When the British, American, and French interventionists landed in Archangel in August 1918, they set about creating a so-called "loyal Russian army" with which they hoped to carry out their plans in the fight against Soviet power in Northern Russia. To this end, they forcibly conscripted the entire adult male population of the occupied areas into the White Army. But the mobilized soldiers did not want to fight against their class brothers, rose up against their oppressors and went to the Red Army with weapons in their hands. So, on the night of July 20-21, 1919, soldiers of the 5th Northern White Guard Regiment rebelled in the village of Chuguevo, who arrested the officers and went over to the side of the Soviet power1 . A former soldier of the 3rd Northern Regiment of the White P. P. Ivontsin said that part of them, having arrested British officers near d. Tulgas, did the same 2 .
And in July 1919, there was an uprising in the Dyer battalion 3, formed by the British in Arkhangelsk in the spring of 1919, mainly from Red Army prisoners of war who were in the provincial prison. The reasons that forced the interventionists to take this extreme step were the heavy losses they suffered at the front and the lack of reinforcements. An English correspondent wrote about this in The Times on July 25, 1919: "A few months ago, when our command was in need of soldiers, and no fresh troops were sent from England, General Ironside decided to talk these prisoners to reason, turn them away from their mistakes, make them loyal soldiers and persuade them to fight against their former comrades... " 4. The former prisoners were brought together in a battalion, they were dressed in English military uniforms, they were given money and food allowances on the same grounds as British soldiers. Command positions in the battalion were held by British and Russian officers. For several weeks, the battalion underwent military training, and then it was assigned to
A review was held in Arkhangelsk, which was attended by the command of the interventionist and White Guard troops.
In the first days of June, 1919. The Dyer battalion was sent to the North Dvina sector to relieve the Anglo-American units that were defending the d area. The Trinity. The battalion was given the task of immediately launching an offensive against the red troops. However, the soldiers were set up differently and did not want to fight. The battalion had an underground Bolshevik organization, led by unknown heroes, that trained soldiers to join the Red Army .5 Each company had its own representatives. Some companies of the Whites ' 4th Northern Regiment, which occupied positions adjacent to Dyer's Battalion 6, were also preparing to rebel . An English correspondent described these events as follows:: "When Dyer's battalion rebelled, it was only by chance that a nearby Russian unit didn't join it." 7 The British command, having learned about the mood of the soldiers, decided to disband the Dyer battalion. This hastened the beginning of the uprising. On July 5, 1919, the underground Bolshevik organization called a secret meeting, at which it was decided to speak out . It was planned to defeat the headquarters of not only the battalion, but also the Dvinsky district and open the red front.
At 3 a.m. on July 7, 1919, at a prearranged signal, the insurgent soldiers seized the battalion headquarters. The direct leaders of the uprising were soldiers Kraskov, Dedkov and Flotsky 9 . As General Miller, the commander of the White Guard forces, noted in his order of September 18, 1919, the rebels came "to the officers' quarters at night and killed 7 officers - 3 British, 4 Russian and wounded 3 other officers - 2 English (one of them died of wounds) and one Russian " 10 . After that, the battalion went to the headquarters of the troops of the Dvinsky district, but, meeting the enemy-
1 "Petrogradskaya Pravda", 1. VIII. 1919.
2 Memoirs of P. P. Ivontsin dated July 27, 1969 (From the author's personal archive).
The 3rd Battalion is named Dyer's after the English officer Dyer, who was known for the massacre of Hindus and later participated in the anti-Soviet intervention.
4 Cit. by: "Petrogradskaya pravda", 17. IX. 1919.
5 "The struggle for the triumph of Soviet power in the North". Collection of documents (1918-1920). Arkhangelsk, 1967, p. 176.
6 "Red North", 19. VII. 1919.
7 "Petrogradskaya pravda", 12. IX. 1919.
8 "The struggle for the triumph of Soviet Power in the North", p. 176.
9 M. V. Rekhachev. In a dashing time. Arkhangelsk, 1958, pp. 126-127.
10 State Archive of the Arkhangelsk region, f. R-2190, op. 2, 15, l. 31 (copy).
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However, he was forced to retreat to the front line, and then almost completely went over to the side of the Red troops in the area of the village of Borok. The interventionists organized a chase after the rebels. The Times wrote: "About 200 Bolsheviks fled into the surrounding woods as the cavalry chased them, but only 35 of them were caught." 11 The defected soldiers joined the Red Army units and subsequently actively fought against the White Guards until the liberation of Arkhangelsk, and then, together with parts of the 6th Army, they were transferred to the Western Front.
The uprising in the Dyer battalion, as well as the actions in other parts of the white army of the Northern Front, showed that the interventionists ' desire to force Russian soldiers to fight for alien interests was not justified and that their entire adventure with the support of the so-called Provisional Government of the Socialist-Revolutionary Tchaikovsky failed. In this regard, a letter from the commander of the 2nd battalion of the Chepshire Regiment, John Sherwood Kelly, a participant in the battles in the North, published in the Daily Herald on September 8, 1919, is characteristic: "Unexpectedly, I saw that the vaunted "loyal Russian army" largely consists of captured Bolsheviks disguised in English uniforms They were ready to rise up at any moment, and they were no less dangerous to us than the Bolshevik troops who were openly fighting against us. The correctness of this was most tragically proved in July, when Russian soldiers mutinied and killed their British officers. Further, I came to the conclusion that the toy government we had planted in Archangel did not enjoy the confidence or sympathy of the population, and without the support of the British bayonets could not have lasted even an hour. " 12
The interventionists brutally dealt with the detained soldiers of the Dyer battalion. One day in July, 1919. they were taken to the place of execution on Osinovsky Meadow, opposite the Dvinsky Bereznik, and shot (for "caution" - in the presence of other soldiers). One of the participants of the intervention in the North, the English military writer S. Gate, wrote:: "The execution took place on a parade ground, on which the remnants of the ill - fated battalion stood on three sides: on one side, a battalion of Russian infantry, on the other, companies of the 45th battalion of the royal Riflemen. They shot 12 machine-gunners of the Dyer battalion, tied to 12 poles with blindfolds. They were read the verdict and fired a salvo. " 13 This massacre is one of the most shameful pages in the history of British imperialism, which committed a number of heinous crimes in the temporarily occupied territory of Soviet Russia in 1918-1920.
11 Cit. by: "Petrogradskaya pravda", 17. IX. 1919.
12 Cit. po: "Red North", 4. I. 1920.
13 V. V. Tarasov. The struggle against interventionists in the North of Russia (1918-1920). Moscow, 1958, p. 257.
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