Years of life of Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich. How and where Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich died: history and interesting facts

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Biography, life story of Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich - a participant in the First World War, a participant in the Civil War, the head of a division of the Red Army.

Childhood and youth

Vasily Chapaev was born on January 28 (February 9 according to the new style), 1887 in the village of Budaika (Cheboksary district, Kazan province). His parents were simple peasants. Father Ivan Stepanovich was Erzei by nationality, mother Ekaterina Semyonovna was of Russian-Chuvash origin. The family had many children. Vasily became the sixth child.

When Vasily was still small, the Chapaev family moved to Balakovo (Samara province). There the boy was sent to a parochial school. Ivan Stepanovich dreamed that his son would become a priest, but Vasily did not live up to his father's hopes. In 1908, the young man was drafted into the army. According to the distribution, he ended up in Kyiv. However, a year later, Vasily was returned to the reserve. According to the official version, this happened due to his ill health, but many historians are inclined to believe that Chapaev was expelled from the ranks of the soldiers in connection with his political views, objectionable to the leadership.

In peacetime, Vasily Chapaev worked as a simple carpenter in Melekesse (today this city is called Dimitrovgrad).

Military service

In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Vasily Chapaev was called up for military service. He ended up in a reserve infantry regiment in Atkarsk. At the beginning of 1915, Chapaev was at the front, in the very center of hostilities. He fought in Volhynia and Galicia, was seriously wounded. In the summer of 1915, Vasily graduated from the training team, he was awarded the rank of junior non-commissioned officer. A few months later he was promoted to senior. By the end of the war, Vasily was a sergeant major. For the courage and courage shown during the battles, he was awarded the St. George's crosses and the St. George medal.

The revolution of 1917 found Vasily Chapaev in a hospital in Saratov. After some time, Chapaev became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. Later he became the military commissar of the Nikolaevsky district (before that he commanded an infantry reserve regiment in Nikolaevsk). Vasily Chapaev created the district Red Guard, consisting of 14 detachments, participated in the campaign against General Alexei Kaledin, an adherent of the White movement. He was the initiator of the reorganization of the Red Guard detachments into two regiments of the Red Army, united under his command in the Pugachev brigade. Chapaev also participated in battles with the People's Army, from which he recaptured Nikolaevsk and renamed it Pugachev in honor of his victory.

CONTINUED BELOW

In 1918, Vasily Ivanovich was appointed to the post of commander of the 2nd Nikolaev division, then he worked at the Academy of the General Staff. He was the commissioner of internal affairs of the Nikolaevsky district. In 1919 he became a brigade commander of the Special Alexander-Gai Brigade. In the same year, he took the post of head of the 25th Infantry Division, which participated in the Bugulma and Belebeev operations against the head of the White movement. During one of the battles during the capture of Ufa, Chapaev was wounded in the head.

Doom

Vasily Chapaev was killed on September 5, 1919 during a surprise attack on his division by white Cossacks. This happened in Lbischensk (Ural region). The organizer of the deep raid was General Nikolai Borodin. The main target of the attack was precisely Vasily Chapaev, who was a huge hindrance for the White movement.

According to another version, Vasily Ivanovich died in captivity.

A family

On July 5, 1909, Vasily Chapaev married Pelageya Metlina, the 17-year-old daughter of a priest. The couple lived together for 6 years, during which time Pelageya managed to give birth to Vasily three children - sons Alexander and Arkady and daughter Claudia. When Chapaev was called to the front, Metlina lived for some time in the house of his parents, but then, having taken the children, she went to the neighbor conductor.

In 1917, Vasily came home with the aim of divorcing his unfaithful wife, but in the end he limited himself only to taking the children from her and settling them with their grandparents. Soon, Chapaev began a relationship with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the wife of his late friend Pyotr Kamishkertsev (before that, the friends agreed that if one of them was killed, the second would certainly take care of the family of the deceased). In 1919, Vasily Chapaev settled Pelageya together with his and her children from Peter in the village of Klintsovka. Shortly before his death, Vasily found out that his beloved had cheated on him with Georgy Zhivolozhnov, head of the artillery warehouse.

In the last years of his life, Vasily Chapaev maintained relations with Tatyana, the daughter of a Cossack colonel, and Anna, the wife of Commissar Furmanov.

Who is Chapaev? This is not just a soldier of two armies, this is a whole symbol of the era of the collapse of empires and revolutions.

He played a significant role in the Civil War on the territory of the Russian Empire. The Red Army soldiers under his leadership inflicted a heavy defeat on General Kolchak on the Eastern Front. Chapaev himself was a symbol of red Cossack courage. His image was actively used for agitation and propaganda both during the Civil War and in the Soviet Union.

Vasily Chapaev: biography

Born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the Kazan province. His parents were ordinary peasants. Regarding the name of Vasily Ivanovich, there is no exact information. As the brother of the famous Red Army soldier recalled, the surname Chapaev was at first a nickname. Allegedly, Vasily's grandfather worked as a foreman in a construction artel and constantly shouted to his subordinates: "Chepay! Chepay" "(" take "). Since then, they began to call him Chapaev, which soon became a surname. This was confirmed by Ivanovich himself. The nationality of the "red" Cossack is still unclear.According to some sources, his mother was a Chuvash.

The Chapaev family was quite large. In addition to Vasily, there were six children. Parents worked hard, but still the family lived in poverty. Therefore, a few years after the birth of their last child, they move to the Samara province. Vasily's father, who wanted to give his son an education, sends him to a church school. At that time, she was sponsored by her father's cousin. Initially, the parents wanted Vasily to become a priest, like some other relatives. However, in the fall of 1908, Chapaev was drafted into the army. His unit is stationed in Kyiv. However, a few months later, Vasily was transferred to the reserve. Who Chapaev was, they did not know in the Kiev Military District, so it is impossible to determine the exact reason for such a strange decision. According to the official version, the dismissal was due to illness. In Soviet times, there was a popular theory that Vasily was expelled from the army due to political unreliability. Upon arrival home, he is granted the rank of a militia warrior.

At home, Vasily works as a carpenter. Soon he marries Pelagia Metlina, who is the daughter of a local priest. In the nine hundred and ninth year they are married. Almost immediately they move to Dimitrovgrad and live there. In the fourteenth year, the First World War begins. All military reserves are called up to the imperial troops, and Chapaev is no exception. The biography of Vasily as a military man begins just then.

World War I

Vasily Ivanovich was mobilized in the 159th reserve regiment, which was stationed in the city of Atkarsk.

There he undergoes training and retraining. Two months later he was sent to the front. He arrives in Galicia, where fierce battles unfold against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. In the cold winter of the fifteenth, the siege of Przemysl continued. Russian troops began to prepare an operation to break through to the territory of Hungary. To do this, it was necessary to go to the Hungarian plain, which was prevented by the fortifications of the Austrians in the Carpathians. In mid-January, an almost simultaneous offensive by the opposing sides began. The army of the German Empire planned to lift the siege of the strategically important Przemysl and go to the rear of the Russian troops.

