hand, supported the tightening of the regime and rapprochement with Japan, which was unacceptable to the Entente.

Kolchak leaned towards the right. The Soviet historian G. Z. Ioffe, quoting telegrams from the admiral to his prime minister in November 1919, proves Kolchak's shift from London to Tokyo. Kolchak writes that "instead of rapprochement with the Czechs, I would raise the question of rapprochement with Japan, which alone is able to help us with a real force to protect the railway."

Eser Kolosov gloatingly wrote about this: “The history of Kolchak's international policy is the history of a gradually deepening rupture with the Czechs and growing ties with the Japanese. But he followed this path ... with the uncertain steps of a typical hysteric, and, already on the verge of death, took a decisive ... course towards Japan, it turned out that it was already too late. This step ruined him and led to his arrest, in fact, by the same Czechs.

The White Army marched from Omsk on foot and was still far away. The Red Army advanced quickly, and the foreign allies feared a serious clash with the Bolsheviks. That is why the British, already so disappointed in Kolchak, decided not to suppress the uprisings. The Japanese also did not help Kolchak.

Ataman Semenov, sent by Kolchak to Irkutsk, with whom he urgently had to put up with, failed to suppress the uprising alone.

In the end, the Czechs surrendered Kolchak and the gold reserves of Russia that were with him to the Irkutsk authorities in exchange for unimpeded passage to Vladivostok.

Some members of the Kolchak government fled to the Japanese. It is characteristic that many of them—Gins, the financial "genius" Mikhailov, and others—will soon join the ranks of the Nazis.

In Irkutsk, during interrogations arranged by the government, Kolchak gave detailed testimony, the transcripts of which were published.

And on February 7, 1920, the Whites came close to Irkutsk, retreating from the Red Army. There was a threat of the capture of the city and the release of the admiral. It was decided to shoot Kolchak.

All perestroika and post-perestroika attempts to rehabilitate Kolchak were unsuccessful. He was recognized as a war criminal who did not resist the terror of his own power in relation to civilians.

Obviously, if Kolchak had won, the white groups, even at critical moments on the fronts, sorting out relations with each other and rejoicing at each other's defeat, would not have been able to create a strong unified power. For their political incapacity, Russia would have paid off large territories with the Western powers.

Fortunately, the Bolsheviks turned out to be stronger than Kolchak at the front, more talented and flexible than him in state building. It was the Bolsheviks who defended the interests of Russia in the Far East, where the Japanese were already in charge under Kolchak. The Allies were escorted out of Vladivostok in October 1922. And two months later, the Soviet Union was created.

based on the materials of M. Maksimov

P.S. Here it is, this "polar explorer" and "oceanographer" was, first of all, he was the executioner of the Russian people, whose hands were stained with blood, and the military who worked for the English crown, that's who he was not, but a patriot of his country , that's for sure, but lately they have been trying to present the opposite to us.