Where did Chapaev die and how did it happen? A clear answer to this question, alas, no. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev - legendary personality times Civil War. The life of this person, starting from a young age, is filled with mysteries and secrets. Let's try to unravel them based on some historical facts.
The Mystery of Birth
The hero of our story lived only 32 years. But what kind! Where Chapaev died and where he was buried is an unsolved mystery. Why did this happen? Eyewitnesses of those distant times differ in their testimony.
Ivanovich (1887-1919) - this is how historical reference books present the date of birth and death of the legendary commander.
It’s only a pity that history has preserved more reliable facts about the birth of this man than about his death.
So, Vasily was born on February 9, 1887 in the family of a poor peasant. The very birth of the boy was marked by the seal of death: the midwife who delivered the birth of the mother of a poor family, seeing the premature baby, prophesied his quick death.
The grandmother came out to the stunted and half-dead boy. Despite the disappointing forecasts, she believed that he would pull through. The baby was wrapped in a piece of cloth and warmed near the stove. Thanks to the efforts and prayers of his grandmother, the boy survived.
Childhood years
Soon the Chapaev family, in search of a better life, moves from the village of Budaiki, in Chuvashia, to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev province.
Things went a little better for the family: Vasily was even sent to study science at the parish educational institution. But the boy was not destined to receive a full education. In a little more than 2 years, he only learned to read and write. The training ended after one incident. The fact is that in parochial schools it was the practice to punish students for misconduct. Chapaev did not escape this fate either. In the cold winter, the boy was sent to a punishment cell with virtually no clothes. The guy did not intend to die from the cold, so when it was no longer bearable to endure the cold, he jumped out of the window. The punishment cell was very high - the guy woke up with broken arms and legs. After this incident, Vasily did not go to school anymore. And since education for the boy was closed, his father took him to work with him, taught him carpentry, and they built buildings together.
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, whose biography grew with new and incredible facts every year, was remembered by his contemporaries after one more incident. It was like this: during work, when it was necessary to install a cross on the very top of a newly built church, showing courage and dexterity, Chapaev Jr. took on this task. However, the guy could not resist and fell from a great height. Everyone saw a true miracle in the fact that after the fall Vasily did not have even a small scratch.
In the service of the Fatherland
At the age of 21, Chapaev began military service, which lasted only a year. In 1909 he was fired.
According to the official version, the reason was the illness of a serviceman: Chapaev was diagnosed. The unofficial reason was much more serious - Vasily’s brother, Andrei, was executed for speaking out against the tsar. After this, Vasily Chapaev himself began to be considered “unreliable.”
Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich, whose historical portrait emerges as the image of a man prone to bold and decisive actions, once decided to start a family. He got married.
Vasily's chosen one, Pelageya Metlina, was the daughter of a priest, so the elder Chapaev opposed these marriage ties. Despite the ban, the young people got married. Three children were born in this marriage, but the union broke up due to Pelageya’s betrayal.
In 1914, Chapaev was again called up for service. First World War brought him awards: the St. George Medal and the 4th and 3rd degrees.
In addition to awards, soldier-Chapaev received the rank of senior non-commissioned officer. All achievements were gained by him during six months of service.
Chapaev and the Red Army
In July 1917, Vasily Chapaev, having recovered from his injury, joined an infantry regiment whose soldiers supported revolutionary views. Here, after active communication with the Bolsheviks, he joined the ranks of their party.
In December of the same year, the hero of our story becomes commissar of the Red Guard. He suppresses peasant uprisings and goes to study at the General Staff Academy.
For the smart commander, a new assignment will soon arrive - Chapaev is sent to the Eastern Front to fight with Kolchak.
After the successful liberation of Ufa from enemy troops and participation in the military operation to release Uralsk, the headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was suddenly attacked by the White Guards. According to the official version, Vasily Chapaev died in 1919.
Where did Chapaev die?
There is an answer to this question. The tragic event occurred in Lbischensk, on But historians are still arguing about how the famous commander of the Red Guard died. There are many different legends about the death of Chapaev. A lot of “eyewitnesses” tell their truth. Still, researchers of Chapaev’s life are inclined to believe that he drowned while swimming across the Urals.
This version is based on an investigation conducted by Chapaev’s contemporaries shortly after his death.
The fact that the division commander’s grave does not exist and his remains were not found gave rise to new version that he was saved. When the Civil War ended, rumors began to circulate among the people about Chapaev’s rescue. It was rumored that he, having changed his last name, lived in the Arkhangelsk region. The first version is confirmed by a film that was released on Soviet screens in the 30s of the last century.
Film about Chapaev: myth or reality
In those years, the country needed new revolutionary heroes with an unblemished reputation. Chapaev's feat was exactly what Soviet propaganda felt necessary.
From the film we learn that the headquarters of the division commanded by Chapaev was taken by surprise by the enemies. The advantage was on the side of the White Guards. The Reds fired back, the battle was fierce. The only way to escape and survive was to cross the Urals.
While crossing the river, Chapaev was already wounded in the arm. The next enemy bullet killed him and he drowned. The river where Chapaev died became his burial place.
However, the film, which was admired by all Soviet citizens, caused indignation among Chapaev's descendants. His daughter Claudia, referring to the story of Commissar Baturin, claimed that his comrades took his father to the other side of the river on a raft.
To the question: “Where did Chapaev die?” Baturin answered: “On the bank of the river.” According to him, the body was buried in the coastal sand and disguised by reeds.
Already the great-granddaughter of the red commander initiated the search for her great-grandfather’s grave. However, these plans were not destined to come true. At the place where, according to legend, the grave should have been located, a river now flowed.
Whose testimony was used as the basis for the film script?
How Chapaev died and where, the cornet Belonozhkin told after the end of the war. From his words, it became known that it was he who fired a bullet at the sailing commander. A denunciation was written against the former cornet, he confirmed his version during interrogation, and it was the basis for the film.
Belonozhkin's fate is also shrouded in mystery. He was convicted twice and amnestied the same number of times. He lived to a very old age. He fought during World War II, lost his hearing due to shell shock, and died at the age of 96.
The fact that Chapaev’s “killer” lived to such an old age and died a natural death suggests that representatives of the Soviet government, who took his story as the basis for the film, did not themselves believe in this version.
