Ice execution of General Karbyshev. D
I was still a teenager of 12-13 years old, when one day my mother showed me a textbook on the history of the USSR for the 4th grade. He says: "That's the kind of textbooks we studied at one time." It was called simply - "Stories on the history of the USSR." 
I don’t know if I still have it or not, but I looked at the shabby antiques rather avidly. Well, still: the textbook is almost 30 years old, although others will object to me: why even keep such junk at home. But nevertheless, it was a certain memory. One day, looking through the paragraphs of the textbook, I came across a curious episode of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. About 12-13 years have passed since then, and I remember the story that I want to tell you now. Although there is a fragment of the life of this person shown there, I cannot bypass him. Moreover, this year is associated with the Victory Anniversary, and October 14 marks the 135th anniversary of his birth. February 18 marked the 70th year of his martyrdom. I am practically not familiar with his biography, so I will have to use the material that is on the net. The only thing I know about him is how he died. Before his death, he said: "I am a communist! I know that we will win, and death and damnation awaits all of you!" This quote caught my eye in that textbook and I still remember it. And this man's name was Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev.
This man is now almost forgotten. The younger generation probably already does not know his name. But it is precisely on such examples that this very youth should be educated. If you want to grow inflexible heroes, not amorphous consumers of carbonated drinks. Let's remember our Russian heroes. They deserve it. Only in this way will the link between generations be preserved. The name of the man who became a symbol of the unbending will of the Russian officer, stamina and courage is Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. Hero of the Soviet Union. Already in the Soviet school, they talked a little about him. The Nazis tortured General Karbyshev by pouring cold water on him in winter. That's all that the average student of the USSR knew about him. Current schoolchildren practically do not know Karbyshev. There are, of course, exceptions… 11.04. 2011“A public rally dedicated to the International Day for the Liberation of Prisoners of Fascism was held in Vladivostok. About a hundred members of the city and regional organizations of former prisoners, veterans, representatives of the city administration, military personnel, schoolchildren and students gathered at the monument to the hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Karbyshev.” Do your children know this name? Fix this gap. Tell your children about Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev ...
DMITRY Mikhailovich Karbyshev - Hero of the Soviet Union, lieutenant general of the engineering troops, doctor of military sciences, professor, by origin - a Tatar, a generic Siberian Cossack. A couple of weeks before the start of World War II, he was sent to Grodno to assist in defensive construction on the western border. On August 8, while trying to escape from the encirclement in the area north of Mogilev, he was shell-shocked and captured by the Nazis.
Childhood, youth, early service
Born in the city of Omsk in the family of a military official. Baptized Tatar. At the age of twelve he was left without a father. The children were raised by their mother. Despite great financial difficulties, Karbyshev brilliantly graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps and in 1898 was admitted to the St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School. In 1900, after graduating from college, he was sent to serve in the 1st East Siberian sapper battalion, head of the cable department of the telegraph company. The battalion was stationed in Manchuria.
Russian-Japanese, World War I
During the Russo-Japanese War, as part of the battalion, he strengthened positions, installed communications equipment, built bridges, and conducted reconnaissance in force. Participated in the battle of Mukden. Awarded with orders and medals. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant.
After the war he served in Vladivostok. In 1911 he graduated with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy. According to the distribution, staff captain Karbyshev was sent to Brest-Litovsk to the post of commander of a mine company. There he took part in the construction of the forts of the Brest Fortress.
Member of the First World War from the first day. He fought in the Carpathians as part of the 8th Army of General A. A. Brusilov (South-Western Front). He was a divisional engineer of the 78th and 69th infantry divisions, then the head of the engineering service of the 22nd Finnish Rifle Corps. In early 1915, he took part in the assault on the Przemysl fortress. Was injured. For bravery and courage he was awarded the Order of St. Anna and promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1916 he was a member of the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough.
