Major General of the Internal Troops Wojciechowski. Biography

On October 16, 1883, in Vitebsk, a son, Sergei, was born into the family of lieutenant of the Russian army Nikolai Karlovich Voitsekhovsky. After graduating from the Velikolutsk Real School, he entered the Konstantinovsky Artillery School, from which he was released on August 9, 1904 with the rank of second lieutenant in the 20th Artillery Brigade. Subsequently, Voitsekhovsky served in the 1st Grenadier Brigade, taught tactics at the Alexander Military School, graduated from the Officer Aviation School, and commanded a company in the 122nd Tambov Infantry Regiment. In 1912 he successfully graduated from the Nikolaev Academy General Staff, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree.

On Great War Captain Wojciechowski retired as senior adjutant of the headquarters of the 69th Infantry Division. Sergei Nikolaevich fought successfully, was awarded the orders of St. Stanislav 3rd and 2nd classes with swords, St. Anna 4th, 3rd and 2nd classes with swords, St. Vladimir 4th class with swords and bow, 15 August 1916 received the rank of lieutenant colonel.

On August 7, 1917, Wojciechowski was appointed chief of staff of the 1st Czecho-Slovak Division of the Russian Army, and on December 24 - commander of the 3rd Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment. These appointments actually determined the entire future fate officer. Formed from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army - Czechs and Slovaks by nationality, the Czech units were formally considered part of the Russian armed forces, but they perceived themselves rather as the embryo of the future national army of Czechoslovakia. Therefore, Voitsekhovsky’s position was dual: on the one hand, he was a Russian officer, on the other, he was, as it were, a Czech officer.

After the revolution, an agreement was reached according to which Czech units were to proceed through all of Russia and sail from Vladivostok to France to continue the war with Germany on the European front. However, in reality, everything went wrong - the Bolsheviks tried to disarm the Czechs, they began to resist... So Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Voitsekhovsky found himself drawn into the events of the Civil War. On the night of May 26-27, 1918, the 2nd and 3rd Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiments, led by him, cleared Chelyabinsk of the Reds without a fight, and this was the beginning of a brilliant career for one of the most talented white generals.

Throughout 1918, Woitsekhovsky fought in the Urals, among his major successes were the liberation of Troitsk, Zlatoust and Yekaterinburg. On October 17, 1918, the Czechoslovak National Council promoted him to the rank of major general. Since January 1919, Voitsekhovsky has been subordinate to A.V. Kolchak, who confirmed him in the rank of general, transferred him from Czech service to Russian on March 8 and entrusted him with command of the 2nd Ufa Corps. The year 1919 was even more successful for Woitsekhovsky than the previous one - from Kolchak he received the most honorable military orders of St. George of the 4th (for Troitsk, Zlatoust and Yekaterinburg) and 3rd (for Tobolsk) degrees, defended Ufa from the Reds, from August commanded the Ufa Group of Forces, and from October - the 2nd Army. After the death of V. O. Kappel, on January 25, 1920, Voitsekhovsky led the entire Eastern Front. However, by this time the “white” Siberian epic was already coming to an end, and the tactical successes of the talented military leader could not affect the overall picture. On February 20, 1920, Woitsekhovsky still received the high-profile post of commander of the troops of the Russian Eastern outskirts, but in reality this meant that he was now subordinate to a few frostbitten, demoralized people, exhausted by the endless retreat through the winter taiga...

It would seem that fate had reached a dead end, but then another sharp turn followed. On April 27, 1920, Woitsekhovsky was sent to Crimea to establish contacts with the Armed Forces of Southern Russia. We had to take a long, roundabout route to get to Crimea, through Italy. But in the Russian army of Baron P. N. Wrangel, Voitsekhovsky failed to show off his talents - he was immediately enlisted in the reserve, where he remained until the evacuation in November 1920. The first point abroad, as for many emigrants, was Constantinople, but, unlike many others, Wojciechowski knew exactly which country would become his new homeland. In 1921, he arrived in the newly created Czechoslovak Republic, where he was received with honor as one of the founders of the Czech army.

After the turbulent years of 1918–1920. life in Czechoslovakia was, in essence, a well-deserved rest for Wojciechowski. But he did not rest on his laurels - he commanded a foot brigade and a division, and served as the zemstvo military commander in Brno and Prague. According to the Czech historian Jiri Fiedler, Wojciechowski “worked to the limit of his physical capabilities for his new homeland,” despite the fact that it was in the 1930s that he began to develop a severe peptic ulcer. On December 30, 1929, he was awarded the rank of army general. The job description of those years said: “He has an honest, energetic, responsible character. Reliable. A highly educated commander with rich military experience... He is highly observant. Works proactively, purposefully and systematically. An excellent district commander."

Late 1930s international situation in Europe has escalated to the limit. Wojciechowski consistently and unswervingly stood on one position: if Nazi Germany attacks Czechoslovakia, we must fight!.. Unfortunately, his voice was not heard. At a meeting with the country's President Edvard Benes on October 30, 1938, only three people spoke out against accepting the terms of the shameful Munich Treaty, among them Wojciechowski. On March 15, 1939, the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, and a few days later the Russian general entered into underground organization"Collected by the people." In September of the same year, the occupiers arrested Wojciechowski, but soon released him under constant Gestapo surveillance.

During the war, Wojciechowski continued to live in Prague. He did not take an active part in the underground - firstly, his health was constantly deteriorating, and secondly, the activities of the underground were coordinated by the very compromisers led by Benes, who, according to the general, ruined the country in 1939. According to the descendants of Sergei Nikolaevich, in 1944 the Germans offered him to lead the Russian Liberation Army instead of Vlasov, but Voitsekhovsky firmly refused. It is difficult to judge whether this is so; there is no documentary evidence of this.

