To the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory

Military operations in the north of the African continent were conducted from September 13, 1940 to May 13, 1943. The Allied victory at El Alamein in Egypt in October-November 1942 determined the course of the war in the North African theater of operations. The allies had 200 - 230 thousand people, tanks - 1440, guns - 2311, aircraft - 1500. They were opposed by 80-100 thousand people, tanks - 540, guns - 1219, aircraft - 350 ... During the battle, the German-Italian African army lost 55 thousand killed, wounded and captured, 320 tanks and about 1 thousand guns. The war ended in Tunisia with the surrender of 150 thousand Italian-German troops and 80 thousand officials .

Of course, there are now attempts in the West to give the battle of El Alamein the appearance that this battle in the Middle East was the decisive battle of the entire Second World War. The facts speak against this comparison. Held at almost the same time Battle of stalingrad took place from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. It was attended by Soviet troops numbering 1-1.1 million people. They were opposed by the troops of Germany, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Finland. At the beginning of the operation, there were 430 thousand of them, and by the end of the operation - 1.1 million people. Irrecoverable and sanitary losses of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) amounted to 1.1 million people, 4.3 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery installations and 2.8 thousand aircraft. Irrecoverable and sanitary losses of the Allied troops amounted to 1.5 million people, 1.7-2 thousand tanks and assault guns, 3 armored trains, 3 thousand aircraft. In addition, according to various sources, from 91 thousand to 237.8 thousand soldiers surrendered.

However, the Battle of El Alamein was critical to the secondary, North African theater of war.

The Russians, who found themselves in exile in Egypt and the Maghreb after the defeat of the White Army in the Civil War, took an active part in hostilities after the German attack on the Soviet Union. “We Russians have only one way to prove our loyalty to Russia — to die for it,” one of the Russian sailors said to his comrades in Bizerte.

In the late 1960s, the author, who was then working in Algeria, had to deal with people of an unusual fate - elderly Russians who came from time to time to the consular section of the USSR Embassy. Caught abroad after the defeat of the White movement, they joined the French Foreign Legion. These whites continued to hate the Bolsheviks and Soviet power, but on June 22, 1941, the main thing for them was that their homeland, Russia, was attacked by Germany. Deserting from the Legion, they joined the Free French. After the victory, they were granted Soviet citizenship for participating in the war against the Nazis. After their retirement, many of them remained in Algeria. They lived in the Democratic Republic of Korea, received, like former legionnaires, a pension from the French government and at the same time had Soviet passports.

One of the heroes of the war in North Africa was V.D.Penyakov (another spelling of his last name is Penyakov). He was born on March 30, 1897 to a family in Belgium, where his father built a factory. True, there are other data that he was born in London. As a volunteer, V.D. Penyakov at the age of 17 entered the ranks of the French army and went through the entire world war as an artilleryman, being wounded, moreover. He studied at Cambridge and spoke English as fluently as he did Russian. Since 1924, V. D. Penyakov worked as an engineer in Egypt at a sugar factory. The work there was seasonal, before collecting sugar cane, V. D. Penyakov had a lot of free time. He used it to study the Sahara. Having fallen in love with the desert, he devoted long days to the exploration of North Africa, made long raids across the territory of the Great Desert, and got acquainted with the way of life of the nomads. Bedouin guides taught him how to find food and water, navigate and ride a camel and horse. He also learned Arabic. In addition, V.D. Penyakov learned to fly a small plane and made flights from Cairo to Alexandria, Assiut and Aswan. However, this occupation quickly bored him. He later wrote in his book that “flying an airplane is just as boring as driving a tram. Especially in Egypt, where it is always cloudless. "

When the Italian troops invaded Egypt, V. D. Penyakov joined the ranks of the British army, saying the following words: “I had no illusions that I could influence the course of events, but it was somehow awkward to stay on the sidelines.” Moreover, he went on to deceive the commission, hiding that he was 43 years old, and was appointed with the rank of captain as battalion commander in the Libyan Arab Forces (LAS).

In the LAS camp at the beginning of the highway from Cairo to Alexandria, Major V.D. Penyakov spent a whole year, after which they were transferred to eastern Libya. He met many of the sheikhs of the local tribes. They all hated the Italians and were ready to help the British. At the beginning of March 1942, V.D. Penyakov's battalion was returned to Egypt for rest.

Intelligence remained VD Penyakov's hobbyhorse. He analyzed operations in North Africa and concluded that the command lacked operational intelligence. There were few reconnaissance groups to receive their periodic raids. A whole network of informants from local residents should have been created in the east of Libya. VD Penyakov suggested that the LAS command form a group of commandos and send it to Cyrenaica. Consent was obtained for this, and for 15 months he fought at the head of a sabotage detachment, which consisted of only volunteers in the amount of 22 people and one officer. In this unit, the Poles, British, French and Libyans fought - Arabs, Berbers and Tuaregs. Penyakov had no Russians until the war in Italy.

Penyakov relied on the fact that the Arab could not betray the guest whom he received in his tent. First, V.D. Penyakov met with the leader of the obeydat Sheikh Ali bu Hamada. In April 1942 he met with two sheikhs Ali and Matwallah, persuaded them to convene a conference of tribal representatives, and in one day more than sixty tribal leaders gathered at the camp occupied by the sheikhs. VD Penyakov addressed them with a speech in which he, in particular, said that “your spiritual leader, your emir, respected Sayyid Idris al-Senusi - God bless him - offered his help and the help of his people to my king<...>The black-and-white banner of Sayyid Idris flies next to the banner of the English king. The British government knows that it has no more loyal friends, more enthusiasts than you, the Senusi Arabs. "

The Arabs of Cyrenaica hated the Italians, and soon their ramified network spread throughout occupied Libya. VD Penyakov's faithful assistants were waiters who served in hotels and bars. Day after day, they collected information about the exact location of the Italo-German troops and met on the narrow streets of cities with agents to transmit it. And for five months, V.D. Penyakov every night, using his transmitter, contacted the center, informing them about the position of the enemy troops. Having learned about the cruel executions of Libyans, suspected in cooperation with the British, who were hung by the jaw on a hook and left to die in the sun, V.D. officer, and the executions stopped.

VD Penyakov destroyed the Bars airfield in the south of Jebel Akhdar, where from 20 to 32 enemy aircraft were destroyed, and the losses of the attackers amounted to only three people. They carried out mining of roads in the rear of the German and Italian troops, exploded fuel and ammunition depots, communication centers and railways, dozens of prisoners of war were freed from concentration camps. The destruction of the Al-Qubba oil depot located in Jebel Akhdar played a significant role. As a result, gasoline was destroyed, which would have been enough for 200 tanks for 12 days.

During subsequent operations, one of the most famous commando detachments was the Demolition Squadron No. 1 operating in Northern Sahara on the left flank of the British 8th Army, under the command of V.D.Penyakov. His detachment went down in history as "Popsky's private army" (PPA). This expression was thrown down by one of the officers of the headquarters of the 8th Army and soon became the official name of the unit. The detachment consisted of the British - 5 officers and 18 soldiers. The group's vehicle fleet was represented by four Willis MB light all-terrain vehicles and two three-ton trucks. The crew of each passenger car consisted of two or three people armed with two machine guns. On November 23, 1942, this group left Cairo and in Assyut turned southwest to the Kharga oasis. The road ended there. VD Penyakov had to walk 600 miles across the desert in order to reach the Libyan Kufra, where the base of the British reconnaissance group was located. On the way, I had to overcome Al-Gilf al-Kabir, where one road, suitable for road transport, passed through the sandy mountains. The RRA arrived in Kufra on October 4, 1942 and learned that Cyrenaica had already been liberated and the front was already at Al-Ageila, that is, in the east of Tripolitania.

V.D. Penyakov received another assignment. The fighter squadron played an important role in the Tunisian campaign after the commander of the 8th Army B. Montgomery tried to break through the fortifications of the Maret Line in southern Tunisia on March 20-23, 1943, but, having lost 150 tanks, was forced to abandon the frontal assault ... And at the same time to the west of the Maret Line, the commander of Formation L, F. Leclerc, managed to defend Ksar Gilan, which opened up the possibility of bypassing the Maret Line from the flank. The British command decided to shift the direction of the main attack from the coast to the desert. But for this it was necessary to find a passage through the Matmata mountains. “The main point of my plan,” B. Montgomery would write later, “was to bypass the enemy's flank from the west of Matmata.<...>The problem became one: is it possible to find a way through the sands? " ... And the passage was found - found by V.D. Penyakov! Through this passage, the mountains were crossed by the 10th Army Corps, 1 Armored and 4 Indian Divisions that bypassed the Maret Line, took Al-Hammu and forced the African Army to withdraw to the North.

After Tunisia, V.D. Penyakov reached Tebessa, where the American troops occupying this city generously supplied them with clothing and weapons. After that, the PPA unit continued to fight in Tunisia. On May 13, the Nazis surrendered. The fighter squadron was transferred to Phillipville for rest, and then to Italy.

After the war, VD Penyakov worked in Vienna as a liaison officer between the British 8th Army and Soviet troops and was awarded the Orders of Great Britain and the USSR. In 1950 he published the book "Popsky's Private Army", published in England. The press then wrote that "this is an adventurous story that has no equal in the literature about any other war." V.D. Penyakov was buried in London.

In Morocco, the French administration in which was subordinate to the Vichy government, there was a Russian R. Kasev. He reached Gibraltar and then England, entered Free France and fought in Africa with the Lorraine Air Force. After the war, R. Kasev became a famous diplomat and a member of the French Academy and published the book "Premonition of Dawn" under the pseudonym "R. Gary. " This book reproduces the heavy atmosphere of the Vichy presence in Morocco. R. Gary describes his life in Meknes and Casablanca before escaping to Gibraltar and then to London, where he joined aviation.

Rear Admiral A. Vasiliev, who served in the navy, published the book "Unknown Soldiers of the Past War" after the war. In this book, he writes about what he and his comrades went through, and in particular about the landing in the Maghreb in November 1942.

On November 8, 1942, the Germans landed for the first time at the Al-Avin airfield near Tunisia. Covering the French units retreating to Algeria was entrusted to Klobukhovsky, the squadron commander of the 4th African rifle unit. He retreated to Majez Al-Bab, where he dug in. In the second half of November, the Germans, with the support of aviation, threw motorized units against them, but received a strong rebuff. This created an opportunity for American artillery to approach, and the front stabilized.

