The biography of Dmitry Karbyshev is not typical of the Soviet military: he was a nobleman, a hereditary military man. This is a vivid example of a man who turned out to be in his place and made a brilliant career thanks to his own talent, determination, exceptional fortitude.
Childhood and youth
A twelve-year-old boy, General Karbyshev, whose feat was still ahead, was left without a father. Six children were raised alone by their mother. Financial difficulties were common, but the sons took it wisely.
The eldest, Vladimir, entered Kazan University, but was expelled: he sympathized with the revolutionaries. His fate was tragic: he died in prison very young.
The youngest entered the Siberian
Cadet School, and had to pay for study, because family history did not have privileges. Nevertheless, Karbyshev did not shade. He studied brilliantly, discovered great abilities for engineering. His entire subsequent career was related to military construction.
The beginning of military service
After graduating from college, he ended up in Manchuria (1900). Here he was caught by the first of the military campaigns in which the future general Dmitry Karbyshev took part. The feat of this brilliant military, which is most often written in the relevant publications, would have been impossible without previous experience.
Karbyshev met the Russo-Japanese War with the rank of second lieutenant (received in 1903). In the course of hostilities he did what he had to do in his specialty: he made ferries, built fortifications, and provided communications. For his valor, he was awarded and received a promotion: he ended the war with the rank of lieutenant.
The character of the future General Karbyshev was uncompromising, even then he did not consider it necessary to hide his worldview. In 1906 he was dismissed: an officer with soldiers interpreted on provocative topics.
I was glad to serve ...
It was a short time to be on free bread: the authorities quickly realized that there were a dime a dozen trustworthy people around, and a cat cried out for specialists of the Karbyshev level. A year later, Dmitry Mikhailovich returned to service, and in 1908 he went to St. Petersburg to conquer new heights: he entered the Engineering Academy, which he brilliantly graduated from after three years.
In 1911, Karbyshev already went to Brest-Litovsk as headquarters captain. The famous fortress, so desperately resisting the Nazis in the 41st year, was built with his direct participation.
Soon the war began. It must be said that Dmitry Mikhailovich suffered a lot of wars: Russian-Japanese, Soviet-Finnish, and both world wars. Practically in each of them, from the very beginning, the future general Karbyshev took part. The feat accomplished by him subsequently was not the first and not the only one. During the Przemysl operation, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne and promoted to colonel.
Soviet officer
When the revolution took place in Russia, Karbyshev’s reaction was quite predictable. Already in December 1917, not at all doubting his own choice, he enrolled in the Red Guard, participated in the Civil War as part of the Red Army. His undoubted abilities found application: Karbyshev participated in the creation of many defense structures.
In 1920, he already held the post of deputy chief of engineers of the Southern Front, and in 1923 - the chief of engineers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea.
Science is also attractive to a talented person: for many years Karbyshev taught at the Military Academy. Frunze, wrote more than a hundred special scientific works devoted to fortifications, bridges, etc.
On the eve of World War II, he received the rank of lieutenant general (1940). In the same year he joined the party. Nevertheless, the country of the Soviets was sometimes a paradoxical state: on the one hand, many members of the CPSU perished in the Stalinist camps, including the brilliant military, and General Karbyshev, whose feat gave us an example of an unbending spirit, made a brilliant career without being an official communist.
Participation in the Second World War
The attack of the Nazi army found an elderly (Dmitry Mikhailovich born in 1880) general on the western border: he participated in the construction of fortifications. They did not have time to evacuate it: the first onslaught of the Germans stunned the Soviet army. The crumpled Red Army was rapidly retreating, leaving behind thousands of dead and wounded. Many Soviet soldiers and officers were captured. Among them was General Karbyshev. The feat of an unbending Russian officer began in early August 1941 and lasted almost four years.
The Germans were well aware of what rank the specialist got to them. They very much counted on his knowledge, experience and talent. There is evidence according to which they were going to attract him to the service of the Wehrmacht after the victory, and here such luck! But the Nazis were waiting for a surprise very unpleasant: the feat of General Karbyshev may not have been spectacular, but he showed an impressive example of courage, fortitude and patriotism. He consistently refused cooperation, a lot of effort and patience was spent on him, and ultimately this decided his fate.
