Military commandant office of St. Petersburg

Before the Revolution

The military commandant’s office of the city ​​of St. Petersburg dates back to 1796, until that time there was no commandant command in St. Petersburg, there was only the commandant’s office of the Peter and Paul Fortress , whose military commandant was personally appointed by the emperor.

On November 7 (18), 1796, the first commandant, by order of Emperor Paul I, was appointed his Gatchina chief commander, Colonel Alexei A. Arakcheev . The purpose of the establishment of the commandant’s position stemmed from the range of duties intended for him. Carrying out military reforms , Paul I wanted to know everything that was happening and being done in the garrison , that is, how his innovations were being instilled, how the service was carried out, and so on. He was interested not only in the moral state and behavior of officers, but also in the morality of the lower ranks. In this regard, having approved the duties of the commandant, he at the same time made the unit commanders completely dependent on him. The commandant knew everything that was being done in the military units, and appeared daily to the emperor with a report on the state of affairs in the garrison and for answers to questions regarding service in the capital.

Following the appointment of the commandant, the “Regulation of the military commandant and all ranks in these posts relating to the Petersburg garrison” was approved with the staff attached to it. The resulting management was called “ordonance” (from the French ordonnance - order, direction).

The duties of the commandant and the officials in his command underwent changes with the introduction of the Charter of the garrison service on November 26, 1796, which determined the following tasks for the commandant:

• determine the commanders of military units the place of gathering on alert or in case of fire. When announcing the fee, be the first to arrive at the place.
• to carry out divorces of guards , to ensure that military teams occupy the assigned places correctly, observe the construction order, and have an exemplary uniform and appearance.
• responsible for the organization of guard duty in the city, the uniform distribution of guards.
• ensure the observance of proper subordination between officers, high discipline of officers and lower ranks.
• prepare and send military teams to protect the local population from robbers.

The commanders of military units reported emergency situations to the commandant of the city. Only by asking permission from him, it was possible to conduct exercises, start firing, bury the dead, send subordinates on vacation, assign teams to work. Unbeknownst to the commandant, they could not impose an arrest on officers or carry out any other punishments. For example, only the commandant could give permission to punish privates by conducting through the ranks . The commanders in the army received the right to apply to non-commissioned officers and privates only penalties of a mild degree and were required to report this to the commandant of the city. Without the permission of the commandant of the city, officers could not spend the night outside the garrison. Before the divorce and after the divorce, the guards on duty and the guards of the guards arrived at the commandant to receive relevant instructions. The lower ranks of military units for dismissal outside the garrison received from the commandant of the city passes, without which they could not go through the guards at the city outposts. A nobleman who came to St. Petersburg, that is, everyone, except, as the charter said, “a low people,” was obliged to introduce himself to the commandant. The commandants were also instructed to resolve disputed cases between local residents and the military, and to apply the necessary punishment to the perpetrators.

In the period from 1796 to 1826, the military commandant's office (ordinance house) was located on Millionnaya street in house number 21, near the Winter Palace , where its officers served.

Since 1803, under Emperor Alexander I, the administration was granted the right to consider service in the commandant’s office along with employees in field regiments with all the advantages of field service. Since 1808, commandants of cities and fortresses received the right to personally report to Alexander I about all emergency incidents. In the same year, the commandant of St. Petersburg was instructed to be present at the selection of new recruits (recruits) in the “ treasury chamber ”.

Since the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, the commandant of St. Petersburg, Major General Pavel Yakovlevich Bashutsky and his officers, was entrusted with the duty of training the entire city militia and creating reserve battalions for campaigns of the army. By February 1813, officers of the Ordonansgauz of the volunteers formed, trained and armed 41 battalions, transformed into the 1st infantry corps of the reserve army. On June 12, 1813, Major General P. Ya. Bashutsky led the battalions he trained in the army.

In 1816, the charter “On service in the garrison” was approved, according to which some of the commandant’s powers were reduced. So, the commandants were freed from the need to personally delve into all issues of the city’s life and were given the opportunity to pay more attention to the life of the garrison.

In 1824-1826, near the Mikhailovsky Palace and the Engineering Castle , on the corner of Sadovaya and Engineering Streets, the building of the Commandant's Office was built by the architect A. Mikhailov according to the design of Karl Rossi, an architectural monument of late Russian classicism . The street facades of a three-story building, having the shape of a closed rectangle with a courtyard in the center, corresponded to the ensemble development of Mikhailovskaya Square . It is noteworthy that the place for the construction of the " Ordonanshaus " was determined by Paul I, whose residence was in the Engineering Castle.

After the cholera rebellion on Sennaya Square on June 22, 1831 , in the resolution of which the garrison guard of the guardhouse under the command of commandant P. Ya. Bashutsky played an important role, Emperor Nicholas I in 1832 confirmed the duty of commandants and other local military leaders to inspect hospitals and infirmaries. In the same year, an order followed to commanders of regiments and other military teams when passing through cities and fortresses to report to the commandant about the status of their teams.

