Where did Chapaev die and how did it happen? A clear answer to this question, Unfortunately no. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - legendary personality times of the Civil War. The life of this person, starting from a young age, is filled with mysteries and secrets. Let's try to unravel them based on some historical facts.
The Mystery of Birth
The hero of our story lived only 32 years. But what kind! Where Chapaev died and where he was buried is an unsolved mystery. Why did it happen so? Eyewitnesses of those distant times differ in their testimony.
Ivanovich (1887-1919) - this is how historical reference books present the date of birth and death of the legendary commander.
It’s only a pity that history has preserved more reliable facts about the birth of this man than about his death.
So, Vasily was born on February 9, 1887 in the family of a poor peasant. The very birth of the boy was marked by the seal of death: the midwife who delivered the birth of the mother of a poor family, seeing the premature baby, prophesied his quick death.
The grandmother came out to the stunted and half-dead boy. Despite the disappointing forecasts, she believed that he would pull through. The baby was wrapped in a piece of cloth and warmed near the stove. Thanks to the efforts and prayers of his grandmother, the boy survived.
Childhood
Soon the Chapaev family is in search of better life moves from the village of Budaiki, in Chuvashia, to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev province.
Things went a little better for the family: Vasily was even sent to study science at the parish educational institution. But the boy was not destined to receive a full education. In a little more than 2 years, he only learned to read and write. The training ended after one incident. The fact is that in parochial schools it was the practice to punish students for misconduct. Chapaev did not escape this fate either. In the cold winter, the boy was sent to a punishment cell with practically no clothes. The guy did not intend to die from the cold, so when it was no longer bearable to endure the cold, he jumped out of the window. The punishment cell was very high - the guy woke up with broken arms and legs. After this incident, Vasily did not go to school anymore. And since education was closed for the boy, his father took him to work, taught him carpentry, and they built buildings together.
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, whose biography grew with new and incredible facts every year, was remembered by his contemporaries after another incident. It was like this: during work, when it was necessary to install a cross on the very top of a newly built church, showing courage and skill, Chapaev Jr. took on this task. However, the guy could not resist and fell from a great height. Everyone saw a true miracle in the fact that after the fall Vasily did not have even a small scratch.
In the service of the Fatherland
At the age of 21, Chapaev began military service, which lasted only a year. In 1909 he was fired.
By official version, the reason was the illness of a serviceman: Chapaev was found to have an unofficial reason that was much more serious - Vasily’s brother, Andrei, was executed for speaking out against the tsar. After this, Vasily Chapaev himself began to be considered “unreliable.”
Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich, whose historical portrait emerges as the image of a man prone to bold and decisive actions, once decided to start a family. He got married.
Vasily's chosen one, Pelageya Metlina, was the daughter of a priest, so the elder Chapaev opposed these marriage ties. Despite the ban, the young people got married. Three children were born in this marriage, but the union broke up due to Pelageya’s betrayal.
In 1914, Chapaev was again called to serve. The First World War brought him awards: the St. George Medal and the 4th and 3rd degrees.
In addition to awards, soldier-Chapaev received the rank of senior non-commissioned officer. All achievements were gained by him during six months of service.
Chapaev and the Red Army
In July 1917, Vasily Chapaev, having recovered from his wound, ended up in infantry regiment, whose soldiers support revolutionary views. Here, after active communication with the Bolsheviks, he joined the ranks of their party.
In December of the same year, the hero of our story becomes commissar of the Red Guard. He suppresses peasant uprisings and goes to study at the General Staff Academy.
For the smart commander, a new assignment will soon arrive - Chapaev is sent to the Eastern Front to fight with Kolchak.
After the successful liberation of Ufa from enemy troops and participation in military operation After the release of Uralsk, the headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was suddenly attacked by the White Guards. According to the official version, Vasily Chapaev died in 1919.
Where did Chapaev die?
There is an answer to this question. The tragic event occurred in Lbischensk, on But historians are still arguing about how the famous commander of the Red Guard died. There are many different legends about the death of Chapaev. A lot of “eyewitnesses” tell their truth. Still, researchers of Chapaev’s life are inclined to believe that he drowned while swimming across the Urals.
This version is based on an investigation conducted by Chapaev’s contemporaries shortly after his death.
The fact that the division commander’s grave does not exist and his remains were not found gave rise to new version that he was saved. When the Civil War ended, rumors began to circulate among the people about the rescue of Chapaev. It was rumored that he, having changed his last name, lived in the Arkhangelsk region. The first version is confirmed by a film that was released on Soviet screens in the 30s of the last century.
Film about Chapaev: myth or reality
In those years, the country needed new revolutionary heroes with an unblemished reputation. Chapaev's feat was exactly what Soviet propaganda felt necessary.
From the film we learn that the headquarters of the division commanded by Chapaev was taken by surprise by the enemies. The advantage was on the side of the White Guards. The Reds fired back, the battle was fierce. The only way to escape and survive was to cross the Urals.
While crossing the river, Chapaev was already wounded in the arm. The next enemy bullet killed him and he drowned. The river where Chapaev died became his burial place.
However, the film, which was admired by all Soviet citizens, caused indignation among Chapaev's descendants. His daughter Claudia, referring to the story of Commissar Baturin, claimed that his comrades took his father to the other side of the river on a raft.
To the question: “Where did Chapaev die?” Baturin answered: “On the bank of the river.” According to him, the body was buried in the coastal sand and disguised by reeds.
Already the great-granddaughter of the red commander initiated the search for her great-grandfather’s grave. However, these plans were not destined to come true. At the place where, according to legend, the grave should have been located, a river now flowed.
Whose testimony was used as the basis for the film script?
How Chapaev died and where, the cornet Belonozhkin told after the end of the war. From his words, it became known that it was he who fired a bullet at the sailing commander. A denunciation was written against the former cornet, he confirmed his version during interrogation, and it was the basis for the film.
Belonozhkin's fate is also shrouded in mystery. He was convicted twice and amnestied the same number of times. He lived to a very old age. He fought during World War II, lost his hearing due to shell shock, and died at the age of 96.
The fact that Chapaev’s “killer” lived to such an old age and died a natural death suggests that representatives of the Soviet government, who took his story as the basis for the film, did not themselves believe in this version.
Version of the old-timers of the village of Lbischenskaya
How Chapaev died, history is silent. We can draw conclusions by referring only to eyewitness accounts, conducting all kinds of investigations and examinations.
