Unknown revolution: Truth and fiction about the storming of the Winter Palace. The cruiser "Aurora" is a ship known for its one shot. Main characteristics, history of the cruiser

Why did the Provisional Government in October 1917 protect only cadets and women? Why did the Bolsheviks fire at the soldiers’ hospital located in the Winter Palace from the Peter and Paul Fortress? Why did the water in the Winter Canal turn red after his capture?

Told by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department of General History of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A.I. Herzen Julia Kantor.

Hospital of Tsarevich Alexei

The general public is almost unaware of what the Winter Palace was like in October 1917. What was in the former imperial residence then?

Kantor: Few people here know that since October 1915, the Winter Palace has ceased to be a citadel of the Russian monarchy. The imperial family moved to the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, where they spent the next two years. And the Winter Palace was given over to a military hospital for soldiers (and only for soldiers) wounded during the First World War.

All ceremonial and ceremonial halls, except for the Great Throne, were turned into huge chambers that could accommodate up to 200 people. At the same time, in the suite of halls overlooking the Neva embankment, there were bedridden patients who could not move independently. The hospital bore the name of Tsarevich Alexei, since when it opened imperial family made a vow to free the heir to the throne from hemophilia.

What happened to the luxurious decoration of the palace and numerous objects of art?

All the walls of the premises given over to the hospital were covered with gauze shields almost to the ceiling. As for the treasures of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage, during the First World War a significant part of them was evacuated.

By the way, the palace building was not painted in the current color. green color, and in beetroot, like a university in Kyiv.

Why?

This was done during the First World War - apparently, they decided to experiment. Before this, the Winter Palace was grayish-beige for some time, although it was originally blue, like most of Rastrelli's other buildings.

Hospital wards in the Winter Palace
Photo: ruskline.ru

Besides the huge hospital, what else was located in the Winter Palace in October 1917?

Since the end of March 1917, there was the residence of the Provisional Government. This was the initiative of Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, who after that began to be jokingly called Alexander the Fourth. There, of course, there was a huge apparatus of ministries, reception rooms for petitioners and visitors. In a word - Government House.

The myth of Kerensky's flight

Kerensky was also mockingly called Alexandra Fedorovna, because he allegedly lived in the chambers of the former empress.

There is actually no documentation to support this. It is known for certain that members of the Provisional Government spent the night in the Winter Palace for the last two days before their arrest on the night of October 26, 1917 (hereinafter all dates are given in the old style - note from Lenta.ru). Kerensky was no longer among them on the last - revolutionary - night, since on the morning of October 25 he left for Gatchina.

Why do you think he did this? After all, this was clearly a reckless step on his part.

We must understand what situation had developed in Petrograd by that time. It was impossible to rely on the Petrograd garrison, since it consisted almost entirely of rear units, which Kerensky tried to send to the front at the beginning of October. It is not surprising that the soldiers did not have warm feelings towards the Provisional Government and turned out to be very susceptible to Bolshevik propaganda. The sailors of the Baltic Fleet (especially the Kronstadters) and the Cossacks for the most part were either on the side of the Bolsheviks or did not understand at all what was happening. It is important to remember: Zimny ​​was cut off from the world; in those two days he no longer even had a telephone connection.

Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich

Therefore, Kerensky on the morning of October 25 set off towards Gatchina to call on loyal troops to the capital. The fact that he allegedly escaped from the Winter Palace in a woman’s dress is an invention of the Bolsheviks. Alexander Fedorovich went to Gatchina in a car, with an open top, and in his own clothes.

So it wasn't like running away?

No, Kerensky’s departure was not similar to the flight from Kyiv in December 1918 of the Ukrainian Hetman Skoropadsky, who was carried out of his office on a stretcher and with a bandaged face, so colorfully described by Bulgakov in The White Guard.

Do you remember the famous painting by Georgy Shegal “Kerensky’s Flight from Gatchina in 1917”, where the Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government is depicted in the dress of a nurse? In Soviet times, everyone heard about women's dress, but no one thought about why Kerensky is shown in the picture wearing a nurse's costume.

The fact is that even twenty years after those events, the artist remembered the existence of a soldier’s hospital in the Winter Palace in October 1917. Therefore, Shegal tried to doubly humiliate the former head Russian state, who allegedly fled not just to women's clothing, and in the dress of a sister of mercy.

Passive defense of Zimny

But then where did this legend come from?

According to the recollections of the palace hospital nurse Nina Galanina, on the morning of October 26, after the capture of the Winter Palace, the Bolsheviks tore off the bandages of bedridden patients, especially those with maxillofacial wounds. They suspected that the ministers of the Provisional Government and the cadets who protected them were hiding among them. I think the legs of this myth grow from there.

Only the cadets and the women's battalion remained loyal to the legitimate authorities. It is not known for certain how many of them were inside and outside the Winter Palace - approximately from 500 to 700 people. Defenders of the Provisional Government either came to the palace or left it for various reasons.

According to what?

If you believe the recollections of eyewitnesses, they left mainly for domestic reasons. The provisional government was so helpless that it could not even feed its defenders. At the most crucial moment, on the evening of October 25, the women's battalion went to wash and eat. There was no organized and thoughtful defense of the Winter Palace. And yet, everyone is just tired of waiting.

Winter Palace
Photo: hellopiter.ru

Didn't the Provisional Government really expect an attempt to seize the building?

It's still a mystery to me. Hypothetically, we expected it. After all, an extraordinary congress of Soviets met in Smolny, which, under pressure from a small group of radicals led by Lenin and Trotsky, in the form of an ultimatum, proposed to the legitimate Provisional Government to resign its powers. Of course, the Provisional Government rejected the ultimatum. After this, late in the evening of October 25, it was obvious that the Bolsheviks would begin active operations. But the ministers sitting in the Winter Palace behaved passively, if not confused.

Shooting the wounded

Tell us how the Winter Palace was captured by the Bolsheviks. As far as we know now, there was no assault?

There was no assault, but there was a capture. The famous shots from Eisenstein’s film “October,” when a huge human avalanche rushes from the arch of the General Staff building through Palace Square to the front gates of the Winter Palace, have nothing to do with reality.

By the way, in October 1917, there were no longer any double-headed eagles on these gates - by order of Kerensky, all symbols of the Russian Empire (including the imperial monograms on the facade of the building) were removed a month earlier, after Russia was declared a republic on September 1, 1917. There was no assault, there was a gradual seizure of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks.

But did the famous Aurora shot actually happen?

Yes, sure. A single shot with a blank shell from gun No. 1.

Did this shot really signal the start of an armed uprising?

On October 27, the Aurora team (and it was, of course, propagandized by the Bolsheviks) made a statement in the press for the citizens of Petrograd. It stated in a harsh but slightly offended tone that rumors about the cruiser firing live shells at the Winter Palace were lies and a provocation.

The cruiser’s crew claimed that the blank shot was fired only to warn all ships in the Neva waters to be “vigilant and ready.”

That is, no one fired at the Winter Palace that night at all?

They still fired at me. Real live shells were fired at the Winter Palace on the night of October 25-26 from the direction of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the garrison of which was pro-Bolshevik. Moreover, the hospital wards with the bedridden wounded, located in the main halls overlooking the Neva, suffered the most from the shelling. Exact number those killed from this artillery cannonade are unknown, but there were at least several dozen dead. These were the first victims.

But didn’t the garrison of the Peter and Paul Fortress know that they were shooting at the hospital?

Of course, they knew - newspapers of all directions wrote a lot about the existence of the hospital throughout its existence. They fired directly at the façade of the Winter Palace, not caring at all that there were wounded soldiers there, many of them in a completely helpless state.

And this didn’t bother anyone?

A rhetorical question. According to the recollections of nurses and surviving soldiers, after the shelling from the Neva, wild panic arose in the palace hospital - no one knew who was shooting and why and when it would all end. Those who could somehow move lay down on the floor. The shooting from the Peter and Paul Fortress began around midnight and continued for an hour and a half.

Arrest of the Provisional Government

Did the capture of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks begin only after this shelling?

After one o'clock in the morning, a small armed group (10-12 people) led by Antonov-Ovseenko entered through the only unlocked and unguarded entrance to the Winter Palace from Palace Square, which led to the Empress's chambers.

Why none of the palace defenders were there is now impossible to find out - probably everyone simply forgot about this entrance, since this part of the Winter Palace had been empty for a long time. According to some reports, one of the companies of the women’s battalion was supposed to be located here, but late in the evening of October 25, almost all of its personnel left their positions.

Antonov-Ovseyenko and his comrades climbed a small narrow staircase to the second floor and, naturally, got lost in many completely dark rooms. At about two o'clock in the morning, hearing someone's voices, they went out to the Malachite Living Room and found themselves right in front of the door of the Small Dining Room, where the ministers of the Provisional Government were meeting.

Nobody guarded them?

There was supposed to be a post of cadets in the Malachite Living Room, but for some reason there was no one there. Another cadet post was located in a room adjacent to the Small Dining Room on the opposite side.

Didn't the Junkers try to neutralize the Antonov-Ovseenko detachment?

There is no evidence that the cadets were in any way involved in this situation.

How can this be explained? Maybe they were just sleeping?

Don't think. The Winter Palace was under heavy fire from the Peter and Paul Fortress, so it is unlikely that any of its inhabitants slept that night. I can only assume that the appearance of the Antonov-Ovseyenko armed group came as a complete surprise to everyone.

Reception room of Alexander III, where one of the shells fired at the palace from the Peter and Paul Fortress hit
Photo: historydoc.edu.ru

Perhaps the members of the Provisional Government, in order to avoid bloodshed, asked the cadets not to resist, especially since Antonov-Ovseenko guaranteed everyone’s life. He declared the ministers under arrest, after which they were taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress in two cars.

So there was no violence?

At this moment there was none. But after a few hours, the entrances from the Neva were opened, and the Winter Palace gradually began to fill with various loitering people. After that, a real bacchanalia began there.

The destruction of the royal cellars

What do you have in mind?

Women's battalion

I have already mentioned that in the palace hospital the Bolsheviks began to tear off bandages and bandages from bedridden patients. But other hospital residents who could move independently offered them worthy resistance. According to the memoirs of eyewitnesses, the first uninvited guests who broke into the medical premises suffered greatly: they were simply thrown down the stairs, and sick soldiers used not only crutches, chairs and stools, but also vessels for the discharge of natural needs as means of defense.