Version of the old-timers of the village of Lbischenskaya
How Chapaev died, history is silent. We can draw conclusions by referring only to eyewitness accounts, conducting all kinds of investigations and examinations.
The version of the old-timers of the village of Lbischenskaya (now the village of Chapaevo) also has the right to life. The investigation was conducted by Academician A. Cherekaev, and he wrote down the history of the defeat of Chapaev’s division. According to eyewitnesses, the weather on the day of the tragedy was autumn-like cold. The Cossacks drove all the Red Guards to the banks of the Urals, where many soldiers actually threw themselves into the river and drowned.
The victims were due to the fact that the place where Chapaev died is considered enchanted. No one has ever managed to swim across the river there, despite the fact that local daredevils, in honor of the memory of the deceased commissioner, organize such swims every year on the day of his death.
What Cherekaev learned about Chapaev’s fate was that he was caught, and after interrogation, under guard, he was sent to Guryev to Ataman Tolstov. This is where Chapaev's trail ends.
Where is the truth?
The fact that Chapaev’s death is indeed shrouded in mystery is an absolute fact. And the answer to this question is for researchers life path the legendary division commander has yet to be recognized.
It is noteworthy that the newspapers did not report Chapaev’s death at all. Although then the death of such famous person was considered an event that was learned about from the newspapers.
They began to talk about Chapaev's death after the release of the famous film. All the eyewitnesses of his death spoke at almost the same time - after 1935, in other words, after the film was shown.
In the encyclopedia “Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR” the place where Chapaev died is also not indicated. The official, generalized version is indicated - near Lbischensk.
Let's hope that thanks to the opportunities latest research, this story will become clear someday.
In 1995, one of the central newspapers published a sensational interview with the daughter of Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, the legendary division commander, hero of the Civil War.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
Klavdia Vasilievna told how after one of the screenings of the film “Chapaev” two elderly Hungarians who had once fought under her father approached her. The Hungarians said that Chapaev died completely differently from the official version, according to which the division commander died in the waters of the Ural River, struck by a White Guard bullet.
According to them, Chapaev did not drown at all. They delivered their commander to the other side, where he died from wounds received during the battle, after which he was buried with full honors. To prove their words, the former Red Army soldiers even brought Klavdia Chapaeva a plan of the area on which the burial site was marked. Then they told other equally sensational details. It turns out that the fatal shot for Chapaev was fired in the back and at close range.
Photos of Hungarians-Chapaevites
Based on these testimonies, a version soon emerged that Chapaev was killed by his own people. This publication stirred up a wave of controversy that continues to this day. Here and there new circumstances emerge about the death of the legendary division commander, which fundamentally contradict the official version. And the details are still not completely clear death of Chapaev, and who was responsible for his death.
The story told by the daughter of the famous division commander is truly intriguing. Is everything we know about Chapaev’s death from official sources a complete lie? What then are the true circumstances of his death? There is now no grave at the place indicated on the map by the Hungarians. Over the past decades, the river could have changed its course, the banks were being washed away, and the grave could well have ended up under water. Or she wasn't there. Can Hungarians be trusted?
If you look at the facts of Chapaev’s biography, you can see that many legends have developed around his name that do not correspond to reality. Like, for example, the “psychic attack” of the Kappelites. Allegedly, a whole horde in black uniforms with a banner with a skull and crossbones is advancing in close formation on the few Red Army soldiers. This scene became one of the most iconic in Soviet cinema. But here's the problem. The Chapaevites never actually met Kappel’s troops on the battlefield. And the White Guards had never worn such a uniform, let alone an operetta banner.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Kappelites
One more thing. In the film, Chapaev is a dashing horseman, rushing towards the enemy with his saber drawn. In fact, Chapaev did not feel much love for horses. I preferred a car. We know the details of the division commander’s death from the book of political instructor Dmitry Furmanov. However, he was not with Chapaev during the last fight. That is, he cannot be an objective witness.
The Hungarians claimed that they transported the wounded man in Chapaev’s hand to the other side on a raft. He would not have been able to swim on his own. With one hand and taking into account the blood loss it is simply unrealistic.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Furmanov
Why did this man receive such mythologization? According to anecdotes, he is such a cheerful, rollicking person, a drinker. In fact, Vasily Ivanovich did not drink alcohol at all; his favorite drink was tea. The orderly took the samovar with him everywhere. Having arrived at any location, Chapaev immediately started drinking tea and always invited the locals. Thus, his reputation as a very good-natured and hospitable person was established. In the film there are these words from the main character: “You come to me at midnight. I’m drinking tea, sit down and drink tea. I’m having lunch, please eat. That’s what a commander I am!”
It is a myth that he was semi-literate. In fact, he was a very talented military leader and certainly literate. If the Whites found out that Chapaev was against them, they developed operations especially carefully. This speaks of Chapaev’s authority not only among the Reds but also among the Whites. One Chapaev regiment fought successfully against an entire enemy division. Legends were made about him and songs were sung.
Legend: Chapaev comes after the battle, takes off his overcoat, shakes it, and the bullets that hit him spill out of his overcoat. Mythologization occurred immediately after Furmanov’s book and the release of the Vasiliev brothers’ film. And until the 30s people spoke about him very differently.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev" Attack
What happened in the last battle? It is generally accepted that the Reds were attacked by superior enemy forces. In fact, there were about 4 thousand reds, which is significantly more than whites. According to the official version, Chapaev died on September 5, 1919, near the city of Lbischensk, now the village of Chapaev. At that time, the Ural Cossack Army opposed the Reds in this area. The headquarters of the 25th division, commanded by Chapaev, was located in Lbischensk itself. At the beginning of September, the Whites carried out the Lbischensky raid - a daring breakthrough deep into the Reds' defense. As a result, they completely defeated the Chapaevites and destroyed their commander.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
There are a lot of strange things in this whole story. The Cossacks, exhausted by the retreat, suddenly defeat the 25th Division, which was considered one of the best in the Red Army? The division had artillery batteries and armored cars, and even 4 airplanes. At that time, a colossal strategic advantage. It was the pilots who were entrusted with the task of tracking the enemy’s movements and observing the surrounding area. However, for some reason airplanes did not help Chapaev. How could such an experienced commander miss the movements of the whites, who had been moving for several days across the bare steppe to his headquarters? Air reconnaissance could not fail to notice detachments of Cossacks approaching Lbischensk. It remains to assume the betrayal of the pilots. According to eyewitnesses, during the attack on Lbischensk, two of the four airplanes flew to the enemy’s location.