Entry into the ranks of the Red Army
In December 1917, in Mogilev-Podolsky, D. M. Karbyshev joined the Red Guard. Since 1918 in the Red Army. During the Civil War, he participated in the construction of the Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Troitsk, Kurgan fortified regions, provided engineering support for the Kakhovka bridgehead. He held responsible positions 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. In the autumn of 1920 he became assistant chief of engineers of the Southern Front. He led the engineering support for the assault on Chongar and Perekop.
Academy them. Frunze, Academy of the General Staff
In 1923-1926 he was Chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Red Army. Since 1926 - a teacher at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. In 1929 he was appointed the author of the Molotov and Stalin Lines project. In February 1934 he was appointed head of the military engineering department of the Military Academy of the General Staff.
Since 1936, he was assistant head of the department of tactics of higher formations of the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1938 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. In the same year he was approved in the academic rank of professor. In 1940 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops. In 1941 - the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences.
Karbyshev owns the most complete research and development of the application of destruction and barriers. His contribution to the scientific development of issues of forcing rivers and other water barriers is significant. He has published over 100 scientific papers on military engineering and military history. His articles and manuals on the theory of engineering support for combat and operations, the tactics of engineering troops were the main materials for the training of Red Army commanders in the prewar years.
In addition, Karbyshev was a consultant of the Academic Council for restoration work at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the scientific director and chief architect of which was I.V. Trofimov.
Soviet-Finnish War
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 developed recommendations for the troops on the engineering support of the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line.
In early June 1941, D. M. Karbyshev was sent to the Western Special Military District. The Great Patriotic War found him at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Grodno. After 2 days, he moved to the headquarters of the 10th Army. On June 27, the army headquarters was surrounded. In August 1941, while trying to get out of the encirclement, General Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in battle in the Dnieper region, near the village of Dobreika, Mogilev region of Belarus. In an unconscious state, he was captured.
The path through the concentration camps and death
Karbyshev was kept in German concentration camps: Zamosc, Hammelburg, Flossenbürg, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen. Repeatedly from the administration of the camps received offers to cooperate. Despite his age, he was one of the active leaders of the camp resistance movement. On the night of February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria), among other prisoners (about 500 people), he was doused with water in the cold and died. It became a symbol of unbending will and perseverance.
Awards
On August 16, 1946, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner and the Red Star.
A monument was erected to the Hero of the Soviet Union D. M. Karbyshev at the entrance to the memorial at the site of the Mauthausen camp. Monuments to D. M. Karbyshev were also installed in Moscow, Kazan, Vladivostok, Samara, Tolyatti, Omsk and Pervouralsk, Nakhabino, a bust in Volzhsky. A boulevard in Moscow, Karbysheva Street (St. Petersburg), streets in Kazan, Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine), Sumy, Belaya Tserkov, Lutsk, Krivoy Rog (Ukraine), Chuguev (Ukraine), Balashikha, Krasnogorsk, Minsk, Brest ( Belarus), Kyiv, Togliatti, Samara, Perm, Kherson, Gomel, Ulyanovsk, Volzhsky, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk and Omsk.
The name of D. M. Karbyshev is carried by a number of schools on the territory of the former Soviet Union. In Omsk, a children's health camp was named after D. M. Karbyshev. The name of D. M. Karbyshev was given to one of the electric trains operating on the Riga direction of the Moscow Railway.
A minor planet in the solar system is also named after him.
The poem “Dignity” by S. A. Vasiliev is dedicated to the feat of D. M. Karbyshev.
Proceedings
Engineering preparation of the borders of the USSR. Book. 1, 1924.
Destruction and barriers. 1931, joint. with I. Kiselev and I. Maslov.
Engineering support of combat operations of rifle formations. Ch. 1-2, 1939-1940.
Karbyshev spent 3.5 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, nothing was known about the fate of Karbyshev in Moscow. It is noteworthy that in his "Personal file" in 1941 an official note was made: "Missing."