The commander of the 1st Moroccan Cavalry Regiment N. Rumyantsev, who was part of Formation L, Fighting France (as Free France began to be called since July 1, 1942), his deputy Lieutenant Kreshenchutsky and the commander of the cavalry squadron, Lieutenant Kashanovsky, was charged with an attack on April 8, 1943. Tunisia station Mezuna. At the same time, Kreshenchutsky burst into Mezun and held it until the approach of April 9 from the north of the American units. On April 16, 1943, at Fadelon, Rumyantsev's units again distinguished themselves. Moreover, Kashanovsky went far ahead, his unit was cut off by the German-Italian army from the rest of the troops, and he himself was considered dead. But, thanks to a dexterous maneuver, Kashanovsky withdrew his part from the enemy ring.

At the end of the Tunisian campaign in the Zaguan area, a French armored detachment stopped, stumbling into minefields. Lieutenant Lewandowski alone in a jeep, risking being blown up at every moment, rushed forward into the village occupied by the Germans. Jumping up to the checkpoint, he demanded an officer to negotiate. Having seated the German, he rushed back to the location of his troops. The officer gave instructions to facilitate clearance.

Captain Z. Peshkov, the elder brother of the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya.M. Sverdlov and godson of A.M. Peshkov (M. Gorky), was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1884, before the First World War he was forced to emigrate to France and volunteered for the French army. At the end of the war, he served in Morocco with the French Foreign Legion. After the defeat of France, Z. Peshkov refused to recognize the truce with the Germans, fled to England in 1941 and joined the head of the Free France, General Charles de Gaulle. He was a battalion commander in the Foreign Legion and fought in Africa from February to May 1941, and then became an adviser to Charles de Gaulle. In 1941-1942. Z. Peshkov was the representative of the Free French in the Union of South Africa, and in 1943 he was the head of the Mission in British Africa. He was then French Ambassador to China in 1943-1945. and Japan. He received the rank of general and was awarded the Orders of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and the Military Cross and the Medal of War. In his book Sounds of the Horn. Life in the Foreign Legion "(American edition) Z. Peshkov proudly writes about the Russians:" I should pay tribute to the unknown greatness of these people, on the occasion of becoming soldiers, to these nomadic workers who under the sun of Africa perform multiple and difficult tasks. They could say about themselves, like the soldiers of Rome: "We are walking, and the roads follow us."

NA Turoverov fought with the German-Italian troops as part of the 1st French cavalry regiment in the Maghreb. He dedicated the poem "Legion" to the impressions of the battles.

After the landing in Morocco, the Russians who lived in this country also ended up in the ranks of the allied forces. In particular, Captain A. Ter-Sarkisov, who was awarded the Order of the Cross of Liberation. On the other hand, it was not only soldiers who fought in the ranks of the Allied army. Thus, the doctor I. M. Tolstoy (1901-1982), the grandson of L. N. Tolstoy, was sent by the allies to a military hospital in Rabat.

In the cemeteries in the mountains. Algeria has the Russian surname I. Ostapchenko, the inscription "Soviet Armed Forces" and the date of death is indicated - June 1943. Unfortunately, the attempts made by the Embassy in Algeria and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out exactly who is buried in the Democratic Republic of the Republic of Korea ended in failure - their names are unknown to the central archive. Soviet army... On the other hand, there are a dozen more Slavic names in English cemeteries in Egypt. Some of them bear the inscription “Soviet armed forces”: Sergeant E. Krasin, who died on October 20, 1944, and Private V. Zimbering, who died on October 20, 1944, are in Kantar.

One of the buried was I. D. Zvegintsev. He was born on May 29, 1912 in St. Petersburg. His father was a colonel, took part in the First World War and the Civil War. Mother - nee Princess Obolenskaya. In 1920, the Zvegintsev family, who emigrated from Russia, settled in Great Britain. ID Zvegintsev graduated from the prestigious Bloxham School. At the beginning of the war, Zvegintsev was drafted into the British army, and he died on December 28, 1941 near Al-Agelia in Libya.

Lieutenant Colonel D. G. Amilakhvari fought very well in the Free French troops near Bir Hakim. He, being a Georgian, was born in 1906 in the village of Cherleon in North Ossetia. In 1920, his parents emigrated from Russia to France. From 1924 to 1926 D. G. Amilakhvari studied at Saint-Cyr in France, and after graduating, he entered the Foreign Legion. Together with the armed forces of the Free French, D. G. Amilakhvari was transferred to North Africa, where he took part in the battles near Bir Hakim, which began on May 27 and went on until June 10, 1942. On the day of the breakthrough, he was in the leading vehicle with Commander Koenig and driver S. Travers. The Battle of Bir Hakim was of great importance during the fighting in North Africa. The thing is that the tanks of the commander of the African Army, General E. Rommel, experienced a constant shortage of fuel, and the preservation of Bir Hakim in the hands of Free France led to the fact that the Germans had to make a large detour to supply the units attacking Tobruk with fuel. Shortly before his death at El Alamein in 1942, D.G. Amilakhvari received from the hands of Charles de Gaulle the highest award- The Cross of Liberation, established by the general in 1940, and in 1955 he posthumously received the Order of the Legion of Honor. “A real cult of memory of Lieutenant Colonel Amilakhvari has developed among the soldiers of the Free French,” wrote another participant in the North African campaign, V. I. Aleksinsky, in 1947. At home in the city of Gori, where DG Amilakhvari's father came from, a memorial stele was erected in his memory, and his personal belongings are kept in the Museum of the Order of the Liberation in Paris.

Another example: the captain of the English Uhlan regiment J. A. Werner, great-great-grandson of A. S. Pushkin, descended from the poet's youngest daughter Natalya Alexandrovna. His mother Anastasia in 1917 married the English aristocrat Baronet G. Werner and did not return to Russia. J. A. Werner was their only son. He fought in North Africa and died in December 1942. He was 25 at the time. J. A. Werner was the only one who died of all 15 descendants of A. S. Pushkin who took part in the war.

Zemtsov, who was awarded two Military Crosses, the second posthumously, also fought in North Africa.

In his memoirs, published in Paris, V. I. Aleksinsky wrote that many Russians fought in French units in North Africa. Among the 1,056 people who were awarded the Cross of Liberation by Charles de Gaulle, there were 10 of our compatriots.

Some of the emigrants moved to the USSR to fight alongside the Soviet soldiers. In particular, the Titovs were going to return to the Soviet Union. Shortly before leaving, his wife died, but he decided to return alone and left for his homeland.

However, emigrants from Russia not only fought with weapons in their hands. This is what Captain 1st Rank N. Cherkashin writes when he visited Bizerta on board the Fedor Vidyasov floating base in September 1976. PS Yenikeev served on the Sfax submarine sunk by U-37 near Casablanca after France signed an armistice with Germany. His father, Lieutenant of the Black Sea Fleet S. N. Yenikeev, who was born in Sevastopol and arrived in Bizerte on the submarine "Seal", was at that time in Tunisia. After the evacuation of Sevastopol, he taught theoretical mechanics at the Russian Naval Corps located in Bizerte. Then, when the Corps was disbanded, unemployment began. In the end, he managed to get a job in a battery workshop, and then S. N. Yenikeev became the head of the electrical service of the commercial port. When the war broke out, he volunteered for the French navy and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander as chief mechanic of the submarine repair base. A year later, he was poisoned with chlorine and was written off outright. In March 1943 he was called to the port of Bizerte, where he was forced to repair the electric motors of the German U-602 submarine. Taking advantage of the situation, he made it so that, at full stroke, both electric motors were closed. This becomes clear when the submarine is forced to give full speed while under water. On April 23, 1943 "U-602" died under unknown circumstances. Thus, S. N. Yenikeev took revenge on the Nazis for the death of his son. True, in accordance with the reference book "U-602" survived during the war. Rather, the number of the submarine is confused, and we are talking about the U-612 submarine.

And emigrants from Russia who left before the revolution defended themselves against the Nazis. So, in the family of the artist Stolov, the sons served during the war in the British and American armies.

Among Russian colony in Egypt, a fundraiser was held, in which, along with the Russians, the Egyptians also participated, including the rulers of this country. In February 1942, Egyptian newspapers published reports about bazaars-masquerades organized in Cairo and Alexandria under the auspices of King Farouk, at which auctions of handicrafts made by the female part of the local Russian colony were held. The funds raised were used to buy shoes and clothes to be sent to the children of Stalingrad.

Particularly significant changes occurred in the mood of Russian emigrants as they continued to succeed Soviet troops... Mission advisor D.S.Solod reported to Moscow on December 15, 1943 that the Russian colony in Cairo and Alexandria mainly consisted of White émigrés, the overwhelming majority of whom were loyal to the Soviet Union. “Many,” wrote DS Solod, “express a desire to return to the Soviet Union.” At the beginning of 1944, the last paragraph of the charter of the Russian Club in Cairo, which stated that a person who recognizes the communist regime in Russia, could not be a member of it, was canceled.

By the beginning of 1944, the changed situation in Egypt made it possible to create an Egyptian foundation under the leadership of Princess Irina Alexandrovna, who lived with her husband, Prince Peter of Greece, in this country during the occupation of Greece by fascist troops. The Foundation was headed by Sheriff Sabri, and its press attaché was the writer Taha Hussein. Reporting on its activities, the USSR Chargé d'Affaires in Egypt N.V. Novikov wrote that "as from other charitable foundations, substantial material assistance from the Egyptian foundation could not be expected, but its political significance should not be underestimated." The campaign began with the screening of the documentary Stalingrad at the Opera Cairo in Cairo on May 15, which was attended by King Farouk. With the funds raised, the fund purchased and sent to the Soviet Union 4.4 thousand pairs of shoes for Stalingrad orphans. In turn, the Government of Egypt handed over to the USSR Mission a check in the amount of 1,000 Egyptian francs for the purchase of things for the children of Stalingrad.

However, not all Russians sympathized with the struggle of the USSR. Among the members of the Russian Club in Egypt, who were sharply anti-Soviet, pro-fascist sympathies were noticed. The British even thought about arrests among Russian immigrants. There was a Russian Youth Club in Cairo, an organization that was extremely monarchical. After the decision of the Russian Club to cancel the paragraph on non-recognition of Soviet power, a group of Russian boy scouts moved there, leaving the club. Moreover, the Russian Fascist Union operated in Egypt. Its Egyptian department was headed by a former captain, and in exile by an officer of the Egyptian police A.L. Markov. Its members were anti-Soviet.

As for the citizens of the USSR, they were part of the Army of General V. Anders, which in February 1943 numbered 73 thousand people. There are many Russian surnames in the graves of 417 servicemen in Egypt. Moreover, after the end of the war, in 1947 alone, the repatriates from this army amounted to 1,024 people. It was also formed in Syria Separate brigade Carpathian riflemen, which included more than 200 Ukrainians. Later in Egypt in late 1943 - early 1944. The 2nd Polish corps was formed from the Army of V. Anders and the Polish Brigade of Carpathian Riflemen, which on February 8, 1944 was transferred to Italy.