Photo by Klavdiya Vasilievna Chapaeva
It turns out that Chapaev’s daughter has been collecting information bit by bit for 25 years about that last fight of her father. Moreover, she managed to communicate with the very pilots who killed Chapaev. Klavdia Vasilievna claimed that when she asked the pilots why they behaved so shamefully, they answered that they were paid well and they wanted to live. Allegedly, these people subsequently occupied quite high positions in the Red Army. The daughter also reports the names of these traitorous pilots: Sladkovsky and Sadovsky. But bad luck, these names are not on the list of pilots of the Chapaev division.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
Still, the fact is that Chapaev did not know about the approach of the White Cossacks. There is also a version that assistant divisional commander Orlovsky, the head of the operational unit, betrayed him. It was to him that the pilots provided all the information. But there is one dubious point. It is known that Chapaev had a nose for his comrades; would he really not have sensed betrayal? In addition, Orlovsky repeatedly proved his loyalty to the commander in battle. Still, the version of Orlovsky’s betrayal is unlikely. As for the pilots, it is unlikely that the whites would be able to recruit them in the shortest possible time. All the pilots could not commit betrayal at once.
And here's another one version. The pilots had some very compelling argument. Order of the High Command of the Red Army. During the turbulent years of the civil war, this could well have happened. Chapaev’s daughter also claims that her father was wanted to be killed by his own people, since he was disturbing everyone. His tough temperament and independence irritated many in the Bolshevik elite. Another important point. Chapaev was a full Knight of St. George. This suggests that he was previously selflessly devoted to the tsarist regime. This could be an argument for the Red leadership to eliminate him.
Photo. Real Chapaev - Knight of St. George
Furmanov describes such an incident, included in the film, when Chapaev is asked by the peasants: “Are you, Vasily Ivanovich, for the Bolsheviks or for the Communists?” And he couldn't answer. But the Bolsheviks adhered to an iron rule. He who is not with us is against us. Even after such an innocent episode, Chapaev could well have been blacklisted.
Was there a confrontation between Chapaev and the Bolshevik leadership? The document has been preserved in the archive. This is the protocol of the special department dated November 2, 1918. “We heard the case of Comrade Chapaev. We decided to disciplinary remove Comrade Chapaev from office, to be tried and shot. In view of a possible rebellion in the army, turn to Comrade Trotsky for assistance, invite him to call Comrade Chapaev to report to him." However, according to his daughter, Chapaev was warned about the real reason for the call to Moscow, and he sent a telegram to Trotsky: "Do you need to kill me? So take it and kill it. But for my sake, killing the entire division is a crime." Realizing that the situation was heating up, Trotsky decided to personally visit Chapaev. However, his visit to the division hardly resembled a friendly one. Trotsky apparently perceived Chapaev as an anarchist.
Photo. Real Chapaev
The fact is this. Trotsky always went to the troops on the same armored train. When he went to Chapaev, there were two armored trains. And an armored train is strength. When they arrived, they did not leave for several hours. It is felt that Trotsky did not trust Chapaev. Here is a vivid picture of Trotsky’s attitude towards Chapaev. Simply amazing picture. When Chapaev reported on the situation at the front, Trotsky was eating a watermelon and spitting out the seeds. He behaved so boorishly towards the commander in the presence of his troops. After this, relations between Chapaev and the Bolshevik leadership worsened to the limit. In the summer of 1919, Lenin invited Kamenev to take Chapaev’s place. He refuses. Then in Moscow they decide to put Chapaev on starvation rations. Their supplies of food and weapons are being cut off.
And then it gets even more interesting. It is known that it was Trotsky who sent those airplanes to Chapaev’s division that later played a fatal role. That is, it was Trotsky who the pilots obeyed. This means that Trotsky may have ordered Chapaev.
Photo Ural River
According to the Hungarians, their commander was shot in the back and at close range. Similarly, a week earlier, the legendary division commander Shchors was killed in Ukraine. And a few years later, the famous Kotovsky was also shot dead under unclear circumstances. There is a version that this was done by Trotsky’s people. However, historians are suspicious of this version. Trotsky, although he was the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, was not Chapaev’s immediate superior. And Trotsky had no good reason to conflict with the division commander, whom he saw a couple of times in his life.
Feeling how enormous Chapaev’s authority is among the troops, how completely different he is from an anarchist, Trotsky does not dare to arrest him. Instead, he takes out a gold watch and hands it to Chapaev with a silver saber. There was a conflict between Chapaev and Trotsky based on the fact that Chapaev was an upstart, a person who took too much independent decisions and thereby, as it were, discredits the leadership and combat policy of the Red Army. But it is still impossible to say unequivocally that Trotsky “ordered” Chapaev.
There was such an interesting figure - the commander of the 4th Army, Khvesin. Chapaev wrote: “Khvesin betrayed me, he is a scoundrel.” The betrayal was that Khvesin did not give Chapaev certain reinforcements, an armored division, a car, or anything else. This document came to Khvesin. When the issue was discussed that the Red Army should get rid of Chapaev, Khvesin, on the contrary, supported his division commander, was not offended by the accusations, and he himself flew out of his post. This was long before Chapaev’s death.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
During the Civil War, destinies were instantly broken and heroes were born just as instantly. Any person could fall into favor or out of favor. If, for example, they wanted to shoot Chapaev a year ago, then it cannot be said that a year later they framed him and killed him.
It is also difficult to imagine that Trotsky would remove Shchors, Kotovsky, Chapaev at the height of the war. The Bolshevik leadership needed them much more alive at that moment. The bullet that killed Chapaev could have been a Cossack. The Whites, having captured Lbischensk, looked for the division commander among the dead, but did not find them. This means that if he died, then on the other side.
Photo frame from the film "Chapaev"
There is another version. Chapaev was not killed at all, but survived. As fantastic as this version is, it has some basis. The story is as follows. In 1972, an inconspicuous old man dies in one of the Kremlin hospitals. However, he is buried in a prestigious metropolitan cemetery. On the gravestone it says: Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. Suppose the wounded Chapaev was transported across the Urals, then somewhere he had to heal his wound and come to his senses. Some time passed, maybe several months, and having recovered, Chapaev went to Frunze and demanded that those who betrayed him be punished. And Frunze told him: “You died for everyone. They named the division after you. So live for yourself and don’t dare tell anyone that you are that same Chapaev.” That is, he has already become a legend, at least among the soldiers of the Red Army. The dead Chapaev, a fearless hero, turned out to be much more necessary for the Soviet government than the living one.