Therefore, it is no secret that some domestic publicists began to “give out” downright incredible “facts”, such as the fact that the Soviet government in August 1941, having learned about the capture of Karbyshev, offered the Germans to arrange an exchange of a Soviet general for two German ones, however in Berlin, such an exchange was considered "non-equivalent." 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 city of Ostrov-Mazowiecki. Here the prisoners were copied, sorted, interrogated. In the camp, Karbyshev fell ill with a severe form of dysentery. At the dawn of one of the October cold days of 1941, a train overflowing with people, among whom was Karbyshev, arrived in Polish Zamosc. The general was settled in barrack No. 11, which was subsequently firmly entrenched in the name "general's". Here, as they say, there was a roof over your head and almost normal food, which was a rarity in the conditions of captivity. The Germans, according to German historians, were almost sure that after everything experienced, the outstanding Soviet scientist would have "feelings of gratitude" and he would agree to cooperate. But this did not work - and in March 1942 Karbyshev was transferred to a purely officer concentration camp 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, the camp observed the appearance of legality, humane treatment of prisoners, which, admittedly, 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, was 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 special associations among Soviet intelligence officers. Say, 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 main department of the German engineering service. We must make every effort to make him work for the Germans.
In principle, Pelit was not only a good connoisseur of military affairs, but also a well-known master of "intrigue and intelligence" 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, with all his heart sympathizing with the honored Soviet general. At every step, the German tried to emphasize his attention and affection for Dmitry Mikhailovich, called him his guest of honor, scattered in courtesies. He, not sparing colors, told the combat general all kinds of fables that, according to information that had reached him, the German command decided to give Karbyshev complete freedom and even, if he so desired, the opportunity to travel abroad to one of the neutral countries. What to hide, many prisoners did not resist such a temptation, but not General Karbyshev. Moreover, he immediately figured out the true mission of his old colleague.
I note in passing that during this period it was in Hammelburg that German propaganda began to work out its "historical invention" - a "commission to compile the history of the Red Army's operations in the current war" was created here. Leading German experts in this field arrived at the camp, including members of the SS. They talked with captured officers, defending the idea that the purpose of compiling a "history" is purely scientific, that the officers will be free to write it in the way they wish. It was reported in passing that all officers who agreed to write the history of the operations of the Red Army would receive additional food, well-equipped premises 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". An attempt by the fascist command to organize a "Commission" ultimately failed.
BELIEF AND BELIEF
According to some reports, by the end of October 1942, the Germans realized that "everything is not so simple" with Karbyshev - it was rather problematic to bring him to the side of Nazi Germany. Here is the content of one of the secret letters that Colonel Pelit received from a "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 is in your camp. I was forced to delay the resolution of the issue, because I was counting on you to follow my instructions regarding the named prisoner, to be able to find a common language with him and convince him that if he correctly assesses the situation that has developed for him and meets our desires, a good future awaits him. Major Peltzer, who I sent to you for inspection, in his report stated the general unsatisfactory fulfillment of all plans regarding 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 solitary cell with no windows, 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, apparently at least two or three weeks passed before he was summoned for the first interrogation. It was the usual reception of jailers, - Karbyshev later recalled, analyzing all this "event" with professorial accuracy: the prisoner is brought into a state of complete apathy, atrophy of the will, before being taken "into the promotion."
But, to the surprise of Dmitry Mikhailovich, he was met not by a prison investigator, but by the famous German fortifier Professor Heinz Raubenheimer, about whom he had heard a lot over the past two decades, whose works he had closely followed through special journals 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 piece of paper from the folder and began to read the prepared text. The Soviet general was offered release from the camp, the possibility of moving to a private apartment, as well as complete material security. Karbyshev will have access to all libraries and book depositories in Germany, and 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 to equip the laboratory, carry out development work and provide other research activities. The independent choice of the subject of scientific developments was not forbidden, the go-ahead was given to go to the area of 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 conditions of "cooperation", Dmitry Mikhailovich calmly replied: "My convictions do not fall out along 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 that country that is at war with my motherland."
ABOUT TOMBSTONES
The German did not expect such stubbornness. Something, but with a beloved teacher, one could come to a certain compromise. The iron doors of the loner slammed shut behind the German professor.
