Who is Baron Ungern. Black Baron Roman Fedorovich Ungern von Sternberg

As you know, the tragedy of the White Cause was, first of all, that most of its leadership did not repent for the perjury of March 1917 - treason to the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II. The terrible Yekaterinburg atrocity was not fully realized either. In this regard, the ideology of the White Cause continued to be mostly unprejudiced, and even republican. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of officers, soldiers and Cossacks who fought in the ranks of the White Army remained monarchists by conviction.

Back in the summer of 1918, the hero of the First World War, cavalry general F. A. Keller refused the proposals of the envoys of A. I. Denikin to join the Volunteer Army, saying that he was a convinced monarchist and did not agree with Denikin's political platform of "non-predecision" and the Constituent Assembly . At the same time, Keller bluntly stated: "Let them wait until the time comes to proclaim the Tsar, then we will all act." That time has come, alas, too late. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the monarchist component became stronger and stronger in the White Army, and against the backdrop of a constantly deteriorating situation on the fronts of the war with the Red International. Already in the autumn of 1918, General F. A. Keller in Kyiv began to form the Northern Pskov monarchist army. In his address to the soldiers and officers, the general stated:

For the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, we swore to lay down our heads, the time has come to fulfill our duty ... Remember and read the prayer before the battle - the prayer that we read before our glorious victories, overshadow yourself with the Sign of the Cross and with God's help forward for the Faith, for the Tsar and for our whole indivisible homeland Russia.

His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon blessed Keller with prosphora and the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God. However, General Keller was soon killed by the Petliurists. In addition to Keller, Major General M. G. Drozdovsky, General M. K. Diterikhs, General V. O. Kappel, Lieutenant General K. V. Sakharov and others were staunch monarchists in the ranks of the White Army.

Among these commanders, General Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg occupies a special place. This special place is determined by the fact that Ungern, a 100% monarchist, can hardly be called the leader of the White movement. Hating Bolshevism and waging an uncompromising struggle with it, Ungern never recognized either the authority of the supreme ruler, Admiral A.V. Kolchak, or General A.I. Denikin. Perceiving the monarchy as a God-given power, Ungern saw it in the Russian Autocrat, and in the Chinese Bogdykhan, and the Mongolian Great Khan. His goal was to recreate three empires that would become a shield from the theomachic West and the revolution that came from it. "We are not fighting a political party," said Ungern, "but a sect of destroyers of modern culture."

For Ungern, Kolchak and Denikin were the same offspring of Western civilization, like the Bolsheviks. Therefore, he refused any form of cooperation with them. Moreover, the Kolchakites were potential opponents of Ungern. In the event of their successful actions and the capture of Moscow, republican-minded generals would have come to power.

Western and Bolshevik propaganda portrayed Ungern as a half-crazed sadist. Modern biographers of R. F. Ungern write that the fruits of the fantasies of Soviet historians, as well as "the desire to wishful thinking and show the opponents of Soviet power in the most unsightly light, formed the basis of the myths about Baron Ungern."

As comrades-in-arms testified already in exile:

Baron Ungern was an exceptional person who knew no compromises in his life, a man of crystal honesty and insane courage. He sincerely hurt his soul for Russia, enslaved by the red beast, painfully perceived everything that was fraught with red dregs, and brutally dealt with the suspected. Being himself an ideal officer, Baron Ungern was especially scrupulous about the officer corps, which did not escape the general devastation, and which, in some numbers, showed instincts that were completely inconsistent with the officer rank. The baron punished such people with inexorable severity, while his hand touched the mass of soldiers very rarely.

R. F. Ungern comes from an old German-Baltic (Ostsee) count and baronial family. The family of the barons Ungern-Sternberg belongs to a family originating from the time of Attila, one of the Ungerns fought with Richard the Lionheart and was killed under the walls of Jerusalem. When the Bolshevik interrogating Ungern asked in a mocking tone: "How did your family distinguish themselves in the Russian service?", the baron calmly replied: "Seventy-two killed in the war."

Since childhood, Roman Ungern wanted to be like his ancestors. He grew up a secretive and unsociable boy. For some time he studied at the Nikolaev Revel Gymnasium, but due to poor health he was expelled. Then the parents decided to send the young man to some military school. The novel was assigned to the Naval School of St. Petersburg. But the Russian-Japanese war began, Ungern dropped out of school and expressed a desire to take part in the battles with the Japanese. But too late, the war is over.

After the war of 1904-1905, Ungern entered the Pavlovsk Military School. In addition to military disciplines, which were studied here with particular care, general education subjects were taught: the law of God, chemistry, mechanics, literature, and foreign languages. In 1908, Ungern graduated from college as a second lieutenant. In the same year, he decided to transfer to the Transbaikal Cossack army. His request was granted, and the baron was enrolled in the 1st Argun Regiment in the Cossack class with the rank of cornet. While serving in the Far East, Ungern turned into a hardy and dashing rider. The centurion of the same regiment characterized him in the certification: "He rides well and dashingly, he is very hardy in the saddle."

According to people who knew Ungern personally, he was distinguished by extraordinary perseverance, cruelty and instinctive instinct. In 1911, the cornet Ungern was transferred by the Highest Decree to the 1st Amur Cossack Regiment, where he headed the horse reconnaissance. Soon the efforts of the energetic officer were noticed, and in the fourth year of his service he was promoted to centurion. According to the memoirs of fellow soldiers, Baron Ungern "was not familiar with the feeling of fatigue and could go without sleep and food for a long time, as if forgetting about them. He could sleep side by side with the Cossacks, eating from a common boiler." The regimental commander of Ungern was another baron - P. N. Wrangel. Subsequently, already in exile, he wrote about Ungern:

Such types, created for war and an era of upheavals, could hardly get along in an atmosphere of peaceful regimental life. Thin and emaciated in appearance, but of iron health and energy, he lives in war. This is not an officer in the generally accepted sense of the word, because he not only does not know the most elementary regulations and basic rules of service, but very often sins against both external discipline and military education - this is the type of amateur partisan, hunter-tracker from novels Mayne Reid.

In 1913, Ungern resigned, left the army and went to Mongolia, explaining his act with a desire to support the Mongolian nationalists in the fight against republican China. It is quite possible that the baron carried out the task of Russian intelligence. The Mongols gave Ungern neither soldiers nor weapons; he was enlisted in the convoy of the Russian consulate.

Immediately after the outbreak of the First World War, Ungern-Sternberg immediately went to the front as part of the 34th Don Cossack Regiment, which operated on the Austrian front in Galicia. In the war, the baron showed unparalleled courage. One of Ungern's colleagues recalled: "In order to fight like that, you must either seek death, or know for sure that you will not die." During the war, Baron Ungern was wounded five times, but returned to duty. For exploits, bravery and bravery he was awarded five orders, including St. George of the 4th degree. Until the end of the war, the military foreman (lieutenant colonel) R.F. Ungern von Sternberg became a holder of all Russian orders that an officer of a similar rank could receive (including the St. George weapon).

