Where General Karbyshev died. General Karbyshev carved tombstones for SS soldiers in a concentration camp
70 years ago - February 18, 1945 - in Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen killed Lieutenant General of the Red Army Dmitry Karbyshev, who became an example of unbending courage and loyalty to the Motherland
In the 20th century, the fighters and commanders of the Great Patriotic War joined the pantheon of heroes who dedicated their lives to serving Russia, who honestly fulfilled their duty in the conditions of the most terrible war, following the idea of the military oath of Peter the Great - "to faithfully and unhypocritically serve, not sparing his stomach, to the last drops of blood. One of the most worthy places in this pantheon was taken by Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev (1880–1945).
Sly Deheroization
The story of General Karbyshev is one of the most tragic and truthful in history. Soviet time and a truly heroic page of the centuries-old military service to the Fatherland.
Heroism is necessary for any person, any society. But let's remember one of the main motives for the ideological turn of the 1990s - total deheroization. They tried to accustom us to a crafty thought: “Feats are meaningless, there is no duty to the Motherland, you need to take care of yourself, because only human life itself, your life, is sacred.” Heroic deeds are in vain, the main thing is to follow your own benefit, and this is the invincible logic of the world order, understood as a market. According to traditional concepts - a self-study program. But she had respectable lawyers.
“Take at least the same banner. Of course, it's a relic. And maybe even very valuable. But when it comes to choosing whether the banner or one human life will perish, one must still remember that the banner, whatever it may be, even if it is pierced by bullets and fanned by the glory of past battles, it is still only a piece of matter put on a stick . And sacrificing your life for him is just stupid. Because, no matter how sacred these or those relics, there is nothing in the world more sacred than human life., - the writer Vladimir Voinovich reasoned in those years.
The building of the Omsk Cadet Corps (until 1907 - Siberian), where Dmitry Karbyshev studied
The epigones of these attitudes went further, many wanted to flood the temple of folk heroics with slop. It turns out that there is no place in the world for a feat and to give one's life for one's friends is not a matter of honor, but stupidity and fanaticism. How many forces were thrown into the fight against the relics of the Great Patriotic War! It was then that articles began to appear in which the images of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and Alexander Matrosov were belittled, and along with Valery Chkalov, Yuri Gagarin and many others ...
They explained to us that the war was won by penal battalions, the way back to which was cut off by detachments. However, the main role in victory, at the same time, it was assigned to the allies - representatives of the civilized world, the Americans and the British. Here they have the right to proclaim their heroes, and our destiny is repentance and self-flagellation.
They also tried to debunk the feat of Dmitry Karbyshev. Say, Stalin needed the image of a Soviet general unbroken in captivity - and then helpful propagandists began to compose "the myth of the victim of Mauthausen." But the exposure of the "myth about Karbyshev" even in the context of those ideological attitudes turned out to be short, unconvincing.
He was born in Omsk into a noble family of Cossack origin. It was a military, officer dynasty. The Karbyshevs had their own house on Polkova Street. His father died when the future general was 12 years old. In the care of the mother of Alexandra Efimovna (nee Luzgina), six children remained.
His older brother, Vladimir Karbyshev, joined the student revolutionary movement and was expelled from Kazan University in 1887 along with Vladimir Ulyanov, the future Lenin. Vladimir Karbyshev was arrested, exiled, and the whole family was under police surveillance. Dmitry Karbyshev, as a representative of a politically unreliable family, was not accepted into the Siberian Cadet Corps for training at public expense. But the Karbyshevs, although they were not rich, found funds - and the youngest son became a cadet.
Dmitry Karbyshev during the First World War. Provided by M.Zolotarev
He studied brilliantly, was considered the best mathematician corps, and no one was surprised when Dmitry Karbyshev entered the Nikolaev Engineering School, which was located in St. Petersburg, in the Mikhailovsky Castle, which received a second name in honor of the school - Engineering. The military service of the young engineer began in Manchuria, in the 1st East Siberian sapper battalion. Dmitry Karbyshev commanded the cable department of the sapper company. In the rank of lieutenant, he entered the Russo-Japanese War. Participated in the sad battle for Russia near Mukden. He showed himself as a competent and efficient officer, was wounded, awarded as many as five orders, including St. Stanislav II degree.
And yet Karbyshev, silent, restrained and disciplined, confirmed the reputation of being politically unreliable. He was accused of socialist agitation among the soldiers and dismissed from the army after an officer's court of honor. For some time he worked in Vladivostok in a modest civilian position as a draftsman. But the army needed experienced officers, and the order bearer was returned to service. Dmitry Karbyshev plunged into the construction of fortifications in the Far East - and was already thinking about the academy, in which he ended up in the fall of 1908.
ON THE WESTERN FRONTIERS
Again Petersburg, again the Engineering Castle. Karbyshev won the position of the best student of the Nikolaev Engineering Academy. So, for the project of the fortress and fort he received the prize named after General Roman Kondratenko, the hero of the defense of Port Arthur, in the amount of no less than 276 rubles. He graduated from the Academy with honors and with the rank of captain was sent to Brest-Litovsk - a work producer with a salary of 250 rubles. Another 50 rubles a month were issued "for travel." Engineers were highly valued: in combat units, colonels and battalion commanders received about the same amount. Together with him, his wife, Alisa Karlovna, also settled in Brest. Dmitry Mikhailovich himself chose this city: he, as the best graduate, was given such a right. When asked why he was going there, he replied: “Brest-Litovsk will still worthily serve the Motherland. You'll see."
Colonel-engineer Vladimir Dogadin left memories of the Brest period of Dmitry Karbyshev, about the atmosphere in his house: “There was an opinion that the Germans were excellent craftsmen to cook deliciously. If this is so, then Alisa Karlovna Karbysheva served as a vivid confirmation of this opinion. There were only four of us with the owners. However, the table prepared for dinner was not only beautifully served, but the dishes served were distinguished by their sophistication and originality. We were particularly impressed by the variety of appetizers served with various vodkas before dinner. The hosts were cordial and friendly, Dmitry Mikhailovich, as usual, talkative, playful and witty. But the future legendary general had few friends: he preferred communication in a narrow circle of selected friends.
