In the history of the civil war, a prominent place is occupied by an active figure in the White Guard movement, General Kappel, whose photo is presented in the article. During the years of Soviet power, his image was either hushed up or presented in a distorted form. Only with the onset of perestroika did many episodes of Russian history receive their true illumination. Became public knowledge and the truth about the life of this amazing man.
Son and successor of the Kappel clan
The outstanding Russian commander General Kappel came from a family of a Russified Swede and a Russian noblewoman. He was born on April 16 (28), 1883 in Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg. The father of the future hero, Oskar Pavlovich, came from a family of Russified Swedes (this explains his Scandinavian surname), was an officer and distinguished himself greatly during Skobelev's expedition. Mother Elena Petrovna was also a noblewoman and came from the family of the hero of the defense of Sevastopol ─ Lieutenant General P. I. Postolsky. The parents named their son Vladimir in honor of the holy prince ─ the baptist of Russia.
Having received his primary education at home, Vladimir decided to follow in his father's footsteps and,enrolling in the 2nd Imperial Cadet Corps, graduated from it in 1901. After spending two more years in the Nicholas Cavalry, he was promoted to cornet and assigned to one of the capital's dragoon regiments.
Marriage of the dashing cornet
The first brilliant victory of the future General Kappel was the conquest of the heart of Olga Sergeevna Strolman ─ the daughter of a major tsarist official. However, the ambitious parents did not even want to hear about the marriage of their beloved Olenka with a barely fledged young officer. Vladimir took this first fortress erected in front of him by storm ─ he simply kidnapped his bride (with her consent, of course) and, neglecting his parental blessing, secretly married her in a village church.
It is known that even a semi-wild highlander is able to steal a girl, but a true nobleman, first of all, is obliged to prove that he is worthy of her. To this end, the desperate cornet Kappel, having neither connections nor patronage, manages to enter the Imperial Academy of the General Staff, the doors of which were open only to representatives of the highest nobility.
This way he secured his way to the heights of his military career. After such a feat, the wife's parents saw in him not just a dashing rake, but a man who, as they say, "will go far." Having fundamentally changed their attitude to what happened, they blessed the young people, although belatedly.
Last years of the great empire
After graduating from the academy in 1913, Vladimir Oskarovich was seconded to the Moscow military district and met the staff of the First World Warcaptain, that is, in the rank of senior officer. In the biography of General Kappel, it is always noted that even then he showed an outstanding talent in organizing large-scale military operations, doing this as a senior adjutant to the commander of the Don Cossack division. He met the October coup of 1917 already in the rank of lieutenant colonel and holder of several orders he received for heroism shown at the front.
Being a staunch monarchist, Vladimir Oskarovich categorically rejected both the February revolution and the results of the October armed coup. From the posthumously published letters of General Kappel, it is known that he mourned with all his heart the collapse of the state and the army, as well as the humiliation that the Fatherland suffered in the face of the whole world.
Joining the ranks of the White Guard movement
The beginning of his active struggle against the Bolsheviks was the entry into the ranks of the Komuch People's Army (Committee of the Constituent Assembly) ─ which became one of the first formations of the White Guard movement, created in Samara after it was captured by units of the rebellious Czechoslovak Corps. The army included many experienced officers who went through the First World War, but none of them wanted to take command of the hastily created units, since the numerical superiority of forces was on the side of the Reds, who were advancing in those days from all sides, and the matter seemed hopeless. Only Lieutenant Colonel Kappel volunteered to take on this mission.
Achieving victory in Suvorov style, that is, not by numbers, but by skill, Kappel so successfully smashed the Bolshevik formations that very soonthe fame of him scattered not only throughout the Volga, but even reached the Urals and Siberia. It is important to note that, as a monarchist, he did not share the political convictions of many Social Revolutionaries who were the creators of the People's Army, but, nevertheless, continued to fight on their side, since at that moment he considered the overthrow of Soviet power by any means to be the main thing.
Loud victories of the Kappel troops
If at the beginning there were only 350 people under the command of Kappel, then soon their number increased significantly due to volunteers who flocked from all over the district and poured into his units. They were attracted by the rumor about the military success that accompanied him. And these were not empty rumors. At the beginning of June 1918, after a hot but short battle, the Kappelites successfully drove the Reds out of Syzran, and at the end of the month Simbirsk was added to the cities they liberated.
