Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Ambitious Marshal of the Soviet Union
Name: Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolaevich
State: Russian Empire, USSR
Field of activity: Military
Greatest Achievement: Marshal of the USSR, author of the theory of fleeting war
Fought in the First World War, was taken prisoner. Ran on the fifth try.
After the revolution, he was accepted into the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.
Commander-in-Chief Lev Trotsky assigned Tukhachevsky command of the 5th Army in 1919, in which position he led the campaign to recapture Simbirsk from Kolchak's White Guards. Also, Mikhail Nikolaevich carried out the final operations to capture General Anton Denikin in the Crimea.
Tukhachevsky played a leading role in the development of a new way of warfare - the theory of deep operations.
Gradually, Stalin came to the conclusion that Tukhachevsky was his most sworn enemy.
In 1935, at the age of forty-two, Tukhachevsky was appointed Marshal of the USSR.
June 11, 1937 Supreme Court Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a special tribunal was convened to sentence Tukhachevsky and other officers convicted in the case for treason. All were sentenced to death the same evening.
After the publication of the famous Khrushchev speech, Tukhachevsky was rehabilitated and found posthumously innocent.
Marshal of the USSR and military leader of the Red Army, Tukhachevsky was an outstanding tactician of his time and went down in history thanks to the theories of military affairs developed by him and books about the war. Among other things, Tukhachevsky is famous for being one of the first victims of the Great Purge, and his death heralded a new era for Soviet Russia.
Childhood and youth
Tukhachevsky was born on February 16, 1893 in the Smolensk region. His parents were of noble birth. After graduating from a military school, in 1914, Mikhail Nikolaevich entered the service of the Semyonov Guards Regiment.
Tukhachevsky's works
Tukhachevsky played a leading role in the development of a new way of warfare - the theory of deep operations. This theory involved striking deep behind enemy formations with the aim of destroying the rear and cutting off the enemy's escape route.
The fleeting war had many opponents in the Red Army, but, nevertheless, it was adopted in the mid-thirties. The theory was included in the code of rules of the Red Army in 1929, and by 1936 it was completely finalized. One of the main examples of its effectiveness can be considered the victory of the USSR over Japan in the battle of Nomonhan. In this battle, the Soviet army under the leadership of Zhukov defeated the superior enemy force in the early autumn of 1939.
The theory of fleeting war is constantly being refined and used to this day. It became the basis for many modern forms of combat operations, and it was developed by Tukhachevsky. Due to the large-scale cleansings carried out in the Red Army in the late 30s, this theory was not applied for some time. It was later used again during the Winter War (1939-1940) when the Soviets invaded Finland. It was also used in the key battles for the USSR near Stalingrad and in Belarus.
Origin of suspicion
Gradually, Stalin came to the conclusion that Tukhachevsky was his most sworn enemy. He gave him the nickname "Napoleon", believing that Mikhail Nikolaevich, together with Trotsky, planned to overthrow the leader. After the redistribution of power in 1929, Stalin began to receive denunciations from servicemen who did not approve of Tukhachevsky's tactics. Then, in 1930, the OGPU forced two officers to testify that Tukhachevsky was involved in a conspiracy against the Politburo and was planning a coup d'état. However, this year the trial of Tukhachevsky did not take place. Stalin received the results of the check on his case, which did not reveal anything.
After that, Mikhail Nikolayevich wrote a number of books on the conduct of the war. In 1931, Stalin began to industrialize the army, and Tukhachevsky was given a key role in its reform. He introduced advanced ideas about the possibilities of tactical use of air and ground equipment in combined attack methods.
Tukhachevsky pit big love to art. He became a close friend and patron of Dmitri Shostakovich. The general's acquaintance with the composer took place in 1925. Subsequently, they often played music together at Tukhachevsky's house (he played the violin well). In 1934, Shostakovich was attacked and condemned after the publication of a critical article in the newspaper Pravda about his work Lady Macbeth. Tukhachevsky stood up for his comrade before Stalin. The arrest of Mikhail Nikolaevich led to pressure on Shostakovich. They wanted to get him to testify against Tukhachevsky. Shostakovich was saved from persecution by the fact that the investigator was also soon arrested.
Marshal's conspiracy
In 1935, at the age of forty-two, Tukhachevsky was appointed Marshal of the USSR. Stalin wanted to achieve complete control over the army, seeing in it the only force capable of resisting him. Since their relationship with Tukhachevsky was always difficult, Stalin decided to eliminate the marshal and his seven commanders. This plan did not arouse condemnation among the close associates of the leader.
Tukhachevsky was relieved of his post, having been appointed military commander in the Volga District. On May 22, 1937, he was arrested and taken to the capital in a "funnel".
Tukhachevsky's testimony
Directly under the supervision of Nikolai Yezhov (General Commissar of State Security), an interrogation was carried out. Yezhov ordered his men to do "everything necessary" to get Tukhachevsky to confess. Yezhov was sure that Tukhachevsky had accomplices, and demanded that he immediately extradite them.
It took several days for Tukhachevsky to be broken and confess that in 1928 he was recruited by Yenukidze (then a member of the presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Belarus, later secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR). He told that he was a German agent and was in cahoots with Bukharin to carry out a coup d'état and seize power. Tukhachevsky's confession is still kept in the archive, it is all covered with brown spots.
Tukhachevsky case
On June 11, 1937, a special tribunal was convened by the Supreme Court of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to sentence Tukhachevsky and other officers convicted in the case for treason. The process was called: "The case of the military."
On the same night at 23:35 all the defendants in the case were found guilty and sentenced to death. Stalin, waiting for its adoption, without even studying the transcript of the meeting, he simply said: “I agree.” After some time, Tukhachevsky was taken out of the cell and shot.
Rehabilitation
For a long time, the version of Tukhachevsky's betrayal was official and was broadcast by both Soviet historians and their Western apologists. However, after the publication of the famous Khrushchev speech, Tukhachevsky was rehabilitated and found posthumously innocent.
Most historians agree that the guilty verdict in the Tukhachevsky case was falsified, but Stalin's true motives in this story are still a matter of debate. For example, the historian Robert Conquest accused the leaders of the NSDAP of forging papers, which eventually convinced the leader of the existence of Tukhachevsky's conspiracy. It is believed that in this way the Nazis tried to reduce the defense capability of the USSR.
Nevertheless, after the 1990s, it became clear that the leaders of the NKVD actually "invented" Tukhachevsky's betrayal. On their orders, double agent Skoblin penetrated the headquarters and concocted information about Tukhachevsky and other officers involved in the case.
Seeing in this case a good opportunity for Germany to behead the Soviet army, Heydrich immediately took up this information. Heydrich's documents were delivered to the USSR through Beneš. While the National Socialists believed they had deceived Stalin, they were in fact merely pawns in the NKVD game.
All the same, there are personalities in the history of whose biographies there are so many oddities that common sense, upon their thoughtful reading, begins to whisper in both ears that "something is wrong here" ...
Once upon a time there lived a boy named Misha... He told everyone that his origin was from the Polish nobility. Which is true, nothing has been documented. Through the efforts of his parents, the boy was attached to the Moscow Cadet Corps of Catherine the Great, which this Misha actually graduated from - by transfer to the Alexander Military School.
Misha studied well, went in for sports, therefore, as an excellent student in combat and political training, he was appointed junior commander at the school, and then even grew to the rank of sergeant major - something like a modern foreman ...
Everything would be fine, but Mishan was distinguished by his principles in the service and "demanding to his subordinates." Because of what, one of his subordinates shot himself, and the second was close to suicide. As a person who served, I can say that it is unlikely that Misha was distinguished precisely by his “demandingness”. It looks more like ordinary sergeant tyranny and a desire to deal with objectionable people with the help of their official position. But nevertheless, such "demanding" to a young boy in foreman's uniform got away with it, which was very strange for the traditions of the Russian Imperial Army ... There was a trial, of course, and all the subordinates of the "principled sergeant major" - described him as a complete moral monster. But the whole thing was put on hold. Moreover - in 1914, the freshly minted lieutenant Misha Tukhachevsky, as he graduated from college in the first category (and third in academic performance from the top of the list), was released into the holy of holies ... - Semenovsky regiment, junior commander in the 7th company.
The Semyonovsky regiment, who does not know, is not just a guard. This is the "old guard". Elite ... Where officers were considered from all sides, from service records, academic performance, paying attention to their origin, ending with social status and the amount of cash in the wallet. What the not very noble boy Misha forgot there, God knows. Usually poor and not very noble "honors" sought to get into the cavalry or artillery (which was prestigious), more or less Big City, in the rarest case - to the regiments of the "new guard", where the "needs" for spending were much more modest. The expenses of an officer of the Semenovsky regiment, for all sorts of representative and not very events, as well as for all kinds of "show-offs" of that time, were far from affordable for every young and unbridled lieutenant lieutenant. Most likely, Tukhachevsky still had money moving in his pocket, otherwise he would have chosen a simpler place of service, since he had such a right, as he had graduated from a military school in the top three and in the first category.
Nevertheless, the officers' meeting accepted Misha. Although such overly "demanding" officers in the guard, in fact, they frankly did not like. For that, they were very fond of those who knew how to drink well and eat black caviar in a restaurant. Well, guys with big money, they were especially loved there. They selected the "old guard", in fact, the best, but not all of these "best" could afford such an "elite service".
And in 1914 our second lieutenant Misha Tukhachevsky became the commander of the 7th company of the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment. But then the war broke out and the company, along with the entire regiment, was sent to the front.
It was then that the first real oddity happened to our Misha. One fine night, the German assault detachment went around the positions of the company from the rear, removed sentries and massacred the entire company ... Company Veselago was cut with bayonets, received more than 20 wounds and was identified only by the St. George Cross. The rest of the soldiers were killed ... And Lieutenant Misha Tukhachevsky slept the whole battle in the dugout. In a deep sleep I was with Mr. Lieutenant! And he was captured even in an unsoiled uniform, as his biographers shyly note - without using all the possibilities for resistance. Strange, isn't it? It is also strange that the Germans somehow managed to quietly get to the positions of the company, so that one and a half hundred people did not notice them at all ...
But back to our Misha. He ended up in German captivity. Captivity in Germany during the First World War was very different from the conditions of the Second World War. If the soldiers were kept in barracks (where, by the way, the conditions of detention were quite decent), then the officers were usually settled in hostels, with the right to freely enter the city, taking their word of honor not to run away until the official release. Misha also gave such a word and immediately tried to escape. He was caught, and after his escape, the rest of the officers were moved from hostels to barracks so that they would not run ...
