The future heroine of the Russian-American blockbuster "Battalion", which our modern "patriots" watch with aspiration, Maria Bochkareva was born in 1889 in the family of peasants in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, Leonty and Olga Frolkov.

The family, fleeing poverty and hunger, moved to Siberia, where fifteen-year-old Maria was married to a local drunkard. Bochkareva after some time left her husband for the butcher Yakov Buk, who led a local gang of robbers. In May 1912, Buk was arrested and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed Yasha on foot to Eastern Siberia, where the two of them again opened a butcher's shop to avert their eyes, although in fact Buk, with the participation of his mistress, organized a gang of hunghuz and traded in the usual robbery on high road. Soon the police came on the trail of the gang, Buk and Bochkareva were arrested and transferred to a settlement in the remote taiga village of Amga, where there was already no one to rob.

Maria Bochkareva. 1917

The narrowed Bochkareva, from such grief and the inability to do what he loves, namely to rob, as is usual in Rus', took to drink and began to train in the massacre of his mistress. At this time, the first broke out World War, and Bochkareva decided to end her taiga-robber stage of life and go to the front, especially since Yashka became more and more brutalized with longing. Only the entry into the army as a volunteer allowed Mary to leave the place of settlement, determined by the police. The male military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Bochkareva, not wanting to carry the wounded and wash the bandages, sent a telegram to the tsar with a request to give her the opportunity to shoot the Germans to her heart's content. The telegram reached the addressee, and the king unexpectedly received a positive answer. So the mistress of the Siberian robber got to the front.

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

Volunteers at the hairdresser

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

After a series of speeches by Bochkareva, Kerensky, in a fit of yet another propaganda adventurism, turned to her with a proposal to organize a "women's battalion of death." Both Kerensky's wife and St. Petersburg institute girls were involved in this pseudo-patriotic project, up to 2000 girls in total. In an unusual military unit, arbitrariness reigned, to which Bochkareva was accustomed to in the army: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva "beats their faces like a real wahmister of the old regime." Not many have withstood such a circumvention: for short term the number of female volunteers was reduced to 300.

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

Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: rising at five in the morning, classes until ten in the evening, and simple soldier food. Women were shaved bald. Black epaulettes with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized "unwillingness to live if Russia perishes."

Bochkareva at the head of the death unit

M. Bochkareva banned any party propaganda and the organization of any councils and committees in her battalion. Due to harsh discipline, a split occurred in the battalion that was still being formed. Some women made an attempt to form a soldiers' committee and sharply criticized Bochkareva's brutal management methods. There was a split in the battalion. M. Bochkareva was called in turn to the commander of the district, General Polovtsev and Kerensky. Both conversations were stormy, but Bochkareva stood her ground: she would not have any committees!

She reorganized her battalion. About 300 women remained in it, and it became the 1st Petrograd shock battalion. And from the rest of the women who disagreed with Bochkareva's command methods, the 2nd Moscow shock battalion was formed.

Fighting friends of Bochkareva

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

Training with new recruits. In the background, a crowd of civilian girls seeking to protect the Provisional Government

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

Bochkareva in the USA with his American girlfriend.

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

The women of the 2nd Moscow, just those who without exception were "raped" in their violent fantasies by the journalists of the Petrograd newspapers. Shortly before the storming of the Winter. Palace Square. October 1917

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

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

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

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

From a family of illiterate peasants, Maria Bochkareva was clearly an extraordinary person. Her name resounded throughout Russian Empire. Still: a female officer, St. George Knight, organizer and commander of the first female "death battalion". She met with Kerensky and Brusilov, Lenin and Trotsky, Kornilov and Kolchak, Winston Churchill, King George V of England and US President Woodrow Wilson. All of them noted the extraordinary fortitude of this woman.

The hard lot of a Russian woman

Maria Bochkareva (Frolkova) was from Novgorod peasants. In the hope of a better life, the Frolkov family moved to Siberia, where land was distributed to the peasants for free. But the Frolkovs could not raise the virgin lands, settled in the Tomsk province, lived in extreme poverty. At the age of 15, Marusya was married, and she became Bochkareva. Together with her husband, she unloaded barges, worked in the asphalt laying team. Here, for the first time, the extraordinary organizational skills of Bochkareva manifested themselves, very soon she became an assistant foreman, 25 people worked under her supervision. And her husband remained a laborer. He drank and beat his wife with mortal combat. Maria fled from him to Irkutsk, where she met with Yakov Buk. New civil husband Maria was a player, moreover, with criminal inclinations. As part of a gang of hunghuz, Yakov participated in robbery attacks. In the end, he was arrested and exiled to the Yakutsk province. Maria went after her beloved to the distant Amga. Jacob did not appreciate the feat of self-sacrifice of a woman who loves him and soon began to drink and beat Maria. There seemed to be no way out of this vicious circle. But the First World War broke out.