Vasily Ivanovich grieved, but in the end agreed to remain silent. But after the premiere of the film in the mid-30s, I still couldn’t resist telling my secret. For this, the obstinate division commander was first sent to the camps, and then put in a psychiatric hospital. There were 5 Chapaevs in each ward. There, Vasily Ivanovich, finally broken, quietly grew old and died.
The archives preserve memories of soldiers of the 25th division who allegedly met with their “deceased” commander in the early 30s and even after the Great Patriotic War. But it is not possible to verify this evidence. The witnesses have long been dead. So the version remains a version. No graves with the name Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev were found in well-known Moscow cemeteries.
One military historian claims that at first Chapaev was indeed buried on the banks of the Ural River, but later, when the Red Army launched a counteroffensive, the soldiers dug up the grave of their commander and transported the body to Uralsk, where it was reburied in a cemetery near St. Nicholas Church. One of the old-timers of the city of Uralsk, a certain Stepan Prokhorov, claimed that as a child he saw how two Red Army soldiers from the 25th division brought the body of their commander to the city. Initially, Chapaev was supposedly going to have a ceremonial funeral. But then a strange order came - to bury him in a common grave, and then we’ll figure it out. Later, the same Prokhorov, while driving around the cemetery with the boys, allegedly saw it stuck in one of the graves. metal sheet, on which it was written: “Four communists and Chapaev are buried here.” The boy reported what he saw to his father, a party worker. But he ordered his son to keep his mouth shut to avoid trouble. The story is strange.
St. Nicholas Church in Uralsk still exists. Near it is a small cemetery with many old obelisks with stars. Chapaev's grave is not here, at least not signed.
The Soviet government did everything possible to turn a living person into a monument, as it succeeded more than once. And distort the true facts of his biography as much as possible.
He was respected not only by the Reds but also by the Whites. Both soldiers and peasants loved him. And there was a reason for it. In Soviet times, we extolled the Reds, and painted the Whites as such scoundrels. Now it's the other way around. Already red, they are all such scum. In fact, everything is not like that. The Civil War is a great national tragedy. And we must pay tribute to all those who died. And especially those who fought honestly for the idea. Chapaev was like that.
But the evidence of the Hungarians must still be recognized as authentic. After all, they did not have any selfish motives. They were not looking for any glory, but only wanted to tell their daughter how her father died. And then in 1919 they saved their commander. There's no reason not to trust them.
The first thing that allows us to doubt the official version is that Furmanov was not an eyewitness to the death of Vasily Ivanovich. When writing the novel, he used the memories of the few surviving participants in the battle in Lbischensk. At first glance, this is a reliable source. But to understand the picture, let’s imagine that battle: blood, a merciless enemy, mutilated corpses, retreat, confusion. You never know who drowned in the river. In addition, not a single surviving soldier with whom the author spoke confirmed that he saw the corpse of the division commander, then how can one say that he died? It seems that Furmanov, deliberately mythologizing Chapaev’s personality when writing the novel, created a generalized image of the heroic red commander. A heroic death for the hero.
Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev
Another version was first heard from the lips of Chapaev’s eldest son, Alexander. According to him, two Hungarian Red Army soldiers put the wounded Chapaev on a raft made from half a gate and transported him across the Urals. But on the other side it turned out that Chapaev died from loss of blood. The Hungarians buried his body with their hands in the coastal sand and covered it with reeds so that the Cossacks would not find the grave. This story was subsequently confirmed by one of the participants in the events, who in 1962 sent a letter from Hungary to Chapaev’s daughter with a detailed description of the death of the division commander.
D. Furmanov, V. Chapaev (right)
But why were they silent for so long? Maybe they were forbidden to disclose the details of those events. But some are sure that the letter itself is not a cry from the distant past, designed to shed light on the death of a hero, but a cynical KGB operation, the goals of which are unclear.
One of the legends appeared later. On February 9, 1926, the newspaper “Krasnoyarsk Worker” published sensational news: “... Kolchak officer Trofimov-Mirsky was arrested, who in 1919 killed the captured and legendary division chief Chapaev. Mirsky served as an accountant in an artel of disabled people in Penza.”
The most mysterious version says that Chapaev still managed to swim across the Urals. And, having released the fighters, he went to Frunze in Samara. But along the way he became very ill and spent some time in some unknown village. After recovery, Vasily Ivanovich finally made it to Samara... where he was arrested. The fact is that after the night battle in Lbischensk, Chapaev was listed as dead. He has already been declared a hero, who steadfastly fought for the ideas of the party and died for them. His example shook the country and raised morale. The news that Chapaev was alive meant only one thing - the national hero abandoned his soldiers and succumbed to flight. The top management could not allow this!
Vasily Chapaev on an IZOGIZ postcard
This version is also based on the memories and conjectures of eyewitnesses. Vasily Sityaev assured that in 1941 he met with a soldier of the 25th Infantry Division, who showed him the personal belongings of the division commander and told him that after crossing to the opposite bank of the Urals, the division commander went to Frunze.
Documentary film "Chapaev"
It is difficult to say which of these versions of Chapaev’s death is the most truthful. Some historians are generally inclined to believe that the historical role of the division commander in the Civil War is extremely small. And all the myths and legends that glorified Chapaev were created by the party for its own purposes. But, judging by the reviews of those who knew Vasily Ivanovich closely, he was a real person and soldier. He was not only an excellent warrior, but also a sensitive commander to his subordinates. He took care of them and did not hesitate, in the words of Dmitry Furmanov, to “dance with the soldiers.” And we can definitely say that Vasily Chapaev was true to his ideals to the end. This deserves respect.
130 years ago, on February 9, 1887, the future hero of the Civil War, people's commander Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, was born. Vasily Chapaev fought heroically during the First World War, and during the Civil War he became a legendary figure, a self-taught man who rose to high command positions due to his own abilities in the absence of special military education. He became a real legend when not only official myths, but also artistic fiction firmly overshadowed the real historical figure.