The version of the old-timers of the village of Lbischenskaya (now the village of Chapaevo) also has the right to life. The investigation was conducted by Academician A. Cherekaev, and he wrote down the history of the defeat of Chapaev’s division. According to eyewitnesses, the weather on the day of the tragedy was autumn-like cold. The Cossacks drove all the Red Guards to the banks of the Urals, where many soldiers actually threw themselves into the river and drowned.
The victims were due to the fact that the place where Chapaev died is considered enchanted. No one has ever managed to swim across the river there, despite the fact that local daredevils, in honor of the memory of the deceased commissioner, organize such swims every year on the day of his death.
What Cherekaev learned about Chapaev’s fate was that he was caught, and after interrogation, under guard, he was sent to Guryev to Ataman Tolstov. This is where Chapaev's trail ends.
Where is the truth?
The fact that Chapaev’s death is indeed shrouded in mystery is an absolute fact. And the answer to this question is for researchers life path the legendary division commander has yet to be recognized.
It is noteworthy that the newspapers did not report Chapaev’s death at all. Although then the death of such famous person was considered an event that was learned about from the newspapers.
They began to talk about Chapaev's death after the release of the famous film. All the eyewitnesses of his death spoke at almost the same time - after 1935, in other words, after the film was shown.
In the encyclopedia “Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR” the place where Chapaev died is also not indicated. The official, generalized version is indicated - near Lbischensk.
Let's hope that thanks to the opportunities latest research, this story will become clear someday.
Name: Vasiliy Chapaev
Age: 32 years
Place of Birth: Budaika village, Chuvashia
A place of death: Lbischensk, Ural region
Activity: Chief of the Red Army
Family status: Was married
Vasily Chapaev - biography
September 5 marks the 97th anniversary of his death Vasily Chapaeva- the most famous and at the same time the most unknown hero of the civil war. His true identity is hidden under a layer of legends created both by official propaganda and the popular imagination.
Legends begin with the very birth of the future division commander. Everywhere they write that he was born on January 28 (old style) 1887 in the family of a Russian peasant Ivan Chapaev. However, his surname does not seem Russian, especially in the “Chepaev” version, as Vasily Ivanovich himself wrote it. In his native village of Budaika, the majority of Chuvash people lived, and today the residents of Chuvashia confidently consider Chapaev-Chepaev as one of their own. True, neighbors argue with them, finding Mordovian or Mari roots in the surname. The hero’s descendants have a different version - his grandfather, while working on a timber rafting site, kept shouting to his comrades “chapay”, that is, “catch on” in the local dialect.
But no matter who Chapaev’s ancestors were, by the time of his birth they had long been Russified, and his uncle even served as a priest. They wanted to direct young Vasya to the spiritual path - he was small in stature, weak and unsuitable for hard peasant labor. Church service provided at least some opportunity to escape from the poverty in which the family lived. Although Ivan Stepanovich was a skilled carpenter, his loved ones constantly subsisted on bread and kvass; out of six children, only three survived.
When Vasya was eight years old, the family moved to the village - now the city - Balakovo, where his father found work in a carpentry artel. An uncle-priest also lived there, to whom Vasya was sent to study. Their relationship did not work out - the nephew did not want to study and, moreover, was not obedient. One winter, in severe frost, his uncle locked him in a cold barn for the night for some other offense. To avoid freezing, the boy somehow got out of the barn and ran home. This is where his spiritual biography ended before it even began.
Chapaev recalled the early years of his biography without any nostalgia: “My childhood was gloomy and difficult. I had to humiliate myself and starve a lot. From an early age I hung around strangers.” He helped his father do carpentry, worked as a sex worker in a tavern, and even walked around with a barrel organ, like Seryozha from Kuprin’s “White Poodle.” Although this may be fiction - Vasily Ivanovich loved to invent all sorts of stories about himself.
For example, he once joked that it stems from a passionate romance between a gypsy tramp and the daughter of the Kazan governor. And since there is little reliable information about Chapaev’s life before the Red Army - he did not have time to tell his children anything, there were no other relatives left, this fiction ended up in his biography, written by Chapaev’s commissar Dmitry Furmanov.
At the age of twenty, Vasily fell in love with the beautiful Pelageya Metlina. By that time, the Chapaev family had gotten out of poverty, Vasya dressed up and easily charmed the girl, who had just turned sixteen. The wedding had barely taken place when, in the fall of 1908, the newlywed joined the army. He liked military science, but he didn’t like marching in formation and punching officers. Chapaev, with his proud and independent disposition, did not wait until the end of his service and was demobilized due to illness. A peaceful family life began - he worked as a carpenter, and his wife gave birth to children one after another: Alexander, Claudia, Arkady.
As soon as the last one was born in 1914, Vasily Ivanovich was again forced into the army - the World War. During two years of fighting in Galicia, he rose from private to sergeant major and was awarded the St. George Medal and four soldiers' Crosses of St. George, which spoke of extreme courage. By the way, he served in the infantry, he was never a dashing rider - unlike Chapaev from the film of the same name - and after being wounded he could not ride a horse at all. In Galicia, Chapaev was wounded three times, in last time so hard that after a long treatment he was sent to serve in the rear, in his native Volga region.
The return home was not joyful. While Chapaev was fighting, Pelageya got along with the conductor and left with him, leaving her husband and three children. According to legend, Vasily ran for a long time after her cart, begged to stay, even cried, but the beauty firmly decided that an important railway rank suited her more than the heroic, but poor and also wounded Chapaev. Pelageya, however, did not live long with her new husband - she died of typhus. And Vasily Ivanovich married again, keeping his word to his fallen comrade Pyotr Kameshkertsev. His widow, also Pelageya, but middle-aged and ugly, became the hero’s new companion and took his children into the house in addition to her three.
After the revolution of 1917 in the city of Nikolaevsk, where Chapaev was transferred to serve, the soldiers of the 138th reserve regiment chose him as regimental commander. Thanks to his efforts, the regiment did not go home, like many others, but almost in full force joined the Red Army.
The Chapaevsky regiment found a job in May 1918, when civil war broke out in Russia. The rebel Czechoslovaks, in alliance with local White Guards, captured the entire east of the country and sought to cut the Volga artery, through which grain was delivered to the center. In the cities of the Volga region, the whites staged riots: one of them took the life of Chapaev’s brother, Grigory, the Balakovo military commissar. Chapaev took all the money from another brother, Mikhail, who owned a shop and accumulated considerable capital, using it to equip his regiment.
Having distinguished himself in heavy battles with the Ural Cossacks, who sided with the whites, Chapaev was chosen by the fighters as commander of the Nikolaev division. By that time, such elections were prohibited in the Red Army, and an angry telegram was sent down from above: Chapaev could not command the division because “he does not have the appropriate training, is infected with a delusion of autocracy, and does not carry out military orders exactly.”
