Samara banner in the Russian-Turkish war. Samara banner. So that in Bulgaria they still remember this

In 1876, a popular uprising broke out in Bulgaria against the five-century-old Ottoman yoke. The news of this shook the whole of Russia. A collection of donations began throughout the country to help and arm the Bulgarian rebels. The citizens of the city of Samara also took part in it: inspired by the news of the heroic uprising, they decided to send a banner to Bulgaria. Specially embroidered ribbons on the shaft, jewelers prepared silver nails. But the Samarans did not have time to send the banner - the uprising was brutally suppressed.

In the spring of 1877, Russia enters the war with Turkey. Of course, tsarism at the same time sought to strengthen its political positions in the Balkans. However, the Russian people considered it a just war for the liberation of oppressed brothers.

General N. G. Stoletov was placed at the head of the Bulgarian militia, which was being formed in Romania.

And on April 17, the Samara Duma decides to hand over the banner to the militia. E. T. Kozhevnikov and P. V. Alabin were sent to the militia camp near Ploiesti to present it. The presentation of the banner took place in May.

“... The troops were withdrawn from the tents...” Kozhevnikov and Alabin write in their report. “In the middle of a vast space, furnished with an army, the clergy stood in vestments and a table was arranged on which we laid out the banner and all the accessories for nailing it to the pole: silver nails, a belt, a hammer, an awl ... "

After the solemn consecration of the banner, the first nail was driven in by the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, then by General Stoletov, envoys from Samara, commanders of brigades and squads, several Bulgarian rebels who became famous in battles, and among them Tserko Petkovich, an old man who devoted his whole life to the fight against the Turks. Having hammered a nail, he, as eyewitnesses testify, “said with tears in his eyes:“ May God help this banner to pass from end to end the whole Bulgarian land, may our mothers, wives and daughters wipe their mournful eyes with it, may all the filthy things run before him , evil, wicked, and may peace, silence and prosperity lie behind him.

... Further, Alabin addressed the Bulgarian combatants on behalf of the city of Samara: “... From afar, through the whole Russian land, we brought it to you, as if in living evidence that it is given to you not by one corner of Russia, but by all Russian earth ... Go under the canopy of this banner. Let it be a pledge of Russia's love for you ... Let it be the banner of the establishment in your long-suffering country forever of peace, silence and enlightenment! .. "

These words were greeted by the Bulgarians with genuine enthusiasm: the cries of “Hurrah” and “Alive” rumbled in the air for a long time, merging with the peals of the thunder that rumbled at that time, hats flew up, and the Bulgarian squads went to the camp with songs, raising their hats on bayonets .. ."

The next day, under the banner of Samara - the first military banner of Bulgaria - all the squads were sworn in.

Having completed a short-term training, the Bulgarian militia began to take an active part in the battles, and the flag-bearing Third Squad, commanded by a Russian officer, Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Petrovich Kalitin, especially distinguished himself in battle.

From the report of General Stoletov about the battle near Eski-Zagro (now Stara Zagora), where the army of Suleiman Pasha was stopped, rushing to the rear of the Russian troops to the Shipka Pass:

“... Four incomplete squads of the militia fell to the lot of defending a position of more than four versts of extension ... The left flank of our position acquired especially important strategic importance, as the key to a mountain gorge, the occupation of which threatened to destroy the entire militia ...

Seeing that the Third Squad was in a comparatively worse position than the Turks, hidden by vineyards and corn, Lieutenant Colonel Kalitin raised his chain and moved forward under heavy rifle fire. During this offensive, Captain Usov and Lieutenant Buzhinsky were wounded in the leg. The first of them still tried to go forward, encouraging the militiamen with the words: “God bless you, young men, forward!”, And immediately fell dead ... "

General Stoletov describes in detail the course of the battle fought by the Third Squad, the military skill and outstanding courage of Kalitin, his officers Fedorov, Popov, company commanders, the brave bayonet attack that stopped the advance of the Turks. “... The fire of the militias was still arguing with the enemy over the battlefield, but Turkish bullets depopulated the squad ... Moving from position to position, the people of the 3rd squad fell one by one ... Banner non-commissioned officer Aksenty Tsymbalyuk, wounded in the stomach , fell, and the shaft broke. Having risen, he continued to walk, not agreeing to give anyone the shrine entrusted to him ... and handed it over only by order of the squad commander.

The two non-commissioned officers who accepted the banner after Tsymbalyuk also fell, like all the banner ranks. Then Lieutenant Colonel Kalitin himself took the banner, but was immediately hit by a bullet to death. The banner was taken out of the battle by non-commissioned officer Foma Timofeev. Lieutenant Zhivarev, seeing the death of Lieutenant Colonel Kalitin, wounded himself, tried to endure his boss, but the people who helped him were killed. Finally, lieutenant Zhivarev managed to put the body on the horse, but at the moment when she started off with her burden, a Turkish bullet killed her on the spot.

There were no reserves for a long time ... The enemy's crossfire put out of action about half of the people ...