At the end of 1916, after another violation of military discipline, Ungern was removed from the regiment and sent to the Caucasus, and then to Persia, where the corps of General N. N. Baratov operated. There, the baron participated in the organization of volunteer detachments from the Assyrians, which again suggests that Ungern belonged to intelligence. It also speaks in favor of the fact that Ungern was fluent in Chinese and Mongolian. The "hooligan" nature of Ungern's actions also raises doubts. Here, for example, is what was said in his certification: “He is known in the regiment as a good comrade, beloved by officers, as a boss who always enjoyed the adoration of his subordinates, and as an officer - correct, honest and beyond praise ... He received 5 wounds in military operations. In two cases, being wounded, he remained in the ranks. In other cases, he was in the hospital, but each time he returned to the regiment with unhealed wounds. " And General V. A. Kislitsyn stated: "He was an honest, disinterested man, an officer of indescribable courage and a very interesting interlocutor." Somehow these words diverge from the image of "hooligan" and "debaucher".

Ungern met the February coup with extreme hostility, nevertheless swearing allegiance, like most officers of the Imperial Army, to the Provisional Government. In July 1917, A.F. Kerensky instructed Yesaul G.M. Semenov, the future chieftain, to form volunteer units from the Mongols and Buryats in Transbaikalia. Semenov took Ungern with him to Siberia, who in 1920 formed the Asian Cavalry Division, subordinate to himself, from Russians, Mongols, Chinese, Buryats and Japanese. Ungern, knowing that many peasant uprisings in Siberia were put forward by their slogan "For Tsar Michael", raised the standard with the cypher of Emperor Michael II, not believing in the murder of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich by the Bolsheviks. Also, the baron was going to return the throne to the Mongolian Bogdo-gegen (sacred ruler), which the Chinese had taken from him in 1919. Ungern said:

Now it is unthinkable to think about the restoration of kings in Europe ... For now, it is only possible to begin the restoration of the Middle Kingdom and the peoples that come into contact with it to the Caspian Sea, and then only begin the restoration of the Russian monarchy. Personally, I don't need anything. I am glad to die for the restoration of the monarchy, even if not of my own state, but of another.

Baron Ungern proclaimed himself the heir of Genghis Khan. He dressed in a yellow Mongolian robe, over which he wore Russian general's epaulettes, and on his chest he had a St. George's Cross.

Ungern never recognized the authority of the supreme ruler, Admiral A. V. Kolchak. Photo: TASS

In 1919, the Reds defeated Kolchak's troops, in October 1920 Ataman Semenov was defeated, and Ungern with his division (1045 horsemen, 6 guns and 20 machine guns) went to Mongolia, where the Chinese revolutionaries (Kuomintang) were in charge, who at that time were allies Bolsheviks, who generously supplied them with military advisers. Everywhere in Mongolia, Chinese soldiers plundered Russian and Buryat settlements. The Chinese removed from power and arrested the spiritual and secular ruler of Mongolia Bogd Gegen Jabdzavandambu (Jebtsundambu) Khutukhta. By arresting the Mongolian "living god", the Chinese generals wanted to once again demonstrate the indivisibility of their power over Mongolia. 350 heavily armed Chinese guarded the Bogdo Gegen, who was under arrest with his wife in his Green Palace.

Ungern planned to free the capital of Mongolia, Urga, and the captive Bogdo Gegen. At that time, there were up to 15,000 (according to some reports, even up to 18,000) Chinese soldiers in Urga, armed to the teeth, with 40 artillery pieces and more than 100 machine guns. In the ranks of the advanced units of Baron Ungern advancing on Urga, there were only nine hundreds of horsemen with four guns and ten machine guns.

The assault on Urga began on October 30 and continued until November 4. Unable to overcome the desperate resistance of the Chinese, parts of the baron stopped 4 miles from Urga. Ungern organized skillful agitation among the Mongols in order to convince them to rise up to fight for the liberation of the Bogd Gegen.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Diterikhs

In broad daylight, Baron Ungern, in his usual Mongolian attire - a red-cherry robe with gold general's epaulets and the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George on his chest, in a white hat, with a tashur in his hand, without exposing his checkers, freely entered Urga occupied by the Chinese. He drove to the palace of Chen-I of the chief Chinese official in Urga, and then, having passed through the consular town, calmly returned to his camp. Driving on the way back past the Urga prison, the baron noticed a Chinese sentry who had fallen asleep at his post. Outraged by such a flagrant violation of discipline, Ungern whipped the sleeping sentry. To the awakened and terrified soldier, Ungern in Chinese "brought to mind" that it was forbidden for the sentry to sleep at the post and that he, Baron Ungern, personally punished him for his misconduct. After that, he calmly drove on.

This "unannounced visit" of Baron Ungern to the snake's nest made a colossal sensation among the population in the besieged Urga, and plunged the Chinese invaders into fear and despondency. The superstitious Chinese had no doubt that some powerful and supernatural forces were standing behind the impudent baron and helping him.

At the end of January 1921, Ungern carried out the release from the captivity of the Bogdo Gegen. 60 Tibetans from the Cossack hundred of Ungern killed the Chinese guards, took the Bogdo-gegen (he was blind), his wife and fled with them to the sacred mountain Bogdo-Ula, and from there to the Manchzhushri monastery. The daring removal of the Bogdo Gegen and his wife from under their noses finally brought the Chinese soldiers into a state of panic. Ungern's calls for the struggle for the independence of Mongolia and the expulsion of the "Red Chinese" were supported by the broadest sections of Mongolian society. Mongol arat cattle breeders, who suffered in bondage to Chinese usurers, poured into the baron's army. On February 3, 1921, Baron Ungern selected a special shock detachment from the Trans-Baikal Cossacks, Bashkirs and Tatars and personally led him on the offensive on the outskirts of Urga. The shock detachment, like a battering ram, crushed the outposts of the "Red Chinese" and cleared the outskirts of the city from them. Demoralized "Gamin" hastily rushed to retreat to the north. Retreating to the Soviet border, the Chinese soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Russians, including women and children. With a skillful maneuver, Baron Ungern, who had only 66 hundred, i.e., about 5,000 bayonets and sabers, managed to "pincers" the Chinese, who greatly outnumbered him. The capital of Mongolia was liberated.

Soviet historians loved to depict the horrors of Ungern's massacres of the "peaceful" population of Urga. They really took place and there are no excuses for them. However, firstly, as they say, "whose cow would moo", and secondly, one must take into account what caused these massacres.

Urga was ruled by the Red Council, headed by Russian and Jewish communists: the priest Parnikov - the chairman and a certain Sheineman - his deputy. At the initiative of the council, Russian officers, their wives and children, who lived in Urga, were imprisoned, where they were kept in inhuman conditions. Women and innocent children were especially affected. One child froze from cold and hunger, and the prison guards threw the stiff child's corpse out of the prison. The dead child was gnawed by dogs. Chinese outposts caught those fleeing from the Uryankhai region from the Red Russian officers and escorted them to Urga, where the Red Administration put them in prison.