V. I. Chapaev participated in the Carpathian operation. Stubborn battles ensued in the mountains. The battles took place in the most difficult weather conditions. The passes by this time were almost completely covered with snow. It also affected the well-being of soldiers who grew up on flat terrain. Chapaev was wounded in one of the battles and was in the hospital for some time.

Battle in the Carpathians

After heavy fighting, the Russian troops still managed to occupy the dominant heights and win tactically. However, in the spring began a mass offensive of the enemy. The German army was going to attack from East Prussia and encircle the Russian troops in the Warsaw area. At this time, a significant part of the imperial army was stuck in difficult passages in the Carpathians and could not move quickly. The Russian army was extremely poorly equipped. The Germans and Austrians had a total superiority in both heavy guns and machine guns. For example, the Germans had ninety-six machine guns, while the Russian troops had none. V. I. Chapaev was part of those retreating from Poland in 1915. This defeat leveled all the gains of the Russian army in the campaign of the fourteenth year and in the Carpathian operation. But the moral blow was the strongest.

Breakthrough of Russian troops

Who Chapaev was, it became known in the Belgorai regiment during the famous summer of the sixteenth year, a massive Russian offensive near Lutsk began. The goal was the occupation of Galicia and Volhynia, the capture of the enemy enemy grouping. After several hours of artillery preparation, the troops of the entire front went on the offensive. Already on the first day they managed to break through the first line of defense and capture many trophies. By September, the operation was completed. The Germans and Austrians lost one and a half million soldiers killed, wounded and captured. For his courage, Vasily Chapaev received the St. George Cross.

Homecoming

Chapaev returned home with the rank of sergeant major. For a long time he was in the hospital. At this time, changes were brewing in the country. Chapaev, like millions of Russian workers, was extremely dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country. The standard of living was deteriorating, the social gap between the nobles and the "masses" was simply monstrous. Plus, thousands of soldiers died every day in an incomprehensible war. As a result, the unrest among the people reached its peak in February.

A revolution has begun in St. Petersburg. The tsar abdicated, and power passed to the Provisional Government. Vasily Ivanovich reacted positively to the new changes. In September 1717, he joined the Bolshevik Party. As a person with combat experience, he was very much appreciated. Therefore, he is appointed commander of an infantry regiment.

Beginning of the Civil War

After Vasily showed his skills, he was appointed commissioner of the whole county. Almost autonomously, he was engaged in the formation of combat communist detachments. In a fairly short time, he managed to organize the Red Guard from 14 battalions. Almost from the very beginning of the war, the entire Ural region was occupied by the Whites. This is due to the compact residence of the Cossacks in this territory. Therefore, Chapaev's detachments operated in extremely difficult conditions. The Whites did not even need to conduct thorough reconnaissance, because wherever the Reds appeared, there were people among the local population who reported on their numbers, weapons and transmitted other important information.

Red offensive

In winter, fierce battles flared up near Tsaritsyn.

General Kaledin had at his disposal selected fighters who had good combat experience behind them. And many were trained in military craft from childhood. But Chapaev managed in a short time to train the peasants and workers so that they fought on a par with the military. After that, his units were included in the Special Army. In its composition, Vasily Ivanovich took a personal part in the campaign against Uralsk. During the fighting he was wounded in the head. After the end of the campaign, he reorganized, breaking the guards into two regiments, which he united into a brigade under his command.

In the summer of the eighteenth year in full swing. The Czechoslovak invaders captured Nikolaevsk, where they proclaimed Soviet power less than a year ago with the active participation of Chapaev himself. Almost the entire Ural region came under the control of the Whites. The Pugachev brigade (one of the regiments was named after Pugachev) besieged the city and after several days of heavy fighting recaptured it. During the battles for Nikolaevsk, the Red Army fought so desperately that many whites fled the battlefield. After that, the whole north of Russia knew who Chapaev was. In the winter of the eighteenth year, Vasily Ivanovich is studying at the Academy of the General Staff. After that, he receives the position of commissioner.

army commander

Six months later, Chapaev commanded a brigade, and a month later, a division. The troops are advancing on the Eastern Front against one of the best White generals - Kolchak. With the support of the Turkestan army, the Bugulmi and Bugurslanovsky districts were taken by the Reds. The front passed through the Ufa province. About thirty thousand soldiers launched an offensive on the twenty-fifth of May, and by the end of June, Kolchak's troops fled from the province. Chapaev took part in the assault on Ufa. During the battle, he was wounded in the head from an aircraft machine gun, but survived.

The commander of the Red Army continued to lead the fighting in extremely difficult conditions. After a swift offensive, Chapaev's fighters strongly broke forward and were exhausted. Therefore, in the fall of the eighteenth, we stopped in Lbischensk to rest and wait for reinforcements to arrive. All administrative military institutions are located in the city itself. However, there were very few fighters. The garrison consisted of six hundred bayonets, commanded by Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich. The civil war squeezed the last juices out of the torn country. Therefore, peasants who did not know how to handle weapons were mobilized into the Red Army. About two thousand of these recruits were also in Lbischensk, but were not armed. The main forces of the division were forty kilometers from the city.

Raid of the White Cossacks

The weakness of the Chapaevsky garrison decided to take advantage of the white colonel Borodin. Under cover of night on the last day of summer, his detachment, consisting of selected fighters, departed from Kalyonoy and went on a raid. The Red Army soldiers had four airplanes at their disposal. They were doing reconnaissance around the city.

However, the pilots were mobilized from the local population and appeared to be sympathetic to the whites. Therefore, on September 4, Borodin's detachment quietly approached the city. The commander of the Red Army Chapaev at that time was in Lbischensk. At dawn, the Cossacks attacked the city. The surprise factor worked - panic began. The Red Army soldiers in chaos tried to organize resistance. The battle lasted about six hours.

Death

Many were taken prisoner. But some managed to break through to the Ural River. They tried to swim to the other side, despite the current. Among them was Chapaev. The hero of the Civil War was seriously wounded in the stomach, but still continued to fight. According to the official version, after the arrival of the main part of the Cossacks, he ran to the river. He was already halfway through when the bullet hit him in the head. He died as soon as he reached the shore. The monument to Chapaev was simple - made of reeds and algae. The Red Army soldiers who buried the glorious commander were afraid that the whites would find a burial place.

Memory

After the end of the Civil War, thanks to Soviet agitation, Chapaev became one of its most striking symbols. Several films were made about him, many songs and poems were written. The image of the dashing red Cossack has become an element of folklore. In jokes, Chapaev became something like Lieutenant Rzhevsky.

The monument to Chapaev, already made of stone, stands in many cities of the post-Soviet space.

