They were very different people, one might even say, representatives of two different worlds: a peasant-nonresident Budyonny and a refined nobleman Tukhachevsky. Semyon Mikhailovich was ten years older than the failed Red Bonaparte, from childhood he learned that such peasant labor and social injustice bordering on racism. Also social. Indeed, in the eyes of the Cossacks, non-residents remained second-class people, about which some villagers themselves wrote - it is enough to read the most interesting and extremely honest memoirs of one of the most worthy representatives of this class - Kuban Colonel Fyodor Eliseev.
“Denikin, we must give him his due, was determined to keep Rostov and Novocherkassk and at the first opportunity to return the strategic initiative”
Higher military education in Russian Empire Budyonny did not receive, he was drafted into the army and remained in it, had combat experience in the Russian-Japanese and World War I. He was almost shot for hitting the sergeant who had humiliated him. Tukhachevsky graduated from the elite Alexander School and began service in the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment.
The collapse of the Imperial Army was met in different ways: Budyonny - in the rank of sergeant major, full St. George Cavalier, Tukhachevsky - a lieutenant who whiled away time in German captivity. Both voluntarily, almost without hesitation, joined the Red Army - just go and figure it out now, for what reasons. Famous for victories and Peaceful time rose to the rank of deputy people's commissar of defense, becoming part of the Soviet military elite, however, they could be classified as such already at the end civil war.
It is known that the military leaders did not like each other, but their destinies radically diverged in 1937, on the eve of World War II, when the country could not afford to have key command positions in the Red Army occupied by amateurs in matters of strategy and operational art - primarily Tukhachevsky and his comrades-in-arms, who headed the most important military districts: Yakir, Blucher, Uborevich, some of them, in addition to everything, were also the executioners of their own people - Ion Emmanuilovich and Mikhail Nikolayevich himself, I mean. The latter, according to the investigation, led a military conspiracy in the Red Army, among his closest henchmen and included the named figures, excluding Blucher.
Was there a conspiracy of the military or not - the question still remains open. However, needless to say, on the eve of aggression, even a hypothetical "fifth column" in the highest echelons of power is extremely dangerous. And the examples of military coups in Europe carried out by Pilsudski and Franco were well known to the Soviet leadership. And the fact that the named military leaders, I repeat, remained amateurs regarding the tasks assigned by official duties, is beyond doubt. True, until recently Tukhachevsky and his comrades were in the rank of undeservedly repressed " outstanding generals”, whose death allegedly led to terrible losses in the Red Army, allowed the Germans to block Leningrad, reach Moscow and the Caucasus.
Jokes and facts
Thus was born - "thanks" to Khrushchev - the first myth. At about the same time, another one appeared - about the rustic and narrow-minded Budyonny with his supposedly uttered phrase directed against the motorization of the troops: “The horse will still show itself,” and the anecdote how Semyon Mikhailovich was going to shoot back from a machine gun from the enkavedeshniki who had come to arrest him.
Khrushchev's propagandists chose to forget that Budyonny was called Red Murat by his enemies. Yes, and the above tales about the marshal are not the only ones with the help of which the image of a narrow-minded grunt was molded. That they are a myth, identical, as Losev wrote, to reality? The real one. He was a ruby. Near? From the point of view of fundamental both civil and military education, despite the military academy them. Frunze, perhaps, yes. But Red Murat compensated for the lack of fundamental knowledge with self-education and God-given military talent - he was recognized by his comrades-in-arms not only in the Civil War, but also in the Great Patriotic War.
In addition, even if Budyonny's training at the Military Academy was partly formal - after all, he attended lectures as an inspector of the cavalry of the Red Army, nevertheless, the future marshal tried with all his might to catch up and bring his knowledge in line with the tasks that he had to solve at the held high positions. To do this, Semyon Mikhailovich took lessons from the outstanding domestic military theorist, Lieutenant General Andrei Evgenievich Snesarev. Yes, and with the General of Infantry Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov also talked a lot. By the way, Snesarev characterized Red Murat as follows: “I noticed Budyonny’s extraordinary abilities even near Tsaritsyn ( in the summer of 1918, Semyon Mikhailovich headed cavalry division, who defended the city as part of the 10th Army, and Snesarev served as military instructor of the North Caucasian Military District. – THEM.), in battles on the Southern Front. He fought well thanks to his innate military talent.
Regarding the academic education of Tukhachevsky: the marshal did not have it, even a formal one. But he headed the Military Academy of the Red Army. Didn't hesitate. Maybe, like Budyonny, he also sought to catch up in terms of knowledge, especially after the failed Polish campaign? No. Moreover, he poisoned the outstanding military theorist Major General Alexander Andreevich Svechin. However, enough has been written about the ridiculous projects of Tukhachevsky in the position of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense for Armaments, his propaganda works have long been published, which for a long time were issued almost as treasuries of military scientific thought. What is the marshal's statement that the future in the coming war is by no means for a tracked tank, but for a wheeled-tracked and high-speed one. Budyonny had a different opinion on this matter - a more correct one, as history has shown.
The military leaders repressed in the case of Tukhachevsky were indeed outstanding, only not generals, but careerists and demagogues. Unlike Semyon Mikhailovich, ridiculed by Khrushchev's propaganda, Tukhachevsky and his accomplices in the military conspiracy in the Red Army, I repeat, did not study and were not going to study, although the opportunities for this opened up brilliant. Anticipating a possible objection, I note: I am far from thinking of calling the academic courses of the Reichswehr, completed by Tukhachevsky, Yakir and Uborevich, during their trip to Germany, a fundamental military education.
However, this is all preamble. Among military historians, there have long been discussions about the advisability of the actions of the 1st cavalry in the Lvov region in August 1920: they say, if it had turned to Warsaw in time, the Polish campaign would have been won by Tukhachevsky. In my opinion, Red Murat in his memoirs gave a detailed answer to all the claims put forward against him, and Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov in his work “To the Vistula. To the history of the campaign of 1920" also explained the reasons for the failures of the offensive carried out under the leadership of Tukhachevsky.
