Admiral Kolchak, Alexander Vasilievich. Biography

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born on November 4 (16), 1874, in St. Petersburg. At first he was educated at home, then he was sent to a gymnasium. By religion, Alexander was Orthodox, which he repeatedly emphasized.

On the exam, when he was transferred to the third grade, he received a “3” in mathematics, “2” in Russian and “2” in French, for which he almost ended up being a repeat student. But soon he corrected the “twos” to “threes” and was transferred.

In 1888, young Kolchak became a student at the Naval School. There the situation changed beyond recognition. The former poor student literally “fell in love” with his future profession and began to treat his studies very responsibly.

Participation in a polar expedition

In 1900, Kolchak joined the polar expedition led by E. Toll. The purpose of the expedition was to explore the region of the Arctic Ocean and try to find the semi-mythical Sannikov Land.

According to the expedition leader, Kolchak was an energetic, active and devoted person to science. He called him the best officer of the expedition.

For his participation in the study, Lieutenant A.V. Kolchak was awarded Vladimir of the fourth degree.

Participation in the war

At the end of January 1904, Kolchak submitted a request for transfer to the Naval Department. When it was satisfied, he filed a petition in Port Arthur.

In November 1904, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne for his service. In December 1905 - St. George's weapon. Returning from Japanese captivity, he received the Order of Stanislav, second degree. In 1906, Kolchak was solemnly awarded a silver medal in memory of the war.

In 1914, as a participant in the defense of Port Arthur, he was awarded a badge.

Further activities

In 1912, Kolchak received the rank of flank captain. During the First World War, he worked actively on a plan for a mine blockade of German bases.

In 1916 he received the rank of vice admiral. The Black Sea Fleet was subordinate to him.

A convinced monarchist, after the February Revolution he nevertheless swore allegiance to the Provisional Government.

In 1918 he joined the “Directory,” a secret anti-Bolshevik organization. By this time, Kolchak was already Minister of War. When the leaders of the movement were arrested, he received the post of Commander-in-Chief.

At first, fate favored General Kolchak. His troops took the Urals, but soon the Red Army began to press him. In the end, he was defeated.

He was soon betrayed by the allies and handed over to the Bolsheviks. On February 7, 1920, A. Kolchak was shot.

Personal life

Kolchak was married to S.F. Omirova. A hereditary noblewoman, a graduate of the Smolny Institute, Sophia was a strong personality. Their relationship with Alexander Vasilyevich was not easy.

Sofya Fedorovna gave Kolchak three children. Two girls died in early childhood, and son Rostislav went through World War II and died in Paris in 1965.

The admiral's personal life was not rich. His “late lover,” A. Timireva, was convicted several times after his execution.

Other biography options

• One of the islands in the Taimyr Bay, as well as a cape in the same region, is named after Kolchak.
• Alexander Vasilyevich himself gave the name to another cape. He called it Cape Sophia. This name has survived to this day.

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Alexander Kolchak is a Russian military and political figure, oceanographer, polar explorer, naval commander, who went down in history as the leader of the White movement during the Civil War in Russia. Supreme Ruler of Russia and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army.

Life of Admiral Kolchak full of glorious and dramatic moments, just like Russia itself at the beginning of the 20th century. We will look at all this in this one.

Biography of Kolchak

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born on November 4, 1874 in the village of Aleksandrovskoye (). He grew up in a noble noble family. Many of Kolchak’s ancestors performed good service and achieved success in the military field.

He began to harbor ideas about how he could contribute to the revival of the Russian fleet.

In 1906, Alexander Kolchak led a commission that investigated the causes of the defeat at Tsushima. In parallel with this, he repeatedly made reports on this topic in the State Duma, and also asked officials to allocate funds from the treasury for the creation of the Russian fleet.

During the biography period 1906-1908. the admiral led the construction of 4 battleships and 2 icebreakers.

At the same time, he continues to engage in scientific activities. In 1909, his scientific work devoted to the ice cover of the Siberian and Kara seas was published.

When Russian oceanographers studied his work, they praised it very highly. Thanks to research conducted by Kolchak, scientists were able to reach a new level of studying the ice cover.

World War I

Henry of Prussia, who led the German fleet, developed an operation according to which St. Petersburg was to be defeated within a few days.

He planned to destroy strategically important objects and land soldiers in the occupied territories. Then, according to his calculations, the German infantrymen were supposed to capture.

In his thinking, he was like a man who was able to carry out many lightning-fast and successful attacks in his career. However, these plans were not destined to come true.

Admiral Kolchak understood perfectly well that the Russian fleet was inferior in strength and power to German ships. In this regard, he developed mine warfare tactics.

He managed to place about 6,000 mines in the Gulf of Finland, which became reliable protection for St. Petersburg.

Henry of Prussia never expected such a development of events. Instead of easily entering the territory of the Russian Empire, he began to lose his ships every day.

For skillful conduct of the war in 1915, Alexander Kolchak was appointed commander of the Mine Division.

Kolchak on the Chinese Eastern Railway in the form of the CER, 1917

At the end of the same year, Kolchak decided to transfer Russian troops to the shore of the Gulf of Riga to help the army of the Northern Front. He managed to incredibly quickly and accurately plan an operation that confused all the cards for the German leadership.

Less than a year later, Kolchak was promoted to vice admiral and appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet.

Admiral Kolchak

During the February Revolution of 1917, Kolchak remained loyal to the emperor, refusing to defect to the Bolsheviks.

There is a known case when, having heard an offer from revolutionary sailors to give up his golden saber, the admiral threw it overboard. He said his famous phrase to the mutinous sailors: “I didn’t receive it from you, and I won’t give it to you.”.

