Lev Nikolaevich Punin, head of advanced training courses for command personnel at the School of Military Communications named after M. V. Frunze. 1934 year. Photo: from the author's personal archive Lev Nikolaevich Punin, head of the advanced training courses for the command staff at the School of Military Communications named after M. V. Frunze. 1934 year. Photo: from the personal archive of the author
The author of "Memories of the February Revolution at the Front of the 12th Army" is my grandfather, Lev Nikolayevich Punin [1], a career soldier, teacher at the Military Transport Academy, historian, participant in the First World War, the Civil, Soviet-Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars. In 1917, he served in the detachment of Special Importance of Ataman Punin, located on an advanced sector of the front near the town of Old Kemmern (near Riga). This formation performed special reconnaissance tasks and was one of the most disciplined and cohesive units of the 43rd Army Corps of the 12th Army of the Northern Front.
Lev Nikolaevich left invaluable testimonies, including how they met the February Revolution at the front. Published in an abridged form.
Published by Olga Khoroshilova, PhD in Art History.
In the rear they dug in … well-fed barchuk …
At the end of December 1916, the 12th Army launched an offensive almost on the eve of Christmas, in connection with which this offensive was called Rozhdestvensky … I must say that no one believed in the success of this enterprise. And the officers of our unit too. The offensive began on the night of December 23 with a surprise attack on both banks of the Aa River in the general direction of Mitava. Before the offensive, the spirit of the troops, especially among the Siberian and Latvian riflemen, was generally good. However, the first success soon collapsed, the attackers were stopped by the German counterattacks, and the failure of the entire offensive was then a foregone conclusion.
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My unit fought heavy battles on the right flank of the attackers, in the area of the Tirul swamp [2]. On December 26, we were tasked with assisting the attack of the 6th Special Infantry Brigade of General Yevgeny Vasilyevich Lebedinsky … Having met German fire resistance, the brigade first lay down in front of the barbed wire, and then began to retreat and even run back. I had to talk not only with the soldiers, but also with the officers of this brigade. The general tone of their explanations boiled down to the following: “We have won our own, we have been fighting for three years already, we have been wounded more than once, and now they were sent to die again, for what? Many well-fed barchiks and merchants dug in in the rear, they did not smell gunpowder, but they send us to be shot."
But especially serious events that anticipated the February Revolution took place in two Siberian rifle regiments of the 6th and 2nd Siberian corps of our 12th army. Before the offensive, they rebelled, refused to go into battle, presented a number of demands to the command. As a result, the command was able to carry out mass arrests. The army field court decided to shoot the guilty, and send those who sympathized with them to hard labor.
In total, several dozen people were shot (in one 17th regiment - 24 people).
The news of the massacre of their own soldiers quickly spread throughout all units of the 12th Army and, naturally, became the topic of conversations both among the officers and especially among the soldiers. The soldiers asked me tricky questions: “Who is to blame that the soldiers rebelled? Why are there no officers among the executed, because they also did not go on the offensive? Who benefits from these new victims of the war? Will this cruel carnage end soon?"
I confess it was difficult for the officer to find convincing answers …
The soldiers had fun and danced
In mid-February, rumors began to penetrate our front about riots in Petrograd, about strikes and demonstrations of workers, about the tsar's decree to dissolve the State Duma and about the refusal of the Duma members to carry out this resolution. All this warmed up the already tense atmosphere. Everyone was expecting a thunderstorm … For several days there were no newspapers from Petrograd, and this circumstance made us even more nervous.
Various, sometimes very fantastic, rumors were born and the most varied opinions were expressed about the possibility of a revolution. Finally, the first newspapers arrived. It was written in large print: "REVOLUTION" … Among the newspapers appeared "Izvestia" - the organ of the Committee of Petrograd Journalists - distributed free of charge (the first issue came out on February 27). In it we read both about the creation of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the creation of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies.
The next issue of Izvestia, dated February 28, had headlines: “Newspapers are not published. Events are moving too fast. The population should know what's going on. " In this issue of the newspaper, along with the appeal to the population of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, the appeal of the Council of Workers' Deputies to the population of Petrograd and Russia was announced. The proclamation said: “The struggle is still going on; it must be completed. The old government must be finally overthrown and give way to popular rule. This is the salvation of Russia. For the successful completion of the struggle in the interests of democracy, the people must create their own power organization."
