The famous commander of the white movement, Alexander Pavlovich Kutepov, was born on September 28, 1882 in Cherepovets into a modest and inconspicuous family of a provincial official. Childhood and school years of the boy passed in the distant northern Arkhangelsk. The small wealth of the family taught Alexander to an unpretentious Spartan life - a skill that was useful to him in a difficult service.
early years
In 1902, after graduating from the Arkhangelsk gymnasium, the future general Kutepov entered the Vladimir Military School in St. Petersburg. Grammar school experience allowed the young man to easily overcome the theoretical course. However, he also had a weakness - combat training. Kutepov was faced with problems typical of all young people who entered military schools from civilian educational institutions. But despite the difficulties that met him at a new stage in his life, Alexander coped with all the challenges. Helpful will and perseverance helped him, which already in his adult life also rescued the general more than once.
In 1904, Alexander Pavlovich Kutepov graduated from college and became second lieutenant in the 85th Vyborg Infantry Regiment. A few months later, at a traditional ceremony, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich produced him in the sergeant major.
In the japanese war
Before Alexander Kutepov arrived at the service, the Russo-Japanese War began. Once at the front, he immediately on his own initiative asked for a scout squad. Soon, a young non-commissioned officer distinguished himself during the attack on the Japanese outpost. His squad got valuable trophies (rifles and machine guns). The official chief of the Vyborg regiment was a cousin of the Russian tsar Kaiser Wilhelm. He awarded Kutepov the Order of the German Crown. Noted the scout and native power. During the Russo-Japanese War, Alexander Kutepov received the Order of St. Stanislav of the 3rd degree, St. Anne of the 4th degree and St. Vladimir of the 4th degree.
At the end of the bloody conflict in the Far East, a skilled intelligence officer had to start training new recruits. Returning to Russia, he plunged into revolutionary events for the first time (against the backdrop of failure in the war with Japan, the 1905 revolution broke out across the country). The future general Kutepov rode the train when dissatisfied strikers stopped the train and announced the creation of their own republic. The military man was not taken aback and, having rallied loyal soldiers around him, arrested a revolutionary committee that staged riots at the railway station.
Troubled years
With the outbreak of World War I, Alexander Kutepov headed the 4th company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. August 20, 1914 the battle of Vladislavov ended for him with a wound. Soon the officer recovered and took part in several more successful operations against the Germans. On the eve of the revolution, he became a colonel.
In February 1917, Kutepov received a long-awaited vacation and arrived in Petrograd. It is noteworthy that he turned out to be the only officer of his rank (colonel) who tried to stop the spontaneous metropolitan uprising, which ended with the abdication of the king. However, the detachment that Kutepova managed to assemble was too small against the background of the discontented Petrograd mass of citizens.
Again at the front
After the February Revolution, the officer returned to the army. In April, he led the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. By that time, this formation was almost the only combat-ready formation at the front. The remaining parts decomposed under the influence of antiwar and revolutionary agitation.
Meanwhile, the Preobrazhensky regiment took part in the Tarnopol breakthrough. During this operation, July 7, 1917 Kutepov again distinguished himself in battle near the village of Mshany. For his exploits, he received the Order of St. George 3rd degree. In the Preobrazhensky regiment, the name of Alexander Kutepov became a synonym for determination, fidelity to duty and sacrificial service to the motherland.
On South
With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the army that fought with Germany and Austria-Hungary finally collapsed. In December 1917, Kutepov left the front and went to Kiev. In the "mother of Russian cities," he joined the Volunteer Army. The active phase of the civil war has not yet begun. Opponents accumulated strength and prepared for bloodshed.
The end of 1917 - the beginning of 1918. the future general Kutepov spent in Taganrog, where he became the head of the local garrison. There he had to fight with the Red Guards. In January 1918, the White managed to defeat the pro-Bolshevik troops in a clash near Matveev Kurgan. According to the memoirs of Commander-in-Chief Anton Denikin, this was the first serious battle of the Civil War.
It should be noted that many ideological disputes arose between him and Kutepov. Denikin was liberal enough, while Alexander Pavlovich always differed convinced monarchist views. Nevertheless, in spite of differences about the suitable nature of power, Kutepov always supported the Commander-in-Chief in military matters.
Against the Bolsheviks
From the very beginning, for all officers, service in the White Army was extremely complicated and exhausting. The apotheosis of the inhuman conditions of warfare was the "Ice" campaign in the Kuban (February - May 1918). In this operation, Kutepov headed one of the companies of the officer regiment. In April, he took command of the Kornilov regiment, then the first infantry division.
