The episode of the execution of prisoners under the deep. One Hundred Years of White Terror on the Don: The Execution of the Expedition of the Don Republic
Easter 1918 fell on May 11, and it was on this day that the White Cossacks killed 82 villagers who supported the Soviet government. After the execution, in which the leaders of the Red Cossacks Podtelkov and Spiridonov were killed on the Don, a fratricidal war came, and the mass executions carried out by the Cossacks over the Cossacks ceased to surprise anyone. The episode of "Bloody Easter" in 1918 is described in detail in the novel "Quiet Don".
Blazing Don
The end of winter and the spring of 1918 became a turning point and tragic time for the Don, which determined the future place of the Cossacks in history. In February 1914, Ataman Kaledin shot himself, and on February 24 and 25, the Reds first took Rostov, and then Novocherkassk.
On March 23, by a decree of the Don Regional Military Revolutionary Committee (VRK), the Donskaya Soviet republic. A month later, the Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Cossacks' Deputies of the new republic opened in Rostov. Fyodor Podtelkov was elected chairman and commissar in charge of military operations.
On the same days, General Lavr Kornilov dies near Ekaterinodar, and the Volunteer Army turns to the Don. The Germans refused to comply with the Brest peace and brought their troops into the Don region, and by May they occupied Rostov.
As early as May 1, in order to mobilize the Cossacks into the revolutionary army in order to fight against the White Cossacks and the Germans, a detachment of one hundred sabers was sent to the Upper Don from the Donsovnarkom. Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov, the head of the Don Revolutionary Committee, were appointed at the head of the mobilization unit.
The capture of Podtelkov
On May 10, in one of the farms, the detachment of Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov was surrounded by white Cossacks. It turned out that the enemies of the revolution were commanded by an old colleague of the commander of the Reds, the Cossack Spiridonov. After dawn, Podtelkov and Spiridonov met face to face on an old mound not far from the farm, and the dismounted Cossacks waited at its foot. After talking, as Spiridonov later said: “about the past,” the commanders dispersed.
In the afternoon there was a short battle, and the demoralized Red Cossacks surrendered to their countrymen, Podtelkov was also captured. For the trial of the apostates, elders were sent to the villages of Krasnokutskaya and Milyutinskaya, who became judges.
Trial of the Red Cossacks
The trial took place at night and without the presence of the defendants. Of the 82 Red Cossacks, 79 were to be shot and one released. Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov, as leaders of the detachment, were going to be hanged. The harsh verdict of the judge was impressed by the centurion Afanasy Popov, who said that the defendants had betrayed the Don and turned their weapons against their own brothers.
The main fault of Fedor Podtelkov for the Cossacks was the murder of the symbol of the Don counter-revolution, Colonel Vasily Chernetsov. According to eyewitnesses, after the wounded Chernetsov was betrayed by his fellow villagers, Podtelkov began to verbally mock him. After a blow to the face with a whip, the colonel could not stand it and tried to shoot Podtelkov with a small Browning pistol, which he hid in a sheepskin coat. The weapon misfired, and Podtelkov cut down Chernetsov, leaving his dead body lying in the steppe.
execution
The execution fell on the Saturday of Bright Week and in pre-revolutionary Russia, and especially on the Don, this holiday was especially revered. On his occasion, no executions were carried out, and the emperor often granted amnesty to prisoners. The Cossacks themselves did not believe in execution either. According to eyewitnesses, villagers from neighboring farms hurried to Ponomarev, fearing that the "podtelkovtsy" and their judge, as a sign of reconciliation and celebration, would drink all the moonshine without them.
However, the court's decision was different. In front of the eyes of the assembled Cossacks and old people, an execution took place, after which there was no turning back. A direct participant in those events, Cossack Alexander Senin, who led the guard that day, described Podtelkov’s behavior as follows: “Of all the dead, Comrade Podtelkov kept himself most staunchly and heroically. On the eve of his death, he asked me to say something. He was allowed. He spoke about the revolution, its significance, that it must win in the end, and he died with words about the revolution. Already with a noose thrown around his neck, Podtelkov shouted: “Only one thing: don’t go back to the old one!”
