Mikhail Drozdovsky
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Mikhail Gordeevich Drozdovsky (Russian: Михаил Гордеевич Дроздовский) (October 7, 1881- January 1, 1919). Russian army officer and one of the military leaders of the anti-Bolshevik White movement during the Russian Civil War.
Drozdovsky was born in Kiev in a general's family and started his military career early in life. At the end of Russia's involvement in the First World War he was a colonel in charge of an infantry division on the Romanian front. Soon after General Mikhail Alekseev started an anti-Bolshevik uprising in the Don region, Drozdovsky contacted him and promised to form a unit of volunteers from troops at the Romanian front and join the anti-Bolshevik movement. In January of 1918 "White Guard" volunteer units were created in Kishinev, and Iaşi in Romania, as well as in Bolgrad in the Odessa region. Colonel Drozdovsky decided to lead his anti-Bolshevik forces east and join the Volunteer Army in its fight against the Red Army in the Don region of southern Russia.
In February 26, 1918, despite the actions of the Romanian army, which tried to disarm them, Drozdovsky and his men, numbering around 1100 war veterans (most of them officers), started their march to the Don. On its way Drozdovsky was joined by other officers and soldiers hostile to the new Soviet regime. Drozdovsky's private notes written during the march show him as a patriotic officer who felt that he had no choice but to fight the Bolsheviks--whom he considered the destroyers of Russia. The notes often reveal a sense of doomed resignation. This, however, did not prevent him from acting with great energy and from being an inspiration to his men. In April 21, 1918, Drozdovsky briefly captured Rostov-on-Don. While battling for Rostov's train station, Colonel Voinalovich, Drozdovsky's second-in-command and closest advisor, was killed in action. Three days later, Drozdovsky's force came to the assistance of the Don Cossacks desperately battling Red forces at Novocherkassk. The Reds were defeated and Drozdovsky's men marched into Novocherkassk. It is here, after a 900 mile march from Romania to the Don, that Drozdovsky and his men officially became part of the Volunteer Army.
In June of 1918, at the start of the Second Kuban Campaign, General Anton Denikin promoted Drozdovsky to the rank of Major General, and his unit, now augmented with an influx of new volunteers, was designated as the 3rd Infantry Division. Drozdovsky's unit became one of the elite formations of the Volunteer Army (later called the Armed Forces of South Russia). Drozdovsky was one of the firsts among the White Army commanders to augment his forces with Red Army prisoners they captured in battle. Although the initial performance of these former Red Army troops exceeded Drozdovsky's expectations, as their numbers increased their reliability decreased.
General Drozdovsky was wounded in October of 1918, during a battle near Stavropol. Although initially it was thought that the wound was not serious, he never recovered and died on January 1, 1919, in the vicinity of Rostov-on-Don. Subsequently the 3rd Infantry Division, which consisted of several regiments, became known as the Drozdovsky Rifle Division, one of the famous "colored" units of the Volunteer Army. The Drozdovsky Division was well known for its fighting spirit and esprit de corps. In 1920, before the departure of the Volunteer Army from Crimea, General Drozdovsky's remains were secretly reburied by his men in Sevastopol, Crimea, to prevent their defilement by the Bolsheviks (as happened with the remains of General Lavr Kornilov). Their exact location remains unknown to this day.
