The Dutov clan and family. Ataman Dutov - biography “Dutov was not an ideal person”

Liquidation

The concern of the Soviet leadership about the presence of significant organized and seasoned anti-Bolshevik forces near the borders of Soviet Russia is understandable, especially since the Whites themselves did not lose hope “with honor,” as General Bakich wrote 2293, to return to their homeland and overthrow the Bolshevik regime, and, of course, especially Dutov worked actively in this direction. Dutov’s active and successful anti-Bolshevik activities and his unquestioned authority among the Cossacks became the reasons for the physical elimination of the ataman. There is a widespread belief that Dutov was killed by security officers, which in fact is a clear simplification.

On November 28 (15), 1920, Dutov drew up a will, which came to us only in an extract made by the outstanding emigrant researcher I.I. Serebrennikov from the archive of Dutov’s personal secretary, N.A. Shchelokova. The will was written in Suydin on the letterhead of the Marching Ataman of all Cossack troops, No. 740. The text of this document was as follows:

"Will. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Being of sound mind and sound memory, I, Alexander Ilyich Dutov, Orthodox, 41 years old, holding the position of elected Military Ataman of the Orenburg Cossack Army and Marching Ataman of all Cossack troops, General Staff Lieutenant General, voluntarily and consciously, in the event of my death , I bequeath all my property located in my apartment and belonging to me, as well as money, things, horses, carriages, harness, linen, writing and toiletries, fur coats, coats, dishes, gold things: watches, cigarette cases, etc. Orenburg Cossack army of the Ostrolenskaya village of the 2nd Division to Alexandra Afanasyevna Vasilyeva and my daughter and hers, Vera, the last, if Alexandra Afanasyevna Vasilyeva dies; If she is alive, then she, Alexandra Afanasyevna Vasilyeva, will be my only heir to everything that I have. Horses, the black stallion “Vaska”, the black gelding “Boy”, the gray “Orlik” and “Volshebash” 2294, “Gunter” and the Kyrgyz horse “Mishka” constitute my personal property and therefore belong to me, and after my death to Alexandra Afanasyevna Vasilyeva, and in this will I leave a power of attorney in the name of A.A. Vasilyeva to receive my money from the Bank in Ghulja: ten thousand Ili tezz. As his executor and guardian over A.A. Vasilyeva and daughter Vera, I appoint father Jonah as abbot. Believe everything that is written. I seal everything with my signature and official seal. Amen" 2295.

The original document was certified by two seals: the Campaign Ataman and the Military Ataman. Dutov did not leave anything to his legitimate family; perhaps, knowing that she remained in the territory occupied by the Bolsheviks, he did not want to expose his loved ones to danger.

I will dwell in more detail on the preparation and conduct of the special operation to eliminate the chieftain. According to the head of the intelligence department of the Turkfront headquarters, Kuvshinov, “... the presence of White Guards in the [Chinese] provinces can lead to very sad consequences for China. Undoubtedly, the Chinese authorities take this circumstance into account, and if they put up with the presence of unarmed Russian White Guards on their territory, they only tolerate the presence of armed ones for the time being, until they have the opportunity to deal with them...” 2296. These words turned out to be prophetic.

An undeniable historical fact is that on February 6 (January 24), 1921, at about 6 p.m., Ataman Dutov, at the age of 41 and a half years, was mortally wounded in his home in Suydin and the next day, February 7, at 7 a.m. he died from large blood loss. This is where the reliably known information about the circumstances of the incident practically ends.

There are several versions of what happened. I will try, relying solely on eyewitness accounts on both sides, and not on subsequent distortions, to restore the true course of events that led to the death of the chieftain. It is interesting that for a long time after the death of Dutov in the USSR, the official version was that the ataman was killed by one of his 2297 people, but later (after the rehabilitation of the repressed participants in the special operation in the 1960s) the liquidation was still credited to the Soviet intelligence services, whose various units apparently even competed with each other for the right to include this episode in their history. This is what led to a large flow of essays about the special operation with varying details of what happened, published during the Soviet period. I will discard the obviously absurd versions that, for example, Dutov was killed by a Semirechensk Cossack disillusioned with the White movement, sent by the Semirechensk regional branch 2298, or that he was killed by his own adjutant 2299, and will focus on a comparative analysis of the data closest to reality.

So, the Bolshevik leadership decided to put an end to Dutov, but this task was not easy. The special operation was divided into two stages - infiltration into Dutov’s entourage and the actual abduction (or liquidation) of the chieftain. The security officers tried to penetrate Dutov twice, but both attempts were unsuccessful. Then it was decided to prepare a special operation. What explained the choice of the moment of liquidation? The main version is that the day Dutov planned for his performance is approaching. Available data allow us to assert that it was not the abduction, but the liquidation of the chieftain, that was sanctioned by Tashkent, and before that by Moscow. The implementation of the special operation was personally supervised by the plenipotentiary representative of the Cheka in Turkestan, Y.Kh. Peters and the responsible employee of the Turkfront RVS, 23-year-old V.V. Davydov 2300, who later became commissioner for the Ili border district 2301. An important role was played by the chairman of the Dzharkent Cheka Suvorov and his deputy Kreivis. Thus, it was a joint operation of the RVS, which was also in charge of security issues and the Cheka, and it is incorrect to attribute it to the security officers alone. Narkomfin allocated a considerable amount of 20,000 rubles for the operation. gold 2302 (it is not entirely clear why such a lot of money was needed - it is unlikely that hiring several militants and purchasing the necessary equipment and horses for them would have cost that much, and bribing third parties during the operation was not expected).

The young chief of the Dzharkent police, Kasymkhan Galievich Chanyshev (b. 1898), was elected as the immediate leader of the operation. It is known that Chanyshev served as an orderly in 1917; in the fall of 1917 he became one of the leaders of the Red Guard of Dzharkent 2303. It should be mentioned that Chanyshev, according to rumors, was considered a descendant of a prince or khan, was born into a wealthy merchant family, there is evidence that he was a former officer (however, most likely false), his uncle lived in Gulja, which allowed the future liquidator to visit the city relatively often without arousing much suspicion. In 1919, Chanyshev joined the Bolshevik Party 2304. Such a person was quite a suitable figure to lead the operation. The choice turned out to be truly successful, especially since Dutov planned to deliver his first strike precisely against Dzharkent.

City mayor of Dzharkent (later - Panfilov) F.P. Milovsky, who fled to Gulja, recommended Chanyshev to Dutov for contact with the city. Moreover, Chanyshev had previously told Milovsky about the readiness of a number of people in Dzharkent for an uprising. Dutov did not know that before meeting him, Chanyshev visited Tashkent (it was officially stated that he went hunting), where he talked with Y.Kh. Peters and V.V. Davydov 2305. According to the official version, between Milovsky and Dutov, Chanyshev went through one more link - father Jonah. However, according to an unknown officer of Dutov’s personal detachment, A.P., a veterinarian and at the same time the secretary of the Russian consulate, brought Chanyshev together with his father. Zagorsky (Vorobchuk), who then lived in Gulja 2306. Most likely, this point of view is unfounded - during the Civil War, Vorobchuk personally suffered from Chanyshev’s actions and was almost killed by him. It is unlikely that he could maintain relations with his obvious enemy, moreover, the investigation into Vorobchuk’s activities, carried out in exile, confirmed his complete trustworthiness 2307.

Vorobchuk recalled that Chanyshev and Dutov, on the contrary, were introduced by father Jonah 2308. According to the official version, Abbot Jonah allegedly told Chanyshev at the meeting: “I recognize a person by his eyes. You are our man and you need to meet the chieftain. He is a good person, and if you help (in another option - work. - A.G.) to him, then he will never forget you” 2309.

Upon returning from the “hunt,” Chanyshev wrote a letter to Dutov in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime, complained that his father’s gardens had been confiscated, and declared his readiness at any moment, together with the police officials, to support the ataman. At the end of the letter there was a request for a personal acquaintance with Dutov in order to provide information about the preparation of the uprising in Dzharkent. There was no response from Dutov.

Then Chanyshev went to Dutov himself. According to the official Soviet version, their meeting took place with the assistance of a certain Colonel Ablaykhanov 2310, who was Dutov’s translator. Chanyshev knew him since childhood. Chanyshev met with Ablaykhanov in the best tavern of Suidin 2311. Ablaykhanov quickly organized a meeting between Chanyshev and the ataman. Dutov talked with Chanyshev face to face. The latter posed as an ardent anti-Bolshevik - a member of the underground Dzharkent organization and promised to periodically supply Dutov with information about the situation in Semirechye. After receiving the first information from Chanyshev, Dutov promised to send his man to him as an assistant. On the way to the future liquidator, Dutov issued leaflets for distribution in Semirechye (“To the peoples of Turkestan”, “What is Ataman Dutov striving for?”, “Appeal to the Bolshevik”, “Ataman Dutov’s word to the Red Army soldiers”, “Appeal to the population of Semirechye”). One of the leaflets said: “Brothers, lost and led to a dead end, exhausted brothers. Your groan reached me. I saw your tears, your grief, need and suffering. And my Russian heart, my Orthodox soul makes me forget all the insults you caused to your long-suffering homeland. After all, there are so few of us left!” 2312

In this regard, the organizers of the operation even began to doubt whether Chanyshev was playing a double game?! According to one piece of evidence, Chanyshev was indeed initially recruited by Dutov, but was later re-recruited by the Reds 2313. According to the testimony of a certain Bolshevik and old security officer, YES. Miryuk, who was then at a responsible job in Semirechye, he personally detained Chanyshev while trying to cross the border with China on one of the mountain paths. How much you can trust this is a big question. Nevertheless, Miryuk stated that it was he who detained and exposed Chanyshev as a White Guard, seized from him a package with information about the location of military units, their numbers, Special Departments, lists of commissars, tribunal workers, members of the Bolshevik Party with their addresses, as well as a call to Dutov with the following lines: “Just one step of yours - and we have everything ready here to kill the Bolsheviks and defeat the Soviet of Deputies” 2314. Chanyshev was arrested. Either this was a hasty step by Miryuk himself, who was not aware of the special operation and Chanyshev’s role in it, or the latter was indeed originally an anti-Bolshevik, or this whole version is untrue.

The re-recruitment was carried out in the style of the Reds - clumsily, but effectively. Chanyshev’s father was arrested in Dzharkent (according to some sources, besides him there are ten other relatives of Chanyshev). Most likely, he was simply taken hostage in case his son escaped to Dutov 2315. Thus, the main “liquidator” had another argument for portraying himself as a victim of the Bolsheviks. After meeting with the ataman, Chanyshev returned to Soviet territory. Possessing a good visual memory, he was able to draw a plan of Dutov’s apartment, later refined with the help of M. Khodzhamiarov (Khodzhamyarov), who acted as a courier and sent Dutov the Prince’s first report (this was the code name Chanyshev received from the ataman). The report, written about a week after Chanyshev’s first meeting with Dutov 2316, of course, contained unreliable information. Subsequent reports were sent by Chanyshev and other contacts, which made it possible to form a whole group of militants who could freely penetrate to Dutov. Given the ataman's carelessness regarding his own safety, I think it was not difficult.