The protagonist of the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Quiet Flows the Don" Grigory Melekhov, looking for the truth of life, gets confused a lot, makes mistakes, suffers, because he does not find the moral truth he aspires to in any of the warring parties.
Gregory is faithful to the Cossack traditions, instilled in him from birth. But at the same time, he surrenders to the power of violent passion, capable of violating generally accepted norms and rules. Neither the formidable father, nor dirty rumors and ridicule can stop Gregory in his passionate outburst.
Melekhov is distinguished by an amazing ability to love. Unwittingly, at the same time, he causes pain to loved ones. Grigory himself suffers, suffers no less than Natalya, Aksinya, and his parents. The hero finds himself as if between two poles: love-duty and love-passion. Committing bad deeds from the point of view of public morality and meeting with a married woman, Gregory remains honest and sincere to the end. “And it’s a pity for you,” he says to Natalia, “to go to sleep, for these days we became related, but there is nothing in my heart ... Empty.”
Stormy historical events twirled Gregory in their whirlwind. But the more he goes into military operations, the more he is drawn to the land, to work. He often dreams of the steppe. His heart is always with my beloved, distant woman, with his native farm, kuren.
A new turn in history brings Melekhov back to the earth, to his beloved, to his family. Grigory meets with the house, with the farm after a long separation. The bosom of the family returns him to the world of shaken habitual ideas about the meaning of life, about the Cossack duty.
While fighting, “Grigory firmly protected the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, went wild, went disguised to the rear of the Austrians, removed outposts without blood.” Over time, the hero changes. He feels that “that pain over a person that crushed him in the first days of the war has irrevocably gone. Hardened heart, hardened ... ". The initial portrait of Gregory is also changing: "... his eyes are hollow and his cheekbones are sharply sticking out."
The tragic upheaval that split the world of the Cossacks into friends and foes poses numerous difficult and acute questions for Grigory. The hero is faced with a choice. Where to go? With whom? For what? Where is the truth? Melekhov, on his path of search, encounters different people, each of whom has his own point of view on what is happening. So the centurion Efim Izvarin does not believe in the universal equality declared by the Bolsheviks, he is convinced of the special fate and destiny of the Cossacks and stands for an independent, autonomous life of the Don region. He is a separatist. Grigory, delving into the essence of his speeches, tries to argue with him, but he is illiterate and loses in an argument with a well-educated centurion who knows how to consistently and logically express his thoughts. “Izvarin easily defeated him in verbal battles,” the author reports, and therefore Grigory falls under the strong influence of Izvarin's ideas.
Other truths are instilled in Melekhov by Podtelkov, who believes that the Cossacks have common interests with all Russian peasants and workers, with the entire proletariat. Podtelkov is convinced of the need for elected people's power. He speaks so competently, convincingly and passionately about his ideas that this makes Gregory listen to him and even believe. After a conversation with Podtelkov, the hero "painfully tried to sort out the confusion of thoughts, think over something, decide." In Gregory, an illiterate and politically unsophisticated person, despite various suggestions, the desire to find his truth, his place in life, something that is really worth serving is still actively pulsating. Those around him offer him different ways, but Grigory firmly answers them: "I myself am looking for an entrance."
There comes a moment when Melekhov wholeheartedly takes the side of the new system. But this system, with its cruelty to the Cossacks, injustice, once again pushes Gregory onto the warpath. Melekhov is shocked by the behavior of Chernetsov and Podtelkov in the scene of the massacre of Chernetsovites. It burns with blind hatred and enmity. Gregory, unlike them, is trying to protect an unarmed enemy from a merciless bloody race. Gregory does not stand up for the enemy - in each of the enemies he sees first of all a person.
But in war as in war. Fatigue and anger lead the hero to cruelty. This is eloquently evidenced by the episode of the murder of sailors. However, Gregory is not easily given such inhumanity. It is after this scene that Melekhov is deeply tormented by the realization of a terrible truth: he has gone far from what he was born for and what he fought for. “The wrong course in life, and maybe I’m to blame for this,” he understands.
An unrelenting truth, an unshakable value, always remains for the hero a native nest. In the most difficult moments of life, he turns to thoughts about the house, about his native nature, about work. These memories give Gregory a sense of harmony and peace of mind.
