What a feat did Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev accomplish. Hero of the USSR, General Dmitry Karbyshev. Belief and Faith

On February 18, 1945, General Dmitry Karbyshev, one of the most famous heroes of the Great Patriotic War, died in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. 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 firebox 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, among the 1,000 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 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 camp, the Germans herded us into the shower room, ordered us to undress, and sprayed us with jets of ice-cold water from above… Then we were ordered to put on only linen and wooden blocks and kicked out into the yard. General Karbyshev was standing in a group of Russian comrades not far from me ... At this time, the Gestapo men, standing behind our backs with fire hoses in their hands, began to pour streams of 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 spectacular. 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. Temperatures of -12 degrees are quite rare there. 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, St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School, 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 the feature film "Motherland of Soldiers", which tells 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

Today, few people from the generation of 20-year-olds and younger will be able to tell anything intelligible about the legendary Soviet hero - Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. His last name is well-known, mainly because of the large number of streets named after him in the cities of the post-Soviet space, institutions named after him (for example, schools) are less common, but these are just the remaining fragments of that legend about a man whose fate was known once every pioneer in any corner of the USSR ...

Dmitry Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in Omsk in the family of a military official. At a young age, Dmitry was left without a father, however, he decided to follow in his footsteps and in 1898 he graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps, and two years later from the St. Petersburg Nikolaev Military Engineering School. Upon graduation, Karbyshev, with the rank of second lieutenant, was appointed to serve as a company commander in the 1st East Siberian engineer battalion, which was located in Manchuria.

Dmitry Karbyshev participated in the Russo-Japanese War: as part of his battalion, he strengthened positions, was engaged in building bridges and installing communications equipment. He showed himself to be a brave officer in the battles near Mukden, and it is not surprising that in the two years of this war Karbyshev received five orders and three medals.

In 1906, Dmitry Karbyshev was dismissed from the army to the reserve: according to documented sources, for campaigning among the soldiers at that turbulent revolutionary time. A year later, however, Karbyshev was again called up for service as a company commander of a sapper battalion: his knowledge and experience came in handy when rebuilding the fortifications in Vladivostok.

After graduating in 1911 with honors from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy, Dmitry Mikhailovich was assigned to Brest-Litovsk, where he takes part in the construction of forts of the Brest-Litovsk fortress.

Karbyshev meets the First World War as part of the 8th Army of General A. A. Brusilov, who fought in the Carpathians. In 1915, Karbyshev was one of the actively attacking the Przemysl fortress; in battles, he was wounded in the leg. For the heroism shown in these battles, Karbyshev receives the Order of St. Anna with swords and is promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Dmitry Karbyshev joined the Red Guard in December 1917, from the following year he was already part of the Red Army. During the Civil War, Karbyshev helped to strengthen military positions throughout the country - from Ukraine to Siberia. Since 1920, Dmitry Mikhailovich was the engineering chief of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front, a little later he was appointed assistant to the chief of engineers of the Southern Front.

After the Civil War, Karbyshev taught at the Frunze Military Academy, since 1934 he has been working as a teacher at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Among the students of the Academy Karbyshev was popular. Here is what Army General Shtemenko recalls about him: “... the favorite saying of sappers came from him: “One sapper, one ax, one day, one stump.” True, witty people changed it, in Karbyshev it sounded like this: "One battalion, one hour, one kilometer, one ton, one row."

In 1940, Karbyshev with the rank of lieutenant general of the engineering troops, and in 1941 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences (he wrote more than a hundred scientific works on military engineering art, military). His theoretical aids in matters of engineering support during combat operations and the tactics of engineering troops were considered fundamental materials in the training of Red Army commanders before the Great Patriotic War.

Dmitry Karbyshev participated in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, developed recommendations for engineering support for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line.

