Gustav Mannerheim: Biography of Hitler's ally, facts of genocide, atrocities against Russian Finns under his leadership. PHOTO, VIDEO

To whom was a memorial plaque built on the wall of a military school in St. Petersburg, the head of the presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, and the Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky ...?

From the news bulletins:

“Sharp rejection by some residents of St. Petersburg of the opening of a memorial plaque to Marshal Karl Mannerheim on Zakharyevskaya Street resulted in an act of vandalism. On Sunday night, unknown people poured red paint over the board. Now the police are trying to find the intruders using CCTV footage.

Recall that the plaque on the facade of the building of the Military Academy of Logistics on Zakharyevskaya Street was opened on June 16. The head of the Kremlin administration Sergey Ivanov took part in the opening. Before the revolution, there was the Church of the Saints and Righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth, the Life Guards of the Cavalier Guard Regiment. Mannerheim served in this regiment.

The question of perpetuating the memory of Mannerheim caused mixed reactions in society. On the one hand, this Finnish commander served in the Russian army from 1890 to 1917, participated in the Russian-Japanese and World War I. However, after the revolution, he moved to Finland, built a system of defensive fortifications "Mannerheim Line" there, was the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army in 1939-1944 and fought with the USSR, later becoming the president of Finland.

Russian Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Military Historical Society of the Russian Federation (RVIO) Medinsky also said in response to criticism of the installation of the board that "one should not try to be a greater patriot and communist than Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who personally defended Mannerheim."

Apparently, the minister had in mind the story in which Stalin, with the words "Do not touch", crossed out the name of Mannerheim from the list of Finnish war criminals compiled by Herte Kuusinen.

Finnish cartoon about the bloody bugger Mannerheim

A new animated film has appeared in Finland. What's amazing about this? And the fact that its author - the famous Finnish director-animator Katarijna Lillqvist - fell under an avalanche of letters and phone calls with death threats. It came to the intervention of the police. And all this is happening not in some "hot" southern country, but in the reserved northern Suomi.

Lillqvist dared to encroach on the sacred, almost on the icon - the national hero of Finland, Marshal Karl Mannerheim, who, thanks to the many years of efforts of local myth-makers, turned into a Finnish Prometheus.

The director focuses on those aspects of the life of the legendary marshal that are not usually spoken about aloud, namely: his homosexuality and unjustified cruelty during the civil war in Finland in 1918.

The puppet cartoon - half realistic, half fantastic - is called "Ural Butterfly". "Butterfly" is a young man who was brought to Mannerheim from beyond the Urals, and who became both his servant and lover. When a civil war broke out in Finland, Mannerheim, at the head of the "white" troops, went with his "butterfly" to pacify the "reds", that is, to save the state.

The cartoon is based on real events that took place in 1918 in the vicinity of Tampere. There were fierce battles between the "white" and "red" Finns. Suppressing the speeches of the "Reds", many of whom rotted in concentration camps, Mannerheim gave orders for the mass destruction of prisoners of war and civilians.

At the same time, his detachments also killed many white officers, ordinary citizens, women and children who had nothing to do with the "Reds" - they were killed only because they were Russians. Especially for those who, out of ignorance (or on assignment), defend the "Russian officer" Mannerheim, who allegedly "fought with honor for the Whites against the Reds":

Jaegers formed the core of the army of the "Russian General" Mannerheim. These were Finns who had been trained in Germany and fought in the First World War against the Russians. Furious Russophobes were led by "military pensioner" K.G. Mannerheim. (They are very fond of aspirating to say that "he knew Russian better than Finnish").

What did his favorites mark in the Civil?

Having entered the city of Vyborg on April 28-29, 1918, after the withdrawal of the Finnish Red Guard, the chasseur battalions staged a “purge” in the city. Reds and whites, military and civilians, adults and children were killed. But first of all, the Russians were killed.

Swede Lars Westerlund published a book-study of this phenomenon "We were waiting for you as liberators, and you brought us death ...". It should be given to the cadets of the school to read before taking up the post at the memorial plaque that the authorities erected yesterday at 22 Zakharyevskaya Street in order to split society and spit on History.

Here are some excerpts from this work.

From an entry dated May 2 and 3 in the diary of Baron Paul Ernst Georg Nicolai, owner of the Mon Repos estate:

“... Madame Naumova came to ask for a certificate for her husband. Her son, a 16-year-old boy, was captured and shot on the first day, for no reason. I think they heard him speak Russian! All Russian street names must be removed within 48 hours. It seems idiotic in a city with such a large Russian population.”

Both mass executions and murders in courtyards were carried out.

The Petersburg newspaper Delo Naroda wrote about executions in the Vyborg Castle. According to the article, 150 Russians hid in the fortifications opposite the castle. They were all taken to the castle, where the men were separated from the women. After that, the men were divided into groups of 20 and shot in the courtyard of the castle. Among the executed was an unknown colonel. Wives and mothers looked at the execution from the windows and, horrified by what they saw, some of them went crazy.

The Vyborg architect Vietti Nyukanen told how on April 29, 1918, at 3.30 or 4.00 am, the attacking troops of the rangers captured the Vyborg castle: they were shot." Obviously, we are talking about Russian representatives of the nobility, officials and officers who were killed even before the start of mass executions in the first half of the day.

Tailor Ivan Udalov was shot in the courtyard of the castle. His wife Alexandra Kapitonovna Udalova was arrested on the evening of April 29, 1918, in a Russian club near St. Anna Square. All the rest of those present were also arrested and taken to the Vyborg Castle.

About the mass execution between the ramparts at the Friedrichsham Gate in the afternoon of 04/29/1918.

“A table was brought from the railway station building, at which officers dressed in a reminiscent of an Austrian uniform conferred for 10 minutes. They announced to the detainees that they were sentenced to death, after which they sent them to the ramparts at the Friedrichsham Gate.

On the afternoon of April 29, 1918, Russian prisoners gathered at the Vyborg railway station were forced to march towards the western Vyborg fortifications. At about 3 pm, as soon as the group was placed between the ramparts in four rows at the Friedrichsham Gate, they carried out, probably, a pre-planned and prepared mass execution.

An eyewitness, soldier Oskari Petenius, related this: “One of the prisoners tried to escape and was shot dead in the middle of the road. When all the prisoners passed through the first gate of the fortifications, they were ordered to stand on the left side of the moat so that a right angle was formed. When the prisoners approached there, the guards surrounded them. The narrator heard how they were given the order to shoot, but did not know who ordered. There was no way for the prisoners to escape. Every one of them was shot with rifles, hand weapons or grenades. Petenius also took part in the execution, firing five shots from his rifle.

The commander of the Vyborg guard, captain Mikko Turunen, who saw everything, said: “(...) they were shot between the ditches, where there were already some of the executed, and some of the Russians who were being shot just at that moment, about several hundred. The execution was carried out by about a hundred Finnish soldiers, among whom were officers. According to the narrator's observations, it turned out that at first they shot with crossfire from rifles, then the executioners went down into the ditch and finished off one by one the surviving prisoners.

An attorney from the city of Vaasa, Josta Breklund, who personally participated in the execution, told about what happened: “The prisoners were placed in the ditch so that they formed a right angle. The guards were ordered to line up in front of the prisoners and shoot. The soldiers who were at the beginning of the procession started shooting first, then all the rest, including the narrator (...). Almost immediately, as soon as the shooting began, most of the prisoners fell to the ground. Despite this, the shooting continued for about another five minutes. On the ramparts there were soldiers, huntsmen (...). After some time, a man in a German Jaeger uniform ordered the rifles to be raised and the fire stopped, after which the men approached the dead. Then, first, two, one of whom was in a German Jaeger uniform, began to shoot with a revolver at the heads of the wounded, but still alive people. Gradually others joined them.

“... The spectacle was indescribably terrible. The bodies of the executed lay at random, in what position. The walls of the ramparts were stained with gore on one side. It was impossible to move between the ramparts, the earth turned into a bloody mess. Search was out of the question. No one would be able to examine such piles of bodies.”

Military officials who sympathized with the White Finns were shot just as easily: “The captain of the liquidation department, Konstantin Nazarov, according to the stories of his wife Anna Mikhailovna Nazarova, “left the house on the designated day (04/29/1918) at half past eight in the morning to greet the Whites, and at about half past ten he went to the station to obtain any permission to stay. But at the station there was a long line of people waiting, and he went home, and then to his office at 21 Ekaterininskaya Street, where he, along with other members of the department, was arrested at 11 o'clock in the morning. He did not help the Red Guards in any way and was not a Bolshevik. Nazarov was shot between the ramparts on the same day.

According to the information told by the former caretaker of the church, Yukho Kochetov, on the day the city was taken, one Russian officer who lived in Vyborg “went with a bouquet in his hands and in uniform to greet the White Guards, but was instead shot.”

Philistines were killed: “Dealer Ivan Prokofiev was killed on April 29, 1918 between ramparts. The merchant A.F. Vaitoya and the landlord Julius Hyauryunen confirm: “Juhana (Ivan) Prokofiev was not a member of the Red Guard and, moreover, did not take part in the rebellion.”

Children were killed: “The youngest of those killed were 12-year-old Sergei Bogdanov and 13-year-old Alexander Chubikov, who were shot between the ramparts. The 14-year-old son of a worker, Nikolai Gavrilov, has gone missing. Perhaps this was the same boy that Impi Lempinen spoke about: “I again ended up in a group where they spoke Russian in a whisper, there were many Russians. There was also a friend of mine, a 14-year-old boy who spoke Russian, who was born in Vyborg. One monster rushed to the group with a spruce branch on his hat and shouted: “Don't you know, they kill all Russians?”. Then this young boy bared his chest and shouted: "There is one Russian here, shoot." The monster took out a weapon and fired, the dead boy was a brave Russian.”

The memoirs of a worker activist speak of the execution of three young Russians on the Red Well Square on the morning of April 29, 1918. According to them, the whites noticed in the group of prisoners gathered on the square “a couple of Russian schoolchildren of 18-19 years old. Also on the head of one middle-aged man was a Russian military cap. “Russians, get in line!” one huntsman shouted. These three Russians were quickly taken to the nearest courtyard, from where shots immediately rang out. The executioners returned laughing...

The Jaeger movement began to actively expand its circle of adherents in Finland in 1914, especially in the university environment, and led to the initiative of military training of Finnish volunteers in the Royal Prussian 27 Jaeger Battalion of the German Army in 1915-1918.

But not all huntsmen were as loyal to the government as is commonly believed. During the training, the team of rangers rallied into a single group, and it was important for them to act together in Finland as well. Wilhelm Theslef expressed the idea - to form a strong strike group on the basis of the 27th battalion. Jaegers would be the backbone of the brigade, the number would be supplemented from security detachments. The brigade was to be reinforced by two infantry regiments, cavalry, a field artillery battery, and a reconnaissance company. The commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, which was just being created, Mannerheim opposed this initiative. He feared that fighting with one unit, the huntsmen were at risk of complete defeat. "... I am strongly convinced that this will lead to the destruction of the white army," he said, reporting on the situation to Senator Renvalle ...

It is still not customary to remember these victims of the civil war in Finland. No less cruelly did the Finns kill Russian soldiers and officers during the Great Patriotic War. In Finland, they are silent about what they did with the captured Russians.

"PUTIN'S IMMORTAL REGIMENT"

Quotes from Finnish newspapers:+

Our artillery strikes again. Five batteries simultaneously begin to send shells to the Leningraders. (newspaper Uusi Suomi).

The bombardment of Leningrad is a majestic spectacle. There is no doubt that thousands and thousands more, especially civilians, will die in this game. (newspaper Ilkka).

Leningrad will fall into our hands in the form of ruins. The inhabitants will die of hunger. (newspaper Suomen Sanomat).

Now this city of Leningrad must perish. (newspaper Ani Suunta).