However, the removal of a popular commander could turn into a riot. And then the staff strategists sent Chapaev with his division against the three times superior forces of the Samara “constituent” - it seemed to certain death. However, the division commander came up with a cunning plan to lure the enemy into a trap, and completely defeated him. Samara was soon taken, and the Whites retreated to the steppes between the Volga and the Urals, where Chapaev chased them until November.
This month, the capable commander was sent to study in Moscow, at the General Staff Academy. Upon admission, he filled out the following form:
“Are you an active party member? What was your activity like?
I belong. Formed 7 regiments of the Red Army.
What awards do you have?
Knight of St. George 4 degrees. The watch was handed over.
What general education did you receive?
Self-Taught."
Having recognized Chapaev as “almost illiterate,” he was nevertheless accepted as “having revolutionary combat experience.” The questionnaire data is supplemented by an anonymous description of the division commander, preserved in the Cheboksary Memorial Museum: “He was not brought up and did not have self-control in dealing with people. He was often rude and cruel... He was a weak politician, but he was a real revolutionary, an excellent communard in life and a noble, selfless fighter for communism... There were times when he could seem frivolous...”
Basically. Chapaev was the same partisan commander as Father Makhno, and he was uncomfortable at the academy. When some military expert in a military history class sarcastically asked if he knew the Rhine River. Chapaev, who fought in Europe during the German War, nevertheless answered boldly: “Why the hell do I need your Rhine? It’s on Solyanka that I have to know every bump, because we’re fighting the Cossacks there.”
After several similar skirmishes, Vasily Ivanovich asked to be sent back to the front. The army authorities complied with the request, but in a strange way - Chapaev had to create a new division literally from scratch. In a dispatch to Trotsky, he was indignant: “I bring to your attention, I am exhausted... You appointed me head of the division, but instead of the division you gave me a disheveled brigade with only 1000 bayonets... They don’t give me rifles, there are no overcoats, people are undressed " And yet for short term he managed to create a division of 14 thousand bayonets and inflict a heavy defeat on Kolchak’s army, defeating its most combat-ready units, consisting of Izhevsk workers.
It was at this time, in March 1919, that a new commissar appeared in the 25th Chapaev Division - Dmitry Furmanov. This dropout student was four years younger than Chapaev and dreamed of a literary career. This is how he describes their meeting:
“Early in March, at about 5-6 o’clock, they knocked on my door. I go out:
I am Chapaev, hello!
stood in front of me ordinary person, lean, of medium height, apparently of little strength, with thin, almost with female hands. Thin dark brown hair stuck to his forehead; a short nervous thin nose, thin eyebrows in a chain, thin lips, shiny clean teeth, a shaved chin, a lush sergeant-major mustache. Eyes... light blue, almost green. The face is matte-clean and fresh.”
In the novel “Chapaev,” which Furmanov published in 1923, Chapaev generally appears at first as an unattractive character and, moreover, a real savage in the ideological sense - he spoke “for the Bolsheviks, but against the communists.” However, under the influence of Furmanov, by the end of the novel he becomes a convinced party member. In reality, the division commander never joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), not trusting the party leadership too much, and it seems that these feelings were mutual - the same Trotsky saw in Chapaev a stubborn supporter of the “partisanism” he hated and, if necessary, could well have shot him, as commander of the Second Cavalry Army of Mironov.
Chapaev’s relationship with Furmanov was also not as warm as the latter tried to show. The reason for this is the lyrical story at the headquarters of the 25th, which became known from Furman’s diaries, which were recently declassified. It turned out that the division commander began to quite openly court the commissar’s wife, Anna Steshenko, a young and pretty failed actress. By that time, Vasily Chapaev’s second wife had also left him: she cheated on the division commander with a supply officer. Having once arrived home on leave, Vasily Ivanovich found the lovers in bed and, according to one version, drove them both under the bed with shots over their heads.
On the other hand, he simply turned around and went back to the front. After this, he flatly refused to see the traitor, although later she came to his regiment to make peace, taking with her Chapaev’s youngest son, Arkady. I thought I would pacify my husband’s anger with this - he adored children, during a short rest he played tag with them and made toys. As a result, Chapaev took the children, giving them to be raised by some widow, and divorced his treacherous wife. Later, a rumor spread that she was the culprit in Chapaev’s death, since she had betrayed him to the Cossacks. Under the weight of suspicion, Pelageya Kameshkertseva went crazy and died in a hospital.
Having become a bachelor, Chapaev turned his feelings to Furmanov’s wife. Having seen his letters with the signature “Chapayev, who loves you,” the commissioner, in turn, wrote an angry letter to the division commander, in which he called him “a dirty, depraved little man”: “K low man there is nothing to be jealous of, and I, of course, was not jealous of her, but I was deeply outraged by the impudent courtship and constant pestering that Anna Nikitichna repeatedly told me about.”
Chapaev’s reaction is unknown, but soon Furmanov sent a complaint to the front commander Frunze about the “offensive actions” of the division commander, “reaching assault.” As a result, Frunze allowed him and his wife to leave the division, which saved Furmanov’s life - a month later Chapaev, along with his entire staff and the new commissar Baturin, died.
In June 1919, the Chapaevites took Ufa, and the division commander himself was wounded in the head while crossing the high-water Belaya River. The Kolchak garrison of thousands fled, abandoning ammunition warehouses. The secret of Chapaev’s victories was speed, pressure and “little tricks” people's war. For example, near Ufa, he is said to have driven a herd of cattle towards the enemy, raising clouds of dust.
Deciding that Chapaev huge army, the whites began to run. It is possible, however, that this is a myth - the same as those from time immemorial that have been told about Alexander the Great or. It’s not without reason that even before the popular cult in the Volga region, fairy tales were written about Chapaev - “Chapai flies into battle in a black cloak, they shoot at him, but he doesn’t care. After the battle, he shakes his cloak - and from there all the bullets come out intact.”
Another tale is that Chapaev invented the cart. In fact, this innovation first appeared in the peasant army, from which it was borrowed by the Reds. Vasily Ivanovich quickly realized the advantages of a cart with a machine gun, although he himself preferred cars. Chapaev had a scarlet Stever confiscated from some bourgeois, a blue Packard and a miracle of technology - a yellow high-speed Ford that reached speeds of up to 50 km per hour. Having installed the same machine gun on it as on the cart, the division commander would almost single-handedly knock out the enemy from captured villages.