Symbolic.

Not without it…

Is it true that after the capture the Winter Palace was truly destroyed?

No, that's an exaggeration. Unscrewed somewhere door handles, in some places the wallpaper was cut off or the furniture was damaged, and some small things were, of course, stolen. Some interiors were damaged. The victims of that public were portraits of Alexander III and Nicholas II: they were pierced with bayonets. One - Nicholas II - is now kept in the Museum of Political History of Russia, the second - Alexander III - is still in the Hermitage. The Winter Palace, by the way, suffered damage between February and October 1917, when it actually turned into a passage courtyard.

Why?

There were government offices there, which were visited by a wide variety of people. The building was cluttered and kept in extremely careless condition: there is a lot of archival evidence of this from those who were “ service personnel" Some damage interior decoration The palace was also attacked by cadets using interior items as targets.

Why did they do this?

It is unlikely that this was malicious vandalism - probably the cadets were having fun like that. In general, the Winter Palace was lucky and, unlike Versailles during the French Revolution, it was not greatly damaged during the events of 1917.

They say that after the capture of Winter Palace, the new owners plundered its wine cellars and shit in vases?

The Winter Palace was at the mercy of various loitering public for exactly 24 hours. We must pay tribute to the Bolsheviks - they were able to quickly restore order in the building, declaring it a state museum.

But during these 24 hours, the palace wine cellars were indeed completely empty. Thank God, a significant part of the red wine reserves were drained into the Winter Canal. By the way, this is where another myth was born: that after the assault, the water in the canal turned red with blood. The winter ditch really turned red, but not from blood, but from good red wine. As for the allegedly desecrated vases and vessels, this is also a myth. If there were such cases, they were isolated.

Military hospital in the Winter Palace
Photo: gerodot.ru

“Lock the floors, there will be robberies today”

Were there cases of abuse and reprisals against cadets and violence against women?

I haven't heard anything about violence against women. I can say for sure that no one touched the nurses from the hospital - this is confirmed by their own memories. As for the cadets, they were disarmed and sent home. In those days, massacres and lynchings took place not in the Winter Palace, but throughout Petrograd.

As with any turmoil, armed gangs of criminals immediately appeared in the capital, which even the Bolsheviks at first could not cope with. They robbed shops and banks everywhere, broke into the houses of townspeople and killed them. It was not for nothing that Blok wrote at that time: “Lock the floors, Today there will be robberies! // Unlock the cellars - the poor are on the loose today.”

What happened to the building of the Winter Palace after the October Revolution?

I already said that just a few days after the seizure of power, the Bolsheviks nationalized the Winter Palace and the Hermitage, organizing state museum. At the same time, they liquidated the palace hospital, and its guests were distributed to other infirmaries in the capital.

How did Petrograd and the rest of Russia react to the change of power?

At first they didn't really notice her. Let's not forget that the Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution declared themselves a temporary government only until the elections to the Constituent Assembly. Many believed that they would last even less than the Provisional Government. No one then could have imagined that this regime would last in our country until 1991.

Interviewed by Andrey Mozzhukhin
Sources -

One of the heroes of October was the sailor of the Baltic Fleet Evdokim Pavlovich Ognev. In the fall of 1917, he served on the cruiser Aurora, with the historic salvo of which the Great October Socialist Revolution began...

Let's find out his story in more detail...

Gunner of the cruiser "Aurora" Evdokim Ognev

Our country is wide and vast. How many cities, villages, farmsteads there are in it... And each has its own history. And this little story is a grain of the history of a large powerful state.

There is a small river in the Voronezh province that makes many bends on its way. Because it is winding, and its name is Kriusha. In the 30s of the 18th century, Cossack settlers formed a village on the banks of the river, which became known as Kriusha. Later, when a new one with the same name was formed near the village, the ancient settlement began to be called Staraya Kriusha, and the younger one - Novaya.

Here in 1887, Evdokim Pavlovich Ognev was born, the gunner of the cruiser Aurora, who fired the historic shot that served as the signal for the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917.

In Kriush itself, the search for materials about a fellow villager was organized by librarian E.A. Artamonova. Old-timers remembered the Ognyov family and their relatives. It turned out that two cousins ​​of Evdokima Ognev live in Staraya Kriusha. The eldest of them, Maria Fominichna Ovcharova, said that Evdokim wrote to his sister Pelageya Pavlovna all the time from the fleet and from the Don, where he fought. In 1918, two soldiers from Ognev’s detachment stopped at Pelageya Pavlovna’s while passing through, and the commandant gave them his sister’s address.

Pavel Prokofievich (father of Evdokim Pavlovich), baker by profession, in search of better life He and his family often moved from place to place. It is now reliably known that the Ognevs, after Staraya Kriushi, lived on the Tretiy Log farm (now Volgograd region), on the Popov farm, in the villages of Mikhailovskaya, Zotovskaya, Velikoknyazheskaya (now Proletarskaya, Rostov region).

Evdokima’s sister, Maria Pavlovna, said that as a child, his younger brother spent whole days on the river and loved to organize desperate “sea” battles with his peers on rafts, troughs, and abandoned old boats. During one such “battle” on Manych, the elder brother Fedotka sprained his leg, and Evdokim carried him home for seven kilometers in his arms...

When not on duty, friends often retired somewhere on the forecastle or in a carpentry workshop and had intimate conversations. Everyone talked about their lives and their native places. It was Evdokima Ognev’s turn: “I’m listening to you, brothers, and I’m thinking: how similar our lives are in sores. It seems that they spied it from each other... My father, Pavel Prokofievich, has been “lucky” all his life. His first wife soon died, leaving him with a daughter, Pelageya. He took the second one from the neighboring village of Novotroitskoye, Fedosya Zakharovna, my mother. We lived with the need for a hug. Dad baked kalachi, and we sipped kvass. They traveled through farms and villages in the district, through Cossack villages, looking for work. The father did not get along with the owners; he was known as a lover of truth. We poked around in strange corners - a family with eight mouths. As I grew up, my dad decided: “I’ll lay down my bones, and I’ll make the youngest, Evdokim, literate and bring him into the people.” Indeed, I went to the parish “university” for four winters. The father couldn’t stand it, he waved his hand: “It’s not fate, go, Evdokim, to become a day laborer.” When I turned fifteen, I went to Velikoknyazheskaya for a better life. Uncle Alexey advised.”

Ognev has been in military service since 1910. Initially, he was a sailor in the Baltic Fleet, and after graduating from gunnery school in 1911, he was assigned to the cruiser Aurora.
From the memoirs of A.V. Belysheva, former first Commissioner of the cruiser "Aurora":

“On October 25, 1917, the Aurora approached the Vasilyevsky Bridge along the Neva and anchored. At dawn, thousands of Petrograd workers came to the embankment, welcoming the sailors. Never before had such large warships sailed so far into the city.

The forces of revolution multiplied and grew stronger. Detachments of Red Guards and soldiers walked across the bridge from Vasilyevsky Island to the city center.

By morning, the entire city and its most important strategic points, except the Winter Palace, where the provisional government had taken refuge, were in the hands of the insurgent people. In the evening a tug approached the cruiser. Secretary of the Military Revolutionary Committee V.A. arrived on the Aurora. Antonov-Ovseenko. He said that the provisional government was presented with an ultimatum - to surrender. A response is expected before 9 o'clock. If the ultimatum is rejected, the revolutionary troops will take the Winter Palace, where the ministers have taken refuge, by storm. Antonov-Ovseenko warned that in this case fire would appear over the Peter and Paul Fortress. He will be the signal for the Aurora to fire a blank shot at Zimny, signaling the start of the attack by detachments of Red Guards, sailors and soldiers.

Winter taken. Hood. V.A. Serov. 1954

The Aurors were also to take part in the assault on the last stronghold of the old world. About fifty sailors under the command of sailor A.S. The Nevolina went ashore and joined the free detachment of Baltic sailors. The decisive moment has arrived. At about 9 o'clock the cruiser's command was raised by a combat alarm. Everyone took their places. The tension was rising. Shooting could be heard from the shore, but the Peter and Paul Fortress did not make itself felt. At 35 minutes past ten there was still no signal. And when the long-awaited fire broke out in the evening darkness, it was already 9 hours and 40 minutes.

Nasal, please! - the team thundered.

Gunner Evdokim Ognev pulled the trigger of a six-inch gun. It was as if a thunderclap tore through the air above the city. “Hurrah” was heard from Palace Square through the roar of the shot. Our people launched an assault.”

In 1918, to fight the enemies of the revolution, Evdokim Pavlovich was sent at the head of a detachment to Ukraine, where he soon died in battle.

Memoirs of P. Kirichkov, a participant in the events: “When the whites surrounded the carts, they were met with rare shots by a paramedic and a Red Army driver. All of them, along with the wounded, were hacked to death, and they tied me with reins, threw me into the bottom of the britzka and headed to the Vesely village to see the ataman. Krysin, a White Guard from Cossack Khomutts, with two fellow villagers rode next to the cart in which I was lying. The traitor boasted about killing the commander. I remember his story from beginning to end.

Monument to Evdokim Ognev in the village of Staraya Kriusha, Voronezh region

“...When the last cart left the village of Kazachiy Khomutets, three remained at the guns: Ognev, his orderly and a limping Cossack named Krysin from among those who joined the detachment in Cossack Khomutets. The shells ran out, the orderly led the horses out of the beam, and the three horsemen, under the whistling of White Guard bullets, began to retreat into the steppe. While the whites realized that there was no one else in front of them, and brought the horses out of the shelter, the three horsemen continued to leave unhindered. They were chased. The Cossacks fired while galloping. One bullet hit Ognev. For some reason Krysin began to lag behind. When the riders reached the old Scythian mound, Krysin stopped his horse. He tore the rifle from his shoulder and shot down the wounded Ognev. The orderly looked around, saw the commander falling, did not have time to understand anything - he was killed by the second shot. Krysin jumped off his horse, walked up to Ognev, cautiously turned him over and began to remove the boots from the dead man...”