Karbyshev was given salty food, after which he was denied water. They replaced the lamp - it became so powerful that, even with closed eyelids, there was no rest for the eyes. They began to fester, causing excruciating pain. Sleep was almost not 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 turn sour, they again came with an offer to cooperate. The answer was the same - "no". This went on for nearly 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 treatment of prisoners knew no bounds. Prisoners in striped clothes with cross-shaven heads worked from morning to night in the 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 workmate, any awkward movement, the slightest fault - all this aroused the frenzied fury of the overseers, beating with a whip. Shots were often heard. Shot right in the back of the head.
One of the Soviet captured officers recalled after the war: “Once Dmitry Mikhailovich and I worked in a barn, hewn granite columns for roads, facing and tombstones. Regarding the latter, Karbyshev (who, even in the most difficult situation, did not change his sense of humor), suddenly noticed : "Here is a job that gives me real pleasure. The more tombstones the Germans demand from us, the better, it means, our business is going on 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 hut in the middle of a huge cobbled 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 - camps that will forever go down in the history of mankind as monuments to the most terrible atrocities of German fascism. Constantly smoking furnaces where the living and the dead were burned; gas chambers, where tens of thousands of people died in terrible agony; mounds of ash from human bones; huge bales of women's hair; mountains of shoes taken from children before sending them on their last journey ... A 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 WATER ICE
For the first time it became known about the death of Karbyshev a year after the end of the war. On February 13, 1946, Canadian Army Major Seddon De St. Clair, who was recovering in a hospital near London, invited a representative of the Soviet Repatriation Mission in England to tell him "important details."
“I don’t have long to live,” the major said to a Soviet officer, “that’s why I’m worried about the fact that the facts of the heroic death of a Soviet general known to me, the noble memory of which should live in the hearts of people, don’t go to the grave with me. I’m talking about the general - Lieutenant 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 badly, in rags. “As soon as we entered the camp, the Germans herded us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and let jets of ice water fall on us from above. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. only underwear and wooden blocks on our feet and kicked out into the yard. General Karbyshev was standing in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We understood that we were living out the last hours. A couple of minutes later, the Gestapo, standing behind us with fire hoses in their hands, began to water us streams of cold water. Those who tried to evade the jet were beaten with clubs on the head. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with crushed skulls. I saw General Karbyshev also fall, "the Canadian major stated with pain in his heart.
“Seventy people survived that tragic night. Why they didn’t finish us off, I can’t imagine. They must have been tired and postponed until the morning. It turned out that the Allied troops were coming close to the camp. The Germans fled in a panic ... I ask you to write down my testimony and send them to Russia. I consider it my sacred duty to impartially testify to everything I know about General Karbyshev. I will fulfill my little duty to the memory of a great man, "the Canadian officer ended his story with these words.
Which is what was done.
On August 16, 1946, Lieutenant General Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As written in the decree, this high rank was awarded to the hero general, who tragically died in Nazi captivity, "for exceptional stamina 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 head 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 group, as well as the government of the Republic of Austria, opened 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 teams, ships and railway stations, streets and boulevards of many cities, and was assigned to numerous schools. Between Mars and Jupiter, a small planet makes its way along the circumsolar orbit # 1959 - Karbyshev.
In the early 1960s, the movement of young Karbyshevites took shape organizationally, the soul of which was the daughter of the Hero, Elena Dmitrievna, a colonel of the engineering troops.
Site materials used: perunica.ru and tatveteran.ru
Dmitry Mikhailovich was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk. His father was a hereditary military man of noble origin, so Dmitry decided to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. In 1891, despite the financial difficulties of the family, he entered the Siberian Cadet Corps, from which he graduated with honors and then, in 1898, he entered the Nikolaev Engineering School. Upon graduation, he was sent to serve in the first East Siberian battalion as the head of the cable department of the telegraph company (Manchuria). There in 1903 he was promoted to lieutenant.
In Manchuria, he was caught by the Russo-Japanese War, during which he was awarded three medals and five orders for personal courage.
In 1906, due to free-thinking and campaigning among the soldiers, he was dismissed from the army to the reserve for "unreliability". But a year later he was returned to participate in the reconstruction of the fortifications of Vladivostok.
