"Yashka" and her team. The real story of the "women's death battalions"

Headquarters of the women's "Death Battalion". Bochkarev in the center, with a red revolutionary bow, the St. George Cross of the 4th class, two St. George medals of the 3rd and 4th class. and the medal "For Diligence" on the Stanislav Ribbon. (in the initial period of WW1, this medal was awarded as a military award). Original photograph from 1917.

Maria Bochkareva was born in the village of Nikolskoye, Novgorod province, in the summer of 1889 into a peasant family. A few years later, escaping poverty, they moved to Siberia. Where the state promised support in the form of land shares and finance. At the age of fifteen, the girl was married to 23-year-old Afanasy Bochkarev. Her husband drank, and the girl went to the Jew, the butcher Yakov Buk. His personal life didn’t work out either. Buk was accused of robbery and exiled to Yakutsk.

The First World War began. Maria, tired of living either as a criminal or with a drunkard, decided to go to the front. But according to the laws of that time, women could not serve in the active army. Bochkareva drafted a telegram with a petition to the Tsar - and received the Highest permission to perform military service!

Bochkareva went to the front, where at first she caused laughter among her colleagues. However, her fearlessness in countless battles, two wounds in battle brought Bochkareva respect among her colleagues, the St. George Cross, three medals and the rank of senior non-commissioned officer.

Creation of the women's "Death Battalion" by Maria Bochkareva

In Petrograd, where she was taken for propaganda work “for the war to victory,” Bochkareva proposed creating shock “death battalions” consisting exclusively of women. With this idea she was sent to a meeting of the Provisional Government, where she received support. At the top, first of all, they saw this as a propaganda goal - to raise the spirit of patriotism, to stir up men who did not want to serve and fight, with the example of the Women's Battalions. The wife of the head of government, Kerensky, also took part in the creation of such a formation.

And already on June 21, 1917, near St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the banner of a new military unit with the inscription “The first women’s military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva” scattered in the wind. Iron discipline became the law for her. Subordinates even complained to their superiors that the commander hit people’s faces like a real sergeant.

Review of the death battalion conducted by the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General. Polovtsev. The photograph is more famous, as it was reproduced on photo postcards issued in a fairly large circulation.

Baptism of fire of the Death Battalion under the command of Maria Bochkareva

A week later, the battalion arrived in Molodechno, in the active army of the Western Front. On July 7, 1917, an order was received to take positions near the town of Krevo. This was the first combat experience of the Women's Death Battalion of Maria Bochkareva. The enemy launched a pre-emptive strike and crashed into the location of Russian troops. Over the course of three days, the regiment repelled 14 German attacks, launched counterattacks and, in the end, knocked the enemy out of their positions.

According to Bochkareva, in that battle she lost more than half of the battalion’s personnel wounded and killed. Having been wounded for the fifth time, she ended up in the capital’s hospital. Here she was given the rank of second lieutenant.

Heavy losses in the ranks of women volunteers led to the fact that the main supreme commander, General Kornilov, prohibited the further formation of women's battalions to participate in battles. The existing units were supposed to serve in communications, security, and medicine. As a result of this decree, many women who wanted to fight for their homeland in battles filed for dismissal from the “death units.”

After the dissolution of the death battalion, some time later, Bochkareva was detained by the Bolsheviks and she almost ended up on trial. But thanks to her colleagues, she escaped and eventually arrived in the United States for the purpose of anti-Soviet agitation. Her activities were quite active. In the summer of 1918, she was granted an audience at the White House with President Wilson, then Europe and a meeting with King George V, where she secured financial support. Then, again Russia, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, meeting with Admiral Kolchak. However, all this was already belated steps in a complete disaster on the White Front.

On January 7, 1920, the former commander of the women's Death Battalion, Maria Bochkareva, was arrested by the Bolsheviks. And she, as “the worst and implacable enemy of the workers’ and peasants’ republic,” was sentenced to death.

However, there is no evidence of the execution. There is a version that her friends freed her from prison and she went to Harbin. Here she met a former fellow soldier-widower, who became her husband. Maria Bochkareva herself did not have any children of her own and she dedicated her love to her husband’s sons, who died in the battles of the Great Patriotic War.

100 years ago, the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion was created, led by Maria Bochkareva

On June 21, 1917, the Provisional Government issued an unusual order: on the initiative of the holder of the St. George Cross, Maria Bochkareva, a battalion, unprecedented in the Russian army, was created, which consisted entirely of women. She also led the new “army”.

The glory of this woman during her lifetime - both in Russia and abroad - was not dreamed of by many modern “divas” from the world of show business. Reporters fought for the right to interview her, magazines published photographs of the female hero on the covers. Although Maria had neither beauty nor a mysterious love story.

However, Maria Bochkareva's star burned brightly for only a few years. And then her life ended in an early and inglorious death.

A drunkard's wife, a bandit's girlfriend, a governor's mistress

Maria's origins prepared her for an extremely unprepossessing and predictable fate: born in July 1889 into a poor peasant family, at the age of 16 she was married to Afanasia Bochkareva- a simple worker, eight years older than her. They lived in Tomsk; the newly-made husband suffered from alcoholism. And Maria, willy-nilly, began to look to the side.

Her gaze quickly fell on Yankel, or Yakov, Buk- a Jew who “officially” worked as a butcher, but in fact was engaged in robbery in one of the Tomsk gangs. A romance began between them, but soon Yakov was arrested and sent to Yakutsk.