On June 9, 1944, the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation began. Soviet troops, with the active support of the Baltic Fleet, broke into the Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus and on June 20 stormed Vyborg. The correspondent of the Pravda newspaper reported on June 25: “With every kilometer of advance along the land liberated from the enemy, a picture of the bloody atrocities of the Finns is increasingly unfolding before our soldiers. At the very beginning of the offensive on the Karelian Isthmus, the soldiers of one of our units, who broke into the village of Tudokas, saw the mutilated corpse of a Red Army soldier near the burning house. His back was pierced with bayonets, his hands were cut off ... The Red Army soldier Lazarenko, who fell into the clutches of the Mannerheims, was subjected to monstrous torture. Finnish executioners drove cartridges into his nostrils, and burned a five-pointed star on his chest with a red-hot ramrod. But even this seemed not enough to vile sadists. They broke the skull of their victim and stuffed breadcrumbs inside.”+

From the report on the atrocities of the White Finns in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR, sent to the head of the GlavPURKKA A.S. Shcherbakov, his deputy I.V. Shikin (Moscow, July 28, 1944): “Numerous material has been collected regarding the brutal massacre of Finnish white bandits over prisoners, especially the wounded, Soviet soldiers and officers. It testifies to the wild, barbarous torture and torture that Finnish sadists subjected their victims to before killing them. Many found corpses of the tortured Soviet officers and fighters have stab wounds, many have their ears and noses cut off, their eyes gouged out, their limbs turned out of their joints, skin strips and five-pointed stars were cut out on their bodies. Finnish fiends practiced burning people alive at the stake. 25.VI—1944 on the shore of Lake Ladoga, the corpse of an unknown Red Army soldier was found, boiled alive at the stake in a large iron barrel. From the testimonies of prisoners of war it is clear that among the White Finnish soldiers, a wild, cannibalistic custom of boiling down the heads of slaughtered Soviet prisoners of war in order to separate the soft covers from the skull has spread. No less terrible is the fate of Soviet prisoners of war, whose lives were saved in the first minute. In the concentration camps, a regime was established, designed for the extinction of prisoners of war by a slow, painful death. When reports appeared in the foreign press, including the Swiss one, about the barbarian regime and high mortality in Finnish prisoner-of-war camps, Mannerheim was forced to issue the following statement in December 1942: 20,000 prisoners from starvation. Until August of this year, 12,000 prisoners actually died...””.+

According to the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, Field Marshal Mannerheim, dated July 8, 1941, all "foreigners", that is, Russians, were sent to concentration camps as part of a program of ethnic cleansing. According to the data of the doctor of historical sciences S.G. Verigina (Petrozavodsk State University), "in 1941-1944. Finnish troops occupied two-thirds of the territory of Soviet (Eastern) Karelia, where about 86 thousand local residents remained, including those displaced from the Leningrad region. Ethnically related to Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, representatives of other Finno-Ugric peoples were to remain on their territory and become future citizens of Greater Finland. Ethnically unrelated to the Finns, local residents, mostly Russians, were considered as immigrants, not nationals or foreign nationals (these terms were used in the documents of the Finnish authorities).”+

N.I. Baryshnikov in the book "Five myths in military history Finland 1940-1944" notes: “The presence of such an order by Mannerheim was carefully hidden all the time in the official Finnish historiography, although the specified document exists and is stored in the Military Archives of Finland. This is secret order No. 132, signed by the commander-in-chief on July 8, 1941, the day before the Finnish troops, the Karelian army, went on the offensive in the direction north of Lake Ladoga. Paragraph four of the order said: “The Russian population should be detained and sent to concentration camps.”

In the collection “The Monstrous Atrocities of the Finnish-Fascist Invaders on the Territory of the Karelian-Finnish SSR (Collection of Documents and Materials, State Publishing House of the Karelian-Finnish SSR, 1945) in the message of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of Atrocities Nazi German invaders and their accomplices, it is said that the government and the supreme military command of Finland sought to turn the Karelian-Finnish SSR into a colony. The instruction of the Finnish headquarters, captured by the Red Army in June 1944, says: “If Finland now lacks building timber, then the rich forests of Eastern Karelia are waiting to be turned into capital.”+

By the end of 1941, there were about 20,000 people in the concentration camps, the vast majority Russians. Their largest number occurred at the beginning of April 1942 - about 24 thousand people, or about 27% of the total population in the occupation zone. For the Russian population of the Olonets district, as well as residents of the Vologda and Leningrad regions, resettled in the occupied territory of Soviet Karelia in the initial period of the war, concentration camps were created in the villages of Vidlitsa, Ilyinskoye, Kavgozero, Pogrankondushi, Paalu and Uslanka, as well as six concentration camps in Petrozavodsk. In total, during the Finnish occupation of Karelia, 14 concentration camps for the civilian population were created. According to the Karelian historian K.A. Morozov, as a result of hard forced labor, poor nutrition, famine, epidemics, executions in the camps, more than 14 thousand people died. Soviet people, or 1/5 remaining in the occupied territory. Their only fault was that they were not Finns, and also did not belong to the Heimokansalainen group (tribesmen, i.e. Karelians, Vepsians and Izhors). Tortures and executions were used against the "guilty". These statistics do not include data on prisoner-of-war camps, the first of which began to be created as early as June 1941 and the regime in which was not much different from that of concentration camps.

And what the White Finns did with the prisoners on the battlefield defies any reasonable explanation at all. On June 28, 1944, near the village of Tosku-Selga, the Finns attacked a group of wounded Red Army soldiers. They stabbed them in the face with a knife, smashed their heads with butts and axes, and thus killed 71 wounded Red Army soldiers. So, the skull of Lieutenant Sych’s guard was split in two and his eyes gouged out, the guard of Private Knyazev had five bayonet wounds on his face, the guard of Sergeant Artemov’s face was cut with a razor, his arms were turned back, one wounded man was doused with gasoline and burned (the corpse cannot be identified).

On July 4, 1944, in the defense sector recaptured by our soldiers, next to the trench lay the corpse of a senior sergeant. The instrument of their atrocity - a large Finnish knife - the Finns left stuck in the chest of a Soviet soldier. The senior sergeant's hands were stained with blood, and the position of the corpse proved that the bandits had thrust the senior sergeant's hands into his cut throat. According to the found Red Army book, it was established that it was Senior Sergeant Boyko. Not far from Boyko were the corpses of other fighters. The Finns cut off one soldier's ear, another was gouged in the forehead huge hole, the eyes of the third were gouged out.+

(left: skin taken by the Finns from a captured Russian soldier)

On June 20, 1944, during the occupation of the 7th company of the 3rd line of the battalion 1046 of the Finns' defense regiment, the head of an unknown Soviet soldier, put on a stake driven in front of the door of the mined dugout, was discovered in the Finns' trench, in front of the entrance to the dugout of the command post.

The newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" dated August 11, 1944 published a letter from Senior Lieutenant V. Andreev: +

“Dear comrade editor! Take a look at this photo. It shows Lieutenant of the Finnish army Olkinuorya. In his hands is the skull of a Red Army soldier tortured and killed by him. As the prisoners testified, this beast in uniform decided to keep the skull of his victim “as a keepsake” and ordered the soldiers to boil it in a cauldron and clean it. And in the suitcase of the captured Finn Saari, we found photographs like this. Saari tortured the prisoners, cut off their arms and legs, and ripped open their stomachs. He even established a system: first he cut off the feet, hands, then the shins, forearms, and only then cut off the head.

The captured corporal of the 4th company of the 25th battalion of the 15th Finnish infantry division Kauko Johannes Haikisuo testified on July 6, 1944: “I heard such a case from a soldier Markus Koivunen. One deep reconnaissance platoon of the Lagus armored division caught in the spring of 1943 a Red Army soldier somewhere in Karelia. Finnish scouts scalped the Red Army soldier, hung the scalp on a bough, and then killed the prisoner. From this you can conclude how we treat Russian prisoners of war.”+

August Lappetelainen, Medical Sergeant of the 7th Company of the 30th Infantry Division of the 7th Infantry Division of the Finnish Army made the following statement to the command of the Red Army:

“On April 25, 1943, I and the commander of the 2nd platoon, sergeant major Esko Savolainen, went to the command post of the 7th company. Company commander Seppo Rusanen turned to me: “Listen, junior sergeant. I have a task for you: I need to get a human skull, and you, as a medical worker, will need to boil the head to get the skull.” On April 26, the company commander called me. We drove about 2 km. The Kalle stronghold was located there, where Russian scouts attacked in winter. Three Red Army soldiers were killed here, their corpses lay uncleaned. When the platoon commander and I examined these corpses, he found a suitable head, I cut off the head with an ax that was with me. Then the lieutenant said to me: "Take this head on a shovel, and I will photograph it." Then the lieutenant told me that I would have to boil it as quickly as possible so that it would not spoil. Before I put my head in the cauldron, the lieutenant came and took another picture of her. After that, I saw this skull on his desktop. And then in early August, Rusanen went on vacation and took this skull with him. According to the stories of the soldiers of the Liyavala and Räsänen department, Rusanen took the skull as a gift to his bride” (translated from Finnish).

During interrogation, a soldier of the 101st Finnish infantry regiment, Aare Ensio Moilanen, testified: “The reconnaissance and sabotage detachment, of which I am a member, set fire to the village of Koikari ... the women ran towards us and asked us not to shoot them. We raped some of these women and shot them all. Nobody was left. I have a beautiful girl in my memory, whom my comrades and I raped, and then shot.”+

The Finns tortured not only adults, but also children. A captured Finnish soldier of the 13th company of the 20th infantry brigade Toivo Arvid Laine testified: “In the first days of June 1944, I was in Petrozavodsk. The camp accommodated children from 5 to 15 years old. The kids were creepy to watch. They were small living skeletons, dressed in unimaginable rags. The children were so exhausted that they forgot how to cry and looked at everything with indifferent eyes.”+

Camps were set up for "offenders", predominantly women and children. special purpose in Kutizhma, Vilga, Kindasov, which were not inferior to medieval casemates. “Here the prisoners of the camps ate mice, frogs, dead dogs. Thousands of prisoners died from bloody diarrhea, typhoid fever, pneumonia. Instead of treatment, the animal doctor Kolehmainen beat the sick with sticks and drove them out into the cold. This letter was signed by 146 Soviet citizens, former prisoners of the Petrozavodsk camps.+

The commission, with the participation of the chief forensic expert of the Karelian Front, Major Petropavlovsky, the chief pathologist of the Karelian Front, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Lieutenant Colonel Ariel, examined the Peski cemetery in Petrozavodsk and discovered 39 group graves, in which at least 7 thousand corpses were buried. The cause of death for most of the buried was exhaustion. Some of the corpses had through injuries of the skull with firearms.+

Captured by the Red Army, the deputy head of the Olonets camp No. 17 for prisoners of war, Pelkonen, testified during interrogation: “I completely shared the fascist propaganda carried out by the Finns. In the person of the Russian nationality, I saw the primordial enemies of my country. With this opinion, I went to fight against the Russians. My boss, lieutenant Soininen, said that the Russians, even in captivity, continue to be enemies for the Finns.

The Extraordinary State Commission has established that the Finnish government and army command are primarily responsible for all the atrocities committed by the Finnish fascist invaders. Thus, Field Marshal Mannerheim is clearly a war criminal.+

Regarding the myth that

"MANNERHEIM DID NOT WANT TO HARM PETERSBURG"

The Finnish artillery, counting on one gun, fired shells in the direction of Leningrad no less than the German one, but they did not reach Leningrad not because of the baron's love for the city, but because of the laws of physics. The closest point to Leningrad for the Finns was 35 km, and for the Germans 10. Therefore, the Germans shot Leningrad even with divisional artillery. Not to mention the most powerful grouping of heavy and super-heavy guns.

The Finns had few such guns, but they were, and in Leningrad, though not as many as the Germans, they fired - there are several cases of hits on important objects from the "wrong" side, including a heavy shell hitting a bomb shelter, which caused large victims. These were the results of artillery fire from Finnish territory. And the rest of the Finnish artillery mercilessly beat on Soviet soil, reliably closing the blockade ring, and conscientiously fulfilling Hitler's order: +

"Not a single resident of Leningrad should go beyond the encirclement, the city should be completely destroyed by artillery and aircraft."

Director of the Military Museum of the Karelian Isthmus, Russian military writer Bair Irincheev:

INSTALLING A MEMORIAL PLAQUE TO MANNERHEIM IS A BIG MISTAKE

In this case, the following arguments were given: they say, Mannerheim was a Russian general, a servant of the emperor, white. This is part of a trend to romanticize the imperial period of Russia and an attempt to forget everything that happened in the Soviet period. Supporters of the board say: let's forget that Mannerheim was an ally of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944, and remember how he carried banners at the coronation of Nicholas II. But it is simply impossible to tear apart the biography of one person. It's anti-scientific.