In 1840, Mikhail Lermontov, who was arrested by commandant Grigory Zakharzhevsky after a duel with de Barant, was kept in the commandant’s office on a guardhouse . Here he was visited by Vissarion Belinsky - this was their first meeting. ^[one]

Since 1860, according to the charter "On service in the garrison" adopted by Alexander II , the commandant's office of the city was subordinate to the commander of the troops of the guard and the St. Petersburg military district . City commandants were appointed "special Emperor of the Emperor by Highest Orders."

In 1877-1878, among other responsibilities, the commandant of the city was entrusted with the care of placing the wounded and sick in hospitals, who were from the theater of operations . With the care of the commandant’s office, all the wounded who arrived in the city were accommodated in hospitals, hospitals and private shelters.

Since 1890, the main duty of the commandant of the city was the exact performance of service in the garrison guards, many of which were of particular national importance. The security included the residence of the imperial family, the safety of public holidays and celebrations with the highest participation, the protection of the most important state institutions, banks, and order on the streets of the capital. The commandant was strictly responsible for the maintenance of guard houses, guard rooms, compiling tables of posts and instructions. In accordance with the service instruction approved by the commandant, St. Petersburg commandant adjutants, in addition to fulfilling their statutory duties, were on duty in the Winter Palace, while the emperors were there, they were on duty by the commandant’s office, they were involved in ordering at fires, at the highest exits, prayers, and funerals military ranks, as well as in theaters, concerts, places of entertainment to check the guards and to stop unrest and atrocities among military personnel.

Until 1917, officers on vacation in St. Petersburg applied to the vacation department of the city’s command department for permission to marry, retire, or leave the reserve, to be admitted to a hospital, to obtain a residence permit in return for a lost, travel documents for travel by railways, theatrical counter-locks, cash allowances, including food certificates, as well as travel and daily subsistence allowance for the time spent in hospitals, apartment money. In addition, the cash allowance management department of the St. Petersburg commandant’s office issued cash benefits to the wives and relatives of mentally ill officers and military personnel placed in hospitals of military units located outside St. Petersburg. The guardhouse of the St. Petersburg commandant’s office contained the lower ranks under trial and investigation. Detainees, convicts, and deserters were housed in different cells, and disciplinary-arrested lower ranks were placed in special punishment cells .

In connection with the threat of the First World War, there was a need for the construction of defensive fortifications of Kronstadt . The main director of these works was engineer-general N. M. Nikolenko , commandant of the Kronstadt fortress (March 5, 1911 - March 23, 1914). In order to better guide the defense of the city and the effective use of its defensive structures in the war, on March 23, 1914 N. Nikolenko was appointed commandant of St. Petersburg.

On August 31, 1914, the city’s commandant’s office was renamed the Petrograd Commandant’s Office.

Post-Revolutionary Period

Already on the second day after the storming of the Winter Palace , by the decision of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee on the instructions of Vladimir Lenin , a board of the Chief Petrograd Commandant was created consisting of three people ( V. Ya. Kolpakchi , A.P. Ananyin, A. Ya. Klyavs-Klyavin )

On November 27, 1918, by order of the Commissariat for Military Affairs of the city of Petrograd and Petrograd Province No. 65, the Office of the Main Petrograd Commandant of the Red Army was formed. By the same order A. Ya. Klyavs-Klyavin (1917-1920) was appointed Chief Petrograd Commandant. Since February 1924, the administration was called the Leningrad Commandant Administration.

During this period, the composition of the commandant’s office, along with the organization of guard duty and the protection of a large number of city facilities, attached great importance to the patrol service, which was attended not only by military commandants, but also officers of the Cheka , workers of factories and plants. In the conditions of the civil war in the city, the tasks of organizing a hard access regime, preserving food, and organizing special control were solved.

In 1921-1926, the commandant's office led the work in parts of the garrison and among the residents of the city to collect donations to help the starving Volga region .

In 1935, the People’s Commissar of Defense approved the "Commandment for Commandant Service", which streamlined many issues of garrison and guard duty.

World War II

In January 1941, before the start of World War II , the Charter of the garrison service was enacted in the Red Army . He included:

• organization of guard duty.
• the order of military celebrations and other issues that were not previously in official documents.

From the first days of World War II, the personnel of the military commandant's office was transferred to wartime staff. The following tasks were entrusted to the Office:

• control over the construction and equipment of bomb and gas shelters
• fight against the spread of false and provocative rumors among the population
• organization of protection of military facilities, factories and factories
• liquidation of sabotage groups and airborne assault forces

Due to the extremely difficult situation prevailing on the outskirts of the city, in August 1941 a decision was made to evacuate the population of the city of Leningrad. This task was assigned to the commandant’s staff. The military situation required decisive action. In the city, which was under siege , a strict regime was organized among the population. Only passes issued by the commandant of the city, which was responsible for maintaining order in Leningrad, were valid. At the disposal of the commandant’s office were transferred all the internal security forces of the NKVD, police and volunteer workers' detachments. Provocateurs and enemy agents calling for disorder were ordered to be shot on the spot. During this difficult time, the military commandant's office was entrusted with strict control over the water supply of hospitals, military units and garrison institutions, the sanitary condition of military towns, as well as over the organization of the funeral of the dead Red Army soldiers and residents of the besieged city. The patrol service operated around the clock, this allowed to maintain proper order and security in the besieged Leningrad.

