In 1911, a young free Don Cossack, Kozma, was drafted into the army. He ended up in the 3rd Cossack regiment named after the ataman, hero and conqueror of Siberia Yermak Timofeich. By the beginning of the war, Kryuchkov had already distinguished himself several times during training battles and received the rank of order, that is, he became a junior commander of a small detachment.
Kozma was a real hero of his time, an example for his contemporaries. However, many documentary evidence of his feat was destroyed without a trace. Only the modest story of the most brave Cossack and the few stories of the chroniclers of that time have come down to us.
The events took place in the summer of 1914, on the eve of the outbreak of hostilities on the Eastern Front. Germany was well prepared and was actively advancing. The Germans felt very at ease and were already looking forward to a quick victory. But no one could have imagined at that moment that the Russian soldiers in general and the Don Cossacks in particular would be able to provide such powerful resistance, cracking down on the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
One morning Kryuchkov with his small detachment, which included three more of his fighting friends and associates, went on reconnaissance. On horseback, they made their way through the territory near the location of the German troops, crossed the Prussian border and continued to advance inland. Suddenly, the Don Cossacks went to the German patrol. There were 28 cavalrymen in the enemy camp at that moment, including two officers.
The enemy immediately noticed the brave Cossacks. Kryuchkov and his comrades perfectly understood that the forces were not equal and they could not get out of the enemy's lair alive, but they began to shoot back, trying to lay down as many Germans as possible. Those suddenly, on the orders of one of the officers, began to retreat. They apparently decided that a whole regiment of Cossacks had come out on them. However, the Germans soon changed tactics. They stopped and began to surround Kryuchkov and his comrades. Kozma first tried to shoot, but he was wounded. Then the dashing Cossack grabbed a saber and began to chop the Germans to the right and left.
By that time, he himself had already received quite a lot of wounds, but did not notice them. Following the checker, a pike went into play. The defeated enemy fell around the brave Cossack in stacks. By the end of the battle, Kryuchkov had about 16 wounds on his body, and his horse suffered not much less. The fighting comrades-in-arms who fought with him shoulder to shoulder also received numerous minor wounds. As a result, the enemy was defeated - corpses lay around. And the dashing Don Cossacks, who had already said goodbye to life, went home.
Hero of Russia Don Cossack-Old Believer complete Georgievsky cavalier Kryuchkov Kozma Firsovich (1890-1919)
During the First World War, the name of Kozma Kryuchkov was known throughout Russia. The brave Cossack showed off on posters and leaflets, cigarette packs and postcards. His portraits and popular prints depicting his feat were published in newspapers and magazines, including in the second issue of the capital's weekly "Chronicle of the War of 1914" and in the 34th issue of the popular illustrated magazine "Ogonyok" on August 26, 1914. The Moscow Illustrated Almanac "The Great War in Images and Pictures" in the editorial of its second issue reported: "The loud feat of the Cossack Kryuchkov, who opened a long series of cases of awarding lower ranks with the Order of St. George for outstanding feats of personal courage, arouses everyone's enthusiasm." Such a loud glory of an ordinary soldier was the result not only of his incredible valor. It is important that the Cossack Kryuchkov accomplished his feat at the right time - in the first days of the war on the German front, when patriotic feelings overwhelmed the Russian people, inspired by the idea of the Second Patriotic War against the Western adversaries.
Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov was born in 1890 on the farmstead of Nizhne-Kalmykovsky in the Ust-Khoperskaya stanitsa of the Ust-Medveditsky district of the Don Cossack into the family of the indigenous Cossack Old Believer Firs Larionovich Kryuchkov. In childhood and adolescence, Kozma studied at the village school and helped his father with the housework, and in 1911 he was drafted into active service in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment named after Yermak Timofeev. By the beginning of the war, he already had a clerk's rank, corresponding to the rank of corporal, and at 24 he was considered one of the most experienced soldiers of the regiment. He confirmed his reputation in the very first battle at the end of July 1914 (according to the Julian calendar), the details of which are set out on the basis of his own story.
The regiment, in which Kozma Kryuchkov served, was stationed in Poland, in the town of Kalwaria. Having received an order from their superiors, Kryuchkov and three of his comrades: Ivan Shchegolkov, Vasily Astakhov and Mikhail Ivankov - at about 10 o'clock in the morning set off on a patrol from Kalvariya towards the Aleksandrovo estate. Having passed 6 versts, the Cossacks began to climb a hill along the way in order to inspect the surroundings from a hill, and suddenly encountered a patrol of 27 German uhlans, led by an officer and a non-commissioned officer. The meeting was unexpected for both sides. The Germans were at first confused, however, realizing that there were only four Russians, they decided to take them prisoner and rushed to the attack. The Cossacks tried to scatter away, but the German cavalry blocked the escape routes and surrounded them.
