Cossack hero of World War I and World War II. Rambo of the Russian Empire

In August 2014, they celebrated the centenary of the entry of the Russian Empire into the Great War, which would later be called the German, imperialist and First World War. How many names do we remember of the heroes of that great massacre? General Brusilov, pilot Nesterov, and also a Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov. Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov became perhaps the most mentioned of the Russian heroes of the First World War. He was depicted on numerous posters, he entered fiction... This collection is dedicated to the feat of our fellow countryman. To begin with, a reference from Wikipedia.

Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov (1890 - August 18, 1919) - Don Cossack. He was the first to be awarded the St. George Cross in the First World War.

Don Cossack of the Nizhne-Kalmykova farm (Nizhny Kalmykos) of the Ust-Khopyor village of the Don Army. He studied at a village school. In 1911, he was called up for active service in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment of Ataman Ermak Timofeev. By the beginning of the war, he already had the rank of clerk (corresponding to a corporal in the army).

During the First World War, he was the first to be awarded the St. George Cross, receiving the cross of the 4th degree with the number 5501 for the destruction of eleven Germans in battle.

By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of corporal. During the First World War he was also awarded St. George Crosses of other degrees.

He was mortally wounded in 1919 during the Civil War, fighting on the side of the whites.

Kozma Kryuchkov distinguished himself on July 30, 1914 (12.08 - new style) in one of the first military clashes with the Germans on the border in East Prussia, near the Polish town of Kalwaria. A Cossack guard patrol of three privates led by clerk Kryuchkov, having discovered a detachment of German cavalrymen of 27 people and began pursuing it, while maneuvering, unexpectedly came across this patrol of German dragoons head-on. Kozma Kryuchkov was surrounded by the Germans and fought back with a rifle and saber, and then, having snatched a pike from the hands of a German dragoon, forcing it to break the encirclement ring, he managed to escape from the enemy’s hands, leaving 11 enemy corpses on the battlefield, including the commander he killed German detachment.In that battle, according to official reports and award documents, Kryuchkov personally hacked and stabbed 11 people with a pike, received 16 puncture wounds himself, and 11 wounds went to his brown horse “Kostyak”.

Kozma Kryuchkov himself described that battle as follows:

“At about ten o’clock in the morning we headed from the city of Kalvaria to the Alexandrovo estate. There were four of us - me and my comrades: Ivan Shchegolkov, Vasily Astakhov and Mikhail Ivankov. We began to climb the hill and came across a German patrol of 27 people, including an officer and non-commissioned officer.

At first the Germans were scared, but then they attacked us. However, we met them steadfastly and killed several people. Dodging the attack, we had to separate. Eleven people surrounded me. Not wanting to be alive, I decided to sell my life dearly. My horse is active and obedient. I wanted to use the rifle, but in a hurry the cartridge jumped, and at that time the German slashed my fingers, and I threw the rifle.

He grabbed the sword and began to work. Received several minor wounds. I feel blood flowing, but I realize that the wounds are not important. For every wound I answer with a fatal blow, from which the German lies down forever. Having killed several people, I felt that it was difficult to work with a saber, and therefore I grabbed their own pike and used it to kill the rest one by one. At this time, my comrades dealt with others. Twenty-four corpses lay on the ground, and several unwounded horses were running around in fear.

My comrades received light wounds, I also received sixteen wounds, but all empty, so - injections in the back, in the neck, in the arms. My horse also received eleven wounds, but I then rode it back six miles. On August 1 (August 14 - new style), the army commander, General Rennenkampf, arrived in Belaya Olita, who took off his St. George ribbon, pinned it on my chest and congratulated me on the first St. George Cross."

The Cossack was awarded the “soldier’s George” in the hospital by the army commander, Adjutant General Rennenkampf, a talented cavalry commander who had proven himself back in 1900 in Manchuria, and who knew a lot about cavalry training.

An article about the feat of the Cossack Kryuchkov from the Illustrated magazine “Iskra Resurrection” dated August 24, 1914:

“Cossack Kryuchkov. A reconnaissance detachment of four Cossacks, in which Kuzma Kryuchkov was, safely crossed the border. The enemy was nowhere to be seen. Little by little the detachment went deeper into Prussia. The Cossacks spent the night in a small grove.

In the morning, a Prussian cavalry patrol of 27 people appeared a few miles away from them. When the Prussians approached within rifle range, the Cossacks dismounted and opened fire. The officer, the head of the German detachment, commanded something. The Prussian cavalrymen began to quickly retreat. The Cossacks jumped on their horses and rushed towards the enemy with a whoop.

Kuzma Kryuchkov, on his fast horse, overtook his comrades and was the first to crash into the enemy detachment. The rest of the Cossacks arrived in time and for a moment saw Kryuchkov, surrounded by the Prussians and waving his saber left and right. Then people and horses - everything mixed up in a common dump.

One of the Cossacks saw a Prussian officer with a drawn saber squeezing his way towards Kryuchkov in this dump. The Cossack fired. The Prussian officer fell. Kryuchkov, meanwhile, also grabbed a rifle and wanted to shoot at the Prussian non-commissioned officer, but he hit Kryuchkov on the hand with a saber, cut his fingers, and the Cossack dropped the rifle. The next moment, despite the wound he received, Kryuchkov cut the non-commissioned officer’s neck. Two Prussians with pikes attacked Kryuchkov, trying to knock him out of the saddle, but Kryuchkov grabbed the enemy pikes with his hands, pulled them towards him and threw both Germans off their horses. Then, armed with a Prussian pike, Kryuchkov again rushed into battle.

A few minutes passed - and out of the 27 Prussians who fought with the 4 Don Cossacks, only three remained on their horses, who took to a wild flight. The rest were either killed or wounded. The Cossacks sent several more bullets after the fleeing people. Kuzma Kryuchkov alone knocked down 11 Germans and received 16 wounds himself. Wounded by a bullet. A hand was cut with a saber. The rest were wounded by pikes. Despite all this, Kryuchkov remained in service until the very end of the battle.

The army commander by telegraph congratulated the ataman of the Don Army on awarding the first St. George Cross in the army to the Cossack farm of Nizhny-Kalmykov, Ust-Medveditsky district, Kuzma Kryuchkov, who alone killed 11 Germans, received 16 wounds with a pike in himself and 11 in a horse.

Kryuchkov was born into an Old Believer family. I learned to read and write at home. He is not strong, but very flexible, evasive and persistent. He was always the first in all games that required dexterity. Kryuchkov's father is not rich, he is engaged in agriculture. After marriage, Kryuchkov and his wife were the main support of the entire family. Among the farmers, the Kryuchkovs enjoy a well-deserved reputation as home-loving and religious owners."