Chapaev was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the village of Budaika in Chuvashia. The Chapaevs' ancestors lived here for a long time. He was the sixth child in a poor Russian peasant family. The child was weak and premature, but his grandmother delivered him. His father, Ivan Stepanovich, was a carpenter by profession, had a small plot of land, but his bread was never enough, and therefore he worked as a cab driver in Cheboksary. Grandfather, Stepan Gavrilovich, was written as Gavrilov in the documents. And the surname Chapaev came from the nickname - “chapai, chapai, chain” (“take”).
In search of a better life, the Chapaev family moved to the village of Balakovo, Nikolaev district, Samara province. Since childhood, Vasily worked a lot, worked as a sex worker in a tea shop, as an assistant to an organ grinder, a merchant, and helped his father in carpentry. Ivan Stepanovich enrolled his son in a local parochial school, the patron of which was his wealthy cousin. There were already priests in the Chapaev family, and the parents wanted Vasily to become a clergyman, but life decreed otherwise. At church school, Vasily learned to write and read syllables. One day he was punished for a crime - Vasily was put in a cold winter punishment cell in only his underwear. Realizing an hour later that he was freezing, the child broke out a window and jumped from the height of the third floor, breaking his arms and legs. Thus ended Chapaev’s studies.
In the fall of 1908, Vasily was drafted into the army and sent to Kyiv. But already in the spring next year, apparently due to illness, Chapaev was transferred from the army to the reserve and transferred to first-class militia warriors. Before the First World War he worked as a carpenter. In 1909, Vasily Ivanovich married Pelageya Nikanorovna Metlina, the daughter of a priest. They lived together for 6 years and had three children. From 1912 to 1914, Chapaev and his family lived in the city of Melekess (now Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region).
It is worth noting that family life Things didn’t work out for Vasily Ivanovich. Pelageya, when Vasily went to the front, went with the children to a neighbor. At the beginning of 1917, Chapaev went to his native place and intended to divorce Pelageya, but was satisfied with taking the children from her and returning them to their parents’ house. Soon after this, he became acquainted with Pelageya Kamishkertseva, the widow of Pyotr Kamishkertsev, a friend of Chapaev, who died of a wound during the fighting in the Carpathians (Chapaev and Kamishkertsev promised each other that if one of the two was killed, the survivor would take care of his friend’s family). However, Kamishkertseva also cheated on Chapaeva. This circumstance was revealed shortly before Chapaev’s death and dealt him a strong moral blow. IN last year During his life, Chapaev also had an affair with the wife of Commissar Furmanov, Anna (there is an opinion that it was she who became the prototype of Anka the machine gunner), which led to acute conflict with Furmanov. Furmanov wrote denunciations against Chapaev, but later admitted in his diaries that he was simply jealous of the legendary division commander.
At the beginning of the war, on September 20, 1914, Chapaev was called up for military service and sent to the 159th reserve infantry regiment in the city of Atkarsk. In January 1915, he went to the front as part of the 326th Belgorai Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Infantry Division from the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front. Was wounded. In July 1915 he graduated from the training team, received the rank of junior non-commissioned officer, and in October - senior officer. Participated in the Brusilov breakthrough. He finished the war with the rank of sergeant major. He fought well, was wounded and shell-shocked several times, and for his bravery was awarded the St. George Medal and soldiers' St. George Crosses of three degrees. Thus, Chapaev was one of those soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the tsarist imperial army who went through the most severe school of the First World War and soon became the core of the Red Army.
Sergeant Major Chapaev with his wife Pelageya Nikanorovna, 1916
Civil war
I met the February revolution in a hospital in Saratov. On September 28, 1917 he joined the RSDLP(b). He was elected commander of the 138th Infantry Reserve Regiment stationed in Nikolaevsk. On December 18, the district congress of Soviets elected him military commissar of the Nikolaev district. Organized the district Red Guard of 14 detachments. He took part in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn), then in the spring of 1918 in the campaign of the Special Army to Uralsk. On his initiative, on May 25, a decision was made to reorganize the Red Guard detachments into two Red Army regiments: named after Stepan Razin and named after Pugachev, united into the Pugachev brigade under the command of Vasily Chapaev. Later he participated in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People's Army, from whom Nikolaevsk was recaptured, renamed Pugachev.
On September 19, 1918, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Nikolaev Division. In battles with the Whites, Cossacks and Czech interventionists, Chapaev showed himself to be a strong commander and an excellent tactician, skillfully assessing the situation and suggesting optimal solution, as well as a personally brave man who enjoyed the authority and love of the fighters. During this period, Chapaev repeatedly personally led troops into attack. According to the temporary commander of the 4th Soviet army of the former General Staff, Major General A. A. Baltiysky, Chapaev’s “lack of general military education affects the technique of command and control and the lack of breadth to cover military affairs. Full of initiative, but uses it unbalancedly due to the lack of military education. However, Comrade Chapaev clearly identifies all the data on the basis of which, with appropriate military education, both technology and a justified military scope will undoubtedly appear. The desire to receive a military education in order to get out of the state of “military darkness”, and then again join the ranks of the battle front. You can be sure that Comrade Chapaev’s natural talents, combined with military education, will give bright results.”
In November 1918, Chapaev was sent to the newly created Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army in Moscow to improve his education. He stayed at the Academy until February 1919, then he left his studies without permission and returned to the front. “Studying at the academy is a good thing and very important, but it’s a shame and a pity that the White Guards are being beaten without us,” said the red commander. Chapaev noted about his studies: “I haven’t read about Hannibal before, but I see that he was an experienced commander. But I disagree with his actions in many ways. He made many unnecessary changes in sight of the enemy and thereby revealed his plan to him, was slow in his actions and did not show persistence in order to completely defeat the enemy. I had an incident similar to the situation during the Battle of Cannes. This was in August, on the N. River. We let up to two white regiments with artillery through the bridge to our bank, gave them the opportunity to stretch out along the road, and then opened hurricane artillery fire on the bridge and rushed to attack from all sides. The stunned enemy did not have time to come to his senses before he was surrounded and almost completely destroyed. His remnants rushed to the destroyed bridge and were forced to rush into the river, where most of them drowned. 6 guns, 40 machine guns and 600 prisoners fell into our hands. We achieved these successes thanks to the swiftness and surprise of our attack.”