After the capture of Ufa, Chapaev's division headed south, trying to break through to the Caspian Sea. The division headquarters with a small garrison (up to 2000 soldiers) remained in the town of Lbischensk; the remaining units went forward. On the night of September 5, 1919, a Cossack detachment under the command of General Borodin quietly crept up to the city and surrounded it. The Cossacks not only knew that the hated Chapai was in Lbischensk, but also had a good idea of the balance of power of the Reds. Moreover, the horse patrols that usually guarded the headquarters were for some reason removed, and the division's airplanes, conducting aerial reconnaissance, turned out to be faulty. This suggests a betrayal that was not the work of the ill-fated Pelageya, but of one of the staff members - former officers.
It seems that Chapaev still did not overcome all his “frivolous” qualities - in a sober state, he and his assistants would hardly have missed the approach of the enemy. Waking up from the shooting, they rushed to the river in their underwear, shooting back as they went. The Cossacks fired after. Chapaev was wounded in the arm (according to another version, in the stomach). Three fighters took him down a sandy cliff to the river. Furmanov briefly described what happened next, according to eyewitness accounts: “All four rushed in and swam. Two were killed at the same moment, as soon as they touched the water. The two were swimming, they were already close to the shore - and at that moment a predatory bullet hit Chapaev in the head. When the companion, who had crawled into the sedge, looked back, there was no one behind: Chapaev drowned in the waves of the Urals...”
But there is another version: in the 60s, Chapaev’s daughter received a letter from Hungarian soldiers who fought in the 25th division. The letter said that the Hungarians transported the wounded Chapaev across the river on a raft, but on the shore he died from loss of blood and was buried there. Attempts to find the grave led nowhere - the Urals had changed its course by that time, and the bank opposite Lbischensk was flooded.
Recently an even more sensational version appeared - Chapaev was captured, went over to the side of the whites and died in exile. There is no confirmation of this version, although the division commander could indeed have been captured. In any case, the newspaper “Krasnoyarsky Rabochiy” reported on March 9, 1926 that “Kolchak’s officer Trofimov-Mirsky was arrested in Penza, who admitted that he killed in 1919 the head of the division, Chapaev, who was captured and enjoyed legendary fame.”
Vasily Ivanovich died at 32 years old. Without a doubt, he could have become one of the prominent commanders of the Red Army - and, most likely, would have died in 1937, like his comrade-in-arms and first biographer Ivan Kutyakov, like many other Chapaevites. But it turned out differently - Chapaev, who fell at the hands of his enemies, took a prominent place in the pantheon of Soviet heroes, from where many more significant figures were erased. The heroic legend began with Furmanov's novel. “Chapaev” became the first big work of the commissar who went into literature. It was followed by the novel “Mutiny” about the anti-Soviet uprising in Semirechye - Furmanov also observed it personally. In March 1926, the writer's career was cut short by sudden death from meningitis.
The writer's widow, Anna Steshenko-Furmanova, fulfilled her dream by becoming the director of the theater (in the Chapaev division she headed the cultural and educational part). Out of love either for her husband or for Chapaev, she decided to bring the story of the legendary division commander to life on stage, but in the end the play she conceived turned into a film script, published in 1933 in the magazine “Literary Contemporary”.
Soon, the young filmmakers with the same names, Georgy and Sergey Vasiliev, decided to film a film based on the script. Already at the initial stage of work on the film, Stalin intervened in the process, always keeping film production under his personal control. Through the film bosses, he conveyed a wish to the directors of “Chapaev”: to complement the picture with a love line, introducing into it a young fighter and a girl from the people - “a kind of pretty machine gunner.”
The desired fighter became a glimpse of Petka Furmanov - "Little thin Black Mazik." There was also a “machine gunner” - Maria Popova, who actually served as a nurse in the Chapaev division. In one of the battles, a wounded machine gunner forced her to lie down behind the Maxim trigger: “Press it, otherwise I’ll shoot you!” The lines stopped the Whites' attack, and after the battle the girl received a gold watch from the division commander's hands. True, Maria’s combat experience was limited to this. Anna Furmanova didn’t have this either, but she gave the heroine of the film her name - and that’s how Anka the Machine Gunner appeared.
This saved Anna Nikitichna in 1937, when her second husband, the red commander Lajos Gavro, the “Hungarian Chapaev,” was shot. Maria Popova was also lucky - after seeing Anka in the cinema, a pleased Stalin helped her prototype make a career. Maria Andreevna became a diplomat, worked in Europe for a long time, and along the way wrote a famous song:
Chapaev the hero was walking around the Urals.
He was eager to fight with his enemies like a falcon...
Go ahead, comrades, don’t dare retreat.
Chapaevites bravely got used to dying!
They say that shortly before Maria Popova's death in 1981, a whole delegation of nurses came to her hospital to ask if she loved Petka. “Of course,” she answered, although in reality it was unlikely that anything connected her with Pyotr Isaev. After all, he was not a boy-guarantor, but a regiment commander, an employee of the Chapaev headquarters. And he died, as they say, not while crossing the Urals with his commander, but a year later. They say that on the anniversary of Chapaev’s death, he got drunk half to death, wandered to the shore of the Urals, and exclaimed: “I didn’t save Chapai!” - and shot himself in the temple. Of course, this is also a legend - it seems that literally everything that surrounded Vasily Ivanovich became legendary.
In the film, Petka was played by Leonid Kmit, who remained “an actor of one role,” like Boris Blinov - Furmanov. And Boris Babochkin, who played a lot in the theater, was first and foremost Chapaev for everyone. Participants in the Civil War, including Vasily Ivanovich’s friends, noted his 100% fit into the image. By the way, at first Vasily Vanin was appointed to the role of Chapaev, and 30-year-old Babochkin was to play Petka. They say that it was the same Anna Furmanova who insisted on the “castling”, who decided that Babochkin was more like her hero.
The directors agreed and generally hedged their bets as best they could. In case of accusations of excessive tragedy, there was another, optimistic ending - in a beautiful apple orchard, Anka plays with the children, Petka, already the division commander, approaches them. Chapaev’s voice is heard behind the scenes: “Get married, you’ll work together. The war will end, life will be wonderful. Do you know what life will be like? There’s no need to die!”
As a result, this gravitas was avoided, and the film by the Vasilyev brothers, released in November 1934, became the first Soviet blockbuster - the Udarnik cinema, where it was shown, was lined up huge queues. Entire factories marched there in columns, carrying the slogans “We are going to see Chapaev.” The film received high awards not only at the First Moscow Film Festival in 1935, but also in Paris and New York. The directors and Babochkin received the Stalin Prize, the actress Varvara Myasnikova, who played Anna, received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
Stalin himself watched the film thirty times, not much different from the boys of the 30s - they entered the cinema halls over and over again, hoping that someday Chapai would emerge. Interestingly, this is what ultimately happened - in 1941, in one of the propaganda film collections, Boris Babochkin, famous for his role as Chapaev, emerged unharmed from the waves of the Urals and set off, calling soldiers behind him, to beat the Nazis. Few people saw this movie, but the rumor about the miraculous resurrection finally cemented the myth about the hero.