In the course of four difficult hours, a two thousand detachment of people who had gathered under the banners only three months ago held firm against the best part of the Turkish armies of Suleiman Pasha - and stubbornly argued over the battlefield ... "

The feat of the Russian-Bulgarian detachment became a real test of military commonwealth and was of great tactical and strategic importance for the entire war. The Turkish army gathered for three weeks with forces for a new offensive, which allowed the Russian troops to strengthen Shipka.

These events are a century away from our days. But in search archival documents and evidence related to the Samara banner, I was once again convinced that feats, heroism never remain in history just some museum exhibits, but go from generation to generation as a relay race.

Quite unexpectedly for myself, I met with the name of Kalitin in the memoirs of Marshal Soviet Union Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov.

Talking about his service in the tsarist army, in particular about the First Turkestan battalion, which was stationed in Tashkent, B. M. Shaposhnikov writes: “In the old army, the principle of joint service of brothers in one rifle unit was encouraged, and at the same time in the 1 four Kalitin brothers and four Fedorov brothers served - eight relatives from a total staff of 26 officers.

In 1877, the eldest of the Kalitins, Pavel Petrovich, Captain Fedorov and Lieutenant Popov, at their own request, were sent to the active Danube army. Kalitin was appointed commander of the Bulgarian militia squad, and Fedorov and Popov commanded companies in it ... "

Further, describing the well-known battle near Eski-Zagra, B. M. Shaposhnikov gives the following details of Kalitin’s feat, probably told to him by the hero’s younger brothers: shouts to his squad: “Guys! Our flag is with us! Forward - for him, for me! Inspired by the militias rushed after their commander, the Turks faltered, but at that time three bullets pierced Kalitin's chest. Around the commander who fell from his horse, there was a cruel bayonet attack. In the same battle, both company commanders were killed - Captain Fedorov and Lieutenant Popov ...

During my service, a monument to the fallen soldiers of the battalion, including Kalitin, Fedorov and Popov, was erected with funds raised by officers. He stood in the park in front of the battalion barracks.

The memory of the elder Kalitin was sacredly kept in the battalion. Cheerful and cheerful, Kalitin, according to the memoirs of old-timers, was brave in battle and cheerful in everyday life.

Of the four Fedorov brothers, I found two in the battalion ... "

This is how a feat does not die, how heroes live in the memory of generations, the Soviet marshal already remembers them as living ones in our days.

I wonder if this monument has been preserved near Tashkent?

And finally, the connection of times led me to Major General Soviet army Georgy Nikolaevich Karaev, the son of the hero of the Bulgarian militia Nikolai Karaev, the orderly of the legendary Kalitin.

City on the Neva. In an old house, in an apartment with antique massive furniture, solid bookcases, with pictures of historical battles near Eski-Zagra, near the legendary Shipka, near Plevna, portraits of a stocky black-bearded warrior in a Circassian coat, his weapons on the velvet surface of the carpet, I am met by a tall, stately , despite his advanced age, a mobile person.

“In those distant times, father would probably have been called a “wild mountaineer,” says Georgy Nikolayevich. - He was born in the mountainous Ossetian village of Tsmti, was illiterate, but brave, fair, kind and attentive to people. This is how long-livers of the village told me about his youth, in particular, Asiat Kantemirova, who died just a few years ago. She also remembers how they saw off her father on a campaign, to the war. How it got to the mountain village that an uprising against the Turks broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina is hard to say, but only my father, together with a group of volunteers, went to fight for freedom in Serbia back in 1876. For courage he was promoted to second lieutenant, awarded a silver medal and an order.

So he was already an officer at the beginning Russian-Turkish war?

- More precisely, an officer of the Serbian army. However, having learned that Russia had entered the war with Turkey, his father immediately went to Romania, where the Bulgarian militia was being formed, and turned to General Stoletov with a request to enlist him as an ordinary combatant. So he was enrolled in the Third squad to Lieutenant Colonel Kalitin, as he asked in his report - "among the hunters."

When the militia joined the military operations, my father often went to reconnaissance, participated in more than eighty battles.

- And in the famous battle of Eski-Zagra, too?

- Of course. Moreover, on the eve of the battle, he was sent to reconnaissance and personally reported to General Stoletov on the disposition of the troops of Suleiman Pasha. It was July 18, and the very next day there were those same fights that glorified the Bulgarian militia and especially its Third squad. As the commander's orderly, my father had to transmit Kalitin's orders under fire, and to participate in hand-to-hand combat himself. He often remembered Eski-Zagru...

Georgy Nikolaevich interrupted his story and took out from the folder a copy of the testimony of the chief of staff of the Bulgarian militia, Lieutenant Colonel Rynkevich, who also participated in this battle along with Kalitin's squad.

“Crossfire disabled almost half of the squad. The militia did not have time to bend down to help the wounded, as they immediately fell, knocked down by enemy bullets. Militiaman Nikolai Dudar (“this is a nickname received by Nikolai Karaev back in his homeland,” explained Georgy Nikolaevich), the orderly of the squad commander, after the death of the latter, gave his horse to the wounded company commander and, firing back, continued to retreat on foot. The Turks, seeing a man in a Circassian coat shooting at them, immediately surrounded Dudar, trying to take him prisoner alive. But the brave warrior did not lose his head: drawing a saber and a dagger, he immediately laid down six people and continued to retreat to his own ... "

After reading these lines, I involuntarily glanced at the hero's weapons, peacefully hanging on the wall. Catching my eye, General Karaev smiled:

- Here I can make a small correction from the words of my father: he acted not only with a dagger, but also with a gun, which he snatched from one of the Turks. He laid down five, and the sixth fled. For this fight, my father was awarded his first George Cross.