Upon learning of this after the liberation of Urga, Ungern ordered the senior officers present:

I do not divide people by nationality. Everyone is human, but here I will do things differently. If a Jew cruelly and cowardly, like a vile hyena, mocks defenseless Russian officers, their wives and children, I order: when Urga is taken, all Jews must be destroyed, slaughtered. Blood for blood!

As a result, not only the Jews who were part of the Red Council were killed, but also innocent civilians - mostly merchants and their families. In fairness, it should be added that the number of Jews killed did not exceed 50 people.

In Urga, Ungern gave the following orders: "For looting and violence against residents - the death penalty. All men should appear on the town square on February 8 at 12 noon. Those who do not do this will be hanged."

Ungern got colossal trophies, including artillery, rifles, machine guns, millions of rounds of ammunition, horses and more than 200 camels loaded with booty. His troops were only 600 miles from Beijing. The Chinese were in a panic. But Ungern was not going to cross the border yet. A campaign against Beijing with the aim of restoring the throne of the overthrown Qing dynasty was planned by him, but at a later time, after the creation of the pan-Mongol state.

Baron Ungern accepted Mongol citizenship, but he never accepted Buddhism, contrary to numerous legends and rumors to this effect! Proof of this, among other things, is the marriage of Ungern to the Qing princess, who, before the wedding, accepted Orthodoxy with the name Maria Pavlovna. The wedding took place in Harbin according to the Orthodox rite. On the standard of Ungern was the image of the Savior, the inscription: "God is with us" and the imperial cypher of Michael II. In gratitude for the liberation of Urga, Bogdo-gegen awarded Ungern the title of khan and the princely title of darkhan-tsin-van.

Under the command of the baron, there were 10,550 soldiers and officers, 21 artillery pieces and 37 machine guns. Meanwhile, in the north, the 5th Red Army approached the borders of Mongolia. Lieutenant General Ungern decided to launch a preemptive strike against her and on May 21, 1921 issued his famous order No. 15. It said: “The Bolsheviks came, the bearers of the idea of ​​​​destroying the original cultures of the people, and the destruction was brought to an end. Russia must be built anew, in parts. But among the people we see disappointment, distrust of people. He needs names, names known to everyone, dear and honored. There is only one such name - the rightful owner of the Russian Land, EMPEROR OF ALL-RUSSIAN MIKHAIL ALEKSANDROVICH. "

On August 1, 1921, Baron Ungern won a victory at the Gusinoozersky datsan, capturing 300 Red Army soldiers, 2 guns, 6 machine guns, 500 rifles and a convoy. The offensive of the whites caused great concern to the Bolshevik authorities of the so-called Far Eastern Republic. Vast territories around Verkhneudinsk were declared under a state of siege, troops were regrouped, and reinforcements arrived. Ungern's hopes for a general uprising did not come true. The baron decided to retreat to Mongolia. But the Mongols did not want to fight anymore, all their "gratitude" quickly dissipated. On the morning of August 20, they tied Ungern and took him to the whites. However, they were soon stumbled upon by a reconnaissance group of the Reds. Baron von Ungern was taken prisoner. Just like the fate of A. V. Kolchak, the fate of the baron was a foregone conclusion even before the start of the trial by Lenin's telegram:

I advise you to pay more attention to this case, to get a check on the solidity of the accusation, and if the proof is complete, which, apparently, there can be no doubt, then arrange a public trial, conduct it as quickly as possible and shoot.

On September 15, 1921, a show trial of Ungern took place in Novonikolaevsk. E. M. Gubelman (Yaroslavsky), the future head of the "Union of Militant Atheists", one of the main persecutors of the Church, was appointed the main accuser at the trial. The whole thing took 5 hours and 20 minutes. Ungern was charged with three counts: actions in the interests of Japan; armed struggle against the Soviet power with the aim of restoring the Romanov dynasty; terror and atrocities. On the same day, Baron Roman Fedorovich Ungern von Sternberg was shot.

Years later, the legend of the "curse of Ungern" began to circulate: allegedly, many who were involved in his arrest, trial, interrogations and his execution died either during the years of the civil war or during the Stalinist repressions.

(When writing the article, materials from the Internet were used).

Ungern Sternberg, Roman Fedorovich von - (born January 10, 1886 - death September 15, 1921) - baron, one of the leaders of the counter-revolution in Transbaikalia and Mongolia, lieutenant general (1919) 1917-1920. - commanded the Horse-Asian division in the troops of G. M. Semenov, was distinguished by extreme cruelty. 1921 - the actual dictator of Mongolia, his troops invaded the territory of the Far Eastern Republic and were defeated. On August 21, he was issued by the Mongols to the partisan detachment P.E. Shchetinkin and by the verdict of the Siberian Revolutionary Tribunal he was shot.

Who really was Baron Ungern?

Baron Ungern is one of the most mysterious and mystical figures in the history of Russia and China. Some call him the leader of the White movement in the Far East. Others consider him the liberator of Mongolia and an expert on ancient Chinese history. Still others - a romantic of the civil war, a mystic and the last warrior of Shambhala.

In our history, Ungern is known as a bloody baron and a White Guard, guilty of the death of thousands of people. And also as a man, because of which the largest province of China turned into an independent Mongolia.

early years

A native of an old German-Baltic count and baronial family. He graduated from the Pavlovsk military school (1908) and, being enrolled in the Cossack class, he was released as a cornet into the Transbaikal Cossack army. He took part in the 1st World War 1914-1918. For beating an officer, he was sentenced to the 3rd year of the fortress, but the February Revolution of 1917 saved him from imprisonment.

bloody baron

Since Baron Ungern was able to conquer Transbaikalia, entered Mongolia and gained power, he unleashed his own, even more cruel and bloody, in response. To this day, in Soviet textbooks, films and books, the baron appears as a bloodthirsty psychopath who knows no limits with the manners of a dictator. This was not so far from the truth, historians believe, judging by those published factual materials, including in Russia. Probably, such a person as Baron Ungern, a general commanding a division that fought against the Bolsheviks, could not have been otherwise ...

Baron's atrocities

In his blind cruelty, the baron no longer distinguished who was in front of him - a Red Army soldier, a traitor, or an officer of his division. Attacks of rage, which rolled unexpectedly and also disappeared, cost the lives of many people devoted to him.

Terror in Russia began long before the October Revolution.

He believed that this was a necessity, that the world was so mired in dishonor, in unbelief, in some kind of horror, that this could only be corrected by cruelty. And it was not for nothing that they were given the order to burn the offending officer alive. At the same time, he drove the entire division to this execution. This man was burned alive in front of everyone, but Ungern himself was not at the place of execution. There was no sadism in the baron, he never experienced pleasure from executions that were carried out on his orders, from executions. He never even attended them, because it was impossible for him. He had a fine enough nervous organization to endure all this.