As a result, "an attempt to overcome the tragic split in society that occurred after the October Revolution" led to clearly opposite consequences. This can be seen from the current discussion. Mannerheim returned to Finland after 1917 and served there. He did not interfere with the mass executions of the population in Vyborg, when his white army entered there. After the victory of the white army in the Finnish Civil War in the spring of 1918, there was his order "The Oath of the Sword". He then said: "I will not sheathe my sword until the peoples of Karelia are free from the yoke of Bolshevism." He was with both hands for the expansion of Finland and the accession of the Republic of Karelia to it. In 1919 - 1922, he in no way resisted military expeditions - the invasion of Karelia by Finnish volunteer detachments. In 1941, the Finnish army did not stop at the borders of 1920, took Olonetsk, Medvezhyegorsk, crossed the Svir, and occupied Podporozhye. Beginning in 1918, Mannerheim supported the separation of Karelia from Russia, and in 1941 he carried it out. And only in 1944, when he realized that the Soviet Union would not be defeated, he refused this. What is the overcoming of the split?

In August 1944, when the defeat of Germany became apparent, Finland officially "withdrew from the war." Then Mannerheim was replaced as President of Finland by Risto Ryti. This was done at lightning speed, in order to save Finland from Ryti's promise to be with the Nazi Republic to the end (he signed such a letter to Hitler on June 23, 1944). On August 24, Mannerheim became president and signaled to the Soviet Union that he was ready to fulfill the terms of the armistice. terms. Stalin, as a very pragmatic politician, understood: Mannerheim in Finland is a respected and compromise figure, and if you take him and hang him, then the right-wing parties will have their own martyr. All crimes were hanged on Risto Ryti. He was imprisoned by his own people for 7 years as a war criminal, he was released quickly enough on parole. Mannerheim, on the other hand, was excluded from the list of war criminals, but this is not tantamount to hanging a memorial plaque to him.

I communicate a little with the Finns, but the right is not enthusiastic, as they are Russophobic. The leftists say that in Tampere the monument to Mannerheim was doused five times with paint in memory of the bloody massacre in the spring of 1918. Finland has many of its own internal problems, and the figure is slightly forgotten. Next year, this will become relevant again: Finland will celebrate the 100th anniversary of independence and in 2018 - the 100th anniversary of the civil war.

By the way, Mannerheim's board itself contains errors: it shows the end date of the service - 1918, and then he already commanded the White Army in Finland and turned away when Russian officers were shot at. In general, setting up the board is an attempt to side with White and take revenge for their defeat, and not at all an attempt to overcome the split.

In this sense, the actions of the authorities look amazing, which, on the one hand, "condemn fascism", go to the "Immortal Regiment" action, write books about Finland's guilt in the death of a million blockade survivors, and then erect a monument to the direct organizer of the genocide ... (below are copies of pages from books of the current Minister of Culture V. Medinsky +

We have our own explanation for what happened. And it's not just about "attempts at reconciliation", "secret homosexual admirers" and "demonstration of friendly signs" during the Sabbath of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. We propose to look at the "theory and practice of oligarchic collectivism" of Putin's ruling regime through the prism of the anti-utopia of the practicing ideologist of the BBC J. Orwell

DOUBLETHINK, CARL!

Doublethink is the ability to hold two opposing beliefs at the same time.

Meaning of doublethink:

“Doublethink means the ability to simultaneously hold two contradictory beliefs. The Party intellectual knows in which direction to change his memories; therefore, he realizes that he is cheating with reality; however, with the help of doublethink, he assures himself that reality has remained untouched. This process must be conscious, otherwise it cannot be carried out accurately, but it must also be unconscious, otherwise there will be a feeling of lies, and hence guilt.

Doublethink is the soul of the Ingsoc, for the Party uses deliberate deceit to keep a firm course towards its goal, and this requires complete honesty. To speak a deliberate lie and at the same time to believe in it, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient and to retrieve it from oblivion as soon as it is needed again, to deny the existence of objective reality and to take into account the reality that one denies - all this is absolutely necessary. Even when using the word "doublethink", it is necessary to resort to doublethink. For by using this word you admit that you are cheating with reality; one more act of doublethink and you erased it from your memory; and so on ad infinitum, and the lie is always one step ahead of the truth.

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim(Swede. Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, MFA (Swedish): [ˈkɑːrl ˈɡɵsˌtɑf ˈeːmil ˈmanːərˌheim]; June 4, Askainen - January 27, Lausanne, Switzerland) - baron, Finnish military and statesman, lieutenant general of the Russian Imperial Army (April 25), cavalry general (March 7) of the Finnish Army, field marshal (May 19), Marshal of Finland (only as an honorary title) (June 4), Regent of the Kingdom of Finland from December 12 to June 26, President of Finland from August 4 to March 11.

As a personal name, they used the second name, Gustav; while serving in the Russian army, he was called Gustav Karlovich; sometimes he was called in the Finnish manner - Kustaa.

Biography

Field Marshal Mannerheim had a tall stature, a slender and muscular body, a noble posture, a confident demeanor and clear features. He belonged to that type of great historical figures who were so rich in the 18th and 19th centuries, as if specially created for the fulfillment of their mission, but now almost completely extinct. He was endowed with personal traits characteristic of all the great historical characters who lived before him. In addition, he was an excellent rider and shooter, a gallant gentleman, an interesting conversationalist and an outstanding connoisseur of the culinary arts, and made an equally magnificent impression in the salons, as well as at the races, in clubs and at parades.

Origin

There is a document from which it follows that Hinrich Margein, who after moving to Sweden became known as Heinrich, founded an ironworks here. His son was raised to the Swedish nobility in 1693. (Swede.) Russian , while he changed his last name to Mannerheim. In 1768 the Mannerheims were raised to the baronial rank, and in 1825 Karl Erik Mannerheim (fin.) Russian (1759-1837), the great-grandfather of Gustav Mannerheim, was elevated to the dignity of a count, after which the eldest son in the family became a count, and the younger brothers of the eldest member of the family (to which Gustav Mannerheim belonged), as well as representatives of the younger genealogical branches, remained barons .

After the victory of Russia over Sweden in the war of 1808-1809, Karl Erik Mannerheim was the leader of the delegation received by Alexander I, and contributed to the success of the negotiations, which ended with the approval of the constitution and the autonomous status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Since then, all the Mannerheims have become distinguished by a clear pro-Russian orientation, since Alexander I repeatedly reminded: “Finland is not a province. Finland is a state." Mannerheim's grandfather, Karl Gustav, after whom he got his name, was the president of the court court (hofgericht - appellate instance) in Vyborg and a well-known entomologist, and his father was an industrialist, conducting major business throughout Russia, and a great connoisseur of literature.

early years

Carl Gustav (right)

Gustav Mannerheim was born in the family of Baron Karl Robert Mannerheim (fin.) Russian (1835-1914) and Countess Hedwig Charlotte Helena von Yulin. Place of birth - the Louhisaari estate in the commune of Askainen, not far from Turku, which at one time was acquired by Count Karl Erik Mannerheim.

When Carl Gustav was 13 years old, his father went bankrupt and, leaving his family, went to Paris. In January of the following year, his mother died.

Russian army

Cavalier Guard Regiment

On August 12, the staff captain is already in the capital on a wide range of business: from equipping the Stables with horses to selling manure for the estate of the maid of honor of the EIV Vasilchikova.

The whole year passed in family scandals, as Gustav continued novels with both Countess Shuvalova and actress Vera Mikhailovna Shuvalova, while her wife staged terrible scenes of jealousy. As a result, this had a detrimental effect on the children: daughter Anastasia went to the monastery at the age of 22.

In October, Mannerheim is elected as the 80th full member societies Imperial trotting races on Semyonovsky parade ground and a member of the referee commission.

The baron is left alone with an officer's salary and a very large number of debts (including card debts). Gustav's older brother is involved in the struggle to change the imperial laws in Finland, in connection with which he is expelled to Sweden. In the spring, a decree was signed on secondment of Mannerheim to the Brusilov cavalry school.

Officer Cavalry School

The captain is intensively preparing for (Brusilov's invention for "education of real cavalrymen"). In early August, in the village of Postavy, Vilna province, Gustav shows excellent driving qualities on a par with Brusilov.

Starting from September, business days begin: every day at 8 am an officer in the officer cavalry school on Shpalernaya Street. General Brusilov, knowing that Mannerheim was a supporter of the horse dressage system of James Phillis, appointed him as an assistant to the famous English rider.

Handing over the affairs of the training squadron to Lieutenant Colonel Lishin, Mannerheim began to prepare for shipment to Manchuria. A huge number of things had accumulated, some of which had to be transferred to other persons upon arrival at the front. To cover the huge expenses associated with the preparation, the captain received a large loan from the bank (under two insurance policies). Having chosen three horses, Mannerheim sent them separately to Harbin, although no one could say even approximately when they would arrive there.

Photo from Asian expedition

On June 10, Gustav was included in the expedition of the French sociologist Paul Pelliot, but then, at his request, Nicholas II gave Mannerheim an independent status.

On June 19, the colonel, with 490 kg of luggage, including a Kodak camera and two thousand glass photographic plates with chemical reagents for their processing, leaves the capital.

Before leaving for Russia, Mannerheim made another "mission", to Japan. The purpose of the assignment was to ascertain the military capabilities of the port of Shimonoseki. Having completed the task, the colonel arrived in Vladivostok on September 24.

Expedition results

• The map shows 3087 km of the expedition's route
• A military-topographic description of the Kashgar-Turfan region was compiled.
• The Taushkan-Darya river has been studied from its exit from the mountains to its confluence with the Orken-Darya.
• Plans were drawn up for 20 Chinese garrison towns.
• The description of the city of Lanzhou as a possible future Russian military base in China.
• The state of the troops, industry and mining of China was assessed.
• The construction of railways is estimated.
• The actions of the Chinese government to combat opium consumption in the country were assessed.
• Collected 1200 different interesting items related to the culture of China.
• About 2000 ancient Chinese manuscripts were brought from the sands of Turfan.
• A rare collection of Chinese sketches from Lanzhou has been brought, giving an idea of ​​420 characters from different religions.
• A phonetic dictionary of the languages ​​of the peoples living in northern China has been compiled.
• Anthropometric measurements of the Kalmyks, Kirghiz, little-known Abdal tribes, Yellow Tanguts, Torgouts were carried out.
• 1353 photographs were brought, as well as a large number of diary entries.

Mannerheim rode about 14,000 km on horseback. His account is one of the last noteworthy diaries compiled by travelers in this way.

The results of Mannerheim's "Asian campaign" are impressive: he was accepted as an honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society. When the full text of the traveler's diary was published in English in 1937, the entire second volume of the publication consisted of articles written by other scientists based on the materials of this expedition.

Poland

The preparation of the regiment (he received it from Colonel David Dieterichs) turned out to be weak, and Mannerheim began to correct it, as he had done before with his other units. Service, training on the parade ground and "in the field" for 12 hours a year made the regiment one of the best in the district, and the ability to work with people and personal example allowed Gustav to get most of the regiment's officers as allies. Summer camps were held in the village of Kaloshino, not far from Novominsk.

Weekend Mannerheim often spent in Warsaw, in the Lubomirski family. He also repeatedly met with his friend and colleague A. Brusilov, who commanded the 14th Army Corps, while Mannerheim's regiment was part of this corps as part of the 13th Cavalry Division of the Corps, Brusilov's headquarters was stationed in Lublin. The wife of Alexei Alekseevich died, relations with his son did not develop very well. On one of Brusilov's visits to the Vladimir regiment, the major general solemnly presented the colonel with the Order of St. Vladimir - an award for the Asian campaign. Two campaigners, they got along quite closely, and both will go down in history as outstanding military figures.

The private life of officers before the arrival of Mannerheim was not very diverse. Horses and women, there were few contacts with the Polish population, with the exception of three officers - Holovatsky, Przhdetsky and Bibikov, who maintained contacts in the highest Polish society. Mannerheim wrote much later: "There were very few personal contacts between Russians and Poles, and during my communication with the Poles they looked at me incredulously." But the commander abruptly changed the situation, taking equestrian sport as a basis. He became vice-president of the race society of the Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade and a member of the Warsaw Race Society, joined an elite hunting club.