Meeting in the car
But not everyone knows that for the first time fate brought the two commanders together back in March 1920 in Bataysk. In the carriage of the commander of the Caucasian Front, Tukhachevsky, who was recently appointed to this position. The troops entrusted to him had just completed the Tikhoretsk operation, during which the 1st Cavalry played a decisive role. And its commander, together with a member of the Revolutionary Military Council Voroshilov, went to Rostov in order to resolve a number of issues with the supply of the army. Having learned that there was a train of a new front in Bataysk, we decided to come and get acquainted. Budyonny described this meeting as follows. “We decided to introduce ourselves to Tukhachevsky, report on the state of the army and learn about a new task. Entering the car, we met Tukhachevsky in the narrow aisle in front of the saloon. After we introduced ourselves to him, he asked sternly:
“Snesarev was not mistaken in characterizing Red Murat: an innate military talent”
- Why didn’t you follow my order to strike in the direction of the village of Mechetinskaya ( Order No. 368 of February 28, 1920. – THEM.) and led the cavalry to the Torgovaya area?
To Tukhachevsky’s stern question, I calmly answered him that the attack of the cavalry from the Platovskaya area strictly to the west in the direction of Mechetinskaya in the specific situation that had developed by that time was inappropriate for the following reasons: the cavalry, tired of the forced march, could not advance across the steppe, littered with deep snow, where it was impossible to find neither housing nor fodder.
But most importantly, severe frosts began, in which leaving the army in the steppe meant deliberately destroying it, which was confirmed by the fate of General Pavlov's group.
Therefore, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Cavalry decided to deviate somewhat to the right - to populated areas where it was possible to get fodder and warm people, and then, in cooperation with the rifle formations of the 10th Army, defeat the enemy and continue moving in the indicated direction. Events have shown that the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Army was justified.
At first glance, the dialogue as a dialogue, even an ordinary one in the conditions of the Civil War - friction between the army commanders and the commanders often happened then among the Reds and their opponents. However, this conversation is direct evidence of how, by his decision to advance in the direction of Torgovaya Budyonny, he saved the 1st Cavalry from death, and the army of the front from a completely possible defeat and a likely turning point in the war in favor of the Whites.
To understand this, let's fast forward from the slush of March 1920 to the freezing December of the previous year. A little more than a month has passed since the end of a fierce oncoming battle between the Volunteer Army of Lieutenant General Vladimir Mai-Maevsky and the left flank of the Don Army, Lieutenant General Vladimir Sidorin, with the troops of the Red Southern Front. Not at all due to the actions of Budyonny, as Soviet historiography claimed, but thanks to the passivity of the left flank of the Don Army, which had every chance of defeating the left flank of the Southern Front, namely the 8th Army, the Reds won and snatched the strategic initiative from the hands of the enemy.
In December, the front reached the Don. It would seem that Denikin's defeat is inevitable. However, it only seemed to. Both the White and Bolshevik troops were exhausted and overworked, and the Cossacks were largely demoralized. But at the same time, the Bolshevik units broke away from their rear and supply bases. The Don, on the contrary, were on the territory of their native villages and understood: if they retreated further, all the “charms” of the Red Terror would return to the Don. It is also necessary to take into account the presence of another enemy of both the Reds and the Whites, who mercilessly mowed down their ranks - an epidemic of typhus.
Numerically, the forces of the parties in December 1919 were almost equal. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (VSYUR), Lieutenant General Anton Denikin, we must give him his due, despite the heavy setbacks of the last month and exhausting conflicts with the commander of the Volunteer Army, Lieutenant General Pyotr Wrangel, was firmly determined to hold Rostov and Novocherkassk, to prevent the Reds from the right bank of the Don and at the first opportunity to return the strategic initiative. Rostov was supposed to be defended by volunteers, the Don capital - parts of Sidorin, who united the command of the Don and volunteers in his hands - after serious losses, their army was reduced to a separate corps, headed instead of Wrangel by Lieutenant General Alexander Kutepov.
The volunteers fought successfully and pushed the enemy back from Rostov. They, in fact, did not lose their presence of mind even during the retreat from Orel to the Donbass. The actions of the Don people were also successful in some places, but, as often happened in the Civil War, the outcome of the battle was decided by a moral factor: Lieutenant General Konstantin Mamontov, who led the Don cavalry, did not believe in victory and led the Cossacks beyond the Don. Against the command of the chief. This allowed the 9th Red Army to take Novocherkassk, devaluing the success of the volunteers near Rostov and going to their rear. Parts of Kutepov had to break through the city captured by the enemy to the left bank of the Don.
The forces of the South-Eastern Front, which in January 1920 was transformed into the Caucasian Front, under the command of former Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Shorin, were supposed to force the river and develop an offensive in the North Caucasus. The 1st Cavalry was also included in the front. Shorin threw her into frontal attacks in the direction of Bataysk. I thought, it’s true, that the Don people were completely decomposed and would not show significant resistance. Wrong. Frontal attacks did not bring success, but led to losses among the cavalry, as well as to an acute conflict between Budyonny and Shorin. In the end, Moscow also turned out to be dissatisfied with the uncomplicated actions of the commander, replacing him first with the former colonel Fyodor Afanasyev, and in February 1920 with Tukhachevsky.
At that time, both sides were preparing for the offensive. Denikin planned a strike in the direction of Rostov, in turn, the headquarters of the Caucasian Front decided to bypass the right flank of the enemy and go to his rear with a strike on Tikhoretskaya. According to the commander-in-chief of the All-Union Socialist Revolutionary Federation, "the number of troops was approximately the same for both opponents, fluctuating between 40-50 thousand for us and 50-60 thousand for the Bolsheviks." In general, these data are also confirmed by Soviet authors - by the same Budyonny.