The "white slaves of E. Rommel" - Soviet prisoners of war who were used in the African army in the construction of military infrastructure facilities, as well as porters for Todt's labor battalions, deserve special mention. The fact that the memory of them has survived is due to the Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.Z. unknown page Second World War . Of the 20-22 thousand prisoners sent to North Africa, about a third died, unable to endure the inhuman conditions of detention. True, V.V.Belyakov expresses doubt that there were several thousand prisoners of war in North Africa. In his opinion, we are talking about several hundred Soviet prisoners.

One way or another, after the battle of El Alamein, the Allies freed a significant part of the Soviet prisoners of war. Subsequently, after the offensive in the Maghreb, the British freed a considerable number of prisoners. In the Archive foreign policy there is a document representing a note sent on January 29, 1943. People's Commissariat Foreign Affairs to the British Embassy in Moscow in response to a note dated January 10, which expresses gratitude to the British for "their willingness to assist in the passage of Soviet citizens who are now in North Africa to the USSR." The surviving 311 people were freed in Tunisia and after the end of the war were taken by the allies to the Mezoncar camp in Algeria, and later by sea to Port Said and trucks through Palestine, Iraq and Tehran. True, among this number were people transferred to Tunisia from Italy. But when the Germans retreated, some managed to scatter, take refuge in oases and dissolve, having converted to Islam, among the local population ...

Since it was impossible, due to the continuation of hostilities, to send home both the liberated prisoners of war in Egypt and Libya, and those of them who were liberated by American and British troops in Italy since August 1944, i.e. 5.6 thousand. people, they all remained in camps in Egypt. All these prisoners were housed in transit camps No. 190, 305, 307, 379 and 380. In this regard, Moscow decided to send to Cairo a communications officer, Major A. V. Karasov, who was in charge of Soviet soldiers. The writer S. Veliev, repatriated from Italy through Egypt, in his memoirs described A. V. Karasov as follows: “He was one of those people who immediately disposed to themselves. In the expression of his face and eyes, concentration, severity and friendliness were surprisingly combined. From the very first acquaintance, Anisim Vasilyevich won our sympathy. "

November 7, 1944 in honor of the day October revolution a parade was held in the camp where the liberated prisoners were kept. The Egyptians and the British military watched the parade. In addition, a play by U. Hajibeyov "Arshin Mal Alan" was shown to the prisoners of war. The performance was a success not only among the prisoners, but also among the Egyptians. S. Veliev pointed out that “people from nearby villages came to our performances. We heard the Arabs singing the arias of Asker and Gulchohra in the streets. Even the children hummed to themselves the melodies of the popular Azerbaijani operetta. " For its part, the camp administration had nothing against the communication of Egyptians with Soviet prisoners. As S. Veliev emphasized, locals“Every day they came alone and in groups, struck up conversations with us, bombarded us with questions< ...>We tried to get to know better the life of the Arabs. It was heavy. We deeply sympathized with them, and they understood this and were deeply grateful to us for this. We fell in love with these people, simple-hearted and hospitable. They said that for them we are the Soviet people and, showing their good feelings for us, they express their love for to the Soviet people, to our country ".

The British and Americans treated the prisoners differently. The American magazine "Colliers" wrote that "the fear and suspicion in relation to Russia is so great that sometimes the question involuntarily arises: with whom we are fighting - with Germany or with the USSR." On one occasion, a group of one hundred Soviet officers were captured and imprisoned by American agents. It took the energetic intervention of A.V. Karasov for the abducted officers to be found and released. Once, American translators approached a group of Soviet soldiers and persuaded them to seek asylum in the United States or England. But it turned out the opposite - the translators quickly began to fall under the influence of Soviet soldiers. Another time, a group of officers from Anders' army came to the camp, persuading the people released from captivity not to return to the USSR. This venture also failed.

However, one of the prisoners of war committed suicide. It turned out that he went over to the side of the Germans and served in the police.

On December 8, 1944, prisoners from camp 307 were sent to Suez, from there by motor ship to Iraqi Basra and were taken to the USSR. S. Veliev noted that “the Arabs prayed for us, for our safe return to our homeland, for our happiness. They gave us persimmons, figs, and those who, embarrassed, refused, almost forcibly shoved the parcels into their hands, put them in their pockets. They said that for them we are the Soviet people and, expressing their good feelings for us, they express their love for the Soviet people, for our country. "

Returning to the Soviet Union, S. Veliev published a collection of memoirs "Pearl Rain", published in Moscow in 1963. The collection also includes his "Way to the Homeland". In addition, under the impression of his experiences in Egypt, he published "Arab Stories" in Azerbaijani. Some of them ("Fig tree", "Fellah's Dreams", "A Jug of Water") have been translated into Russian.

In January 1945, a Soviet mission that was entrusted with dealing with prisoners of war, consisting of 10 officers, arrived in Egypt. The mission was headed by Colonel M. Stavrov. Remaining prisoners were transported in Studebaker trucks to Iran via Palestine, Syria and Iraq. The repatriation of prisoners of war was completed in April 1945.

Another 156 Soviet comrades who fought as part of international brigades in Spain ended up in Algeria. After the war, in 1947, the book “French Records. 1939–1943 ", the author of which was A. Rubakin. In a camp in Verne in France, he spent until December 10, 1941, from where he was transferred to Algeria in the small town of Djelfa on south slope Atlas Mountains bordering the Sahara. On December 4, 1942, Russian prisoners learned about the Anglo-American landing in Algeria, but the landing troops were not interested in the camp. Only at the beginning of March were they relocated to the Cafarelli fortress, and on March 25, 1943, they were allowed to go out to the city for shopping. Finally, on June 14, 1943, Soviet internees were put into trucks and arrived in the Soviet Union through the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, Palestine, Baghdad, Tehran. In addition, Moscow offered to evacuate to the USSR the inter-brigade, of which there were 40 people, of which 15 were Germans, and the rest were Hungarians, Poles, Czechoslovakians, Balts and even one French.

Among the military evacuated from Algeria was BN Fridman, who recounted his memoirs in a manuscript entitled "My military roads", in which, along with Algeria, Alexandria and Suez were also mentioned. On September 5, 1943, he escaped from captivity in Corsica and joined the partisans, and then they were transported to Algeria.

In memory of the participation of Soviet prisoners of war in the battles in North Africa was published in 1963 S. A. Borzenko's book "El-Alamein", which is literary work... It describes the fate of the commander of a tank division, Colonel A. V. Khlebnikov, who was captured in the first days of the war. He and 12 tankers, while in France on the shores of the English Channel, escaped to England. There they joined the British army, were transferred to North Africa, took part in the defense of Tobruk, and A. V. Khlebnikov died at El Alamein.

The Church of the Resurrection of Christ, built in 1956 in the capital of Tunisia, has two commemorative plaques. One of them is dedicated to the memory of the dead six Russian citizens who fought in World War II; these are K. Fedorov, G. Kharlamov, K. Sharov, N. Alexandrov, M. Grunenkov, N. Yurgens. The inscription on the slab: “Russian colony of Tunisia to its sons who fell on the battlefield. 1939-1945 ". The second was installed by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in memory of those Soviet prisoners of war who died in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt during the Second World War.

1 maxpark.com/community/politic/content/1611095; Egorin A. H. Egypt of our time. M., 1998.S. 75.
2 Ibid. P. 78.
3 http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%DO%BD%D0%B3%D1%80%DO%B0% D0% B4% D1% 81% D0% BA% D0%; Great O current war Soviet Union... M., 1970.S. 223.
4 Sologubovsky N.A. Anastasia Alexandrovna Shirinskaya. Fate and memory. M., 2012.S. 282.
5 Work. 06/23/2001; Belyakov V. V. El-Alamein, or Russian soldiers in North Africa (1940-1945). M., 2010.S. 82.
6 http://lib.aldebaran.ru/author/nenahov_yurii/nenahov_yurii_voiska_specnaznacheniya_vo_vtoroi_mirovoi_voine
7 Belyakov V.V. El Alamein in North Africa (1940-1945). M., 2010.S. 82.
8 Sologubovsky N.A. Anastasia Alexandrovna Shirinskaya. Fate and memory. M., 2012.S. 278.
9 Ibid.
10 Zherlitsina N.A., Sologubovsky N.A., Filatov S.V. Dialogue of civilizations. Essays from the history of Russian-Tunisian relations in the 18th – 20th centuries. M., 2006.S. 80.
11 Ibid. S. 81–82.
12 Belyakov V.V. Russian Egypt. M., 2008.S. 305.
13 Gandini J. Pistes du Sud Tunisien à travers l'histoire. Clavisson, 2000. H. 53.
14 Montgomery B. Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery, Viscount of Alamein. M., 2004.S. 157.
15 http://www.ice-nut.ru/tunisia/tunis014.htm
16 Russian colony in Tunisia 1920–2000. M., 2008.S. 211–212.
17 Ibid. P. 211.
18 http: // maxpark.com/community/129/content/1981924; Parkhomovsky M. Son of Russia, General of France. M., 1989.S. 183; For the professional army. Charles de Gaulle's ideas and their development in the twentieth century. M., 1998.S. 221; Parkhomovsky M. Son of Russia, General of France. M., 1989.S. 221.
19 Parkhomovsky M. Son of Russia, General of France. M., 1989. S. 95–56.
20 http://www.maghreb.ru/kolupaeve/voinskie_tradicii5_peshkov.htm
21 www.infrance.su/forum/showthread.php?t=52756
22 Ibid.
23 http://maxpark.com/community/14/content/195728
24 Belyakov V. Africa hosted the Firebird. Russians in Egypt. M., 2000.S. 29.
25 La Noblesse de Russie, T. 2.1962, P. 490, 493.
26 27 Belyakov V.V. Russian Egypt. S. 309.
28 Zherlitsyna N.A., Sologubovsky N.A., Filatov S. C. Dialogue of civilizations. Essays from the history of Russian-Tunisian relations in the 18th – 20th centuries. M., 2006.S. 77.
29 Ibid. P. 77.
30 Belyakov V.V."To the sacred banks of the Nile ...". M., 2003.S. 182.
31 Prisoners of Bizerte. M., 1998. S. 260–267.
32 www.proza.ru/2012/10/16/1966
33 See: All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Annapolis, b / g, p. 242.
34 Belyakov V.V."To the sacred banks of the Nile ...". P. 182.
35 Novikov N.V.... Paths and crossroads of a diplomat. M, 1976.S. 142.
36 Belyakov V.V."To the sacred banks of the Nile ...". S. 184-185.
37 Ibid. P. 186.
38 http://maxpark.com/communitytv/14/content/1957283
39 Cm.: Kvecheni Z. Tobruk. 1941-1943. M., 2003 S. 49, 103, 114; Belyakov V.V. Russian Egypt. P. 317.
40 Cm.: Egorin A.Z. Egypt of our time. P. 80; Egorin A.Z. History of Libya. XX century. M., 1999.S. 114.
41 Cm.: Belyakov V.V. El-Alamein ... pp. 115–117, 120.
42 Belyakov V. Africa sheltered the Firebird ... p. 236.
43 Tolstoy N. D. Victims of Yalta. M., 1996.S. 52.
44 Belyakov V.V. Russian Egypt. P. 300.
45 http://maxpark.com/communitytv/14/content/1957283; See: Belyakov V.V. El-Alamein ... p. 119.
46 Ibid.
47 Belyakov V.V. Russian Egypt. S. 325–326.
48 Ibid, p. 329.
49 Belyakov V.V. El-Alamein ... p. 168.
50 Ibid. P. 170.
51 Belyakov V.V. Russian Egypt. P. 330.
52 Belyakov V.V. El-Alamein ..., p. 126.

