What war did Karbyshev participate in? Forgotten feat of General Karbyshev. Gravestones for the Nazis

Today, very few people from the generation of 20 - year olds and younger will be able to tell something intelligible about the legendary Soviet hero - Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. His surname is well-known, mainly because of the large number of streets named after him in the cities of the post-Soviet space, institutions named after him (for example, schools) are less common, but these are just the remaining fragments of that legend about a man whose fate was known once upon a time to every pioneer in any corner of the USSR ...

Dmitry Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk in the family of a military official. At a young age, Dmitry was left without a father, however, he decided to follow in his footsteps and in 1898 he graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps, and two years later - from the St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School. After graduating from the school, Karbyshev, with the rank of second lieutenant, was appointed to serve as a company commander in the 1st East Siberian sapper battalion, which was located in Manchuria.

Dmitry Karbyshev took part in the Russian-Japanese war: as part of his battalion, he fortified positions, was engaged in building bridges and installing communications equipment. He showed himself to be a brave officer in the battles of Mukden, and it is not surprising that in two years of this war Karbyshev received five orders and three medals.

In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev was fired from the army into the reserve: according to documented sources, for agitation among the soldiers during that turbulent revolutionary time. A year later, however, Karbyshev was again called up to serve as a company commander of a sapper battalion: his knowledge and experience were useful when rebuilding fortifications in Vladivostok.

After graduating with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy in 1911, Dmitry Mikhailovich was assigned to Brest-Litovsk, where he took part in the construction of the forts of the Brest-Litovsk Fortress.

The first world war Karbyshev meets in the 8th Army General A.A. Brusilov, who fought in the Carpathians. In 1915 Karbyshev was one of the actively attacking the fortress of Przemysl; in battles he was wounded in the leg. For the heroism shown in these battles, Karbyshev receives the Order of St. Anna with swords and is promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Dmitry Karbyshev joined the Red Guard in December 1917, from the next year he was already part of the Red Army. During the Civil War, Karbyshev helped to strengthen military positions throughout the country - from Ukraine to Siberia. Since 1920, Dmitry Mikhailovich has been the engineer chief of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front, a little later he was appointed assistant to the chief of engineers of the Southern Front.

After the Civil War, Karbyshev taught at the Frunze Military Academy, since 1934 he has been working as a teacher at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Karbyshev was popular among the students of the Academy. Here is what General of the Army Shtemenko recalls about him: "... from him came the favorite saying of the sappers:" One sapper, one ax, one day, one stump. " True, it was altered by witches, in Karbyshev's way it sounded like this: "One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row."

In 1940, Karbyshev held the rank of Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, and in 1941 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences (he penned over a hundred scientific papers on military engineering and military). His theoretical textbooks on engineering support during combat operations and the tactics of engineering troops were considered fundamental materials in the training of Red Army commanders before the Great Patriotic War.

Dmitry Karbyshev took part in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, developed recommendations for engineering support for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim line.

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War found Karbyshev at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Grodno. Dmitry Mikhailovich is offered to provide transport and personal protection to return to Moscow, however, he refuses, preferring to retreat together with the units of the Red Army. Once surrounded and trying to get out of it, Karbyshev was seriously wounded in a fierce battle (near the Dnieper, in the Mogilev region), and was captured by the Germans in an unconscious state.

From this moment begins the three-year history of the Karbyshev captivity, his wanderings through the Nazi camps.

In Nazi Germany, Karbyshev was well known: already in 1940, the 4th department of the RSHA of the Imperial Security Directorate opened a special dossier on him. The dossier had a special mark and passed under the accounting category "IV D 3-a", which meant, in addition to monitoring activities, to apply special treatment in the event of capture.

He began his camp "journey" in the Polish town of Ostrov-Mazowiecki, where he was sent to a distribution camp. Soon Karbyshev was sent to the camp of the Polish town of Zamosc, Dmitry Mikhailovich was settled in barrack No. 11 (later called the general's). The Germans' calculation that after the hardships of camp life, Karbyshev would agree to cooperate with them, was not justified, and in the spring of 1942 Karbyshev was transferred to an officer's concentration camp in the city of Hammelburg (Bavaria). This camp, consisting purely of a contingent of Soviet prisoner officers and generals, was special - the task of its leadership was to persuade the prisoners to cooperate with Nazi Germany by any means. That is why certain norms of legality and humane treatment were observed in its atmosphere. However, these methods did not work for Dmitry Karbyshev, it was here that his motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over oneself! The main thing is not to kneel before the enemy. "

Since 1943, a former officer of the tsarist Russian army Pelit has been conducting "preventive work" with Karbyshev (it is noteworthy that this Pelit once served with Dmitry Mikhailovich in Brest). Colonel Pelita was warned that the Russian military engineer was of particular interest to Germany, and therefore every effort should be made to attract him to the side of the Nazis.

The subtle psychologist Pelit got down to business with a reason: playing the role of a seasoned warrior, far from politics, he described to Karbyshev all the advantages of going over to the German side (fantastic in nature). Dmitry Mikhailovich, however, immediately saw through the cunning of Pelita and stood his ground: I do not betray my homeland.
The Gestapo command decides to use slightly different tactics. Dmitry Karbyshev was taken to Berlin, where he was organized a meeting with Heinz Raubenheimer, a famous German professor and expert in fortification engineering. In exchange for cooperation, he offers Karbyshev conditions for work and residence in Germany, which would make him an almost free person. Dmitry Mikhailovich's answer was exhaustive: “My beliefs do not fall out with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for the country that is at war with my Motherland. "

After such a firm refusal, the tactics in relation to the Soviet general-prisoner of war changed again - Karbyshev was sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, a camp famous for its hard labor and truly inhuman conditions in relation to prisoners. The six-month stay of Dmitry Karbyshev in the hell of Flossenburg ended with his transfer to the Nuremberg Gestapo prison. After which the camps, where Karbyshev was assigned, began to spin in a gloomy carousel. Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen - these are truly nightmarish death camps, through which Karbyshev also had to go and in which, despite the inhuman conditions of his existence, until his last days he remained a strong-willed and unbending person.

Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev died in the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen: he froze, being doused with water in the cold ... He died heroically and martyrically, without betraying his Soviet homeland.

The details of his death became known from the words of the Major of the Canadian Army, Seddon De St. Clair, who also passed Mauthausen. This was one of the first reliable information about Karbyshev's life in captivity - after all, he was then considered missing in the USSR at the very beginning of the war.
In 1946, Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And on February 28, 1948, a monument and a memorial plaque were unveiled at the site of the former Mauthausen concentration camp, where Lieutenant General Karbyshev was savagely tortured.

Dmitry Karbyshev - Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops. Born on October 26 (14th) October 1880 in Omsk in the family of a military official. Russian. Member of the CPSU (b) since 1940. In 1898 he graduated from the Siberian cadet skeleton, in 1890 - from the Nikolaev Military Engineering School (in the first category). In the rank of second lieutenant, he was appointed a company commander in the East Siberian sapper battalion stationed in Manchuria.

Member of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905. As part of the battalion, he fortified positions, established communications, built bridges, and conducted reconnaissance in force. Participated in the battle of Mukden. He was awarded 5 orders (including Stanislav 2 degree) and 3 medals. He ended the war with the rank of lieutenant.

After the war, for agitation in the middle, the serviceman was dismissed in the reserve. Lived and worked in Vladivostok. In 1907 the Vladivostok fortress sapper battalion began to form. Experienced officers were urgently required and Karbyshev re-entered the military service... In 1911 he graduated with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy. According to the distribution, Captain Karbyshev was supposed to become the commander of the mine company of the Sevastopol Fortress, but instead he was sent to Brest-Litovsk. There he took part in the construction of the forts of the Brest Fortress.

Member of the I important war from the first day. He fought in the Carpathians as part of the 8th Army of General A.A. Brusilov. (Southwestern Front). Was a divisional engineer in the 78th and 69th Infantry Divisions, 22nd Finnish Rifle Corps. At the beginning of 1915 he took part in the storming of the Przemysl fortress. He was wounded in the leg. For bravery and courage he was awarded the Order of St. Anna with swords and promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1916 he took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough.

In December 1917 in Mogilev-Podolsk Karbyshev joined the Red Guard. Since 1918 in the Red Army. During the Civil War, he took part in the construction of the Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Troitsk, Kurgan fortified regions, supplied the engineering support of the Kakhovsky bridgehead. He held positions of responsibility at the headquarters of the North Caucasian Military District. In 1920 he was appointed Chief of Engineers of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front. He led the fortification of the Trans-Baikal bridgehead. In the fall of 1920 he became assistant to the chief of engineers of the Southern Front. He supervised the engineering support of the assault on Chongar and Perekop, for which he was awarded a personalized gold watch.

In 1921-1936 he served in the engineering troops, was the chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Red Army. From November 1926 he taught at the Frunze Military Academy. In February 1934 he was appointed head of the department of military engineering. Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1936, he was assistant head of the tactics department of the higher formations of the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1938 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. In the same year he was approved in the academic rank of professor. In 1940 he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops.

Karbyshev was the first Soviet scientist who was responsible for the most complete research and development of questions of the use of destruction and obstacles. His contribution to the scientific development of the issues of forcing rivers and other water barriers is significant. Published more than 100 scientific papers on military engineering and military history. His articles and manuals on the theory of engineering support for combat and operations, tactics of engineering troops were the main materials for the training of commanders of the Red Army in the pre-war years. In 1941, Karbyshev defended his doctoral dissertation in military sciences. Repeatedly chaired the State Commission for the Protection of Diploma Projects at the V.V. Kuibyshev Military Engineering Academy. He was a member of the Expert Operational-Tactical Commission under the Higher School Committee. He often attended the testing of the latest samples of engineering technology. Participated in the statutory commissions for the development and publication of Manuals for the Red Army on military engineering.

Member of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. As part of the group of the Deputy Chief of the Main Military Engineering Directorate for defensive construction, he worked out recommendations to the troops on engineering support for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. In early June 1941, D.M. Karbyshev was sent to the Western Special Combat District. The Great Patriotic Battle found him at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Grodno. After 2 days, he moved to the headquarters of the 10th Army. On June 27, the army headquarters was surrounded. In August, while trying to get out of the encirclement, Lieutenant General Karbyshev was not easily wounded in a battle in the Dnieper region. In an unconscious state he was captured.

Don't fall on your knees

Karbyshev spent three and a half years in fascist dungeons. Unfortunately, there are still no scientific studies (or at least truthful publications) about that tragic and heroic period in the life of the great soviet general... For several years Moscow did not know anything about the fate of Karbyshev. It is noteworthy that in 1941, in his "Personal File", an official note was made: "Missing."

Therefore, it is no secret that some domestic publicists began to "give out on the mountain" downright incredible "facts" like the fact that the Soviet government in August 1941, having learned about the capture of Karbyshev, offered the Germans to arrange an exchange of the Soviet general for two German, however in Berlin, such an exchange was considered "unequal." In fact, our command at that time did not even know that General Karbyshev was captured.

Dmitry Karbyshev began his "camp journey" in a distribution camp near the Polish town of Ostrov-Mazowiecki. Here the prisoners were copied, sorted, interrogated. In the camp, Karbyshev suffered from a severe form of dysentery. At the dawn of one of the cold October days in 1941, an overcrowded echelon, including Karbyshev, arrived in Polish Zamoć. The general was settled in barrack # 11, which later became firmly called "general's".