Despite the inequality of forces, the Don people did not even think to give up, deciding to sell their lives dearly in the battle. Kozma Kryuchkov tore off the rifle from his shoulder, but in a hurry he jerked the bolt too sharply, and the cartridge jammed. At the same moment, a German who approached him slashed the Cossack in the fingers with a saber, and the rifle flew to the ground. The Cossack drew his saber and entered into battle with the 11 enemies that surrounded him.
In the bloody battle that ensued, Kryuchkov was rescued by agility, luck and a fast, obedient horse. Saber blows now and then hit the Cossack in the back, in the neck, in the arms, but, fortunately, they did not inflict too serious wounds. After a minute of the battle, Kozma was already covered in blood, while his own blows for the most part turned out to be fatal to the enemies.
However, gradually the forces began to leave the Cossack and his blade began to strike not fast enough. Immediately finding a way out, the Cossack grabbed the lance of one of the lancers and pierced the last of the 11 attackers one by one with German steel. By that time, his comrades had dealt with the rest of the Germans. Twenty-two corpses lay on the ground, two more Germans were wounded and taken prisoner, and the German horses that had lost their riders ran in fright across the field. Only three lancers survived the battle and fled. All the Cossacks were wounded; later, 16 wounds were counted on the body of Kozma Kryuchkov. His horse also suffered from the blows of German sabers, but regularly brought the owner to the location of the Cossack regiment.
Kozma Kryuchkov spent five days in the infirmary in Belaya Olita. There, on August 1, 1914, he was visited by the commander of the Russian army, General Pavel Rennenkampf, himself in the past a dashing grunt-cavalryman. The general thanked Kozma for his valor and courage, and then took off the St. George ribbon from his uniform and pinned the Cossack hero to his chest.
For his feat, Kozma Kryuchkov was awarded the St. George Cross of the 4th degree No. 5501, he became the first Russian soldier to receive a combat award in the outbreak of the World War. Three of his brothers in arms were awarded the St. George medals.
Emperor Nicholas II was reported about the valiant Don Cossack, and then the history of his feat was presented on their pages by almost all the largest newspapers in Russia. Kozma Kryuchkov became famous, in public opinion he became a symbol of Russian military prowess and courage, a worthy heir to the epic heroes.
Returning to the regiment, Kryuchkov received leave and went to his native village to heal his wounds and visit his family. By that time he was married, had a son and a daughter. The short visit flew by quickly, and the war was just beginning.
Returning to the active army, Kozma received the post of chief of the Cossack convoy at the division headquarters. Its popularity had reached its peak by that time. According to the stories of colleagues, the entire convoy did not have time to read all the letters that came to the hero's name from all over Russia, and could not eat all the delicious food that the fans sent him in food parcels.
When the division was withdrawn from the front to rest in some city in the rear, the division chief often informed the city authorities that Kozma Kryuchkov would also come, and the entire garrison of the city would come out with music to meet the soldiers. All townspeople certainly wanted to see the famous hero with their own eyes. The city of Petrograd presented him with a saber in a gold frame, and its blade was covered with praise. From the Muscovites, Kryuchkov received a checker in a silver frame.
However, Kozma did not serve for long at the headquarters. It was clear to him that he was being held here for "display", the role of an exhibition exhibit soon bored him, and he returned to the regiment of his own free will.
All subsequent war years Kozma Kryuchkov took part in fierce battles, received new wounds, and earned new awards. He ended the German war with two St. George's crosses and two St. George medals "For Bravery", with the rank of sergeant-major, as a platoon commander.
After the February revolution, Kryuchkov was elected chairman of the regimental committee, and after the collapse of the front as a result of "revolutionary propaganda" in December 1917, together with the regiment, he returned to the Don. But the Cossacks did not succeed in a peaceful life on their native land. The bloody Bolshevik border divided fathers and children, brothers and friends.
Comrade Kozma Kryuchkov and participant in that legendary battle - Mikhail Ivankov - served in the Red Army, and the hero himself in March-April 1918 gathered a detachment of fellow countrymen and during the Civil War confronted another famous Cossack - Philip Mironov, the future commander of the 2nd Cavalry army. The fighting was heavy and fierce, as experienced fighters who had passed through the fire of the world war fought on both sides.