But spiritual subtlety did not prevent the bloody baron from giving orders, according to which people were not only shot or hanged, but also subjected to inhuman torture - they tore off their nails, skinned them alive, threw them to be torn to pieces by wild animals. In the testimonies of the soldiers who served next to Ungern, there are references to the fact that in the attic of the house he kept wolves on a leash, which the baron's executioners fed living people.

What caused the cruelty?

Historians to this day argue about what caused such blind cruelty of Baron Ungern. The wound he received in the war in his youth? It is known that after this injury, the baron suffered from severe headaches. Or perhaps the baron actually liked to inflict inhuman suffering on people ?! When his army entered the Mongol capital Urga, he ordered the ruthless extermination of all Jews and revolutionaries. He considered the latter to be the embodiment of evil, and the former to be guilty of overthrowing the monarchy and. According to Ungern, Jews spread corrupt ideas around the world and do not deserve the right to live ...

In these views, the baron was very close to the bloodiest dictator of the 20th century, who was born only 4 years later than Ungern. And, I must say, he could have fit in well with the SS if he had lived to see that time. No wonder the color of the SS uniform was black. And Hitler himself, as you know, was obsessed with mysticism and esotericism.

Characteristics

This time, luck turned away from the white generals and their armies ...

Historians are similar in one thing: Baron Ungern felt like a messiah sent to earth to defeat chaos and return humanity to morality and order. The baron set goals on a global scale, because any means were suitable, even massacres.

His hatred of the Bolsheviks and Jews was pathological. He hated and destroyed both of them, in a short time he exterminated 50 people, although it cost him enough effort - they were hiding under the protection of local authoritative merchants. Most likely, he held the Jews responsible for the overthrow of his beloved monarchy, reasonably considered them guilty of regicide - and took revenge for this.

At the trial, the baron denied his bloody deeds, saying "I don't remember," "anything is possible." So there was a version of the madness of the baron. But some of the researchers assure: he was not insane, but he definitely was not like everyone else - because he maniacally followed the chosen goal.

According to contemporaries

According to contemporaries, the baron easily fell into a rage and, on occasion, could beat anyone nearby. Ungern did not tolerate advisers, especially arrogant ones could even lose their lives. For him it was all the same who to hit - a simple private or an officer. He was beaten for violation of discipline, for debauchery, for robberies, for drunkenness. He beat them with a whip, a whip, tied them to a tree to be eaten by mosquitoes, and on hot days they planted them on the roofs of houses. Even his first deputy, General Rezukhin, he once beat in front of his subordinates. At the same time, distributing cuffs, the baron respectfully treated those officers who, after receiving a blow from him, grabbed the pistol holster. Such he valued for their courage and never touched again.

In the first days, captured by the army of the baron Urga, robberies and violence were carried out everywhere. Historians still argue to this day - either the baron thus gave the soldiers rest and the opportunity to enjoy the victory, or simply could not keep them. However, he was able to restore order quickly. But he couldn't do without blood. Repressions, arrests, torture began. Everyone who seemed suspicious was executed - and everyone was like that: Russians, Jews, Chinese, and even the Mongols themselves.

Kuzmin: “I will not specify what kind of document - it is quite well known to those who study this history. It says that Ungern exterminated the Russian population of the city of Urga. But this is absolutely not true. Here, according to my calculations, approximately 10% were exterminated.

Under the baron, the commandant Sipailo, nicknamed Makarka the murderer, operated in Urga. This bigot was notable for his particular cruelty and bloodthirstiness, he personally tortured and executed both his own and others. Sipailo said that the Bolsheviks killed his entire family, so now he is taking revenge. At the same time, he personally strangled not only captured Red Army soldiers, traitors and Jews, but even his mistresses. The Baron must have known this. Just like the rest, Sipailo from time to time fell from Ungern, who considered the commandant unprincipled and dangerous. “If necessary, he can kill me too,” said the bloody baron. But Ungern needed such a person. After all, the main thing - the obedience of people - was kept on animal horror and fear for life.

Not all researchers are convinced that Baron Ungern fought only in the name of his lofty goal. Some historians believe that the actions of the disgraced general could be skillfully directed.

Records of interrogations of Baron Ungern

General Wrangel criticized Denikin both for the methods of military leadership and for questions of strategy...

Comparatively not so long ago, previously unknown protocols of interrogations of Baron Ungern turned out to be in the hands of historians. One of the charges was spying for Japan. The baron never admitted this, but some facts indicate that he actually had close relations with the governments of two states - Japan and Austria. Correspondence with the adviser to the Austro-Hungarian embassy and a large number of Japanese officers in the ranks of the Asiatic Division can serve as confirmation of this. That is why some of the historians put forward the version that Ungern could well have been a double agent, working in parallel for both intelligence services. Austria was his native country, and Japan was a welcome ally in the fight against the Chinese and Russian revolutionaries.

Moreover, the Japanese government willingly supported Ungern's friend and former commander, Ataman Semenov. There is evidence that Ungern corresponded with the Japanese, hoping for their support in his campaign against Bolshevik Russia. Although historians argue about the reliability of these versions to this day. There was no evidence that the Japanese supplied Ungern with weapons. Moreover, when the baron went to Russia, he was completely disoriented in the situation - he hoped that the Japanese had already moved to Transbaikalia, and somewhere the whites were advancing.

Japanese weapons, Japanese mercenaries in the ranks of the division, secret correspondence - all this was enough red to recognize Baron Ungern as a foreign intelligence agent at the trial. However, there was something else that interested the Bolsheviks much more than the intelligence transmitted to the Japanese. After all, when the baron fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks, he was not killed on the spot as a bitter enemy according to the law of war. It turns out that Ungern was needed by the Reds alive? But why? Trying to answer this question, historians put forward absolutely incredible versions. According to one of them, Ungern was asked to go to the service of the Bolsheviks and he accepted the offer. According to another version, the Bolsheviks needed not the bloody baron himself, but his innumerable treasures, which he hid somewhere in Mongolia ...

The beginning of Ungern's military career

The biography of Ungern is also full of mysteries and contradictions, like the baron himself.

The baron's ancestors settled in the Baltic in the 13th century and belonged to the Teutonic Order.

Robert-Nikolai-Maximilian Ungern von Sternberg (hereinafter Roman Fedorovich) was born, according to some sources, on January 22, 1886 on the island of Dago (Baltic Sea), according to others - on December 29, 1885 in Graz, Austria.

Father Theodor-Leonhard-Rudolf, Austrian, mother Sophie-Charlotte von Wimpfen, German, a native of Stuttgart.

Roman studied at the Nikolaev Gymnasium in Revel (Talin), but was expelled for misconduct. After that, in 1896, his mother sent him to the Naval Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the 17-year-old baron dropped out of his studies in the corps and entered the infantry regiment as a volunteer. For bravery in battle he received a light bronze medal "In memory of the Russo-Japanese War" and the rank of corporal.