Private Bochkareva

On foot through the taiga, Maria went to Tomsk, where she appeared at the recruiting station and asked to be recorded as an ordinary soldier. The officer reasonably suggested that she sign up as a nurse for the Red Cross or some auxiliary service. But Maria certainly wanted to go to the front. Having borrowed 8 rubles, she sent a telegram to the Highest Name: why was she denied the right to fight and die for the Motherland? The response came surprisingly quickly, and Highest Resolution, an exception was made for Mary. Thus, “Private Bochkareva” appeared in the lists of the battalion. They cut her hair like a typewriter and gave her a rifle, two pouches, a tunic, trousers, an overcoat, a hat, and everything else that a soldier should have.

On the very first night, there were those who wanted to check “by touch”, but is this unsmiling soldier really a woman? Maria turned out to have not only a strong character, but also a heavy hand: without looking, she beat the daredevils with everything that came to hand - boots, a bowler hat, a pouch. And the fist of the former asphalt paver turned out to be not at all a lady's. In the morning, Maria didn’t say a word about the “night fight”, but in the classroom she was among the first. Soon the whole company was proud of their unusual soldier (where else is there such a one?) And was ready to kill anyone who would encroach on the honor of their “Yashka” (Maria received such a nickname from fellow soldiers). In February 1915, the 24th reserve battalion was sent to the front. Maria refused the offer of the officers to go in a staff car near Molodechno and arrived with everyone else in a wagon.

Front

On the third day after arriving at the front, the company in which Bochkareva served went on the attack. Of the 250 people, 70 reached the line of wire barriers. Unable to overcome the barriers, the soldiers turned back. Less than 50 reached their trenches. As soon as it got dark, Maria crawled to the neutral zone and dragged the wounded into the trench all night. She saved almost 50 people that night, for which she was nominated for an award and received the St. George Cross of the 4th degree. Bochkareva went on attacks, night sorties, captured prisoners, not one German "took a bayonet." Her fearlessness was legendary. By February 1917, she had 4 wounds and 4 St. George awards (2 crosses and 2 medals), on the shoulders of a senior non-commissioned officer.

Year 1917

At that time, the army was in complete chaos: privates were given equal rights with officers, orders were not carried out, desertion reached unprecedented proportions, decisions on the offensive were made not at headquarters, but at rallies. The soldiers are tired and do not want to fight anymore. Bochkareva does not accept all this: how is it, 3 years of war, so many victims, and all for nothing ?! But those campaigning at the soldiers' rallies for the "war to the bitter end" are simply beaten. In May 1917, M. Rodzianko, chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, arrived at the front. He met with Bochkareva and immediately invited her to Petrograd. According to his plan, Maria should become a participant in a series of propaganda actions for the continuation of the war. But Bochkareva went further than his plans: on May 21, at one of the rallies, she put forward the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating a “Shock Women's Death Battalion”.

"Death Battalion" by Maria Bochkareva

The idea was approved and supported by the commander-in-chief Brusilov and Kerensky, who then held the post of military and naval minister. Within a few days, more than 2,000 female volunteers signed up for the battalion in response to Maria's call to the women of Russia to shame the men with their example. Among them were bourgeois and peasant women, domestic servants and university graduates. There were also representatives of noble families of Russia. Bochkareva established strict discipline in the battalion and supported it with her iron fist (in the full sense of the word - she beat the mugs like a real old-time wahmister). A number of women who did not take Bochkarev's measures to manage the battalion broke away and organized their shock battalion (it was he, not the Bochkarev, who defended the Winter Palace in October 1917). Bochkareva's initiative was picked up throughout Russia: in Moscow, Kiev, Minsk, Poltava, Simbirsk, Kharkov, Smolensk, Vyatka, Baku, Irkutsk, Mariupol, Odessa, infantry and cavalry women's units and even women's naval teams (Oranienbaum) began to be created. (True, the formation of many was never completed)

On June 21, 1917, Petrograd escorted shock women to the front. With a huge gathering of people, the banner was handed over to the battalion, Kornilov handed Bochkareva a nominal one, and Kerensky - ensign's shoulder straps. On June 27, the battalion arrived at the front, and on July 8 entered the battle.

