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Shugaevsky Family

Part 9 (Looking for Anatoly)

Anatoly Andreyevvich Shugaevsky, 1889 - ca.1923-25

My grandfather, Valentin, was the oldest of three brothers, the youngest being Anatoly. The only information that was passed down to my mother was that he perished in World War I and his widow lived with Anatoly’s mother. The widow attended church and because of this she lost her job.

We found some more information on the backs of two family portraits, but I had no success searching the internet until I started searching using Cyrillic script, and even then it took persistence to shed some light on Anatoly’s life.

Click on images to enlarge.

d 1905-7  Anatoly.jpg

Anatoly ca. 1906, from a family portrait

c 1903-back Anatoly.jpg

On the back of a photo Valentin gives Anatoly’s year of death as “1923? 1924?”.

According to Valentin's notes on the back of the family portrait from 1903, Anatoly was in the army and went missing in action in Latvia possibly in 1923 or 1924. This made no sense to me since Latvia was an independent nation at this time and I couldn’t find up any evidence of military action there. 

Also, World War I was over for all combatants in 1918. Either my mother misunderstood, misremembered, or she was told a family lie to hide the fact that Anatoly was a member of the White (anti-Bolshevik) movement. And how did they know he died in Latvia? Did they learn through Leonid who was an American citizen and was visiting the Baltic states on business?

1903 detail of Anatoly.jpg

Anatoly ca. 1903, from a family portrait

Having been told that Anatoly was in the military, I first assumed he went to a military school like his brother Leonid who attended the Petrovsky Poltava Cadet Corps, but on the back of the 1903 photo Valentin claims he was attending Chernihiv Classical Gymnasium and is wearing the uniform for that school. Valentin graduated from the same gymnasium earlier that year.  Unfortunately, I haven’t located any student lists for the Chernihiv Classical Gymnasium so there is no evidence that Anatoly completed his studies there. A classical gymnasium was a rigorous secondary school that emphasized Greek and Latin and prepared students for university. 

Using internet searches I confirmed that Anatoly’s brother, Leonid, graduated from the Petrovsky Poltava Cadet Corps in 1904. I haven’t found Anatoly on a class list for the Poltava Cadet Corps so it was unlikely that he transferred there. 

d 1905-7 .jpg

This is the family portrait that Valentin dates to 1906-7.  Anatoly, the youngest son would be around 17 -18 years old in this photo and probably still in secondary school. None of the sons is wearing a uniform, so we have no evidence as to schools or employment, but we know that Valentin was attending two schools simultaneously in St. Petersburg and that Leonid was at a military engineering school or had just graduated. The young man at the top right is a cousin who is standing in front of his father.

d 1905-7 backs  Anatoly.jpg

There are at least 2 copies of the above photo. On the back of one,Valentin gives Anatoly’s year of death as “1925?”. 

I made no assumptions as to what side (communist or White) Anatoly was on when he went missing. Then, while doing internet searches for “Шугаевский”  (Shugaevsky), I discovered that he was in the White Russian (anti-Bolshevik) forces. I have spent many months researching the history of this period. It is fascinating and also very complex. It's hard to give a summary that doesn’t oversimplify, but I will do my best.

The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 was relatively bloodless but the civil war which it precipitated was not. It went on till 1922 and involved numerous factions within the former Russian Empire and practically every major European power. Even the United States and Japan joined in – yes, the U.S.A. had troops fighting the Bolsheviks. There will be more about this in the section on Leonid.

The White Russian forces were the former Russian troops and some volunteer armies that were opposed to the Bolsheviks. The White forces included several armies that were separated by location, tactics, and sometimes politics. These divisions are one of the reasons they lost the civil war.

Anatoly showed up on a list of participants in the White movement. I thought it would be interesting to show all the Shugaevskys on this list. I translated with  Google Translate which is not completely accurate, I will first show the original Russian text and then the translation. I welcome corrections.

до эвакуации Крыма. Галлиполиец. Осенью 1925 в составе Гвардейского отряда в Эстонии. Штабс-капитан. /2/ 

Шугаевский Валентин Андреевич, р. 16 апр. 1884. В эмиграции в США. Ум. 3 нояб. 1966. Жена Полина Григорьевна (25 

окт. 1900 — 28 мар. 1982 там же). /577/= 

Шугаевский Георгий Федорович*, р. 1 нояб. 1894 в Мглине. 3-я Киевская школа прапорщиков 1916. Поручик, командир 

роты 531-го пехотного полка. Подпоручик. В белых войсках Северного фронта с 22–23 июля 1919 из лагеря в Нью 

Маркете (в Англии), до 8 авг. 1919 при штабе Главнокомандующего войсками Северной Области, авг. 1919 — мар. 