Chapaev's popularity was great even before the film, but after it it turned into a real cult. A city in the Samara region, dozens of collective farms, and hundreds of streets were named after the division commander. His memorial museums appeared in Pugachev (formerly Nikolaevsk). Lbischensk, the village of Krasny Yar, and later in Cheboksary, within the city limits of which was the village of Budaika. As for the 25th division, it received the name Chapaev immediately after the death of its commander and still bears it.
The nationwide popularity also affected Chapaev’s children. His senior commander, Alexander, became an artillery officer, went through the war, and rose to the rank of major general. The younger one, Arkady, went into aviation, was a friend of Chkalov and, like him, died before the war while testing a new fighter. The faithful keeper of her father’s memory was her daughter Claudia, who, after the death of her parents, almost died of hunger and wandered around orphanages, but the title of daughter of a hero helped her make a party career. By the way, neither Klavdia Vasilievna nor her descendants tried to fight the anecdotes about Chapaev that passed from mouth to mouth (and now published many times). And this is understandable: in most jokes Chapai appears as a rude, simple-minded, but very likeable person. The same as the hero of the novel, film and all official myth.
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Biography, life story of Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev
Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich - participant in the First World War, participant in the Civil War, head of a division of the Red Army.Childhood and youth
Vasily Chapaev was born on January 28 (new style - February 9), 1887 in the village of Budaika (Cheboksary district, Kazan province). His parents were simple peasants. His father Ivan Stepanovich was Erzei by nationality, his mother Ekaterina Semenovna was of Russian-Chuvash origin. The family had many children. Vasily became the sixth child.
When Vasily was still small, the Chapaev family moved to Balakovo (Samara province). There the boy was sent to a parochial school. Ivan Stepanovich dreamed of his son becoming a priest, but Vasily did not live up to his father’s hopes. In 1908, the young man was drafted into the army. By distribution he ended up in Kyiv. However, a year later Vasily was returned to the reserve. According to the official version, this happened due to his ill health, but many historians are inclined to believe that Chapaev was expelled from the ranks of the soldiers due to his political views, objectionable to management.
IN Peaceful time Vasily Chapaev worked as a simple carpenter in Melekess (today this city is called Dimitrovograd).
Military service
In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Vasily Chapaev was called up for military service. He ended up in a reserve infantry regiment in Atkarsk. At the beginning of 1915, Chapaev found himself at the front, in the very center of hostilities. He fought in Volyn and Galicia and was seriously wounded. In the summer of 1915, Vasily graduated from the training team and was awarded the rank of junior non-commissioned officer. A few months later he was promoted to senior. By the end of the war, Vasily was a sergeant major. For the courage and bravery shown during the battles, he was awarded the St. George's Cross and the St. George's Medal.
The revolution of 1917 found Vasily Chapaev in a hospital in Saratov. After some time, Chapaev became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. Later he became the military commissar of the Nikolaev district (before that he commanded an infantry reserve regiment in Nikolaevsk). Vasily Chapaev created the district Red Guard, consisting of 14 detachments, participated in the campaign against General Alexei Kaledin, a supporter White movement. He was the initiator of the reorganization of the Red Guard detachments into two regiments of the Red Army, united under his command into the Pugachev brigade. Chapaev also took part in battles with the People's Army, from which he recaptured Nikolaevsk and, in honor of his victory, renamed it Pugachev.
CONTINUED BELOW
In 1918, Vasily Ivanovich was appointed to the post of commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Division, then worked at the Academy of the General Staff. He was the Commissioner of Internal Affairs of the Nikolaevsky district. In 1919, he became the brigade commander of the Special Alexandrovo-Gai Brigade. In the same year, he took the post of chief of the 25th Infantry Division, which participated in the Bugulma and Belebeyevskaya operations against, the leader of the White movement. During one of the battles during the capture of Ufa, Chapaev was wounded in the head.
Death
Vasily Chapaev was killed on September 5, 1919 during a surprise attack on his division by White Cossacks. This happened in Lbischensk (Ural region). The organizer of the deep raid was General Nikolai Borodin. The main target of the attack was Vasily Chapaev, who was a huge obstacle for the White movement.
According to another version, Vasily Ivanovich died in captivity.
Family
On July 5, 1909, Vasily Chapaev married Pelageya Metlina, the 17-year-old daughter of a priest. The couple lived together for 6 years, during which time Pelageya managed to give birth to Vasily three children - sons Alexander and Arkady and daughter Claudia. When Chapaev was called to the front, Metlina lived for some time in his parents’ house, but then, taking the children, she went to live with a neighbor, a conductor.
In 1917, Vasily came home with the goal of divorcing his unfaithful wife, but in the end he limited himself to only taking the children from her and settling them with his grandparents. Soon, Chapaev began a relationship with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the wife of his late friend Pyotr Kamishkertsev (before this, the friends agreed that if one of them was killed, the second would certainly take care of the family of the deceased). In 1919, Vasily Chapaev settled Pelageya with his and her children from Peter in the village of Klintsovka. Shortly before his death, Vasily learned that his beloved had cheated on him with Georgy Zhivolozhnov, the head of the artillery depot.
IN last years Throughout his life, Vasily Chapaev maintained relationships with Tatyana, the daughter of a Cossack colonel, and Anna, the wife of Commissar Furmanov.
Vasily Ivanovich
Battles and victories
A legendary figure of the Russian Civil War, a people's commander, a self-taught man who rose to high command positions due to his own abilities in the absence of special military education.
It is difficult to classify Chapaev as a traditional commander. This is, rather, a partisan leader, a kind of “red chieftain.”
Chapaev was born in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Kazan province, into a peasant family. Chapaev's grandfather was a serf. The father worked as a carpenter to support his nine children. Vasily spent his childhood in the city of Balakovo, Samara province. Due to severe financial situation The Chapaev family graduated from only two classes of parochial school. Chapaev worked from the age of 12 for a merchant, then as a floor worker in a tea shop, as an organ grinder's assistant, and helped his father in carpentry. After serving his military service, Chapaev returned home. By this time, he managed to get married, and by the beginning of the First World War he was already the father of a family - three children. During the war, Chapaev rose to the rank of sergeant major, participated in the famous Brusilov breakthrough, was wounded and shell-shocked several times, his military work and personal bravery were awarded three St. George Crosses and the St. George Medal.