— Georgy Nikolaevich, what about the pistol that hangs on the wall? ..

— Trophy. One day, my father was driving past a Bulgarian village and saw a Turk dragging a Bulgarian woman by the hair, with a crying girl clinging to her skirt. Father hurried to the rescue, and then another Turk jumped out on a horse. One father laid down with a pistol, the second shot at him, but missed and, turning his horse, began to leave. His father overtook him ... This is the gun of that very Turk ...

- And after - the battles on Shipka?

- Yes, just in August 1877, the Bulgarian militia helped the Russian troops repel the offensive of Suleiman Pasha's army and for four months held this historic pass in their hands. Again, fights with a superior enemy, unbearable heat and a catastrophic lack of water. For all our troops there were only three sources, which, like the path to them, were under continuous shelling of the Turks. Here's what one of the participants in this epic wrote...

Georgy Nikolaevich again went to his father's closet and took out a book, also published almost a hundred years ago - "Collection of military stories compiled by officers - participants in the war of 1877-1878." Opening a volume with bookmarks sticking out of it, the general handed the book to me. The following was written there.

“The road leading to the key ... was littered with corpses, which in some way served as a living trench, yes, it was a living trench, because the soldiers, subsequently going for water, crawled between the corpses of their own comrades and this did not represent a very visible target for the enemy, but whom a dead comrade does not cover, that bullet overtook him, and he, poor fellow, turned into a trench ... So that's what it meant at that time to volunteer as a water hunter. And the hunters were called often, as evidenced by the long thick chain of corpses.

Then I read the testimony of Stoletov himself: "We sent for water no matter what to be shot."

“…This is how they got water, including my father. During one of these sorties, he was wounded in the leg. In fact, he was wounded three times, but did not leave the line.

Here, for example, is my record of my father's story, when he was instructed to block the way for the Turks by blowing up a land mine.

“The most difficult thing is to determine exactly the time when you need to set fire to this damned cord. The Turks are approaching, I hear their voices, but I can't make fire. Whether the hands are trembling, or the tinder is damp, I don’t know. Well, I think the end has come for me ... I try again, and suddenly a spark! The cord caught fire. He rushed to run to his own, it was not there, the Turks saw, opened fire. Lie down ... And at that moment how it explodes! I was stunned, covered with earth, I don’t remember how I got out and crawled to my own. They said that he lost consciousness when he was in his trenches ...

“Then we doused your head with water,” said one of those sitting in the office, “the last one was poured on you ...

“And the Turk was killed there in the explosion ...” added another, “I myself went to look later ...”

- How did it turn out further fate your father?

- After being seriously wounded and hospitalized, my father returned to duty and fought until the end of the campaign. For Shipka, he was awarded the second St. George Cross, an honorary weapon, and only seventeen Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian orders and medals. On the recommendation of General Stoletov, he was promoted to ensign. He served in St. Petersburg, was engaged in self-education, met my mother, a Bestuzhev student. And he called me George in commemoration of the fact that he was a Cavalier of St. George. You understand that under the influence of my father's stories, I could not imagine any other way than serving in the army. In 1910 he entered military school and served as a lieutenant in the 145th Novocherkassk Infantry Regiment. With the same regiment he went to the front in 1914. True, he did not have to fight for a long time, he was seriously wounded, he was treated for a long time. Right after October revolution voluntarily joined the Red Army.

My father died in 1919. I tried to be faithful to the memory of my father when I fought against Yudenich, fought with Kolchak, fought against Wrangel in the Crimea ... By the beginning of the Patriotic War, I commanded a brigade, then besieged Leningrad - in one of the military academies I trained personnel for the front, then for many years I headed the department military history... And this is also connected with my father: after all, the desire to learn as much as possible about the Russian-Turkish war was the beginning of my passion for military history ...

I knew that Georgy Nikolaevich, having retired in 1955, continued to study the history of military art. For five years he led the expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences to determine the location of the Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipus in 1242, and did not leave his research related to the Russian-Turkish war. The combat friendship of Russian soldiers and Bulgarian militias is dedicated to his book “The glory of these days will not cease”, published in Bulgaria. Member of the board of the Society of Soviet-Bulgarian Friendship and chairman of the board of the Leningrad branch of this society, Georgy Nikolaevich Karaev is now completing the compilation of an album of all awards, medals and signs of military friendship between our peoples. Few people know; for example, that in honor of the campaign Kyiv prince Svyatoslav in 971 and his struggle together with the Bulgarians against Byzantium, 11 commemorative medals were issued. Other medals depict the glorious victories of Rumyantsev, Suvorov, the Russian-Turkish liberation war. Of particular interest is a special medal with the inscription: “Those who sow with tears will reap with joy. In honor of the liberation of the Bulgarians.