Gregory becomes one of the leaders of the Veshensky uprising. This is a new round in his path. But gradually he becomes disillusioned and realizes that the uprising did not bring the expected results: the Cossacks suffer from the Whites in the same way that they suffered from the Reds before. Well-fed officers - the nobles contemptuously and arrogantly treat the ordinary Cossack and only dream of achieving success with his help in their new campaigns; the Cossacks are only a reliable means of achieving their goals. The boorish attitude of General Fitskhelaurov towards him is outrageous for Grigory, foreign invaders are hated and disgusting.
Painfully enduring everything that is happening in the country, Melekhov nevertheless refuses to evacuate. “Whatever the mother, she is someone else’s kindred,” he argues. And such a position deserves all respect.
The next transitional stage, salvation for Gregory again becomes a return to the earth, to Aksi-nye, to the children. He is suddenly imbued with extraordinary warmth and love for children, he realizes that they are the meaning of his existence. The habitual way of life, the atmosphere of his native home give rise in the hero to the desire to get away from the struggle. Gregory, after going through a long and hard way, loses faith in both whites and reds. Home and family are true values, real support. Violence, repeatedly seen and known, evokes disgust in him. More than once he does noble deeds under the influence of hatred towards him. Grigory releases the relatives of the Red Cossacks from prison, drives a horse to death in order to have time to save Ivan Alekseevich and Mishka Koshevoy from death, leaves the square, not wanting to be a witness to the execution of the underdogs.
Quick to reprisal and unjustifiably cruel, Mishka Koshevoy pushes Gregory to run away from home. He is forced to wander around the farms and, as a result, joins Fomin's gang. Love for life, for children does not allow Gregory to give up. He understands that if he does not act, he will be shot. Melekhov has no choice, and he joins the gang. Begins new stage spiritual quest of Gregory.
Little remains with Gregory by the end of the novel. Children, native land and love for Aksinya. But the hero is waiting for new losses. He deeply and grievously experiences the death of his beloved woman, but finds the strength to search for himself further: “Everything was taken away from him, everything was destroyed by ruthless death. Only the children remained. But he himself still convulsively clung to the ground, as if, in fact, his broken life represented some kind of value for him and for others.
Gregory spends most of his life in captivity of hatred tearing the world, death, becoming hardened and falling into despair. Stopping on the way, he discovers with disgust that, hating violence, he does not set death. He is the head and support of the family, but he has no time to be at home, among people who love him.
All the attempts of the hero to find himself are the path of going through the torments. Melekhov goes forward with an open to everything, "tossed" heart. He is looking for wholeness, genuine and undeniable truths, in everything he wants to get to the very essence. His searches are passionate, his soul burns. He is tormented by an unsatisfied moral hunger. Gregory longs for self-determination, he is not without self-condemnation. Melekhov is looking for the root of mistakes, including in himself, in his deeds. But about the hero who went through many thorns, one can say with confidence that his soul, in spite of everything, is alive, it has not been ruined by the most difficult life circumstances. Evidence of this is Gregory's desire for peace, for peace, for the land, the desire to return home. Without waiting for an amnesty, Melekhov returns home. He has only one desire - the desire for peace. His goal is to raise his son, a generous reward for all the pains of life. Mishatka is Gregory's hope for the future, in him is the possibility of continuing the Melekhov family. These thoughts of Gregory are confirmation that he is broken by the war, but not broken by it.
The path of Grigory Melekhov to the truth is a tragic path of human wanderings, gains, mistakes and losses, evidence of a close connection between personality and history. This difficult path was traversed by the Russian people in the 20th century.
Critic Yu. Lukin wrote about the novel: “The meaning of the figure of Grigory Melekhov ... expands, going beyond the scope and specifics of the Cossack environment of the Don in 1921 and grows to a typical image of a person who did not find his way during the years of the revolution.”
The establishment of the Soviet power on the Don.May 10, 1918 a gang of White Cossacks, fearing an open clash, deceitfully disarmed Podtelkov's detachment.
The next day, May 11, 1918 over the leaders of the Don government, Fedor Podtelkov and Mikhail Krivoshlykov, a massacre took place, as well as his entire detachment in the Ponomarev farm.