Here, as they say, there was a roof over your head and almost normal food, which was very rare in conditions of captivity. The Germans, according to German historians, were almost sure that after everything they had experienced, the outstanding Soviet scientist would have "feelings of gratitude" and he would agree to cooperation. But this did not work - and in March 1942 Karbyshev was transferred to a purely officer concentration camp in Hammelburg (Bavaria). This camp was special - intended exclusively for Soviet prisoners of war. His command had a clear direction - to do everything possible (and impossible) to win over to Hitler's side "unstable, vacillating and cowardly" Soviet officers and generals. Therefore, in the camp the semblance of legality, humane treatment of prisoners was observed, which, it must be admitted, gave its positive results (especially in the first year of the war). But not in relation to Karbyshev. It was during this period that his famous motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over oneself! The main thing is not to kneel before the enemy. "

Pelit and the history of the Red Army

In early 1943, Soviet intelligence learned that the commander of one of the German infantry units, Colonel Pelit, had been urgently recalled from the Eastern Front and appointed commandant of the camp in Hammelburg. At one time, the colonel graduated from the cadet school in St. Petersburg and was fluent in Russian. But it is especially noteworthy that the former officer of the tsarist army Pelit once served in Brest together with Captain Karbyshev. But this fact did not cause any special associations among Soviet intelligence officers. They say that both traitors and real Bolsheviks served in the tsarist army.

But the fact is that it was Pelit who was instructed to conduct personal work with the "prisoner of war lieutenant general of the engineering troops." At the same time, the colonel was warned that the Russian scientist was of "special interest" for the Wehrmacht, and especially for the headquarters of the German engineering service. We must make every effort to make it work for the Germans.

In principle, Pelit was not only a good connoisseur of military affairs, but also a master of "intrigue and intelligence" known in German military circles. Already at the first meeting with Karbshev, he began to play the role of a person far from politics, a simple old warrior who sympathized with the honored Soviet general with all his heart. At every step the German tried to emphasize his attention and disposition to Dmitry Mikhailovich, called him his guest of honor, and was scattered with courtesies. He, not sparing paints, told the military general all kinds of fables that, according to information that reached him, the German command decided to give Karbyshev complete freedom and even, if he so wished, the possibility of traveling abroad to one of the neutral countries. What to hide, many prisoners could not resist such a temptation, but not General Karbyshev. Moreover, he immediately saw through the true mission of his longtime colleague.

I will note in passing that during this period it was in Hammelburg that German propaganda began to work out its "historical invention" - a "commission was created here to compile the history of the operations of the Red Army in the current war." Leading German experts in the field, including SS personnel, arrived at the camp. They talked with the captured officers, defending the idea that the purpose of compiling the "history" is purely scientific, that the officers are free to write it in the plan in which they wish. In passing it was reported that all officers who had expressed their consent to write the history of the operations of the Red Army would receive additional food, a comfortable room for work and housing, and, in addition, even a fee for "literary" work. The stake was primarily placed on Karbyshev, but the general categorically refused to "cooperate", moreover, he was able to dissuade most of the other prisoners of war from participating in the "Goebbels adventure". The attempt of the fascist command to organize the "Commission" ultimately failed.

Belief and Faith

According to some reports, by the end of October 1942, the Germans realized that Karbyshev was "not so simple" - it was rather problematic to win him over to the side of Nazi Germany. Here is the content of one of the secret letters that Colonel Pelit received from the “higher authority”: “The High Command of the Engineering Service again turned to me about the prisoner Karbyshev, professor, lieutenant general of the engineering troops, who was in your camp. I was forced to delay the solution of the issue, as I hoped that you would follow my instructions regarding the named prisoner, be able to find a common language with him and convince him that if he correctly assesses the situation for him and will meet our desires , a good future awaits him. However, Major Peltzer, who I sent to you to inspect, in his report stated the general unsatisfactory fulfillment of all plans concerning the Hammelburg camp and, in particular, the captive Karbyshev. "

Soon the Gestapo command ordered to deliver Karbyshev to Berlin. He guessed why he was being taken to the German capital.

The general was placed in a windowless solitary confinement cell with a bright, constantly flashing electric lamp. While in the cell, Karbyshev lost track of time. The day here was not divided into day and night, there were no walks. But, as he later told his comrades in captivity, it took, apparently, at least two or three weeks before he was summoned for the first interrogation. It was a common trick of the jailers, - Karbyshev later recalled, analyzing all this "event" with professorial precision: the prisoner is brought into a state of complete apathy, atrophy of will, before being taken "into the spin."

But, to the surprise of Dmitry Mikhailovich, he was met not by a prison investigator, but by the famous German fortifier Professor Heinz Raubenheimer, whom he had heard a lot about over the past two decades, whose works he closely followed in special magazines and literature. They met several times.

The professor politely greeted the prisoner, expressing regret for the inconvenience caused to the great Soviet scientist. Then he took out a sheet of paper from the folder and began to read the previously prepared text. The Soviet general was offered release from the camp, the possibility of moving to a private apartment, as well as full material security. Karbyshev will have access to all libraries and book depositories in Germany, he will be given the opportunity to get acquainted with other materials in the areas of military engineering that interest him. If necessary, any number of assistants was guaranteed for arranging the laboratory, performing development work and providing other research activities. The independent choice of the subject of scientific developments was not prohibited, the approval was given to travel to the area of \u200b\u200bthe fronts to check theoretical calculations in the field. True, it was stipulated - except for the Eastern Front. The results of the work should become the property of German specialists. All ranks of the German army will treat Karbyshev as a lieutenant general of the engineering troops of the German Reich.

After carefully listening to the terms of “cooperation”, Dmitry Mikhailovich calmly replied: “My beliefs do not fall out with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for the country that is at war with my Motherland. "

About gravestones

The German did not expect such stubbornness. Something that, but with a beloved teacher it would be possible to come to a certain compromise. The lone man's iron doors slammed shut behind the German professor.