The first family story of Karbyshev ended tragically: Alisa Karlovna committed suicide, apparently due to an attack of unreasonable jealousy. “The loss of his wife greatly shocked Dmitry Mikhailovich. Even now I clearly imagine him, as he, leaning his left hand on the edge of the coffin and leaning his head on it, stood in a frozen pose, not taking his eyes off the face of the deceased. I did not have the courage to interrupt his thoughts with banal phrases of consolation, and I quietly left. After the funeral of his wife, Dmitry Mikhailovich closed himself even more, did not show himself anywhere, and the attempts of some women to distract him were unsuccessful, ”recalled Vladimir Dogadin.
Member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front Sergei Gusev, commander of the Southern Front Mikhail Frunze and Dmitry Karbyshev (sitting from left to right) among the Red Guards on a captured Sphinx tank captured from the Wrangelites. Autumn 1920. Provided by M.Zolotarev
From the forts of Brest, Dmitry Karbyshev headed to the fronts of the First World War. He spent almost the entire war in the 8th - Brusilov - Army. A lot of tactical novelties were used by the administrative divisional, and then the corps engineer. So, in June 1915, in the 8th Army, it was decided to abandon the creation of a continuous line of trenches: separate centers of defense were arranged, which had a close fire connection with each other. The gaps were blocked by portable artificial obstacles. For the capture of Przemysl, the hero was awarded the Anninsky Cross of the II degree and promoted to lieutenant colonel. Karbyshev was then wounded in the leg, but, fortunately, the wound was not severe. Karbyshev sappers provided the famous Brusilov breakthrough operation. At the beginning of 1917, the lieutenant colonel led the work to strengthen positions on the Romanian border. And then…
WITH BELIEF IN THE NEW STORY
Sometimes, by analogy with other tsarist officers who became commanders of the Red Army, Dmitry Karbyshev is credited with the "Smenovekhov" ideology. It's about about the collection "Change of milestones", which was published in Prague in 1921. He gave such an installation: you need to cooperate with Soviet Russia because the Bolsheviks were forced to be reborn and began to act in the national interests, in the interests of the motherland. But Karbyshev's position was definitely "to the left" and grew out of his youthful passion for Chernyshevsky, from conversations with his older brother.
He sympathized with the Bolsheviks long before October, although he did not trust them recklessly. In the elections to the Constituent Assembly, the army voted for the Bolsheviks - and it's not just the promises of agitators. Karbyshev himself believed that the future belongs to socialist construction. He saw the costs of the revolution: the destruction of the army, the system of government, worldview foundations, but, in his opinion, all these areas have long been shaken by a dangerous crisis.
The Russian officers then were by no means monolithic monarchist. Many turned into staunch monarchists after the Civil War, in exile, on the wave of nostalgia. Many, even before the war, quite consciously went over to the side new government. Including Karbyshev's teacher, sixty-year-old Lieutenant-General Konstantin Ivanovich Velichko, the largest military engineer of that time, an unusually attractive figure. Both February and October revolution he accepted immediately. Every time he was involved in the restructuring of the army under the requirements of the new government. And the main thing in this position is not conformism, but many years of dissatisfaction with the tsarist system. A certain part of the officers was internally ready even for radical changes in the Bolshevik spirit.
The army confusion of 1917 horrified many, but not Dmitry Karbyshev. He saw in this chaos the sprouts of future power. Perhaps he was inspired by the history of the French Revolution, which gave birth to the best army of its era. Lieutenant Colonel Karbyshev was inspired by the October storm. It was probably the most troubled autumn in the history of Russia, especially for officers. The Bolsheviks themselves did not yet count on a long-term one-party dictatorship, they were looking for allies, although they were not at all going to give up the initiative.
Some tsarist officers ended up in the Red Army voluntarily, saving the lives of relatives and friends. Others went over to the side of the strongest for career reasons. Still others saw the Bolsheviks as the lesser of evils - compared to the Socialist-Revolutionaries or anarchy. Dmitry Karbyshev was one of those relatively few "former" who believed in the construction of a new world.
RED MILITARY ENGINEER
The sappers elected him chairman of the revolutionary company meeting. Shortly before the new year, 1918, they adopted the following resolution:
"one. We salute Soviet power and support it with all the means at our disposal.
2. We welcome the front-line Executive Committee of the Left factions and demand that all power be taken into our own hands on the Romanian front.
3. We brand traitors to the revolution, especially now, when a civil war is going on in Russia and the cause of peace, which we have been waiting for so long, can be frustrated.
4. We demand that the front-line Executive Committee immediately order the arrest of General Shcherbachev, the commander of the army, as a counter-revolutionary element who refused to submit to Soviet power.
5. We demand the immediate withdrawal of all Russian troops from the Romanian front with all the weapons they have.
6. We demand the demobilization of soldiers and their dismissal with weapons in their hands.
7. We demand from the front-line Executive Committee to abolish any forcible allocation of national combat units.
Long live Soviet power!
Long live the earth and freedom!
Long live Peace!
Long live socialism! Chairman of the company meeting Karbyshev.
Secretary Barukhov.
The commander of the Romanian Front, General Dmitry Shcherbachev, did not accept the verdict of the revolutionary army body. He sent punitive detachments against the rebellious units. The Revolutionary Committee of the 8th Army instructed Karbyshev to build fortifications around Mogilev-Podolsky. To fight Shcherbachev, Red Guard detachments were formed - the prototype of the future Soviet armed forces. Dmitry Karbyshev was appointed squad engineer. All this happened back in 1917 and at the beginning of 1918, before the birth of the regular Red Army, before the advent of military experts ...
Plan of the fortifications of Brest-Litovsk. XIX century. Provided by M.Zolotarev
When a full-scale civil war unfolded, Karbyshev proved himself to be one of the largest military engineers in the Red Army. During the offensive of Kolchak's army, he created a "fan" of fortified positions in the Samara, Krasnoyarsk and Tomilovsky sectors. The local peasants were reluctant to work on the fortifications, and then Karbyshev proposed to the army command to form workers' squads in the deep rear on a common basis with the Red Army units. Frunze trusted him like no other engineer. In the summer of 1920, he called Karbyshev to Kharkov - and Dmitry Mikhailovich led the engineering support of the latter major operations wars, Perekop and Chongar.
Commissar Yevgeny Reshin then served with Karbyshev. He was struck by the enthusiasm with which the former tsarist lieutenant colonel was engaged in fortification, digging trenches. The engineer explained with a smile: “You know that my surname is Karbyshev. According to family legends, my distant ancestors were Tatars. And in Tatar, “karabysh” is a black field mouse-gopher. It was from the gopher, I believe, that the fortification trench itch was transmitted to me. And at the same time - love for the earth.