Don Orders
In January 1920, as if coming to their senses from the haze of failure and retreat, the Don people defeated the divisions of Budyonny and another legendary red commander, Boris Dumenko, who crossed Manych. However, again, as in the story with the almost defeated 8th Red Army in November 1919, the Cossacks did not organize a pursuit and tactical success did not develop into a strategic one. Nevertheless, in early February, Denikin issued a directive to go over to the general offensive. It started successfully - the volunteers returned Rostov. At the same time, a decision was made at the headquarters of the Caucasian Front: to abandon fruitless frontal attacks and transfer the 1st cavalry up to Manych for a deeper bypass of the enemy.
The Whites were well aware of the threat of an enemy breakthrough in the Tikhoretskaya area and an exit to the rear of the entire VSYUR grouping, so the cavalry group of Lieutenant General Alexander Pavlov was concentrated against Budyonny. Its basis was the 4th Don Corps - the same one at the head of which Mamontov made the famous raid on the red rear in August-September 1919, described by Alexei Tolstoy "In the torment". The corps was perhaps the most combat-ready in the Don army. Yes, unfortunately for the Cossacks, Mamontov contracted typhus and died in February 1920, which was decisive for the Whites. Pavlov could hardly be called a successful replacement, although his units managed to defeat Guy's cavalry division and the legendary 28th rifle division Vladimir Azin. But then the general led the Donets along the left, deserted bank of the Manych into a fierce cold and snowstorm, with the complete absence of winter quarters. It seems that Pavlov considered it necessary to move along the right bank, his officers insisted on this, but, agreeing with them, the group commander motivated his decision by his unwillingness to violate the order of his superiors. The frost on that tragic night for the Cossacks, according to the memoirs of the Don division commander, Major General Sergiy Pozdnyshev, reached 20-27 degrees.
Tukhachevsky, who by that time had headed the Caucasian front, ordered Budyonny to advance in the direction of Mechetinskaya, which is what is said in the passage quoted above from Krasny Murat's memoirs. Actually, the route of parts of Budyonny was supposed to run through the same territory, open to all winds and devoid of winter quarters.
Now let's imagine the consequences, carry out Red Murat Tukhachevsky's order. For Budyonny, the situation was aggravated by the fact that he was tens of kilometers away from the rear base and had to rely, as he later recalled, “only on local funds and trophies ... I had to feed my horses mainly with unharvested wheat.”
This in a very unsightly light characterizes the front, which set an essentially strategic task for the 1st cavalry, but did not properly study the theater of operations, did not take into account the weather conditions, did not take into account the actual absence of a rear base at Krasny Murat and ultimately doomed the elite cavalry units of the Caucasian front to a senseless death in the deserted steppe.
Budyonny in this situation acted quite in a Suvorov way: “If I said - to the left, and you see to the right. Don't listen to me! The locals always know better!”. Competent independent actions of the commander became the key to the success of not only the 1st Cavalry, but to a large extent the entire operation of the Reds to defeat the enemy in the North Caucasus, which ended with his Novorossiysk evacuation. But history could have turned out differently, just as the outcome of the Civil War could have turned out differently if Tukhachevsky had blindly carried out Budyonny's order to strike at Mechetinskaya.
In conclusion: it was not my task to form new myths about both Tukhachevsky and Budyonny. Both contributed to the victory of the Reds in the Civil War. But personally, I don’t think that the star of the former lieutenant would have risen if he had fought initially in the south of Russia, where Denikin had much more trained and competent officers than Kolchak. Piłsudski had enough of those. The result is known.
But Budyonny, especially in the battles near Tsaritsyn and in the operation considered here, demonstrated both initiative and talent. It is quite possible that Wrangel could not have taken the Red Verdun if he had listened to the advice of the commander of the 10th army, Budyonny, who led the cavalry corps in June 1919. And it was the divisions of Semyon Mikhailovich, his firm and competent leadership that prevented the complete decomposition of the 10th after the fall of Tsaritsyn and the collapse of the left flank of the Southern Front. Snesarev was not mistaken in the above description of Red Murat. Independence of judgments, the ability to take responsibility, Budyonny also showed in the Great Patriotic War. But that's another story.
Exactly 35 years ago, on October 26, 1973, the legendary marshal three times Hero died. Soviet Union Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny
The last and most beloved horse of the chief cavalryman of the Land of the Soviets was called the Sophist. On this horse, Marshal Budyonny took seven parades on Red Square. The sophist could smell his master a mile away: when Semyon Mikhailovich left his house in the village of Bakovka near Moscow, the horse snorted with impatience and ran to the fence of the stable. The last time Budyonny mounted a horse was 84 years old. Moreover, in uniform, he never mounted a horse in civilian clothes.
A year before his death, 89-year-old Semyon Mikhailovich decided to give his old pet to a stud farm. He went up to the Sophist, pressed his face against him and stroked him: “Well, old man, goodbye! It is not known who will outlive whom, because you and I are both old men ... "At the 2nd Novopodmoskovny stud farm there is a legend that when Budyonny died, the Sophist stood in his stall and cried
The horse outlived its owner by seven years. Once the head of the stud farm called the widow of Marshal Maria Vasilievna and daughter Nina: “Come say goodbye to the Sophist. He's really bad." Women recalled that his legs no longer held him, and the animal was suspended from the ceiling by the belly. Then the Sophist also shed tears
Ten facts from the life of Marshal Budyonny
Budyonny's brother settled in America
1. Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny was born on April 25, 1883 in the family of a farm laborer on the Kozyurin farm on the Don. He was the second child in a family of 11 children. The elder brother of the future Marshal of the Soviet Union, being a farm laborer, moved overseas with his owner in 1902 and eventually settled in America. From the age of eight, Sema, helping his father, also worked as a laborer for a rich merchant. He was a blacksmith's assistant, worked as a hammerer. And in his free time, he comprehended such a primordially Cossack business as horse racing and cutting vines, and achieved substantial success in this. In 1900, races were held in the village dedicated to the arrival of the Minister of War. The distinguished guest was very surprised that the most desperate rider was not a Cossack at all, and presented the 17-year-old Semyon with a silver ruble.
At the age of 20, Budyonny married a Cossack woman Nadezhda from a neighboring village, and six months later he was called up to serve in the tsarist army and enlisted in the cavalry.