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War found Karbyshev at the headquarters of the 3rd Army in the city of Grodno. Dmitry Mikhailovich is offered to provide transport and bodyguards for returning to Moscow, however, he refuses, preferring to retreat along with units of the Red Army. Once surrounded and trying to get out of it, Karbyshev was severely shell-shocked in a fierce battle (near the Dnieper, in the Mogilev region), and unconsciously captured by the Germans.

From this moment begins the three-year history of Karbyshev's captivity, his wanderings through the Nazi camps.

In Nazi Germany, Karbyshev was well known: already in 1940, the IV Directorate of the RSHA of the Imperial Security Directorate opened a special dossier on him. The dossier had a special mark and was classified as "IV D 3-a", which meant - in addition to monitoring activities - to apply special treatment in case of capture.

He began his camp "path" in the Polish city of Ostrov-Mazowiecki, where he was sent to a distribution camp. Soon Karbyshev was sent to the camp of the Polish town of Zamostye, Dmitry Mikhailovich was settled in barrack No. 11 (later nicknamed the general's). The calculation of the Germans that after the hardships of camp life, Karbyshev would agree to cooperate with them, did not materialize, and in the spring of 1942 Karbyshev was transferred to an officer concentration camp in the city of Hammelburg (Bavaria). This camp, consisting purely of a contingent of Soviet captured officers and generals, was special - the task of its leadership was to persuade the prisoners to cooperate with Nazi Germany by any means. That is why in its atmosphere certain norms of legality and humane treatment were observed. However, these methods did not work on Dmitry Karbyshev, it was here that his motto was born: “There is no greater victory than victory over yourself! The main thing is not to fall on your knees before the enemy.”

Since 1943, the former officer of the tsarist Russian army, Pelit, has been conducting “preventive work” with Karbyshev (it is noteworthy that this Pelit once served with Dmitry Mikhailovich in Brest). Colonel Pelit was warned that the Russian military engineer was of particular interest to Germany, and therefore every effort should be made to bring him to the side of the Nazis.

The subtle psychologist Pelit got down to business with a reason: playing the role of an experienced warrior, far from politics, he described to Karbyshev all the advantages of switching to the German side (fantastic in nature). Dmitry Mikhailovich, however, immediately saw through Pelit's cunning and stood his ground: I do not betray my homeland.
The Gestapo command decides to use a slightly different tactic. Dmitry Karbyshev is taken to Berlin, where they organize a meeting with Heinz Raubenheimer, a famous German professor and expert in fortification engineering. In exchange for cooperation, he offers Karbyshev conditions for working and living in Germany, which would make him practically a free person. Dmitry Mikhailovich's answer was exhaustive: “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.”

After such a firm refusal, tactics in relation to the Soviet prisoner-of-war general change again - Karbyshev is sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, a camp famous for its hard labor and truly inhuman conditions in relation to prisoners. Dmitry Karbyshev's six-month stay in the hell of Flossenbürg ended with his transfer to the Nuremberg Gestapo prison. After which the camps whirled like a gloomy carousel, where Karbyshev was assigned. Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen - these truly nightmarish death camps, through which Karbyshev had to go through and in which, despite the inhuman conditions of existence, he remained a strong-willed and unbending person until his last days.

Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev died in the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen: he froze, being doused with water in the cold ... He died heroically and martyrically, without betraying his Soviet Motherland.

The details of his death became known from the words of Canadian Army Major Seddon De St. Clair, who also passed Mauthausen. This was one of the first reliable information about the life of Karbyshev in captivity - after all, he was then considered missing in the USSR at the very beginning of the war.
In 1946, Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And on February 28, 1948, a monument and a memorial plaque were unveiled at the site of the former Mauthausen concentration camp, where Lieutenant General Karbyshev was savagely tortured.

Dmitry Karbyshev, engineer and doctor of military sciences, rarely smiles in the photo. The military man personally participated in most major armed conflicts of the 20th century and was posthumously awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union". Now the name of the famous scientist is associated with fortitude. Despite the dangers and tempting offers, the scientist-officer remained true to his own ideals and beliefs.

