Richter, Vladimir Gvidovich

Vladimir Gvidovich was born on June 16, 1886 in Ivangorod . His parents came from a noble family of Livonia province . His father, Guido Kazimirovich Richter , was an officer of the General Staff and commanded the 6th Army Corps during the First World War.

In 1905 , at the end of the general classes of the Page Corps , he was briefly assigned to the regiment of the Life Guards of Cuirassier of His Majesty .

Graduate of the Nikolaev Cavalry School .

June 14, 1908 began his service in the 13th Ulansky Vladimir Regiment.

In 1912 he left military service and entered the reserve of the army cavalry.

World War I

According to the mobilization of 1914, he was called up from the reserve and assigned to the 4th Lancers Kharkov Regiment .

In October 1914, when the wounded lieutenant Yuri Bulatsel was captured by the Germans from this regiment, Lieutenant Richter, on his own initiative, rushed forward, dragged the squadron behind him, attacked the Germans and repulsed the mortally wounded Bulazel.

Due to heavy losses in the army, the command was ordered to send cavalry officers to the infantry regiments. Richter drew an "empty" lot, but voluntarily replaced an officer who was to be seconded to the infantry. Lieutenant Richter was appointed to the 37th Siberian Rifle Regiment , first as commander of the regiment's scouts, and then chief of the horse’s reconnaissance division.

In the fall of 1915 , when the regiment occupied positions in the area of Lake Naroch , Lieutenant Richter was ordered with his scouts to "get the tongue." Thanks to Richter's resourcefulness, energy, composure and outstanding courage, this enterprise was crowned with success: important information was obtained and two German soldiers were captured.

On December 31, 1915, Richter conducted reconnaissance at Lake Naroch. Heading to the trench guard of the enemy, scouts led by Richter threw German dugouts with hand grenades, cut telephone and mine wires and brought two prisoners with them.

His third search was on the night of January 20-21, 1916.

Soldier Bulletin of the Petrograd Military District. (No. 134. - Wednesday, January 13, 1916):

From the army. BATTLE EPISODES. In the area of ​​Naroch, a successful search was made for dismounted mounted scouts sent under the command of Lieutenant Richter. About 11 hours. in the evening, Lieutenant Richter advanced towards the enemy and, dividing the team into two parties, sent one to f. Antonisberg, and he himself with another party went to the village of Simone. Soon, Lieutenant Richter's party met two German soldiers marching towards them. Having decided to capture them, on their shout “who is going”, Lieutenant Richter, in order to mislead, cursed loudly and continued on his way. When the scouts caught up with the Germans, Lieutenant Richter suddenly rushed at them. The Germans, however, managed to shoot almost point blank, but missed and the next moment they were captured and disarmed. At the same time, sergeant major Rukavkov, who was at the head of another party, discovered a dugout in the enemy, in which there were at least 5 Germans. Sneaking up to the dugout, the scouts bombarded her with hand grenades. All the Germans were killed in the dugout, meanwhile, a strong commotion occurred in the enemy's watchdog, signal flares exploded, a searchlight began to work, and indiscriminate firing began. Lieutenant Richter, having cut off some of the telephone and mine wires from the Germans, safely withdrew with the team to our positions, bringing the two Germans, capturing two rifles and several hand grenades from the enemy.

Intelligence provided valuable information to the headquarters. Vladimir von Richter for them was awarded the Order of St. George 4th degree and St. George's Arms . In detail, these intelligence services were described by him in the Parisian magazine “ War Dust ” (No. 72, 74).

Soviet-Polish War

After the revolution, he lived in Poland , in the estate of his family.

In June 1919 he joined the Polish Army. He commanded a squadron in the Tatar Akhmatovich regiment, and then in the 13th Ulansky Vilensky regiment. In August 1920 , under the protection of Plock , he was wounded and awarded the Polish medal. In 1921 he retired.

Collector

From early childhood, Vladimir Gvidovich was a passionate collector, but he lost his rich collection of rare books, porcelain, prints and paintings with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks.

In 1925 - 1930 he lived in Spain , where he collected a significant collection of Iberian and Roman coins, acquired later by the British Museum in London. Then for some time he lived in France , Morocco , Italy , until he returned back to Poland .

Vladimir von Richter wrote a lot of articles and made presentations (in Warsaw and Vilna ) on topics related to Russian antiquity. Living in Poland, he created a new collection of books, medals and prints. This collection disappeared after the outbreak of World War II in 1939 . One small suitcase with medals was preserved from the collection, the history of which was described by M. Osorgin in the suitcase “Suitcase” (Latest News, April 13, 1940 ).

Then V. G. Richter settled in England , where he began to create his third collection of Russian medals and prints. Of the private collections in the West, his collection was the most significant - it consisted of about 3,500 medals and tokens (Russian and Russian). Vladimir Gvidovich collaborated with the British Museum, the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, worked at the National Library in Paris . Well-known numismatic firms in London (Spink, Baldwin, Sibi, etc.) applied for his consultations.

In 1946, Vladimir von Richter's pamphlet, Numismatic Monuments of the Eastern War: (Crimean Campaign), 1853-1856, was published in New York . - [32] with. "

In 1950, in London, an auction was expected to sell a large collection of Russian coins and medals belonging to the once Grand Duke George Mikhailovich . Vladimir Gvidovich considered it his duty to warn all Russian foreign numismatists about the upcoming auction. As a result, most of this collection did not go to foreign collectors or “for rafting”.

He was a member of many military societies. In England, he published a large number of articles in Russian foreign magazines: “Russian Military Antiquity”, “Marine Notes”, “ Sentinel ”, “Russian Military Historical Bulletin”, “Military Historical Bulletin”, “Military Buly” and others. In American in The Medal Collector magazine, he published in English his most significant work: "Numismatic Monuments of the Eastern War of 1853-55."

He also paid attention to philately , in particular, to its special department - Zemstvo stamps . In one of the philatelic English magazines, he posted an article on the arms of cities on zemstvo marks. However, this article was published after the death of Vladimir Gvidovich. Unpublished manuscripts of V. G. Richter remained with his wife - Jadwiga Wojciechovna.

• St. George's Arms (PAF from 03/04/1917), 4th Ulansky Kharkov regiment , staff captain;
• Order of St. George 4th Art. (PAF dated 03/04/1917) - "for the distinction in the 37th Siberian Rifle Regiment "; 4th Ulansky Kharkov regiment , staff captain.

• Collection of works on Russian military medalism and history. - Paris: Military Story, 1972. - 628 p.

• Album of the Knights of the Order of St. Great martyr and victorious George and St. George's weapons. - Belgrade, 1935 .-- S. 39, 126.
• Mnukhin L., Avril M., Losskaya V. Russian Abroad in France 1919-2000. - M .: Science: House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva, 2008.
• Unforgettable graves. Russian Abroad: Obituaries 1917-1997 in 6 volumes. - M .: Pashkov House, 1999. - T. 6, Book. 1: Pos - Skr. - S. 214. - ISBN 5-7510-0169-9
• In memory of the departed