2. Somehow, during horseback riding, a non-commissioned officer drew attention to the good training of the recruit Budyonny. Wanting to play a trick on the soldier, he ordered him to saddle a horse named Angel and demonstrate a gallop. And this horse was very capricious and threw off more than one rider. However, the soldier was worthy of standing in the saddle. No matter how much the horse rushed around the site, she could not throw off the rider. Then the Angel rushed straight to the thorny fence. Budyonny calmly spurred his horse, jerked sharply at the reins, and the steed jumped over the fence like a bird. The audience was taken aback: not a single dragoon has ever dared to do something like this! Since then, the nickname Eagle has stuck to Semyon. After that, the old-timers respected him, the service became easier.
The dragoons learned about the first Russian revolution of 1905 from leaflets planted in the barracks. Of course, the news was discussed. Budyonny did not take part in such conversations, but only listened. To the question of the regiment commander: “Who do you serve and what do you think about the revolution?” - reported: “I serve the Tsar-father and the Fatherland. I heard about the revolution. How not to hear, everyone talks about her, but I didn’t think - my business is service, your honor.
And he didn't cheat. For the daring and courage shown in the battles of the First World War, Semyon Budyonny was awarded four St. George's crosses and four medals, rose to the rank of senior non-commissioned officer, which was rare for the farm laborers.
3. After October revolution In 1917, demobilization began throughout the army, and together with other soldiers, the brave cavalryman Budyonny returned to his parents, who lived in the village of Platovskaya. At the beginning of the civil war, Semyon and his brother Denis left the village and participated in the battles on the side of the Bolsheviks. During the years of the civil war, Denis Budyonny grew the same mustache as his older brother. Semyon didn't like it at all. And then one day, having invited his brother to his hut, he contrived and cut off the ends of his mustache, saying: "Budyonny should be alone."
Two years later, in 1919, Semyon Budyonny was appointed commander of the newly created 1st Cavalry Army and accepted into the ranks of the RCP (b). Recommendations to the party were given to him personally by the People's Commissar for State Control Joseph Stalin and Kliment Voroshilov, one of the organizers and leaders of the Red Army.
4. Budyonny's phrase is known: "Yes, for me, it doesn't matter which front, it's my job to cut!" Somehow, in front of Stalin and Voroshilov, who came to the front line to see how the Budenovites were fighting, the White Cossacks began to push the Red Army men. The situation was becoming critical. Then Commander Budyonny pulled out his saber and rushed into battle, dragging along a special reserve cavalry division. Although its numbers were small, it was a guard that either won or died. And the situation changed instantly: the White Cossacks were forced to defend themselves. The battle turned into a real massacre, in which Russian people stabbed each other and trampled on horses. After the battle, inspecting the battlefield, Stalin said: “Semyon Mikhailovich, it’s monstrous! Is it possible to do without such sacrifices?
The question remained unanswered. By that time, Budyonny spent half his life in battles and never hid behind the backs of his subordinates. The commander knew well that thoughts of philanthropy during a fight with the enemy could lead to loss of head.
5. But the Cavalry did not live by fighting alone. In his youth, Semyon Budyonny respected not only the Cossack checker, but also music - he played the harmonica, sang and danced well. The commander knew that with the song it was easier for the fighters to endure difficulties.
During one of his visits to Moscow, Semyon Mikhailovich met with Fyodor Chaliapin. Chaliapin and advised to create a Red Army ensemble with a choir, orchestra and dancers in the Cavalry to promote the classics and folk art. Budyonny liked the idea, and at his direction, work in the cultural direction began to boil. They also took up literacy. Illiterate Red Army soldiers managed to learn right on the move: letters were attached to the backs of the riders riding in front, and the rear ones memorized them. It was from the 1st Cavalry that the writers Nikolai Ostrovsky and Vsevolod Vishnevsky came out.
6. In 1935, personal military ranks were introduced in the USSR. In the top five largest Soviet commanders The new rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was awarded to Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny.
And already in the tragic night of 1937, they arrived for Budyonny on a black funnel. The marshal met the armed guests with a saber drawn and shouting "Who is the first ?!" rushed at them. Specialists hastily retreated. In the morning, Lavrenty Beria, reporting to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Joseph Stalin, about the need to arrest Budyonny, described in colors what happened at night. Comrade Stalin replied: "Well done Semyon, that's how they should be!" The legendary marshal was no longer bothered.
7. Budyonny was married three times. The first wife of Budyonny died in 1924, according to the official version, as a result of an accident. There were rumors that Budyonny shot his wife out of jealousy, because she died from a bullet wound. This happened in the house of the commander in Moscow on Granovsky Street.
In one of the interviews, daughter Nina Budennaya spoke about this tragedy in the following way: “Dad recently settled on Granovsky. His mother and sister lived with him, but they were at the theater that evening. Dad was walking home from a meeting. And he sees: some company is clustered in the dark. “Here I am,” he told me about it this way, “Walter took his safety off. He came home and put it on the chest of drawers where he always put it. And then he sat down and began to pull off his boots. (They put on boots with talcum powder, and taking them off was a whole thing.)
And the wife went to the chest of drawers, took the gun, and put it to her temple. She said: "Look, Sema!" - and pulled the trigger. And all
Dad said that in civilian life she was with him in the Cavalry, was in charge medical unit. She also had a revolver. Papa said that she seemed to know how to handle him, but even then: once they were going somewhere on a train, and a bullet flew a centimeter from his temple. She twisted and twisted the revolver in her hands, and then she pulled the trigger.
Dad forbade us even to point a child’s gun at a person: “What if a real weapon falls into our hands.”
8. Semyon Budyonny met his second wife Olga Stefanovna in a sanatorium. Already married, she entered the conservatory. And her husband helped her in her studies: the legendary cavalryman played the button accordion, the accordion, and the harmonica of the German system, and this is a very complex instrument. In the fifties, records were sold "Duet of Bayanists", where Semyon Budyonny and his musician friend from Rostov played.