Admiral Kolchak

Arriving in St. Petersburg, Kolchak accused the Provisional Government of the collapse of the army and navy. As a result, he was sent into political exile in America.

By that time, the famous October Revolution had occurred, after which power was in the hands of the Bolsheviks, led by.

In December 1917, Admiral Kolchak wrote a letter to the British government with a request to accept him into service. As a result, she willingly agreed to accept his offer, since Kolchak’s name was known throughout Europe.

Despite the fact that by this time the Russian Empire was led by the Bolsheviks, many volunteer armies remained on its territory, refusing to betray the emperor.

Having united in September 1918, they formed the Directory, which claimed to be the “Provisional All-Russian Government”. Kolchak was offered to lead it, to which he agreed.

Admiral Kolchak, his officers and representatives of the Allies, 1919

However, he warned that if working conditions conflict with his views, he will leave this post. As a result, Admiral Kolchak became Supreme Ruler.

Kolchak government

First of all, Alexander Kolchak banned all extremist parties. After this, an economic reform was developed, according to which industrial plants were to be created in Siberia.

In 1919, Kolchak’s army occupied the entire territory of the Urals, but soon began to succumb to the onslaught of the Reds. Military failures were preceded by many different miscalculations:

• Admiral Kolchak's incompetence regarding public administration;
• Negligent attitude towards the settlement of the agrarian issue;
• Partisan and Socialist Revolutionary resistance;
• Political disagreements with allies.

A few months later, Alexander Kolchak was forced to leave and transfer his powers to Anton Denikin. Soon he was betrayed by the allied Czech Corps and handed over to the Bolsheviks.

Personal life

The wife of Admiral Kolchak was Sofya Omirova. When their romance began, he had to go on another expedition.

The girl faithfully waited for her groom for several years, after which they got married in March 1904.

In this marriage they had two girls and one boy. Both daughters died at an early age, and son Rostislav lived until 1965. During World War II (1939-1945) he participated in battles against the Germans on the side of the French.

In 1919, Sophia, with the support of British allies, emigrated to, where she lived until the end of her life. She died in 1956 and was buried in the cemetery of Russian Parisians.

In the last years of his life, Admiral Kolchak lived with Anna Timireva, who turned out to be his last love. He met her in 1915 in Helsingfors, where she arrived with her husband.

Having divorced her husband after 3 years, the girl followed Kolchak. As a result, she was arrested and spent the next thirty years in exile and prison. She was later rehabilitated.

Sofya Omirova (Kolchak’s wife) and Anna Timireva

Anna Timireva passed away in 1975 in Moscow. Five years before her death, in 1970, she wrote lines dedicated to the main love of her life, Alexander Kolchak:

I can’t accept it for half a century -
Nothing can help:
And you keep leaving again
On that fateful night.

And I am condemned to go,
Until the deadline passes,
And the paths are confused
Well-trodden roads...

But if I'm still alive
Against fate
It's just like your love
And the memory of you.

Death of Admiral Kolchak

After his arrest, Kolchak was subjected to constant interrogation. For this purpose, a special investigative commission was created. Some biographers believe that Lenin sought to get rid of the famous admiral as quickly as possible, because he feared that large forces of the white movement might be sent to his aid.

As a result, 45-year-old Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was sentenced to death, which was carried out on February 7, 1920.

The last photograph of Kolchak (taken after January 20, 1920)

Naturally, during the Soviet period of Russian history, Kolchak’s personality was presented in a negative light, since he fought on the side of the whites.

However, after that the assessment and significance of Alexander Kolchak’s personality were revised. Monuments and memorial plaques began to be erected in his honor, as well as biographical films were made in which he was presented as a real hero and patriot of Russia.

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The FSB Central Archive refuses to issue documents confirming the refusal to rehabilitate Admiral Kolchak. Activist Dmitry Ostryakov and Team 29 lawyers sent a statement to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to conduct an investigation and respond to the FSB’s decision. Why Kolchak was not rehabilitated is known: he did not prevent terror against the civilian population in the territory occupied by his troops. However, the FSB still does not want to show documents dedicated to events that occurred almost 100 years ago. On this occasion, we are publishing the story of Kolchak: how he became a dictator, how he was defeated and how he became a defendant.

You can learn about what Kolchak did before the revolution from ours.

Kolchak received the February Revolution coldly. Historian Andrei Kruchinin writes that when informing the Black Sea Fleet about the revolutionary events in Petrograd, even before the abdication of Nicholas II, Kolchak called on the sailors and officers “to be completely faithful to the Emperor and the Motherland.” Contrary to popular belief, he was not the first commander to recognize the Provisional Government. Kolchak’s telegram contained greetings to the new government from naval commands and residents of Sevastopol; he did not express his opinion about the coup. He managed to maintain a healthy situation in the fleet, relative to other units. The admiral did not interfere with the renaming of the ships, but he managed to avoid reprisals against officers, a ban on saluting and other democratic reforms in the army. The fleet continued to carry out combat missions, this distracted the sailors from revolutionary activities.

By the summer of 1917 the situation began to escalate. A large team of revolutionary agitators from the Baltic arrived at the Black Sea Fleet, and Kolchak’s relations with the Provisional Government, where he was seen as a possible candidate for dictator, began to deteriorate. On June 5, the sailors demanded that Kolchak and other officers surrender their weapons, including their award ones. The admiral threw his St. George saber overboard, telling the sailors that even the Japanese did not try to take it away when he was captured.

