Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba - Soviet military leader, participant in the Civil War. Arrested in 1937 during a business trip to Moscow as “the main organizer and commander of the rebels in the Kuban.” June 10, 1938 in Krasnodar at a closed meeting of the visiting session of the Military Collegium Supreme Court The USSR was sentenced to capital punishment - execution.

The Germans loved to remember repressed Soviet military leaders in their newspapers. Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Egorov were often remembered. "Cossack Blade", No. 10, 1943, remembered Dmitry Zhloba

In principle, it is impossible to believe collaborationist newspapers , but it is known that in 20-30 The Redneck and his colleagues were very unhappy that, as it seemed to them, their exploits were not widely covered in the history of the Civil War.

SECRETARY OF THE Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) comrade. STALIN

The materials of the investigation into the case of the anti-Soviet right-wing organization in the Azov-Black Sea and Ordzhonikidze regions have established that the former commander of the cavalry corps, now the director of the Kuban rice state farm ZHLOBA Dmitry Petrovich, a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), is one of the active participants in the organization.
According to the testimony of the arrested A.S. RAZORENOV and I.N. PIVOVAROV, the leaders of the right-wing organization hoped to use ZHLOBU as the leader of the armed uprising being prepared in the Kuban and North Caucasus.
“ZHLOBA also participates in the work of the right, on whom, according to PIVOVAROV, the right places great hopes as the leaders of the uprising, because it can attract a significant part of the former. partisans." (From the testimony of A.S. RAZORENOV dated 11/VI-37)
ZhLOBA grouped around himself former Red Cossack partisans from among those who were anti-Soviet. He subsidized them from the funds of the state farm, thereby creating at the rice state farm a significant group of people devoted to it, capable of carrying out any orders for terrorism and insurrection, about which the arrested I.N. PIVOVAROV showed the following:
“ZhLOBA gathered a large group of former people at his Kuban rice state farm. red Cossack partisans, extremely hostilely anti-Soviet, provided them financial assistance in the form of one-time gratuitous subsidies at the expense of the state farm.”
“ZhLOBA told me that from the funds of the state farm he provided material assistance to the Cossack collective farmers who suffered from the flood, and, while providing assistance, he told them: “The Soviet government is not helping you, but ZHLOBA is helping you.”
With such techniques, ZHLOBA rallied around himself a large group of people devoted to him, capable of carrying out any subversive and terrorist activities at his instructions.” (From the testimony of I.N. PIVOVAROV dated 17/VI-37)
I consider it necessary for GOOD D.P. to arrest.
I ask for your sanction.

People's Commissar internal affairs of the USSR
Commissioner General State security N. EZHOV

03 June 1887 - 10 June 1938

Soviet military leader, participant in the Civil War 1918-20

Biography

Born on June 3, 1887 (old style) in Kyiv in the family of a Ukrainian farm laborer (according to other sources, a worker). During the First Russian revolution 1905-1907 was a member of the workers' squad in Nikolaev. Self-taught, he mastered the skills of handling mining equipment and worked as a machinist in the mines of Donbass. With the outbreak of the First World War, he was exempt from conscription as a skilled worker, but in May 1916 he was arrested for participating in the Gorlovsko-Shcherbinovskaya strike and sent to the active army. He had the rank of junior non-commissioned officer.

Member of the RSDLP(b) since 1917. In 1917 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation School as a military motor mechanic. After February Revolution was elected a member of the Moscow Council from the school of aviators. Commanded a Red Guard detachment during the October armed uprising in Moscow, led fighting against the cadets who occupied the Kremlin.

At the end of 1917, he was sent as a military commissar to the Donbass, created a Red Guard mining detachment, with which he participated in battles in the Donbass and Kyiv (January 1918). In the spring of 1918, he participated in the defense of Rostov from the Germans (unsuccessfully).