The major general was adopted in the family environment of the Radziwills, Zamoyskys, Velepolsky, Potocki. In the house of Countess Lubomirskaya, he has been accepted for a long time. Poles haunted the officers of the regiment, and Gustav was no exception. Rumors of high-society ladies visiting Mannerheim's apartment quickly spread throughout the city. Countess Lubomirskaya wrote in her memoirs about the "friend of the heart": "Gustav was a man who was carried away, he never knew how to value anything." Mannerheim, on the other hand, understood that it was impossible to break off relations with the countess - this would immediately affect his position in society.

Life in secular Warsaw demanded big money, and Mannerheim periodically visited the hippodrome, where he exhibited his horses incognito for competitions (there was a ban for senior guard officers to exhibit their horses for competitions). The prizes were large: the Warsaw derby - 10,000 rubles, the Imperial Prize - 5,000 rubles.

After the defeat at Krasnik, the Austrians mobilized and organized an extremely dense defense in front of the right flank of the 4th Army, in connection with which the raids of the Russian cavalry behind enemy lines practically ceased. Each reconnaissance operation turned into a protracted battle. A good characteristic of Mannerheim's commanding qualities is the way out of the encirclement near the village of Grabowka. At nightfall, Mannerheim gathered senior officers and divided the encirclement ring into 20 sectors on the map, appointing an officer responsible for each sector. Then he set the task to get in each sector of the "language". Around midnight, Mannerheim had at his disposal one captured Austrian from each sector. After analyzing the situation, at about two in the morning the guards broke through the encirclement in the weakest place and by morning joined the 13th Cavalry Division.

In August 1914, for successful actions, Major General Mannerheim was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 1st degree with swords and received swords to the already existing Order of St. Vladimir 3rd degree.

On August 22, Gustav met with his former lover, Countess Shuvalova (she headed the Red Cross hospital in Przemysl). The meeting left an unpleasant aftertaste.

On October 11, Russian troops unexpectedly launched an operation that went down in history as the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation, as a result of which the Austrian-German troops suffered a serious defeat. At the end of autumn, the Mannerheim brigade occupied positions along the Nida River, where it met New Year. The officers of the brigade presented as a gift to their commander silver cigarette case, "for luck".

The 12th Cavalry Division consisted of two brigades, each of which had two regiments, according to Mannerheim, "splendid regiments with rich traditions". The Akhtyrsky Hussars led their history from 1651, the Belgorod Lancers - from 1701, the Starodubovsky Dragoon Regiment - from 1783, the Cossack regiment consisted of Orenburg Cossacks. “Although I had to give up a good military unit, I was inclined to believe that the new one I received was no worse; in my opinion, it was absolutely prepared for military action», - Gustav Karlovich noted in his memoirs. The division headquarters had an excellent reputation and never lost their presence of mind. The tone in the work was set by the chief of staff Ivan Polyakov, who demanded real dedication from subordinate officers in the performance of tasks.

On March 12, in the evening, Mannerheim received an order from the commander of the 2nd Cavalry Corps to change the 1st Don Cossack Division, which was holding the defense near the urban-type settlement of Zalishchyky, which was located 45 km from the city of Chernivtsi. Here, the commander of the 9th Army, General Lechitsky and General Khan-Nakhichevan, tried to “visit suddenly” Mannerheim, but the Austrians, having discovered the commander’s car, opened artillery fire, as a result of which the car was smashed, and Khan-Nakhichevan received a shell shock. Near this village, parts of Mannerheim held the defense until March 15, after which they were replaced by the 37th Infantry Division.

On March 17, in the evening, a telegram was received from the army headquarters, according to which Mannerheim should cross the Dniester near the village of Ustye and join the corps of General Count Keller there. On March 22, parts of Mannerheim, having already crossed the Dniester and captured the villages of Schloss and Folvarok, were forced to withdraw under the enemy's hurricane counterattacks. The day before, in response to a polite reminder from Officer Mannerheim to Officer Keller about the order of battle, about joint actions, the count replied: “I remember the task assigned to us”. When Mannerheim, seeing that the enemy's forces exceeded his strength by more than twice, turned to Keller with a request for support, he received a strange answer: "I'm sorry, but the mudslide prevents me from helping you". Mannerheim had to retreat back to the left bank of the Dniester and burn the pontoon crossing. The baron sent a report about what had happened (report No. 1407) to the headquarters of the 2nd Cavalry Corps, where he described in detail both this operation and Keller's actions. But General Georgy Raukh, apparently, let everything go "on the brakes." After all, once George Raukh was the best man at Gustav's wedding, and his sister Olga maintained close ties with Gustav's wife Arina Arapova. After Mannerheim's break with his wife, Rauch and his sister ended their relationship with Gustav. Apparently, for General Rauch, the opinion of a woman at that moment outweighed the duty of an officer and commander. This is how some Russian generals fought in the First World War. In his memoirs, Mannerheim noted this episode extremely sparingly, practically "without surnames."

From March 26 to April 25, Mannerheim's division was on vacation in the village of Shuparka. training sessions there were few, but the baron himself repeatedly showed the highest class in shooting competitions from various types of small arms.

On April 25, the baron was temporarily appointed commander of the consolidated cavalry corps, composed of the 12th division of Mannerheim, the Separate Guards Cavalry Division and the brigade of the Trans-Amur Border Guard, which was tasked with crossing the Dniester and, together with the Siberian Corps, attacking the city of Kolomyia. During the offensive, parts of Mannerheim took the city of Zabolotov on the Prut River, in which they stood for a long time.

On May 18, the baron received the following telegram: “To the General of the EIV retinue, Baron Gustav Mannerheim. I want to see my Akhtyrs. I will be on May 18 at 16.00 by train. Olga". The guard of honor led by Mannerheim hung around at the Snyatyn station waiting for the military hospital train No. 164/14 with Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna for several hours, but the train never arrived. It was decided to start the celebrations - festive tables were laid in one of the barns. At the height of the feast, a woman in the dress of a sister of mercy quietly entered the barn and sat down at the table next to Mannerheim, fortunately, one of the officers recognized her in time and offered a chair. The princess leaned over to Gustav: “Baron, you know that I do not like ceremonies. Continue dinner and do not forget to pour me wine, because I know that you are a gallant gentleman, unlike our mutual friends ... And I apologize for being late - my train was not allowed to pass because of the fear of German raids. I got on a horse - you know me as a rider - and here you are with my unnecessary escort ... And order to invite my guardians to the table. The gala dinner proceeded and quite well. The first couple in the first polonaise were Gustav and Olga. The next day, a solemn parade of Akhtyrs took place. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was one of those women whom no one forgot. A photograph presented to Gustav with a commemorative inscription of the princess has been preserved: “... I am sending you a card taken during the war, when we met more and when, as the beloved head of the 12th cavalry division, you were with us. It reminds me of the past…”

On May 20, a new order: "In connection with the general retreat of the armies of the Southwestern Front, you should move to the area of ​​the city of Voynilov, where you will join the 11th Army Corps." Having covered the crossing of our troops across the Dniester, Mannerheim's 12th division began to cover the retreat of the 22nd Army Corps towards the Rotten Lipa River. “The June battles clearly demonstrated how disorganized the army was: during all this time, eleven battalions were subordinate to me in turn, and their combat effectiveness decreased from time to time, and most of the soldiers did not have rifles”, - Gustav Karlovich recalls in his memoirs.

On June 28, the baron receives an order to organize defenses in the area of ​​​​the village of Zazulintse. Mannerheim's division was reinforced by two "wild brigades" from the Khan-Nakhichevan economy. One of these cavalry brigades was commanded by Pyotr Krasnov, the other by Pyotr Polovtsev. During the battle, Krasnov's brigade simply did not follow Mannerheim's order to attack the enemy. According to the baron himself, Krasnov simply “protected” his highlanders, according to another, the highlanders did not want to attack on foot. In any case, at the end of the battle, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich condemned Krasnov's actions.

The retreat was difficult, the morale of the troops fell, here and there there were cases of looting, spurred on by the order of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich to use the tactics of "scorched earth".

At the end of August 1917, "Manchurian rheumatism" finally twisted the general, and he was sent for treatment to Odessa for a period of five weeks, leaving the 12th cavalry division under the command of Major General Baron Nikolai Disterlo.

In September 1917 he was transferred to the reserve as a military leader, unacceptable under the circumstances. In January 1918 he sent a letter of resignation and went home to Finland.

February Revolution (1917)

In Moscow, I learned that on March 15 the Emperor had abdicated in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. The announcement that Grand Duke Michael will take the reins of government into his own hands, gave rise to some hope. However, on March 17, Mikhail Alexandrovich also renounced his rights to the throne.

A few days later, Mannerheim writes:

On my way south to my division, I visited the commander of the Southern (Romanian) Front, General Sakharov. I told him about my impressions of the events in Petrograd and Moscow and tried to persuade the general to lead the resistance. However, Sakharov believed that the time had not yet come for such actions. even in military units. The military tribunal and the death penalty were abolished. This led to the fact that the age-old military order, in which soldiers must obey orders, was practically not respected, and the commanders, who sought to save their units, were forced to seriously fear for their own lives ... And the military leadership did nothing to combat the revolutionary elements.

Mannerheim remained loyal to the abdicated emperor, but welcomed the acquisition of complete independence by Finland. “I come from an era in which Mankind was enlightened by liberal ideas,” he wrote to his Swedish publisher K. O. Bonnier. And he went to Finland to maintain its independence in the outbreak of the "War of Liberation", although then he spoke only in broken Finnish.

Commander and Regent of Finland

Lieutenant General, former commander of the Guards Cavalry Corps E. K. Arseniev, reported on his negotiations with Mannerheim on May 8, 1919:

... he [Mannerheim] thinks of a campaign [on Petrograd] only "as a joint friendly action of the Finnish and Russian forces", but for the campaign "it is necessary that some authoritative Russian government recognize the independence of Finland." Mannerheim is already a Finnish national hero. But this does not satisfy him. He would like to play a great historical role in Russia, in which he served for 30 years and with which he is connected by thousands of threads:305

On the eve of the elections, using the insufficiently clear position of Kolchak and Sazonov regarding the recognition of Finland's independence, the Finnish Social Democratic press tried in every possible way to emphasize Mannerheim's friendship with representatives of "White Russia", drawing conclusions about the danger that Mannerheim poses to Finnish independence in the event of the victory of his "White" friends." Mannerheim was forced to renounce direct and public statements about supporting the armed struggle against the Bolsheviks in Russia and made such statements only in private conversations. But the elections were still lost to them: 305 .

On June 18, 1919, Mannerheim concluded a secret agreement with General Yudenich, who was in Finland, from which, however, no practical results followed.

losing presidential elections On July 25, 1919, Mannerheim left Finland, living in London, Paris and various Scandinavian cities. Mannerheim acted as an unofficial, and later official, representative of Finland in France and Great Britain, since in London and Paris he was regarded as the only person with sufficient political capital for negotiations.

During Yudenich's attack on Petrograd in October 1919, Mannerheim wrote:

The liberation of Petrograd is not a purely Finnish-Russian question, it is a worldwide question of final peace ... If the white troops now fighting near Petrograd are defeated, then we will be to blame. Already now there are voices that Finland has avoided the invasion of the Bolsheviks only due to the fact that the Russian White armies are fighting far in the south and east.

Interwar years

In the years 1920-1930, Mannerheim was engaged in a wide variety of activities: he visits France, Poland and other European countries, India with semi-official visits, takes part in the leadership of the shutskor, in the management of commercial banks, social activities, and holds the position of chairman of the Red Cross of Finland. In 1931 he accepted an offer to become president of the State Defense Committee of Finland, in 1933 Mannerheim was awarded the honorary military rank of Field Marshal of Finland.

Marshal Mannerheim on a Finnish stamp, 1952

Until the 1930s, the foreign policy of the Soviet Union achieved quite a lot of success: the European countries recognized the USSR and established with it diplomatic relations. The Soviet Union joined the League of Nations. This circumstance led to the widespread spread of pacifist sentiments in all sections of European society, which began to believe in the onset of an era of peace.