The Western press in a hysterical tone describes the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), which is "captured by Russian mercenaries." To all appearances, Russian specialists actually arrived in this country. Why were they invited there, what exactly are they doing there - and what is the significance of this both for the Central African Republic and for Russia?

Russian landing

Outwardly, everything looks like this. In October 2017, the President CAR Faustin-Arrange Touadera flew to Sochi to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov... On it, according to official reports, he asked Russia to apply to the UN with a request to temporarily lift restrictions on the supply of weapons and equipment to the CAR. Informally, President Touadera requested weapons from Russia for three local battalions, that is, about 1.5 thousand soldiers with light armored vehicles. The answer was yes.

A month later, the UN agreed to partially lift the embargo on arms supplies to the Central African Republic for Moscow, and on January 26 this year, the first Il-76 landed at Bangui airport. Already on March 31, President Touadera solemnly hosted the parade of the first company (200 people) of the Central African army, dressed in Russian camouflage and with Russian weapons. They commanded this detachment suspiciously white people.

But the main surprise awaited everyone on March 30 at the main football stadium in the capital of the country, Bangui, during the celebration of the second anniversary of Touadera's election as president. Some armed people of Slavic appearance appeared at the celebration as the personal guard of President Touadera... Prior to that, Rwandan soldiers from the remnants of the collective peacekeeping force were supposed to ensure public safety in Bangui at mass events. At the moment, white guards almost completely control the administration of the CAR president, have unlimited access to his schedule of movement and to key figures from the entourage of President Touadera, to the president's garage and armored vehicles.

Officially, the administration of President Touadera recognizes the fact that from now on there is "a detachment of Russian special forces to enhance the security of the president." A new position has appeared in the presidential administration: a "security director" from among the Russian officers is formally "responsible for the work of a group of bodyguards." The French press believes that the same officer is also "a key intermediary for contacts between the Central African Republic and Russia in the defense and economic spheres."

In just a few weeks, Russian people - often without military uniforms, but with a distinct military bearing - became a noticeable part of life in the capital of the Central African Republic.

They are no longer visible only in and around the presidential palace, but in key ministries, starting with the Ministry of Defense, in military units with soldiers, on street patrols and even in Lebanese shops on central Boganda Avenue. The French press uses the figurative expression "they scattered like antelope across the country", since Russians have already been seen in the provinces. At the same time, it is especially irritating that the Russians have captured the staff of Fords, which were previously provided by the CAR by the Pentagon, and shamelessly drive them along the streets of Bangui. The 15.5 million dollars allocated by the Pentagon for the needs of the CAR army ended up in the hands of the Russians.

It is believed that the official staff of Russian military advisers consists of only five career officers, while the rest are employees of private military companies (PMCs). The French press claims that these are employees of the Sewa Supreme (registered in India and engaged in detective and security services) and Lobaye Ltd (the place of registration is unknown, but Lobaye is a conservation region in the Congo), but no evidence is provided. These allegations marked the beginning of a whole series of speculative publications about "Wagner's mercenaries in Africa", accusations against all the same characters from President Putin's entourage, and a standard set of lamentations about the "hand of Moscow."

The French sigh, shrug, and nod at Washington. “The Russians are waiting for American reaction. Plus, they use methods that we don't, ”says one unnamed French diplomat in the CAR. "They shamelessly bribe everyone who opens doors for them." Here's who would be talking. France in the CAR has historically lived only on bribes- and they were given and taken in both directions.

The origins of the crisis

The situation in the Central African Republic a few years ago could not be deciphered for an ordinary white man. It was a territory of chaos with a touch of genocide on religious grounds.

The religious and ethnic situation in the country is extremely confusing... Of the autochthonous population on the territory of the CAR, only the Sara tribe (no more than 10% of the population) remained, all other tribes are, to one degree or another, newcomers.

The fact is that, in the 18th century, a caravan route to the Middle East passed through the modern CAR, along which ivory and slaves were transported, and gradually Arab slave hunters simply devastated this land. Local Ubangi tribes eventually completely disappeared under the pressure of aggressive refugees, and tribes from the territory of modern Nigeria, Congo and Cameroon began to come from the west and south to the deserted lands, which now account for up to 90% of the country's population. But in its pure form, conflict between tribes, as in Rwanda, has never been observed in the CAR. There was a common enemy - Arab slave traders and Islamized tribes from Darfur and Chad, who were also exclusively engaged in the slave trade and robbery.

In the second half of the 19th century, the territory of modern The CAR became the very place where the waves of colonization of three empires collided head-on-head: walking from the southeast, French heading through the jungle from the west, and The German, accidentally falling under this batch, expanding its influence in Tanzania. It almost came to a direct Anglo-French war, but in the course of the peace negotiations, the territory of the present CAR was, as it were, divided between the main world empires. The boundaries of what we now call the CAR were drawn according to the principle "who got up first - that and the slippers." The specificity of the population - both religious and ethnic - was not taken into account. Formally, the lands of Central Africa remained with France.

Cannibal Emperor

After the independence of the Central African Republic from France proclaimed in 1960 ("the year of Africa"), chaos became systemic phenomenon... He was brought to an apotheosis by Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the president of the CAR from 1966 (seized power as a result of a military coup) to 1976, when he proclaimed himself emperor and ruled in that capacity for another three years. The basis of Bokassa's foreign policy there was blackmail. He threatened almost everyone with whom he dealt: France, the Soviet Union, China, Romania, Yugoslavia, he bribed French politicians, and when they started making claims, he threatened to take away the concessions. The source of personal enrichment and bribes for the French was the plundering of diamond deposits. At the same time, one must understand that the CAR is now - one of the poorest countries in the world, since all the explored deposits of diamonds, uranium and rare earth metals are either not used at all, or are controlled by someone who does not understand.

In Paris, the "Bokassa diamond case" led to the fall of the president Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, who, for the sake of the uranium concessions necessary for France to develop its own nuclear weapons, fraternized with Bokassa, called him "friend" and "brother", went to the Central African Republic to hunt elephants. It turned out that the French president was aware not only of Bokassa's typically African love of luxury (the shoes in which he was "crowned" are recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive in the world), but also of other details of the life of the president-emperor.

After Bokassa's visit to Moscow in 1970, where he also extorted aid from the USSR in exchange for concessions, he really liked Russian cuisine and asked to send him a Russian chef. But this poor fellow, finding in the fridge presidential palace human meat, was able to escape to the Soviet embassy. Later, at a trial in Bangui in 1986, Bokassa claimed that he kept parts of the human body in refrigerators in the Berengo Palace not for cannibalism, but for ritual purposes. They believed him and officially dropped the charge of cannibalism. Although the fate of several dozen oppositionists and some of his 19 wives, including European women, remained unclear.

Born into a Catholic family (he was even predicted to be a priest), Bokassa, with the aim of all that political blackmail of France (but already under President Mitterrand), invited Muammar Gaddafi to the CAR, promising to give him uranium mines, and demonstratively converted to Islam, becoming Salahaddin. This was the last and main mistake. Have wounds in the hands of Gaddafi - this France could not bear... The formal reason for the overthrow of Bokassa was, however, not this, but the murder of about 100 schoolchildren who protested against the introduction of too expensive, but obligatory school uniforms. Operation Barracuda began. A foreign legion, commando units from Gabon and the 1st French paratrooper division landed in Bangui when the newly converted Salahaddin Bokassa was visiting a friend of Muammar in Libya. In Paris, they called it "the last colonial expedition of France." We were wrong.

By the way, for the next ten years, Bokassa lived comfortably in the castle of Adincourt, which belonged to him, near Paris. In 2011, after his death in Bangui from a heart attack, the castle was sold at auction for more than 900 thousand euros.

Modern layout

The first thing that General François Bozizet did when he became president in 2010 was to rehabilitate Bokassa and "reinstate him in all rights." “He built the country, and we destroyed everything he built,” Bozize said. Bozize was born in Gabon and the Gabaya tribe. But he, as a member of the Bokassa clan, had no chances to stay in power for a long time, especially since he relied only on foreign bayonets. In general, foreign military personnel of varying degrees of competence have been the main force of life in the CAR for twenty years.

And in 2012, a certain alliance "Seleka" ("union" in the Sango language), made up exclusively of Muslims, invades the country from the north. With the support of the armies of Chad and Sudan (both deny) and with direct funding from Saudi Arabia, he took over the entire country in a matter of weeks. The leader of "Seleka" became the president Michelle Jotodia... Formally, by religion, he is a Muslim. But he studied in the USSR in the purely Russian city of Oryol at an accounting and credit technical school, and then at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University. He is married to a Russian, they have a daughter, spent in the USSR in total more than 10 years, and upon returning to the CAR, he worked in the tax service, and then in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is a gentle person and in the course of all the endless civil wars and outbursts of violence he participated in organizations whose names always contained the words "unity", "peace", "harmony". But the "Seleka" formally headed by him turned out to be a bunch of jihadists and bandits who, after the seizure of the capital, launched a sadistic terror against the Christian population.

In response, the Christians began to form a militia, and the civil war became religious... 15% of Muslims successfully killed 75% of Christians (another 10% were pygmies and jungle dwellers who believe in the spirits of trees and leopards) with full support Saudi Arabia and the complete helplessness of the French military contingent. Convinced of his inability to govern a country in bloody chaos, Michel Jotodia chartered a plane and flew to Chad.