Due to his injury, Chapaev was sent to the rear of Saratov, the garrison of which was subjected to revolutionary disintegration in 1917. Chapaev, who initially joined, according to the testimony of his comrade in arms, I.S., also took part in the soldiers’ unrest. Kutyakov, to the anarchists and ended up being the chairman of the company committee and a member of the regimental committee. Finally, on September 28, 1917, Chapaev joined the Bolshevik Party. Already in October 1917, he became the military leader of the Nikolaev Red Guard detachment.
Chapaev turned out to be one of the military professionals on whom the Bolsheviks of the Nikolaev district of the Samara province relied in the fight against the uprisings of peasants and Cossacks. He took the post of district military commissar. At the beginning of 1918, Chapaev formed and led the 1st and 2nd Nikolaev regiments, which became part of the Red Army of the Saratov Council. In June, both regiments were consolidated into the Nikolaev brigade, which was headed by Chapaev.
In battles with the Cossacks and Czech interventionists, Chapaev showed himself to be a firm leader and an excellent tactician, skillfully assessing the situation and proposing the optimal solution, as well as a personally brave commander who enjoyed the authority and love of the fighters. During this period, Chapaev repeatedly personally led troops into attack. Since the fall of 1918, Chapaev commanded the Nikolaev division, which, due to its small numbers, was sometimes called Chapaev’s detachment.
According to the temporary commander of the 4th Soviet army former General Staff Major General A.A. Baltiysky, in Chapaev, “the lack of general military education affects the technique of command and control and the lack of breadth to cover military affairs. Full of initiative, but uses it unbalancedly due to the lack of military education. However, Comrade Chapaev clearly identifies all the data on the basis of which, with appropriate military education, both technology and a justified military scope will undoubtedly appear. The desire to receive a military education in order to get out of the state of “military darkness”, and then again join the ranks of the battle front. You can be sure that Comrade Chapaev’s natural talents, combined with military education, will give bright results.”
In November 1918, Chapaev was sent to the newly created Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army in Moscow to improve his education.
Shot from the chronicle. September 1918
The following passage will say a lot about his academic success: “I haven’t read about Hannibal before, but I see that he was an experienced commander. But I disagree with his actions in many ways. He made many unnecessary changes in sight of the enemy and thereby revealed his plan to him, was slow in his actions and did not show persistence in order to completely defeat the enemy. I had an incident similar to the situation during the Battle of Cannes. This was in August, on the N. River. We let up to two white regiments with artillery through the bridge to our bank, gave them the opportunity to stretch out along the road, and then opened hurricane artillery fire on the bridge and rushed into the attack from all sides. The stunned enemy did not have time to come to his senses before he was surrounded and almost completely destroyed. His remnants rushed to the destroyed bridge and were forced to rush into the river, where most of them drowned. 6 guns, 40 machine guns and 600 prisoners fell into our hands. We achieved these successes thanks to the swiftness and surprise of our attack.”
Military science turned out to be beyond the capabilities of the people's leader; after studying for several weeks, Chapaev voluntarily left the academy and returned to the front, to do what he knew and was able to do.
Studying at the academy is a good thing and very important, but it’s a shame and a pity that the White Guards are being beaten without us.
Subsequently, Chapaev commanded the Alexandrovo-Gai group, which fought the Ural Cossacks. The opponents were worth each other - Chapaev was opposed by Cossack cavalry formations of a partisan nature.
At the end of March 1919, Chapaev, by order of the commander of the Southern Group Eastern Front RSFSR M.V. Frunze was appointed head of the 25th Infantry Division. The division acted against the main forces of the Whites and took part in repelling the spring offensive of the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, participated in the Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa operations, which predetermined the failure of the Kolchak offensive. In these operations, Chapaev's division acted on enemy messages and carried out detours. Maneuver tactics have become business card Chapaev and his divisions. Even the whites singled out Chapaev and noted his organizational skills.
A major success was the crossing of the Belaya River, which led to the capture of Ufa on June 9, 1919 and the further withdrawal of the Whites. Then Chapaev, who was on the front line, was wounded in the head, but remained in the ranks. For military distinctions he was awarded the highest award of Soviet Russia - the Order of the Red Banner, and his division was awarded the honorary revolutionary Red Banners.
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Chapaev stood out as an independent commander from the non-commissioned officers of the old army. This environment gave the Red Army many talented military leaders, including such as S.M. Budyonny and G.K. Zhukov. Chapaev loved his fighters, and they paid him the same. His division was considered one of the best on the Eastern Front. In many ways, he was precisely the people's leader, who fought using guerrilla methods, but at the same time possessed a real military instinct, enormous energy and initiative that infected those around him. A commander who strived to constantly learn in practice, directly during battles, a man who was simple-minded and cunning at the same time. Chapaev knew very well the combat area, located on the far-from-center right flank of the Eastern Front. By the way, the fact that Chapaev fought in approximately the same area throughout his entire career is a weighty argument in favor of the partisan nature of his activities.
At the same time, Chapaev managed to fit into the structure of the Red Army, and was fully used by the Bolsheviks in their interests. He was an excellent commander at the divisional level, although not everything in his division was going well, especially in terms of discipline. It is enough to note that as of June 28, 1919, in the 2nd brigade of the division, “unlimited drunkenness and outrages with strangers flourished - this does not indicate a commander at all, but a hooligan.” Commanders clashed with commissars, and there were even cases of beatings. The relationship between Chapaev and the commissar of his division D.A. was complicated. Furmanov, who met in March 1919. They were friends, but sometimes quarreled because of the explosive nature of the division commander.
Chapaev - Furmanov. Ufa, June 1919: “Comrade Furman. Please pay attention to my note to you, I am very upset by your departure, that you took my expression personally, of which I inform you that you have not yet managed to bring me any harm, and if I am so frank and a little hot , not at all embarrassed by your presence, and I say everything that is in my thoughts against some individuals, which you were offended by, but so that there are no personal scores between us, I am forced to write a report on my removal from office, rather than be in disagreement with my closest employee , which I am informing you about as a friend. Chapaev
After the Ufa operation, the Chapaev division was again transferred to the front against the Ural Cossacks. It was necessary to operate in the steppe area, far from communications (which made it difficult to supply the division with ammunition), in hot conditions with the superiority of the Cossacks in the cavalry. This situation constantly threatened the flanks and rear. The struggle here was accompanied by mutual bitterness, atrocities against prisoners, and uncompromising confrontation. As a result of a mounted Cossack raid into the Soviet rear, the headquarters of the Chapaev division in Lbischensk, located at a distance from the main forces, was surrounded and destroyed. On September 5, 1919, Chapaev died: according to some sources, while swimming across the Urals, according to others, he died from wounds during a shootout. Chapaev's death, which occurred as a result of carelessness, was a direct consequence of his impetuous and reckless character, expressing the unbridled element of the people.
