Biography of Karbyshev Dmitry Mikhailovich briefly. Unbroken
Vladimir Kruzhkov
At the entrance to the former Nazi concentration camp "Mauthausen" (located in Austria), a marble plaque hangs on the so-called "Wailing Wall": "At this place, Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops of the Soviet Army, Hero of the Soviet Union Karbyshev Dmitry Mikhailovich died a painful death. 1880-1945".
On the night of February 17-18, 1945, after brutal torture, the German fascists took General Karbyshev out into the cold, took off all his clothes and poured cold water over him until the general's body turned into an ice pillar. The corpse of the general was burned by the Nazis in the ovens of Mauthausen. Torture and bullying did not break the will of the fiery fighter for the liberation of the peoples of the world from the fascist yoke. General Karbyshev died a hero's death." On the territory of the memorial complex in Mauthausen, which, by the way, was established at the insistence of the Soviet side, a monument to the general was subsequently erected as well.
The surname of Karbyshev is well-known: in addition to memorial buildings in Russia and other countries, there are numerous streets and squares (there are more than 160 of them in Russia alone!), schools, shipping facilities and even a small planet in the solar system (between Mars and Jupiter) bearing his name. Nevertheless, those who are younger, knowing in principle about this or that hero, unfortunately, cannot always tell anything intelligibly about him. In addition, in the publications of the Soviet period, as a rule, the period of life of certain outstanding personalities of the Soviet Union under the tsar was, as a rule, poorly covered for the sake of ideological considerations. On the anniversary of the 70th anniversary of the death of the general, we will try to answer the question posed in the title of this article.
On the military and scientific path
D.M. Karbyshev was born on October 26 (14), 1880 in Omsk in the family of a military official. The father died when the boy was only 12 years old. His older brother was arrested for participating in the student revolutionary movement, and for this reason the family was in the field of police attention. Dmitry was not accepted into the Siberian Cadet Corps for education at the state expense, but was enrolled as "coming for a fee." Despite the financial need of his single mother, Karbyshev graduated with honors from the Siberian Cadet Corps and continued his studies at the Nikolaev Engineering School in St. Petersburg.
He began his military service in 1900 in the telegraph company of a sapper battalion in Manchuria. He also participated in the Russo-Japanese War. He was awarded many orders and medals. In 1906, apparently on a far-fetched charge of agitation among the soldiers, he was forced to resign from military service at his own request. Tried to make a living drawing in Vladivostok, but not very successful.
In 1907 he returned to military service - in the newly formed sapper battalion in Vladivostok. After some time, he entered the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy in St. Petersburg, which he graduated with honors in 1911. According to the distribution, staff captain Karbyshev was sent to Brest-Litovsk, where he took part in the construction of fortifications of the subsequently legendary Brest Fortress, which the Nazi troops could not capture for a long time, despite the absolute numerical and fire superiority over the heroic defenders of the completely surrounded military facility.
During the First World War, Karbyshev fought with the troops of Austria-Hungary in the Carpathians as part of the army of the valiant General A. A. Brusilov as a military engineer. Participated in the assault on the Przemysl fortress in early 1915. He was wounded in the leg. For courage and courage he was awarded the Order of St. Anna and promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1916, he participated in the legendary Brusilovsky breakthrough, as a result of which the military machine of Austria-Hungary received a blow from which it could not recover, and the Russian army managed to recapture part of Galicia and all of Bukovina.
In December 1917, D. M. Karbyshev, in the context of a deep political split in Russian society, made a difficult decision in favor of the revolutionary forces and remained on the side of the "Reds" during the civil war as a sought-after head of engineering work in the Urals, Siberia, the Caucasus, in the Volga region. In 1921-23. was first assistant, deputy, and then chief of engineers of the armed forces of Ukraine and Crimea.
In 1923-1926. he was appointed chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Red Army. Since 1926 he worked as a teacher at the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze, and since 1934 - the head of the department of military engineering. Since 1936 he was an assistant to the beginning. department of tactics of higher formations in engineering of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. In 1938 he graduated from this academy and was approved as a professor. In 1940, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops. In the same year he became a member of the Communist Party.
On the scientific path, D.M. Karbyshev made a significant contribution to the development of military engineering art and military history, publishing more than 100 scientific papers. His materials on the theory of engineering support for combat operations were actively used in the pre-war period in the preparation of the leadership of the Red Army. Karbyshev also proved himself in the civil sphere, advising the Academic Council on restoration work at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad. During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Dmitry Mikhailovich developed recommendations for the troops on engineering support for a successful breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line.
In Nazi captivity
The Great Patriotic War found him in Belarus at staff work. On June 27, 1941, the headquarters of the 10th Army was surrounded, and on August 8, when trying to get out of it, General Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in battle in the Mogilev region and was captured by the Germans in an unconscious state. Military historian V.A. Mirkiskin in the publication “Unbroken General” (“Independent Military Review”, November 14, 2003) outlined the main ups and downs of Karbyshev’s stay in Nazi dungeons, which lasted three and a half years.