Childhood and youth

On October 26, 1880, a boy was born in the family of a hereditary military man and the daughter of a merchant, whom his parents decided to name Dmitry. The son became the sixth child of the Karbyshev spouses. In the growing baby, absolutely opposite qualities were combined. The child loved to draw, but at the same time he was distinguished by stubbornness and determination, which are not characteristic of creative people.

When Dima was 12 years old, his father died. The already poor family began to need money. Another blow was the news of the death of an older brother. Vladimir, being an inexperienced student, became close friends with the revolutionary Ulyanov (in the future known under the name) and was arrested. The young man died in prison, and his mother and brothers and sisters were left without privileges and under the vigilant control of the authorities.

Having decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Dmitry enters the Siberian Cadet Corps. Alas, Karbyshev could not count on a state scholarship. Realizing that his mother gives the last money for his education, Dmitry made every effort to break out into the best students.

The next step on the way to the military rank was the Nikolaev Military Engineering School. Once in a new environment, the young man does not pass the entrance exams well, but by the time of graduation, Dmitry is listed as one of the best students. The young man was so busy with his studies that for several years at the school he didn’t really walk around St. Petersburg, where the educational institution was located.

Military service

Dmitry receives his first appointment to the Far East, where Karbyshev is assigned to work in the cable department of a telephone company in a sapper battalion. The transfer of the young officer coincided with the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. During the battles, the man showed himself as a strategist, for which he received 5 orders and the rank of lieutenant.

However, heroic deeds did not save Karbyshev from being transferred to the reserve. Agitation for the Bolsheviks among colleagues led to a "court of honor." For almost a year, Dmitry worked in a civilian position - the man got a job as a draftsman in Vladivostok. But soon the military authorities again called the lieutenant. A professional engineer was involved in strengthening the forts.

Dmitry received his next appointment in Brest-Litovsk. The main task of the engineer was the construction of the Brest Fortress. Karbyshev received the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1914. During the First World War, Dmitry showed valor and courage, defending Przemysl.

In 1917, a military officer officially takes a place in the Red Army. From the very beginning of his career, Karbyshev did not hide his own views on the government. The arrest and death of his older brother at the hands of the White Guards had a particularly strong effect on the man.

During the Civil War, Dmitry continued to work on fortifications in different parts of the country. Among other things, Karbyshev is busy developing defensive structures. By the end of large-scale battles, the officer occupies the position of engineering chief of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front.

After the end of the Civil War, the man tries himself in teaching. Dmitry Mikhailovich lectures at the Frunze Military Academy. In parallel with his work at the university, Karbyshev writes scientific articles on military history and receives the title of Doctor of Military Sciences.

Feat

In August 1941, a lieutenant general (the rank of Karbyshev was awarded in 1940), seconded to the banks of the Dnieper, was captured by representatives of the Third Reich. By the beginning of hostilities, the name of Karbyshev had already been included in the list of persons whom the Nazis planned to lure to their side.

The first attempts to negotiate with Dmitry Mikhailovich quickly failed. To break the military, the Nazis used traditional methods: immediately after the brutal captivity, the man was placed in comfortable conditions. The psychological attack did not work, and Hitler's deputies planted a double agent, Colonel Pelit, in Karbyshev's cell.

The men met earlier, while working on the construction of the forts of the Brest Fortress. Even a familiar face did not make Karbyshev change his mind. The 3-week solitary confinement in the punishment cell did not work either.

The last offer from the representatives was the most tempting. Dmitry Mikhailovich was offered freedom, full material support, access to the archives of the Third Reich and his own laboratory. However, even this did not force Karbyshev to go over to the side of the enemy.