Chapaev was appointed commissioner of internal affairs of the Nikolaev district. From May 1919 - brigade commander of the Special Aleksandrovo-Gai Brigade, from June - 25th Infantry Division. The division acted against the main forces of the Whites, participated in repelling the spring offensive of the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, and participated in the Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa operations. These operations predetermined the crossing of the Ural ridge by the Red troops and the defeat of Kolchak’s army. In these operations, Chapaev's division acted on enemy messages and carried out detours. Maneuver tactics became a feature of Chapaev and his division. Even white commanders singled out Chapaev and noted his organizational skills. A major success was the crossing of the Belaya River, which led to the capture of Ufa on June 9, 1919 and the further retreat of the White troops. Then Chapaev, who was on the front line, was wounded in the head, but remained in the ranks. For military distinctions he was awarded the highest award of Soviet Russia - the Order of the Red Banner, and his division was awarded the honorary revolutionary Red Banner.
Chapaev loved his fighters, and they paid him the same. His division was considered one of the best in Eastern Front. In many ways, he was precisely the people's leader, at the same time possessing a real gift for leadership, enormous energy and initiative that infected those around him. Vasily Ivanovich was a commander who strived to constantly learn in practice, directly during battles, a simple and cunning man at the same time (this was the quality of a true representative of the people). Chapaev knew very well the combat area, located on the far-from-center right flank of the Eastern Front.
After the Ufa operation, Chapaev's division was again transferred to the front against the Ural Cossacks. It was necessary to operate in the steppe area, far from communications, with the superiority of the Cossacks in the cavalry. The struggle here was accompanied by mutual bitterness and uncompromising confrontation. Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev died on September 5, 1919 as a result of a deep raid by the Cossack detachment of Colonel N.N. Borodin, which culminated in an unexpected attack on the city of Lbischensk, located in the deep rear, where the headquarters of the 25th division was located. Chapaev's division, separated from the rear and suffering heavy losses, settled down to rest in the Lbischensk area at the beginning of September. Moreover, in Lbischensk itself the division headquarters, supply department, tribunal, revolutionary committee and other divisional institutions were located. The main forces of the division were removed from the city. The command of the White Ural Army decided to launch a raid on Lbischensk. On the evening of August 31, a selected detachment under the command of Colonel Nikolai Borodin left the village of Kalyonoy. On September 4, Borodin’s detachment secretly approached the city and hid in the reeds in the backwaters of the Urals. Air reconnaissance did not report this to Chapaev, although it could not have detected the enemy. It is believed that due to the fact that the pilots sympathized with the whites (after the defeat, they went over to the side of the whites).
At dawn on September 5, the Cossacks attacked Lbischensk. A few hours later the battle was over. Most of the Red Army soldiers were not ready for the attack, panicked, were surrounded and surrendered. It ended in a massacre, all the prisoners were killed - in batches of 100-200 people on the banks of the Urals. Only a small part was able to break through to the river. Among them was Vasily Chapaev, who gathered a small detachment and organized resistance. According to the testimony of the General Staff of Colonel M.I. Izergin: “Chapaev himself held out the longest with a small detachment, with whom he took refuge in one of the houses on the banks of the Urals, from where he had to survive with artillery fire.”
During the battle, Chapaev was seriously wounded in the stomach, he was transported to the other side on a raft. According to the story of Chapaev's eldest son, Alexander, two Hungarian Red Army soldiers put the wounded Chapaev on a raft made from half a gate and ferried across the Ural River. But on the other side it turned out that Chapaev died from loss of blood. The Red Army soldiers buried his body with their hands in the coastal sand and covered it with reeds so that the whites would not find the grave. This story was subsequently confirmed by one of the participants in the events, who in 1962 sent a letter from Hungary to Chapaev’s daughter with a detailed description of the death of the red division commander. The white investigation also confirms these data. According to the words of captured Red Army soldiers, “Chapaev, leading a group of Red Army soldiers towards us, was wounded in the stomach. The wound turned out to be so severe that after that he could no longer lead the battle and was transported on planks across the Urals... he [Chapaev] was already on the Asian side of the river. Ural died from a wound in the stomach.” During this battle, the White commander, Colonel Nikolai Nikolaevich Borodin, also died (he was posthumously promoted to the rank of major general).
There are other versions of Chapaev’s fate. Thanks to Dmitry Furmanov, who served as a commissar in Chapaev’s division and wrote the novel “Chapaev” about him and especially the film “Chapaev,” the version of the death of the wounded Chapaev in the waves of the Urals became popular. This version arose immediately after the death of Chapaev and was, in fact, the fruit of an assumption, based on the fact that Chapaev was seen on the European shore, but he did not swim to the Asian shore, and his body was not found. There is also a version that Chapaev was killed in captivity.
According to one version, Chapaev was eliminated as a disobedient people’s commander (in modern concepts, « field commander"). Chapaev had a conflict with L. Trotsky. According to this version, the pilots, who were supposed to inform the division commander about the approach of the Whites, were carrying out orders from the high command of the Red Army. The independence of the “red field commander” irritated Trotsky; he saw in Chapaev an anarchist who could disobey orders. Thus, it is possible that Trotsky “ordered” Chapaev. Whites acted as a tool, nothing more. During the battle, Chapaev was simply shot. Using a similar scheme, Trotsky eliminated other Red commanders who, not understanding international intrigues, fought for the common people. A week before Chapaev, the legendary divisional commander Nikolai Shchors was killed in Ukraine. And a few years later, in 1925, the famous Grigory Kotovsky was also shot dead under unclear circumstances. In the same 1925, Mikhail Frunze was killed on the surgical table, also by order of Trotsky’s team.
Chapaev lived a short (died at 32 years old), but bright life. As a result, the legend of the red division commander arose. The country needed a hero whose reputation was not tarnished. People watched this film dozens of times; all Soviet boys dreamed of repeating Chapaev’s feat. Subsequently, Chapaev entered folklore as the hero of many popular jokes. In this mythology, the image of Chapaev was distorted beyond recognition. In particular, according to anecdotes, he is such a cheerful, rollicking person, a drinker. In fact, Vasily Ivanovich did not drink alcohol at all; his favorite drink was tea. The orderly took the samovar with him everywhere. Having arrived at any location, Chapaev immediately started drinking tea and always invited the locals. Thus, his reputation as a very good-natured and hospitable person was established. One more thing. In the film, Chapaev is a dashing horseman, rushing towards the enemy with his saber drawn. In fact, Chapaev did not feel much love for horses. I preferred a car. The legend that has become widespread that Chapaev fought against the famous General V.O. Kappel is also untrue.