After the end of the war, the baron's mother died, and he himself entered the Pavlovsk military school in St. Petersburg. In 1908, the baron graduated into the 1st Argun Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army. By order of June 7, 1908, he was awarded the title of "cornet".

In February 1910, Ungern was transferred to the Amur Cossack Regiment in Blagoveshchensk as the commander of a scout team. Participated in three punitive expeditions to suppress riots in Yakutia. He fought many duels.

After the start of the Mongol uprising against China, he applied for permission to volunteer for the Mongolian troops (in July 1913). As a result, he was appointed a supernumerary officer in the Verkhneudinsk Cossack regiment stationed in the city of Kobdo (according to other sources, in the Cossack convoy of the Russian consular mission).

According to Baron Wrangel, in fact, Baron Ungern served in the Mongolian troops. In Mongolia, Ungern studies Buddhism, the Mongolian language and culture, converges with the most prominent lamas.

In July 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Ungern was called up for military service by mobilization, from September 6 he became the commander of a hundred in the 1st Nerchinsk regiment of the 10th Ussuri division of the army of General Samsonov. He fought bravely, making sabotage attacks in the rear of the Germans.

He was awarded five orders: St. George 4th class, Order of St. Vladimir 4th class, Order of St. Anna 4th and 3rd class, Order of St. Stanislav 3rd class.

In September 1916 he was promoted to captain.

In October 1916, in the commandant's office of the city of Chernivtsi, the baron, drunk, hit the ensign on duty Zagorsky with a saber. As a result, Ungern was sentenced to 3 months in a fortress, which he never served.

In July 1917, the Provisional Government instructed Yesaul Semyonov (a fellow soldier of the baron) to form volunteer units from the Mongols and Buryats in Transbaikalia. Together with Semyonov, the baron ended up in Transbaikalia. Ungern's further odyssey is partially described below.

And on September 15, 1921, one of the most mysterious and odious leaders of the Civil War was shot in the city of Novonikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk) by the verdict of the Siberian Revolutionary Tribunal. The location of the grave of Baron R. F. Ungern von Sternberg is unknown.

Problematic aspects of the ideology of Baron Ungern

He divided the globe into West and East, and all mankind into white and yellow races.

During the interrogation on August 27, Ungern said: “The East must certainly collide with the West. The culture of the white race, which led the European peoples to revolution, accompanied by centuries of general leveling, the decline of the aristocracy, and so on, is subject to disintegration and replacement by the yellow culture, which was formed 3000 years ago and is still preserved in unclaimedness "

The notorious yellow danger for the baron did not exist; on the contrary, the danger to the yellow race, in his opinion, came from the white race with its revolutions and decaying culture.

In a letter to the Chinese monarchist general Zhang Kun dated February 16, 1921. Ungern wrote: “My constant conviction is that you can expect light and salvation only from the east, and not from Europeans who are corrupted at the very root even to the youngest generation, to young girls inclusive”

In another letter, the baron stated: “I firmly believe that the light comes from the East, where not all people are still corrupted by the West, where the great principles of goodness and honor sent to people by Heaven are sacred, intact.” It is possible only from the east, and not from Europeans, corrupted at the very root, even to the youngest generation, including young girls"

In another letter, the baron stated: “I firmly believe that the light comes from the East, where not all people are still corrupted by the West, where the great principles of goodness and honor sent to people by Heaven are sacred, intact.”

Ungern was fanatically convinced that in order to save the East, the yellow race, from the revolutionary infection coming from the West, it was necessary to restore the kings on the thrones and create a powerful Middle (Central Asian) state from the Amur to the Caspian Sea, headed by the "Manchu Khan" (emperor) .

The Baron harbored a hatred for any revolutionaries who overthrew the monarchies. Therefore, he decided to devote his life and work to the restoration of the monarchies. In March 1921 he wrote to the Mongolian prince Naiman-van: “My goal is the restoration of the monarchies. It is most profitable to start this great work from the East, the Mongols are the most reliable people for this purpose ... I see that the light comes from the East and will bring happiness to all mankind.

The baron developed this idea more extensively in a letter dated April 27, 1921. Bargut prince-monarchist Tsende-gun:

“Revolutionary participation is beginning to penetrate into the traditional East. Your Excellency, with his deep mind, understands the danger of this teaching that destroys the foundations of mankind and realizes that the only way to protect from this evil is the restoration of kings. The only one who can preserve the truth, goodness, honor and customs, so cruelly trampled on by wicked revolutionary people, is the kings. Only they can protect religion and raise faith on earth. Nonhumans are mercenary, impudent, deceitful, they have lost their faith and lost the truth, and there were no kings. And with them there was no happiness, and even people who are looking for death cannot find it. But the truth is true and immutable, and the truth always triumphs; and if the rulers will pursue the truth for its sake, and not for the sake of any of their interests, then, by acting, they will achieve complete success, and heaven will send kings to the earth. The highest incarnation of tsarism is the union of a deity with human power, as was the Bogdykhan in China, the Bogdo Khan in Khalkha, and in the old days the Russian tsars.

So, Ungern was convinced that there would be order on earth, people would be happy only if the highest state power was in the hands of the kings. The power of kings is divine power.

Almost all of Ungern's letters state that "light from the East" flickers over all of humanity. Under the "light of the East" Ungern meant the restoration of the kings.

“I know and believe,” he wrote to the Governor of the Altai District, General Li Zhangkui, “that only from the East can light come, the only light for the existence of the state on the basis of truth, this light is the restoration of kings.”

Therefore, Ungern wanted "light from the East" i.e. restoration of kings, spread to all mankind. In the imagination of the baron, the plan is gigantic.

Peculiar, from our point of view, Ungern had a look at the Chinese troops that he would defeat in Mongolia. He considered them revolutionary Bolshevik troops. In fact, it was an ordinary melitaristic army. But the baron had his own explanation on this matter. Here is what he wrote on February 16, 1921. Governor of Heilongjiae Province, General Zhang Kun: “Many Chinese blame me for spilling Chinese blood, but I believe that an honest warrior is obliged to destroy revolutionaries, no matter what nation they belong to, because they are nothing more than unclean spirits in human form, forcing First of all, destroy the kings, and then go brother against brother, son against father, bringing only evil into human life.

Apparently, Ungern believed that if the troops came from a country in which the Qing dynasty was overthrown and it became not a monarchist, but a republican, then, therefore, its troops became revolutionary. The reactionary President of the Republic of China, Xu Shichang, Baron called the "Revolutionary Bolshevik." He also revolutionized the Beiyang generals only because they did not oppose the Republic.

Ungern believed that the highest power, and the state should be in the hands of the king.