23-year-old Bochkareva decided to try the fate of a Decembrist for herself - and followed her beloved to the settlement. However, Yankel’s dashing soul did not allow him to live in peace even there: he began buying up stolen goods, and then, having teamed up with the same desperate people, carried out an attack on the post office.

As a result, Buk faced deportation to Kolymsk. The Yakut governor, however, did not refuse Maria, who asked for leniency for her lover. But in return he asked for something for himself.

Bochkareva, reluctantly, agreed. But after sleeping with an official, she felt such disgust with herself that she tried to poison herself. Yakov, having learned about what had happened, rushed to the governor and only miraculously did not kill the “seducer”: they managed to tie him up on the threshold of the office.

Mary's relationship with her lover fell apart.

Unter Yashka

Who knows how it would have ended if Russia had not entered the First World War on August 1, 1914. In the wake of the patriotic upsurge that swept the empire, 25-year-old Bochkareva decided... to break with the disgusted “citizen” and become a soldier.

Getting into the active army, however, was not at all easy. At first, she was only offered to become a sister of mercy. And she wanted to fight for real. Whether jokingly or seriously, the military gave her advice - to seek permission from the emperor himself. NicholasII.

If Maria had a sense of humor, she considered it inappropriate to apply it to this situation. Taking the last eight rubles she had left from her pocket, Bochkareva went to the post office - and sent a telegram to the highest name.

Imagine everyone’s surprise when a positive answer soon came from St. Petersburg! Maria was enrolled as a civilian soldier.

When asked by her colleagues what her name was, the woman began to answer: “Yashka.” It must be admitted that in many photographs in uniform, Bochkareva is simply impossible to distinguish from a man.

Soon the unit where “Yashka” was assigned ended up at the front, and there Bochkareva was finally able to prove her worth. She fearlessly carried out a bayonet attack, pulled the wounded out of the battlefield, and received several wounds herself. By 1917, she had risen to the rank of senior non-commissioned officer, and on her chest were three medals and the St. George Cross.

However, to win the war, the efforts of one woman, although unusually strong in body and spirit, were not enough. Although the Provisional Government in February 17 started talking about “war to a victorious end,” the country was already in a pre-revolutionary fever, and the soldiers were tired of suffering defeats, rotting in the trenches and thinking about what was happening in their families. The army was falling apart before our eyes.

Death as a banner

The authorities frantically searched for a way to raise army morale. One of the leaders of the February Revolution Mikhail Rodzianko decided to go to the Western Front to agitate for the continuation of the war. But who will believe him, the “rear rat”? It would be a different matter to take Bochkareva with you, about whom legends had already begun to circulate by that time and who was highly respected.

Having arrived in Petrograd with Rodzianko, “Unter Yashka” attended a meeting of the congress of soldiers’ deputies of the Petrograd Soviet, with whom she shared her idea of ​​​​creating women’s volunteer battalions. “Death battalions” was the name proposed for the units. They say, if women are not afraid to die on the battlefield, then what can male soldiers do, suddenly afraid of war?

Bochkareva’s appeal was immediately published in newspapers, and with the approval of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Alexey Brusilov Recruitment for women's army teams has begun across the country.

There were unexpectedly many Russian women who wanted to join the army. Among the several thousand who signed up for the battalions were female students, teachers, hereditary Cossack women, and representatives of noble families.

For a whole month, the “recruits” worked hard in army exercises, and on June 21, 1917, a very solemn ceremony took place on the square near St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Petrograd: the new unit was presented with a banner on which was inscribed: “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” After this, the battalion bravely marched through the city streets, where the soldiers were greeted by thousands of people.

The female face of war

Two days later, the unit went to Belarus, to the Novospassky forest area near Smorgon. And already on July 8, 1917, the “death battalion” entered into battle for the first time: the Germans wedged themselves into the location of the Russian troops. Over three days, Bochkareva and her colleagues repelled 14 enemy attacks.

Colonel Vladimir Zakrzhevsky later reported on the heroic behavior of the girls in battle and that they really set an example for others not only of courage, but also of calm.

But the battalions of “Russian heroes” surrounding the women’s team, in the general’s words Anton Denikin, at that moment they got cold feet, gave in and were unable to support the fiery impulse of the soldiers. “When the pitch hell of enemy artillery fire broke out, the poor women, having forgotten the technique of scattered combat, huddled together - helpless, alone in their section of the field, loosened by German bombs,” the general later recalled. - We suffered losses. And the “heroes” partly returned, and partly did not leave the trenches at all.”

Needless to say, this behavior of the male soldiers infuriated Bochkareva into indescribable rage. Of the 170 members of her battalion, in the very first days of the battle with the enemy, 30 people were killed and over 70 were wounded. The battalion commander's anger was looking for an opportunity to fall on someone's head. And I found it.

Soon she came across a couple who hid behind a tree trunk for purely intimate purposes. Bochkareva was so enraged by this that she, without hesitation, pierced the “girl” with a bayonet. And the unlucky lover ran away cowardly...

White music of revolutions

Three months later the October Revolution broke out. Having learned about it, Bochkareva was forced to dismiss the surviving subordinates to their homes, and she herself went to Petrograd.

She was sure that the revolution “would lead Russia not to happiness, but to destruction,” and that she was not on the same path with the Reds. There was only one way out: to rely on the White Guards and support them with everything possible.