In November 2013, Paris again remembered its “historic responsibility”. Operation Sangaris began (a butterfly like that), but in December the French suffered their first losses. The then President François Hollande personally arrived in Bangui but was unhelpful. Clashes between Christians and Muslims only escalated. The French tried to make their protege president - a woman, the mayor of Bangui Catherine Samba-Penza, who only called on the French to send more troops, went to the G7 summits in colorful national clothes, asked for humanitarian aid and promised to go to war against Christians. The number of losses grew. In May 2014, that is, with a delay of at least three years from the start of a new round of the civil war, a 45-strong unit of Estonian troops arrived in the CAR. Did not help.

And in February 2016, the former rector of the local university Faustin-Arrange Touadera won a decisive victory in the elections. The French slowly began to fold up and fly to Gabon and Mali. The Estonians somehow disappeared by themselves. The situation is not that it has stabilized, it has somehow calmed down and hid.

And then these Russians appeared.

Remote control

So far there is no information about whose control the operating diamond mines and the uranium mine have come to. This usually happens quite quickly and bloodlessly. Another thing is that physical control over deposits and fields does not mean a legal transfer of ownership. So far, President Touadera has not announced anything on this topic and is unlikely to be in the near future. For him, the effectiveness of the actions of the invited contingent in protecting the borders, eliminating the very fact of the threat from Muslim detachments and finally restoring security throughout the country is important. And if the French were not able to cope with this, then why shouldn't the Russians try.

Many are inclined to see this as a prerequisite for a new "battle for Africa", in which, unlike the "proxy wars" of the Cold War, not only purely armed methods will be used, but also political technological ones. Even the specific names of people who are allegedly responsible for this are named. It is argued that the project uses only people with "African experience", that is, a priori over forty years old and with knowledge of local languages ​​and realities. We do not undertake to assert that this is possible. But you can certainly agree that Africa will definitely become another "competitive area". Only farther from us than the post-Soviet space or the Balkans.

The longest war in which the SADF participated - from 1966 to 11/01/1989.

Border war is the local name for military operations (from the moment of the first shot) to cover the northern borders of South Africa, North-West Africa (Namibia) and everything connected with it. The actions of the South African forces in Zambia and Angola also fall there.
The Border War officially began in 1966. In September 1965, February 1966, and July 1966, the first enemy detachments climbed into the territory controlled by South Africa (in the latter case, the detachment was well prepared).
If we talk about the war in general, then immediately we need to discard the confrontation between white and black. The opposition was against the spread of the ideas of Marxism and black nationalism in southern Africa.

The army of South Africa and North-West Africa was full of blacks. Moreover, there were both interracial units (i.e., consisting of white and black), and completely black. Moreover, universal conscription in South Africa concerned only whites. The black ones served voluntarily. And they fought for their country, for aparttied - no matter how many people like it today. During the war in Angola, both blacks and whites took part on both sides - there was an open civil war in Angola.
As for the mercenaries in this war. There is a wonderful tradition - if we sent our own people somewhere, then they are volunteers, and if they are, then they are mercenaries. Here it was the same - for example. The 32nd Battalion consisted of Portuguese-speaking blacks (first from the FNLA, and then from UNITA), and all had submitted documents for obtaining South African citizenship.
In other parts there were many black volunteers (residents of South Africa, North-West Africa, residents of Bantustans, etc.), from different countries volunteers came. Of course, there were soldiers of fortune, and fans of war, and many others, but their percentage was small.

Both army and police units took part in the border coverage activities. The border was held by relatively small forces. This was achieved by a combination of patrols - whose task was to spot the enemy and report his presence "to the top" (and, if possible, attack).
In turn, "from above" (both in the literal and pernosal sense) flew in rapid response units - paratroopers, special units, army units, police, and often other patrolling units arrived. Using for this landing aircraft, helicopters, as well as ground equipment. Moreover, we must pay tribute to the fighters and headquarters directly - the reaction was instantaneous and the detected enemy group was, as a rule, doomed.
Patrolling was carried out both on foot groups (8-10, and sometimes more people), and on horseback, on motorcycles, on armored vehicles, and also on boats and fishing vessels along the rivers and along the coast. Patrols could last from several hours to several weeks or even months. Almost always initial plans changed a lot - the situation could change at any minute.

Practice has shown that the use of horses for long-term patrols was quite justified and successful. Special police units, called Koevoet in South Africa, appeared in June 1979, when 10 police guards (alternating between white and black) and 64 special constables (in short, guards and operatives) were assembled and prepared for urgent actions to search, identify the rebels "on the trail "in the course of military and police operations, as well as their interception and elimination. By the beginning of 1980, Koevoet had killed 511 rebels, while losing 12 of their own.
Also, these units were used to fight ordinary criminals in South Africa and North-West Africa. Unlike army units, they were not used for guessing patrols.
Subsequently, as they grew, the subunits were brought together into detachments (roughly corresponding in number to the platoons), using armored vehicles (usually the Caspir armored personnel carrier) for movement, and each subunit was ready to instantly go out on a mission and act autonomously for no less than a week.

Koevoet consisted of acting and drafted from the reserve police officers, operatives, volunteers, freelancers (well, this is by analogy with the Russian Federation - it literally sounds a little different), as well as volunteers and rebels who flew away. The racial makeup was also mixed. The efficiency of these units was very high. These were the hunter-ranger squads.

Curious moments (although in many respects natural):

On average, the Border War cost the South African budget 2,000,000 (Two million) rand per day.
- during the war, the industry and military production of South Africa made a big step forward. The country entered the top 10 strongest countries in the production of weapons, the export of weapons, and for a number of points it came out on top.
For example, South Africa has become the undisputed leader in the protection of equipment from mines and the fight against mines in general. In the field of 155-mm artillery, South Africa turned out to be the undisputed leader - the G-5 guns are considered the best in the West in terms of their performance, and the United States buys shells for its 155-mm guns in South Africa.

During the war, together with Israel, their own nuclear weapons were created. According to some reports, the tests were carried out near Madagascar, and included two explosions.
An interesting detail, after the change of power, South Africa renounced nuclear weapons and became the first country in the world to remove nuclear weapons from service. At the same time, half of the world is still racking its brains - is there nuclear weapons in South Africa or not, although in the official press the people of South Africa proudly write what kind of people they are!
-In 1980, i.e. Three years earlier than in the USSR, the Kukri air-to-air melee missile combined with a helmet-mounted target designation system was put into service and went into serial production. Although, according to its characteristics, the Soviet P-73 is, of course, better.

The CSH-2 "Rooivalk" attack helicopter developed in the 1980s (and later adopted for service) was largely inspired by the use of the Mi-24 in Africa. Unlike the American Apache, the helicopter carries serious armor and is adapted, like the Mi-24 and Mi-28, for survival under intense fire.
The result is a successful helicopter - in terms of shock capabilities it is equivalent to the Apache, and in terms of survivability it is a bit short of the Mi-28. An interesting detail, the 20-mm cannon mounted on the helicopter was created on the basis of the German MG-151 cannon, which was used by the Germans during the Great Patriotic War.

The story about the Border War (hereinafter we will call it PV) will not be complete if you do not pay attention to the number of SADF and SWATF units. First, domestic terms do not always (far from always) correspond to those in South Africa. The number of units also walks strongly. Here are some examples:
The SWATF included 101 light infantry battalion (more about it in the North-West African Troops). The number of this unit was 2000 (!) People. Those. in number, he corresponded to the brigade (well, a regiment with a hook, for sure). The 32nd battalion, judging by the South African publications, "was equal in number to two battalions."
There would be nothing if it weren't ... one curious detail - the number of companies. What is called a "company" in South African sources could consist of 40-50 people, up to 250 people. Moreover, the numbers of 150-200-250 (especially the last two digits) people mostly figure.
Those. a battalion of five companies was supposed to consist of 1000 - 1250 people. plus headquarters units, fire support, support, etc. In general, in the end, it is not a battalion at all. The 61st SADF battalion - whatever it was called in our literature! And the battalion and the brigade. The same story is with platoon squads, etc.

An interesting detail - the bulk of the downed aircraft on both sides were ground forces. Neither side set itself the task of conquering and maintaining air supremacy, although both sides could solve this problem.
The parties actively used aviation to combat ground targets and reconnaissance. From time to time there were air battles - mainly when the air forces of both countries ironed the same battlefield from different sides.
The Angolans and Cubans were armed with MiG-21, 23, 23BN fighters, Su-22 fighter-bombers, and at the end of the war also Su-25, as well as Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters. The preparation of the Cubans was better than that of the Angolans (they managed after full course training in the USSR to break down almost several times more aircraft than they lost in battle).
The performance characteristics of the MiG-23 made it possible to detect and fire at enemy aircraft from beyond the detection distance. High-speed, acceleration and maneuverability characteristics were also at their best (later the South African will fly instantly - during operations at the request of the Angolan government - and will respond highly to our technology, once again). Pumped up the view from the cockpit.

SAM S-125, "Osa", "Strela-2M", radio equipment, anti-aircraft artillery (57-mm and 23-mm) and Soviet military advisers made it possible to reliably cover the territory of Angola and the FAPLA forces. But, as often happens, technology does not solve all problems. Not only did the Angolans destroy their equipment (and in general, they often had to be retrained anew already in Angola).
Of course, there were air controllers in the troops, but ... Guidance was often carried out something like this: you need to suppress a machine gun located behind a palm tree stump a hundred meters from me. At the same time, the information went to Mig, which rushed like a madman and could not see the stump from a height with all the desire (and not only the stump).
Ammunition on the planes was hung by those that turned up under the arm - covering the concrete bridge with a napalm tank (often by) was commonplace. The same story was with helicopters. Most of all, the Su-25 "got" - the Angolans broke half of those sent in the first week, but this was not the worst.

The Angolans, the Yuarites, and the Unitans actively used the Soviet Strela-2M MANPADS, small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery. An interesting point: Soviet ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns were equipped with three anti-aircraft artillery regiments, first SADF, and after the change of power and SANDF (the modern abbreviation of the armed forces of South Africa).
14.5 mm machine guns were also supplied in abundance to Angola. In addition to fighting enemy aircraft, anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were actively used to combat enemy manpower and equipment. The UNIT and YUARites often preferred the conscientious Strela-2M MANPADS over the American RedAi.