This episode was also included in Mikhail Sholokhov’s cult novel “Quiet Don”. But the Cossack writer describes the heroic events somewhat differently:

Ivankov rode at a pace, rising in his stirrups, looking into the bottom of the basin. First he saw the swaying tips of the pikes, then suddenly the Germans appeared, turning their horses, coming from under the slope of the basin to attack. In front, an officer galloping with his broadsword raised. During the moment when he turned his horse, Ivankov captured in his memory the beardless, frowning face of the officer, his stately stance. Like hail on the heart - the tramp of German horses.Ivankov painfully felt the stinging chill of death on his back. He turned his horse and silently galloped back.

Astakhov did not have time to fold the pouch, he shoved it past his pocket. Kryuchkov, seeing the Germans behind Ivankov, rode first.

The right-flank Germans crossed Ivankov’s path. They overtook him with extraordinary speed. He whipped his horse and looked around. Convulsions cramped his gray face and squeezed his eyes out of their sockets. Astakhov galloped ahead, crouching to the bow. Brown dust swirled behind Kryuchkov and Shchegolkov. "Here! Here! He'll catch up!" - the thought froze, and Ivankov did not think about defense, squeezing his large, plump body into a ball, his head touching the horse’s withers.

A tall, reddish German caught up with him. The pike stabbed him in the back. The point, piercing the belt, entered the body obliquely half an inch.

Brothers, turn around! - Ivankov shouted madly and pulled his saber out of its sheath. He deflected the second blow aimed at his side, and, standing up, slashed at the back of the German who was galloping from the left side. He was surrounded. A tall German horse hit his horse's side with its chest, almost knocking him off his feet, and close, point-blank, Ivankov saw the terrible blur of someone else's face.

Astakhov galloped up first. It was brushed aside. He waved his saber, twisted like a vine in the saddle, baring his teeth, his face changed, like a dead man. Ivankov was slashed across the neck with the end of a broadsword. On the left side, a dragoon rose above him, and a striking broadsword darted as it took off, fading in his eyes. Ivankov substituted his saber: steel splashed against steel with a squeal. From behind, they pryed his shoulder strap with a pike and persistently tore it off his shoulder. Behind the horse's raised head loomed the sweaty, heated face of a freckled, middle-aged German. Trembling with his slack jaw, the German stupidly opened his broadsword, trying to hit Ivankov in the chest. The broadsword was not reached, and the German, having thrown it, tore the carbine from the yellow case attached to the saddle, without taking his frequently blinking, frightened brown eyes off Ivankov. He did not have time to pull out the carbine, Kryuchkov reached over his horse with a pike, and the German, tearing his dark blue uniform on his chest, threw back, gasped in fear and surprise.

Mein gott!

To the side, about eight dragoons surrounded Kryuchkov. They wanted to take him alive, but he, raising his horse on its hind legs, wobbling with his whole body, fought back with his sword until it was knocked out. Snatching a pike from a nearby German, he unfolded it as if for training. The retreating Germans chipped at it with their broadswords.

Near a small wedge of loamy, cheerless plowing, they breasted, boiled over, swaying in the struggle, as if in the wind. Having gone wild with fear, the Cossacks and Germans stabbed and slashed at anything: on the backs, on the arms, on the horses and weapons... The horses, unconscious from mortal horror, flew up and confusedly knocked down.

Having gained control of himself, Ivankov tried several times to hit the long-faced, whitish dragoon who was pressing on him in the head, but the saber fell on the steel side plates of his helmet and slid off.

Astakhov broke through the ring and jumped out, bleeding. A German officer chased him. Astakhov killed him almost point-blank with a shot, tearing the rifle off his shoulder. This was the turning point in the battle. The Germans, all wounded by the absurd blows, having lost an officer, scattered and retreated. They were not pursued. They didn't fire at them. The Cossacks galloped straight to the town of Pelikalie, to the hundred; The Germans, having picked up a wounded comrade who had fallen from the saddle, went to the border.

Having jumped half a mile away, Ivankov staggered.

I'm still... I'm falling! - He stopped the horse, but Astakhov pulled the reins.

I'm on my way!

Kryuchkov smeared blood on his face and felt his chest. The stains on the tunic were wet and wet.

From the farmstead, where the second post was located, they broke in two.

“Go right,” said Astakhov, pointing to the fabulously green swamp in the alder forest behind the yard.

No, to the left! - Kryuchkov was stubborn.

We parted ways. Astakhov and Ivankov arrived at the town later. A hundred Cossacks were waiting for them at the outskirts. Ivankov threw the reins, jumped from the saddle and, swaying, fell. It was with difficulty that the saber was taken out of his petrified hand.

An hour later, almost the entire hundred went to the place where the German officer was killed. The Cossacks took off his shoes, clothes and weapons, crowded around, looking at the young, frowning, already yellowed face of the murdered man. Ust-Khoper resident Tarasov managed to remove a watch with a silver grille from the dead man and immediately sold it to the platoon commander. In the wallet they found some money, a letter, a lock of blond hair in an envelope and a photograph of a girl with an arrogant smiling mouth.

And this is how, according to Mikhail Sholokhov, an icon was made from Kozma Kryuchkov (the ninth chapter of the third part of the novel “Quiet Don”):

And here is what Vladimir Petrovich Melikhov, well-known among the Cossacks, the creator of Cossack museums in the village of Elanskaya and in the Moscow region, writes on the website elan-kazak.ru:

"The 1st St. George Knight of the First World War, Cossack Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov, died on August 18, 1919 and was buried in the cemetery of his native farm. Three years ago, the Cossacks told me that a large oak cross would be placed on his grave in his memory and in memory of all the Cossacks who died in civilian life, fighting for their land with the Bolsheviks.

At the entrance to the farm we saw a cross, albeit lopsided, but still standing. The farm used to be quite large, 3-4 kilometers long. However, today not a single house has survived on the farm. The cemetery is also abandoned, where there is not a memorial cross on the grave of the legendary Cossack and where everything is also overgrown with grass.

This cemetery - it is quite large - with rotten crosses and overgrown with grass - somewhere here is buried the Cossack, hero of the 1st World War Kuzma Firsovich Kryuchkov, awarded the St. George Crosses of the 4th and 3rd degree, St. George medals “For Bravery” 4 and 3 degrees and the Golden Arms of St. George, and whose grave today is lost among the weeds. And Don TR does not come here, the heirs of those who found rest in this cemetery no longer come here, and there are thousands of graves here - thousands of interrupted threads of memory and the transition to unconsciousness..."