1920 командир 6-й роты в Архангелогородском запасном стрелковом полку, в дек. 1919 помощник начальника 1-й 

пулеметной команды Архангелогородского стрелкового полка. Поручик. Орд. Св. Станислава 2 ст. (дважды). 

Холост; родители в Мглине. /12–74,174,263,265, 267,269,284/ 

Шугаевский Евгений Владимирович, р. 1890 в Перекопе Таврической губ. Корнет. Во ВСЮР и Русской Армии 

до эвакуации Крыма. Расстрелян большевиками 7 дек. 1920 в Симферополе. /700/ 

Шугаевский Николай Владимирович, р. 1901. Вольноопределяющийся. Во ВСЮР и Русской Армии до эвакуации Крыма. 

Participants of the White movement in Russia

Shugaevsky Anatoly Andreyevich. Nikolaev Military School 1917. Ensign. In VSYUR and the Russian Army before the evacuation of the Crimea. Gallipolian. In the autumn of 1925 as part of the Guard detachment in Estonia. Headquarters captain. / 2 / 

Shugaevsky Valentin Andreyevich, p. Apr 16 1884. In emigration to the United States. Mind. 3 Nov 1966. Wife Polina Grigorievna ( Oct. 25 , 1900 - Mar 28, 1982 ibid.). / 577 / =

Shugayevsky Georgiy Fedorovich *, p. Nov 1 1894 in Mlyn. 3rd Kiev school of ensigns 1916. Lieutenant, 

company commander of the 531st infantry regiment. Second lieutenant. In the white troops of the Northern Front from July 22–23, 1919, from the camp in New Market (in England), until August 8. 1919 at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Region, aug. 1919 - Mar. 

1920 Commander of the 6th company in the Arkhangelsk spare rifle regiment, in December. 1919 assistant chief of the 1st machine-gun team of the Arkhangelsk Infantry Regiment. Lieutenant. Ord. St. Stanislaus 2 tbsp. (twice).  Single; parents in Mlina. / 12–74,174,263,265, 267,269,284 / 

Shugaevsky Evgeny Vladimirovich, r. 1890 in the Perekop Tavricheskaya lips. Cornet. In VSYUR and the Russian Army before the evacuation of the Crimea. Shot by the Bolsheviks 7 dec. 1920 in Simferopol. / 700 / 

Shugaevsky Nikolay Vladimirovich, r. 1901. Volunteer. In VSYUR and the Russian Army before the evacuation of the Crimea. Evacuated on the ship "Vel. Prince Alexander Mikhailovich." On Dec 18 1920 in the 2nd half of an auto-pistol company of the Technical Regiment in Gallipoli. / 4–52,84,86 / 

Shugaevsky P.A. In the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. Evacuated to the autumn of 1920 from Batum on the ship "Victoria". Wife = Timothy. / 4–71 / 

Shugaevsky Sergey Fedorovich *, p. July 17, 1897 in Mlýn. 1st Kiev School of ensigns 1917. Ensign of the 331th Infantry Regiment. In the white forces of the Northern Front from July 22–23, 1919, from the camp at New Market (in England); up to 8 Aug 1919 at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Region, aug. 1919 in the Archangelogorod spare rifle regiment, in December. 1919 in the 6th company of the Arkhangelsk rifle regiment. Second lieutenant. Ord. St. Stanislaus 3 tbsp., St. Anne 3 tbsp. Single / 12–74,174,263,265,269,284 / 

Shugaevsky. In emigration to Yugoslavia. He graduated from the Nikolaev Cavalry School 1922-1923. Cornet. Shot by the Germans during the Second World War. / 249 / 

The first listing in bold is for Anatoly. The next listing is for my grandfather, Valentin. Valentin was not active in the White movement. He may have ended up on this list because was falsely accused of counter-revolutionary activities and put in prison by the Soviets. According to my mother,Valentin was not politically active and was smart enough to keep his views to himself.

 

Lower down, on the list is a P.A. Shugaevsky. Anatoly’s uncle, Pavel Andreyevich, has the same initials but he would have been elderly at the time so I believe it must refer to someone else.

According to Anatoly ’s entry, he graduated from the Nikolaev Military School. Because I don’t read Russian I initially confused this school with the Nikolaev Engineering School (Николаевская инженерная академия) which his brother, Leonid, graduated from.  Anatoly, however, was not on any class list (Leonid is on a class list for 1907).