In Finland, the government and most members of parliament have systematically disrupted defense financing programs. So in the budget of 1934, the article on the construction of fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus was generally crossed out. “What is the use of providing the military department with such large sums if war is not expected,” said the then manager of the Finnish Bank, and later President Risto Ryti, to the demand of Mannerheim, who had no illusions about the intentions of the USSR, to finance the military program of Finland.

And Tanner, head of the Social Democratic faction in parliament, said that his faction believes:

... an indispensable condition for maintaining the independence of the country is such progress in the well-being of the people and the general conditions of their life, under which every citizen understands that this is worth all the costs of defense.

Due to cost savings, since 1927 combat exercises have not been conducted. The allocated funds were only enough for the maintenance of the army, but practically no funds were allocated for armaments. There were no modern weapons, tanks and aircraft at all.

As a result of the activity shown by Soviet diplomacy in the pre-war years, a key point was revealed, which consisted in demanding the right to bring Soviet troops into the territory of neighboring states (the Baltic countries and Finland), regardless of the request of the governments of these states, which by this time could be under strong pressure Germany.

Mannerheim is actively negotiating with almost all European countries, looking for help in a possible confrontation with the Soviet Union. At the same time, he, personally participating in the negotiations, is trying to find, together with Paasikivi, a compromise between the demands of the USSR and the patriotic public of Finland. At these negotiations, Paasikivi told Stalin that "Finland wants to live in peace and stay out of conflicts", to which the latter replied: "I understand, but I assure you that this is impossible - the great powers will not allow it."

The Second World War

The main task facing Mannerheim in World War II was to preserve state independence and exclude the possibility of becoming a satellite of Germany, as well as the return of the country to its historical borders, established by mutual agreement with Russia by his ancestor. In addition, he personally, as an aristocrat, was disgusted by the plebeian imperialism of Hitler.

Marshal Mannerheim at headquarters

In 70% of cases, Soviet troops were stopped on the Karelian Isthmus on the Enkel Line. Well-placed reinforced concrete pillboxes built in 1936-1939, the number of which, due to the high cost, did not exceed a dozen, turned out to be a big obstacle for the attackers.

During the war years, the command of the Finnish army followed the order of Mannerheim, who prevented the ill-treatment of numerous prisoners. “The more prisoners come to us and the more humanely we treat them, the sooner the Russian people thrown under the bullets of the Chekists against us will begin to see clearly and turn their bayonets against the Soviet regime”

Gustav Mannerheim in 1942. One of the few color photographs of him

In mid-June 1941, Mannerheim learned of the planned German attack on the Soviet Union. On June 17, mobilization was announced in Finland. Mannerheim, who in this war remained with his opinion about the fatality for Finland to be drawn into a big war, said:

I assumed the duties of commander-in-chief on the condition that we would not launch an attack on Leningrad.

Mannerheim assessed the situation by the summer of 1941 as follows:

The concluded agreement on the through transportation of goods prevented the attack from Russia. To denounce it meant, on the one hand, to rise up against the Germans, on relations with which the existence of Finland as an independent state depended. On the other hand - to transfer fate into the hands of the Russians. Stopping the importation of goods from any direction would lead to a severe crisis, which would immediately be exploited by both Germans and Russians. We were pressed against the wall.

In his offensive order, Mannerheim clearly indicated the goal not only to "return" to himself all the territories captured by the USSR during

The Finnish Museum of Photography / Eric Sundström/ Regent of Finland C. G. E. Mannerheim, 1919, Helsinki.

Gustav Mannerheim was a general of the Russian imperial army, a traveler-explorer, and then, during the period of independence, the commander-in-chief during three wars and twice the head of state.

Along with Sibelius, during his lifetime he became the most famous Finn both at home and abroad.

Already early in his career, he became the object of a somewhat mythologized admiration and respect, which was embodied in street names, monuments, and in a popular museum house. Admiration and respect have changed over time.

The winning side initially treated the commander-in-chief in the war of 1918 with admiration, this figure was so legendary. The losing side felt hatred.

Between 1939 and 1944 the enemy tried to stir up these already subsided negative moods again, achieving, however, rather the opposite result.

In the 1970s, during the period of activation of the left forces, criticism of Mannerheim was again voiced. Admiration, accordingly, was most emphasized in connection with the death and funeral of the marshal of Finland, in connection with the construction of an equestrian monument in the late 1950s, as well as in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mannerheim's personality became the subject of active scientific study since the 1950s

Gustav Mannerheim was born on June 4, 1867 at Louhisaari Castle in Askainen, north of Turku. He was the third child and inherited the title of baron. The family was a count, and the count's title passed to the eldest son. His father Count Carl Robert Mannerheim, as well as close relatives of his mother Hedwig Charlotte Helena (Helene) von Yulin, were industrialists and entrepreneurs, and his grandfather, President of the Court of Justice Count Carl Gustav Mannerheim, and great-grandfather, Senator Count Carl Erik Mannerheim, were high-ranking officials.

Among close relatives, admiral Johann Eberhard von Schanz, who made a brilliant career in the Far East and St. Petersburg, a traveler-researcher, Professor Baron Adolf Eric Nordenskiöld, who achieved worldwide fame and moved to Sweden, as well as cousins ​​of his sister's grandfather, could serve as role models. Shernval (among them was one), who won success in the high society of St. Petersburg.

The initial stage of Mannerheim's military career in St. Petersburg was based both on family ties and recommendations from the paternal side, and on the financial assistance of relatives from the mother.

The bankruptcy of his father, his flight-like departure from Finland, the breakup of the family and the early death of his mother left a mark on Gustav Mannerheim's childhood and influenced his dispatch at the age of fifteen in 1882 to the Finnish Cadet Corps in Hamina (Friedrichsgam). The previously typical military career for the nobility now increasingly served others. life goals, an example of which was Mannerheim's father.

The rapidly deteriorating economic situation of the family and the ambitious and stubborn nature of Gustav were perfect for a military career, Mannerheim, however, was expelled from the Cadet School for violation of discipline in 1886.

He entered the private Böka Gymnasium in Helsinki and passed the matriculation exam in 1887. Immediately after that, he went to St. Petersburg, where in September 1887 he was able to enter the Nikolaev Cavalry School. In this demanding military institution, he successfully studied and was promoted to cornet in 1889.

Mannerheim's goal was to get into one of the elite units of the imperial guard, but he was first seconded to the provincial garrison in Poland. From there, a year later, he ended up in the cavalry regiment of Her Imperial Majesty's Guards, which was part of the Life Guards of His Imperial Majesty, using the recommendations of court ladies, relatives of the Empress, and with the financial support of his uncle.

Mannerheim was promoted to lieutenant of the guard in 1893, junior captain in the guard in 1899, and captain in the guard in 1902. Mannerheim remained loyal to the Empress (from 1894 Empress Dowager) Maria Feodorovna, who was considered the commander of this regiment, paid her courtesy visits in Denmark in the 1920s. and kept her photograph on the table in his salon in Helsinki next to a photograph of Nicholas II.

Thanks to his graceful appearance and good manners, Mannerheim played a prominent role at the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra in Moscow in 1896.

In 1892, he married Anastasia Arapova, a rich general's daughter. The marriage, arranged by relatives, saved Mannerheim from the financial difficulties that had previously darkened his life. Service in the guards regiment assumed such expenses for social life, for which the officer's salary was not enough. From the point of view of Anastasia Arapova, the brilliant Mannerheim, who enjoyed success in the world, was a good choice.

The couple, who had two daughters, Sofia and Anastasia, apparently spoke French at home in St. Petersburg; Russian and German were used on estates in the Moscow region and in Courland. However, a crisis arose in the relationship, and the couple separated, in fact in 1903, and officially a little later. However, they restored their relationship in the 1930s. In 1937, in Helsinki, Mannerheim participated in the funeral of his ex-wife in the Orthodox rite.

Apparently, Mannerheim's ideas about marriage were influenced by the image of an independent and enterprising Finnish woman and, above all, by the example of his elder sister Sophia, who was very close to him. Anastasia Mannerheim, in turn, was a type of woman, brought up in all respects for the secular life of high society. At the same time, she was characterized by religious sacrifice, which manifested itself when in 1901 she went on a humanitarian mission of the Red Cross to Far East. Later, Baroness Mannerheim and her daughters moved to France.

Mannerheim rekindled his relationship with his daughters when he moved to Finland after World War I. Sophia visited Finland from time to time and learned a little Swedish. During Mannerheim's tenure as regent in 1919, she performed the representative functions of the hostess, and at the promotion ceremony at the Faculty of Philosophy she was assigned an honorary ceremonial role.

Mannerheim did not get into the Academy of the General Staff, apparently mainly due to insufficient knowledge of the Russian language. Instead, he became a horse specialist, both buying breeding and working horses for the army, and trying to run a stud farm on his estate on his own, partly following the example of his brother Johan Mannerheim, who moved to Sweden.

From 1903, he commanded an exemplary squadron and supervised the training of riding in the Guards Cavalry Regiments, and also achieved fame in riding competitions. Mannerheim, however, was looking for ways to further advancement.

When the war with Japan began in February 1904, he volunteered for the front, and was sent with the rank of lieutenant colonel to the 52nd Nezhinsky Hussar Regiment, which was on the Manchurian front.

At the same time, his older brother, bank director Count Karl Mannerheim, was exiled to Sweden as one of the leaders of the anti-government political opposition, and those circles to which he belonged were looking for contacts with Japan in order to foment an uprising in Finland.

Some other relatives also moved to Sweden, and arguments from both sides can be found in their correspondence. Mannerheim emphasized the importance of participation in the war for his career. In this way, he could compensate for the failure to enter the General Staff Academy and, along the way, alleviate the psychological and social problems associated with divorce.

At the front, Mannerheim acted proactively and sought to distinguish himself, but at the same time he had to deal with the inept conduct of the war and discord among the high command. The leadership appreciated him, and although he failed to receive the most coveted award, the George Cross, he was promoted to colonel for his courage in the battle of Mukden. The order was dated the day of the battle.

Even then, Mannerheim planned to organize a long reconnaissance expedition to little-known regions of Asia. He was exemplified by Nordenskiöld, Swedish and Russian explorers-travelers (Sven Hedin, Nikolai Przhevalsky), and some other officers.

At the same time, he believed that a successful expedition would allow him to distinguish himself, which he needed to advance in his career. Obviously, his goal was to command the guards regiment.

After returning from the Russo-Japanese War, Mannerheim in 1905-1906. spent some time in Finland and Sweden. As a representative of the baronial branch of his family, he participated for the first time in the Diet of Estates, the last in the history of Finland.

At the Diet, Mannerheim did not take part in public political discussions, but he made personal connections and became known as a person who, in the event of a possible change in the political situation, could, according to the old tradition, be thought of as a candidate for senators or even ministers of state. -secretaries.

Carefully preparing for the expedition to Asia, to which he had already been appointed, Mannerheim simultaneously established relations with scientific and Fennoman circles. Perhaps the chief of the general staff, General Palitsyn, and his reformist entourage specifically wanted to keep Mannerheim away from the politically turbulent world in order to save him for future assignments as an unbiased person.

However, during the Asian expedition of Mannerheim, Palitsyn was forced to resign. However, later they still started talking about the idea of ​​​​appointing Mannerheim as assistant minister of state secretary or minister of state secretary, but the political situation did not allow such a decision to be made in which the candidacy of minister of state secretary would suit both the emperor and the Finnish elite.

Mannerheim began his long expedition from Kashgar (Turkmenistan) in October 1906, his goal was Beijing. Accompanied by only a few people, he rode through the territory, almost entirely belonging to China.

His task was to explore these largely uninhabited mountainous and desert regions, which were of interest to Russia, China and Great Britain. The scientific goals of the expedition were related to the military - to get the most complete description of the territory.

Mannerheim demonstrated a notable scientific talent and ambition by researching the customs, languages ​​and ethnicities of the tribes he encountered, archeology, collecting objects and taking photographs.

The collection came to Helsinki to the Finno-Ugric Society, which later published Mannerheim's detailed travel diary and helped him write a travel essay intended for the general public. Photographic materials were published in the 1990s, at the same time the collections were presented in the new Ethnographic Museum of Helsinki.