From the Illustrated magazine “Iskra Resurrection” dated August 24, 1914:
Cossack Kryuchkov. A reconnaissance detachment of four Cossacks, in which Kuzma Kryuchkov was located, safely crossed the border. The enemy was nowhere to be seen. Little by little the detachment went deeper into Prussia. The Cossacks spent the night in a small grove. In the morning, a Prussian cavalry patrol of 27 people appeared a few miles away from them. When the Prussians approached within rifle range, the Cossacks dismounted and opened fire. The officer, the head of the German detachment, commanded something. The Prussian cavalrymen began to quickly retreat. The Cossacks jumped on their horses and rushed towards the enemy with a whoop. Kuzma Kryuchkov, on his fast horse, overtook his comrades and was the first to crash into the enemy detachment. The rest of the Cossacks arrived in time and for a moment saw Kryuchkov, surrounded by the Prussians and waving his saber left and right. Then people and horses - everything mixed up in a common dump. One of the Cossacks saw a Prussian officer with a drawn saber squeezing his way towards Kryuchkov in this dump. The Cossack fired. The Prussian officer fell. Kryuchkov, meanwhile, also grabbed a rifle and wanted to shoot at the Prussian non-commissioned officer, but he hit Kryuchkov on the hand with a saber, cut his fingers, and the Cossack dropped the rifle. The next moment, despite the wound he received, Kryuchkov cut the non-commissioned officer’s neck. Two Prussians with pikes attacked Kryuchkov, trying to knock him out of the saddle, but Kryuchkov grabbed the enemy pikes with his hands, pulled them towards him and threw both Germans off their horses. Then, armed with a Prussian pike, Kryuchkov again rushed into battle. A few minutes passed - and out of the 27 Prussians who fought with the 4 Don Cossacks, only three remained on their horses, who took to a wild flight. The rest were either killed or wounded. The Cossacks sent several more bullets after the fleeing people. Kuzma Kryuchkov alone knocked down 11 Germans and received 16 wounds himself. Wounded by a bullet. A hand was cut with a saber. The rest were wounded by pikes. Despite all this, Kryuchkov remained in service until the very end of the battle. The army commander by telegraph congratulated the ataman of the Don Army on awarding the first St. George Cross in the army to the Cossack farm of Nizhny-Kalmykov, Ust-Medveditsky district, Kuzma Kryuchkov, who alone killed 11 Germans, received 16 wounds with a pike in himself and 11 in a horse. Kryuchkov was born into an Old Believer family. I learned to read and write at home. He is not strong, but very flexible, evasive and persistent. He was always the first in all games that required dexterity. Kryuchkov's father is not rich, he is engaged in agriculture. After marriage, Kryuchkov and his wife were the main support of the entire family. Among the farmers, the Kryuchkovs enjoy a well-deserved reputation as homely and religious owners.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

"The heroic feat of the Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov." Military splint

Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov (1890 - August 18, 1919) - Don Cossack. He was the first to be awarded the St. George Cross in the First World War.

Don Cossack of the Nizhne-Kalmykova farm (Nizhny Kalmykos) of the Ust-Khopyor village of the Don Army.

He studied at a village school. In 1911, he was called up for active service in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment of Ataman Ermak Timofeev. By the beginning of the war, he already had the rank of clerk (corresponding to a corporal in the army).

During the First World War, he was the first to be awarded the St. George Cross, receiving the 4th degree cross number 5501 for the destruction of eleven Germans in battle. He himself described that battle as follows:

At about ten o'clock in the morning we headed from the city of Kalvaria to the Alexandrovo estate. There were four of us - me and my comrades: Ivan Shchegolkov, Vasily Astakhov and Mikhail Ivankov. We began to climb the hill and came across a German patrol of 27 people, including an officer and a non-commissioned officer. At first the Germans were scared, but then they attacked us. However, we met them steadfastly and killed several people. Dodging the attack, we had to separate. Eleven people surrounded me. Not wanting to be alive, I decided to sell my life dearly. My horse is active and obedient. I wanted to use the rifle, but in a hurry the cartridge jumped, and at that time the German slashed my fingers, and I threw the rifle. He grabbed the sword and began to work. Received several minor wounds.
I feel blood flowing, but I realize that the wounds are not important. For every wound I answer with a fatal blow, from which the German lies down forever. Having killed several people, I felt that it was difficult to work with a saber, and therefore I grabbed their own pike and used it to kill the rest one by one. At this time, my comrades dealt with others. Twenty-four corpses lay on the ground, and several unwounded horses were running around in fear. My comrades received light wounds, I also received sixteen wounds, but all empty, so - injections in the back, in the neck, in the arms. My horse also received eleven wounds, but I then rode it back six miles. On August 1, the army commander, General Rennenkampf, arrived in Belaya Olita, who took off his St. George ribbon, pinned it on my chest and congratulated me on the first St. George Cross.

By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of corporal.

Cossack Kryuchkov. A reconnaissance detachment of four Cossacks, in which Kuzma Kryuchkov was located, safely crossed the border. The enemy was nowhere to be seen.
Little by little the detachment went deeper into Prussia. The Cossacks spent the night in a small grove. In the morning, a Prussian cavalry patrol of 27 people appeared a few miles away from them. When the Prussians approached within rifle range, the Cossacks dismounted and opened fire. The officer, the head of the German detachment, commanded something. The Prussian cavalrymen began to quickly retreat. The Cossacks jumped on their horses and rushed towards the enemy with a whoop. Kuzma Kryuchkov on his frisky
The horse overtook his comrades and was the first to crash into the enemy detachment. The rest of the Cossacks arrived in time and for a moment saw Kryuchkov, surrounded by the Prussians and waving his saber left and right. Then people and horses - everything mixed up in a common dump. One of the Cossacks saw a Prussian officer with a drawn saber squeezing his way towards Kryuchkov in this dump. The Cossack fired. The Prussian officer fell. Kryuchkov, meanwhile, also grabbed a rifle and wanted to shoot at the Prussian non-commissioned officer, but he hit Kryuchkov on the hand with a saber, cut his fingers, and the Cossack dropped the rifle. The next moment, despite the wound he received, Kryuchkov cut the non-commissioned officer’s neck. Two Prussians with pikes attacked Kryuchkov, trying to knock him out of the saddle, but Kryuchkov grabbed the enemy pikes with his hands, pulled them towards him and threw both Germans off their horses. Then, armed with a Prussian pike, Kryuchkov again rushed into battle. A few minutes passed - and out of the 27 Prussians who fought with the 4 Don Cossacks, only three remained on their horses, who took to a wild flight. The rest were either killed or wounded. The Cossacks sent several more bullets after the fleeing people. Kuzma Kryuchkov alone knocked down 11 Germans and received 16 wounds himself. Wounded by a bullet. A hand was cut with a saber.
The rest were wounded by pikes. Despite all this, Kryuchkov remained in service until the very end of the battle. The army commander by telegraph congratulated the ataman of the Don Army on awarding the first St. George Cross in the army to the Cossack farm of Nizhny-Kalmykov, Ust-Medveditsky district, Kuzma Kryuchkov, who alone killed 11 Germans, received 16 wounds with a pike in himself and 11 in a horse.
Kryuchkov was born into an Old Believer family. I learned to read and write at home. He is not strong, but very flexible, evasive and persistent. He was always the first in all games that required dexterity. Kryuchkov's father is not rich, he is engaged in agriculture. After marriage, Kryuchkov and his wife were the main support of the entire family. Among the farmers, the Kryuchkovs enjoy a well-deserved reputation as homely and religious owners.

