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Where Bochkareva’s women’s battalion fought. Secret Stories - Women's Death Battalion

The future heroine of the Russian-American blockbuster "Battalion", which our modern "patriots" watch with aspiration, Maria Bochkareva was born in 1889 into a family of peasants in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, Leonty and Olga Frolkov. The family, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to Siberia, where fifteen-year-old Maria was married to a local drunkard. After some time, Bochkareva left her husband for the butcher Yakov Buk, who led a local gang of robbers. In May 1912, Buk was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed Yasha on foot to Eastern Siberia, where the two of them again opened butcher shop, although in fact Buk, with the participation of his mistress, organized a gang of Honghuz and engaged in the usual robbery on the highway. Soon the police were on the trail of the gang, Buk and Bochkareva were arrested and transferred to a settlement in the remote taiga village of Amga, where there was no one left to rob.

Bochkareva’s betrothed, from such grief and the inability to do what he loved, namely, robbery, as usual in Rus', began to drink and began to practice beating his mistress. At this time the First broke out World War, and Bochkareva decided to end her taiga-robber stage of life and go to the front, especially since Yashka became more and more brutal with melancholy. Only registration as a volunteer in the army allowed Maria to leave the place of settlement determined by the police. The male military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Bochkareva, not wanting to carry the wounded and wash bandages, sent a telegram to the Tsar asking him to give her the opportunity to shoot the Germans to her heart’s content. The telegram reached the addressee, and an unexpected positive response came from the king. This is how the mistress of a Siberian robber ended up at the front.

At first, the woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment from her colleagues, but her courage in battle brought her universal respect, St. George's Cross and three medals. In those years, the nickname “Yashka” stuck to her, in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.

M.V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a propaganda trip to the Western Front, where Bochkareva served, took her with him to Petrograd to campaign for “war to a victorious end” among the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the Congress of Soldiers’ Deputies of the Petrograd Soviet.

After a series of speeches by Bochkareva, Kerensky, in a fit of yet another propaganda adventurism, approached her with a proposal to organize “ women's battalion of death". Both Kerensky’s wife and St. Petersburg institutes, total number up to 2000 girls. In the unusual military unit, arbitrariness reigned, to which Bochkareva was accustomed to in the active army: subordinates complained to the authorities that Bochkareva “beats people’s faces, like a real sergeant of the old regime.” Not many could withstand such treatment: for short term the number of female volunteers was reduced to 300.

But nevertheless, on June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Petrograd, a solemn ceremony took place to present the new military unit with a white banner with the inscription “The first women’s military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation “On the formation military units of female volunteers." The appearance of Bochkareva’s detachment served as an impetus for the formation of women’s detachments in other cities of the country (Kiev, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but in connection with historical development events, the creation of these women's shock units was never completed.

Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: waking up at five in the morning, studying until ten in the evening and simple soldier's food. Women had their heads shaved. Black shoulder straps with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized “an unwillingness to live if Russia perishes.”

M. Bochkareva banned any party propaganda and the organization of any councils and committees in her battalion. Due to harsh discipline, a split occurred in the still-forming battalion. Some women attempted to form a soldiers’ committee and sharply criticized Bochkareva’s brutal management methods. There was a split in the battalion. M. Bochkareva was summoned alternately to the district commander, General Polovtsev and Kerensky. Both conversations took place heatedly, but Bochkareva stood her ground: she would not have any committees!

She reorganized her battalion. Approximately 300 women remained in it, and it became the 1st Petrograd Shock Battalion. And from the remaining women who disagreed with Bochkareva’s command methods, the 2nd Moscow Shock Battalion was formed.

The 1st battalion received its baptism of fire on July 9, 1917. The women came under heavy artillery and machine gun fire. Although the reports said that “Bochkareva’s detachment behaved heroically in battle,” it became clear that female military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and subsequently to lieutenant. Such heavy losses volunteers also had other consequences for women’s battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L.G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women’s “death battalions” for combat use, and the already created units were prescribed to be used only in auxiliary areas (security functions, communications, sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking to be dismissed from the “death units.”