In 1918, on behalf of the general Lavra Kornilova left Vladivostok on a propaganda tour of England and the United States. Its task was to attract Western politicians to help the White movement. In the USA she met with the President Woodrow Wilson, in Britain - with the king George V.

Returning to Russia, she went to Siberia - to the admiral Alexander Kolchak, who proposed repeating the experience with the death battalion and forming a women’s military sanitary detachment under the leadership of Bochkareva. “Yashka” began work, but the team it assembled turned out to be of no use to anyone: Kolchak’s days were already numbered.

Left without the only thing she knew how to do well, Maria gave up and started drinking. From time to time she came to Kolchak’s headquarters with demands to officially retire her with the right to wear a uniform and award her the rank of staff captain.

When the Reds took Tomsk, Bochkareva voluntarily came to the city commandant, surrendered her weapons and offered cooperation to the Soviet government. At first, she was given a written undertaking not to leave the place and was sent home, but later, at the beginning of 1920, she was arrested.

The investigation was unable to prove her participation in “counter-revolutionary activities,” so the special department of the 5th Army wanted to transfer Bochkareva’s case to the Moscow Special Department of the Cheka. But unfortunately for Maria, the deputy head of the Special Department just arrived in Siberia at that time, Ivan Pavlunovsky. He did not understand what could confuse the local security officers in the story of the famous soldier, and wrote a short resolution on her case: “Bochkareva Maria Leontievna - shoot.”

On May 16, 1920, according to official data, the sentence was carried out. A note about this was also preserved on the cover of the case.

Maria Leontyevna was rehabilitated in 1992. At the same time, the Russian Prosecutor's Office unexpectedly announced that there was no evidence of the woman's execution in the archives.

Some historians believe that the former commander of the death battalion could have escaped in 1920: having escaped from the dungeons of Krasnoyarsk, she went to Harbin in China using forged documents, changed her first and last name and settled somewhere in the vicinity of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). ). In the late 20s, however, she could have been forcibly deported to the USSR, like some other immigrants from Russia. Whether this was the case or not, unfortunately, we are unlikely to ever know for sure.

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

In July 1889, the peasants of the village of Nikolskoye, Kirillovsky district, Novgorod province, Leonty Semenovich and Olga Eleazarovna Frolkova, had a third child - daughter Marusya. Soon the family, escaping poverty, moved to Siberia, where the government promised the settlers large plots of land and financial support. But, apparently, it was not possible to escape poverty here either. At the age of fifteen, Maria was married off. In the book of the Church of the Resurrection, the following entry dated January 22, 1905 was preserved: “In his first marriage, Afanasy Sergeevich Bochkarev, 23 years old, of the Orthodox faith, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district of the Semiluksk volost of the village of Bolshoye Kuskovo, married the girl Maria Leontyevna Frolkova, of the Orthodox faith...” . They settled in Tomsk. Married life almost immediately went wrong, and Bochkareva broke up with her drunkard 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 shop as a cover, although in reality Buk lived in a gang of Honghuz. Soon the police were 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 started drinking and began to engage in assault. At this time the First World War broke out. Bochkareva decided to join the ranks of the active army and, parting 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 unexpectedly received a positive response. That's how she got to the front.
At first, the woman in uniform caused ridicule and harassment from her colleagues, but her courage in battle brought her universal respect, the St. George Cross and three medals. In those years, the nickname “Yashka” stuck to her, 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, totaling up to 2000 people, were involved in the patriotic project. In the unusual military unit, iron discipline reigned: subordinates complained to their superiors that Bochkareva was “beating people in the face like a real sergeant of the old regime.” Not many could withstand such treatment: in a short time the number of female volunteers was reduced to three hundred. The rest were assigned to 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 tenacity made an indelible impression on the command (Anton Denikin). After a shell shock received in that battle, warrant officer Bochkareva was sent to recover in a Petrograd hospital, 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, and the matter almost came to court. Thanks to the help of one of her former colleagues, Bochkareva broke free and, dressed as a sister of mercy, traveled across the 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 granted 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 Bochkareva’s stories, 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 rouse local women to fight the Bolsheviks, but things went poorly. General Marushevsky, in an order dated December 27, 1918, announced that conscripting women for military service unsuitable for them would be a disgrace for the population of the Northern Region, and forbade Bochkareva to wear the officer’s uniform self-proclaimed 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 and voluntarily came to the local authorities, who took her undertaking not to leave.
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 treason 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 a resolution by the head of the Special Department of the Cheka of the 5th Army, Ivan Pavlunovsky, and his deputy Shimanovsky. But the conclusion of the Russian prosecutor's office on the rehabilitation of Bochkareva in 1992 said that there was 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 for a meeting with her and took her with him to Petrograd to agitate “war to a victorious end” among the troops of the Petrograd garrison and among the delegates of the soldiers’ congress deputies of the Petrograd Soviet. In a speech to the delegates of the congress, Bochkareva first voiced her idea of ​​​​creating shock women’s “death battalions.” After this, she was invited to a meeting of the Provisional Government to repeat her proposal.
“I was told that my idea was great, but I needed to report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Brusilov and consult with him. Together with Rodzianka, I went to Brusilov’s Headquarters. Brusilov told me in his office that you hope for women, and that the formation of a women’s battalion is the first in the world. Can't women disgrace Russia? I told Brusilov that I myself am not confident in women, but if you give me full authority, then I guarantee that my battalion will not disgrace Russia. Brusilov told me that he believes me, and will try in every possible way to help in the formation of a women’s volunteer battalion.”
Battalion recruits

On June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony was held to present the new military unit with a white banner with the inscription “The first female 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.”


