StreetSense visited a former First World War cemetery in Moscow which had been demolished by the Soviet Government from the 1920's to the early 1950's. We were intrigued by the largely obscure story behind the only preserved grave from this cemetery. That is the grave of the Geography student from Moscow State University, the soldier and medical attendant Sergei Aleksandr Shlikhter 1894 -1916}. We found out that Shlikhter had left behind a diary as well as letters which articulately, accurately, and vividly described his life at the front. What emerges is a very talented soldier who, had he survived, would have gone on to become a great writer. His narrative often provides an unsettling and disquieting account of his wartime experience.
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Once there was a young man who took out his horses to a field to graze. He was so tired he decided to take a nap behind a tree. He used his overcoat as a blanket. As he was sleeping someone woke him up by pulling his coat down from his head to his neck. Ignoring this, he went back to sleep again. But again someone pulled his overcoat from his head He stood up and looked around but couldn't see anyone. The third time he went to sleep again someone wrenched off his overcoat until it flew away from him. That was enough for him. He decided to sleep on a different spot. While he was sleeping he had a dream where an old man warned him "Never go to sleep on a road where dead people walk along."
The moral of the story is never to sleep, disturb, or desecrate any place reserved for the dead.
Unfortunately after the revolution, the Soviet state decided to demolish a whole First World War graveyard in the north district of Sokol in Moscow. This graveyard, opened in 1915 and was largely the brainchild of the Duchess Elizabeth Fedorova, a place where many soldiers, nurses, and doctors lie buried.
The idea was that the cemetery would be a place where the relatives and friends of those who had died in the war could come and pray, remember what happened, and find a place of consolation for their grief. It was a huge cemetery. As many as 18,000 people lie buried here. The dead comprised 17,340 soldiers from the lower ranks, 580 officers, 23 nurses, and 14 doctors. Those buried are from different religions and nationalities: Russian, Serbian, French, British, and Romanian.
Unfortunately, although a few graves have been recently restored, only one grave from the old cemetery still survives today. This is the grave of the former Geography student of Moscow State University, Sergei Alexander Shlikhter. The graveyard was brutally bulldozed by the Soviet government from the 1920's into the 1950's. The legend is that the father of Shlikhter held on to the grave and told the bulldozers "if you destroy this grave you will have to walk over my dead body."
The truth is possibly more prosaic. Shlikhter's father happened to be a powerful and influential official who persuaded people in power not to destroy his son's grave. But this is not the only legend here. There are stories about people who work in the nearby Sokol metro seeing the ghosts of wounded First World War soldiers walking through the rail tunnel during the early hours of the morning. The main road near the cemetery remains a notorious black spot for road accidents. Residents who live in the houses built over this cemetery complain of all kinds of problems and also witness ghosts.
For example, a traffic policeman on duty once reported seeing thousands of candles lit on the former cemetery. When he went to investigate the lights disappeared. Of course, some people claim that all those bizarre events are connected to the error of destroying a graveyard. The dead are angry about this. They wish to make their presence known.
Compared to Britain which has a staggering 100,000 First World War memorials, Russia has less than 400. But many dead Russian soldiers lie buried in East Prussia, Poland and Austria where they fought. The Bolsheviks despised the First World War as a futile imperialist war fought to protect the tsar and the power, prestige, and privileges of the old regime. They regarded the real heroes as those who fought and died fighting for the socialist cause.
The First World War represented an immense tragedy for Russia. Although the Russians often fought very heroically and at times very well {e.g., they won the first battle they fought against the Germans at Gumbinnen, and they launched the impressive Brusilov offensive in 1916 against the Austrians where they took 250,000 prisoners and forced the Austrians to flee} the Russians eventually lost. In fact, they may have lost as many as 1.7 million men.
Why did they lose? After all, they had the biggest army in Europe which was called the steamroller!
During the first 5 months of the war they had mobilized 6 million men and till the end of the war they called up 15 million! A prevailing myth held by some Russians is that the Russians lost the war because of the Bolshevik Revolution. In other words, they were stabbed in the back.
