Alexey Maksimovich Kaledin (born October 12 (24), 1861 - death January 29 (February 11) 1918) - cavalry general. The military chieftain of the Don Cossack army. One of the main leaders of the White Cossack movement.
During the First World War, as a combat commander, he was distinguished by scrupulousness and personal courage. General Denikin Anton Ivanovich noted that Kaledin did not send, but led troops into battle. He was awarded the St. George Arms, the Order of St. George, 4th degree on October 12, 1914, and the Order of St. George, 3rd degree, September 12, 1915.
General of the cavalry Kaledin "The sworn enemy of Soviet power" - with this name the ataman Kaledin entered the official historiography of the Soviet Union, "ataman-sorrow" - this is how he remained in the memory of people close to him and the White Cossacks. Before the fatal shot, which ended his life at 57, General Kaledin had come a long way in combat, worthy of a Russian officer, defender of the Fatherland.
Origin. Education
One of the famous commanders of the Russian army in the First World War and one of the initiators of the Civil War on the Don was born on the Kaledin farm in the village of the Ust-Khopersk Region of the Don Cossack.
His father finished his service with the rank of Cossack colonel. The family was not rich. Alexei graduated from the Voronezh Cadet Corps, and then in 1882 received the rank of an artillery officer, studying first at the 2nd Konstantinovsky, and then at the Mikhailovsky artillery schools in St. Petersburg.
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A family
The wife of Alexei Maksimovich was a citizen of the French-speaking canton of the Swiss Confederation, Maria Granzhan (Maria Petrovna), who was fluent in Russian. They had one child, at the age of eleven, a boy who drowned while swimming in the Tuzlov River.
Years of service
He began his army service in the horse-artillery battery of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army. 1889 - graduated from the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. After 2 years of service at the headquarters, for two years he commanded a squadron of the 17th Dragoon Volyn regiment. After spending 3 years at the headquarters of the Warsaw Military District, in 1895 he returned to his native Don, becoming a senior adjutant of the military headquarters.
After serving as a staff officer in the management of an infantry reserve brigade, A. Kaledina was appointed head of the Novocherkassk Cossack cadet school, in which he did a lot to improve the organization of the educational process. In 1906-1910. - Served as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Don Cossack Host.
In all these positions, Kaledin showed himself from the best side as an operational officer, as a commander-in-chief, as an educator of people subordinate to him.
A. M. Kaledin and his wife Maria Petrovna Kaledina-Granzhan.
World War I
The First World War - the Great Patriotic War (as it was called in the Russian press), Lieutenant General Alexei Kaledin met the head of the 12th Cavalry Division of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front. During the war he showed great personal courage. For the August battles of the first military campaign near Lvov he was awarded the St. George weapon "For Bravery".
1914, October - was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. Less than six months later, he received the Imperial Military Order of a higher, 3rd degree for breaking through the enemy front. The award order says the following:
“For being the chief of the 12th cavalry division, in mid-February 1915, being sent to the enemy flank, pushing our troops from the city of Stanislavov to Galich and threatening him with the latter, personally commanding the division and being under actual enemy fire, when On this February 16 he was wounded, with vigorous actions he was able to break the stubborn resistance of the enemy who was against him in the area of the village of Bendarov.
As a result, the main enemy group, advancing towards the city of Galich, threatening from the flank and rear, began to retreat to the city of Stanislavov …"
1915, March - twice the Knight of St. George Kaledin formed a cavalry corps, which saved the position of the Russian 9th Army with a blow to the flank of the advancing Austro-Hungarian troops. Then he was appointed commander of the 12th Army Corps, and in March 1916 replaced cavalry general Aleksei Alekseevich Brusilov (he took command of the front) at the post of the 8th Army, renowned for its military affairs.
When the famous Brusilov offensive (Brusilov breakthrough) of the Southwestern Front began, the 8th Army was assigned the role of the main strike force. She received a third of the front-line infantry (13 divisions) and half of the heavy artillery (19 batteries).
Kaledin's army brilliantly fought the battle near the city of Lutsk: they defeated several corps of the Austro-Hungarians, 922 officers, 43628 lower ranks were taken prisoner. Among the trophies were 66 guns, 71 mortars and 150 machine guns. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian troops opposing the 8th Army lost more than 82,000 people in the battle of Lutsk. The losses of the Russian side were about 33,000 people killed and wounded …
1916, June 10 - the Don Cossack A. M. Kaledin was awarded the rank of cavalry general.
The enemy was able to stop the Brusilov breakthrough only after large forces of the German army came to the aid of the Austro-Hungarians, including those transferred from the French front. However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not recover from such a powerful blow in Galicia until the very end of the First World War. A considerable share in this success of Russian weapons accounted for the 8th Army …
However, after the Lutsk success, the general was expected to fail in the August battles near Novograd-Volynsky. Having received the 1st and 2nd Guards (infantry) corps for reinforcement from the Special Army, he failed to break through the enemy's front, after which the offensive operation was completed. But experts believe that the 8th Army commander was not to blame for the failure.