Personal life

Dmitry met his first wife while serving in Vladivostok. Alisa Troyanovich, that was the name of the future wife of Karbyshev, was older than her lover and was legally married. A sudden flash of feeling swept away all obstacles, and immediately after the divorce, Alice married Dmitry.

The woman accompanied the officer on trips, and if she could not go with her beloved, she demanded that her husband write detailed letters to her. Realizing that Karbyshev enjoyed the attention of officer wives, Alice avoided the company of her husband's colleagues. The husband in love indulged the whims of his wife.

In 1913, after a family quarrel caused by another fit of jealousy, Alice committed suicide. The woman shot herself with her husband's revolver. However, historians do not exclude that the tragedy turned out to be an accident and suicide was not part of Troyanovich's plan.

The second wife of Karbyshev was Lydia Opatskaya, the sister of a colleague and good friend of the military. Lydia worked as a nurse and, unlike Dmitry's first wife, was 12 years younger than her husband. The officer's acquaintance with the girl happened during the battle - Lydia carried Karbyshev wounded in the leg.

Soon the couple became parents. Opatskaya gave birth to her beloved two daughters and a son: Elena, Tatiana and Alexei. The woman spent side by side with her husband for 29 years. The couple was separated only by the death of Karbyshev.

Death

In 1945 Dmitry Karbyshev was still in captivity. During the time spent in custody, the military changed 11 concentration camps. In each new place of stay, the officer had to do hard and dirty work.

For example, in Auschwitz, Dmitry Mikhailovich made gravestones for dead German soldiers. According to the surviving evidence, such an occupation pleased the hero. The man claimed that the more plates he made, the better things were going on at the front of the Soviet soldiers.

General Dmitry Karbyshev died on February 18, 1945. In the camp called Mauthausen, the man was taken to the square along with the rest of the prisoners. It was a cold winter, people were undressed. German soldiers began to pour cold water over the assembled crowd. Those who tried to hide behind were beaten on the head by the Nazis.

Dmitry Mikhailovich cheered up those around him as best he could, but soon he himself lost consciousness. The general's body was burned in the local crematorium.

Memory

• Monuments to the general were erected in 16 cities, including Vladivostok, Tyumen, Samara and the area near the German city of Mauthausen.
• The image of the hero of the Soviet Union adorns postage stamps issued in 1961, 1965 and 1980.
• The historical novelist Sergei Nikolaevich Golubov dedicated the novel "Let's take off our hats, comrades" to Karbyshev's feat.
• The biography of the general is described in detail in the film "Motherland of Soldiers".
• In 1959, a small planet moving in a circumsolar orbit was named after Dmitry Karbyshev.

In February 1946, a representative of the Soviet mission for repatriation in England was informed that a wounded Canadian officer, who was in a hospital near London, urgently wanted to see him. The officer, a former prisoner of the Mauthausen concentration camp, considered it necessary to inform the Soviet representative of "extremely important information."
The Canadian major's name was Seddon De St. Clair. “I want to tell you about how Lieutenant General Dmitry Karbyshev died,” the officer said when the Soviet representative appeared at the hospital.
The story of the Canadian military became the first news about Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev since 1941 ...

Cadet from an unreliable family

Dmitry Karbyshev was born on October 26, 1880 in a military family. From childhood, he dreamed of continuing the dynasty started by his father and grandfather. Dmitry entered the Siberian Cadet Corps, however, despite the diligence shown in his studies, he was listed among the “unreliable” there.

The fact is that Dmitry's older brother, Vladimir, participated in a revolutionary circle created at Kazan University, along with another young radical, Vladimir Ulyanov. But if the future leader of the revolution escaped with only an exception from the university, then Vladimir Karbyshev ended up in prison, where he later died.

Despite the stigma of "unreliable", Dmitry Karbyshev studied brilliantly, and in 1898, after graduating from the cadet corps, he entered the Nikolaev Engineering School.

Of all the military specialties, Karbyshev was most attracted by the construction of fortifications and defensive structures.