They began to give Karbyshev salty food, after which they refused water. The lamp was replaced - it became so powerful that, even when the eyelids were closed, there was no rest in the eyes. They began to fester, causing excruciating pain. Almost no sleep was allowed. At the same time, the mood and mental state of the Soviet general were recorded with German accuracy. And when it seemed that he was starting to "sour", they again came with an offer to cooperate. The answer was the same - no. This went on for almost six months.

After that, according to the stage, Karbyshev was transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, located in the Bavarian mountains, 90 km from Nuremberg. He was distinguished by hard labor of particular severity, and the inhuman attitude towards prisoners knew no bounds. Prisoners in striped clothes with their heads shaved crosswise from morning till night worked in granite quarries under the supervision of SS men armed with whips and pistols. A moment's respite, a glance thrown to the side, a word spoken to a neighbor at work, any awkward movement, the slightest offense - all this caused the overseers' mad rage, beating with a whip. Shots were often heard. They shot straight in the back of the head.

One of the Soviet prisoners of war recalled after the war: “Once Dmitry Mikhailovich and I worked in a shed, hewn granite posts for roads, facing and gravestones. Regarding the latter, Karbyshev (who even in the most difficult situation did not change his sense of humor), suddenly remarked: “This is a job that gives me real pleasure. The more gravestones the Germans demand from us, the better, it means that our affairs are going at the front. "

Dmitry Mikhailovich's almost six-month stay at hard labor ended on one of the August days of 1943. The prisoner was transferred to Nuremberg and imprisoned by the Gestapo. After a short "quarantine" he was sent to the so-called "block" - a wooden barrack in the middle of a huge cobblestone courtyard. Here many recognized the general: some - as a colleague in the past, others - as a competent teacher, others - from printed works, some - from previous meetings in fascist dungeons.

Then followed Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen - the camps that will forever go down in the history of mankind as monuments to the most terrible atrocities of German fascism. Constantly smoking stoves, where the living and the dead were burned; gas chambers, where tens of thousands of people died in terrible agony; ash mounds of human bones; huge bundles of women's hair; mountains of shoes taken from children before sending them on their last journey ... The Soviet general went through all this.

Three months before our army entered Berlin, 65-year-old Karbyshev was transferred to the Mauthausen camp, where he died.

Under icy water

For the first time it became known about the death of Karbyshev a year after the end of the war. On February 13, 1946, Major of the Canadian Army, Seddon De St. Clair, who was recovering in a hospital near London, invited a representative of the Soviet Repatriation Mission to England to give him "important details."

“I don't have long to live,” the major said to the Soviet officer, “so I am worried about the idea that the facts of the heroic death of a Soviet general, the noble memory of whom should live in the hearts of people, not gone with me to the grave. I'm talking about Lieutenant General Karbyshev, with whom I had to visit the German camps. "

According to the officer, on the night of February 17-18, the Germans drove about a thousand prisoners to Mauthausen. The frost was about 12 degrees. All were dressed very poorly, in rags. “As soon as we entered the camp, the Germans drove us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and threw jets of icy water on us from above. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. Many fell to the floor and immediately died: their hearts could not stand it. Then they told us to put on only underwear and wooden shoes on our feet and drove out into the yard. General Karbyshev stood in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We realized that we were living out the last hours. A couple of minutes later, the Gestapo men, standing behind us with fire hoses in their hands, began pouring cold water on us. Those who tried to dodge the jet were hit on the head with truncheons. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with crushed skulls. I saw General Karbyshev fall, too, ”the Canadian major recounted with a pain in his heart.

“On that tragic night, about seventy people survived. Why they didn't kill us, I can't imagine. Must have been tired and put it off until morning. It turned out that the allied forces were approaching the camp. The Germans fled in panic ... I ask you to write down my testimony and send it to Russia. I consider it my sacred duty to impartially testify to everything I know about General Karbyshev. By doing this I will fulfill my little duty to the memory of a great man, ”the Canadian officer concluded his story with these words.

What was done

On August 16, 1946, Lieutenant General Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As it is written in the decree, this high rank was conferred on the hero-general who tragically died in Nazi captivity, “for the exceptional fortitude and courage shown in the fight against the German invaders in the Great Patriotic War". On February 28, 1948, the commander-in-chief of the Central Group of Forces, Colonel-General Kurasov, and the chief of the engineering troops of the Central Group of Forces, Major-General Slyunin, in the presence of delegations from the troops of the Guard of Honor, as well as the Government of the Austrian Republic, unveiled a monument and a memorial plaque at the site where the Nazis brutally tortured General Karbyshev on the territory of the former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen. In Russia, his name is immortalized in the names of military collectives, ships and railway stations, streets and boulevards of many cities, and assigned to numerous schools. Between Mars and Jupiter, a small planet # 1959 - Karbyshev travels in a circumsolar orbit.

In the early 1960s, the movement of young Karbyshevites took shape organizationally, the soul of which became the daughter of the Hero, Elena Dmitrievna, a colonel of the engineering troops.

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There was a time when any student in a Soviet school could tell who General Dmitry Karbyshev was and for what he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Alas, we are losing more and more not only the memory of the people who gave the most precious thing that a person can have - life, for the freedom of their country, but also the feeling of gratitude to the true heroes. So, who he was - General of the Red Army Dmitry Karbyshev, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a prisoner of war who was martyred in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Biography of General Karbyshev briefly

Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk, in the family of a hereditary military man, and his career was a foregone conclusion. He graduated from the cadet corps, a military engineering school and, with the rank of second lieutenant, went to the eastern borders, to Manchuria. There he was found by the Russian-Japanese war, for his participation in which he was awarded five military orders and three medals, which is a confirmation of his personal courage. In the tsarist army, awards for "beautiful eyes" were not given. In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev, the lieutenant was dismissed from the army to the reserve for "unreliability" after the officer's court of honor. But, literally a year later, the military department returned an experienced and efficient officer to participate in the restructuring of Vladivostok's fortifications.