In the spring and summer of 1918, one of the commanders of the North Caucasian army Soviet republic. He commanded a regiment, a brigade and a “Steel” division in battles against the White Guards in the Kuban and North Caucasus. In October 1918, having quarreled with the commander-in-chief of the 11th Red Army of the North Caucasus Sorokin, Zhloba withdrew his division from the Caucasian front to Tsaritsyn. The “steel” division made an 800-km trek from the station. Nevinnomysskaya to Tsaritsyn and struck on October 15 at the rear of the troops of General P.K. Krasnov, providing decisive assistance to the defenders of Tsaritsyn and saving the city from surrender. Participates in hostilities against Makhno's Insurgent Army. In 1919, he commanded a special partisan detachment and a group of troops of the Caspian-Caucasian Front near Astrakhan, a cavalry brigade as part of the 1st Cavalry Corps of B. M. Dumenko, participating in the liberation of Novocherkassk (January 1920). From February 1920, commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps and cavalry group, which operated in the summer of 1920 against Wrangel’s troops. As a result of the fighting, Zhloba's equestrian group was destroyed, and he was removed from command (replaced by O.I. Gorodovikov). In March 1921, he commanded the 18th Cavalry Division, which made a difficult transition through the Goderz Pass and removed the legitimate government in Tiflis from power. Following this, the division liberated Batumi from Turkish troops, retaining Adjara as part of Georgia.

He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner (the first for skillful leadership of units of the 1st Cavalry Corps and personal courage, the second for military distinction during the establishment of Soviet power in Georgia) and a golden revolutionary weapon.

Demobilized in 1923, he was at economic work. Led Pomgol, then Posledgol. Since 1925, chairman of the Commission for Improving the Life of Children in the North Caucasus and a member of the Commission for Assistance to Demobilized Red Army Soldiers and Former Red Partisans, a member of the North Caucasus Regional Executive Committee. From 1927 he headed the Regional Collective Farm Association. Since the summer of 1928, after a commission checked the state of grain procurements in the Kuban district, among a number of workers, he was removed from his position, was on long leave and lived in the station. Pavlovskaya. In the summer of 1929, he was put in charge of Plavstroy (later renamed Kubrisostroy), whose task was to carry out reclamation work to drain floodplains in the Kuban.

Born on June 3, 1887 (old style) in Kyiv in the family of a Ukrainian farm laborer (according to other sources, a worker). During the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, he was a member of the workers' squad in Nikolaev. Self-taught, he mastered the skills of handling mining equipment and worked as a machinist in the mines of Donbass. With the outbreak of the First World War, he was exempt from conscription as a skilled worker, but in May 1916 he was arrested for participating in the Gorlovsko-Shcherbinovskaya strike and sent to the active army. He had the rank of junior non-commissioned officer.

Member of the RSDLP(b) since 1917. In 1917 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation School as a military motor mechanic. After the February Revolution, he was elected a member of the Moscow Council from the school of aviators. He commanded a Red Guard detachment during the October armed uprising in Moscow, and led military operations against the cadets who occupied the Kremlin.

In the spring and summer of 1918, one of the commanders of the army of the North Caucasus Soviet Republic. He commanded a regiment, a brigade and a “Steel” division in battles against the White Guards in the Kuban and North Caucasus. In October 1918, having quarreled with the commander-in-chief of the 11th Red Army of the North Caucasus Sorokin, Zhloba withdrew his division from the Caucasian front to Tsaritsyn. The “steel” division made an 800-km trek from the station. Nevinnomysskaya to Tsaritsyn and struck on October 15 at the rear of the troops of General P.K. Krasnov, providing decisive assistance to the defenders of Tsaritsyn and saving the city from surrender. Participates in hostilities against Makhno's Insurgent Army. In 1919, he commanded a special partisan detachment and a group of troops of the Caspian-Caucasian Front near Astrakhan, a cavalry brigade as part of the 1st Cavalry Corps of B. M. Dumenko, participating in the liberation of Novocherkassk (January 1920). From February 1920, commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps and cavalry group, which operated in the summer of 1920 against Wrangel's troops. As a result of the fighting, Zhloba's equestrian group was destroyed, and he was removed from command (replaced by O.I. Gorodovikov). In March 1921, he commanded the 18th Cavalry Division, which made a difficult transition through the Goderz Pass and removed the legitimate government in Tiflis from power. Following this, the division liberated Batumi from Turkish troops, retaining Adjara as part of Georgia.

Arrested by the NKVD in April 1937 during a business trip to Moscow as “the main organizer and commander of the rebels in the Kuban.” On June 10, 1938 in Krasnodar, at a closed meeting of the visiting session of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, he was sentenced to capital punishment - execution by execution with confiscation of property. On the same day, Zhloba and other defendants in the case were shot.

Family

The wife, Daria Mikhailovna Prikazchikova, spent the entire war with her husband. Had two children (born in 1913 and 1914), further fate which is still unknown.

In Art. Pashkovskaya, the Red Army soldiers presented the captured personal belongings of General A.G. Shkuro (crew, personalized golden weapons - a dagger and a saber, a beshmet) to the division commander Brown and astrakhan fur hat).
In the 1920s, he had his own Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which he rode around his subordinate facilities and traveled.