The talent of a young officer was first clearly manifested in the Russian-Japanese campaign - Karbyshev strengthened positions, built bridges across rivers, installed communications equipment and conducted reconnaissance in force.

Despite the unsuccessful outcome of the war for Russia, Karbyshev showed himself to be a great specialist, which was marked by medals and the rank of lieutenant.

From Przemysl to Perekop

But for free thinking in 1906, Lieutenant Karbyshev was fired from the service. True, not for long - the command was smart enough to understand that specialists of this level should not be scattered.

On the eve of the First World War, Staff Captain Dmitry Karbyshev designed the forts of the Brest Fortress - the very ones in which Soviet soldiers would fight the Nazis thirty years later.

Karbyshev went through the First World War as a divisional engineer of the 78th and 69th infantry divisions, and then as the head of the engineering service of the 22nd Finnish Rifle Corps. For courage and courage during the assault on Przemysl and during the Brusilov breakthrough, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Order of St. Anna.

During the revolution, Lieutenant Colonel Karbyshev did not rush about, but immediately joined the Red Guard. All his life he was true to his views and beliefs, which he did not renounce.

In November 1920, Dmitry Karbyshev was engaged in engineering support for the assault on Perekop, the success of which finally decided the outcome of the Civil War.

Missing

By the end of the 1930s, Dmitry Karbyshev was considered one of the most prominent specialists in the field of military engineering, not only in the Soviet Union, but throughout the world. In 1940 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and in 1941 - a doctorate in military sciences.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, General Karbyshev worked on the creation of defensive structures on the western border. During one of his trips to the border, he was caught by the outbreak of hostilities.

The rapid advance of the Nazis put the Soviet troops in a difficult position. The 60-year-old general of engineering troops is not the most necessary person in units that are threatened with encirclement. However, they failed to evacuate Karbyshev. However, he himself, like a real combat officer, decided to break out of the Nazi "bag" along with our units.

But on August 8, 1941, Lieutenant General Karbyshev was seriously shell-shocked in a battle near the Dnieper River, and was taken prisoner in an unconscious state.

From that moment until 1945, a short phrase would appear in his personal file: "Missing."

The German command was convinced that Karbyshev was an accident among the Bolsheviks. A nobleman, an officer of the tsarist army, he will easily agree to go over to their side. In the end, he and the CPSU (b) joined only in 1940, apparently under duress.

However, very soon the Nazis discovered that Karbyshev was a tough nut to crack. The 60-year-old general refused to serve the Third Reich, expressed confidence in the final victory of the Soviet Union and in no way resembled a man broken by captivity.

In March 1942, Karbyshev was transferred to the Hammelburg officer concentration camp. It carried out active psychological processing of high-ranking Soviet officers in order to force them to go over to the side of Germany. For the sake of this, the most humane and benevolent conditions were created. Many who drank dashing in ordinary soldier's camps broke down on this. Karbyshev, however, turned out to be from a completely different text - it was not possible to “reforge” him with any benefits and indulgences.

Soon, Colonel Pelit was assigned to Karbyshev. This Wehrmacht officer was fluent in Russian, as he once served in the tsarist army. Moreover, Pelit was a colleague of Karbyshev while working on the forts of the Brest Fortress.

Pelit, a subtle psychologist, described to Karbyshev all the advantages of serving great Germany, offered "compromise options for cooperation" - for example, the general is engaged in historical works on the military operations of the Red Army in the current war, and for this he will eventually be allowed to travel to a neutral country.

However, Karbyshev again dismissed all the options for cooperation proposed by the Nazis.

Incorruptible

Then the Nazis made one last attempt. The general was transferred to a solitary cell in one of the Berlin prisons, where he was kept for about three weeks.

After that, a colleague, the famous German fortifier Professor Heinz Raubenheimer, was waiting for him in the investigator's office.