During the First World War he was also awarded the St. George Cross of other degrees.

He was mortally wounded in 1919 during the Civil War, fighting on the side of the whites:

Rambo of the Russian Empire. How the Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov became an epic hero

The first Russian hero of the First World War died five years after the battle that made him famous.

When a state enters a war, the propaganda machine is put into action along with the regiments and divisions. Its task is to maintain high morale in society and the army, without which it is difficult to achieve victory.

Propaganda always needs a hero, a warrior whose actions can become an example to follow. Heroes of wars of the past, undoubtedly, are also capable of inspiring, but still not in the same way as a contemporary hero, the guy from the next trench.

The Russian Empire also needed a hero, which in 1914 entered the First World War, which in Russia was initially called the Second Patriotic War.

And such a hero appeared. Thanks to state propaganda, Kozma Kryuchkov not only became known throughout Russia, but turned into a real epic hero. Or, if you prefer, the “Russian John Rambo” of the First World War.

One against eleven

Kozma Kryuchkov was born on the Nizhne-Kalmykovsky farm of the Ust-Khopyorsky village of the Ust-Medveditsky district of the Don Army in the family of a native Cossack-Old Believer Firs Larionovich Kryuchkov. There are discrepancies with the date of birth - either in 1888 or in 1890.

Kozma’s childhood was no different from the childhood of other boys from Don Cossack families. He studied at a village school, helped his father with housework, learned the basic wisdom of military affairs, and as he got older, he began to look at girls, then got married.

In 1911, Kozma Kryuchkov was called up for active military service in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment named after Ermak Timofeev. By the beginning of the war, Kryuchkov was already in his fourth year of service, he held the rank of clerk and was considered one of the most experienced soldiers of his regiment.

Orderly Kryuchkov distinguished himself in the first days of the war on the border with East Prussia even before the Russian armies launched an offensive that turned into a disaster for them.

Kryuchkov himself described the battle that glorified him this way. A Cossack cavalry reconnaissance detachment, which, in addition to Kryuchkov himself, included three more of his comrades - Ivan Shchegolkov, Vasily Astakhov and Mikhail Ivankov, came across a German cavalry patrol of 27 people.

The Germans attacked the Cossacks, and the scouts, fighting off the advancing enemy, were forced to split up and fight separately.

Kryuchkov was attacked by eleven Germans at once, and the Cossack’s rifle jammed. Then Kryuchkov used his saber. The Germans inflicted wound after wound on him, but they were all superficial and did not pose a threat to life. The Cossack himself inflicted mortal wounds on his enemies. Realizing that you couldn’t kill all the Germans with a saber, Kryuchkov snatched a pike from one of his opponents and used it. As a result, all 11 Germans who attacked the Cossack were defeated. Meanwhile, Kryuchkov's comrades dealt with the remaining enemies.

As a result, from 22 to 24 Germans were killed, three escaped. All four Cossacks were wounded, Kryuchkov himself received 16 wounds, but all of them did not pose a threat to life.

Commander's Award

The report of the Cossacks who found themselves in the hospital about the results of the battle made a strong impression. So strong that the commander of the 1st Army of the Northwestern Front, General Pavel Karlovich von Rennenkampf, personally arrived at the hospital and presented Kryuchkov with the 4th degree St. George Cross. Kozma Kryuchkov became the first to receive such an award during the First World War.

It must be said that there were always enough skeptics who doubted that the battle between the Cossacks and the Germans took place exactly like this. To almost completely destroy an enemy detachment that outnumbers the Cossacks by six times is something from the repertoire of the epic Ilya Muromets or the same notorious John Rambo.

In addition, Kozma Kryuchkov himself did not adhere to one version, each time adding new details to the story.

However, no one has been able to convincingly prove that Kryuchkov and his comrades are lying.

Actually, it was no longer possible to do this in the future, since propagandists seized on Kryuchkov’s feat.

All Russian newspapers wrote about the new “miracle hero”; in a matter of days, Kozma Kryuchkov became a hero of the nation, which at the beginning of the war was experiencing a great patriotic upsurge.

Kozmamania

After being discharged from the hospital, Kryuchkov was given leave to go home to his wife and children. But the Cossack could forget about a quiet life - he was pursued everywhere by journalists who dreamed of making material about the life of the “Russian hero.”

Upon returning to the regiment, Kozma Kryuchkov discovered that he had been transferred to the post of chief of the Cossack convoy at division headquarters. Now his main activity was participation in various meetings at which he talked about his feat, inspiring others.

Russia has been gripped by real “Kozmamania.” 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 saber in a silver frame. Parcels with gifts for the Cossack hero were pouring into the active army.

The most famous people in Russia dreamed of meeting Kozma, talking and taking pictures.

Further more. Some newspapermen not only embellished the details of Kozma Kryuchkov’s exploits, but began to invent new adventures for him that had nothing to do with reality at all. “Heroic” candies with a portrait of Kryuchkov, cigarettes with his name and a whole host of souvenirs associated with him appeared on sale.

Kozma Kryuchkov turned into a mythical image that had little relation to the real Cossack.

Victim of theft

Kryuchkov himself was not ready for such attention, he took it hard and, ultimately, achieved a transfer back to his native regiment.

The peak of Kozma Kryuchkov’s popularity was passed after the first serious failures of the Russian army.

The longer the war lasted, the greater the losses, the less often they remembered the hero who killed 11 Germans at once.

Meanwhile, Kozma continued to fight with dignity, receiving another St. George Cross and two St. George medals “For Bravery.” Kryuchkov ended the war with the rank of sergeant, in the position of platoon commander.

Before the revolution, they remembered him again, in 1916. Rostov newspapers wrote that Kozma Kryuchkov, who was recovering in the hospital after another injury, had his military awards stolen. The capital, however, was no longer interested in this; completely different passions were boiling there.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Kozma Kryuchkov was elected chairman of the regimental soldiers’ committee, but the Cossack was very far from the ideals of the revolution.
At the end of 1917, he returned with the regiment to the Don, where he very soon became a participant in a new war, this time a civil one.

From a saber to a machine gun

Raised in a family of Old Believers, in patriarchal traditions, Kozma Kryuchkov found himself on the side of the whites in this conflict. One of Kryuchkov’s comrades in the battle that made him famous, Mikhail Ivankov, ended up in the ranks of the Reds.