On February 9, 1887, Vasily Chapaev, the most famous Red commander of the Civil War, was born. Although during his lifetime he was not very famous and did not particularly stand out among other commanders, after his death he unexpectedly became one of the main heroes of the war. The cult of Chapaev reached such a scale in the Soviet Union that it seemed as if he was the most successful and outstanding commander of that war. The feature film released in the 30s finally cemented the legend about Chapaev, and its characters became so popular that they are still the protagonists of many jokes. Petka, Anka and Vasily Ivanovich firmly entered into Soviet folklore, and the legend about them obscured their real personalities. Life found out true story Chapaev and his associates.
Chepaev
Vasily's real name was Chepaev. He was born with this last name, this is how he signed his name, and this last name appears in all documents of that time. However, after the death of the red commander, they began to call him Chapaev. This is exactly what it is called in the book of Commissar Furmanov, on the basis of which the famous Soviet film was later filmed. It is difficult to say what caused this change of name; perhaps it was a mistake or carelessness of Furmanov, who wrote the book, or a deliberate distortion. One way or another, he went down in history under the name Chapaev.
Unlike many Red commanders who were engaged in illegal underground work even before the revolution, Chapaev was a completely trustworthy person. Coming from a peasant family, he moved to the provincial town of Melekess (now renamed Dimitrovgrad), where he worked as a carpenter. He was not involved in revolutionary activities, and after being called up to the front at the beginning of the First World War, he was in very good standing with his superiors. This is clearly evidenced by three (according to other sources, four) soldiers St. George's Cross for bravery and the rank of sergeant major. In fact, this was the maximum that could be achieved, having only a rural parochial school behind you - to become an officer, you had to study further.
During the First World War, Chapaev served in the 326th Belgorai Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Nikolai Chizhevsky. After the revolution, Chapaev also did not immediately join the turbulent political life, for a long time staying on the sidelines. Only a few weeks before the October Revolution, he decided to join the Bolsheviks, thanks to which he was chosen by activists to be the commander of a reserve infantry regiment stationed in Nikolaevsk. Soon after the revolution, the Bolsheviks, who were experiencing an acute shortage of loyal personnel, appointed him military commissar of the Nikolaev district. His task was to create the first detachments of the future Red Army in his region.
On the civil fronts
In the spring of 1918, an uprising against Soviet power broke out in several villages of the Nikolaev district. Chapaev was involved in its suppression. It happened like this: an armed detachment led by a formidable leader came to the village and an indemnity was imposed on the village in money and bread. In order to win the sympathy of the poorest residents of the village, they avoided paying indemnities; in addition, they were actively encouraged to join the detachment. Thus, from several disparate detachments that arose spontaneously (actually autonomous, under the command of local batek-atamans), collected in local villages, two regiments appeared, consolidated into the Pugachev brigade led by Chapaev. It was named in honor of Emelyan Pugachev.
Due to its small size, the brigade mainly acted using guerrilla methods. In the summer of 1918, the white units retreated in an orderly manner, leaving Nikolaevsk, which was occupied by Chapaev’s brigade practically without resistance and was immediately renamed for this occasion to Pugachev.
After this, on the basis of the brigade, the 2nd Nikolaev Division was formed, into which the mobilized local residents. Chapaev was appointed commander, but after two months he was recalled to Moscow to the General Staff Academy for advanced training.
Chapaev did not like studying; he repeatedly wrote letters asking to be released from the academy. In the end, he simply left it in February 1919, having spent about 4 months studying. In the summer of that year, he finally received the main appointment that made him famous: he headed the 25th Infantry Division, later named after him.
It is worth noting that with the emergence of the Soviet legend about Chapaev, a tendency arose to somewhat exaggerate his achievements. The cult of Chapaev grew to such an extent that it could seem as if he, almost single-handedly with his division, defeated the White troops on the Eastern Front. This is, of course, not true. In particular, the capture of Ufa is attributed almost solely to the Chapaevites. In fact, in addition to Chapaev’s, three more Soviet divisions and one cavalry brigade took part in the assault on the city. However, the Chapaevites really distinguished themselves - they were one of two divisions that managed to cross the river and occupy a bridgehead.
Soon the Chapaevites took Lbischensk, a small town not far from Uralsk. It was there that Chapaev would die two months later.
Chapaevites
The 25th Rifle Division, commanded by Chapaev, had a very bloated staff: it numbered more than 20 thousand people. At the same time, no more than 10 thousand were actually combat-ready. The remaining half consisted of rear and auxiliary units that did not participate in the battles.
A little-known fact: some of the Chapaevites, some time after the death of the commander, participated in a rebellion against Soviet power. After the death of Chapaev, part of the soldiers of the 25th division was transferred to the 9th cavalry division under the command of Sapozhkov. Almost all of them were peasants and were acutely worried about the food appropriation system that had begun, when special detachments completely requisitioned grain from the peasants, and not from the richest, but from everyone in a row, dooming many to starvation.
The surplus appropriation system had a significant impact on the rank and file of the Red Army, especially on the natives of the most grain-producing regions, where it was most cruel. Dissatisfaction with the Bolshevik policies caused a number of spontaneous protests. In one of them, known as the Sapozhkov uprising, some former Chapaevites took part. The uprising was quickly suppressed, several hundred active participants were shot.
Death of Chapaev
After the occupation of Lbischensk, the division dispersed throughout the surrounding settlements, and the headquarters was located in the town itself. The main combat forces were located several tens of kilometers from the headquarters, and the retreating white units could not counterattack due to the significant superiority of the red ones. Then they planned a deep raid on Lbischensk, having found out that the division’s almost unguarded headquarters was located there.
A detachment of 1,200 Cossacks was formed to participate in the raid. They had to travel 150 kilometers across the steppe at night (airplanes patrolled the area during the day), pass all the main combat units of the division and unexpectedly attack the headquarters. The detachment was headed by Colonel Sladkov and his deputy, Colonel Borodin.
For almost a week the detachment secretly reached Lbischensk. In the vicinity of the city, they captured a red convoy, thanks to which the exact location of Chapaev’s headquarters became known. A special detachment was formed to capture him.