The Nazis knew that Karbyshev and Raubenheimer knew each other, moreover, the Russian general respected the work of the German scientist.

Raubenheimer voiced to Karbyshev the following proposal from the authorities of the Third Reich. The general was offered release from the camp, the possibility of moving to a private apartment, as well as complete material security. He will have access to all libraries and book depositories in Germany, and will be given the opportunity to get acquainted with other materials in the areas of military engineering that interest him. If necessary, any number of assistants was guaranteed to equip the laboratory, carry out development work and provide other research activities. The results of the work should become the property of German specialists. All ranks of the German army will treat Karbyshev as a lieutenant general of the engineering troops of the German Reich.

An elderly man who had gone through hardships in the camps was offered luxurious conditions while maintaining his position and even his rank. He was not even required to brand Stalin and the Bolshevik regime. The Nazis were interested in the work of Karbyshev in his main specialty.

Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev understood perfectly well that this was most likely the last proposal. He also understood what would follow the refusal.

However, the courageous general said: “My beliefs 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.”

The Nazis really counted on Karbyshev, on his influence and authority. It was he, and not General Vlasov, who, according to the original idea, was to lead the Russian Liberation Army.

But all the plans of the Nazis were shattered by the inflexibility of Karbyshev.

Tombstones for fascists

After this refusal, the Nazis put an end to the general, defining him as "a convinced, fanatical Bolshevik, whose use in the service of the Reich is impossible."

Karbyshev was sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where they began to be used in hard labor of particular severity. But here, too, the general surprised his comrades in misfortune with his unbending will, fortitude and confidence in the final victory of the Red Army.

One of the Soviet prisoners later recalled that Karbyshev knew how to cheer up even in the most difficult moments. When the prisoners were working on the manufacture of gravestones, the general remarked: “This is the work that gives me real pleasure. The more tombstones the Germans demand from us, the better, it means, our business is going on at the front.

He was transferred from camp to camp, the conditions became more and more harsh, but they failed to break Karbyshev. In each of the camps where the general found himself, he became a real leader of the spiritual resistance to the enemy. His resilience gave strength to those around him.

The front rolled to the West. Soviet troops entered the territory of Germany. The outcome of the war became obvious even to staunch Nazis. The Nazis had nothing left but hatred and a desire to deal with those who turned out to be stronger than them even in chains and behind barbed wire ...

Major Seddon De St. Clair was one of several dozen prisoners of war who managed to survive the terrible night of February 18, 1945 in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

“As soon as we entered the territory of the camp, the Germans drove us into the shower room, ordered us to undress and let jets of icy water fall on us from above. This went on for a long time. Everyone turned blue. Many fell to the floor and immediately died: the heart could not stand it. Then we were told to put on only underwear and wooden blocks on our feet and were driven out into the yard. General Karbyshev was standing in a group of Russian comrades not far from me. We understood that we were living out the last hours. A couple of minutes later, the Gestapo men, who were standing behind us with fire hoses in their hands, began to pour streams of 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, ”said the Canadian major.

The last words of the general were addressed to those who shared a terrible fate with him: “Cheer up, comrades! Think of the Motherland, and courage will not leave you!

The hero of the USSR

From the story of the Canadian major, the collection of information about the last years of the life of General Karbyshev, spent in German captivity, began. All the collected documents and eyewitness accounts spoke of the exceptional courage and resilience of this man.

On August 16, 1946, for the exceptional stamina and courage shown in the fight against the German invaders in the Great Patriotic War, Lieutenant General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1948, a monument to the general was unveiled on the territory of the former Mauthausen concentration camp. The inscription on it reads: “To Dmitry Karbyshev. To the scientist. Warrior. Communist. His life and death were a feat in the name of life.

The famous words of General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, said to the fascist executioners: “I do not sell my conscience and Motherland” . His steadfastness and courage are amazing, his feat is immortal in the eyes of his contemporaries.

