Alexander Samsonov: brief biography, military career

Sometimes history allows itself rather unusual things. For example, it gives immortality to the commander not for a brilliant victory, but for the suffered defeat and death, although it was a model of the true manifestation of the officer's honor, but which contributed little to the victory over the enemy. One of the similar heroes of the past was General Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov, whose brief biography formed the basis of this article.

First-born in the family of a retired lieutenant

After retiring, lieutenant Vasily Vasilyevich Samsonov settled with his wife Nadezhda Egorovna in the Kherson province, where they had their own estate. November 14, 1859 in their family was born a son who was baptized in the name of Alexander. Samsonov dreamed of a military career for his first-born, and therefore, upon reaching his age, arranged for him in the Kiev Vladimir Military High School, and after graduation to the St. Petersburg Nikolayev Cavalry School. From the Kiev chestnuts the young man went to the banks of the Neva.

Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov, whose date of birth fell on the period when Russia, having suffered defeat in the Russian-Turkish war of 1853-1856, rapidly increased its combat power and sought to regain its former glory, not by chance chose its path in life. In those years, officers enjoyed special honor in the society, and serving in the army was a matter of honor for every nobleman.

The first battles and career growth

He was barely eighteen when, after graduating from college and having received the rank of cornet, Samsonov was first exposed to the battles of the Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878). It was as a result of the heroism displayed by him during this military campaign, and not because of class privileges, that young officer Alexander Samsonov received the right to enter the Academy of the General Staff.

The years that followed the graduation of the academy became the steps of a rapid career growth of an honest and executive officer. Changed the city, the military districts were changing, where Samsonov was able to perform service, but invariably he was among the most valued and, accordingly, promoted commanders.

Battles in the Far East

The Russo-Japanese War was met already in the rank of Major-General Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov. Photos of the officer began to appear on the pages of newspapers. He, as an experienced commander, was instructed to lead the Ussuri cavalry brigade, which on May 17, 1905, in a bloody battle near Yujiatun, destroyed a squadron of Japanese troops. In the next major battle of this war, which occurred soon under Wafangou, the Cossacks of Samsonov managed to bypass the Japanese division and, having struck from the rear, decided the outcome of the operation.

Later, the general was able to become a participant in almost all the most significant episodes of the war that unfolded on land. Under his command, the Cossacks attacked the enemy under Gaizhou, Tashichao and Liaoyang. When, in the course of the war, a turning point occurred, and the Russian troops were forced to retreat, the Cossack regiments subordinated to the general, together with the horse battery, shielded their retreat, holding back the enemy with all their might. For his services during the campaign, Alexander Samsonov was awarded three military orders, a gold sword and was promoted to lieutenant-general.

Between the two wars

In the first post-war years, General Alexander Samsonov, who had by then become one of the most prominent Russian commanders, occupies a number of command posts in the leadership of the Warsaw Military District and is then appointed ataman of the Don Army. Everywhere he fulfills the duties assigned to him with his inherent energy and conscientiousness. In May 1909, the tsar ordered him to leave for Turkestan to take up the post of governor-general, and also commander of the Turkestan military district and ataman of the Semirechye Cossack army.

On administrative work, Alexander Vasilyevich managed to show equally outstanding abilities, as in military practice. He succeeded in largely suppressing the conflicts that arose on the interethnic grounds between the local population and the Russians, most of whom were military.

In addition, he launched extensive educational activities among the inhabitants of Turkestan, the vast majority of whom were illiterate. And a special merit can be called the initiative to create irrigation systems, which enabled the cultivation of cotton. His works were appreciated by the sovereign. Samsonov was promoted to generals from the cavalry.

The beginning of a new war

The First World War found Samsonov in the Caucasus, where he rested with his family. Together with the announcement of Russia's joining the new slaughter, Alexander Vasilyevich received an order to arrive urgently in Warsaw, where he was waiting for the post of commander of the Second Army. The general command of the North-Western Front was carried out by General Zhilinsky.

In his plan, the Second Army of Samsonov and the First Army, led by General P. Rannenkampf, were to go on the offensive, which is part of the overall East Prussian operation. Despite the fact that the commanders of both armies pointed to the need for thorough preparation of such large-scale military operations, orders were sent from the Stavka and personally from the commander of the troops of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich to make an immediate speech.

The reason for such a rush was the difficult situation in which France was allied to Russia, and the personal appeal of Ambassador M. Palaeologus to Nicholas I, in which he literally begged the Russian monarch to immediately order the offensive and prevent the defeat of their army. As a result, Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov, a general from the cavalry and an experienced commander, was forced to launch an offensive, in the failure of which he was confident in advance.

Fatal march-throw

In East Prussia at that time the forces of the Eighth German Army were concentrated, and it was to destroy it, according to the disposition, that two Russian armies advanced. The first to enter the battle with the enemy were the troops under the command of P. Rannenkampf. Starting the attack at dawn on August 4, they forced the Germans to retreat. Simultaneously, the army of Samsonov made a powerful march-throw, overcoming for three days eighty kilometers and entering the territory of East Prussia.

Such a rapid maneuver, dictated by tactical considerations, was extremely dangerous for the Russian army. On the territory devastated by the war, the forward units considerably detached from the rear convoys with food and ammunition. As a result, people starved for several days, and ammunition and shells were coming to an end. The horses were left without feed. But, despite repeated reports about the catastrophic situation, the High Command demanded not to reduce the pace of the offensive.

On the eve of the encirclement

Suddenly, another danger became evident. On the way, the Second Army did not encounter serious resistance, and it seemed that the enemy specially created conditions for them to advance unhindered. Experienced commander Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov, whose biography from an early age is connected with the army, intuitively felt the impending trap.

He shared his fears with the commander of the North-Western Front, Zhilinsky. However, due to incompetence, he was not sufficiently aware of the seriousness of the situation, gave a number of orders that aggravated the already difficult situation in which Samsonov's troops were found.

The premonition did not deceive the experienced commander. The German command, using an extensive network of railroads, created in the prewar years, sent a large military contingent to the area of the Second Army. On August 13, the Sixth Corps, which was on the right flank, was attacked and defeated, and the next day on the left flank of the First.

Defeat of the Second Army

In the current critical situation Alexander Samsonov personally comes to the forefront, wishing to raise the morale of the troops, but, having studied the situation, understands the hopelessness of the situation. The last hope was to support the army of P. Rannenkampf. Joint actions aimed at connecting with it could save Samsonov's units from complete encirclement and death, but the commander of the First Army, having shown criminal slowness, failed to fulfill its task.

As a result, three Russian corps, a total of one hundred thousand people, were surrounded. Participants in those events recalled that the vast majority of soldiers and officers were demoralized. It also affected the awareness of powerlessness to influence the current situation, extreme exhaustion caused by a multi-day march through enemy territory, and physical weakness from prolonged starvation. Most of them later perished, and only a small part could escape from the enemy ring.

Court of conscience

Consciousness of personal responsibility for the failure of the operation entrusted to him and the death of people who wholeheartedly believed him, was the cause of the gravest emotional trauma with which Samsonov could not cope. On August 30, 1914, that is, just a month after the outbreak of the war, he committed suicide. Eyewitnesses said that on that day the general unexpectedly left for all of them to the forest, whence a shot was heard.

Ironically, the unfairly ordered end of the life of this worthy man, an honest Russian officer Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov, photo of the last months of his life completes the article, remained in the memory of the descendants not a winner who has enveloped himself with a brutal glory, but an example of how a person commits a verdict Supreme Court - own conscience.