But then another oddity crept up to us imperceptibly. For escaping from captivity - according to German law, a prisoner of war was sent to prison, as this was considered a criminal offense. Misha escaped this fate as many as four times. That's how many times he tried to escape from captivity. In the end, the Germans got tired of this mockery of the guards and Misha was imprisoned. To jail. Where, by the way, did he meet the future president of France, Charles de Gaulle, who had one unsuccessful escape attempt to his credit ...
And then... the oddities don't end, they just start. Misha Tukhachevsky is running... for the fifth time. From jail! And the escape succeeds. The strange thing here is not even that it is unrealistic to escape from German prisons, from the word "almost", but the fact that Misha gave a tear right before the events of October 1917. And somehow he cunningly materialized in the location of his native Semenovsky regiment. Where no one began to go into the details of that same night battle on February 19, 1915 near the village of Piasechno near Lomzha ... And then Misha dumps on vacation. And somewhere wandering right up to March 1918.
In general, Misha (another oddity, for a nobleman and guardsman of the Semenovsky regiment, who is not interested in politics) immediately went to the Bolsheviks. More precisely, he revolved around the figures of the second plan - proletarians, orators, ideologists, intellectuals. They recommended him to comrade Trotsky. It was then that Misha's takeoff began.
This is also strange. Because ... then no one took the Bolsheviks seriously. Even after the October coup, the people continued to firmly believe in convening a constituent assembly, and reports of events in St. Petersburg on the outskirts of the country were met with thoughtful scratching of the head, in search of an answer to the question "Bolsheviks? And this, forgive WHO?". Here we must take into account that Misha simply could not be familiar with the political system of Russia in 1917 if he was in captivity until September. But further events around Tukhachevsky are even stranger.
He, a nobleman and a former guards officer (that is, three times a class enemy), is immediately accepted into the CPSU (b), without any probationary period and pre-revolutionary experience. Secondly, Comrade Trotsky trusts Misha - a whole front! This despite the fact that by the middle of 1918 the Red Army did not experience a shortage of military experts. Who does not know, played on the side of the "Reds" in the civil war - the elite of the former Russian army, from Brusilov to Bonch-Bruevich (brother of the famous Bolshevik-Leninist and head military intelligence Russian Empire); from Shaposhnikov to Altvater, from Zayonchkovsky to Svechin. At least three or four generals and colonels with an academic education (like Comrade Vatsetis) were enough for each front. But for some reason, the front is trusted precisely by Misha Tukhachevsky, who served in total for less than a year. It's the same if now a lieutenant was put in command of a military district only after college ...
With all this, he is fighting, despite the fact that his headquarters was "reinforced" by military experts, frankly, it sucks.
Kolchak's troops are fucking his troops in the tail and in the mane. After the Reds lost Bugulma and Buguruslan, and in the north, Kolchak’s troops almost joined with the troops of Tsentromur, there it remained to “break through” only seven kilometers of defense, And then, they began to kick Misha from above. And after a couple of tangible "kicks" from Comrade Trotsky himself, he reluctantly began to push Kolchak. Although, in truth, Kolchak by that time fought on two fronts - against the Reds and against the Siberians in his own rear.
Actually, Tukhachevsky became famous not at all for military exploits, but ... for introducing decimations into the orders of his front. That is, the execution before the formation of every tenth fighter and the commander of the retreating unit.
Then in Misha's biography there was a trip to Kronstadt (for this Tukhachevsky received an order) and a war with the Tambov peasants with the help of chemical weapons. But the Polish war - Misha mediocrely merged. I was looking for the enemy, but did not find it, for that the enemy found him. And destroyed. More than 60 thousand Red Army soldiers never returned from that war, and more than 80 thousand were captured ...
IN post-war years Mikhail Tukhachevsky enthusiastically poisoned at all meetings of Budyonny. But Voroshilov - he was afraid to touch. For one simple reason. Klim Voroshilov, somehow in response to the attacks of the young impudent man, simply reminded him of the Polish campaign. Misha understood everything, shut up and kept quiet. And Budyonny was delicate ...
In addition, he also liked to read magazines about culture and art, to play music (for five hours a day). I wonder when, with such a schedule, he managed to solve official issues? True, he was also interested in technology. How much was swollen folk remedies in the development of all sorts of "rays of death" and "unmanned aircraft" - countless. I was especially touched by one of Misha's "serious" ideas - to build a tank capable of driving on rails, flying, swimming, including under water. By the way, it was built by the "self-taught inventor" comrade Dyrenkov, who fully justified his last name - instead of a tank, he organized a giant hole in the defense budget. So, the question of whether there were "kickbacks" then remains open ...
What am I for? And besides, could a former guards officer with such an interesting biography plan a coup d'état in order to rule the country himself? Instead of this mustachioed Stalin-Gutalin? Quite in my opinion...
True, the "genius" of the boy Misha was not even enough for this ...
Under the cut is my version of the biography of Marshal Misha.
Misha was verbalized, it seems, when he was still studying. The motto of German intelligence at that time was - "There are no scum, there are personnel." Therefore, an excellent student of combat and political training with this approach was an ideal candidate for recruitment ... It was German intelligence that guaranteed the payment of the considerable expenses of the young guardsman, because the mandatory expenses of a Semenov officer at the beginning of the 20th century were several times higher than his salary. But there were still unnecessary expenses ...
But on the other hand, the Semyonovites were an elite, moreover, they entered the court of Nicholas II. And to have an agent in this environment would be a huge success for German intelligence.
Then it is understandable why the Germans were able to cut out the entire seventh company of the Semenovsky regiment, sneaking up to it secretly (which means they knew where all the patrols and secrets were), and Misha spent the whole battle in the dugout ... By the way, it seems for the same reasons - the Germans did very atypical for the norms and customs of warfare in February 1915 - they brutally massacred the entire company ... except ... for one second lieutenant Tukhachevsky. Well, if only they removed unnecessary witnesses to the "evacuation" of a valuable agent.
It also becomes clear why Misha fled the camp four times without any special consequences. Shoots were "organized" for him, but for various reasons they failed. By the way, here it is worth recalling another famous character from the same opera - Lieutenant Kolakovsky, whom the Germans recruited, prepared for him to "escape from the camp", but at the last moment the opportunity turned up to exchange him through the Red Cross. Having surrendered to the Russian counterintelligence, Kolakovsky subsequently described in detail the "undercover work" of the Germans in the prisoner of war camps.
Moreover, the fifth escape to Tukhachevsky was "made" from a military prison - just before the events of October 1917 ...
And at the same time clearly instructed on the procedure for further action. For a period of revolutionary confusion - Misha Tukhachevsky hid on vacation, and after using " the right people", it is possible that he was also recruited - he crawled right into the leadership of the Red Army.
That is why Tukhachevsky behaved so strangely on the fronts of the Civil War. With Kolchak, he frankly played the war, until he was kicked properly, the Poles generally merged the military company. For that, he proved himself a brave punisher of the Tambov peasants and Baltic sailors.
Then, Germany was brought to its knees at Versailles. And the curators were not up to Misha Tukhachevsky, because there was no intelligence in the Reichswehr ... And in the mid-30s they remembered what good Misha had achieved in the Red Army great heights... But apparently, the new owners could not agree with Tukhachevsky. And he was stupidly handed over to Stalin, since he really was preparing a conspiracy against him ...
By the way, then many of the seemingly illogical "projects" of Tukhachevsky are explained. For example, when Germany was openly pressed economically at the end of the 20s, Misha suddenly began to actively pedal the "campaign" with the aim of setting up a "world fire" in Europe. True, the USSR did not have the resources for this in those years, but Tukhachevsky was ready to rush to Europe even on tractors sheathed in armor. Moreover, the main opponents of the USSR at that time - he directly called - England and France.
Or the same colossal spending of the defense budget on useless toys, like "lasers" or "death rays", or remote-controlled tanks. Despite the fact that the Red Army was armed with neither normal armored personnel carriers, nor even equipment to ensure the use of the entire armada of built tanks ... By the way, Tukhachevsky actually deprived the Red Army of normal artillery, in every possible way pushing through the dynamo-reactive gun designed by Kurchevsky, which was shoved everywhere, starting from aircraft, ending with ships and which was removed from service in July 1941. All the famous Katyushas, guns designed by Grabin, anti-tank 57-mm guns, anti-aircraft guns and even submachine guns began to be put into service AFTER M.N. Tukhachevsky. By the way, supporters of the version that "Tukhachevsky promoted machine guns in the army, and Budyonny and Voroshilov - carts and horses," answer the question, when was the PPD invented? In 1934? And when was it adopted? In 1940... After Tukhachevsky. So who prevented the adoption of automatic weapons?
Both the KV-1-2 and T-34 tanks were created not during but AFTER the elimination of Tukhachevsky, who does not know. And the Red Army fought throughout the war with those weapons that they managed to design either BEFORE or AFTER Marshal Misha ... Which also leads to some bad thoughts about his role and place in history.
I repeat that all this is a version, nothing more. But looking at the twists and turns of the biography of the "Red Marshal" Misha Tukhachevsky, you must admit that such a version may well be the case ...
Mikhail Nikolaevich
Battles and victories
Soviet military leader, military-political figure, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1935).
Tukhachevsky perfectly understood the nature of the Civil War and learned to achieve success in its conditions by imposing his will on the enemy and active offensive operations.
Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was born in the Alexandrovskoye estate of the Dorogobuzh district of the Smolensk province into a noble family. The commander spent his childhood in the Penza province, on the estate of his grandmother Sofya Valentinovna, located near the village of Vrazhskoye, Chembarsky district. Since childhood, Misha was fond of playing the violin, astronomy, invention and design, and was engaged in Russian and French wrestling. Tukhachevsky studied at the 1st Penza gymnasium, later at the 10th Moscow gymnasium and at the 1st Moscow Cadet Corps of Empress Catherine II, graduating in 1912. For excellent studies, the name of Tukhachevsky was entered on the marble plaque of the corps. In the same year he entered the Alexander Military School. After graduating from it in 1914, he was promoted to second lieutenant of the guard with access to the Semenovsky regiment of the Life Guards. Other representatives of the Tukhachevsky family previously served in this regiment.