Gingerbread torture
At first, Karbyshev was in a concentration camp of the usual regime, where he drank in full. But in 1942 he was transferred to the concentration camp Hammelburg. The conditions in it were the most privileged: the feat of General Karbyshev demanded of him not only patience, but also resistance to temptation. Many of those who survived the horrors of ordinary Hitler's "sanatoriums" broke down here, not wanting to return to their experiences.
Colonel Pelit was responsible for Karbyshev's “appeal to the truth” - the Nazis really counted on him, because once he and Dmitry Mikhailovich worked together. The German officer carefully worked on the red general, painting him numerous benefits - material and other, which he would gain by betraying his homeland. There was no positive result. General Karbyshev, whose feat to this day compels him to respect, categorically refused to cooperate, and even more than that: he was sure of the victory of Soviet weapons. He generously shared his conviction with those around him, inspiring them with completely superfluous, according to the Nazis, optimism.
Decision to take the whip
It was decided to stop using the carrot and take on the whip - and General Karbyshev appeared in the solitary confinement of a Berlin prison. The feat, which could not be summarized briefly, demanded that the Russian engineer reinforced concrete confidence in his own right.
Having “marinated” their prisoner for almost a month, the Germans decided that this would be enough. Appearing for another interrogation, the general found in the investigator's office the famous professor Raubenheimer, a major specialist in the field of fortification. Of course they were familiar. Karbyshev treated the German with great respect.
The obstinate general was made the last offer, whose generosity could not fail to impress. Karbyshev was offered to leave camps and prisons in exchange for generous maintenance and the opportunity to do what he liked. Under the terms of the agreement, he was supposed to organize a research laboratory for design tests. The staff could get what they needed, the funding received the widest. At his service could be the best minds and libraries of the Third Reich.
The military engineer could not understand that the next sentence would not follow. Nevertheless, his answer was brief: putting his military honor above life itself, he refused enemy bounties, setting an example of true heroism. The feat of General Karbyshev can be briefly described in his own phrase: "I am a soldier and remain faithful to my duty."
The jokes are over
The Nazis immediately put a bold cross on their dreams of cooperation, and Karbyshev found himself in Flossenbürg. The work was very hard, but, according to the testimony of the co-prisoners, the general did not indulge in despondency either. The conviction of the coming victory did not diminish in the least. He inspired this faith in others, being a kind of leader of resistance.
Perhaps because of this, or maybe for other reasons, he was constantly transferred from camp to camp. At the beginning of 1945, when only a few weeks were left before the victory, he was a prisoner of the Mauthausen death camp.
Hero's death
The Nazis did not stand on ceremony with their victims. The outcome of the war was already obvious to many, no illusions left. Hitler's chain dogs sought to deal with those who were in their power.
On February 18, the Gestapo took their wards into the courtyard and began to pour ice-water from hoses. There was a severe frost - exhausted, hungry people were dying one by one: someone could not stand the heart, someone just froze. For trying to dodge, they awarded a blow to the head. Among the most persistent was General Karbyshev: even turning into an ice column, he found the strength to support his comrades.
This story is known thanks to the co-prisoner of the general, the Canadian officer Seddon de Saint-Clair. In 1946, while in a London hospital, he suddenly demanded a meeting with a representative of the Soviet mission on repatriation. This was the first news of Dmitry Mikhailovich: since 1941, he was listed among the missing.
After confirming the information received, the exploit of General Karbyshev in enemy captivity was highly appreciated by the Soviet leadership. Almost exactly five years after he was captured, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
Folk memory
Every year people come to Mauthausen to commemorate the 300 thousand people who were once tortured here. On the territory there is a monument to General Karbyshev: he calmly rises above the square, folding his hands on his chest. The figure of the hero only half protrudes from the stone - the monolith depicts an ice column, into which General Karbyshev turned before his death. The feat in poetry was sung by the famous Soviet poet Sergei Vasiliev. In 1975, he wrote the poem "Dignity", for which he received a state prize.
In Russia in recent years, people began to recall the heroic past more often. At all levels, the desire to know and be proud of their history is supported and encouraged. Numerous articles began to appear about Dmitry Mikhailovich. Many resources on the Internet publish the creations of their users, impressed by the courage of the officer. Although some poems about the exploit of General Karbyshev are naive and not always friendly with rhyme, they are written from the heart.