Mannerheim returned to St. Petersburg in September 1908. The Emperor listened with interest to his report on the trip.

Now Mannerheim deserved the regiment, however, the issue was delayed until January 1909, when he finally received the coveted position of commander of the guards regiment, however, first in the provincial Novominsky garrison in Poland. Guards units were usually stationed in St. Petersburg, but there were also several in Poland, and one was based in Helsinki until 1905.

The Polish front was vital in preparing for a possible war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Mannerheim established himself as a successful mentor commander both in Novominsky and in Warsaw, where he was transferred in 1911 as commander of His Imperial Majesty's Guards Lancer Regiment.

In 1911 he was promoted to major general, and in 1912 he entered the retinue of His Imperial Majesty, which corresponded to the rank of lieutenant general. With the liquidation of the retinue in 1917, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

In Warsaw, Mannerheim spent one of the happiest stages of his life: he achieved success in his career, perceived his work as important and enjoyable, established close and fruitful relationships with the highest circles of the Polish aristocracy, and was able to keep in touch with his brothers and sisters in Finland and Sweden. .

He became strongly attached to Princess Maria Lubomirskaya. Most of Mannerheim's letters addressed to her have survived and have been published. They give future generations the opportunity to know Mannerheim as refined, responsive and sensual person. Letters to Mrs. Lubomirskaya were mainly sent from the front of the world war that began in August 1914.

Throughout the war, Mannerheim was in the army, mainly on the fronts against Austria-Hungary and in Romania. He had to spend these years in physically and psychologically difficult conditions and had a chance to experience both successes and failures. After the first setbacks, Russia managed to maintain its position, and the war dragged on.

On December 18, 1914, for his valor, he was awarded the long-desired George Cross. February Revolution 1917 immediately affected the situation in the army and the course of the war. Mannerheim was not favored by the new government and was relieved of his duties in September.

He was in reserve and tried to restore his health in Odessa. After the situation in Russia became more and more confused, and after the large-scale offensive operation of Kornilov (the so-called Kornilov rebellion) failed, Mannerheim began to think about retiring and returning to Finland.

But even in Finland in the autumn of 1917 the situation became more and more chaotic, the threat of civil war grew, when, with the collapse of the state machine, both the Red and White Guards began to be created. In January 1918, the bourgeois senate, chaired by P.E. Svinhufvuda and his military experts settled on Mannerheim's candidacy for the post of commander of the pro-government civil guard detachments (shutskor).

Mannerheim was considered the most suitable of the generals, Finns by origin, who served or are serving in Russian army. Without a doubt, this assessment was based on his background and social contacts, as well as political connections, including with relatives who were in opposition.

The choice was not influenced by Mannerheim's anti-German and anti-antantophile convictions, which later led to a conflict, since Svinhufvud and, in general, the leading bourgeois circles of Finland, even earlier in the fall, relied on Germany, counting on military support for the separation of Finland from Russia.

Mannerheim was formally appointed to the post of commander-in-chief on January 16, 1918 and went to Seinäjoki, where he deployed his headquarters in an area that was a stronghold of the whites and favorably distinguished by the proximity of the main transport routes.

The Senate, the government of Finland, was located in Vaasa. He formed a staff of Finns who served in the Russian army and reinforced it with a significant number of Swedish volunteer officers who played an important military and political role.

Mannerheim did not want the Germans at the headquarters, and Germany before the conclusion Brest-Litovsk peace On March 3, 1918, she was not ready to send her soldiers to Finland. When Germany later decided to take part in resolving the situation in Finland and send the Baltic Division under the command of General Count Rüdiger von der Goltz to this end, Mannerheim was forced, for political reasons, to change his strategy.

The war began in Pohjanmaa as a "war of liberation" with the disarmament of several Russian garrisons. This was of significant importance both in terms of acquiring weapons and the formation of a northern foothold, and in terms of legitimizing the war as a whole. Mannerheim's goal now was to form troops (conscription was introduced) and train them, as well as to obtain weapons from Sweden and elsewhere. With the approach of German intervention, he decided to hasten the capture of Tampere, a stronghold of the Reds, which he managed to do after fierce fighting and heavy losses on both sides.

At the same time, the white army was advancing towards Savo and to the south, and the headquarters was moved to Mikkeli. Mannerheim, no doubt, all this time proceeded from the possibility that the White Russians, with the help of the Western countries of the Entente, would sooner or later try to overthrow the Bolshevik government, and that Finland would participate in this operation.

To emphasize the Finnish (“non-German”) nature of the war of liberation, on May 16, 1918, Mannerheim staged a grand victory parade for his “peasant army” in Helsinki.

Von der Goltz and his troops had defeated the Red government and its military forces in Helsinki a month earlier, and pro-German sentiment was strong in the city. Now Mannerheim stood in opposition to the pro-German military-political orientation of the Senate, which, in the name of ensuring security from Russia and from its own Reds, completely placed Finland in the German sphere of influence.

When the Senate disagreed with Mannerheim's demands, he left the country on June 1, 1918, convinced that the Entente would win anyway. Thus, Mannerheim was not in the country at the final, fateful stage of the liberation war, marked by mass deaths from disease and starvation in huge concentration camps and lengthy trials.

Even during the war, he tried to stop the "White Terror" and objected to the mass arrests of the Reds, as well as to the practice of individual trials on charges of treason.

In the autumn of 1918, Mannerheim negotiated in London and Paris, and when in Finland, after the defeat of Kaiser Germany, the form of government was to be changed, in accordance with the forms of government of 1772 and 1789. Mannerheim was invited to the post of regent with the powers of the temporary exercise of the highest state power until the final resolution of the issue of the form of government, which became topical already in 1917.

In order to strengthen Mannerheim's position and his orientation towards the Entente, the interested powers sent large consignments of food to Finland, which saved the country from starvation.

In the spring of 1919, he succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Finland's independence by Great Britain and the United States, as well as the renewal of recognition by France, which had previously agreed to recognition, but then withdrew it.

Mannerheim used these recognitions and his official visits to Stockholm and Copenhagen, as well as other symbolic acts, to significantly strengthen the new sovereign status of Finland, trying to consolidate its orientation towards the victorious countries France and England, as well as Sweden.

The question of Russia's future, however, remained open. Mannerheim hoped that the power of the communists there, as in Finland and Hungary, could be overthrown. The biggest issue during Mannerheim's regency was the attitude towards the attempt of White Russian troops to capture Petrograd, which would probably lead to the overthrow of the Bolshevik government.

Mannerheim believed that Finland should have been involved in the operation, but negotiations with the White Russians proved difficult. Russian whites could not make decisions that were the prerogative of the national assembly, just as they could not guarantee the sovereignty of Finland.

Finland, on the other hand, leaning towards Germany, defeating the Reds, who advocated stronger ties with Russia, and then strengthening sovereignty with the help of Western states, has already set itself quite definitely against Russia, no matter what it may become at the proposed national assembly.

As the border skirmishes on the Karelian Isthmus continued, especially in June 1919, the activists tried to persuade Mannerheim to use his monarchical power and launch an offensive. But Mannerheim refused these proposals, because he did not find sufficient political support for this idea in Finland.

On July 17, 1919, he approved a new form of government, worked out as a result of a compromise decision in Parliament in June. Mannerheim did not personally intervene in the discussion on the form of government, but in a speech he delivered on May 16, 1918, for reasons of a domestic and foreign policy nature, he advocated a strong government power, and it could reasonably be assumed that he would not approve a purely parliamentary form board.

Since the idea of ​​a monarchical form of government, proposed in the autumn, was closely linked to the defeated Germany, and since the choice of the king could not enlist the support of any great power as a guarantor of the security of Finland, the only option remained a compromise between monarchical and parliamentary forms of government - a presidential republic, sometimes referred to as an "elective monarchy".

Such a form of government assigned to the president such broad authority to issue decrees and some other rights that they were never fully applied in practice.

The form of government of 1919 appeared during the civil war in Russia and the state of war between Finland and Russia, and it showed its effectiveness, especially in difficult times from the point of view of foreign policy.

The period of Mannerheim's tenure as regent, in addition to the constitution and the recognition of independence by foreign states, is reminiscent of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, established by him, awarded for military and civil merit; the year before, he, as Commander-in-Chief, established the Order of the Cross of Liberty, which was revived as an award for military merit in 1939.

The insignia of these knightly orders was made by a famous artist

Gallen-Kallela, who was slightly older than Mannerheim, was one of his adjutants in 1919, later in the same year he received the title of honorary professor. He also developed other state symbols of Finland, but most of them were rejected after the resignation of Mannerheim.

Elections for the President of the Republic, in accordance with the new constitution, were held on July 25, 1919, but not by electors, but, as an exception, by Parliament. Mannerheim received 50 MPs from the conservative National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party, but Kaarlo Juho Stolberg, the President of the Supreme Administrative Court, won with 143 votes, supported by the Agrarian Union, the Progressive Party and the Social Democrats.

A trusting relationship was not established between Mannerheim and Stolberg, and the plans to appoint Mannerheim as commander-in-chief of the army, or as commander-in-chief of the squadron detachments with very independent powers, did not materialize.

After that, Mannerheim went into private life, and a rather large fund was raised for him (“civil gift”), on the basis of which he could exist. He rented a villa in the Kaivopuisto park that belonged to the Fazer family and reconstructed it so that it would meet the needs of a man leading an everyday, modest soldier's life, but, on the other hand, would correspond to the status of a familyless aristocrat, a former head of state.

In the 1920s he devoted much of his time to the Finnish Red Cross and to the 1920 General Mannerheim Union for the Protection of Children. Within the framework of the latter, he fought for the unity of the nation and for smoothing out the contradictions generated by the civil war. In this he was helped by his sister, and later by the famous pediatrician, honored doctor Arvo Ylppö, as well as many other people.

Mannerheim also traveled abroad to hunt and to sanatoriums, and kept in touch with political and diplomatic circles. Obviously, to some extent, he missed an active life, not being completely satisfied with only humanitarian work, minor involvement in business (chairing the board of the Liittopankki bank, a summer cafe near his villa in Hanko), reading, attending concerts and social life .

The economic and political crisis that began in 1929 again actualized the status of Mannerheim, and some right-wing groups wanted Mannerheim to become a military dictator. He, however, was wary of the Lapuan movement and the various groups of its supporters and made no commitments; he closely followed the situation, preparing, probably, for the possibility of a seizure of power by the Lapuans.

In March 1931, Per Evind Svinhufvud, who became president at this turbulent time, shortly after his election appointed Mannerheim chairman of the Defense Council and commander-in-chief in case of war, thereby formally reintegrating him into the state system.

In 1933, Mannerheim received the rank of marshal. Changes in the world since 1933 have shifted the emphasis in Finnish defense policy. The enthusiasm for East Karelia and Ingermanland that had survived until then, as well as the ideology of Greater Finland, waned as Germany and the Soviet Union rapidly gained strength.

At the same time, the relative importance of the League of Nations, which was considered an important guarantor for Finland and other small states, weakened. Mannerheim participated in the recognition of the "Scandinavian orientation", a policy officially recognized in 1935, which, however, did not give Finland security guarantees.

The Scandinavian orientation, however, was of great political and psychological significance, and when war broke out between Finland and the USSR in 1939, this led to a volunteer movement and large-scale humanitarian and military aid from Sweden, and also aroused sympathy for Finland in Western countries.

In 1933–1939 Mannerheim, in addition to Sweden, actively developed relations with Great Britain. He represented Finland at the funeral of King George V and had contacts with the Royal air force and the UK aviation industry.

He maintained relations with Germany during hunting trips with Marshal Hermann Goering. However, during his seventieth birthday in 1937, as well as during the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the civil war in 1938 - both of these dates turned into national events - he emphasized the importance of national unity and closer ties with the Social Democrats, who first entered the government in coalition with the Agrarian Union than ties with Germany.

Despite constant pressure from Mannerheim, the main parts of the army by the autumn of 1939 were still poorly equipped. During the Finnish-Soviet border and security negotiations, Mannerheim believed that Finland did not have the capacity to stick to such a hard line as the government was pursuing, and recommended agreeing to territorial concessions and territory exchanges, threatening to resign several times.