Literally a week after the promotion of Tukhachevsky to officers, the First World War began. The Semyonovsky regiment was sent to East Prussia, and then reassigned to Warsaw. In battles, Tukhachevsky proved himself to be a brave officer. On February 19, 1915, near Warsaw, Tukhachevsky, who led the battle after the death of his commander, was captured. In captivity, he was held together with the future French President Charles de Gaulle. The young guards officer, longing for exploits and glory, was forced to remain inactive for several years. During the period of captivity, Tukhachevsky made five attempts to escape. Only the last one was successful. In September 1917, he made his way to Switzerland, from where he got to France and, with the assistance of a Russian military agent in France, Count A.A. Ignatiev through the UK and Scandinavian countries returned to Russia. Tukhachevsky arrived in the reserve battalion of the Semenovsky regiment, stationed in Petrograd, where he was elected company commander, and then demobilized and left for an estate near Penza.
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In the spring of 1918, Tukhachevsky arrived in Moscow, where he decided to link his future fate with the Red Army. Having missed, in fact, the entire world war, he could not boast of any awards or ranks that were awarded to the surviving fellow soldiers. With the painful ambition, arrogance, posturing of Tukhachevsky noted by his contemporaries, his desire to “play a role”, to imitate Napoleon, undoubted careerism, this turned out to be a significant factor that influenced the further choice. Perhaps, seeing no prospects for White for himself, Tukhachevsky made a bet on the Reds - and did not lose. Fate elevated him, potentially hostile to the new government, a nobleman, a former monarchist, an officer of an elite guards regiment to the top of the Soviet military-political Olympus for almost two decades. During the years of the Civil War, Tukhachevsky was often driven by the desire to show his superiority to the old generals who led the White armies.
From a lecture by M.N. Tukhachevsky in 1919:We all see that our Russian generals failed to understand the civil war, failed to master its forms. Only a very few generals of the White Guard, capable and imbued with class bourgeois self-consciousness, proved to be at the height of their cause. The majority, however, arrogantly declared that our civil war was not quite a war, just some kind of small war or commissar guerrilla warfare. However, despite such ominous statements, we see before us not a small war, but a large planned war, almost millions of armies, imbued with a single idea and performing brilliant maneuvers. And in the ranks of this army, among its devoted commanders, born of the civil war, a certain doctrine of this war begins to take shape, and along with it, its theoretical justification ...
Already on April 5, 1918, he joined the Bolshevik Party. Apparently, his career aspirations had an effect, because. neither at that time, nor ten or twenty years later, membership in the party was yet obligatory even for representatives of the highest command staff (it became such only after the Great Patriotic War). And in the future, Tukhachevsky, to the point and out of place, demonstrated his devotion to the party ideals. Former officers who joined the Bolshevik Party were so rare that Tukhachevsky was immediately offered the post of representative of the military department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and a job in the Kremlin. It was necessary to inspect local military establishments, which gave Tukhachevsky an idea of the nascent Red Army.
Commander Tukhachevsky
Artist E. Kleimiyakov
Soon, on May 27, a new responsible appointment followed - the military commissar of the Moscow Defense District, and on June 19 Tukhachevsky went to the Eastern Front at the disposal of the front commander M.A. Muravyov to organize units of the Red Army into higher formations and lead them. On June 27, he accepted this post of commander of the 1st Army, operating on the Middle Volga. During Muravyov's speech against the Reds, Tukhachevsky was arrested by a rebel in Simbirsk and narrowly escaped execution as a Bolshevik. After Muravyov was killed on July 11, Tukhachevsky temporarily, until the arrival of I.I. Vatsetis, commanded the front.
It fell to the lot of Tukhachevsky and his associates not only to create and strengthen the army, but also to reorganize it from disparate partisan formations into a regular association. Tukhachevsky, who had no military administrative experience, relied on a highly qualified cadre of old officers with a higher military education. In the selection of personnel, he proved himself as a talented organizer. At the same time, he liked to be in battle formations, as if making up for what he was almost deprived of in the world war.
On September 12, Tukhachevsky's troops took Simbirsk, the hometown of the Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin. In this regard, Tukhachevsky did not fail to send a congratulatory telegram to the wounded after the assassination attempt, Lenin, stating that the capture of the city is the answer for one of Lenin's wounds, and the second wound will be answered by the capture of Samara. In the future, victories followed one after another. Tukhachevsky took Syzran, the Whites retreated to the East.
We will shake Russia like a dirty carpet, and then we will shake the whole world... We will enter into chaos and come out of it only by completely destroying civilization.
In connection with the growing tension in the South, Tukhachevsky was appointed assistant commander of the Southern Front, and at the front he led the 8th Army, which operated near Voronezh against the Don Army. Interestingly, in the spring of 1919, Tukhachevsky advocated offensive actions of the Reds not through the Don region, but through the Donbass to Rostov. As a result of the conflict with the front commander V.M. Gittis Tukhachevsky asked for a transfer to another front.
He again found himself on the Eastern Front, now as commander of the 5th Army, which was operating in the direction of the main attack of the Whites. Tukhachevsky successfully proved himself in the defeat of the whites during the Buguruslan, Bugulma, Menzelinsky, Birsk, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk, Omsk operations. As a result of a series of victories, the whites from the Volga region were driven back to Siberia. For the liberation of the Volga region and the Urals and successes in the Chelyabinsk operation, Tukhachevsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and at the end of 1919, following the results of the campaign, he was awarded an honorary golden weapon. The 27-year-old former second lieutenant defeated the troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak.
Tukhachevsky's army had a powerful political composition - the largest number of communists were gathered here in comparison with other armies of the front. On the Eastern Front, Tukhachevsky collaborated with another nugget in the highest positions of the Red Army - M.V. Frunze. At the same time, already at that time, the obstinate character of the ambitious military leader manifested itself. Tukhachevsky, for example, came into conflict with the former general A.A., who commanded the front for a short time. Samoilo. As a result of Tukhachevsky's alliance with members of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Front, who did not accept Samoilo (instead of the former commander S.S. Kamenev), the latter was recalled.
I am convinced that with good administration, good staffs and good political forces, we will be able to create a large army capable of great feats.
After the defeat of Kolchak, Tukhachevsky at the beginning of 1920 was again sent to the South, where he headed the Caucasian Front. His tasks included completing the defeat of the White armies of the South of Russia under the command of General A.I. Denikin. After the liquidation of the resistance of the whites in the Caucasus, Tukhachevsky issued an order to the 11th army, which was part of the front, to occupy Azerbaijan, which was done. However, at that time Tukhachevsky was sent to save Soviet Russia to a new sector - to the Western Front, where the struggle against the Poles was becoming more and more intense.
Tukhachevsky was appointed to the post of commander of this front on April 28. By this time he had gained a reputation as one of the best Bolshevik commanders. On the front entrusted to Tukhachevsky, the strongest specialists of the General Staff and experienced command staff in the republic were concentrated. The impetuous offensive undertaken by Tukhachevsky brought the Red Army from the Berezina to the Vistula in a month. In the first half of August 1920, parts of Tukhachevsky were actually under the walls of Warsaw, but there were not enough forces to take the Polish capital.
Tukhachevsky's military style was characterized by deep ramming with the rapid introduction of reserves into battle (later Tukhachevsky acted as the developer of the theory of deep combat), which led to the exhaustion of the troops and all sorts of surprises that there was nothing to fend off. This approach has been developed into the concept of successive operations, in which the enemy's forces are progressively depleted in successive battles. In practice, Tukhachevsky implemented this concept in the fight against Kolchak's troops.
Sequentially conducted operations will constitute, as it were, divisions of the same operation, but dispersed, due to the retreat of the enemy over a large area ... Constant pursuit and assault, associated with the increasing disorganization of the retreating, extremely increase the morale of the attacking troops, bringing him to a state capable of high heroism . On the contrary, even if discipline is maintained, the combat effectiveness of the retreating constantly decreases.
M.N. Tukhachevsky. Top command issues. M., 1924
Friendly cartoon. 1925
Repeatedly taken by Tukhachevsky (both against the Whites and against the Poles), but attempts to encircle the enemy were not crowned with success. Contemporaries noted not only the deep mind of the young Soviet commander, but also his penchant for adventurous enterprises. In general, Tukhachevsky perfectly understood the nature of the Civil War and learned how to achieve success in its conditions by imposing his will on the enemy and active offensive operations. In this regard, his adventurism sometimes had a beneficial effect on the results of operations. At the same time, Tukhachevsky always relied on highly qualified staff teams. The question of the military leadership abilities of Tukhachevsky himself remains open. It is also unknown how he could prove himself as a commander in a big war, which was radically different from the Civil War.
The end of the Civil War was marked for Tukhachevsky by the leadership of the liquidation of the Kronstadt uprising and the suppression of the uprising of the Tambov peasants (at the same time, asphyxiating gases were used to a limited extent, but not in the form of large-scale gas balloon attacks that destroy all living things, as it seems from the experience of the First World War, but in the form of shelling with chemical projectiles, widely used in the Civil War by both Reds and Whites).
During the Civil War and especially after it, Tukhachevsky began to actively speak in the military-scientific field. One after another, his books “The War of Classes”, “Maneuver and Artillery” are published. And here he worked closely with the leading military-scientific personnel of the country. So, his closest collaborator was the famous military scientist V.K. Triandafillov. Tukhachevsky's in-depth acquaintance with the military scientific world is associated with the period of his leadership of the Military Academy of the Red Army.
Marshal of the Soviet Union
In 1922-1924. Tukhachevsky commanded the Western Front, and his intervention in the political life of the country was extremely feared by the party elite, bogged down in internal squabbles and struggles. Tukhachevsky really had political ambitions. Behind him secret surveillance was conducted, compromising material was collected. As a result, in the most intense period of confrontation between the supporters of I.V. Stalin and L.D. Trotsky Tukhachevsky turned out to be completely passive. In 1924, he became an assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Red Army, and in 1925-1928. - Chief of Staff of the Red Army. Despite being busy, Tukhachevsky also found time for military pedagogical work, lecturing to students of the academy. In May 1928 he was commander of the troops of the Leningrad Military District.
In 1931, Tukhachevsky became Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR K.E. Voroshilov. At the initiative of Tukhachevsky, new equipment was introduced in the army. The troops were rearmed and re-equipped with aircraft, tanks, and artillery. Tukhachevsky was supported by such innovative developments for that time as airborne assaults, radar, jet weapons, rocket technology, air defense, and torpedo aircraft. At the same time, Tukhachevsky was also characterized by excessive projecting, sometimes far from reality (suffice it to note that in 1919, according to an informed contemporary, he proposed to the Bolshevik leadership a project to introduce paganism in the country, and in 1930 put forward an absurd program of an annual norm for tank building in the country in 100,000 tanks by booking tractors - in this way he counted on the practical embodiment of the theory of deep operation).