After graduating with honors in 1911 from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy, Karbyshev ended up in Bretsk-Litovsk, where he participated in the construction of the famous Brest Fortress. When the First World War began in 1914, Dmitry Karbyshev went through it under the command of General A.A. Brusilov and was subsequently elevated to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
In 1917, the general sided with the Red Army, thus opening a new page in his biography - the Soviet one. Fulfilling the instructions of the revolutionary government, he supervised the construction of many fortifications on various fronts of the Civil War: in the Volga region, in the Urals and Ukraine. He was known and appreciated by such famous commanders as M. Frunze, V. Kuibyshev and F. Dzerzhinsky.
After the end of hostilities, Dmitry Mikhailovich worked as a teacher at the Military Academy. Frunze, and in 1934 he was invited to head the department of military engineering at the Academy of the General Staff.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, D. Karbyshev already had the degree of professor, the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops, he also defended his doctoral dissertation in the status of a member of the CPSU (b). In 1941 he fought on the western border of Belarus. In one of the battles, he, seriously wounded, was captured by the Germans, where he committed his heroic deed.
The feat accomplished by General Karbyshev
After his capture, nothing was known about his fate for several years; officially, the general was considered missing. But in 1946, a former prisoner of the Mauthausen concentration camp, Major of the Canadian Army S. De St. Clair, reported the last details of his biography.
According to him, at the end of 1945, a large batch of prisoners from other camps arrived in Mauthausen. Among them was General Dmitry Karbyshev.
The Germans ordered all the prisoners to undress in the cold, and then began to pour cold water on them from hoses. Many immediately died of a broken heart, the general was one of those who held out to the last. Covering himself with a crust of ice, he constantly encouraged his comrades in misfortune and at the end shouted: “The Motherland will not forget us!” Then the body of Dmitry Karbyshev was burned in the crematorium.
Subsequently, when the German archives fell into the hands of the Soviet command, it turned out that there was another bright moment in the hero's biography. The Nazi command repeatedly offered him cooperation in exchange for release and other benefits. The Germans understood very well that they were facing an extraordinary person with vast military and strategic experience. But firmly intending to preserve not only his human dignity, but also the honor of the general, he did not agree to this, for which he was exiled to a concentration camp.
His feat was immortalized in many monuments throughout the former Soviet Union. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded posthumously to General Dmitry Karbyshev on August 16, 1946.
Postage stamp dedicated to Dmitry Karbyshev on the page: Display
There was a time when any student in a Soviet school could tell who General Dmitry Karbyshev was and why he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Alas, we are increasingly losing not only the memory of people who gave the most precious thing that a person can have - life, for the freedom of their country, but also a sense of gratitude to true heroes. So, who was he - Red Army General Dmitry Karbyshev, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a prisoner of war who was martyred in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
Biography of General Karbyshev briefly
Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk, in the family of a hereditary military man, and his career was a foregone conclusion. He graduated from the cadet corps, the military engineering school and, with the rank of second lieutenant, went to the eastern borders, to Manchuria. There he was caught by the Russo-Japanese War, for participation in which he was awarded five military orders and three medals, which is a confirmation of personal courage. In the tsarist army, they did not give awards for “beautiful eyes”. In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev, a lieutenant, was dismissed from the army to the reserve for "unreliability" after an officer's court of honor. But, literally a year later, the military department returned an experienced and efficient officer to participate in the restructuring of the fortifications of Vladivostok.
In 1911, Karbyshev graduated with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy and received a distribution to Sevastopol, but ended up in Brest-Litovsk. Few people know that Dmitry Mikhailovich took part in the construction of the famous Brest Fortress. During the First World War, he fought under the command of General Brusilov, participated in his famous breakthrough and storming of the Przemysl fortress. He was awarded and promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Service in the Red Army
After the October Revolution, he joined the Red Guard and was engaged in the construction of fortifications on various fronts of the Civil War - in the Urals, in the Volga region, in Ukraine. He was personally acquainted with Kuibyshev and Frunze, who appreciated the former tsarist colonel and trusted him, met with Dzerzhinsky. Karbyshev was entrusted with leading the creation of defensive structures around Samara, which were later used as a springboard for the offensive of the Red Army. After the Civil War, he began teaching at the Military Academy. Frunze, and in 1934 he headed the department of military engineering at the Academy of the General Staff.
