Ivan Ivanovich Dibich-Zabalkansky (1785 - 1831) Russian field marshal. He participated in the wars with France of 1805-1807 and the Patriotic War of 1812. During the foreign campaign of the Russian army of 1813-1814. Chief quartermaster of the corps, Quartermaster General of the army and allied Russian-Prussian troops. Since 1815, Chief of Staff of the first Army, since 1823, Chief of the General Staff. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, he was commander-in-chief of the Russian Army.

The Russian commander Ivan Ivanovich Dibich was born with a more appropriate name for a Silesian baron - Johann Karl Friedrich Anton, and in the Russian manner he was called from 1801, when his father, at one time an adjutant of Frederick the Great, was invited to St. Petersburg by Paul I. The new country became a real Fatherland for the young Dibich, and he entered the service of it immediately and irrevocably. While some of his comrades in the Semyonovsky Life Guards indulged in entertainment, he, a seventeen-year-old ensign, intensively studied Russian and mastered the subtleties of military service.

As for Tolstoy's Prince Andrey, the first serious combat test was for Dibich Austerlitz (November 20, 1805). And just like a literary hero, the young officer successfully stormed his Toulon . Wounded in the right arm, he intercepted the blade with his left, and so he did not leave the battlefield until the end of the battle. He was awarded a sword with the inscription "For bravery". He also distinguished himself very much at Preussisch-Eylau (January 26-27, 1807). By the time the war with France ended in 1805

- 1807. it was already a fired officer, whose uniform was decorated with several awards, including the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

Dibich earned the Order of St. George II, 3rd class in 1812, fighting in the corps of P. H. Wittgenstein as chief quartermaster, at the same time he became a major General. At the age of 28! After the occupation of Berlin on February 20, 1813, the Russian army joined with the Austrian army, Dibich was appointed Quartermaster General of the Allied forces and in this capacity took part in all the main battles of the foreign campaign - at Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Kulm and Leipzig. He showed special valor under the walls of Dresden (August 14-15, 1813): he was shell-shocked, twice changed horses killed under him, but did not leave the troops entrusted to him. And at Leipzig (October 4), admiring his coolness, reasonableness of plans and heroic behavior in battle, the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, the Austrian Prince Schwarzenberg, awarded the young Russian general the Order of Maria Theresa. Right on the battlefield, he took off his order and handed it to Dibich.

The subsequent military activity of Ivan Ivanovich Dibich is connected with two main events in the military history of Russia in the first third of the XIX century - the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829 and the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. Despite his youth, he occupied by this time a very prominent position in the political and military hierarchy. In 1823, Dibich was appointed acting Chief of the General Staff (until 1828), at the behest of the tsar he was to be present in the State Council and the Committee of Ministers.

It was Dibich who Nicholas I instructed in 1828 to develop a plan of action for the 2nd Army (the 1st was located on the western border to prevent a possible attack from Austria) against the Ottoman Porte. The Chief of the General Staff proceeded from the need to end the war in one campaign, while he considered the Balkans to be the main theater of military operations. With the beginning of the offensive, the general himself went to the active army, participated in the capture of Brailov (June 10, 1828), Kyustenji (June 12) and Varna (September 29). All the Turkish fortresses on the Danube, located below Silistria, were in Russian hands. But the blockade of Silistria itself, which had a garrison of 15 thousand people and more than 250 guns, was unsuccessful: it was not possible to take it in 1828.

The plan of military operations for the next year, 1829, provided for active actions in the direction of Constantinople in order to break the resistance of the Turks and achieve victory in the shortest possible time. On February 9, 1829, Dibich succeeded Count P. H. Witgenstein as Commander-in-Chief. The first success of the campaign was the capture of Silistria, which was considered almost impregnable (June 18). "This important acquisition," Dibich reported, " provides us with a second line of operations and a good base on the Danube."

