Manstein, Vladimir Vladimirovich

Start of military service

Vladimir Manstein was born on January 3, 1894 in the Poltava province . He came from a military family of Russified Germans who converted to Orthodoxy, and was the son of a regular infantry officer of the Russian Imperial Army Vladimir Manstein - the eldest . He graduated from the Vladimir Kiev Cadet Corps and the Pavlovsk Military School in St. Petersburg , from which he graduated as a second lieutenant.

First World War participant

Manstein began the war in January 1915 in the 7th infantry general Revelsky Tuchkov of the 4th regiment , which was at the forefront of the North-Western Front . In February 1915, Manstein was lightly wounded and contused. For military distinctions received a number of higher orders. On February 20, 21 and 23 at the village of Gortashovice, commanding the company, he repulsed several enemy attacks, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 4th degree with the inscription “For Bravery”.

For the rearguard battle on July 4, when departing from Plonsky positions, where, commanding the company, he was under strong rifle and artillery fire of the enemy all the time, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 3rd degree with swords. During the battle of July 13, 1915, at the village of Zatory, where, commanding the company, he was under strong rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire of the enemy all the time, he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav of the 3rd degree with swords. In July 1915, Manstein was injured again.

For reconnaissance at a position near the village of Valuki in March 1916, Manstein was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav of the 2nd degree with swords and a bow.

In the autumn of 1916, the 7th regiment was transferred to the Romanian front .

In March 1917, for night reconnaissance, in which 17 Germans were captured, Manstein was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree with swords and bow.

He served in the death battalion formed after February 1917 as part of the 2nd Infantry Division, where he commanded a company. In May 1917, the Romanians awarded Manstein with the Order of the Star of Romania with swords of the bearer. In the ranks of the death battalion, he took part in the summer offensive of the Russian troops on the Romanian front. In July 1917, when attacking the positions of the Austro-Hungarian troops, he was seriously wounded and sent to the rear hospital. For this attack, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree with swords. Later, he was presented for awarding soldiers of the 4th degree St. George’s Cross . Upon recovery, Manstein returned to the regiment.

White movement member

In the autumn of 1917, the staff captain Manstein enlisted in the detachment of General M. G. Drozdovsky as an ordinary soldier and was enrolled in the Artillery Regiment . On April 4, 1918, Colonel Drozdovsky appointed him commander of the 4th company of the 2nd officer rifle regiment. As part of his regiment, he participated in campaigns from Yass to Novocherkassk and the Second Kuban campaign . During the Second Kuban campaign, Manstein was appointed battalion commander. In the fall of 1918, he was seriously wounded, as evidenced by the testimony of the sister of mercy Z. Mokievskaya-Zubok: ^[2]

... A seriously wounded officer, Captain Manstein, was brought from the front to the infirmary. He was wounded in the shoulder, he started gangrene. They amputated the arm - it did not help, the gangrene began to spread further, into the shoulder blade. Risked to husk the scapula, it was the last chance. They began to treat, they appointed only a sister for him, day and night he was under the supervision of doctors, and ... a miracle happened - he was rescued. It turned out crooked, but alive. The captain was very popular in the army. And very combat. Having recovered, he returned to the front, to his.

This grave injury, after which Manstein still survived, remaining a crooked and one-armed disabled person for the rest of his life, greatly influenced his further behavior - he became hardened. In 1919, he came to loud fame "armless dash" and "fighter commissioners." This was written by his fellow Drozdov soldiers, including G. D. Venus and I. S. Lukash . Here is the evidence belonging to the drozdovtsu G. D. Venus: ^[3]

The command of the newly formed 3rd regiment was received by Colonel Manstein, - "armless devil" - in his courage little different from Turkul. He was no different from him and cruelty, which, however, began talking long before the failures. So, one day, having gone with a detachment of several people to the rear of the red under Vorozhba, he himself, with his only hand, unscrewed the rails, thus stopping several retreating red trains. Among the captured officers was the colonel of the old service. - Oh, you, your mother! .. He served, your mother! .. - repeated Colonel Manstein, screwing the barrel of a collar into the prisoner's tightly clenched teeth. - Are you a military expert? Well, swallow!

After joining the Volunteer Army in Kharkov, Manstein was appointed commander of the 3rd Drozdovsky infantry regiment. Commanding the regiment, he took part in the summer-autumn "march on Moscow" (these battles with Manstein's participation are described in the book of General A.V. Turkul "Drozdovtsy on fire" and in the collection "Drozdovtsy: from Yassy to Gallipoli"). Later, he participated in the retreat of the All- Soviet Union of Humanities to Novorossiisk For the ranks of the 3rd Drozdovsky Manstein Regiment, which was intended for the steamer "Saint Nicholas", there was not enough space for the evacuation of Novorossiysk in the spring of 1920 . As VG Chicheryukin-Meingardt describes, in this situation, Colonel Turkul — Manstein’s combat friend, at his request addressed directly to General A.P. Kutepov, and the 3rd Drozdovsky regiment was loaded onto the Russian “ Pylky ” destroyer and the French battleship " Waldeck Rousseau ." Nevertheless, it was not possible to pick up all the people, so the 3rd regiment arrived in the Crimea in small numbers, which is why he did not participate in the drozdovtsy landing operation in s. Khorly . ^[4] After the evacuation to the Crimea, the regiment of Manstein as part of the Drozdovskaya division took part in the breakthrough to the north and the battles in Northern Tavria . For military distinctions Wrangel made Manstein to major generals .

September 16, 1920 Pr.Glavnokom. No. 3651 was awarded the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker 2 degrees

From 14 to 23 October 1920, General Manstein temporarily took command of the Markov Infantry Division , but due to illness he was evacuated to the rear and did not take part in the last battles of the Russian army in the Crimea. Evacuated to Gallipoli .

During the Gallipoli seat, General Manstein was appointed assistant commander of the Drozdovsky regiment ( A.V. Turkula ). In 1921 the Drozdovsky regiment as part of the 1st Army Corps was transported by sea to Bulgaria . The Manstein family moved to Sofia .

It was very difficult to settle down in a peaceful life for the one-armed General Manstein. He had no other profession besides the military. The pension, which his old man received, was not enough for three of them. His daughter died in Gallipoli. Now the spouse began to demand a divorce. This cargo was too heavy. On the morning of September 19, 1928, Manstein came with his wife to the Sofia city park of Borisov Gradina. There he shot her with a revolver, and then shot himself. Despite the fact that Manstein became a suicide, he was buried on the initiative of the Orthodox clergy , in the city cemetery. Tomb Manstein not preserved. ^[five]