The general's imprisonment began in a distribution camp near the city of Ostrov-Mazowiecki (Poland). There Karbyshev fell ill with a severe form of dysentery. Then Dmitry Mikhailovich was transferred to a camp in the Polish town of Zamosc, where more or less tolerable conditions were created. The Nazis, carefully watching the Soviet general even before the start of the war, hoped that he, feeling "gratitude" for the "good" conditions of imprisonment, would agree to cooperate with them. The famous Soviet military engineer, of course, was of particular interest to German intelligence, not only as a specialist, but also as a valuable symbol in terms of promoting fascist propaganda, if he went to betrayal - like the infamous General Vlasov.
Karbyshev, however, did not give the enemies the slightest reason to doubt his stamina. In the spring of 1942, Dmitry Mikhailovich was transferred to the concentration camp in Hammelburg in Bavaria. This special institution contained exclusively Soviet generals and officers. Revealing the cowardly, the Nazis tried to recruit them using ingenious methods. That is why the illusion of "humane treatment" with prisoners was created in this camp. But these "charms" of the Nazis did not work on our general. It was there that his motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over yourself! The main thing is not to fall on your knees before the enemy.”
Since 1943, a former officer of the Russian tsarist army, by the name of Pelit, joined in the recruitment of Karbyshev (it is important that this same Pelit served together with Dmitry Mikhailovich in Brest). Pelit let in all his cunning. Under the guise of an experienced officer, "far from politics", he proved to Karbyshev the "advantages" of cooperation with the Germans. Dmitry Mikhailovich, however, stood his ground: "I do not betray the Motherland." Moreover, he was able to dissuade most of the other prisoners of war from participating in the Goebbels adventure.
The German secret services continued to subtly and methodically stick to their line. Karbyshev is sent to Berlin and placed in solitary confinement without windows, with a bright, constantly flashing light bulb. According to the subsequent stories of the general to his comrades in captivity, at least two to three weeks passed before he was summoned for the first interrogation. Classic technique: the prisoner is brought to a state of physical exhaustion, apathy, a breakdown of will, before making an "interesting offer." The Germans organize a meeting with the famous German professor and expert in fortification engineering G. Raubenheimer and offer him release with attractive conditions: work and residence in Germany, or even the opportunity to travel to one of the neutral countries. The Soviet general is adamant and presents another surprise to the Nazis: “My beliefs do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and I remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for the country that is at war with my Motherland.”
This position leads to another change in recruiting tactics - Karbyshev is transported to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, famous for exhausting hard labor and extremely inhuman conditions for prisoners. One of the Soviet captured officers recalled after the war: “Once Dmitry Mikhailovich and I worked in a barn, hewn granite columns for roads, facing and tombstones. Regarding the latter, Karbyshev (who, even in the most difficult situation, did not change his sense of humor), suddenly remarked: "Here is a job that gives me real pleasure. The more tombstones the Germans demand from us, the better, it means, our affairs are going at the front" ".
After 6 months, the general is transferred to the Gestapo prison in Nuremberg. Then followed Majdanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, where, despite his 64 years, he was one of the activists of the camp resistance movement, convincing his comrades of the inevitability of the USSR's victory over the enemy. The final destination was Mauthausen. As follows from the documents of the Nazis found after the liberation of Berlin, Dmitry Mikhailovich was put an end to: unfortunately, he turned out to be thoroughly infected with the Bolshevik spirit, fanatically devoted to the idea of loyalty, military duty and patriotism.
General's death
On the night of February 18, 1945, when Soviet troops smashed the Nazis already in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, neighboring Austria, Karbyshev was killed among other prisoners (about 500 people) in the Mauthausen concentration camp. This execution was observed by some Soviet prisoners from the windows of the barracks, not knowing who exactly the massacre took place. The martyrdom of our general in February 1946 was told by Canadian Army Major Seddon De St. Clair, who was imprisoned in Mauthausen, but survived: “As soon as we entered the camp, the Germans drove us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and let us in. us from above jets of icy water. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. Many fell to the floor and immediately died: the heart could not stand it. Then we were told to put on only underwear and wooden blocks for our feet and were driven out into the yard. General Karbyshev was standing in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We understood that we were living out the last hours. A couple of minutes later, the Gestapo men, who were standing behind us with fire hoses in their hands, began to pour streams of cold water on us. Those who tried to evade the jet were beaten with clubs on the head. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with crushed skulls. I saw how General Karbyshev also fell. In August 1946, the general was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
According to the stories of the grandchildren of Dmitry Mikhailovich, he was very sensitive to the cold throughout his life. Fate, however, decreed that he was martyred precisely in the cold (see the documentary "General Karbyshev. Death and Life", 2005, directed by O. Olgina).
