In Russia, probably everyone has heard about Kolchak's missing gold. Many treasure hunters have lost years of their lives in search of it. But few people have heard about the gold of Ataman Semyonov. But this treasure was sought by very serious organizations. We are talking about 50 tons of gold in jewelry and antiques, buried by Ataman Semyonov on the territory of the modern Trans-Baikal Territory at the end of the Civil War. The current value of the hidden gold, according to some estimates, is half a billion dollars.
The Civil War was ending. In the winter of 1920, after the defeat of Kolchak, the remnants of the army of the late General Kappel arrived in Chita. The Kappelevites had a part of the famous gold reserves of Russia. By this time, things were not going well for Semyonov, the Trans-Baikal ataman of the White Cossacks. Red partisans confidently pressed back his troops. The end of the summer of 1920 shocked Semyonov - the Japanese, on whose bayonets held his power, left. In panic, the ataman bombarded the leadership of the Far Eastern republic with strange proposals - an alliance against Wrangel in the Crimea in exchange for the post of ruler of Manchuria and Korea or a complete amnesty. The answer is silence.
And then Semyonov plans to escape. In addition to Kappel's gold, he also has in his hands the valuables taken from the Chita stores in 1918, during the capture of Transbaikalia. Semyonov, guarded by two armored trains, sends a railway carriage with gold to the south, to the Chinese border. As a vanguard, an officer corps from Kappel's army marched ahead, three days' journey. Behind the valuable train from the partisans was covered by the Special Manchurian Division. Semyonov himself flew to the Chinese border by airplane.
Special Manchu detachment.
Meanwhile, feuds began between the comrades-in-arms. The Kappelevites, who wanted to leave with valuables to Mongolia, tried to seize the gold, but the Semyonov armored trains fought back. However, the threat of attack did not pass. The Semenovites decided to bury gold in the vicinity of the Dauria station. The place for the treasure was chosen a couple of kilometers from the railway, not far from the Tavyn-Tologai hill. The so-called Genghis Khan rampart, the remains of an ancient defensive structure, was used as a landmark. As soon as the Cossacks buried the gold, the Kappelites, having captured one of the armored trains, attacked them. In a desperate battle, all the Cossacks died. However, the Special Manchurian Division, which arrived in time, avenged them. The result - after this meat grinder nobody got the gold.
Trial (26 - 30 August 1946). First on the left: G. M. Semenov.
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In 1945, Soviet troops captured Semyonov, who lived in Manchuria, controlled by the Japanese. In 1946, the court sentenced Grigory Semyon to death and he was executed. As the investigation found out, the former chieftain repeatedly tried to look for gold, but unsuccessfully.
The NKVD, which opened the treasure case, began searching for gold three times, but to no avail. Which, however, is not surprising - primitive search methods were used on a huge area of 150 square kilometers. Hundreds of soldiers walked in a chain with probes in their hands, which were stuck into the ground. Over time, the search stopped and since 1972 the gold case has been gathering dust in the archive.
And gold continues to lie somewhere in the ground …