As a supporter of the crushing strategy, Tukhachevsky opposed the well-known military scientist, former General A.A. Svechin, who acted as the ideologist of the strategy of exhaustion. In the spirit of the times, this discussion turned into a persecution of the scientist, headed by Tukhachevsky. The executed “red Bonaparte” was by no means averse to persecuting his opponents. The future Marshal of the Soviet Union B.M. was also an opponent of Tukhachevsky. Shaposhnikov.
In November 1935 Tukhachevsky became Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1937, Tukhachevsky, on false charges of preparing a fascist military conspiracy against the leadership of the USSR, was arrested and shot (rehabilitated in 1957). The reason for the repressions was Tukhachevsky's ambitions, which went beyond the official framework, his undoubted authority, leadership in the highest command staff and many years of close ties with other high-ranking military leaders, threatening a military coup. At the same time, he, of course, was not any foreign spy.
As A.I., who knew him, rightly noted. Todorsky,Tukhachevsky was not destined to live to see the Great Patriotic War. But Tukhachevsky, along with her heroes, smashed the fascist armies. The enemies were attacked by the equipment that Tukhachevsky built together with the party and the people. Soldiers and generals destroyed the enemy, relying on Soviet military art, huge contribution which was introduced by Tukhachevsky.
Ganin A.V., Ph.D., Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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A short list of military awards I.V. Stalin received during the Second World War:
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Fidel Castro called him a hero of World War II.
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From 1942 to 1946 he was commander of the 62nd Army (8th Guards Army), which especially distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad. He took part in defensive battles on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. From September 12, 1942 he commanded the 62nd Army. IN AND. Chuikov received the task of defending Stalingrad at any cost. The front command believed that Lieutenant General Chuikov was characterized by such positive qualities as determination and firmness, courage and a broad operational outlook, a high sense of responsibility and consciousness of his duty. The army, under the command of V.I. Chuikov, became famous for the heroic six-month defense of Stalingrad in street battles in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads, on the banks of the wide Volga.
For unparalleled mass heroism and steadfastness of personnel, in April 1943, the 62nd Army received the guards honorary title of Guards and became known as the 8th Guards Army.
A talented commander who proved himself during the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1608, Skopin-Shuisky was sent by Tsar Vasily Shuisky to negotiate with the Swedes in Novgorod the Great. He managed to agree on Swedish assistance to Russia in the fight against False Dmitry II. The Swedes recognized Skopin-Shuisky as the undisputed leader. In 1609, with the Russian-Swedish army, he came to the rescue of the capital, which was under siege by False Dmitry II. In the battles near Torzhok, Tver and Dmitrov, he defeated detachments of adherents of the impostor, liberated the Volga region from them. He removed the blockade from Moscow and entered it in March 1610.
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A man whose faith, courage, and patriotism defended our state
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
It's simple - It was he, as a commander, who made the greatest contribution to the defeat of Napoleon. He saved the army in the most difficult conditions, despite misunderstanding and heavy accusations of betrayal. It was to him that our great poet Pushkin, practically a contemporary of those events, dedicated the verse "Commander".
Pushkin, recognizing the merits of Kutuzov, did not oppose him to Barclay. To replace the common alternative “Barclay or Kutuzov”, with the traditional resolution in favor of Kutuzov, Pushkin came to a new position: both Barclay and Kutuzov are both worthy of the grateful memory of their descendants, but Kutuzov is honored by everyone, but Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly is undeserved forgotten.
Pushkin mentioned Barclay de Tolly even earlier, in one of the chapters of "Eugene Onegin" -
Thunderstorm of the twelfth year
It has come - who helped us here?
The frenzy of the people
Barclay, winter or Russian god?...
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Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (November 4 (November 16), 1874, St. Petersburg, - February 7, 1920, Irkutsk) - Russian oceanographer, one of the largest polar explorers of the late XIX - early XX centuries, military and political figure, naval commander, active member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (1906), admiral (1918), leader of the White movement, Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Member of the Russo-Japanese War, Defense of Port Arthur. During the First World War, he commanded the mine division of the Baltic Fleet (1915-1916), the Black Sea Fleet (1916-1917). Georgievsky Cavalier.
The leader of the White movement both on a national scale and directly in the East of Russia. As the Supreme Ruler of Russia (1918-1920), he was recognized by all the leaders of the White movement, "de jure" - by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "de facto" - by the Entente states.
Supreme Commander of the Russian Army.
Romanov Alexander I Pavlovich
The actual commander in chief of the allied armies that liberated Europe in 1813-1814. "He took Paris, he founded a lyceum." The Great Leader who crushed Napoleon himself. (The shame of Austerlitz is not comparable to the tragedy of 1941.)
General Ermolov
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
"As a military leader, I.V. Stalin, I studied thoroughly, since I went through the whole war with him. I.V. Stalin mastered the organization of front-line operations and operations of groups of fronts and led them with complete knowledge of the matter, well versed in large strategic questions...
In leading the armed struggle as a whole, JV Stalin was assisted by his natural mind and rich intuition. He knew how to find the main link in a strategic situation and, seizing on it, to counteract the enemy, to conduct one or another major offensive operation. Undoubtedly, he was a worthy Supreme Commander"
(Zhukov G.K. Memoirs and reflections.)
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Victory in the Great Patriotic War, saving the entire planet from absolute evil, and our country from extinction.
Stalin from the first hours of the war exercised control over the country, front and rear. On land, at sea and in the air.
His merit is not one or even ten battles or campaigns, his merit is the Victory, made up of hundreds of battles of the Great Patriotic War: the battle of Moscow, the battles in the North Caucasus, the Battle of Stalingrad, the battle of Kursk, the battle of Leningrad and many others before the capture Berlin, success in which was achieved thanks to the monotonous inhuman work of the genius of the Supreme Commander.
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The Soviet people, as the most talented, a large number of outstanding military leaders, but the main one is Stalin. Without him, many of them might not have been in the military.
Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich
Hero of the Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813
"General Meteor" and "Caucasian Suvorov".
He fought not in numbers, but in skill - first, 450 Russian soldiers attacked 1,200 Persian sardars in the Migri fortress and took it, then 500 of our soldiers and Cossacks attacked 5,000 askers at the crossing over the Araks. More than 700 enemies were exterminated, only 2,500 Persian fighters managed to escape from ours.
In both cases, our losses are less than 50 killed and up to 100 wounded.
Further, in the war against the Turks, with a swift attack, 1000 Russian soldiers defeated the 2000th garrison of the Akhalkalaki fortress.
Then, again in the Persian direction, he cleared Karabakh of the enemy, and then, with 2,200 soldiers, defeated Abbas-Mirza with a 30,000-strong army near Aslanduz, a village near the Araks River. In two battles, he destroyed more than 10,000 enemies, including English advisers and artillerymen.
As usual, Russian losses were 30 killed and 100 wounded.
Kotlyarevsky won most of his victories in night assaults on fortresses and enemy camps, preventing the enemies from coming to their senses.
The last campaign - 2000 Russians against 7000 Persians to the fortress of Lankaran, where Kotlyarevsky almost died during the assault, lost consciousness at times from blood loss and pain from wounds, but still, until the final victory, he commanded the troops as soon as he regained consciousness, and after that he was forced to be treated for a long time and move away from military affairs.
His feats for the glory of Russia are much cooler than the "300 Spartans" - for our generals and warriors have repeatedly beaten a 10-fold superior enemy, and suffered minimal losses, saving Russian lives.
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Prophetic Oleg
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Izylmetiev Ivan Nikolaevich
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Markov Sergey Leonidovich
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Prince Svyatoslav
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Nevsky, Suvorov
Undoubtedly holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky and Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov
Rurik Svyatoslav Igorevich
Year of birth 942 date of death 972 Expansion of the borders of the state. 965 the conquest of the Khazars, 963 the campaign to the south to the Kuban region the capture of Tmutarakan, 969 the conquest of the Volga Bulgars, 971 the conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom, 968 the foundation of Pereyaslavets on the Danube (the new capital of Russia), 969 the defeat of the Pechenegs in the defense of Kyiv.
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The largest figure in world history, whose life and state activity left the deepest mark not only in the fate of the Soviet people, but also of all mankind, will be the subject of careful study of historians for more than one century. The historical and biographical feature of this personality is that it will never be forgotten.
During Stalin's tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Chairman of the State Defense Committee, our country was marked by victory in the Great Patriotic War, massive labor and front-line heroism, the transformation of the USSR into a superpower with significant scientific, military and industrial potential, and the strengthening of our country's geopolitical influence in the world.
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Commander of the 62nd Army in Stalingrad.
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
He is a great commander who did not lose a single (!) Battle, the founder of Russian military affairs, brilliantly fought battles, regardless of its conditions.
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One of the most successful commanders of the middle of the 19th century in the Turkish direction.
Hero of the first capture of Kars (1828), leader of the second capture of Kars (the biggest success of the Crimean War, 1855, which made it possible to end the war without territorial losses for Russia).
Eremenko Andrey Ivanovich
Commander of the Stalingrad and South-Eastern fronts. The fronts under his command in the summer-autumn of 1942 stopped the advance of the German 6th field and 4th tank armies on Stalingrad.
In December 1942, the Stalingrad Front of General Eremenko stopped the tank offensive of the group of General G. Goth on Stalingrad, in order to unblock the 6th army of Paulus.
Svyatoslav Igorevich
I want to propose "candidates" for Svyatoslav and his father, Igor, as the greatest generals and political leaders of their time, I think that it makes no sense to list their services to the fatherland to historians, I was unpleasantly surprised not to meet their names in this list. Sincerely.
Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich
One of the best Russian generals of the First World War. In June 1916, the troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of Adjutant General Brusilov A.A., simultaneously striking in several directions, broke through the enemy’s defense in depth and advanced 65 km. IN military history This operation was called the Brusilovsky breakthrough.
Rurikovich (Grozny) Ivan Vasilyevich
In the variety of perceptions of Ivan the Terrible, they often forget about his unconditional talent and achievements as a commander. He personally led the capture of Kazan and organized military reform, leading the country, which simultaneously waged 2-3 wars on different fronts.
Suvorov, Count Rymniksky, Prince of Italy Alexander Vasilyevich
The greatest commander, a genius strategist, tactician and military theorist. Author of the book "The Science of Victory", Generalissimo of the Russian Army. The only one in the history of Russia that did not suffer a single defeat.
Khvorostinin Dmitry Ivanovich
The commander who did not have defeats ...
Svyatoslav Igorevich
Grand Duke of Novgorod, from 945 Kyiv. Son of Grand Duke Igor Rurikovich and Princess Olga. Svyatoslav became famous as a great commander, whom N.M. Karamzin called "Alexander (Macedonian) of our ancient history."