Personal life and descendants
Some little-known moments in the life of the general and members of his family seem interesting. Engineer Colonel V.M. Dogadin, who, together with D.M. Karbyshev, studied at the Nikolaev Academy of Engineering, and then worked on the construction of the Brest Fortress before the First World War, wrote his memoirs in 1956 under the heading “Together with D.M. Karbyshev". The manuscript was donated to the Historical Museum and the Central Historical Military Engineering Museum, and was published in the Otechestvennye Arkhivy magazine (Nos. 1 and 2) only in 2002. Its text is also posted on the website of the Young Karbyshevites patriotic movement. Here are some observations of V.M. Dogadin from a simple human side, which, we must take into account, may be partly subjective.
“He was taller than all the other officers. His hair was black, short, combed up, and wore a small mustache, twisted at the ends. His oblong face bore the marks of smallpox. In his build, he was thin, slender and well-built. He spoke quietly, without raising his voice, in a quick accent, in jerky phrases, equipping them with aphorisms and sharp words. In the pronunciation of words, a softening of the sound "r" towards "l" was noticed;
- “He was the same as all the other comrades, only distinguished by greater restraint and, as it were, alertness, which seemed dry to us. Only now did I understand his reticence, when I read the following words in his autobiography: “In 1906, I left the military service for the reserve. Reason: unwillingness to serve in the tsarist army. I was brought before the court of the “society of officers.” Having such a “past”, Karbyshev involuntarily had to be especially careful in his behavior”;
- “Karbyshev impressed us with his exceptional ability to make drawings. In particular, he surprised us with his ability to work by hand with a drawing pen. While we were all carefully drawing horizontal lines on the plan with a special curved drawing pen rotating on an axis, his ordinary drafting pen briskly and unmistakably ran across the sheet of paper. In response to our exclamations of admiration, he only remarked: “What is surprising here, because for about six months I earned my bread by this business” ”;
- “Women always liked Karbyshev, although he could not be called handsome”;
Here, to complete the picture of the life of Dmitry Mikhailovich, it should be mentioned that he was married twice. With his first wife, Alisa Karlovna Troyanovich (born 1874, of German origin), who was 6 years older than him, he met in Vladivostok. Having fallen in love, she left her former husband. After 6 years of marriage with Dmitry Mikhailovich, Alisa Karlovna tragically passed away in 1913. Here is what V. M. Dogadin recalls in this regard.
- “There was an opinion that the Germans are excellent craftsmen to cook deliciously. If this is so, then Alisa Karlovna Karbysheva served as a vivid confirmation of this opinion. There were only four of us with the owners. However, the table prepared for dinner was not only beautifully served, but the dishes served were distinguished by their sophistication and originality. We were particularly impressed by the variety of appetizers served with various vodkas before dinner. The hosts were cordial and affable, Dmitry Mikhailovich, as usual, talkative, playful and witty ”;
- “The Karbyshevs continued to live apart and cut off from the rest of the society of fortress engineers. And if, over time, our circle of young engineers was expanding due to the families of senior engineers, with whom obligatory big receptions were arranged - evenings for the Christmas holidays and for Shrovetide for each of us, when the number of those present reached 15 - 20 or more people, then the Karbyshevs absolutely never happened at such evenings”;
- “The conscious avoidance of the Karbyshevs from the rest of the society of engineers could not help but attract our general attention, and, searching for the reasons for their strange behavior, everyone came to the unanimous opinion that Alisa Karlovna carefully protected Dmitry Mikhailovich from the society of ladies, fearing that she she herself will lose greatly when compared with them ”;
- “Never being a beauty, at that time, at the age of under forty, she had a very faded appearance and therefore could not be compared with them either in beauty, or in her development and manners. That is why Alisa Karlovna, in our opinion, protected her husband from the company of our ladies, seeing in this a danger to his marital fidelity. After all, she had already experienced the power of his charms on herself, forgetting her first husband for him. However, all preventive measures did not save Alisa Karlovna from disaster”;
- “While on a business trip, Karbyshev always carefully wrote letters to his wife, although we were absent for only three days. And when they returned from a business trip, Dmitry Mikhailovich called Alisa Karlovna to Warsaw to be there with her. This shows what an attentive husband he was in relation to her ”;
- “As soon as Karbyshev returned to his apartment and began to wash his hands, his wife approached him, and a conversation took place between them with the following content: “Where were you?” asked Alisa Karlovna. "At a meeting of officers," he replied. "Why don't you say who you met along the way?" (Alissa Karlovna, apparently, had already been informed that Karbyshev met the wife of an infantry officer, whom the Karbyshevs knew from the officers' meeting of the regiment, which was stationed in Brest-Litovsk near the station in Graevskaya Sloboda.) - "Let me wash my hands first." - "No, you wanted to hide this meeting from me." - "Well, if you talk like that, then I will not take you with me to Petersburg." - "Oh, you are!" - exclaimed Alisa Karlovna, rushed into the bedroom, threw a hook on the door and, seizing a small Browning revolver, began to shoot at herself. While Karbyshev was breaking open the door, she managed to fire five bullets, of which one hit her left arm, and the other from above into her stomach. The last bullet turned out to be fatal, and on the second or third day Alisa Karlovna died, begging the doctors before her death to save her, because she wants to live ... ";
- “The loss of his wife greatly shocked Dmitry Mikhailovich. Even now I clearly imagine him, as he, leaning his left hand on the edge of the coffin and leaning his head on it, stood in a frozen pose, not taking his eyes off the face of the deceased. I did not have the courage to interrupt his thoughts with banal phrases of consolation, and I quietly left. After the funeral of his wife, Dmitry Mikhailovich closed himself even more, did not show himself anywhere, and the attempts of some women to distract him were unsuccessful. Soon, as planned, he left for St. Petersburg to defend and approve his fort project”;
It can be assumed that the tragic deep nervous breakdown of Alisa Karlovna, apparently, accumulated for a long time. Its cause could be not only her painful jealousy, the fear of a fading woman to lose her beloved husband, but also, apparently, the inability to have children. Meanwhile, according to the recollections of colleagues, Dmitry Mikhailovich was very fond of children, played with them and, apparently, dreamed of having his own.