The mass murder was carried out in front of the inhabitants of the nearest farms - to intimidate the population.
It should be noted that they started their political Olympus from the village of Kamenskaya. The Kamensky Bolsheviks at the initial stage gave them great support.
The White Cossacks created special "hunting" detachments to capture and destroy "apostates" who were going to create red regiments. Convinced that the path to the north was closed, F. G. Podtelkov decided to go to the peasant volosts of the Donetsk district to join with the detachments of E. A. Shchadenko. But by this time his detachment was almost already surrounded by white Cossacks. The bandits demanded that the Podtelkovites surrender their weapons, promising to let them go north, to their native villages.
As soon as the weapons were handed over, the White Guards surrounded the podtelkovites and drove them under escort to the hut. Ponomarev camp. Krasnokutskaya. On the same day, the White Guard court sentenced F. G. Podtelkov and M. V. Krivoshlykov to hanging, and the remaining 78 captured members of the expedition to death.
May 11, 1918 near the farm. Ponomarev there was a massacre. Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov held themselves exceptionally firmly. With a noose around his neck, Podtelkov addressed the people with a speech, he called on the Cossacks not to believe the officers and chieftains.
“Only one thing: don’t go back to the old one!” - Podtelkov managed to shout his last words ...
So the best sons of the Don Cossacks met death courageously.
A year later, when the hut. Ponomarev by the Soviet troops, a modest obelisk was erected on the grave of the heroes with the words inscribed on it: "You killed individuals, we will kill classes."
In 1968, a monument was erected on the grave of F. G. Podtelkov, M. V. Krivoshlykov and their comrades-in-arms near the Ponomarev farm. On the 15-meter obelisk is carved: "To prominent figures of the revolutionary Cossacks Fyodor Podtelkov and Mikhail Krivoshlykov and their 83 comrades-in-arms who died from the White Cossacks in May 1918."
Volume 2 of M. A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” describes the execution of Fyodor Podtelkov and Mikhail Krivoshlykov, as well as his entire detachment in the Ponomarev farm.
Fedor Grigorievich Podtelkov was born in the Krutovsky farm of the Ust-Khoperskaya village of the Ust-Medvedetsky district in the family of a poor Cossack Grigory Onufrievich Podtelkov. From early childhood, he helped his mother with the housework. Fedor lost his father at a very young age. He was raised by his grandfather. The boy had to walk six kilometers to school every day. It's time to serve in the army. The tall, broad-shouldered Fyodor Podtelkov was enrolled in the 6th Guards Battery, which served in royal palace In Petersburg. During the First World War, for the courage and courage shown in battles, constable F.G. Podtelkov was awarded two St. George's crosses, the medal "For Courage". Received the rank of sergeant.
After the February Revolution, the cadet Podtelkov was elected commander of the 6th Guards Battery. After the October Revolution, the battery went over to the side of the Bolsheviks.
On the Don, after the proclamation of Soviet power, Ataman Kaledin launched an offensive. In the village of Kamenskaya, at the suggestion of the Bolsheviks, a congress of front-line Cossacks was convened. F.G. took an active part in its work. Podtelkov. The congress declared the power of Ataman Kaledin overthrown and formed the Don Regional Military Revolutionary Committee. Fyodor Podtelkov was elected Chairman of the VRC, and Mikhail Krivoshlykov was elected Secretary.
Podtelkov participated in the battles with the Kaledin Cossacks, the formation and strengthening of the revolutionary Cossack units, in the convening and work of the 1st Congress of Soviets of the Don Republic in 1918.
The Don Republic was formed at the end of March 1918, and on April 9, the 1st Congress of Soviets of the Don Republic met in Rostov, at which the Central Executive Committee was elected, headed by the communist V.S. Kovalev. The Central Executive Committee formed the Council of People's Commissars of the Don Republic. F.G. became its chairman. Podtelkov.
Monument 
Installed in front of the building of the city museum of local lore, where the military revolutionary committee worked in 1918.
The opening took place on November 5, 1974. S. I. Kudinov, an honorary citizen of the city of Kamensk, spoke at the rally, who knew F. Podtelkov and M. Krivoshlykov well.