Next I thought he was at the Nikolaev Calvary School (Николаевское кавалерийское училище), in Petrograd,or another school in Petrograd, the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, (Николаевская академия Генерального штаба / императорская Военная академия). My problem was that the internet search engines were listing the more popular web sites, not the ones that matched my search terms,  plus I was looking at the English translations of the results, not the original.

 

Further down in the results I found more military schools, and one in Kiev had an exact name match, Николаевское военное училище. There was at least one other military school in Kiev with a similar name – it took me a while to confirm that it was a separate school. AAAAARGH! It would be helpful if I knew the Russian language.

The reason I had trouble finding the correct school is that it was only in operation from 1914 till 1917 (when Russia was in World War I). There isn’t much information about it but I did find a class list on the internet with Anatoly’s name on it. On the list below, Anatoly is the second from the bottom.

After I found the correct school, I found it listed elsewhere as an infantry school. Russia had a variety of military schools. This school was probably for producing officers for the Russian army. The students may have come from a secondary school and could be from any class – Russia was desperate for officers. It may have taken two years to graduate. These are guesses based on what I have read about other schools. The requirements for graduation may have been speeded up because of the war.

Anatoly turned 28 in 1917 which seems old for being at a military school. The graduates are a variety of ages. The graduates with a birth year after their name are all younger than Anatoly. The Russian Empire was desperate for soldiers so Anatoly may have been drafted

2nd Kiev Nikolaev Military School

After the outbreak of World War I, the school was formed in Kiev as the 2nd Kiev. On October 15, 1914 it was renamed the Nikolaev Military School. 

The school was disbanded in November 1917.

 

 

18. Smykov Grigory Fedorovich

19. Tatunko Vladimir Sergeevich (10/11/1892 - 01/10/1969)

20. Tumanov Petr Stepanovich (1895 -?)

21. Turchenko Georgy Vanifatevich

22. Filotin Anatoly Vladimirovich

23. Horovets Alexey Alexandrovich (1895 -?)

24. Shugaevsky Anatoly Andreyevich

25. Yaremchuk Vladimir Prokofievich (? - ??. 04.1945)

nikolaev : kiev.jpg

2nd Kiev Nikolaev Military School

Nikolskaya Street, 11.  Nearby is the bell tower of the Nikolaev military cathedral, demolished in 1934. The photo is from 1918.

2 kiev insignia.jpg

2nd Kiev Nikolaev officer badge.

A web site for the 2nd Kiev Nikolaev Military School lists all of the graduates. At the end of the list for 1917 is a group of older graduates including Anatoly. The entire list can be found here.

Below is another record for Anatoly from a different website. The information is from a Russian Historian, S.V. Volkov who has written many books (in Russian) on this period. Volkov doesn’t include details about Anatoly on his own website, http://swolkov.org/index.htm, but others do. Google translate was used – corrections are welcome

Шугаевский Анатолий Андреевич (1918,1925) Штабс-капитан. Во ВСЮР и Русской Армии до эвакуации Крыма. Галлиполиец. Осенью 1925 в составе Гвар-дейского отряда в Эстонии. [Волков С.В. Офицеры Росс.гв. М.,2002]

Shugaevsky Anatoly Andreevich (1918-1925) Headquarters Captain. In VSYUR and the Russian Army before the evacuation of the Crimea. Gallipolian. In the autumn of 1925 as part of the Guards detachment in Estonia. [Volkov S.V. Officers Ross.gv. M., 2002]

Anatoly, at the age of about 26, went to fight in World War I – perhaps he had no choice. At first, I didn’t think it likely that someone of Anatoly’s age and class would be called to active duty until I found a deferment for Valentin, his older brother. Valentin’s deferment was dated September 9, 1917 and was only good till January, 1, 1918. By that date there was a different government and an armistice.

Anatoly graduated from Nikolaev Military Academy in 1917, before the Bolsheviks took power. Once they did, he joined the White Army. In 1918 he could have been fighting the Bolsheviks in the streets of Kiev.

I’ve given a brief outline of the Russian Civil War. The fighting was especially violent in Ukraine where there was a popular independence movement. The situation was extremely complicated with many different factions and changing alliances. For a short time Ukraine had an autocratic government supported by the Germans. Later there were Polish forces who drove out the Bolsheviks, then the Bolsheviks drove out the Poles and almost reached Warsaw. There were anarchists, Cossacks, and there were the Whites who were conservatives who supported the monarchy (either as absolutists or constitutionalists). It was a chaotic situation and the balance of power shifted rapidly from one faction to another.

The records indicate that Anatoly had both administrative and military roles during this period.  Below is a selection from an English language Wikipedia article about the VSYUR which Anatoly was a member of.