In January 1916, Dmitry Mikhailovich married a Muscovite sister of mercy Lidia Vasilievna Opatskaya (1892-1976), who was 12 years younger than him. She was with her husband on the front lines. For providing first aid to wounded soldiers under enemy fire, Karbyshev's wife was awarded a medal. “In all subsequent years, Lydia Vasilievna followed her husband everywhere, shared with him all the hardships and trials of camp life. Often they had to live in dugouts or dilapidated houses, close to the front line, in the zones of shelling of enemy artillery. A caring wife and an excellent hostess, Lidia Vasilievna, even in front-line conditions, knew how to create home comfort in any uninhabited place, surrounded her husband with care and attention ”(Reshin E.G. General Karbyshev. M .: DOSAAF, 1987).
Three children were born in this marriage - Elena (1919-2006), Tatyana (1926-2003, graduated from the Institute of Foreign Trade, worked as an economist) and Alexei (1929-1988, also a graduate of the Institute of Foreign Trade, headed the department at Moscow Financial Institute).
As for the eldest daughter, Elena Dmitrievna followed in her father's footsteps. Participated in the defense of Leningrad, had military awards. In 1945 she graduated from college with honors in military engineering and was in military service, including in the main headquarters of the Navy with her husband. Elena Dmitrievna received the rank of colonel. She raised two sons. Senior - Vladimir, professor, candidate of technical sciences, lectured at the Civil Engineering Institute. The younger one, Oleg, worked for a long time as a geologist in Chukotka, then worked in Moscow at one of the research institutes (author - information from the site of the Young Karbyshevites movement, which took shape back in the 60s). Elena Dmitrievna rallied the “Karbyshevites” around herself, conducted active correspondence with them, was the organizer and participant of numerous rallies. According to various reviews, she is a very beautiful, surprisingly honest and wise, exceptionally intelligent woman, whose performances were always very bright and interesting.
I would like to believe that the life and death of General Karbyshev - the story of a martyr, a heroic man with an iron will who did not betray his ideals, will remain a vivid example of love for the Motherland also for new generations - the successors of those citizens of the USSR who defeated fascism, which seemed to many at one time invincible
Magazine "Wider Circle", No. 2 2015
Dmitry Karbyshev, engineer and doctor of military sciences, rarely smiles in the photo. The military man personally participated in most major armed conflicts of the 20th century and was posthumously awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union". Now the name of the famous scientist is associated with fortitude. Despite the dangers and tempting offers, the scientist-officer remained true to his own ideals and beliefs.
Childhood and youth
On October 26, 1880, a boy was born in the family of a hereditary military man and the daughter of a merchant, whom his parents decided to name Dmitry. The son became the sixth child of the Karbyshev spouses. In the growing baby, absolutely opposite qualities were combined. The child loved to draw, but at the same time he was distinguished by stubbornness and determination, which are not characteristic of creative people.
When Dima was 12 years old, his father died. The already poor family began to need money. Another blow was the news of the death of an older brother. Vladimir, being an inexperienced student, became close friends with the revolutionary Ulyanov (in the future known under the name) and was arrested. The young man died in prison, and his mother and brothers and sisters were left without privileges and under the vigilant control of the authorities.
Having decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Dmitry enters the Siberian Cadet Corps. Alas, Karbyshev could not count on a state scholarship. Realizing that his mother gives the last money for his education, Dmitry made every effort to break out into the best students.
The next step on the way to the military rank was the Nikolaev Military Engineering School. Once in a new environment, the young man does not pass the entrance exams well, but by the time of graduation, Dmitry is listed as one of the best students. The young man was so busy with his studies that for several years at the school he didn’t really walk around St. Petersburg, where the educational institution was located.