From the moment when the civil war in Angola began to gain momentum, and the problem of covering the borders from uninvited guests became more and more acute, the SADF quickly realized that it was necessary to create special units whose task would be to patrol the borders, detect, search and destroy the rebels. In 1977, the first special squads. forces were formed and soon became known as SWASPES.
The units consisted of foot, horse and motorcycle units. At the same time, all the fighters of all units were prepared for any action as part of any of these units and could easily replace each other.
Most of the searches and patrols were carried out on foot. Sometimes cynologists with dogs were assigned to help the patrols. The cavalry used horses of the Arabian breed, strong and hardy. Motorcyclists were not used so often - nevertheless, finding a gas station in the bush was problematic, and marches were constantly carried out over long distances and for a long time. In battle, both motorcyclists and cavalrymen dismounted and acted like regular infantry.
There was a strict selection in these units, both physical and psychological. First of all, we weeded out all the "Rambo" and "cowboys".

South African troops took part in hostilities in Angola. Some clarity needs to be made here. Very often, on the topic of the war in Angola, they write about the following - thousands of South African groups, hundreds of tanks, aviation so numerous that the sky is not visible behind it and does not allow to raise their heads, hordes of mercenaries, Americans, the military, UNITA thugs, the occupation of Angola, etc. ... etc.
Yes, the Americans provided some military assistance to UNITA. However, after Vietnam, the US army for a number of political reasons, incl. internal, could not normally provide assistance to third countries. As a result, there were supplies from the United States to Angola (or rather to Zaire, but for Angola), but comparing these supplies with the volume of Soviet aid is simply ridiculous.
In 1975, at the very beginning of the war in Angola, 1 (one) ship with weapons came from the USA, while 7 (seven) ships and hundreds of aircraft with weapons, equipment and equipment came from the USSR. Later, deliveries from the USSR and Cuba went in a continuous stream, but from the USA they were of an episodic nature.

Like many conflicts of the 60-80s, PV, the war in Angola were used to test new weapons, equipment, methods of warfare. For example, UNITA was the first to receive the Stinger MANPADS (much earlier than these MANPADS arrived in Afghanistan).
Like the older Red Eye complexes, the Soviet Strela 2M, they were widely used to combat MPLA aircraft. In particular, the unit's favorite occupation was to set up ambushes near airfields.
Combat swimmers were actively used on both sides. At the same time, the South African people mainly carried out sabotage, while the Cubans were engaged in counter-sabotage affairs.

During the war in Angola, the SADF did not lose a single tank in the tank versus tank battle. The South African tank "Oliphant", in the past the English "Centurion", was a rather serious machine - little remained of its prototype.
The fire control system, engine, etc. have been replaced. As a result, the South African tankers had a number of advantages over the Cubans and Angolans - less time to open fire on a detected target, better visibility, not inferior to maneuverability and, most importantly, better preparation of tankers.
In general, there were not many situations "tanks against tanks", much more often tanks fought with BMP "Ratel", grenade launchers and ATGM crews. We must pay tribute to the South African team - they fought quite successfully. And to go out in a well-armed, but still an armored personnel carrier against a tank needs at least strong nerves!
Tanks T-34-85, PT-76, T-54/55, T-62 were widely delivered to Angola, as well as other equipment - BTR 60, BRDM-1, BRDM-2, BTR 152, BTR-40, ZILs, GAZ, UAZ, Ural, KAMAZ, etc.

There are often statements about South Africa as an aggressor who tried to enslave Angola, drive its people into the mainstream of apartheid, etc. Um, such statements are, to put it mildly, far from the truth. Yes, the SADF regularly carried out operations in Angola, the Air Force worked on targets, and the special forces did not get out from Angolan territory.
However, no one set the task of the occupation. First there was help from the FNL, then from UNITA. Help with weapons, equipment, instructors. From time to time, troops were sent into Angola, and troops landed.
In this case, you can hold parallels with Afghanistan - the troops were assigned tasks, the troops carried out them. And when pearls appear on the topic - that South Africa lost the war, that defeat in this war led to the fall of aparthetide, etc., then this is sheer nonsense.
This is how the columns of tanks with the liberators and the black women crying with happiness throwing flowers under the caterpillars are imagined! If we take into account the balance of forces and the ratio of the effectiveness of troops, then if South Africa had set the task of occupying Angola, it would have said goodbye to independence a long time ago.

CHAPTER XIII.

Formation and combat activities of the "Russian Legion" units. - Combat work of the 1st battalion of this legion in the 1st Moroccan division. - Battles on April 26th and May 30th. - The participation of this battalion in the July offensive of General Mangin. - Battles on September 2 and 14. - The offensive march of the Russian Legion from Nancy to the Rhine. - His participation in the occupation of the left-bank part of Germany. - Demobilization.

In accordance with the decrees of the French Minister of War on the procedure for the distribution of Russian contingents in three categories, General Lokhvitsky immediately after assuming the post of chief of the base in Laval began preparatory work on the formation of people of the 1st category of Russian good

Wolves' detachments. He widely disseminated information about such a formation, and Russian volunteers, not only living in France, but also in Holland, Italy, p. Africa and even Calcutta and the Far East.

All volunteers who appeared gathered at the base in Laval. There they had to sign an appropriate engagement, which they undertook to obey French military discipline, which did not allow the presence of soldiers' committees (councils) in military units.

Colonel of the 2nd Special Regiment Gottua was appointed to command the 1st battalion of the Russian Legion. The battalion consisted of 400 men from the Cournot camp; he was seconded, by the French command, to the Moroccan division and went to the front on March 7, 1918.

Then the formation of the 2nd battalion of the Russian Legion from the people of the Kurta camp was started, under the command of the lieutenant colonel of the 1st special regiment Eske. This 270-man battalion was assigned to the 178th French division and departed for the front on March 10th.

In addition to those sent to the front, 120 more people remained in Laval, who were supposed to serve as the nucleus for the formation of the 3rd battalion. In fact, they formed one company of this battalion, which was temporarily attached to the 1st battalion. Finally, 40 officers and 530 volunteers were expected to arrive from Thessaloniki, who could provide material for the 4th battalion of the same Legion.

Thus, already in the first half of March, the formation of volunteer units began to improve noticeably. Subsequently, the ranks of the first four battalions were supposed to be strengthened by the further infusion of additional personnel, since there was every reason to expect further development of the volunteer movement. Indeed, around March 20, 300 people arrived from Africa who expressed a desire to be listed in the 1st category, who also

They were defeated by the existing battalions. Unfortunately, later it turned out that among them agitators also made their way into the ranks of the Russian Legion, who did not stop their corrupting work.

The battalion organization of the region prevented senior officials of the former special divisions (colonels and especially generals) from directly participating in the volunteer movement, but it had to put up with this shortcoming, in anticipation of the possibility of a wider deployment of volunteer units.

The Russian colony was very happy about the success of these formations. A report has survived, according to which on March 10, a train with Russian volunteers on its way from Laval to the front was solemnly greeted in Versailles by the former Russian ambassador to Paris V.A.Maklakov and Russian ladies who brought gifts to the soldiers.

General Daugan, Chief of the 1st Moroccan Division, to which Colonel Gottua's 1st Battalion was attached, already on 26 March informed his army commander that the Russian unit attached to him had made an excellent impression on him. At the same time, he asked to send letters from this part to Russia as soon as possible, hoping that they would be a good means for the appropriate propaganda of healthy sentiments in Russia.

Colonel Barjonet, chief of staff of the Laval base, reported to the French Ministry of War at about that time that a detachment of volunteers (under the command of Captain Pavlov) arrived at the base from Thessaloniki in perfect order and in fine uniforms. The battalion formed from these people was attached to the 56th Infantry Division and sent to the battle front on April 9th.

According to the report of General Lokhvitsky on April 13, among these people there were 446 people who had the St. George's crosses or insignia of the Military Order.

However, already during the formation of these battalions, serious concerns arose about how legal the situation of these battalions would be from the point of view of international law. military units in the theater of operations, in view of the conclusion of peace with Germany by the Bolshevik authorities in Russia. Can't the latter, in fact, regard these battalions as units made up of non-combatants, which would threaten their ranks, in case of capture, with very grave consequences. This consideration took on special significance in connection with the indispensable desire of the Russian military contingents to preserve the Russian military uniform and fight under the Russian national banner.

After a very long study of this issue, and in the desire to provide the Russian units with a legal existence, they had to take the path of some compromise and agree to the wearing of the uniform of the French colonial troops by the Russian legionaries, with a tricolor, however, an armband on the left hand of national colors, on which they had to be stamped by the French War Office.

As for the national banner, such, after Russia left the war, also could not be provided to the Russian volunteer detachments, and they had to be content with the fact that the banner of Russian flowers had to be attached to the French-style flagstaff.

For its part, in an effort to legalize the position of the Russian legions, the French Ministry of War issued on behalf of the President of the French Republic a special decree (of April 11, 1918), which officially established the formation of four battalions for the entire duration of the war, made up specially of Russian volunteers. ...

Under all these conditions, the position of the Russian volunteer detachments could be considered legitimized to a certain extent. Unfortunately, however, under the influence of the same tireless work of agitation,

Nie in the right to wear the Russian uniform, together with other reasons, which will be described a little below, caused a very serious agitation among the volunteer soldiers, which had a very unfavorable effect on further development so successfully started the business of forming Russian volunteer detachments.

The point was that on May 13, at the inspection of the battalion of Colonel Balbashevsky, one of the high-ranking French generals, the latter made an incautious speech in which in a rather harsh form he recalled that the battalion was made up of volunteers and that, therefore, the one who had there is no real desire to fight, can leave the ranks of his unit at any time. Since the idea of ​​the possibility of free abandoning the ranks of the battalion at any time significantly differed from what was said to the soldiers earlier, during the "triage", when they were allocated to the 1st category, then, under the influence of some irritation with the content of speech, mainly - malicious secret agitation, unrest arose among the people of the battalion. People, pushing forward the facts of the conclusion of Russia with Germany for peace and the insufficiently fair assessment by the allies of their sacrificial impulse, began to express their unwillingness to be in the future as part of the armed units and agreed only to enroll them in the category of volunteer workers. These main motives of refusal from military service began to be joined by other more secondary motives, such as unwillingness to wear non-Russian uniforms, to fight under an unusual banner, and others. The unrest did not hesitate to spread to other battalions (for example, the battalion of Colonel Iesuke, especially when it became known that, when signing an engagement for service, all the formalities that made the contract inviolable by law were not followed, namely, the signing of such in most cases took place in the absence of an appropriate representative of the French government.

The Commander-in-Chief of the French troops considered it his duty to inform the French Minister of War about the disturbed balance of spirit in the battalions of Colonels Balbashevsky and Ieske. General Petain, recognizing the aforementioned speech of the French general unsuccessful, nevertheless spoke in favor of the need to disband the Russian volunteer battalions, in which, in his opinion, military discipline had been compromised by the latest events. If, according to the conditions of the general situation, the French Commander-in-Chief added, it is nevertheless necessary to preserve the Russian Legion, then this Legion should have been created on the grounds adopted in the foreign Legion, that is, it should be under French command and with a mixed officer corps.

