“May-June is the growth of all kinds of battalions” – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

105 years ago, on September 17, 1917, the Minister of War of the Provisional Government, Major General A. I. Verkhovsky, despite the acute shortage of combat-ready units at the front, stopped the formation of volunteer units in the rear, which only four months earlier were considered a panacea for the army’s main ills .

From the appeal of the initiative group of soldiers and officers of the South-Western Front to the front commander-in-chief, cavalry general A. A. Brusilov, May 13, 1917.

In order to raise the revolutionary offensive spirit of the army, it is necessary to form special revolutionary shock battalions recruited from volunteers in the center of Russia in order to instill in the army the belief that the entire Russian people are following it in the name of a speedy peace and brotherhood of peoples, so that during the offensive the revolutionary battalions , placed in the most important combat areas, with their impulse could carry away the hesitant …

From a telegram General A. A. Brusilov supreme commander General of Infantry M. V. Alekseev, May 16, 1917.

… Fully sympathizing with the idea of ​​​​such a formation, I approved the group’s executive committee and a petition for permission to immediately begin recruiting volunteers. On May 16, a delegate, sailor Batkin, was sent to the Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers’ and Workers’ Deputies with a request to sanction and widely support the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating shock revolutionary battalions …

From the telegram of General of Infantry M. V. Alekseev to General of Cavalry A. A. Brusilov, May 18, 1917.

I absolutely do not share your hopes for the benefit of a dashing, selfless, valiant and skillful fight against the enemy by the proposed measure. I allow it only because you support this idea. Military educational institutions are not subordinate to me and I cannot allow recruitment in them, this requires the consent and order of the military minister (Military Ministry.— “Story”), to whom I am telegraphing, but I think that we have no right to spend as an ordinary force our future officers, the replenishment of which is becoming increasingly difficult. Recruitment from the Black Sea Fleet paralyzes the fleet, because ship crews do not have a full-time staff. I cannot allow the destruction of sea power …

I would ask you to pay attention first to the honest elements of your front, not counting extensively on salvation from outside. Everything that the country can give will not come so soon.

These, perhaps, inspired elements still need to be soldered, trained …

From the telegram of General of Infantry M. V. Alekseev to General of Cavalry A. A. Brusilov, May 21, 1917.

The collection of unknown and untrained elements in the rear of the army, instead of the expected benefit, can be harmful to the near rear of your armies. Only the extraction of reliable people from the composition of the troops can provide prepared material for formation. This is my opinion, which your considerations cannot change.

From the telegram of General of the Cavalry A. A. Brusilov appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Provisional Government A. F. Kerensky on May 24, 1917, May 24, 1917.

I began to form revolutionary battalions from the volunteers of the center of Russia in accordance with the plan approved by me … I ask all military commanders, at the suggestion of local councils of deputies, to immediately send volunteers singly or in groups to the indicated recruitment card point, provided that they present these recruitment cards of the executive committee for the formation of revolutionary rear battalions.

From the publication “Shock Battalions” in the magazine “Iskra”, June 25, 1917.

An All-Russian Committee for the Organization of a Volunteer Revolutionary Army was formed in Petrograd. The Committee opened the registration of volunteers for shock battalions, which, at a critical moment in deciding the fate of Russia, will become a breast for the defense of freedom and for the salvation of the motherland …

In the first days, the recording was so successful that one battalion was already formed, and on June 16th he already went to the front …

From the report of the All-Russian Central Committee on the Organization of a Volunteer Revolutionary Army to the Supreme Commander General of the Cavalry A. A. Brusilov, June 30, 1917.

The All-Russian Central Committee for the Organization of the Volunteer Revolutionary Army asks you for the following:

1) Order the prohibition of unauthorized volunteer formations, often formed by irresponsible persons and fundamentally undermining the idea of ​​volunteerism. That all volunteer organizations act only with the sanction of the All-Russian Central Committee …

From the statement of the Union of Socialists of the People’s Army, published in the Pravda newspaper, July 4, 1917.

Over the past month, a number of organizations have been set up in Petrograd and the provinces, which have set themselves the task of forming military units that, in their opinion, differ from the existing ones in their ability to attack and have the right to the special name of shock battalions.

The Union of Socialists of the People’s Army, represented by its presidium, having discussed the question of the normality of such appropriation by private organizations of the initiative to form these battalions, came to the conclusion that such activities of these organizations are extremely harmful and bring discord and discord into the army …

From the resolution of the Army Logistics Committee of the Northern Front, July 23, 1917.

… Everyone, up to 12-year-old youths, was accepted into shock battalions indiscriminately. The consequence of this was that, along with a conscious and unconditionally healthy element, there were elements that were completely undesirable and interfered with work … when recording, the commissars were not at all interested in either the personality or the past of the person who wanted to get into the shock battalions and, moreover, they gave clearly false information about the conditions formations … They made promises that upon arrival at the regiment (where volunteers were trained and a shock battalion was formed.— “Story”) they will get a vacation, etc.

Children who had run away from their parents’ home were sent to the regiment, and the regiment commander was inundated with tearful telegrams from parents about sending children and was besieged by those who came to take the children home.

The regiment literally groaned from the confusion and disorder, and there was a moment when the soldiers of the regiment began to demand the removal of the shock groups … Among the shock workers there were a lot of “venereals” …

From the publication of a member of the collegium of the Central Archival Administration of the RSFSR, director of the Leningrad Institute of Philosophy, Linguistics and History, Professor A. K. Drezen “Petrograd garrison in the struggle for the socialist revolution”, 1932.

… Fraternization at the front, refusal to comply with operational orders, which became more frequent since the end of April, pushed the bourgeoisie and bet on the creation of special volunteer shock units. May-June is the growth of all kinds of battalions, regiments and ships of death. The direct task of all these new formations – to facilitate the offensive prepared by the bourgeoisie at the front, which, in the opinion of the government and the headquarters, was supposed to “improve” the army, was caused by the demands of the “allies”.

It is clear that the 40,000 people who joined the shock battalions were a drop in a million-strong army and, of course, could not change the combat position of the fronts in any way. The situation was the same with the national formations. The organization of stable volunteer and national units lagged sharply behind the rate of decomposition of the army …

Publication by Evgeny Zhirnov