The cavalry inspector of the Red Army Semyon Budyonny was again unlucky with the second half: for more than six months a year he wandered around the military districts, and his young wife remained alone in Moscow, and she had an affair with the tenor of the Bolshoi Theater. Semyon Mikhailovich knew about this: there were enough informers in the Bolshoi. And his wife, without him, went to receptions at embassies, led a secular life, on which she got burned: she was accused of having relations with foreigners.
To save his wife, Budyonny went to Stalin. But the leader said: “Your wife is bad!” “And this is not a political matter, but a family matter,” the petitioner retorted.
Olga Stefanovna spent 19 years in prisons and exiles, from 1937 to 1953. The locals treated her badly because they believed that the woman was arrested because she intended to poison Budyonny. After Stalin's death, the husband took the repressed wife out of Siberia, bought her a room in Moscow, and supported her financially. Neither in the first nor in the second marriage did Budyonny have children.
9. With the third wife, Maria Vasilievna, Budyonny was introduced ... by the mother of the second wife, who was Masha's own aunt. Maria came to Moscow to study as a dentist and rented a corner in a communal apartment. But on Granovsky Street, she came to visit her married cousin Olya. The girl tried not to intersect with Semyon Mikhailovich, because she was embarrassed by a famous relative. And then, during Olga's exile, her aunt introduced her to the 53-year-old landlord. At first, Masha addressed Budyonny as you and by name and patronymic. Once he got angry and said: "I am your husband, and Semyon Mikhailovich is sitting on a horse."
Maria Vasilievna gave birth to her husband three children. And when the 60-year-old Budyonny was asked if it was hard to nurse babies in such years, he answered: “I have been waiting for them for too long. I rest with them."
Marshal's popularity was enormous. As soon as he appeared in a public place, people immediately surrounded him. Even during the rest of the Budyonnys in Kislovodsk, Semyon Mikhailovich was not allowed to pass: they stopped him, made requests. As Marshal's daughter Nina recalls, they even had to resort to tricks: in order to take a calm walk, the children got up at four in the morning and at half past five they already went for a walk in the mountains. Returned for breakfast, when vacationers were just waking up
10. In 1963, Nikita Khrushchev dismissed the honored marshal. Prior to that, Budyonny worked as Deputy Minister Agriculture on horse breeding, which was directly related to the army. In order to smooth out his harshness, Khrushchev allocated a plot of land to the retiree at the state dacha in Bakovka and allowed him to build a house there. Then it was not welcome. Semyon Mikhailovich came up with the idea of demolishing the wooden stable and building his own dacha in its place. A fee from two books written by Budyonny was spent on the construction.
A brave cavalryman, a dashing grunt, a hero of the Civil War, whose knowledge was hopelessly outdated by the beginning of World War II - this is how Semyon Budyonny is presented by official history. Meanwhile, the documents of the Great Patriotic War show us a completely different person: this is a competent, experienced and demanding military leader. On the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the marshal's birth, the correspondent of Kultura spoke about the truths and untruths around his personality with his children, Mikhail and Nina BUDENNY.
culture: It is believed that the participation of Semyon Mikhailovich in the Great Patriotic War was minimal, and in general they do not like to advertise this topic. Why?
Budyonny: Because for some people such a picture was very beneficial. Meanwhile, the facts say otherwise. On June 21, 1941, nine hours before the Nazi attack, Stalin summoned Semyon Timoshenko, People's Commissar of Defense, and two of his deputies: Budyonny and Georgy Zhukov, Chief of the General Staff.
Budyonny: Stalin already knew what time the war would start. And he asked a specific question: what are we going to do? Timoshenko immediately declared that we would defeat the Germans in border battles, and then we would finish them off on their own territory. The leader grew gloomy and asked to leave the hatred talk, offered to express more realistic considerations. The father spoke out. He marked three lines of defense: along the line of Smolensk, at the level of Stalingrad and along North Caucasus. As you know, there the Wehrmacht was turned back.
culture: It turns out that Stalin trusted Budyonny?
Budyonny: Trusted. They have had a very good business relationship since the time of the Civil War. Here (shows) is a cigarette case, which was awarded to my father in 1919. The dedicatory inscription was scrawled with a knife by Iosif Vissarionovich himself. He also trusted him because Budyonny was not afraid of him. At four o'clock in the morning on June 22, 1941, Timoshenko comes to his father's office and says: "The Germans are bombing Minsk." It is necessary to report to Stalin, but he himself cannot decide. Fears. People's Commissar asks for his deputy! Budyonny calls, reports. Stalin asks: “Where is Comrade Timoshenko?” - "Here, nearby." "Give him the phone..."
Or here's another episode. In 1938, a list of 65 arrested military leaders was delivered to my father's apartment. Father immediately - at night - went to Stalin. “Here, he says, is a list, explain why they are sitting?” - "I do not know". - "Who knows? So let's put you and me together with them, because all together they shed blood for the revolution. Stalin calls Yezhov, he enters half-bent. “Here, Comrade Budyonny is going to imprison us together with the military arrested by you, explain why they were taken?” “I don’t know, Comrade Stalin!” “Release everyone immediately!” And released.
culture: Why didn't a person with such influence and name stop the repressions of the late 1930s, at least in the army?
Budyonny: My father was sure that the "cleansing" of the army from non-professionals and unscrupulous people is absolutely necessary, without it the war will be lost. Another thing, he lamented more than once that completely innocent people fell into the millstones of repression for political reasons. A system was built that could destroy anyone. A case of twelve volumes was collected against him, but they did not dare to touch Budyonny. There were sabotage and betrayal. Here is just one episode. In 1940, my father was sent to inspect the construction of fortified areas in the Leningrad Military District. By the way, on the way there was funny story. Winter, he rides on a sleigh through the village, all wrapped in a fur coat, and then the boys began to shout: “Budyonny, Budyonny!” Their father asks: “How did you know?” - "In the ears!" - "What???" It turned out, by the mustache: the children were lisping ...
So, this was revealed on that trip ... For example, pillboxes were deployed towards the city - exactly to help the advancing enemy. Action was taken immediately. There was much more.
culture: What kind of relationship did Semyon Mikhailovich have with Tukhachevsky?