In two Slavic languages ​​- Russian and Bulgarian - the sacred word Shipka, dear to both peoples, sounds the same and evokes memories in the same way ... On the top, named after General Stoletov, the Bulgarians erected a monument to Freedom. Above the marble sarcophagus, warrior brothers stand in eternal guard: a Russian soldier and a Bulgarian militia...

For a century now, Bulgarians have been coming to Shipka to bow to the sacred graves of brave men, to restore before their minds the heroic pictures of past battles on carefully preserved Russian redoubts, batteries, to stand at the guns among the heaps of rocks of the impregnable Eagle's Nest...

Fatherland is immensely dear to us,

And we followed the grandfather's trail.

To destroy a fierce enemy

And claim a worthy victory.

These lines on one of the monuments near the village of Shipki were written by a Soviet soldier.

And in the visitor's book of the Museum of the Liberation of Plevna, I read the following entry: “As a child, I heard from my grandfather about Plevna and the battles for the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, it fell to me to reach Bulgaria. I remembered the stories of my grandfather, then a letter came from him, in which the details of the battles near Plevna were reported. For ten months I dreamed of visiting the Pleven Museum, and today, September 25, 1945, I visited it. I am very happy to see how our Russian heroes helped the Bulgarian people to free themselves from the Turks.

I express my deep gratitude to the Bulgarian people, who managed to preserve the great memory of the Russians.

I am a lieutenant, I am 32 years old, and my grandfather is 114 years old, but he is alive and proud that he liberated Pleven. Then I saw the banner of the Pavlovsky Guards Regiment, this is my grandfather's regiment, and his grandson is also a guardsman and is proud of this title. I am sure that years will pass, and my son Vladimir will read these lines, and he will not be ashamed of his father and great-grandfather.

Guard Lieutenant Vasily Lugovsky.

And the Samara banner once again visited Russia. In 1961, it was lovingly restored by Soviet restorers, and again it returned to Bulgaria.

Every year at the beginning of spring Bulgaria celebrates its national holiday - the Day of Liberation from the Ottoman Yoke. 139 years ago, on February 19 (March 3, New Style), 1878, an agreement was signed between the Russian Empire and Turkey in the town of San Stefano, which put an end to the Russian-Turkish war and played a huge role in liberating the Balkan peoples from foreign domination.

Each subject of the Russian Federation, as you know, has its own symbols. The flag of the Samara region today is a red-white-blue tricolor with the regional coat of arms in the center. This symbol is a link between the present day and the times that have gone down in history, when the Russian and Bulgarian peoples fought hand in hand for the liberation of the Slavs.

In the spring of 1876, an anti-Ottoman uprising, known as the April uprising, broke out in Bulgaria. It was severely suppressed by the Turkish authorities, but became the spark that ignited the flame of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.

As a sign of solidarity with the rebellious Bulgarians, the inhabitants of Samara created a banner embroidered by the nuns of the Iversky Convent. It was a panel measuring 1.85 × 1.90 m, sewn from silk fabrics in red, white and blue. In the center of the cloth were placed images of the Mother of God and Saints Cyril and Methodius in a gold cross, embroidered according to a drawing by the St. Petersburg artist Nikolai Simakov. And the silver tip of the flagpole was made in the Byzantine style according to the sketch of Count Rochefort. Ribbons were attached to the shaft, on one of which there was an inscription “Let God rise again, and they will scatter against Him”, and on the other - “Samara - to the Bulgarian people, 1876”.

The Samara City Duma decided to take this banner to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, and then hand it over to the Bulgarian volunteers.

The banner brought from Russia was handed over by the Samara delegation (these were the mayor Efim Kozhevnikov and the vowel of the Samara Duma Petr Alabin) to the Bulgarian volunteers near the town of Ploiesti on May 18, 1877. The flag was handed over to the Znamenny company of the Bulgarian militia - the 3rd company from the 3rd squad.

At the solemn ceremony, the tricolor cloth was nailed to the pole with golden nails. The last nail was driven in by the old governor Tseko Petkov, saying at the same time: “For this, the Lord gave the holy banner to go from edge to edge of the long-suffering Bulgarian land. May our mothers, wives and sisters dry their sad eyes for them, and may peace and prosperity come!”

The Bulgarian militias fought with this banner in the battle for Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora, for Shipka and Sheinovo.

In Bulgaria, this flag, which has become one of the symbols of the national armed forces, is known as the Samara Banner. After the Russian-Turkish war, this unique panel was kept in Radomir, where its last standard-bearer, Pavel Korchev, died. In 1881 it was transferred to the Royal Palace in Sofia (now the National Art Gallery), where it was kept until 1946. At present, the famous Samara banner is kept in the National Museum of Military History of Bulgaria, in a separate room with special conditions and under heavy guard. And one more thing: the Samara banner is the only banner awarded with the Bulgarian Order "For Courage", which was later placed in the richly decorated tip of the flagpole.