The civil war is behind us. The spirit of victory reigned among the commanders: "We defeated the chieftains, dispersed all the masters." But the country did not have a modern powerful army, it had to be created. And Dmitry Karbyshev began to teach in the main military educational institutions country.
He accepted the proposal of Mikhail Frunze and became the chairman of the military-technical committee of the Main Military-Technical Directorate of the Red Army, and after some time also the main head of the training of all military academies in military engineering. The people's commissar did not need to "pump up" Karbyshev, to explain the tasks: Dmitry Mikhailovich understood well that the army would have to be rebuilt almost from scratch, in conditions of a minimal military budget.
Plus, immediately after the Civil War, the first notable scientific publications of a military theoretical engineer appeared in the journal Army and Revolution.
WALKING ENCYCLOPEDIA
He was a born teacher and a painstaking researcher. He behaved with his students without arrogance - as with colleagues in scientific research. Many years later, the famous marshals recalled with delight how Dmitry Mikhailovich in the classroom sometimes turned himself into tutorial. He attached plates with numbers to his hands, Budyonovka, tunic and spread his arms, depicting a diagram of the time standards that are allotted for digging trenches. The laconic, thin general at lectures turned into a gambling boy.
Entrance gate of the Brest-Litovsk fortress. Beginning of the XX century. Provided by M.Zolotarev
His authority in the Red Army was not questioned. Karbyshev was highly valued both as a theoretician and as a practitioner. “Highly educated commander and specialist in his field. Great worker. Rich erudition on all issues of military affairs, great knowledge in the operational-tactical field make Comrade Karbyshev not only a specialist engineer, but a combined arms officer and general staff officer, ”said his 1937 certification of the year. At the same time, the capital work of Karbyshev was published - “Engineering support for the defense of the SD [ rifle division]". In 1938 and 1940 he received his first Soviet orders- Red Star and Red Banner.
Dmitry Karbyshev did not like to rant on political topics at all. He kept his convictions to himself, and they manifested themselves in deeds, not in words ... He was accepted into the party in 1940. In those years, this was a responsible step: in the event of war, the Communists did not have the right to fluctuate and alternate airfields. The Soviet generals in the late 1930s noticeably rejuvenated, and Karbyshev just turned 60. But he did not feel like an old man and prepared thoroughly for a new war. The Second World War had already begun when the military publishing house published his main work - "Engineering support for the combat operations of rifle formations" in two parts. He hoped that the book would help the commanders of the Red Army in a future war.
GERMAN CAPTURE
The Great Patriotic War found him in Grodno, at the headquarters of the 3rd Army. Karbyshev hardly knew that the Brest Fortress, which he rebuilt twice, was heroically resisting the enemy. With pain, the general saw and analyzed the failures of the first days of the war. With the headquarters of the 10th Army at the end of June, he was surrounded.
On August 8, Dmitry Karbyshev was preparing a crossing across the Dnieper north of the city Mogilev. Together with a sapper company, he reached the opposite shore. There the soldiers were met by fire. The explosion of an air bomb - and the general is seriously shell-shocked. Karbyshev, covered with earth, was dug up, saved, but consciousness did not return to him. Dmitry Mikhailovich woke up in a German hospital.
The Nazis seemed to know in detail the biography of the Soviet general. By origin, a nobleman, with Cossack roots, from the royal military elite. Moreover, he knows very well German, German culture. They also counted on the physical weakness of an elderly person. In general, there is something to cling to. The Germans saw Karbyshev as the "prima donna" of their propaganda campaign: look, Red Army soldiers, your general is working for the Third Reich! But the essence of the Karbyshev character was not reflected in the biographical information.
THREE AND A HALF YEARS Karbyshev spent in an unequal duel with the enemy - without a break, without a weapon
There were no number of military engineers of this class in the world, but the Nazis were not interested in Karbyshev as a specialist - they wanted to turn him into a banner of struggle against the USSR. Of course, the captured general understood what role he was assigned. In 1943, Colonel Pelit, who spoke fluent Russian and even served with the future Soviet general in Brest-Litovsk, became his constant interlocutor, while still in the tsarist army. He was specially called Eastern Front to "work" with Karbyshev. Pelit became commandant of the Hammelburg camp. He offered the general, it would seem, decent options for cooperation: no public speaking, no need to serve Greater Germany. You will simply write a book about the history of the Second or First World War, about the Red Army, and then you will be allowed to settle in a neutral country. You will have access to the best Berlin libraries and archives. Warm apartment, food, treatment. And no betrayal.
But Dmitry Karbyshev, it’s true, knew the Russian proverb “The claw is bogged down - the whole bird is abyss.” As far as possible, he dissuaded other Soviet prisoners from cooperating with the Germans. Even on the "military-historical field." The general answered uncompromisingly: “My convictions do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and I remain true to my duty. And he forbids me to work for the country that is at war with my Motherland.”
Then in Berlin, soft processing methods were discarded. Karbyshev was placed in solitary confinement with a round-the-clock bright electric light. They brought him salty food, did not let him drink. The torture continued for weeks. And an old acquaintance again acted as a tempter - a colleague, Professor Heinz Raubenheimer, a famous German military engineer. The emaciated general answered the offer of cooperation without hesitation: "No."
RULES OF CONDUCT FOR SOVIET FIGHTERS AND COMMANDERS IN THE FASCIST CAPTIVITY OF GENERAL D.M. KARBYSHEV (recorded from the words of former prisoners of concentration camps T.B. Kublitsky, A.P. Esin,
P.P. Koshkarova and Yu.P. Demyanenko)1. Organization and cohesion in any conditions of captivity.
2. Mutual assistance. First of all, help the sick and wounded comrades.
3. Do not humiliate your dignity in the face of the enemy in any way.
4. Hold high the honor of a Soviet soldier.
5. Force the Nazis to respect the unity and cohesion of prisoners of war.
6. Fight the Nazis, traitors and traitors to the Motherland.
7. Create patriotic groups of prisoners of war for sabotage and sabotage
behind enemy lines.