In 1911, Karbyshev graduated with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy and was assigned to Sevastopol, but ended up in Brest-Litovsk. Few people know that Dmitry Mikhailovich took part in the construction of the famous Brest Fortress. During the First World War, he fought under the command of General Brusilov, participated in his famous breakthrough and storming of the Przemysl fortress. He was awarded and promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Service in the Red Army

After the October Revolution, he joined the Red Guard and was engaged in the construction of fortifications on various fronts of the Civil War - in the Urals, in the Volga region, in the Ukraine. He was personally acquainted with Kuibyshev and Frunze, who appreciated the former tsarist colonel and trusted him, met with Dzerzhinsky. Karbyshev was entrusted with overseeing the creation of defensive structures around Samara, which were later used as a staging area for the Red Army's offensive. After the Civil War, he began teaching at the Military Academy. Frunze, and in 1934 he headed the department of military engineering at the Academy of the General Staff.

Among the students of the academy, Dmitry Mikhailovich was very popular, which was later recalled by General of the Army Shtemenko. Karbyshev owned a proverb about the importance of engineer troops - “One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row.” By the beginning of World War II, Karbyshev had a professor's degree, defended his doctoral dissertation, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of engineering troops, and he became a member of the CPSU (b). The beginning of the war found Karbyshev on the western border in Belarus. Trying to get out of the encirclement, he is seriously wounded and taken prisoner.

The feat of the Russian general

For several years in Moscow they knew nothing about the fate of the general. He was reported missing. Only in 1946 the details of the last days of the life of the Soviet general became known from Major of the Canadian Army Seddon De Saint-Clair. This happened in mid-February 1945. A large party of prisoners of war from other camps was driven into the Mauthausen concentration camp. Among them was General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. The Germans forced the people to undress and began pouring cold water on them from cannons. Many fell from heart breaks, and those who avoided were beaten with clubs. Karbyshev encouraged those standing next to him, already covered with ice. "The Motherland will not forget us" - the last words of the general before falling. His body, like the bodies of the others, was burned in the crematorium furnace.

Later, from the German archives, it became known that Karbyshev had received offers from the German command for cooperation many times, but he never gave his consent. The noble memory of the heroic death of a Soviet man, General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, who did not become a traitor to the Motherland, did not lose his human dignity and the honor of an officer, must be preserved in the history of our country.

The biography of Dmitry Karbyshev is atypical for the Soviet military: he was a nobleman, a hereditary military man. This is a vivid example of a person who found himself in his place and made a brilliant career thanks to his own talent, dedication, and exceptional fortitude.

Childhood and youth

A twelve-year-old boy whose feat was still ahead, he was left without a father. Six children were raised by their mother alone. Financial difficulties were common, but the sons took it smart.

The eldest, Vladimir, entered Kazan University, but was expelled: he sympathized with the revolutionaries. His fate was tragic: he died in prison very young.

The youngest entered Siberian and had to pay for his studies, since family history did not dispose of privileges. Nevertheless, Karbyshev did not conceal himself. He studied brilliantly, showed great aptitude for engineering. All his further career is associated with military construction.

The beginning of military service

After graduating from college he ended up in Manchuria (1900). Here he was caught by the first of the military campaigns, in which the future general Dmitry Karbyshev took part. The feat of this brilliant military man, which is most often written about in the relevant publications, would have been impossible without previous experience.

Karbyshev met the Russo-Japanese War with the rank of second lieutenant (received in 1903). In the course of hostilities, he did what he was supposed to do in his specialty: directing crossings, building fortifications, providing communications. For the displayed valor he was awarded and received a promotion: he ended the war with the rank of lieutenant.

The character of the future General Karbyshev was uncompromising, even then he did not consider it necessary to hide his worldview. In 1906 he was dismissed: the officer was talking to the soldiers on provocative topics.

I was glad to serve ...

It was not possible to be on free bread for long: the bosses quickly realized that there were a dime a dozen of trustworthy ones around, and the cat cried out for specialists of Karbyshev's level. A year later, Dmitry Mikhailovich returned to the service, and in 1908 he went to St. Petersburg to conquer new heights: he entered the engineering academy, which he graduated with brilliance three years later.

In 1911, Karbyshev, already in the position of captain, went to Brest-Litovsk. The famous fortress, which so desperately resisted the Nazis in 1941, was built with his direct participation.

The war soon began. I must say that Dmitry Mikhailovich had an abundance of wars: both the Russian-Japanese, and the Soviet-Finnish, and both world wars. From the very beginning, the future general Karbyshev took part in almost each of them. The feat accomplished by him later was not the first and not the only one. During the Przemysl operation, he was awarded the order and promoted to colonel.

When the revolution took place in Russia, Karbyshev's reaction was quite predictable. Already in December 1917, not at all doubting his own choice, he enrolled in the Red Guard, participated in the Civil War as part of the Red Army. His undoubted abilities were used: Karbyshev took part in the creation of many defense structures.

In 1920, he already held the post of deputy chief of engineers of the Southern Front, and in 1923 - chief of engineers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea.

Science is also attractive to a talented person: for many years Karbyshev taught at the Military Academy. Frunze, wrote over a hundred special scientific works on bridges, etc.

The day before he was promoted to lieutenant general (1940). In the same year he joined the party. Still, the country of the Soviets was sometimes a paradoxical state: on the one hand, many members of the CPSU perished in the Stalinist camps, including brilliant military men, and General Karbyshev, whose feat gave us an example of an unbending spirit, made a brilliant career without being an official communist.