Among the students of the academy, Dmitry Mikhailovich was very popular, as General of the Army Shtemenko later recalled. Karbyshev owned a saying about the importance of engineer troops - "One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row." By the beginning of World War II, Karbyshev had a professor's degree, defended his doctoral dissertation, he was awarded the title of lieutenant general of engineering troops, and he became a member of the CPSU (b).The outbreak of war found Karbyshev on the western border in Belarus.Trying to get out of the encirclement, he is seriously wounded and captured.
The feat of the Russian general
For several years in Moscow nothing was known about the fate of the general. He was considered missing. Only in 1946, from the Canadian Army Major Seddon De St. Clair, did the details of the last days of the life of the Soviet general become known. This happened in mid-February 1945. A large batch of prisoners of war from other camps was brought to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Among them was General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. The Germans forced the people to undress and poured cold water over them with hoses. Many fell from a broken heart, and those who evaded were beaten with clubs. Karbyshev encouraged those standing next to him, already covered with ice. “The motherland will not forget us” - the last words of the general, before falling. His body, like the bodies of the others, was burned in the crematorium oven.
Later, from the German archives, it became known that Karbyshev received proposals from the German command for cooperation many times, but did not give his consent to this. The noble memory of the heroic death of a Soviet man, General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, who did not become a traitor to the Motherland, did not lose his human dignity and the honor of an officer, must be preserved in the history of our country.
February 18, 1945 tortured to death in the Mauthausen concentration camp D. M. Karbyshev
Today, few people from the generation of 20-year-olds and younger will be able to tell anything intelligible about the legendary Soviet hero - Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. His last name 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 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. Upon graduation, Karbyshev, with the rank of second lieutenant, was appointed to serve as a company commander in the 1st East Siberian Engineer Battalion, which was located in Manchuria.
Dmitry Karbyshev participated in the Russo-Japanese War: as part of his battalion, he strengthened positions, was engaged in building bridges and installing communications equipment. He showed himself to be a brave officer in the battles near Mukden, and it is not surprising that in the two years of this war Karbyshev received five orders and three medals.
In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev was dismissed from the army to the reserve: according to documented sources, for campaigning among the soldiers at that turbulent revolutionary time. A year later, however, Karbyshev was again called up for service as a company commander of a sapper battalion: his knowledge and experience came in handy when rebuilding the fortifications in Vladivostok.
After graduating in 1911 with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy, Dmitry Mikhailovich was assigned to Brest-Litovsk, where he takes part in the construction of forts of the Brest-Litovsk fortress.
Karbyshev meets the First World War as part of the 8th Army of General A. A. Brusilov, who fought in the Carpathians. In 1915, Karbyshev was one of the actively attacking the Przemysl fortress; 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 following 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 was the engineering 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. Among the students of the Academy Karbyshev was popular. Here is what Army General Shtemenko recalls about him: “... the favorite saying of sappers came from him: “One sapper, one ax, one day, one stump.” True, witty people changed it, in Karbyshev it sounded like this: "One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row."
In 1940, Karbyshev in the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops, and in 1941 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences (he wrote more than a hundred scientific works on military engineering, military history). His theoretical aids in matters of 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 participated 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 the city of Grodno. Dmitry Mikhailovich is offered to provide transport and bodyguards for returning to Moscow, however, he refuses, preferring to retreat along with units of the Red Army. Once surrounded and trying to get out of it, Karbyshev was severely shell-shocked in a fierce battle (near the Dnieper, in the Mogilev region), and unconsciously captured by the Germans.
From this moment begins the three-year history of Karbyshev's captivity, his wanderings through the Nazi camps.
In Nazi Germany, Karbyshev was well known: already in 1940, the IV Directorate of the RSHA of the Imperial Security Directorate opened a special dossier on him. The dossier had a special mark and was classified as "IV D 3-a", which meant - in addition to monitoring activities - to apply special treatment in case of capture.