Former secretary of the Russian consulate in Ghulja A.P. Zagorsky (Vorobchuk), who met with Dutov in October 1920 and actively helped the ataman, warned the latter that Chanyshev could not be trusted. He subsequently wrote:

“The chieftain received me in his office and informed me that in the near future he intends to march with his detachment into Russia. I was quite surprised by this decision of the ataman and, knowing that the detachment did not have any weapons, and the horses were partly sold, partly died from exhaustion, and also that the detachment consisted of only 15–20 officers, most of whom were made from sergeants and officers, I asked Alexander Ilyich: with whom and what will you speak?

Here Alexander Ilyich told me that he had contacted some anti-communist circles on Soviet territory, that many even from the Red Guard were waiting for him there and would join him, that they would supply him with weapons and that he was visited very often, on behalf of anti-communist organizations, by the chief of police city ​​of Dzharkent (Dzharkent is located 33 versts from the Chinese border, i.e. 78 versts from Suidun), a certain Kasymkhan Chanyshev.

Captain D.K. was present during our conversation. Shelestyuk 2317, former commander of one of the infantry regiments of the Separate Brigade, which operated for some time at the end of the nineteenth year in the Dzharkent district, Semirechensk region, the remnants of which were scattered throughout the Ili region.

When the ataman mentioned the name Chanyshev, I involuntarily shuddered. I, as the former chairman of the Dzharkent City Duma and the manager of the Dzharkent district, knew Kasymkhan Chanyshev very well. He was a young, about 25 years old, local Tatar, who was drafted into the army during the war and served in the town of Skobelev as an orderly for the doctor of the artillery division stationed there. At the end of the 17th year, he deserted from the division, arrived in the city of Dzharkent, where his mother and brother lived, and became a zealous supporter of communism. In the first days of March 18, the 6th Orenburg regiment stationed in Dzharkent left for Orenburg, Dzharkent and the entire district were left without any protection. Kasymkhan Chanyshev and the clerk of the local administration of the military chief Shalin secretly organized a detachment of 78 people from all sorts of vagabonds and criminals, seized unguarded military warehouses with weapons and barracks there and declared themselves a local detachment of the Red Guard.

At my disposal, as the head of the district and chairman of the Duma, there were only 35 policemen, who immediately fled, and the city fell into the hands of these bandits. On March 14, I and a number of local officials who were in the city, officers and public figures who arrived from the front were arrested and imprisoned by them. I told all this to A.I. Dutov, begging him to stop all relations with Chanyshev, as with a provocateur sent to him by his advisers. Alexander Ilyich, smiling, answered me:

– What was then has now completely changed, Chanyshev is a loyal person to me and has already delivered me 32 rifles with cartridges, and in the coming days he will even deliver several machine guns. He and his group gave me an obligation to surrender Dzharkent to me without a fight and to join my detachment...

No matter how hard I tried to convince the ataman not to believe Chanyshev, he remained unconvinced. Then I asked Alexander Ilyich, for his personal safety, to move to the barracks in order to be constantly under the protection of the detachment. To this, Alexander Ilyich answered me that, living in the barracks, he would be too embarrassed by his presence for the officers and Cossacks in their everyday, already very unsightly life, and he could not agree to this. Finally, I asked him to take stricter measures for his security at his residence and recommended that the officer on duty be sure to search every visitor before admitting him to the chieftain.

“God be with you, Anastasy Prokopievich, how can I subject people who come to me with a pure heart to such humiliation,” Alexander Ilyich objected to me.

My requests came to nothing.

Captain Shelestyuk was silent during our conversation with the ataman, but they often looked at each other, and my arguments caused the same smiles in both. From this I saw that Captain Shelestyuk was privy to all the chieftain’s decisions and completely agreed with them. The ataman did not tell me who introduced him to Chanyshev and how, but later those close to Alexander Ilyich told me that this acquaintance took place through Abbot Jonah. Father Jonah himself never told me anything about this.

Alexander Ilyich invited us to the dining room to have breakfast. There, in the presence of his wife, I also tried to persuade the ataman to be especially careful with visitors like Chanyshev, but he answered me categorically:

“I’m not afraid of anyone or anything, back in Orenburg one very famous fortune teller predicted everything that happened to me over the next period of time, and even that I would end up in China, where I would be accidentally wounded, but I would recover and return to Russia with great fame. I believe in her predictions...

After breakfast, he invited me to go with him to the barracks and see in what conditions his comrades lived. We rode in his carriage. From his apartment to the barracks it was necessary to drive about two miles along a road that ran through wastelands around the city wall. I drew the ataman’s attention to this and said:

– If you travel here often, then the Bolsheviks can kill you without any risk to them with one shot or even a stone.

“What a coward you are, Anastasy Prokopievich,” the ataman answered, laughing, “every day I ride alone on horseback to get some fresh air about ten miles from Suidun towards Russia and I’m not afraid of anything.” I believe in the predictions of my fortune teller...

In the barracks, Alexander Ilyich introduced me to all the officers of the detachment. He and I visited several dugout apartments of family officers, and I was horrified at the thought of how these unfortunate people would live in such conditions in winter, since frosts in this area reach 20 degrees and below in Reaumur.

With heavy thoughts about the ataman and his detachment, I returned home that same day and in the evening I told S.V. Dukovich about the needs of the detachment. We immediately decided to hold a charity ball in the bank premises for the benefit of the detachment. In November, such a ball was held and generated over a thousand silver dollars in net income, which, according to local conditions, exceeded all our expectations. In addition, we collected a certain amount of medicine and window glass, which was very important, because the detachment was in great need of both. The proceeds from the ball and other donations we donated greatly brightened the life of the detachment.

Soon after this, Alexander Ilyich came to Kulja and spent several days in our midst. At the big dinner we organized in the bank house in honor of [n]his, an amateur emigrant orchestra played, Alexander Ilyich and the officers who were with him here were delighted with the reception they received from the Kuldzha people, and everyone had fun almost until the morning. On Christmas Day, the ataman arranged a Christmas tree in the detachment, to which he invited us and some other refugees. The Christmas tree was celebrated with general joy from both the guests and the lovely hosts. When we parted with Alexander Ilyich after that, no one could have imagined that this was our last meeting with him.”2318

Thus, Dutov, planning a new campaign, showed his characteristic blatant frivolity. It is not surprising that this campaign by General A.S. Bakich rightly considered it a gamble, and the ending of Dutov himself turned out to be so tragic.

However, I will return to the official version of the preparation for liquidation. Basically, Chanyshev was in contact with Abbot Jonah, only in exceptional cases meeting with Dutov himself (there were two such meetings). Reports to Dutov with deliberately false information were compiled by Chanyshev under the leadership of V.V. Davydova. Mail was delivered to Suydin by future participants in the liquidation M. Khojamiarov (twice), brothers G.U. and N.U. Ushurbakievs (born in 1904 and 1895, respectively) and others.

Initially, Dutov checked Chanyshev: “My Colonel Yanchis is standing not far from you in Chimpandza, can you give him two rifles and a 2319 revolver. The task is clearly useless due to the small number of weapons. This was probably some kind of test. Nevertheless, Chanyshev met with the colonel and did everything Dutov asked.

In his responses to Chanyshev’s reports, Dutov outlined the plans that he was going to implement. In particular, he wrote to Chanyshev: “I received your letter. Now I'm breaking the news. Annenkov left for Hami. All those now in China are united by me. I have a connection with Wrangel. [Things for the Gulja commissars are getting worse and worse; they will probably leave soon. An uprising has begun in Zaisan.] Our affairs are going well. I expect to receive the money in the next few days; it has already been sent. [Keep in touch with Chimpanze, there is Colonel Yanchis there, he has been warned that people will come to him, from whom - he should not ask, and he is not informed about you. I'm the only one who knows about you. Food is needed: for the first time, bread per 1000 people, for three days must be prepared in Borguz or Dzharkent, and clover and oats are needed. Meat too. The same supply of bread and fodder in Chilika for 4,000 people. We need up to 180–200 riding horses. I give my word not to touch anyone and not to take anything by force. Give my regards to your friends - they are mine. I am sending my man under your protection and the answer: ] Tell me exactly the number of troops on the border, how things are near Tashkent and whether you have contact with Ergash-bai [Bow, my friend, your D. You will send to Yanchis - say only one thing: by order ataman]" 2320. The 4,000 people mentioned in Dutov’s calculations are most likely the forces of A.S. Bakich, which he hoped for. The date of writing this document is unknown to me and can hardly be established without access to the materials of the Central Election Commission of the FSB.

The fact is that there is quite a lot of confusion regarding the dates of the main liquidation events. According to the official Soviet version, Chanyshev met Dutov only in January 1921. In addition, it is known that the ataman sent his counterintelligence agent, a native of Troitsk, lieutenant D.I., to Dzharkent to control Chanyshev. Nekhoroshko (b. 1880), who got a job as a police clerk. However, if Chanyshev met Dutov only in January 1921 and he then sent Nekhoroshko to Dzharkent, then how can we explain the data about the arrest of Nekhoroshko by the Dzharkent Cheka and the death sentence passed on him by decision of the Collegium of the Semirechensky Regional Cheka back in late December 1920?! 2321 In addition, these data do not fit in any way with the information from the official version of the special operation about the arrest of Nekhoroshko at the end of January 1921. It is obvious that in different even official versions of the liquidation, distortions were made, which in relation to such a significant event were most likely intentional.

By the way, the official history of the state security agencies of Uzbekistan states that Dutov and Chanyshev were actively working together already in November 1920. 2322 Consequently, their acquaintance should have taken place even earlier. This version is closer to reality, and the period of the special operation in this case is significantly extended. In K. Tokayev’s documentary novel “The Last Strike,” based on authentic documents, it is noted that Chanyshev received the task of meeting with Dutov back in September 1920. 2323 This means that Dutov’s letter about his readiness to speak dates back not to January 1921, but to 1920 Mr. Nekhoroshko, disoriented by the security officers, reported to Dutov about Chanyshev: “He is really dedicated to our cause. Whatever depends on him, he does. So his work is active, but the thorns of Soviet power are very sharp... We are looking forward to you and your arrival, but we can’t wait” 2324. By the way, in one of his subsequent letters, Dutov sent Chanyshev his photograph with a dedicatory inscription as a sign of special favor.