Once again, the general’s fate changed dramatically on May 12, 1945, when Smersh officers entered his house. They accused him of training command personnel to fight the USSR and on May 30 he was transported to Moscow, where he was placed in Butyrka prison. Attempts by relatives to save the Czech army general were unsuccessful - Beneš, who again became president, valued good relations with the USSR and was not going to bother for Wojciechowski. September 15, 1945 A special meeting of the NKVD of the USSR sentenced Sergei Nikolaevich to 10 years in the camps under Article 58 (paragraphs 4, 6 and 11). Until March 1946, Woitsekhovsky served his sentence in Butyrki, then was transferred to the Unzhensky camp.

On May 25, 1949, Wojciechowski was transferred to a new place of detention, which was destined to be his last - Special camp No. 7, located in Taishet, Irkutsk region. By an evil irony of fate, Voitsekhovsky ended his life in the same place where he fought 30 years before. Sergei Nikolaevich worked as an orderly in a camp hospital. There he died of pulmonary tuberculosis - at the 68th year of his life, on April 7, 1951. The general was buried near the village of Shevchenko, Taishet district, Irkutsk region. His grave was marked only by the camp number 4–36...

June 5, 1996 The Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Russia completely rehabilitated Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky. And on October 28, 1997, by decree of the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel, the general was posthumously awarded the highest order of the Czech Republic - the White Lion of the 3rd degree with the wording “For outstanding services in the field of defense and security of the state.”

He suggested that the Czechs and Slovaks reject Hitler’s demands and fight for the Sudetenland

Perhaps there is reason to assume that if the President of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Benes, at the meeting he held on September 30, 1938, had listened to the persistent recommendations of this man, the fate of his country, Europe, and even the whole world could have been different. Or, if the Czechoslovak military had listened to him, to whom he proposed to remove Benes from power if he was intractable or indecisive. It might not have come to World War II...

At that meeting, the demand received in the morning from Munich to transfer to Nazi Germany the most industrially developed and rich in natural resources Sudetenland, 90 percent of the population of which were ethnic Germans, was considered. This is what the Fuhrer of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, supported by the Italian Duce, wished. The British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier agreed with Hitler to ward off trouble from their borders and shores. The Munich Treaty, often called a collusion, was a turning point in Europe's march toward war because it buried politics collective security. It was she who had to restrain the ambitions of the Nazi leader. As the Polish military historian Jan Cyalovich figuratively put it, after Munich, all capitals began to act without regard for others. The fact that this was a shameful treaty for Europe is eloquently evidenced by the words of the then Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry, Alexis Léger, who, when asked by air attache Paul Stelen whether the step taken was a relief, replied: “Oh, of course, a relief! It’s like I emptied my bowels into my own pants.”

Great Britain and France surrendered their ally Czechoslovakia in order to appease Hitler and direct him to Soviet Union, which, in principle, they succeeded.

Did Benes have a choice? This question is best answered by facts. And they testify that, firstly, Czechoslovakia was a state with a well-developed economy, many of whose enterprises, for example, Skoda or ČDK-Prague, would decorate the industrial complex of any country. Secondly, it was a European leader in the production and export of weapons and ammunition, its share in the world market for means of warfare was 40 percent. The same Skoda, Churchill later clarified, at that time produced more weapons than the entire military industry of Great Britain.

Thirdly, Czechoslovakia had a mobilized, trained and well-armed army, numbering 1.6 million people. Taking into account reserves - up to two million. The Germans had superiority only in airplanes. Hitler called the volumes of trophies subsequently received in the form of weapons astronomical, because, having eliminated Czechoslovakia, he received resources sufficient to provide forty divisions with everything necessary. Almost 44 thousand barrels of machine guns alone were taken. Czech-made tanks were at the forefront of tank wedges during the invasion of France, Belgium, Holland, and the USSR.

Fourthly, on the border with the Reich, Czechoslovakia had a strip of powerful reinforced concrete fortifications. The post-war president of the already socialist Czechoslovakia, Army General Ludwik Svoboda, recalled that “the border fortifications were more perfect than the vaunted German Siegfried Line or the famous French Maginot Line. After the capture of the border areas, Nazi sappers tried to blow up our fortifications, but to no avail.” Hitler's Field Marshal Keitel, who by that time headed the supreme command of the Wehrmacht, later admitted that the Germans could have spent six months overcoming this defensive line, and it is unknown whether they would have overcome it or not.

However, on that last day of September 1938, Eduard Benes decided to surrender. He insisted that he had some kind of secret plan, but in the Czech Republic, even now, they often joke that that plan was an airplane on which, a few days later, the president of a dying country flew to London.

Nowadays, a common saying is that history has no subjunctive mood. Of course, what happened can no longer be changed, but this does not mean that one should not even try to think about the possible development of events if everything had gone according to a different scenario. Therefore, let us imagine that Czechoslovakia demanded that France fulfill its obligations under the treaty of alliance and friendship signed back in 1924. And she turned to the League of Nations. And she began to fight, tightly clinging to her defensive lines. And the Wehrmacht, in fact, as even Field Marshal Keitel feared, was stuck in the Sudeten fortifications. But the Czechoslovak army was in the mood for a fight. There were even cases of opening fire despite orders to surrender. Yes, to the aid of Czechoslovakia, in accordance with the treaty of 1935, the Soviet Red Army would have moved through Poland, the first-line divisions of which were already in combat readiness; moreover, more than 300 thousand reservists were called up.

And from the north it would attack Czechoslovakia and Poland with its specially formed 100,000-strong group under the command of General Bortnovsky, laying claim to Cieszyn Silesia, transferred to Czechoslovakia by international arbitration. However, after the Polish attack, the Soviet Union, which did not have direct access to the territory of Czechoslovakia, received the right to treat the Polish borders similarly and send its formations towards Prague. And then... It’s no secret that in those weeks the fate of the Fuhrer in Germany itself hung in the balance; the top German military, led by the Chief of the General Staff, were going to oppose him ground forces Franz Halder.