After the sailors' revolt, in mid-June 1917, Kolchak left the Black Sea Fleet and went to Alexander Kerensky, a former State Duma deputy and Minister of War of the Provisional Government. Kolchak demanded to cancel democratic changes in the army: the admiral saw how it was falling apart before his eyes. Among the officers and circles that were in sharp opposition to the Provisional Government, thoughts about appointing Kolchak as dictator began to be expressed more and more loudly. Minister of War Kerensky, who had long been planning to “overthrow” the weak Prime Minister Prince Lvov, could not allow this. Kolchak went into virtual exile: by order of Kerensky, he was supposed to go to the United States and advise the American military, who were going to conduct an amphibious operation in the Dardanelles and capture Istanbul.

Kolchak arrives in the USA at the end of August 1917. It turns out that the Americans were not planning any landing operation, and the Russian embassy informs him that now he must head some kind of military-diplomatic mission. Kolchak asks the governments of the allied powers to enlist him in any warring army in any rank, even as a private, and he himself goes to San Francisco, from where he sails to Japan in October. There he learns about the Bolshevik coup. The British report that they are ready to give him an appointment on the Mesopotamian front, but it will be better if the admiral goes to Harbin and restores order on the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway. Kolchak assembles a detachment in Harbin, defeats the local bandit chieftains who were interfering with railway communication, and does not allow the Japanese to lay claim to the Chinese Eastern Railway and Vladivostok.

In September 1918, Kolchak left Harbin, where he spent the last year. He makes a firm decision to make his way to the Don, to the Volunteer Army of General Alekseev. Kolchak travels through Siberia incognito and in civilian clothes, but he is recognized in Omsk. Members of the Directory - the Omsk government of cadets and Socialist Revolutionaries, former members of the State Duma - hold several meetings with Kolchak and persuade him to become Minister of War. He accepted this post on November 4, 1918.

The coming weeks convinced Kolchak of the incapacity of the Directory. In the rear of the Red Eastern Front, an anti-Bolshevik uprising began at the Izhevsk arms factory. The directory did not support the uprising, Izhevsk fell, and the workers had to retreat beyond the Kama. A conspiracy had long been brewing among the military, which led to the coup on November 18, 1918. The Socialist Revolutionary ministers were arrested, the conspirators elected Admiral Kolchak as dictator, and he received the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia.

"Margarine Dictator"

In Soviet historiography, the admiral's regime was presented as despotic, but the Bolshevik leaders themselves called Kolchak a “margarine dictator,” hinting at the softness of his power. Kolchak was soft only in comparison with the Reds. Any anti-government protests, including strikes, were resolutely suppressed by the troops, and the death penalty and corporal punishment returned. To neutralize the threat from Bolshevik spies and Red partisans, Kolchak gave greater powers to counterintelligence. This affected the activities of counterintelligence officers: some got rich, others settled personal scores or satisfied sadistic tendencies.

There were also positive changes. Under Kolchak, for the first time in Siberia, a minimum wage was introduced, which was indexed along with inflation. Freedom of the press was preserved: both left- and right-wing publications denounced the “military dictatorship.” The Socialist Revolutionary ministers of the Directory were arrested, but no one organized a hunt for party members. For example, the governor of the Irkutsk province was Pavel Yakovlev, a former bomber. And here is what the Red partisan detachment under the command of Kravchenko and Shchetinkin wrote: “I, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, secretly landed in Vladivostok in order, together with the people’s Soviet government, to begin the fight against the traitor Kolchak, who had sold himself to foreigners. All Russian people are obliged to support me. Grand Duke Nicholas."

Kolchak was prompted to appoint people like Pavel Yakovlev to positions not by his liberal views, but by personnel shortages. It was he who was the main scourge of White Siberia, and was especially acutely felt among the troops: almost all talented officers were either Denikin or the Reds. Things were no better in the rear. Most government employees felt like temporary workers and stole everything they could.

Even under these conditions, Kolchak managed to organize a victorious offensive. From February to May, the Whites moved forward and took Perm and Ufa. The advanced detachments of General Pepelyaev approached Vyatka, from where a direct road opened to Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.

In early May 1919, the offensive stalled. The Reds were able to concentrate about 80 thousand people under the command of Frunze and Tukhachevsky in decisive directions of the Eastern Front. The whites in these areas had a little less than 20 thousand. The very first defeats hit Kolchak’s army very hard: widespread desertion of the mobilized began. The Whites rolled back to the east as quickly as they had recently moved to the west. On November 10, Kolchak had to leave the capital, Omsk.

The government and government structures evacuated quite quickly. According to rumors, ministers had to bribe railway workers in order to be provided with carriages. Kolchak remained. He wanted to personally monitor the train with Russia's gold reserves, which the Whites captured in August 1918 in Kazan. French General Maurice Janin, a representative of the Entente powers and the formal commander of the Czechoslovak Corps, proposed to export gold on Czechoslovak trains. Kolchak replied that he would rather leave the gold to the Bolsheviks than give it to the allies. After these words, the Entente lost all interest in Kolchak, who too zealously defended Russian interests.

While the train carrying Kolchak and the gold slowly moved east, the government in Irkutsk tried to prevent mass uprisings with democratic reforms and a change of administration. New Prime Minister Pepelyaev, who had previously served as Minister of Internal Affairs, wanted to create a democratically elected parliament and tried to show that the Kolchak government was ready for dialogue with the moderate left. Meanwhile, the left was already preparing a rebellion. Irkutsk became the center of attraction for the socialist intelligentsia. The city was ruled by the aforementioned bomber Yakovlev, the Menshevik Konstantinov was the chairman of the city duma.