L. G. Kornilov and A. M. Kaledin (Moscow 1917).
February revolution
After the February Revolution, General Kaledin sharply opposed the "democratization" of the army, which could only lead to a loss of fighting efficiency, discipline and organization. By the end of April, the Provisional Government removed him from the command of the army.
The general left for Novocherkassk, where the Don military circle worked at that time. The combat general was warmly greeted by its participants, and on June 19 he was elected military chieftain of the Don Cossack army. In Petrograd, this decision was forced to approve.
Don Ataman
In the letter of the circle of the Don Army regarding the election of the Knight of St. George Kaledin, who became famous in the battles of the front-line soldier, the following was said:
"By the right of the ancient custom of the election of the Army Atamans, broken by the will of Tsar Peter 1 in the summer of 1709 and now restored, we have elected you as our Army Ataman."
Aleksey Maksimovich Kaledin stayed as a military ataman of the Don Cossacks for a little more than 6 months …
1917, August - at the Moscow State Conference, the general, on behalf of all 12 Cossack troops of Russia, demanded the continuation of the war to a victorious end, the dissolution of councils and committees in the army, indicating that "the army should be out of politics." From the rostrum of the meeting, Kaledin said:
“There must be a limit to the plundering of state power by central and local committees and Soviets. Russia must be united …"
Although the ataman Kaledin did not openly support the speeches of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Russia, General of Infantry Kornilov Lavr Georgievich, a native of Siberian Cossacks, he nevertheless declared in his Don: "The Provisional Government … comes flesh of flesh and blood of the blood of the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies …"
Kerensky Aleksandr Fyodorovich, in response, dismissed the "dissenting" military chieftain "and brought him to trial for mutiny." But the Don government and the Don circle did not recognize such a decision of the Provisional Government. Tom happened to cancel his order.
Fight against Soviet power
When the October Revolution took place in the capital, the general called "the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks criminal." He declared the Don Cossack Region and the Southern Coal Industry Region on martial law, starting by force the dispersal of local councils. White Cossack detachments began to form.
At that time, the volunteer armies of Generals Kornilov and Alekseev began to be created in Novocherkassk. All three hoped that by joint efforts they would be able to create a hotbed of resistance to Soviet power on the Don and, as a result, would win. But that did not happen.
The Cossack units returning from the fronts, tired of the war, for the most part did not support the military chieftain in those days. Moreover, the congress of Cossack front-line soldiers, which took place in early January in the village of Kamenskaya, elected the Don Cossack Military Revolutionary Committee headed by Vakhmister F. G. Podtyolkov, who announced the seizure of power on the Don.
Along with this, Bolshevik detachments launched an offensive on the Don Cossack Region. The main blow was delivered from the side of the Donetsk coal basin. The Cossacks mobilized by the ataman dispersed in masses to the villages and farms, not wanting to fight.
Alexey Maksimovich Kaledin assessed the situation soberly, realizing that he had almost no strength to resist. 1918, January 29 - he spoke at a meeting of the Don government saying this:
“… Our situation is hopeless. The population not only does not support us, but is hostile to us …
I do not want unnecessary sacrifices, unnecessary bloodshed; I propose to resign …
I relinquish my powers as a military chieftain."
On the same day, Alexei Maksimovich Kaledin shot himself in his office. But with this revolving shot, the Civil War on the Don took on a new sound.
Positions held:
• Platoon commander of the Kono-artillery Cossack battery (from September 1, 1879)
• Squadron commander (1890 (?) - licensed annual command)
• Senior Adjutant of the Staff of the 6th Infantry Division (from November 26, 1889)
• Ober-officer for assignments of the headquarters of the fifth army corps (from April 27, 1892)
• Assistant to the Senior Adjutant of the Headquarters of the Warsaw Military District (since October 12, 1892)
• Senior Adjutant of the Army Headquarters of the Don Army (from July 14, 1895)
• Headquarters Officer at the Office of the 64th Infantry Reserve Brigade (from 5 April 1900)
• Head of the Novocherkassk Cossack Junker School (from June 25, 1903)
• Assistant Chief of Staff of the Don Army (from 25 August 1906)
• Commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 11th Cavalry Division (from June 9, 1910)
• Commander of the 12th Cavalry Division (from October 1912 to February 16, 1915, seriously wounded)
• Commander of the 12th Army Corps (from August 1915)
• Commander of the 8th Army (from April 1916)
In the reserve of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (from May 5, 1917)
Military ranks were awarded:
• cornet (August 1879)
• Centurion (August 7, 1882)
• Podsaula (April 10, 1889)
• Head Captain of the General Staff (General Sh.) (September 26, 1889)
• Captain General. sh. (April 21, 1891)
• Lieutenant Colonel Gen. sh. (December 6, 1895)
• Colonel General. sh. (December 6, 1899)
• gene. sh. Major General (May 31, 1907)
• gene. sh. Lieutenant General (1914)
• General of the cavalry (August 1915)