8. At the first opportunity to escape from captivity.
9. Remain true to the military oath and to your homeland.
10. Break the myth about the invincibility of the Nazi troops and instill confidence in our victory in prisoners of war.
IMMORTAL FEAT
In the camps, Dmitry Karbyshev did not give up. Rumors spread his commandments of behavior in captivity: to hold high the honor of a soldier of the Red Army, to be faithful to the military oath to the end; wage a selfless struggle against the fascists and their accomplices - traitors to the Motherland and destroy them at the first opportunity ... Of course, we had to talk about this with the greatest vigilance.
For three and a half years, Karbyshev passed through many death camps. He was either tempted by persuasion, or thrown into hard physical work. He was often very ill, hunched over, but did not despair: he believed in victory, believed in the Motherland. He was transferred to Mauthausen (Austria) when the Red Army was already rushing towards Berlin...
“Karbyshev cannot be used to work on our side due to his fanatical infection with the spirit of Bolshevism” - such was the final verdict of the masters of pressure and provocation. “Transfer to Mauthausen. Apply the most stringent measures, regardless of old age or rank, ”is an order from Berlin.
Karbyshev spent three and a half years in an unequal duel with the enemy - without a break, without a weapon. From the very beginning, he understood that he could become a victim of German slander. The Germans were quite capable of presenting the behavior of the general in such a light that in his homeland he would be considered a traitor. Perhaps this would have happened, but, fortunately, there were eyewitnesses of his feat. And first of all, you need to name the Canadian Major Seddon de St. Clair.
It was in London, in a military hospital. On February 13, 1946, St. Clair unexpectedly invited the Soviet representative for repatriation, Major Sorokopud, to his place. The patient was in a hurry, worried: the noble officer was afraid to die, not having time to glorify the good name of a man who was an example of stamina for him.
“I don’t have long to live, and I’m worried about the idea that the facts known to me of the heroic death of a Soviet general, the noble memory of which should live in the hearts of people, do not go to the grave with me. I'm talking about Lieutenant General Karbyshev, with whom I had to visit German camps. In January 1945, among the 1000 prisoners from the Heinkel plant, I was sent to the Mauthausen extermination camp, this team included General Karbyshev and several other Soviet officers. Upon arrival at Mauthausen, we spent the whole day in the cold. In the evening, a cold shower was arranged for all 1000 people, and after that, in the same shirts and stocks, they all lined up on the parade ground and held until 6 o'clock in the morning. Of the 1,000 people who arrived in Mauthausen, 480 died. General Dmitry Karbyshev also died, ”said Seddon de St. Clair.
The verification of these testimonies was quick, the information received confirmed the heroism of the lieutenant general, his loyalty to the Motherland - and a few months later Stalin signed an order to award Dmitry Karbyshev the title of Hero Soviet Union"for the exceptional stamina and courage shown in the fight against the German invaders in the Great Patriotic War."
The monument to the Soviet general in Mauthausen was erected in the spring of 1963. Sculptor Vladimir Tsigal took a block of Ural marble and created the image of an inflexible, unbroken hero. This symbol can no longer be erased from our history: the officer turned into an ice pillar, but did not submit to the enemy.
Then in Mauthausen, under the pressure of water, under the blows of guards in the cold, hundreds of people died, and none of them renounced their homeland. Not everyone had enough orders. But in the pantheon of heroes, they are all represented by General Dmitry Karbyshev - and rightly so. The Germans fought for his soul for more than three years, using the most sophisticated means, but they could not win ...
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Victory, the film directed by Yuri Chulyukin "The Motherland of Soldiers" was released on Soviet screens. "Don't you understand that I will never, under any circumstances, cooperate with you?" - the general threw in the face of the Nazis. For more than 30 years, this film was not shown on television.
The reason is clear: since the end of the 80s of the last century, the name of Dmitry Karbyshev has not been heard anywhere. Another general of the Red Army, Andrei Vlasov, was heard. The obvious antipode of Karbyshev, the creator of the ROA - Russian liberation army who fought on the side of the Nazis, the banner of domestic collaborationism. In the interpretation of a number of authors, Vlasov began to look almost like a "hero of resistance" to the Stalinist dictatorship. Although he was just an ordinary traitor ...
General Karbyshev- Russian and Soviet fortifier, scientist-engineer, lieutenant general of the engineering troops, doctor of military sciences and professor of the Military Academy General Staff Red Army.
Dmitry Karbyshev in his youth As a result, Vladimir died in prison, and his family members lost all privileges and were under constant control by the authorities. It was one of the most difficult periods in the biography of General Karbyshev.
Later, Dmitry decides to connect his life with military affairs, as a result of which he enters the Siberian Cadet Corps. Knowing full well that his mother gave all her savings to pay for education, the guy struggled to get high marks in all disciplines.
After that, Karbyshev successfully passed the exams at the Nikolaev Military Engineering School. He showed himself to be a capable and hardworking student, and by the time he received his diploma he was one of the best students.
Military service
In 1900, Karbyshev received a referral to Far East, where he worked as the head of the telephone company in the sapper battalion. Soon the Russian-Japanese war began, in which he proved himself to be a talented strategist and tactician. During his service, he was awarded 5 orders and was promoted to lieutenant.
Later, Dmitry Karbyshev was fired into the reserve for promoting the ideas of the Bolsheviks. An interesting fact is that on charges of agitation among the soldiers, he could be sentenced to death, but due to his services to the Fatherland and the courage that he always showed in battles, he was not executed.
After his dismissal, Karbyshev worked for some time as a draftsman. However, later he was again called up for service, because his engineering talent was appreciated. As a result, the lieutenant was engaged in the design and creation of military fortifications. An interesting fact is that it was he who supervised the construction work. Brest Fortress.
In 1914, Dmitry Mikhailovich became a lieutenant colonel. During the First World War (1914-1918) he fought in the Carpathians, and also participated in the siege of the Przemysl fortress. In addition, the officer was a member of the legendary Brusilovsky breakthrough.
In 1918 Karbyshev joined the Red Army. He is an active fighter with the white movement. The future general did not forgive the White Guards for the fact that his older brother died at their hands.
During the Civil War, Dmitry Karbyshev continued to develop and build forts and other defensive structures.
Soon he was entrusted to lead the engineers of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front. At the end of the war, the general was engaged in teaching at the Frunze Military Academy.
During this period of biography, many articles on military topics were published from the pen of Karbyshev. An interesting fact is that the future General Karbyshev was one of the most prominent experts in the field of military engineering, not only in, but also in the world. He would later receive a "Doctor of Military Science" degree.