In November 1919, the Political Center appeared, a union of non-Bolshevik left organizations in Siberia, in which the Socialist Revolutionaries played the main role. The organization was headed by Florian Fedorovich, a former State Duma deputy who was part of the Samara government of Komuch, an anti-Bolshevik government of former deputies of the Constituent Assembly. The organization set as its goal the overthrow of the Kolchak regime and the construction in Siberia of an independent socialist state with democratic governance, which, according to the members of the Political Center, could coexist with Red Russia.

While Kolchak’s train slowly crawled along the Trans-Siberian Railway, constantly delayed by the Czechs, the Political Center began to act. The technique was borrowed from the Bolsheviks: agitators were sent into the battle-weary and practically defeated army, who told the soldiers that only Kolchak was preventing peace between the Bolsheviks and independent free Siberia. A chain of uprisings gradually cut off Irkutsk from Kolchak and Kappel’s army retreating after him. At the beginning of December, Pepelyaev left the city and went to meet Kolchak. The political center began to prepare an uprising.

On December 21, 1919, a flood of water tore down the bridge across the Angara. The ice had not yet broken up, and the city was cut off from the barracks of the 53rd regiment, which made up the majority of the Irkutsk garrison. The Social Revolutionaries immediately began their agitation in the regiment. On the evening of December 24, Nikolai Kalashnikov, a former Socialist Revolutionary bomber and now a staff officer of the Kolchak army, came to the barracks. He announced to the soldiers that power had transferred to the Political Center and a new, people's army would be formed to fight the Bolsheviks. In total, we managed to agitate about three thousand people throughout the city.

Irkutsk in 1919, newsreel

The uprising could have been suppressed on the very first day: the Irkutsk commandant Konstantin Sychev planned to fire cannons at the barracks where the rebels were gathering. But there were five thousand Czechs and one and a half thousand Japanese in the city, who told him that in the event of a bombing they would side with the rebels.

Sychev had several officer detachments, a company of instructors and rangers. The bulk of his troops were high school students and cadets aged 14–20 years. Irkutsk gymnasium and college girls fed them; they were unable to organize the work of field kitchens in the city. On December 31, units of Ataman Semenov tried to break through to the city, but the Cossacks were driven back by machine-gun fire. There was still potential for a fight, but on July 5, Kolchak’s ministers capitulated and fled the city without warning the defenders.

Kolchak, meanwhile, was stuck with the train in Nizhneudinsk. The Czechs received an order from commander Jan Syrovy not to allow trains to pass to Irkutsk. The officers suggested that Kolchak get horses and go to Mongolia, since the Czechs agreed to let the admiral go in any direction except towards Irkutsk, but the admiral categorically refused to abandon his convoy. About five hundred people still remained with him, and he firmly decided to share their fate.

On January 7, 1920, progress was made in negotiations with the Allies. The golden echelon came under the protection of Czech troops, the convoy was disbanded, the admiral and his entourage continued to move in one of the Czech trains. At the same time, Kolchak could go to Mongolia along with his officers or start moving west, towards the army of Vladimir Kappel in the Kansk area. It was about a five-day sleigh ride to get there.

The commander of the Czech echelon, Major Krovak, received a telegram from Syrovoy: Kolchak must be escorted to Irkutsk, where he will be handed over to the Japanese or French for evacuation to Vladivostok. The political center demanded that General Zhanen and Syrovoy hand over the admiral, otherwise promising to attack Czech trains throughout Siberia. Zhanin and Syrovoy conceded. Kolchak was handed over to representatives of the Political Center as soon as the train arrived in Irkutsk, at 21:55 on January 15, 1920.

"With the dignity of a captive commander in chief"

There were more than a hundred new prisoners in the Irkutsk provincial prison. Kolchak, his prime minister Pepelyaev, the common-law wife of the Supreme Ruler, Anna Timireva, adjutant of Admiral Trubcheninov, former Kolchak ministers and part of the convoy officers. Kolchak himself received solitary confinement.

Formally, the investigative commission was subordinate to the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center, but on the same day, actual power over it was transferred to the Bolshevik Provisional Revolutionary Committee (VRK). The interrogations began on January 21. Pressure was exerted by the local Bolshevik underground, which supported the Socialist Revolutionary uprising financially and organizationally. The Social Revolutionaries did not resist; in the presence of representatives of the Czech troops, they solemnly signed the act of transfer of power. Two days later, elections were held to the local council of workers' and soldiers' deputies; out of 524 seats, the Bolsheviks got 343, the Socialist Revolutionary bloc - 121.

A special Socialist Revolutionary commission of inquiry was created for the trial: Konstantin Popov, Vsevolod Denike, Nikolai Alekseevsky, Georgy Lukyanchikov. The Social Revolutionaries interrogated the admiral, and the minutes of the meetings were signed by Samuil Chudnovsky, appointed by the Provisional Revolutionary Committee to the post of head of the Irkutsk Cheka. It was simultaneously a kind of independent special judicial body created by the previous government, and formally, after the establishment of Soviet power, a branch of the local Cheka, in which the Socialist Revolutionaries simply sat together with the Bolsheviks.

This duality persisted throughout, including in relation to prisoners. The food in prison was disgusting, but transfers from the outside were allowed, so most of the prisoners did not starve. Those arrested were allowed to move through the internal corridors of the prison castle and visit each other. At the same time, Chudnovsky, for example, forbade bringing tea to Kolchak, having noticed during one of the interrogations that the Supreme Ruler drinks it with great pleasure. Then the investigative commission itself began to give him tea.