A fragment of another extremely optimistic letter from Dutov to Chanyshev, dated late October 1920, has recently been published: “General Wrangel has united with the peasants of Makhno and are now working together. Its front is strengthening daily. France, Italy and America officially recognized General Wrangel as the head of the All-Russian government and sent help: money, goods, weapons and 2 French infantry divisions. England is still preparing public opinion against the Bolsheviks and is expected to speak one of these days. Don and Kuban united with Wrangel. All this information is reliable, since telegrams and newspapers were received about this from Beijing. Bukhara, together with Afghanistan, is recently speaking out against the Soviet government. I think that step by step the commune will perish, the commissars will face all the consequences of the people's anger. I advise you to transport your family to Gulja under the guise of a meeting with relatives or purchasing goods. That's all for now. Bow to you and others who did not work against the people" 2325. Such optimism was hardly appropriate, especially since the information was unverified and, in its reliable part, related to the summer of 1920, and by the fall it no longer corresponded to reality.

The participants in the operation hoped to lure Dutov to Soviet territory for reconnaissance, but this failed. However, the official version indicates that Dutov at some point began to doubt Chanyshev and sent him to Gulja to meet with a certain Father Padarin (with a note: “Father Padarin. The bearer of this from Dzharkent is our man, whom you help in all matters "), which Chanyshev evaded by leaving for Dzharkent and explaining to Dutov’s agent Nekhoroshko his return out of fear for his loved ones, who could face arrest. I will add that Nehoroshko was introduced by Chanyshev to Khodzhamiarov and G.U. Ushurbakiev.

By the way, it is not without interest that Turkfront intelligence mistakenly considered father Jonah 2326 to be Padarin. It is characteristic that this error was later entrenched in the official Soviet versions of Dutov’s liquidation.

Employees of the Central Election Commission of the FSB published a letter from Dutov to Chanyshev, written after these events: “Your return journey to Dzharkent surprised me, and I will not hide from you that I am forced to doubt and be careful with you, so I will not tell you much in advance until you prove your loyalty to us.” . I will only tell you the latest information received three days ago. Your Bolsheviks became brutal because they will end. I had a Muslim from Kuban who gave me Wrangel’s letter. I won't tell you its contents. I received money from Wrangel. What is my attitude towards the Chinese and theirs towards me - you don’t need to know... We now have a close connection with everyone, and now we must not play on two benches, but go straight. I demand service to the Motherland - otherwise I will come and it will be bad. And if any of the Russians suffer in Dzharkent, you will answer, and very soon. I demand the surrender of 50 rifles with cartridges in Chimpanza - otherwise, consider what will happen. You can do this, and then I congratulate you on your rank and high position, honor and respect. Goodbye. HELL.» 2327. If you believe the quoted letter, it turns out that Chanyshev gave about 50 rifles to the whites, which was already a lot. The Soviet leadership was clearly not happy with such a change during the special operation, when she would start working for Dutov.

According to FSB officers, Chanyshev crossed the border into China at least five times in total. His second meeting with Dutov took place on November 9, 1920. After this meeting, he writes a letter to Chanyshev: “I received your letter. Thank you very much for the information and your work. The news is this: the uprising of the Altai province and near Semipalatinsk is underway, and they could not suppress it. We have established contact with the Far East and Wrangel. I have heard rumors that the Reds want to launch a campaign against China, and the army headquarters is moving to Dzharkent... Is all this true? I will answer all your detailed questions by the following messenger, which I kindly ask you to send by the evening of November 16th. I will communicate with him a detailed plan of action. I need to send three rifles with cartridges, preferably 3 lines. If you arrange this matter, the reward will be very large. I'll send more people. Our business is moving forward. I ask you to work like this: to inspire the population that as long as there are Bolsheviks, there will be no order, no help. To confuse the apparatus of power by introducing more bureaucracy and police, it is necessary to hide deserters. Next time I will send excerpts from telegrams and newspapers, both foreign and Russian. Check the rumor about the movement of 3 Soviet regiments from Aulie-Ata to Dzharkent. Please send Soviet newspapers. Do telegrams go to Orenburg and Semipalatinsk - find out. Best wishes. Be healthy. D.» 2328.

Another letter from Dutov was also published, which became the reason for the decision to liquidate the ataman. It is dated December 1920: “K[asymkhan] I received the letter, I’m answering now, it seems there is nothing to wait for. If the 5th regiment is ours, then start with God. I will give orders today. The messenger told me, as soon as the regiment rises, then immediately go to the border the next day to be there 4 according to the old style, some of ours will keep patrols at the border, and you act according to the situation. The main thing is to stock up on weapons and send them to the border. They will immediately arm themselves and go to your aid. Be sure to cut the telegraph and let them know in Baskunchi and Barguzir. There are our people there, they will support you right now. When the uprising begins, send 2329 messengers to Gavrilovka, Apsinsk, they are waiting there, and then to Uch-Aral, Alakul. This whole area is ready, from there they will let Chuguchak and the camp know. Don't forget to let Przhevalsk and Koljat know. Remember that everything depends on this - communications in all directions and weapons to the border. Chimpanzee has more than 300 fighters. I wish you good luck and goodbye" 2330. Thus, the ataman still hoped for Bakich’s detachment (“they will let Chuguchak and the camp know”). The only thing that is surprising in this document is the mention of the 5th Regiment. If the document really dates back to December (that is, after the failure of the 1st battalion of this regiment), it is unlikely that any anti-Bolshevik cells could have survived in the unit. It is unlikely that Dutov did not know about the defeat of the uprising in the Naryn district in order to allow Chanyshev to misinform himself on this matter. In addition, it was risky for Chanyshev himself, since the deception could easily be exposed. If the document still refers to November, then the question arises about the role of Chanyshev and the false organization created with the assistance of Soviet intelligence in the Naryn uprising itself. Hasn't this role become an organizing one?! Perhaps the game with Dutov took the Bolsheviks too far?! Unfortunately, without access to the special operation documents, it is impossible to answer these questions.

At the beginning of January 1921, Chanyshev made the first attempt to kill Dutov (M. Khojamiarov, Yu. Kadyrov and one of the Baismakov brothers were sent to China), however, due to an uprising in the 3rd Chinese infantry regiment on January 9, 1921 2331 Suidin was was taken under tight security, and there was no point in thinking about an assassination attempt. During this period, Dutov was engaged in the formation of a Plastun battalion in Chimpanza in his detachment.

On January 15, 1921, Chanyshev and his assistants were arrested by the Semirechensk regional district on suspicion of involvement in the counter-revolutionary organization of Colonel Boyko 2332, and this news alarmed the whole of Dzharkent. Rumors spread throughout the city that he, as a particularly dangerous criminal, had been sent to Tashkent. According to D.A. Miryuk, Chanyshev was sentenced to death, after which it was easy to involve him in the liquidation of Dutov. Moreover, 9 of his relatives were taken hostage. According to one piece of evidence, Chanyshev assembled a group of militants from desperate smugglers, led by Khojamiarov. Khojamiarov's smuggling past is documented 2333. All militants were illiterate or had primary education 2334. However, to participate in the operation, something completely different was needed - physical strength, determination and endurance. They possessed these qualities.

On January 31, Chanyshev’s group crossed the border with China directly to organize the murder of the Orenburg chieftain 2335. The names of all the liquidators who then went to China are now known. There were six of them: K.G. Chanyshev, M. Khojamiarov, G.U. Ushurbakiev, brothers K. and M. Baismakov, Yu. Kadyrov. As Chanyshev himself recalled, 50-year-old S. Moralbaev 2336 was also with them. At the same time, Chanyshev does not mention N.U. at all. Ushurbakiev, who joined the group later. On February 2, the liquidators arrived in Suidin.

Chanyshev's fighters were excellent horsemen and shooters, had great physical strength and composure, especially M. Khojamiarov. All of them were Uighurs by nationality and were no different from the local population in terms of both sides of the border. Mahmud Khojamiarov was born in Dzharkent in 1894 and was apparently the oldest of all. G.U. also came from Dzharkent. Ushurbakiev (as well as, most likely, his brother).

There were no messages from the group for a long time. Due to the lack of news about the group, N.U. was also sent to Suidin. Ushurbakiev (according to other sources, it was not him, but his brother G.U. Ushurbakiev). The latter apparently said that if there was a delay, the hostages would be shot. With the assistance of the state security authorities of Kazakhstan, it was possible to identify photographs of Khodzhamiarov and G.U. Ushurbakiev, photo by N.U. Ushurbakiev was published in the Soviet press. Thus, images of almost half of the members of the terrorist group are known.

As it turned out, the operation was not disrupted, and the group settled in a safe house in Suidin. According to one version, it was planned to take Dutov out in a sack, answering during a possible check that the ataman’s appeal was inside. On the eve of liquidation, according to N.U. Ushurbakiev, the roles were distributed as follows: “Makhmut Khodzhamyarov goes to Dutov’s headquarters... The eldest of the Baismakov brothers, Kudduk, who is familiar with the sentries, must be as close to Mahmut as possible all the time. Kasymkhan Chanyshev and Gaziz (or Aziz Ushurbakiev. - A.G.) will walk around the gates of the fortress, ready at any moment to rush to the aid of Mahmut and Kudduk. Yusup Kadyrov, Mukai Baismakov and I were tasked with covering with fire the retreat of the main participants in the operation in case a firefight broke out.”2337 The operation, according to Ushurbakiev, was scheduled for 22 hours, when the city would be quiet, but Dutov would not yet go to bed, the gates of the fortress would be open, and the guards would not be doubled for the night.

According to Abbot Jonah, the details of Dutov’s murder were as follows: Chanyshev was in a Soviet prison and was sentenced to death, but in order to save himself, he agreed to take part in the liquidation of Dutov. A detachment of Bolsheviks, armed with revolvers with poisoned bullets, arrived in Suidin on the day of the murder, settling in a separate house on the outskirts of the city. Dutov went to the barracks every day alone, without security. Chanyshev divided his detachment into two groups and lay in wait for Dutov along two roads from the city to the barracks. However, that day Dutov remained in the apartment due to illness. At about 5 p.m., three Muslims arrived at the gate of his house. There was supposed to be a Chinese soldier on duty at the gate, but he was not there. One of the arrivals remained at the entrance, two went into the courtyard. The messenger was asked to report that a package had been brought from Russia. There was an orderly standing in the courtyard near the entrance lamps. The messenger reported to Dutov, who allowed the guests to enter, one of them stayed with the orderly, and the second went with the orderly. Dutov came out, and the killer, taking out a package, grabbed a revolver from behind his boot and shot him with two shots at point-blank range, then shot at the messenger and ran away. A Muslim in the yard killed the orderly after the first shot. The bullet pierced Dutov’s arm and penetrated into his stomach; the ataman died the next day. There is information that Dutov was wounded in the liver 2339.

