Oleko Dundich is a hero of the Civil War, a red cavalryman, a man of selfless courage and courage, who died far from his homeland for the ideals of the revolution. He was and remains one of the most mysterious character in our history. In the Soviet Union, this name was known to everyone, but the new time gives birth to other heroes. Now most of the young people did not even hear such a name, not to mention his exploits. But an educated person should know everything about the history of his country.
Mystery man
During the Civil War, he was known as Oleko Dundich, but after the death it turned out that only fragmentary information was preserved about him. He, the brave cavalryman, the commander of the detachment, was called the Red Dundich, but the time of battles passed and the time came when all events were summed up and recorded for history. And then it turned out that nothing was known about this person. No real name, no date, no place of birth. All that is known for certain about him is two years, from the spring of 1918 to July 8, 1920, spent in the ranks of the Red Army.
It should not be. Interested people in the USSR and Yugoslavia, who sat in the archives, interviewed witnesses and his fellow soldiers, took up this question. So who is he - Milutin Cholic, Ivan, Alexa or Oleko Dundich?
Researchers
The first official biography of Oleko Dundich was printed immediately after his death, in June 1920. It contained his bibliographic data, obtained, as they say, in hot pursuit, that is, talking with his fellow soldiers and fellow Serbs. But upon further study of them, conflicting data appeared that related not only to individual episodes of life, but also to his name. A lot of work has been done - this is the study of archival documents, and the search for people who knew Oleko.
Researchers even got to the bottom of the Voronezh commune newspaper, which was published in 1919. A number of her articles were devoted to the 1st Budenny Horse Army , which fought in these places. Several articles were devoted to Krasny Dundich, who, after being wounded, was in the Voronezh hospital. In one of them, published in the newspaper No. 22 dated November 18, 1919, the hero’s biography is given. The facts presented in it were told to the correspondent by Oleko Dudnich himself.
Birth and family
Oleko Dundich was born in 1896. His birthplace was the village of Grobovo, which is located near the city of Imack, located in Dalmatia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in those years. The territory of modern Dalmatia is part of Croatia (most) and Montenegro. His parents were peasants. Dalmatia, located in the fertile places of the Adriatic coast, was a poor and backward province of the empire. Therefore, at the end of the 19th century, a large number of immigrants to America left this region.
After Oleko was 12 years old, he was sent to his uncle, who had previously emigrated to South America. Here the boy earned his living by working as a rider, driving cattle. He traveled to Brazil, Argentina, and even North America. After four years of wandering, he returns at the request of his father to Croatia. Oleko Dundich worked for two years in vineyards belonging to his family, plowed the land and looked after cattle.
World War I
In Europe it was turbulent, the First World War was brewing, the epicenter of which was in the Balkans. Its beginning coincided with the time when Dudnich was 18 years old. He is drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army, who fought against Russia and Serbia, where he was a non-commissioned officer. He did not manage to escape the fate of the majority of representatives of the Slavic peoples, whom the war divided into two warring halves. After being transferred to the Russian front, he was sent to Lutsk.
Captivity
During the battles near Lutsk he was wounded in the leg. The wound was severe. He could not move and lay in the forest for two days until he was discovered by enemy soldiers, who transported him to the Odessa prison camp. After the leg has healed, he enters the First Serbian Volunteer Division, formed in Russia, and receives a referral to the Odessa school of ensigns, which he successfully graduates with the rank of second lieutenant.
Red Army
Unlike his fellow countrymen, who were faithful to monarchist Russia after the February Revolution, Oleko Dundich takes the side of the Bolsheviks and becomes a member of the RSDLP (b). He enters the battalion under the command of Sievers, formed from foreigners. It fights in the south-west of Russia. Since March 1918, he led the partisan detachment that fought near Bakhmut (Artemovsk). He was an instructor in the formation and training in the Kryuchkovsky brigade, which joined the Voroshilov detachment. Together with him, he retreats to Tsaritsyn, where he takes part in the formation of units of the Red Army from foreigners.
In September of the same year, he received the position of commander of a battalion, part of the brigade named after 3 Cominterns of the 10th Red Army. Since the beginning of 1919, it has been fighting in the Don Caucasian division under the command of S. Budyonny, in the equestrian corps of the First Cavalry Army. Here he held the position of assistant commander of the regiment, then became assistant to Budenny on special assignments. Semen Mikhailovich was very fond of Oleko Dundich for courage and bravery. He could engage in battle with superior enemy forces and defeat them. He was respected by comrades and commanders.
The death of the Red Dunditsch
His further service was connected with the legendary 1st Konarmia, the development stages of which were the liberation of Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, and the North Caucasus. In April 1920, as part of the Conarmy, he participated in battles on the Polish front. 07/08/1920 Dundich was shot dead in a battle of white-poles with the Don Cossacks of the 24th cavalry regiment. At the same time, Dundich himself was an assistant commander of the 36th regiment of the 6th division. This happened in front of Voroshilov, Budyonny. How Oleko Dundich, whose memory is still alive today, could be there, remains a mystery to his commanders. There is only the assumption that he himself galloped on contact with the Chebotarev brigade and ran into the White Poles.
He was solemnly buried in Rivne. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to him, among whom were his colleagues, friends and countrymen. After the war, legends were formed about him. Budyonny wrote about him in his memoirs. His incredible courage is captured in the book of Isaac Babel's “Conarmy” and the trilogy of Alexei Tolstoy's “Walking through the agony”.