The Second Moscow Battalion, which left Bochkareva’s command, was destined to be among the last defenders of the Provisional Government during the days of the October Revolution. This was the only military unit that Kerensky managed to inspect the day before the coup. As a result, only the second company was selected to guard the Winter Palace, but not the entire battalion. The defense of the Winter Palace, as we know, ended in tears. Immediately after the capture of the Winter Palace, the most sensational stories about the terrible fate of the women's battalion that defended the palace spread in the anti-Bolshevik press. It was said that some female soldiers were thrown out of windows onto the pavement, almost all the rest were raped, and many committed suicide, not being able to survive all these horrors.

The City Duma appointed a special commission to investigate the case. On November 16 (3), this commission returned from Levashov, where the women’s battalion was quartered. Deputy Tyrkova said: “All these 140 girls are not only alive, not only not injured, but also were not subjected to the terrible insults that we heard and read about.” After the capture of Zimny, the women were first sent to the Pavlovsk barracks, where some of them were indeed treated poorly by the soldiers, but what now most of they are located in Levashov, and the rest are scattered in private houses in Petrograd. Another member of the commission testified that not a single woman was thrown from the windows of the Winter Palace, that three were raped, but in the Pavlovsk barracks, and that one volunteer committed suicide by jumping out of a window, and she left a note in which she writes that “ I was disappointed in my ideals."

The slanderers were exposed by the volunteers themselves. “In view of the fact that in a number of places, malicious persons are spreading false, unsubstantiated rumors that allegedly violence and outrages were committed by sailors and Red Guards during the disarmament of the women’s battalion, we, the undersigned,” said the letter from the soldiers of the former women’s battalion, “ We consider it our civic duty to declare that nothing of the sort happened, that it was all lies and slander” (November 4, 1917)

In January 1918, the women's battalions were formally disbanded, but many of their members continued to serve in units of the White Guard armies.

Maria Bochkareva herself took an active part in the White movement. On behalf of General Kornilov, she went to visit Russia’s best “friends” - the Americans - to ask for help to fight the Bolsheviks. We are seeing approximately the same thing today, when various Parubiyas and Semenchenkos go to the same America to ask for money for the war with Donbass and Russia. Then, in 1919, help to Bochkareva, like today’s emissaries of the Kyiv junta, was promised by American senators. Upon returning to Russia on November 10, 1919, Bochkareva met with Admiral Kolchak. On his instructions, she formed a women's sanitary detachment of 200 people. But in the same November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Red Army, she was arrested and shot.

Thus ended the “glorious” path of the new idol of our patriotic public.

Headquarters of the women's "Death Battalion". Bochkarev in the center, with a red revolutionary bow, the St. George Cross of the 4th class, two St. George medals of the 3rd and 4th class. and the medal "For Diligence" on the Stanislav Ribbon. (V initial period During WW1, this medal was awarded as a military award). Original photograph from 1917.

Maria Bochkareva was born in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, in the summer of 1889 into a peasant family. A few years later, escaping poverty, they moved to Siberia. Where the state promised support in the form of land shares and finance. At the age of fifteen, the girl was married to 23-year-old Afanasy Bochkarev. Her husband drank, and the girl went to the Jew, the butcher Yakov Buk. His personal life didn’t work out either. Buk was accused of robbery and exiled to Yakutsk.

The First World War began. Maria, tired of living either as a criminal or with a drunkard, decided to go to the front. But according to the laws of that time, women could not serve in the active army. Bochkareva composed a telegram with a petition to the Tsar - and received Highest resolution for military service!

Bochkareva went to the front, where at first she caused laughter among her colleagues. However, her fearlessness in countless battles, two wounds in battle brought Bochkareva respect among her colleagues, the St. George Cross, three medals and the rank of senior non-commissioned officer.

Creation of the women's "Death Battalion" by Maria Bochkareva

In Petrograd, where she was taken for propaganda work “for the war to victory,” Bochkareva proposed creating shock “death battalions” consisting exclusively of women. With this idea she was sent to a meeting of the Provisional Government, where she received support. At the top, first of all, they saw this as a propaganda goal - to raise the spirit of patriotism, to stir up men who did not want to serve and fight, with the example of the Women's Battalions. The wife of the head of government, Kerensky, also took part in the creation of such a formation.