By significantly more According to the detailed and trustworthy testimony of one of the employees of the Russian consulate in Gulja, who knew Dutov closely, the pass to Chanyshev and those accompanying him to Dutov was issued by Abbot Jonah, who was then in Gulja. It turns out that Abbot Jonah himself, in his testimony, was either afraid to admit this, or deliberately hid this fact. Deliberate concealment may indicate the duality of the role played by this person.

At 10 am, the three killers left Gulja in a common stagecoach, expecting to be in Suidin by 4 pm. On this day, Dutov sent his nephew and adjutant, centurion N.V., to Gulja. Dutov, and his comrade at the academy, Semirechensk Ataman of the General Staff, Major General N.P., was supposed to arrive to the ataman himself. Shcherbakov. Shcherbakov stayed with Dutov until dark. It was too late and unsafe for him to return to Gulja, so Dutov invited him to spend the night in Suydin, in a detachment, sending him in a troika to the detachment’s premises (“Western Bazaar”) and assigning his courier Lopatin to accompany him. The ataman himself also intended to go to his detachment, where an evening was planned in honor of Shcherbakov.

Another courier of Dutov, I. Sankov, went to water the horses outside the city. Besides Dutov himself, there were only three Cossacks left in the house: a deaf Cossack cook, two sentries: the courier’s son Vasily Lopatin and Vasily Pavlov. About 17 o'clock to the ataman's apartment on horseback (as in the description. - A.G.) Chanyshev and his entourage arrived. Leaving one of his accomplices at the entrance with the horses, Chanyshev and the other killer entered the kitchen and, presenting a pass, asked the cook and V. Lopatin who were there for permission to see Dutov on an urgent matter. Dutov, citing fatigue, refused to accept Chanyshev, but the latter persisted and pointed out the importance of the package he had brought.

Dutov gave in to the requests and invited Chanyshev (the second killer remained next to V. Pavlov). Following Chanyshev, the sentry Lopatin came in with a rifle. The chieftain left the bedroom into the reception room (according to some sources, wearing only 2340 underwear), standing near the door to the bedroom. Chanyshev came in, limping, and said: “There is a package for you.” Then he bent down, as if taking a bag out of his boot, grabbed a revolver with a poisoned bullet, as the examination showed, and fired. The bullet pierced Dutov’s hand, which the ataman used to hold at the last button of his jacket, and hit him in the stomach. With the second shot, Chanyshev shot the sentry, hitting him in the neck with a bullet. The third shot was again aimed at Dutov, but by this time the chieftain had disappeared into the bedroom, and the bullet got stuck in the door frame. When the shooting began, the Muslim accompanying Chanyshev eliminated the second guard, hitting him in the stomach. With another shot, Chanyshev shot the fallen Lopatin in the leg and quickly ran out into the yard. Then all three participants in the operation jumped on their horses and, having galloped 49 miles, safely disappeared into the territory of Soviet Russia. Mortally wounded, Dutov ran out the door and, not feeling wounded, shouted after him: “Catch this bastard!” Meanwhile, the deaf cook Dutova did not hear anything at all.

Dutov’s first dressing was done by his young wife A.A. Vasilyeva, who had a baby in her arms - daughter Vera. Dutov, who was conscious, spent the entire night in terrible torment. According to available data, the miraculous Tabyn Icon of the Mother of God was transferred to him from the detachment’s chapel, but the miracle did not happen. From 2 o'clock in the morning the pain intensified significantly, frequent vomiting began, and the chieftain was rapidly losing strength. It became clear that Dutov was dying. Only at 6 am abbot Jonah and doctor A.D. arrived from Gulja. Pedashenko, but it was too late. Abbot Jonah barely had time to give a quick farewell to the dying man, and the doctor’s help was no longer required. Dutov died early in the morning of February 7 from internal hemorrhage as a result of a wound to the liver and blood poisoning from a poisoned bullet (according to other sources - from a large loss of blood 2341). Both sentries also died on the same day. Dutov and the sentries were buried in the yard of the detachment's barracks, but later, during the liquidation of the detachment on February 28, 1925, all three coffins were transferred to the local Catholic cemetery 2342.

A.P. Zagorsky (Vorobchuk), who arrived in Suydin from Kulja the next day, subsequently recounted in his short memoirs the story of Ataman Dutov’s courier, ensign I. Sankov: “Kasymkhan Chanyshev and the Kyrgyz, also Kasymkhan, often visited the ataman, and he talked to them for a long time alone for one in his office. We knew these visitors well by sight, and the chieftain ordered us to let them through to him without hindrance. Around 7 pm on the fateful day, as soon as it began to get dark, we bolted the gate to our yard. The sentries with rifles in their hands took up their posts: my son stood at the gate, and the Cossack Maslov was in the entryway of the ataman’s apartment. Me and one orderly were sitting in our room. Someone knocked on the gate from outside. My son asked who was there. They answered him: “Kasymkhan Chanyshev on urgent business with the ataman.”

The son opened the gate, and through the window I saw the Kyrgyz Kasymkhan entering the courtyard, and behind the gate there were three riding horses and next to them Kasymkhan Chanyshev and another Muslim. Since these visitors visited the chieftain very often, I took this calmly, and only looked out the window and watched the visitors. I heard Maslov report to the ataman about Kasimkhan’s arrival. Kasimkhan entered the hallway, limping. The chieftain came out to him from his bedroom, greeted him and asked why he was limping. Kasimkhan said that he accidentally hurt his leg on the way. He took out and handed over a package to the chieftain. Maslov stood next to Kasimkhan.

As soon as the ataman began to open the package, Kasymkhan grabbed a revolver from his pocket and shot him point-blank, quickly turned to Maslov and fired a second bullet at him. The chieftain rushed to the door of his bedroom, but the killer shot him again and quickly ran out the gate. At the moment Kasymkhan was shooting at the ataman and Maslov, Kasymkhan Chanyshev shot and killed my son on the spot. I and the messenger who was with me rushed to the ataman’s house and saw that Maslov was already dead, a bullet had hit him in the neck. The chieftain was sitting on his bed, pressing his hand to the heavily bleeding wound on his side. His other hand was also wounded. We immediately called paramedic Evdokimov from the detachment, sent a messenger to Gulja to Father Jonah and asked to send a doctor as soon as possible. Evdokimov did everything he could, but by morning the ataman died. The murderers, having completed their Cain deed, quickly jumped on their horses and disappeared” 2343. At the same time, a messenger was sent to Gulja with the news that the ataman was seriously wounded. Several people, including two doctors, immediately left for the detachment, however, upon arriving in Suidin at about 9 a.m., they found Dutov already dead.

Meanwhile, according to General Shcherbakov, “Father Jonah took an active part in the murder of the chieftain. Lieutenant Anichkov, who, like General Shcherbakov and Father Jonah, was in Gulja at the time of the murder of the ataman, also spoke about this.

I will give another version, stated by an anonymous officer of Dutov’s personal detachment. However, the author is inaccurate in indicating the date of the murder - supposedly February 21, old style. Accordingly, one can doubt how closely he came into contact with the events that occurred. At the same time, these memories contain many valuable and unknown facts from the life of the detachment. He wrote:

“We, the officers of the Ataman’s detachment and those standing closer to him - the personal convoy, still do not know in detail the reasons that were complex and woven from many, many intrigues that led to the tragic death of the beloved Ataman.

But we know a lot, and all the detachments know those versions of the death of Ataman, which in those distant years the detachment lived by, lived and swore, when the moment came, to brutally take revenge on both the murderers and their assistants...

Oh, we are not saying that Jonah’s father, a detachment and military priest, the chieftain’s favorite, was involved in this evil deed, we cannot say that, but we must remember that he knew a lot, his influence on the chieftain was too great and not always it was beneficial...

Ataman lived in Suidun... in a fanza of three adjacent rooms. His wife lived with him, as she was called by the detachments - Shurochka, his personal guard - sub-squire Melnikov, warrant officers Lopatin and Sanov.

A pair of sentries always stood at the gates of the house - a Chinese guard of honor.

At the porch there is a Cossack with a saber and a rifle.

Rumors about the murder of the ataman have been going on for a long time. Someone has been weaving this web since ancient times, and when the officers of the Personal Detachment established a hidden post on the roof of the Ataman fanza - an officer with a revolver, the Ataman was convinced by his civilian assistants 2345 that this was against him.

And he, having come to the officers’ meeting of the detachment, tore the shirt on his chest and said: “Kill if that’s what you do!”

The officers sat with their heads down. They were ashamed that their beloved Leader had uttered such slander against them, who at any moment would have given their lives for him.

Afterwards the ataman understood this and said: “Gentlemen, gentlemen officers, someone is forging a dark deed. Be careful".

But the officer's post was removed from the roof of the fanza.

Father Jonah lived in Ghulja and often traveled, passing without reporting to the chieftain’s office.

Our leader had great love and respect for him. And why - no one in the detachment knew, and only we, closer to the ataman, knew that he was doing a lot of work to create a barrier state to protect Asia from the spells and villainies of the Reds, and we knew briefly about the British offer to go into service detachment to protect the Afghan border from the advance of red communists there.

Fr. was initiated into this. Jonah and some of the other civilians.

They did something, but none of the detachments tried to find out what, they trusted the ataman at his word, more than themselves. They knew that he would not deceive, betray or sell. The Cossack didn’t need anything else...

author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

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The White Guard commanders, forced to leave Russia, did not believe that the war with the Bolsheviks was over. Many of them tried to find allies on the side in order to return and free the country from the Red regime. This was Ataman Dutov. Having moved to China, he began to prepare a liberation campaign and maintained contact with numerous underground organizations. The Cheka could not wait until he gained enough strength. And therefore they prepared a special operation to eliminate Dutov.

Against the Bolsheviks

The future ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks was born in 1879. By the beginning of the First World War, he had graduated from the Orenburg Cadet Corps, the Nikolaev Cavalry School and the Academy of the General Staff. Alexander Ilyich also had a chance to take part in the Russian-Japanese War. Then there was the war with Germany. And by 1917, Dutov had many awards, several serious injuries, as well as unconditional authority among the Cossacks. He was even delegated to the Second All-Cossack Congress in Petrograd. And then Dutov became chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops.

When the Bolsheviks carried out an armed coup d'etat and seized power, Alexander Ilyich did not obey them. At the beginning of November 1917, he signed a decree stating that the Orenburg province did not recognize the Bolshevik system. He officially became the head of the Orenburg province. In a short time, Dutov managed to clear his estate of sympathizers with the Red movement. And although Alexander Ilyich considered himself the master of the Orenburg land, he accepted Kolchak’s power unconditionally. Ataman understood that in order to defeat the Bolsheviks it was necessary to step over personal ambitions.

