Table of contents:
- How did Baron Peter Wrangel and the remnants of the white units end up in Constantinople?
- Why does the Soviet leadership decide to send Elena Golubovskaya-Ferrari on an operational mission to Turkey?
- How the ramming of the yacht "Lucullus" happened
- What are the consequences for the White Guard movement the wreck of the yacht "Lucullus"
Video: How a Soviet intelligence poetess organized an assassination attempt on Wrangel and rammed a White Guard yacht
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Russian poetess Elena Ferrari (Olga Fedorovna Golubeva, nee Revzina) - a diminutive and graceful beauty, also turned out to be a staff member of the intelligence department of the Red Army. It was she who was entrusted with organizing and executing the assassination attempt on Baron Wrangel in 1921. The physical destruction of the commander-in-chief failed, but to cause serious damage to his deeds and plans - completely.
How did Baron Peter Wrangel and the remnants of the white units end up in Constantinople?
On May 11, 1920, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia in Crimea were renamed the new commander-in-chief, Baron Wrangel, into the Russian Army. He tried not only to keep this territory, but to turn it into a place of stability, order and law. Thanks to his intelligence and organizational skills, as well as the thinking of a true statesman, the work of enterprises, educational and medical institutions, printed publications was adjusted, the issue of land was decided in favor of the peasantry, and concern for the living conditions of workers and their families was manifested. But it will all be too late to be appreciated.
In November 1920, after the breakthrough of the defense by units of the Bolshevik commissar Frunze in the Perekop area, Wrangel organized the evacuation of soldiers, officers and their families, as well as everyone who decided to leave with them - 150,000 people. They went to Constantinople, which was occupied by the troops of the allied armies. For Wrangel and the Russian army, this was not a Turkish city, but an Orthodox Constantinople - it was hard for them to see when they swam to its shores, how the once Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia stands surrounded by Muslim minarets. Wrangel hoped that the Russian army would be perceived as an allied one, and would begin to carry out a security service in the region. But the allies did not need the battle-hardened Russian army so close to Europe. They consistently began to do everything in order to reduce her soldiers and officers to the status of ordinary refugees.
The army was divided into three parts and sent to Gallipoli, Lemnos and Bizet. Wrangel was forced to disarm the troops completely, but he managed to keep some of the weapons. RA units continued to conduct exercises and reviews at their locations. Wrangel himself was limited in movement and was not allowed to often communicate with his army. He lived with his family on the Lucullus yacht, which in the recent past belonged to the Russian ambassador. Staff meetings were also held there. Wrangel considered his task to be the preservation of the Russian army as the nucleus of the future revived Russia. After all, the "white movement" had as its goal to drive out the illegitimate power of the Bolsheviks, to convene the Constituent Assembly and to lay healthy democratic foundations for the life of society and the state (and not at all the restoration of the monarchy and the old foundations), which the Provisional Government, which had seized power, could not do.
Why does the Soviet leadership decide to send Elena Golubovskaya-Ferrari on an operational mission to Turkey?
Olga Revzina, together with her brother Vladimir, managed to visit the ranks of the Social Democrats, and then the anarchists (partisan detachment named after Mikhail Bakunin). After being arrested by the Bolsheviks, Olga became a sister of mercy at the front, where she married a comrade-in-arms, Grigory Golubev. After his disappearance, the brave girl becomes a fighter, and then the commander of a rifle unit. One of the "red" commissars, Semyon Aralov, who was not so long ago the commander of military intelligence, drew attention to her.
In addition to her attractive appearance, sharp mind and unfeminine courage, he liked her ability to languages and the ability to "talk" any person. He also sends scouts to study at the school. Olga was sent on a special mission to destroy Baron Wrangel in Turkey, since the yacht kept money and documents of the Russian army, which could soon acquire the status of a government in exile and count on international support - Wrangel did everything possible for this, for which he systematically negotiated with the allies … The Bolsheviks could not allow this.
How the ramming of the yacht "Lucullus" happened
On October 15, a meeting of the headquarters of the Russian army was planned on board the yacht "Lucullus". But due to the fact that the editor of the military newspaper Nikolai Cheryshev was hospitalized with serious injuries as a result of a night accident, the meeting was canceled - Wrangel went to see the victim. At this time, the Italian ship "Adria" crashes into the yacht "Lucullus" all the way - it "stitches" it in the middle, exactly in the place where the office of the commander-in-chief was located.
The captain and crew of the "Adria" in their testimony unanimously tried to present everything that happened as an accident. But if the ship's steering was out of order, usually the captain gave a loud warning signal to other ships - this was not done. It was also strange that, having crashed into the yacht, the Italian ship abruptly backed up, while according to the instructions it had to remain in place so that the damaged ship would not leak and sink. However, the authorities interpreted this as an accident and released the Italian ship from arrest. The main organizer of the assassination attempt, Olga Ferrari-Golubovskaya, managed to complete only part of the task. But her leadership took into account that the physical elimination of Wrangel failed for objective reasons.
What are the consequences for the White Guard movement the wreck of the yacht "Lucullus"
The yacht "Lucullus" sank very quickly, the people who were on it died, documents (including lists of those evacuated from Crimea), personal money and values of the family of Baron Wrangel and the army treasury went under water.
The cause of the revival of Russia through the preservation of the Russian army was irreparably damaged. It was not possible to support such a huge number of people without having money in stock. The allies refused to support the army, Wrangel barely managed to convince them that it was necessary, but the very minimum of food was supplied. And then there's such a blow.
And in another famous shipwreck - the sinking of the Titanic - also people from Russia turned out to be the protagonists.
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