And already on June 21, 1917, near St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the banner of a new military unit with the inscription “The first women’s military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva” scattered in the wind. Iron discipline became the law for her. Subordinates even complained to their superiors that the commander hit people’s faces like a real sergeant.

Review of the death battalion conducted by the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General. Polovtsev. More famous photograph, since it was reproduced on photo postcards issued in a fairly large circulation.

Baptism of fire of the Death Battalion under the command of Maria Bochkareva

A week later, the battalion arrived in Molodechno, in the active army of the Western Front. On July 7, 1917, an order was received to take positions near the town of Krevo. This was the first combat experience of the Women's Death Battalion of Maria Bochkareva. The enemy launched a pre-emptive strike and crashed into the location of Russian troops. Over the course of three days, the regiment repelled 14 German attacks, launched counterattacks and, in the end, knocked the enemy out of their positions.

According to Bochkareva, in that battle she lost more than half personnel battalion wounded and killed. Having been wounded for the fifth time, she ended up in the capital’s hospital. Here she was given the rank of second lieutenant.

Heavy losses in the ranks of women volunteers led to the fact that the main supreme commander, General Kornilov, prohibited the further formation of women's battalions to participate in battles. The existing units were supposed to serve in communications, security, and medicine. As a result of this decree, many women who wanted to fight for their homeland in battles filed for dismissal from the “death units.”

After the dissolution of the death battalion, some time later, Bochkareva was detained by the Bolsheviks and she almost ended up on trial. But thanks to her colleagues, she escaped and eventually arrived in the United States for the purpose of anti-Soviet agitation. Her activities were quite active. In the summer of 1918, she was granted an audience at the White House with President Wilson, then Europe and a meeting with King George V, where she secured financial support. Then, again Russia, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, meeting with Admiral Kolchak. However, all this was already belated steps when complete disaster on the White Front.

January 7, 1920 former commander Women's Death Battalion Maria Bochkareva was arrested by the Bolsheviks. And she, as “the worst and implacable enemy of the workers’ and peasants’ republic,” was sentenced to death.

However, there is no evidence of the execution. There is a version that her friends freed her from prison, and she left for Harbin. Here she met a former fellow soldier-widower, who became her husband. Maria Bochkareva herself did not have any children of her own and she dedicated her love to her husband’s sons, who died in the battles of the Great Patriotic War.

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In different historical eras and in different parts light, when, due to constant wars, the ranks of men were greatly thinned, women created their own combat units. In Russia, during the First World War, so-called women's death battalions also appeared. The first such unit was headed by Maria Bochkareva, one of the most unlucky and extraordinary women of that difficult time.

How was the life of the future heroine?

Maria Leontyevna Frolkova was born in 1889 in the Novgorod region into a very poor peasant family. When Marusya was six years old, the family was looking for better life moved to Tomsk, since the government promised considerable benefits to immigrants to Siberia. But the hopes were not justified. At the age of 8, the girl was given “to the people.” Marusya worked from morning to night, enduring constant hunger and beatings.

In her early youth, Maria met Lieutenant Vasily Lazov. In an effort to escape from the hopeless situation surrounding her, the girl fled with him from her parents' house. However, the lieutenant disgraced her and abandoned her. After returning home, Maria was beaten so severely by her father that she suffered a concussion. Then, at the age of 15, Maria was married to a veteran Japanese war Afanasia Bochkareva. The marriage was unsuccessful: the husband drank heavily and beat his young wife. Maria tried to escape from him and somehow get settled in life, but her husband found her, brought her home and everything continued as before. The girl repeatedly tried to take her own life. IN last time she was saved by the robber and gambler Yankel Buk, who was part of the international gang of Honghuz. He did not let her drink a glass of vinegar. Maria became his partner.

Some time later, Yankel Buk was caught and exiled. Bochkareva followed him into exile. But there he began to drink and engage in assault. There is evidence that one day Buk, suspecting his girlfriend of treason, tried to hang her. Maria realized that she had fallen into another trap, and her active nature began to look for a way out. She went to the police station, where she spoke about the many unsolved crimes of her partner. However, this act only worsened her situation.