The biggest success of that period was the capture of Kazan, carried out at the end of August of the same year by units under the command of V. O. Kappel, with the assistance of the forces of the Volga River Flotilla. This victory brought with it innumerable trophies. Leaving the city, the red units retreated so hastily that to the mercy of fate they abandoned a significant part of the gold reserves of Russia that was in it, which from that moment passed into the hands of the leaders of the White movement.
Everyone who personally knew General Vladimir Kappel and left their memories of him emphasized that he was always not only a skilled commander, but a person distinguished by personal courage. There is much evidence of howa handful of comrades-in-arms, he made daring raids on the Red Army formations that outnumbered them and invariably came out victorious, while managing to save the lives of his fighters.
Family held hostage
The tragedy that left its mark on the whole subsequent life of General Kappel belongs to this period. The fact is that the Reds, not being able to cope with him in open battle, took hostage his wife and two children, who were then in Ufa. It is hard to imagine what spiritual strength it took for Vladimir Oskarovich to reject the ultimatum presented to him by the Bolsheviks and, despite the threat hanging over the lives of people dear to him, continue the fight.
Looking ahead, let's say that the Bolsheviks did not fulfill their threat, but, in order to save the lives of the children, they forced Olga Sergeevna to officially renounce her husband. After the end of the civil war, she refused to leave Russia, although she had such an opportunity and, having regained her maiden name (Strolman), settled in Leningrad.
In March 1940, the leadership of the NKVD remembered her, and by a court decision, the widow of the White Guard General Kappel was sentenced to 5 years in camps as a "socially dangerous element." Returning from prison, Olga Sergeevna again lived in Leningrad, where she died on April 7, 1960.
Bitterness of defeat
After the capture of Kazan, Kappel suggested that the leadership of the People's Army, developing success, strike at Nizhny Novgorod, and then start a campaign against Moscow, but the Socialist-Revolutionaries, showing obvious cowardice, dragged on with the adoptionsuch an important decision. As a result, the moment was lost, and the Reds transferred the formations of the 1st army of Tukhachevsky to the Volga.
This forced Kappel to abandon his plans and make a 150-kilometer forced march with his units to protect Simbirsk from the approaching enemy forces. The battles were protracted and fought with varying success. As a result, the advantage turned out to be on the side of the Reds, who had an advantage both in the number of their troops and in their supply of food and ammunition.
Under the banner of Kolchak
After a coup took place in eastern Russia in November 1918 and Admiral A. V. Kolchak came to power (his portrait is given below), Kappel, along with his associates, hastened to join the ranks of his army. It is known that at an early stage of joint actions between these two leaders of the White Guard movement, some estrangement was indicated, but then their relations entered the proper track. At the beginning of 1919, A. V. Kolchak, awarded Kappel the rank of lieutenant general, and instructed him to command the 1st Volga Corps.
Despite the fact that, being a skilled and experienced military leader, General Kappel made every effort to complete the assigned tasks, his corps, as well as the entire Kolchak army, could not avoid major defeats. However, even after the loss of Chelyabinsk and Omsk, the supreme commander saw in him the only commander capable of influencing the course of events, and placed all the remaining units under his control. Nevertheless, the situation on the Eastern Front became more and more hopeless and forcedKolchak's army to retreat, leaving the Bolsheviks city after city.
3,000 miles long crossing
By November 1919, one of the most striking, but at the same time, dramatic episodes related to the activities of General Kappel in Eastern Siberia dates back. It entered the history of the White movement as the "Great Siberian Ice Campaign". It was a 3,000-verst crossing, unparalleled in its heroism, from Omsk to Transbaikalia, carried out at a temperature that dropped to -50 °.
In those days, Vladimir Oskarovich commanded units of Kolchak's 3rd army, formed mainly from among the captured Red Army soldiers who deserted at every opportunity. Leaving Omsk, General Kappel, continuously attacked by the enemy, managed to lead his units along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connected Miass with Vladivostok in 1916. For this feat, Kolchak intended to make him a full general, but the rapidly developing events prevented him from fulfilling his promise.
