Customer Reviews

White Against Red; The Life of General Anton Denikin

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anton Denikin began his career in Czar Nicholas II's Imperial Army. Although he viewed the Romanov government as needing reform, he also became a critic of the Provisional government because it failed to provide sound support and discipline for its troops and their commanders during World War I. Military decisions were being by committees of the combat soldiers during battles. It was a disaster. Then while Russia was being attacked by Austria and Germany, the opportunistic Bolsheviks seized power. The Bolshevik paper "Free Thought" openly prophesied "a blood bath for the officers". Then Denikin helped form the White Russian (Volunteer) Army to fight the Bolsheviks. Despite early victories the tide turned against the Volunteer Army.

Denikin arrived in England in April, 1920. In his life as an ex-patriot he earned a living by writing and publishing stories of his military experiences and other writings. These and other original sources are used throughout the book.

Denikin came to America, and at the close of World War II he influence the U.S. to refrain from sending the former Soviet war prisoners back to the USSR because of the torture which awaited them in the USSR. On January 31,1946 he wrote a letter to General Eisenhower which said "..all these unfortunates are perfectly aware of the fate awaiting them in the 'Soviet paradise', and it is not surprising, therefore, that the the war prisoners being assembled in Dachau prefer to meet their death there ...(by suicide)...anything rather than face the Bolsheviks torture chambers..."

This is history which is often missed, and its presentation through the extraordinary life of Anton Denikin is a pleasure to read.