Kryuchkov fought skillfully, by the end of 1918 he received the rank of cornet and became the commander of a hundred. According to the memoirs of his then commander, Kozma, in addition to courage and heroism, was distinguished by high moral qualities. He hated looting, and scourged the rare attempts of his colleagues to get hold of "trophies from the Reds" or "gifts" from the local population. In addition, the very presence of the famous hero in the ranks of the White Cossacks was the best agitation for recruiting volunteers in the villages. And the Cossack women, only having learned that "Kryuchkov himself" would come to their place, were not stingy and set the tables for all his comrades.
At the end of August 1919, Kozma died in the village of Lopukhovka, Saratov province. During the shelling of the village with the Reds, several rifle bullets fired in one volley at once hit him in the stomach. His comrades immediately carried him out from under the fire, but the wound was so terrible that everyone immediately understood: the death of the hero was inevitable. On the doctor's attempt to make a bandage, Kryuchkov courageously remarked: "Doctor, do not spoil the bandages, there are so few of them ... and I have already fought back."
Half an hour later, the cornet Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov died. He was buried in the cemetery of his native farm.
(*) In fact, for his feat, the Cossack Kryuchkov was awarded not the Order of St. George, but the St. George Cross of the 4th degree. Not a single case of awarding the lower ranks of the Russian army with the Order of St. George is known for certain.
Don Cossack Old Believer of the Nizhne-Kalmykov farm in the Ust-Khoperskaya stanitsa of the Don Cossack. In 1911 he was called up for active service in the 3rd Don Cossack named after Yermak Timofeev. By the beginning of the war, he already had the rank of clerk (corresponded to a corporal in the army).
During the First World War, he was the first to be awarded the Cross of St. George, receiving a cross of the 4th degree for the number 5501 for the destruction of eleven Germans in battle. He himself described that fight as follows:
Legendary personality.
(Here's another article.)
His portrait was printed on packs of cigarettes! He looked from patriotic posters and popular prints, from magazine covers and from newspaper pages! Legendary, included in proverbs and sayings, Kuzma Kryuchkov! None of the Cossacks, neither before nor after him, was so rapidly ascended to the pedestal of national glory ...
As reported by official sources: on August 12, 1914, five Cossacks of the 3rd Don Regiment named after Yermak Timofeevich, being on the road, encountered a patrol of 27 German dragoons, stepping into battle with him, dispersed it.
There are other details that can be disputed or taken on faith. Namely: in horse-hand-to-hand combat, four Cossacks (the fifth did not participate in the battle - he rode with a report about the enemy to the regiment) practically destroyed the entire German detachment, and K.F. Kryuchkov killed 11 dragoons ...
This is what was questioned! How is it so four and twenty-seven !? How is it .. one and eleven ?? ...
It is impossible to check today. But there are facts that are indisputable: the Cossacks met the enemy's reconnaissance and not only did not retreat in front of the sevenfold superiority of the enemy, but also attacked the Germans. And Kryuchkov was recognized as the bravest of his own odnosums: Astakhov, Ivankin and Shchegolkov, who, covering each other, wheezing in a mortal battle, slashed the enemy according to grandfather's precepts. By the way, all the Cossacks were awarded for this battle, all became Cavaliers of St. George. And, of course, everything is deserved.
Kuzma Kryuchkov was born into the family of a Cossack Old Believer, in the farm Nizhne-Kalmykovsky, the village of Ust-Khoperskaya, Ust-Medveditsky district on the Upper Don in 1888.
In accordance with traditions dating back to the Middle Ages, already lost in Russia, but still living on the Don, at the age of thirteen he was married to a fifteen-year-old Cossack woman ... Among the Cossacks, such early marriages were caused not by the early maturity of people of the past, but by economic necessity - a worker in the house was needed! That is why Kryuchkov's “wife” was two years older than her husband, that at the age of fifteen she was in the field in full adult strength!
As for matrimonial relations, they occurred among the newlyweds within the time allowed by nature, and not, so to speak, by a “social order”. In 1915, Kuzma Kryuchkov had two children: a 4-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter ... So in 1910 he entered the service as a mature man - the father of a family. Kryuchkov had a strong patriarchal Old Believer family! With their own, understandable to the Cossacks and no one else internal relations, with their morality and their foundations, which the Cossacks did not painfully demonstrate to idle researchers.
In 1914, skillful and resilient, nimble and savvy, in his prime, Kuzma Kryuchkov entered his main earthly destiny: a war for which he was ready both physically and morally. He meets her without fear and sees in her the continuation of everything that is included in the concept of life. And life, as the Cossack proverb says, is not a party, however, and not a funeral!