“I see it this way,” he said during interrogation on September 1-2 in Irkutsk, “the tsar should be the first democrat in the state. He must stand outside the class, must be the resultant between the class groupings existing in the state ... The tsar must rely on the aristocracy and the peasantry. One class cannot live without the other."

According to Ungern, the kings govern the state, relying on the aristocracy. Workers and peasants should not participate in the administration of the state.

The baron hated the bourgeoisie, in his opinion, she "strangles the aristocrats."

He called financiers and bankers "the greatest evil." But he did not disclose the content of this phrase. The only righteous power, from his point of view, is an absolute monarchy based on the aristocracy.

Adherence to the idea of ​​monarchism led Ungern to fight against the Soviet authorities. During interrogation on August 27, he stated that the idea of ​​monarchism was the main thing that pushed him onto the path of struggle against Soviet Russia.

“Until now, everything has been declining,” he said, “but now it must turn into a profit, and everywhere there will be a monarchy, a monarchy.” He allegedly found his confidence in this in Holy Scripture, in which, in his opinion, there is an indication not that "this time is coming."

Why did Ungern speak so firmly and confidently for the monarchy in Russia? He explained this, and in Order 15 of May 21, 1921. In it, he cites the following thought: Russia remained a powerful, tightly-knit empire for many centuries, until the revolutionaries, together with the socio-political and liberal-bureaucratic intelligentsia, dealt a blow to it, shaking its foundations, and the Bolsheviks brought the destruction to the end. How to restore Russia again and make it a powerful power? It is necessary to restore in power the rightful owner of the Russian Land, the Emperor of All Russia, which, according to Ungern, Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov should become (he was no longer alive, but the baron apparently did not know about this).

More than once he repeated in his letters that it is impossible to live without kings, because without them the earth will always be in disorder, moral decay, and people will never achieve a happy life.

And what kind of happy life did Ungern offer people?

Workers and peasants should work, but not participate in the administration of the state. The king must govern the state, relying on the aristocracy. During interrogation at the headquarters of the 5th Army (Irkutsk, September 2, 1921), he uttered the following tirade: “I am for the monarchy. It is impossible without obedience, Nicholas I, Pavel I - the ideal of every monarchist. We need to live and manage the way they ruled. Stick, first of all. The people became shoddy, shredded physically and morally. He needs a stick."

Ungern himself was an extremely cruel person. By his personal order, for the slightest fault, or even for nothing, officers, military officials, and doctors were flogged and lost. The punishments were: sitting on the roofs of houses in any weather, on ice, beating with sticks, drowning in water, burning people at the stake. The baron's tashur often walked over the heads, backs and stomachs of officers and soldiers. Even such executioners as Sipailov, Burdukovsky and General Rezukhin experienced his blows. At the same time, he believed fortune-tellers, soothsayers, they were constantly with him. Without their fortune-telling and predictions, he did not start a single campaign, not a single battle.

Ungern's program was based on an ideology that took him far beyond the White movement. It is close to Japanese Pan-Asianism or, according to Vladimir Solovyov, Pan-Mongolism, but is not identical to it. The doctrine "Asia for Asians" assumed the elimination of European influence on the continent and the subsequent hegemony of Tokyo from India to Mongolia, and Ungern pinned his hopes on the nomads, who, in his sincere conviction, preserved the original spiritual values ​​and therefore, they must become the pillar of the future world order.

When Ungern spoke of the “yellow culture”, which “was formed three thousand years ago and is still intact”, he meant not so much the traditional culture of China and Japan, but rather the elemental nomadic life. Its norms went back to the deepest antiquity, which seemed to be indisputable evidence of their divine origin. As Ungern wrote to Prince Naidan-van, in terms of Confucian concepts, only in the East are there still "great principles of goodness and honor sent down by Heaven itself."

The nomadic way of life was for Ungern an ideal by no means abstract. Kharachins, Khalkhas, Chahars did not disappoint the baron, did not repel him with their primitive rudeness.

In his system of values, literacy or hygiene meant incomparably less than militancy, religiosity, ingenuous honesty and respect for the aristocracy. Finally, it was important that throughout the world only the Mongols remained faithful not just to the monarchy, but to its highest form - theocracy. He was not false when he declared that "in general, the whole way of eastern life is extremely sympathetic to him in all details." Ungern preferred to live in a yurt, set up in the courtyard of one of the Chinese estates. There he ate, slept, received the people closest to him.

Of course, Ungern played the role he chose for himself purely as an actor, but it was the role of a protagonist in a historical drama, and not a participant in a masquerade. He himself, albeit not quite consciously, had to feel his native style of life as something like asceticism, helping to comprehend the meaning of being.

The idea of ​​creating a Central Asian state

During interrogations, Ungern said that the purpose of his campaign in Mongolia, in addition to the expulsion of Chinese troops from there, was the unification of all Mongolian tribes into a single state and, on its basis, the creation of a powerful

Middle (Central - Asian) state. At the basis of the plan to create such a state, he put the idea of ​​​​the inevitability of a collision between East and West, from where the danger of the white race to the yellow race came.

The idea of ​​uniting the Mongolian tribes into one state was not new. It was put forward by the Khalkha spiritual and secular feudal lords in 1911, when Khalkha actually separated from China and wanted to annex Inner Mongolia, Western Mongolia Barga and the Uryankhai region (Tuva) to Khalkha and asked tsarist Russia to help them in this enterprise.

But tsarist Russia was unable to assist in this enterprise. Ungern also wanted to unite the same Mongolian lands into a single state.

Judging by his letters, he paid special attention to Inner Mongolia and, above all, to the annexation of Inner Mongolia. These are Yugutszur-khutukhta, the princes of Naiman-vanu and Naiden-gun.

In a letter to Yugutszur-Khutukhta, Ungern called him "the most energetic figure in Mongolia" and placed the greatest hope on him as a unifier of Mongolia.

In another letter, Ungern referred to Yugutszur Khutukht as the "main connecting bridge" between the Khalkha Mongols and the Inner Mongols. But Ungern believed that the uprising should be led by Naiden-gun.

Found-gunu Ungern wrote that he "tried with all his might to win over Inner Mongolia to his side." He hoped that the princes and lamas of Inner Mongolia would raise the uprising, Ungern promised to help the inner Mongols with weapons.

Ungern's idea was not only to unite all the Mongolian lands, but a single state, but also provided for the creation of a wider and more powerful state in Central Asia. Archival materials show that, in addition to the Mongolian lands, it should have included Xinjiang, Tibet, Kazakhstan, the nomadic peoples of Siberia, and the Central Asian possessions.

The newly created state - Ungern called it the Middle State - was supposed to oppose the "evil" that the West brings and protect the great culture of the East.

Under the "evil of the West" Ungern meant revolutionaries, socialists, communists, anarchists and its decaying culture with its "unbelief, immorality, betrayal, denial of the truth of good"

However, all these promises turned into empty words, because in fact Xu and his bureaucratic entourage pursued a completely different course. For example, most of the trade duties went to the Chinese treasury. In Urga, a Chinese state bank was opened, which ensured the monopoly position of the Chinese currency in the domestic market. The Chinese authorities demanded that the Mongols pay their debts.