Military service
Dmitry receives his first appointment to the Far East, where Karbyshev is assigned to work in the cable department of a telephone company in a sapper battalion. The transfer of the young officer coincided with the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. During the battles, the man showed himself as a strategist, for which he received 5 orders and the rank of lieutenant.
However, heroic deeds did not save Karbyshev from being transferred to the reserve. Agitation for the Bolsheviks among colleagues led to a "court of honor." For almost a year, Dmitry worked in a civilian position - the man got a job as a draftsman in Vladivostok. But soon the military authorities again called the lieutenant. A professional engineer was involved in strengthening the forts.
Dmitry received his next appointment in Brest-Litovsk. The main task of the engineer was the construction of the Brest Fortress. Karbyshev received the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1914. During the First World War, Dmitry showed valor and courage, defending Przemysl.
In 1917, a military officer officially takes a place in the Red Army. From the very beginning of his career, Karbyshev did not hide his own views on the government. The arrest and death of his older brother at the hands of the White Guards had a particularly strong effect on the man.
During the Civil War, Dmitry continued to work on fortifications in different parts of the country. Among other things, Karbyshev is busy developing defensive structures. By the end of large-scale battles, the officer occupies the position of engineering chief of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front.
After the end of the Civil War, the man tries himself in teaching. Dmitry Mikhailovich lectures at the Frunze Military Academy. In parallel with his work at the university, Karbyshev writes scientific articles on military history and receives the title of Doctor of Military Sciences.
Feat
In August 1941, a lieutenant general (the rank of Karbyshev was awarded in 1940), seconded to the banks of the Dnieper, was captured by representatives of the Third Reich. By the beginning of hostilities, the name of Karbyshev had already been included in the list of persons whom the Nazis planned to lure to their side.
The first attempts to negotiate with Dmitry Mikhailovich quickly failed. To break the military, the Nazis used traditional methods: immediately after the brutal captivity, the man was placed in comfortable conditions. The psychological attack did not work, and Hitler's deputies planted a double agent, Colonel Pelit, in Karbyshev's cell.
The men met earlier, while working on the construction of the forts of the Brest Fortress. Even a familiar face did not make Karbyshev change his mind. The 3-week solitary confinement in the punishment cell did not work either.
The last offer from the representatives was the most tempting. Dmitry Mikhailovich was offered freedom, full material support, access to the archives of the Third Reich and his own laboratory. However, even this did not force Karbyshev to go over to the side of the enemy.
Personal life
Dmitry met his first wife while serving in Vladivostok. Alisa Troyanovich, that was the name of the future wife of Karbyshev, was older than her lover and was legally married. A sudden flash of feeling swept away all obstacles, and immediately after the divorce, Alice married Dmitry.
The woman accompanied the officer on trips, and if she could not go with her beloved, she demanded that her husband write detailed letters to her. Realizing that Karbyshev enjoyed the attention of officer wives, Alice avoided the company of her husband's colleagues. The husband in love indulged the whims of his wife.
In 1913, after a family quarrel caused by another fit of jealousy, Alice committed suicide. The woman shot herself with her husband's revolver. However, historians do not exclude that the tragedy turned out to be an accident and suicide was not part of Troyanovich's plan.
The second wife of Karbyshev was Lydia Opatskaya, the sister of a colleague and good friend of the military. Lydia worked as a nurse and, unlike Dmitry's first wife, was 12 years younger than her husband. The officer's acquaintance with the girl happened during the battle - Lydia carried Karbyshev wounded in the leg.
Soon the couple became parents. Opatskaya gave birth to her beloved two daughters and a son: Elena, Tatiana and Alexei. The woman spent side by side with her husband for 29 years. The couple was separated only by the death of Karbyshev.
Death
In 1945 Dmitry Karbyshev was still in captivity. During the time spent in custody, the military changed 11 concentration camps. In each new place of stay, the officer had to do hard and dirty work.
For example, in Auschwitz, Dmitry Mikhailovich made gravestones for dead German soldiers. According to the surviving evidence, such an occupation pleased the hero. The man claimed that the more plates he made, the better things were going on at the front of the Soviet soldiers.
General Dmitry Karbyshev died on February 18, 1945. In the camp called Mauthausen, the man was taken to the square along with the rest of the prisoners. It was a cold winter, people were undressed. German soldiers began to pour cold water over the assembled crowd. Those who tried to hide behind were beaten on the head by the Nazis.
Dmitry Mikhailovich cheered up those around him as best he could, but soon he himself lost consciousness. The general's body was burned in the local crematorium.
Memory
- Monuments to the general were erected in 16 cities, including Vladivostok, Tyumen, Samara and the area near the German city of Mauthausen.
- The image of the hero of the Soviet Union adorns postage stamps issued in 1961, 1965 and 1980.
- The historical novelist Sergei Nikolaevich Golubov dedicated the novel "Let's take off our hats, comrades" to Karbyshev's feat.
- The biography of the general is described in detail in the film "Motherland of Soldiers".