Biography

Dmitry Mikhailovich was born on October 26, 1880 in a military family, from the nobility. Passed the Russian-Japanese and the First World War. In 1917 he joined the Red Army, was a military engineer. He met the Great Patriotic War as a lieutenant general, doctor of military sciences. On August 8, 1941, during an attempt to break through the encirclement, he was shell-shocked and captured.

Date of birth: October 14 (26), 1880.
Place of birth Omsk, Russian Empire
Date of death: February 18, 1945 (aged 64)
Place of death: Mauthausen concentration camp.
Type of troops: Engineering troops.
Rank: Lieutenant General.
Doctor of military sciences, professor.

Battles and Wars: Russo-Japanese War, World War I, Civil War in Russia, Soviet-Finnish War, Great Patriotic War.

In captivity

Realizing who they managed to capture, the Germans immediately decided to recruit a prominent military specialist. All methods were used, from bribery and the promise of a well-fed and comfortable life, to sophisticated bullying. Karbyshev was not fed, kept in a cell with such bright light that it was impossible to sleep. The result was unbearable insomnia, terrible suppuration of the eyes, and teeth that fell out.

Karbyshev, no longer a young man, was adamant:

"My beliefs don't fall out with my teeth."

After that, the recruiters wrote in the dossier: “... 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.”

Then the real hell of concentration camps began, of which there were about a dozen. But Dmitry Mikhailovich did not lose courage until his death. According to the recollections of one officer who was with Karbyshev in Auschwitz, he asked the general a stupid question: "How do you feel in Auschwitz?". Karbyshev bowed and replied: “Good, cheerful, like in Majdanek”. And when he worked in a team for the preparation of gravestones, he mentioned that this work gives him real pleasure:

“The more tombstones we have to make, the better, it means that ours at the front are doing well.

General Karbyshev died on February 18, 1945 in the Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria). He, along with other prisoners (about 500 people), was taken to the parade ground and began to pour cold water from fire hoses in the cold. Blue-faced people fell one by one. Dmitry Mikhailovich held on for a very long time and supported those around him to the last:

- Cheer up comrades! Think about the Motherland and courage will not leave you!

Awards

General Karbyshev was repeatedly awarded the highest medals and orders, moreover, he had awards from different eras, both before 1917 and after.

Russian empire

• Order of St. Anne II degree.
• Order of St. Stanislaus II degree.
• Order of St. Anne III degree.
• Order of St. Stanislaus III degree.
• Order of St. Anne IV degree.

USSR

• The hero of the USSR.
• The order of Lenin.
• Order of the Red Banner.
• Order of the Red Star.

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to General Karbyshev posthumously (February 28, 1948).

Comedy woman

In our time, there are scum who defame the memory of heroes with their jokes for degenerates. The team of jesters from the Comedy Vumen especially distinguished itself. The whole society was outraged by the stupid joke of Natalia Medvedeva, which sounded in one of their shows.

To be fair, it must be admitted that Natalya Medvedeva apologized for this joke, calling everything that they, as artists, are forced people, they don’t have their own brains, because they are told what their masters from TV channels need to do. Natalia apologized in her Instagram :

“I offer my deepest apologies for the number in Comedy Woman 2013, where the name of the great general was mentioned. At that time, I sincerely thought that this name was fictitious. Sincerely. Truth. Excuse me... All actresses (and this is not a secret) sign a contract according to which they pronounce the text that they are given... I confess that at that moment I sincerely thought that this was a fictional character and could not compare it with a real one historical fact, once again I sincerely ask for forgiveness.

We remember and we are proud!

Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev became the main example for subsequent generations of Soviet and Russian society.

Despite all the dirt that is poured on the USSR, on the feat of our people in the bloody War, we remember, we are proud, we live!

Video

"I am a soldier and will remain true to duty", "... The main thing is not to kneel before the enemy", - Hero of the Great Patriotic War Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev (1880‒1945).