The author of the monument is the Rostov sculptor A. Kh. Dzhlauyan.
One hundred years ago, on January 23 (according to the new style), 1918, the Congress of the front-line Cossacks was assembled in the village of Kamenskaya, which elected the Cossack Military Revolutionary Committee, headed by Fedor Podtelkov and Mikhail Krivoshlykov. It was this committee that proclaimed itself the supreme authority on the Don, recognizing the supremacy of the Moscow Council of People's Commissars. From this moment begins the active participation in the Civil War of the Don Cossacks, which until then observed "neutrality".
First flashes
As a matter of fact, fighting on the Don began earlier, at the end of 1917. While the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks was celebrating in Petrograd, Ataman Alexei Kaledin said that « The military government, considering such a seizure of power by the Bolsheviks as criminal ... temporarily, until the restoration of the power of the Provisional Government and order in Russia, assumed the full executive state power in the Don region. On October 27 (hereinafter, all dates are in the old style), Kaledin even invited members of the Provisional Government to the Don to organize an armed struggle, and introduced martial law in the region. Supporters of the Soviet government did not agree with this state of affairs, and asked for help from their associates outside the region.
In 1917, the sailors were one of the pillars of the revolution. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Ships arrived in Rostov on November 24 Black Sea Fleet, which arrived revolutionary-minded sailors. Blood has not yet been shed en masse, but the parties have demonstrated their readiness to take decisive action. Kaledin demanded that the ships be withdrawn back, and that the Red Guard detachments created in Rostov be disarmed, but this ultimatum was ignored. At the same time, a political game was going on to pull power over to themselves: on November 26, the Rostov Bolsheviks announced that power in the region was passing into the hands of the Rostov Military Revolutionary Committee.
Thus, two governments arose on the Don, each of which considered only itself legitimate. These days arrived in the region General Kornilov, and the creation of the white Volunteer Army began. The Reds did not sit idle, by December 25, 1917 Antonov-Ovseenko almost without resistance occupied the western part of the Donets Basin.Where the scales will swing depended on the Don Cossacks - however, most of the Cossacks took a wait-and-see attitude.
Elite Troops
It must be admitted that the Cossacks as a whole were faithful to the idea of a monarchy (in addition, they swore personally to the emperor). But after the abdication of the king from the throne, it became unclear who to serve. Neither the Bolsheviks, nor Kaledin and the Provisional Government supported by him, were, from the point of view of the Cossacks, completely legitimate power.
Therefore, the Don Cossacks, who fought on the fronts of the First World War, preferred mainly to remain neutral - and although the Cossack detachments under the command of Chernetsov had already actively shown themselves in suppressing mining uprisings in the neighboring Donbass, the bulk of the Don Cossacks took a wait-and-see attitude. Meanwhile, the personal data of the Cossacks were such that they were able to easily change the entire balance of power on the Don.
“Judge for yourself - according to official data, only the First world war 117 thousand Cossacks were called up, of which a little more than 3 thousand people were killed, and only 170 were captured. At the same time, 37 thousand Cossacks received St. George's crosses for exploits on the battlefield. Only the most elite units of the special forces can boast of such effectiveness of actions, as well as the ratio of achievements and losses today, ”said at the presentation of a photo album dedicated to the participation of the Cossacks in the First World War, Doctor of Historical Sciences SSC RAS Andrey Venkov.
The Cossacks showed themselves perfectly on the fronts of the First World War (in the illustration - soldiers of the German and Austrian armies taken prisoner are patrolling, photo from the album Don Cossacks in the First World War). A photo: / Sergey Khoroshavin
However, these people, who had gone through the fire of war, hesitated. Most of the Cossacks did not want to fight. That is why the first attempts to create a Volunteer Army failed. In total, about 5,000 officers, cadets and high school students enrolled in the ranks of the White Guard.
No wonder the Whites on the Don could not resist. By January 28, 1918, the Red detachments occupied Taganrog, February 10 Rostov and February 12 - Novocherkassk. The small detachments of the Volunteer Army could no longer hold back the advance of the Red troops and retreated to the Kuban.