The General Command of the Armed Forces of South Russia (Russian: Особое совещание при Главкоме ВСЮР Osoboye soveschaniye pri Glavkome VSYuR) was an administrative body in southern Russia in 1918 and 1919 performing government functions in the territory controlled by the troops of the Russian White movement's Volunteer Army and Armed Forces of South Russia.

Source (Wikipedia): Click here

Anatoly would have graduated from secondary school at age 18-19 – sometime around 1907-8. I haven't discovered what he was doing between 1908 and 1917. Russia participated in World War I from 1914 till the the Bolsheviks negotiated an armistice late in 1917.  If Anatoly fought in World War I it was just for a few months.  Anatoly’s military rank in 1917 was proporshik (translated above as ensign). It was the lowest rank for commissioned officers so my guess is that he was not in the military before 1917.

Anatoly was a Gallipolian, one of the White Russian soldiers evacuated from the Crimea and stationed in Gallipoli (now part of Turkey). The soldiers formed a “society” or an order that morphed into the Russian All-Military Union, an anti-Bolshevik Russian fighting force . These evacuees became an important part of the Russian émigré community. Below is a brief overview of this important story and its larger than life leader General Wrangel.

In April 1920, General Wrangel was appointed commander of the White Army in the south .For a very short while Wrangel set up an independent state in the Crimea, but eventually he realized that he could no longer defend the Crimea against the Bolsheviks. He took it upon himself to evacuate every soldier and citizen who desired to leave.

In November 1920, mostly with ships supplied by UK, USA and France, over 100,000 men, women, and children left from Novorossijsk, Sevastopol and other Black Sea ports, all in secret from the Bolsheviks. Most citizens disembarked in Constantinople, the Cossacks went mostly to the island of Lemnos, and 25,000 - 30,000 Russian soldiers, wives and children, went to Gallipoli which was controlled by the French at the time. There was extreme hardship due to cold, hunger, disease etc. Relations with the French hosts were tense. Despite French efforts, the Russians wouldn’t disarm. Armed conflict was narrowly avoided.

The Russian soldiers remained a disciplined fighting force for their entire time in Gallipoli. By January 1922, most had left for Serbia, Bulgaria, France and elsewhere. More than 10,000 joined the French Foreign Legion. The last detachment left Gallipoli in May 1923.

Here is an inspirational (but one-sided) documentary about General Wrangel.

Wrangel, Russians deprived of Russia – part 1 

Wrangel, Russians deprived of Russia – part 2 

Wrangel, Russians deprived of Russia – part 3

RUS-Wrangels-Army-Map.jpg

In the autumn of 1925 as part of the Guard detachment in Estonia.  Headquarters captain. 

From Gallipoli, Anatoly was redeployed to Estonia. Information from the internet indicates that 1925 is the year he died. 1925 is one of the years Valentin wrote on the back of the photographs. I believe the photos are duplicates made in Prague in the mid 1940s. I wonder how Valentin received the information about Anatoly. Having a brother in the White movement and being in contact with anyone in the White movement would have been dangerous in the Soviet Union.

Now for some history related to the White movement in Estonia:

One of the White armies was the Northwestern Army which was allied with Estonia and helped Estonia maintain its independence. It had a difficult relationship with the Estonians – most of the White Russians wanted to restore the Russian Empire which included Estonia as a province.

After the Bolshevik revolution, Estonia declared its independence i(February 1918). World War I was still ongoing and the Germans invaded and took power. In November 1918 the Germans surrendered to the Allies and ceded control of Estonia to the Estonian Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks invaded that same month but were repelled and were repelled again the following year. In February 1920, Estonia and the Soviets signed a peace treaty. Soon after this this the remaining Northwestern Army (those that had survived bullets and typhus) was disbanded. All this happened before Anatoly showed up. 

After lengthy research I managed to discover a few other Gallipolians who ended up in Estonia. One, B.V. Engelhardt, was a Russian Nobleman with Baltic Germanic ancestry. He was a was a Colonel in the White Army at the time he evacuated to Gallipoli. He left Gallipoli in February 1921, arriving Estonia later that year. Engelhardt was involved in underground Russian emigre associations including the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS). He lived a life of intrigue and political machinations, but he was not in any active army. I found two other notable Gallipolians that made their way to Estonia. 