Budyonny: They argued a lot, especially on issues of tank troops. Tukhachevsky, as you know, preferred light tanks. And my father defended full-fledged ones - with good firepower and armor protection. The lungs were suitable only for breakthroughs as part of cavalry-mechanized divisions; they were useless in positional warfare.
culture: One of the well-established stereotypes - Budyonny was an "incorrigible cavalryman."
Budyonny: Was. But not in the way they make it out to be. Immediately before the war, thanks to his efforts, three cavalry-mechanized divisions were created, one of them was then the first to enter Berlin. A horse-mechanized division is not just cavalry with sabers and carbines, but a unit reinforced with light tanks, infantry mounted on trucks and armored cars, artillery and so on. The most mobile troops at that time. Breaking through the front, they go behind enemy lines, cut his communications, smash, surround, advancing towards the main forces. The Germans were very annoyed that they did not have a full-fledged cavalry during the Second World War, their generals write about this.
culture: As for Tukhachevsky: did your father not try to save him?
Budyonny: My father was among the people's assessors at the trial. But it was impossible to save Tukhachevsky. Commander Mikhail Lewandowski too. Father got up and spoke. He said that he had known Lewandowski for a long time, that he good specialist. But he interrupted him: “Don’t, Semyon, it’s my fault, I got involved in this myself, of my own free will.” There was a conspiracy. Father recalled that when he approached the military, clustered around Tukhachevsky, they fell silent. They were hiding something. There was a group in the army, which Budyonny, due to his education, honesty and closeness to Stalin, stood across his throat.
culture: According to the official version, he was just not educated ...
Budyonny: This is according to the "official" ... In 1932, he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy, and, as they say, on the job. I have 
his notes and daily routine have been preserved - it is not at all clear when he slept. And he also sent all his subordinates to study. Constantly engaged in self-education, knew several languages. German, Turkish, French, after the war he also learned English - the language of the new "probable enemy". He was always aware of the latest in military thought, before the war he often took lessons from Lieutenant General (still in the tsarist army) Andrei Snesarev, he lived nearby, on the same street.
I will say more, it was the father who insisted that the famous Katyusha be sent for re-testing. Marshal Grigory Kulik rejected the installation due to its low accuracy, calling it “samovar pipes”. Yes, Katyushas were sometimes hit in the wrong place. But it's powerful. Budyonny went personally to Stalin, and after the second test, the BM-13 was put into service. Here is the “uneducated” cavalryman for you ...
culture: Did he study Turkish for any particular purpose?
Budyonny: No, I learned it in the war, the First World War. After all, he had to fight with the Turks.
culture: Did he deserve the George Crosses there?
Budyonny: Yes, all five. One was deprived - he hit the higher authorities. Here is how it was. The officers drank, walked, and the soldiers and horses were not fed. The soldiers agreed: when the authorities entered, they would demand food and fodder in chorus. A drunken sergeant burst in, heard the demand and immediately swung at his father. And he was a big fan of fisticuffs, well, he bit him. The sergeant-major was pumped out, nothing happened to him, but everyone agreed: he was allegedly hit with a hoof by a horse, there was one so angry there, many people were beaten. Nevertheless, the father could have been shot - according to the laws of wartime, for an attack on higher authorities. He was already ready to run, but a familiar clerk promised to warn him if it came to execution, so he stayed to wait. They built a regiment and deprived the fourth "George". True, two weeks later he deserved it again: the three of them captured 20 enemy soldiers.
culture: Let's return to the Great Patriotic War: why did Stalin remove Budyonny from the command of the Reserve Front?
Budyonny: The story here is rather strange. A powerful defense was formed near Smolensk, my father lined up division after division: the Germans would definitely not have passed. But then they take him down, and Tymoshenko launches an offensive. Suffering a crushing defeat, the Wehrmacht rushes to Moscow. In my father's notes about those days, the word "betrayal" even appears.
culture: Memoirs, presumably, not published?
Budyonny: Three volumes were published: two - until 1953, the third - under Khrushchev. He, of course, was terribly cut. Removed all references to Stalin, much "corrected". The fourth volume was just about the Great Patriotic War, he began to write it in the late 60s. But he quit: he was given to understand that it would not be published.
culture: Too much "sedition"?
Budyonny: More precisely, the truth. In general, my father had an amazing memory, he remembered everything, down to the names of the smallest settlements where he had to fight or just visit. And for many, such memories turned out to be very undesirable. For example, the tragedy of the surrender of Kyiv ...
culture: The failed arrest of Budyonny, when he shot back from the NKVD from the “maxim” and called Stalin - is this a true story or a story from the Khrushchev era?
Budyonny: This joke appeared in the late 30s. But in the second half of the 1950s, something else happened. Then they destroyed the entire cavalry, and the father received a reprimand for "Kochubeevism." Nikita did not like the stud farms, they lived too well. Horse breeding is unprofitable in itself. But with my father, each stud farm was a huge enterprise with its own animal husbandry, poultry farming, agriculture and forage base, it not only provided for itself, but also made a profit. The workers, of course, lived well. After Khrushchev tripled the norms for the delivery of meat to the state, horses, including thoroughbreds, began to be slaughtered. After the war, there were 13 million horses in the country; in the late 50s, just over seven million remained. Father himself saved the horses, hid them in the truest sense of the word, did what he could. These are the passions for horse sausage 60 years ago ...
culture: Horses are no longer needed by the army?
Budyonny: But how can I tell you ... Back in the late 60s, when there was no thought of any Afghanistan, my father argued that in countries where mountainous terrain prevails, it is most effective to fight on horseback. He constantly wrote something, analyzed, figured out - the army for him was the meaning of life.
culture: Was he far from politics?
Budyonny: Absolutely. He was a military man - a man who defended his homeland. Of course, he experienced everything that was happening at the top, but he did not share with us ... At home there was a Kremlin "turntable". Khrushchev called and complained: "I was deposed." “There was no need to spoil others,” said the father and hung up.
culture: Who was he friends with, who lived next door to you?