However, those who received the ultimatum were not ready to become a wall. In such a situation, the Soviet Union could not act, because how to help someone who himself raises his hands up. Against the backdrop of Hitler's next success, the Reich generals also abandoned plans for a coup. And Hitler, having later seen the Czech fortifications in the Sudetenland, made a very important conclusion: if there is no fortitude, then weapons are useless. In other words, it is not only arrogance that leads to war, but also cowardice. However, then in Europe many thought that it was better to be a living rabbit than a dead lion...

But still, really, in that Czechoslovakia, no one could say that “our hands rushed to the swords”? There were such people, although there were not many of them.

At a meeting with President Benes, three people spoke out against capitulation: diplomat Jaromir Smutny, head of the presidential office Prokop Drtina and commander of the Prague Military District, Army General Sergei Wojciechowski.

Sometimes he is even called the Minister of Defense. Perhaps the confusion occurs because after the occupation of the Czech lands by the Nazis, he was for some time a member of the underground government and held the post of Minister of War in it. True, some sources claim that General Lev Prhala, a friend of Woitsekhovsky, also insisted on the need to resist. Moreover, some say that he did this with tears in his eyes, others say that he threatened Benes with a pistol, which is difficult to agree with, since it is unlikely that in any country it is allowed to come to the head of state with a weapon. However, Sergei Voitsekhovsky, without a doubt, was at that time the most authoritative, most experienced and even the most battle-hardened Czechoslovak general. True, he was neither Czech nor Slovak.

Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky, who called for resistance to the occupier, was born in Vitebsk on April 16, 1887 in a military family. His father, Nikolai Karlovich, was also a military officer who distinguished himself in the Russian-Turkish War, although he received the rank of general upon retirement.

His uncle was also a general. And the fact that Sergei Voitsekhovsky, after graduating from the most authoritative Alexander Gymnasium in Vitebsk, would also become a military man, was most likely a family decision. He went to St. Petersburg to the Konstantinovsky Artillery School. IN Soviet time The Leningrad Higher Artillery Command School operated on its base, and now it is the St. Petersburg Cadet Rocket and Artillery Corps.

Having received the rank of second lieutenant, he served in batteries, in artillery divisions in the Caucasian Corps, then in Bialystok, after which he decided to enter the Imperial Nicholas military academy. Encyclopedias claim that it occupied a central place in the Russian military education system, and the training of an officer in it “in the Russian army was equated with a special distinction and was considered honorable.” Its graduates formed the Corps of General Staff Officers.

Valentin Pikul in his historical novel“I have the honor” wrote that “even the great princes, the scions of the most noble families, did not disdain studying at the Academy.” But it was difficult to get there. Even officers with university badges sometimes failed the exams. And one of the heroes of the mentioned novel by V. Pikul spoke about what it was like to study within the walls of this military institution: “We were left to our own strengths, no one “pulled” us, everyone was responsible for themselves, and any mistake in study or discipline without delay was punishable by expulsion... An officer who makes a career by acquiring knowledge must carry this knowledge highly. If he looked into the cheat sheet, it means he is dishonest, and without honor there is no officer! And you need a strong forehead to break through the indestructible wall of science, behind which a magnificent strategic space for advancement opens up to your gaze... An officer of the General Staff is required to know everything or almost everything about the world around him. He must be able to lead troops even without a map, keeping the map in his head; sitting here in a St. Petersburg apartment, I can imagine what kind of swamp will be found behind the forest enclosing the Prussian city of Allenstein, and what the sources in this city are for watering and artillery.”

The troops treated the Academy graduates with noticeable envy, calling them “moments,” since they often made an instant career, but were recognized as the most trained part of the Russian officers. During the First World War, they commanded almost all fronts and armies, the absolute majority of corps and divisions. After the October Revolution, their paths diverged. Almost half of the General Staff actively participated in the creation of the Red Army, to which they were seriously pushed by foreign intervention against already Soviet Russia. Symbols of that divergence are Colonel B.M. Shaposhnikov, who became Marshal of the Soviet Union, and General A.I. Denikin, who led the white movement in southern Russia. However, so did General Voitsekhovsky, although his paths at that time were, perhaps, more tortuous and more complex.

Sergei Voitsekhovsky graduated from the academy with the rank of staff captain. Moreover, with honors and the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree, awarded specifically for academic success.

He didn’t make it to the Russo-Japanese War, but in World War I, in its first two years, he was awarded six times: the Order of St. Anne of the 4th, 3rd and 2nd degrees, the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th and 3rd degrees, the Order of St. Stanislav 2nd degree with swords. In 1916, he was already a lieutenant colonel and served as division chief of staff.

And in the summer of 1917, fate connected him with the Czechoslovaks. He was appointed chief of staff of the 1st Czechoslovak division as part of the Russian army, then commander of the 3rd Czechoslovak Jan Žižka Infantry Regiment. October Revolution did not accept, left along with the Czechoslovak corps, which was supposed to relocate to Siberia and Vladivostok western front. However, as fate would have it, the Czechoslovaks had to get involved in the Russian turmoil, and with them Wojciechowski. It was he who commanded the Czechoslovak legionnaires during their capture of Chelyabinsk in May 1918, it was he who stormed Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Tagil, Kungur, Tyumen, Omsk, and recaptured Ufa, Bugulma, and Chistopol from the Reds. The Czechoslovak National Committee also made him a general, only later this title was confirmed by A.V. Kolchak, considered the Supreme Ruler of Russia.

Having come under the command of Admiral Kolchak, Sergei Nikolaevich commanded the army, and after the death of General V.O. Kappel - the Eastern Front, the command of which was given to him by his order, Kappel himself, who was dying of pneumonia.

Voitsekhovsky had to confront the units and formations of V.I. Chapaev and M.N. Tukhachevsky, so much so that the Supreme Ruler, Admiral Kolchak, awarded him the Order of St. George, 4th degree, for which it was necessary to show not only military leadership talents, but also personal courage.