The vain victims of the women's battalion

The fate of the battalion can be called tragic. The women who went on the attack really dragged the neighboring companies with them. The first line of defense was taken, then the second, the third ... - and that's it. Other parts did not rise. Reinforcements did not arrive. The drummers repulsed several German counterattacks. There was a threat of encirclement. Bochkareva ordered to retreat. The positions taken in battle had to be abandoned. The battalion's casualties (30 killed and 70 wounded) were in vain. Bochkareva herself in that battle was seriously shell-shocked and sent to the hospital. After 1.5 months, she (already in the rank of second lieutenant) returned to the front and found the situation even worse. Shock women served on an equal footing with men, were called up for reconnaissance, rushed into counterattacks, but the example of women did not inspire anyone. 200 surviving shock girls could not save the army from decay. Clashes between them and the soldiers, who were striving to "bayonet to the ground - and home" as soon as possible, threatened to escalate into a civil war in a single regiment. Considering the situation hopeless, Bochkareva disbanded the battalion, and she herself left for Petrograd.

In the ranks white movement

She was too prominent a figure to disappear imperceptibly into Petrograd. She was arrested and taken to Smolny. Lenin and Trotsky talked to the famous Maria Bochkareva. The leaders of the revolution tried to attract such a bright personality to cooperation, but Maria, citing injuries, refused. Members of the White movement were also looking for meetings with her. She also told the representative of the underground officer organization, General Anosov, that she would not fight against her people, but she agreed to go to the Don to General Kornilov as a liaison organization. So Bochkareva became a member civil war. Disguised as a sister of mercy, Mary went south. In Novocherkassk, she handed over letters and documents to Kornilov and went, already as the personal representative of General Kornilov, to ask for help from the Western powers.

Diplomatic mission of Maria Bochkareva

Following through all of Russia, she reached Vladivostok, where she boarded an American ship. On April 3, 1918, Maria Bochkareva went ashore in the port of San Francisco. Newspapers wrote about her, she spoke at meetings, met with prominent public and political figures. The envoy of the White movement was received by US Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State Lansing and US President Woodrow Wilson. Then Maria went to England, where she met with the Minister of War Winston Churchill and King George V. Maria begged, persuaded, persuaded all of them to help the White Army, with money, weapons, food, and they all promised her this help. Inspired, Maria goes back to Russia.

In the whirl of the fronts of the Civil War

In August 1918, Bochkareva arrived in Arkhangelsk, where she again took the initiative to organize a women's battalion. The government of the Northern Region reacted coolly to this initiative. General Marushevsky frankly stated that attracting women to military service considers it a disgrace. In June 1919, a caravan of ships left Arkhangelsk heading east. In the holds of the ships there are weapons, ammunition and ammunition for the troops of the Eastern Front. On one of the ships - Maria Bochkareva. Her goal is Omsk, her last hope- Admiral Kolchak.

She reached Omsk and met with Kolchak. The admiral made a strong impression on her and instructed the organization of a sanitary detachment. For 2 days, Maria formed a group of 200 people, but the front was already cracking and rolling east. In less than a month, the "third capital" will be abandoned, Kolchak himself has less than six months to live.

Arrest - sentence - death

In the tenth of November, Kolchak left Omsk. Maria did not leave with the retreating troops. Tired of fighting, she decided to reconcile with the Bolsheviks and returned to Tomsk. But her glory was too odious, the burden of Bochkareva's sins before the Soviet government was too heavy. People who took a much less active part in the White movement paid for it with their lives. What can we say about Bochkareva, whose name has repeatedly flashed on the pages of white newspapers. On January 7, 1920, Maria Bochkareva was arrested, and on May 16 she was shot as "an implacable and worst enemy of the Workers 'and Peasants' Republic." Rehabilitated in 1992.

The name will return

Maria Bochkareva was not the only woman who fought in the First World War. Thousands of women went to the front as sisters of mercy, many made their way to the front, posing as men. Unlike them, Maria did not hide her belonging to the female sex for a single day, which, however, does not in the least detract from the feat of other “Russian Amazons”. Maria Bochkareva should have taken her rightful place on the pages of the Russian textbook. But, for obvious reasons, Soviet time the slightest mention of her was carefully eradicated. Only a few contemptuous lines of Mayakovsky remained in his poem "Good!".

Currently, a film about Bochkareva and her drummers "Death Battalion" is being shot in St. Petersburg, the release is scheduled for August 2014. We hope that this ribbon will return the name of Maria Bochkareva to the citizens of Russia, and that her star, which was extinguished, will flare up again.

March forward, forward to fight
Soldier women!
The dashing sound calls you to battle,
The adversaries will shudder!
From the song of the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion .

On June 19, 1917, the Provisional Government formed the first Women's Death Battalion. Not a single army in the world knew such a female military formation.
The idea of ​​creating such battalions belongs to M. L. Bochkareva, who issued an appeal in May 1917: “Citizens, everyone who cherishes the freedom and happiness of Russia, hurry to join our ranks, hurry, before it’s too late to stop the decay of our dear Motherland. By direct participation in hostilities, not sparing our lives, we, citizens, must raise the spirit of the army and, through educational and agitational work in its ranks, arouse a reasonable understanding of the duty of a free citizen to the Motherland!
M. Bochkareva firmly stated: “If I undertake the formation of a women's battalion, then I will be responsible for every woman in it. I will introduce strict discipline and will not allow them to either orate or roam the streets. When mother Russia dies, there is neither time nor need to manage the army with the help of committees. Although I am a simple Russian peasant woman, I know that only discipline can save the Russian army. In the battalion I propose, I will have full sole power and seek obedience. Otherwise, there is no need to create a battalion.”

On June 2, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony of presenting a new military unit of the banner with the inscription "The first women's military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva" was held.

Parade on St. Isaac's Square. March of Maria Bochkareva with the banner of the death battalion.

Banner of the women's battalion of death.

Solemn farewell to the front of the First Women's Battalion. Photo. Moscow Red Square. 1917 G.

The attitude towards women's battalions was ambiguous, often wary. Supreme Commander-in-Chief Alexei Brusilov expressed doubts about whether they should be introduced into the Russian army, noting that there are no such formations anywhere else in the world. The appeal of the Moscow Women's Union said: “Not a single nation in the world has reached such a shame that instead of male deserters, weak women went to the front. The female army will be the one living water, which will make the Russian hero wake up.

Women's battalion of death. Summer 1917

Soldier of the Women's Death Battalion .

On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation "On the formation of military units from female volunteers." main goal it was considered to have a patriotic impact on male soldiers through the direct participation of women in hostilities. As M. Bochkareva herself wrote, “soldiers in this great war tired and they need help ... morally.
Since there were enough women who wanted to enter the military service, the Main Directorate of the General Staff took the initiative to divide all volunteers into three categories. The first was to include those who directly fight at the front; in the second category - auxiliary parts (communications, protection of railways); and, finally, in the third - nurses in hospitals.

According to the conditions of admission, a woman from the age of 16 (with the permission of her parents) to 40 could join the women's death battalion. At the same time, there was an educational qualification. Women had to go through a medical examination, which primarily weeded out pregnant women.

The commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District, General Polovtsev, is reviewing the battalion. Photo. Summer 1917 G.

Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: rising at five in the morning, classes until ten in the evening, and simple soldier food. Women were shaved bald. Black epaulettes with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized "unwillingness to live if Russia perishes."

Women's death battalions. June 1917 - November 1918. At the hairdresser's. Haircut bald. Photo. Summer 1917 G.

M. Bochkareva banned any party propaganda and the organization of any councils and committees in her battalion. Because of the harsh discipline in the battalion that was still being formed, a split occurred: Some of the women who fell under the influence of Bolshevik propaganda made an attempt to form a soldiers' committee and sharply criticized strict discipline. There was a split in the battalion. M. Bochkareva was called in turn to the commander of the district, General Polovtsev and Kerensky. Both conversations were stormy, but Bochkareva stood her ground: she would not have any committees!
She reorganized her battalion. About 300 women remained in it, and it became the 1st Petrograd shock battalion. And from the rest of the women, the 2nd Moscow shock battalion was formed.
The lot fell to the Second Moscow Battalion to be among the last defenders of the Provisional Government during the days of the October Revolution. The protection of the Winter Palace for women ended in failure.
While the Bochkarevsky team fought at the front, the 2nd women's battalion, consisting of expelled "frivolous persons", was deployed to the Levashovo station of Finland railway. The day before the October coup, the unit was inspected by Kerensky, who selected a second company to guard the Winter Palace. The rest returned to the camps, a few days later they were disarmed by the Red Guards and sent home. The women defenders selected to protect the palace on the eve of hostilities were taken to house church Winter, with tears in his eyes, the priest blessed them for their deeds, and in the evening they began to shell the building. The battalion's shock women were taken out of the palace and ordered to attack. A hail of bullets immediately hit the poor fellows, putting them all on the ground. The attack of the battalion quickly bogged down, the women were surrounded, ordered to hand over their weapons and go to the barracks. On the way, the crowd insulted the warriors walking under escort, everyone demanded their death. Subsequently, the corpses of several dozen surrendered defenders of the Winter Palace were found in the Petrograd canals.

Women's battalion guarding the Winter Palace.

October Revolution of 1917. The Second Women's Battalion on Palace Square. Photo 1917 G.