Along with all other newspapers, we unexpectedly received Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. This new organ testified that in Petrograd the workers, together with the soldiers of the garrison, had now created "their own power organization." Local Riga newspapers (Rizhskoe Obozreniye and Rizhskoe Morning) reprinted materials from Petrograd and Moscow newspapers, so we were especially interested in them. As a curiosity, it is only worth mentioning that the editors of these newspapers, apparently, did not know much about the events that took place, if on March 6 they published an announcement of the Juno theater, which invited to watch ("Only with us!") The picture "Three hundred years of the reign of the House of Romanov", when the Romanovs ceased to reign in Russia a few days ago.
Throughout the 12th Army, soldiers were merry and dancing, songs were sung for days. The officers also congratulated each other and willingly went to read newspapers to the soldiers of their units. Usually such a reading ended with a general shout of "hurray", and the officer was rocked. Red bows appeared on the chest of the soldiers, from nowhere and by whom were delivered. However, not all of our officers willingly wore these bows, and even in this, perhaps, trifle, the division of officers into supporters of the "old regime" (they were in the minority at the front at that time) and supporters of revolution, freedom and democracy affected.
Of course, as the following months showed, among the officers who allegedly supported the revolution, there were self-seekers, cowards, and provocateurs who pinned red bows solely for the sake of disguise.
We didn’t know exactly which parties existed …
What was to be done by us, a well-coordinated combat squad in such difficult political and military circumstances? It was necessary, of course, to dodge in conversations with the soldiers, so as not to undermine the authority of the chief of the detachment. We have heard rumors about clashes between officers and soldiers in neighboring units. But, fortunately, in our detachment the officers still enjoyed authority and therefore the soldiers so far demanded from us only explanations of the events that were taking place. However, what could we tell them, we, for whom, in accordance with the imperial charter, all enemies were divided exclusively into “external” and “internal”?
The overwhelming majority of our officers were completely illiterate in matters of domestic policy. We did not know exactly which parties exist, what programs they have, and what these programs promise the people and soldiers. Newspapers of various directions that were published did not help much to understand these complex issues …
Order No. 1 overturned the traditions of the Russian army …
The dual power that arose then confused us, and it was very difficult to sort out this complex interweaving of political leadership, especially in a combat situation at the front. We felt the role of the Soviets most powerfully when we read the historical Order No. 1 in Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers' Deputies, which overturned long-standing traditions in the Russian army.
In our unit, the soldiers were also very excited by this order, and by the conversations that had begun about the abolition of military awards and the termination of the payment of pensions due for them, which played a significant role in the soldiers' budget. The soldiers kept asking me: “After all, we received crosses for heroism, for bravery, for defending Russia from the Germans? You too are a cavalier - isn't it a shame for you to take off your well-deserved military awards? you and I have earned them together."
Soon, however, a note appeared in the local newspaper: "The Cavaliers of St. George can be calm", in which it was reported that the usual orders were canceled, and the military awards and the pensions received for them were preserved. My soldiers calmed down. Soon, a new military award was even installed - the St. George's silver cross (that is, a soldier's sample) with a silver laurel branch on a ribbon. This award was given to the persons of the command staff by the verdict of the general meeting of soldiers, and this award was very enviable, since it testified not only to the bravery of the one to whom it was appointed, but also to the attitude of the soldiers towards him.
In pursuance of the paragraph of the first Order No. 1 in our detachment and other units of the 12th Army, in early March 1917, committee elections began. Since the Regulations on the procedure for elections, on the rights and duties of the committees were published only on the twentieth of March, the first elections took place without any instructions. In other words, complete chaos reigned. In the composition of the first committees it was decided to include the most respected by the mass of soldiers and even officers, although in Order No. 1 it was clearly indicated that the committees are created "from the elected lower ranks."
The political convictions of the first "committee members", as they were then called, were very diverse. It became clear that for the correct direction of the activity of the committees it is necessary to have a certain political program. The election of delegates to the 12th Army Committee showed that the army was steadily revolutionizing, and the main thing was that the delegates were strictly punished to stand on the "platform" (as they said then) of those who stood for peace at all costs, that is a world without annexation and indemnity (although, I confess, among our lower ranks, almost no one understood the meaning of these loud words).
Every now and then the slogan sounded: "Down with the landlords and capitalists."