His first fights and first feat were not accidental! Not wild people plastered each other with fright, but professional warriors of the steppe drove the sleek Europeans, like a hundred, and two hundred, and three hundred years ago, without knowing any equals in equestrian combat, and in battle in general. The Cossacks chopped down the Germans, because they were better trained, braver, more enduring. This is confirmed by the fact that the traditional as early as the sixteenth century. the ability of the Cossacks to fight and win in the minority, even in the First World War, with all the gases and machine guns, zeppelins and howitzers, noticed, was not lost. The Cossacks had traditions, military culture, fighting spirit.
Kuzma Kryuchkov received the next three St. George Crosses in two weeks, when they began to carry him around the troops. And ... each new commander of the army, where the Cossack was brought, considered it his duty to hang him one more "George". And, finally, the Emperor, who had come to the troops, also granted him a gift!
And so Kryuchkov became a complete St. George's Knight. And this thing was very serious from the point of view of even material: 136 rubles in gold per year of pension, 100 acres of land, hereditary nobility, the first officer's rank and exemption from all types of payments and taxes for three generations in advance.
And the real live Kuzma Firsovich did not drink himself to death, he didn’t get drunk with fame, and after showing off on vacation in his village and farm, walking in both capitals, having plenty of photographs and even in newsreels, he returned to his 3rd Yermak Timofeevich Don Cossack regiment to fight. The regiment was transferred to the Romanian front and remained there until the end of the war. There were enough battles. The regiment fought excellently, and K.F. Kryuchkov, since he turned out to be an intelligent, cold-blooded and prudent commander, and he was brave ... According to P.N. Krasnova, for military merits and as an excellent commander, he received a hundred under the command.
Kuzma Firsovich fought dashingly, as they say "in the first step" face to face with an adversary, therefore he was wounded and more than once. At the end of 16 - beginning of 17, he was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Rostov, where both George and the golden weapon were stolen from him. Rostov newspapers wrote about this. And this, so to speak, is the last surge in newspaper interest in Kuzma Firsovich.
The February Revolution burst out, it was not up to Kryuchkov. Meanwhile, with the February revolution, a new life of Kuzma Firsovich begins, perhaps more heroic, and certainly more tragic than the one that was before.
Kryuchkov, who left the hospital, was unanimously elected chairman of the regimental committee. The shelves staggered and held meetings. Russia collapsed, the army collapsed. There was a split in the Cossacks.
Who is Kryuchkov with? With the reds or with the whites?
Since Kuzma Kryuchkov was the flesh of the Cossacks, the most typical of the Cossacks in biography, character, and fate, a faithful son of the Quiet Don, and therefore, of course, “to accept the revolution or not to accept” - such a question was not for him True to the oath Fatherland, Kryuchkov, of course, becomes white.
At the beginning of 1918, the Red Army rolled across the Don, ticking from the Ukraine from the Kaiser's troops. Each unit that passed through imposed so-called “indemnities” on the villages, requisitioned horses, food, and at the same time mass executions began. Formed committees of the village poor plundered and raped. The number of supporters of the new government was rapidly decreasing, but the Cossacks, demoralized and disarmed, still hesitated, as if hoping for some miracle. They have not yet been brought to the point of despair when everything becomes a weapon ...
By the end of April, Kryuchkov and his comrade drove up G.I. Alekseev created a partisan detachment of 70 people with sabers and 23 rifles. And even with such insignificant forces, Kryuchkov tried several times to attack the village of Ust-Medveditskaya, where there were well-equipped and armed numerous detachments of the former military sergeant major Mironov, all the time reinforced by units of the Red Army passing through the Don.
By the beginning of May, the atrocities of the Reds intensified, and the combatant Cossacks poured into the steppe in a rampart, which allowed Polesaul Alekseev to plan an attack on the district village on May 10 at 4 o'clock, a group of Ust-Khopers under the command of Kryuchkov flew into the Red pickets. Armed with repulsed weapons, the Cossacks under the command of Kryuchkov and the main mass, attacking the village from the front, under the command of Alekseev, drove Mironov's detachments out of it. The battle was fierce, the village changed hands several times, however, the whites won.
For this battle, Kryuchkov was promoted to cornet. From that day on, he became not only an active participant in the white movement, but also a recognized leader of the indigenous Cossacks. Khorunzhiy Kryuchkov was a completely new phenomenon in the life of the Cossacks, it was a new, truly people's Cossack officers. Simple Cossacks trusted Kryuchkov completely.
However, no heroism, no military skill could withstand the force that rolled over the Don. In August 1919, the withdrawal of the Don White Army began.
Kryuchkov commanded the rearguard of the Don army, holding back the Reds who were pressing near the village of Ostrovskaya, near the bridge over the Medveditsa River ...
A group of officers settled in a small hut not far from the bridge, which had to be held at all costs. Having crossed it, the Reds would have flooded with floods and engulfed the retreating carts.