A native of Chuvashia, who became a symbol of the Great Russian Revolution

Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev is known as one of the most notable heroes of the Civil War. The division commander of the Red Army left a bright mark in Russian history and to this day occupies a special position in popular culture. The name of the commander is alive in the memory of contemporaries - books are tirelessly written about him, films are made, songs are sung, and jokes and fables are composed. The biography of the Red Guard is full of contradictions and secrets.

life lines
According to legend, the surname Chapaev came from the word "chepay" (take, pick up), which was used during various works. At first, this word was the nickname of the hero's grandfather, then it turned into a generic surname.

early years
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - comes from a peasant family, the son of a carpenter. His parents lived in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Simbirsk province. This place was one of the Russian villages located around the city of Cheboksary. Here Vasily was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887.

Vasily grew up in a large family and was the sixth child. Soon after his birth, the family moved to the Samara province - to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaevsky district. The Chapaev children were forced to leave the school they attended in Budaika and look for work. Vasily managed to learn only the alphabet. Parents wished their child a better life, so Vasily was sent to a parochial school to get an education.

Metric record of 1887 about the birth of V. I. Chapaev

The father and mother hoped that the son would become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise. In the fall of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army - from this period, his military career is counted down. He began to serve in Kyiv, however, not for long. Already in the spring of 1909 he was transferred to the reserve - he was transferred to the first-class militia warriors.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1909

Historians do not know the exact reason for this decision. According to one version, this was due to his political unreliability, but no evidence of this was found. Most likely, the dismissal is due to Chapaev's illness.

Even in his youth, Vasily Chapaev received the nickname Ermak. It accompanied the hero all his life, becoming his underground nickname.

On the fronts of the First World War
In the battles of May 5-8, 1915, near the Prut River, Vasily Chapaev showed great personal courage and stamina. A few months later, for success in the service, he immediately received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, bypassing the rank of corporal.

On September 16, 1915, Chapaev was awarded the St. George Cross of the IV degree. For the capture of two prisoners near the town of Snovidov, he was again awarded the St. George Cross, but already of the III degree.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1916

Chapaev was a holder of three degrees of the St. George Cross. For each sign, a soldier or non-commissioned officer received a salary of a third more than usual. The salary grew until it reached double size. The surplus salary remained after retirement and was paid for life. Widows received the sum of money a year after the death of the gentleman.

On September 27, 1915, in the battles between the villages of Tsuman and Karpinevka, Chapaev was wounded. He was sent to the hospital. He soon learned that he had been promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1917

Chapaev, having improved his health, returned to the Belgorai regiment, in which on June 14-16, 1916 he took part in the battles near the city of Kut. For these battles, Vasily was awarded the St. George Cross II degree. According to some reports, in the same summer, for the battles near the city of Delyatyn, he was awarded the St. George Cross of the 1st degree. But the documents confirming the award of this award have not been preserved.

At the end of the summer of 1916, Vasily fell seriously ill. On August 20, he was sent to the dressing detachment of the 82nd Infantry Division. He returned to his company only on September 10 and the next day he was wounded by shrapnel in his left thigh, after which he again began treatment.

October Revolution and Civil War

V. I. Chapaev, commander of the 2nd Nikolaevsky Soviet regiment I. Kutyakov, battalion commander I. Bubenets and commissar A. Semennikov. 1918

In July 1917, Chapaev ended up in the city of Nikolaevsk, where he was appointed sergeant major of the 4th company of the 138th reserve infantry regiment. This military unit was famous for its revolutionary spirit. It was here that the future red commander became close to the Bolsheviks. Soon he was elected to the regimental committee, and in the fall of 1917 he joined the council of soldiers' deputies.

On September 28, 1917, Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev joined the RSDLP (b) - the Bolshevik Party. In December, he became a Red Guard commissar and assumed the duties of head of the Nikolaevsk garrison.

The winter-spring of 1918 was a difficult period for the new government. At this time, Chapaev suppressed peasant unrest, fought against the Cossacks and soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps.

In films, most often, Chapaev is depicted with a sword on a dashing horse. However, in life, the commander preferred cars. First, he had a Stever (a bright red confiscated car), then a Packard taken from Kolchak, and after a while a Ford, which developed a good speed for the beginning of the 20th century - up to 50 km / h.

Chapaev horsemen. 1918

In November, a talented military man went to study at the General Staff Academy, but could not stay away from the front for a long time and already in January 1919 he fought in battle against the army of Admiral Kolchak.

IN AND. Chapaev visited wounded comrades in the hospital. On the left - I.K. Bubenets, commander of the battalion named after Stenka Razin of the regiment; on the right - I.S. Kutyakov, regimental commander. 1919

Circumstances of death
The legendary commander died during an unexpected attack by the White Guards on the headquarters of the 25th division. It happened on September 5, 1919 in the city of Lbischensk, West Kazakhstan region, which was located deep in the rear and well guarded. The Chapayevites felt safe here.

Chapaev's division was cut off from the main forces of the Red Army and suffered heavy losses. In addition to 2000 Chapaevs, there were almost as many mobilized peasants in the city who did not have any weapons. Chapaev could count on six hundred bayonets. The rest of the division's forces were removed 40-70 km from the city.

Wounded in the head V.I. Chapaev (in the center) and D.A. Furmanov (to his left) with the commanders of the 25th division. 1919

The combination of these factors led to the fact that the attack of the Cossack detachment in the early morning of September 5 turned out to be disastrous for the illustrious division. Most of the Chapayevites were shot or captured. Only a small part of the Red Guards was able to break through to the banks of the Ural River, including Chapaev. He was able to resist the advancing forces, but was wounded in the stomach.

Witness the last hours of the life of the hero was the eldest son Alexander. He said that the wounded father was placed on a raft for crossing the river, made from half a gate. However, some time later, sad news came - the commander died from great blood loss.

The death of V.I. Chapaev in the Ural River in the film "Chapaev" (1934)

Chapaev was hastily buried in the coastal sand, showered with reeds so that the Cossacks would not find the grave and abuse the body. Similar information was later confirmed by other participants in the events. But the legend, embodied in books and on the movie screen, that the divisional commander died in the stormy waves of the Ural River, turned out to be more tenacious.

Hundreds of streets and almost two dozen settlements, one river, a light cruiser and a large anti-submarine ship are named after Chapaev.

Personal life

Feldwebel Chapaev with his wife Pelageya Nikanorovna. 1916

In his personal life, the division commander of the Red Army was not as successful as in military service.

Even before being sent to the army, Vasily met the young Pelageya Metlina, the daughter of a priest. After he was decommissioned in the summer of 1909, they got married. In six years of marriage, they had three children - two sons and a daughter.

Chapaev's life before the outbreak of the First World War was peaceful. He, like his father, worked as a carpenter. In 1912, together with his wife and children, he moved to the city of Melekess (today it is Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region), where he settled on Chuvashskaya Street. Here his youngest son Arkady was born.

The beginning of the war radically changed the life of Vasily Ivanovich. He began fighting with the 82nd Infantry Division against the Germans and Austrians.

At this time, his wife Pelageya, along with the children, went to a neighbor. Upon learning of this, Chapaev rushed to his home to divorce his wife. True, he limited himself to taking the children from his wife and moving them to their parents' house.