Participation in the Second World War

The attack of the Hitlerite army found an elderly general (Dmitry Mikhailovich was born in 1880) on the western border: he participated in the construction of fortifications. They did not have time to evacuate it: the first onslaught of the Germans stunned the Soviet army. The crushed Red Army was rapidly retreating, leaving behind thousands of dead and wounded. Many Soviet soldiers and officers were taken prisoner. Among them was General Karbyshev. The feat of the die-hard Russian officer began in early August 1941 and lasted for almost four years.

The Germans were well aware of the rank of the specialist they got. They were counting on his knowledge, experience and talent. There is evidence that he was going to be recruited into the service of the Wehrmacht after the victory, and here such luck! But the Nazis were in for a very unpleasant surprise: the feat of General Karbyshev, perhaps, was not spectacular, but he demonstrated an impressive example of courage, fortitude and patriotism. He consistently refused to cooperate, a lot of energy and patience was spent on him, in the end it decided his fate.

Gingerbread torture

At first, Karbyshev ended up in a concentration camp of the usual regime, where he drank in full. But in 1942 he was transferred to the Hammelburg concentration camp. The conditions in it were the most privileged: the feat of General Karbyshev demanded from him not only patience, but also resistance to temptation. Many of those who survived the horrors of ordinary Hitler's "sanatoriums" broke down here, not wanting to return to their experiences.

Colonel Pelit was responsible for Karbyshev's "appeal to the truth" - the Nazis were counting on him very much, because once he and Dmitry Mikhailovich worked together. The German officer diligently worked on the red general, describing numerous benefits to him - material and others, which he would gain by betraying his homeland. There was no positive result. General Karbyshev, whose feat to this day makes him respected, categorically refused to cooperate, and even more so: he was confident in the victory of Soviet weapons. He generously shared this conviction with those around him, instilling in them absolutely unnecessary, in the opinion of the fascists, optimism.

The decision to take the whip

It was decided to stop using the carrot and take up the whip - and General Karbyshev appeared in a solitary cell in a Berlin prison. The feat, which could not be briefly described, demanded from the Russian engineer reinforced concrete confidence in his own righteousness.

Having “marinated” their prisoner for almost a month, the Germans decided that this would be enough. Appearing for another interrogation, the general found in the investigator's office the famous professor Raubenheimer, a prominent specialist in the field of fortification. They were familiar, of course. Karbyshev treated the work of the German with great respect.

The obstinate general was made a last offer, whose generosity could not fail to impress. Karbyshev was offered to leave the camps and prisons in exchange for a generous maintenance and the opportunity to do what he loved. Under the terms of the agreement, he was supposed to organize a scientific laboratory for design tests. The staff could recruit what they need, they received the widest funding. The best minds and libraries of the Third Reich could be at his service.

The military engineer could not help but understand that the next proposal would not follow. Nevertheless, his answer was short: putting his military honor above life itself, he refused the enemy's bounty, showing an example of real heroism. The feat of General Karbyshev can be briefly described by his own phrase: "I am a soldier and remain true to my duty."

The jokes are over

The Nazis immediately put a fat cross on their dreams of cooperation, and Karbyshev found himself in Flossenbürg. The work was very hard, but, according to the testimony of fellow inmates, the general did not indulge in despondency even here. The conviction of the impending victory did not dwindle at all. He instilled this belief in others, being a kind of leader of the resistance.

Perhaps because of this, or perhaps for other reasons, he was constantly transferred from camp to camp. In early 1945, with only a few weeks left until victory, he was a prisoner of the Mauthausen death camp.

The death of a hero

The Nazis did not stand on ceremony with their victims. The outcome of the war was already obvious to many, no illusions remained. Hitler's watchdogs sought to deal with those who were in their power.

On February 18, the Gestapo took their charges into the courtyard and began to pour ice water from hoses. It was a fierce frost - exhausted, hungry people died one after another: someone's heart could not stand, someone simply froze. For an attempt to dodge, they were awarded a blow to the head. Among the most persistent was General Karbyshev: even turning into an ice column, he found the strength to support his comrades.

This story is known thanks to the general's fellow prisoner, the Canadian officer Seddon de Saint-Clair. In 1946, while in a London hospital, he suddenly demanded a meeting with a representative of the Soviet mission on repatriation issues. This was the first news of Dmitry Mikhailovich: since 1941, he was listed among the missing.

After confirming the information received, the feat of General Karbyshev in enemy captivity was highly appreciated by the Soviet leadership. Almost exactly five years after he was captured, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

People's memory

Every year people come to Mauthausen to honor the memory of 300 thousand people who were tortured here at one time. On the territory there is a monument to General Karbyshev: he calmly rises above the square, arms folded on his chest. The figure of the hero protrudes from the stone only half - the monolith depicts an ice column, into which General Karbyshev turned before his death. The famous Sergei Vasiliev praised the feat in verse. In 1975 he wrote the poem "Dignity", for which he was awarded a state prize.

In Russia in recent years, people have begun to recall the heroic past more often. At all levels, the desire to know and be proud of one's history is supported and encouraged. Numerous articles about Dmitry Mikhailovich began to appear. Many resources on the Internet publish the creations of their users, impressed by the courage of the officer. Let some poems about the feat of General Karbyshev are naive and not always friendly with rhyme, but they are written from the heart.

Dmitry Karbyshev was born in 1880 in Omsk. He was of noble origin: his father worked as a military official. When the head of the family died untimely, the child was only 12 years old, and the mother took care of him.

Childhood

The family had Tatar roots and belonged to the ethno-confessional group of Kryashens professing Orthodoxy, despite their Turkic origin. Dmitry Karbyshev also had an older brother. In 1887 he was arrested for taking part in the revolutionary movement of students of Kazan University. Vladimir was arrested, and the family was in a difficult situation.