At the beginning of 1920, Wojciechowski's troops attacked Irkutsk, demanding the transfer of gold reserves Russian Empire and Admiral Kolchak, whom the Czechs handed over to the Socialist Revolutionary Political Center, and those to the Bolsheviks. Only after learning about the execution of the admiral, he, bypassing Irkutsk, went to Transbaikalia to join the units of Ataman Semenov. Could he have thought then that the villainous fate would again take him to the outskirts of Irkutsk, but in a completely different capacity.

Relations with Ataman Semyonov did not work out, although he appointed the general commander of the troops of the Russian Eastern outskirts. Voitsekhovsky moved to the Crimea to General Wrangel, where he was in the reserve. With him he was evacuated to Constantinople, from where he left for Czechoslovakia, where his family was already located. It seems that, anticipating the collapse of the white movement, he sent his wife, son and sister to Prague in advance. Then he himself offered his services to the Czechoslovak president, asking for confirmation of his general rank.

Considering that the authority of Sergei Nikolaevich among the Czech military, who went through the Siberian epic, was high, consent was obtained, but with the condition that he would accept Czechoslovak citizenship. Wojciechowski first became the commander of an infantry brigade, then a division, and soon made it the best in the armed forces, and in 1935 he was appointed commander of the Prague Military District.

More than half of the Czechoslovak troops were under his leadership, and the shoulder straps of an army general appeared on his shoulders back in 1929. Czech historian Jiri Fidler wrote that the general "worked for his new homeland at the limit of physical capabilities."

The focus of his special attention was strengthening the border with Germany, since, having extensive military experience, he understood where developments in Europe were leading. It was under his leadership that concrete fortifications were built, which later proved too tough for German explosives experts.

At that ill-fated meeting, General Wojciechowski, of course, operated with numbers and facts, proving the need for resistance, especially since a special army group had already been created to repel the German attack, and he commanded it. It was already known that the Soviet Union would provide assistance to Czechoslovakia. However, Benes, even without consulting parliament, decided to capitulate. Woitsekhovsky, however, confirmed his order to the troops to be ready to repel the attack, and even refused to obey the chief of the general staff and main headquarters, who ordered them not to get involved in battle. Moreover, he proposed to his fellow generals to carry out a military coup and overthrow the capitulators, but met sharp opposition from the Chief of the General Staff L. Krejci, with whom he had been in strained relations since the Siberian campaign. He was even declared a “rebel.”

Apparently, this accusation contained a hint about the general's past. And his character was sharp. Even in Siberia, he had frequent clashes with the command of the Czechoslovak corps. In November 1919, in the village of Ust-Tarka, being the commander of the army of Kolchak’s troops, he personally shot and killed the commander Northern group troops of Major General P.P. Grivin (Peteris Grivins), who withdrew his group from combat positions without orders.

Having resigned and retired at the age of 55, Woitsekhovsky for some time tried to create the organization “Defense of the People,” but, convinced of the amateurism of his associates, he retired into private life. At the beginning of 1945, a high-ranking German delegation visited him.

The general was offered to head the Russian liberation army instead of Vlasov, in whom both the Germans themselves and the Russian emigrants saw, first of all, a traitor. On good German Sergei Nikolaevich replied that he does not recognize the Council of Deputies, he hates the communist system, but he will not fight with the children of those who carried out a coup in Russia.

However, he did not expect anything good from his former enemies and their children approaching Prague, so he sent his family away from the theater of military operations.

In May 1945, S.N. Voitsekhovsky was arrested by SMERSH. A special meeting sentenced him to ten years in prison “for helping the world bourgeoisie.” He served his sentence in Ozerlag, near the Taishet station in the Irkutsk region. He was already in poor health, so he was registered at the camp hospital, where he worked and received treatment. In April 1951, he died, as the entry read, from “tuberculosis and senile insanity.” Perhaps someone from the camp authorities drew the conclusion about “senility” after the former white general was seen at the funeral of the communist Drabkin. As the publicist B. Dyakov writes, Woitsekhovsky walked behind the coffin, “leaning on a stick and busy with his thoughts.” Woitsekhovsky was buried in the cemetery of the same hospital, but the grave was not preserved...

Sometimes another date of his death is given. Sergei Tilly in Russkoye Slovo claimed that the general died in December 1954 from another stomach hemorrhage. But that doesn't really matter anymore.

The important thing is that Sergei Nikolaevich did not survive the camps. And also the fact that Eduard Benes, who after the war again found himself in the presidential chair in Prague and had a good relationship with Stalin, he didn’t even lift a finger to ease the fate of the general, who had done so much for his country.

Apparently, he had not forgotten that Woitsekhovsky once demanded that he be deprived of this chair.

In October 1997, Czech President Vaclav Havel posthumously awarded Sergei Nikolaevich the highest award - the Order of the White Lion, 1st degree. In the city of Brno, on the building where in the 30s of the twentieth century the Moravian-Zemstvo military commandant's office was located, which was headed by General Wojciechowski before his appointment to the Prague Military District, a memorial plaque dedicated to him was installed. His two granddaughters and grandson, also Sergei, live in the USA, where his only son, also an officer in the Czechoslovak army, ended his days. Historian Igor Shumeiko writes that there are his relatives and descendants in Russia. And in Vitebsk?..

A well-known journalist in this city, Elvira Mirsalimova, wrote this summer that “the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Belarus turned to officials of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee with a request for assistance in installing a memorial plaque to the outstanding commander, tsarist officer and commander of the Czech army, a native of Vitebsk, Sergei Voitsekhovsky. The Vitebsk executive committee refused..."

Mirsalimova explained the refusal by saying that local officials, “responsible for the installation of sculptures and memorial plaques in the city, once again found themselves between Scylla and Charybdis.” They say that nationalists will accuse them of pandering to the “Russian world”, communists will condemn them for “White Guardism”, home-grown historians and local historians will begin to speculate about the “insignificance of a personality who has done nothing for the city” and point to the “ambiguity of the historical interpretation”.