Ognev was buried in a common grave on the Kazachiy Khomutets farm near Rostov-on-Don. He was also included by the Bolsheviks among the canonized heroes of October.

In his native village, the memory of the hero is still alive. In the rural park there is a monument to Evdokim Pavlovich Ognev. And the school museum contains a huge amount of information about the fellow countryman: parchments with memories of participants in the events, portraits of Ognev and even a cartridge case from the Aurora.

There were several myths about this.

The myth of the “Aurora salvo” was born literally the next day after the storming of the Winter Palace, the signal for which was a shot from the legendary cruiser. Such information began to appear in the local press. Subsequently, already in the Stalin years, the version that “Aurora” fired at Zimny ​​with real shells was actively replicated: this was written about in the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”; the play “Volley of the Aurora” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater, based on which a film of the same name was released in the 1960s; in 1937, Mikhail Romm shot the film “Lenin in October,” where the audience’s attention is also focused on this episode. The myth of the “volley” did not bypass literature: Alexey Tolstoy in “Walking Through Torment” writes about the roof of the Winter Palace being pierced by a shell.

This was all that remained from the recently noisy and drunken bustle of the capital. The idle crowds left the squares and streets. The Winter Palace was empty, pierced through the roof by a shell from the Aurora. (Alexey Tolstoy. “Walking through Torment.” Book 2)

On October 21, the Bolsheviks sent commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee to all revolutionary units of the troops. All the days before the uprising, there was an energetic combat training. Combat ships, such as the cruiser Aurora and Zarya Svoboda, also received certain assignments.<…>The revolutionary units of the troops, prepared for the uprising by the work of the Bolsheviks, accurately followed combat orders and fought side by side with the Red Guard. The navy did not lag behind the army. Kronstadt was a fortress of the Bolshevik Party, where the power of the Provisional Government was no longer recognized for a long time. Cruiser"Aurora" with the thunder of his cannons aimed at the Winter Palace, announced the beginning of October 25 new era- era of the Great Socialist Revolution. (Short course on the history of the CPSU (b))

The cruiser "Aurora" and the icebreaker "Krasin" in the dry dock named after P.I. Veleshchinsky Kronstadt Marine Plant. 09.25.2014 © Andrey Sheremetev / AndreySheremetev.ru

Reality

The first and main exposers of the myth were the sailors themselves from the cruiser Aurora. The day after the events described, an article appeared in the Pravda newspaper in which the sailors tried to prove that there was no shelling of Zimny ​​on their part: if the cruiser had fired “for real,” not only the palace would have been completely destroyed, but also surrounding areas, they argued. The text of the refutation was as follows:

“To all honest citizens of the city of Petrograd from the crew of the cruiser “Aurora”, which expresses its sharp protest about the accusations thrown, especially the accusations that have not been verified, but cast a stain of shame on the crew of the cruiser. We declare that we did not come to destroy the Winter Palace, not to kill civilians, but to protect and, if necessary, die for freedom and revolution from counter-revolutionaries.
The press writes that the Aurora opened fire on the Winter Palace, but do gentlemen reporters know that the cannon fire we opened would have left no stone unturned not only from the Winter Palace, but also from the streets adjacent to it? But is this really the case?

We address you, workers and soldiers of Petrograd! Don't believe provocative rumors. Don’t believe them that we are traitors and rioters, and check the rumors yourself. As for the shots from the cruiser, only one blank shot was fired from a 6-inch gun, indicating a signal for all ships standing on the Neva, and calling them to be vigilant and ready. We ask all editors to reprint.
Chairman of the Ship Committee
A. Belyshev
Comrade Chairman P. Andreev
Secretary /signature/.” (“Pravda”, No. 170, October 27, 1917)

For many years, while official propaganda benefited from the myth about the power of revolutionary weapons, in which a single blank shot grew into a whole salvo of military weapons, no one remembered this note. Already during the Khrushchev “thaw” this text appeared in the magazine “ New world”, in the article by V. Cardin “Legends and Facts” (1966, No. 2, p. 237). However, the newspaper Pravda did not respond favorably to quoting itself 50 years ago, publishing in March 1967 a message on behalf of the Secretariat of the Writers' Union of the USSR, warning Soviet people against reading articles “imbued with false tendencies towards unfounded revision and belittlement of revolutionary and heroic traditions of the Soviet people." The article did not leave the country's top leadership indifferent. In one of his speeches to the Politburo, L.I. Brezhnev was indignant: “After all, some of our writers (and they are published) go so far as to say that there was supposedly no Aurora salvo, that it was supposedly a blank shot, etc., that there were not 28 Panfilov men, that there were fewer of them, This fact was almost invented that Klochko was not there and there was no call from him, that “Moscow is behind us and we have nowhere to retreat...”.

Many years later, during perestroika, the article, “imbued with a false tendency,” was reprinted in the Ogonyok magazine.

The military also refute the myth about the shelling of Zimny ​​from a cruiser: the ship, which really gained military glory by participating in the Russian-Japanese and First World War, had been undergoing major repairs since 1916, which means that all the ammunition from it should have been long gone by the time of the October events removed - in accordance with applicable instructions.

Another myth is that the Aurora’s shot is a signal to verify the time of the revolutionary squadron, sounded at 21.00 on October 25, 1917. (" ... No one set the task for the revolutionary sailors to give a signal for the assault. They simply gave a military signal, which was given regularly, so that the time could be reconciled on all ships... This practice now exists in armies and navies around the world. …I think that it is possible to say with a high degree of accuracy that the shot thundered exactly at 21.00.…”)

Let's turn to theory and history:

Accurate knowledge of time on the high seas is necessary for ships to reliably determine location (especially longitude). A lot of effort was put in by scientists, sailors, and watchmakers around the world to achieve the necessary accuracy and develop error-free methods. The British Parliament even offered a generous reward for successfully solving this problem. For example, at the equator, a time error of just 1 minute leads to an inaccuracy in determining the location on the Earth’s surface of almost 30 km. All this was widely known in 1917 (let’s look at encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron). The main way to determine a place out of sight of the coast then was astronomical.

Ships check chronometers (in those years with coastal ones) immediately before going to sea, in favorable hydrometeorological conditions for astronomical luminaries and phenomena with accurate knowledge of longitude. Yes, and it is advisable to check the time using such a signal only far from the coast on a separate voyage of a squadron of ships when a large error is detected in the reckoning of place or a serious error in the readings of the chronometers on one of the ships. I think it is clear that this does not apply to the ships stationed on the Neva.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a “single time system” already existed in Petrograd - at the suggestion of D.I. Mendeleev, a cable was laid from the “normal”, i.e. standard, clock of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures to the General Staff, under the arch of which a clock was installed that never runs or lags behind with the inscription on the dial: “Correct time”. This inscription can still be read today - walk under the arch to the Winter Palace or Nevsky Prospekt.

As you know, the tradition of the noon shot for civilian needs in St. Petersburg was firmly established on February 6, 1865. On this day, at exactly noon, a 60-pound caliber signal gun was fired from the Admiralty building, while the gun fired at a signal transmitted via cable directly from the Pulkovo Observatory. In 1872, in connection with the construction of the Admiralty courtyard with houses, the Naval Ministry proposed moving the signal gun to the Peter and Paul Fortress. On September 24, 1873, the noon shot was fired for the first time from the bastion of the fortress.

Since 1856, the British astronomical naval yearbook “Nautical Almanac” (published since 1766) has been supplied by the Maritime Department to all ships of the Navy (published since 1766), from which tables of lunar distances for determining longitude on the high seas were withdrawn in 1907 (instructions for calculating them were printed until 1924) Only in 1930 did our country begin to publish its own astronomical yearbook.

It is interesting to note that until January 1, 1925, the astronomical day began at noon, and the RSFSR switched to a time system based on the Greenwich meridian on February 8, 1919. And although a new style chronology was introduced by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 26, 1918. In the headlines of many newspapers, double dates were already in 1917.

The production of marine watches (not chronometers - they are foreign) is being organized in the Workshop of Nautical Instruments of the Main Hydrographic Directorate. Russian nautical instruments were awarded diplomas at international exhibitions in 1907 (Bordeaux) and 1912 (St. Petersburg).

If we consider that the speed of sound was measured by the Milan Academy of Sciences back in the 17th century, it is clear that the accuracy of a signal shot from a cannon, with the passing of the age of sail in the mid-19th century, and the development of watchmaking, could only satisfy time control for everyday civilian needs. For example, January 9, 1917 in the middle Atlantic Ocean The actions of the German auxiliary cruiser (sailing ship!) "Seeadler" during the capture of the steamer "Gladys Royle" were initially perceived as the ancient, ancient custom of checking the chronometer with a shot from a mortar, and responded with a flag. By the end of the 19th century, the most widespread system of time signaling in the ports of the world was electrically driven signal balls. The transmission of time signals by telegraph was also widely developed, especially with the advent of Yuz's direct-printing machines (remember the term "Yuzogram"?).

In 1912 - 1913, on the initiative of France, 2 international conferences were held on the use of radio to transmit precise time signals (ONOGO system). The first chairman of the international commission was Academician O.A. Backlund (1846-1916) – director of the Pulkovo Observatory. In 1914, the first experiment in transmitting time signals was carried out in St. Petersburg (regular broadcasting began on December 1, 1920, although it did not become particularly known to the fleet).

Since 1910, radio stations in Germany, England and France have already been transmitting time signals; since 1912, they have been transmitted using the Venier principle, which makes it possible to determine clock errors with an accuracy of 0.01 seconds; since 1913, at least 9 radio stations in the world have transmitted similar signals.

The most famous document of 1720 is “The Book of the Marine Charter. About everything that concerns good management when the fleet is at sea,” signals for controlling ships when sailing together were introduced. Yes, both flags and cannon shots, drumbeats, ship bells, and musket shots were used to serve them. Based on the experience of military operations of the fleet in the Mediterranean Sea in 1797, “Complete signals to be issued in the fleets of His Imperial Majesty” were compiled. In 1814 A.N. Butakov is compiling a complete dictionary of semaphore signals. After the actual creation by Vice Admiral G.I. Butakov published the “Book of Evolutionary Signals” and the “Code of Naval Signals” on the tactics of steam ships in 1868. They were based on flag signals. For night signaling, even before the creation of Morse code, flashlights were used. The corrected “Code of Signals” of 1890 was rightly criticized by Vice Admiral S.O. Makarov. With the advent of electricity on ships, the Ratier type signal lantern became famous. When darkening ships, fore and wake lights were used to control formations. Various figures raised on halyards and shields with signs were also used. Signaling and communications were taken seriously. The decoding of the signals was spied on.