The last time the name of Kozma Kryuchkov was heard was in August 1919, five years after the legendary battle with the Germans.

The cornet Kozma Kryuchkov, who was in the 13th Cavalry Regiment of the Ust-Medveditsk Division, was mortally wounded in one of the battles. Here again, there were myths - some sources claim that Kryuchkov with a detachment of five people tried to attack a group of Red Army soldiers of 80 people, armed with machine guns.

It is known for certain that the first Russian hero of the First World War received a fatal bullet wound in the stomach and died a few minutes later in the arms of his fellow soldiers.

Unlike many other characters of the First World War, Kozma Kryuchkov was remembered in the Soviet period, though not as a real hero, but as a popular character of the tsarist era.

Saturday 08/16/2014

The purpose of this article is to find out the cause of the death of KUZMA FIRSOVICH KRYUCHKOV, the first to be awarded the St. George Cross in the First World War, according to his FULL NAME code.

Watch "Logicology - about the fate of man" in advance.

Let's look at the FULL NAME code tables. \If there is a shift in numbers and letters on your screen, adjust the image scale\.

11 28 59 83 94 109 112 123 143 152 181 194 195 216 226 243 261 276 279 289 313
K Y U C H K O V K UZ M A F I R S O V ICH
313 302 285 254 230 219 204 201 190 170 161 132 119 118 97 87 70 52 37 34 24

11 31 40 69 82 83 104 114 131 149 164 167 177 201 212 229 260 284 295 310 313
KUZ M A F I R S O VI C H K R Y U C H K O V
313 302 282 273 244 231 230 209 199 182 164 149 146 136 112 101 84 53 29 18 3

KRYUCHKOV KUZMA FIRSOVICH = 313 = 219-DEATH + 94-FROM WOUND.

313 = 94-DEATH + 219-FROM A BULLET WOUND = 219-DEAD FROM A BULLET WOUND + 94-WOUNDED.

219 - 94 = 125 = PROBIT INTESTINAL \.

313 = 59-DEAD + 254-BULLETS PICKED INTESTINE.

254 - 59 = 195 = SHOT FROM A MACHINE GUN.

313 = 123-\ 59-DEAD + 64-BULLET\ + 190-BUTTERED INTESTINE.

313 = 195-SHOT FROM A MACHINE GUN + 118-LIFE TAKEN.

313 = 82-SHOT + 231-\ 118-LIFE TAKEN + 113-FROM A MACHINE GUN\.

313 = 131-SHOT + 182-KILLED BY SHOT.

182 - 131 = 51 = IN BATTLE.

313 = 69-END + 244-MACHINE GUN SHOT.

244 - 69 = 175 = FIREARM

313 = 219-END WITH A SHOT FROM... + 94-MACHINE GUN.

313 = 181-HIT BY A BULLET + 132-DEATH OF LIFE.

Let's decrypt individual columns:

167 = 111-INTESTINE + 56-DIED

149 = BLEEDING IN...

143 = BULLET pierced...
____________________________
190 = INTESTINE BROKEN

190 - 143 = 47 = DEAD, STANDARD\ relen\.

94 = TAKE LIFE \ neither \
______________________________________

230 - 94 = 136 = ADVANCE \death\.

104 = KILLED
________________________________________
230 = TAKE A LIFE FROM A MACHINE GUN

230 - 104 = 126 = WOUND IN THE ABDOMEN.

69 = END
__________________________________
273 = DIED FROM WOUND

273 - 69 = 204 = 102-DEATH + 102-SHOT DOWN.

112 = FROM A MACHINE GUN\ a\
______________________________________
204 = 102-SHOOT + 102-DEATH

204 - 112 = 92 = DEAD.

143 = LIFE INTERRUPTED
_______________________________
190 = LIFE INTERRUPTED

DEATH DATE code: 08/18/1919. This = 18 + 08 + 19 + 19 = 64 = STUCK, BULLETED, WOUNDED.

313 = 64 + 249 - DEATH FROM WOUND IN THE ABDOMEN.

Full DATE OF DEATH code = 205-EIGHTEENTH OF AUGUST + 38-\ 19 + 19 \-\ YEAR OF DEATH code \ = 243.

243 = GUNSHOT WOUND = BULLET PICKED IN THE INTESTINE.

Code for the number of full YEARS OF LIFE:

Since biographers give a range of years of birth from 1888 to 1890, we take, for starters, 31 years old, i.e.

1919 - 1888 = 31.

123-THIRTY + 44-ONE = 167.

We read the code: 94 = THIRTY...; 123 = THIRTY. 143 = THIRTY ONE...; 167 = THIRTY-ONE.

313 = 167-THIRTY-ONE + 146-\82-SHOT + 64-BULLET-(DEATH DATE code)\.

GOST:

The First World War, which began in 1914, was expected to be a quick and victorious campaign from the perspective of all involved. The Russian Empire, hastily mobilizing forces, pulled many people out of their usual life and peaceful state, and sent them to the front. The first days of the war began under a general impulse of patriotism. People went into battle, driven by the idea of ​​the Second Patriotic War against Western adversaries. It was in these first days that an event occurred that was imprinted in the memory of the population, raised the morale of hundreds of thousands of people and played a significant role in the war.

The young Don Cossack Kuzma Kryuchkov, 24 years old, served at the beginning of the war in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment named after Ermak Timofeev, and was considered one of the most experienced fighters of the regiment. Kuzma demonstrated his experience and fighting spirit in his first battle, which took place at the end of July 1914.

excerpt about the feat of Kuzma Kryuchkov in the documentary film World War I. Episode 1. /StarMedia. Babich-Design. 2014.

The regiment where Kuzma Kryuchkov served was located in Poland, near the city of Kalvaria. One morning, four Cossacks, one of whom was Kryuchkov, went on patrol. Having traveled several miles, the Cossacks climbed to a hill in order to inspect the surroundings and came face to face with a German detachment of lancers numbering about thirty people. It should be noted that lancers are one of the types of light cavalry in European troops. Armed with pikes, sabers and pistols, they pose a great danger to both enemy infantry and cavalry.

Portrait of Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov

However, the meeting of the two squads was unexpected for both sides. A firefight ensued, during which the German detachment began to retreat. Probably, the German officers thought that they had stumbled upon an entire regiment, but soon realizing that there were only four Cossacks, they decided to take them prisoner. The Germans surrounded the Cossacks, and they, realizing that they could not get out, began to fight in order to sell their lives at a higher price.

In the whirlwind of the battle, Kuzma Kryuchkov found himself alone against eleven horsemen. Despite this inequality, Kuzma struck from side to side with his saber and snatched pike, and after some time all the attackers were defeated. Three other Cossacks were also able to deal with the Germans and even take two people prisoner.