However, most professional historians dismiss this explanation. They state that the war was largely lost because the Russian system was too corrupt, backward, conservative, and inflexible—and too contrary to soldiers using their own initiative. The tactics, and strategy used by the commanders were too out of date for the new type of trench warfare. In this respect they were not unlike their British and French allies. The Russian as well as British generals expected complete loyalty, unquestioning obedience and following foolish orders uncritically. The generals thought that courage and prayer alone could win the war. They thought the real strength lay in attack rather than defense when the opposite was the case. In fact, all the advantages lay with the defense which was mechanized. Sir Douglas Haig believed the machine gun was overrated so he never ordered enough. The main decisive weapons were the bayonet and cavalry. But in practice maxim machine guns could fire as many as 500 rounds and mow down any charging infantry and cavalry.
Despite high casualties, the generals more often never learnt from their mistakes and repeated them again and again on a large scale. It was the huge losses, bad leadership, incompetent officers, lack of food supplies and equipment, and often callous treatment of soldiers which led to Russian soldiers refusing to fight on. They voted against the war with their feet.
An example of how soldiers were badly treated by their society and their officers is provided by historian Orlando Figes. He writes about how soldiers could be beaten up for petty misdemeanors such as going to a village to simply buy bread, getting a spot of dirt on their uniform or making a simple error. Soldiers were forbidden from going to the theater, sitting in restaurants and even sitting on park benches. A sigh on some benches warned 'Dogs and soldiers are forbidden.' It was this crushing repression as well as the indifference of the officers to the welfare of their men which provoked a mass mutiny and later support for the revolution.
We often look at war as being very senseless, terrible and futile. It can be hard to imagine how some people might actually find war attractive and alluring! Yet this is the case with some soldiers and nurses. For instance, the daughter of the Prime Minister Asquith stated how she found war thrilling and Kerensky's wife found a lot of fulfillment and joy when working as a nurse. For many people the war represented a break from the dull, dreary and boring life of working in factories and farms.
The German soldier Ernst Junger in his memoirs 'Storm of Steel' stated that he enjoyed the war as an adventure…
The historian Niall Ferguson in his book 'The Pity of War,' goes as far to argue that some soldiers derived some pleasure from the war and enjoyed killing people. Some saw war as a sport like hunting or a challenging test of endurance. The war provided a sense of purpose and direction which was absent in much of civilian life. What might we make of this?
I think Ferguson is right about a particular group of people who get a thrill about danger and relish the risks. But they seem to represent a minority. The vast majority of soldiers at the front found their lives full of fatigue, hunger and boredom. A lot of soldiers could spend their time in routine activities. So one form of boredom replaced another. The horrors of seeing comrades blown up, horribly wounded and disfigured can hardly be overlooked. Many soldiers were left disabled for life.
And how did Sergei Alexander find the war? The Russian art historian Natalie W. told me that he got a thrill from being on the threshold of death. From reading his diary, she got the impression that the danger was like some kind of drug. Perhaps the heightened sense of danger made him feel more fully alive. Like a soldier called Martin Van Greveld, he thought that war could represent a highly attractive activity with the opportunity of employing all a person's faculties.
Natalie W. stated, "Sergei Alexander saw the war as a duty. Today I see many young men who want to go to war for childish reasons such as to be seen as heroes or they say it is 'a call of duty.”
She went on to say, “For women this is strange. I study art and see war as bloody. I can't understand this call of duty. War disrupts families, destroys buildings and lives. Of course I respect such people who see doing their duty for their strong opinions. The student Sergei did not have to go to the front. He went as a volunteer thinking it was his duty to defend his country. From reading his diaries you can see he enjoyed taking risks. It was like gambling and he liked risking his life. He felt it was an adventure. If he had lived he could have become a historian. But he made this voluntary choice. I think for many young people war provides them with a chance to prove themselves and use their talents. They felt their contribution to the war could be significant. War seemed to be a good way of making something out of your life.
Sergei Alexander was very courageous. He won many medals, such as the Saint George’s Cross."