There were many other Russians in Estonia at the time, some who had grown up there and many who fled from Petrograd. They formed many organizations including, Seafarers' Mutual Aid Desk, Union of Mutual Assistance of the Forces of the Former North-western Army and Union of Russian Military persons with disabilities in Estonia. There were school organizations, charitable organizations, cultural organizations, etc. Some of these were fronts for partisan groups gathering intelligence and carrying out acts of sabotage in the Soviet Union. This activity was illegal and Estonia tried to stop it – they wanted to maintain peace with the Soviets.

 

The Soviets were well aware of the activity and had infiltrated these groups. Many of the partisans lost their lives on Soviet soil. I haven’t researched enough to know of any political assassinations in Estonia, but the Soviets certainly assassinated  important White Russians in other countries.

Tallin to St P.jpg

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia is near the bottom left and St. Petersburg is near the top right.

So we are left with a mystery. According to the record, Anatoly traveled from Gallipoli to Estonia. This was unusual. Someone had to arrange his passage and get him into the country. Anatoly was Ukrainian, not Estonian. Perhaps he was chosen to go because of a connection to a high ranking officer that was also going or who was in charge.

His being part of a White Guard detachment would have had to have been kept secret from the Estonians. The information about Anatoly loosing his life in Latvia (from Valentin’s notes) is the only piece that doesn’t fit in, but Latvia was close by and in a similar situation as Estonia. I haven’t researched White Russian activities in Latvia. Much of this information is now in the Russian government archives. For a source of information about Russians in Estonia that I have found, click here.

Anatoly probably left Gallipoli in 1921. I haven't found when he arrived in Estonia. As noted above, Colonel Engelhardt, who commanded a brigade in Crimea, arrived in Estonia in 1921.

Latvia - Google Maps.jpg

Map showing Latvia (2019 borders).  Source: Google Maps.

Connections with Leonid???

Next there will be a lengthy section about Anatoly’s older brother, Leonid. In short, he escaped captivity in Siberia, sailed to Canada in 1909, emigrated to the US in 1910, joined the US military for a few years, acquired a false identity, became a US citizen in 1916, and sailed to Vladivostok in 1918 while WWI was going on. Then the trail gets obscured because he was very good at covering his tracks.​

We know Leonid was in Constantinople on Sept 22, 1922 because he obtained an emergency passport there. He probably didn't meet up with Anatoly there or in nearby Gallipoli. By that time most of the Russian soldiers had moved on. In June 1922, he was in Latvia, (and probably Estonia). By his admission he met up with his brother Valentin in Petrograd on this trip. The question remains, were they ever close to each other and did they ever meet up. We don’t know.

On a second trip from 1923-25 Leonid claims to have spent most of his time in Estonia. He would have been there the same time as Anatoly.

I have expanded the little that I found about Anatoly into a long story. If I do find more tidbits, I hope they answer as many questions as they raise. Below are some references and supporting materials. I’m adding them there because they are peripheral and didn't want to cram them into the story. I put the more interesting material in bold type.

Selections from a Russian Wikipedia article using Google Translate. The acronym ROVS is also translated as EMRO - at least I think they are the same organization. The Russian acronym is POBC. Source: click here

 

The Russian All-Military Union ( ROVS ) is a Russian military organization established on September 1, 1924 in the White emigration by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Lieutenant General Baron Peter Wrangel .

Volunteers from the ROVS did underground work on the territory of the USSR. This work was aimed at preparing an armed uprising and overthrowing the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks in Russia. At the same time, the EMRO organized in emigration a whole system of military schools and courses where officers were retrained and military training of Russian émigré youth took place. In the 1920s - 1930s. …the Soviet intelligence services viewed this organization as their main opponent and made great efforts to combat it, …. and organize the abduction and murder of its leaders in the territories of foreign states.

More information about the the Russian emigration and White Army is at

Archives of the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University

Here is a little extra information on the Nikolaev Military School.

 

After the outbreak of the First World War, the school was formed in Kiev as the 2nd Kiev. October 15, 1914 it was renamed to Nikolaev. …opposed the establishment of Soviet power in Kiev. This military school was disbanded in November 1917.

Below is an example of another soldier that was a member of a “Guards Detachment in Estonia”. source: click here.

85. von Gershelman Alexander Karlovich (?) - captain. He served in l.-gv. 3rd Artillery Brigade. He served in the white armies in the south of Russia. Evacuated to about. Again on the ship Kizil Yermak ". Gallipolian In the early 1920s.  came to Estonia. He served in the Estonian army, taught at the Military Technical School. In 1925 he was a member of the Guards Detachment in Estonia.

Sources: GAE. F. 648. Op. 1. Unit. xp 13. L. 48–49;

Volkov S.V. Officers of the Russian Guard: The experience of the martyrology. M, 2002. S. 127.

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