When negotiations failed and the war broke out on November 30, 1939, Mannerheim assumed the duties of commander in chief and re-established headquarters in Mikkeli. He remained commander-in-chief until December 31, 1944, during which time he was mostly based in Mikkeli. Despite his age and health problems, he worked continuously throughout the war, with the exception of a couple of short holidays, thereby giving the headquarters, the entire army and the people an example of dedication in a critical situation.

During the Winter War, the subsequent period known as the “truce”, and also during the “Continuation War” that began on June 25, 1941, Mannerheim was part of a group of 4–5 people that actually led country.

In addition to Mannerheim, this circle included Risto Ryti, who became president in 1940, prime ministers J.V. Rangel and Edwin Linkomies, Foreign Ministers Väinö Tanner, Rolf Witting and K.H.W. Ramsay, as well as Lieutenant General Rudolf Walden, who has always held the post of Minister of Defense.

Thus, already in 1939-1940. Mannerheim significantly influenced the course of the Winter War and attempts to conclude peace. He emphasized that the army, despite the heroism shown in the defense, was weak and at the limit of its capabilities, and that therefore it was necessary to accept the difficult conditions of peace, which was done.

After the Winter War, Finland experienced constant pressure from the Soviet Union, which was associated with the situation in the world as a whole. The only counterbalance to this pressure could be Germany, but it was also in alliance with the USSR. However, from September 1940, Germany began to take Finland under its wing in its relations with the USSR, and from the beginning of 1941 military contacts between headquarters gradually became closer. Until the very last moment, it was unclear whether (and when) Germany would start a war against the Soviet Union.

During this period, Finland, however, was able to significantly improve the level of equipment of its army. Finland's entry into the war in the summer of 1941 aroused great research interest immediately after the war and in later periods; attempts were made to find out when Finland "finally" joined the German military preparations against the Soviet Union, and who in Finland led these preparations or knew about them.

Military leadership of Marshal Mannerheim during the war 1941-1944. had an important psychological significance: with his authority, he kept the generals at headquarters and front commanders, as well as members of the government, in submission and restrained internal conflicts and rivalries, common for a protracted war.

The political significance of his authority was also manifested in relations with Germany: Mannerheim, of the entire leadership of Finland, most clearly demanded - and could demand - the formal and real observance of the political and military independence of Finland.

An interesting example this was the 75th anniversary of Mannerheim on June 4, 1942, when Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany, personally arrived to congratulate Mannerheim, who had just been promoted to marshals of Finland. Mannerheim's behavior in this situation is considered an exemplary combination of emphasized politeness and firmness in maintaining his own authority.

This made it possible to reject Germany's claim to dictate over Finland, or the demand for a formal alliance treaty, thus making it possible to get out of the situation with the help of guarantees given by President Ryti in the summer of 1944, which remained in force for only a few weeks.

Mannerheim's psychological, nationally unifying role was emphasized during the war in various ways: for example, in the form of postage stamps, and also by the fact that on the day of his birth almost all cities in Finland had streets bearing his name. The Order of the Cross of Liberty was supplemented by the Mannerheim Cross with a cash prize awarded for special heroism.

The elderly marshal came to the front several times and attended various patriotic events, consoling war orphans and relatives of the dead.

The Soviet offensive in June-July 1944 forced the Finnish army to withdraw from East Karelia and retreat west of Vyborg on the Karelian Isthmus. As a result, there was a willingness to accept even the most difficult peace conditions. To do this, it was necessary to change the government and break off relations with Germany. Mannerheim agreed, and on August 4, 1944, the parliament elected him President of the Republic.

From that moment began the peace process, for which Mannerheim, apparently, managed to find the optimal time. Germany was thought to be sufficiently weakened that, despite its military position and air control in the Baltics, to expend forces on the occupation of Finland (as happened in Romania), and German feeble attempts were rebuffed from the outset.

The Soviet Union, in turn, was no longer interested in the complete surrender or military occupation of Finland, since it concentrated its forces on the Baltic, Polish and German directions.

The Western powers and Sweden were ready to politically and economically support the separate peace of Finland. At the same time, the Finnish people, after the loss of Eastern Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus and Vyborg, were ready to accept difficult peace conditions, the adoption of which in the spring, when the army had not yet been defeated on the Svir and the Southern Isthmus, could lead the country and the army to a crisis of loyalty.

Thus, in August-September 1944, Mannerheim, with the support of the Finnish Ambassador in Stockholm, G.A. Gripenberga led the peace talks, simultaneously acting as President, Commander-in-Chief, and in practice both Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (especially after Prime Minister Antti Hakzel was paralyzed during the negotiations).

Mannerheim briefly concentrated all power in his own hands; his authority was extremely important in terms of shaping public sentiment and leading the army. The army had to quickly reorient itself, since relations with Germany and German troops in Northern Finland were broken, and, accordingly, it was necessary to establish cooperation with the military, and soon with civilian representatives. former enemy, Soviet Union.

Mannerheim's authority retained its significance when, after the conclusion of the armistice in Helsinki, the Allied Control Commission began to operate and when the new one, formed by Yu.K. The Paasikivi political government in November 1944 replaced the short-term presidential ("technical") cabinets of Hakzel and Urho Castren.

At this point, the period of concentration of power in the hands of Mannerheim for the duration of the peace process ended, and, despite great doubts, he was forced to agree to the appointment of a communist representative, Interior Minister Yrjö Leino, to the Paasikivi government.

But even after that, Mannerheim remained a mainstay of the Paasikivi government, especially due to the suspicions of the right, although he did not actively support the government and its new political orientation, probably because he was not sure of the government's policy, and also because he wanted to preserve the possibility of a change office.

The degree of participation of Mannerheim in the leadership of the state also decreased due to deteriorating health. He went to Stockholm for an operation and then on holiday to Portugal.

And although Mannerheim was elected president for an emergency period, he, however, did not want to resign, for example, immediately after the parliamentary elections in the spring of 1945. This was partly due to the fact that the situation in the world remained uncertain, as the war in Europe continued until May 1945, and partly because Mannerheim was afraid of being convicted at the trial of those responsible for the war, which was provided for by the terms of the Armistice Agreement, and which the Allied Control Commission insisted on as soon as possible.

However, both in the interests of the Finns and in the interests of the Soviet Union, it was to save Mannerheim from this, and when this circumstance became clear, he resigned in March 1946.

The students expressed their respect for him with a torchlight procession, which in those conditions was a significant event. The Communists were also ready to acknowledge Mannerheim's role in bringing about peace.

Subsequently, Mannerheim, whose health was deteriorating, was in Stockholm, but mainly in the Valmont sanatorium in Montreux (Switzerland). There he, along with assistants, which included Infantry General Erik Heinrichs and Colonel Aladar Paasonen, wrote memoirs. He told his assistants about his life path, who wrote them down in the form of chapters of a future book.

After that, Mannerheim checked the manuscript, sometimes making significant corrections. By the time of Mannerheim's death on January 27, 1951 (January 28 Finnish time), the work was almost completed, and this allowed the publication of the first volume in the same year.

Mannerheim's body was brought to Finland, the coffin was placed with honors (lit de parade) in main church Helsinki (now the Cathedral), and tens of thousands of people passed by in silence.

On February 4, 1951, Mannerheim was buried with full military honors at the Heroes' Cemetery in Hietaniemi. On this frosty day, an honor guard of reserve soldiers, students, and scouts stretched across the city. For reasons of political caution, the government decided not to take part in the funeral ceremony. Despite this, Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen and Foreign Minister Oke Harz participated in the funeral procession.

The speech in the Main Church was delivered by the Chairman of the Parliament K.-A. Fagerholm. The fact that he was a Social Democrat symbolically pointed to the origins of the 1930s. and the understanding, strengthened during the war, of the idea of ​​recognizing the historical national consensus in Finland. This was recognized by all social groups and the press, with the exception of the communists.

The funeral of Mannerheim, the attention and respect for his figure, which then manifested itself abroad and, in particular, at home, which increased significantly after the publication of his memoirs and the opening of the Mannerheim Museum in his house in Kaivopuisto, marked an ideological turning point, a transition from the "post-war" stage from its denial of the previous history to a new identity, implying the unity and continuity of the various stages of Finnish history - from tsarist times and the interwar period, including the war and the post-war years.

Back in 1937, with the consent of Mannerheim, a fund was created for the construction of an equestrian monument in his honor - the first in Finland. Some accused Mannerheim of vanity, but more significant, of course, was that he recognized the need for symbols to unite the nation. Mannerheim became a symbolic figure as early as 1918, and this role became even stronger in the 1930s. and during the war. In this "role" he could contribute to the development of national identity in the direction in which he considered necessary.

The main values ​​for him were the European orientation, i.е. closeness to Sweden and Western European culture, the maintenance of combat readiness and, as a necessary condition for this, a strong national consensus, for which it was necessary to overcome the split that arose as a result of the conflict between reds and whites, as well as concern for the health and future of children and youth.

He opposed socialism as a doctrine and the Soviet Union as its embodiment, as well as against nationalism, which manifested itself in Germany in the form of National Socialism, and in Finland in the form of "ultra-Finnish" movements. On the language issue in Finland, he advocated an atmosphere of harmony.

He himself, who knew languages ​​well and had extensive international experience, considered it important to maintain international contacts at various levels. He emphasized the great importance of foreign policy and understanding the balance of power in the world, in comparison with domestic political disagreements, petty politicking and legal literalism.

During the First World War, Mannerheim realized the need to preserve and care for the personnel, and during the wars of 1939-1944 (1945). he was especially concerned with minimizing casualties, caring for the wounded, and honoring the fallen.

The equestrian monument project was revived largely thanks to the initiative of the Students' Union of the University of Helsinki, and this led to three results: the increase in Mannerheim's fame through fundraising and the issuance of a special badge for this, to the erection of the monument itself, which, after several competitions, was completed by the sculptor Aimo Tukiainen and solemnly opened on June 4, 1960, and to the fact that, with the remaining funds, among other things, a historical monument was bought into state ownership - Mannerheim's native home, the Louhisaari estate.

Later, monuments to Mannerheim were erected in several cities in Finland: Mikkeli, Lahti, near Tampere and in Turku. Back in the 1930s. Two biographies of Mannerheim have been published (by Kai Donner and Annie Woipio-Juvas).

After his death, a film consisting of documentary footage appeared in 1957–1959. The first large-scale and detailed biography of Mannerheim was published, written by his close associate Infantry General Eric Heinrichs.

In the 1960s The Mannerheim Foundation, created according to his will, whose main task was to send Finnish officers to foreign higher military schools, opened the archive of letters, which the foundation inherited by will, for Mannerheim's relative, the Swedish professor Stig Jagerskjöld.

Very significant archival research in different countries, the discovery of letters and interviews conducted by Jagersheld resulted in a large-scale eight-volume work.

At the time when the Englishman D.E.O. Screen took up the study of the Russian period of Mannerheim's life, began to pay attention to the various stages of the Mannerheim cult. His image was addressed in novels and plays (in particular, Paavo Rintala, Ilmari Turja).

In the 1970s the left movement criticized Mannerheim, rather directed against his cult. Of the latest studies on Mannerheim, the most significant is Veijo Meri's book, a psychologically accurate biography of Mannerheim (1988).

Material taken from the One Hundred Remarkable Finns Biographies Collection on the website of the National Library of Finland © Biografiakeskus, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, PL 259, 00171 HELSINKI

Application:

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, b. 4/6/1867, Askainen, died 27/1/1951, Lausanne. Parents: Count Karl Robert Mannerheim and Charlotte Helena von Yulin. Wife: 1892–1919 Anastasia Arapova, b. 1872. Died 1936b wife's parents: Major General Nikolai Arapov and Vera Kazakova. Children: Anastasia, b. 1893. died 1978; Sofia, b. 1895, died 1963.

Karl Mannerheim, Colonel of the Russian Imperial Army. Poland, 1909

For Finns, this man is a national hero. It must be admitted that the Finnish statehood, in fact, took place precisely thanks to him ... the help of Germany in 1918, and also the goodwill of the Soviet Union. And who is he - Karl Mannerheim, for a Russian person? No, he was not a patriot of Russia, neither when he served in her army, nor when he fought against her ...