The commission members treated the admiral with respect. Popov writes in his memoirs that Kolchak behaved with “the dignity of a captive commander-in-chief,” answered all questions in detail and gave testimony, but never gave the commission materials to convict anyone for crimes against the Soviet regime. However, he could say anything - the decision had already been made.

Behind Kolchak’s train, the remnants of the Siberian White Army under the command of Vladimir Kappel, bloodless but still quite combat-ready, about five thousand people, were still moving east. Realizing that people who had walked several thousand kilometers through the taiga in winter could well take Irkutsk, the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Red Army, which then represented the central government in Siberia, decided: “Admiral Kolchak is to be kept under arrest with the adoption of exceptional strategic measures and the preservation of his life ... using execution only if it was impossible to keep Kolchak in his hands...” This telegram arrived in Irkutsk on January 23.

On January 27, martial law was introduced in the city. The Izhevsk brigade of Kappel’s army defeated the advanced units of the Reds at Zima station. The security in the prison was replaced by a detachment of Red Guards, the liberal order ended. Now everyone was sitting in their cells, transmissions were allowed extremely rarely, depending on the mood of the guards, and visits were also allowed. Immediately after the news of the battle at Zima, the Military Revolutionary Committee sent a request to the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army - what to do with Kolchak. The answer came immediately: “The Revolutionary Military Council has no objection to execution.”

The interrogations continued until February 6, until a telegram arrived from the same Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army in Irkutsk: “Today, via direct wire, I have given orders to shoot Kolchak.” This day was the last day of meetings of the investigative commission, there were nine in total. The admiral managed to testify before the period of the February Revolution; transcripts of interrogations have been preserved.

On February 6, the White army broke through to the city, which, after Kappel’s death on January 26 from pneumonia, was led by General Sergei Voitsekhovsky. He put forward an ultimatum in which he demanded that the Bolsheviks hand over Kolchak and his staff. The ultimatum was rejected, Wojciechowski ordered an assault. The Bolsheviks feared an uprising in Irkutsk itself, where there were still supporters of the Supreme Ruler and the Socialist Revolutionaries, dissatisfied with the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.

It is still not clear how the decision to shoot Kolchak was made. They came to shoot at two o'clock in the morning from the sixth to the seventh of February. The resolution was adopted and signed by the Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee Shiryamov and members of the Military Revolutionary Committee Snoskarev and Levenson, but some researchers believe that it was drawn up retroactively, and the real decision was made by the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army Smirnov and Lenin. As proof of this version, they cite Lenin’s telegram: “In code. Sklyansky: Send Smirnov (RVS 5) an encrypted message: Do not spread any news about Kolchak, do not print absolutely anything, and after we occupy Irkutsk, send a strictly official telegram explaining that the local authorities before our arrival acted this way and that under the influence of Kappel’s threat and danger White Guard conspiracies in Irkutsk. Lenin. The signature is also encrypted.1. Are you going to do it extremely reliably?”

The dating of this telegram is unknown. Opponents of the version with Lenin’s direct participation in the decision to shoot Kolchak say that it was sent at the end of February 1920 and the postscript “reliably” concerned another matter. But why Lenin sent instructions for information coverage of the death of the admiral only at the end of February is unclear. The decision to shoot such a significant figure in the white movement was hardly made by the Siberian Bolsheviks without consultation with the center, but Lenin, as in the case of the execution of the royal family, chose to remove responsibility from the central Bolshevik government, shifting it to local executive authorities.

"Ends in the water"

They came to the cell for Kolchak at two o’clock in the morning. He was already dressed. He asked: “Won’t there be a trial?” Chudnovsky laughed. The admiral asked for a last meeting with Timireva, but was refused. At the same time, they went up for Pepelyaev, who was never interrogated. While the security officers were taking the former prime minister from the cell, Kolchak handed Chudnovsky a capsule with cyanide. It was given to the admiral by sympathizers from the city with one of the food parcels. He explained to Chudnovsky that suicide is not compatible with the principles of a Christian. No orders were read out, they were simply taken to the Znamensky Monastery. Samuel Chudnovsky, in his memoirs, described the moment before the execution as follows: “Kolchak stood and looked at us, a thin, Englishman type. Pepelyaev prayed." Before the execution, Kolchak and Pepelyaev were offered to be blindfolded, but both refused. The story that Kolchak himself commanded his execution is not confirmed by the memories of the participants.

“Chudnovsky whispers to me: “It’s time.” I give the command. Both fall. The corpses are put on a sled, we bring them to the river and lower them into the hole. This is how Admiral Kolchak set off on his last voyage. They didn’t bury him, because the Socialist-Revolutionaries could talk, and people would rush to the grave. And so - ends in the water,” - this is from the memoirs of Boris Blatlinder, the commandant of Irkutsk, known under the party pseudonym Ivan Bursak. The Bolsheviks abolished the death penalty on January 17, 1920.

The chairman of the investigative commission, Popov, died in Moscow in 1949. A member of the investigative commission, Alekseevsky fled abroad in 1920 and died in an accident in 1957. A member of the investigative commission, Denike, was shot in 1939 as an enemy of the people. A member of the investigative commission, Lukyanchikov, was sentenced to exile in Turkestan in 1924 in the AKP case; he did not return from exile; the date of his death is unknown. Samuil Chudnovsky, head of the Irkutsk Cheka, was executed in 1937 as an enemy of the people. Rehabilitated in 1957. Ivan Smirnov, head of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army, who gave the direct order for the execution, was executed in 1936 as an enemy of the people. Boris Blatlinder, commandant of Irkutsk, was convicted in 1924 of embezzlement, and in 1937 was shot as an enemy of the people. Rehabilitated in 1988.