Memory

In 1960, one of the streets of Krasnodar was named after Zhloba.

Song "To Comrade Redneck"

Your glory is dear to us.
You fly like a whirlwind towards the enemy.

You swore to the poor: workers, peasants,
Ready for people die,
Do you bring victory... To the bourgeoisie, to the tyrants
You bring an inglorious death.

You defeat enemies, defender of the people,
Capital trembles from you.
You wish happiness and eternal freedom
For those who have known adversity.

Both old and young respect you, -
Kuban, Georgian, Ossetian.
Our fearless, brave corps commander,
With you we will win everything!

Your soldiers are brave, they love you,
With you, dad, we will die!
They flew like arrows, they chopped down the cadet, -
We will defeat all enemy gangs.

Fearless, brave, our comrade Redneck,
Your glory is dear to us.
You are dangerous to whites, there is anger in your eyes,
You fly like a whirlwind towards the enemy.

75 years ago (June 10, 1938) in the assembly hall of the NKVD Directorate in Krasnodar, at a closed meeting of the visiting session of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, the hero of the Civil War, Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba, was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on the same day. Completely rehabilitated on May 30, 1956.

(Calendar holidays, memorable dates and significant events Krasnodar region, year 2013).

Dmitry Zhloba

About how D.P. died. Redneck, described in the essay “ Legendary commander Steel Division Dmitry Zhloba (1887-1938) - through the eyes of his soldiers» candidate historical sciences Olga Morozova(Rostov-on-Don). Below is an excerpt from her work.

Zhloba completely went into the economic sphere of activity, demonstrating complete loyalty to the new party nomenklatura elite. Possessing the same worldview as the majority of sincere adherents of Soviet power, he took part in exposing the “enemies of the people.” It is known that the denunciation of the 1st Secretary of the Krasnodar State Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the former leader of the Central Committee of the RKSM Oskar Ryvkin, was written by him. But the families of Krasnodar functionaries Zhloba and Ryvkin lived in the same house. But in April 1937, Zhloba himself was arrested as “the main organizer and commander of the rebels in the Kuban” who were preparing the overthrow of Soviet power in the region.

Former neighbor family of Zhloba R. Syrovatskaya told doctor I.E. Akopov about the circumstances of the search in Zhloba’s apartment. Zhloba’s son Konstantin tried to repeat Budyonny’s legendary “feat”: he rushed to arms to drive the security officers out of the apartment, but he was quickly calmed down, and the search began. After the arrest of Dmitry Petrovich, members of his family were also arrested. According to the memoirs of the Bulgarian communist Balaski Dobrievna Yerygina, in the Armavir prison she was in the same cell with Zhloba’s daughter Lydia and O. Ryvkin’s wife. But she and her brother managed to get out of prison and live to an old age.

On June 10, 1938, in Krasnodar, at a closed meeting of the visiting session of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, the verdict was announced on the “Kuban rebels.” All defendants were sentenced to capital punishment - execution with confiscation of property. On the same day, Zhloba and other defendants in the case were shot. The rehabilitation of Dmitry Pavlovich took place on May 30, 1956, and in 1960 one of the streets of Krasnodar was named after him.

The common version is that the purpose of Stalin's repressions was the destruction of revolutionary romantics, in in this case not confirmed. It is obvious that the naturally talented and ambitious Zhloba perceived and used the revolution as an opportunity to rise to new levels of the social hierarchy. Kraskom fought with gusto in the Civil War. He was not particularly bloodthirsty, but the state of organicity in a combat situation, by which “men of war” are recognized, allows us to classify him in this category. A true charismatic, he loved those who loved him - his fighters. And even when he no longer needed to solve their problems, he continued to do so. For him, it was like payment for the opportunity to return to that time, which not only he, who was quite prosperous and settled, recalled with nostalgia, but also those to whom the Civil War gave nothing but wounds. Zhloba was devoted to Soviet power because he associated with it the opportunity that had opened up for him to become a member of a new caste. He was definitely not a romantic, nor was he entirely a pragmatist. Dmitry Petrovich fought for the revolution because he felt that it was being done for him. Most of all, he loved “himself in the revolution.” When conflicts arose between him and the new government, he was perplexed, but common sense allowed him to find ways to restore contact until 1937 came.

Song " To Comrade Zhlobe»

Fearless, brave,

our comrade Zhloba,

Your glory is dear to us.