During this period, the military commandant of the city was Major General George V. Denisov (1939-1948)

, appointed to this post still in the rank of major. Largely thanks to his work and the work of the commandant’s officers in besieged Leningrad, it was possible to maintain order.

Post-War Stage

After the war, military commandant’s officers focused on maintaining military discipline and firm statutory order among the military personnel of military units, whose academies and schools were enormous at the time. The military commandant's office monitored the activities of military units transferred from military to a peaceful regime of life. Parades of troops were organized and held, as well as other events with the participation of garrison troops.

Much attention was paid to maintaining order and discipline among military personnel, including those demobilized, as well as among officers. Due to the fact that the officers had personal weapons, the issue of maintaining discipline was an acute issue. In the postwar years, the military commandant's office carried out:

• organization and maintenance of guard duty
• patrol by garrison patrols, which consisted of more than 300 people every day
• military honors during the burial of military personnel
• meeting of foreign delegations
• maintaining order and discipline among the military personnel of the garrison
• registration of servicemen temporarily in the garrison

In the post-Soviet period of the history of the military commandant’s office of St. Petersburg, the main document organizing its activities was the Charter of the garrison and guard services of 1993.

Officers of the commandant’s office carry out tasks to maintain military discipline among the garrison troops, search for and detain military personnel arbitrarily leaving the place of service, keeping military personnel at the garrison guardhouse, organize and conduct garrison and city-wide events, such as the Parade on Palace Square to commemorate the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

According to the Charter of the garrison and guard services in wartime, the military commandant of the city will have to ensure the transfer of garrison troops from peaceful to martial law.

By the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 10, 2007 No. 1495, the new Charter of the garrison and guard services of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was put into effect, which was amended by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of July 29, 2011 No. 1039 and it received a new name - The Charter of the garrison, commandant and guard services of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation .

Thus, in the modern period of time, according to the latest changes, the military commandant’s office of St. Petersburg is entrusted with the task of organizing a commandant service.

The commandant’s office maintains military discipline. The personnel of the military commandant’s office solves problems in collaboration with structural units of other law enforcement agencies. Under the direction of the commandant’s office, the garrison officers patrol in the center of the city and in its rest.

Another task of the military commandant’s office is to carry out garrison events in conjunction with military, state and municipal government bodies at various levels, such as military parades on Palace Square, memorial events, laying wreaths at the Eternal Flame at the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery , giving military honors, maintenance war memorials, city festivals, unveiling of monuments, festivals of military brass bands, meetings of foreign guests, delegations and international forums .

More than 150 events are held annually in the city with the involvement of military commandant’s officers and military personnel of the guard of honor, the most significant of which are ensuring meetings of the country's military and political leadership, the governor of St. Petersburg with the heads and government delegations of foreign states, and the preparation and holding of a military parade of St. Petersburg troops St. Petersburg garrison in commemoration of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, in festive events, participation in state, city and many other measures tricks.

Together with the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg , with the support of the governor and the government of the city, the tradition of the ceremonial divorce of the guard of honor in the Peter and Paul Fortress was revived in 2008: every Saturday, dressed in full dress, guards, after firing a cannon, demonstrate combatant techniques with weapons.

As part of the commandant’s office, from the day of its deployment on Sadovaya Street in house No. 3, there is a garrison guardhouse .

The first guardhouse in St. Petersburg was built in 1707 on the southern shore of the main canal of the Peter and Paul Fortress, not far from the commandant’s house. A small wooden building lasted only 30 years, now in its place is the Commandant's House .

Later, a new Ober-officer stone guardhouse was erected a little further from the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which was rebuilt already in 1907-1908. This room was intended for the guard, as well as for the detention of officers of the fortress garrison. While the city and the garrison were quite small, one guardhouse was quite enough. As the capital grew, more and more new regiments arrived in St. Petersburg. The guards were responsible for the calm in the area where their barracks were located. Especially a lot of trouble arose in the most crowded places - in squares, in markets and near government institutions. It was there, in the first place, that small guardrooms were erected, where “civilians” were often kept - scammers, petty thieves and just tipsy people. Guardhouses were also built at the exits from Petersburg, and each regiment always had its own guardhouse for the guilty guards. There were more than twenty guardhouses in the city. The main ones were those that were located in the Winter Palace, in the Senate building , in the State Bank and at the Arsenal. For example, the arrested Decembrist officers were brought first to the guardhouse of the Winter Palace or the guardhouse of the General Staff and only then some were brought to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Gradually, by the end of the 18th century, the term “guardhouse” was no longer used as the name of the guard, and later as the name of the guardhouse. Now it is used only for naming military prisons.

In addition to Lermontov M. Yu., One of the prominent historical figures on the St. Petersburg guardhouse also contained the legendary pilot Valery Chkalov during his passage under the supports of the Trinity Bridge .

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