Budyonny: With Marshal Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan - he had a dacha opposite. When he was transferred to Moscow, his father contributed to being given land in Bakovka. By the way, our house, where we are now sitting, is not state-owned. Once there were stables, a racing circle, an open arena for dressage. Having received a fee for his memories, his father built his own house, because they could be evicted from a state-owned dacha in 24 hours ... He was also friends with Rokossovsky, with Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, it’s impossible to list them all. But with Voroshilov they were always on "you". Although they knew each other since the Civil.
culture: Was your mother, the third wife of Semyon Mikhailovich, also a cavalryman?
Budyonny: No, this is Michael and I in the saddle since childhood. But for some reason, my father did not let my mother near the horses, apparently, he was very afraid for her, protected her ...
culture: His horses were right there in the yard, in the stable?
Budyonny: Yes. The most beloved was the Sophist, a unique horse. He lived to be 33 years old, although horses are usually released a little over twenty. Then the Sophist was sent to retire, to the stud farm in Gorki. When they said goodbye, the father could not walk, sat in a chair with a broken leg. He walked up to the porch himself. He bowed his head, his father stroked him and said: well, which of us will outlive whom? The Sophist survived. They say that he felt the death of his father, fought in the stall ...
LIFE of Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny (1883 - 1973) is interesting even in summary: Russo-Japanese War, World War I, four St. George's crosses (full bow), First Horse ... 50 years ago, every Soviet person knew his biography by heart. 20 years ago, some still remembered that there was such a headdress - budenovka. And after perestroika, only a mustache remained from the image of Semyon Mikhailovich. With them, the conversation began with the marshal's daughter, Nina Semyonovna BUDENNA.
"Eh ... mother, Budyonny!"
HERE about the mustache, not everything was smooth. During the Civil War, he almost lost them. It was like this: the Red Army brought trophy cartridges. Budyonny and Frunze (they were very friendly) became interested - they took it apart, poured gunpowder. There was a Budyonny with a cigarette, it dragged on a lot, gunpowder and flared up. One mustache burned. Frunze cut off the second one with some rusty sheep's scissors. Dad even wanted to remain beardless, but was dissuaded. By the way, many people mistakenly think about the close friendship between Budyonny and Voroshilov. Nothing like this! They have been on "you" all their lives.
And with Stalin?
My father had no personal friendship with Stalin, just as no one had it. But the leader favored him, trusted him. And he, taking advantage of comradely relations with Joseph Vissarionovich, did not miss the opportunity to get something on economic matters. Father, both then and later, was engaged in stud farms a lot, took care of them, and in Khrushchev's times literally saved herds of horses from slaughter for sausage. Such a funny episode is connected with horses: once Semyon Mikhailovich took Stalin to show the stud farms. Very early, at dawn, they slowly drove in an open limousine through Stalingrad, followed by security. A workman was walking down the street. I saw the leaders, was dumbfounded and gave out: "Stalin! Voroshilov! Fuck ... mother, Budyonny!" After this incident, Stalin, meeting Budyonny, greeted him like that. True, he spoke in his ear, in a whisper.
And how did relations develop with younger party leaders, with military leaders? With Zhukov, for example.
In 1930, he dragged Zhukov to Moscow, to the inspection of the cavalry. The wife of Georgy Konstantinovich sent a letter to Budyonny stating that Zhukov, who was then in command cavalry brigade in the Belorussian district, there were very difficult relations with the local party authorities. She asked for help, but begged to keep her letter a secret from her husband. Zhukov never found out about this letter.
How did Budyonny's life go during the repressions?
When mass arrests began, Budyonny went to Voroshilov, People's Commissar for Defense. “You go to Stalin yourself,” he said. “He already told me: “He spread the counter-revolution in the people’s commissariat, and now you’re running around, asking.” Semyon Mikhailovich went and told the leader that it had become impossible to work, people were being taken away. “Here is General Chumakov ! From the peasants, he fought in the Civil War, what is he, against the Soviet regime? Then you and I, Joseph Vissarionovich, should be imprisoned!" - "What are you, Semyon Mikhailovich, henbane overeat?" - Stalin was amazed and said to Ezhov who entered: "Here Budyonny claims that it's time to imprison us. Yes, if you, Semyon Mikhailovich, are imprisoned, who will believe that you are an enemy?
horses against tanks
In the SOVIET post-war literature, there was such an image of Budyonny: a brave man, but narrow-minded. Much was written about the fact that he "did not understand the essence of modern warfare", and in 1941 he almost himself led the cavalry in attacks on German tanks.
As for the cavalry attacks, I can immediately say that there is no such thing for Budyonny. Dad was not at all some hardened retrograde. Shortly before the start of the war, Katyushas were shown to the high command of the RKKA. Not everything has been worked out yet, the commission gave a negative conclusion. The designers asked Budyonny to help. He personally discussed this weapon with Stalin. As a result, just a day before the war, the top leaders of the state got acquainted with the "product" and gave the go-ahead. It is documented that in 1941 Budyonny insisted that Kyiv should be left without a fight. Stalin did not listen to him, as a result, 665 thousand soldiers of the Red Army were captured near the capital of Ukraine.
What, Budyonny was a great commander in this war too?
Of course not. In the Great Patriotic War, he did not show himself as brightly as in the Civil War. During the entire war, he directly commanded the troops only once - in 1942. North Caucasian Front. He fought no better than others, but no worse. In general, he retreated with heavy losses, like other military leaders. After the Caucasus, he was no longer allowed to lead the fronts. Although Semyon Mikhailovich was in good health, he still turned 60.
What did your father tell you about the war?
Dad didn't like to talk about the war. And if he did, he strongly scolded fools and mediocrity. I remember well, for example, his stories about the Crimean catastrophe of 1942. Budyonny was sent to organize the defense of Kerch. Ivan Serov, authorized by the NKVD, came to him and asked for orders. The father replied that during the evacuation he should flood the locomotives. Two hours later, Serov returned: "Your order has been executed!" "What a fool! - his father attacked him. - I said that this should be done during the evacuation, but we are not going to leave yet." Budyonny said he would put Serov on trial, but Beria recalled him to Moscow.