From the destruction of ships in the Battle of Tsushima, the command of the Russian fleet concluded that in addition to flags and searchlight signals, it is necessary to have another type of signaling that would not depend on the presence or absence of superstructures and masts. These are signal flares. The Very pistol (according to another transcription by Baer) is still in service with the Navy (more than 100 years!). At the beginning of the century, they were imported from abroad, they were expensive, and therefore many domestic analogues were created. Particularly famous was the system of captain 2nd rank Zhukov (1908), although it was intended mainly for sending combat and evolutionary signals; for everyday signals, which include time signals, in his opinion, signaling with flags and lanterns was sufficient. The question is, was the famous red light from the Peter and Paul Fortress a signal flare?

As we see, the need for such an archaic method of checking the chronometers of completely modern, well-equipped warships (well, not at all like Francis Drake’s “Golden Hind”, despite the troubled times in the country), is like a cannon shot, and even in the middle of Petrograd at the beginning of the 20th century clearly absent, as it is now. For the needs of time control, bells were sounded on the ship itself during the watch.

All the more surprising would be the delivery of such a regular signal by a rather expensive main-caliber artillery charge. After dismantling the 37-mm Hotchkiss guns from the Aurora, 76.2-mm anti-aircraft guns of the Lander system would most likely be used as signal guns (there is also a term for salute guns). A blank salvo from a 152-mm gun of the Peter and Paul Fortress still shakes the glass across the city, and in the Hermitage, before the gun turned towards Vasilyevsky Island, an alarm went off - a lot of glass would have been blown out on the English Embankment - this is clearly not the case for a regular signal. An example is November 20, 1992, when the midday shot was fired for the only time in the courtyard of the Naryshkin bastion.

Let's return to Aurora:

The ship, under the command of Lieutenant N.A. Erickson, on October 22, 1917, after completion of repairs at the Franco-Russian plant, was prepared to go to sea to test the machines (and not for withdrawal from Petrograd for counter-revolutionary purposes, as was presented by the Bolsheviks ) and even took part of the ammunition on board - there is war in the Baltic. There are quite accurate chronometers on board, as on most ships of that time, British-made (very protected due to their importance and tradition). The navigator has a “Nautical Almanac” with a Guide to the Use of the English Naval Monthly and, of course, other nautical instruments.

Chief of the watch - midshipman L. A. Demin (1897-1973), future rear admiral, doctor geographical sciences, who prepared more than 100 nautical charts and sailing directions, headed the Leningrad branch of the All-Union Astronomical and Geodetic Society for 16 years (from 1957 to 1973) - he’s still young, but he won’t forget to get such a chronometer?!

The situation with the gun sights is a little unclear - there is a version that they were removed and locked somewhere in the cabin. But think about whether someone would then stand on ceremony with the locked cabin. The cruiser's commanders do not remember this.

The bright spotlights of the Mangin system are also operational; a similar signal could have been sent by them.

Despite the statements of S.N. Poltorak, Aurora was still assigned tasks for certain actions in preparation for the assault on the Winter Palace. These are orders of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies No. 1219 dated 10.24.17 on transferring the ship to Combat Readiness and No. 1253 dated 10.24.17 on the task of restoring traffic on the Nikolaevsky Bridge. By order No. 1125, Alexander Viktorovich Belyshev was appointed commissar of the ship, even indicating the time of 12 hours 20 minutes. And by a telegram from Tsentrobalt dated 10.24.17, “Aurora” was subordinated to the Military Military Commission; this document was registered at the Main Naval Headquarters on 10.27.17 under No. 5446 (it was accepted by the duty officer, Warrant Officer Lesgaft). They counted on the pressure of the cruiser's guns, they even sent checks. The majority of the team is on the side of the Military Revolutionary Committee.

Having taken measurements of the unfamiliar Neva fairway "Aurora" at 3:30 p.m. On 10.25.17, she anchored at the Nikolaevsky Bridge opposite the Rumyantsev mansion (English Embankment, 44) and carried out the order to ensure traffic on the bridge.

By 19 o'clock they entered the Neva, having completed the transition from Gelsinfors (Helsinki) with a call to Kronstadt, combat-ready destroyers“Zabiyaka” and “Samson”, a little earlier the patrol ship “Hawk” and other ships.

It would be very naive to believe that such a transition was made by ships without reliable knowledge of time (and, as a consequence, longitude), even in the presence of visual references, and they did not correct it in the port of Kotlin Island, equipped with everything necessary for this, but preferred to “ask again”, according to version of S.N. Poltorak, near Aurora. The mine war, which was widely waged in the Baltic, you know, is a dangerous thing and you need to go along a strictly tested channel, and the forts of Kronstadt are ready.

The radio stations (including medium-wave tones) of the cruiser and other ships are also in perfect order. Radiograms of the listed ships can be found in the Central State Administration of the Navy, case numbers have even been published in the open press.

Between the ships, the Peter and Paul Fortress, in which there is a uniform confusion with the guns and artillerymen, which G.I. Blagonravov can barely cope with (having called sailors-artillerymen from the training ground), and the surrounded Winter Palace on a boat (from the Aurora?) V. rushes about. A. Antonov-Ovseenko. (this is also known from the memoirs of L.D. Trotsky).

Let's consider the second part of the assumption - the Aurora shot sounded exactly at 21.00. The most often called 21.40, 21.45. Eyewitnesses of the events (former members of the Provisional Government, Aurors, deputies) and reporters of Petrograd newspapers of those years with different political leanings indicate the time quite accurately and it does not vary too much.

Comparing and analyzing their memories, newspaper publications (and this is a topic for a separate and serious article), archival documents, one can be convinced that the former Aurora commissioner A.V. Belyshev says 21.40 is absolutely correct. Only now it all started with a grenade explosion in the palace, then the troops defending the Winter Palace began firing guns.

The Aurora salvo was required, but it had something completely different

meaning -" Only one blank shot was fired from a 6-inch gun, signaling a signal to all ships moored on the Neva and calling on them to be vigilant and ready.“This is from the text of the letter from the crew of the cruiser “Aurora” - I am attaching it to the article. It’s very surprising to me that it hasn’t been published in full for a long time. What prompted the team to write this letter becomes clear from other publications of those days. And the surname of the until this day unknown secretary of the cruiser’s Sudcom Committee is Miss (he is Estonian by nationality).

I understand that this is how the Aurora shot is historically correct and should be called.

And the shot was fired (by gunner E.P. Ognev from the team of A.V. Belyshev) on a note sent to the Aurora by Antonov-Ovseenko or Blagonravov. The destroyers also fired, and even the signal cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress fired. There were destructions of the Winter Palace and city buildings.

And the shot, according to historians, was fired at 21:40, while the assault began after midnight, which, alas, does not confirm the theory of the Aurora’s signal function in the capture. However, the Cruiser Aurora is depicted on the Order of the October Revolution, which itself was awarded in 1967.

Historic shot or volley?

On the Red Fleet embankment, near house No. 44, there is a granite stele with the inscription: “October 25 (November 7), 1917. The cruiser Aurora, standing opposite this place, with the thunder of its guns aimed at the Winter Palace, announced on October 25 the beginning of a new era - the era of the Great Socialist Revolution.
Indeed, in 1917 the cruiser’s crew took part in the October events. According to the order of the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee, the cruiser stood at the Nikolaevsky Bridge (Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge) to shell the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government was located. A blank charge was fired from the bow gun of the Aurora (in Soviet literature the shot was called a “volley”, “thunder of guns”, etc.), which was considered a signal to begin the assault on the Winter Palace.
As sailor N.A. Khovrin, a member of the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet, said, the Aurors deliberately loaded the cannon with a blank charge. They could not help but go out to the raid and carry out the order of the Military Revolutionary Committee, because they were afraid of reprisals against the Bolshevik sailors from Kronstadt and Helsingfors. If the coup failed, the Aurors could justify themselves. This version existed for a long time. Subsequently, the story was “combed” by linking the cruiser’s blank shot with a signal sent from the Peter and Paul Fortress and the beginning of the assault on the Winter Palace. During the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, a copper plaque appeared on the tank gun with the inscription: “6-dm tank gun from which the historic shot was fired on October 25, 1917 at the time of the capture of the Winter Palace. Cruiser "Aurora", 1927."
This stereotype was firmly ingrained in our consciousness: no one doubted that the shot from the Aurora’s forecastle gun heralded the “beginning of a new era,” and the ship was deservedly considered “legendary.”
In the encyclopedia “The Great October Socialist Revolution” (1987) we read: “On the morning of October 25 (November 7), the Aurora radio station broadcast the appeal of the Military Revolutionary Committee written by V. I. Lenin “To the citizens of Russia!” On the same day at 21 hour 40 minutes conventional sign From the Peter and Paul Fortress, the bow gun of the Aurora fired a blank shot and gave the signal for the assault on the Winter Palace, in which the sailors of the cruiser participated.”
A little history. The cruiser inherited its name from a frigate of the Russian fleet, which distinguished itself in August 1854 when repelling an attack by an Anglo-French squadron on the port of Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka. In June 1896, the designers began developing the cruiser project, and on May 23, 1897, its laying took place at the New Admiralty shipyard (now the Admiralty Shipyards). On the eve of the laying of the ship, according to the decree of Nicholas II of March 31, 1897, the cruiser was given the name “Aurora”. On May 11, 1900, the ship was launched, and on September 18, 1903, after sea trials, it was included in the Baltic Fleet.
The project and drawings were developed by the designers of the Baltic Shipyard. The construction of the ship was supervised by engineer K. M. Tokarevsky. The cruiser had a displacement of about 7000 tons, length - 126.8, width - 16.8, draft - 6.6 meters and developed maximum speed 19 knots. The cruising range at an economical speed of 10 knots was 4,000 miles. It was armed with fourteen 152 mm main caliber guns, six 76.2 mm anti-aircraft guns, one surface and two underwater torpedo tubes. The ship could carry 152 galvanic shock mines. Crew - 723 people.
During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the cruiser Aurora, as part of the 2nd Pacific Squadron, made the transition to the Far East, where it took part in the Tsushima Battle, which was unsuccessful for the Russian fleet, during which the ship’s commander, captain 1st rank, was killed E. R. Egoriev. The ship made it to the port of Manila, where it was interned. After the end of the war and the signing of peace with Japan, the cruiser returned to Kronstadt in 1906. Many relics remind of the events of the Russo-Japanese War, including a portrait of E. R. Yegoryev, placed in a frame made from burnt deck boards and cruiser armor, pierced by a Japanese shell.

