Maria Bochkareva. Women's Death Battalion. Royal Russia. History

There are so many legends about this amazing woman that it is difficult to say with absolute certainty what is true and what is fiction. But it is reliably known that a simple peasant woman, who at the end of his life was literate, King George V of England, during a personal audience, called "Russian Jeanne d'Arc," and American President W. Wilson accepted with honor in the White House. Her name is Maria Leontyevna Bochkareva. Fate had prepared her the honor of becoming the first female officer of the Russian army.

Childhood, youth and only love

The future heroine of the female battalion was born into a simple peasant family in the village of Nikolskaya, Novgorod Province. She was the third child of her parents. They lived in starvation and, in order to somehow improve their plight, moved to Siberia, where the government in those years deployed a program of assistance to the settlers. But hopes did not materialize, and in order to be sold off the hands of a superfluous feeder, Maria was soon married to an unloved person, and, moreover, also a drunkard. From it, she got the surname - Bochkareva.

Very soon, a young woman will forever part with her husband, who is disgusted with her, and begins a free life. Then she meets her first and last love in life. Unfortunately, with the men of Maria fatally unlucky: if the first was a drunkard, then the second was the most real bandit who took part in the robbery along with a gang of "hunhuz" - descendants from China and Manchuria. But, as they say, love is evil ... His name was Yankel (Yakov) Beech. When he was finally arrested and taken to Yakutsk by trial, Maria Bochkareva went after him, like the wives of the Decembrists.

But the desperate Yankel was incorrigible and even in the settlement traded with the purchase of stolen goods, and later robberies. To save the beloved from imminent hard labor, Maria was forced to yield to the harassment of the local governor, but she could not survive this forced treason - she tried to poison herself. The story of her love has ended sadly: Beech, having learned about what happened, in the heat of jealousy he encroached on the governor. He was tried and deported to a remote remote place. More Maria did not see him.

To the front with the personal permission of the emperor

The news of the beginning of the First World War caused an unprecedented patriotic upsurge in Russian society. Thousands of volunteers were sent to the front. Maria Bochkareva followed suit. The history of her enrollment in the army is very unusual. Turning in November 1914 to the commander of the reserve battalion, who was in Tomsk, she was refused with an ironic advice to ask permission personally from the emperor of the emperor. Contrary to the expectations of the battalion commander, she did write a petition for the highest name. What was the general astonishment when, after some time, a positive response came for the personal signature of Nicholas II.

After a short training course, in February 1915, Maria Bochkareva was at the front as a civilian soldier - in those years there was such a status of servicemen. Having taken up this non-business affair, she, like the men, fearlessly went into bayonet attacks, pulled the wounded out from under the fire and displayed genuine heroism. Here she was nicknamed Yashka, which she chose for herself in memory of her lover - Yakov Buka. In her life there were two men - a husband and a lover. From the first she had a last name, from the second - a nickname.

When the company commander was killed in March 1916, Maria, in her place, raised the fighters to the offensive, which became disastrous for the enemy. For showing courage, Bochkareva was awarded the St. George Cross and three medals, and soon she was promoted to junior non-commissioned officers. Being on the front line, she was repeatedly injured, but remained in the ranks, and only a severe wound in the thigh led Maria to the hospital, where she lay for four months.

Creation of the first female battalion in history

Returning to the position, Maria Bochkareva - the St. George cavalier and recognized fighter - found her regiment in a state of complete decay. During her absence, the February Revolution took place , and among the soldiers there were endless rallies alternating with fraternization with the "Germans". Deeply indignant at this, Mary was looking for an opportunity to influence what was happening. Soon such an opportunity presented itself.

Chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma M. Rodzianko arrived to the front to conduct agitation. With his support, Bochkareva in early March found herself in Petrograd, where she began to realize her long-standing dream of creating military units from patriotic women volunteers ready to defend the Motherland. In this endeavor, she met the support of the War Minister of the Provisional Government, A. Kerensky, and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General A. Brusilov.

In response to the call of Maria Bochkareva more than two thousand Russians expressed the desire to take up arms in the ranks of the created part. Worthy of attention is the fact that among them a large proportion were educated women - students and graduates of the Bestuzhev Courses, and a third of them had secondary education. Similar indicators at that time could not boast of any men's unit. Among the "percussionists" - this was the name assigned to them - there were representatives of all strata of society - from peasant women to aristocrats, carrying the most famous and famous names in Russia.

The commander of the female battalion, Maria Bochkareva, established among the subordinates an iron discipline and strict subordination. The ascent was at five in the morning, and all day until ten o'clock in the evening filled with endless occupations, interrupted only by a short rest. Many women, mostly from well-to-do families, hardly got used to simple soldier's food and strict regulations. But this was not the greatest difficulty for them.