Chapaev's division subsequently participated in the defeat of the Ural Separate Army, which led to the destruction of this army of Ural Cossacks and the death of thousands of officers and privates during the retreat through the desert regions of the Eastern Caspian region. These events fully characterize the cruel fratricidal essence of the Civil War, in which there could be no heroes.
in Pugachev, Saratov region
Chapaev lived a short life (died at 32), but bright life. Now it is quite difficult to imagine what he really was like - too many myths and exaggerations surround the image of the legendary division commander. For example, according to one version, in the spring of 1919 the Reds did not surrender Samara to the enemy only because of the firm position of Chapaev and Frunze and contrary to the opinion of military experts. But, apparently, this version has nothing to do with reality. Another later legend is that L.D. fought against Chapaev in every possible way. Trotsky. Unfortunately, even today such propaganda legends have their short-sighted supporters. In fact, on the contrary, it was Trotsky who awarded Chapaev a gold watch, distinguishing him from other commanders. Of course, it is difficult to classify Chapaev as a traditional commander. This is, rather, a partisan leader, a kind of “red chieftain.”
Some legends were created not by official ideology, but by popular consciousness. For example, that Chapaev is the Antichrist. Demonization of the image was a characteristic reaction of the people to the outstanding qualities of this or that figure. It is known that Cossack atamans were demonized in this way. Chapaev, over time, entered folklore in its more modern form- as the hero of many popular jokes. However, the list of Chapaev legends is not exhausted. Consider the popular version that Chapaev fought against the famous General V.O. Kappel. In reality, they most likely did not fight directly against each other. However, in the popular understanding, a hero like Chapaev could only be defeated by an opponent equal in strength to him, which Kappel was considered to be.
Appeal to the enemy: “I am Chapaev! Drop your weapons!
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev had no luck with an objective biography. After the publication in 1923 of the book by D.A. Furmanov and, in particular, after the release of the famous film by S.D. in 1934. and G.N. Vasilyev “Chapaev”, who was far from being a figure of the first rank, was once and for all included in the cohort of selected heroes of the Civil War. This group included politically safe (mostly already deceased) Red military leaders (M.V. Frunze, N.A. Shchors, G.I. Kotovsky and others). The activities of such mythologized heroes were covered only in a positive light. However, in the case of Chapaev, not only official myths, but also artistic fiction firmly overshadowed the real historical figure. Similar situation was reinforced by the fact that many former Chapaevites occupied high positions in the Soviet military-administrative hierarchy for a long time. At least one and a half dozen generals alone emerged from the ranks of the division (for example, A.V. Belyakov, M.F. Bukshtynovich, S.F. Danilchenko, I.I. Karpezo, V.A. Kindyukhin, M.S. Knyazev, S.A. Kovpak, V.N. Kurdyumov, A.A. Luchinsky, N.M. Mishchenko, I.V. Panfilov, S.I. Petrenko-Petrikovsky, I.E. Petrov, N.M. Khlebnikov) . The Chapaevites, along with the cavalrymen, formed a kind of veteran community in the ranks of the Red Army, kept in touch and helped each other.
Turning to the fates of other people's leaders of the Civil War, such as B.M. Dumenko, F.K. Mironov, N.A. Shchors, it’s hard to imagine Chapaev surviving until the end of the war. The Bolsheviks needed such people only during the period of fighting the enemy, after which they became not only inconvenient, but also dangerous. Those of them who did not die due to their own recklessness were soon eliminated.
Ganin A.V., Ph.D., Institute of Slavic Studies RAS
Literature
Daines V.O. Chapaev. M., 2010
Kutyakov I. Chapaev's combat path. Kuibyshev, 1969
Simonov A. Chapaev's first detachment // Motherland. 2011. No. 2. P. 69-72
Ganin A. Chapai at the Academy // Motherland. 2008. No. 4. P. 93-97
Chapai is too affectionate. From Furmanov’s personal archive / Publ. A.V. Ganina // Motherland. 2011. No. 2. P. 73-75
Internet
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Soviet military leader, Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union. Known for successful operations to destroy German troops during the Great Patriotic War. The German command placed a large reward on Dovator's head.
Together with the 8th Guards Division named after Major General I.V. Panfilov, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of General M.E. Katukov and other troops of the 16th Army, his corps defended the approaches to Moscow in the Volokolamsk direction.
Superbly commanded the Baltic Fleet in the campaigns of 1789 and 1790. He won victories in the battle of Öland (7/15/1789), in the Revel (5/2/1790) and Vyborg (06/22/1790) battles. After the last two defeats, which were of strategic importance, the dominance of the Baltic Fleet became unconditional, and this forced the Swedes to make peace. There are few such examples in the history of Russia when victories at sea led to victory in the war. And by the way, the Battle of Vyborg was one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of ships and people.
Kosich Andrey Ivanovich
1. During his long life (1833 - 1917), A.I. Kosich went from a non-commissioned officer to a general, commander of one of the largest military districts Russian Empire. He took an active part in almost all military campaigns from the Crimean to the Russian-Japanese. He was distinguished by his personal courage and bravery.
2. According to many, “one of the most educated generals of the Russian army.” He left behind many literary and scientific works and memories. Patron of sciences and education. He has established himself as a talented administrator.
3. His example served to shape many Russian military leaders, in particular, gene. A. I. Denikina.
4. He was a resolute opponent of the use of the army against his people, in which he disagreed with P. A. Stolypin. "An army should shoot at the enemy, not at its own people."
Linevich Nikolai Petrovich
Nikolai Petrovich Linevich (December 24, 1838 - April 10, 1908) - a prominent Russian military figure, infantry general (1903), adjutant general (1905); general who took Beijing by storm.
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
Full Knight of the Order of St. George. In the history of military art, according to Western authors (for example: J. Witter), he entered as the architect of the “scorched earth” strategy and tactics - cutting off the main enemy troops from the rear, depriving them of supplies and organizing guerrilla warfare in their rear. M.V. Kutuzov, after taking command of the Russian army, essentially continued the tactics developed by Barclay de Tolly and defeated Napoleon’s army.
Markov Sergey Leonidovich
One of the main heroes of the early stage of the Russian-Soviet war.