After repairs, the ship became a training ship: midshipmen of the senior companies of the Naval Cadet Corps practiced on it. From May 1907 until the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918), the cruiser Aurora made six training cruises for a total duration of 47 months, covering more than 65 thousand miles. In 1911, at the invitation of the Italian government, the cruiser visited the port of Messina. In 1916, the cruiser underwent modernization.
In 1918-1923 the ship was stored in the Kronstadt port. In January 1923 she was repaired and became a training ship again. On February 23, 1923, he became part of the division of ships of the training detachment of the Naval Forces Baltic Sea. In 1927, during the celebration of the 10th anniversary October revolution the ship was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Until 1933, the ship sailed continuously, making several long-distance voyages abroad. In 1933 it was put under major repairs. Since 1935, the Aurora became a non-self-propelled training cruiser, on which naval cadets underwent practical training. educational institutions. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the cruiser was in the port of Oranienbaum (since 1948 - Lomonosov). In August 1945, it was transferred to the Nakhimov Naval School, established in 1944, and on November 17, 1948, it was placed in eternal parking at the Petrogradskaya embankment on the Neva.
In November 1947, the cruiser took a historical place on the Neva, below the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, where it stood in October 1917. At the command of the first commissioner of the cruiser, A. V. Belyshev, a blank shot was fired from the bow gun in memory of the historical event. In 1967, during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, this shot was repeated. In 1968, the cruiser Aurora received the Order of the October Revolution, becoming the only ship of the Soviet Navy with two orders on its flag. Since 1956, a museum has been operating on the ship, which has become a branch of the Central Naval Museum. In 1960, the cruiser Aurora became one of the monuments protected by the state.
In 1984-1987 at the Leningrad Shipyard named after. A. A. Zhdanov (now the Severnaya Verf Shipyard) carried out restoration and restoration repairs of the cruiser Aurora. On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917, the cruiser again stood at its eternal berth at the Petrogradskaya embankment. The transfer of the Aurora from the factory pier to the mooring site took place on August 16, 1987. On October 2, 1987, the museum ship was opened to visitors. On July 26, 1992, the St. Andrew's flag was raised on the cruiser Aurora.
Looking through periodicals of the first half of the 20th century, you can see that the cruiser Aurora was canonized in 1927 as a symbol of the October Revolution. The former driver of the cruiser, chairman of the ship committee and commissioner of the Aurora, Bolshevik A. V. Belyshev, became almost the main character of the events that took place in Petrograd on October 25, 1917. After 1927, on November 7, not a single solemn meeting or parade on Uritsky Square ( Palace Square) were not carried out without the participation of Belyshev.
Immediately after the coup, rumors spread throughout Petrograd that the Bolsheviks fired live shells at the Winter Palace - Rastrelli's creation - from the Aurora guns. On October 27, in the Pravda newspaper, Aurora sailors published a letter: “The crew of the cruiser Aurora protests about the accusations thrown, especially unverified accusations, but casting a stain of shame on the cruiser’s crew. We declare that we did not come to destroy the Winter Palace, not to kill civilians, but to defend against counter-revolutionaries and, if necessary, to die for freedom and revolution. The press writes that the Aurora opened fire on the Winter Palace, but do gentlemen reporters know that the cannon fire we opened would have left no stone unturned not only from the Winter Palace, but also from the streets adjacent to it? We address you, workers and soldiers of Petrograd! Do not believe provocative rumors... As for the shots from the cruiser, only one blank shot was fired from a 6-inch gun, indicating a signal for all ships standing on the Neva, and calling them to be vigilant and ready.”
As follows from this document, the purpose of the shot was different. Witnesses of the events do not even mention any “signal to begin the assault on the Winter Palace.” A participant in the uprising in Petrograd, a member of the Bolshevik Party since 1915, N.A. Khovrin wrote: “The Aurora’s blank shot grew into... a salvo! But in fact, everything that has been written and is being written about the Aurora and the sailors in machine-gun belts is, from beginning to end, a distortion of the reality of history. After 15-20 years, a blank shot begins to be called a signal for a general assault on the Winter Palace, and we, participants in this assault, learn about this signal 15-20 years later. It is also characteristic that long before the Aurora fired, cannons were firing from the Peter and Paul Fortress - after all, this could also serve as a signal. So, apart from a blank shot, the Aurora has nothing more active, and all attempts to prove that this cruiser played almost a leading role in the uprising are not based on anything and are a complete invention of today's heroes. The absence of a log book of that time on the cruiser is, of course, associated with a not entirely fair game of heroes, who are credited with the high honor of being in the vanguard of the Great October Revolution. I can safely say that the logbook of that time was deliberately destroyed as evidence that this “legendary” cruiser is not at all what it is believed to be.”

Firsov A.

For many years now, every year on November 7th and 8th, citizens of our country celebrate the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. According to party historians, everything happened as follows. At a signal from the cruiser Aurora, armed workers and peasants under the leadership of the Communist Party rushed to storm the Winter Palace, overcame the resistance of the women's battalion guarding the Winter Palace, broke into the palace and arrested the Provisional Government.

The chairman of the provisional government, Kerensky, left the Winter Palace in the morning.

The main hero of the revolution is considered to be Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who that evening went to the Smolny Palace, from there he led the storming of the Winter Palace, and after the completion of the storm he declared the Provisional Government deposed.

There are several facts that are constantly obscured by historians, but which make sense to pay attention to.

Firstly, On the morning of November 25 at about 11 o'clock in the morning, the Chairman of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, left the Winter Palace, leaving the Provisional Government without any instructions.

Secondly, on the afternoon of November 25, the general staff and the provisional government (located on both sides of the palace square) were presented with ultimatums to surrender. And a white flag soon appeared on the general headquarters.

Third, at 19 o'clock, and another hour later, the commissioner of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee Grigory Chudnovsky with a group of parliamentarians comes to the Winter Palace and presents the Provisional Government with a repeated ultimatum demanding surrender.

The provisional government understands that the situation is acute, so Chudnovsky is released, but they do not give a positive answer.

Fourth, the shot from the Cruiser Aurora at 21 o'clock was not fired into the air. This was not a signal for an assault, but a demonstration of force. Shots were also fired several times from the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Fifthly, Aurora’s shot was fired not from the main gun and with a blank cartridge, but aimed. The projectile wad that flew out along with the powder gases hit the Winter Palace. In doing so, he broke through two walls of the building, causing the building to shake. In the first years after the revolution, visitors were shown the holes in the wall caused by Aurora's shot.

At sixth, after Aurora's warning shot, the cruiser's six-inch guns were loaded with live shells.

Aurora's next one or more shots would level the Winter Palace. But Aurora didn’t shoot anymore. Neither idle nor in combat. Judging by the fact that no further shots were required from Aurora, it can be assumed that a white flag was hung above the Winter Palace or on one of its windows, as well as above the general headquarters. Whether this is so is not known.

Obviously, in this situation, defending the palace, firing even one shot, or in any way preventing outsiders from entering the Winter Palace would be tantamount to suicide.

V.A. himself Antonov-Ovseyenko, sent to the Winter Palace to arrest the provisional government, no matter how he embellished the dangers of the event, described the events immediately after Aurora’s shot in his book “In the Seventeenth Year”:

“A gun shot sounded dully. More and more. Peter and Paul Fortress spoke. Better... The air was powerfully torn... - "Aurora"! - Shouldn't we suggest they surrender again? - asks Chudnovsky, who brought some of the Pavlovians, brave and talkative as always. I agree. Goes with someone. The artillery shelling had an effect. The fire of the barricades went out. Shut up - apparently abandoned? - armored cars... Some kind of crash, clanging of weapons, hysterical screams. “We surrender, comrades!”

V. N. Smolin

Letters from a gunner-igniter of the Petrograd separate fortress artillery company.

“We are starting to prepare for battle. The fortress can only fire from machine guns and rifles: the guns, standing menacingly on the parapets, are not suitable for shooting and were placed solely for greater effect (only one cannon fired, loaded from the muzzle and announcing the time). It was necessary to think about getting the guns and installing them...” These words belong to G.I. Blagonravov, commissar of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the October days of 1917. If you read his memoirs further, you will find out that the soldiers of the fortress company were considered unreliable by the commissar of the Military Revolutionary Committee, but still he managed to find several three-inch guns in the Kronverksky arsenal and roll them out to the “camps” - the space between the Alekseevsky ravelin and the banks of the Kronverksky channel and the Neva River , - to shoot at Zimny ​​with direct fire.