When the First World War began, Bochkareva turned to the commander of the Tomsk battalion with a request to enlist her as a soldier. The commander laughed it off and advised her to turn to the emperor himself. However, Maria’s existence was so terrible that she really decided to take this step: she found a person who helped her compose and send a telegram to Nicholas II, in which she asked to enlist her in the active army. Apparently, the telegram was written by a professional, because the tsar agreed to such a violation of army discipline.

Life among soldiers and participation in battles

When Maria Bochkareva went to the front, her fellow soldiers perceived her ironically. Her military nickname was “Yashka”, after her second husband. Maria recalled that she spent the first night in the barracks handing out blows to her comrades. She tried to visit not a soldier’s bathhouse, but a city one, where they threw something heavy at her from the threshold, mistaking her for a man. Later, Maria began to wash with her squad, occupying the far corner, turning her back and threatening to scald if harassed. Soon the soldiers got used to her and stopped mocking her, recognizing her as “one of their own”; sometimes they even took her with them to the brothel as a joke.

After all the ordeals, Maria had nothing to lose, but she got a chance to advance and improve her social status. She showed considerable courage in battles and pulled fifty wounded from under fire. She herself was wounded four times. Returning from the hospital, she received the most cordial welcome in the unit, probably for the first time in her life being in a friendly environment. She was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer and awarded the St. George Cross and three medals.

First Women's Death Battalion

In 1917, Duma deputy Mikhail Rodzianko proposed the idea of creating a women's military brigade. The front was falling apart, cases of flight from the battlefield and desertion were widespread. Rodzianko hoped that the example of fearless patriotic women would inspire the soldiers and unite the Russian army.

Maria Bochkareva became the commander of the women's death battalion. More than 2,000 women responded to her call, wanting to defend the country with arms in hand. Many of them were from among the romantic St. Petersburg institutes, carried away by patriotic ideas and having absolutely no idea about real military life, but willingly posing in soldier’s image for photographers. Bochkareva, seeing this, immediately demanded that her subordinates strictly adhere to her requirements: unquestioning obedience, no jewelry and a haircut. There were also complaints about Maria’s heavy hand, which could, in the best sergeant-major traditions, slap people in the face. Those dissatisfied with such orders quickly dropped out, and only 300 girls remained in the battalion. of various origins: from those born in peasant families to noblewomen. Maria Skrydlova, the daughter of a famous admiral, became Bochkareva’s adjutant. National composition was different: Russians, Latvians, Estonians, Jews and even one Englishwoman.

The women's battalion was escorted to the front by about 25 thousand men from the St. Petersburg garrison, who themselves were in no hurry to expose their foreheads to a bullet. Alexander Kerensky personally presented the detachment with a banner on which was written: “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” Their emblem was a skull and crossbones: not a pirate sign, but a symbol of Calvary and the atonement for the sins of mankind.

How were women warriors perceived?

At the front, the girls had to fight off the soldiers: many perceived the female recruits exclusively as legal prostitutes. Prostitutes accompanying the army often dressed in something like a military uniform, so the girls’ ammunition did not stop anyone. Their military position was besieged by hundreds of fellow soldiers who had no doubt that an official brothel had arrived.

But that was before the first battles. Bochkareva’s detachment arrived at Smorgon and on July 8, 1914, entered into battle for the first time. Over three days, the women's death battalion repelled 14 German attacks. Several times the girls went on counterattacks, entered into hand-to-hand combat and knocked out German units from their positions. Commander Anton Denikin was impressed by the women's heroism.

Rodzianko’s calculations did not come true: the male combat units continued to take cover in the trenches while the girls rose to attack. The battalion lost 30 soldiers, about 70 were wounded. Bochkareva herself was wounded for the fifth time and spent a month and a half in the hospital. She was promoted to second lieutenant, and the battalion moved to the rear. After the October Revolution, on Bochkareva’s initiative, her detachment was disbanded.