He began his camp "path" in the Polish city of Ostrov-Mazowiecki, where he was sent to a distribution camp. Soon Karbyshev was sent to the camp of the Polish town of Zamostye, Dmitry Mikhailovich was settled in barrack No. 11 (later nicknamed the general's). The calculation of the Germans that after the hardships of camp life, Karbyshev would agree to cooperate with them, did not materialize, and in the spring of 1942 Karbyshev was transferred to an officer concentration camp in the city of Hammelburg (Bavaria). This camp, consisting purely of a contingent of Soviet captured 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 in its atmosphere certain norms of legality and humane treatment were observed. However, these methods did not work on Dmitry Karbyshev, it was here that his motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over yourself! The main thing is not to fall on your knees before the enemy.”
Since 1943, the 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 Pelit was warned that the Russian military engineer was of particular interest to Germany, and therefore every effort should be made to bring him to the side of the Nazis.
The subtle psychologist Pelit got down to business with a reason: playing the role of an experienced warrior, far from politics, he described to Karbyshev all the advantages of switching to the German side (fantastic in nature). Dmitry Mikhailovich, however, immediately saw through Pelit's cunning and stood his ground: I do not betray my homeland.
The Gestapo command decides to use a slightly different tactic. Dmitry Karbyshev is taken to Berlin, where they organize a meeting with Heinz Raubenheimer, a famous German professor and expert in fortification engineering. In exchange for cooperation, he offers Karbyshev conditions for working and living in Germany, which would make him practically a free person. Dmitry Mikhailovich's answer was exhaustive: “My convictions do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and I remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for the country that is at war with my Motherland.”
After such a firm refusal, the tactics in relation to the Soviet prisoner-of-war general change again - Karbyshev is sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, a camp famous for its hard labor and truly inhuman conditions in relation to prisoners. Dmitry Karbyshev's six-month stay in the hell of Flossenbürg ended with his transfer to the Nuremberg Gestapo prison. After which the camps whirled like a gloomy carousel, where Karbyshev was assigned. Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen - these truly nightmarish death camps through which Karbyshev had to go and in which, despite the inhuman conditions of existence, he remained a strong-willed and unbending person until his last days.
Died Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev in the AustrianMauthausen concentration camp : froze, being doused with water in the cold ... He died heroically and martyrdom, without betraying his Soviet Motherland.
The details of his death became known from the words of Canadian Army Major Seddon De St. Clair, who also passed Mauthausen. This was one of the first reliable information about the life of Karbyshev 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.
The biography of Dmitry Karbyshev is not typical 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, determination, and exceptional fortitude.
Childhood and youth
A twelve-year-old boy whose feat was yet to come, was left without a father. Six children were raised by their mother alone. Financial difficulties were common, but the sons took it wisely.
The eldest, Vladimir, entered Kazan University, but was expelled: he sympathized with the revolutionaries. His fate was tragic: he died in prison quite young.
The youngest entered Siberian and had to pay for his studies, since family history did not favor privileges. Nevertheless, Karbyshev did not hesitate. He studied brilliantly and showed great talent for engineering. His entire future career is connected with military construction.
Start 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 not have been possible without previous experience.
Karbyshev met the Russian-Japanese war with the rank of second lieutenant (received in 1903). During the hostilities, he did what he was supposed to do in his specialty: he built crossings, built fortifications, and provided communications. For his valor he was awarded and promoted: he finished 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 talked with the soldiers on provocative topics.
Happy to serve...
I didn’t have a chance to be on free bread for long: the authorities quickly realized that there were a dime a dozen trustworthy people around, and the cat wept 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 flying colors three years later.
In 1911, Karbyshev, already in the position of staff captain, went to Brest-Litovsk. The famous fortress, which so desperately resisted the Nazis in the 41st year, was built with his direct participation.