The artillery soldiers refused to fire these guns, citing their malfunction. Then artillery sailors were called from the Marine training ground on Okhta, who then fired shots at the Winter Palace. “Immediately upon my return,” Blagonravov further writes, “I informed the sailors about what was required of them. At the same time, he ordered to open concentrated fire along the embankment and at the palace. Soon the crackle of gunfire showed me that the order had been carried out with precision. Everything was ready with the guns too.”
The memoirs of the fortress commissioner became the main source in describing this fact. Comparing them with other sources recreates the picture of the artillery shelling of Zimny: the fortress’s guns are faulty, the artillerymen refuse to fire from the three-inch cannons rolled out into the camp clearing, artillery sailors are called in, they fire 30 - 35 shots, only one of the shells hits the target - the room on third floor of the Winter Palace. This pattern can be found in many books up to this day. A photograph taken in this room has survived to this day, documenting the destruction caused by the shell.
And it was this photograph that was the first drop that began to “sharpen the stone.” Dozens of people have seen it in archives and books. But it never occurred to anyone to find this room, to inspect the “scene of the incident,” so to speak. However, this is not entirely true. In any case, one person did as his common sense and the researcher’s instincts told him. This person is a senior researcher at the State Hermitage, Pavel Filippovich Gubchevsky. Back in 1947, while preparing for the thirtieth anniversary of the October Revolution on behalf of the administration, he began collecting documents and photographs about the Winter Palace on October 24-25, 1917. As a true museum worker, as a man in love with his Hermitage, the head of security of which he was during the harsh times of the siege, P. F. Gubchevsky began to travel with these photographs around the Winter Palace, “tying” them to the current topography of the museum.
He also reached the room that was hit by a shell from the Peter and Paul Fortress. I began to look for a hole in the wall, captured in the photograph. When he found this place and looked around, he was amazed to see in a small side window, from where only a shell could fly in, the Naryshkinsky bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress! But it was known that they were shooting from the splash of the Neva, from the left flank of the fortress. This is what G.I. Blagonravov wrote, this is what all the specialized literature said. And only the hole, only the trajectory of the projectile’s flight spoke of something else. This shot was fired from the Naryshkinsky bastion, located in the center of the fortress. The room where the shell hit is corner and has two windows. One is wide, facing directly onto the Neva. And the second is narrow, from which there is a view of the Naryshkinsky bastion and the Trinity (now Kirovsky) bridge. If the shell were fired from a cannon standing on the splash, it would break the corner of the building or the large front window and crash into the opposite wall. And then the right side wall and side window were broken. But P.F. Gubchevsky was neither a ballistics specialist nor a historian of the October Revolution. They were only on his side frozen photograph, wall, window, imaginary trajectory line. On the other side are the authorities of participants in the revolution and professional historians.
Then, in 1947, all this remained his personal guess, a conclusion prompted by intuition. P. F. Gubchevsky did not talk about his doubts in print, but kept it in his memory. Then other concerns distracted him from this topic, and only last years under the most unexpected circumstances, he again returned to shooting from the Naryshkinsky bastion.
In the same 1947, many hundreds of kilometers from Leningrad, in the Vologda region, in the city of Veliky Ustyug, an elderly man retired due to disability. His name was Vasily Nikolaevich Smolin.
There was one remarkable detail in his biography. Since 1915, he was a soldier-artilleryman of the same Petrograd separate fortress artillery company, which was located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. And he, Smolin, was in the fortress on October 25, 1917. He kept his soldier's book and some documents, kept in his strong peasant memory many, many details of that historical night when he himself stood at the cannon on the Naryshkinsky Bastion and fired at the Winter Palace. But for the time being, few people were interested in this, and he himself rarely spoke about it in those years. But then the neighbors found out, then they began to invite me as a participant in the events to speak with my memories. V.N. Smolin wrote down “setting data,” as he himself calls them, in a school notebook, and began to conduct conversations in the local history museum and in schools. Much in this notebook came from popular literature on the October Uprising, but there were my own memories, especially valuable for listeners.
In March 1964, Smolin arrived in Leningrad. In the Artillery Museum, in an exhibition called “Russian Artillery of the Capitalist Period,” he suddenly saw his orderly six-inch (or 24-pound) copper cannon No. 5181 of the 1867 model. From it, starting in 1908 (when 11 of these six-inch guns replaced older guns on the Naryshkinsky Bastion), a midday shot was fired every day. From the same cannon, Smolin himself and his comrades fired a blank shot after 9 pm on October 25, which served as a signal for the six-inch Aurora.
In the spring of 1964, P. F. Gubchevsky came to the Hermitage old man with a beard and introduced himself as a public researcher at the Museum of the History of Leningrad, Alexander Grigorievich Petrov. A former military artilleryman, now retired and a passionate lover of the history of his city. He came with anxiety. I was afraid that during the repairs the potholes from shrapnel bullets on the grating of the ramp of the October entrance of the Hermitage would be repaired. In his opinion, these potholes were made during artillery shelling of the Winter Palace on the evening of October 25, 1917. A conversation ensued. Their meetings began to repeat. And the conversation began to spread more widely. How many shots were fired at the palace, how many hits... P. F. Gubchevsky again remembered his old doubts, and he told A. G. Petrov about the room on the third floor. Together they went up there, measured the walls, studied photographs.
Conversations with P. F. Gubchevsky gave a new direction to the search for A. G. Petrov. And then he accidentally learned from the museum staff that some old man had come to the Peter and Paul Fortress, claiming that he had fired at the Winter Palace from the Naryshkin Bastion. But V.N. Smolin had already left. And then, on March 17, 1964, the first letter from A.G. Petrov flew after him, marking the beginning of their correspondence. Soon an answer came from Veliky Ustyug.

Dear Alexander Grigorievich,
Hello dear!
This letter is written to you by that old man from Veliky Ustyug, to whom you sent a huge ordered letter for No. 667 with tasks about the Peter and Paul Fortress.
I am writing to you with mine with my own hand. I'm very glad to answer my friend.
In Leningrad I stayed with my brother for 7 days - March 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. I spent all these days walking around places of interest, such as: Smolny, at the apartment-museum of S. M. Kirov, on the cruiser "Aurora", where I was given good documents as a veteran of the Great Battles of October... I saw my historical copper cannon in the museum from which they shot on November 7 (messenger). Weight 83 pounds 8 pounds (without lock), model 1867. They also gave me a good Memo with a metal AIM badge, which they themselves wear on their chest.
I spent most of the time in the fortress itself at the museum directorate, where I had to fill out and deliver a personal card (questionnaire) with a photograph of a soldier from 1917.
On March 10, I met the guys from the Signal Gun, Zinoviev, Strikov, and Kudryavtsev, with whom, at their invitation, they jointly fired the traditional shot at the fortress at 12 noon. They entered me as an old veteran, a guest from Veliky Ustyug, into the shooting log and gave me a good Memorandum (certificate). Many thanks to them for this. In the fortress I met the guides, they copied from my notebook memories of the great revolutionary events of 1917 (the storming of the Winter Palace)...
Your questions.
1) Were there fireworks after the war began in 1914? Answer. Fireworks were produced before the February Revolution of 1917.
2) What type were the three-inch cannons that stood in the yard? 1891, as I remember.
3) Why do you call copper guns six-inch guns and not 24-pounders?
That’s why they called it six-inch, since its caliber is 6 inches. I don't deny that we also knew that she was 24 pounds (that's in diameter). But they called it six inches - the old fashioned way.
4) What kind of projectile was placed in the barrel of the copper cannon to fire at the Winter Palace? Answer. Grenade.
5) Was the red flag raised on the flagpole on February 27, 1917? Answer. Was not.
6) Did the cannon fire at noon in the summer of 1917? Answer. Yes, she did.
7) How the fireworks were made when those who died in February 1917 were buried on the Champs de Mars.
Answer. The fireworks were fired at the funerals of the victims of the February Revolution of 1917. Soldiers of the Pavlovsk Regiment fired from rifles. This past phenomenon is confirmed by former artillerymen Smolin V.N. and Selin V. Iv. From the Peter and Paul Fortress, fireworks from Smolin to you. N., I remember, was not performed at the funerals of the victims of the February Revolution. Before the February Revolution of 1917, all the fireworks we produced were entered into our soldiers’ books by our command, according to which the soldiers were given a monthly salary of 75 kopecks. per month and at the same time for fireworks, if there were any, 17 kopecks. In total, Smolin received 92 kopecks for the month. This is how the command recorded it until 17, and after the February Revolution, in the soldier’s pay books, like mine, there are no marks or records about fireworks. In addition to the salary received - 75 kopecks. per month. Which indicates that after the February Revolution until the October Revolution, no firing was carried out from the Peter and Paul Fortress, except for the messenger gun.
The soldier's book is currently stored in the local history museum of Veliky Ustyug along with my submitted documents.
8) Did the messenger gun fire at noon on July 5, 1917, when sailors from Kronstadt were in the fortress? Answer. Shot.
9) What gun was fired from on October 25, 1917 as a signal to the Aurora? Answer. The messenger fired a shot. Idle.
I’ll finish writing this. I send you greetings and wish you good health.

Your friend. Smolin.

Monday, May 11th.
Alexander Grigorievich,
Hello dear!
I received your letter dated April 24, I am very grateful for it... Alexander Grigorievich, thank you very much for the photo. This is all very, very expensive and interesting for me. The interesting thing is that after 47 years, I served in the fortress, and you somehow managed to find me in the archives in the orders that I, V.N. Smolin, received 2 rubles from the house. money. This is absolutely correct: for the entire service of 3 years and 2 months, I received only 2 rubles from home, since my father and mother lived poorly. Also very interesting: order No. 54 of February 23, 1915 - on taking the oath.
You are asking.
1. Are these 24-pound copper cannons that are in the photo?
I answer, Yes. Copper 24 lb. One of them is the messenger, who stands first on the right side, as you climb the stairs to the fortress. And then before the October (Revolution) this weapon was moved to the middle to 3rd place.
2. What material are the muzzle covers?
Answer. The muzzle covers were made of thick, harsh tarpaulin.
About badges.(1)
Yes, they were, but only a few. I also had a badge, which I later lost. What is the benefit in it?
About the crew of the leading gun during the times when we served.
1. The permanent head of the old soldiers, bombardier Comrade. Golubev, who was in charge of this case. It was his duty every day before 12 noon to load the messenger’s gun with gunpowder, which he brought from the powder magazine in the morning.
2. After each midday shot, the messenger’s gun was cleaned, for which two guards were appointed daily, either on duty or for punishment, to clean the guns.
I am an old man, I want to give the correct answers to all the questions you ask.
I also took part in the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution in early March 1917 on the Champ de Mars, where oblong graves-ditches with steep walls were dug, where 137 brown coffins were placed across the ditches. There was a funeral meeting, the Bolsheviks gave passionate speeches, when the mass graves were buried, black mourning banners with a tilt were hoisted onto the graves. But I cannot remember about the fireworks in the fortress at that time, which were done without me, until I discussed this issue with my comrades, former artillerymen.
Your question. Was there a midday shot on July 5, 1917? I am writing that at that time, from June 20 to July 11, I was on vacation in the city of Ustyug for 21 days.
About the Civil War of 1918. From September 5, I served on the Northern Arkhangelsk Front. Vreed of the Head of the Horse Reserve. Many horses died from the hunger strike, and desertion was terrible.
Very interesting
Two soldiers served with us in the Petrograd Fortress.
1. Savin Fedor, Novgorod region.
2. Zamyatin Sevastyan Mikhailovich, Arkhangelsk region.
The service was very bad for them. They suffered punishment after punishment from their commanders: either to clean the latrine out of turn, or to clean the messenger gun out of turn, there was simply no rest for these soldiers.
When the February Revolution broke out, one of them, Sevastyan Mikhailovich Zamyatin, sensing freedom like a lion, reared up in front of his command. Instead of cleaning his messenger gun, at the fortress he grabbed a heavy cleaver-axe, which was used to break the ice on the stairs, and with this cleaver he chopped with his full heroic scope at the edge of the muzzle of the upper part of the messenger gun of the 1867 model. This weapon is easy to find with a ulcer on the cut doula - it is in the museum b. Kronverksky Arsenal in ground floor. The gun is made of copper, with a shiny barrel, especially the breech.
Revolutionary participant V.N. Smolin from Veliky Ustyug.