- In 1959, a small planet moving in a circumsolar orbit was named after Dmitry Karbyshev.
Soviet military leader, lieutenant general of engineering troops (1940), professor at the Military Academy of the General Staff (1938), doctor of military sciences (1941), Hero of the Soviet Union (1946, posthumously).
Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was born on October 14 (26), 1880 in the city in the family of M. I. Karbyshev, a clerk in the district commissariat.
In 1891-1898, D. M. Karbyshev studied at the Siberian Cadet Corps, in 1900 he graduated from the Nikolaev Military Engineering School (first class). With the rank of second lieutenant, he was appointed company commander in the East Siberian sapper battalion, stationed in Manchuria.
D. M. Karbyshev took part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, was the head of the cable department of the 4th telegraph company of the 1st East Siberian engineer battalion. Participated in the battle of Mukden (1905). During the war years, he was promoted to lieutenant and awarded five orders - St. Vladimir 4th degree with swords and a bow (1904), St. Stanislav 3rd degree with a bow (1904), St. Anna 3rd degree with swords and a bow ( 1905), St. Stanislaus 2nd class with swords (1905), St. Anne 4th class for wearing personal weapons on the hilt (1905).
In 1906, D. M. Karbyshev was transferred to the reserve. He was charged with agitation among the soldiers, the case was examined by an officer's "court of honor." A year later, due to the lack of experienced officers, he was again invited to serve. In 1907-1908, D. M. Karbyshev was a company commander of the Vladivostok fortress sapper battalion, took part in the restructuring of fortifications.
In 1908-1911, D. M. Karbyshev studied at the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy, from which he graduated with honors. In 1911 he was sent to serve in Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus), where he took part in the construction of the forts of the Brest Fortress.
During the First World War, D. M. Karbyshev fought on the South-Western Front as part of the 8th army of the general. He was a divisional engineer of the 78th and 69th infantry divisions of the 22nd Finnish Rifle Corps. In early 1915, he took part in the assault on the Przemysl fortress, where he was wounded in the leg. For courage and courage, D. M. Karbyshev was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree, and promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1916 he took part in the Brusilov breakthrough.
After the October Revolution of 1917, D. M. Karbyshev supported the Bolsheviks and recognized Soviet power. In December 1917, in the city of Mogilev-Podolsky (now in Ukraine), he joined the Red Guard, from 1918 he served in the Red Army. During the Civil War, he participated in the construction of the Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Troitsk, Kurgan fortified regions, and was engaged in the engineering support of the Kakhovka bridgehead. He held responsible positions at the headquarters of the North Caucasian Military District.
In 1920, D. M. Karbyshev was appointed chief of engineers of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front. Supervised the strengthening of the Trans-Baikal bridgehead. In the autumn of 1920 he became assistant chief of engineers of the Southern Front. He led the engineering support for the assault on Chongar and Perekop, for which he was awarded a personalized gold watch.
In 1921-1936, D. M. Karbyshev served in the engineering troops, was chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Red Army. From November 1926 he taught at the Military Academy. . In February 1934, he was appointed head of the military engineering department of the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1936, D. M. Karbyshev was an assistant to the head of the department of tactics of higher formations of the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1938 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. In the same year, D. M. Karbyshev was approved in the academic rank of professor. In 1940 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops. In the same year he joined the CPSU (b).
D. M. Karbyshev was the author of many scientific works: "Engineering preparation of the borders of the USSR" (book 1, 1924), "Destruction and obstacles" (1931, together with I. Kiselev and I. Maslov), "Engineering support for combat operations of rifle formations "(1939-1940), etc. He developed the foundations of the theory of engineering support for operations and the combat use of engineer troops.
D. M. Karbyshev took part in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. As part of the group of the Deputy Head of the Main Military Engineering Directorate for Defensive Construction, he developed recommendations for the troops on engineering support for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. In the prewar years, he was awarded the Orders of the Red Star (1938) and the Order of the Red Banner (1940).
In early June 1941, D. M. Karbyshev was sent to the Western Special Military District. The Great Patriotic War found him at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Grodno (Belarus). Two days later, he moved to the headquarters of the 10th Army, which on June 27, 1941 was surrounded. In August 1941, when trying to get out of the encirclement, Lieutenant General D. M. Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in a battle near the village of Dobreika, Mogilev Region (Belarus) and was taken prisoner.
In 1941-1945, D. M. Karbyshev was kept in the German concentration camps Zamostye, Hammelburg, Flossenburg, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen. Adamantly remained faithful to the oath, resolutely suppressed the numerous attempts of the Nazis to persuade him to treason. Conducted anti-fascist agitation among prisoners of war.
On the night of February 18, 1945, D. M. Karbyshev died in the Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria) during the Nazi massacre of prisoners - revenge for the escape they organized two weeks ago. Among other prisoners (about 500 people), he was poured with water in the cold.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 16, 1946, D. M. Karbyshev "for exceptional stamina and courage shown in the fight against the German invaders in the Great Patriotic War" was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
General Karbyshev became the personification of the stamina and courage of the Russian people. A prominent scientist, military specialist, he went through the real hell of the German camps, but did not give up, preferring death from the cold under the streams of icy water to betrayal.