“Kerensky listened with obvious impatience. It was obvious that he had already made a decision on this matter. He doubted only one thing: whether I could maintain high morale and ethics in this battalion. Kerensky said that he would allow me to begin formation immediately<�…>When Kerensky accompanied me to the door, his gaze settled on General Polovtsev. He asked him to provide me with any necessary assistance. 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


The ranks of the “shock women” included, first of all, front-line soldiers, of whom there were a certain number still in the imperial army, some of them were Knights of St. George, and women from civil society - noblewomen, student students, teachers, workers. The percentage of female soldiers and Cossack women was large: 38. Bochkareva’s battalion included girls from many of Russia’s famous noble families, as well as simple peasant women and servants. Maria N. Skrydlova, the admiral’s daughter, served as Bochkareva’s adjutant. By nationality, the volunteers were mostly Russian, but there were also other nationalities - Estonians, Latvians, Jews, and Englishmen. The number of women's formations ranged from 250 to 1,500 fighters each. The formation took place entirely on a voluntary basis.

The appearance of Bochkareva’s unit served as an impetus for the formation of women’s units 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 units parts were never completed.
Recruit training

Women's Battalion. Camping 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); Marine 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 Bochkareva’s 1st battalion was in battle
The mass of soldiers and the Soviets perceived the “women’s death battalions” (as well as all other “shock units”) with hostility. The front-line soldiers did not call the shock workers anything other than prostitutes. At the beginning of 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 secretive maneuver of the bourgeoisie who want to wage the war to a victorious end.”
Ceremonial farewell to the front of the First Women's Battalion. Photo. Moscow Red Square. summer 1917


On June 27, the “battalion of death” consisting of two hundred volunteers arrived in the active army - in the rear units of the 1st Siberian Army Corps of the 10th Army of the Western Front in the region of Molodechno. On July 7, the 525th Kyuryuk-Darya Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Infantry Division, which included shock troops, received an order to take 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 Bochkareva’s battalion took place. 170 women took part in the bloody battles that lasted until July 10. The regiment repelled 14 German attacks. The volunteers launched counterattacks several times. Colonel V.I. Zakrzhevsky wrote in a report on the actions of the “death battalion”:
Bochkareva’s detachment behaved heroically in battle, always in the front line, serving on an equal basis with the soldiers. When the Germans attacked, on his own initiative he rushed as one into a counterattack; brought cartridges, went to secrets, and some to reconnaissance; With their work, the death squad set an example of bravery, courage and calmness, raised the spirit of the soldiers and proved that each of these female heroes is worthy of the title of warrior of the Russian revolutionary army.
Private of the Women's Battalion Pelageya Saigin


The battalion lost 30 people 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 also had other consequences for the women’s battalions - on August 14, the new Commander-in-Chief L. G. Kornilov, by his Order, prohibited the creation of new women’s “death battalions” for combat use, and the already created units were ordered to be used only in auxiliary areas (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 to be dismissed from the “death units”
One of the women's death battalions (1st Petrograd, under the command of the Life Guards Kexholm Regiment: 39 Staff Captain A.V. Loskov), together with cadets and other units loyal to the oath, took part in the defense of the Winter Palace in October 1917. , which housed the Provisional Government.
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 command’s plans, each of the formed women’s battalions was supposed to be sent to the front to raise the morale of male soldiers - one to each of the four fronts of the Eastern Front) .
1st Petrograd Women's Battalion


But on November 6, battalion commander Loskov received orders to send the battalion to Petrograd “for a parade” (in fact, to guard the Provisional Government). Loskov, having learned about the real task, not wanting to drag volunteers into 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 construction of the Nikolaevsky, Dvortsovy and Liteiny bridges, but the Sovietized sailors thwarted this task.
Volunteers on the square in front of the Winter Palace. November 7, 1917


The company took up defensive positions on the ground floor of the Winter Palace in the area 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 shockwomen were “treated badly” - as a specially created commission of the Petrograd City Duma established, three shockwomen were raped (although, perhaps, few dared to admit it), one committed suicide. On November 8, the company was sent to its previous location in Levashovo.
After the October Revolution, the Bolshevik government, which set a course for the complete collapse of the army, immediate defeat in the war and 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 War Ministry, all female military personnel 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

Women and war - this combination of incongruous things was born at the very end of old Russia. The purpose of creating women's death battalions was to raise the patriotic spirit of the army and to shame by their own example male soldiers who refused to fight.

The initiator of the creation of the first women's battalion was senior non-commissioned officer Maria Leontievna Bochkareva, holder of the St. George Cross and one of the first Russian female officers. Maria was born in July 1889 into a peasant family. In 1905, she married 23-year-old Afanasy Bochkarev. Married life did not work out almost immediately, and Bochkareva broke up with her drunkard husband without regret.

On August 1, 1914, Russia entered the world war. The country was gripped by patriotic enthusiasm, and Maria Bochkareva decided to join the active army as a soldier. In November 1914, in Tomsk, she appealed to the commander of the 25th reserve battalion with a request to enlist her in the regular army. He invites her to go to the front as a sister of mercy, but Maria insists on her own. The annoying petitioner is given ironic advice - to contact the emperor directly. For the last eight rubles, Bochkareva sends a telegram to the highest name and soon, to her great surprise, receives a positive response. She was enrolled as a civilian soldier. Maria fearlessly went into bayonet attacks, pulled the wounded out of the battlefield, and was wounded several times. “For outstanding valor” she received the St. George Cross and three medals. Soon she was awarded the rank of junior and then senior non-commissioned officer.

