Truth and fiction about General Karbyshev: Where did the historical discrepancies come from?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In August 1946, on the basis of several testimonies presented by the People's Commissariat of Defense to Comrade Stalin, General Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. In the Soviet Union, almost everyone knew the story of the death of this man, who became a symbol of the highest degree of resilience and will. According to the official version, the captured Soviet general, who refused to cooperate with the Germans, was stripped and placed in the cold under cold water, turning into an ice block. But there is also evidence in this story that is somewhat different from the canonical legend.

Unreliable cadet, tsarist officer and convinced Red Army soldier

Dmitry Karbyshev grew up in a family of hereditary military men, from childhood dreaming of continuing the work of his father and grandfather. Despite his academic success and efforts, the young man was considered "unreliable" in the cadet corps. The reason for this was the older brother, who was seen in the student circle of revolutionaries in the company of Vladimir Ulyanov. But the future Lenin got off with expulsion from the university, and the elder Karbyshev ended up in prison. In 1898, Karbyshev began his studies at an engineering school, where he was attracted by a specialty from the category of building fortifications and defensive facilities. The young officer Karbyshev demonstrated his first successes already in the Russian-Japanese campaign. His professionalism was marked by several awards and the rank of lieutenant, even despite the impartial outcome of the war for the Russians.

On the eve of the First World War, Dmitry Karbyshev was engaged in the design of the fortifications of the Brest Fortress - the very ones in which the Red Army will resist the Nazis decades later. He went through the war as a divisional engineer, and later as the head of the engineering service of one of the rifle corps. For his brave role in the assault on Przemysl and participation in the Brusilov breakthrough, Karbyshev received the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1918, an experienced military man without hesitation took the side of the Red Army.

Indisputable authority, shell shock and captivity

Throughout the Civil War D. M. Karbyshev was engaged in the construction of fortified areas and engineering support for the most important operations. In 1939 - 1940, during the Finnish war, Karbyshev participated in the development of the breakthrough of the Mannerheim line. In 1940, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, and a year later he was already named Doctor of Military Sciences. Karbyshev's authority became indisputable. One of the awards - a gold personal watch - was presented to him personally by Comrade Frunze, who noted the uniqueness of the ideas of a military engineer during the assault on Perekop.

When, at the dawn of the Soviet-Finnish clashes, the Red Army failed in breaking through the Mannerheim Line with frontal blows, Karbyshev was invited to the special commission to analyze the situation. Dmitry Mikhailovich requested the possibility of a business trip to the front to study the situation on the first line, after which he gave comprehensive recommendations. As it turned out later, they went far beyond the limits of the Soviet-Finnish campaign, referring rather to the inevitable war with the fascists. At that time, the USSR was allegedly “friends” with Germany, and Karbyshev openly declared that this particular state would become the next enemy. He reported this in his pre-war report of May 19, 1941, insisting on the urgent laying of anti-tank mines in light of the lack of confidence in the 1939 treaty with Hitler. The forecasts of the military engineer came true, and in 1941 the war found the 60-year-old general on a regular trip to the border territories, where he supervised the construction of defensive facilities. Unable to break out of the encirclement with Soviet units, Karbyshev was wounded and seized unconscious by the Germans. From that moment until 1945, he was considered missing.

Incorruptible general

In the life of a talented military engineer, a black streak came from a series of German camps. The elderly general showed fortitude and responded with an unequivocal refusal to all proposals of the fascists for cooperation. In the spring of 1942, Karbyshev was transferred to the Hammelburg officer concentration camp, where the Germans conducted an active psychological treatment of authoritative Soviet officers, aiming to use their experience for the purposes of the Reich. Here, against the background of gloomy soldiers' camps, rather comfortable and humane conditions were created, on which some officers broke down.

But Karbyshev turned out to be a tough nut to crack, and then Hitler's officer Pelita was assigned to him. Once a colleague of Karbyshev painted him all the delights of cooperation with Hitler, prophesying a well-fed life and departure to a neutral country. But the Soviet general dismissed all the proposals. For three weeks he was kept in solitary confinement, after which they arranged a meeting with another acquaintance - the scientist-fortifier Raubenheimer. Karbyshev was even offered to lead the liberation Russian army instead of Vlasov. This rate did not work either, and Dmitry Mikhailovich, realizing the poverty of his position, boldly declared that his convictions forbid him to work for the enemy of his Motherland.

Eyewitnesses and discrepancies

According to a former prisoner of the Mauthausen concentration camp, Canadian Major Seddon de St. Clair, personally to a Soviet representative of the Repatriation Committee, he was an eyewitness to the murder of General Karbyshev. A group of prisoners of war who fell under the extermination program were kept in the cold all day, and in the evening the survivors were given a cold shower, after which they were lined up on the parade ground and left to freeze. According to the Canadian, more than 400 people died, including a Soviet general. This story began the collection of information about the last months of Karbyshev's life, which he spent in German concentration camps. All the testimonies collected proved the courage and resilience of this man. And the image of a Soviet officer frozen into the ice, but not surrendering, served as an example of patriotism for more than a dozen years.

However, in this story there are also those who disagree with the historically established legend, who cited the words of another witness as proof. Allegedly, a former prisoner of war, Lieutenant Colonel Sorokin, told how in February 1945 he and a group of Soviet officers arrived at the Mauthausen concentration camp. There he was told that the day before the Germans had carried out a demonstrative execution of 400 prisoners, among whom was General Karbyshev. They were stripped naked and left on the street. The weakest died for this reason, and the rest were driven with sticks under a cold shower, carrying out this execution for more than one hour. Karbyshev allowed himself to deviate from the stream of water, unable to withstand the torture. He was hit on the head with a truncheon, after which he died and was burned in the camp crematorium. Supporters of the general's insufficient heroism cite other facts as well. Winters in the Austrian camp of Mauthausen were quite mild, and February 1945 was pleasing with freezing temperatures. This proves the impossibility of freezing the human body even under icy water.

One fact remains undeniable for all historians: General Karbyshev did not sell himself, did not betray his own ideals and died for his unyielding patriotic position.

The most egregious thing is that there were even children's concentration camps.