Nevertheless, Dmitry Karbyshev was able to graduate from the Siberian Cadet Corps thanks to his talents and diligence. This educational institution was followed by the Nikolaev Engineering School. In it, the young soldier also showed himself perfectly. Karbyshev was sent to the border in Manchuria, where he served as one of the chiefs in a company in charge of telegraph communications.

Service in the tsarist army

On the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, the junior officer received the military rank of lieutenant. With the beginning of the armed conflict, Dmitry Karbyshev was sent to reconnaissance. He laid communications, was responsible for the condition of bridges at the front and took part in some important battles. So, he was in the very heat when the

After the end of the war, he did not live long in Vladivostok, where he continued to serve in a sapper battalion. In 1908-1911. the officer was trained at the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy. After graduating from it, he went to Brest-Litovsk as a captain, where he took part in the construction of the Brest Fortress.

Since during these years Karbyshev was on the western borders of the country, he was on the front of the First World War from the very first day of its declaration. Most of the officer's service was held under the command of the famous Alexei Brusilov. This was the Southwestern Front, where Russia waged a war with Austria-Hungary with varying degrees of success. So, for example, Karbyshev took part in the successful capture of Przemysl, and also in the last days of the war Karbyshev spent on the border with Romania, where he was engaged in strengthening defensive positions. During several years at the front, he managed to get wounded in the leg, but still returned to duty.

Going to the Red Army

In October 1917, a coup took place in Petrograd, after which the Bolsheviks came to power. Vladimir Lenin wanted to end the war with Germany as soon as possible in order to redirect all his forces to fight his internal enemies: the white movement. For this, mass propaganda campaigning for Soviet power began in the active army.

This is how Karbyshev ended up in the ranks of the Red Guard. In it, he was responsible for organizing defense and engineering work. Especially Karbyshev did a lot in the Volga region, where in 1918-1919. ran the Eastern Front. The talent and ability of the engineer helped the Red Army gain a foothold in this region and continue its advance towards the Urals. Karbyshev's career growth was crowned with the appointment in the 5th Army of the Red Army to one of the leading posts. He ended the civil war in the Crimea, where he was responsible for engineering work in Perekop, which connects the peninsula with the mainland.

Between world wars

During the peaceful period of the 20s and 30s, Karbyshev taught at military academies and even became a professor. From time to time he took part in the implementation of important infrastructure defense projects. For example, we are talking about

With the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish war in 1939, Karbyshev ended up at the headquarters, from where he wrote recommendations for breaking through the defensive. A year later, he became a lieutenant general and a doctor of military sciences.

During his journalistic career, Karbyshev wrote about 100 works on engineering. Many specialists of the Red Army were trained according to his textbooks and manuals right up to the Great Patriotic War. General Karbyshev devoted a lot of time to studying the issue of crossing rivers during armed conflicts. In 1940 he joined the CPSU (b).

German captivity

A few weeks before the start of World War II, General Karbyshev was sent to serve at the headquarters of the 3rd Army. He was in Grodno - very close to the border. It was here that the first attacks of the Wehrmacht were directed, when the blitzkrieg operation began on June 22, 1941.

Within a few days, the army and headquarters of Karbyshev were surrounded. An attempt to escape from the cauldron failed, and the general was wounded in the Mogilev region, near the Dnieper.

Once in captivity, he went through many concentration camps, the last of which was Mauthausen. General Karbyshev was a well-known specialist also abroad. Therefore, the Nazis from the Gestapo and the SS tried in various ways to win over to their side an already middle-aged officer who could convey valuable information to the German headquarters and help the Reich.

The Nazis believed that they could easily persuade Karbyshev to cooperate with them. The officer was a nobleman and had served in the tsarist army for many years. These features of the biography could indicate that General Karbyshev was a random person in the Bolshevik circle and would gladly make a deal with the Reich.

The 60-year-old officer was several times brought to explanatory conversations with the relevant authorities, but the old man refused to cooperate with the Germans. Each time he confidently declared that the Soviet Union would win the Great Patriotic War, and the Nazis would be defeated. None of his actions indicated that the prisoner was broken or discouraged.

In Hammelburg

In the spring of 1942, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was transferred to Hammelburg. It was special for captured officers. Here the most comfortable living conditions were created for them. So, the German leadership tried to win over to its side high-ranking officers of the enemy armies, who enjoyed great prestige in their homeland. In total, during the war, 18 thousand Soviet prisoners visited Hammelburg. Each of them had high military ranks. Many broke down after they left and ended up in comfortable and convenient places of detention, where they had friendly conversations with them. However, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev did not react in any way to the psychological treatment of the enemy and continued to remain loyal to the Soviet Union.

A special person was assigned to the general - Colonel Pelit. This officer of the Wehrmacht once served in the army of Tsarist Russia and was fluent in Russian. In addition, he worked with Karbyshev during the First World War in Brest-Litovsk.

An old friend tried to find a variety of approaches to Karbyshev. If he refused direct cooperation with the Wehrmacht, then Pelit offered him compromise options, for example, to work as a historian and describe the military operations of the Red Army in the current war. However, such proposals had no effect on the officer.

It is interesting that initially the Germans wanted Karbyshev to become the head of the Russian Liberation Army, which was eventually led by General Vlasov. But the regular refusals to cooperate did their job: the Wehrmacht abandoned its idea. Now in Germany they expected at least that the prisoner would agree to work in Berlin as a valuable logistical specialist.

In Berlin

General Dmitry Karbyshev, whose biography consisted of constant moving, was still a tasty morsel for the Reich, and the Germans did not lose hope of finding a common language with him. After the failure in Hammelburg, they transferred the old man to solitary confinement in Berlin and kept him in the dark for three weeks.