The feat of General Karbyshev
In 1940, in the biography of Karbyshev, significant event: he was given the rank of general, and a year later they were given the lieutenant general. At the beginning (1941-1945) he was captured by the Nazis.
An interesting fact is that the name of the famous engineer was on the list of people whom the Germans wanted to win over to their side.
When the Nazis began to try to recruit Karbyshev, he immediately made it clear that he would not cooperate with the enemy under any circumstances. To break him, the Nazis used a variety of methods, ranging from physical impact to the provision of various privileges and benefits.
Dmitry Karbyshev during interrogation When all the efforts of recruiters did not bring the desired result, they decided to change tactics. The Germans put a double agent, Colonel Pelit, whom he knew well even before the start of the war, in a cell with the general. But no matter how hard Pelit tried to convince Karbyshev to take the side of the Nazis, he failed to do this.
After that, the leadership of the Third Reich put the general in a punishment cell, where he spent 3 weeks. However, as before, Karbyshev refused to betray his homeland and work for the enemy. Then he was again offered money and his own laboratory, but everything was to no avail.
An interesting fact is that the Nazis wrote in their archives:
“... This largest Soviet fortifier, a career officer of the old Russian army, a man who is over sixty years old, turned out to be fanatically devoted to the idea of fidelity to military duty and patriotism ... Karbyshev can be considered hopeless in the sense of using us as a specialist in military engineering.”
The Nazi verdict in 1943, after two years of persuasion, was:
"Send to the Flossenburg concentration camp for hard labor, no discounts on rank and age."
General Karbyshev was in captivity until 1945. During this time, he visited 11 concentration camps, where he watched with his own eyes all the horrors of the fascist ideology. In the infamous Auschwitz, the general made tombstones.
However, even in such difficult conditions, Karbyshev found reasons for joy. He reasoned as follows: the more monuments are made for the Germans, the more successful are his compatriots at the front.
Doom
On the night of February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen concentration camp, among about five hundred other prisoners, General Karbyshev, after brutal torture, was doused with water in the cold (−12 ° C) and killed. His body was burned in the ovens of Mauthausen.
Personal life
With his first wife, Alisa Troyanovich, Karbyshev met in where he served. Interestingly, at the time of their acquaintance, the girl was legally married. However, Alice fell in love with the young officer so much that she decided to leave her husband and stay with Dmitry.
The woman tried to accompany her husband everywhere, and when she could not do this, she kept regular correspondence with him. Troyanovich often made scandals on the basis of jealousy.
In 1913, after another family quarrel caused by jealousy, Troyanovich committed suicide. She shot herself with a Karbyshev revolver. Some biographers believe that the death was accidental, and in fact Alice did not plan suicide.
Later, General Karbyshev married Lydia Opatskaya, who worked as a nurse. The girl was 12 years younger than her husband.
Dmitry Karbyshev with children Their first meeting was very interesting. When a man was wounded in the leg during the battle, Lydia carried him on her shoulders and thereby saved Karbyshev from possible death.
In this marriage, they had a boy Alexei and 2 girls - Elena and Tatyana. Their family union lasted 29 years, until the tragic death of General Karbyshev.
Dmitry Karbyshev with his daughter Elena Now you know what is remarkable about the biography of General Karbyshev, and why his feat is one of the symbols of unparalleled courage and courage.
Photo of General Karbyshev
Monument to Dmitry Karbyshev 
Monument to Karbyshev in Tolyatti 
Monument to D. M. Karbyshev in Moscow, General Karbyshev Boulevard If you liked the biography of General Karbyshev, share it in in social networks. If you like the biographies of great people in general, and interesting stories from their life in particular - subscribe to the site.
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On February 18, 1945, General Dmitry Karbyshev died in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria - one of the most famous heroes Great Patriotic War. In the USSR, everyone knew how this man died, who became a symbol of unbending will and stamina: according to the canonical Soviet legend, the Germans poured cold water on a captured Soviet general in the cold until he turned into a block of ice. But was it really so?
In August 1941, Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was shell-shocked and captured in a battle near the Belarusian village of Dobreika. Karbyshev passed through a number of German concentration camps, the Mauthausen camp became his last refuge - there he died on the night of February 18, 1945. And now we come to the most legendary - the circumstances of the death of the general.
Monument to Karbyshev in Mauthausen
On August 16, 1946, on the basis of two testimonies submitted to the USSR Ministry of Defense, General Dmitry Karbyshev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). Here is what was said in these testimonies.
The message of the former prisoner of war Lieutenant Colonel Sorokin:
“On February 21, 1945, with a group of 12 captured officers, I arrived at the Mauthausen concentration camp. Upon arrival at the camp, I became aware that on February 17, a group of 400 people was separated from the total mass of prisoners, where Lieutenant General Karbyshev also ended up. These 400 people were stripped naked and left to stand in the street; those in poor health died, and they were immediately sent to the furnace of the camp crematorium, while the rest were driven with clubs into a cold shower. Until 12 o'clock in the morning this execution was repeated several times. At 12 o'clock in the morning, during another such execution, Comrade Karbyshev deviated from the pressure of cold water and was killed with a baton on the head. Karbyshev's body was burned in the camp's crematorium."
The second document is Message from Canadian Army Major Seddon de St. Clair to a representative of the Soviet Repatriation Committee:
« In January 1945, I was sent to the Mauthausen extermination camp among 1,000 prisoners from the Heinkel plant, this team included General Karbyshev and several other Soviet officers. Upon arrival at Mauthausen, we spent the whole day in the cold. In the evening, a cold shower was arranged for all 1,000 people, and after that, in the same shirts and stocks, they lined up on the parade ground and kept it until 6 o'clock in the morning. Of the 1,000 people who arrived at Mauthausen, 480 died. General Dmitry Karbyshev also died.
These testimonies, in general, adequately paint a picture of what happened. General Karbyshev either died of hypothermia after standing in the open air for many hours, or was killed by a blow to the head with a club. Let us note, by the way, that the testimony of a Canadian officer deserves more credibility. Lieutenant Colonel Sorokin was not in Mauthausen at the time of Karbyshev's death - he was brought there a few days later. He clearly retells the information about the death of the general from someone else’s words, so that the effect of a “broken phone” is possible here. St. Clair was a direct eyewitness to the events.