Veteran of the Russian-Japanese, First World War and Civil War. Knight of the Order of St. George 4th class, Order of St. Vladimir 3rd class and 4th class with swords and bow, Order of St. Anne 2nd, 3rd and 4th class, Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd and 3rd th degrees. Holder of the St. George's Arms. Outstanding military theorist. Member of the Ice Campaign. An officer's son. Hereditary nobleman of the Moscow Province. Graduated from the Academy General Staff, served in the Life Guards of the 2nd Artillery Brigade. One of the commanders of the Volunteer Army at the first stage. He died the death of the brave.
Gorbaty-Shuisky Alexander Borisovich
Hero of the Kazan War, first governor of Kazan
Baklanov Yakov Petrovich
An outstanding strategist and mighty warrior, he achieved the respect and fear of his name among the uncovered mountaineers who had forgotten iron grip"Thunderstorms of the Caucasus". At the moment - Yakov Petrovich, an example of the spiritual strength of a Russian soldier in front of the proud Caucasus. His talent crushed the enemy and minimized the time frame of the Caucasian War, for which he received the nickname “Boklu”, akin to the devil for his fearlessness.
Stalin (Dzhugashvilli) Joseph
Kappel Vladimir Oskarovich
Perhaps he is the most talented commander of the entire Civil War, even if compared with the commanders of all its sides. A man of powerful military talent, fighting spirit and Christian noble qualities is a true White Knight. Kappel's talent and personal qualities were noticed and respected even by his opponents. Author of many military operations and exploits - including the capture of Kazan, the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, etc. Many of his calculations, not assessed on time and missed through no fault of his own, later turned out to be the most correct, as the course of the Civil War showed.
Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich
Russian admiral who gave his life for the liberation of the Fatherland.
Oceanographer, one of the largest polar explorers late XIX- beginning of the 20th century, military and political figure, naval commander, active member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, leader of the White movement, Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Saltykov Pyotr Semyonovich
The largest successes of the Russian army in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 are associated with his name. Winner in the battles of Palzig,
In the Battle of Kunersdorf, defeating the Prussian king Frederick II the Great, Berlin was taken by the troops of Totleben and Chernyshev.
Romanov Mikhail Timofeevich
...Ivan III (capture of Novgorod, Kazan), Vasily III (capture of Smolensk), Ivan IV the Terrible (capture of Kazan, Livonian campaigns), M.I. Vorotynsky (battle of Molodi with Devlet-Girey), Tsar V.I. Shuisky (battle of Dobrynichi, capture of Tula), M.V. Skopin-Shuisky (liberation of Moscow from False Dmitry II), F.I. Sheremetev (liberation of the Volga region from False Dmitry II), F.I. Mstislavsky (many different campaigns, repulse Kazy-Girey), There were many commanders during the Time of Troubles.
Generals Ancient Rus'
Since ancient times. Vladimir Monomakh (fought the Polovtsians), his sons Mstislav the Great (campaigns against Chud and Lithuania) and Yaropolk (campaigns against the Don), Vsevood the Big Nest (campaigns against Volga Bulgaria), Mstislav Udatny (battle of Lipitsa), Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (defeated Knights of the Order of the Sword), Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Vladimir the Brave (the second hero of the Mamaev Massacre)…
Each era gives birth to its heroes. The 20th century in the history of our country is a lot of social upheavals - several revolutions and wars. One of them was a civil war, in which different worldviews of different social strata collided. Among the heroes who defended the interests of the young Soviet Republic, there is a truly unique personality - Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev.
By today's standards, he was a young man, because at the time of his death he was only 32 years old. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev was born on January 28, 1887 in the Chuvash village of Budaika, which was located in the Cheboksary district of the Kazan province. In the Russian family of peasant Ivan Chapaev, he was the sixth child. He was born ahead of schedule and was very weak. Therefore, the parents could hardly imagine what a heroic fate awaited their tiny Vasenka.
The large family was very poor and, in search of a better life and earnings, moved to relatives in the Samara province and settled in the village of Balakovo. Here Vasily went to a parish school in the hope that he could become a priest. But this did not happen. But he married the priest’s young daughter, Pelageya Metlina. Soon he was drafted into the army. After serving for a year, Vasily Chapaev was discharged due to health reasons.
Returning to his family, he began working as a carpenter until the disaster struck in 1914. By this time, the family of Vasily and Pelageya already had three children. In January, Vasily Chapaev goes to the front and proves himself a skillful and brave warrior. For his bravery and courage he was awarded three St. George Crosses and the St. George Medal. Sergeant Major Vasily Chapaev graduated from the First World War as a full Knight of St. George.
In the fall of 1917, he chose the side of the Bolsheviks and proved to be an excellent organizer. In the Saratov province, he creates 14 Red Guard detachments, which participate in the battles against General Kaledin. In May 1918, the Pugachev brigade was formed from these detachments, and Chapaev was appointed to command it. This brigade, under the control of a self-taught commander, recaptures the city of Nikolaevsk from the Czechoslovaks.
The popularity and glory of the young red commander grew literally before our eyes, and at the same time Chapaev barely knew how to read and was completely unable, or did not want, to obey orders. The actions of the 2nd Nikolaev Division, led by Chapaev, instilled fear in the enemies, but often smacked of partisanship. Therefore, the command decided to send him to study at the newly opened Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. But the young commander could not sit at the training table for long and returned to the front.
In the summer of 1919, under his command, the 25th Rifle Division carried out successful operations against Kolchak's White Guards. At the beginning of June, Chapaev's division liberated Ufa, and a month later the city of Uralsk. The professional military men who led the White Guard troops paid tribute to the leadership talents of the young Red Guard commander. Not only his comrades, but also his opponents saw him as a real military genius.
Chapaev was prevented from truly revealing the commander's talent by his early death, which was led to by a tragedy caused by a military mistake, the only one in the military career of Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. This happened on September 5, 1919. Chapaev's division advanced and broke away from the main forces. Having stopped for a night's rest, the division headquarters settled down separately from the division units. White Guards under the command of General Borodin, numbering up to 2,000 bayonets, attacked the headquarters of the Chapaevsky division.
Wounded in the head and stomach, the division commander was able to organize the Red Guards, who were retreating in disarray, for defense. But completely disproportionate forces forced us to retreat. The soldiers transported the wounded commander across the Ural River on a raft, but he died from his wounds. Chapaev was buried in the coastal sand so that his enemies would not violate his body. Subsequently, the burial place could not be found.
The Chapaev division continued to successfully crush enemies even after the death of its commander. For many it will be a discovery that the later famous Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek, the famous partisan commander Sidor Kovpak, Major General Ivan Panfilov, whose fighters glorified themselves in defense, fought in the ranks of the Chapaevsky division.