This was done on purpose to remind Karbyshev that he can become a victim of terror at any time if he does not want to cooperate with the Wehrmacht. Finally, the prisoner was sent to the investigator for the last time. The Germans asked for help from one of their most respected experts in military engineering. It was Heinz Rubenheimer. This well-known expert in the pre-war period, like Karbyshev, worked on monographs on their general profile. Dmitry Mikhailovich himself treated him with a well-known reverence, as a respected specialist.

Rubenheimer made a weighty offer to his counterpart. If Karbyshev agreed to cooperate, he could get his own private apartment and full economic security thanks to the treasury of the German state. In addition, the engineer was offered free access to any libraries and archives in Germany. He could pursue his theoretical research or work on experiments in the field of engineering. At the same time, Karbyshev was allowed to recruit a team of specialist assistants. The officer would become a lieutenant general in the army of the German state.

Karbyshev's feat was that he rejected all the proposals of the enemy, despite several very persistent attempts. A variety of persuasion methods were used against him: intimidation, flattery, promises, etc. In the end, he was offered only a theoretical job. That is, Karbyshev did not even need to scold Stalin and the Soviet leadership. All that was required of him was to become an obedient cog in the Third Reich system.

Despite health problems and an impressive age, General Dmitry Karbyshev this time also answered with a decisive refusal. After that, the German leadership gave up on him and dismissed him as a man fanatically devoted to the bad cause of Bolshevism. The Reich could not use such people for its own purposes.

At hard labor

From Berlin, Karbyshev was transferred to Flossenbürg, a concentration camp where brutal order reigned, and the prisoners ruined their health without interruption in hard labor. And if such work deprived the remnants of the strength of the young prisoners, then one can imagine how hard it was for the elderly Karbyshev, who was already in his seventh decade.

However, during his entire stay in Flussenbürg, he never once complained to the camp authorities about the poor conditions of detention. After the war, the Soviet Union recognized the names of the heroes who did not break down in the concentration camps. Numerous prisoners who shared the same jobs with him told about the general's courageous behavior. Dmitry Karbyshev, whose feat was accomplished every day, became an example to follow. He instilled optimism in doomed prisoners.

Because of his leadership qualities, the general was transferred from one camp to another, so that he did not disturb the minds of other prisoners. So he traveled all over Germany, being imprisoned at once by a dozen "factories of death".

With each passing month, news from the fronts became more and more alarming for the German leadership. After the victory at Stalingrad, the Red Army finally took the initiative into its own hands and launched a retaliatory offensive in the western direction. When the front approached the borders of pre-war Germany, an urgent evacuation of the concentration camps began. The staff brutally cracked down on the prisoners, after which they fled inland. This practice was widespread.

Massacre at Mauthausen

In 1945, Dmitry Karbyshev ended up in a concentration camp called Mauthausen. Austria, where this terrible institution was located, was under attack by Soviet troops.

SS attack aircraft were always responsible for the protection of such objects. It was they who directed the massacre of prisoners. On the night of February 18, 1945, they gathered about a thousand prisoners, among whom was Karbyshev. The prisoners were stripped and sent to showers, where they were under streams of icy water. The temperature drop led to the fact that many people simply refused heart.

The prisoners who survived the first torture session were given underwear and sent to the courtyard. The weather was freezing outside. The prisoners were shy in small groups. Soon they began to be poured from a fire hose with the same icy water. General Karbyshev, standing in the crowd, tried to persuade his comrades to brace themselves and not show cowardice. Some tried to escape from the ice streams directed at them. They were seized, beaten with truncheons and returned to their place. In the end, almost everyone died, including Dmitry Karbyshev. He was 64 years old.

The last minutes of Karbyshev's life became known at home thanks to the testimony of a Canadian major who managed to survive the fateful night of the massacre of the Mauthausen prisoners.

The fragmentary information collected about the fate of the captured general spoke of his exceptional courage and devotion to his duty. In August 1946, he posthumously received the country's highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Later, on the territory of the entire socialist state, monuments were opened in his honor. Streets were also named after the general. The main monument to Karbyshev, of course, is located on the territory of Mauthausen. On the site of the concentration camp, a memorial was opened in memory of the victims and innocent tortured. It is here that the monument is located. Heroes of the Soviet Union of the Great Patriotic War deservedly have this unyielding general in their ranks.

His image was especially popular in the post-war period. The fact is that it was difficult to make heroes of the country out of the many generals who ended up in concentration camps. Many of them were forcibly deported back home, and a dozen were also repressed. Some were hanged in the Vlasov case, others ended up in the Gulag on charges of cowardice. Stalin himself badly needed the image of a spotless hero who could become an example for future generations of the army.

Karbyshev turned out to be such a person. His name often flashed on the pages of newspapers. Dmitry Karbyshev was popular in literature: several works were written about him. For example, Sergei Vasiliev dedicated the poem "Dignity" to the general. Another Mauthausen prisoner, Yuri Pilyar, became the author of the fictional biography of the officer "Honor".

The Soviet government tried in every possible way to immortalize Karbyshev's feat. At the same time, the declassified documents of the NKVD indicate that the investigation into his death was carried out hastily and on orders from above. For example, the testimony of Major St. Clair of Canada (the first witness) was inconsistent and inaccurate. They did not learn from him the many details that Karbyshev's biography later overgrown with.

St. Clair, on whose testimony the fate of the deceased general was clarified, himself died a few years after the end of the war from ruined health. When Soviet investigators questioned him, he was already terminally ill. Nevertheless, in 1948, the writer Novogrudok finished an official book on Karbyshev's biography. In it, he added many facts that St. Clair never mentioned.

Without belittling the courageous behavior of this general, the Soviet leadership tried to close its eyes to the fate of other high-ranking officers of its army, tortured and killed in the dungeons of the Gestapo. Almost all of them became victims of the Stalinist policy of oblivion of "traitors" and "enemies of the people."