But still White lost. Kolchak’s army suffered defeats, and soon Ataman Dutov himself drank the bitter cup of the defeated. And at the beginning of April 1920, he, along with the remnants of the army, had to leave his native country. The defeated White Guards settled in the Chinese fortress of Suidong and the town of Gulja. Despite the difficult situation, Alexander Ilyich did not think of giving up. He told his subordinates: “The fight is not over. Defeat is not defeat yet.” Ataman gathered the scattered forces of the White Guards who had taken refuge in China and created the Orenburg Separate Army. And his phrase “I will go out to die on Russian soil and will not return back to China” became the motto of all opponents of the Bolshevik government.

Alexander Ilyich launched a vigorous activity, establishing contacts with the underground. He prepared a liberation campaign, trying to attract as many people as possible to this. In fact, Dutov became a formidable opponent who only needed time to successfully implement his plan. And the security officers understood this very well. And when they learned about the successful negotiations between the ataman and the Basmachi, it became completely clear that they could not hesitate. Initially, it was decided to kidnap him from Suidun and bring him to an open proletarian trial. This important task was entrusted to a native of the city of Dzharkent, Tatar Kasymkhan Chanyshev. The Chanyshev family traced its history either to a certain prince or to a khan. She was rich and influential. The Chanyshevs were merchants and conducted active trade with China. True, their business was smuggling, so merchants had to cross the border along secret paths. Yes, they had extensive connections and informants in the neighboring state.

All this predetermined Kasimkhan’s choice.

Secret agent

Chanyshev quickly assessed the situation and joined the Bolsheviks in 1917. He formed a Red Guard detachment from his horsemen, captured Jankert and declared it Soviet. And even the fact that many of his relatives were dispossessed did not affect Kasimkhan’s political views. He continued to fight for the Bolsheviks and kept in touch with a relative who lived in Gulja. According to the security officers, Chanyshev was ideally suited to the role of one offended by the Bolsheviks. Like, he fought for them, and they treated his many relatives so cruelly. And Kasimkhan agreed to carry out an important task.

In the fall of 1920, he, in the company of several devoted horsemen, went to Gulja to carry out preparatory work. The operation lasted several days, after which they returned. Kasimkhan reported that he was able to make contact with Colonel Ablaykhanov, Dutov’s translator. And he promised Chanyshev to arrange a meeting with the ataman. In general, the result exceeded all expectations.

Then there were several more reconnaissance trips. Kasimkhan met with Dutov a couple of times, told him his legend and informed him about the underground fighters in Jankert. He assured the chieftain that in the event of a liberation campaign, they would be able to capture the city, and then support his movement. Alexander Ilyich believed and told Kasimkhan about his grandiose plans. When the security officers became aware of them, it was decided to speed up the operation. The fact is that Dutov already had a great force behind him, entangling many large cities. And the Orenburg Separate Army was numerous and combat-ready, and not imaginary, as some of the Bolsheviks wanted to think. The threat became too frightening.

And when the West Siberian uprising began in January 1921, the security officers became alarmed. It was decided not to kidnap Dutov for subsequent trial, but simply to liquidate him. Chanyshev received a new task. And on the night from January 31 to February 1, a group of six people under the leadership of Chanyshev crossed the border. Kasimkhan wrote a letter to Dutov in which he announced his readiness for an uprising: “Mr. Ataman. We've stopped waiting, it's time to start, everything is done. Ready. We’re just waiting for the first shot, then we won’t sleep.” The message was delivered by Mahmud Khadzhamirov. He, accompanied by orderly Lopatin, entered Dutov’s house on February 6. As soon as Alexander Ilyich opened the letter, a shot followed. Having dealt with the ataman, Khadzhamirov also killed Lopatin. Meanwhile, another security agent dealt with the sentry. And soon the entire group crossed the border without losses.

There is information that the security officers did not trust Chanyshev, considering him a double agent. Therefore, they took his relatives hostage. And Kasimkhan was given a condition: either you eliminate Dutov, or you bury your relatives.

Ataman Dutov passed away the next day. The dream of dying on Russian soil was not destined to come true. He and the other two victims were buried in a cemetery near Seydun. A few days later, Alexander Ilyich’s grave was opened, and his body was beheaded. According to one version, Chanyshev took the head to prove the reality of Dutov’s death. But there is no information confirming this fact.

For successfully completing an important task, the entire group received a reward. Khadzhamirov received from Dzerzhinsky a gold watch and a Mauser with a commemorative engraving. Chanyshev was presented with the award by Peters. Along with a gold watch and a personalized carbine, he also received a “safe-conduct”: “The bearer of this, Comrade. Chanyshev Kasymkhan on February 6, 1921 committed an act of national significance, which saved several thousand lives of the working masses from a gang attack, and therefore the named comrade requires attentive attention from the Soviet authorities and the said comrade is not subject to arrest without the knowledge of the Plenipotentiary Representation.”

Kolchak and Dutov bypass the line of volunteers.

Alexander Ilyich Dutov was born on August 5, 1879 in the family of a Cossack officer. He graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps, the Nikolaev Cavalry School and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. Participated in the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars. At the front he was shell-shocked and wounded. He met the February Revolution of 1917 as a military foreman and commander of the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment.

Cossack politician

In March 1917, the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Prince G. E. Lvov, gave permission to hold the first All-Cossack Congress in Petrograd “to clarify the needs of the Cossacks.” Alexander Dutov arrived in the capital as a delegate from the regiment. This is where his political career began. An unknown military foreman became one of the comrades (assistants) of the chairman of the Provisional Council of the Union of Cossack Troops A.P. Savateev. The Cossack delegates who remained in the capital after the congress prepared the opening of the second, more representative congress. There were no popular Cossack politicians in the country at that time, so Dutov, who was preparing its convocation, was unanimously elected chairman of the second congress. Soon he became chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops.

During the period of confrontation between the head of the Provisional Government A.F. Kerensky and General L.G. Kornilov in August - September 1917, Dutov took a neutral position, but was inclined to support the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Even then, Dutov formulated his political program: he firmly stood on republican and democratic positions. The Orenburg officer, who acquired political capital in the capital and by chance headed the representative body of the entire Cossacks, became famous among his fellow countrymen in the Urals. On October 1, 1917, the military circle in Orenburg elected him military chieftain. In Petrograd, Dutov was appointed chief commissioner of the Provisional Government for Food for the Orenburg Cossack Army, Orenburg Province and Turgai Region with the powers of a minister, as well as the rank of colonel.

Dutov came up with the idea of ​​holding in the capital on October 22, 1917, the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, a general demonstration of all Cossack units of the Petrograd garrison. The Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin (Ulyanov) feared that this demonstration would disrupt his plans to seize power, but did not allow the procession to take place. Lenin wrote about this on October 22-23, 1917 to Ya. M. Sverdlov: “The cancellation of the Cossack demonstration is a gigantic victory. Hooray! Advance with all our might, and we will win in a few days!”

“For the good of the Motherland and maintaining order...”

On October 26, 1917, Dutov returned to Orenburg and on the same day signed order No. 816 for the army on non-recognition of the violent seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. It said: “The military government considers... the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks to be criminal and completely unacceptable.<…>Due to the cessation of communications and communications with the central government and taking into account emergency circumstances, the Military Government, for the good of the Motherland and maintaining order, temporarily, until the restoration of the power of the Provisional Government and telegraph communications, took over from 20:00 on October 26th the full extent of executive state power in the army. Military Ataman, Colonel Dutov."

The decisive actions of the ataman were approved by the commissioner of the Provisional Government, representatives of local organizations and even the Council of Workers, Soldiers and Cossack Deputies. By order of Dutov, the Cossacks and cadets occupied the station, post office, and telegraph office in Orenburg; rallies, meetings and demonstrations were prohibited. Martial law was introduced, the Orenburg Bolshevik Club was closed, the literature stored there was confiscated, and the publication of the Proletary newspaper was banned.

A.I. Dutov took control of a strategically significant region that blocked communications with Turkestan and Siberia, which was important not only militarily, but also in the issue of food supply to central Russia. Dutov's performance overnight made his name known throughout the country. The Ataman had to organize elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintain order in the province and army until the convening of this body.

On the night of November 7, 1917, the leaders of the Orenburg Bolsheviks were arrested. Among the reasons for the detention: calls for an uprising against the Provisional Government, agitation among soldiers of the Orenburg garrison and workers, as well as the discovery of a carriage with hand grenades at the Orenburg station. In response to the arrests, a strike began in railway workshops and depots.

Ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks A.I. Dutov. Samara, 1918. Photo by E. T. Vladimirov

Meanwhile, groups of officers began to arrive in Orenburg, including those who had already taken part in the battles with the Bolsheviks in Moscow: this strengthened the position of supporters of armed resistance to the Reds. So, on November 7, 120 officers and cadets managed to get out of Moscow at once. For “self-defense and the fight against violence and pogroms, from whatever side they may come,” on November 8, 1917, the Orenburg City Duma created a special body - the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution, chaired by the mayor V.F. Baranovsky. It included 34 people: representatives of the Cossacks, city and zemstvo self-government, political parties (except for the Bolsheviks and Cadets), public and national organizations. Socialists played the leading role in the committee.

The Bolsheviks' attempts to seize power in the city did not stop. On the night of November 15, having gained control of the Orenburg Council of Workers', Soldiers' and Cossacks' Deputies, the Bolsheviks announced the creation of a military revolutionary committee and the transfer of full power to it. Dutov’s supporters reacted immediately: the venue for the meeting was cordoned off by Cossacks, cadets and police, after which all those gathered were detained. The threat of the Bolsheviks seizing power in the city was temporarily eliminated.

At the end of November 1917, Dutov was elected as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly from the Orenburg army. Not counting on seizing power from within, the Bolsheviks began an external blockade of the city. Food was not allowed to pass through the railway to Orenburg, and the passage of passengers, including soldiers returning from the front, was also blocked, which led to their accumulation at stations and an increase in discontent. On November 25, an appeal from the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars to the population was published calling for a fight against the atamans A. M. Kaledin and A. I. Dutov. The Southern Urals were declared to be under a state of siege, and the white leaders were outlawed. All Cossacks who went over to the side of the Soviet regime were guaranteed support.

Dutov also took his own measures. In Orenburg, instead of demobilizing the decayed garrison, older Cossacks were called up. In addition, the ataman had at his disposal the Cossacks of the reserve regiments and the cadets of the Orenburg Cossack School. On December 11, 1917, by a resolution of the military circle, the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution, the Bashkir and Kyrgyz congresses, the Orenburg Military District was formed within the borders of the Orenburg province and the Turgai region. On December 16, the ataman wrote a letter to the commanders of the Cossack units and called on them to send Cossacks with weapons to the army.

Dutov needed people and weapons. And if he could still count on weapons, then the bulk of the Cossacks returning from the front did not want to fight. Therefore, at the first stage of the struggle, the Orenburg ataman, like other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik resistance, was unable to raise and lead any significant number of supporters. Dutov could field no more than two thousand people against the Reds. The volunteer detachments organized at the end of 1917 in the Southern Urals consisted mainly of officers and students; village squads were also formed. With the assistance of the merchants and townspeople, it was possible to raise funds to organize the struggle.

