Alexander Palladin
World War I Heroes in Memoriam: Part I
Since 2017, on December 9 Russia celebrates the annual Day of Heroes of the Fatherland. One of them was my grandfather Pyotr Vasilyevich who got two St. George’s Crosses during World War I.
He belonged to the ancient Korchagin family, who lived in the Ryazan region at least since the time of Ivan the Terrible. Pyotr Vasilyevich’s great-grandfather Nazar and his cousin Semyon served in the Ryazan militia and repelled the Napoleon army when it invaded Russia in 1812.
In 1901, when he turned 21, Pyotr Vasilyevich was drafted into the army and served until the very end of his short life (he died when he was only 40). Like his father-in-law Afanasy Ilarionovich Reshetnikov, my grandfather took part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. After that he was promoted to sergeant major, and in 1906 he was discharged. However, soon afterwards he volunteered to be enlisted in the 137th Nezhin Infantry Regiment as a combat commander of the 5th company.
In November 1911, Captain Yakov Ivanovich Zakharov took command of the 2nd battalion that included the 5th company. My grandfather got acquainted with him during the war with Japan, and they became friends.
As soon as the World War I started, their regiment was sent to the Southwestern Front to fight against Austrian troops. On August 15, 1914, the Nezhyn Regiment camped near the village of Tarnoszyn in eastern Poland. All of a sudden they were assaulted by the Austrians. As a result, the regiment lost up to 80% of its personnel.
One of them was Yakov Ivanovich Zakharov, who died two months before his 50th anniversary. My grandfather was wounded in the right thigh and got the St. George Cross of the 4th degree. Their regiment commander, Alexander Semenovich Pronin, was accused of negligence and later dismissed from service. On October 20, 1914, Pyotr Vasilyevich was made acting junior officer of the 5th company.
Two months later, the 35th Division, which included the Nezhin Regiment, suffered heavy losses in five days of fighting near the Nida River (left tributary of the Vistula). In the Nezhin Regiment, 321 servicemen were killed, and 278 more were missing. For “courage and bravery shown while fighting the Austrians from December 11 to 15, 1914,” my grandfather was awarded the St. George Cross, 3rd degree, and was promoted to ensign.
In late February 1915, in a battle with the Austrians in the Carpathian Mountains, Pyotr Vasilyevich was wounded again, this time in a shoulder. After recovery, he returned to duty, but on May 25, 1916, on the fourth day of the Russian army operation that went down in history as the Brusilov Breakthrough, he was wounded by shrapnel in the left half of his face. His third wound was so bad that in June of the same year, he was discharged.
In March 1917, Military Revolutionary Committees were formed in all units of the Russian army, including the 35th Infantry Division. The ranks of the Nezhin Regiment who returned from the front to Ryazan immediately joined the committee of soldiers’ deputies of the Ryazan garrison. After the October revolution a survey of its lower ranks revealed that 112 servicemen in the Nezhin Regiment wanted to join the Red Guard.
On June 8, 1918, “The Izvestia of the Ryazan Provincial Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies” published the list of those who volunteered to serve in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. It included “Korchagin Pyotr Vasilyevich, lieutenant of the 137th Nezhin Infantry Regiment.”
However, my grandfather did not serve in the Red Army for long. On May 9, 1920, he died of typhus, leaving my 28-year-old grandmother, Lidiya Afanasyevna, a widow with two minor daughters in her arms.
Sergey Berezhnoy
