Alexei Nikolaevich Almazov was born on November 24, 1880 in a Tambov noble family. His father was an officer (college secretary). Contrary to this example, the son decided to devote his life to the army. He began to study in the Voronezh-Mikhailovsky Cadet Corps, then in 1902 he graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. All this time, the still not held General Almazov bore his real name Grishin.
Russian-Japanese war
The young officer did not fail with the moment he received the officer rank. In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began. Alexey Grishin was in service in Manchuria. The most serious in the Japanese campaign for him was the battle of Liaoyang (August 24 - September 3, 1904).
The Russian troops tried to release Port Arthur, but after their failure took up defensive positions. Near Liaoyang, they were attacked by the Japanese army. Alexei Grishin was among more than 100 thousand compatriots who stood in the way of the enemy. The bloody battle led to heavy losses on both sides, but the Russians eventually had to retreat.
On the fronts of the First World
After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the future White Guard general remained on the eastern borders of the country. For six years he served in the Amur Military District and supervised the training of a reconnaissance team, having studied in detail the Amur Region and the Ussuri Territory.
The First World War, which began in 1914, forced Grishin to leave his native places. At first, he provided communications in the 5th Siberian Army Corps and was an adjutant to the commander of this large unit. In April 1915, Grishin was promoted to captain. It's time to command the battery and artillery division. The officer participated in both defensive and offensive operations. He received many orders and awards, including the St. George Cross, which was presented to the captain after the request of his own soldiers.
1917th
To the revolution, Grishin-Almazov Alexey Nikolaevich was already a lieutenant colonel. During the existence of the Provisional Government, he maintained contacts with the Socialist Revolutionaries (although he was not a member of the party) and openly opposed the Bolsheviks. After the October Revolution, the officer was reminded of his position - he was expelled from the army.
The White Movement accepted the exiled Grishin into its ranks. At first he was in the Volunteer Army, until General Mikhail Alekseev sent him to Siberia to organize underground anti-Bolshevik activities. The officer ceased to present himself with his last name - now he has become known as Almazov.
Underground
In the spring of 1918, General Almazov came to the West Siberian Commissariat of the Provisional Government, where he stood at the head of the military headquarters. In a matter of weeks, the underground organized the work of many white cells in various cities from Kansk to Omsk. Together with Almazov, Siberia was traveled by the Social Revolutionary Pavel Mikhailov, who had previously been elected to the dispersed Constituent Assembly.
Officer organizations opposed to the Bolsheviks were in an isolated and helpless state. General Almazov established communication and cooperation between them. The most difficult part of this work was the search for a compromise political and military point of view: whom to support the underground members together, which body to submit to. Somewhere yielding, and somewhere offering, Almazov was able to rally sometimes cells opposite to each other. All this time the Bolsheviks hunted him, but no matter how much they tried to track down, they could not catch the underground. Whenever the commissars went on his trail, he slipped away from the KGB.
At the head of the Siberian army
In 1918, the entire White movement in Siberia was only waiting for a signal, when, with joint efforts, start an anti-Bolshevik demonstration? The impetus for him was the uprising of the Czechoslovak corps. Upon learning of his disobedience, General Grishin-Almazov ordered all underground organizations controlled by him to rebel against Soviet power. On May 28, 1918, the officer became the commander of the troops of the West Siberian Military District and expressed support for the whites. The offensive began in all directions.
In June, the Provisional Siberian Government was created, and the commander of the Siberian Army also became the Minister of War. Almazov turned out to be a wonderful organizer. He introduced strict discipline into the army, made it a powerful force, capable of not only repelling the attacks of the Red Army, but also independently going to the West.
Skillful organizer
By the summer of 1918, under the command of Almazov, there were already 60 thousand people. Together with the Czechoslovak units, the army completely cleared Siberia of the Bolsheviks. Now the whites were preparing to go to the Volga region, and from there go to Moscow.
Trying to further increase the size of his army, A.N. Grishin-Almazov abandoned his previous voluntary manning and began to recruit conscripts on draft, focusing on the peasant environment. Unlike the soldiers who fought on the fronts of the First World War, the villagers were not so much affected by Bolshevik propaganda. Time has shown that Almazov made the most correct decision of all possible. In the fall of 1918, the Siberian army increased by another 175 thousand people.