The Saint George’s Cross
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One of his comrades who died was the Sister of Mercy, Olga Shishmareva, who died under a mass shelling. In one of his letters to her relatives, Sergei offers a graphic account of how he and other comrades rushed out to rescue the badly wounded 19-year-old nurse. Unfortunately, the nurse died of her terrible injuries later in a hospital in Warsaw. He must have felt guilt at not being able to save her. In the letter he wrote, “There was no feeling of fear but a feeling of surprise, senselessness but most of all, helplessness. Going further lay a nurse {Olga}. She was scared and in pain. The nurse began to groan and complain of pain in her breasts and in her legs. I, and my fellow soldiers dragged her out of the dugout. As we were doing this a second explosion happened behind us.”
He also writes that “Seventy shells were fired at us. I didn't expect this cruel and blood-thirsty action as they started to fire at us despite a truce.” Both sides had agreed on a truce so they could remove the wounded from the battlefield but Hungarian soldiers broke the ceasefire by opening fire. Olga Shishmareva died on the 28th of March, 1915. She was only 19. Her picture has been placed on Sergei's grave. You can see other graves of young nurses who died such as Vera Semenova and Lubov Petrovna Konstantinova. Many of those graves have been restored.
As many as 18,000 Russian woman served at the front during the First World War.
Natalie P stated that Sergei "Left behind a very vivid and readable account of events at the front. It's very memorable. And it is a very intelligible and honest account of his experience as a soldier at the front. He does not embellish anything. He frankly admits to being afraid of death but still took a lot of risks. He writes also of being addicted to the excitement of risking his life at the front and that is why he became a reconnaissance scout."
The former cemetery has been transformed into what is named 'The First World War Memorial Park.' The park has about 20 memorials. Some are to the Sisters of Mercy and many airmen. It also includes the new grave of the former commander in chief the Grand Duke Nicholas Nichoiavich—who was reburied in 2015.
This is a very pleasant park to stroll in during the autumn where all kinds of dazzling red, golden, and orange leaves of maple, birch, and poplar trees whisper, flutter, and fall with the wind. Squirrels rush up and around trees and freely eat from the hands of visitors. At times it is difficult to imagine you are walking on the bones of so many soldiers and nurses who died in such a huge and horrific war. It is also difficult to fathom how this very graveyard was used to execute hostages such as officials, priests, and cadets by the Red Army. But some local Russians have not forgotten the dead.
In deed, they still hold special memorial services for them. Who knows! Perhaps they not only pray for the dead—but also pray with them!
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Acknowledged sources.
1. If you know some Russian you can enter a special site which has scanned and published documents about Sergei Aleksander Shlikhter called in Russian Електронекрасовка
2. Niall Ferguson, “The Pity of War, 1914-1918,” 1999. London: Penguin Books. This book is well researched and provides an alternative view at how some people experienced war so differently.
3. Hastings Max, “Catastrophe: Europe goes to War in 1914,” 2014. London: William Collins. This book has super photos and many accounts based on the personal accounts of ordinary people and soldiers.
4. Orlando Figes, “A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution,” 2017. London: The Bodley Head. This is one of the best and very detailed accounts of the experience of the Russian soldiers as well as why the Russian Army lost the First World War.
5. A.J. P. Taylor, “The First World War: An Illustrated History,” 1963. London: Penguin Books. This is one of my favorite books because it is so lucid, well- written, and witty.
6. Ernst Junger, “Storm of Steel,” (Modern Classics), 2004. London: Penguin Books. It is a first-hand account of his experience of the war and offers a different perspective on war which many might question.
7. Vyvyen Brendon, “The First World War: 1914-1918, 2011.” London: Hodder Education. This book is good for school children preparing for history exams and also for the laymen because basic facts and a list of reasons is provided as to why Germany lost the war.
8. Stoff Laurie, “They Fought for the Motherland: Russia's Women Soldiers in World War One and the Revolution,” 2006. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. This book provides a useful and brilliant account of the Women's Death battalion which served in the Russian army during the First World War. We learn about so many formidable obstacles facing women who wanted to serve as nurses or soldiers at the front.