Fight for Orenburg

By the beginning of 1918, over 10 thousand people had already been recruited to fight A.I. Dutov. On December 20, 1917, the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Orenburg province and Turgai region P. A. Kobozev sent an ultimatum to the ataman demanding that he stop resistance. There was no answer. Then, on December 23, the Reds launched an attack on Orenburg along the railway.

White managed to repel the first blow. With the approval of the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution and the small military circle, Dutov ordered to stop the pursuit of the enemy on the border of the province. At the Novosergievka border station it was planned to set up a barrier of officers, cadets and volunteer Cossacks numbering 100-150 people with a machine gun and conduct close-in mounted and human intelligence, having a reserve of 200 Cossacks with a machine gun at the Platovka station. These parts had to be replaced periodically. The remaining forces were planned to be withdrawn to Orenburg.

However, already on January 7, 1918, the Reds attacked again. Serious battles broke out in the area of ​​Novosergievka and Syrt stations. On January 16, a decisive clash took place near the Kargala station, in which even 14-year-old Orenburg cadets took part, responding to Dutov’s call. However, the whites' position was hopeless.

On January 18, 1918, the Dutovites left their capital, the volunteer detachments were disbanded to their homes. Those who did not want to lay down their arms retreated to Uralsk and Verkhneuralsk or temporarily took refuge in the villages. Ataman had to quickly leave Orenburg, accompanied by only six officers, with whom he took out military regalia and some weapons.

Turgai campaign

Despite the demand to detain Dutov, the promise of a reward for his capture and the almost complete lack of security for him, the village did not hand over the ataman. He decided not to leave the territory of the army and went to the center of the 2nd Military District - the city of Verkhneuralsk, which lay far from major roads and made it possible to continue the fight without losing control.

In March 1918, the Cossacks had to leave Verkhneuralsk under attacks from the Reds. The military government led by Dutov moved to the village of Krasninskaya and there in mid-April it was surrounded. It was decided to break through and go along the Ural River into the Kyrgyz steppes. On April 17, 1918, a detachment of 240 people, led by an ataman, broke out of Krasninskaya. A 600-mile trek to the Turgai steppe began. In Turgai, Dutov's partisans received significant warehouses of food and ammunition left after the pacification of the Kazakh rebellion in 1916. During their stay in the city (until June 12), the Cossacks rested, updated their equipment and replenished their horsepower.

The new Soviet government did not take into account the Cossack traditions and way of life, and spoke with the Cossacks mainly from a position of strength, which caused their acute discontent. Soon it grew into an armed confrontation and became their form of struggle for their rights and the possibility of free existence. In the spring of 1918, in the Orenburg region, without connection with Dutov, a powerful insurrectionary movement arose. It achieved significant success, and then the Czechoslovak Corps (a military unit of the Russian army, formed over the years from captured Czechs and Slovaks who wished to participate in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary) rebelled against the Reds. Soviet power in the Southern Urals fell. At the end of May, the rebels sent a delegation to Turgai to Dutov with a request to return to the army and lead the fight: a popular Cossack leader, Dutov could unite significant masses of Cossacks around himself. In addition, among the commanders of the rebel detachments and even the fronts, junior officers, unknown to the bulk of the Cossacks, predominated, while several staff officers (including those with academic education) and members of the Military Government went on the campaign with Dutov.

Between Samara and Omsk

News of the uprisings became the reason for the return of Dutov’s detachment to the army. Orenburg, which was occupied by rebels in early July 1918, solemnly honored the ataman. However, the difficulty at that time was that the territory of the army was administratively divided between two anti-Bolshevik governments: the Samara Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) and the Provisional Siberian Government in Omsk. The relationship between them was not easy, and Dutov was forced to maneuver.

At first, the ataman recognized Komuch and entered it as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly. On July 13, he left for Samara, from where he returned to the post of chief commissioner of Komuch in the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army, Orenburg province and Turgai region, after which he went to negotiate in Omsk.

On July 25, 1918, Dutov was promoted to major general by Komuch. On August 4 he returned from Omsk and took up operations at the front. Meanwhile, he had to explain himself to Samara, since the leaders of Komuch regarded the ataman’s visit to Siberia as almost a betrayal. On August 12, against the backdrop of the developing conflict with Komuch, the ataman took an unprecedented step - the autonomy of the territory of the army, announcing the creation of the Orenburg Army Region.

In one of his speeches, Dutov stated his political course: “We are called reactionaries. I don’t know who we are: revolutionaries or counter-revolutionaries, where we are going - left or right. One thing I know is that we are following an honest path to save the Motherland.” Dutov himself was a supporter of the Cadet Party program. His power in the Southern Urals was distinguished by democracy and tolerance of various political movements, including the Menshevik.

The ataman's daily work schedule has been preserved. His working day began at 8 a.m. and lasted at least 12 hours with virtually no breaks. Anyone could come to the ataman with their questions or problems.

In September 1918, A.I. Dutov took part in the work of the State Conference in Ufa, the purpose of which was to create a unified state power in the territory not controlled by the Bolsheviks. Ataman was elected a member of the Council of Elders and chairman of the Cossack faction. In his speech, Dutov emphasized the need to create a unified command and central authority. And his actions confirmed his commitment to these principles. When on November 18, 1918, as a result of a coup in Omsk, Admiral A.V. Kolchak came to power and became the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Dutov was one of the first to recognize him. By this time, Alexander Ilyich already had the rank of lieutenant general and commanded the Southwestern Army, which was based on formations of Orenburg and Ural Cossacks.

Under Kolchak's rule

At the beginning of 1919, the Whites again left Orenburg, lost contact with the Urals, but continued to block the railway communication between the Soviet center and Turkestan. Despite the setbacks, in March Dutov’s army (now called the Separate Orenburg Army) was able to take part in the general offensive of Kolchak’s troops.

Dutov, who was appointed marching ataman of all Cossack troops and inspector general of the cavalry of the Russian Army, spent the late spring and summer of 1919 mainly in Omsk and the Far East. In the fall of 1919, he again led the Orenburg army. Its units at the end of November - December 1919 made the most difficult Hunger March and went to Semirechye (Cossack region, now its territory is in the eastern part of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), where the army was brought together into a detachment under the command of General A. S. Bakich. Dutov himself became the civil governor of the Semirechensky region. In March 1920, under pressure from the Red troops, A.I. Dutov and his supporters had to leave their homeland and retreat to China through the Kara-Saryk glacial pass. In China, Dutov’s detachment was interned in the city of Suiding (now Shuiding, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China) and located in the barracks of the Russian consulate. Dutov did not lose hope of resuming the fight against the Bolsheviks and was active in this direction, trying to organize an anti-Bolshevik underground in the Red Army.

On February 6, 1921, Alexander Ilyich Dutov was mortally wounded by Soviet agents during an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap and transport him to the territory of the RSFSR. The next morning he died. The chieftain and the Cossacks who died with him were buried in a small cemetery near Suydin. According to some reports, a few days later, Dutov’s grave was dug up at night, and his body was beheaded: the killers had to provide proof of the ataman’s death. Apparently, this cemetery, like many other Russian cemeteries in China, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Photo (header): All-Russian Congress of Cossack units. The Presidium of the Congress headed by Ataman A.I. Dutov. Petrograd, July 7, 1917

Text: Andrey Ganin, Doctor of Historical Sciences

The Dutov clan and family

The Dutov family goes back to the Volga Cossacks. Since ancient times, the Volga has been the most important waterway in Eastern Europe and was of enormous importance in the trade of Rus' with the East. It was this factor that attracted lovers of easy money here at the expense of others. Already from the 14th century. The ushkuiniki who operated here are known. In addition, in the Volga region bordering the Golden Horde, fugitive peasants from North-Eastern Rus' found refuge. Thus, in this region, since the Middle Ages, conditions existed for the formation of the Cossacks. In the 16th century On the Volga, both city Cossacks, who were in the service of the Russian government, and free “thieves’” Cossacks, who were gradually also lured into the service of state authorities, coexisted simultaneously. The famous conqueror of Siberia Ermak Timofeevich 111 belonged to the second category.

Experts associate the surname Dutov with the word “inflated” - plump, fat or pouty, angry 112. Its connection with the word “sulk” is also undoubted; the corresponding nickname (Dutik, Dutka, Pouted, etc.) “could be given either to someone who is sulking, pouting, or to a proud, arrogant person. However, it is possible that a fat, plump person could be nicknamed this way - for example, in dialects blower, dutik(hereinafter highlighted in the text. – A.G.) - “a bloated thing, a bubble”, as well as “a person with a full face or generally a short, fat man” (cf. words of the same root puffy, bloated)" 113. And if you look at photographs of Alexander Ilyich, he really seems so plump and inflated. According to one of the legends, the ataman did not allow the use of his last name in the genitive case; he heard that they were not talking about ataman Dutov, but about the inflated ataman. However, this is only a legend. In the XVI–XVII centuries. the nickname Dutoy (Duty) and similar ones were common. Documents of that time preserved mentions of the Vinnitsa tradesman Ivan Dut (1552), the Moscow merchant Peter Dut (1566), the Lithuanian peasant Ivashko, nicknamed Dutka (1648), in addition, according to documents of 1614, a Volga Cossack is known Maxim Pouting Leg 114. And although the Dutovs also descended from the Volga Cossacks, evidence of their relationship with this person has not yet been found.

Until now, very little was known about Dutov’s origins. The main and most reliable data was contained in his official biography, published in 1919. It noted that “Alexander Ilyich Dutov came from an old Cossack family. The Dutov family lived in Samara until the beginning of the 19th century; their ancestors were Volga Cossacks, in particular those belonging to the Samara Cossack army. With the destruction of this army and the deprivation of its lands, the Samara Cossacks moved to the Orenburg army, and among the settlers who did not want to leave the Cossacks was Dutov’s great-grandfather, Cossack Stepan. Alexander Ilyich’s grandfather already served in the Orenburg army and ended his earthly existence with the rank of Army Foreman. Ataman's father, Ilya Petrovich, a retired major general, is still alive today and spent his entire service in the ranks of the Orenburg Army, mainly in Turkestan, taking part in the conquest of Central Asia and in the war with the Turks in the Caucasus. The life of father A.I. (Hereinafter, Dutov’s initials are indicated as such. – A.G.) was full of campaigns, wanderings and transfers, and on the campaign from Orenburg to Fergana, in the city of Kazalinsk, on August 6, 1879, his son Alexander was born, now Troop Ataman” 115. This information, presented for the official biography, apparently by Dutov himself, is very fragmentary.

