Officer (armored train)

Formed on August 7, 1918 after the Volunteer Army captured Yekaterinodar from the armored areas left by the retreating troops of the Red Army on the left bank of the Kuban . Due to the fact that the Red Army blew up the bridge across the Kuban and the white armored trains remained on the right bank of the river, it temporarily became the main armored train of the Volunteer Army.

Initially, the warhead consisted of one open platform with a three-inch gun model of 1900 and two machine gun armored sites. The first commander of the armored train is the captain of Kharkiv .

In the Kuban

The combat activity of the armored train was highly effective: on August 9, in its first battle near the station, the Abinskaya armored train captured another closed platform with small-caliber guns, where a three-inch gun was moved from an open platform. On August 11 at the Tunnel station, the headquarters of the Red Army were destroyed when they moved to Novorossiysk . On August 13, the train provided fire support when volunteers entered Novorossiysk , where 2 more red armored trains were captured.

The armored train received its name "Officer" according to some data on August 16, according to others - in November 1918. In the last days of August - the first days of September, an armored train took part in the assault on Armavir . As a result of the damage received at the Gulkevichi station, the machine gun platform went off the rails. The armored train managed to retreat two miles from the battle, dragging the platform along the ties, and then put it on the rails. After the capture of Armavir on September 3–4, the “Officer”, together with the Morskoy armored train, continued fighting on the Armavir – Nevinnomysskaya direction. In a battle on the stage near the village of Uspenskoye, on August 8, the captain of Kharkiv was seriously wounded. The command of the armored train was taken over by Lieutenant Khmelevsky. On September 10, an armored train was deployed to the Armavir- Tuapse direction, where it restrained the Taman army's offensive. After leaving Armavir white, the “Officer” retreated with troops to the Kavkazskaya station. On September 17, an armored train was sent to Novorossiysk for repair and reformation.

After repairs at the end of October 1918, as part of two machine gun armored sites and a landing car, an armored train under the command of Colonel Ionin was transferred to Stavropol , where it played an important role in its capture.

In late November - the first half of December 1918, Colonel M.I. Lebedev, who from February 18, 1919 became his commander.

There is no reliable information about the actions of the armored train in November 1918 - the first half of February 1919.

In the Carbon Area

In the spring of 1919, an armored train ended up in the Carboniferous area .

March 9, 1919 near Debaltseve the battle of the armored train "Officer" with armored train number 3 of the Red Army, which was commanded by the only woman commander of the armored train in history, the Socialist-Revolutionary maximalist L.G. Mokievskaya-Zubok , the daughter of one of the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party N. Bukhovsky . As a result of the direct hit of the shell of the armored train "Officer" in the armored locomotive of armored train No. 3, Mokievskaya-Zubok died ^[3] .

On March 30, in the battle near the Khatsepetovka station, the Officer armored train was successful: they captured the red “2nd Siberian armored train”, named in the Volunteer Army, in gratitude for its appearance, named “Glory to the Officer” ^[4] . According to M. Kolomiyets, the “2nd Siberian armored train”, after repair at the Grozny station, where the guns received characteristic rectangular half-towers, became known as the “Officer” and in the photo signed by the “Armored Train” Officer in Rostov-on-Don . 1919 ”, you can see the armored sites, at least one with the characteristic machine gun loopholes and gun turret, and an armored locomotive with a high armored wheelhouse, belonging to the early“ 2nd Siberian armored train ” ^[5] .

Marching to Moscow

After the capture of Kharkov in June 1919, the armored train provided support for the Kornilovites offensive along the Kharkov-Moscow railway, maneuvering also in adjacent directions.

A little-known example of the “ Mental attack of an armored train”:

On July 1, 1919, the Officer armored train was engaged in a stubborn battle with two red armored trains that occupied the Gertsovka station, 45 miles from Belgorod , and fired at the outposts of the Ingermanland hussar regiment . Behind the armored train "Officer", an explosion was lost. The enemy 42-linear (106.7 mm) guns continued to conduct frequent fire, while all the shells were used up on the head 75-mm gun of the Officer armored train, and it was supposed to shut up. Despite this difficult situation, the armored train "Officer" resolutely moved towards rapprochement with the Reds, without firing. Impressed by this sudden attack, the enemy armored trains departed for the Hertsovka station ^[6] .

On the night of September 19–20, the “Officer”, with the support of the heavy armored train “United Russia”, suddenly captured the Kursk station and city station, after which the Reds were forced to leave the city in a hurry. In October 1919, the “Officer” took part in the assault on the Eagle in conjunction with the heavy armored train “John Kalita” . During the period of White’s retreat from Oryol, the “Officer” armored train, covering the army, gradually withdrew to the Kuban . ^[6]

On October 1 (14), at dawn, the Officer armored train entered Orel station. As stated in the order of the commander-in-chief, "Eagle is for eagles!"

In the following days, an armored train with battles advanced north of Orel to the blown up bridge behind Pesochnaya station. Before Moscow there were 345 versts. This was the shortest distance to the capital, to which the volunteer army armored trains were able to advance.

And this was the crown of success, since under Eagle military happiness turned away from the volunteers. The Red Army went on the counterattack, and on October 6 (19) the whites left the city.

The nightmare of retreat has begun. When the volunteers moved forward, they were greeted as liberators. When retreating to the same places, they were escorted as hated conquerors. Met with flowers, and escorted with machine guns. On November 5, 1919, White was forced to leave Kursk as well.