Soon the war began. I must say that the lot of Dmitry Mikhailovich fell in abundance: the Russian-Japanese, and the Soviet-Finnish, and both world wars. Practically in each of them, the future General Karbyshev took part from the very beginning. The feat that he subsequently accomplished 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 found application: Karbyshev participated in the creation of many defense facilities.
In 1920, he already served as deputy chief of engineers of the Southern Front, and in 1923 - chief of engineers of the Ukrainian and Crimean Armed Forces.
Science is also attractive to a talented person: for many years Karbyshev taught at the Military Academy. Frunze, wrote more than a hundred special scientific papers on bridges, etc.
The day before, he received the rank of 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 Stalin's 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 Nazi army caught the already elderly (Dmitry Mikhailovich was born in 1880) general on the western border: he participated in the construction of fortifications. They did not manage to evacuate him: the first onslaught of the Germans stunned the Soviet army. The crumpled Red Army rapidly retreated, leaving behind thousands of dead and wounded. Many Soviet soldiers and officers were captured. Among them was General Karbyshev. The feat of the unbending Russian officer began in early August 1941 and lasted almost four years.
The Germans were well aware of the rank of the specialist they got. They really counted on his knowledge, experience and talent. There is evidence that they were going to recruit him into the service of the Wehrmacht after the victory, but here such luck! But the Nazis were in for a very unpleasant surprise: the feat of General Karbyshev may not have been spectacular, but he showed an impressive example of courage, fortitude and patriotism. He consistently refused to cooperate, a lot of effort and patience was spent on him, and in the end this 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 temptations. Many of those who survived the horrors of the usual Nazi "sanatoriums" broke down here, not wanting to return to what they experienced.
Colonel Pelit was responsible for Karbyshev's "appeal to the truth" - the Nazis counted on him very much, because they once worked together with Dmitry Mikhailovich. The German officer diligently processed the red general, describing to him numerous benefits - material and other, which he would gain by betraying his homeland. There was no positive result. General Karbyshev, whose feat to this day makes him respect him, categorically refused to cooperate, and even more: he was confident in the victory of Soviet weapons. He generously shared this conviction with those around him, inspiring them with completely unnecessary, according to the Nazis, optimism.
The decision to take up 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. A feat, which cannot be briefly described, demanded from the Russian engineer reinforced concrete self-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. Of course they knew each other. Karbyshev treated the work of the German with great respect.
The obstinate general was made the last offer, the generosity of which could not but impress. Karbyshev was offered to leave the camps and prisons in exchange for generous maintenance and the opportunity to do what he loved. Under the terms of the agreement, he was to organize a scientific laboratory for design testing. The state could recruit what it needed, it received the widest funding. The best minds and libraries of the Third Reich could be at his service.
The military engineer could not but understand that the next proposal would not follow. Nevertheless, his answer was short: putting his military honor above life itself, he refused enemy generosity, setting 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 an end to their dreams of cooperation, and Karbyshev found himself in Flossenbürg. The work was very hard, but, according to the testimonies of fellow camp members, the general did not indulge in despondency even here. Confidence in the coming victory did not diminish at all. He inspired this faith 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. At the beginning of 1945, when only a few weeks remained before the victory, he was a prisoner of the Mauthausen death camp.
Hero's death
The Nazis did not stand on ceremony with their victims. For many, the outcome of the war was already obvious; there were no illusions left. Hitler's watchdogs sought to deal with those who were in their power.
On February 18, the Gestapo took their wards out into the yard and began to pour ice-cold water from hoses. There was a severe frost - exhausted, hungry people died one after another: someone's heart could not stand it, 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 pillar, he found the strength to support his comrades.
This story is known thanks to the general's co-camp, Canadian officer Seddon de St. Clair. In 1946, while in a London hospital, he suddenly demanded a meeting with a representative of the Soviet mission for repatriation. This was the first news about 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 commemorate the 300,000 people who were tortured here once. 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 halfway - the monolith depicts an ice column, into which General Karbyshev turned before his death. The feat in verse was sung by the famous Sergei Vasiliev. In 1975, he wrote the poem "Dignity", for which he was awarded a state prize.
In recent years, Russia has 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 an 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.