The result of this bloody but heroic skirmish was 22 killed German lancers, two prisoners, and four wounded Cossacks. Upon returning to the regiment, Kuzma spent several days in the infirmary, where he was visited by army commander Pavel Rennenkampf, who awarded the Cossack the Cross of St. George, 4th degree, for valor and courage. This was the first time this cross was awarded during the First World War.. Three of his comrades were awarded St. George medals.

News of the glorious feat of the young Cossack spread throughout Russia. In a short time, he became a symbol of military prowess and courage, almost the heir to the epic heroes. His portraits were printed on posters and leaflets, cigarette packs and postcards. Even Emperor Nicholas II was informed about the heroic Cossack.

However, the fallen glory rather weighed heavily on Kuzma, who grew up in an Old Believer family on the Nizhne-Kalmykov farm in the Ust-Khoper village of the Don Army, and from childhood was accustomed to the simple and hardworking life of a farmer. Therefore, sent to serve at headquarters, the young hero of his own free will returned to his regiment, in which he reached the end of the war, receiving new wounds and awards, and finally wanting to live a peaceful life with his family, whom he had left since the beginning of the war. But the events that took place in the country did not give him such an opportunity. The country split into warring sides and Kuzma Kryuchkov, loyal to his army, sided with the White movement.

But the luck that accompanied the Cossack hero throughout the hardest war could not save him from the bullets of the Bolsheviks. At the end of August 1919, Kuzma Kryuchkov was mortally wounded in a battle near the village of Lopukhovka, Saratov province, and soon died. He was buried in the cemetery in his native village.

GOST:
Shtanii, R.I. Kuzma Kryuchkov - First St. George Knight of the First World War [Electronic resource] / R.I. Shtanii // Light of the villages. 2018. No. 7 (8). ISSN 2619-1539.. (date of access: 03/08/2020)

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The First World War, which at the very beginning was declared in our country as the “Second Patriotic War” and caused a surge of patriotism, like all wars, gave birth to its heroes and its own mythology. However, in Soviet times, the First World War was being deheroized. Many real facts of the heroism of Russian soldiers and officers were hushed up or declared myths. They were contrasted with the heroism of the Red Army soldiers during the Civil War. In the post-Soviet period, interest in the events of the First World War grew. There is a restoration of the real picture of the combat life of the Russian army in 1914-1918, and therefore it is important to free ourselves from the mythology created during the First World War.

Let’s try to reconstruct from the original source one of the first exploits of Russian soldiers at the beginning of the World War, which was widely “promoted” by the media of that time. We are talking about the feat of the Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov.

The Cossacks entered the war at the peak of their combat effectiveness. The Don Army sent about 115 thousand Cossacks to the front. During the war, 193 Don officers and more than 37,000 ordinary Cossacks were awarded the Order of St. George, the St. George's Arms, St. George's crosses and medals, the highest signs of military valor and glory.

Participating in almost all the most important battles during the Great War, the Don Cossack units suffered minor losses: the good professional training of the Cossacks and their officers affected them, who beat the enemy and did not expose their heads in vain. 182 officers and 3,444 Cossacks were killed in battle (3% of the number conscripted), 777 officers and 11,898 Cossacks were wounded and shell-shocked, 54 officers and 2,453 Cossacks were missing, 32 officers and 132 Cossacks were obviously captured. Yes, these are not millions of prisoners of 1941! No other branch of the Russian army has known such a low percentage of combat losses. The Don Cossack became the first St. George Knight of the World War.

Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov (1888 -1919) Cossack of the Nizhne-Kalmykova farm of the Ust-Khopyor village, from the Old Believers, clerk of the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment.

His feat thundered throughout Russia. There were many descriptions of this event. But they were contained in propaganda pamphlets. In his book “Old Veshki” V.N. Korolev summarized all versions of the battle that glorified Kozma Kryuchkov and the Don Cossacks. It turned out something like this. Before our offensive in East Prussia in July 1914, a Cossack post (4 Cossacks) attacked a German patrol of 27 horsemen and began to pursue it. The Germans retreated, engaging in firefights, then, choosing the moment, attacked the Cossacks. The Cossacks met the Germans with fire, on foot, killed the officer, managed to mount their horses and took the attack, fighting off with swords and rifles. Either scattering across the field, or huddling together, they killed all the Germans. Only five survived, two of them wounded. Kryuchkov killed 11 people and, being wounded 16 times, received another 11 wounds “in the horse.” The army commander visited the wounded man, took the St. George ribbon from his chest and pinned it on Kryuchkova.

Some saw all this as a simple propaganda trick. After the war, completely opposite information about the feat appeared in the press. Describing the beginning of the First World War, officer of the 27th Infantry Division K. M. Adaridi reports that their division was stationed in the town of Simno before crossing the border (August 3, 1914). The division was assigned fifty Don Cossacks and a hundred border guards. The Cossacks were sent by the commander of the 105th Orenburg Regiment to guard the border. From the German side, patrols of the 10th Horse-Jager Regiment approached the border, but were driven away by the Cossacks. German losses - 1 killed, Cossack losses - 1 wounded. As a result, the first St. George Knight of the War appeared.

Objective information could be expected from the author of the four-volume “History of the Cossacks” A. A. Gordeev. Andrei Andreevich Gordeev, a fellow countryman and almost the same age as Kryuchkov (Ust-Khoperskaya village, born in 1886), graduated from the Vilna Military School in 1914. He himself was a holder of the St. George's Arms. On June 3, 1915, near the village of Bonov, with fifty men, he covered the retreat of the rearguard; The artillery and convoys of the rearguard got stuck in the sand, and at this time the German cavalry attacked from both flanks. Gordeev counterattacked with his fifty and cold steel stopped the Germans, giving the rearguard the opportunity to get on a good road. Throughout the Civil War, Gordeev and Kryuchkov served in the same regiment named after Ataman Nazarov. But, describing some battles in detail and color, Gordeev in his four-volume book does not mention Kryuchkov at all.

Another surge of attention to the feat of Kozma Kryuchkov coincided with the beginning of the revival of the Cossacks and the search for new ideals. There were no special works devoted to the feat itself, but it was constantly mentioned in studies about the participation of the Cossacks in the First World War. The first works to appear were G.L. Voskoboinikov and N.V. Ryzhkova.

In her subsequent work, N.V. Ryzhkova, referring to the brochure “The undaunted hero of the Don Cossack Kuzma Kryuchkov...”, confirmed that the Cossack post “... completely defeated a German cavalry platoon of 27 people. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, the orderly Kozma Kryuchkov personally destroyed 11 enemy soldiers, but he himself received as many as 16 wounds in the fierce battle. He became the first Russian soldier to be deservedly awarded the 4th degree St. George Cross during the war. This Don Cossack literally in a matter of days turned into a true national hero of Russia,” and noted: “We ... do not find reliable and meaningful grounds to challenge the long-established assessment of the feat of the Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov.”