Dmitry Ostryakov independently tried to obtain a ruling from the military court of the Trans-Baikal Military District dated January 26, 1999 on the refusal to rehabilitate Kolchak, and also asked for it to be published on the court’s website. The military court of the Trans-Baikal Military District itself was renamed the East Siberian District Military Court in December 1999.

In February 2017, the East Siberian District Military Court refused to issue a copy of the judicial act to Dmitry, explaining that such a judicial act is served only on the applicants in the case, and Dmitry is not one. In response to Ostryakov’s request, the Supreme Court of Russia responded in April 2017 that the original of the judicial act was stored in the Central Archives of the FSB of Russia, and in the East Siberian District Military Court itself it was destroyed due to the expiration of the document’s storage period. After this, Team 29 became involved in the case.

In April 2017, through the unregistered media outlet Rosvet, the Team’s lawyers sent a request to the Russian FSB asking for a copy of the judicial act refusing to rehabilitate Kolchak. The FSB of Russia forwarded the media request to the East Siberian District Court, which responded in May 2017 that Rosvet is not the applicant in the case, but the criminal case against A.V. Kolchak. contains the stamp “top secret”.

In June 2017, with the help of Team 29, Dmitry Ostryakov again sent a request to the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia, in which he asked for a copy of the judicial act on the refusal to rehabilitate Kolchak, and also to inform him whether it was classified as restricted information.

In July 2017, the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia reported that it could not provide a copy of the judicial act, but it was not secret. In August 2017, Team 29 sent a complaint to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in connection with the refusal of the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia to provide the requested judicial act.

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born in 1874. His father was a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. At the age of 18, the young man entered the Naval Cadet Corps, where he studied for six years.

Kolchak entered the Cadet Corps from an ordinary St. Petersburg gymnasium. He was interested in exact sciences and loved making things. Upon graduation from the cadet corps in 1894, he was promoted to midshipman.

In the period from 1895 to 1899, he traveled around the world three times, during which he was engaged in scientific work, studied oceanography, maps of currents and the coast of Korea, hydrology, tried to learn Chinese and prepared for a south polar expedition.

In 1900 he took part in the expedition of Baron E. Toll. In 1902, he went in search of the baron’s expedition that had remained to spend the winter in the north. Having examined the expected route of the expedition on the wooden whaler "Zarya", he managed to find the baron's last stop and determine that the expedition was lost. For participation in the search expedition, Kolchak received the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree.

Soon the Russo-Japanese War began. Alexander asked to be sent to the combat area. While the issue of transfer to the front was being decided, Kolchak managed to marry Sofya Fedorovna Omirova. Soon he is sent to the front, to Port Arthur, under the command of Admiral Makarov.

In Port Arthur, he served on the cruiser Askold, then transferred to the minelayer Amur, and eventually began to command the destroyer Angry. A Japanese cruiser was blown up by a mine set by Kolchak. Soon he became seriously ill and transferred to ground service. Alexander Vasilyevich commanded a battery of naval guns. After the surrender of the fortress, he was captured by the Japanese and returned to his homeland through America.

For the courage and bravery shown during the defense of the fortress, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne and the Order of St. Stanislaus. After returning to St. Petersburg, Kolchak was registered as disabled and sent to the Caucasus for treatment. Until mid-1906, he worked on his expedition materials, supplemented them, edited them, and put them in order. Compiled the book “Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas,” published in 1909. For his work he was awarded the highest award of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society - a large gold medal.

In January 1906, Kolchak became one of the founders of the officers' Naval Circle of St. Petersburg. The circle developed a program for the creation of the Naval General Staff. This body was supposed to prepare the fleet for war. As a result, such a body was created in April 1906. Kolchak became one of its members.

Alexander Vasilyevich showed himself excellently in the first years of the First World War. Protected St. Petersburg from naval shelling and German landings, placing 6 thousand mines in the Gulf of Finland. In 1915 he personally developed an operation to mine enemy naval bases. Thanks to him, the losses of the German fleet were many times greater than ours. In 1916, he received the rank of Admiral, and became the youngest naval commander in the entire history of the Russian fleet. On June 26, Alexander Vasilyevich is appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet, conducts a number of successful military operations against Turkey, and completely dominates the Black Sea. He is developing a plan for the capture of Constantinople, everything is ready for execution, but a revolution breaks out...

Kolchak, like all officers, is dissatisfied with the order to “democratize the army” and actively expresses his opinion. The admiral is removed from command and returns to Petrograd. He goes to the USA as a mine expert, where he greatly helped the Americans, and they offered him to stay. Alexander Vasilyevich faces a difficult question: personal happiness or self-sacrifice and suffering in the name of Russia.

The Russian public has approached him more than once with an offer to lead the fight against the Bolsheviks; he makes a difficult choice in favor of Russia. The admiral arrives in Omsk, where the role of minister of war is prepared for him in the Socialist Revolutionary government. After some time, the officers carry out a coup, and Alexander Kolchak is proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia.

Kolchak's army numbered about 150 thousand people. The admiral restored the laws of the Russian Empire in Siberia. To date, there are no documents confirming the fact of the “white terror” against workers and peasants, which Soviet historians and propagandists love to talk about. Things at the front went well at first. The front was advancing, and a joint campaign with Denikin was even planned against Moscow. However, Kolchak, like the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, was faced with human vice and baseness. There was betrayal, cowardice and deceit all around.