It seems that officials did not receive direct instructions in this regard, and to act at your own peril and risk is more expensive for yourself...

In the photo: Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky in 1938.

Especially for "Century"

The amazing fate of this man seemed to absorb the entire dramatic history of the 20th century. Until the end of his life, he did not make a deal with his conscience and did not betray his convictions. Today Russia and the Czech Republic are proud of him, but he was born in Belarus. Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky was born in 1883 in Vitebsk, into a noble family of hereditary military men. His father, Second Lieutenant Nikolai Karlovich Voitsekhovsky, was seconded to the Bulgarian Army during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, commanding a militia company, so army fate Sergei Voitsekhovsky was destined. After graduating from the Vitebsk gymnasium, Sergei entered the St. Petersburg Konstantinovsky Artillery School. He graduated with honors and began serving in the Caucasus with the rank of second lieutenant.

When the Russo-Japanese War began in 1904, Woitsekhovsky submitted a report with a request to be sent to the front, the report was granted, but he reached the Far East only in August 1905. The young officer did not have time to fight, he was annoyed and had no idea how many battles he had ahead of him. He continued his service in Bialystok, as an instructor in the rifle and artillery division, and in 1908 he entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. Study and service did not interfere with his personal life; in 1909 he married Margarita Temnikova, and a year later their son Georgy was born. In 1912, Sergei Voitsekhovsky graduated from the Academy with a gold medal and was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree, for his brilliant studies. He continues to serve in the Moscow Military District, in the Grenadier Artillery Brigade. In addition, he studied at the Moscow Aviation School of the Imperial Aeronautics Society and in 1913 received a pilot's license.

During the First World War, staff captain Sergei Voitsekhovsky was at the front. In January 1916, in a battle near Molodechno, he was wounded in the leg and under the shoulder blade. For the courage shown in this battle, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree with swords and bows. After treatment, already with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Voitsekhovsky was appointed chief of staff of the 2nd Caucasian Grenadier Division, which fought in the Vileika area. For those battles on the territory of Belarus, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne and the Order of St. Stanislaus with swords and ribbon.

The end of August 1917 became a turning point for Lieutenant Colonel Wojciechowski; he was appointed to the post of chief of staff of the 1st Czechoslovak Division. Military units of Czechs and Slovaks appeared in Russia at the beginning of the war. In 1917, two divisions were created, united into a corps - a legion, as the Czechs themselves called it. They included captured Czechs and Slovaks who decided to voluntarily fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire in order to create their own Czechoslovak state. The same military units were created in France and Italy.

In October 1917, a revolution occurred in Petrograd, the situation changed radically. On December 16, 1917, the French government recognized the Czechoslovak Legion as an independent military unit under the leadership of the French High Command. By agreement with the government Soviet Russia, the legion had to move across all of Russia to Vladivostok and from there cross over to France to fight against Germany. But in March 1918, the Soviet government concluded the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty with Germany, and from that time on, obstacles began to be created to the movement of the Czechoslovak Corps, and trains were delayed. In May 1918, the Bolsheviks tried to disarm the corps, but Czechoslovak units resisted.

Sergei Voitsekhovsky did not accept the revolution; he continues to serve as part of the corps. The civil war was already flaring up and the troops of the Czechoslovak Corps were forced to take part in it on the side of the white troops. At the end of May 1918, units of 2 rifle regiments under the command of Voitsekhovsky occupied Chelyabinsk without losses. On June 10, Woitsekhovsky was appointed commander of the Western Group of Forces, and soon the commander of the Yekaterinburg Group of combined Czechoslovak and Russian troops in the Urals. By decision of the Czechoslovak National Council he was promoted to colonel. In October, for his successful command of troops in the Ufa region, the Czechoslovak National Council awarded him the rank of major general and appointed him commander of the Samara group of forces of the Provisional All-Russian Government, where military and naval minister was Admiral Kolchak. At this time he was 35 years old.

General Voitsekhovsky leads the defensive battles in the Volga region, his troops stopped and pushed back the advance of the Red Army. Peace was concluded in Europe, the First World War ended, and the Czechoslovak legionnaires did not want to participate in the civil war in Russia. When Admiral Kolchak became the Supreme Ruler of Russia, contradictions began between him and the command of the Czechoslovak Corps.

Sergei Voitsekhovsky supported Kolchak and soon returned to serve in the Russian army. The troops under his command recaptured Ufa, Bugulma, Chistopol and several other cities. In June 1919, General Wojciechowski was awarded the Order of St. George, the highest officer award.

At the beginning of 1920, after the death of General Kappel, Voitsekhovsky was appointed commander of the White Army troops near Irkutsk, with heavy fighting he made his way to Transbaikalia, the territory of which was part of the Far Eastern Republic, but soon left for the Crimea to join General Wrangel. When Crimea was occupied by the Red Army, tens of thousands of soldiers and officers were forced to evacuate to Turkey.

In Istanbul, Sergei Voitsekhovsky was organizing the return of former military personnel to their homeland, but he himself decided to go with his family to Czechoslovakia. The authorities of this country were glad to receive the military general they knew. In May 1921, he received a letter from Prague recognizing his general rank in the event of citizenship, and in the summer Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky was accepted into service in the army of Czechoslovakia. Initially, he was appointed commander of the 9th Infantry Division in the Slovak city of Trnava. In 1927, Wojciechowski was appointed commander of the military district in Brno, and two years later he was awarded the rank of army general. In 1935, he was appointed commander of the Prague Military District.