Was among the officers and Kryuchkov. Everything further is difficult to explain. On this side, near the bridge, there was a small group of Cossacks, the so-called barrier. The bridge was considered “no man's”, but the Reds had already crossed it, rolled out two machine guns on the sides of the bridge and began to dig in. Probably Kryuchkov realized that there was only one second in which everything could still be corrected. There was no time to explain the plan.
He jumped out with a saber to the bridge alone, shouting to the Cossacks on the run: "Brothers, follow me ... Fight off the bridge."
Five or six cover Cossacks rushed after him. However, from the bridge a whole platoon of Reds, more than forty people, was walking towards them ... The Cossacks stopped. The Reds also stopped, seeing that one man was running towards them.
According to the stories, Kryuchkov managed to run to the nearest machine-gun nest and cut down the Chinese machine-gun crew when he was mowed down from a nearby trench by a machine-gun burst. The fight nevertheless began, in the confusion the Cossacks managed to pull the hero out from under the fire. He was riddled with bullets and suffered greatly. Three bullets hit him in the stomach, so Kuzma Firsovich was not transportable. He was left to die in the village. By nightfall, Budyonny burst into Ostrovskaya. Learning that Kryuchkov was here, he went to look for him in the huts. Budyonny was drunk, and, bursting into the room, where Kryuchkov was dying on the bed, shouted: “Get up. white nit! "
It is unlikely that the hero Kuzma Firsovich would have stood up, even if he could have done it. Legend says that he grinned and spat in the face of the enemy. Budyonny waved his sword and hacked to death the hero, involuntarily ending his death throes. At night, the corpse disappeared and where he was buried is unknown.
From the illustrated magazine Iskra Voskresenye, August 24, 1914:
Cossack Kryuchkov. A reconnaissance detachment of four Cossacks, which included Kuzma Kryuchkov, safely crossed the border. The enemy was nowhere to be seen. Little by little the detachment went deep into Prussia. The Cossacks spent the night in a small grove. In the morning, a few versts from them, a Prussian cavalry patrol of 27 men appeared. When the Prussians approached within the range of a rifle shot, the Cossacks dismounted and opened fire. The officer, the head of the German detachment, gave the order. The Prussian cavalry began to withdraw quickly. The Cossacks jumped on their horses and, with a whoop, rushed to the enemy. Kuzma Kryuchkov on his frisky horse overtook his comrades and was the first to crash into the enemy detachment. The other Cossacks who arrived in time saw for a moment Kryuchkov, surrounded by the Prussians and waving his sword to the right and to the left. Then people and horses - everything got mixed up in a common dump. One of the Cossacks saw a Prussian officer with a naked saber pushing towards Kryuchkov in this dump. The Cossack fired. The Prussian officer fell. Kryuchkov, meanwhile, also drew his rifle and wanted to shoot at the Prussian non-commissioned officer, but he hit Kryuchkov in the arm with a saber, cut his fingers, and the Cossack dropped the rifle. The next moment, despite the wound received, Kryuchkov cut the non-commissioned officer's neck. Two Prussians with lances pounced on Kryuchkov, trying to knock him out of the saddle, but Kryuchkov grabbed the enemy's pikes with his hands, pulled them towards him and threw both Germans off their horses. Then, armed with a Prussian lance, Kryuchkov again rushed into battle. Several minutes passed - and of the 27 Prussians who fought with 4 Don Cossacks, only three remained on their horses, which turned into wild flight. The rest were either killed or wounded. The Cossacks sent a few more bullets after the fleeing ones. Kuzma Kryuchkov alone knocked down 11 Germans and himself received 16 wounds. He was wounded by a bullet. A hand is cut with a saber. The rest of the wounds are spikes. Despite all this, Kryuchkov remained in the ranks until the very end of the battle. The army commander by telegraph congratulated the chief chieftain of the Donskoy army on being awarded the first St. George's Cross in the army of the Cossack of the Nizhny-Kalmykov farm, Ust-Medveditsky district, Kuzma Kryuchkov, who alone killed 11 Germans, received 16 wounds with a lance to himself and 11 to a horse. Kryuchkov was born into an Old Believer family. He studied literacy at home. He is not strong, but very flexible, evasive and persistent. He was always first in all dexterity games. Kryuchkov's father is not rich, he is engaged in agriculture. After marriage, Kryuchkov and his wife were the main support of the whole family. Among the farmers, the Kryuchkovs enjoy a well-deserved reputation as homely and religious owners.
Propaganda in the First World War is a separate and poorly studied topic for research. The propaganda of that time - even more powerful than now, affected all sources of information. Anyone believes the printed word, only the printed picture is more important. In the very first days of the war, a mass production of postcards depicting heroes, leaflets and - of course - posters was launched.