From an interview with Gordon Boulevard (September 2012):

“And a few years later, Pelageya left her children and ran away from the hero, the red commander. Why?

- She ran away before Chapaev became a commander, even in the imperialist one. She ran not from Vasily, but from her father-in-law, strict and tough. And she loved Vasily, gave birth to three children from him, only rarely saw her husband at home - he fought all the time. And she went to the carriage driver, who drove the horses in Saratov. He left nine children and a paralyzed wife for her.

When Vasily Ivanovich died, Pelageya was already pregnant with her second child from her lover. She rushed to the Chapaevs' houses to pick up the rest of the children, but her roommate locked her up. Pelageya nevertheless got out of the house and ran away in a light dress (and it was in November). On the way, she fell into a wormwood, she was miraculously saved by a peasant who was driving a cart, took her to the Chapaevs - there she died of pneumonia.

Then Chapaev entered into a close relationship with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of his friend Peter Kamishkertsev, who had previously died in battles near the Carpathians. Before the war, friends promised each other that the survivor would have to take care of the family of the deceased friend. Chapaev kept his promise.

In 1919, the commander settled Kamishkertseva with all the children (Chapaev and a deceased friend) in the village of Klintsovka at an artillery depot.

Pelageya Kamishkertseva with all the children

However, shortly before his death, he learned about the betrayal of his second wife with the head of the artillery depot, which led him into a severe moral shock.

Chapaev's children

Alexander, Claudia and Arkady Chapaev

The eldest son, Alexander, followed in the footsteps of his father - he became a military man and went through the entire Great Patriotic War. Awarded with three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov III degree, Alexander Nevsky, Order of the Patriotic War I degree, Red Star and many medals.

Alexander finished his service with the rank of major general. Died in 1985. The youngest son, Arkady, became a pilot and died during a fighter training flight in 1939.

The only daughter, Claudia, was a party worker, collecting materials about her father all her life. She passed away in 1999.

From an interview with the Segodnya information portal (September 2012):

- Is it true that you named your daughter in honor of Vasily Ivanovich?

- Yes. I could not give birth for a very long time and became pregnant only at the age of 30. Then my grandmother came up with the idea that I should go to Chapaev's homeland. We asked for a petition from the authorities of the Republic of Chuvashia to help me give birth to a division commander in my homeland. They agreed, but on one condition that if there is a son, then we call him Vasily, and if there is a daughter, then Vasilisa. I remember that I had not yet left the hospital, and the first secretary of Chuvashia had already solemnly issued me a birth certificate for my daughter Vasilisa. Later, we put the baby in a cradle in the Chapaevs' house-museum, so that the energy of the family would be transferred to the great-great-granddaughter.

Evgenia Chapaeva, great-granddaughter of Vasily Chapaev, descendant of Claudia Chapaeva, author of the book "My Unknown Chapaev"

Chapaev's great-granddaughter Evgenia and her daughter Vasilisa. 2013

Chapaev in the cinema - a new look at history
In 1923, the writer Dmitry Furmanov created a novel about Vasily Ivanovich - "Chapaev". The author served as a commissar in Chapaev's division and was personally acquainted with the commander. In 1934, based on the materials of the book, a feature film of the same name was made.

A year after the premiere, the creators of the film Georgy and Sergey Vasiliev received an award for it at the 1st Moscow Film Festival. The chairman of the jury was Sergei Eisenstein, one of the most talented Soviet directors.

There was such a buzz around the film that in one of the cinemas it was shown daily for two years. "Chapaev" gained immense popularity in the USSR, and its plot formed the basis of folk art. People began to invent stories, make up legends and jokes about the heroes of the film. The film also impressed the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. In 1935, he wrote 2 poems that contain references to episodes of the film.

Name: Vasily Chapaev

Age: 32 years

Place of Birth: Budaika village, Chuvashia

A place of death: Lbischensk, Ural region

Activity: Commander of the Red Army

Family status: Was married

Vasily Chapaev - biography

September 5 marks the 97th anniversary of his death Vasily Chapaev- the most famous and at the same time the most unknown hero of the civil war. His true identity is hidden under a layer of legends created both by official propaganda and popular imagination.

Legends begin from the very birth of the future commander. Everywhere they write that he was born on January 28 (according to the old style), 1887, in the family of a Russian peasant Ivan Chapaev. However, his surname does not seem Russian, especially in the variant "Chepaev", as Vasily Ivanovich himself wrote it. Mostly Chuvash lived in his native village of Budaika, and today the inhabitants of Chuvashia confidently consider Chapaev-Chepaev theirs. True, neighbors argue with them, who find Mordovian or Mari roots in the surname. The hero's descendants have a different version - his grandfather, working at a timber rafting, every now and then shouted to his comrades "chepai", that is, "cling" in the local dialect.

But whoever Chapaev's ancestors were, by the time of his birth they had long been Russified, and his uncle even served as a priest. They also wanted to send young Vasya to the spiritual path - he was small in stature, weak and not suitable for hard peasant labor. The church service gave at least some opportunity to escape from the poverty in which the family lived. Although Ivan Stepanovich was a skilled carpenter, his relatives were constantly interrupted from bread to kvass; of the six children, only three survived.

When Vasya was eight years old, the family moved to the village - now the city - Balakovo, where his father found work in a carpentry artel. There also lived an uncle, a priest, to whom Vasya was sent for training. Their relationship did not work out - the nephew did not want to study and, moreover, did not differ in obedience. Once in the winter, in severe frost, his uncle locked him up for the night in a cold barn for some regular offense. In order not to freeze, the boy somehow got out of the barn and ran home. On this, his spiritual biography ended, before it could begin.

Chapaev recalled the early years of his biography without any nostalgia: “My childhood was gloomy, difficult. I had to humiliate myself and starve a lot. From an early age, he ran around strangers. He helped his father with carpentry, worked as a floorman in a tavern, and even walked with a hurdy-gurdy, like Seryozha from Kuprin's White Poodle. Although this may be a fiction - Vasily Ivanovich liked to compose all sorts of stories about himself.

For example, he once joked about what comes from the passionate romance of a gypsy tramp and the daughter of the Kazan governor. And since there is little reliable information about Chapaev’s life before the Red Army - he didn’t have time to tell the children anything, there were no other relatives left, this fiction ended up in his biography written by Chapaev’s commissar Dmitry Furmanov.

At the age of twenty, Vasily fell in love with the beautiful Pelageya Metlina. By that time, the Chapaev family had got out of poverty, Vasya dressed up and easily charmed a girl who had just turned sixteen. As soon as they played a wedding, in the fall of 1908, the newlywed went into the army. He liked military science, but he didn’t like walking in formation and bullying officers. Chapaev, with his proud and independent disposition, did not endure until the end of his service and was demobilized due to illness. A peaceful family life began - he worked as a carpenter, and his wife gave birth to children one after another: Alexander, Claudia, Arcadia.