"Mannerheim's order in connection with the landing of German troops in Finland

At the request of the Finnish government, detachments of the victorious and mighty German army landed on Finnish soil to help us drive out the villainous Bolsheviks. I am convinced that the brotherhood in arms, which is imprinted in the current struggle with blood, should further strengthen the friendship and trust that Finland has always had in the great Kaiser and the mighty German people. I hope that the young Finnish army, fighting side by side with the glorious German troops, will be imbued with that iron discipline, sense of order and sense of duty that created the greatness of the German army and led it from victory to victory. Welcoming the arrival of the brave German troops, I hope that every Finnish person will understand the great sacrifice made by the noble German people to our country at a time when Germany needs every person to fight on the Western Front.

(The defeat of the White Finnish interventionists in Karelia in 1918-22. Collection of documents / Compiled by A.M. Fedotov; edited by P.G. Sofinov. [Tegozero]: State Publishing House of the Karelian-Finnish SSR, 1944. P.16-17 )

Nevertheless, according to the beliefs of fans of Russia-which-we-have-lost, the Bolsheviks are German agents, and Mannerheim is "a real Russian hero and patriot."

He earned his Iron Cross honestly...

Mannerheim and President Ryti inspect Finnish troops in the city of Enso

Finnish President Kyösti Kallio with Mannerheim. Helsinki railway station. December 19, 1940

Mannerheim at headquarters in the summer of 1941

Mannerheim, Supreme Commander of the Finnish Army. Helsinki. 1941

Mannerheim with the generals of the headquarters are looking through binoculars towards Leningrad and Kronstadt. 1941

Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim and General Rudolf Walden

Mannerheim, Major General Erkki Raapan and Lieutenant General Harald Ekvist

“During the liberation war of 1918, I (note - Mannerheim) told the Karelians of Finland and the East that I would not sheathe my sword until Finland and East Karelia were free,” the first and last Finnish marshal inspired his fighters. - Twenty-three years North Karelia and Olonia were waiting for the fulfillment of this promise, one and a half years after the heroic Winter War, Finnish Karelia, devastated, was waiting for the dawn to dawn ... At this historic moment for the world German and Finnish soldiers - just like in the war of liberation in 1918 - stand against Bolshevism and the Soviet Union. The struggle of the German brothers in arms next to our liberator soldiers in the North will further strengthen the long-standing and strong military brotherhood, help to destroy the threat of Bolshevism and guarantee a bright future.… The freedom of Karelia and Great Finland shimmer before us in a huge whirlpool of world-historical events.

In total, almost 600 thousandth international army was concentrated in Finland, including 16 Finnish and 2 German infantry divisions, as well as 2 divisions of Austrian mountain riflemen. The SS troops were represented by the 6th SS Mountain Infantry Division "Nord", reinforced by a battalion of French tanks, manned by both natives of the Reich and ethnic Germans from other countries. In addition, Finland concentrated 2 jaeger and ski brigades here, and from other territories of the then united Europe, an Estonian regiment, a Swedish volunteer battalion and a Norwegian, also volunteer, SS ski battalion subsequently arrived. By June 22, this whole armada, accompanied by more than 200 tanks and almost 900 aircraft with black German and blue Finnish swastikas, was ready to attack. The operation, code-named "Silberfuks" - "Polar Fox", provided for the rapid capture of Murmansk and Leningrad, as well as all the main stations connecting them railway. At the same time, Mannerheim's troops were to occupy Karelia and, having reached the White Sea, complete the creation of Great Finland

Mannerheim made his contribution to the blockade and the resulting mass death of Leningraders from starvation, and the successors of his cause do not intend to repent of this. For example, Tino Vihavainen, professor at the University of Helsinki, who is considered the main Finnish specialist in the history of war, still claims that the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Leningraders is solely the fault of themselves and the fighters who defended the city. They would have surrendered to the mercy of the winner and ate their gruel calmly. Indeed, in the occupied territory, where almost all non-Finnish-speaking residents were sent to concentration camps, only one in five of them died behind barbed wire. And taking into account those who were shot and died of starvation due to massive requisitions of food in favor of uninvited "liberators", we can safely say that the occupation cost their lives a third of the Russian population of the captured part of Karelia.

And someone would not have passed a good gallows for this, if Mannerheim and his friends had not sold their beloved Fuhrer with all the giblets. After the defeat of the Finnish army near Vyborg and Petrozavodsk, they managed to agree with Moscow on a separate peace. In exchange for withdrawing from the war, transferring the nickel mines near Pechenga to the Soviet Union and stab in the back of the German "brothers in arms", Finland relatively successfully jumped off the Nazi train rushing into the abyss.

Source: Yuri Nersesov "The Dream of an Imperial Finn"

Fuhrer and Mannerheim at the airport. June 4, 1942

The Fuhrer and Mannerheim at the airport, June 4, 1942

Hitler, Marshal Mannerheim and President Ryti in Imatra. 06/04/1942

To the photo above

They walk one path...

Adolf Hitler greets German and Finnish officers 06/04/1942

Adolf Hitler and Karl Mannerheim at the railway station in Imatra. 06/04/1942 (Hitler arrived at Mannerheim's 75th birthday celebration)

Handshake. 06/04/1942

Mannerheim's visit to Germany on July 27, 1942.

Mannerheim's visit to Germany. July 27, 1942

Apparently bent over the map

Mannerheim receives Heinrich Himmler

To the photo above

Cup for victory...

Company

To the photo above

Mannerheim and the German representative at the General Staff of the Finnish Army, General of the Infantry V. Erfurt

Karl Mannerheim, President Risto Ryti and General Waldemar Erfurt

Mannerheim in negotiations with Wehrmacht General E. Dietl

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim lived a long life. He was born on June 4, 1867 and died on January 27, 1951. Of the 83 years he lived, almost seventy were in the military. As Mannerheim himself writes: "I was 15 years old when in 1882 I entered the Finnish cadet corps. I was the first of three generations of Mannerheims who devoted themselves to a military career." The word "career", chosen by the author himself, does not accurately reflect the essence of his life. Anyone familiar with the biography of Mannerheim, it becomes clear that he did not make a career. He just served his country.

The opening of a memorial plaque in St. Petersburg to Lieutenant General of the Russian Army Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim raised a wave of dirty lies, including on the pages of LiveJournal. Not considering it possible to be indifferent to the distortion of the history of our country, we are publishing material that will set out the truth about this person.

Carl Gustav (Gustav Karlovich) Mannerheim was born into the family of Baron Carl Robert Mannerheim and Countess Hedwig Charlotte Helena von Julin on the Louhisaari estate near Turku. When Gustav was 13 years old, his father went bankrupt and, leaving his family, went to Paris. In January of the following year, his mother died.

In 1882, at the age of 15, Gustav Mannerheim entered the cadet corps, where he studied for two years - in 1886, dissatisfied with the new order (for minor violations, the cadets were kept in barracks for months, without the right to enter the city), "went AWOL ", for which he was expelled from the corps.

Gustav reacted calmly to the expulsion, since he had long dreamed of entering the Nikolaev Cavalry School. This decision did not raise any doubts from a patriotic point of view, since relations between Russia and the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland were very good at that time. Having entered the school in 1887, Gustav Mannerheim graduated with honors in 1889, having received the first officer rank of cornet and was sent to serve in the 15th Alexandria Dragoon Regiment, stationed on the border with Germany - in the Polish city of Kalisz. The cavalrymen of the regiment, where all the horses were black, were called "suicide hussars" - in memory of the time when this regiment was a hussar regiment and officers wore black dolmans with silver-plated galloons. After serving for a year in the Alexandria Dragoon Regiment, Gustav Mannerheim was transferred to the cavalry regiment, the honorary chief of which was Empress Maria Feodorovna herself (daughter of the Danish king Christian IX, whom the Finns called Empress Dagmar).

In 1892, changes took place in Gustav Mannerheim's personal life, he married Anastasia Arapova, the daughter of Major General Nikolai Ustinovich Arapov, who was part of His Majesty's Retinue, also a cavalry guard in the past.

In 1901, the commander of the cavalry guards, General von Grunwald, who was appointed chief stable officer, offered the promising young officer a position in the imperial stables. The duties of Gustav Mannerheim, who was very fond of horses, included the purchase of breeding stock in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and England. During one of his trips to Germany, Gustav received a serious injury to his knee joint, the treatment took more than two months, mobility in the joint was partially lost, but Professor Bergman, the personal physician of Emperor Wilhelm II, who advised Mannerheim, consoled him: “Although it will be difficult for you to lead the squadron forward, you still you can perfectly command a regiment, and nothing will prevent you from becoming a general!

Soon after receiving the rank of captain in 1903, Gustav Mannerheim was appointed to the St. Petersburg Cavalry Officer School, which was led by cavalry general Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov.

Service in the officer cavalry school did not last long: on the night of February 9, 1904, without declaring war, Japanese ships blocked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur, began Russo-Japanese War, for which Lieutenant Colonel Gustav Mannerheim signed up as a volunteer. In the period from December 25 to January 8, Mannerheim, as commander of two separate squadrons, took part in a cavalry operation, the purpose of the operation was to break through to the coast, capture the Japanese port of Yingkou with ships and, blowing up the bridge, cut off the railway connection between Port Arthur and Mukden. The participants in this battle did not yet know that Port Arthur was already in the hands of the Japanese, and the army of General Nogi rushed towards the location of the troops of General Kuropatkin. In January, the regiment in which Mannerheim served took part in the offensive near Sandepa, which was led by his compatriot Oscar Grippenberg. Mannerheim noted that the Japanese, skillfully using the terrain, were invisible in their khaki uniform (the Russian army did not yet have a field uniform) and had tactical superiority in artillery, using camouflaged artillery positions, while Russian artillery fired from open area.

Military operations on land ended with the defeat of the Russian army at Mukden, followed by a naval defeat - in May 1905, near the Tsushima Islands, the Japanese fleet completely destroyed the second Russian Pacific squadron. The consequences of the war with Japan were expected to be very severe, but according to the peace treaty signed on September 5, 1905 in Portsmouth, Russia lost quite a bit. Japan's only territorial acquisition was the southern part of Sakhalin Island. Russia, for its part, renounced the rights to the Liaodong Peninsula with the cities of Port Arthur and Dalniy and the concession for the railway in South Manchuria. Russia retained the rights to use the South China Railway. Korea was recognized as a sphere of influence of Japan. No claims for compensation were made.

According to Gustav Mannerheim, the military operations in Manchuria showed much brighter than all previous military clashes: war is not only the business of the army, it is the destiny of the whole nation, the Japanese showed the whole world a brilliant picture of unanimity and self-sacrifice in the name of victory.

Soon Gustav Mannerheim, who by that time had been awarded the rank of colonel, received an invitation to arrive in St. Petersburg, where the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, General Fyodor Fedorovich Palitsyn, offered him the task of organizing a horse expedition to Central Asia from Russian Turkestan through Chinese Turkestan and the Tien Shan mountains to the region of the Ili River, and further through the Gobi Desert in the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan and Shanxi to the capital of China.

The expedition began on July 6, 1906, on the recommendation of the Russian Consul General in China, Mannerheim issued a Chinese passport in the name of Ma-ta-khan, which meant "Horse galloping through the clouds", this name caused a favorable reaction from officials who checked his documents.

Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim at a meeting with His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama.

In June 1907, Gustav Mannerheim met with His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama, who lived in exile after the recognition of Chinese rule in Tibet by Russia and England (the 13th Dalai Lama could return to Lhasa only after the Chinese revolution, the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the declaration of independence of Tibet, to unfortunately, his successor, the 14th Dalai Lama, living in exile, no longer hopes for such a prospect).

Mannerheim's expedition ended in August 1908 in Beijing, from where he returned to St. Petersburg, where he received an invitation to Emperor Nicholas II to tell about his journey.

Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim, Colonel of the Russian Imperial Army. Poland, 1909

In the autumn of 1908, Colonel Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim was appointed to the post of commander of the 13th Vladimir Uhlan Regiment, located in Novominsk (now Minsk-Mazowiecki) in Poland, where his military career began nineteen years ago. In 1911, on the recommendation of General Brusilov, Gustav Karlovich Mannerheim was awarded the rank of major general. In the summer of 1914, having refused an offer to take command of the second cuirassier brigade in Tsarskoe Selo, Mannerheim was appointed commander of the Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade, headquartered in Warsaw.

A few days after the assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, the First World War became inevitable ...