In the RGIA collection, we were able to discover documents about the nobility of the Dutov family, which significantly expand the information available so far. According to the data I discovered, the first known ancestor of the ataman should be considered the Samara Cossack Yakov Dutov, who lived in the second half of the 18th century. 116 Around 1787–1788 he had a son, Stepan, who entered military service in March 1807 and subsequently rose to the rank of constable (1809) and ordinary cornet (1811) of the Orenburg Cossack army. In his official documents especially it was noted that “in different years he was in the line service... He knows Russian literacy...” 117. In June 1811, in Samara, Stepan married the eighteen-year-old daughter of a retired Cossack 118 (according to other sources, the daughter of corporal 119) Anisya Yakovlevna.

The Dutovs had three daughters: Maria (1814), Agrafena (1817) and Alexandra (1819), and on December 27, 1817, a son, Peter, was born - the grandfather of Ataman Dutov. Pyotr Stepanovich was already listed as a Cossack of the village of Orenburg, the same one to which his numerous descendants would later be assigned, including A.I. himself. Dutov. The grandfather of the Orenburg ataman went through all the steps of the Cossack hierarchy, enlisting as a volunteer Cossack in June 1834. The very next year he received the post of clerk of the Military Chancellery of the Orenburg Cossack Army, and in March 1836 he was promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer. In 1841 P.S. Dutov was promoted to senior clerk of the Military Board, in 1847 already in the position of protocolist. Finally, in 1851, Dutov was promoted to cornet for his length of service and, having served a four-year term earlier than the Highest Manifesto of June 11, 1845 (which increased the requirements for obtaining hereditary nobility from XIV to VIII class of the Table of Ranks), received the rights of hereditary nobility, significantly increasing both their social status and the status of all their descendants 120, who, however, subsequently still had to confirm their rights to belong to the nobility. In 1854 he already reached the rank of centurion. As an official who was with the troops, P.S. Dutov was awarded a bronze medal in memory of the Crimean War of 1853–1856. on the Vladimir tape 121. For the next ten years (1855–1865) he served as executor of the Military Administration of the Orenburg Cossack Army. The result of his many years of service was the rank of military foreman, and the last known position of Ataman Dutov’s grandfather was the archivist of the Military Administration (1879) 122. Hereditary Cossack woman Tatyana Alekseevna Sitnikova gave her husband four sons: Alexey (1843), Pavel (1848), Ilya (1851) and Nikolai (1854) and four daughters: Ekaterina (1852), Anna ( 1857), Tatiana (1859) and Alexander (1861). The Dutovs owned a house in the village of Orenburgskaya - a Cossack suburb of the city of Orenburg.

The eldest son Alexey, apparently, died in his youth. The other two, Pavel and Ilya, followed in their father’s footsteps and devoted all their strength to serving their homeland and their native army. Pavel Petrovich received his general education at home, and “acquired his military education practically in the service” 123. The uncle of the future Orenburg chieftain took part in the campaigns of 1875 and 1879, but did not participate in the battles and was not wounded. He subsequently achieved the rank of colonel. He was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree (1875) and St. Anne, 3rd degree. He died in Orenburg in 1916 from paralysis 124.

The father of the future Cossack leader, Ilya Petrovich, received a more solid education compared to his older brother: he graduated from the Orenburg Cossack Junker School in the 1st category and the Officer Cavalry School “successfully”. He was a real military officer of the era of the Turkestan campaigns. From 1874 to 1876 and in 1879, he was in the troops of the Amudarya department, where service was considered a military campaign. The State Archives of the Orenburg Region preserved his notes on the route of the detachment from the city of Kazaly to the Petro-Alexandrovsky fortification in the summer of 1874. 125 The notes are a very detailed description of the route traveled, 595 miles long.

He also took part in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878. on the territory of Asian Turkey, and directly participated in the assault on Kars. In 1880 he was part of the troops of the Sarakamysh active detachment, and in 1892 - as part of the Pamir detachment (the Cossacks of Dutov’s hundred took part in the battle with the Afghans at the Yashil-Kul post 126). In May 1904, Dutov Sr. was given command of the 5th Orenburg Cossack Regiment, stationed in Tashkent. In 1906, he accepted the 4th regiment, stationed in the city of Kerki, Bukhara Khanate, and in September 1907, he was promoted to major general with dismissal from service with a uniform and a pension. During his years of service, Ilya Petrovich was awarded the orders of St. Stanislav 3rd degree, St. Anna 3rd degree with swords and bow, St. Stanislav 2nd degree, St. Anne 2nd degree, St. Vladimir 3rd and 4th degrees, Order of the Bukhara Gold Star 2nd degree; silver medals for the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878. and in memory of the reign of Emperor Alexander III on the Alexander Ribbon 127. In addition, Ilya Petrovich had a land plot in the Troitsky district of the Orenburg province 128. His wife owned a wooden house in Orenburg and acquired a plot of land of 400 acres 129.

Ilya Petrovich lived to see the rapid career rise of his eldest son, who became the Troop Ataman. The wife of Ilya Petrovich and the mother of the future ataman was Elizaveta Nikolaevna Uskova, the daughter of a police officer, a native of the Orenburg province. According to some sources, among her ancestors was the commandant of the Novopetrovsk fortification, Lieutenant Colonel I.A. Uskov, who helped T.G. Shevchenko while the latter was under arrest in the fortification. This relationship subsequently predetermined Dutov’s interest in the Orenburg period of Shevchenko’s life.

Dutov himself was ranked among the hereditary nobility at the end of April 1917 130 - during the Petrograd period of his activity (apparently, post-February realities and democratic rhetoric did not prevent him from taking care of establishing his family in the noble class). I will add that starting with the father and uncle of the Orenburg Ataman, the Dutovs became the elite of the Orenburg Cossacks, and it is not surprising that Alexander Ilyich was subsequently able to lay claim to the post of Military Ataman.

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Ataman Dutov, who loved to repeat: “I don’t play with my views and opinions like gloves”

The father of the future Cossack leader, Ilya Petrovich, a military officer from the era of the Turkestan campaigns, was promoted to the rank of major general in September 1907 upon his dismissal from service. Mother - Elizaveta Nikolaevna Uskova - the daughter of a police officer, a native of the Orenburg province. Alexander Ilyich himself was born during one of the campaigns in the city of Kazalinsk, Syrdarya region.

Alexander Ilyich Dutov graduated from the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps in 1897, and then from the Nikolaev Cavalry School in 1899, was promoted to the rank of cornet and sent to the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment stationed in Kharkov.

Then, in St. Petersburg, he graduated from courses at the Nikolaev Engineering School on October 1, 1903, now the Military Engineering and Technical University and entered the Academy of the General Staff, but in 1905 Dutov volunteered for the Russo-Japanese War, fought as part of the 2nd oh Munchhur Army, where for “excellent, diligent service and special labors” during hostilities he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree. Upon returning from the front, Dutov A.I. continued his studies at the Academy of the General Staff, which he graduated in 1908 (without promotion to the next rank and assignment to the General Staff). After graduating from the Academy, Staff Captain Dutov was sent to become familiar with the service of the General Staff in the Kiev Military District at the headquarters of the 10th Army Corps. From 1909 to 1912 he taught at the Orenburg Cossack Junker School. With his activities at the school, Dutov earned the love and respect of the cadets, for whom he did a lot. In addition to the exemplary performance of his official duties, he organized performances, concerts and evenings at the school. In December 1910, Dutov was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, and on December 6, 1912, at the age of 33, he was promoted to the rank of military foreman (the corresponding army rank is lieutenant colonel).

In October 1912, Dutov was sent for a one-year qualification command of the 5th hundred of the 1st Orenburg Cossack regiment to Kharkov. After the expiration of his command, Dutov passed the hundred in October 1913 and returned to school, where he served until 1916.

On March 20, 1916, Dutov volunteered to join the active army, to the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment, which was part of the 10th Cavalry Division of the IIIrd Cavalry Corps of the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front. He took part in the offensive of the Southwestern Front under the command of Brusilov, during which the 9th Russian Army, where Dutov served, defeated the 7th Austro-Hungarian Army between the Dniester and Prut rivers. During this offensive, Dutov was wounded twice, the second time seriously. However, after two months of treatment in Orenburg, he returned to the regiment. On October 16, Dutov was appointed commander of the 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment together with Prince Spiridon Vasilyevich Bartenev.

The certification of Dutov, given to him by Count F.A. Keller, says: “The latest battles in Romania, in which the regiment took part under the command of Sergeant Major Dutov, give us the right to see in him a commander who is well versed in the situation and who makes the appropriate decisions energetically, which is why I consider him an outstanding and excellent combat commander of the regiment.”. By February 1917, for military distinctions, Dutov was awarded swords and a bow to the Order of St. Anne, 3rd class. and the Order of St. Anne, 2nd class.

Dutov became known throughout Russia in August 1917, during the Kornilov Rebellion. Kerensky then demanded that Dutov sign a government decree in which Lavr Georgievich was accused of treason. The chieftain of the Orenburg Cossack army left the office, contemptuously throwing: “You can send me to the gallows, but I won’t sign such a paper. If necessary, I am ready to die for them.". From words, Dutov immediately got down to business. It was his regiment that defended General Denikin’s headquarters, pacified Bolshevik agitators in Smolensk and guarded the last commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Dukhonin. Alexander Ilyich Dutov, a graduate of the General Staff Academy and Chairman of the Council of the Union of Cossack Troops of Russia, openly called the Bolsheviks German spies and demanded that they be tried according to wartime laws.

On October 26 (November 8), Dutov returned to Orenburg and began work at his posts. On the same day, he signed an order for army No. 816 on the non-recognition of the Bolshevik power on the territory of the Orenburg Cossack army, who carried out a coup in Petrograd.

“Pending the restoration of the powers of the Provisional Government and telegraph communications, I assume full executive state power”. The city and province were declared under martial law. The created Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland, which included representatives of all parties with the exception of the Bolsheviks and Cadets, appointed Dutov as head of the region’s armed forces. Exercising his powers, he initiated the arrest of some members of the Orenburg Council of Workers' Deputies who were preparing an uprising. To accusations of wanting to usurp power, Dutov answered with grief: “You always have to be under the threat of the Bolsheviks, receive death sentences from them, live at headquarters without seeing your family for weeks. Good power!

Dutov took control of a strategically important region that blocked communications with Turkestan and Siberia. The ataman was faced with the task of holding elections to the Constituent Assembly and maintaining stability in the province and army until its convocation. Dutov generally coped with this task. The Bolsheviks who arrived from the center were captured and put behind bars, and the decayed and pro-Bolshevik garrison (due to the anti-war position of the Bolsheviks) of Orenburg was disarmed and sent home.