In the early morning of September 5, 1919, the Cossacks broke into the city. The confused soldiers from the divisional school guarding the headquarters did not really offer any resistance, and the detachment moved forward at a rapid pace. The Reds began to retreat to the Ural River, hoping to escape from the Cossacks. Meanwhile, Chapaev managed to escape from the platoon sent to capture him: the Cossacks confused Chapaev with another Red Army soldier, and the division commander, firing back, was able to leave the trap, although he was wounded in the arm.
Chapaev managed to organize a defense, stopping some of the fleeing soldiers. About a hundred people with several machine guns recaptured the headquarters from the Cossack platoon that had occupied it, but by this time the main forces of the detachment had arrived at the headquarters, receiving captured artillery. It was impossible to defend the headquarters under artillery fire; in addition, in the shootout, Chapaev was seriously wounded in the stomach. Command was assumed by the division chief of staff Novikov, who covered a group of Hungarians who were transporting the wounded Chapaev across the river, for which they built a kind of raft from boards.
The division commander was able to be transported to the other side, but on the way he died from blood loss. The Hungarians buried it right on the shore. In any case, Chapaev’s relatives adhered to this version, which they knew directly from the Hungarians themselves. But since then, the river has changed its course several times, and, most likely, the burial is already hidden under water.
However, one of the few surviving witnesses to the events, Chief of Staff Novikov, who managed to hide under the floor in the bathhouse and wait for the Reds to arrive, claimed that the White detachment had completely surrounded the headquarters and cut off all escape routes, so Chapaev’s body must be looked for in the city. However, Chapaev was never found among the dead.
Well, according to the official version, canonized in literature and cinema, Chapaev drowned in the Ural River. This explains the fact that his body was not found...
Chapaev and his team
Thanks to the film and book about Chapaev, orderly Petka, Anka the machine gunner and Commissar Furmanov became integral companions of Chapaev the legend. During his lifetime, Chapaev did not stand out too much, and even a book about him, although it did not go unnoticed, still did not cause a sensation. Chapaev became a real legend after the release of a film about him in the mid-30s. By this time, through the efforts of Stalin, a kind of cult of dead heroes of the Civil War had been created. Although in those days there were plenty of living participants in the war, many of whom played in it big role, in the conditions of the struggle for power, it was unreasonable to create an additional halo of glory for them, therefore, as a kind of counterbalance to them, the names of the fallen commanders began to be promoted: Chapaev, Shchors, Lazo.
The film about Chapaev was created under the personal patronage of Stalin, who even supervised the writing of the script. So, at his insistence, the romantic line between Petka and Anka the machine gunner was introduced into the film. The leader liked the movie, and the film was expected to have the widest possible release; it was shown in theaters for several years, and there was, perhaps, not a single Soviet man, who would not watch the film at least once. The film is replete with historical inconsistencies: for example, Kappel’s officer regiment (which never had one), dressed in the uniform of the Markov division (which fought on a completely different front), goes into a psychic attack.
Nevertheless, it was he who cemented the myth about Chapaev for many years. Chapaev, dashing on horseback with a sword drawn, was reproduced on millions of postcards, posters and cards. But the real Chapaev, due to a hand injury, could not ride a horse and traveled everywhere by car.
The relationship between Chapaev and Commissioner Furmanov was also far from ideal. They often quarreled, Chapaev complained about the “commissar power,” and Furmanov was dissatisfied with the fact that the division commander had his eyes on his wife and did not respect him at all political work parties in the army. Both repeatedly wrote complaints against each other to their superiors; their relationship can hardly be characterized as anything other than hostile. Furmanov was indignant: “I was disgusted by your dirty courtship of my wife. I know everything, I have documents in my hands where you pour out your love and boorish tenderness.”
As a result, this is what saved Furmanov’s life. A month before the death of the headquarters in Lbischensk, he was transferred to Turkestan after another complaint, and Pavel Baturin, who died along with everyone else on September 5, 1919, became the new commissar of the division.
Furmanov served next to Chapaev for only four months, but this did not stop him from writing an entire book in which the real Chapaev was turned into a powerful mythological image of a commander “from the plow”, who did not graduate from universities, but would defeat any educated general.
By the way, Furmanov himself was not such a convinced Bolshevik: before the revolution, he sided with the anarchists and defected to the Bolsheviks only in mid-1918, when they began to persecute the anarchists, and he oriented himself in time to the political situation and changed camps. It is also worth noting that Furmanov not only turned Chepaev into Chapaev, but also changed his last name (during the war years he bore the last name Furman, which is what he is called in all documents of that time). Having taken up writing, he Russified his last name.
Furmanov died of meningitis three years after the book was published and never saw Chapaev’s triumphant march through the Soviet Union.
Petka also had a very real prototype - Peter Isaev, a former senior non-commissioned officer of the musical team imperial army. In reality, Petka was not a simple orderly, but the commander of a communications battalion. At that time, signalmen were in a special position and were a kind of elite due to the fact that the level of their knowledge was inaccessible to illiterate infantrymen.
There is also no clarity with his death: according to one version, he shot himself on the day of the death of the headquarters in order not to be captured, according to another, he died in battle, according to the third, he committed suicide a year after Chapaev’s death, at his funeral. The most likely version is the second.
Anka the machine gunner is a completely fictional character. There was never such a girl in the Chapaev division, and she is also absent from Furmanov’s original novel. She appeared in the film at the insistence of Stalin, who demanded that the heroic role of women in the Civil War be reflected, and in addition, add a romantic line. Anna Steshenko, the wife of Commissar Furmanov, is sometimes cited as the prototype of the heroine, but she worked in the cultural education of the division and never took part in hostilities. Also sometimes mentioned is a certain nurse, Maria Sidorova, who brought cartridges to the machine gunners, and allegedly even fired from a machine gun, but this is also doubtful.
Posthumous fame
A decade and a half after his death, Chapaev gained such fame that in terms of the number of objects named in his honor, he stood on a par with the highest-ranking party figures. In 1941, the popular Soviet hero was resurrected for the sake of propaganda, filming a short video about how Chapaev swam to the shore and called on everyone to the front to beat the Germans. To this day, he remains the most recognizable character of the Civil War, even despite the collapse of the USSR.