Hereditary military
Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was born in Omsk in 1880. His father served as a clerk in the district commissariat, his grandfather was also a military man. Dima, who at one time wanted to become an artist, the very origin dictated the future specialty. He was supposed to be in the military. For this, he had all the makings - a good memory, discipline, strong will.
The elder brother of Dmitry Karbyshev, Vladimir, studied at Kazan University, where he closely communicated with the socialists and Vladimir Ulyanov. For participation in the student revolutionary movement, Vladimir Karbyshev was arrested, while Ulyanov was simply expelled. As a result, the elder brother of Dmitry Karbyshev died in prison. This life incident seriously affected the life of Karbyshev very seriously. Firstly, police control was immediately established for their family, Dima was not accepted to the cadet school to study at state expense, and he had to study at the family's expense.
Despite the difficulties, he successfully disaccustomed, passed the final tests and in 1898 entered the Nikolaev Military Engineering School. Secondly, perhaps in part because his brother died in the tsarist prison, Karbyshev did not hesitate to take the side of the Bolsheviks during the revolution.
Order bearer
Karbyshev was noted for his professionalism even in the Russo-Japanese War. There, as part of a battalion, he erected fortifications, conducted communications, went to reconnaissance in force, and participated in the battle of Mukden. For his heroism, Karbyshev was awarded five orders: St. Vladimir 4th degree with swords and a bow, St. Stanislav 3rd degree, St. Anna 3rd degree, St. Stanislav 2nd degree and St. Anna 4- 1st degree with the inscription "For Bravery", 3 medals.
In 1906, the order bearer Karbyshev was transferred to the reserve. According to documents - for anti-government agitation among soldiers in revolutionary times. His case was examined by the "court of honor". For a year, Dmitry Mikhailovich worked as a draftsman in Vladivostok, but then the army came in handy again - he was returned to help strengthen the Far Eastern fortifications. Experienced specialists, like Karbyshev, were always in short supply.
Dmitry Mikhailovich did not stop his studies and entered the Nikolaev Engineering Academy, after graduation he was assigned to Brest-Litovsk, where he participated in the construction of the Brest-Litovsk fortress.
Karbyshev distinguished himself in the First World War - immediately at the beginning of the war as part of Brusilov's army, he fought for Przemysl, where he was wounded and was awarded the Order of St. Anna with swords for his courage. Then he became a lieutenant colonel.
In Civil War, Karbyshev fights on the side of the Reds, builds military fortifications throughout the country, from Siberia to Ukraine. In 1920, Dmitry Mikhailovich became the engineering chief of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front, and then was appointed assistant chief of engineers of the Southern Front.
Scientist
After the Civil War, Karbyshev taught at the Frunze Military Academy and other military educational institutions. His scientific and teaching career is on the rise, in 1940 he becomes a lieutenant general, in 1941 - a doctor of military sciences. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, students loved and respected him. Karbyshev is recognized as one of the main specialists in fortification not only in the USSR, but also in the world. He has written more than 100 scientific papers on military history and military engineering. According to Karbyshev's textbooks on the tactics of engineering troops, the theory and practice of engineering support, commanders were trained in pre-war and wartime. During the Finnish war, Karbyshev developed recommendations for engineering support for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line.
“I don’t sell my conscience and Motherland!”
General Karbyshev met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in the city of Grodno. From there, Dmitry Mikhailovich moved to the headquarters of the 10th Army, which on June 27 was surrounded. Karbyshev was asked to evacuate in a special vehicle, but he refused, saying that he would leave the encirclement along with everyone else. On August 8, during an attempt to break through the encirclement, crossing the Dnieper, Karbyshev was shell-shocked and captured.
Karbyshev's "Way of the Cross" began in Poland, in the Ostrow Mazowiecki transit camp. Realizing who they managed to capture, the Germans immediately decided to recruit a prominent military specialist. The Karbyshev dossier had a special mark and was classified as IV D 3-a, which meant, in addition to monitoring activities, to apply special treatment in case of capture. The seriously ill, no longer young Soviet general was moved to Zamostye and settled in the general's barracks. Of course, they immediately tried to persuade him to cooperate, but Karbyshev’s position was unequivocal: “I don’t sell my conscience and Motherland!”
"Difficile"
Karbyshev's intractability, his steadfastness and courage amaze the imagination even today. What kind of tricks did the Germans not use to lure Karbyshev to their side. He was tempted by comfort, a former officer of the tsarist army Pelit was sent to him for “reforging”, with whom Karbyshev served together in Brest at one time, then Dmitry Mikhailovich was taken to Berlin to meet with the coryphaeus of fortification art Heinz Raubenheimer.
Karbyshev, however, was adamant. His answer was unequivocal: “My beliefs do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and I remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for the country that is at war with my Motherland.”