Alternative battalion of college girls

Those girls who were weeded out by Bochkareva created the Petrograd Women's Death Battalion. Here it was allowed to use cosmetics, wear elegant underwear and have beautiful hairstyles. The composition was fundamentally different: in addition to the romantic graduates Smolny Institute noble maidens Adventurers of various kinds, including prostitutes who decided to change their field of activity, joined the battalion. This second detachment, formed by the Women's Patriotic Union, was supposed to defend the Winter Palace in Petrograd. However, when Zimny was captured by the revolutionaries, this detachment did not offer resistance: the girls were disarmed and sent to the barracks of the Pavlovsky regiment. The attitude towards them was exactly the same as initially towards the front-line girls. They were perceived exclusively as girls of easy virtue, treated without any respect, raped, and soon the Petrograd Women's Battalion was disbanded.

Refusal to cooperate with the Bolsheviks in favor of the White Guards

After the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky considered Maria Bochkareva a suitable candidate for organizing the Soviet women's movement. However, Maria refused, citing her reluctance to further take part in battles. She went over to the side of the White movement, but did not really participate in the hostilities and made an attempt to go to her family in Tomsk. On the way, Bochkareva was captured by the Bolsheviks, from whom she managed to escape in the costume of a nurse. Having reached Vladivostok, the Russian Amazon left for San Francisco. In America, she was supported by one of the leaders of the suffragette movement, the wealthy Florence Harriman. She organized Maria a tour throughout the country giving lectures. In 1918, Bochkareva was received by President Woodrow Wilson, whom she asked for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. It is known that the head of the White House shed tears after the Russian Amazon told him about the vicissitudes of her difficult fate.

Then Mary arrived in London and had the honor of talking with King George. The latter promised her financial and military support. She returned to her homeland with the English military corps. From Arkhangelsk she went to the White Guard capital Omsk, joining the army of Alexander Kolchak, who invited her to form a women's detachment. This attempt was unsuccessful. By the way, Kolchak, in Maria’s opinion, was too indecisive, as a result of which the Bolsheviks everywhere went on the offensive.

Mysteries of extraordinary fate

There are different versions about Maria's arrest. According to one of them, she voluntarily came to the Cheka and surrendered her weapons. In any case, on January 7, 1920, she was arrested. The investigative process lasted several months, the court hesitated in making a decision. It is believed that on May 16, 1921, Bochkareva was shot in Krasnoyarsk according to the resolution of security officers Ivan Pavlunovsky and Isaac Shimanovsky. However, it is known that Mary had influential defenders and there was an active struggle for her release. Her biographer S.V. Drokov believes that the order to execute remained only on paper and was not carried out, and in fact this extraordinary woman was rescued American journalist Isaac Levin is from Odessa. This version says that Maria subsequently met one of her former fellow soldiers, a widower with children, and married him.

The Women's Death Battalion in the First World War (photos are in the article) arose at the behest of the Provisional Government. One of the main initiators of its creation was M. Bochkareva. The Women's Death Battalion in World War I was created to raise the morale of male soldiers who refused to go to the front.

Maria Bochkareva

Since 1914, she was at the front with the rank of senior non-commissioned officer, having received the Highest permission to do so. Thanks to her heroism, by 1917 Maria Bochkareva had become quite famous. Rodzianko, who arrived on the Western Front in April, achieved a personal meeting with her, and then took her with him to Petrograd to campaign for the fight “to the bitter end” among the garrison troops and in front of the delegates of the Congress of the Petrograd Soviet. In her speech, Bochkareva put forward a proposal to form a women's death battalion. During the war, she said, such a formation was extremely necessary. After this, she was invited to speak at a meeting of the Provisional Government.

Prerequisites for the formation of a detachment

During the First World War, women themselves of different ages- high school students, student students and representatives of other strata of society - went voluntarily to the front. In the "Bulletin of the Red Cross" in 1915 a story appeared about 12 girls who fought in the Carpathians. They were 14-16 years old. In the very first battles, two high school students died and 4 were wounded. The soldiers treated the girls like fathers. They got them uniforms, taught them how to shoot, and then signed them up. male names like privates. What made women who were good-looking, young, rich or noble plunge into military everyday life? Documents and memories point to many reasons. The main one, undoubtedly, was the patriotic impulse. He covered everything Russian society. It was the sense of patriotism and duty that forced many women to change their elegant outfits to military uniform or the clothes of sisters of mercy. Family circumstances were also important. Some women went to the front for their husbands, others, having learned about their deaths, joined the army out of a sense of revenge.

