How the Chekists dealt with the last Cossack chieftain: Alexander Dutov

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

The officer of the Russian army and the Cossack chieftain could not accept the Bolshevik power. And the dislike was mutual. The Bolsheviks understood that Dutov needed to be liquidated. The Chekists were not even stopped by the fact that the chieftain went into hiding abroad.

The path from hero to criminals

Hereditary Cossack Alexander Ilyich Dutov was born in 1879 in the small town of Kazalinsk, which was located in the then Syrdarya region. But since Alexander's father was a military man, the family often moved. In the end, they settled in Orenburg. Here Alexander Ilyich graduated from the Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps, after which he became a cadet at the Nikolaev Cavalry School.

After graduating, he arrived in Kharkov in 1899, where the first Orenburg Cossack regiment was located. Having received the rank of cornet, Dutov began his service. But he did not stay in Kharkov for a long time, as he continued his studies in St. Petersburg. He even managed to enter the Academy of the General Staff, but did not graduate, since the Russo-Japanese war began. Dutov volunteered for the front.

Although the Russian Empire lost that war, Dutov showed himself from the best side. He fought bravely, was wounded twice and received the Order of St. Stanislaus of the third degree. And after demobilization, Alexander Ilyich still managed to graduate from the Academy of the General Staff.

His military career was actively developing, he grew in ranks and replenished the collection of orders. And when the First World War began, he went to the front. And again, interestingly, he himself asked his superiors to send him to hell. Alexander Ilyich served under Brusilov. And in 1916 he took part in the defeat of the 7th Austro-Hungarian army.

The whole country learned about Alexander Ilyich in August 1917. Then Kerensky personally demanded that he sign a government decree, where it was said in black and white that Kornilov was a traitor to the Motherland. And the reason for this was the famous "Kornilov mutiny". But … Alexander Ilyich refused to carry out the order of the Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government.

The country then began to plunge into the abyss of a civil war. Dutov had to make a choice. And he sided with the white movement. The chieftain, together with his Cossacks, entered into a difficult and hopeless war with the Bolsheviks. He fought alongside Anton Ivanovich Denikin and defended Nikolai Nikolaevich Dukhonin, the last supreme commander of the Russian army. But they failed to defeat the enemy.

Soon Dutov returned to his native Orenburg. He did not give up and decided to continue the fight. Alexander Ilyich began to collect a new army to fight the Bolsheviks. He signed a special decree stating that the Orenburg Cossack army did not recognize the Reds, who seized power and overthrew the Provisional Government. The whole province went over to martial law. By order of Dutov, on the territory controlled by him, the Cossacks began to hunt for everyone who in one way or another belonged to the Bolsheviks. Agitators, agents and simply not indifferent were arrested and sent to prison.

The Bolsheviks, of course, did not remain in debt. They tried with all their might to remove the obstinate chieftain, who caused too many problems. So Dutov turned from a hero of the country into a criminal. The Council of People's Commissars declared Alexander Ilyich outlawed. The confrontation has reached a new level.

Dutov's position was unenviable. He lacked neither people nor weapons. He announced a general mobilization in the Orenburg province, but it was not crowned with success. The fact is that many Cossacks had just returned from the battlefields of the First World War and they did not want to fight again. Then the Cossacks did not understand all the danger that hung over the country and their way of life. Many thought that the confrontation concerned only the "top" and it would not affect them.

Alexander Ilyich managed to gather less than two thousand people under his banner. It was difficult to call this association a full-fledged army, since among the soldiers there was a proportion of old men and young guys who had an extremely vague idea of what war was.

Master class from Soviet security officers

At the beginning of 1918, the Reds under the command of Vasily Konstantinovich Blucher managed to capture Orenburg. Alexander Ilyich with the remnants of his army broke through the encirclement and disappeared. Dutov settled in the city of Verkhneuralsk, which was located in the Orenburg province. He hoped that he would be able to replenish the army with new fighters and return the city.

But the reds were much stronger. Soon Verkhneuralsk also fell. The chieftain moved to the village of Krasninskaya. Literally a month later, it was captured by the Bolshevik troops. Alexander Ilyich, together with the Cossacks loyal to him, fled from pursuit in the Turgai steppes.

When an uprising against the Bolsheviks began in the Orenburg province, Dutov again had a timid hope. He took part in several battles with the Reds and won all of them. But he did not succeed in taking Orsk - the main goal of the Cossacks, since all the forces had to be redeployed to the Buzuluk front.

In November 1918, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak became the Supreme Ruler of Russia. Dutov, in fact, became the first who supported him and swore allegiance. Alexander Ilyich understood that only by uniting under the rule of one leader, the whites have at least a ghostly hope of victory. Dutov's example did not go unnoticed. Numerous Cossack chieftains pacified their pride and officially joined the white movement.

Still, the White Guards lost. The fate of Russia was a foregone conclusion. The Cossacks, having lost hope, began to defect en masse. Moreover, many went over to the side of yesterday's enemy. Out of despair, Dutov left for China. It would seem that this was all over. Alexander Ilyich left the territory of Russia and found himself “out of the game”. But the Bolsheviks understood that it was too dangerous to have such an enemy close by. Who could guarantee that he would not appear after a while at the head of a new army? Therefore, the new government decided to eliminate him. But it was extremely difficult to do this, because the Red troops could not cross the border of the neighboring state. And then the main role went to the Chekists.

Ideally, the Chekists were required to steal Dutov in order to then officially bring him to justice. But this plan was too difficult to carry out, so an order was received to liquidate. In Turkestan, the Chekists recruited several local residents who accepted the Bolshevik power. The executor was Kasymkhan Chenyshev. The choice fell on him for a reason, he was just an ideal option. Chenyshev came from a wealthy Tatar family, often visited China. The Chekists came up with a plausible legend that the Reds destroyed his relatives, took away property for the "good of the revolution", leaving him with nothing. Therefore, Chenyshev decided to go to Dutov, who settled in the city of Suidun.

Kasymkhan coped with his task brilliantly, Dutov believed. And on the seventh of February 1921 he died. Bolshevik agents killed the chieftain and two sentries. As for Chenyshev and his assistants, they managed to hide from the Cossacks. Those were so dumbfounded by what had happened that they were at a loss and did not know what to do.

A few days after the funeral, the grave of the chieftain was opened. Unknown persons cut off Dutov's head and took him with them. According to the official version, this was done by agents to prove the success of their mission.

With the murder of Dutov, the Bolsheviks solved one of their most important problems - they literally decapitated possible white formations from emigrants in China. There was no longer a person with such a powerful and indisputable authority.

By the way, the fate of Chenyshev was sad. The Chekist agent was arrested in 1932 in the city of Osh. He was accused of theft and shot. So simply and so ingloriously ended the life of a man who secured the young Soviet regime from the formidable ataman Dutov.