Alexander Vasilyevich was not a puppet of the Entente, and the allies eventually betrayed the Admiral. He was repeatedly offered help “from outside”; the Finns wanted to send a 100,000-strong army into Russia in exchange for part of Karelia, but he said that “he doesn’t trade with Russia” and refused the deal. The position of the White armies in Siberia was deteriorating, the rear was falling apart, the Reds brought about 500 thousand people to the front. In addition to all this, a general epidemic of typhus began, and the white army became heavier and heavier.

The only hope for salvation was Kappel, but due to certain circumstances, Vladimir Oskarovich did not perform a miracle. Soon the Reds were already not far from Omsk, the headquarters was evacuated to Irkutsk. The admiral was stopped at one of the stations; he was betrayed by the Czechoslovak corps, which, in exchange for free passage to Vladivostok, handed the admiral over to the Bolsheviks. Kolchak was arrested and on February 7, 1920 he was shot along with his minister Pepelyaev.

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak is a worthy son of his Fatherland. His fate is as tragic as the fate of other figures of the white movement. He died for an idea, for the Russian people. The main tragedy in life is love. Kolchak was a family man, but he met Anna Vasilievna Timeryaeva, for whom he was inflamed with great love, and who was with him until the very end. He divorced his first wife. Kolchak’s son from his first marriage fought in the French Navy during World War II.

Promoted to lieutenant, Kolchak in 1900 - 1902 participated in the polar expedition of E.V. Toll and for “an outstanding geographical feat involving difficulty and danger” Rus was presented. Geographical Society for the large Konstantinovsky gold medal and was elected a full member of the Society. One of the islands of the Kara Sea was named after Kolchak. During the Russo-Japanese War he commanded a destroyer; successfully engaged in laying a minefield; commanded a coastal artillery battery until the fall of Port Arthur. Wounded and suffering from rheumatism, Kolchak was released from Japanese captivity in 1905 and returned to St. Petersburg, where he was awarded orders and a golden saber “For Bravery.” In 1906, Kolchak was appointed head of the Naval General Staff Directorate.

Anticipating the inevitability of war with Germany, he tried to obtain funding for the implementation of the shipbuilding program, for which purpose the III State Department participated as an expert on naval issues. thoughts, but failed and returned to scientific work. Kolchak took part in the design of special icebreaking ships. In 1909, Kolchak’s largest work, Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas, was published. In 1909 - 1910, Kolchak took part in an expedition to the Bering Strait, and in 1910 he was recalled to St. Petersburg to continue work on the shipbuilding program. Kolchak argued for the need to reorganize the Naval General Staff and demanded the elimination of parallel institutions not subordinate to each other, which strengthened the autocracy of the commander. In 1912 he transferred to the Baltic Fleet. With the outbreak of the First World War, Kolchak practically directed the military operations of the fleet in the Baltic, successfully blocking the actions of the German fleet: he carried out the amphibious landing tactics he developed and attacked convoys of German merchant ships. In 1916 he was appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet and promoted to vice admiral. Having learned about the February Revolution, he regarded it as an opportunity to bring the war to a victorious end, considering this “the most important and most important matter, standing above everything - both the form of government and political considerations.”

Faced with a “new discipline” based on class consciousness, Kolchak defined it as “the disintegration and destruction of the Russian armed force.” In July 1917, having transferred his powers to Rear Admiral V.K. Lukin, Kolchak came to Petrograd to see A.F. Kerensky and was sent as head of the naval military mission to the USA. Having learned about the October Revolution in San Francisco, I did not consider it worthy of attention. In November 1917, in Japan, Kolchak learned of the Sov's intentions. government to sign peace with Germany and decided not to return to his homeland: “As an admiral of the Russian fleet, I considered our allied obligations towards Germany to remain in full force.” Kolchak was accepted into British service and in 1918 began forming armed forces to fight the “German-Bolsheviks.” In November 1918 he arrived in Omsk, where he was appointed Minister of War and Naval Affairs of the government of the Socialist Revolutionary Directory. On Dec. 1918 Kolchak carried out a coup, declaring himself the “Supreme Ruler of Russia”, and set himself the goal of “victory over Bolshevism and the establishment of law and order.”

Possessing half of Russia's gold reserves, having received military support from England, France, Japan, and the USA, he led a successful struggle in Siberia, the Urals and the Far East. By the spring of 1919, there were up to 400 thousand people in Kolchak’s army. His power was recognized by A.I. Denikin, N.N. Yudenich, E.K. Miller. Restoring private ownership of enterprises and land, Kolchak gave the commanders of military districts the right to close press organs and impose death sentences, which caused resistance in Kolchak’s rear. Finnish General K. Mannerheim suggested that Kolchak move 100 thousand to Petrograd. army in exchange for Finnish independence, but Kolchak, who stood for a “united and indivisible” Russia, refused. By the summer of 1919, the main group of Kolchak’s troops was defeated. Kolchak’s course towards the restoration of pre-revolutionary orders led to a massive partisan movement. Having been defeated, Kolchak transferred power to A.I. Denikin and Ataman G.M. Semenov, January 15 1920 Kolchak was arrested by the Czechoslovaks, who handed him over to the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik “Political Center”. After the transfer of power to the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee at the secret proposal of V.I. Lenin's Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee decided to shoot Kolchak. Kolchak's body was lowered into the hole.