After the military campaigns of Svyatoslav Igorevich (965-972), the territory of the Russian land increased from the Volga region to the Caspian Sea, from the North Caucasus to the Black Sea, from the Balkan Mountains to Byzantium. He defeated Khazaria and Volga Bulgaria, weakened and frightened the Byzantine Empire, opened the way for trade between Russia and Eastern countries
Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich
The great Russian naval commander, who won victories at Fedonisi, Kaliakria, at Cape Tendra and during the liberation of the islands of Malta (Ioanian Islands) and Corfu. He discovered and introduced a new tactic of naval combat, with the rejection of the linear formation of ships and showed the tactics of "alluvial formation" with an attack on the flagship of the enemy fleet. One of the founders Black Sea Fleet and its commander in 1790-1792
Vorotynsky Mikhail Ivanovich
“The compiler of the charter of the guard and border service” is, of course, good. For some reason, we have forgotten the battle of YOUTH from July 29 to August 2, 1572. But it was precisely from this victory that Moscow's right to a lot was recognized. The Ottomans were recaptured a lot of things, they were very sobered by the thousands of destroyed Janissaries, and unfortunately they helped Europe with this. The battle of YOUTH is very difficult to overestimate
Bobrok-Volynsky Dmitry Mikhailovich
Boyar and governor of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. "Developer" of the tactics of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Loris-Melikov Mikhail Tarielovich
Known mainly as one of the secondary characters in the story "Hadji Murad" by L.N. Tolstoy, Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov went through all the Caucasian and Turkish campaigns of the second half of the middle of the 19th century.
Excellent performance during Caucasian War, during the Kars campaign of the Crimean War, Loris-Melikov led intelligence, and then successfully served as commander-in-chief during the difficult Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, having won a number of important victories over the united Turkish troops and captured Kars for the third time, by that time considered impregnable.
Antonov Alexey Inokent'evich
Chief strategist of the USSR in 1943-45, practically unknown to society
"Kutuzov" World War II
Humble and dedicated. Victorious. The author of all operations since the spring of 1943 and the victory itself. Others gained fame - Stalin and the commanders of the fronts.
Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich
Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, the second son of Emperor Paul I, received the title of Tsarevich in 1799 for participation in the Swiss campaign of A.V. Suvorov, retaining it until 1831. In the Battle of Austrlitz, he commanded the Guards Reserve of the Russian Army, took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, and distinguished himself in the foreign campaigns of the Russian Army. For the "battle of the peoples" at Leipzig in 1813 he received the "golden weapon" "For courage!". Inspector General of the Russian Cavalry, since 1826 Viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland.
Field Marshal Ivan Gudovich
The assault on the Turkish fortress of Anapa on June 22, 1791. In terms of complexity and importance, it is only inferior to the assault on Izmail by A.V. Suvorov.
A 7,000-strong Russian detachment stormed Anapa, which was defended by a 25,000-strong Turkish garrison. At the same time, shortly after the start of the assault, 8,000 mounted mountaineers and Turks attacked the Russian detachment from the mountains, who attacked the Russian camp, but could not break into it, were repulsed in a fierce battle and pursued by Russian cavalry.
The fierce battle for the fortress lasted over 5 hours. Of the Anapa garrison, about 8,000 people died, 13,532 defenders were taken prisoner, led by the commandant and Sheikh Mansur. A small part (about 150 people) escaped on ships. Almost all artillery was captured or destroyed (83 cannons and 12 mortars), 130 banners were taken. To the nearby fortress of Sudzhuk-Kale (on the site of modern Novorossiysk), Gudovich sent a separate detachment from Anapa, but when he approached, the garrison burned the fortress and fled to the mountains, leaving 25 guns.
The losses of the Russian detachment were very high - 23 officers and 1,215 privates were killed, 71 officers and 2,401 privates were wounded (slightly lower data are indicated in Sytin's Military Encyclopedia - 940 killed and 1,995 wounded). Gudovich was awarded the Order of St. George of the 2nd degree, all the officers of his detachment were awarded, a special medal was established for the lower ranks.
Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilievich
In the conditions of the decomposition of the Russian state during the Time of Troubles, with minimal material and human resources, he created an army that defeated the Polish-Lithuanian interventionists and liberated most of the Russian state.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Yudenich Nikolai Nikolaevich
One of the most successful Russian generals during the First World War. The Erzurum and Sarakamysh operations carried out by him on the Caucasian front, carried out in extremely unfavorable conditions for the Russian troops, and ending in victories, I believe, deserve to be included in a row with the brightest victories of Russian weapons. In addition, Nikolai Nikolayevich, distinguished by modesty and decency, lived and died an honest Russian officer, remained faithful to the oath to the end.
Rokhlin Lev Yakovlevich
He headed the 8th Guards Army Corps in Chechnya. Under his leadership, a number of districts of Grozny were taken, including the presidential palace. For participation in the Chechen campaign, he was presented with the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but refused to accept it, saying that “he has no moral right to receive this award for military operations on the territory of his own country".
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
according to the only criterion - invincibility.
Makarov Stepan Osipovich
Russian oceanographer, polar explorer, shipbuilder, vice admiral. Developed the Russian semaphore alphabet. A worthy person, on the list of worthy ones!
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not resemble real military history. It looks like a prequel to "300 Spartans" (20,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet charges, "This is crazy! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). A golden, platinum page of Russian history, combining the slaughter of madness with the highest tactical skill, delightful cunning and stunning Russian impudence
Most Serene Prince Wittgenstein Peter Khristianovich
For the defeat of the French units of Oudinot and MacDonald at Klyastits, thereby closing the road for French army Petersburg in 1812. Then, in October 1812, he defeated the corps of Saint-Cyr near Polotsk. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian-Prussian armies in April-May 1813.
Yaroslav the Wise
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
In front of the Kazan Cathedral there are two statues of the saviors of the fatherland. Saving the army, exhausting the enemy, the battle of Smolensk - this is more than enough.
Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich
Soldier, several wars (including World War I and World War II). passed the way to Marshal of the USSR and Poland. Military intellectual. not resorting to "obscene leadership." he knew tactics in military affairs to the subtleties. practice, strategy and operational art.
Prince Monomakh Vladimir Vsevolodovich
The most remarkable of the Russian princes of the pre-Tatar period of our history, who left behind great fame and a good memory.
Maximov Evgeny Yakovlevich
Russian hero of the Transvaal War. He was a volunteer in fraternal Serbia, participating in the Russian-Turkish war. At the beginning of the 20th century, the British began to wage war against a small people, the Boers. Japanese war. In addition to his military career, he distinguished himself in the literary field.
Spiridov Grigory Andreevich
Became a sailor under Peter I, participated in the Russian-Turkish war (1735-1739) as an officer, finished the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) as rear admiral. The peak of his naval and diplomatic talent reached during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. In 1769, he led the first transition of the Russian fleet from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the difficulties of the transition (among those who died from diseases was the son of the admiral - his grave was recently found on the island of Menorca), he quickly established control over the Greek archipelago. The Chesme battle in June 1770 remained unsurpassed in terms of loss ratio: 11 Russians - 11 thousand Turks! On the island of Paros, the Aouz naval base was equipped with coastal batteries and its own Admiralty.
The Russian fleet left the Mediterranean Sea after the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainarji peace in July 1774. Greek islands and the lands of the Levant, including Beirut, were returned to Turkey in exchange for territories in the Black Sea region. Nevertheless, the activities of the Russian fleet in the Archipelago were not in vain and played a significant role in world naval history. Russia, having made a strategic maneuver with the forces of the fleet from one theater to another and having achieved a number of high-profile victories over the enemy, for the first time forced to talk about itself as a strong maritime power and an important player in European politics.
Benigsen Leonty
An unfairly forgotten commander. Having won several battles against Napoleon and his marshals, he drew two battles with Napoleon, losing one battle. Participated in the battle of Borodino. One of the contenders for the post of commander-in-chief of the Russian army during the Patriotic War of 1812!
Alekseev Mikhail Vasilievich
One of the most talented Russian generals of the First World War. Hero of the Battle of Galicia in 1914, savior of the Northwestern Front from encirclement in 1915, chief of staff under Emperor Nicholas I.
General of Infantry (1914), Adjutant General (1916). Active participant in the White movement in the Civil War. One of the organizers of the Volunteer Army.
Baklanov Yakov Petrovich
The Cossack general, the "thunderstorm of the Caucasus", Yakov Petrovich Baklanov, one of the most colorful heroes of the endless Caucasian war of the century before last, fits perfectly into the image of Russia familiar to the West. A gloomy two-meter hero, a tireless persecutor of mountaineers and Poles, an enemy of political correctness and democracy in all their manifestations. But it was precisely such people who obtained the most difficult victory for the empire in a long-term confrontation with the inhabitants of the North Caucasus and the unkind local nature.
Kazarsky Alexander Ivanovich
Captain Lieutenant. Member of the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-29. He distinguished himself in the capture of Anapa, then Varna, commanding the Rival transport. After that, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and appointed captain of the Mercury brig. On May 14, 1829, the 18-gun brig "Mercury" was overtaken by two Turkish battleships "Selimiye" and "Real Bey". Having accepted an unequal battle, the brig was able to immobilize both Turkish flagships, one of which was the commander of the Ottoman fleet himself. Subsequently, an officer from the Real Bey wrote: “In the continuation of the battle, the commander of the Russian frigate (the infamous Raphael, which surrendered without a fight a few days earlier) told me that the captain of this brig would not give up, and if he lost hope, then he would blow up the brig If in the great deeds of ancient and our times there are feats of courage, then this act should overshadow all of them, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: he is called Lieutenant Commander Kazarsky, and the brig is "Mercury"
Golovanov Alexander Evgenievich
He is the creator of the Soviet long-range aviation (ADD).
Units under the command of Golovanov bombed Berlin, Koenigsberg, Danzig and other cities in Germany, attacked important strategic targets behind enemy lines.
Margelov Vasily Filippovich
Creator of the modern Airborne Forces. When for the first time the BMD parachuted with the crew, the commander in it was his son. In my opinion, this fact speaks of such a remarkable person as V.F. Margelov, everyone. About his devotion to the Airborne Forces!
Denikin Anton Ivanovich
The commander under whose command the white army with smaller forces for 1.5 years won victories over the red army and captured North Caucasus, Crimea, Novorossia, Donbass, Ukraine, Don, part of the Volga region and the central black earth provinces of Russia. He retained the dignity of the Russian name during the Second World War, refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, despite his uncompromisingly anti-Soviet position
Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich
Air Marshal of the USSR, the first three times Hero of the Soviet Union, a symbol of victory over the Nazi Wehrmacht in the air, one of the most successful fighter pilots of the Great Patriotic War (WWII).