July 25, 1964
Dear Alexander Grigorievich, hello, dear!
You write that we are going to write an article about the cannon that signaled the Aurora. And who was at the gun on the evening of 25/X 1917? Writing. Here are the servants of this weapon, as far as I remember, but not all of them.
1. Skolotnev Afanasy Yakovlevich, bombardier from the reserve soldiers of the Kadnikovsky district of the Vologda province
2. Villanen (gunner), a Finn who loaded the gun,
Smolin Vasily Nikolaevich, gunner - gun igniter.
To your question, who brought the order to shoot and who gave the command “Fire!”, this has not been preserved in my memory from a long time ago.
3. How many guns were there for the fireworks?
5 guns were prepared for the fireworks, but they fired from 4 due to a lack of servants.

Alexander Grigorievich!

To answer your questions, what kind of shells and where did we get them for firing on the evening of October 25, 1917 from fortress cannons at Winter from the fortress?
Answer. We received shells and grenades from the powder magazine warehouse, which was located in the fortress,
To the question. How many guns fired?
Answer. There were 4 guns fired. The guns were 6-inch. Including the messenger.
Question. How many shots were fired?
Answer. There were 5 blank shots and 2 live rounds.
There was great confusion on my part about the messenger gun. In my past memories it was written that we fired on the 25/X 1917 from the Peter and Paul Fortress at the Winter Palace from fortress cannons. This is true, our common shooting is one whole. You understand: the messenger gun on October 25 not only fired a blank shot as a signal to the Aurora, but also fired live shells. This is wrong.
After a long puzzle I remembered. That the messenger gun on the evening of October 25, 1917, from which we fired one blank shot. And no more shots were fired from it. Especially with shells - this is a mistake. This is confirmed by the gun itself, its dent, applied at the height of the February Revolution by Comrade Zamyatin, [on] the cut of the gun barrel. Flattened mint, Bottom part which hung below the internal rifling of the barrel. If during the October Days on October 25 a shell had been fired from it, the projectile that had flown out of the muzzle would certainly have cut off the hanging canopy of mint.
After reading this letter, I ask you to go to the art museum and look at myatina. Is this true?(2)
The remaining three guns fired 2 shots each, that is, four blanks and 2 live shells. One shell was fired at Zimny, and apparently it turned the corner of the building. And the 2nd shell, which was fired from the 4th gun due to an igniter error, which, without allowing the gunner to really point at Zimny, was in a hurry, pulled the cord earlier, and the shell flew to Sennaya Square, where 4 people were killed, that is, the worker's family. What was announced the next day, 26/X, by a man who came to the fortress, but it all turned out that way. After all, there is no revolution without victims. There is no use in complaining - who was killed...(3).

November 18, 1964
Alexander Grigorievich,
Hello dear!
I received your letter dated October 28 and your greeting card dated November 3. Thank you very much for your congratulations. I read your letter several times, from which I see all your efforts and efforts to collect various certificates and materials. Then you write that your help is needed. And I answer your questions.
9) Question. Did you see how the arrested ministers of the Provisional Government were brought to the fortress?
Answer. When the guards led the ministers to the fortress, it was at 3 a.m. on October 26. We met this procession at the Petrovsky Gate, from where a crowd of arrestees and guards emerged, and interested people ran along the sides of this crowd: workers and other strangers. These strangers on the sides ran at a trot, overtaking one another, ran far ahead, and, turning to face this procession, everyone tried to reliably see these ministers in the face, backing away, but it was very difficult to see them, they were surrounded by guards, and the light street lamps That night it was very bad, dim, not all the lights were on. The ministers were brought and taken to the cells of the Trubetskoy bastion. After which we, the artillerymen, went to our company through the kitchen entrance, which was located next to the Trubetskoy bastion. At our barracks we found entrance doors the floors, the windows on the Neva side are open, the glass in them is broken, there is a refrigerator in the barracks, and we soldiers, wet since yesterday, still haven’t gone to bed.
To the question, did you know where the former ministers were sitting? Of course, we knew, and we, soldiers, were allowed in there after the October Revolution. And from the February to the October Revolution under the Provisional Government, when the tsarist ministers were sitting, we were not allowed in there, although our company was close to the cells of the Trubetskoy bastion. It was divided by only one wall, and the street passage between the fortress and the Monetny (yard) was blocked by a wooden plank fence along the surface stretched with barbed wire, on which we, soldiers, after washing in the bathhouse, hung our clothes to dry, but all of our clothes were smoked with soot , flying from the pipes of the Coin Factory.
Once, under the Provisional Government, shortly after the February Revolution, during a visit by the relatives of those arrested, I managed to penetrate into the first cells where the tsarist ministers were sitting, who had newspapers spread out on their beds instead of beds, and later these lodgers were under the patronage of their good, kind owner began to quickly grow economically. Before the October Revolution, in the evenings, relatives began to bring down jackets, mattresses, pillows and blankets to those arrested during their visit, and this was all done before our eyes. And we are direct witnesses to this case - soldiers of a separate company, I, Smolin, for my part, can give at least 100 signatures in confirmation.
When asked about the gun in the museum, about the scratches on the breech.
I answer. These scratches were caused by careless cleaning. The main gun was cleaned every day after each shot; it was cleaned for punishment by different soldiers; no one supervised how and with what the guilty ones cleaned the guns, as long as the barrel and the surface of the gun shined. Some brave souls cleaned wood with a rag and a brick. There were no good bathhouses for cleaning the internal channels of the gun, but there were only bases, the metal bristles of the hair were worn off from them, often the bathhouse was wrapped in rags, wrapped around it, reinforced with wire, and this all indicated damage to the gun.
To the question about the 11 guns on the bastion.
I answer. All these 11 guns stood on the bastion: arranged in order. By right side There were 5 guns on the tower, and 6 guns on the left.
I didn’t have time to rewrite this sketch for finishing, which will be incomprehensible to you, write it a second time. I'll try to answer.
With sincere respect, Smolin.

January 4, 1965
A lot of
I am very sorry that I was late in responding to your letter of November 24, 1964...
To the question, was the palace illuminated by floodlights?
Answer. It was lit at times, and even then poorly. At the fortress at that time there was one unimportant searchlight on the Neva Curtain, which, diving, threw a sheaf of its rays for a very short time towards the Winter Palace, as if looking for something there.
To the question, were the cannons aimed at a specific place or only at the palace?
Answer. The government (4) was ordered not to destroy an expensive building and to shoot only in certain places.
Question. Why was there a lantern with red glass in the fortress?
Answer. According to the plan developed by the Military Revolutionary Committee Field Headquarters, the signal for the assault should be the flash of a lantern with red glass on the flagpole of the fortress. But in our fortress we did not find such a lantern with red glass. We ran for a long time looking for a lantern. And then they decided to arrange their own lantern. They used a simple company utility small lantern, tied it with a red scarf, and pulled it up to the flagpole (on the mast) so that it was visible, but the lantern produced a dim light, but still served as a sign for the start of signal firing from the fortress and the cruiser "Aurora". The lantern equipped and pulled up the flagstaff of the captain's armus of a separate artillery company Krylov, bombardier of the 1911 conscription...
Your friend Smolin.

(February) 1965
Dear Alexander Grigorievich!
You have sent me back several questions that are misleading me. You write and ask me where the 4 horse artillery guns came from. and why were they in the fortress? I won’t tell you anything about this question. I know that these 4 guns, standing along the Catherine Curtain, that is, under the windows of our barracks, stood with us in the summer of 1916 for no more than 3-4 months, for training soldiers. And then they were gone, they say that these guns were sent to the front near Dvinsk [to] an air-battery battery.
...2. Six three-inch guns that stood on the parade ground of the Naryshkin bastion were pumped out by us to the splash of the river on October 25, 1917 at 11 o’clock in the afternoon. Not you. And in addition to these, we rolled out several cannons from the Kronverk Arsenal, which stood there in the yard between the barns. These guns from the Arsenal were rolled along the Kronverksky Bridge through the Ivanovo and Petrovsky Gates, bending around the cathedral, and again rolled out through the Nikolsky Gate to the Kronverksky shore and through the Camp Glade to the splash pad. This is how it appears at present. Like a sleepy dream. After all, 48 years have passed since that time. Where you remember everything (5).
In March 1964, when I visited the Peter and Paul Fortress, the inside of the fortress seemed unrecognizable. The fences that were previously* were all demolished, as well as small buildings. You can go anywhere and everywhere freely. I went into my barracks, into that casemate, the 1st platoon, where we served, where we climbed through the window in 1917. I wanted to really look at everything in the company, but the working carpenters asked me to leave there, and I left offended - why do they feel sorry? I then stayed in Leningrad for seven days with my brother Grisha, who lives in Petrodvorets. Out of 7 days, I got lost in the Peter and Paul Fortress for 5 days - wandering around, looking at the wolf.
Writing. After all, there is only one bridge across the Kronverk Strait. Walking from Trinity Square along the bridge to the fortress, you enter the Ivanovo Gate of the Ioanovsky Ravelin, and then enter the fortress - the second gate. This will be Peter's Gate, won't it? We called the Kronverk Gate the gate that was near the Arsenal fence. There is a ditch and a bridge behind it. We stood at these gates, on duty for 2 shifts a day, 12 hours each. On February 27, 1917, at the height of the February Revolution, revolutionary workers climbed into these gates for weapons...
Your friend Smolin.