"Samarsko Zname" has become a real symbol of the military commonwealth of the Russian army and the Bulgarian militias during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The anti-Ottoman uprisings of the Slavic brothers in Bosnia and Bulgaria caused a powerful response and public enthusiasm in Russia. Samarans, of course, were not the only subjects Russian Empire who expressed in word and deed solidarity with the enslaved Bulgarians. Enthusiasm swept the entire vast country. Funds were collected in favor of the Balkan Slavs, many expressed their readiness to fight in the Balkans. The atrocities of the bashi-bazouk thugs during the suppression of the April uprising in Bulgaria shocked the whole world. Both Westerners and Slavophiles were unanimous in the need to help their brothers suffering from the Ottoman yoke. The difference was in the accents: some demanded to defend Orthodoxy, others - to free the Bulgarians ...

After the Turkish sultan rejected the reform project for the Balkan Slavs, developed on the Russian initiative, in April 1877 Russia declared war on Turkey. In the highest manifesto, signed by Alexander II, it was said: “All our kind loyal subjects know the active participation that we have always taken in the fate of the oppressed Christian population of Turkey. The desire to improve and secure his position was shared with us by the entire Russian people, who are now expressing their readiness for new sacrifices to alleviate the lot of the Christians of the Balkan Peninsula.

The fighting of the Russian-Turkish war was fought in the Balkans and the Caucasus. In alliance with the Russian troops, detachments of Bulgarian militia fought - they were commanded by Major General Nikolai Grigorievich Stoletov. By May 1877, the Stoletovs formed 6 squads of Bulgarian volunteers, numbering more than 5,000 people.

In the mountains and on the plains of Bulgaria, Russian soldiers fought not for the sake of territorial acquisitions, but in order to help the cause of rescuing fellow Slavs from captivity.

It was a hard, bloody war, in which luck either smiled on one of the sides, or slipped out of their hands. One of the most difficult battles took place on the Shipka Pass, which provided the shortest route to Constantinople. It is not surprising that the Turks, in order to save their capital, were ready to do anything to knock out the enemy from there. Significant forces were thrown there, offensives followed offensives. In the heroic defense of Shipka, the Bulgarian militias under the command of General Stoletov fought next to the Russian soldiers under the command of Generals Derozhinsky and Radetsky. The Turks outnumbered - several times! - Russian-Bulgarian troops, who also suffered from a lack of ammunition and intense heat. However, despite significant losses, Shipka's defenders did not retreat or surrender. The plans of the Turkish command were violated, and the Russians and Bulgarians managed not to lose an important strategic line. It is on Shipka that traditionally the most important events dedicated to the Day of the Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke are held.

By the end of 1877, the Turkish garrison of Plevna capitulated, the Russian army went on the offensive. In January 1878, Russian troops occupied Adrianople, approaching the walls of Constantinople (Istanbul). And only threats from Great Britain and Austria-Hungary forced Russian command refrain from occupying the Ottoman capital.

The guns fell silent - the diplomats spoke. The San Stefano peace treaty was beneficial to both Russia and the Balkan states. He recognized the independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania (while their territories increased). A new autonomous Slavic principality was created in the Balkans - Bulgaria, which included territories from the Danube to the Aegean Sea, from the Black Sea to Lake Ohrid, and was to be under Russian control for two years, after which it would receive full autonomy, paying nominal tribute to Turkey.

But under pressure from the Western powers - especially Great Britain, which received a "bribe" from Turkey in the form of Cyprus - the terms of the San Stefano Treaty had to be revised. For this, an international congress was convened in Berlin, which ended with the fact that the territory of the Bulgarian principality was greatly reduced - its southern borders were pushed beyond the Balkan ridge. Nevertheless, the blood of Russian soldiers and Bulgarian warriors was not shed in vain. A new state appeared on the political map of Europe - the Principality of Bulgaria. Formally, it still obeyed Ottoman Empire, but in fact it was independent (and in 1908 it proclaimed itself an independent kingdom).

Hundreds of monuments to Russian soldiers who died for the liberation of this country from the Ottoman yoke were erected on Bulgarian soil. The inscription on the limestone memorial erected in 1899 in the village of Negushevo near Sofia reads: "Bow, Bulgaria, to the graves with which you are strewn." We will also bow to the memory of those who died in that war ...