By the way, this Serov, who became the chairman of the KGB after the war, did not forgive the offense. It was at his suggestion that Khrushchev expelled Budyonny from the army in 1954. In the end, my father was returned to the troops, he was assigned to work in DOSAAF. Still, he really had worldwide fame. Even Kennedy, when meeting with Khrushchev, inquired about Budyonny's health.
A retired hero
How do you remember your father?
Dad was unpretentious in food, he never abused alcohol, although at dinner he did not refuse a glass of vodka or his favorite Armenian cognac. He literally smoked until the last day of his life, however, after a stroke he limited himself to 3-4 cigarettes a day. Cavalry hardening was felt in him even at the most advanced age. We had bars and rings at home, and he instilled a love for horseback riding and fencing even in me, not to mention my sons. Like most red commanders, he loved hunting and fishing, and sometimes played the accordion "for the soul".
And what about another hobby of the senior command staff - women?
Semyon Mikhailovich was married three times. With his first wife, Nadezhda, he married in 1903. Dad fought with the Japanese for a long time, then with the Germans - they did not see each other for 7 years. In the Civil, she was in charge of the supply of food and the medical unit in the First Cavalry Army, and she died already under Soviet rule. Her husband's gun, which she picked up, turned out to be off the safety lock ...
He met his second wife, Olga Stefanovna Mikhailova, on vacation in Kislovodsk. She was a singer and later became a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre. They lived together for 13 years, but the marriage was childless, as with the first wife. Dad was very worried about this. Firstly, because all his life, as he later said, he dreamed of messing around with children. Secondly, dad began to suspect that he was sick with something. Meanwhile, the NKVD caught the marshal's young wife in "suspicious personal relationships." The case was heading for divorce. People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Yezhov even offered his "help", but his father refused, saying that he would sort out his personal life without "organs". Did not help. In 1937, Olga Stefanovna was imprisoned anyway.
For the third time, Budyonny married a young relative of his second wife, Maria Vasilievna. He just came alive with her appearance. In 1938, to the great joy of his father, the first-born, Sergei, was born. The following year I was born, in 1944 my younger brother Mikhail was born. His father and mother lived in perfect harmony until his death in 1973. And mother, God bless her, and now she is well.
Little-known facts from the biography of Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny, who passed away 45 years ago
Cheerful and cheerful, easy to communicate with subordinates, the hero of the Civil War and one of the first marshals of the USSR Semyon Budyonny was the idol of several generations of Soviet boys.
1. Semyon Budyonny, the second son in the family of a farm laborer, where besides him there were seven more children, was born in 1883 on the Kozyurin farm in the Rostov province. The elder brother of the future marshal, George, emigrated to the United States after the revolution. The fact is that until 1917, Grigory Budyonny worked for a German colonist, and after the change of power in Russia, he moved across the ocean with him, where he died after World War II.
2. The non-commissioned officer of the 18th Seversky Dragoon Regiment Semyon Budyonny during the First World War was awarded four degrees of St. George's Crosses and four St. George's medals for his bravery. When he was a Soviet commander, Budyonny wore a full St. George's bow on a separate tunic.
3. After the revolution of 1917, Semyon Mikhailovich went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. “I decided that it was better to be a marshal in the Red Army than an officer in the white,” he later recalled. And already in 1919, Budyonny began to command the legendary First Cavalry Army. In 1932, Semyon Mikhailovich graduated from the Frunze Military Academy, where, while studying new methods of fighting the enemy, he made a parachute jump. In 1935, he was one of the first in the USSR to be awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
4. Semyon Budyonny was married three times. With his first wife, Nadezhda, a Cossack from a neighboring village, he married in 1903. She tragically died 21 years later. It was officially reported that the cause of death was careless handling of weapons. But there were rumors that her husband shot her out of jealousy.
One way or another, but a year after the death of Nadezhda, Semyon Mikhailovich married an opera singer, soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Olga Mikhailova. However, the relationship of the spouses quickly went wrong, as the actress preferred a bohemian lifestyle. And in 1937, Mikhailova was arrested and exiled to camps. After her release in the 1950s, Semyon Budyonny, who had already filed for a divorce, moved Olga to Moscow, secured an apartment and a job for her. Immediately after the arrest of his second wife, Semyon Mikhailovich married Olga Mikhailova's cousin, Maria. As for many other Soviet people, Budyonny was for his third wife, first of all folk hero. Therefore, at first, Mary called her husband by name and patronymic. Once the commander could not stand it and, getting angry, threw out: “I am your husband! And Semyon Mikhailovich is sitting on a horse! Married to Semyon Budyonny, Maria gave birth to two sons, Sergei and Mikhail, and a daughter, Nina.
5. The Red Army helmet sewn from cloth, resembling the helmet of an ancient Russian warrior in shape, began to be called “Budyonovka”, because it was the fighters of Budyonny’s army who put on such a headdress.
6. In 1937, the NKVD also tried to arrest Budyonny. There are several versions of how it was. According to one of them, the marshal met the "guests" with a sword drawn. According to another, he put a machine gun out the window. One way or another, but, they said that Semyon Mikhailovich called Stalin and said: “Joseph, counter-revolution! They came to arrest me! I won't give up alive!" After which Stalin laughed and ordered Budyonny to be left alone.
7. An integral part of the image of Semyon Budyonny was his magnificent mustache, which he cherished and cherished in every possible way. And in the museum of the First Cavalry Army even the headpiece of the commander is kept - a device for giving the mustache a certain shape. Somehow, after careless handling of gunpowder, one mustache of Semyon Mikhailovich turned gray, and Budyonny decided to shave it off altogether. But Mikhail Frunze dissuaded him: "This, Semyon, is not your mustache, but folk."
8. Until the end of his life, the marshal was in a wonderful physical form. His daughter Nina recalled that after 60 years, Budyonny was still spinning the "sun" on the horizontal bar, and at 84 he sat confidently in the saddle. The legendary army commander died in October 1973 at the age of 91.