In November, Dutov was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly (from the Orenburg Cossack army). Opening the 2nd regular Military Circle of the Orenburg Cossack Army on December 7, he said:

“Now we are living through the Bolshevik days. We see in the darkness the outlines of tsarism, Wilhelm and his supporters, and clearly and definitely standing before us is the provocateur figure of Vladimir Lenin and his supporters: Trotsky-Bronstein, Ryazanov-Goldenbach, Kamenev-Rosenfeld, Sukhanov-Himmer and Zinoviev-Apfelbaum. Russia is dying. We are present at her last breath. There was Great Rus' from the Baltic Sea to the ocean, from the White Sea to Persia, there was a whole, great, formidable, powerful, agricultural, laboring Russia - there is no such thing.

Among the world fire, among the flames of hometowns,

Among the whistling of bullets and shrapnel,

So willingly released by soldiers inside the country against unarmed residents,

In the midst of complete calm at the front, where fraternization is taking place,

Among the horrific executions of women, the rape of students,

Among the mass, brutal murder of cadets and officers,

Among drunkenness, robbery and pogroms,

Our great Mother Russia,

In your red sundress,

She lay on her deathbed,

With dirty hands they pull off

You've got your last valuables,

German marks are ringing by your bedside,

You, my love, giving your last breath,

Open your heavy eyelids for a second,

Proud of my soul and my freedom,

Orenburg army...

Orenburg army, be strong,

The hour of the great holiday of All Rus' is not far off,

All the Kremlin bells will ring freely,

And they will proclaim to the world about the integrity of Orthodox Rus'!”

The Bolshevik leaders quickly realized the danger the Orenburg Cossacks posed to them. On November 25, the Council of People's Commissars addressed the population about the fight against Ataman Dutov. The Southern Urals found themselves in a state of siege. Alexander Ilyich was declared an outlaw.

On December 16, the ataman sent out a call to the commanders of the Cossack units to send Cossacks with weapons to the army. To fight the Bolsheviks, people and weapons were needed; he could still count on weapons, but the bulk of the Cossacks returning from the front did not want to fight, only in some places village squads were formed. Due to the failure of the Cossack mobilization, Dutov could only count on volunteers from officers and students, no more than 2 thousand people in total, including old people and youth. Therefore, at the first stage of the struggle, the Orenburg ataman, like other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik resistance, was unable to rouse and lead any significant number of supporters to fight.

Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks began an attack on Orenburg. After heavy fighting, the Red Army detachments under the command of Blucher, many times superior to the Dutovites, approached Orenburg and on January 31, 1918, as a result of joint actions with the Bolsheviks settled in the city, captured it. Dutov decided not to leave the territory of the Orenburg army and went to the center of the 2nd Military District - Verkhneuralsk, which was located far from major roads, hoping to continue the fight there and form new forces against the Bolsheviks.

An emergency Cossack circle was convened in Verkhneuralsk. Speaking at it, Alexander Ilyich refused his post three times, citing the fact that his re-election would cause embitterment among the Bolsheviks. Previous wounds also made themselves felt. “My neck is broken, my skull is cracked, and my shoulder and arm are no good,”- said Dutov. But the circle did not accept the resignation and instructed the ataman to form partisan detachments to continue the armed struggle. In his address to the Cossacks, Alexander Ilyich wrote:

“Great Rus', do you hear the alarm? Wake up, dear, and ring all the bells in your old Creme-les-Moscow, and your alarm will be heard everywhere. Throw off, great people, the foreign, German yoke. And the sounds of the veche Cossack bells will merge with your Kremlin chimes, and Orthodox Rus' will be whole and indivisible.”

But in March, the Cossacks also surrendered Verkhneuralsk. After this, Dutov’s government settled in the village of Krasninskaya, where by mid-April it was surrounded. On April 17, having broken through the encirclement with the forces of four partisan detachments and an officer platoon, Dutov broke out of Krasninskaya and went to the Turgai steppes.

But in the meantime, the Bolsheviks with their policies embittered the main part of the Orenburg Cossacks, who were previously neutral to the new government, and in the spring of 1918, without connection with Dutov, a powerful insurrectionary movement began on the territory of the 1st Military District, led by a congress of delegates from 25 villages and a headquarters led by military foreman D. M. Krasnoyartsev. On March 28, in the village of Vetlyanskaya, the Cossacks destroyed the detachment of the chairman of the council of Iletsk Defense P.A. Persiyanov, on April 2 in the village of Izobilnaya - the punitive detachment of the chairman of the Orenburg Military Revolutionary Committee S.M. Tsviling, and on the night of April 4, a detachment of Cossacks of military foreman N.V. Lukin and the detachment of S.V. Bartenev made a daring raid on Orenburg, occupying the city for some time and inflicting significant losses on the Reds. The Reds responded with brutal measures: they shot, burned the villages that resisted (in the spring of 1918, 11 villages were burned), and imposed indemnities.

As a result, by June, more than 6 thousand Cossacks took part in the insurgent struggle in the territory of the 1st Military District alone. At the end of May, the Cossacks of the 3rd Military District, supported by the rebel Czechoslovaks, joined the movement. The Red Guard detachments on the territory of the Orenburg army were defeated everywhere, and Orenburg was taken by the Cossacks on July 3. A delegation was sent from the Cossacks to Dutov, as the legally elected military chieftain. On July 7, Dutov arrived in Orenburg and led the Orenburg Cossack army, declaring the territory of the army a special region of Russia.

Analyzing the internal political situation, Dutov later wrote and spoke more than once about the need for a firm government that would lead the country out of the crisis. He called for rallying around the party that would save the homeland and which all other political forces would follow.

“I don’t know who we are: revolutionaries or counter-revolutionaries, where we are going - left or right. One thing I know is that we are following an honest path to save the Motherland. Life is not dear to me, and I will not spare it as long as there are Bolsheviks in Russia. The whole evil lay in the fact that we did not have a nationwide firm power, and this led us to ruin.”

On September 28, Dutov’s Cossacks took Orsk, the last of the cities in the army’s territory occupied by the Bolsheviks. Thus, the territory of the army was completely cleared of the Reds for some time.
On November 18, 1918, as a result of a coup in Omsk, Kolchak came to power, becoming the Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of Russia. Ataman Dutov was one of the first to come under his command. He wanted to show by example what every honest officer should do. Dutov's units became part of the Russian army of Admiral Kolchak in November. Dutov played a positive role in resolving the conflict between Ataman Semyonov and Kolchak, calling on the former to submit to the latter, since the nominated candidates for the post of Supreme Ruler submitted to Kolchak, and called on the “Cossack brother” Semyonov to pass military cargo for the Orenburg Cossack army.

• Ataman A.I.Dutov, A.V.Kolchak,General I.G. Akulingin and Archbishop Methodius (Gerasimov). The photograph was taken in the city of Troitsk in February 1919.

On May 20, 1919, Lieutenant General Dutov (promoted to this rank at the end of September 1918) was appointed to the post of Marching Ataman of all Cossack troops. D For many, it was General Dutov who was the symbol of the entire anti-Bolshevik resistance. It is no coincidence that the Cossacks of the Orenburg army wrote to their chieftain: “You are essential, your name is on everyone’s lips, your presence will inspire us even more to fight.”
The chieftain was accessible to ordinary people - anyone could come to him with their questions or problems. Independence, directness, a sober lifestyle, constant concern for the rank and file, suppression of rude treatment of lower ranks - all this ensured Dutov’s strong authority among the Cossacks.
The autumn of 1919 is considered the most terrible period in the history of the Civil War in Russia. Bitterness gripped the entire country and could not but affect the actions of the ataman. According to a contemporary, Dutov explained his own cruelty this way: “When the existence of an entire huge state is at stake, I will not stop at executions. This is not revenge, but only a last resort, and here everyone is equal for me.”

• Kolchak and Dutov bypass the line of volunteers

The Orenburg Cossacks fought the Bolsheviks with varying success, but in September 1919, Dutov’s Orenburg army was defeated by the Red Army near Aktobe. The ataman with the remnants of the army retreated to Semirechye, where he joined the Semirechensk army of Ataman Annenkov. Due to the lack of food, the crossing of the steppes became known as the “Hunger March.”

Typhus was rampant in the army, which by mid-October had wiped out almost half of the personnel. According to the most approximate estimates, more than 10 thousand people died during the “hunger campaign.” In his last order for the army, Dutov wrote:

“All the difficulties, hardships and various hardships that the troops endured cannot be described. Only impartial history and grateful posterity will truly appreciate the military service, labor and hardships of truly Russian people, devoted sons of their Motherland, who selflessly face all kinds of torment and torment for the sake of saving their Fatherland.”

Upon arrival in Semirechye, Dutov was appointed by Ataman Annenkov as governor-general of the Semirechensk region. In March 1920, Dutov's units had to leave their homeland and retreat to China through a glacial pass located at an altitude of 5800 meters. Exhausted people and horses walked without a supply of food and fodder, following along the mountain cornices, it happened that they fell into the abyss. The ataman himself was lowered on a rope from a steep cliff before the border, almost unconscious. The detachment was interned in Suidin, and settled in the barracks of the Russian consulate. Dutov did not lose hope of resuming the fight against the Bolsheviks and tried to unite all the former white soldiers under his leadership. The general's activities were watched with alarm in Moscow. The leaders of the Third International were frightened by the presence of significant anti-Bolshevik forces, organized and hardened by years of struggle, near the borders of Soviet Russia. It was decided to eliminate Dutov. The implementation of this delicate mission was entrusted to the Revolutionary Military Council of the Turkestan Front.

On February 7, 1921, Ataman Dutov was killed in Suidun by agents of the Cheka under the leadership of Kasymkhan Chanyshev. The group of security officers consisted of 9 people. Dutov was shot at point-blank range in his office by group member Makhmud Khadzhamirov (Khodzhamyarov) along with 2 sentries and a centurion. Dutov and the guards killed with him during the battle were buried with military honors in Ghulja. The security officers returned back to Dzharkent. On February 11, a telegram was sent from Tashkent about the execution of the task to the chairman of the Turkestan Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Turkestan Front G. Ya. Sokolnikov, and a copy of the telegram was sent to the Central Committee of the RCP (b).

“If you are destined to be killed, then no guards will help”, - the chieftain liked to repeat. And so it happened... A few days later, the former white warrior Andrei Pridannikov published in one of the emigrant newspapers the poem “In a Foreign Land,” dedicated to the deceased ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army:

The days passed, the weeks crawled by as if reluctantly.

No, no, yes, a snowstorm came and raged.

Suddenly the news flew through the detachment like thunder, -

Dutov, the chieftain, was killed in Suydin.

Using trust, under the guise of an assignment

The villains came to Dutov. And smitten

Another leader of the White movement,

Died in a foreign country, not avenged by anyone...

Ataman Dutov was buried in a small cemetery. But a few days later, shocking news spread around the emigration: at night, the general’s grave was dug up and his body was beheaded. As the newspapers wrote, the killers had to provide evidence of execution of the order.