Book materials used: Shikman A.P. Figures of Russian history. Biographical reference book. Moscow, 1997

KOLCHAK Alexander Vasilievich (04.11.1874-07.02.1920) Captain 1st rank (12.1913). Rear Admiral (04/10/1916). Vice Admiral (06/28/1916). Admiral (11/18/1918; the title was awarded by the Council of Ministers convened on the day of the coup). Graduated from the Naval Corps (1894). Participant in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905: from 03.1904 he participated in the defense of Port Athur; after his surrender - in Japanese captivity. 06.1905 returned to St. Petersburg via Japan and Canada. He continued his hydrographic work on the study of the seas of the Arctic and Far East. Participant of the First World War: assistant to the commander of the Baltic Sea Fleet, Admiral Essen N.O. (died 05.1915) and Vice Admiral V.A. Kanin. (from 05.1915) on operational planning of naval operations. From 09.1915 commander of the mine division and naval forces in the Gulf of Riga. For successful actions in the Gulf of Riga area he received awards and was promoted twice in rank. Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, 06/28/1916-06/06/1917. Surrendered the Black Sea Fleet to Rear Admiral Lukin. At the disposal of Commander-in-Chief Kerensky in Petrograd (05 - 07.1917).

Recognized the power of the Provisional Government after the February Revolution. Showing flexibility, he made every effort to firmly maintain the combat capability of the Black Sea Fleet. In 04.1917 he was summoned to Petrograd, where he discussed the situation on the fronts, in the fleets and in Russia as a whole with Kerensky (Minister of the Navy) and his most active comrade-in-arms, Guchkov. On 04/28/1917 he returned to Sevastopol and joined the fight against anarchy and the collapse of the Black Sea Fleet. However, maintaining discipline and sufficient combat capability of the fleet became more and more difficult. Admiral Kolchak felt the approaching storm of revolution and his helplessness to prevent this catastrophe. 06/06/1917 Admiral Kolchak ordered Rear Admiral Lukin to take command of the Black Sea Fleet and sent a telegram to Petrograd about his resignation as commander of the Black Sea Fleet. 06/10/1917 arriving in Petrograd. After the report to the government, the admiral remained out of work, ignored by the command and the authorities, 06/10 - 07/27/1917. Sent to the USA and England for help to continue the war. 07/27/1917 left Petrograd for the USA (via the Far East); started working in the USA and England; 07.27.1917-04.1918. After the revolution at the end of December 1917, he entered the British military service with appointment and sending to the front in Mesopotamia (Middle East). 01/20/1918 arrived through Japan to Shanghai (China); then, on 03/11/1918 - to Singapore, on the ship Dinega. However, by order of the English General Ryden, the first ship on March 16, 1918 returned to Shanghai for further work in Manchuria and Siberia.

Then Admiral Kolchak arrived in Beijing and then - 04.1918 in Harbin (Manchuria) to form Russian armed forces in the Far East in the CER zone. Took command of all Russian military units in Manchuria, 04 - 10.1918. At this time, 07.1918, General Horvath, the representative of Russia in Manchuria for the management, protection and work of the CER and Russians associated with the CER and living in Manchuria, proclaimed himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia. In the summer of 1918, Admiral Kolchak visited Japan, where he met with the English General Knox and his (second) wife A.V. Timireva. 09.1918 from Japan arrived in Vladivostok, where he had meetings with the Czech general Radola Gaida, commander of the 2nd Czechoslovak division and member of the Government of the Ufa Directory - Vologda. Having secured their agreement with the admiral’s plans to expel the Bolsheviks from Siberia and establish a new government in Russia as a whole, on September 27, 1918, he left Vladivostok for Omsk, where he arrived on October 13, 1918. In the White movement: arrived on October 13, 1918, together with the English General Knox, in Omsk. Minister of War in the government of the Ufa Directory, 04.11.1917 - 18.12.1918. With the support of the head of the garrison, Colonel Volkov and his troops, he carried out a coup d'etat on November 18, 1918. The Council of Ministers, which met on the morning of this day, adopted a number of state acts at its meeting, including the introduction of the post of Supreme Ruler in Russia and the awarding of the rank of full admiral to Vice Admiral Kolchak, as well as the transfer to him of the temporary exercise of Supreme Power due to the difficult situation of the state.

Taking advantage of these acts, Admiral Kolchak declared himself the Supreme Ruler of the Russian State and the Commander-in-Chief of the new Russian Army he was creating, 11/18/1918-01/04/1920. After the defeat of the Russian army by Soviet troops on 12/27/1919, on 01/04/1920 he transferred power to General Denikin in the West and General Ataman Semenov in Siberia and the Far East. Taken under guard by the Czechoslovak Corps. Issued by the Czechs to the Soviet authorities at the Innokentievskaya station near Irkutsk. Arrested 01/15/1920; shot on 02/07/1920 by the Bolshevik Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee (VRK) on the ice of the river. (According to another version, Lenin personally sent an encrypted telegram, a copy of which was addressed to I.N. Smirnov, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front, with an order to immediately shoot Admiral Kolchak, who was in prison in Irkutsk. Having chosen the moment of Kappel’s troops approaching Irkutsk, Lenin sent to the Irkutsk Council of Deputies telegram: In view of the movement of Kappel's detachments to Irkutsk, I hereby order you: Admiral Kolchak, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pepelyaev, who is in your custody, immediately shoot upon receipt of this. Execution to be reported. Chairman of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee A. A. Shiryakov gave instructions to the chairman of the investigative commission and at the same time to the chairman of Gubchek S.G. Chudnovsky: Take Kolchak from prison and take him out of the city to a safer place, which was exceeded by execution with prior approval from the mentioned Smirnov I.N. Further comments are unnecessary.)

Materials used from the book: Valery Klaving, Civil War in Russia: White Armies. Military-historical library. M., 2003.