However, such an uninteresting death of a hero from hypothermia was not enough for Soviet agitprop. Therefore, the description of the death of the general quickly began to acquire picturesque details. Already in 1948, a book appeared under the title "Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev." The book contains the testimony of St. Clair, but the story of the Canadian officer, edited by Soviet journalists, was already significantly different from the original version. It was all the easier to carry out such editorial revisions because St. Clair was no longer alive by that time.
Here is how the redacted St. Clair now describes the death of Karbyshev:
“As soon as we entered the territory of the camp, the Germans herded us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and launched jets at us from above. ice water... Then we were ordered to put on only linen and wooden blocks and were driven out into the yard. General Karbyshev was standing in a group of Russian comrades not far from me ... At this time, the Gestapo, standing behind our backs with fire hoses in their hands, began to pour cold water on us. Those who tried to evade the jet were beaten with clubs on the head. Hundreds of people fell frozen or with crushed skulls. I saw how General Karbyshev also fell.
So, we are registering the appearance of the first component of a new myth: now it’s not just about a cold shower and standing in the cold, but about the “water cannons” with which the “Gestapo” pour water over the general and other prisoners. True, why the prisoners are watered from nowhere by the "Gestapo" (that is, the political police), and not the camp guards, remains incomprehensible. Apparently, it seemed better to the Soviet author.
The construction of the legend did not end there. In 1955, the main nail of the myth appeared in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper:
“On a frosty night from February 17 to February 18, 1945, half-naked Karbyshev was led out to the inner wall of the Mauthausen camp. Here he was poured with water from a fire hose until he turned into an ice statue.
Not only does the general now die not along with several hundred more prisoners, but in splendid isolation, but now he is also turning into an ice block. We must pay tribute to the journalist's imagination - the ending he invented turned out to be extremely effective. The image of a Soviet general freezing into the ice immediately became very widespread.
As usual in such cases, a large number of witnesses were immediately found who allegedly personally saw how the general turned into an ice floe. In the stories of some of them, details worthy of horror films appear:
According to the canonical version, General Karbyshev was turned into an ice statue with the help of hoses
“It was 12 degrees below zero. Crossing jets of ice hit from the hoses. Karbyshev was slowly covered with ice. “Cheer up, comrades, think about your homeland - and courage will not leave you,” he said before his death, referring to the prisoners of Mauthausen” (“In the dungeons of Mauthausen”, 1959).
By the way, to the question of frost. Yes, we found out that Karbyshev was not turned into an ice block. But could it be done in principle?
The Mauthausen camp was located on the territory of Austria - not the northernmost of the European countries. Temperature -12 degrees there is enough a rare thing. But what was the winter of 1945 like?
To this day, weather reports of those days have been preserved, fixing changes in the weather in the area of the Mauthausen camp. In the second half of February in Mauthausen it was relatively calm. In the morning the temperature fluctuated from -2 to +3 degrees; during the day from + 4 to + 10 degrees Celsius. Under such conditions, even a dead body cannot be turned into an ice floe, not to mention a living person.
Dossier. Dmitry Karbyshev (1880 - 1945) graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps, the St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School, the Nikolaev Military engineering academy.
During the Russo-Japanese War, he participated in the battle of Mukden. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant. During the First World War, he took part in the assault on the fortress of Przemysl), wounded in the leg. Promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1916 he was a member of the Brusilov breakthrough.
Since 1918 in the Red Army. During the Civil War, he was engaged in the construction of fortified areas. In 1920, he led the engineering support for the assault on Perekop. Since 1926 - a teacher at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. In 1929 he was appointed the author of the Molotov and Stalin Lines project.
During the Finnish War of 1939-1940, he developed recommendations for engineering support for breaking through the Mannerheim Line. In 1940, Karbyshev was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops. In 1941 he became a doctor of military sciences.
In early June 1941, Karbyshev was sent to the Western Special Military District. Since August 1941 he was listed as missing. Contained in concentration camps: Zamosc, Hammelburg, Flossenbürg, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen.
The poem “Dignity” by S. Vasiliev is dedicated to the feat of D. M. Karbyshev. In 1975, Mosfilm filmed Feature Film"Motherland of soldiers", telling about the life and exploits of D. M. Karbyshev
By the way. During the years of World War II, 83 Soviet generals were taken prisoner. Of these, 26 people died, the rest after the victory were deported to the USSR. Of these, 32 people were repressed. The remaining 25 were acquitted after a six-month check.
Denis Orlov
A combat officer and engineer, designer of the fortifications of the Brest Fortress, in fascist captivity, exceeded the norm for the manufacture of granite slabs for dead SS men.
"Gravedigger of fascism"
Hewing granite is not an easy task, especially when you are already well over sixty and your strength is running out. As if forgetting about age and fatigue, this man worked, cheering up his neighbors and reminding them at any time what this accursed stone was intended for. Granite dust settled in the lungs, tore them apart like sandpaper. But he did not let up, demonstrating desperate zeal. He made stone headstones.
In 1944, Germany's combat losses grew every day. Granite tombstones were already relied on only by senior officers of the Wehrmacht and SS officers, but more and more of them were needed. So, even in such a terrible way, he and his comrades in the Flossenbürg concentration camp contributed to the "funeral" of the German Nazi reptile. This person's name was Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, lieutenant general of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.
Builder of Brest
No matter how harsh the realities of war, generals are not often captured, and even more so generals of this level. Dmitry Mikhailovich became a legend even before the Great Patriotic War. Perhaps, all over the world, an officer of the engineering troops, engaged in field and long-term fortifications, who would not be familiar with the works of General Karbyshev. In Nazi Germany, his work was known and highly respected. Not without reason, long before the start of the war, a special case was opened against General Karbyshev in Berlin, which meant that if he was captured, the general should be treated with the highest respect and try with all his might to persuade him to cooperate.
When, in 1941, the seriously shell-shocked Lieutenant General Karbyshev was indeed taken prisoner in the battle near the Dnieper, the German command rejoiced, sincerely hoping to get the great fortifier into their service. There were grounds for such hopes. It seemed to them that Karbyshev was only a forced "fellow traveler" Soviet power. Why would a lieutenant colonel of the Russian imperial army seriously strive for the victory of the world proletariat?