However, by this time, the battalion, which was under the command of Colonel Gottua, had won such a solid military glory that there could be no question of its disbandment.

This battalion, as part of one combatant and one machine-gun company, in which the people of the company of the 3rd battalion attached to it gradually joined, was, after formation, included, as the reader already knows, in the 1st Moroccan division, which was used in the French army has an outstanding combat reputation.

Having been transported together with the named division to the Nancy area, the mentioned Russian battalion was attached directly to the 8th Zouavsky Infantry Regiment, which was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Lagarde.

In the Nancy area, the Russian volunteer detachment did not stay long. Very soon he had to be in

Combat environment and show your exceptional fighting qualities.

In the last third of March 18, after the conclusion of the Brest Peace Treaty by the Bolshevik government, the Germans were given the opportunity to carry out a grandiose offensive on their western front. The offensive was directed against the British in the Amiens-Arras area. The front of the allies was broken through and their position became very serious. General Foch, in whose hands, due to the complexity of the situation, the command of the allied forces was united, sends all the most free forces to the place of the breakthrough. But the operation is being dragged out and the situation on the Allied front continues to remain critical. The extremely difficult days of the operation come from April 26th to 30th. By this time, the Moroccan division was brought to the scene of action by cars. It also includes a Russian detachment. Together with other units, on April 26th he went over from Villers-Bretonet to a counter-attack, which produced a significant improvement in the situation.

Here are some hot lines from the "history of the glory of the Moroccan division". They are worth being brought in as proof of Russian valor and Russian sacrifice.

"At the most critical moment of the battle, a small part appears on the horizon .... She boldly rushes forward between the zouaves and the riflemen, with bayonets directed at the enemy .... They are in no danger ... Who are these brave men? ..

These are the Russian Moroccan divisions! Glory to them ... "

Regarding the battle on April 26th, General Daugan reported that he was very pleased with the companies of the Russian Legion, subordinates to him: officers and soldiers showed themselves in battle ardent and courageous.

Total Russian losses: 3 wounded officers; soldier: 19 killed, 74 wounded.

To prevent the formation of personnel, the head of the Moroccan division asks to send these companies as soon as possible the corresponding reinforcements, which were at that time in Laval, including about 200 volunteers.

With particular enthusiasm, General Daugan speaks of the activities in this battle of the front company of Captain Lupanov and the machine-gun company of Captain Razumov. “These units, he says, marched into battle with unparalleled (sans pareil) fervor and courage that delighted (en admiration) everyone who saw the movement, and especially the Zouaves with whom they advanced alongside.

Captain (now Colonel) Lupanov was right there, on the battlefield he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor, and two particularly distinguished non-commissioned officers were awarded military medals.

In addition to the named persons, other ranks of the Legion were awarded French military awards.

The entire battalion of the Russian Legion, which was under the command of Colonel Gottua, was recognized as deserving for its participation in the attack on April 26, 1918: "Etat de recompenses".

But then the next month comes - May. The attacks of the Germans in Flanders and Artois, despite the shown persistence, generally do not lead to the results expected by the Germans. The French command is deploying strong reserves to the attacked area, which halt the development of the successes that accompanied the initial offensive of the enemy. As a result of the regrouping carried out, the position of the Allies in other areas, and especially on the nearest approaches to Paris, in the Soissons-Reims area, naturally begins to weaken. The Germans take advantage of this circumstance in order to direct their new blow precisely here.

The enemy. Only by the beginning of July the legion's combat activity in this area ends, and he, as part of the same division, is withdrawn to the army reserve in Villers-Cotere.

French newspapers of that time are especially delighted with the heroism of the Russian detachment in the battle on May 30 near Soissons. They emphasize the large number of military awards given by the French military authorities to the Russian legionnaires.

People who have newly joined the ranks of the detachment, fighting like lions, compete in valor with the previously arrived legionnaires.

The courage of those killed - Lieutenant Ornatsky, Second Lieutenant Rudnev, Doctor Zilberstein, and the wounded - Captains Razumov, Jordan and Lieutenant Vasiliev were especially noted.

Among the reports testifying to the valor of the ranks of the Russian Legion who participated in this battle, the report of the Commander of the 1st company about the heroism of ensign Dyakonov is issued.

In the battle at Soissons, during a counter-attack, he was seriously wounded by several bullets in the chest, abdomen and arm. Due to the fact that the company, when retreating, had to fight its way with bayonets to its own, there was no way to take out ensign Dyakonov from the battlefield.

“Nevertheless, the warrant officer Dyakonov, the report testifies, was not lost; having gathered around him as badly wounded as he himself, the named warrant officer compiled a command for them, with the fire of which he covered the rear of his company, thus facilitating its retreat.

Apparently, ensign Dyakonov did not survive, since all information about him ceased.

(A list of witnesses to the injury follows).

Ensign Dyakonov had the 4th degree of St. George's Cross and Croix de guerre (with a palm tree). "

This simple story is about one of many. How many, in fact, such modest Russian heroes, whose names could not be preserved, remained lying on the fields of France and Macedonia, expressing with their heroic death a protest against the power of the Bolsheviks and their audacity to dispose of the fate of Great Russia that did not belong to them! ...

It is interesting to cite an excerpt from a letter from a very thoughtful officer of the Russian Legion, a participant in the glorious battle on May 30, written by him to General Lokhvitsky and translated into the corresponding archive file. It says approximately the following: “Regarding the mood of the officers and soldiers, I can say that we consider ourselves condemned, without any hope of returning back whole, like a battalion of" suicide bombers "in Russia, destroyed entirely, without any real benefit for the general situation. viewed as an "idea" rather than an organism for use in combat. "

Unfortunately, the author of the letter adds, the dream of the battalions of the Russian Legion being united together has not yet come true; Acting separately, in small packages, under the command of French officers, these units cannot carry out any independent task and their whole role is reduced to facilitating the success of other units. Meanwhile, he complains, the best soldiers have already been killed, the rest will face the same fate. "I am afraid that under such conditions, neither the task nor the idea underlying the organization of the Russian Legion will be fully implemented."

On June 12, command of the 1st battalion was transferred from Colonel Gottua to Captain Lupanov. And on the eve, on June 11, the French Ministry of War issued an order to replace the old engagements with new ones, which introduced a certain obligation to serve "until the end of the war," and which had to be signed by each legionnaire, as

Guo demanded the basic law, in the presence of a French representative (sous-intendant).

According to this order, the Russian legionnaires who signed a new contract were given the right to either continue serving in the special Russian Legion, or join a foreign legion. Those who did not want to sign a new contract were subject to transfer to the category of workers, or, in case of unwillingness to work voluntarily, sent to the village. Africa, on a common basis. The French War Ministry was aware that the requirement to sign a new engagement would lead to a significant decrease in the number of volunteers, but, in his opinion, he had no other option to eliminate the accumulated misunderstandings.

Of course, the Bolshevik elements did not fail to take advantage of this situation, which, being interspersed everywhere, intensified their agitation in general against the existence of the Russian Legion. According to the report of General Lokhvitsky, the vacations and the ranks of the legion in hospitals, as well as the soldiers who were in Laval, were subjected to a new wave of agitation, just as it happened in 1917. Agitators were waiting for vacation pay at train stations, especially in Paris.

In contrast to this trend, in Paris and Nice, patriotic charitable societies organized special patronages for the ranks of the Russian Legion, the purpose of which was to provide the ranks of this Legion with moral and material support.

Meanwhile, in the first half of the summer of 1918, the position of the French on the routes to Paris becomes, as is known, extremely difficult. The Germans dug deep into their location in the areas of Mondidier and Chateau-Thierry, finding themselves only 60 kilometers from Paris. In the Château-Thierry area, they even managed to cross to the left bank of the Marne.

In such a situation, on July 18, the famous flank counter-offensive of General Mangin's 10th French army began from the side of the forests of Villers-Coterets. The Moroccan division also takes part in this offensive, having in its composition parts of the Russian Legion,

Significantly thinned out after the operation of the second signing of the engagement.

The Moroccan division is advancing in the center; on its flanks are two fresh American divisions. General Mangin's offensive is supported huge amount aptillery batteries, hundreds of tanks and a cloud of airplanes. The roaring and bubbling shaft, which sweeps away the German resistance ...

In the further, at the beginning of August, as a result of the July offensive operation French, on the front Reims - Soissons, the Germans are in retreat from the Marne to the r. En; a little later, after the rapid onslaught of the Anglo-French at Mondidier, the German troops withdrew in early September to their main positions in 1917.

During this period of time, the Russian Legion is undergoing another reconstruction, with the goal of using all the people who signed the 2nd engagement, and disperse them in small groups in four different battalions. This reconstruction was entrusted to the Chief of the 1st Moroccan Division, General Daugan, in agreement with General Brulard, the new chief of the Laval base. These persons are closer than others, from the French army, stood to the Russian military contingents and therefore were considered in this case and the most competent in the Russian question. Both generals named, at the same time, were the type of French military commanders who treated the Russian military contingents with great care and their extremely difficult experiences caused by the revolutionary time and staying outside the homeland. However, as can be seen from the report of General Daugan, addressed to the Commander-in-Chief of the French troops on August 14, 1918, No. 4949, the opinions of the two named persons seriously differed in the best organization of the volunteer elements. General Daugan was eager to keep them at his front as an active unit, organizing in the rear only one or a few "component" battalions, in accordance with the number of accumulated replacements.

At the same time, General Daugan expressed the opinion about the desirability of transferring command of the Russian operating battalion to the French headquarters officer, who, in his opinion, will be the only one able to accurately and quickly coordinate the actions of this battalion with the general tasks of the head of the French division or brigade. He also found it useful to have a certain number of French officers in the battalion to smooth out the roughness that had been artificially created by propaganda between Russian officers and soldiers since the beginning of the revolution.

As for General Brulard "a, the latter was a supporter of a different system, proposing to pull back from the front all Russian volunteer units, not excluding those who were in the 1st Moroccan Division, in order to use them as cadres for new, wider formations, which in the future and could be used for combat work on the French front.

It is not difficult to see that this second system, pursuing a more extensive task, could bear fruit only after a lapse of several months. In reality, it would only deprive the Russian military contingents of the opportunity to take combat participation in the events of the last months of the war on the western front.

Fortunately, it was not accepted.