Maria Bochkareva

After the fall of the monarchy, Maria Bochkareva began the formation of women's battalions. Having secured the support of the Provisional Government, she spoke at the Tauride Palace calling for the creation of women's battalions to defend the Fatherland. Soon her call was published in newspapers, and the whole country learned about women's teams. On June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony was held to present the new military unit with a white banner with the inscription “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” On the left flank of the detachment, in a brand new ensign’s uniform, stood an excited Maria: “I thought that all eyes were fixed on me alone. Petrograd Archbishop Veniamin and Ufa Archbishop bid our death battalion farewell with the image of the Tikhvin Mother of God. It’s finished, the front is ahead!”

The Women's Death Battalion goes to the front in World War I

Finally, the battalion marched solemnly through the streets of Petrograd, where it was greeted by thousands of people. On June 23, an unusual military unit went to the front, to the Novospassky forest area, north of the city of Molodechno, near Smorgon (Belarus). On July 9, 1917, according to the plans of the Headquarters, the Western Front was supposed to go on the offensive. On July 7, the 525th Kyuryuk-Darya Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Infantry Division, which included shock troops, received an order to take positions at the front near the town of Krevo.

The "death battalion" was on the right flank of the regiment. On July 8, 1917, he entered into battle for the first time, since the enemy, knowing about the plans of the Russian command, launched a preemptive strike and wedged itself into the location of the Russian troops. Over three days, the regiment repelled 14 attacks by German troops. Several times the battalion launched counterattacks and knocked the Germans out of the Russian positions occupied the day before. Many commanders noted the desperate heroism of the women's battalion on the battlefield. So Colonel V.I. Zakrzhevsky, in his report on the actions of the “death battalion,” wrote: “Bochkareva’s detachment behaved heroically in battle, all the time in the front line, serving on an equal basis with the soldiers. When the Germans attacked, on his own initiative he rushed as one into a counterattack; brought cartridges, went to secrets, and some to reconnaissance; With their work, the death squad set an example of bravery, courage and calmness, raised the spirit of the soldiers and proved that each of these female heroes is worthy of the title of warrior of the Russian revolutionary army.” Even General Anton Denikin, the future leader of the White movement, who was very skeptical about such “army surrogates,” recognized the outstanding valor of female soldiers. He wrote: “The women’s battalion, attached to one of the corps, valiantly went on the attack, not supported by the “Russian heroes.” And when the pitch hell of enemy artillery fire broke out, the poor women, having forgotten the technique of scattered combat, huddled together - helpless, alone in their section of the field, loosened by German bombs. We suffered losses. And the “heroes” partly returned, and partly did not leave the trenches at all.”

Bochkareva is first on the left.

There were 6 nurses, formerly actual doctors, factory workers, office workers and peasants who also came to die for their country.One of the girls was only 15 years old. Her father and two brothers died at the front, and her mother was killed when she was working in a hospital and came under fire. At 15 years old, they could only pick up a rifle and join the battalion. She thought she was safe here.

According to Bochkareva herself, out of 170 people who took part in the hostilities, the battalion lost up to 30 people killed and up to 70 wounded. Maria Bochkareva, herself wounded in this battle for the fifth time, spent a month and a half in the hospital and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. After recovery, she received an order from the new Supreme Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov to inspect the women’s battalions, of which there were already almost a dozen.

After the October Revolution, Bochkareva was forced to disband her battalion home, and she again headed to 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 counter-revolutionary activities, and the matter almost reached the tribunal. Thanks to the help of one of her former colleagues, Bochkareva broke free and, dressed as a sister of mercy, traveled across the country to Vladivostok, from where she sailed on a campaign trip to the USA and Europe. American journalist Isaac Don Levin, based on Bochkareva’s stories, wrote a book about her life, which was published in 1919 under the title “Yashka” and was translated into several languages. In August 1918, Bochkareva returned to Russia. In 1919 she went to Omsk to see Kolchak. Aged and exhausted from wanderings, Maria Leontyevna came to ask for resignation, but the Supreme Ruler persuaded Bochkareva to continue serving. Maria made passionate speeches in two Omsk theaters and recruited 200 volunteers in two days. But the days of the Supreme Ruler of Russia and his army were already numbered. Bochkareva’s detachment turned out to be of no use to anyone.

When the Red Army occupied Tomsk, Bochkareva herself came to the city commandant. The commandant took her undertaking not to leave the place and sent her home. On January 7, 1920, she was arrested and then sent to Krasnoyarsk. Bochkareva gave frank and ingenuous answers to all the investigator’s questions, which put the security officers in a difficult position. No clear evidence of her “counter-revolutionary activities” could be found; Bochkareva also did not participate in hostilities against the Reds. Ultimately, the special department of the 5th Army issued a resolution: “For more information, the case, along with the identity of the accused, should be sent to the Special Department of the Cheka in Moscow.”