You are dangerous in the eyes of white people

your malice,

You fly like a whirlwind towards the enemy.

You swore to the poor:

workers, peasants,

Ready to die for the people

You bring victory...

Bourgeois, tyrants

Are you carrying an inglorious

death.

You defeat your enemies

protector of the people

Capital trembles from you.

You wish me happiness

and eternal freedom

For those who have known adversity.

Even the old one respects you,

and small -

Kuban, Georgian, Ossetian.

Fearless, brave

Our daring corps commander,

With you we will win everything!

Your fighters are brave

you were loved

We will die with you, dad!

They flew like arrows

the cadet was chopped -

We will defeat all enemy gangs.

Fearless, brave, our comrade Redneck,

Your glory is dear to us.

You're dangerous for white people

there is malice in your eyes,

You're flying towards the enemy like a whirlwind

Boranova G.N. Commander of the steel movement // Don temporary book. URL: http://www..aspx?art_id=1567

COMMANDER OF THE STEEL DIVISION

Based on materials from the archive of the historical department of the Azov Museum-Reserve

Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba (1887-1938) - a descendant of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, a miner, one of the galaxy of Civil War commanders born of the revolution; commander of the Yasinovsky Red Guard detachment, division commander of the Steel Division, brigade commander of the 1st Partisan Cavalry Brigade, commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Southwestern Front, division commander of the 18th Cavalry Division of the XI Army. Awarded two Orders of the Red Banner. The first order was for the capture of Yekaterinodar (1920), the second - for crossing the Gader Pass and the capture of Batum (1921).

In 1922 he was demobilized from the Red Army. He organized the commune "Agroculture" in the village of Pavlovskaya, was a member of the North Caucasus Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, chairman of the Children's Commission under the Regional Executive Committee (1922-1924), chairman of the Regional Kolkhoz Union (1928). He was involved in organizing rice planting in the Kuban. He was the head of Kubrisstroy and Plavstroy (1929-1935), director of Kubrisotrest (1935-1937).

Dmitry Petrovich died at the age of 50 at the airfield in Rostov-on-Don, arrested while waiting to board a plane - he was sent to Moscow. It was a hot summer day. He felt bad. He asked for a glass of water, drank it and died.

Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba is a bright, extraordinary personality. His memory was carefully preserved by everyone who had the opportunity to fight or work together.

The Azov Museum-Reserve houses the personal archive of Pavel Feofanovich Ryzhenko (1894-1983), a native of the village of Samara, Rostov District, participant in the First World War, Civil War and Great War. Patriotic Wars, personal pensioner of union significance. The archive dates from 1957-1988 and contains extensive correspondence, copies of archival documents, and biographical materials.

Of great interest in it are the letters of Nikolai Vadimovich Anapsky, a journalist and member of the RSDLP(b) since 1917.

In Rostov, Anapa was at the origins of the regional party-Soviet newspapers “Trudovoy Don” (from July 19, 1924 - “Hammer”) and “Soviet South”. In 1922-1924, in the list of the main core of the editorial staff of the newspaper "Soviet South", the name of Anapsky is first in a row with the names of Mulin, Yanchevsky, Fadeev, Kirshon, Stavsky. Here, from 1921 to 1926, Anapsky worked under the leadership of A. I. Mikoyan.

During the party purge of 1930, he was expelled from the ranks of the CPSU(b). Nikolai Vadimovich began to work under contracts with book publishing houses, wrote books, brochures, and compiled collections. He worked a lot in archives - TsGASA, TsGAOR, GAMO, etc.

First, Ivan Polikarpovich Zaraichenkov, a fellow soldier of P. F. Ryzhenko in the 2nd Don Peasant Cossack Infantry Regiment, which became part of the Steel Division of D. P. Zhloba and participated in the transition of the division from the North Caucasus to Tsaritsyn, met Nikolai Vadimovich Anapsky. Anapa's first letters, stored in Ryzhenko's archive, were addressed specifically to Zaraichenkov, a Cossack from the Elisavetovskaya village of the Rostov district (Azov region), the adjutant of this regiment.

Anapasky's letters from 1961 to 1968 contain interesting materials about D.P. Zhlob.

Dmitry Petrovich did not have the chance to participate in the First World War. Donbass miners were exempt from mobilization into the army as they worked at defense enterprises.