"Samara Banner" is a series of events, actions and programs dedicated to the anniversary (140 years) of the historical event associated with the liberation of the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula from the 500-year-old Ottoman yoke. The Samara Banner is a symbol of Russia's victory in the Russian-Turkish war, a symbol of the liberation of fraternal peoples, a symbol of the feat of a Russian soldier and officer, honor, valor, invincibility of the spirit and glory of the Russian army, a people always ready to help. The historical banner is kept as a shrine in the National Museum of Military History of Bulgaria in Sofia. It is exhibited once every five years and thousands of people, defending thousands of queues, come to bow to it. On the centenary of the famous Battle of Shipka in Stara Zagora, a 50-meter memorial complex dedicated to the Samara Banner was erected. The history of the banner in Bulgaria is known to both young and old, but in Russia, even in Samara, not everyone knows it. The Samara Banner project is aimed at popularizing the great history of the country for the younger generation. Within the framework of the project, unified history lessons will be held in all general education, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions of the region, intellectual clocks, regional youth local history Golovkin readings, creative competitions dedicated to the history of the Samara Banner, literary drawing rooms with the participation of historians, local historians and the author of the novel Samara Banner Alexey Solonitsyn. In the Samara Regional Museum of Local History. P.V. Alabin, a thematic-exposition complex "Samara Banner" will be designed for subsequent interactive classes with schoolchildren. The novel will be published in an additional edition famous writer, screenwriter, member of the Union of Writers and the Union of Journalists of Russia Alexei Solonitsyn "Samara Banner". The books will be donated to educational and cultural institutions of all municipal districts and city districts of the Samara Region. A traveling exhibition dedicated to the history of the Samara Banner, the events of the Russian-Turkish war and twin cities will also be prepared. Manufactured documentary using archival documents and materials. The main events of the project will take place in May 2019. This will be a reconstruction of the battle for Shipka on the Zhiguli mountains. The military-historical clubs of the regions of the Volga Federal District and other subjects will take part in the reconstruction Russian Federation. Leaders will be invited to the ceremony public organizations, youth associations and government structures of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Goals

1. Preservation of the memory of important historical events, the country's international policy

Tasks

1. Patriotic education of the younger generation
2. Popularization of unknown pages Russian history and the contribution of Samara residents to world history
3. Reconstruction of a historical event

Substantiation of social significance

The history of the Samara Banner is connected with the struggle of the Slavic peoples that unfolded in the Balkans against the 500-year-old Ottoman yoke. In the summer of 1875, an anti-Turkish uprising broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in April of the following year Bulgaria rebelled, and two months later Serbia and Montenegro began a war with Turkey. These events caused a lively response in Orthodox Russia. Thousands of Russian volunteers went to the Balkans, including the Samara regiments. In Samara, the idea of ​​creating a banner was born, the initiator of which was the vowel of the Duma, Pyotr Alabin. The sketch was made by the St. Petersburg artist Nikolai Simakov. The banner was embroidered by the nuns of the Iversky Monastery. It passed through Samara, in a procession of many thousands, and was sent to Moscow. Here, after being illuminated on the relics of Metropolitan Alexy, the banner was displayed in the Kremlin for public viewing and worship. Further, the banner was delivered to Bulgaria and handed over by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich to the 3rd squad of the Bulgarian militia. This fact is reflected in the works of art by Vasily Vereshchagin. The banner led the soldiers in the battles for Stara Zagora and Novo Zagora, Shipka and Sheinovo. It became the Banner of Victory, the Banner-Hero, awarded the Bulgarian Order "For Courage" I degree. Petr Alabin became the first Governor of Sofia, and a large-scale memorial complex was built for the Samara Banner in Bulgaria. After the war, the banner was kept in the museums of Bulgaria under special conditions, scientific monographs are devoted to it, works of art, postage stamps and desktop medals. On the Day of the Liberation of Bulgaria, people go out to celebrate with copies of the Samara Banner. This story should be known and remembered by the people of Russia. We honor and remember the history of the Great patriotic war, but there were other wars that we should rightfully be proud of! To know the heroes and events of the Russian-Turkish war is to realize that our ancestors gave freedom from the 500-year Ottoman yoke to all countries of the Balkan Peninsula, they defended the Christian faith! The history of the Samara Banner is an important event not only for the Samara province, but also for the country as a whole, as the contribution of our descendants to the peaceful existence of Europe, the statehood of many countries. It is very important to keep the memory of those events, because this is the history of our ancestors. Residents of the Samara region honor historical events, a brotherhood of friendly peoples, Slavic roots and understand the importance of preserving this history for the younger generation.

The canvas, embroidered by the nuns of the Iversky Convent, was donated by the residents of Samara to the Bulgarian militias during the Russo-Turkish War.

The flag has been passed Znamenny company Bulgarian militia - the 3rd company from the 3rd squad. The militias fought with him in the battle for Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora, for Shipka and Sheinovo.

At first, the banner was kept in Radomir, where its last standard-bearer, Pavel Korchev, died. In 1881 it was transferred to the Royal Palace in Sofia (now the National Art Gallery), where it was kept until 1946. Now the famous Samara banner is stored in the National Museum of the Military History of Bulgaria in a separate room with special conditions and under heavy guard.

The Samara banner is the only banner awarded with the Order "For Courage" of the Republic of Bulgaria, which was later placed in the richly decorated tip of the flagpole.

The modern flag of the Samara region, approved in 1998, took the Samara banner as a basis.

Copies of the banner

The first copies of the banner were made in 1958. One of them was transferred to the Central Military Museum of the USSR. Two more canvases were made later: the first - in 1978 in the workshop of Mikhail Maletsky, and the other was embroidered for the National Museum of Military History of Bulgaria in 2006 by novices of the Monastery of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God.

On August 11, 2008, the deputy of the National Assembly of Bulgaria Evgeny Zhekov and the vice-mayor of the city of Stara Zagora Maria Dineva brought to the Samara region a copy of the banner, which was made by one of the most famous artists in Bulgaria - Dimo ​​Genov. The Bulgarian delegation handed over the banner to the Iversky Monastery.