Perhaps this promised a favorable outcome, especially since the death penalty in the RSFSR was once again abolished by a resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars. But, unfortunately, the deputy head of the Special Department of the Cheka, I.P., arrived in Siberia. Pavlunovsky, endowed with extraordinary powers. The “representative of Moscow” did not understand what confused the local security officers in the case of Maria Leontyevna. On the resolution, he wrote a short resolution: “Bochkareva Maria Leontievna - shoot.” On May 16, 1920, the sentence was carried out. On the cover of the criminal case, the executioner wrote a note in blue pencil: “The fast has been fulfilled. 16th of May". 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. Russian biographer of Bochkareva S.V. Drokov believes that she was not shot: Isaac Don Levin rescued her from the Krasnoyarsk dungeons, and with him she went to Harbin. Having changed her last name, Bochkareva lived on the Chinese Eastern Railway until 1927, until she shared the fate of Russian families forcibly deported to Soviet Russia.

In the fall of 1917, there were about 5,000 female warriors in Russia. Their physical strength and abilities were similar to all women, ordinary women. There was nothing special about them. They just had to learn how to shoot and kill. The women trained 10 hours a day. Former peasants made up 40% of the battalion.

Women's Death Battalion soldiers receive a blessing before going into battle, 1917.

Russian women's battalions could not go unnoticed in the world. Journalists (such as Bessie Beatty, Rita Dorr and Louise Bryant from America) would interview the women and photograph them to later publish a book.

Female soldiers of the 1st Russian female death battalion, 1917

Maria Bochkareva and her Women's Battalion

Women's battalion from Petrograd. They drink tea and relax in the field camp.

Maria Bochkareva with Emmeline Pankhurst

Women's Death Battalion" in Tsarskoye Selo.

Maria Bochkareva is in the center, teaching shooting.

female recruits in Petrograd in 1917

Death Battalion, soldier on duty, Petrograd, 1917.

Drink tea. Petrograd 1917

These girls defended the Winter Palace.

1st Petrograd Women's Battalion

Commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Polovtsev and Maria Bochkareva in front of the formation of the women's battalion

In the early morning of July 8, 1917, extraordinary excitement reigned at the location of the 525th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Siberian Corps near the Bogushevsky forest in the Molodechno region near Smorgon. Why, on this day the “women” should start fighting the Germans! Laughter, and that's all! They sent a whole battalion of living women - the soldiers were amused. "Women's Death Battalion" is a circus! There was no longer any discipline at the front, order number one of the Provisional Government made itself felt, allowing the privates to choose their own commanders and discuss whether to obey the orders of the officers or not. The commander of the women's battalion, in which iron discipline reigned, wrote this: “... never before have I met such a ragged, unbridled and demoralized bunch of men called soldiers.”

Suddenly, most of the corps refuses to go into battle at all. Endless rallies begin - to fight or not to fight. For the women's battalion such questions did not arise. They were volunteers and were ready to carry out orders at any time. Although artillery preparation had already been carried out and the front lines of the Germans were pretty battered, no one except the women’s battalion was going to go on the attack. Meanwhile, 75 officers who remained faithful to the oath, led by the commander of the 525th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ivanov, approached them and asked to join the women's battalion.

Under desperate German fire, the combined unit took the first line of German trenches in the summer and continued to advance on the edge of the Novospassky and Bogushevsky forests. Seeing the heroism of women and officers, the shamed soldiers began to rise to the attack. As a result, the front was broken through for 4 versts and advanced 3.5 versts in depth. But, occupying the German trenches, the soldiers come across huge stocks of beer and vodka. That's all. Drunkenness and looting ensued. The offensive stalled. The regimental report said this:

“...the companies became sensitive and fearful even to their own shots, not to mention enemy fire. A striking example of this in this regard is the lagging position on the western edge of the Novospassky forest, which was abandoned only by rare enemy fire. Even the victory did not bring the soldiers to consciousness; they refused to remove the trophies, but at the same time, many remained on the battlefield and robbed their own comrades. Crowds of soldiers, loaded with German rubbish, went deep into the rear, where trade in German things took place during the battle. The women, judging by the reports, fought as follows: On July 7, the 525th Infantry Regiment of the 132nd Division received an order to move to a position in the Krevo area. The women's battalion included in the regiment was located on the right flank along with the 1st battalion. On the morning of July 9, the regiment reached the edge of the Novospassky forest and came under artillery fire. Over the course of two days, he repelled 14 enemy attacks and, despite heavy machine-gun fire, launched counterattacks several times. According to the testimony of the regiment's officers, the women's battalion behaved heroically in battle, always in the front line, serving on an equal basis with the soldiers. His losses in the battles of July 9-10 were: 2 killed, 33 wounded and shell-shocked, 5 of them seriously, 2 missing.”

General A.I. Denikin later wrote: “What can I say about the “women’s army”?.. I know the fate of Bochkareva’s battalion. He was met by the unbridled soldier environment mockingly and cynically. In Molodechno, where the battalion was originally stationed, at night it had to set up a strong guard to guard the barracks... Then the offensive began. The women's battalion, attached to one of the corps, valiantly went on the attack, not supported by the “Russian heroes.” And when the pitch hell of enemy artillery fire broke out, the poor women, having forgotten the technique of loose formation, huddled together - helpless, alone in their section of the field, loosened by German bombs. We suffered losses. And the “heroes” partly returned, and partly did not leave the trenches at all.”

Who is warrant officer Maria Bochkareva, by the way, who was wounded in that memorable battle near Molodechno and promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and what kind of “women’s death battalion” did she lead?

Maria Bochkareva

In 1919, Bochkareva’s memoirs “Yashka. My life as a peasant, an officer and an exile.” The book is not a reliable source, because it was written from the words of a not particularly literate woman - only at the age of 26 she was able to read syllables for the first time in her life, and then write her name. The book she studied from was a popular detective story in Russia about the American detective Nick Carter.