It is known that soon on the name of the Supreme Commander began to receive complaints of rudeness and arbitrariness from Bochkareva. Even facts of assault. In addition, Maria strictly forbade the political agitators and representatives of various party organizations to appear in the location of her battalion, which was a direct violation of the procedures established by the February Revolution. As a result of mass discontent, two hundred and fifty "shockers" left Bochkareva and joined another formation.

Sending to the front

And then came the long-awaited day, when on June 21, 1917, on the square in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral at the confluence of many thousands of people, a new military unit received a combat banner. On it was written: "The first women's death team of Maria Bochkareva." Needless to say, how many excitements did the hostess herself, who stood on the right flank in a new uniform, survive? On the eve of her rite the rank of ensign, and Maria - the first female officer in the Russian army - was rightfully the heroine of that day.

But this is the peculiarity of all the holidays - they are replaced by everyday life. That's to replace the celebrations at the St. Isaac's Cathedral came a gray and not a romantic trench life. Young defenders of the Fatherland faced a reality that had never before been represented. They found themselves among a degraded and morally corrupted soldier mass. Bochkareva herself, in her memoirs, calls the soldier a "unbridled charade". To protect women from possible violence, we even had to put out sentries near the barracks.

However, after the first combat operation, in which the battalion of Maria Bochkareva participated, the "drummers", having shown courage worthy of real fighters, were forced to treat themselves with respect. This happened in the early days of July 1917 near Smorganyu. After such a heroic beginning, even such an opponent of the participation of women's units in military operations, like General AI Kornilov, was forced to change his mind.

Hospital in Petrograd and inspection of new divisions

The women's battalion participated in battles on an equal basis with all other units and, like them, carried losses. Having received in one of the battles that occurred on July 9, a serious concussion, Maria Bochkareva was sent for treatment in Petrograd. During her time at the front in the capital, the women's patriotic movement she started began to develop widely. Formed new battalions, manned from the volunteer defenders of the Fatherland.

When Bochkareva was discharged from the hospital, she was commissioned by the order of the newly appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief L. Kornilov to inspect these units. The results of the audit proved to be very disappointing. None of the battalions was a sufficiently combat-ready unit. However, the situation of revolutionary turmoil in the capital hardly allowed to achieve a positive result in a short time, and this had to be tolerated.

Soon Maria Bochkareva returns to her unit. But from that time, her organizational fervor cooled somewhat. She repeatedly stated that she was disappointed in women and henceforth does not consider it expedient to take them to the front - "sissies and crybaby". It is likely that her demands for subordinates were extremely overstated, and what she could do with her, a military officer, went beyond the capabilities of ordinary women. The Chevalier of the St. George Cross, Maria Bochkareva was by that time promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Features of the Women's Death Battalion

Since, in chronological order, the events described are approaching the famous episode of the defense of the last residence of the Provisional Government (the Winter Palace), we should dwell in more detail on what the military unit that Maria Bochkareva had created at the time was. "Women's Death Battalion" - so it is customary to call it - in accordance with the law, was considered an independent military unit and equated to its status as a regiment.

The total number of female soldiers was one thousand. The officers were fully manned, and all of them were experienced commanders who had passed the fronts of the First World War. A battalion was deployed at Levashovo Station, where the necessary conditions for training were created. In the arrangement of the part, any agitation and party work was categorically forbidden.

The battalion should not have any political coloring. His purpose was to protect the Fatherland from external enemies, and not to participate in internal political conflicts. The commander of the battalion was, as mentioned above, Maria Bochkareva. Her biography is inseparable from this militant formation. In autumn, everyone expected an early dispatch to the front, but something else happened.

The defense of the Winter Palace

Unexpectedly, an order came to one of the units of the battalion to arrive in Petrograd on October 24 to participate in the parade. In reality, this was just an excuse for attracting "drummers" to protect the Winter Palace from the Bolsheviks who started the armed action. At that time the palace garrison consisted of scattered units of Cossacks and Junkers of various military schools and did not represent any serious military force.

Women who arrived and settled in the empty premises of the former royal residence, were assigned the defense of the south-eastern wing of the building from the side of the Palace Square. On the first day they managed to push back the Red Guards detachment and take control of the Nikolayevsky Bridge. However, the next day, October 25, the building of the palace was completely surrounded by the troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and soon a shootout began. From that moment, the defenders of the Winter Palace, not wanting to die for the Provisional Government, began to abandon their positions.