V.P. Trut, in a later work dedicated to the Cossack troops of Russia during the wars and revolutions of the early twentieth century, also cited as a given: “During an unequal and brutal battle, the brave four Cossacks completely defeated a German cavalry platoon. Of the 27 Germans, 22 were killed, two were found wounded and captured, and only three managed to escape from the battlefield." And yet, the author noted the contradictory versions of the described battle and gave an explanation for this: “This combat episode was reflected in the official publications of that time and in the epic of M. A. Sholokhov “Quiet Don”, in the works of historians V. N. Korolev and G. L . Voskoboinikov, literary local historian G. Ya. Sivovolov and in other publications. It should be noted that the coverage of this battle was directly affected by a number of negative factors, such as the newspaper hype raised at that time, as a result of which even the appearance of cigarettes with a portrait of K. F. Kryuchkov on the box that quickly became very popular, the irrepressible writing of dishonest reporters, publications of government officialdom and hastily composed pathetic poems on this topic, and even a completely uncritical approach to the description of this battle by M. A. Sholokhov and later, rather contradictory retellings of historians, local historians and writers. As a result, there are currently at least four different accounts of this event." In the appendices to his work, V.P. Trut cites versions of G.L. Voskoboynikov, G.Ya. Sivovolov, as well as G.V. Gubarev and A.I. Skrylov from the “Cossack Dictionary-Reference Book”.

G.L. Voskoboynikov, being a professional military man, understood perfectly well that such a number of enemies can be killed only by pursuing the fleeing, but not face to face, and he wrote that the Cossacks on foot repelled the attack of the Germans, and then rushed to pursue them and chop. G. Ya. Sivovolov simply uncritically retold an episode of the novel “Quiet Don”. G.V. Gubarev and A.I. Skrylov, Cossacks themselves, focused on the fact that the Don people were surrounded by the Germans, but they fought their way and, being wounded, rode away.

“The feat of the four Don Cossacks is described most fully and objectively,” says V.P. Trut, in the work of V.N. Korolev, who based it on the written evidence of K.F. Kryuchkov himself.” We will turn to one of such evidence.

Of the papers written by the hand of K. F. Kryuchkov himself and available to V. N. Korolev, only a letter to the Don Museum, in which the hero proposed that the museum purchase his horse, so that he could have it stuffed later. But the fact that Kryuchkov himself, being literate, described his feat is indisputable.

In August 1914, the Azov Region newspaper published “The Story of Kozma Kryuchkov,” explaining that the senior doctor of the infirmary where the hero was treated sent to the newspaper a story about his feat, written in his own hand by Kryuchkov. The Don official newspaper “Don Regional Gazette” did not reprint the story, and in general it reported sparingly about Kryuchkov’s feat, apparently because it was mainly read by people knowledgeable in military matters.

Kryuchkov’s later stories about that battle differ in many ways from the first. But it is precisely this, the first message of the hero himself, that has special meaning for us.

In his story, Kryuchkov lists the Cossacks who stood at the post. From the Ust-Khoperskaya village there were Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov (Nizhne-Kalmykov farm), Ivan Nikanorovich Shchegolkov (Astakhov farm), Vasily Aleksandrovich Astakhov, Georgy Rvachev (Rubashkin farm) and Mikhail Pavlovich Ivankov from the Vyoshenskaya village (Kargin farm). The senior man at the post was V. A. Astakhov.

Kryuchkov writes that on July 30, a hundred occupied posts “above the border.” On the night of July 29-30, a local guard informed the Cossacks that the peasants had seen a spy pass three miles from the town. Apparently, this was a stranger, unknown to the peasants. “The Cossacks, having heard about the spies, carefully stood at their post all night and did not sleep.

The next morning, July 30, we cooked ourselves some potatoes, we had just eaten, Kryuchkov lay down to take a nap, Astakhov watched the enemy, and Shchegolkov and Ivankov went to the horses for hay...”

Naturally, Kryuchkov, “Mr. Old Cossack,” who had been serving in the regiment for four years, went to rest first.

We read further: “Peasants come running to the Cossack Astakhov from the field and say that in the west, in the meadow, 27 German horsemen, dismounted, lead their horses and are hiding in the ditches. Astakhov sent for Shchegolkov and Ivankov so that they would quickly run to wake up Kryuchkov. “Get up quickly, what are we going to do, 27 Germans are leading horses across the meadow.” Kryuchkov stood up and, taking binoculars, looked: they had already landed and began to hide through the mountain. He told them to quickly saddle the horses, and, having saddled them, they galloped after them, and Rvachev took away a report about the appearance of the enemy in 27 people.”

What emerges from this passage? The guys overslept. The Germans came, but their horses were unsaddled. And there was no discipline at the post. They didn’t listen to the boss, they ran to wake up the “old man”: “Get up quickly, what are we going to do...” It’s good that the Germans had stained horses. They led them around the meadow, as is usually the case with horses after a long race. Well, what if they had driven into the town on their own? Only a miracle saved the Cossacks.

We read further: “They galloped to where they appeared, but from the rear they passed over the river to the south, the Cossacks turned, Kryuchkov, Ivankov and the border guard soldiers chased after them, and Astakhov, Shchegolkov and one soldier orderly went ahead to them.

Kryuchkov, Ivankov and the border guard caught up with them in the swamp, but they did not go, but turned from the swamp to attack the Cossacks, the Cossacks dismounted and began to shoot at them, they retreated and moved on. The Cossacks landed and went after them, found the Cossacks Shchegolkov and Astakhov and the four of them chased the Germans, and the border guard and orderly returned.”

Finally, the denouement came: “Noticing them close in the meadow, the Cossacks dismounted and began to shoot at them, but they, noticing that there were four Cossacks, rushed to attack them; then the Cossacks mounted their horses and began to fight them in hand-to-hand combat. When the Germans galloped on the attack, the Cossacks killed the officer with a rifle. When the Germans caught up, they began to stab Ivankov with pikes, since he was behind everyone, but the Cossacks returned.” So, the first casualty of the battle was a German officer. One source claims that the bullet pierced his horse's ear and entered his heart when he wanted to kill Ivankov. That is, the Cossacks very competently deprived the Germans of command - they shot their officer first. But, as it turns out, they rushed to run away, and the Germans caught up with Ivankov, since “he was behind everyone,” and then the Cossacks returned. The first blows are described by Kryuchkov in surprisingly detail: “... and three Cossacks fought in a heap, so one German stabbed Astakhov, and Shchegolkov stabbed the German, knocked him off his horse, and the other German wanted to cut down Shchegolkov with a saber, but Ivankov fought him off and began to chop him, chopped him down hastily, but could not do anything; then Ivankov hit him on the neck with a broadsword, and the German fell off his horse.”