Baptism of fire 1st Battalion accepted on July 9, 1917. The women came under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. Although the reports said that "the Bochkareva detachment behaved heroically in battle," it became clear that women's military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and later to the rank of lieutenant.

In line. Photo. Summer 1917 G.

All over the country there was a formation of women's units. Officially, in October 1917, there were: 1st Petrogradsky Women's Death Battalion , 2nd Moscow Women's Death Battalion , 3rd Kuban women's shock battalion. Women's communication teams were also organized: 2 in Petrograd, 2 in Moscow, 5 in Kiev, and 2 in Saratov. , Odessa, Mariupol. In June, an order was announced to form the first Naval Women's Team. The formation took place exclusively on a volunteer basis.
Fundraising for the creation of the 4th Rifle Women's Communications Brigade.

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

Maria Bochkareva herself took an active part in the White movement. On behalf of General Kornilov, she traveled to the United States to ask for help in the fight against the Bolsheviks. Upon returning to Russia on November 10, 1919, M. Bochkareva met with Admiral Kolchak. And on his behalf, she formed a women's sanitary detachment of 200 people. In November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Red Army, she was arrested and shot.

Construction exercises. Summer 1917 G.

Maria Bochkareva , Emmeline Pankhurst and soldiers of the Women's Battalion .

In line.

In field.

At dinner.

Sources:
Memoirs of M.A. Rychkova.

Of course, I have never specifically asked this topic, but nevertheless, I cannot agree with you. As you can see, according to textual calculations on the net, people mainly use materials from old, ... still Soviet articles! ... like this one, - Astrakhan Kh.M. About the women's battalion defending the Winter Palace. History of the USSR. 1965, September-October. No. 5.http://pyhalov.livejournal.com/89660.html Similar texts, rewritten, ... "supplemented" and rethought, "in their own way" by already modern, network "historians" now roam from resource to resource without a real critical look at, so to speak ... the format of the text, the time of release of the material ( 1965!!!) and, most importantly, the true historicity of the "primary sources" used. What is worth only one excerpt from the text ... - "According to the testimony of Louise Bryant, to her question:" Have you forgiven the Bolsheviks for disarming you? - one of the former soldiers of the women's battalion passionately objected: "It is they who must forgive us. We, the working girls, and the traitors tried to push us to fight against our people, and we almost came to this" ... - and more ..- "The Military Revolutionary Committee helped women deceived by the bourgeoisie to get involved in the creative life of the Soviet Republic." The evidence of the literary-classical, "reforging" of the enemy of Soviet power ... is on the face! Here it is! The complete victory of socialist "morality", over the remnants of the past, in action (Further, as expected... Glory to the CPSU! And a storm of applause from the inspired hall!) And here are the words of the same Bryant - "Many went to the battalion because they sincerely believed that the honor and very existence of Russia were under threat , and that her salvation lies in a huge human sacrifice." In Soviet studies, it was not customary to cite ... to put it mildly ...

Now, regarding the dissolution of the battalion and two hundred defenders. There is something about this in the book cited by reference. The very training of the battalion as a whole was completed by October 1917. Main Directorate Gen. headquarters informed the Supreme Commander that the formation of the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion was completed and it could be sent to the army on October 25. It was supposed to be sent to the Romanian front. However further developments in Petrograd sharply changed the plans of the command. On October 24, the women's battalion was instructed to board the wagons and arrive at Palace Square for a solemn parade. Feeling the tense situation in St. Petersburg, A.F. Kerensky wanted to use the women's battalion blindly, planning to enlist it to fight the Bolsheviks if necessary. That is why, immediately upon arrival in Petrograd, the women were given clips of cartridges in case riots broke out during the parade. It should be noted that the solemn parade on Palace Square nevertheless took place, Kerensky himself welcomed the female shock workers. At this time, the real purpose of the battalion's stay in the capital became clear. Having soberly assessed the situation, the battalion commander, staff captain A.V. Loskov arbitrarily decided to withdraw the women's battalion from the capital, realizing the senselessness and fatality of his participation in the St. Petersburg turmoil. Most of the battalion was withdrawn from Petrograd in the city of Kerensky, only the 2nd company of the battalion, consisting of 137 people, was left under the pretext of delivering gasoline from the Nobel plant. M.V. Bocharnikova recalled: “After the parade, the 1st company went straight to the station, and ours was led back to the square with the right shoulder. We see how the entire battalion, having passed the ceremonial march, also goes to the station after the 1st company. The square is emptying " ... Vasiliev, in his study of the history of the battalion, writes - "After the defenders of the Winter Palace laid down their arms, the women were sent to the Pavlovsky barracks, and the next day to the Levashovo station. The women's battalion, after returning to the barracks of the officers, was again armed from the reserves of the arsenal and dug in, preparing for defense. And only the lack of the necessary amount of ammunition saved the battalion from complete destruction in a skirmish with revolutionary soldiers. On October 30, the battalion was disarmed by the Red Army men who arrived in Levashovo. 891 rifles, 4 machine guns, 24 checkers and 20 revolvers, as well as Scout women delivered boxes of ammunition half an hour after the Red Guards left the military camp.
After the disarmament, the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion continued to exist for another two months, by inertia, discipline was maintained, guards were posted and various outfits were performed. Losing all hope of being sent to the front, the volunteers began to go home or make their way to the front. It is known that some of the women still managed to get to the front in various units, mostly in the women's company of the Turkestan division, some began to care for the wounded in military hospitals. Most of the personnel of the battalion dispersed in various directions in November-December 1917. The Petrograd battalion finally ceased to exist on January 10, 1918, when staff captain A.V. Loskov submitted a report on the dissolution of the battalion and the surrender of property to the commissariat and headquarters of the Red Guard.