A special role belonged to the developing movement for equal rights with men. The revolutionary year of 1917 gave women many opportunities. They received voting and other rights. All this contributed to the emergence of soldier detachments that consisted entirely of women. In the spring and summer of 1917, units began to form throughout the country. Already from the name itself it was clear what the women's death battalion was. In the First World War, girls were ready to give their lives for their Motherland. About 2,000 girls responded to Bochkareva’s call. However, only 300 of them were selected for the women's death battalion. In the First World War, the “shock girls” showed what Russian girls were capable of. With their heroism they infected all the soldiers who participated in the battles.

Women's Death Battalion: history of creation

The battalion was formed in a fairly short time. In 1917, on June 21, a solemn ceremony was held at St. Isaac's Cathedral on the square. She's wearing something new military formation received a white banner. On June 29, the Regulations were approved. It established the procedure for the formation of military formations of female volunteers. Representatives from different walks of life signed up to join the ranks of the “shock girls”. For example, Bochkareva’s adjutant was the 25-year-old general’s daughter Maria Skrydlova. She had an excellent education and knew five languages.

The Women's Death Battalion in the First World War consisted of women serving in front-line units and ordinary citizens. Among the latter were noblewomen, workers, teachers, and student students. Simple peasant women, servants, girls from famous noble families, soldiers, Cossack women - they and many others went to serve in the women's death battalion. The history of the creation of Bochkareva’s unit began in difficult times. However, this became the impetus for the unification of girls into soldier detachments in other cities. Mostly Russian women joined the units. However, it was possible to meet representatives of other nationalities. Thus, according to documents, Estonians, Latvians, and Jews also went to serve in the women’s death battalion.

The history of the creation of units testifies to the high patriotism of the fairer sex. Units began to be formed in Kyiv, Smolensk, Kharkov, Mariupol, Baku, Irkutsk, Odessa, Poltava, Vyatka and other cities. According to sources, a lot of girls immediately signed up for the first women's death battalion. In the First World War, military formations ranged from 250 to 1,500 people. In October 1917, the following were formed: the Naval Command, the Minsk Guard Squad, the Petrograd Cavalry Regiment, as well as the First Petrograd, Second Moscow, and Third Kuban Women's Death Battalions. Only the last three units took part in the First World War (history shows this). However, due to the intensifying processes of destruction Russian Empire the formation of the units was never completed.

Public attitude

Russian historian Solntseva wrote that the Soviets and the mass of soldiers perceived the women’s death battalion quite negatively. In the World War, however, the role of the detachment was quite significant. However, many front-line soldiers spoke very unflatteringly about the girls. At the beginning of July, the Petrograd Soviet demanded that all battalions be disbanded. It was said that these units were “unfit for service.” In addition, the Petrograd Soviet regarded the formation of these detachments as a “hidden bourgeois maneuver”, as a desire to bring the struggle to victory.

Women's Death Battalion in the First World War: photos, activities

Bochkareva’s unit arrived in the active army on June 27, 1917. The number of the detachment was 200 people. The women's death battalion entered the rear units of the First Siberian Corps of the 10th Army on the Western Front. An offensive was being prepared for July 9th. On the 7th, the infantry regiment, which included the women's death battalion, received an order. He was to take a position at Crevo. On the right flank of the regiment there was a battalion of shockwomen. They were the first to enter the battle, since the enemy, who knew about the plans of the Russian army, launched a preemptive strike and entered the location of our troops.

Over the course of three days, 14 enemy attacks were repelled. Several times during this time the battalion launched counterattacks. As a result, German soldiers were driven out of the positions they had occupied the day before. In his report, Colonel Zakrzhevsky wrote that the women's death battalion in the First World War behaved heroically, being constantly on the front line. The girls served in the same way as the soldiers, on an equal basis with them. When the Germans attacked, they all rushed into a counterattack, went on reconnaissance missions, and brought in cartridges. The Women's Death Battalion in the First World War was an example of bravery, calm and courage. Each of these heroine girls is worthy the highest rank Soldier of the revolutionary army of Russia. As Bochkareva herself testified, out of 170 shock workers who took part in the battles, 30 people were killed and about 70 were wounded. She herself was wounded five times. After the battle, Bochkareva was in the hospital for a month and a half. For her participation in battles and her heroism, she was awarded the rank of second lieutenant.