Since Chinese merchants sold goods to the Mongols on credit at high interest rates, by 1911 many arats were indebted to them. The Mongolian princes took money from the Urga branch of the Daiqing Bank and also found themselves in debt. The total debt of the Outer Mongols to the Chinese in 1911 was about 20 million Mexican dollars. Outer Mongolia was effectively an independent country and, of course, did not pay its debts.

The Mongols did not pay their debts even after the Kyakhta Agreement of 1915, because the autonomous status of Outer Mongolia gave them such an opportunity. But now the Chinese administration in Outer Mongolia, relying on military force, began to collect debts. Moreover, Chinese merchants-usurers added to the main debt interest accruals for 1912-1919, the size of the debt, thus, increased fantastically.

The supply of food to the Chinese troops was a heavy burden on the Mongols. Due to their poverty, they were not always able to provide food for the Chinese troops. The latter resorted to looting and robbery of the civilian population.

Chinese soldiers were paid irregularly, which also encouraged them to plunder. Not receiving a salary for several months, the soldiers of the Urga garrison on September 25, 1920, wanted to raise a riot. There was a big robbery. To prevent it, Chinese merchants and the Russian colony collected 16,000 dollars and 800 sheep for Chinese soldiers.

D.P. Pershin gives the following description of the Chinese soldiers of the Urga garrison: “The Chinese soldiers were human scum, scum, capable of any violence, for which honor, conscience, pity were only empty sounds.

Perhaps Pershin is unnecessarily hardening the characterization of the Chinese soldiers, but the essence of it is captured correctly. Indeed, the soldiers of the troops of the Chinese militarists for the most part consisted of lumpen proletarians. It was not necessary to expect from them good military training, strong discipline. And this factor played an important role in the battles of Ungern for Urga with the Chinese troops several times superior in number.

The Chinese military behaved shamelessly politically. Xu Shuzheng forced the Jebzong Damba-hutukhta in the main monastery of Urga Ikh-Khure to bow three times to the portrait of Chinese President Xu Shichang (January 1920). This humiliating ceremony offended the national and religious feelings of the Mongolian people. Before leaving for China, General Xu carried out repressions against a number of prominent political and military figures. The heroes of the fight against the Chinese troops in 1912, Khatan-Bator Maksarzhav and Manlai-Bator Damdinsuren, were arrested and imprisoned. The latter died in prison.

The idea of ​​expelling the Chinese troops matured in the most diverse layers of the outer Mongols. However, they understood that they would not achieve this goal on their own, and therefore they pinned their hopes on outside help. Mongolian princes and lamas sent letters and petitions to the American and Japanese governments to help them overthrow the Chinese yoke, but received no response.

On March 19, 1920, the princes and lamas sent a letter to the Plenipotentiary of the Russian government. It talked about how the Outer Mongols achieved independence in 1911, about the Kyakhta Agreement of 1915, about the abolition of the autonomy of Outer Mongolia in 1919 and the difficult situation of the people under the yoke of General Xu Shuzheng, opposing not only the brutal military regime , which was established in Outer Mongolia, but also against the Kyakhta agreement, which eliminated its de facto independence.

However, apparently realizing that Soviet Russia would not agree to the status of Outer Mongolia independent of China, the authors at the end of the letter propose to "restore the autonomous administration" of Khalkha and the Kobdo district. this letter was actually a letter from the Urga government.

In the summer of 1920, a struggle broke out in China between various groups of Beiyang militarists. In July, the Anfuist group to which Xu Shuzheng belonged was defeated by the Zhili group. Xu Shuzheng was recalled to Beijing. After Xu's departure, power in Khalkha was taken over by the head of the Urga garrison, General Guo Sung-ling. The Chinese military behaved even more unbridled, looted, robbed and imprisoned the Mongols. Guo Songling arrested Jebzong-Damba-Khutuhtu for anti-Chinese sentiments, who spent 50 days in a separate (not palace) room. The soldiers wanted to frighten the Mongols by arresting the Khutukhta, to show their strength in front of them. But it was stupidity on their part. The arrest of the head of the Mongolian lamaist church caused a new wave of discontent and hatred of the Mongols towards the Chinese.

Instead of Xu Shuzheng, Beijing sent General Chen Yi to Outer Mongolia, who was the amban in Urga from 1917 until the autumn of 1919. Tola at the foot of the mountain Bogdo-ula, considered sacred by the Mongols. However, now the palace was guarded not by Mongolian cyrics, but by Chinese soldiers.

In essence, the Hutuhta was under house arrest.

Guo Songling did not want to obey Chen Yi, ignoring the latter, considering himself the master of Mongolia. The contradictions between the two chief commanders weakened Chinese power in Khalkha.

At this time, the hatred of the Mongols towards the Chinese Amiens reached a high level, which created favorable conditions for Ungern's campaign in Mongolia.

A terrible figure in the history of the struggle for Soviet power in Transbaikalia and the Far East was Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg, the right hand of Ataman Semenov.

Ungern came from an aristocratic family of Baltic barons who made their fortune by sea robbery. The baron himself said that his ancestors "took part in all the legendary crusades."

One of the Ungerns died in Jerusalem, where he fought for the liberation of the tomb of Christ, in the service of King Richard the Lionheart. In the XII century. Ungerns served as monks in the Teutonic Order and spread Christianity among Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians and Slavs with fire and sword.

One of the Ungerns was a famous robber knight, who instilled fear in the merchants whom he robbed on the high roads.

The other was himself a merchant and had ships in the Baltic Sea. “My grandfather became famous as a sea robber who robbed English ships in the Indian Ocean. I myself created an order of Buddhist warrior monks in Transbaikalia to fight the communists” (47).

In 1908, Ungern ended up in Transbaikalia, and then in Mongolia, where he got acquainted with the customs and beliefs of the Mongols. Then he ends up in the Trans-Baikal Cossack Regiment. Here is the “brilliant” description given to him at that time by the commander of this regiment:

“Esaul Baron Ungern Sternberg ... in a state of extreme intoxication is capable of acts that drop the honor of an officer’s uniform, for which he was expelled to the reserve of ranks ...”

Ungern was convicted of a fight and ended up in a fortress, from where he was released in 1917 by the February Revolution. At this time, he became Semenov's assistant in the formation of the Buryat regiments.

A. N. Kislov writes: “.. brutally destroying communists, partisans, Soviet employees and Jews, along with women and children, Ungern was awarded the rank of lieutenant general by ataman Semenov and became the head of the Asian cavalry division in his army in Transbaikalia” (48).

Beginning in December 1917, at the head of the cavalry division he created, Ungern waged a continuous struggle against the Soviet government.