The fall of the Kolchak government
In early January 1920, the Supreme Commander A. V. Kolchak abdicated, and a few days later he was arrested in Irkutsk. After a month spent in the dungeons of the Cheka, on February 7, 1920, he was shot together with the former minister of the government he created ─ V. N. Pepelev.
Due to the current situation, General of the White Army Kappel Vladimir Oskarovich was forced to personally lead the fight against Bolshevism in Siberia. But the forces were extremely unequal, and in mid-January1920, near Krasnoyarsk, the threat of complete defeat and destruction loomed over the Kappelites. However, even in such an almost hopeless situation, he managed to withdraw his troops from the encirclement, but paid for it with his own life.
The end of a legendary life
Since all the roads were controlled by the Bolsheviks, General Kappel was forced to lead his units straight through the taiga, using the channels of the frozen rivers to advance. Once, in a bitter frost, he fell into a hole. The result was frostbite in both legs and bilateral pneumonia. He made the further journey tied to the saddle, as he constantly lost consciousness.
Shortly before his death, General Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel dictated an appeal addressed to the inhabitants of Siberia. In it, he predicted that the Red troops moving behind him would inevitably bring with them persecution of faith and destroy peasant property. The village drunkards and loafers, having become members of the committees of the poor, will have the right to take everything they want from the genuine workers with impunity. As you know, his words were truly prophetic.
Prominent Russian commander General Kappel Vladimir Oskarovich passed away on January 26, 1920. Death overtook him at the Utai junction, located near the city of Nizhneudinsk in the Irkutsk region. After the death of their commander-in-chief, the white units made their way to Irkutsk, but they failed to take the city, which was under the protection of numerous red formations.
Unsuccessful and attemptedrelease Admiral Kolchak, who was in those days in the hands of local Chekists. As mentioned above, on February 7, 1920, he was shot. Seeing no other way out of the situation, the Kappelites bypassed Irkutsk and withdrew to Transbaikalia, and from there they proceeded to China.
A secret funeral and a desecrated monument
The history of the burial of the remains of the White Guard general is very curious. Companions with good reason believed that at the place of death he should not be buried, since the grave could be desecrated by the Reds, who followed on their heels. The body was placed in a coffin and accompanied the troops for almost a month until they reached Chita. There, in an atmosphere of complete secrecy, General Kappel was buried in the city cathedral, but after a while his ashes were transferred to the cemetery of the local convent.
However, in the fall of the same year, units of the Red Army came close to Chita, and when it became obvious that the city would have to be surrendered, the surviving officers removed its remains from the ground and went abroad with them. The final resting place of the ashes of General Kappel was a small plot of land next to the altar of the Orthodox Church, erected in the Chinese city of Harbin and consecrated in honor of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. Thus ended the life of General Kappel, whose brief biography formed the basis of this article.
Somewhat later, after the end of the civil war, white émigrés erected a monument on the grave of the famous fighter against Bolshevism, but in 1955 it was destroyed by the Chinesecommunists. There is reason to believe that this act of vandalism was carried out on the basis of a secret directive from the KGB.
Memory revived on the silver screen
Today, when the events of the civil war, deliberately distorted by Soviet propaganda, received new coverage, interest in the most significant historical figures of that time has also increased. In 2008, director Andrei Kirisenko shot a film, the hero of which was Kappel. The General, a documentary about which was shown on many federal TV channels, was presented in the fullness of his outstanding personality.
Earlier, Soviet moviegoers had an idea about the troops of General Kappel only from the film "Chapaev", filmed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1934. In one of his episodes, the famous Soviet film director showed a scene of a psychic attack undertaken by the Kappelites. Despite the power of its impact on viewers, historians note obvious historical inconsistencies in it.
Firstly, the uniform of the officers in the film is significantly different from that worn by the Kappelites, and secondly, the banner under which they go into battle does not belong to them, but to the Kornilovites. But the main thing is the absence of any documentary evidence that the units of General Kappel ever entered into battle with Chapaev's division. So Eisenstein, apparently, used the Kappelites to create a generalized image of the enemies of the proletariat.