Bochkareva Maria Leontievna (née Frolkova, July 1889 - May 1920) - often considered the first Russian female officer (produced during the 1917 revolution). Bochkareva created the first female battalion in the history of the Russian army. Cavalier of the George Cross.

In July 1889, the third child, daughter Marusya, was born to the peasants of the village of Nikolskoye, Kirillovsky district, Novgorod province, Leonty Semenovich and Olga Eleazarovna Frolkov. Soon the family, fleeing poverty, moved to Siberia, where the government promised the settlers large plots of land and financial support. But, apparently, it was not possible to get away from poverty here either. At the age of fifteen, Mary was married. The following entry was preserved in the book of the Resurrection Church dated January 22, 1905: “Afanasy Sergeevich Bochkarev, 23 years old, of the Orthodox faith, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district of the Semiluk volost of the village of Bolshoe Kuskovo, married the maiden Maria Leontievna Frolkova, of the Orthodox faith…” . They settled in Tomsk. Married life went wrong almost immediately, and Bochkareva broke up with her drunken husband without regret. Maria left him for the butcher Yakov Buk. In May 1912, Buk was arrested on charges of robbery and sent to serve his sentence in Yakutsk. Bochkareva followed him on foot to Eastern Siberia, where they opened a butcher's shop for cover, although in reality Buk hunted in a gang of hunghuz. Soon the police came on the trail of the gang, and Buk was transferred to a settlement in the taiga village of Amga.

Although Bochkareva again followed in his footsteps, her betrothed took to drink and began to engage in assault. At this time the First World War broke out. Bochkareva decided to join the ranks of the army and, having parted with her Yashka, arrived in Tomsk. The military refused to enroll the girl in the 24th reserve battalion and advised her to go to the front as a nurse. Then Bochkareva sent a telegram to the tsar, which was unexpectedly followed by a positive response. So she got to the front.
At first, a woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment by her colleagues, but her bravery in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, she was given the nickname "Yashka", in memory of her unlucky life partner. After two wounds and countless battles, Bochkareva was promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.

In 1917, Kerensky turned to Bochkareva with a request to organize a "women's death battalion"; his wife and St. Petersburg institutes were involved in the patriotic project, with a total number of up to 2000 people. In an unusual military unit, iron discipline reigned: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva "beats their faces like a real sergeant major of the old regime." Not many survived such treatment: in a short time, the number of female volunteers was reduced to three hundred. The rest separated into a special women's battalion that defended the Winter Palace during the October Revolution.
In the summer of 1917, Bochkareva's detachment distinguished itself at Smorgon; his steadfastness made an indelible impression on the command (Anton Denikin). After the shell shock received in that battle, Ensign Bochkareva was sent to the Petrograd hospital for recovery, and in the capital she received the rank of second lieutenant, but soon after returning to her position she had to disband the battalion, due to the actual collapse of the front and the October Revolution.
Maria Bochkareva among the defenders of Petrograd

In winter, she was detained by the Bolsheviks on the way to Tomsk. After refusing to cooperate with the new authorities, she was accused of having relations with General Kornilov, the matter almost went to the tribunal. Thanks to the help of one of her former colleagues, Bochkareva broke free and, dressed in the outfit of a sister of mercy, traveled the whole country to Vladivostok, from where she sailed on a campaign trip to the USA and Europe.