As soon as the last one was born in 1914, Vasily Ivanovich was again shaved into soldiers - the world war began. For two years of fighting in Galicia, he rose from private to sergeant major and was awarded the St. George medal and four soldiers' St. George's crosses, which spoke of the utmost courage. By the way, he served in the infantry, he was never a dashing rider - unlike Chapaev from the film of the same name, and after being wounded he could not ride at all. In Galicia, Chapaev was wounded three times, the last time so badly that after a long treatment he was sent to serve in the rear, in his native Volga region.

The return home was not joyful. While Chapaev was at war, Pelageya got along with the conductor and left with him, leaving her husband and three children. According to legend, Vasily ran for her cart for a long time, begged to stay, even cried, but the beauty firmly decided that the important railway rank suits her more than the heroic, but poor and, moreover, wounded Chapaev. Pelageya, however, did not live long with her new husband - she died of typhus. And Vasily Ivanovich married again, keeping his word given to the deceased comrade Peter Kameshkertsev. His widow, also Pelageya, but not young and ugly, became the new companion of the hero and took his children into the house in addition to her three.

After the revolution of 1917 in the city of Nikolaevsk, where Chapaev was transferred to serve, the soldiers of the 138th reserve regiment chose him as a regimental commander. Through his efforts, the regiment did not go home, like many others, but almost in its entirety joined the Red Army.

The Chapaevsky regiment found a job in May 1918, when a civil war broke out in Russia. The rebellious Czechoslovaks, in alliance with the local White Guards, captured the entire east of the country and sought to cut the Volga artery, through which bread was delivered to the center. In the cities of the Volga region, whites staged mutinies: one of them claimed the life of Chapaev's brother, Grigory, the Balakovo military commissar. From another brother, Mikhail, who owned a shop and accumulated considerable capital, Chapaev took away all the money, putting them into service with his regiment.

Having distinguished himself in heavy battles with the Ural Cossacks, who sided with the Whites, Chapaev was chosen by the fighters as the commander of the Nikolaev division. By that time, such elections were prohibited in the Red Army, and an angry telegram was sent down from above: Chapaev cannot command a division, because "he does not have the appropriate training, is infected with a mania of autocracy, does not follow combat orders exactly."

However, the removal of a popular commander could turn into a riot. And then the staff strategists sent Chapaev with his division against the three times superior forces of the Samara "Constituent Assembly" - it seemed, to certain death. However, the division commander came up with a cunning plan to lure the enemy into a trap, and completely defeated him. Samara was soon taken, and the Whites retreated to the steppes between the Volga and the Urals, where Chapaev chased them until November.

This month, the capable commander was sent to study in Moscow, at the Academy of the General Staff. Upon admission, he filled out a questionnaire:

“Are you an active party member? What was your activity?

I belong. Formed 7 regiments of the Red Army.

What awards do you have?

St. George Cavalier 4 degrees. Hours handed.

What general education did you receive?

Self-Taught".

Recognizing Chapaev as "almost illiterate", he was nevertheless accepted as "having a revolutionary combat experience." These questionnaires are supplemented by an anonymous description of the divisional commander, preserved in the Cheboksary Memorial Museum: “He was not brought up and had no restraint in dealing with people. He was often rude and cruel... He was a weak politician, but he was a real revolutionary, an excellent communard in life and a noble selfless fighter for communism... There were times when he could seem frivolous...”

Basically. Chapaev was the same partisan commander as Father Makhno, and he was uncomfortable at the academy. When some military specialist in a military history class sarcastically asked if he knew the Rhine River. Chapaev, who fought in Europe in the German war, nevertheless boldly replied: “Why the hell do I need your Rhine? It is on Solyanka that I must know every bump, because we are fighting the Cossacks there.

After several similar skirmishes, Vasily Ivanovich asked to be sent back to the front. The army authorities complied with the request, but in a strange way - Chapaev had to create a new division literally from scratch. In a dispatch to Trotsky, he was indignant: “I bring to your attention that I am exhausted ... You appointed me the head of a division, but instead of a division they gave me a disheveled brigade, in which there are only 1000 bayonets ... they don’t give me rifles, no overcoats, people are undressed ". And yet, in a short time, he managed to create a division of 14 thousand bayonets and inflict a heavy defeat on Kolchak's army with it, defeating its most combat-ready units, consisting of Izhevsk workers.

It was at this time, in March 1919, that a new commissar, Dmitry Furmanov, appeared in the 25th Chapaev division. This dropout student was four years younger than Chapaev and dreamed of a literary career. This is how he describes their meeting:

“In the early March morning, at 5-6 o'clock, they knocked on my door. I'm leaving:

I am Chapaev, hello!

Before me stood an ordinary man, lean, of medium height, apparently of little strength, with thin, almost female hands. Thin dark blond hair stuck to his forehead; a short, nervous thin nose, thin eyebrows in a chain, thin lips, shiny clean teeth, a shaved chin, a lush sergeant-major mustache. Eyes... light blue, almost green. The face is matte-clean, fresh.

In the novel "Chapaev", which Furmanov published in 1923, Chapaev generally appears at first as an unattractive character and, moreover, a real savage in the ideological sense - he spoke "for the Bolsheviks, but against the Communists." However, under the influence of Furmanov, by the end of the novel he becomes a convinced party member. In reality, the divisional commander never joined the CPSU (b), not trusting the party leadership too much, and it seems that these feelings were mutual - the same Trotsky saw in Chapaev a stubborn supporter of the “partisanism” he hated and, on occasion, could well have shot him, as commander of Mironov's Second Cavalry Army.

Chapaev's relationship with Furmanov was also not as warm as the latter tried to show. This is due to the lyrical story at the headquarters of the 25th, which became known from the recently declassified diaries of Furman. It turned out that the divisional commander began to frankly court the wife of the commissioner, Anna Steshenko, a young and pretty failed actress. By that time, the second wife of Vasily Chapaev had also abandoned him: she had cheated on the divisional commander with a supplier. Arriving home somehow on a visit, Vasily Ivanovich found the lovers in bed and, according to one version, shot them both under the bed with shots over their heads.

On the other hand, he simply turned around and drove back to the front. After that, he flatly refused to see the traitor, although later she came to his regiment to put up, taking with her the youngest Chapaev's son Arkady. She thought to subdue her husband's anger with this - he adored children, during a short rest he played tag with them, made toys. As a result, Chapaev took the children, giving them to be raised by some widow, and divorced his treacherous wife. Later, a rumor spread that she had become the culprit of Chapaev's death, since she betrayed him to the Cossacks. Under the yoke of suspicion, Pelageya Kameshkertseva went crazy and died in a hospital.

Becoming a bachelor, Chapaev turned his feelings to Furmanov's wife. Seeing his letters with the signature “Chapaev who loves you,” the commissar, in turn, wrote an angry letter to the division commander, in which he called him “a dirty, depraved little man”: “There is nothing to be jealous of a low person, and I, of course, was not jealous of her, but I was I am deeply indignant at the impudent courtship and constant harassment that Anna Nikitichna repeatedly told me about.