Below is an excellent selection of posters dedicated to the feat of the Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov, the First Hero of the First World War.
Original taken from mikhael_mark
in Kuzma Kryuchkov in the mirror of propaganda.
On August 14, 1914, a rather important event took place. Namely, the Cossack Kuzma Kryuchkov, who became the first knight of St. George in the First World War, performed his feat. This is later, when the fighting flares up in earnest, there will be so many of St. George's cavaliers that they will form a whole battalion to guard the Russian Headquarters. And then, in 1914, propaganda picked up the story of Kryuchkov and carried it to the masses, in the hope of this clear example to inflame patriotic enthusiasm. I offer readers of my blog a selection of posters on the "Kryuchkov" theme, painfully collected in his LiveJournal by Vyacheslav Kondratyev ( vikond65 ). The original placement of the pictures.
In the Kryuchkov theme, in addition to hacky draftsmen, the famous battle painter Nikolai Samokish also noted, his watercolors are on the left. Well, on the right - some "Yashka-gygan".
In this poster, Kryuchkov fights alone not even with twenty-seven, but with a myriad of enemies.
Let me briefly remind you of the essence of the matter, for those who have forgotten a little. Kuzma Firsovich Kryuchkov, a native of the farmstead of Nizhne-Kalmykovsky in the village of Ust-Medveditskaya, was sent with three other Cossacks to the Aleksandrovo estate. And accidentally ran into a German cavalry patrol. In that initial period of the war, the opposing armies were just beginning to deploy under the cover of cavalry patrols. There were 27 Germans, according to Kryuchkov. At first they got scared and tried to retreat, but then, seeing that there were only four Russians, they went on the attack. The Cossacks, however, were not taken aback and met the enemy with fire, laying down several people. And then we entered into hand-to-hand combat with them. Next, we will give the floor to Kuzma Kryuchkov himself. "Dodging the attack, we had to disconnect. Eleven people surrounded me. Not wanting to be alive, I decided to sell my life dearly. My horse is agile, obedient. I was about to use the rifle, but in a hurry the cartridge jumped in, and at that time the German hacked me on the fingers, and I dropped the rifle. He grabbed the checker and began to work. Received several minor wounds. I feel the blood is flowing, but I realize that the wounds are unimportant. I answer for each wound with a fatal blow, from which the German falls in a layer forever. After laying several people down, I felt that it was difficult to work with the saber, and therefore I grabbed their own pike and laid the rest with it one by one. During this time, my comrades dealt with others. Twenty-four corpses were lying on the ground, and several horses that were not wounded were scurrying about in fright. My comrades received minor wounds, I also received sixteen wounds, but all empty".
Kuzma Kryuchkov
Kryuchkov's comrades were named Vasily Astakhov, Ivan Shchegolkov and Mikhail Ivankov. The cross of St. George was presented to the first hero of the World War by General Rennenkampf personally, right in the infirmary.
It should be noted that not all contemporaries accepted Kryuchkov's version. Vyacheslav Kondratyev leads in his LJ an alternative version voiced by General K.M. Adaridi, commander of the 27th division: “ A weak German patrol of the 10th Horse Jaeger Regiment approached the outskirts of the city of Suwalki, but was driven away by the Cossacks sent by the commander of the Orenburg Regiment, Colonel Komarov, who had a platoon of fifty convoy at his disposal. During this skirmish, the parties suffered the first losses in the war: the Germans left one killed in place, and one of the Cossacks was wounded. The last commander of the army awarded the St.George Cross and he, thus, was the first Knight of St.George in the World War". Well, it is quite possible that the 24 killed Germans were indeed an exaggeration (and what soldier does not like to boast?), But, in any case, there is a fact of defeat inflicted in the oncoming battle against a more numerous enemy, and the injury of Kryuchkov (who received the St.George Cross directly in the infirmary).
Propaganda began to exploit the image of Kuzma Kryuchkov to the fullest, as we already had the opportunity to see (see a selection of posters from V. Kondratyev). Kozma Kryuchkov himself for some time turned into a lifetime monument to himself: he was actively invited to all kinds of events, he was interviewed, and society ladies talked to him. There was a reason to turn the head of a not-too-educated and cultured ordinary Cossack. Nevertheless, he found the courage to interrupt this series of praises in his address and return to the front. And by the end of the war he rose to the rank of lieutenant.