Sources

• (unavailable link - story) . Samara.ru. Retrieved November 25, 2006. .

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An excerpt characterizing the Samara banner

- Si l "on marchait par un temps comme celui la ... [In such weather, go on a hike ...] - he began.
Pierre asked him what he heard about the performance, and the corporal said that almost all the troops were moving out and that now there should be an order about the prisoners. In the booth in which Pierre was, one of the soldiers, Sokolov, was ill at death, and Pierre told the corporal that this soldier should be disposed of. The corporal said that Pierre could be calm, that there was a mobile and permanent hospital for this, and that there would be an order about the sick, and that in general everything that could happen was all foreseen by the authorities.
- Et puis, monsieur Kiril, vous n "avez qu" a dire un mot au capitaine, vous savez. Oh, c "est un… qui n" oublie jamais rien. Dites au capitaine quand il fera sa tournee, il fera tout pour vous… [And then, Mr. Cyril, you should say a word to the captain, you know… It's like… forgets nothing. Tell the captain when he will make his rounds; he will do anything for you…]
The captain, about whom the corporal spoke, often and for a long time talked with Pierre and showed him all kinds of indulgence.
– Voice tu, St. Thomas, qu "il me disait l" autre jour: Kiril c "est un homme qui a de l" instruction, qui parle francais; c "est un seigneur russe, qui a eu des malheurs, mais c" est un homme. Et il s "y entend le ... S" il demande quelque chose, qu "il me dise, il n" y a pas de refus. Quand on a fait ses etudes, voyez vous, on aime l "instruction et les gens comme il faut. C" est pour vous, que je dis cela, monsieur Kiril. Dans l "affaire de l" autre jour si ce n "etait grace a vous, ca aurait fini mal. [Here, I swear by Saint Thomas, he once told me: Kiril is an educated person, speaks French; this is a Russian master, with who had misfortune, but he is a man. He knows a lot ... If he needs something, there is no refusal. When you studied something, you love enlightenment and well-bred people. I’m talking about you, Mr. Kiril. The other day, if it weren’t for you, then would be over.]
And after chatting for some more time, the corporal left. (The case that happened the other day, which the corporal mentioned, was a fight between prisoners and the French, in which Pierre managed to pacify his comrades.) Several prisoners listened to Pierre's conversation with the corporal and immediately began to ask what he said. While Pierre was telling his comrades what the corporal said about the performance, a thin, yellow and ragged French soldier approached the door of the booth. With a quick and timid movement, raising his fingers to his forehead as a sign of bow, he turned to Pierre and asked him if the soldier Platoche, to whom he had given the shirt to sew, was in this booth.
About a week ago, the French received shoe goods and linen and distributed boots and shirts to be sewn to captured soldiers.
- Done, done, falcon! - said Karataev, coming out with a neatly folded shirt.
Karataev, on the occasion of warmth and for the convenience of work, was in only trousers and in a shirt as black as the earth, torn. His hair, as artisans do, was tied with a washcloth, and his round face seemed even rounder and prettier.
- The persuader is a brother to the cause. As he said by Friday, he did so, ”Plato said, smiling and unfolding the shirt he had sewn.
The Frenchman looked around uneasily and, as if overcoming doubt, quickly threw off his uniform and put on a shirt. Under his uniform, the Frenchman had no shirt, and over his naked, yellow, thin body was put on a long, greasy, silk vest with flowers. The Frenchman, apparently afraid that the prisoners who were looking at him, would not laugh, and hastily put his head into his shirt. None of the prisoners said a word.

We continue the rubric where experts from various fields answer questions about Samara that Runet users ask "search engines". All these questions in one way or another relate to the peculiarities of our city or its inhabitants, and the answers to them will help to learn something new about Samara, its history and place in the country and the world.

Today we answer the question: "How did the people of Samara help Bulgaria?" We asked it to a local historian, a journalist and a resident of the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora - they remembered the heroic battle for Shipka, talked about the carefully guarded parts of Samara inside Bulgaria and indulged in nostalgia for weaving martenichkas.

morally and financially

Igor Makhtev, local historian:

- The first answer that comes to mind is the story of the banner presented by Samara to the Bulgarian militias during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. This banner later became a symbol armed forces Bulgaria, the only cloth awarded with the Bulgarian Order "For Courage". Now the famous Samara banner is stored in the National Museum of Military History of Bulgaria.

The banner was made in 1876 by the nuns of the Iversky Monastery based on sketches by the Samara artist Simakov. On a panel of Pan-Slavic colors (blue, white, red) in a black cross, decorated with gold ornaments, they depicted Cyril and Methodius, and on the other side - the icon of the Iberian Mother of God. The banner to the Romanian city of Ploiesti, where the regiments of the Bulgarian militia were formed, was taken by the head of the city of Samara, E.T. Kozhevnikov, accompanied by the vowel of the City Duma P.V. Alabina. The banner was handed over to the banner company of the Bulgarian militia - the 3rd company from the 3rd squad. The militia fought with him in the battle for Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora, for Shipka and Sheinovo. Copies of the Samara banner are kept in Moscow, Samara and the city of Kholm, Novgorod Region, where Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Kalitin, commander of the 3rd militia squad, who died with the Samara banner in his hands, comes from.