On March 8-9, 1917, a congress of deputies of the 12th Army took place in Riga, which formed the executive committee of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies (ISKOSOL 12). On the same days, a congress of officers 'deputies of the 12th Army was held, at which the executive committee of the Council of Officers' Deputies (ISKOMOF 12) was elected. But it did not last long, and in ISKOSOL 12 a real serious struggle unfolded between representatives of the compromising parties and the Bolsheviks.
And all this difficult and strange time, while political speeches were being conducted in the rear, in Riga, our detachment continued to remain on the front line of the front. The soldiers were still subordinate to the officers …
Delighted to the depths of the soul by the overthrow of the government …
The beginning of March 1917 was also marked by another important event for all of us. In connection with the accomplished revolution, a meeting of officers and lower ranks, it was decided to send a deputation from our detachment to the new Minister of War, Alexander Nikolaevich Guchkov. At one time, he did a lot to form our unit, and now we considered it right and timely to come to him, express our support for the new government, and also convey to him the desire of all officials - so that our detachment would receive the name of "the name of ataman Punin."
No sooner said than done. On March 9, our delegation, consisting of five lower ranks and two officers, visited the Minister of War at a reception and, incidentally, gave him the official address of the detachment. Here is its text:
Guchkov was very pleased with the brawny look of the soldiers and officers. And his attitude influenced the further course of events - already in the twentieth of March, our detachment received official permission to be called the "Horse Detachment of Special Importance named after Ataman Punin." We were all jubilant.
12th Army drowned in political controversy
Meanwhile, the situation in the units of the 12th Army worsened day by day. After the revolution, in March, but especially in April, political conversations intensified in our units. It seemed that the entire 12th Army was doing nothing but politics, forgetting about its direct responsibilities. There was no order, most of the units were no longer openly willing to fight. Our partisans, I will give them their due, expressed a unanimous desire to continue combat work, although now our Russian infantry was actively interfering with us.
In April and May, there were several cases when infantrymen threw bombs at the location of the detachment at night.
The Germans, who were well aware of the atmosphere in the 12th Army, added fuel to the fire. They periodically scattered proclamations calling for an end to the war. We removed an interesting leaflet from the wire at our positions - in it the Germans, addressing our soldiers, blamed England for the war, claiming that they themselves only wanted peace. In addition, we found a telephone cable running from our infantry positions straight into the German trenches. The wire was removed. But how could this affect the general situation …
In the spring and summer, the 12th Army finally lost its combat effectiveness, choking on political disputes. And our detachment was entrusted with the offensive function of the mounted police - some of the officers and partisans were sent to the location of the 180th Infantry Division. They scoured the front, participated in suppressing riots in our infantry units, escorted the instigators to the rear. Such work was not to the liking of anyone. My elder brother Alexander, the new chief of the detachment named after the ataman Punin, complained in a letter:
“The service is not easy, there is a lot of responsibility, no conveniences… It's a pity that there was no special work. They chased deserters as guards. When the infantry was pacified, our detachment distinguished itself by opposing the 180th Infantry Division, from which 33 instigators were withdrawn and arrested. The division of the army and the commissars are satisfied with our work. But I want real combat work, without which the combat outfit deteriorates."
Our lower ranks were of the same opinion: “We are here many times worse than you, near Riga,” wrote the partisan Burlakov. - Here the work is done to the very throat, the horses are completely driven away. And all in vain. Every day they went to pacify the infantry. We carry those arrested to Dvinsk as pharaohs. In short, the service is not to hell - it would be better to be back in the regiment."
The revolution that took place affected not only the moral character of our soldiers. She influenced the course of military operations. We felt its consequences with all our might later - during the summer offensive of the German army, as a result of which we had to leave Riga.
1. Lev Nikolayevich Punin (1897-1963) from October 1915 to September 1917 served in the unit of Special Importance of the Northern Front. Since 1918 - in the ranks of the Red Army. In 1934, he was appointed head of the Advanced Training Courses for the command staff at the School of Military Communications. M. V. Frunze. From 1925 he taught the history of transport. From 1927 to 1939 he worked at the VOSO school. Frunze, then - at the advanced training courses for command personnel at the same school. In 1939 he went to work at the Leningrad Military Transport Academy. Since 1944 he taught at the Military Transport Academy. L. M. Kaganovich. Author of a number of monographs on the military history of Russia.
2. Not far from the town of Kemmern.