Only then did the Germans realize that they would definitely not succeed in recruiting Karbyshev. The following phrase appeared in the documents of the Main Engineering Directorate of the Nazi Army: “... This largest Soviet fortifier, a regular officer of the old Russian army, a man who is over sixty years old, turned out to be fanatically devoted to the idea of loyalty to military duty and patriotism ... Karbyshev can be considered hopeless in the sense of being used by us as a specialist in military engineering.”
"Good job"
Karbyshev, who at the time of captivity was over 60 years old, went through real hell. Here is just a list of the camps through which he passed: “Stalag-324” near the Polish city of Ostrow Mazowiecki, an officer camp in Zamosc, “Oflag XIII-D” in Hammelburg, a Gestapo prison in Berlin, a camp at the ROA transit point in Breslau, Nuremberg , extermination camp Flossenburg, death camp Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen.
Dmitry Mikhailovich did not lose courage until his death. According to the memoirs of one officer who was with Karbyshev in Auschwitz, he met Dmitry Mikhailovich in a team that was cleaning cesspools. Recognizing Karbyshev, the officer asked a stupid question: "How do you feel in Auschwitz?" Dmitry Mikhailovich bowed and replied: "Good, cheerfully, as in Majdanek."
When Karbyshev worked in a team for the preparation of gravestones, he mentioned that this work gives him real pleasure: “The more we have to make tombstones, the better, it means that our business is going on at the front.”
General Karbyshev died on February 18, 1945. He, along with other prisoners (about 500 people), was taken to the parade ground and began to be doused with cold water in the cold. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to General Karbyshev posthumously (February 28, 1948).
There was a time when any student in a Soviet school could tell who General Dmitry Karbyshev was and why he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Alas, we are increasingly losing not only the memory of people who gave the most precious thing that a person can have - life, for the freedom of their country, but also a sense of gratitude to true heroes. So, who was he - Red Army General Dmitry Karbyshev, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a prisoner of war who was martyred in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
Biography of General Karbyshev briefly
Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk, in the family of a hereditary military man, and his career was a foregone conclusion. He graduated from the cadet corps, the military engineering school and, with the rank of second lieutenant, went to the eastern borders, to Manchuria. There he was caught by the Russo-Japanese War, for participation in which he was awarded five military orders and three medals, which is a confirmation of personal courage. In the tsarist army, they did not give awards for “beautiful eyes”. In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev, a lieutenant, was dismissed from the army to the reserve for "unreliability" after an officer's court of honor. But, literally a year later, the military department returned an experienced and efficient officer to participate in the restructuring of the fortifications of Vladivostok.
In 1911, Karbyshev graduated with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy and received a distribution to Sevastopol, but ended up in Brest-Litovsk. Few people know that Dmitry Mikhailovich took part in the construction of the famous Brest Fortress. During the First World War, he fought under the command of General Brusilov, participated in his famous breakthrough and storming of the Przemysl fortress. He was awarded and promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Service in the Red Army
After the October Revolution, he joined the Red Guard and was engaged in the construction of fortifications on various fronts of the Civil War - in the Urals, in the Volga region, in Ukraine. He was personally acquainted with Kuibyshev and Frunze, who appreciated the former tsarist colonel and trusted him, met with Dzerzhinsky. Karbyshev was entrusted with leading the creation of defensive structures around Samara, which were later used as a springboard for the offensive of the Red Army. After the Civil War, he began teaching at the Military Academy. Frunze, and in 1934 he headed the department of military engineering at the Academy of the General Staff.
Among the students of the academy, Dmitry Mikhailovich was very popular, as General of the Army Shtemenko later recalled. Karbyshev owned a saying about the importance of engineer troops - "One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row." By the beginning of World War II, Karbyshev had a professor's degree, defended his doctoral dissertation, he was awarded the title of lieutenant general of engineering troops, and he became a member of the CPSU (b).The outbreak of war found Karbyshev on the western border in Belarus.Trying to get out of the encirclement, he is seriously wounded and captured.
The feat of the Russian general
For several years in Moscow nothing was known about the fate of the general. He was considered missing. Only in 1946, from the Canadian Army Major Seddon De St. Clair, did the details of the last days of the life of the Soviet general become known. This happened in mid-February 1945. A large batch of prisoners of war from other camps was brought to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Among them was General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. The Germans forced the people to undress and poured cold water over them with hoses. Many fell from a broken heart, and those who evaded were beaten with clubs. Karbyshev encouraged those standing next to him, already covered with ice. “The motherland will not forget us” - the last words of the general, before falling. His body, like the bodies of the others, was burned in the crematorium oven.
Later, from the German archives, it became known that Karbyshev received proposals from the German command for cooperation many times, but did not give his consent to this. The noble memory of the heroic death of a Soviet man, General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, who did not become a traitor to the Motherland, did not lose his human dignity and the honor of an officer, must be preserved in the history of our country.