The help of the Samarans to the brothers-Bulgarians was not limited to spiritual symbols. On September 11, 1876, the Gubernskiye Vedomosti published an Appeal to the Samara Residents.

“The United Commission of cash in Samara of members of the Slavic and charitable committees of Moscow and St. Petersburg, in view of the present need of the aforementioned committees for money and for the supply of volunteers poisoning to Serbia, has the honor to humbly ask the townspeople and residents of the Samara Territory to kindly deliver their donations to the appointed commission to its treasurer - Mayor Kozhevnikov or in the name of one of its members.

The appeal was signed by members of the Slavic committees E.T. Kozhevnikov, M.S. Krylov, L.N. Yashchenko, P.V. Alabin.

Soon things and jewelry began to arrive from the Samarans: from Colonel I.A. Lishin - a diamond ring worth 35 rubles, from Kurlin - a gold pocket watch, from A.N. Hardin - two faceted amethysts for earrings or cufflinks, from Orefiev - 8 revolvers in cases, from P.S. Subbotina is a cibik of Kyakhta tea. E.N. Annaev brought a large table clock, E.K. Richter - a large picture in a gilded frame and an ivory reticule, P.V. Alabin handed over ten photographic drawings...

On April 17, 1877, at an emergency meeting of the city duma, the mayor E.T. Kozhevnikov informed the audience about the Manifesto of Alexander II of April 1 on declaring war on Turkey and stated the need to "bring all possible assistance to the holy cause of liberation from the Turkish yoke of our brothers in faith and blood - the Slavs."

The Duma decided: on behalf of the citizens of the city of Samara, to allocate twenty-five thousand rubles to the direct disposal of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, patroness of the Society for the Care of Sick and Wounded Soldiers.

Help is not only financial. For many Bulgarians, Samara has become a hometown. Due to the political upheaval in Bulgaria at the end of 1886, a significant number of Bulgarian emigrants moved to Russia. They settled mainly in Odessa. Two years later, the Bulgarians began to be resettled in the central regions of Russia, including the Samara province. In Samara, the main occupation of the Bulgarians was vegetable growing. On the lands rented from the city, they set up vegetable gardens and traded their products in the markets of the city.

Taught schoolchildren fraternal traditions

Ekaterina Spivakovskaya, journalist, writer:

- Of course, I knew about our strong friendship with Bulgaria even before school, including because we lived then a stone's throw from Stara Zagora Street, and from childhood I had an interest in incomprehensible names and tried to extract everything from my parents information about this mysterious Zagora. But the massive Bulgarian attack began already at school, because we kept weaving martenichki at labor lessons - then in Kuibyshev, any baby knew that these figurines made of red and white threads came to us from Bulgaria, where it was customary to wear them, tying to the wrist or wrapped around a button, on the first day of spring.

These martenichkas protected from damage, the evil eye, and it was quite in the spirit of amazing Soviet eclecticism, when, it would seem, by hook or by crook, terry materialism was planted around, but at the same time an exception was made for the completely pagan tradition of fraternal Bulgaria. In fairness, I will say that regardless of the ideological tricks, it was a very pleasant experience - weaving these dolls from threads. It was also possible to fantasize there, somehow combine white with red in different ways, knit different ropes, laces, and so on. Well, fine motor skills developed, and you could not be afraid that you would be called to the board and forced to answer homework in mathematics, but just sit quietly, weave a martenichka and think about your own, about a girl’s. In general, I really liked it and later it came in handy in life, because I made the same old women of thread for my daughter, she really liked them at one time. You see, after all, this friendship with Bulgaria was not only for the sake of fanfare.

So that in Bulgaria they still remember this

Miroslav Panayotov, resident of the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora, journalist of the publication “StZagora.BG - Site on the Stara Zagora Region”:

— There are many places in the city of Stara Zagora that help residents not to forget about the feat of the Samara people. For example, the memorial complex "Defenders of Stara Zagora", included in the list of one hundred tourist sites of the Bulgarian Tourist Union. It was built in 1977 on the centenary of the Battle of Shipka and looks like an unfurled flag with six Bulgarian volunteers and a Russian officer in the background. What is symbolic, in order to climb to the monument, you need to go through 100 steps. Many dates are associated with the battles for Stara Zagora, and every year on these days the townspeople bring wreaths to the memorial, give lectures and sing Russian songs.

There are also three districts in the city, united in the neighborhood with the name "Samara". In the late 80s, many streets of the city were named after Russians: Lenin, Brezhnev, Tolbukhin and Vereshchagin, we also have Russian Boulevard and the Russian Club. There is also a Russian secondary school named after Maxim Gorky, which has about 2,000 students. In our city, the most beautiful and largest Russian Orthodox Church throughout Bulgaria.

The athletics tournament in Bulgaria, legendary in its scale, is called Samara Flag, and it is held every June. It was at this tournament in 1988 that Yordanka Donkova set a world record in the 100m hurdles sprint. Her time of 12.21 seconds remains unsurpassed to this day.