Indeed, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev came from Siberian Cossacks, a hereditary nobleman, his father and grandfather were military men. And he himself did not see for himself any other way than military service for God, the king and the fatherland. True, even from a young age, from the time of studying in the cadet corps, Karbyshev was already considered unreliable. The reason for this was not the young cadet's own merits - his older brother Vladimir, a student at Kazan University, together with another Vladimir - Ulyanov, participated in the famous university unrest. But if the future leader of the revolution was only expelled for this and even later passed the exams as an external student, then Dmitry's older brother went to prison, where after a while he fell ill and died.
Dmitry graduated with honors from the Siberian Cadet Corps and entered the Nikolaev Engineering School. Then there was Russo-Japanese War, in which Lieutenant Karbyshev was awarded a number of military awards, in particular the Order of St. Vladimir with swords and a bow. However, already in 1906, the brave lieutenant was thrown out of the army on charges of agitation among the soldiers. At that time, such cases were resolved in the military field court quickly and unequivocally - execution. However, the officers' court of honor ruled otherwise, and Karbyshev was simply dismissed.
True, it did not last long - the very next year he was again reinstated in rank and sent as a company commander to the Vladivostok fortress sapper battalion. And two years later, a well-proven combat officer entered the Nikolaev military academy in St. Petersburg. At the end of it, the staff captain Karbyshev was sent to the city of Brest-Litovsky for the reconstruction and further strengthening of the famous Brest Fortress. Largely thanks to his labors, it acquired the power that allowed even the garrison, which had not had time to prepare, to hold the fortress against the enemy's many times superior forces. So, without any exaggeration, General Karbyshev can be considered the defender of the Brest Fortress.
Karbyshev accepted the revolution immediately and unconditionally. His service in the Red Army to a large extent corresponded to the way of thinking and views that had already developed over the years of his army career. Among his merits we can mention the capture of the fortifications of the Perekop shaft and the creation defensive fortified areas in battles both against Kolchak and against Wrangel. After the end of the Civil War, Karbyshev headed the military committee of the main engineering department of the Red Army, then taught at the Frunze Military Academy. He makes plans to break through the Finnish defenses - the Mannerheim Line, famous for its impregnability. He owns the idea and plan for fortified areas along western frontiers The USSR, which, if used correctly, could, if not stop, then delay the Nazis for a long time at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. However, political reasons prevailed over the military ones, the desire to fight on foreign territory with “little blood, an iron blow” led to a significant weakening of the unfinished and under-equipped fortified areas, which allowed the Germans to break them without much difficulty.
Just at this very time, in the first days of the war, Lieutenant General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was inspecting his offspring. The honored 60-year-old general was offered security and a plane to fly to Moscow, but he did not want to run away from the battlefield - it is not worth it for a Russian officer to evade fire! He retreated with battles to the very Dnieper, where a fatal misfortune happened.
old friends
But, as the entry in the personal card of the famous fortifier ordered, the attitude towards the prisoner was very respectful, he was given medical care and placed in comfortable conditions, as if he was not a prisoner, but a guest. It is him, not General Vlasov, saw the Nazis as a likely unifier of the anti-Soviet armed forces. To work with a valuable prisoner, a Wehrmacht colonel named Pelit, also a former tsarist officer, besides a colleague of Dmitry Mikhailovich in the Brest Fortress. Unable to get agreement on Karbyshev's transfer to the side of the Nazis, Pelit went from the other side: Karbyshev is engaged in scientific work, "research of the operations of the Red Army in this war", and for this he is subsequently allowed to travel to any other neutral country of his choice. The captured general again answered with a categorical refusal.
Lieutenant General To break the stubbornness of Dmitry Mikhailovich, he was thrown into a Berlin prison, which was distinguished by a very tough regime. And then they handed it over to another old acquaintance of the general - professor Heinz Raubenheimer. He made the last offer. German command: release from the camp, the creation of a research laboratory with an arbitrary number of assistants to carry out fortification development work. But this "friend" of Karbyshev returned with nothing. Karbyshev said: “My convictions do not fall out along with my teeth from a lack of vitamins in the camp diet. I am a soldier and I remain true to my duty, but he forbids me to work for a country that is at war with my homeland.
Unbroken prisoner
The German command set itself the task of suppressing, morally destroying the intractable fortifier. It was then that the builder of fortresses had to turn into a fortress himself. But the general could not be broken, at some point the Germans realized that the “drummer of labor”, steadily overfulfilling the plan, simply mocks their deaths, and even demonstrates a vivid example of stamina and good spirits. From that moment, Karbyshev's wanderings around the concentration camps began, which ended on February 18, 1945 in the Mauthausen death camp. Knowing about the approach of Soviet troops, the Nazis took the prisoners of war out into the cold and, having forced them to undress, began to pour cold water from the hoses. General Karbyshev, who was trying to evade the jet, was smashed in the head with a club. His death became known much later - from a fellow Canadian major who miraculously escaped in misfortune. De St. Clair. Then his testimony, given in the hospital to the Soviet military representative, was confirmed by several more eyewitness accounts.
Generals are not often captured; during the entire war, the Red Army lost a little more than eighty people in this way. Some of them died on the spot, some were tortured in the camps, some disgraced their name forever by agreeing to cooperate with the Nazis. 26 generals returned to their homeland after the war, some of them were reinstated in rank and soon quietly dismissed from the ranks of the armed forces. But only one was awarded the highest award of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, not for exploits on the battlefield, but precisely for actions in captivity - Lieutenant General, a man of unbroken will, Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev.
The biography of Dmitry Karbyshev is not typical for the Soviet military: he was a nobleman, a hereditary military man. This is a vivid example of a person who found himself in his place and made a brilliant career thanks to his own talent, determination, and exceptional fortitude.
Childhood and youth
A twelve-year-old boy whose feat was yet to come, was left without a father. Six children were raised by their mother alone. 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 quite young.
The youngest entered Siberian and had to pay for his studies, since family history did not favor privileges. Nevertheless, Karbyshev did not hesitate. He studied brilliantly and showed great talent for engineering. His entire future career is connected with military construction.
Start 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 man, which is most often written about in the relevant publications, would not have been possible without previous experience.
Karbyshev met the Russian-Japanese war with the rank of second lieutenant (received in 1903). During the hostilities, he did what he was supposed to do in his specialty: he built crossings, built fortifications, and provided communications. For his valor he was awarded and promoted: he finished 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: the officer talked with the soldiers on provocative topics.
Happy to serve...