Chapaev's reaction is unknown, but soon Furmanov sent a complaint to the front commander, Frunze, about the "insulting actions" of the divisional commander, "reaching the point of assault." As a result, Frunze allowed him and his wife to leave the division, which saved Furmanov's life - a month later, Chapaev, along with his entire staff and the new commissar Baturin, died.

In June 1919, the Chapaevs took Ufa, and the commander himself, while crossing the high-water Belaya River, was wounded in the head. Thousands of Kolchak garrison fled, leaving ammunition depots. The secret of Chapaev's victories was speed, onslaught and "little tricks" of the people's war. For example, under the same Ufa, they say, he drove a herd of cattle against the enemy, which raised clouds of dust.

Deciding that Chapaev had a huge army, the whites rushed to flee. It is possible, however, that this is a myth - the same as that from time immemorial they have been told about Alexander the Great or. Not without reason, even before the popular cult in the Volga region, fairy tales about Chapaev were composed - “Chapai flies into battle in a black cloak, they shoot at him, but at least he has something. After the battle, he shakes his cloak - and from there all the bullets are intact and spill out.

Another tale is that Chapaev invented the cart. In fact, this innovation first appeared in the peasant army, from which it was borrowed by the Reds. Vasily Ivanovich quickly realized the advantages of a cart with a machine gun, although he himself preferred cars. Chapaev had a scarlet "stever" confiscated from some bourgeois, a blue "Packard" and a miracle of technology - a yellow high-speed "Ford", which developed a speed of up to 50 km per hour. Having installed on it the same machine gun as on a cart, the divisional commander used to almost single-handedly knock out the enemy from the captured villages.

After the capture of Ufa, Chapaev's division headed south, trying to break through to the Caspian. The headquarters of the division with a small garrison (up to 2000 fighters) remained in the town of Lbischensk, the rest of the units went ahead. On the night of September 5, 1919, a Cossack detachment under the command of General Borodin quietly crept up to the city and surrounded it. The Cossacks not only knew that Chapai, which they hated, was in Lbischensk, but they also had a good idea of ​​the balance of power of the Reds. Moreover, the horse patrols, which usually guarded the headquarters, were for some reason removed, and the division's airplanes, conducting aerial reconnaissance, turned out to be out of order. This suggests a betrayal, which was not the work of the ill-fated Pelageya, but of one of the staff workers - former officers.

It seems that Chapaev still did not overcome all his "frivolous" properties - in a sober state, he and his assistants would hardly have overlooked the approach of the enemy. Waking up from the shooting, they rushed to the river in their underwear, firing back on the move. The Cossacks fired after them. Chapaev was wounded in the arm (according to another version - in the stomach). Three fighters brought him along a sandy cliff to the river. Further, according to eyewitness accounts, Furmanov briefly described: “So all four rushed, swam. Two were killed at the same moment, as soon as they touched the water. Two sailed, they were already near the shore - and at that moment a predatory bullet hit Chapaev in the head. When the satellite, crawling into the sedge, looked back, there was no one behind: Chapaev drowned in the waves of the Urals ... "

But there is another version: in the 60s, Chapaev's daughter received a letter from Hungarian soldiers who fought in the 25th division. The letter said that the Hungarians transported the wounded Chapaev across the river on a raft, but on the shore he died from loss of blood and was buried there. Attempts to find the grave did not lead to anything - the Urals had changed its course by that time, and the coast opposite Lbischensk was flooded.

Recently, an even more sensational version has appeared - Chapaev was captured, went over to the side of the Whites and died in exile. There is no evidence for this version, although the divisional commander could indeed be captured. In any case, the Krasnoyarsky Rabochiy newspaper reported on March 9, 1926, that “Kolchak’s officer Trofimov-Mirsky, who confessed that he had killed Chapaev, the head of division Chapaev, who was captured and enjoyed legendary fame, was arrested in Penza.”

Vasily Ivanovich died at the age of 32. Without a doubt, he could have become one of the prominent commanders of the Red Army - and most likely would have died in 1937, like his colleague and first biographer Ivan Kutyakov, like many other Chapaevites. But it turned out differently - Chapaev, who fell at the hands of enemies, took a prominent place in the pantheon of Soviet heroes, from where many more significant figures turned out to be blacked out. The beginning of the heroic legend was laid by Furmanov's novel. "Chapaev" became the first big thing of the commissar who had gone into literature. It was followed by the novel "Mutiny" about the anti-Soviet uprising in Semirechie - Furmanov also personally observed it. In March 1926, the writer's career was cut short on takeoff by a sudden death from meningitis.

The writer's widow, Anna Steshenko-Furmanova, fulfilled her dream by becoming the director of the theater (in the Chapaev division she led the cultural and educational part). Out of love, either for her husband or for Chapaev, she decided to embody the story of the legendary division commander on stage, but in the end, the play she conceived turned into a screenplay, published in 1933 in the journal Literaturny Sovremennik.

Soon, young film directors with the same name Georgy and Sergey Vasiliev decided to shoot according to the script of fshm. Already at the initial stage of work on the film, Stalin intervened in the process, always keeping film production under his personal control. Through the cinema bosses, he conveyed to the directors of "Chapaev" a wish: to supplement the picture with a love line, introducing into it a young fighter and a girl from the people - "a sort of pretty machine gunner."

The desired fighter became a glimpse of Petka Furmanov - "Little Skinny Black Mazik." There was also a "machine gunner" - Maria Popova, who actually served in the Chapaev division as a nurse. In one of the battles, a wounded machine gunner forced her to lie down behind the trigger "maxim": "Press, otherwise I'll shoot!" The queues stopped the attack of the whites, and after the battle the girl received a gold watch from the hands of the divisional commander. True, Maria's combat experience was limited to this. Anna Furmanova didn’t even have that, but she gave the heroine of the film her name - and that’s how Anka the machine gunner appeared.

This saved Anna Nikitichna in 1937, when her second husband, the red commander Lajos Gavro, "the Hungarian Chapaev", was shot. Maria Popova was also lucky - when he saw Anka in the cinema, a satisfied Stalin helped her prototype to make a career. Maria Andreevna became a diplomat, worked in Europe for a long time, and along the way wrote a famous song:

Chapaev the hero walked around the Urals.

He rushed like a falcon with enemies to fight ...

Forward, comrades, do not dare to retreat.

Chapayevites boldly got used to dying!

They say that shortly before the death of Maria Popova in 1981, a whole delegation of nurses came to the hospital to ask her if she loved Petka. “Of course,” she replied, although in reality it was unlikely that she had anything to do with Pyotr Isaev. After all, he was not a boy-guarantor, but a regiment commander, an employee of the Chapaev headquarters. And he died, as they say, without crossing the Urals with his commander, but already a year later. They say that on the anniversary of Chapaev's death, he drank half to death, wandered to the shore of the Urals, exclaimed: "I did not save Chapai!" and shot himself in the temple. Of course, this is also a legend - it seems that literally everything that surrounded Vasily Ivanovich has become legendary.