Resignation
From a political point of view, Almazov remained a monarchist and a supporter of solid centralized power. There are cases when, by his order, the anthem “God Save the Tsar!” Was performed in the army, although such initiatives were a bad manners. The government was mostly left-wing, while the general believed that the Social Revolutionary slogans about utopian democracy in the midst of a raging Civil War were simply not feasible. This view was strongly disliked by the ministers and Samara KOMUCH.
General Almazov was in that part of the White movement that did not like the intervention of foreign allies in the Civil War in Russia. He did not hesitate to argue with the British consul, demonstrating that he did not need the help of the British. Alexei Nikolaevich was very different from his government colleagues. His contradictions with other ministers led to the resignation of the general on September 5, 1918.
Wife of Alexei Almazov
Distrust of the Socialist Revolutionaries forced Almazov to leave Siberia and join the Anton Denikin Volunteer Army, operating in southern Russia. Leaving, the general left his wife Maria Alexandrovna (nee Zakharova) in Omsk. She became friends with Kolchak's beloved Anna Timireva and entered the inner circle of the Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Almazov's wife remained in Omsk until the evacuation of whites from the city. Maria Alexandrovna left east on the Kolchak train. In early 1920, she was arrested by the pro-Soviet Political Center in Irkutsk. Almazova ended up in prison and witnessed the last days of Kolchak's life. The girl was lucky - she was amnestied and was able to move to China, where she published her own memoirs. I did not see Almazov’s husband.
On South
In Yekaterinodar, where Denikin was, Alexey Almazov was sent to the Romanian city of Iasi. There was a conference with representatives of Entente countries and delegates of the White Movement. At this event, the general read out a large report on the situation in the Siberian region.
At the end of 1918, Alexei Nikolaevich became the military governor of Odessa. The period of his stay in the city is well known due to the many memoirs of his contemporaries, including the memoirs “Cursed Days” by Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin. Once again, the general managed to organize a new military force, which, on the one hand, opposed the Bolsheviks, and on the other, knocked out Ukrainian nationalists from the city.
Odessa military governor
Odessa Aleksey Almazov was remembered as a tough leader, instantly cracking down on any threat to his power. For this, both among the Bolsheviks and among whites, he was known as a dictator. He was called an adventurer and compared with the ambitious Napoleon. At the same time, Almazov himself in every possible way demonstrated his loyalty to the commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army Denikin.
A serious headache for the military governor was not only the Bolsheviks, but also criminals, who were especially numerous in port Odessa. The leader of Odessa criminals at that time was the famous raider Mishka Yaponchik. His confrontation with Almazov led to several unsuccessful attempts on the general. Struggling with criminals, the military governor did not hesitate to resort to reckless killings and real terror. The same fate befell the Bolsheviks, for whom Almazov became one of the most odious figures in the entire White movement.
Last mission
In Odessa, the figure of Almazov did not suit many. In March 1919, he was removed from his post and on the same day left the city. The French insisted on the removal of the uncontrolled general from power, who at that time actually held the city in their hands. Just a couple of weeks later, foreigners were hastily evacuated from Odessa, leaving it unarmed in front of the Red Army and Ukrainian rebels. Soon the city was captured by a small detachment of ataman Nikifor Grigoriev.
Meanwhile, General Almazov returned to the Volunteer Army. Anton Denikin sent him at the head of the delegation to Alexander Kolchak, who several months ago declared himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia. In the south, Almazov had an ambiguous reputation. Siberia, where the military was torn, was associated with the successes of the initial period of the Civil War. In addition, the general was eager to return to his wife.
The path of the detachment of 41 people ran through the Caspian Sea. White without incident sailed on the Leila steamer until their ship was intercepted near Fort Alexandrovsky (modern Fort Shevchenko, Kazakhstan). The small ship turned out to be one on one with the well-trained destroyer Karl Liebknecht, on board of which the superior army of Denikin prepared for the attack by the number of Red Army men.
Alexei Almazov, realizing the hopelessness of his situation and not wanting to be captured by the enemy, shot himself from his own revolver. Thus ended the life of one of the most prominent military leaders of the White movement. In the Soviet Union, Diamonds became a vivid example of a brutal tyrant general and a negative character in many works of art.