During the Civil War, Kryuchkov found the courage for one more act. Despite the collapse of the front and the demoralization of the front-line units, which also captured the Cossacks, Kryuchkov made an unambiguous choice - and sided with the Whites. On the side of those who fought for historical Russia, for faith, for traditions. And no wonder: soon after it became known about the awarding of Kuzma Firsovich, the Rostov newspaper reported: "Among its farmers, the Kryuchkov family enjoys a well-deserved reputation for homely and religious people." With the destroyers of the Church, such a person was clearly not on the way.
Kryuchkov served in the 13th Cavalry Regiment of the Ust-Medveditskaya division. And he died in battle near the village of Gromki in 1919. Probably, it was this circumstance that was the reason that the feat of Kryuchkov and his comrades in the Soviet years was strenuously hushed up. And then he defamed, as in the famous "Quiet Don" by Sholokhov. It was not accepted to portray the heroism of the White Guards in the "country of victorious socialism".
As for the absurdities noted by Vyacheslav Kondratyev in the depiction of the first battle of Kuzma Kryuchkov, they were. On different posters, Kryuchkov fights either with dragoons, or with lancers, or with hussars; some Germans were generally dressed up in uniforms of 1871. But visual agitation at all times cared little about the historical accuracy. It was much more important to create the right mood for the viewer. That's what we tried to do.
When I hear his name, an old, rather faded postcard rises before my eyes, accidentally found in a pile of letters in my grandmother's closet. There is a popular print on it - a young Cossack with a dandy curled mustache, in a famously bent cap, which, it seems, is about to fall from his head, is stringing a dozen freaks in a gray-green military uniform onto a lance. Next to it is some verse with "yatami" and, most importantly, the name of the hero - Kozma Kryuchkov.
Well, a real person cannot bear such a name! Obviously, this is some kind of fabulous epic warrior-hero. A gallant soldier, great-great-great-grandson of Alyosha Popovich and grandfather of Ivan Brovkin ...
That postcard has long been gone, but the name and the picture for some reason remain in my memory. But it was only many years later that I found out that it was a real person, whom almost every citizen of the Russian Empire knew at the beginning of the last century. A real hero who received the first combat award of the First World War. An undeservedly forgotten hero of an undeservedly forgotten war.
Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov was born in 1890 on the farm Nizhne-Kalmykovsky in the Ust-Khoperskaya stanitsa of the Ust-Medveditsky district of the Don Cossack.
“I studied literacy at home. He is not strong, but very flexible, evasive and persistent. He was always first in all dexterity games. Kryuchkov's father is not rich, he is engaged in agriculture. After marriage, Kryuchkov and his wife were the main support of the whole family. Among the farmers, the Kryuchkovs enjoy a well-deserved reputation for homely and religious owners, "- this is how the illustrated magazine Iskra Voskresenye, dated August 24, 1914, wrote about our hero:
In 1911, Kozma was called up for military service in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment of Ataman Ermak Timofeev. By the beginning of the First World War, he had the rank of order, which corresponded to the rank of corporal in the army, and was considered one of the most experienced fighters in the regiment.
The regiment, in which Kozma Kryuchkov served, was stationed in Poland, in the town of Kalwaria. On August 12, local residents informed the Cossacks that a German cavalry detachment had appeared in the vicinity. It was decided to send a patrol to find the enemy. Having received an order from their superiors, Kryuchkov and three of his comrades went on reconnaissance.
This is how Kozma himself describes what happened next:
“At ten o'clock in the morning we set off from the town of Kalvariya to the Aleksandrovo estate. There were four of us - me and my comrades: Ivan Schegolkov, Vasily Astakhov and Mikhail Ivankov. We began to climb the hill and stumbled upon a German patrol of 27 people, including an officer and a non-commissioned officer. "
At first the Germans retreated, but then, seeing that there were only four Cossacks, rushed to the attack. Now the Cossacks had to retreat. Kryuchkov and his comrades galloped towards their positions, firing back at the advancing enemy. And quite fortunately - several Germans were killed or wounded. However, the enemy still caught up with the Cossacks. The felling has begun ...
“Eleven people surrounded me,” Kozma said later. - I don't want to be alive, I decided to sell my life dearly. My horse is agile, obedient. I was about to use the rifle, but in a hurry the cartridge jumped in, and at that time the German hacked me on the fingers, and I dropped the rifle. He grabbed the checker and began to work. Received several minor wounds. I feel the blood is flowing, but I realize that the wounds are unimportant. I answer for each wound with a fatal blow, from which the German falls in a layer forever. After laying several people down, I felt that it was difficult to work with the saber, and therefore I grabbed their own pike and laid the rest with it one by one.