Maria Bochkareva (Frolkova) was born in July 1889 into the family of Leonty Semenovich and Olga Eleazarovna Frolkova, in the village of Nikolskoye, Kirillovsky district, Novgorod province. Besides her, there were two more daughters in the family. When the girl turned six years old, the family moved to Siberia to receive a plot of land under the resettlement program. Marusya was sent to work as a servant, first to look after the child, then to the shop. At the age of 16, Maria gets married. There is an entry in the book of the Ascension Church dated January 22, 1905: “In his first marriage, Afanasy Sergeevich Bochkarev, 23 years old, of the Orthodox faith, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district, Semiluzhskaya volost, the village of Bolshoye Kuskovo,” married “the maiden Maria Leontyeva Frolkova. .. of the Orthodox religion, living in the Tomsk province, Tomsk district, Novo-Kuskovskaya volost, Ksenyevsky village.”

Mary's marriage was not easy. Afanasy drank, she worked hard. She laid pavements in Irkutsk. At first she was a worker, then an assistant foreman. She cannot stand her husband’s drinking bouts, breaks up with him, becomes seriously ill, and loses her job. He is hired again as a servant.

Later, she meets Yankel Buk, falls in love with him, and he becomes her common-law husband. Buk, considered a law-abiding peasant of the Chita district, was engaged in robbery together with Chinese Honghuz bandits. With this money he opens a butcher shop. Maria has a happy family life. She has no idea about her husband's criminal business. But in May 1912, Yakov (Yankel) Buk was arrested, exile or hard labor awaited him.

Maria decided to share the fate of her loved one and in May 1913 she went with him on a convoy to Yakutsk. The distribution list for the administrative exile Yankel Gershev Buk reports that by decree of the Irkutsk Governor-General of August 18, 1912, he was expelled “under the public supervision of the police to the Yakut region for the entire duration of martial law in the Trans-Baikal region. Arrived in Yakutsk on July 14, 1913. To prevent Buk from being sent further to Kolymsk, Maria surrendered to the Yakut governor I. Kraft. Having a hard time experiencing her betrayal, she tried to poison herself. Kraft released Buk from prison, but demanded a new meeting with Bochkareva. The unfortunate woman told about Governor Buku, and he decided to kill him. But Buk was arrested in the governor’s office and deported to the Yakut settlement of Amga. Maria followed him again. However, from the memoirs one can understand that the relationship between Mary and Jacob was very tense; he was capable of beating or even killing his faithful wife for the slightest reason.

Now it is difficult to judge the truth of this information; perhaps the real facts of the life of this amazing woman are intertwined with the journalistic speculation of the American authors of the book, recording the story of her life.

Volunteers

Meanwhile, in August 1914, the First World War began. His personal life did not work out; we know nothing more about the fate of the robber Buk. Maria decided to become a soldier. She recalled: “My heart strove there - into a boiling cauldron, to be baptized in fire, to be tempered in lava. The spirit of sacrifice entered into me. My country was calling me."

Arriving in Tomsk in November 1914, Bochkareva turned to the commander of the 25th reserve battalion with a request to enroll her as a volunteer. Naturally, she is refused. Then she sends a telegram to the Tsar with her last money and, miraculously, receives the highest approval. In February 1915, the regiment formed in Siberia, together with the civilian Bochkareva, was assigned to the 2nd Army near Molodechno. Bochkareva ended up at the front line of the 5th Army Corps, in the 28th Polotsk Regiment of the 7th Division. When asked by her colleagues what to call her, short names and nicknames were then accepted in the army, Maria, remembering Buk, answered: “Yashka.” This name became her pseudonym for many years.

Maria turned out to be a brave soldier: she pulled the wounded from the battlefield, once pulled fifty people from the battlefield, and she herself was wounded four times. Moreover, she herself went on bayonet attacks in the advanced detachments! She was given the ranks of junior non-commissioned officer and senior non-commissioned officer and was entrusted with platoon command. She was awarded two St. George's crosses, two St. George's medals and the medal "For Bravery".

At the training camp in Levashovo

The February Revolution of 1917 brought discord among the troops and endless glorification of rallies. At one of these events, Bochkareva, who had already become a legendary war hero, met the Chairman of the IV State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, who invites her to Petrograd. There, during the congress of soldiers' delegates in the Tauride Palace, the idea came to her (or maybe it was suggested to her) about creating a women's battalion. Bochkareva, known throughout the front, is invited by A.F. Kerensky, she discusses her project with General A.A. Brusilov. Maria spoke at the Mariinsky Palace with an appeal:

“Citizens, everyone who values ​​the freedom and happiness of Russia, hurry into our ranks, hurry, before it’s too late, to stop the decay of our dear homeland. By direct participation in hostilities, not sparing our lives, we, citizens, must raise the spirit of the army and through educational and propaganda work in its ranks, instill a reasonable understanding of the duty of a free citizen to his homeland... The following rules are mandatory for all members of the detachments:

1. Honor, freedom and the good of the homeland are in the foreground;
2. Iron discipline;
3. Firmness and steadfastness of spirit and faith;
4. Courage and bravery;
5. Accuracy, accuracy, perseverance and speed in executing orders;
6. Impeccable honesty and serious attitude to business;
7. Cheerfulness, politeness, kindness, friendliness, cleanliness and accuracy;
8. Respect for other people's opinions, complete trust in each other and the desire for nobility;
9. Quarrels and personal scores are unacceptable, as they degrade human dignity.”

