Just Maria: Russian Jeanne d'Arc and her women's battalion of death

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

The name of Maria Bochkareva, one of the first women - officers, is worthy of the pages of Russian history textbooks. As soon as they did not call this brave woman - "Russian Jeanne d'Arc" and "Russian Amazon". Her image is immortalized in the works of Pikul and Akunin, films "Battalion" and "Admiral".

She created and led the first female death battalion in the Russian Empire. Maria met with such historical figures as Lenin, Trotsky, Kerensky and Brusilov. She fought under the command of Kornilov and Kolchak. She negotiated with Winston Churchill, British Monarch George the Fifth and President of the United States Wilson. All of them noted the amazing strength of the spirit of Bochkareva.

Simply Maria

Masha Frolkova was born into a family of peasants. Her parents, in search of work, went to Siberia, where the government unceremoniously gave land to those in need. But the Frolkovs did not get rich here either, they settled in the Tomsk province and lived in extreme poverty. At the age of 15, Marusya became the wife of a fellow villager, Bochkarev, and hand in hand began to work with her husband, first on laying asphalt, and then on unloading barges. The man drank and beat his wife, and she fled from him to Irkutsk, where she began to live in a civil marriage with a certain Yakov Buk, the owner of a butcher's shop. As they say, out of the fire and into the fire. Jacob was known not only as a gambler, but also joined a gang engaged in robbery, for which he was soon convicted and exiled to the mines. Masha fell into despair. But then the First World War began.

Private

Bochkareva, on foot through the taiga, went to Tomsk, to the conscription unit, and demanded to enroll her in the ranks of the defenders of the Fatherland. But women were taken only as sisters of mercy. Without hesitation, Maria sent a telegram to the tsar himself, in which she asked for the right to fight at the front and give her life for the Motherland. On this message she spent all her meager savings - 8 rubles. But the answer was worth it: according to the Highest permission, an exception was made for the girl. Private Bochkarev was shaved bald, given weapons and uniforms and sent to the front line. The first attack, which her colleagues tried to make at night, she repulsed with fury, smashing the faces of the insolent people. And in the morning, even remembering the night incident, she won first place in the shooting.

Since then, no one has encroached upon the honor of the "cavalry girl" with a heavy fist. On the contrary, the whole company began to be proud of their "Yashka" - that is how Masha's colleagues affectionately began to call Masha. In the winter of 1915, her battalion was sent to the front, where Maria went to the war room along with the rest of the soldiers.

On the eve of the revolution

In the war, from the very first days, Maria proved herself to be a fearless and brave warrior. She not only desperately repulsed enemy attacks, took the Germans prisoner, but also rescued the wounded on the battlefield, dragging them into the trenches. Legends spread about her. In February 17, she already had four wounds and four St. George's awards - two crosses, two orders and the rank of senior non-commissioned officer.

During this period, complete disorder was going on in the army: desertion gained incredible proportions, the commands of officers were often not carried out by junior in rank, decisions were made not at military councils, but at meetings.

In the summer of 1917, Bochkareva was sent to Petrograd to take part in the propaganda of the continuation of hostilities. It was then that the idea of a "women's battalion of death" matured.

Punitive battalion

The creation of a new formation was approved by Commander-in-Chief Brusilov and Minister of War Kerensky. Women's battalions began to form everywhere, and they were formed quite quickly at the peak of patriotism of that time.

Thousands of women from all walks of life, from noblewomen to laundresses, responded to the government's call. Even Kerensky's wife first joined Bochkareva's battalion. But Maria imposed such harsh discipline to the point of brutality that many of the volunteers soon dropped out. After all, she did not solve all questions like a woman with an iron fist.

In the summer of 1917, Kornilov himself presented Maria with a personalized weapon and the banner of the battalion, sending women to the front. Then no one knew how tragic the fate of the shock women would be.

Women fought bravely, sometimes serving as examples for men. They successfully took several lines, but without waiting for reinforcements, they were forced to surrender their positions and retreat, having suffered heavy losses. Bochkareva herself was severely shell-shocked and sent to the hospital. Upon her return, she found a gloomy picture - the surviving shock women could no longer serve as an example for the inspiration of the soldiers - the army continued to decay.

White diplomat

Having disbanded her battalion, Bochkareva began to serve under General Kornilov, and then was sent by the White Guards to seek support from the Western powers. Pretending to be a sister of mercy, the woman reached Vladivostok, boarded an American ship and soon landed in San Francisco. Here her diplomatic mission began.

The entire Western press wrote about Mary. The woman spoke at various meetings, negotiated with prominent officials and world leaders. She was received by the President, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense of the United States as a representative of the White movement of Russia. Bochkareva later visited Great Britain, where she managed to meet with Winston Churchill and King George the Fifth. She was so persuasive in her requests for help for the White Army that she could not be denied support with finances, food and weapons. Having successfully completed her mission, Maria returned to Russia.

Arrest

On behalf of Kolchak, Maria in a short time created a sanitary detachment near Omsk. But the Whites had already been thrown back to the East, and a month later the "third capital" passed into the hands of the Reds.

Maria did not retreat with Kolchak's troops, but returned to Tomsk to surrender to the mercy of the Bolsheviks. But her sin before the Soviets was too heavy, which punished people who did not accept their idea even for lesser offenses. The odious warrior was arrested on January 7, 1920 and soon shot as a terrible enemy of the young Soviet Republic. The first Russian woman warrior was rehabilitated only in 1992.

Afterword

In relation to Maria Bochkareva, the decision of the Omsk GubChK was made to shoot, but her case does not contain documents on the execution of the sentence. There is a version according to which journalist Isaak Levin was rescued from the Krasnoyarsk torture chambers. After being transported to Harbin, she married a former fellow soldier and lived a long life under a different surname. A brave woman and a Russian heroine who has outlived herself …

Another brave war hero went down in history - Konstantin Nedorubov - the only Cossack in the world who became a complete Georgievsky Knight and Hero of the Soviet Union.