In April 1918, Bochkareva arrived in San Francisco. With the support of the influential and wealthy Florence Harriman, the daughter of a Russian peasant crossed the United States and was awarded an audience with President Woodrow Wilson at the White House on July 10. According to eyewitnesses, Bochkareva's story about her dramatic fate and pleas for help against the Bolsheviks moved the president to tears.
Maria Bochkareva, Emmeline Pankhurst (British public and political figure, women's rights activist, leader of the British suffragette movement) and a woman from the Women's Battalion, 1917.

Maria Bochkareva and Emmeline Pankhurst

Journalist Isaac Don Levin, based on the stories of Bochkareva, wrote a book about her life, which was published in 1919 under the title "Yashka" and was translated into several languages.
After visiting London, where she met with King George V and secured his financial support, Bochkareva arrived in Arkhangelsk in August 1918. She hoped to raise local women to fight the Bolsheviks, but things went badly. General Marushevsky, in an order dated December 27, 1918, announced that the conscription of women for military service unsuitable for them would be a shame for the population of the Northern Region, and forbade Bochkareva to wear an officer's uniform self-appointed to her.
The following year, she was already in Tomsk under the banner of Admiral Kolchak, trying to put together a battalion of nurses. She regarded Kolchak's flight from Omsk as a betrayal, voluntarily appeared before the local authorities, who took a written undertaking not to leave her.
Siberian period (19th year, on the Kolchak fronts...)

A few days later, during a church service, 31-year-old Bochkareva was taken into custody by security officers. Clear evidence of her betrayal or collaboration with the whites could not be found, and the proceedings dragged on for four months. According to the Soviet version, on May 16, 1920, she was shot in Krasnoyarsk on the basis of the resolution of the head of the Special Department of the Cheka of the 5th Army, Ivan Pavlunovsky, and his deputy Shimanovsky. But in the conclusion of the Russian prosecutor's office on the rehabilitation of Bochkareva in 1992, it is said that there is no evidence of her execution.
Women's battalions
M. V. Rodzianko, who arrived in April on a propaganda trip to the Western Front, where Bochkareva served, specifically asked to meet with her and took her with him to Petrograd to agitate the "war to a victorious end" in the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the congress of soldiers deputies of the Petrosoviet. In a speech to the delegates of the congress, Bochkareva for the first time voiced her idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating shock women's "death battalions". After that, she was invited to a meeting of the Provisional Government to repeat her proposal.
“I was told that my idea was excellent, but I need to report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Brusilov and consult with him. Together with Rodzyanka, I went to Brusilov’s Headquarters. Brusilov told me in the office that you rely on women, and that the formation of a women’s battalion is the first in the world. Can't women dishonor Russia? I told Brusilov that I myself am not sure about women, but if you give me full authority, then I guarantee that my battalion will not dishonor Russia. Brusilov told me that he believes me, and will do her best to help in the formation of the women's volunteer battalion."
Battalion recruits

On June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony of presenting a new military unit of a white banner with the inscription "The first women's military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva" was held. On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation "On the formation of military units from female volunteers."

“Kerensky listened with obvious impatience. It was obvious that he had already made a decision on this matter. He had only one doubt: whether I could maintain high morale and morality in this battalion. Kerensky said that he would allow me to begin formation immediately<…>When Kerensky escorted me to the door, his eyes rested on General Polovtsev. He asked him to give me any help needed. I almost suffocated with happiness."
The commander of the Petrograd Military District, General P. A. Polovtsov, conducts a review of the 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion. Summer 1917

First of all, front-line soldiers, who were still in the imperial army, some of them were Knights of St. George, and women from civil society - noblewomen, students, teachers, workers, were recorded in the ranks of the "shocks". The percentage of soldiers and Cossacks was large: 38. In the Bochkareva battalion, they were presented as girls of many famous noble families Russia, and ordinary peasant women and servants. Maria N. Skrydlova, the daughter of the admiral, served as Bochkareva's adjutant. By nationality, the volunteers were mostly Russian, but there were also other nationalities - Estonians, Latvians, Jews, and an Englishwoman. population women's formations ranged from 250 to 1500 fighters each. The formation took place exclusively on a voluntary basis.

The appearance of the Bochkareva detachment served as an impetus for the formation of women's detachments in other cities of the country (Kiev, Minsk, Poltava, Kharkov, Simbirsk, Vyatka, Smolensk, Irkutsk, Baku, Odessa, Mariupol), but due to the intensifying processes of destruction of the entire state, the creation of these women's shock parts were never completed.
Recruit training

Women's Battalion. Camp life training.