In mid-1916, the Gorlovsko-Shcherbinovskaya strike took place in the Donbass. Zhloba was an ordinary, but active participant. After the strike was suppressed, in order to avoid being arrested, he secretly left Donbass and went to Revel (Tallinn). In this city, he got a job doing underground work at the naval fortress named after. Peter the Great, but soon returned to Donbass: his wife and two young children remained in Nikitovka. Here he was detained and drafted into the army as a second-class warrior in the 207th reserve infantry regiment, located in the city of Morshansk, Tambov province.

The tsarist government was acutely aware of the lack of specialists (including blue-collar workers) to repair airplanes, telegraph apparatus, searchlights, etc. In 1916, an Engineering and Technical Brigade was created in Moscow, where soldiers who knew turning, carpentry, etc. were sent. Such a group of soldiers, among them Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba, was sent to Moscow at the end of 1916. Later, many were returned to the army due to incompetence. Dmitry Petrovich was recognized as a qualified mechanic, and the Engineering and Technical Brigade sent him to the Moscow Telegraph Regiment, where Zhloba worked as a mechanic and at the same time received training in the telegraph business. After graduation, he was supposed to go to the front, but again it didn’t work out. The fact is that at the beginning of 1917, the Moscow Wartime Aviation School turned to the Engineering and Technical Brigade with a request to send over 100 mechanics to repair airplanes. The Telegraph Regiment specialists were sent to the Aviation School and then to the Air Park. Among them was mechanic-soldier Dmitry Zhloba.

From the School of Aviation, Dmitry Petrovich was elected as a deputy of the Moscow Council. In his questionnaire, when asked which party he was a member of, he wrote: “social revolutionary, internationalist.”

Zhloba became an active deputy of the Moscow City Council: he spoke among the soldiers on the Khodynskoye field, accompanied a train with gifts to the Caucasian Front for soldiers in the trenches.

In the October days of 1917, Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba with a detachment of soldiers took part in the battle at the Nikitsky Gate in Moscow, in the capture of the Kremlin and clearing it of junkers. He was shell-shocked.

At the end of November 1917, the headquarters of the Moscow Military District delegated Dmitry Petrovich to the Donbass, where he led the Red Guard detachment of the Yasinovsky mine. Thus began his journey to Civil War. Together with Sivers's detachment, he took part in the battles near Rostov, and then pursued Kornilov from the Don to the Kuban.

A.I. Denikin in “Essays on the Russian Troubles” mentions “a 10,000-strong garrison, the basis of which was the Zhloba brigade that called itself the “iron” brigade and a detachment of sailors.”

By the beginning of July, Denikin occupied the Torgovaya station and the village of Velikoknyazheskaya. The North Caucasus Army, without ammunition, was cut off from the center. A meeting of command staff in the village of Tikhoretskaya accepted Zhloba’s proposal to send a delegation through the front to the city of Tsaritsyn. Dmitry Petrovich was entrusted with leading it. It was a risky raid in three vehicles, armed with machine guns, across the enemy front, areas in flames with White Cossack uprisings, through the sands and off-road. “Only the resourcefulness and determination of Zhloba made it possible to complete this task. In some cases, he entered into negotiations with the rebels, in others, he rushed like a whirlwind across the front, pouring lead rain on the enemy’s chains, in others, he went around dangerous hotbeds.”

Dmitry Petrovich stayed in Tsaritsyn; he was delegated by the Military Council to the Southern Front to monitor the execution of orders (Order for the North Caucasian Military District troops dated August 16, 1918, signed by Stalin).

Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba returned to his location at the end of August, delivering vehicles with ammunition and instructions to transfer the Steel Brigade to Tsaritsyn. He was away for about a month. During this time, great changes took place at the front. The troops of the North Caucasian Army retreated, on July 14 Tikhoretskaya fell, on July 21 the Whites occupied the city of Stavropol, on August 16 Ekaterinodar was surrendered almost without a fight.

By the time Zhloba returned, the Steel Brigade had suffered heavy losses, was demoralized, and had about 2,000 people left. In fact, the division had to be created anew.

The formation of the division took place at the beginning of September 1918 in the village of Nevinnomysskaya at a meeting of regimental command staff and representatives of regimental committees. Representatives of the 2nd Don Peasant-Cossack Regiment also took part in it, including the newly appointed company commander P.F. Ryzhenko. Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba, unanimously elected head of the division, announced to the meeting participants the transfer of the Steel Division to Tsaritsyn.