Participating in air battles of the Great Patriotic War, he developed and "tested" in battles a new tactic of air combat, which made it possible to seize the initiative in the air and eventually defeat the fascist Luftwaffe. In fact, he created a whole school of aces of the Second World War. Commanding the 9th Guards Air Division, he continued to personally participate in air battles, scoring 65 air victories over the entire period of the war.
Stessel Anatoly Mikhailovich
Commandant of Port Arthur during his heroic defense. The unprecedented ratio of losses of Russian and Japanese troops before the surrender of the fortress is 1:10.
Dokhturov Dmitry Sergeevich
Defense of Smolensk.
Command of the left flank on the Borodino field after the wounding of Bagration.
Tarutino battle.
Yulaev Salavat
The commander of the Pugachev era (1773-1775). Together with Pugachev, having organized an uprising, he tried to change the position of the peasants in society. He won several dinners over the troops of Catherine II.
Platov Matvei Ivanovich
Military ataman of the Don Cossack army. Started valid military service from the age of 13. A member of several military companies, he is best known as the commander of the Cossack troops during the Patriotic War of 1812 and during the subsequent Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army. Thanks to the successful actions of the Cossacks under his command, Napoleon's saying went down in history:
- Happy is the commander who has Cossacks. If I had an army of Cossacks alone, then I would conquer all of Europe.
Name: Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Age: 44 years old
Activity: military leader, military theorist, marshal of the Soviet Union
Family status: was married
Mikhail Tukhachevsky: biography
At 42, he became the youngest Marshal of the Soviet Union. The baron mentioned Pyotr Tukhachevsky in his memoirs, saying that he " fancies himself Russian". Later, he agreed with Wrangel and called the ambitious military Napoleonchik.
The personality of Marshal Tukhachevsky remains the most controversial among Soviet military leaders. Moreover, the range of opinions is so wide that the repressed and rehabilitated marshal is called mediocre and brilliant, while the argument is convincing in both cases.
Childhood and youth
The future military leader was born in the winter of 1893 in the Smolensk province, in the family estate of Aleksandrovskoe. Father - a hereditary nobleman Nikolai Tukhachevsky - the only son of an early widowed and ruined noblewoman. The young landowner neglected class prejudices and married a beautiful laundress from the peasants - Mavra Milohova. 9 children were born in the marriage, four of them were sons. Michael appeared third. He learned to read and write early and read for days on end.
Family of Mikhail Tukhachevsky On the issue of the origin of the Tukhachevsky family, historians have not come to a common denominator. The ancestor is called the Flemish Count Indris, who laid the foundation for the count family of Tolstoy. Other researchers answer the question about the nationality of the marshal, pointing to the Polish roots of the family. Still others claim that Mikhail Tukhachevsky is a Jew of Polish origin. Not a single version has documentary evidence.
The future army commander has shown many-sided talents since childhood. The boy grew up artistic and musical, staged home performances and learned to play the violin. But most of all, Mikhail wanted to follow in the footsteps of his great-uncle the general and gain the glory of a military man.
In the gymnasium, Misha studied without diligence until the fourth grade - top score turned out to be a "four" French. The boy skipped classes and picked up "twos". The director of the gymnasium, who knew about the ambitious intentions of the student to become a military man, managed to turn the tide. The director explained to Misha that with such academic performance, they would not be admitted to a military school.
Mikhail Tukhachevsky graduated from the Penza gymnasium with honors and entered the capital's cadet corps. Being the best student, he soon moved to the Alexander Military School. In 1914, the young man left the walls of the educational institution, being in the top three of the strongest graduates. The military biography of Mikhail Tukhachevsky began in the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment, where he entered as a lieutenant at the beginning of the First World War.
Military career
In the summer of 1914, Mikhail Tukhachevsky was appointed junior officer. In this rank, the young military man participated in battles with the Germans and Austrians on the Western Front. The young man showed a desire to become a general before the age of 30: ambition and a desire to quickly move up the career ladder added courage. For six months, Mikhail was awarded orders five times.
In the winter of 1915, the company in which Mikhail Tukhachevsky served was surrounded near the Polish city of Lomza. At night, German troops destroyed the company, Tukhachevsky survived by a miracle and was taken prisoner.
After four attempts to escape, the prisoner was transported to the Ingolstadt camp, where the fugitives were kept. Here Mikhail met the future French President Charles de Gaulle. The fifth escape in September 1917 was successful. In October, the fugitive returned to his homeland. Mikhail Tukhachevsky was enrolled in the Semenovsky regiment, entrusted with the command of a company.
Revolution
Mikhail Tukhachevsky joined the Red Army as a volunteer. In the spring of 1918, he was entrusted with work in the military department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. After joining the ranks of the communists, Tukhachevsky was instructed to defend the capital, appointing him a military commissar.
The following year, the People's Commissar entrusted the young military command of the 5th Army. Mikhail Tukhachevsky led the campaign against the forces in Siberia, then, along with the troops, was transferred to southern Russia, where he continued to pursue the whites. At the end of the winter of 1920, Mikhail Tukhachevsky moved to the Kuban. His cavalry invaded the rear of the enemy, Denikin's troops suffered losses, they were pushed back to the Black Sea.
Towards the end of the civil war, Tukhachevsky led the 7th Army and in March 1921 crushed the uprising in Kronstadt. The decisive commander was sent to pacify the rebellion of the Tambov peasants, with which Mikhail Tukhachevsky coped, for the first time using poison gases to pacify the enemy. Companions noted the cruelty of the commander, who gave orders to shoot the rebels without trial.
The first five marshals of the USSR: Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Semyon Budyonny, Klim Voroshilov, Vasily Blyukher, Alexander Egorov The operation of the Bolsheviks during the Soviet-Polish war turned out to be a failure: the invasion bogged down, meeting with powerful resistance. At first, the courage of the 27-year-old commander brought success, but after a daring advance, Mikhail Tukhachevsky overestimated his strength. Near Warsaw, his troops were defeated by Jozef Pilsudski. The defeat in the operation Tukhachevsky was remembered in 1937.
Joseph Stalin participated in the Soviet-Polish war. After the defeat, Stalin and Tukhachevsky blamed each other for the defeat. After becoming party leader in 1929, Stalin did not forget Mikhail Tukhachevsky's miscalculations. Receiving denunciations of ill-wishers against him, he planned reprisals. But in the early 1930s, Joseph Vissarionovich did not yet have the unconditional support of his comrades-in-arms, so the young military leader escaped arrest.
Mikhail Tukhachevsky wrote more than a dozen books on the theory of warfare. In 1931, the "red Bonaparte" was entrusted with the leading role in reforming and re-equipping the army, but Stalin did not support the ideas of Mikhail Nikolaevich. The leadership recognized Mikhail Tukhachevsky's initiatives in artillery as ineffective: large sums of money were spent on unpromising weapons. As an example - semi-handicraft dynamo-reactive guns.
In 1935, Mikhail Tukhachevsky became the Marshal of the USSR, but clouds were gathering over his head. Stalin's power was strengthened, his leadership in the CPSU (b) was no longer disputed by anyone. In December 1934, after the assassination in Leningrad, the Great Terror began. In early 1936, Tukhachevsky traveled to London with a Soviet delegation to attend the funeral of King George V.
Personal life
Mikhail Tukhachevsky carried his love for music through his whole life. Since 1925 he was friends with. The composer visited the marshal. In the mid-1930s, when Soviet criticism fell upon Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Tukhachevsky defended the musician. On the personal front, the marshal won no less victories than on the battlefields. Women adored the stately handsome man, who possessed remarkable strength and bright appearance.
The first wife of Mikhail Tukhachevsky was the daughter of the Penza railway worker Maria Ignatieva. They met at a ball in the gymnasium. The novel that broke out has stood the test of time: the future "red marshal" graduated from the cadet corps, went through the fronts of the First World War, and fought in the civil war. Mikhail Tukhachevsky arrived in Penza, where Masha was waiting for him, as an army commander. Like his father, Mikhail married a girl without noble origin.
The wife went through the roads of the civil war with her husband, supporting Mikhail in difficult moments and enduring hardships. Her mistake was to support relatives in the famine years. Masha, knowing that no one would dare to stop the wife of a high commander, took food to her relatives in Penza.
When ill-wishers reported the "unworthy behavior" of Tukhachevsky's wife to the Revolutionary Military Council, the ambitious Mikhail Nikolaevich suggested that Maria get a divorce. The woman committed suicide. The 27-year-old widower did not come to his wife's funeral, entrusting the organizational issues to the adjutant.
The commander met his second love in 1920, in the fall. After the failed Soviet-Polish operation, Tukhachevsky needed support. He received it from the niece of the forester, in whose house near Smolensk he frequented. 16-year-old Lika (Lydia) was of noble origin. In the winter of 1921, Mikhail Tukhachevsky offered the girl a hand and a heart. The forester uncle insisted that the young people get married in the church. The red commander agreed, and the secret wedding took place.
Entering the church, the newlyweds saw an omen - a coffin with the dead. A year later, the pregnant wife announced that she was returning to her family. Lika found out about her husband's mistress, Tatyana Chernolusskaya. Mikhail did not want to part with his wife, but the woman did not forgive the betrayal. She got married shortly after the divorce. The born daughter Irina died of diphtheria in infancy.
The marshal met his third wife in Smolensk. The beautiful noblewoman Nina Grinevich turned out to be an educated woman. In marriage, a daughter, Svetlana, was born. But the family life of the Tukhachevskys was not impeccable: the marshal started an affair with his colleague's wife, Yulia Kuzmina. He also named his illegitimate daughter Svetlana.
Arrest and criminal case
In 1937, Stalin waited for the moment for reprisals against his longtime enemy Tukhachevsky. Marshal was dismissed from the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and transferred to the post of commander of the Volga Military District. In Kuibyshev, where Mikhail Tukhachevsky moved with his family, he was expected to be searched, arrested and charged with organizing an anti-state conspiracy.
In May 1937, Tukhachevsky was taken to the capital. The head of the NKVD forced the marshal to confess that he was a German spy and, in alliance with Bukharin, was developing a plan to seize power. Later, the defector of the NKVD, Alexander Orlov, indicated that during the search, documents of the tsarist secret police were found in the marshal, incriminating Stalin in collaboration with her. Orlov claimed that Tukhachevsky planned a coup d'état, but the generalissimo got ahead of him and destroyed him.