Cavalry combat is fleeting. The horses get scared and don't stand still. And, having exchanged the first blows with the Germans, the Cossacks, according to Kryuchkov, galloped off again: “Astakhov and Ivankov galloped to the right of the Germans, and Shchegolkov to the left. Six people were chasing Ivankov and Astakhov, and they fought them off and galloped away, but three people chased Shchegolkov, and he fought them off. When the Germans gave up chasing Ivankov and Astakhov, they chased Kryuchkov. He fought with three, but when Astakhov and Ivankov were abandoned and everyone turned to Kryuchkov, there were 12 of them.”

It turns out that there were initially 15-7 Germans. And it also turns out that Ivankov, Astakhov and Shchegolkov abandoned Kryuchkov and galloped away. However, everything will become clearer if we look at “who is who” at the post. Astakhov is the head of the post, Ivankov is a first-year student. The head of the post, Astakhov, snatched first-year Ivankov from the fight and rode off with him. Ivankov, as we will see later, is all punctured, and Astakhov has the least wounds of all. But Kryuchkov and Shchegolkov - “gentlemen, the old Cossacks” - were a little late. Kryuchkov, who was the last to leave, as we will see below, caught up with Shchegolkov.

Next, Kryuchkov gives a description of how he personally fought with the Germans from the very beginning of the skirmish (the Cossacks had just fired at the Germans, and Kryuchkov had a rifle in his hands): “The non-commissioned officer grabbed a broadsword and wanted to cut down Kryuchkov, but he waved him off with his rifle. The German grabbed three fingers from Kryuchkov’s right hand, in which he held the rifle, but did not cut off the fingers. Kryuchkov threw the rifle, grabbed his broadsword and slashed at the non-commissioned officer’s helmet, but did not cut through, the helmet bent, he slashed at his back, but did not cut through. When the German began to leave, Kryuchkov slashed him in the neck, and he fell from his horse. The remaining 9 people are stabbing Kryuchkov, he, not having enough time to chop them with a broadsword, snatched their pike from them and began to fight them off and stab them.”

The conclusion of the whole story is crumpled and does not contain any details: “Here they were all chopped up and galloped off to the city for a dressing.”

Apparently, the Germans, on their stained horses, were simply tired of chasing after Kryuchkov, who was left alone. It is known that Kryuchkov, out of 16 wounds from blows with a pike, 9 were in the back, 1-inch deep, that is, they stabbed him after him, bent down, “under the skin,” otherwise even one wound of 2 inches, that is, 8 centimeters deep, would have become fatal.

“Kryuchkov caught up with Shchegolkov, and they galloped together to get a dressing. We rode 6 miles. Kryuchkov could not control the horse and could not sit on it; he began to feel dizzy and dizzy. They went out onto the high road. A peasant was riding, they got off their horses, sat on his cart and drove to the city for a dressing.

On dressing, it turned out that Kryuchkov had 16 wounds with a lance and a cut on three fingers, Shchegolkov had 2 wounds with a lance, Ivankov had 3 wounds with a lance, and Astakhov had 1 wound with a lance. Kryuchkov’s horse was wounded and given pike injections for 11 wounds, Shchegolkov’s horse was given 4 wounds, Ivankov’s horse was given a pike injection for 10 wounds.”

The commander of the 1st Army, General Rennenkampf, did not need victims who galloped away from the post to be bandaged, he needed a hero, and the general took the St. George ribbon from his chest to attach it to Kryuchkov’s tunic. Now it was possible to go on the offensive.

And here is the conclusion according to Kryuchkov himself: “The Germans turned out to be 5 people from 27 people. alive, who could have escaped, of the five Germans, two lay wounded. The Cossacks recovered and went into battle again.” Here Kryuchkov either invents or retells someone else’s version. Even if the Cossacks killed so many Germans, how did Kryuchkov, himself wounded and in a hurry to get a bandage, consider that among the 22 corpses there were 2 wounded?

The conclusion is banal. Without having the first official reports either from the regiment where K. Kryuchkov served, or from neighboring units whose forward posts could observe this short battle, this event itself, already repeatedly embellished and distorted, cannot be reproduced. But none of the researchers ever referred to such official reports “from below.” K.F. Kryuchkov himself, contrary to popular belief, never became a full Knight of St. George. During the Civil War, he fought in the ranks of the Don Army, rose to the rank of centurion and died in battle with the Bolsheviks in September 1919.

All of the above in no way calls into question the heroism of the Don Cossacks during the First World War. Their fighting qualities are reflected by impartial statistics. As for the clash we considered, even discarding the unnaturally large losses of the enemy (it turns out that for each wound received by his horse, Kryuchkov killed a German), we get the following based on the primary source: 1) the Cossacks were not afraid to pursue an enemy many times superior to them and impose fight for him; 2) saving a lagging comrade, they fought hand-to-hand with this enemy; 3) they inflicted damage on the enemy, at the very beginning of the battle they shot a German officer and thereby deprived the enemy of qualified leadership; 4) in a battle with a numerically superior enemy, the Cossacks did not lose a single person killed or captured. And it is not their fault that this act, which truly demonstrated the courage and high fighting qualities of the Don Cossacks, was inflated by official propaganda and turned into a myth of the First World War.

NOTES

1. Ryzhkova N.V. Don Cossacks in the wars of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Rostov n/d, 2003.
2. Korolev V.N. Old Veshki: a story about the Cossacks. Rostov n/d, 1991. pp. 448-53.
3. Adaridi K. M. 27th Infantry Division in the battle of Stallupenen and in the battle of Gumbinen // Military Historical Bulletin. 1964. No. 23. P. 9.
4. Gordeev A. A. History of the Cossacks. T. 1-. M., 1991-1993.
5. Voskoboynikov G. L. Cossacks in the First World War 1914-918. M., 1994.
6. Ryzhkova N.V. For faith, Fatherland and friends. Don Cossacks in the Great War of 1914-917. Rostov n/d, 1998.
7. The intrepid hero Don Cossack Kuzma Kryuchkov and his glorious victories over his enemies, as he alone killed 11 Germans. Rostov n/d, 1914.
8. Trut V.P. Dear glory and loss. Cossack troops during the period of wars and revolutions. M., 2007.
9. Sivovolov G. Ya. “Quiet Don”: stories about prototypes. Rostov n/d, 1991. pp. 142-43.
10. Cossack dictionary-reference book. T. 2. San Anselmo, 1968. P. 94-5.
11. The story of Kozma Kryuchkov // Priaz. edge. 1914. 27 Aug.
12. Nelyubin G. Don Cossack Kozma Kryuchkov, the first St. George Knight of the “Great Struggle of Peoples”. 1914 [Pernov], 1914.
13. According to a number of sources - 1890