In 1938, Czechoslovak President Benes, under pressure from Britain and France, accepted the terms of the Munich Treaty, according to which Czechoslovakia ceded border territories to Germany. On March 15, 1939, German troops entered Czechoslovakia and the army was disbanded. A few days later, the country’s patriots created the underground organization Obrana n?roda (“Defense of the Nation”), among them was retired general Sergei Voitsekhovsky. In September, the Germans arrested him, interrogated him, and two weeks later released him under Gestapo supervision. During the war, Wojciechowski did not take part in the resistance, due to health problems and disappointment in Czech politicians.

May 12, 1945, a few days after the liberation of Prague from German troops, General Voitsekhovsky was arrested by counterintelligence SMERSH. He probably expected such a turn of fate, since a few days before he sent his wife and son to the territory occupied by the American army. Voitsekhovsky was accused of participating in the organization “Russian All-Military Union” and training personnel to fight the USSR. In essence, it was a charge for participation in the Civil War. However, the general never fought against his homeland, although the Soviet regime did not recognize it. A few days later he was sent to Moscow. After several months of interrogation in Butyrka prison, he was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. He spent several years in prisons and only in 1949, at the age of 66, he ended up in Ozerlag near Taishet in the Irkutsk region. To the places where thirty years ago he fought. Sergei Voitsekhovsky suffered seriously from a stomach ulcer, and the wounds of the First World War also made themselves felt. He died of gastric bleeding in the camp infirmary in April 1951. The place where he is buried is unknown.

In 1996, Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky was rehabilitated by the Main military prosecutor's office Russian Federation, and in 1997, Army General Sergei Voitsekhovsky was posthumously awarded the highest award of the Czech Republic - the Order of the White Lion, 1st class "for outstanding services in the field of defense and security of the state."

It was so difficult life path a native of Belarus - general of the two armies of Russia and Czechoslovakia Sergei Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky.

Sergey Nikolaevich Voitsekhovsky(October 16, 1883, Vitebsk - April 7, 1951, Irkutsk region) - Russian and Czechoslovak military leader. Participant in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. One of the leaders of the White movement in Siberia. Major General of the Russian Service, General of the Army of Czechoslovakia.

Family

From the nobles of the Vitebsk province.

• Father - Nikolai Karlovich Voitsekhovsky (1857-1920), officer, then major general of the Russian Army.
• Mother - Maria Mikhailovna, nee Gnatovskaya.
• Wife - Margarita Viktorovna (1888-1965), née Temnikova, daughter of an officer in the Russian Army.
• Son - Georgy (Yuri) (1910-1993), lived in exile in the USA.

Education

He graduated from the real school in the city of Velikiye Luki (1902), the Konstantinovsky Artillery School (1904) and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff (1912).

Officer of the Russian Imperial Army

On military service in the Russian Imperial Army since 1902. After graduation artillery school served in the 20th artillery brigade of the 20th infantry division of the 1st Caucasian Army Corps in the city of Akhaltsykh: inspector of the training department (from September 1904), senior officer of the 3rd battery (from January 1905). In July 1905, he was enlisted in the 74th Artillery Brigade of the 18th Army Corps to be sent to the front of the Russo-Japanese War, however, due to the start of peace negotiations with Japan, this appointment was canceled in the same month, and Wojciechowski returned to his previous position . From January 1907 - junior officer of the artillery battery and teacher of the divisional training team of the 5th rifle artillery division in Bialystok (according to other sources - in Suwalki), from April to August 1907 - adjutant to the commander of the artillery department, Colonel Temnikov, who in 1909 became his father-in-law. Since August 1909 - on leave “for domestic reasons”.

Since August 1910, he was a student of the academy, after graduating from May 1912, he served in the 1st Grenadier Brigade of the 1st Grenadier Division in Moscow, at the same time taught tactics at the Alexander Military School, and in 1913 he graduated from the aviation school of the Imperial Moscow Aeronautics Society. In April - October 1913 he was seconded to the headquarters of the Moscow Military District. In October 1913 - July 1914 - company commander in the 122nd Tambov Infantry Regiment of the 31st Infantry Division (Kharkov).

Participant of the First World War: in August 1914 - November 1915 - senior adjutant of the headquarters of the 69th Infantry Division on the Southwestern Front, in August 1915 he served as chief of staff of the division. In November 1915 - January 1917 - staff officer for assignments at the headquarters of the 20th Army Corps. He took part in hostilities in the Carpathians and the Dnieper Basin, was wounded, and was awarded several orders.

From January 1917 - chief of staff of the newly formed 176th Infantry Division, from February - head of the operational department of the headquarters of the 3rd Caucasian Grenadier Division, from the end of April - acting chief of staff of the 126th Infantry Division on the Romanian Front. He was listed in this position until the end of December 1917, but in fact, since August, he had already served as chief of staff of the 1st Czechoslovak Division as part of the Russian Army.

In Czechoslovak service in Russia

From December 1917 - commander of the 3rd Czechoslovakian Jan Žižka Infantry Regiment (took office in February 1918). Since May 1918, he was the senior military commander of the Czechoslovak legionnaires in the Chelyabinsk region, and was a member of the Military Collegium of the Provisional Executive Committee of the Czechoslovak Troops in Russia - the body that led the Czechoslovak armed forces who opposed the Bolsheviks. Active participant in the Russian Civil War in the Urals, Siberia and Transbaikalia.

He played a big role in the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps: on the night of May 26-27, 1918, commanding units of the 2nd and 3rd Czechoslovak Rifle Regiments, he occupied Chelyabinsk without losses. Since May 27, 1918 - commander of military units of the Chelyabinsk group and the Ural Front. As a result of hostilities in May - June 1918, the Chelyabinsk group united at the Tatar station with the troops of the Siberian group of Czechoslovak troops under the command of Radola Gaida.