The arrested daughter of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Svetlana Tukhachevskaya According to another version put forward by the British historian Robert Conquest, the heads of the Nazi secret services and Heydrich produced false documents about Tukhachevsky's conspiracy with the Wehrmacht against Stalin. The forgery fell into the hands of Stalin and got a move. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it turned out that the papers about the "treason" of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky were prepared by Stalin's entourage, organizing a fake leak to Heydrich.
Death
In June 1937, the case on the charges of Marshal of the Soviet Union Tukhachevsky and eight senior army commanders was considered in a closed session of a military tribunal. The defendants were not given lawyers and were not allowed to appeal the verdict. On the night of June 11-12, the defendants were found guilty and shot. They were buried in a common grave at the Donskoy cemetery of the capital.
The whole family of the marshal fell into the millstones of repression. The wife and brothers of Mikhail Tukhachevsky were shot. The daughter and three sisters were sent to the Gulag. Mavra Petrovna's mother died in exile.
They rehabilitated Marshal Tukhachevsky after Khrushchev's revelations of Stalinism. A novel about the fate of a military leader was written by Boris Sokolov. In the book “Mikhail Tukhachevsky: the life and death of the Red Marshal”, the writer managed not to go to extremes in portraying the hero: in the novel, Tukhachevsky is a man with strengths and weaknesses who lived in difficult times.
- In his youth, Mikhail Tukhachevsky achieved his appointment as a sergeant major on the course of the cadet school. He was a brutal leader. Three classmates because of the chicanery of sergeant major Tukhachevsky committed suicide - they shot themselves.
- In 1915 Tukhachevsky was taken prisoner. According to unwritten rules, if an officer who was in captivity gave his word of honor not to look for an opportunity to escape, then he received more rights and could go for a walk. Tukhachevsky gave his word, but ran away during the walk. His act aroused indignation among both the Germans and the Russian captured officers. They submitted a collective petition to the German command that they no longer consider Tukhachevsky a man of honor.
- In March 1918, immediately after joining the party, Tukhachevsky proposed to the Council of People's Commissars his draft of a ban on Christianity and the revival of paganism.
- Leon Trotsky called Tukhachevsky "the demon of the revolution." Tukhachevsky did not recognize authorities. He was distinguished by extreme cruelty in his reprisals against civilians, created concentration camps, poisoned the peasants with gas.
- Stalin called Tukhachevsky a "red militarist". The global plans of Mikhail Nikolaevich in 1927 to produce 50-100 thousand tanks a year were not only unrealistic, but also disastrous for the industry. Tukhachevsky suggested that half of the steel be given to tanks. Also, the "red militarist" proposed to produce 40,000 aircraft per year.
February 16 this year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, one of the most controversial military leaders of the Soviet period. Historians either hate him or idolize him. One sees him as an executioner who drowned the Kronstadt rebellion and peasant unrest in the Tambov province in blood, while the other sees him as a talented commander and theoretician who developed the foundations of Soviet military affairs. But everyone agrees on one thing - this man left a bright mark on the political reality of the last century. Having discarded any prejudices, let's try to look at the life of this person ....
The Tukhachevsky family has been known to researchers of dynasties since the 13th century. It was his ancestors who gave rise to the famous Tolstoy family. Mikhail's father, Nikolai Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky, came from impoverished nobles of Polish origin. He married a semi-literate peasant woman, Mavra Petrovna, who bore him nine children: four sons and five daughters. They lived in the estate of Alexandrovsky, located in the Smolensk province.
Mikhail Tukhachevsky was the third child in the family, born in 1893. In early childhood, he was an exceptionally mobile, hyperactive boy who could not be left unattended for a minute. To look after him, the parents even had to take a separate nanny, since the nurse common to all the children could not keep up with Misha. He learned to read and write early, read a lot (in three languages), was always drawn to new knowledge and was interested in music. Already in adolescence, the remarkable artistic and literary abilities of the future commander began to appear. Parents often staged performances at home in which all family members took part. Mikhail independently composed plays for them, where he always assigned the main roles to himself. Having asked his parents for a violin, he learned to play it quite decently. A few months before his death, in the spring of 1937, he, having played a part for his sister, sadly noted: “And why didn’t I decide to become a musician? I would be a good violinist now.” Also, all his life he was engaged in writing, historians know more than one hundred and twenty of his works. True, they are all scientific works on military topics. In his youth, Tukhachevsky was fond of horse riding, dancing and wrestling. Contemporaries noted that he was beautifully built, very handsome and charismatic.
Later, Mikhail entered the first Moscow Cadet Corps, where he immediately stood out thanks to his sharp mind, physical abilities and excellent diligence. Teachers noted that "military science is the true vocation of this boy." Because of his exceptional abilities, he was even personally introduced to Nicholas II. However, there were also less personal moments. He had no friends at all in the corps, and not at all because he was a reserved or timid young man. On the contrary, everyone was well aware of his desire for absolute leadership and cruelty towards others. They were afraid to quarrel with him, because he did not know mercy, and with the younger cadets he behaved like a despot.
It is quite natural that he graduated from the school with the best performance, after which he was sent, as he dreamed, to the Semenovsky regiment. Tukhachevsky took part in the First World War, and even ill-wishers noted his courage on the battlefield and in intelligence. Courage, often bordering on recklessness, will fail him more than once in the future. In the end, for the heroism shown, he was presented for awarding orders five times. various degrees(five orders in six months), Mikhail was captured.
There is a legend about four unsuccessful escape attempts made by Tukhachevsky. But there is no historical evidence for this. It is only known that after some time Mikhail was sent to the international concentration camp Ingolstadt. According to some reports, the fortress was a gathering place for captured officers who, for various reasons, came to the attention of German intelligence. The most famous prisoners of this camp were Charles de Gaulle and Louis Rivet.
In Ingolstadt, Lieutenant Tukhachevsky met Charles de Gaulle. Something like a friendship began between them, the future president of France always noted the extraordinary “impudence and courage” of the Russian captive. In 1936, Tukhachevsky was present in Paris at a meeting of concentration camp prisoners. And in 1966, when de Gaulle came to Moscow, he wished to see the sisters of the late marshal. Of course, he politely but firmly refused. Relatives did not even know about the desire of the eminent Frenchman.
It is not known in what conditions the prisoners were kept in the fortress of Ingolstadt, but they were sometimes allowed to go out into the city as a walk.
Taking advantage of this, on August 3, 1917, Tukhachevsky made another, fifth (in a year and a half) attempt to escape. It turned out to be successful, and already in October 1917 he returned to his homeland.
While still in prison, Tukhachevsky began to sympathize with the Bolsheviks. He wrote: "If Lenin rids Russia of old prejudices, if he makes her a strong power, then I choose Marxism." Having voluntarily joined the Red Army in March 1918, by June he was already the commander of the first army of the Eastern Front.
Possessing a gift for oratory, Tukhachevsky initiated the registration of former tsarist officers in the Red Army. However, he convinced them not only with words. From his order: “For the organization of a combat-ready army, experienced leaders are needed. Therefore, I order the former officers to immediately come to me. Those who do not appear will be given to a court-martial." Although Tukhachevsky himself wrote about this: "I helped them go along with the people, and not against it." The officers followed him. And soon, despite his aristocratic appearance, he managed to win the trust of the soldiers. During the Civil War in Russia, the twenty-six-year-old Red commander became famous on various fronts, crowding out Krasnov and Denikin, burning out anti-Soviet sentiments in Russia with fire and sword.
Among the commanders of the Red Army, Mikhail Tukhachevsky had neither friends nor acquaintances. Many described him as a capable second lieutenant who was very lucky in life. Already in the early twenties, Tukhachevsky came to the attention of the Special Department. In the dossier there, he was presented as a gifted leader. But his main problem lay in human qualities. He was characterized as an imperious and cunning commander, who did not tolerate objections and criticism of his actions. That is why he chose weak-willed and obsequious subordinates, completely creeping before his authority. It was also noted that Tukhachevsky neglects the issues of strategy and tactics in the preparation of military operations, being interested only in the administrative aspects.
In 1919, for the defeat of Kolchak Tukhachevsky, he was awarded the highest award at that time - the Honorary Revolutionary Weapon along with the Order of the Red Banner. Having won many exemplary victories from a military point of view, he became famous for his ability to clearly organize army work. However, Mikhail Tukhachevsky lost the largest battle in his life for Warsaw in all respects.
The Soviet-Polish war began with the fact that the Poles mobilized about a million people. The Allies helped them with equipment and money. The backbone of the army was the 70,000-strong corps of General Haller, formed from French Poles who went through the war. Aviation was represented by American pilots. The intelligence of the Red Army, which was in its infancy, missed all these large-scale preparations. In the spring of 1920, the commander of the Polish forces, Pilsudski, struck in the Zhytomyr direction. Parts of the Red Army, organized from the "Galicians", rebelled, the front was exposed, and no one was left on the path of the Poles. Having traveled almost two hundred kilometers, having occupied Kyiv without a fight and captured many prisoners, the enemy troops stopped on the banks of the Dnieper.
But the Soviet government was not going to give up either. A massive transfer of troops to the Polish front began, and the General Staff issued the well-known appeal "To all former officers ...", after which, in order to save the Motherland from the Poles, everyone who had recently fought for the Whites, hid from arrests, and was in prisons began to enroll in the Red Army. Mikhail Tukhachevsky, appointed commander of the Western Front, decided to defeat the Polish army with one swift throw in the direction of Warsaw. True, the very first attempts to break through the enemy defenses near the Berezina River failed. Then the First Cavalry Army came to his aid, which included all the advanced equipment of that time: armored trains, artillery, airplanes and, the invention of the Makhnovists, the famous carts. At the beginning of the summer, the vanguard of Budyonny's army broke through the front and irresistibly rushed to Volhynia. Here Tukhachevsky began to advance rapidly in the north. The Poles wavered and ran. In just a few days, the troops of Mikhail Nikolayevich rushed past Minsk, Brest, along the Lithuanian border, through Vilna and Grodno, until they ended up on Polish soil.