At the training camp in Levashevo

Mounted scouts of the Women's Battalion

Volunteers during rest hours

Officially, as of October 1917, there were: 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion, 2nd Moscow Women's Death Battalion, 3rd Kuban Women's Shock Battalion (infantry); Maritime women's team (Oranienbaum); Cavalry 1st Petrograd Battalion of the Women's Military Union; Minsk separate guard squad of female volunteers. The first three battalions visited the front, only the 1st battalion of Bochkareva was in the battles
The mass of soldiers and the Soviets perceived the "women's battalions of death" (however, like all other "shock units") "with hostility." The front-line shock workers were not called anything other than prostitutes. In early July, the Petrograd Soviet demanded that all "women's battalions" be disbanded, both because they were "unsuitable for military service" and because the formation of such battalions "is a covert maneuver of the bourgeoisie that wants to wage war to a victorious end"
Solemn farewell to the front of the First Women's Battalion. Photo. Moscow Red Square. summer 1917

The women's battalion goes to the front

On June 27, the "battalion of death" consisting of two hundred volunteers arrived in the army - in the rear units of the 1st Siberian Army Corps of the 10th Army Western front to the area of ​​the city of Molodechno. On July 7, the 525th Kyuryuk-Darya Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Infantry Division, which included shock women, received an order to take up positions at the front near the town of Krevo. The "death battalion" took up positions on the right flank of the regiment. On July 8, the first battle of the Bochkareva battalion took place. In the bloody battles that lasted until July 10, 170 women participated. The regiment repelled 14 German attacks. Volunteers went on the counterattack several times. Colonel V.I. Zakrzhevsky wrote in a report about the action of the "death battalion":
The detachment of Bochkareva behaved heroically in battle, all the time in the front line, serving on a par with the soldiers. During the attack of the Germans, on his own initiative, he rushed as one in a counterattack; brought cartridges, went into secrets, and some went into reconnaissance; With their work, the death team set an example of courage, courage and calmness, raised the spirit of the soldiers and proved that each of these female heroes is worthy of the title of a warrior of the Russian revolutionary army.
Private of the Women's Battalion Pelageya Saygin

The battalion lost 30 men killed and 70 wounded. Maria Bochkareva, herself wounded in this battle for the fifth time, spent 1½ months in the hospital and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.
In hospital

Such heavy losses of volunteers had other consequences for the women's battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, forbade the creation of new women's "death battalions" for combat use, and the already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary sectors (security functions, communications , sanitary organizations). This led to the fact that many volunteers who wanted to fight for Russia with weapons in their hands wrote statements asking them to be fired from the "parts of death"
One of the women's death battalions (1st Petrograd, under the command of the Life Guards of the Keksholmsky Regiment: 39 Staff Captain A. V. Loskov), together with junkers and other units loyal to the oath, took part in the defense of the Winter Palace in October 1917. where the Provisional Government was located.
On November 7, the battalion stationed near the Levashovo station of the Finnish Railway was supposed to go to the Romanian Front (according to the plans of the command, it was supposed to send each of the formed female battalions to the front to raise the morale of male soldiers - one for each of the four fronts of the Eastern Front) .
1st Petrograd Women's Battalion

But on November 6, the battalion commander Loskov received an order to send the battalion to Petrograd "for the parade" (in fact, to protect the Provisional Government). Loskov, having learned about the real task, not wanting to involve volunteers in a political confrontation, withdrew the entire battalion from Petrograd back to Levashovo, with the exception of the 2nd company (137 people).
2nd company of the 1st Petrograd women's battalion

The headquarters of the Petrograd Military District tried, with the help of two platoons of volunteers and units of cadets, to ensure the wiring of the Nikolaevsky, Palace and Liteiny bridges, but the Sovietized sailors frustrated this task.
Volunteers on the square in front of the Winter Palace. November 7, 1917

The company took up defense on the first floor Winter Palace on the site to the right of the main gate to Millionnaya street. At night, during the storming of the palace by the revolutionaries, the company surrendered, was disarmed and taken to the barracks of the Pavlovsky, then the Grenadier Regiment, where some shock women were “mistreated” - as a specially created commission of the Petrograd City Duma established, three shock women were raped (although, perhaps, few dared to admit it), one committed suicide. On November 8, the company was sent to the place of its former deployment in Levashovo.
After the October Revolution, the Bolshevik government, which had set a course for the complete collapse of the army, for an immediate defeat in the war and for the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany, was not interested in preserving the "shock units". On November 30, 1917, the Military Council of the still old War Ministry issued an order to disband the "women's death battalions". Shortly before this, on November 19, by order of the Military Ministry, all female soldiers were promoted to officers, "for military merit." However, many volunteers remained in their units until January 1918 and beyond. Some of them moved to the Don and took part in the fight against Bolshevism in the ranks of the White movement.
Women's Death Battalion 1917