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Birthday anniversary of Nikolay N. Yudenich, Russian General
18 (30) July 1862, in the family of collegiate councillor was born Nikolay Yudenich, Russian military leader, General of Infantry (1915), commander of the Caucasian Army (1915-1916) during World War I; one of the leaders of the White movement in the North-West of Russia.
In 1881, Yudenich graduated from the Alexander Military School in Moscow and was sent to serve in the Lithuanian Life Guard Regiment. After having been promoted to lieutenant, Yudenich entered the Academy of the General Staff. Upon graduation, he was appointed to the General Staff of the Russian Army. In later years he served in various staff and front-line positions in the 14th Army Corps (Warsaw Military District), and in 1892 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and sent to the Turkestan Military District, then was appointed chief of staff of the Pamir detachment. In 1902 Yudenich commanded the 18th Rifle Regiment of the 6th East Siberian Division.
With the beginning of the Russian-Japanese war, a part of the troops of Colonel Yudenich was transferred to the theater of war. For excellent command of the regiment at the Battle of Mukden (February-March 1905) Yudenich was awarded golden arms, and his regiment a special mark for the cap with the inscription: "For Yansyntun. February 1905." In June 1905, he was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 5th Infantry Division.
After treatment from a serious wound, in 1907 Yudenich accepted the post of Quartermaster General of the Kazan Military District. Shortly before the outbreak of the World War I, in January 1913, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Caucasus Military District and promoted to lieutenant general. When in November 1914 Turkey declared war on Russia, on the basis of the district the Caucasian Army was deployed, and its headquarters were headed by Yudenich. General was entrusted with the elaboration and implementation of the Sarikamysh operation which ended with the defeat of the 3rd Turkish army in December of 1914. Nikolay was promoted to General of Infantry and awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd class.
In autumn 1915 the war supplies of the Turkish army improved significantly and it expected large reinforcements. The Staff of the Caucasian Army, responding quickly to the information about the Turkish approach, prepared Russian troops to the offensive, which took place at the end of December 1916, which was a complete surprise to the enemy. Battles were fierce: ousting the Turks, Russian soldiers stopped in front of the fortress Erzurum. General Yudenich personally initiated a detail elaboration of the plan to assault the fortress, which lasted from January to February 1917, and ended with the capture of Erzurum. For the operation Yudenich was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd class.
After the February Revolution and the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, General Yudenich was appointed commander of the Caucasian front and continued the offensive against the Turks. However, difficulties with the supply of the troops and the fall of discipline, caused by growth of revolutionary agitation, forced him to stop Mesopotamian operation and withdraw the troops. For refusing to carry out the order of the Provisional Government to resume the offensive, May 7, 1917 the general was relieved of the command of the front and forced to resign. In the second half of May, Yudenich left for Petrograd.
After his unsuccessful attempts to return to the army, in November of 1918 Yudenich emigrated to Finland, where he met with the Regent of the Kingdom of Finland, General K. G. E. Mannerheim – his friend of the Academy of the General Staff. The generals then decided to organize struggle against the Bolsheviks: they established the Russian Political Committee including representatives of the industrial, financial and political circles, of the Russian emigration. The Committee ordered Yudenich to lead anti-Bolshevik movement in the North-West of Russia. The political program of Yudenich was based on the idea of recreation of a single and indivisible Russia within its historical territory.
In May-June 1919, White movement military units led by Yudenich advanced on Petrograd, and managed to capture Gdov, Yamburg, Pskov, they approached Luga, Ropsha and Gatchina. June 10, "Supreme Ruler" of Russia, Admiral A. V. Kolchak officially appointed the general the Chief Commander of troops in the region which were merged into the North-Western army June 19. However, the counter-offensive of Bolsheviks that began on June 21 resulted in the defeat of the armies of Yudenich. In September and October 1919, he organized the second campaign to Petrograd. His army, together with Estonian troops, broke through the defenses of "red" detachments, occupied Luga, Gatchina, Krasnoye Selo, Detskoye Selo and Pavlovsk. However, they failed to cut the Nikolaev railway that supplied Bolsheviks with food and weapons. Lack of reserves and stretch of the front allowed the Red Army to stop the attack of "white" forces October 21, and the next day to break through their defenses. By the end of November 1919 Yudenich's troops were pinned to the border and entered the Estonian territory, where they were disarmed and interned by their former allies.
January 22, 1920 General Yudenich announced the dissolution of the North-Western Army, and a few days later he was arrested by the Estonian authorities, but soon after, at the request of the representatives of the Entente, was released. Russian general emigrated to England, and later moved to France and settled in Nice. In exile, he withdrew from political activities, taking part in the work of Russian educational institutions, and heading the Society of Lovers of Russian history.
Nikolay N. Yudenich died October 5, 1933 in Cannes.
Lit.: Алексеев С. А. Революция и гражданская война в описаниях белогвардейцев: Деникин. Юденич. Врангель. М., 1991; Исторические портреты: А. В. Колчак, Н. Н. Юденич, Г. М. Семёнов. М., 2004; Медвецкий А. Ф. Генерал от инфантерии Н. Н. Юденич в годы общенационального кризиса в России (1914-1920 гг.). Самара, 2005; Он же. Герой Эрзерума: проклятый и преданный забвению (малоизвестные страницы боевой деятельности последнего кавалера императорской армии России генерала от инфантерии Николая Юденича). Самара, 2005; Пилкин В. К. Письма В. К. Пилкина к Н. Н. Юденичу // В Белой борьбе на Северо-Западе: Дневник 1918–1920. М., 2005; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/db/pilkin_vk/21.html; Рутыч Н. Н. Белый фронт генерала Юденича: Биографии чинов Северо-Западной армии. М., 2002; Цветков В. Ж. Николай Николаевич Юденич // Вопросы истории. 2002. № 9. С. 37-59.