Divisional Order No. 1 was issued on September 11, 1918. It announced the appointment of A. M. Belenkovich as chief of staff of the division. By order of September 24, the division was divided into two brigades. The first brigade included the following regiments: 1st South Don Soviet, 2nd Don Peasant-Cossack Revolutionary Infantry, 2nd Revolutionary North Caucasus, 1st Battery of the Fearless Proletariat and 1st Revolutionary Cavalry Zhlobin. The second brigade was joined by regiments - the 1st Tikhoretsky Communist, 1st Pavlograd Revolutionary, 1st Caucasian People's and the newly formed cavalry. After this order, the division was further replenished. In stubborn battles near the village of Nevinnomysskaya, the villages of Petrovsky and Blagodarny, the division strengthened and rallied.

For valor and courage in battle in the Petrovskoye - Alexandria area, the Stavropol Council expressed gratitude to the division's personnel.

The commander of the North Caucasus troops, I.L. Sorokin, was asked to replace it with other military units. But he categorically does not agree to the transfer of the Steel Division. Then from the village of Blagodarnoe D.P. Zhloba sends a delegation of 9 people to Tsaritsyn with a report on the opposition of the commander of the North Caucasus troops to the transfer of the division to Tsaritsyn. On October 6, the delegation returned.

In the combat biography of D.P. Zhloba there are ambiguous questions that were not touched upon by the authors who wrote about him. Since 1918, Dmitry Petrovich had been followed by a trail of lies and slander, broken by arrest in June 1937 and death from a broken heart during transfer to Moscow.

Zhloba was blamed for his unauthorized departure from the North Caucasus, which allegedly led to the death of the XI Army. This opinion also existed in the 1950s. Although it has been historically proven that even after the departure of the Steel Division, the number of the Red Army significantly exceeded the White Army. Moreover, in accordance with the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front No. 120 of September 27, 1918, the Zhloba Steel Division was urgently transferred to Tsaritsyn. The order was signed by Stalin and Voroshilov.

The Steel Division joined the X Army and, having inflicted a heavy defeat on the White Cossacks, helped defend Tsaritsyn. A.I. Denikin admitted that Tsaritsyn “... was helped out... by the arrival of Zhloba’s “steel division” from the Stavropol region.”

This is how her opponent assessed her. From the secret book of the Intelligence Department of the VVD headquarters (1918), author - Colonel of the General Staff Dobrynin:

“Materials about the organization and forces of the Red Soviet army. Based on data for the period November-December 1918.

5. Characteristics of the Red troops operating on the Don Front.

The best units on the entire Don Front are considered to be: I Zhloba Steel Division, transferred to Tsaritsyn from the Stavropol Front in early October. Dumenko's cavalry detachment, deployed at the end of November into a division, and Mironov's mixed detachment.

The Zhloba division usually occupies the most critical sectors of the front of the X Red Army, and is often split up and scattered along the front...”

On October 27, 1918, a parade of regiments of the Steel Division took place on the parade ground near Tundutovo station, which was hosted by the commander of the X Army K.E. Voroshilov, representatives of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front. All personnel were thanked. During the parade, representatives of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR awarded the division with the Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner. And three days earlier, in the order for the X Army, Stalin’s telegram was announced with gratitude to the regiments of the Steel Division. The high command presented Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba with the Order of the Red Banner and awarded him a personalized weapon.

But he did not receive the order then. Already in November, D.P. Zhloba surrendered command of the 1st Steel Division and was recalled to the Center. The last order for the 1st Steel Division, signed by him, dates back to November 17, 1918.

In one of the letters, journalist N.V. Anapsky writes: “Why didn’t Sukhorukov answer how unreasonably hostile the command of the X Army was towards Zhloba when he and the Steel Division broke through the White front and actually saved Tsaritsyn? The fact is that after Zhloba’s appearance in Tsaritsyn, Commander-in-Chief Vatsetis and a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic Aralov decided to remove Voroshilov from the post of army commander and appoint Zhloba in his place. This immediately turned Voroshilov against Zhloba, in whom he saw an opponent, a competitor.” I. A. Okulov, sent from the center, supported Voroshilov, although he did not know Zhloba at all.

From a telegram from the Revolutionary Military Council of the X Army, sent at night at 2:40 a.m. On December 1, 1918, to Moscow to Y. P. Sverdlov and at the same time to L. D. Trotsky: “Unexpectedly, we received a dispatch about the recall of Voroshilov and the appointment of Zhloba as commander of the X Army in his place. Signed by Vatsetis and Aralov. Transferring command to him is tantamount to disaster. On behalf of myself and on behalf of the entire Revolutionary Military Council, I ask you to immediately give the appropriate order. Okulov".