Ataman Alexei Kaledin, who did not receive the support of the front-line Cossacks and did not see the opportunity to stop the Bolshevik detachments, resigned as a military ataman and shot himself.
Subhorunzhy and Ensign
Brave Cossack Fyodor Podtelkov Photo: Wikipedia
The mass involvement of the Don Cossacks in hostilities began after the same Cossack Military Revolutionary Committee, headed by cadet Fyodor Podtelkov and Ensign Mikhail Krivoshlykov.
Podtyolkov was born on the farm Krutovsky farm in the present Volgograd region. Since 1909 - he was in the army, served as an artilleryman in the guards horse artillery. He went through the entire First World War, becoming a consistent supporter of the Bolsheviks by the end of it. Broad-shouldered, tall, with a booming voice, Podtelkov was a born leader, and it is not surprising that it was he who was at the head of the Red Cossacks.
His colleague, Mikhail Krivoshlykov, was of a different type. In the same 1909, when Podtelkov went into the army, Krivoshlykov entered the Donskoy Agricultural School, which he graduated with excellent marks. During his studies, he edited a student newspaper, and after that he worked as an agronomist, studying, in absentia, at the Kiev Commercial Institute. However, when the war began, Krivoshlykov did not escape mobilization. As a person who received some kind of education, he was appointed to the officer position of commander of foot reconnaissance, and then hundreds.
“Being completely invisible before the coup, he began to attract attention in the very first days of the revolution not only by the harshness and extremeness of his judgments, but also by the rude recklessness, the destructive nature of his actions. “Revolutionary” demands in relation to school discipline, attacks against the officers and accusations of “counter-revolutionary”, removal from the walls and beating of royal portraits, ”such were Krivoshlykov’s speeches,” the Cossack magazine told about the young officer in 1918 "Don Wave".
It was these two who were at the head of the Red Cossacks, and in many respects it was their actions of Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov that led to a mass uprising on the Don, which ended with their death and the tragedy of the entire Don Cossacks.
Brother to brother
The Soviet government, having just established itself on the Don, immediately began to implement its promises, including "land - to the peasants." The trouble was that the main part of the land fund in the region belonged to the Cossacks, and landless peasants could be endowed with allotments only at their expense. The Don Cossacks, to put it mildly, did not like it.
Detachments of the Red Guards did not like the Cossacks. Photo: Wikipedia
The first sparks of rebellions began to flare up, which the Bolsheviks tried to crush by force. Arrests, requisitions, executions began. Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov actively participated in these actions. In addition, Podtelkov stained himself with reprisals against prisoners.
Colonel Vasily Chernetsov became famous for both dashing military operations and punitive actions Photo: Wikipedia
Immediately after the proclamation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, a Cossack detachment was sent to destroy it. Colonel Vasily Chernetsov, however, the Reds managed to break it, and the colonel was captured.
Further, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the following happened - “on the way, Podtelkov mocked Chernetsov - Chernetsov was silent. When Podtelkov hit him with a whip, Chernetsov pulled out a small Browning gun from the inner pocket of his sheepskin coat and point-blank ... clicked at Podtelkov, there was no cartridge in the barrel of the pistol - Chernetsov forgot about this, without giving a cartridge from the clip. Podtelkov pulled out his saber, slashed him in the face, and five minutes later the Cossacks rode on, leaving Chernetsov's chopped-up corpse in the steppe.
It was this murder that became the formal reason for the execution of Podtelkov himself, when he, in turn, fell into the hands of the insurgent Cossacks. And it happened already in May of the same year.
The Soviet government started mobilization on the Don, which led to a mass uprising of the Cossacks. The power of the Bolsheviks on the Don collapsed in a matter of days, and the Cossacks made their choice. On May 10, a detachment of Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov was captured. They surrendered almost without a fight, apparently counting on the good attitude of fellow countrymen, especially since the commanders of the detachments knew each other. However, times have changed - the Civil War was gaining momentum, breaking and destroying friendly and family ties. The next day, Podtyolkov and Krivoshlykov were hanged in the Ponomarev village of the village by the verdict of the court of Cossack elders for the execution of the captive Chernetsov. All 78 captured members of his detachment were also shot.