In the film, Petka was played by Leonid Kmit, who remained "an actor of one role", like Boris Blinov - Furmanov. Yes, and Boris Babochkin, who played a lot in the theater, for everyone was primarily Chapaev. Participants in the Civil War, including friends of Vasily Ivanovich, noted his absolute hit in the image. By the way, at first, Vasily Vanin was appointed to the role of Chapaev, and the 30-year-old Babochkin was to play Petka. They say that the same Anna Furmanova insisted on "castling", who decided that Babochkin was more like her hero.

The directors agreed and generally secured themselves as best they could. In case of accusations of excessive tragedy, they dreamed of another, optimistic ending - Anka is playing with children in a beautiful apple orchard, Petka, already commander of a division, approaches them. Behind the scenes, Chapaev’s voice sounds: “Here, get married, you will work together. The war will end, life will be great. Do you know what life will be like? You don't have to die!"

As a result, this tinsel was avoided, and the Vasiliev brothers' film, released on the screen in November 1934, became the first Soviet blockbuster - huge queues lined up at the Udarnik cinema, where it was shown. Entire factories marched there in columns, carrying the slogans “We are going to watch Chapaev.” The film received high awards not only at the First Moscow Film Festival in 1935, but also in Paris and New York. The directors and Babochkin received the Stalin Prizes, the actress Varvara Myasnikova, who played Anna, received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Stalin himself watched the picture thirty times, not much different from the boys of the 30s - they penetrated the cinema halls over and over again, hoping that someday Chapai would come up. It is interesting that in the end this happened - in 1941, in one of the propaganda film collections, Boris Babochkin, famous for the role of Chapaev, emerged unharmed from the waves of the Urals and set off, calling the soldiers behind him, to beat the Nazis. Few have seen this movie clip, but the rumor of a miraculous resurrection finally cemented the myth of the hero.

Chapaev's popularity was great even before the film, but after it turned into a real cult. A city in the Samara region, dozens of collective farms, hundreds of streets were named after the division commander. His memorial museums appeared in Pugachev (former Nikolaevsk). Lbischensk, the village of Krasny Yar, and later in Cheboksary, within the city limits of which was the village of Budaika. As for the 25th division, it received the name Chapaev immediately after the death of its commander and still bears it.

Popular popularity also touched Chapaev's children. His senior officer Alexander became an artillery officer, went through the war, rose to the rank of major general. The younger, Arkady, went into aviation, was a friend of Chkalov and, like him, died before the war while testing a new fighter. The faithful keeper of her father's memory was the daughter of Claudia, who, after the death of her parents, almost starved to death, wandered around orphanages, but the title of hero's daughter helped her make a party career. By the way, neither Claudia Vasilievna nor her descendants tried to fight the anecdotes about Chapaev that passed from mouth to mouth (and now already published many times). And this is understandable: in most jokes, Chapai appears as a rude, rustic, but very nice person. The same as the hero of the novel, the film and the entire official myth.

A native of Chuvashia, who became a symbol of the Great Russian Revolution

Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev is known as one of the most notable heroes of the Civil War. The division commander of the Red Army left a bright mark in Russian history and to this day occupies a special position in popular culture. The name of the commander is alive in the memory of contemporaries - books are tirelessly written about him, films are made, songs are sung, and jokes and fables are composed. The biography of the Red Guard is full of contradictions and secrets.

life lines
According to legend, the surname Chapaev came from the word "chepay" (take, pick up), which was used during various works. At first, this word was the nickname of the hero's grandfather, then it turned into a generic surname.

early years
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - comes from a peasant family, the son of a carpenter. His parents lived in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Simbirsk province. This place was one of the Russian villages located around the city of Cheboksary. Here Vasily was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887.

Vasily grew up in a large family and was the sixth child. Soon after his birth, the family moved to the Samara province - to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaevsky district. The Chapaev children were forced to leave the school they attended in Budaika and look for work. Vasily managed to learn only the alphabet. Parents wished their child a better life, so Vasily was sent to a parochial school to get an education.

Metric record of 1887 about the birth of V. I. Chapaev

The father and mother hoped that the son would become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise. In the fall of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army - from this period, his military career is counted down. He began to serve in Kyiv, however, not for long. Already in the spring of 1909 he was transferred to the reserve - he was transferred to the first-class militia warriors.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1909

Historians do not know the exact reason for this decision. According to one version, this was due to his political unreliability, but no evidence of this was found. Most likely, the dismissal is due to Chapaev's illness.

Even in his youth, Vasily Chapaev received the nickname Ermak. It accompanied the hero all his life, becoming his underground nickname.

On the fronts of the First World War
In the battles of May 5-8, 1915, near the Prut River, Vasily Chapaev showed great personal courage and stamina. A few months later, for success in the service, he immediately received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, bypassing the rank of corporal.

On September 16, 1915, Chapaev was awarded the St. George Cross of the IV degree. For the capture of two prisoners near the town of Snovidov, he was again awarded the St. George Cross, but already of the III degree.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1916

Chapaev was a holder of three degrees of the St. George Cross. For each sign, a soldier or non-commissioned officer received a salary of a third more than usual. The salary grew until it reached double size. The surplus salary remained after retirement and was paid for life. Widows received the sum of money a year after the death of the gentleman.

On September 27, 1915, in the battles between the villages of Tsuman and Karpinevka, Chapaev was wounded. He was sent to the hospital. He soon learned that he had been promoted to senior non-commissioned officer.

V. I. CHAPAEV 1917

Chapaev, having improved his health, returned to the Belgorai regiment, in which on June 14-16, 1916 he took part in the battles near the city of Kut. For these battles, Vasily was awarded the St. George Cross II degree. According to some reports, in the same summer, for the battles near the city of Delyatyn, he was awarded the St. George Cross of the 1st degree. But the documents confirming the award of this award have not been preserved.

At the end of the summer of 1916, Vasily fell seriously ill. On August 20, he was sent to the dressing detachment of the 82nd Infantry Division. He returned to his company only on September 10 and the next day he was wounded by shrapnel in his left thigh, after which he again began treatment.

October Revolution and Civil War

V. I. Chapaev, commander of the 2nd Nikolaevsky Soviet regiment I. Kutyakov, battalion commander I. Bubenets and commissar A. Semennikov. 1918

In July 1917, Chapaev ended up in the city of Nikolaevsk, where he was appointed sergeant major of the 4th company of the 138th reserve infantry regiment. This military unit was famous for its revolutionary spirit. It was here that the future red commander became close to the Bolsheviks. Soon he was elected to the regimental committee, and in the fall of 1917 he joined the council of soldiers' deputies.

On September 28, 1917, Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev joined the RSDLP (b) - the Bolshevik Party. In December, he became a Red Guard commissar and assumed the duties of head of the Nikolaevsk garrison.

The winter-spring of 1918 was a difficult period for the new government. At this time, Chapaev suppressed peasant unrest, fought against the Cossacks and soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps.