K.E. Voroshilov, I.A. Okulov, V.I. Mezhlauk and others achieved their goal in November - Zhloba was recalled to Serpukhov, to the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, to Trotsky.

The recall of Zhloba from the Steel Division, which he created, where authority and trust in him were very high, was perceived painfully by the fighters. The division continued to fight heroically, an example of this is the battle on November 24, when on the 1st and 2nd Don, 1st revolutionary named after. Rednecks, reserve infantry regiments (approximately 5 thousand bayonets and sabers) were attacked by an 8 thousand white cavalry group. For this fierce battle, which lasted the whole day, the division received high praise in the order of the X Army.

The division was melting away. Many wounded soldiers and commanders who had previously remained in the division for treatment now tried to go to the hospital. After recovery, they sought to get to their commander, D.P. Zhloba, who began the formation of a cavalry partisan brigade in Astrakhan in January 1919. Moreover, entire units of the Steel Division left it without permission and went to Astrakhan, to Zhloba. The fighters were accused of anarchism, but this mass exodus was evidence of great love for their commander, as well as a consequence of the difficult conditions in which the Steel Division found itself. It was dispersed by the command of the X Army along the entire front, at the beginning of February 1919 it was consolidated into a brigade, and then went to replenish other units. This is how the Steel Division ended its journey.

Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba with a formed detachment urgently left for the area of the village of Yashkul near Elista. This was required by the military situation in the Kalmyk and Astrakhan steppes. Former soldiers of the Steel Division arrived in Astrakhan from the Tsaritsyn front. About 300 people gathered. But Zhloba was already far away, and the situation at the fronts was rapidly changing. The remaining Zhlobins entered the 3rd brigade of the 34th division, which fought on Eastern Front. The soldiers always emphasized that they were Zhlobinites, although Dmitry Petrovich himself was never on the Eastern Front.

In June 1919, the Zhloba partisan brigade came from Astrakhan near Tsaritsyn, joined the X Army of the Don Front and became known as the 1st Partisan Cavalry Brigade. Its task was the same - to undermine the enemy’s rear.

In 1920, the brigade of D.P. Zhloba became part of the 1st Cavalry Corps of B.M. Dumenko. Already in February of this year, Dmitry Petrovich was appointed corps commander.

I would like to take a closer look at another controversial issue - the reasons for Wrangel’s defeat of the Zhloba cavalry corps in July 1920 in Northern Tavria. The archive preserves the “Case to examine the situation and other (reasons) that caused the disorderly withdrawal of units of the 1st Cavalry Corps of the Southwestern Front of the RSFSR. Started on July 10, 1920. Finished on July 25, 1920.” The case contains 166 pages.

About this case N.V. Anapasky wrote that it begins with a written questioning of D.P. Zhloba, who states that he asked the high command to postpone it for several days military operation, since his headquarters had not even been formed yet. The headquarters is “the brain and main nerve of every combat formation. And yet, the corps is brought into battle. What is this, a crime by the army’s high command or thoughtlessness or stupidity? As you know, any investigative case usually has a conclusion, conclusions, who is guilty and why, or innocent with motivation. This case did not have any conclusion or conclusions. There is an undeniable impression that it has been jammed, crumpled and suspended. It does not say a single word about Zhloba's guilt. This is explained simply: the commission of the South-Western Front, which began this investigation, apparently saw that the reasons for the defeat of the military corps must be sought deeper and go further, the behavior of the army command must also be brought into this matter. But it did not agree to this and hushed up the whole matter. It remained without any conclusions or conclusions...” J.V. Stalin, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southwestern Front, took a direct part in the implementation of the operation of the XIII Red Army, being from June 24 to July 3, 1920 in the Crimean sector of the Southwestern Front in Sinelnikovo.