Commander of the 3rd Czechoslovak Regiment. On May 20, 1918, he was present at the Congress of delegates of all units of the corps in Chelyabinsk, and joined the Military Council, created to coordinate the actions of disparate groups of the corps and establish contacts with local anti-Bolshevik organizations. Together with Syrov, he commanded the Chelyabinsk group of Czechoslovak troops of 9 thousand people, concentrated in the Chelyabinsk - Zlatoust region: 2nd and 3rd rifle regiments, 2 battalions of the 6th rifle regiment, 3rd Reserve regiment, 3rd shock company, 1st battery. Organized successful performance against the Bolsheviks in Chelyabinsk on May 26, 1918, where he disarmed two “international” infantry regiments of Germans and Austrians, capturing huge trophies. Subsequently, he was awarded the St. George Cross, 4th degree, for this. With a bold maneuver he occupied the Zlatoust-Chelyabinsk railway and defeated the Reds there. Appointed by verbal order of the commander of the Czechoslovak corps on May 27, 1918, commander of the Czechoslovak troops of the Chelyabinsk group and the Ural Front. In Omsk on June 10, 1918, his troops united with the Siberian group of the Czechoslovak Corps. By the resolution of the congress of members of the Provisional Chelyabinsk Committee and the Czechoslovak National Council (CHNS) on June 11, 1918, he was promoted to colonel and by order No. 58 appointed temporary chief of staff of the Czech Corps, retaining the position of the regiment and commanders of the Chelyabinsk group. Having carried out successful battles against the Reds near Zlatoust, Berdyaush, Ust-Katava, he united his forces on July 6, 1918 at the Minyar station near Zlatoust with the Penza group of Chechek. After this, Wojciechowski transferred fighting in the Yekaterinburg direction and on July 28, 1918 captured Yekaterinburg, repelling the fierce counterattacks of the Reds who tried to recapture it. In the summer of 1918 - commander of the Yekaterinburg group of forces. At this time, he personally led the battles at the Verkh-Neivinsky plant, leading a bypass column of Czechoslovaks and taking Nizhny Tagil. Commander of the 1st Czechoslovak Division (June - October 1918). The ChNS was promoted to the rank of major general on October 17, 1918 and appointed commander of the Samara group of forces in Ufa, where he was transferred from the Yekaterinburg direction (the former Volga group of forces, replaced General Chechek). Here he not only stopped the Reds’ advance, but also threw them back across the Ik River, strengthening the Whites’ position on the Samara front. He was very popular among Czechs and Slovaks. From the end of October to December 1918 - commander of the Ufa group of forces, on the basis of which in December 1918 - January 1919. The Western Army of Khanzhin was formed. In Ufa he was greeted with distrust by Russian troops, where in the fall of 1918 a difficult situation arose due to the advance of the Red troops, but he quickly won their sympathy. At this time, he gets out of KOMUCH's control. Created a maneuver group of 7 Czechoslovak battalions in the Belebey area during the defense of Ufa. Placed Kappel's forces in the center of his positions. These forces defeated the Reds in the Ufa-Troitskosavsk-Belebey directions on November 10 - 18, 1918. He opposed the introduction of shoulder straps in the army. In November - December 1918, to save the exhausted units, Kappel sent Molchanov’s small forces into battle, which lost up to 40% of their strength in these battles and frosts, but carried out Woitsekhovsky’s order. At the time of the coup on November 18, 1918 and after it, he forbade Socialist Revolutionary agitators from visiting the troops, fearing corruption. He refused to acknowledge the pressure of the Czechs and Slovaks, who demanded that he act against orders from Omsk. Without receiving any instructions from the commander-in-chief of the Czechoslovak troops Syrovy, in December 1918 he transferred to the service of Kolchak, who confirmed all the awards and ranks he received in 1918, resigning as an officer of the Czechoslovak army. After the surrender of Ufa at the end of December 1918, units of Voitsekhovsky’s Samara group withdrew from there and were replaced by other white units. With the disbandment of the Samara Group, from January 1 to June 1919 - commander of the 2nd Ufa Army Corps. He was wounded on January 8, 1919. From the 2nd half of May 1919 to September 1919, the commander of the Ufa group of forces in the 2nd Army, General