(early May) 1965
Dear Alexander Grigorievich!
You write that you really need my answers about the guns and shells that you need for further work that is far from finished. What are we going to do, my friend?
To the question, what happened to the 3 guns that were pumped out on October 25, 1917 into the splash of the Neva River, and what was done with the unusable 87 mm trained shells? This is something I find difficult to answer. The boxes with shells were removed soon after the October Revolution, where they were taken and removed, I don’t know. The guns on the splash were left standing there for a long time. At the end of November 1917, as I wrote to you earlier, we artillerymen were evicted from the fortress outside the city to the Srednyaya Rogatka station, which is located 12 versts from Leningrad along the Warsaw railway. d. And from there they were sent to the front. And therefore I cannot say what happened to these guns that were standing on the splash, where did they go later?
I send you greetings. Write. Smolin.

Dymkovo. October 24, 1965
Dear Alexander Grigorievich, hello!
Write what you have now that is new in preparation for the 48th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Which materials do you need most?
In your last letter you asked me to answer several questions.
1. Where was the headquarters of the Military Revolutionary Committee?
I answer. At the Smolny Institute.
2nd question. What was the name of Ensign Karpov?
I answer. Karpov's name was Rostislav Rostislavovich.
3rd question. Was there a way to the shore from your barracks (through the window)?
I answer. There were no passages from our barracks to the shore. And soldiers climbed into the window after the February Revolution, when the soldiers themselves pulled out the bars from the windows on the side of the Neva River, and these bars were on the outside of the walls against the windows, which served as stairs from the barracks down to the garden. I already wrote about this to you earlier in my materials. The way to the shore was through the Neva Gate.
4. Question. Have you seen the sailor from the Amur, he was a liaison officer with the cruiser Aurora?
Answer. We did not know such a connected sailor from the Amur.
To the question: English correspondent Philip Bryce saw a red flag on the flagpole of the fortress in the days of October.
I answer. If there had been a red flag on the flagpole before the assault began, then why did we need to look for a rope to pull the red lantern onto the flagpole. We would then lower the flag to the bottom, tie a lantern, and pull up the lantern along with the flag on one rope. Because we didn’t have any rope on the mast at that moment, which is why the start of the assault on the palace was delayed for a long time. The only time the flag could have been on the flagpole was when the shooting ended, that is, they took Zimny. The latter is most likely. Yes, at the end of the assault the red flag fluttered on the mast. I remember this well. Then Philip Bryce is right...

Dear Alexander Grigorievich!
...So you write that the training guns in a separate artillery company were without sights and panoramas. This is not true, how can we do without sights and panoramas? There were sights, but they were separated from the guns after each firing, and before firing they were again installed on the front breech of the gun.
All these three-inch guns were castle-mounted on the side, just like the six-inch serf guns. The guns from the Kronverk Arsenal were in the same condition.
The guns that stood at the Catherine Curtain of the 1900 model, which were sent to the front in the air-battery batteries near Dvinsk in the summer of 1916. Both of them did not have armor shields. Yes, there really was no oil in the compressors. Not only was there no oil in the gun compressors, but there was no oil on the fortress battery either. It is not surprising that the fortress' six-inch and three-inch guns turned out to be faulty and rusty by the day of the assault on October 25, since these guns were not cleaned due to the lack of oil in the battery.
About the Kronverk bridge.
Your drawing diagram dated May 20, 1966 is given correctly in your letter.
This bridge was temporary wooden stilts(columns), [with] wooden transverse flooring. In the strait near the bridge there were wooden barges loaded with piles of aspen firewood, melted down from nowhere. This melted firewood from the barges was unloaded by workers and soldiers and laid ashore against the walls of the fortress, and from there it was transported by the military units located in the fortress for their kitchen and barracks heating needs. A little higher than this bridge, on the same left bank, two wooden plank sheds were built, in which evacuated and captured various property brought from the fronts, such as worn uniforms, horse equipment, etc. were tightly packed. Things that are more valuable, all this were knocked into sheds, and large objects, such as church bells, factory machines, huge boilers, cannons, on which there were inscriptions in white chalk: “Przemysl”, “Warsaw”, etc. Apparently, this property, which was littered with there was the entire shore almost to the military bathhouse. All this was littered with various junk: irons, copper shoe pins, which were scattered in cauldrons, as can be seen from large state-owned military shoe workshops, and all this stuff had been in the open air for years, in the rain. There were also searchlights lying around in these heaps. You can’t re-read everything. To protect this property, a separate company artillery was assigned a guard post, where 2 people were assigned per day. We stood for 4 hours, and there were 12 hours a day. I, Smolin, also often had to freeze my snot at this post.
I also forgot to write that near this Kronverksky bridge there was a high pillar in the water, on which a wide board was nailed and a warning was written on it:
Don't drop anchors!
Electrical cable.

Okay, write whatever you need.
Smolin.

Dear Anna Ivanovna and Alexander Grigorievich!
I received your dear letter dated August 6 this year, thank you very much. Sorry for the delay in answering. All our tasks are eternal, now cleaning, now something else, then another...
I keep all the different photographs you sent and the memos you brought in March 1964. Now, in addition to the Great Ustyug Museum, in which a lot of my stuff is exhibited there, I have a whole museum at home in my large front room. I even purchased a signal light with red glass that is mounted to the ceiling so that everyone can see it. And I tell the people gathered in my room, pointing to the lantern with my hand. A signal lamp on the fortress lit up, and immediately two blank gun shots rang out: the 1st from the fortress, and the 2nd from the cruiser Aurora (6). From the bright flashes of gun shots in the darkness of the night, the Neva River and its embankments, etc., were momentarily illuminated.
Yes, you and I, Alexander Grigorievich, now clearly understand all the bridges leading from the fortress to the Kronverk Arsenal.
This bridge disappeared, we assume, in 1918-1919, in civil war, for firewood. Now there are no traces left of the bridge, only memories. On this missing bridge, on October 25, 1917, at 10 a.m., artillerymen of the Peter and Paul Fortress Vasily Nikolaevich Smolin, Grigory Novoselov, Afanasy Yakovlevich Skolotnev, Andrei Villanen and others (forgotten names), all these named soldiers of a separate company 1- The first platoon at 10 o'clock in the morning rolled light three-inch cannons from the yard and from the sheds of the Kronverk Arsenal, through the camp clearing and installed these guns on the bank of the Neva on the splash near the Trubetskoy Bastion with their muzzles directed towards the Winter Palace. To your question to me: “Did you personally hear the Aurora shot?
My answer. Yes, very well I heard the shot of the Aurora K
Write. Your friend Smolin.

AFTERWORD

The letters of V.N. Smolin, published with abbreviations, are interesting primarily because they highlight the participation of soldiers of the Petrograd separate fortress artillery company in the October armed uprising. The stories about the “neutrality” of the company have some basis. She actually declared her non-interference in events in July days. On July 5, when the fortress was occupied by Kronstadt sailors, the midday shot was not fired so as not to give grounds for suspicion of provocation. “Neutralist” sentiments were also strong in Oktyabrsk days. But the fact remains: it was the company’s artillerymen who rolled out the famous three-inch guns onto the splash of the Neva. Finally, they were the ones who fired several combat shots. The only entry into the palace from the Neva side was also the result of their work.
V.N. Smolin also talks about the artillerymen’s refusal to fire from three-inch cannons. But he gives this fact another, purely psychological explanation. It seemed strange to the soldiers why they were forced to roll these cannons over the fortress walls, when “their own” cannons, quite suitable for battle, were standing on the bastion?
V.N. Smolin denies the fact of firing from three-inch cannons stationed in the “camps”. Perhaps they fired simultaneously with the six-inch guns of the Naryshkinsky bastion, and therefore the roar of the shots merged. Perhaps it's just a memory lapse. The artillery sailors actually came to the Peter and Paul Fortress and fired from three-inch cannons. This is mentioned in many memoirs. Employees of the Artillery Museum in Leningrad are now busy establishing the names and surnames of these artillerymen.
There are other gaps in the former artilleryman's memories. It remains unclear when they received the order to prepare six-inch guns for battle, and who exactly gave them this order?
In addition to a number of factual details of the shelling of Zimny, Smolin’s letters are also interesting from the point of view of depicting the revolutionary life of the Petrograd garrison, and even the life of the old royal barracks. In this sense, the story of the soldier Zamyatin is noteworthy. There is a lot of value in Smolin’s story for a sociologist. The psychology of a soldier - yesterday's peasant - is clearly manifested in many letters. Look with what masterly regret V.N. Smolin describes the disorderly warehouse of things outside the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he stands on duty. How many thoughts flashed through his mind as he looked at all this property, so carelessly stored! And how interesting and figurative is the folk language of letters, among which there are real finds and wonderful descriptions!

1. We are talking about badges issued in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Petrograd Separate Fortress Artillery Company in 1911.
2. The dent and overhang are exactly as described.
3. In the newspapers of that time there is a mention of the fall of an unexploded shell on Demidov Lane. next to Sennaya Square. There are no reports of casualties.
4. This refers to the Military Revolutionary Committee.
5. Subsequently, V.N. Smolin remembered that the route for rolling out the guns from the Kronverk Arsenal was different. See last letter
6. A.G. Petrov found that the blank charge of the six-inch cannon of the Naryshkin Bastion consisted of 8 pounds of smokeless gunpowder, and the blank charge of the six-inch gun of the “Kane” system of the cruiser “Aurora” consisted of 17 pounds. Thus, the Aurora's shot was more powerful and was heard further.

V. N. Smolin How they fired at the Winter Palace on October 25, 1917. Letters from a gunner-igniter of the Petrograd separate fortress artillery company. Publication by V. I. Michkov.// PROMETHEUS. Historical and biographical almanac series<<Жизнь замечательных людей>>. T. 4. Editor-compiler N. Pirumova. M.: Young Guard, 1967. pp. 164-173