Bochkareva speaks:

“If I undertake the formation of a women’s battalion, I will be responsible for every woman in it. I will introduce strict discipline and will not allow them to speak or roam the streets. When Mother Russia dies, there is neither time nor need to control the army through committees. Although I am a simple Russian peasant, I know that only discipline can save the Russian army. In the battalion I propose, I will have complete sole authority and seek obedience. Otherwise, there is no need to create a battalion.”

Soon her appeal was published in the newspapers. Many women had a great desire to enlist in the army; soon about two thousand applications fell on the table of the founders of the women's battalion. 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; the second category is auxiliary units made up of women (communications, railway security); and finally, the third is nurses in hospitals. According to the conditions of admission, any woman aged 16 years (with parental permission) to 40 years old could become a volunteer. At the same time, she had to have an educational qualification and pass a medical examination, which identified and screened out pregnant women.

Women underwent a medical examination and had their hair cut almost bald. On the first day, Bochkareva expels 30 people from the battalion, and on the second - 50. The reasons are common - giggling, flirting with male instructors, failure to follow orders. She constantly encourages women to remember that they are soldiers and take their responsibilities more seriously.

1st Petrograd Women's Battalion

The recruits were quite educated, unlike the bulk of the army, where only a few were literate. And here up to 30 percent turned out to be student students (there were also Bestuzhevkas, graduates of the most prestigious women's educational institution) and up to 40 percent had a secondary education. There were sisters of mercy, domestic servants, peasants and bourgeois women, and university graduates. There were also representatives of very famous families - Princess Tatueva from a famous Georgian family, Dubrovskaya - the daughter of a general, N.N. was the battalion adjutant. Skrydlova is the daughter of an admiral of the Black Sea Fleet.

On June 21, the “Women's Battalion of Death” - as it was called because of strict discipline and a sincere desire not to spare life to defend the Motherland - was presented with a banner. General L.G. Kornilov presented Maria Bochkareva with a revolver and a saber with a gold hilt, Kerensky read out the order to promote her to ensign. 300 women from the initial recruitment went to the front lines on June 23, being assigned to the 172nd division of the 1st Siberian Corps.

Similar women's volunteer groups began to emerge everywhere. 1st Petrograd Women's Death Battalion, 2nd Moscow Women's Death Battalion, 3rd Kuban Women's Shock Battalion (infantry); Women's naval team in Oranienbaum; Cavalry 1st Petrograd Battalion of the Women's Military Union; Minsk separate guard squad of female volunteers.

At the beginning of 1918, all these formations were disbanded by the Soviet government.

Maria Bochkareva lived another fantastic few years. After the collapse of the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks coming to power, she, on instructions from Lavr Kornilov, went to the United States to ask for help from the allies to fight the new government. The poorly literate woman did not understand the intricacies of big politics, but she sincerely loved her Motherland. She achieved a meeting with US President Woodrow Wilson, and in Great Britain she met with King George the Fifth. This is how she very naively later talks about this audience during interrogation at the Cheka:

“In mid-August 1918, the king’s secretary arrived in a car and handed me a piece of paper that said that the King of England was receiving me for 5 minutes, and I put on a military officer’s uniform, put on the orders I received in Russia and, with my translator Robinson, went to king's palace She entered the hall, and a few minutes later the door opened and the King of England came out. He bore a great resemblance to Tsar Nicholas II. I went to meet the king. He told me that he was very glad to see the second Joan of Arc and as a friend of Russia, I greet you as a woman who has done a lot for Russia. In response, I told him that I consider it a great happiness to see the king of free England. The king invited me to sit down and sat down opposite me. The king asked what party I belonged to and whom I believed; I said that I don’t belong to any group, but that I only believe in General Kornilov. The king told me the news that Kornilov had been killed; I told the king that I don’t know who to believe now, and I don’t think about fighting in a civil war. The king told me: “You are a Russian officer,” I answered him yes; the king then said that “You have a direct duty to go to Russia, to Arkhangelsk, in four days, and I hope for you that you will work.” I told the King of England: “I obey!”

Energetic Maria travels to Arkhangelsk, Siberia, where she organizes combat battalions and medical teams, meets with Kolchak and other leaders of the White movement. But it is very difficult for a rather naive but honest woman to fully understand where the enemies are and where the friends are. Almost unbearable. The cunning British and other yesterday's allies are turning away from her.

When Soviet power was established in Toska, Maria Bochkareva “Yashka” came to the city commandant in December 1919, handed over a revolver to him and offered her services. The commandant sent her home. However, on January 7, 1920, she was arrested and put in prison, from where she was transferred to Krasnoyarsk in March.

In the conclusion to the final protocol of her interrogation dated April 5, 1920, investigator Pobolotin noted that “Bochkareva’s criminal activity before the RSFSR has been proven by the investigation... I believe that Bochkareva, as an irreconcilable and worst enemy of the workers’ and peasants’ republic, will be transferred to the disposal of the head of the special department of the Cheka of the 5th army.” .

On April 21, 1920, a resolution was passed: “For more information, the case, together with the identity of the accused, should be sent to the Special Department of the Cheka in Moscow.” On May 15, this resolution was revised and a new decision was made: Bochkareva should be shot.

March forward, forward to battle,
Women soldiers!
The dashing sound calls you into battle,
The adversaries will tremble!

(From the song of the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion)

Vladimir Kazakov