ral Lokhvitsky. For a short time in the summer of 1919 he was away from the front, as he temporarily left the army in protest against the appointment of Sakharov there. Participant of the Tobolsk offensive operation in September - October 1919 of Kolchak’s forces. He went on the offensive on September 1, 1919, given the difficult situation of his right flank of troops, completely completing the task of attacking the flank of the 27th Red Infantry Division. After this, he turned his forces almost to the north during the battle and shot down the enemy on the front of the Siberian Army, which allowed it to move forward, although it had not previously been able to do this during this counteroffensive. For this, Wojciechowski was awarded on September 12, 1919, the Cross of St. George, 3rd degree. In September 1919 - January 1920. - Commander of the 2nd Army (replaced Lokhvitsky), Lieutenant General. On November 20, 1919, he shot Major General Grivin in the village of Ust-Tatarka for his unauthorized abandonment of the front, which by his withdrawal forced Woitsekhovsky’s southern group to retreat. This happened when Wojciechowski received from him a repeated refusal to return and a threat of attack with a saber. After this, he appointed a new commander to Grivin’s troops and ordered them to return to their abandoned positions. After reporting to Kappel and Sakharov about this incident on November 26, 1919, he received gratitude for restoring order in the army. In Novo-Nikolaevsk, part of the Siberian Army, led by Colonel Ivakin, raised a rebellion against him, which he suppressed. In mid-December 1919, he categorically refused the post of Commander-in-Chief of the White Forces Eastern Front. For the connivance of the Czechs and Slovaks in Siberia to the Bolsheviks during the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, he challenged their commander Syrov to a duel, to which the Czech general did not show up. Commander of the Moscow Group of Forces (from January 15, 1920 - the Far Eastern White Army) consisting of the 1st and 2nd Corps, which was later joined by the 3rd Corps, most of which consisted of Semyonovites ("Kolchak-Kappel Army") . He successfully escaped from the encirclement near Krasnoyarsk on January 5-6, 1920, prepared for the retreating white troops by the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. On January 7, 1920, he crossed the Yenisei with his forces without entering Krasnoyarsk. After this, he retreats to the Kan River, and soon after this, due to Kappel’s illness, he orders the withdrawal of the White Guard troops to the east. From January 21 (according to other sources, from January 26, 1920) to April 25, 1920 - the last commander of the Siberian White troops after General Kappel transferred command to him. At that time, he was subordinate to a military group of 30 thousand people: Annenkov’s Cossacks, Krasilnikov’s brigade, soldiers of General Volkov, the Izhevsk-Votkinsk division, Verzhbitsky’s volunteers, parts of individual numbered divisions. He approached Irkutsk and on January 29, 1920, occupied the Kuitun point and launched a further offensive towards Irkutsk along railway. He defeated Nesterov's Red troops on January 30, 1920 at Zima station with the "unexpected" assistance of the Czechs and Slovaks. The outcome of the battle was decided by Voitsekhovsky’s introduction into the battle of the forces of the 25th Infantry Regiment named after Admiral Kolchak. As a result, at least 3 echelons of the Reds were defeated. Voitsekhovsky occupied the Irkutsk suburb of Cheremkhovo on February 1, 1920. After that, he defeated the Red cover group near Usolye, coming close to the city. Near Irkutsk itself, on February 5-6, 1920, he fought fierce battles, the heaviest of which were near the villages of Sukhovka and Olonki. On February 6, 1920, Wojciechowski issued an ultimatum to the Reds: 1. Withdraw their troops to the north. 2. Give the whites Kolchak and the gold reserves. 3. Provide white army food, fodder, warm clothing for 50 thousand people. At the request of the Irkutsk Red authorities, the Czechs and Slovaks began negotiations with him on the conditions for the passage of his forces through Irkutsk. By this time, most of Wojciechowski's troops were a typhus hospital. In conditions when the Czechoslovaks and Bolsheviks dragged out the negotiations, he decided to break into Transbaikalia bypassing Irkutsk, despite Sakharov’s desire to take it. Having learned about the execution of Kolchak, Woitsekhovsky divided his army into 2 parts and walked around the city with them: 1st group

crossed frozen Baikal and went to Transbaikalia, the 2nd, bypassing Irkutsk from the south, went to Chita. Voitsekhovsky's decision was due to the reluctance of the Czechs and Slovaks to let his forces into Irkutsk. During the transition of Lake Baikal on February 11 - 13, 1920, he issued an order to promote army officers to colonels and military sergeants inclusive, without even a superficial consideration of cases previously submitted for production, which is why most officers immediately skipped 2-3 ranks. Major General Feldman accused him of having completely corrupted the officer corps by such an act, thereby giving the army “54 illiterate staff officers and even more chief officers.” Arriving in Transbaikalia in February 1920, he stationed his troops in the Peschanka region and surrounding villages, convened a meeting of the senior commanders of his forces to obtain information about whether or not they should obey Semenov. He tried to negotiate special privileges for his troops from Semenov. He remained as army commander, but Semenov became superior to him, despite the fact that he was more authoritative. In Chita he again gathers his subordinates to decide on further actions. At this time, he began to actively increase discipline in the army through harsh measures. Voitsekhovsky met without enthusiasm the white units of General Sukin and Colonel Kambalin who came after him to Transbaikalia. As commander of the troops of the Russian Eastern Outskirts, Voitsekhovsky on March 23, 1920, in his address to the population of Transbaikalia, announced that peasants, Cossacks and Buryats should send their representatives to Chita for a congress by June 6, 1920. Despite the fact that, according to the general Feldman, he weakly strengthened Transbaikalia in general and Chita in particular, erecting defenses only on Yablonovy Ridge, in April, on Easter, with the help of Semyonovtsy and the Japanese, he defeated the advancing Red Brigade. He supported Feldman’s opinion to prepare in advance for the evacuation of the families of officers in order to free up rolling stock and escape routes for the army, to create a special reserve of officers, which was supposed to play the role of the most resistant white unit to raise the morale of others. He did not allow Feldman to create, as he planned, an officer battalion at the expense of individual officers and the abolition of officer guard companies under the generals. In response to Feldman's protest, he was sent to a secondary position. He was unable to establish courses “to improve the combat effectiveness of the army” proposed by Feldman. In Chita in May 1920, he transferred command of the Far Eastern White Army to Lokhvitsky and left for Vladivostok, joining the troops of the Czechs and Slovaks. This was due to his reluctance to promote a split in the troops into “Kappelites” and “Semyonovtsy”. From September 1920 to 1930 - in exile in Manchuria. In Harbin, from September 1920, together with Pepelyaev, he conducted fierce criticism against Semenov, including on the pages of the official “Russian Army”. Head of the EMRO in the Far East in Mukden until 1929. In 1929 - 1945. - in Prague, held responsible positions in the Czechoslovak army. Here he became an excellent pilot and motorist, and was known as an expert on Poland, the Caucasus, Siberia, and Subcarpathian Rus. Army General since December 30, 1929. He had foreign awards. In 1919 he was awarded the Czechoslovak War Cross, later the Czechoslovak Revolutionary Medal, the Czechoslovak Victory Medal, the French Legion of Honor 4th class (1926), the French Legion of Honor 3rd class (1929), the Yugoslav Order of St. Sava 2nd degree (1929), Yugoslav Order of St. Sava 1st degree (1930), Yugoslav Order of the Crown 1st degree (1937), Romanian Order of the Star 1st degree. Commander of the 1st Army of Czechoslovakia from September 25 to October 14, 1938. One of the highest Czechoslovak generals, L. Krejci, described him at this time: “The army commander is very good. During the political crisis, he showed an uneven character and personal ambitions. Unsuitable for high command." Wojciechowski advocated resistance to the Germans, which was not supported by the leadership of Czechoslovakia. Arrested by SMERSH in 1945. Repressed, died in a camp near Taishet.