The cadets of the Mikhailovsky School were the first to leave, and the Cossacks followed. Women lasted the longest and only by ten o'clock in the evening they sent parliaments with a statement of surrender and a request to release them from the palace. They were given the opportunity to withdraw, but on condition of complete disarmament. After a while, the women's unit was deployed in full in the barracks of the Pavlovsky Reserve Regiment, and then sent to their permanent location in Levashovo.

The seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and subsequent events

After the October armed coup, a decision was made to eliminate the women's battalion. However, returning home in military uniform was too dangerous. With the help of the "Public Security Committee" in Petrograd, women managed to get civilian clothes and in this form to get to their homes.

It is absolutely certain that during the period of the events in question, Maria Leontyevna Bochkareva was at the front and did not take any personal part in them. This is documented. However, the myth that she commanded the defenders of the Winter Palace was firmly entrenched. Even in the famous film by S. Eisenstein "October" in one of the characters, you can easily find out its image.

The further fate of this woman was very difficult. When the civil war began, the Russian Jeanne d'Arc - Maria Bochkareva - was literally between two fires. Having heard about its authority among soldiers and combat skills, both warring parties tried to draw Maria into their ranks. Initially, in Smolny, high-ranking representatives of the new government (she said, Lenin and Trotsky) persuaded a woman to take command of one of the Red Guard units.

Then General Marushevsky, who commanded the White Guard forces in the north of the country, tried to persuade her to cooperate and instructed Bochkareva to form combat units. But in both cases she refused: it's one thing to fight foreigners and defend the Motherland, and it's quite another to raise your hand to your compatriot. Her refusal was absolutely categorical, for which Maria nearly paid freedom - an enraged general ordered her to be arrested, but, fortunately, the British allies intervened.

Overseas tour of Mary

Her further destiny assumes the most unexpected turn - fulfilling the commission of General Kornilov, Bochkarev goes to America and England with the purpose of agitation. In this voyage she went, disguised as a sister of mercy and with her false documents. It's hard to believe, but this simple peasant woman, who could hardly read and write, was quite worthy of herself at a dinner in the White House, where she was invited by President Wilson on Independence Day of America. She was not even embarrassed at the audience that the King of England Georg V. arranged for her. Maria arrived at Buckingham Palace in an officer's uniform and with all military decorations. It was the English monarch who called her Russian Jeanne d'Arc.

Of all the questions asked by the Heads of State Bochkareva, she found it difficult to answer only one: for the red ones, or for the whites? This question for her did not make sense. For Mary, both were brothers, and the civil war aroused in her only deep sorrow. During her stay in America, Bochkareva dictated to one of the Russian emigres her memoirs, which he edited and published under the name "Yashka" - the front-line nickname Bochkareva. The book was published in 1919 and immediately became a bestseller.

Last assignment

Soon Maria returned to Russia, engulfed in civil war. She fulfilled her agitational mission, but refused to take up arms, which caused the severance of relations with the command of the Arkhangelsk Front. The former enthusiastic veneration was replaced by a cold condemnation. Related experiences led to a deep depression, the way out of which Maria tried to find in alcohol. She went down noticeably, and the command sent her away from the front, to the rear town of Tomsk.

Here Bochkareva was destined to serve the Fatherland for the last time - after the persuasions of the Supreme Admiral AV Kolchak, she agreed to form a volunteer medical unit. Speaking to numerous audiences, Maria in a short time managed to attract more than two hundred volunteers into her ranks. But the rapid advance of the Reds prevented this business from being completed.

Life that has become a legend

When Tomsk was captured by the Bolsheviks, Bochkareva voluntarily came to the commandant's office and surrendered the weapon. From the offer of cooperation, the new authorities refused. After a while she was arrested and sent to Krasnoyarsk. The investigators of the Special Department were confused, as it was difficult to present her with any accusation - Maria did not participate in military operations against the Reds. But, for her misfortune, the deputy chief of the special department of the Cheka, IP Pavlunovsky, came from Moscow, a dumb and merciless executioner. Without going into the essence of the matter, he gave the order - to shoot, which was executed immediately. The death of Maria Bochkareva came on May 16, 1919.

But the life of this amazing woman was so unusual that her very death gave birth to many legends. It is not known exactly where the grave of Maria Leontievna Bochkareva is, and this gave rise to rumors that she miraculously escaped execution and lived under a false name until the end of the forties. There is one more unusual story, generated by her death.

It is based on the question: "Why did Maria Bochkareva be shot?", Because she could not be shown any direct charges. In response, another legend claims that the brave Yashka hid American gold in Tomsk and refused to tell the Bolsheviks his whereabouts. There is also a whole series of incredible stories. But the main legend is, of course, Maria Bochkareva herself, whose biography could serve as a plot for the most exciting novel.