Grigory Savelievich Maslakov, "Maslak" (1877–1921) was a Russian military leader during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

Biography

Grigori Maslakov was born in 1877 to a poor family in the Stavropol Territory. Until the revolution, he lived in the

Salsky District Salsky District () is an administrativeLaw #340-ZS and municipalLaw #233-ZS district (raion), one of the forty-three in Rostov Oblast, Russia. It is located in the south of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the ...

of the

Don Cossack Don Cossacks (, ) or Donians (, ), are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (, ), which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in present-da ...

Region, whose territory is now part of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served as a patrolman for the horse breeder Korolkov, after he entered the service in the equestrian artillery, where he rose to the rank of sergeant.

On the side of the reds

In February 1918, Maslakov created a Red partisan detachment in the Salsky District, at the head of which he fought against the

Don Army The Don Army (, ) was the military of the short lived Don Republic and a part of the White movement in the Russian Civil War. It operated from 1918 to 1920, in the Don region and centered in the town of Novocherkassk. History On 23 April, K. ...

atamans P.Kh. Popov and P.N. Krasnova. In May of the same year, Maslakov's partisans joined Boris Dumenko's detachment. In the brigade formed, the former sergeant became the squadron commander, then commanded the 1st cavalry regiment. In March 1919, Maslakov, along with division chief Dumenko and brigade commander Budyonny, was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

for military merits. All in all, Maslakov had two Orders of the Red Banner. Commanding the regiment, he won the sympathy of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

men of the entire brigade. In June 1919, Maslakov was appointed commander of the 1st separate brigade of the 4th cavalry division for his skillful leadership of the regiment and for his "displayed energy in military affairs". Maslakov also commanded 1 cavalry corps for a short time. In addition, Grigory Maslakov, with the participation of Boris Dumenko, became one of the founders of the

1st Cavalry Army __NOTOC__ The 1st Cavalry Army (), or ''Konarmia'' (Кона́рмия, "Horsearmy"), was a prominent Red Army military formation that served in the Russian Civil War and Polish–Soviet War, Polish-Soviet War. History Formation On 17 Novem ...

. In early 1920, Grigory Maslakov assumed command of the 14th Maikop Cavalry Division and in the same year became a member of the

Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. In November 1920, Maslakov took command of the 4th Petrograd Cavalry Division, but in December he was demoted to a brigade commander in the same division. As part of the 4th division, Grigory Maslakov's brigade participated in the suppression of the rebels under the command of

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

in the

Yekaterinoslav Governorate Yekaterinoslav Governorate} was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yekaterinoslav. Covering an area of , and being composed of a inhabitant of 2,113,674 by the census of 1897, it bordere ...

Against the reds

For his refusal to carry out punitive actions against the rebels in early February 1921, a counter-revolution case was initiated against Maslakov with the aim of bringing him to trial by a revolutionary tribunal. To avoid punishment, Maslakov called on his brigade and the local population to oppose the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

and support the rebels. On February 8, Maslakov managed to leave with part of the brigade to the Don, where he joined the Revolutionary Insurgent Army. The rebels smashed the revolutionary committees. During this time, the number of Maslakov's brigade increased to 5 thousand people at the expense of the Don Cossacks and Sizov's detachment. On February 11, 1921, Maslakov was outlawed, since “on the basis of drunkenness and demagoguery,” he dragged a significant part of the soldiers of the 19th cavalry regiment into mutiny and “betrayed the cause of the revolution,” as the order said. On March 10, 1921, Maslakov and Brova with their detachments, with the consent of Nestor Makhno, moved to the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

, receiving the name "Caucasian Insurgent Army of the Makhnovists". Hoping to convince the villagers from the

under the command of Budyonny and the

2nd Cavalry Army The 2nd Cavalry Army () was a cavalry Field army, army of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. History It was created by an order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southwestern Front (RSFSR), Southwestern Front on 16 July 1920 ...

under the command of Mironov to go over to the side of the rebels, Maslakov returned to the Stavropol Territory. In March, Maslakov fought his way to the northeast towards

Tsaritsyn Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

and

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

. The size of Maslakov's army fluctuated over the next 6 months from 1 to 4 thousand fighters and fought in

Kalmykia Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia,; , ''Khalmg Tanghch'' is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavr ...

. The first battles Maslakov's army fought in the Maloderbet ulus in March 1921 and in early April occupied Yashkul, Chilgir, Ulan Erge and Burgun-Sala, and on April 29, Maslakov's army occupied the city of

Elista Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...

. Already in 1921, Maslakov's army was completely defeated by the Red Army. Maslakov and his comrade-in-arms Brova were killed by the amnestied members of the detachment.

Image in literature

Grigori Maslakov appears under the nickname Maslak in the story "Afonka Bida" in the cycle of stories "Cavalry" (1923) by the Soviet writer

Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...

Image in cinema

The brigade commander Maslakov appears in the 12th (final) episode of the series " Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno" (2007, director - Nikolai Kaptan).

References

External links

Биография Маслакова Григория Савельевича
на сайт�

* А. В. Баранов
Повстанческое движение «бело-зелёных» в казачьих областях юга России (1920-1924 гг.)

- Vyacheslav Yashchenko {{DEFAULTSORT:Maslakov, Grigori 1877 births 1921 deaths Russian communists Russian anarchists Russian revolutionaries Bolsheviks Makhnovists Military personnel of the 1st Cavalry Army