In November, Alexander Pavlovich became a major general. The day before, white troops took Novorossiysk, and Denikin appointed Kutepov the Black Sea military governor. Such a choice seemed strange to many, since the military leader had never before had a relationship with civilian administration.
In the new position, the officer began to establish tough order. His uncompromising measures against the enemies of the white power became known as "Kutepiya". The military governor was responsible for the security of Novorossiysk and the stability of supplies organized by foreign allies. Under him, the port turned into the main base of the external supply of the white movement. Kutepov organized a new headquarters and made him chief of Nicholas de Roberti. He became the right hand of Alexander Pavlovich and the executor of his military decrees.
At the head of the "colored" regiments
In January 1919, the already well-known Russian general led the 1st Army Corps operating in the Donetsk Basin. Winter and spring went to a regrouping of forces and the defense of eastern Ukraine. This was a period of serious tension of all the forces of the Volunteer Army.
Denikin's relationship with many colleagues left much to be desired (his relations with Wrangel were especially nervous). Therefore, the commander-in-chief delegated Kutepov (by the rank of far from the main military commander) more and more powers. In particular, Denikin handed him the “colored” regiments - the core of the White Army guard.
The choice is explained by the fact that Kutepov was known as an executive and diligent warrior, completely not interested in politics. And it really was. While some shared the skin of the unkilled bear and discussed the political future of Russia liberated from the Bolsheviks, the general was doing his difficult front-line business.
The last stage of the civil war
The military leader once again showed his outstanding qualities during the Kharkov operation. For military distinctions he was promoted to lieutenant general. Soon the Volunteer Army launched an offensive on Moscow. In the campaign to the capital of the throne, General Kutepov commanded the corps with which he reached Orel. Then the operation was choked and followed by a retreat to the distant Novorossiysk. Despite the defeat after defeat, the Russian general was able to maintain the combat effectiveness of the volunteer divisions subordinate to him - Markov, Kornilov, Alekseev and Drozdov.
In the spring of 1920, Kutepov ended up in the Crimea, where Baron Wrangel appointed him commander of one of the last white corps. At the head of this formation, the officer marched all over Northern Tavria. Contrary to the efforts of Alexander Pavlovich and other prominent military leaders of the white movement, the Bolsheviks continued their offensive. In November 1920, Kutepov was evacuated from the Crimea.
Emigration
The White Guard General Kutepov, whose biography is a typical example of the Soviet government expelled from the homeland, at first stopped in Gallipoli. Here, all the surviving parts of the Wrangel army were united. In December 1921, Kutepov, together with his corps, appeared in Bulgaria. Local authorities arrested him and expelled him from the country. The military leader moved to Yugoslavia, where he became an assistant to the commander in chief of the Russian army.
In 1924, General Kutepov and his wife Lidia Davydovna Kut settled in Paris. The officer began to serve with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, whom most of the white emigration considered the head of the exiled Romanov dynasty. The cousin of the last Russian Tsar appointed the famous officer the chairman of the EMRO - the Russian Military Union.
What did Alexander Kutepov do in his new status? The general established contact with secret anti-Soviet organizations operating on the territory of the USSR. He hoped that with their help it would be possible if not to overthrow the Bolsheviks, then at least create many problems for their authorities. However, Kutepov’s plan from the very beginning was a failure.
Death
“Anti-Soviet organizations” turned out to be cells created by the Chekists specifically to track down and eliminate the active leaders of Russian emigration in Europe. The most serious failure of Kutepov was his collaboration with the Trust, which was managed by the OGPU.
January 26, 1930, Alexander Pavlovich was kidnapped by agents of Soviet intelligence. A daring operation was committed in Paris. Since then, that day has been considered the day of Kutepov’s death, although the circumstances of his future fate still cause controversy among historians. In the Soviet era, information about the White Guard general came under the heading "secret."
Only in 1989 did information appear that Kutepov died on a Bolshevik steamship that brought him to Novorossiysk. It is believed that the officer died due to a heart attack (perhaps his cause was an excessive dose of morphine administered by the abductors). According to another version, the White Guard was nevertheless taken to Moscow, where he perished in Lubyanka.
Memory
Today there is at least one monument to General Kutepov. It is located in the main Russian cemetery of Paris Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois. Near it was built the cenotaph of the general. There are no remains in the grave, it performs a symbolic function.
The military leader did not leave his memoirs, but numerous contemporaries and comrades in civil war and emigration did this for him. A collection of memoirs about the general was published in Russia in the 2000s. The publication clearly demonstrates who the half-forgotten compatriots Alexander Pavlovich Kutepov actually was. The quotes of his speeches at the front and the fateful conversations with colleagues of the white army are a unique mural of events of the Russian unrest.