I didn’t have a chance to be on free bread for long: the authorities quickly realized that there were a dime a dozen trustworthy people around, and the cat wept for specialists of Karbyshev’s level. A year later, Dmitry Mikhailovich returned to the service, and in 1908 he went to St. Petersburg, to conquer new heights: he entered the Engineering Academy, which he graduated with flying colors three years later.
In 1911, Karbyshev, already in the position of staff captain, went to Brest-Litovsk. The famous fortress, which so desperately resisted the Nazis in the 41st year, was built with his direct participation.
Soon the war began. I must say that the lot of Dmitry Mikhailovich fell in abundance: the Russian-Japanese, and the Soviet-Finnish, and both world wars. Practically in each of them, the future General Karbyshev took part from the very beginning. The feat that he subsequently accomplished was not the first and not the only one. During the Przemysl operation, he was awarded the order and promoted to colonel.
When the revolution took place in Russia, Karbyshev's reaction was quite predictable. Already in December 1917, without any doubt in his own choice, he enrolled in the Red Guard, participated in the Red Army civil war. His undoubted abilities found application: Karbyshev participated in the creation of many defense facilities.
In 1920, he already served as deputy chief of engineers of the Southern Front, and in 1923 - chief of engineers of the Ukrainian and Crimean Armed Forces.
Science is also attractive to talented person: for many years Karbyshev taught at the Military Academy. Frunze, wrote more than a hundred special scientific papers on bridges, etc.
The day before, he received the rank of lieutenant general (1940). In the same year he joined the party. Still, the country of the Soviets was sometimes a paradoxical state: on the one hand, many members of the CPSU perished in Stalin's camps, including brilliant military men, 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 caught the already elderly (Dmitry Mikhailovich was born in 1880) general on the western border: he participated in the construction of fortifications. They did not manage to evacuate him: the first onslaught of the Germans stunned the Soviet army. The crumpled Red Army rapidly retreated, leaving behind thousands of dead and wounded. Many Soviet soldiers and officers were captured. Among them was General Karbyshev. The feat of the unbending Russian officer began in early August 1941 and lasted almost four years.
The Germans were well aware of the rank of the specialist they got. They really counted on his knowledge, experience and talent. There is evidence that they were going to recruit him into the service of the Wehrmacht after the victory, but here such luck! But the Nazis were in for a very unpleasant surprise: the feat of General Karbyshev may not have been spectacular, but he showed an impressive example of courage, fortitude and patriotism. He consistently refused to cooperate, a lot of effort and patience was spent on him, and in the end this decided his fate.
Gingerbread Torture
At first, Karbyshev ended up in a concentration camp of the usual regime, where he drank in full. But in 1942 he was transferred to the Hammelburg concentration camp. The conditions in it were the most privileged: the feat of General Karbyshev demanded from him not only patience, but also resistance to temptations. Many of those who survived the horrors of the usual Nazi "sanatoriums" broke down here, not wanting to return to what they experienced.
Colonel Pelit was responsible for Karbyshev's "appeal to the truth" - the Nazis counted on him very much, because once he and Dmitry Mikhailovich worked together. The German officer diligently processed the red general, describing to 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 makes him respect him, categorically refused to cooperate, and even more: he was confident in the victory of Soviet weapons. He generously shared this conviction with those around him, inspiring them with completely unnecessary, according to the Nazis, optimism.
The decision to take up the whip
It was decided to stop using the carrot and take up the whip - and General Karbyshev appeared in a solitary cell in a Berlin prison. A feat, which cannot be briefly described, demanded from the Russian engineer reinforced concrete self-righteousness.
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 prominent specialist in the field of fortification. Of course they knew each other. Karbyshev treated the work of the German with great respect.
The obstinate general was made the last offer, the generosity of which could not but impress. Karbyshev was offered to leave the camps and prisons in exchange for generous maintenance and the opportunity to do what he loved. Under the terms of the agreement, he was to organize a scientific laboratory for design testing. The state could recruit what it needed, it received the widest funding. The best minds and libraries of the Third Reich could be at his service.
The military engineer could not but understand that the next proposal would not follow. Nevertheless, his answer was short: putting his military honor above life itself, he refused enemy generosity, setting an example of real heroism. The feat of General Karbyshev can be briefly described by his own phrase: "I am a soldier and remain true to my duty."
The jokes are over
The Nazis immediately put an end to their dreams of cooperation, and Karbyshev found himself in Flossenbürg. The work was very hard, but, according to the testimonies of fellow camp members, the general did not indulge in despondency even here. Confidence in the coming victory did not diminish at all. He inspired this faith in others, being a kind of leader of the resistance.
Perhaps because of this, or perhaps for other reasons, he was constantly transferred from camp to camp. At the beginning of 1945, when only a few weeks remained 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. For many, the outcome of the war was already obvious; there were no illusions left. Hitler's watchdogs sought to deal with those who were in their power.
On February 18, the Gestapo took their wards out into the yard and began to pour ice-cold water from hoses. There was a severe frost - exhausted, hungry people died one after another: someone's heart could not stand it, someone simply froze. For an attempt to dodge, they were awarded a blow to the head. Among the most persistent was General Karbyshev: even turning into an ice pillar, he found the strength to support his comrades.
This story is known thanks to the general's co-camp, Canadian officer Seddon de St. Clair. In 1946, while in a London hospital, he suddenly demanded a meeting with a representative of the Soviet mission for repatriation. This was the first news about Dmitry Mikhailovich: since 1941 he was listed among the missing.
After confirming the information received, the feat 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 of Hero of the Soviet Union.
People's memory
Every year people come to Mauthausen to commemorate the 300,000 people who were tortured here once. On the territory there is a monument to General Karbyshev: he calmly rises above the square, arms folded on his chest. The figure of the hero protrudes from the stone only halfway - the monolith depicts an ice column, into which General Karbyshev turned before his death. The feat in verse was sung by the famous Sergei Vasiliev. In 1975, he wrote the poem "Dignity", for which he was awarded a state prize.
In Russia recent years began to remember the heroic past more often. At all levels, the desire to know and be proud of one's history is supported and encouraged. Numerous articles about Dmitry Mikhailovich began to appear. Many resources on the Internet publish the creations of their users, impressed by the courage of an officer. Let some poems about the feat of General Karbyshev are naive and not always friendly with rhyme, but they are written from the heart.