In films, most often, Chapaev is depicted with a sword on a dashing horse. However, in life, the commander preferred cars. First, he had a Stever (a bright red confiscated car), then a Packard taken from Kolchak, and after a while a Ford, which developed a good speed for the beginning of the 20th century - up to 50 km / h.

Chapaev horsemen. 1918

In November, a talented military man went to study at the General Staff Academy, but could not stay away from the front for a long time and already in January 1919 he fought in battle against the army of Admiral Kolchak.

IN AND. Chapaev visited wounded comrades in the hospital. Left - I.K. Bubenets, commander of the battalion named after Stenka Razin of the regiment; on the right - I.S. Kutyakov, regimental commander. 1919

Circumstances of death
The legendary commander died during an unexpected attack by the White Guards on the headquarters of the 25th division. It happened on September 5, 1919 in the city of Lbischensk, West Kazakhstan region, which was located deep in the rear and well guarded. The Chapayevites felt safe here.

Chapaev's division was cut off from the main forces of the Red Army and suffered heavy losses. In addition to 2000 Chapaevs, there were almost as many mobilized peasants in the city who did not have any weapons. Chapaev could count on six hundred bayonets. The rest of the division's forces were removed 40-70 km from the city.

Wounded in the head V.I. Chapaev (in the center) and D.A. Furmanov (to his left) with the commanders of the 25th division. 1919

The combination of these factors led to the fact that the attack of the Cossack detachment in the early morning of September 5 turned out to be disastrous for the illustrious division. Most of the Chapayevites were shot or captured. Only a small part of the Red Guards was able to break through to the banks of the Ural River, including Chapaev. He was able to resist the advancing forces, but was wounded in the stomach.

Witness the last hours of the life of the hero was the eldest son Alexander. He said that the wounded father was placed on a raft for crossing the river, made from half a gate. However, some time later, sad news came - the commander died from great blood loss.

The death of V.I. Chapaev in the Ural River in the film "Chapaev" (1934)

Chapaev was hastily buried in the coastal sand, showered with reeds so that the Cossacks would not find the grave and abuse the body. Similar information was later confirmed by other participants in the events. But the legend, embodied in books and on the movie screen, that the divisional commander died in the stormy waves of the Ural River, turned out to be more tenacious.

Hundreds of streets and almost two dozen settlements, one river, a light cruiser and a large anti-submarine ship are named after Chapaev.

Personal life

Feldwebel Chapaev with his wife Pelageya Nikanorovna. 1916

In his personal life, the division commander of the Red Army was not as successful as in military service.

Even before being sent to the army, Vasily met the young Pelageya Metlina, the daughter of a priest. After he was decommissioned in the summer of 1909, they got married. In six years of marriage, they had three children - two sons and a daughter.

Chapaev's life before the outbreak of the First World War was peaceful. He, like his father, worked as a carpenter. In 1912, together with his wife and children, he moved to the city of Melekess (today it is Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region), where he settled on Chuvashskaya Street. Here his youngest son Arkady was born.

The beginning of the war radically changed the life of Vasily Ivanovich. He began fighting with the 82nd Infantry Division against the Germans and Austrians.

At this time, his wife Pelageya, along with the children, went to a neighbor. Upon learning of this, Chapaev rushed to his home to divorce his wife. True, he limited himself to taking the children from his wife and moving them to their parents' house.

From an interview with Gordon Boulevard (September 2012):

“And a few years later, Pelageya left her children and ran away from the hero, the red commander. Why?

- She ran away before Chapaev became a commander, even in the imperialist one. She ran not from Vasily, but from her father-in-law, strict and tough. And she loved Vasily, gave birth to three children from him, only rarely saw her husband at home - he fought all the time. And she went to the carriage driver, who drove the horses in Saratov. He left nine children and a paralyzed wife for her.

When Vasily Ivanovich died, Pelageya was already pregnant with her second child from her lover. She rushed to the Chapaevs' houses to pick up the rest of the children, but her roommate locked her up. Pelageya nevertheless got out of the house and ran away in a light dress (and it was in November). On the way, she fell into a wormwood, she was miraculously saved by a peasant who was driving a cart, took her to the Chapaevs - there she died of pneumonia.

Then Chapaev entered into a close relationship with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of his friend Peter Kamishkertsev, who had previously died in battles near the Carpathians. Before the war, friends promised each other that the survivor would have to take care of the family of the deceased friend. Chapaev kept his promise.

In 1919, the commander settled Kamishkertseva with all the children (Chapaev and a deceased friend) in the village of Klintsovka at an artillery depot.

Pelageya Kamishkertseva with all the children

However, shortly before his death, he learned about the betrayal of his second wife with the head of the artillery depot, which led him into a severe moral shock.

Chapaev's children

Alexander, Claudia and Arkady Chapaev

The eldest son, Alexander, followed in the footsteps of his father - he became a military man and went through the entire Great Patriotic War. Awarded with three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov III degree, Alexander Nevsky, Order of the Patriotic War I degree, Red Star and many medals.

Alexander finished his service with the rank of major general. Died in 1985. The youngest son, Arkady, became a pilot and died during a fighter training flight in 1939.

The only daughter, Claudia, was a party worker, collecting materials about her father all her life. She passed away in 1999.

From an interview with the Segodnya information portal (September 2012):

- Is it true that you named your daughter in honor of Vasily Ivanovich?

- Yes. I could not give birth for a very long time and became pregnant only at the age of 30. Then my grandmother came up with the idea that I should go to Chapaev's homeland. We asked for a petition from the authorities of the Republic of Chuvashia to help me give birth to a division commander in my homeland. They agreed, but on one condition that if there is a son, then we call him Vasily, and if there is a daughter, then Vasilisa. I remember that I had not yet left the hospital, and the first secretary of Chuvashia had already solemnly issued me a birth certificate for my daughter Vasilisa. Later, we put the baby in a cradle in the Chapaevs' house-museum, so that the energy of the family would be transferred to the great-great-granddaughter.

Evgenia Chapaeva, great-granddaughter of Vasily Chapaev, descendant of Claudia Chapaeva, author of the book "My Unknown Chapaev"

Chapaev's great-granddaughter Evgenia and her daughter Vasilisa. 2013

Chapaev in the cinema - a new look at history
In 1923, the writer Dmitry Furmanov created a novel about Vasily Ivanovich - "Chapaev". The author served as a commissar in Chapaev's division and was personally acquainted with the commander. In 1934, based on the materials of the book, a feature film of the same name was made.

A year after the premiere, the creators of the film Georgy and Sergey Vasiliev received an award for it at the 1st Moscow Film Festival. The chairman of the jury was Sergei Eisenstein, one of the most talented Soviet directors.

There was such a buzz around the film that in one of the cinemas it was shown daily for two years. "Chapaev" gained immense popularity in the USSR, and its plot formed the basis of folk art. People began to invent stories, make up legends and jokes about the heroes of the film. The film also impressed the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. In 1935, he wrote 2 poems that contain references to episodes of the film.