After accepting the proposal of General Daugan, the detachment of the Russian Legion, which was part of the 1st Moroccan Division, received quite significant reinforcements in August, at the expense of other battalions of the same Legion.

He turned into a battalion of 2.5 rifle companies and 1 machine-gun company and entered, as an independent unit, into the 1st brigade of the Moroccan division. This brigade is formed from a foreign legion: (3 battalions), a Malgash battalion (from the natives of the island of Madagascar) and a battalion of the Russian Legion. This brigade is commanded by the French Colonel Bouchez, the current chief of staff of the Strasbourg military governor.

In this composition, the Russian battalion, which has long been

Having in its internal use the honorary name of the "Legion of Honor", it is transferred once again by cars to the north of the Oise and here it leads, throughout the first half of September, in the Terni Sorni region, a multi-day offensive in the direction of Lafoe, one of the most prominent corners of the fortified line of Hindenburg.

The battalion suffers heavy losses here, especially in the battles on September 2 and 14. In the first of the named battles, according to the testimony of the participants in the battle, two French officers (the commander of the Commandant Tramuset and Capitaine Brun) fall on the battlefield with the "death of the brave", next to the Russian legionaries: the highly valiant battalion doctor Kleiman and the Knight of St. George, Archpriest Bogoslovsky, 60- years old, who have already received the right to be transferred to Russia, but who considered it their sacred duty to participate in the battle and admonish those who went to the attack with the blessing of the Cross. This death in one battle of heroes belonging to two allied nationalities, clearly emphasizes the commonality of the idea that inspired the selflessly perished Russian and French people.

I quote below, in translation, the text of the report of General Daugan about this legendary battle:

"The battalion of the Russian Legion, which took part in the general attack on September 2, 1918, received the task of capturing the village of Sorny. In battle formation, this battalion was in the 2nd line, behind the 12th battalion of Malgash riflemen, which, having passed the road Soissons-Bethune, was to attack the village of Terny-Sorny.

With the beginning of the attack, the troops, advancing under the cover of a rolling rampart of barrage fire, came under the influence of strong flank machine-gun fire emanating from the northern edge of the Beaumont forest and peak 172. Right-flank parts of the Malgashskys

The riflemen, under the influence of this fire, hesitated somewhat; the left flank of the advancing battalion managed to reach the western part of the named village. However, on the northern edge of the named village, enemy machine guns developed such hellish fire on the continuing advancing column that the advance of the entire detachment had to stop.

At this moment, some parts of the battalion of the Russian Legion, on their own initiative of their officers, make an independent decision to move to the east, in order to bypass the attacked village and capture it, by covering it from the north.

Under a hail of artillery and machine-gun fire, while the entire 1st line froze, units of the Russian battalion quite clearly carry out this difficult maneuver.

With remarkable decisiveness, in an inextinguishable impulse, having in mind the movements of its officers, the Russian battalion takes possession of the village. - The fight is cruel. - The enemy, firmly entrenched in the ruins of the village, decided to stay in it, no matter what it cost him; he defends himself with the energy of despair, grabs chest to chest and resists most of the night, giving no one mercy. But at dawn, the village completely passes into the hands of the Russian battalion, which organizes its defense and holds in it, despite the frenzied counter-attacks of the enemy. For three days, on September 3rd, 4th and 5th, the battalion held out in it, straining all its forces and in spite of the brutal enemy bombardment with guns of all calibers and shells with asphyxiant gases.

During these actions, the Russian battalion took 160 prisoners and got into its hands significant material booty, in the form of various kinds of weapons and supplies.

The sacrifice with which this battalion performed its maneuver, in view of the seriousness of the general situation, the courage and courage with which it carried out it, under the most powerful enemy fire,

The amazing energy and endurance, which properties were shown to them, require the submission of the battalion of the Russian Legion to the award they deserve ... "

This performance was respected by the Commander-in-Chief of the French armies on September 30, 1918, and the battalion of the Russian Legion received the right to wear a special distinction, called in France "Fouragere" (a kind of aiguillette worn by all ranks of the unit on the left shoulder).

This award was accompanied by a special order from Marshal Petain, Commander-in-Chief of the French forces.

“This award, says General Daugan in his Notice, recalls not only the excellent combat deed of the battalion of the Russian Legion on September 2, but all the heroic deeds in which the battalion took part in April 1918.

A battalion of specially selected people, whose irreconcilable hatred of the enemy, combined with complete contempt for death, inspires all their actions, showed rare courage during military operations in the Somme from April 26 to 30, 1918 (see above ), contributing with their heroic resistance and at the cost of great losses, stopping the enemy's advance to Amiens.

The same battalion took an equally brilliant part in the operations at Soissons on May 30 and now on September 2, where it showed the same qualities and the same sacrifice, fighting mercilessly, in order to hold onto the territory once taken, and seizing from the enemy numerous prisoners and material part ".

Finally, on September 14, 1918, a detachment of the Russian Legion takes an equally honorable part in the general attack on the fortified position of Hindenburg, northeast of the Laffaux plateau. This participation is drawn from the same source in the following form:

"On the night of September 13-14, the battalion leaves its bivouac position, which had been occupied by it since the brilliant battle on September 2. Its new assignment was to move out of the reserve to

1st line of battle of their brigade, occupy the area between the Foreign Legion and 12th battalion of Malgash Riflemen on the right.

The battalion's combat mission was to capture a highly fortified enemy center of resistance. which represented a significant danger to the offensive of the entire detachment. After capturing two trenches at the front (du Rossignol and Avancee), it was necessary to storm the Chateau de la Motte and, having captured the latter, put it into a state of defense.

On the appointed day and hour, the 1st company of the battalion of the Russian Legion rushed into the attack, with its usual swiftness, supported by the 2nd company following it at a distance of 150 meters. - In its boundless impulse, the 1st attack wave captures the Rossignol trench, almost instantly overcoming the second intermediate trench and takes possession of the bayonet strike, combined with the action of hand grenades, the Avancee trench. This action was largely helped by a detachment directed to the mark (82, 41), where the German blockhouse was located, fighting off the enemy's invasion with all its mortars and machine guns, covered with concrete shelters.

Having cleared the captured trenches from the enemy, the Russian legion continued its offensive and, ahead of the barrage of its artillery, with a swift bayonet strike, takes possession of the last object of its actions, Chateau de la Motte. - The speed of action of the Russian legionnaires was such that the Germans did not have time to offer them resistance and many prisoners, machine guns and different subjects combat supplies.

All these actions were carried out so brilliantly and with such reckless swiftness that the losses of the battalion were relatively insignificant: only 9 killed and 25 wounded. "But the impression of these victories has greatly increased the already glorious military reputation that the valiant phalanx of Russian legionnaires in the 1st Moroccan division has acquired."

So, on October 26, 1918, General Dogan, the head of the 1st Moroccan

Divisions. The same report bears the following mark from General Gerard, commander of the French 8th Army:

"Since April 1918, the time of formation, the battalion of the Russian Legion, which became part of the 1st Moroccan Division, has repeatedly given evidence of its best behavior in various operations in which it had to take part.

The qualities that made this part of the troops in the hands of its commanders a very valuable combat tool are noted in the motives for presenting the battalion to the award received by this part on September 30, 1918.

Under these conditions, it is advisable to assist in the further staffing of this battalion, which is part of the 1st Moroccan division, with Russian contingents.

Signed: Commander of the 8th (French) Army

General Gerard ".

This was also the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief of the French troops, expressed by him in October 1918.

The loud military glory of the Russian Legion attracted new volunteers to its ranks. There were those who wanted to enroll in its ranks from the category of workers. - In addition, many Russians who served in parts of the Foreign Legion wished to be transferred to serve in a specially Russian Legion. In the archives, a note has been preserved that, according to the permission of the French Minister of War, on November 1, 18th, 152 people were poured into the battalion of the Russian Legion at the 1st Moroccan Division, from among the Russians who served in parts of the Foreign Legion.

As a result, the battalion of the Russian Legion, despite losses in battles, did not decrease in its numbers.

Sty. On the contrary, his strength to some extent even grew. According to the report of General Daugan, by November 1, 18, there were 564 men in his ranks, and the battalion was split into three combatants and one machine-gun company.

With such forces, the Russian Legion was again ready for further action.

But already in the first half of October, the Germans, according to the general situation, were forced, as is known, to clear the entire Hindenburg line, which was an exceptionally heavily fortified strip of terrain, with concrete buildings and hidden artillery. The mentality of the people, which had been undermined by this time, could not find support in the dead buildings. The Germans began to withdraw to the borders ...

In such conditions, at the end of October, the Moroccan division, in full force, was transported to Nancy, from where its final maneuver was to begin, as part of the army group of General Castelnau, on the right bank of the river. Moselle to Mainz. In this maneuver, which had the task of hitting the messages of the withdrawing German armies, the Russian Legion was also to take part. Only the armistice on November 11, 1918 interrupted the planned operation. Nevertheless, the Russian Legion of "honor" continued its existence in the distant future, taking part in the occupation of the left bank of the river by the allied forces. Reina. Having set out a few days after the declaration of an armistice from the region of Nancy, he crossed Lorraine, Alsace, Sar and Renania. At the end of the named marching movement, with a total length of up to 200 kilometers, this battalion occupied the points intended for it for occupation on the Rhine against Mannheim.

Thus ended the glorious service of this small Russian unit, which absorbed all the strongest and most spiritually strong elements of the Russian special divisions.

According to the testimony of the legionnaires, they combat period their activities were surrounded by

The sides of the French army are signs of exceptional attention, especially from their comrades-in-arms in the division.

During the period of its military activity, in the fields of France, the mentioned battalion of the Russian Legion, with its valor, as already noted, twice deserved the honor of being noted in the orders for the French army and thus acquired the right to a special external distinction. Many ranks of this battalion have received French military awards; Especially noteworthy is the awarding of the Order of the Legion of Honor to the "soldier" Vvedensky (by specialty a doctor, but who joined the detachment as an ordinary volunteer) - an extremely rare case in the practice of awarding this order by General Pétain to military ranks who did not hold officer posts.

Thus, we must state that throughout 1918, up to the conclusion of a general armistice on November 11, a small Russian detachment in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Concord Powers in France fought tirelessly against the Central Powers against the Central Powers. This detachment also took part in the general offensive of the armies of the Consent Powers to the Rhine, for the occupation of the left-bank Germany.

By their presence on the banks of the Rhine, the Russian legionnaires captured their loyalty to the obligations that Russia assumed by entering into an agreement with the Powers of Accord on the joint conduct of war by the Powers of the Triple Alliance to the end.

Glory for this steadfastness and for the valor shown at the same time to living heroes, eternal memory of their dead comrades-in-arms!