But let’s return to the letter from Nikolai Vadimovich Anapsky. “Tell me, is it possible to send a cavalry corps into battle, into a serious operation, without any headquarters? Send only cavalry with sabers, without a single aircraft and without a single anti-aircraft gun, into battle with air squadrons? This is more than an adventure, it's just a crime. Zhloba managed to chop up two of Wrangel’s Cossack regiments and rushed with the concorps further to Melitopol, where Wrangel himself was located with his headquarters. Read the article by Valentinov (a smart White Guard) in the collection “White Cause”! He describes how Wrangel was nervous, worried, and could not find a place for himself when he learned that Zhloba, having cut down two regiments, was rushing towards him. Where can I find a way out? Then he ordered his aviation chief, Gen. Tkachev (who in 1916-1917 was the commander of the aviation of the Supreme Command Tsarist Russia) throw all air squadrons with bombs at the Zhloba cavalry corps. And this decided the fate of the battle. Zhloba was forced to order his cavalry to hide along the gullies during the day and retreat only at night, because the planes were hovering above them. Honor and praise to Zhloba for the fact that he was able to bring the remnants of his cavalry out of incredibly difficult conditions. Retreating, the Zhlobinites came under fire from Wrangel’s armored trains. Where were our armored trains and what were they doing? Where was the interaction between our cavalry and our armored trains...?” .

The remnants of D.P. Zhloba’s cavalry corps were disbanded, and new divisions were created from them, which became the basis of the 2nd Cavalry Army. Zhloba himself was appointed division commander and sent to Taganrog, where he defeated Wrangel’s landing force under the command of Colonel Nazarov and pursued him to the city of Aleksandrovsk-Grushevsky. Then, on the recommendation of Sergo Ordzhonikidze, D.P. Zhloba was appointed head of the 18th Cavalry Division instead of the deceased P.V. Kuryshko. Then in the biography of Dmitry Petrovich there was a truly heroic transition through the Gader Pass, the capture of the city of Batum and the expulsion of the Turkish interventionists.

Thus, the question of Dmitry Petrovich Zhloba’s guilt in the defeat of the Concorps was not raised; moreover, he was entrusted with the conduct of responsible operations.

NOTES

1. From the history of journalism / N. M. Gordeeva, A. I. Stanko, N. D. Chichikina, E. A. Kornilov. Rostov n/d, 1977. pp. 125-140.

2. Mikoyan Anastas Ivanovich (1895-1978). In 1922, he was elected as a candidate member of the TsKRKP (b) and, on the recommendation of Stalin, as secretary of the South-Eastern Bureau of the TsKRKP (b) in Rostov n/a. In 1924-1926. - Secretary of the North Caucasus Regional Committee of the Party.

3. Anapa N.V. Letter [P. F. Ryzhenko. 21 Sep. 1963] // AMZ: arch. ist. dept. : personal arch. P. F. Ryzhenko. Folder No. 14. L. 90.

4. Denikin A.I. Essays on Russian Troubles. T. 3: White movement and the struggle of the Volunteer Army. May - Oct. 1918 Berlin, 1924.

5. Katrechko T. S. From the history of the Steel Division. 1960 // AMZ: arch. ist. dept.

6. Personal arch. P. F. Ryzhenko. Folder No. 30. L. 160; TsPAIML. F. 3. Op. 1. D. 337. L. 1.

7. TsGASA. F. 4890. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 26. (Order No. 20 for the 2nd Don Regiment dated September 7, 1918).

8. TsGASA. F. 25896. Op. 9. D. 730. L. 28. (Zhloba D.P. Report) // AMZ: arch. ist. dept. : personal arch. P. F. Ryzhenko.

9. Anapa N.V. [Letter dated December 6, 1961] // Personal. arch. P. F. Ryzhenko. Folder No. 8. L. 23-23 rev.; TsGAOR. F. 130. Op. 1. D. 26. L. 12-18.

10. Personal arch. P. F. Ryzhenko. Folder No. 30. L. 160-161.

11. Ibid. L. 169-170; TsGAOR. F. 7030. Op. 3. D. 298. L. 16-21.

12. Sukhorukov Vasily Timofeevich, participant in the battles in the North Caucasus (November 1918 - February 1919), author of memoirs (see: Sukhorukov V. T. XI Army in the battles in the North Caucasus and Lower Volga in 1918-1920. M.: Voenizdat , 1961).

13. Obviously, this means Akulov Ivan Alekseevich (1888-1939). (Soviet historical encyclical. T. 1. M., 1961. P. 322).

14. Anapa N.V. [Letter. 1963] // Lich. arch. P. F. Ryzhenko. Folder No. 14. L. 3-3 rev., 4.

15. Kakurin N. E. How the revolution fought. 1919-1920 T. 2. M., 1990. pp. 334-337.

16. Anapa N.V. [Letter. 8 Feb. 1963] // Lich. arch. P. F. Ryzhenko. Folder No. 14. L. 1-1 volume. (TsGASA. F. 102. Op. 1. D. 73.)