Consequences of losses

Due to big amount girls killed and wounded in battles, General Kornilov signed an order prohibiting the formation of new death battalions to participate in battles. The existing units were assigned only an auxiliary function. In particular, they were instructed to provide security, communications, and act as sanitary groups. As a result, many volunteer girls who wanted to fight for their homeland with weapons in their hands submitted written statements that contained a request to be dismissed from the death battalion.

Discipline

She was quite tough. The Women's Death Battalion in the First World War showed not only an example of courage and patriotism. The main principles were proclaimed:

Positive points

The Women's Death Battalion in the First World War not only took part in battles. "Udarnitsy" got the opportunity to master male professions. For example, Princess Shakhovskaya is the world's first female pilot. In Germany in 1912 she was issued a pilot's license. There, at the Johannisthal airfield, she worked for some time as an instructor. At the beginning of the war, Shakhovskaya petitioned to be sent to the front as a military pilot. The Emperor granted the request, and in November 1914, the princess was enlisted with the rank of ensign in the First Aviation Detachment.

One more a shining example is Elena Samsonova. She was the daughter of a military engineer and graduated from high school and courses in Peretburg with a gold medal. Samsonova worked as a nurse in a Warsaw hospital. After that, she was enlisted as a driver in the 9th Army, which was located on the Southwestern Front. However, she did not serve there long - about four months, and then was sent to Moscow. Before the war, Samsonova received a pilot's diploma. In 1917, she was sent to the 26th aviation detachment.

Security of the Provisional Government

One of the “shock battalions” (the First Petrograd, commanded by Staff Captain Loskov), together with cadets and other units, took part in the defense of the Winter Palace in October 1917. On October 25, the detachment, which was stationed at Levashovo station, was supposed to head to the Romanian front. But the day before, Loskov received an order to send a unit “to the parade” in Petrograd. In fact, it was supposed to provide protection

Loskov learned about the real task and did not want to drag his subordinates into political disagreements. He withdrew the battalion back to Levashovo, except for the 2nd company of 137 people. With the help of two shock platoons, the headquarters of the Petrograd district tried to carry out the routing of Liteiny, Dvortsovoy and Dvortsovoy, but this task was thwarted by the Sovietized sailors. The remaining company of shockwomen positioned themselves to the right of the main gate on the first floor of the palace. During the night assault, she surrendered and was disarmed. The girls were taken to the barracks first by Pavlovsky, and then, according to some reports, a number of shockwomen were “mistreated.” Subsequently, a special commission of the Petrograd Duma found that four girls were raped (although, probably, few were even ready to admit it), and one committed suicide. On October 26, the company was sent back to Levashovo.

Elimination of units

After graduation October revolution the new Soviet government set a course for concluding peace, as well as withdrawing the country from the war. In addition, part of the forces was aimed at eliminating the Imperial Army. As a result, all “shock units” were disbanded. The battalions were disbanded on November 30, 1917 by order of the Military Council of the former Ministry. Although shortly before this event, it was ordered to promote all participants of volunteer units to officers for military merits. Nevertheless a large number of female shock workers remained in deployment until January 1918 and longer.

Some women moved to the Don. There they took an active part in the fight against the Bolsheviks in the ranks of the Last of the remaining units was the Third Kuban Death Battalion. He was stationed in Yekaterinodar. This strike unit was disbanded only on February 26, 1918. The reason was the refusal of the headquarters of the Caucasian district to provide further supplies to the detachment.

and shape

Women who served in Bochkareva's battalion wore the "Adam's Head" symbol on their chevrons. They, like other soldiers, underwent a medical examination. Like men, girls cut their hair almost bald. During the fighting, women's participation and asceticism acquired a mass character for the first time in history. There were more than 25 thousand volunteer girls in the Russian army at the front. A sense of patriotism and duty to the Fatherland led many of them to serve. Being in the army changed their worldview.