M. N. Tukhachevsky 1935 Postcard. CA FSB RF. A C D No. R-5159
Such raids have not been seen since the time of Napoleon. Piłsudski was depressed, the Allies had already buried Poland. Tukhachevsky, considering himself the new Suvorov, appointed the capture of Warsaw on August 12. To do this, he decided to bypass the Polish capital from the west and north, attacking from directions unexpected for the enemies. Not knowing the number and deployment of enemy troops, Tukhachevsky independently climbed into the bag between the main forces of the Poles and the German border. In mid-August, selected Polish troops General Haller, inflicting a series of counterattacks, to their own surprise, ended up in the rear of the Reds. If the First Cavalry were nearby, Haller would definitely not be in trouble, but she got stuck in the battles near Lvov. Much later, the opinion appeared that Joseph Vissarionovich was to blame for everything. Indeed, Stalin opposed the redeployment of Budyonny's troops to the north. However, it had a reasonable basis. He saw that the cavalry army was exhausted by battles and was not capable of such a breakthrough. But Tukhachevsky's headquarters could not properly assess the strength of the Poles.
Soon half of Tukhachevsky's troops were pressed against the German border. All attempts to break through to the east ended in failure. Then the troops retreated to the lands East Prussia where they were interned. It was a disaster. The Bolsheviks had no choice but to negotiate.
Tukhachevsky's strange affection for Dmitri Shostakovich is well known. When the great composer, suffering from tuberculosis, worked as a pianist in cinemas, it was only thanks to the efforts of Marshal Shostakovich that he was asked to create a symphony for the tenth anniversary of October. After her performance, he became famous. And after the publication in Pravda of the derogatory article-review "Muddle Instead of Music", Mikhail Nikolayevich was one of the few who dared to openly support the desperate Shostakovich.
In the thirties, in all subsequent positions, Mikhail Nikolayevich pushed through the idea of militarization of the country's economy. He put forward proposals to increase the number of divisions, to develop artillery, aviation, and tank troops. However, his calculations contained fabulous figures, for example, about the possibility of producing 100,000 tanks a year in the USSR. Stalin pointed out to the marshal the delusional nature of this idea, calling it "red militarism." Also, among the other mistakes of the military leader, one should consider the emphasis on the development of recoilless artillery to the detriment of further study of rifled barrel artillery, the abolition of the production of successful 37-mm anti-tank gun, refusal to introduce mortars. Large funds were spent by the marshal on the study of unpromising weapons.
Soviet military leaders. 1921 In the first row: far left - M. N. Tukhachevsky; in the center - S. M. Budeny; far right - P. E. Dybenko
But Tukhachevsky personally participated in the maneuvers of the army and navy, analyzed their results and developed measures to improve command and control. Seeing in tanks the main force of future wars, he studied the forced deployment of mechanized formations, created the theory of deep combat and continuous operations in one direction. Being a supporter of an offensive strategy, he advocated the independence of small units. In 1932, thanks to him, work began on the creation of rocket engines, and in 1933, the Jet Research Institute was built, specializing in the development of rocket weapons.
Mikhail Tukhachevsky had very few friends, preferring women's society to them. The handsome marshal seemed to have some special influence on the beautiful half of humanity. The higher Tukhachevsky rose through the ranks, the more women surrounded him. The true number of marshal's mistresses is incalculable.
He met his first wife while still in high school. Her name was Maria, she was the daughter of a machinist and committed suicide shortly after their marriage. According to one version, she could not bear the numerous betrayals of her husband, according to another, Mikhail himself demanded a divorce. In any case, Tukhachevsky was involved in this, Maria shot herself in the head right in his headquarters car. He did not come to the funeral, and soon remarried sixteen-year-old Lika. Despising party ethics, the military leader married her in the church. However, this did not deter him from numerous intrigues on the side, and their union broke up after a short time. And in 1923, Tukhachevsky seduced the wife of the political commissar of the fourth rifle division, Nina Grinevich. They got married, but five years later the marshal was attracted by the wife of a former friend of Nikolai Kuzmin, Yulia. He did not divorce Nina Grinevich, but until 1937 he lived with Kuzmina.
In the spring of 1937, Tukhachevsky, the former deputy people's commissar for defense, was unexpectedly not allowed to attend the coronation of George VI in London. Perhaps even then he realized that the end was near. On May 11, Mikhail Nikolayevich was removed from his post and sent to command the Volga Military District in Kuibyshev. Before leaving, Stalin put his hand on his shoulder and promised that he would soon return the marshal to the capital. Iosif Vissarionovich kept his word, already on May 24 Tukhachevsky was indeed returned to Moscow. Only in handcuffs and under escort. The arrest of Mikhail Nikolaevich was carried out by the representative of the NKVD, the old Bolshevik Rudolf Nelke. Tukhachevsky had just arrived in Kuibyshev and appeared at the regional committee to get acquainted with the local leadership. They were already waiting for him in the first secretary's office. When the marshal opened the door, he immediately understood everything. After a pause, Tukhachevsky waved his hand and crossed the threshold. When Nelke said that he had an order for his arrest, Mikhail Nikolaevich silently sat down in an armchair. He was offered to put on civilian clothes, which were delivered by the Chekists, but he did not react. Then the prisoners, breaking military uniform, independently dressed the marshal. Rudolf Nelke was shot a few months later.
The first Marshals of the Soviet Union. Sitting (from left to right): M. N. Tukhachevsky, K. E Voroshilov, A. I. Egorov. Standing: S. M. Budyonny and V. K. Blucher. 1935
Tukhachevsky gave his first confessions on May 26. A note written in the name of Yezhov read: “... I inform you that I recognize the existence of an anti-Soviet military-Trotskyist conspiracy, as well as the fact that I led it. I promise to tell the investigation everything that affects the conspiracy, without hiding any of the participants and not a single document or fact. Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Why did he break down so quickly? There are several versions of this. Firstly, you should not belittle the art of shoulder work of masters from Lubyanka. The torture within the walls of this building was fantastic. Tukhachevsky's daughter later told how she, a youngster, was brought to her father and wanted to be raped. From other sources, a naked marshal was tied to a pole, and an iron tube with rats was put on the genitals .... There is no documentary evidence of the described episodes, but Tukhachevsky's handwritten confessions have been preserved. Even without a graphological study, it is clear that they were written in different emotional and physical states. The letters constantly dance, the lines are smeared, the handwriting and style change. The pages are smeared with brown spots, which, according to the conclusion of the forensic laboratory of the Ministry of Defense, are blood. At the end of the interrogations, the papers written by Tukhachevsky with his own hand become less and less, they are replaced by typewritten ones with his signatures.
Was he actually conspiring or not? Researchers are still divided on this point. Most likely, yes, too many facts and information have been collected in support of this. However, the scale of the conspiracy, as well as its connection with German intelligence, is still in question; this story still holds many mysteries. According to the conclusion of the investigation, Tukhachevsky was found guilty of organizing a military conspiracy with the aim of forcibly overthrowing the government and establishing a military dictatorship. He was also charged with the destruction of the Red Army and the transfer of secret information to German intelligence about the number and deployment of Soviet troops near the border. On June 12, 1937, Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky and seven other defendants were shot in the basement of the Military Collegium building.
There is a myth that Tukhachevsky, as the most brilliant commander of the USSR, was afraid of Hitler preparing for war. According to the Nazis, only he could adequately prepare our armed forces. Therefore, a plan appeared to discredit the marshal in the eyes of the party leadership. All the papers about the conspiracy were made by the German secret services and included a number of real facts of Tukhachevsky's meetings with the military of the Third Reich, which took place within the framework of cooperation between Russia and Germany. After the dossier was planted on Soviet intelligence, becoming the basis of the Marshal's accusation. Meanwhile, there is no evidence of this, except for Hitler's statement in his last interview: "Stalin did a brilliant deed by organizing a purge in the Russian army ...".
Cover of the investigation file of M.N. Tukhachevsky. 1937 CA FSB RF ASD. R-9000
The next day after the execution, the pages of Soviet newspapers simply came out with hysterical headlines: “People who were admired by the whole country have been exposed”, “A crushing blow to German intelligence”, “The verdict of the court is a confirmation of our power.” Hatred, fear, the instinct of self-preservation took possession of human hearts. Crowded rallies were held at Moscow factories and factories, workers, trying to shout down each other, expressed their approval of the court's verdict, considering execution to be too easy death for traitors.
After the liquidation of the marshal in the Red Army, mass repressions began. Also, Stalin did not spare almost any of Tukhachevsky's relatives, wanting to exterminate almost his entire family. Brothers, sisters, last wife, daughters, husbands and wives of brothers and sisters went into exile or were shot. Mother, Mavra Petrovna, died in exile without learning about the terrible fate of most of her children and grandchildren. All the property of the late marshal, down to personal correspondence and photographs, was confiscated and destroyed.
On trial
Almost twenty years later, during the Khrushchev thaw, Mikhail Tukhachevsky was rehabilitated. The country's leadership went to the other extreme, declaring him almost the most brilliant commander of our country. His works on military history and theory were republished, although by this time inevitably out of date. And the successful operations he carried out against Denikin and Kolchak began to be studied in the academies.
Mikhail Nikolaevich forever remained in history the youngest Soviet marshal, having made a brilliant military career, which ended, one might say, at the very take-off. He was one of the main commanders of the largest army in the world, he was gladly received in the highest military circles in Paris, London, Berlin. Soon after the process, and also later during the rehabilitation period, books and articles dedicated to Tukhachevsky appeared in different countries and in different languages. At first they presented him like Bonaparte, a commander who lost the political battle to Joseph Stalin. In the fifties, the emphasis shifted towards the innocent victim of the terror of the thirties, a failed alternative to the command of the Russian Army in World War II. However, in all his works, Tukhachevsky appears as an extraordinary figure of world significance.
So why did Tukhachevsky take the side of the Red power, why did he enter into a deadly game with it? He could settle down with representatives of the white movement in some European country. Or, for example, go to serve in the Reichswehr, become a general and lead a division or corps (at best, like a talented foreigner). I dare to suggest that he would have lived much longer then.
If you do not touch on issues of patriotism, which seem not to be the main motive in all the actions of an ambitious lieutenant of the Guards, Tukhachevsky's main dream, according to many memoirists, was the desire to create the greatest army in history. And also to lead it and lead it into battle, say, during the proletarian world revolution. For the sake of this goal, he went to any lengths: he became an ally of the Bolsheviks, gassed the peasants from Tambov, shot Kronstadt sailors, spent huge amounts of money on the production of weapons .... With such an independent character and mind, there was no chance to survive in totalitarian conditions. It is not known how the course of the terrible war in the history of our country, if he were in the ranks of Soviet military leaders. However, World War II eventually passed without him.
Sources of information:
-http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/6841/
-http://militera.lib.ru/bio/sokolov/09.html
-http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/1758119/post67411288/
-http://eg.ru/daily/politics/10058/
-http://clubs.ya.ru/zh-z-l/replies.xml?item_no=3853
-http://izvestia.ru/news/287239#ixzz2KpzZYVvH