Trying to stop the advance of the Latvian units, the Officer armored train was thrown from one section to another, where he restrained the enemy with the fire of his guns and machine guns, but lost wounded and killed team members in battle, wrecked and burned armored cars. As a result, only the armored site No. 2 reached Kharkov with the battles. ^[7]

Retreat and death

Until the end of February 1920, the Officer armored train was in Yekaterinodar to guard the Headquarters and the commander-in-chief train. On February 28, he left with Headquarters in Novorossiysk , where he was left during the evacuation and blown up. In March 1920, the armored train team consisted of 48 officers and 67 soldiers ^[4] .

Armored train "Officer" in Crimea

In the spring of 1920, in the Crimea, on the basis of the “ Glory of the Kuban ” armored train, the BEPO “Officer” was again formed. The commander of the armored train, Colonel Lebedev. The volunteer army was able to regain its strength, and the badge of the armored train "Officer" was again raised above the newly formed military personnel in April. The armored train then consisted of an armored site with two 3-inch guns , one site with a 75 mm cannon and an armored wagon with machine guns . On it, the White Guards took part in the offensive in Northern Tavria and ended their battle path, defending the Crimean Isthmus.

On October 29, 1920, they accepted their last battle. It was a gloomy day, low clouds flew across the sky, masses of enemy troops loomed on the horizon. They had to be stopped at all costs. Fulfilling the order, under the fire of enemy batteries, the "Officer" advanced to defend the bridge over the Sivash dam. Volleys of shots at point blank range and machine gun fire, the armored train was able to disperse the red parts.

Despite the damaged paths, the “Officer” managed to return to his own. There he remained until one in the afternoon, maneuvering under enemy gun fire. At this time, parts of the Reds had already broken through on the Chongar Peninsula and were conducting an offensive from the flank. It was necessary to save his infantry, and the armored train "Officer" opened fire on the enemy dense columns.

The attacking regiments of the Red Army suffered huge losses - the entire dam was littered with the corpses of the Red Army. Even the Bolshevik armored trains could not move forward, and their teams, along with the repair of the railway track, had to clean up the bodies of those killed from the railway track.

The command of the Red Army needed only victory, and, despite the deaths of thousands of Red Army men, more and more regiments rushed into battle. The water in Sivash turned pink, and the battle continued.

And now it's time to die. Covering his retreat, the “Officer” took all the fire upon himself, again advancing on the Sivash dam, open not only to all the winds, but also to the numerous batteries of the enemy. A flurry of explosions and fragments covered the armored cars. At this time, the Red Infantry had already entered the railroad track behind the "Officer", the commander of the armored train Captain Labovich ordered to withdraw, but an explosion rang out from behind.

A rear platform with a 75 mm gun of an armored train fell into the hole formed by the explosion. The "officer" stopped. The enemy again covered him with fire.

On the armored train, the rear 75-mm cannon could not shoot due to the inclined position of the combat platform, which had fallen into the pit, and the average 3-inch gun was already damaged by explosions. The doomed “Officer” still opened fire from only the head 3-inch gun and all the machine guns.

A few minutes later the Reds, and these were the soldiers of the 264th regiment of the 30th division, went on the attack on the armored train. With shouts of "Hurray," they began to throw grenades at the Officer's armor. Having no technical ability to shoot at an adjacent enemy and suffered heavy losses, the “Officer” team was forced to open the doors of armored cars and rush into melee - to break through. One of the machine-gun crews managed to pull out a machine gun and open fire from under the car in red, giving their lives in an expensive way. The explosion scattered their bodies, and the last line drowned at point blank range. In a short and brutal battle, the armored train team was interrupted. In the saving darkness, only three volunteers from the "Officer" were able to break through to their own. So the glorious armored train "Officer" died ... ^[8]

At 23:00 on October 31, the surviving members of the Officer armored train team under the command of Colonel Lebedev, carrying a banner of the armored train, panoramas , sights, bolts and six machine guns, plunged onto the Saratov Volunteer fleet , which delivered them to the Greek emigration Gallipoli .

In combat terms in exile, team members were part of the 6th separate armored train artillery battalion , formed from members of armored train teams (division commander - Major General V.P. Barkalov ). On November 27, 1921, the division was transported to Bulgaria on the Ak Deniz large passenger ship, and in the fall of 1925 it was transferred to France .

In 1938, in Paris, team members took part in a meeting dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the founding of the first armored trains of the Volunteer Army, chaired by M. I. Lebedev.

• United Russia (armored train)
• John Kalita (armored train)

• RGVA. F39720, Op1, D17
• RGVA. F39720, Op1, D23
• RGVA. F40213, Op1, D111
• Pronin G. F. Armored train "Officer". - SPb. : Philologist. Fak. St. Petersburg State University, 2006 .-- 147 p.
• White armored trains in the Civil War./ Ed.-Comp. G. Pernavsky .- M.: Yauza, EKSMO, 2007.
• Vlasov A. A. On the armored trains of the Volunteer Army
• Pushkarev S.G. On the armored train "Officer" in white Tavria (1920), the almanac "White Guard", No. 3, 1999, Sowing, Moscow
• Amirkhanov L.I. Armadillos of the railways - St. Petersburg. : Island, 2005
• Russian abroad in France. 1919-2000. biogr. dictionary: in 3 t. / under. ed. L. Mnukhina , M. Avril , V. Losskaya , - Science: Marina Tsvetaeva House-Museum, 2008-2010. - 3 T.
• Kursk Territory in the Civil War of 1917–1921: (essay on military-political history) / S. N. Emelyanov , A. V. Zorin , A. G. Shpilev ; Com. On culture adm. Kursk region., Kursk state. reg. Museum of Archeology. - Kursk: Polstar, 2013