Finally

It must be said that when creating the first women's battalion, Kerensky played a special role. He was the first to support this idea. Kerensky received a huge number of petitions and telegrams from women who sought to join the ranks of the unit. He also received minutes of meetings and various memos. All these papers reflected women's concerns future fate country, as well as the desire to protect the Motherland and preserve the freedom of the people. They believed that remaining inactive was tantamount to disgrace. Women strove to join the army, guided solely by their love for the Motherland and the desire to raise the morale of the soldiers. The Main Directorate of the General Staff established a special commission on labor service. At the same time, the headquarters of the military districts began to work to attract female volunteers into the army. However, the desire of women was so great that a wave of the creation of military organizations spontaneously spread across the country.

The future heroine of the Russian-American blockbuster “Battalion”, which our modern “patriots” watch with aspiration, Maria Bochkareva was born in 1889 into a family of peasants in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, Leonty and Olga Frolkov. The family, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to Siberia, where fifteen-year-old Maria was married to a local drunkard. After some time, Bochkareva left her husband for the butcher Yakov Buk, who led a local gang of robbers. In May 1912, Buk was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed Yasha on foot to Eastern Siberia, where the two of them again opened a butcher shop as a diversion, although in fact Buk, with the participation of his mistress, organized a gang of Honghuz and engaged in the usual robbery on the highway. Soon the police were on the trail of the gang, Buk and Bochkareva were arrested and transferred to a settlement in the remote taiga village of Amga, where there was no one left to rob.

Bochkareva’s betrothed, from such grief and the inability to do what he loved, namely, robbery, as usual in Rus', began to drink and began to practice beating his mistress. At this time, the First World War broke out, and Bochkareva decided to end her taiga-robber stage of life and go to the front, especially since Yashka became more and more brutal with melancholy. Only registration as a volunteer in the army allowed Maria to leave the place of settlement determined by the police. The male military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Bochkareva, not wanting to carry the wounded and wash bandages, sent a telegram to the Tsar asking him to give her the opportunity to shoot the Germans to her heart’s content. The telegram reached the addressee, and an unexpected positive response came from the king. This is how the mistress of a Siberian robber ended up at the front.

At first, the woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment from her colleagues, but her courage in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, the nickname “Yashka” stuck to her, in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.

After a series of speeches by Bochkareva, Kerensky, in a fit of yet another propaganda adventurism, approached her with a proposal to organize a “women’s death battalion.” Both Kerensky and St. Petersburg institutes, totaling up to 2000 girls, were involved in this pseudo-patriotic project. In the unusual military unit, arbitrariness reigned, to which Bochkareva was accustomed to in the active army: subordinates complained to the authorities that Bochkareva “beats people’s faces, like a real sergeant of the old regime.” Not many could stand this treatment: in a short time the number of female volunteers was reduced to 300.

But nevertheless, on June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Petrograd, a solemn ceremony took place to present the new military unit with a white banner with the inscription “The first women’s military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation “On the formation of military units from female volunteers.” The appearance of Bochkareva’s detachment served as an impetus for the formation of women’s units in other cities of the country (Kiev, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but due to the historical development of events, the creation of these women’s shock units was never completed.

The 1st battalion received its baptism of fire on July 9, 1917. The women came under heavy artillery and machine gun fire. Although the reports said that “Bochkareva’s detachment behaved heroically in battle,” it became clear that female military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and subsequently to lieutenant. Such heavy losses of volunteers also had other consequences for the women’s battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women’s “death battalions” for combat use, and the already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary areas (security functions, communications , sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking to be dismissed from the “death units.”

The City Duma appointed a special commission to investigate the case. On November 16 (3), this commission returned from Levashov, where the women’s battalion was quartered. Deputy Tyrkova said: “All these 140 girls are not only alive, not only not injured, but also were not subjected to the terrible insults that we heard and read about.” After the capture of Zimny, the women were first sent to the Pavlovsk barracks, where some of them were indeed treated badly by the soldiers, but that now most of them are in Levashov, and the rest are scattered in private houses in Petrograd. Another member of the commission testified that not a single woman was thrown from the windows of the Winter Palace, that three were raped, but in the Pavlovsk barracks, and that one volunteer committed suicide by jumping out of a window, and she left a note in which she writes that “ I was disappointed in my ideals."