Having separated from Semenov, at the direction of the latter and with the approval of the Japanese interventionists, Ungern at the end of 1920 moved his "horse-Asian" division, numbering up to 10 thousand people (its core consisted of eight hundred Transbaikal and Orenburg Cossacks), to Mongolia.

There, as a result of the outbreak of civil war, the “kingdom of God of the Bogd-Jebzun-Damba-Khutukhta Khan” began. "Saint" Khutukhta, who exercised both spiritual and secular power, was placed under house arrest, and the local princes and clergy called for help from the White Guards.

Ungern's division, which occupied the region of Borzi and Dauria, entered Mongolia from the zone controlled by Japanese troops. Crossing the border was covered by strong detachments of the Semenovites.

Baron Ungern, who knew the situation in Mongolia well, playing on the national feelings of the Mongolian people, put forward the slogan: “ Liberation of the country and restoration of its autonomy”.

He managed to intimidate the Bogdo-Gegen, whom he forcibly brought to his headquarters, and, having enlisted his support, received direct access to the Bogdo-Gegen.

One day the Bogdo Gegen predicted to him: “You won't die. You will be embodied in a higher being. Remember this, incarnate God of War, Khan of Great Mongolia! » This “prophecy” served as the basis for the “deification” of Ungern by the lamas. He was declared to be the earthly "incarnation" of the god Mahakala (war and destruction).

All this was necessary in order to explain the "exploits" of Ungern by the "commands" of the higher gods. The Bogdo Gegen issued him a special letter, which praised the activities of the baron, and declared all his atrocities and crimes to be manifestations of divine will.

In early February 1921, Ungern captured the Mongolian capital Urga (now Ulaanbaatar) and restored the Bogd Gegen to the throne. In fact, he himself became a dictator in the country.

The Japanese imperialists sought, through the hands of Ungern, not only to seize Mongolia, but also to turn it into a springboard for an attack on Soviet Russia.

While in Urga, the baron establishes contact with the monarchists of Mongolia, Tibet, and China. He gathers the Semenovites and Kolchakites, who have concentrated on the Russian-Chinese-Mongolian border, writes appeals, manifestos.

Ungern swore more than once in disinterestedness, devotion to the ideas of monarchism and readiness to fight to the last drop of blood for the restoration of the defeated royal thrones in any country.

He fiercely hated the revolution and considered it his "duty of an honest warrior" to destroy the revolutionaries, no matter what nation, no matter what state they belong to.

The restoration of the Middle Empire, headed by a representative of the overthrown Manchu dynasty, is one of the most important tasks that Ungern set himself.

In order to successfully solve this problem, he enters into lively relations with the leaders of the Mongol-Chinese reaction, with the monarchist rabble that has survived on the outskirts of the former Tsarist Russia, he tries to impress their imagination with the "greatness" of the undertaking, "destined by heaven itself."

“As soon as I manage to give a strong and decisive impetus to all detachments and individuals who dream of fighting the communists,” he wrote, “and when I see the planned action raised in Russia, and at the head of the movement - loyal and honest people, I will transfer my actions to Mongolia and its allied regions for the final restoration of the Chin dynasty" (4 9}.

Especially cruel was Ungern's reprisal against those whom he considered his political opponents. “Having occupied Urga,” writes D. Batoev, “Ungern gave his soldiers the right to kill all Jews, “suspicious” Russians and Buryats with impunity for three days. Among those killed by the Ungernists were members of the revolutionary committee of Russian citizens in Urga: Kucherenko, Gembarzhevsky and others, as well as the doctor Tsybiktarov. The executioners came up with a terrible execution for them: they were quartered .. "(50 }.

The leader of the Mongolian people Sukhe-Bator said about these wonderful people:

« They did so much for the Arat revolution, they gave their lives for it. It hurts to realize that you will never again see the good-natured smile of Kucherenko, the hot eyes of Gembarzhevsky, you will not shake the thin dark hand of Tsybiktarov ... There remains a feeling of boundless love and respect for the fearless sons of the Russian people. The memory of them will remain forever” (51).

The atrocities of Baron Ungern, this half-mad sadist who loved to personally take part in torture and executions, seemed disgusting even to his drinking companions.

So, one of the officers of his gang wrote: “ With the onset of darkness all around on the hills, only the terrible howl of wolves and feral dogs was heard. The wolves were so impudent that on the days when there were no executions, and therefore food for them, they ran into the barracks ... On these hills, where bones, skulls, skeletons and rotting parts of bodies gnawed by wolves lay everywhere, and he loved to ride for rest Baron Ungern "(52 }.

Roaming with his detachments across the Mongolian steppes, robbing the local population, on May 21, 1921, Baron Ungern issues an order to attack the Red Army in Siberia.

Having thrown Ungern from the borders of the Soviet Republic to Mongolia in June 1921, units of the Red Army, at the request of the Provisional People's Revolutionary Government of Mongolia, set off to liberate Urga.

Meanwhile, Ungern once again crossed the border and sent his forces to the north of Transbaikalia, intending to break through to the Siberian railway, blow up the tunnels and stop communication on this most important highway. The threat of Ungern's breakthrough to Mysovaya became quite real.

In the shortest possible time (from the rear and recovering Red Army soldiers of the 35th Infantry Division and the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade), under the command of K.K. Rokossovsky, a consolidated detachment was formed and well armed (he even had two guns) 500 foot soldiers.

Part of the Red Army managed to place on carts. With this rather mobile detachment, Rokossovsky marches across the Khamar-daban ridge towards the enemy and drives him away from Mysovaya.

Then Ungern turned towards Novoselenginsk and Verkhneudinsk. However, Rokossovsky manages to cover Vsrkhpeudinsk from the south.

Having suffered a defeat in the battles on August 5-6 from the troops of the Red Army returning from Mongolia, Ungern barely escaped from the ring of Soviet units. He ran south again...

Meanwhile, the people's liberation movement in Mongolia was expanding. The army led by Sukhe-Bator led a successful fight against the Chinese militarists and the White Guard gang of Ungern.

The Red Army entered Urga on July 6. Then the Bogdo-Gegen spoke out against Ungern, calling on the people to destroy this "dissolute thief."

The fighters of Rokossovsky and Shchetinkin chased the Ungernites across the Mongolian steppe for two weeks, feeling thirsty and hungry, either repulsing attacks, then attacking, then pursuing the remnants of the Ungern army, and finally, on August 22, 1921, southwest of Mount Urt, they overtook the baron.

The Chekists, under the leadership of the plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU of Siberia, organized the capture of this executioner: they sent agitators to the Ungern troops, who did a lot of work among the Ungern soldiers.

The Mongolian cyrics, who were part of Ungern's troops, refused to follow him to Western Mongolia, where he intended to go, seized him, disarmed him and took him to Novonikolaevsk.

On September 15, in Novonikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk), an open hearing of the Extraordinary Revolutionary Tribunal in the Ungern case was held. Yemelyan Yaroslavsky was the prosecutor.