During this time, my comrades dealt with others. Twenty-four corpses were lying on the ground, and several horses that were not wounded were scurrying about in fright. My comrades received minor wounds, I also received sixteen wounds, but all empty, like injections in the back, in the neck, in the arms. My horse also received eleven wounds, but I then drove back six miles on it. "
The wounded Cossacks returned to their own. Kryuchkov was in the hospital in Belaya Oolite, where he was visited by the commander of the Russian army, General Pavel Rennenkampf, who himself in the past was a dashing cavalryman. The general rewarded Kozma for valor and courage by removing the St. George ribbon from his uniform and pinning it on the hero's chest.
This is how Kozma Kryuchkov became the first Russian soldier to receive a military award in the outbreak of World War - the St. George Cross of the 4th degree numbered 5501. And three of his comrades were awarded St. George medals.
The feat of the Don Cossack was reported to Emperor Nicholas II. Almost all newspapers and magazines in Russia wrote about Kozma. His portraits and popular prints were sold in every shop. The brave Cossack showed off on posters and leaflets, cigarette packs and postcards. They wrote songs and composed poems about him.
But the war had just begun, and after a short vacation to improve his health in his native village, Kozma returned to the army. The authorities decide to save the hero, and he receives the post of chief of the Cossack convoy at the headquarters of the division.
Kozma's colleagues said that when the division was withdrawn from the front to rest in some city in the rear, the division chief often informed the city authorities that Kozma Kryuchkov would also come. And then the whole city seemed to go crazy. The garrison with a military orchestra went out for a solemn meeting, the townspeople poured out into the streets in order to certainly see the famous hero with their own eyes. Solemn speeches, receptions, feasts. And necessarily valuable gifts (the most common weapon was a Cossack saber in a gold or silver frame).
Kozma Kryuchkov not only became famous. His name has become a household name. He turned into a semi-mythical person, into a symbol of Russian military prowess and courage, into the heir of epic heroes. An unprecedented wave of patriotism that swept the entire Russian Empire at the beginning of the World War, raised a simple Cossack from a distant village and threw the crowd at the feet of a jubilant and thirsty for heroic deeds. You need a hero - here he is, get it!
However, let's be objective.
Firstly, in those years, the First World War was perceived by Russian society as a just war against the Western enemies of Russia, many called it the Second Patriotic War. And any victory, and even more so such a bright one, could not be in the people's minds anything other than another vivid confirmation of the heroism and “chosenness” of the nation, the power of Russian weapons.
Secondly, it is truly a feat - to enter a battle of four against 27 and emerge victorious. Moreover, the opponents of the Cossacks were not some recruits or reservists, but career German cavalrymen, perfectly trained servicemen of one of the most powerful armies in Europe, fully mobilized and ready for war.
Thirdly, we must pay tribute to our hero - "star fever", as they say now, did not affect him. Glory and fame disliked him, he did not like talking about that fight. Kozma did not want to play the role of "mummer at the fair" and at the first opportunity tried to return to the front in his regiment.
Kozma Kryuchkov among the Cavaliers of St. George (center, front row).
In general, Kozma Kryuchkov continued to fight. And successfully - he received two St. George's crosses and two St. George medals "For Courage", having finished the war with the rank of sergeant-major, as a platoon officer.
After the February revolution, Kryuchkov was elected chairman of the regimental committee, and after the collapse of the front in December 1917, he returned to the Don with the regiment.
But the Cossacks did not succeed in a peaceful life - the Civil War began. Kryuchkov remained faithful to the oath and sided with the Whites. He fought skillfully, by the end of 1918 he received the rank of cornet and became the commander of a hundred.
At the end of August 1919, Kozma Kryuchkov died near the village of Lopukhovka, Saratov province.
Some say that he was captured by the Reds and was shot.
Others say that Kozma died as well as he lived - a real hero. During the shelling of the village, several bullets hit him. One wound - in the stomach - was fatal. The comrades carried the Cossack out from under the fire and called a doctor. And when they tried to bandage him, Kryuchkov courageously said: "Doctor, do not spoil the bandages, there are so few of them ... and I have already fought back."
Half an hour later, Kozma Kryuchkov died. They buried him in the cemetery of his native farm.
And then ... The sad path, familiar to many, from all-Russian glory to almost complete oblivion. And it could not be otherwise - the hero of the Russian Empire was an enemy of the Soviet empire.
But times are changing. We are reconsidering our attitude to the history of Russia and to the people who each created this history in their own way. The First World War is gradually ceasing to be a "forgotten" war, opening its pages before us, naming the names of the soldiers who fought and died for their homeland. Such as the Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov. I would like to believe that not only specialists and enthusiasts dealing with military history and the history of the Cossacks will know his name. And that, like a hundred years ago, it will become one of the symbols of the military glory and courage of our people.
Ivan Pereverzev