Silistria was still under siege when Dibich managed to lure the Turks out of their main stronghold, Shumla, into an open field. In the fierce battle of Kulevcha (May 30) Dibich defeated the vizier's troops; the 40-thousandth army of the Turks could not resist 25 thousand Russians, retreating from the battlefield and leaving up to 6 thousand dead. The losses of our army amounted to about 2,300 people. For this brilliant victory, the commander was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd class, and for the capture of Silistria, he was appointed chief of the Chernihiv Infantry regiment, which most distinguished itself under its walls.

The fall of Silistria opened the way for the Russians to cross the Balkans. This transition in July 1829 was included in textbooks on the military art of many countries-this is to the question of the "mediocrity" of the commander, which Soviet historiography insisted on. Only about 50 thousand people marched in two columns: the left-the 6th corps of General Roth from Varna to Burgas through the Coastal Pass, the right-the 7th corps of General Rediger along the Pravody - Aidos road through the Nadir-Derbent pass. Behind them, the reserve of the 2nd Corps troops and the main headquarters were moving. The conditions were difficult. I had to overcome the heat and waterlessness, numerous Turkish barriers. The vizier twice tried to strike at the Russians and both times received a worthy rebuff.

The Russians made the most of it. In the first case, the Turks not only failed to stop Dibic's troops, but also lost the important fortress of Shumla. In the second case, the damage was even greater. Having learned that the enemy was concentrating in Slivno (where the Grand Vizier himself was expected), Dibich set out on July 28 to meet him and three days later occupied the city. The Turks no longer had an organized force capable of resisting, and Dibich moved his troops - about 12,000 men with 110 guns-to Adrianople. During the day they covered 30-35 versts, so the enemy was literally amazed to see Russian banners under the city walls. On August 8, Adrianople was taken without a fight. "The enemy troops and the inhabitants of this city," Dibich reported to St. Petersburg, " were so greatly astonished by the rapid movement of the troops entrusted to me towards it, and were so dismayed... that they have sent out members of parliament to conclude a capitulation." If we take into account that at that time the group of troops of General P. D. Kiselev was no less successfully operating on the territory of Bulgaria, it becomes clear why the Turks immediately offered to start peace negotiations.

However, when they arrived in Adrianople on August 20 and saw that Dibic did not have 60 thousand troops, as was believed in Constantinople, but only 20-25, the Turkish representatives tried to stall for time: suddenly the situation would turn in their favor. The Russian commander-in-chief quickly realized what was going on, and ordered the troops to additionally occupy a number of cities and move towards the Turkish capital. The enemy's diplomats immediately became more cooperative.

Noting Dibich's personal contribution to the victory, Nicholas I wrote to him: "The victorious army entrusted to your leadership, from the very beginning of the campaign, did not cease to mark itself with the most brilliant feats. You were not slow in carrying our victorious banners before the gates of the enemy's capital itself, and ... finally forced the Ottoman Porte to solemnly confess its impotence to resist Russian weapons and resolutely beg for mercy."

The emperor generously rewarded the commander-in-chief: an honorary addition was granted to his surname - Zabal-Kansky, he was awarded diamond badges to the previously received Order of St. Nicholas. St. Andrew the First-Called and the Order of St. George, 1st class. The Chernigov infantry regiment, whose chief Ivan Ivanovich became by decree of the tsar after the capture of Silistria, was most highly ordered to be called henceforth the regiment of Count Dibich-Zabalkansky. And on September 22 of the same year, Dibich was awarded the rank of Field Marshal General. At 45 years old!

And who would have guessed that he himself had so little time left to live.

The year is 1830. The decision of Nicholas I to send Polish troops to suppress the revolution in France caused a national explosion in the Kingdom of Poland. As the most titled and so clearly manifested himself on the battlefield commander, I. I. Dibich December 1, 1830 appointed commander-in-chief of the troops directed against the rebels. Dividing them into two groups, one of which occupied Ostrolenka, Pultusk and Rozhany, and the second, the main one, occupied Minsk, Kalushin and Stanislavov, he moved parts to the Bug, in order to cross the river, cut off the rebels from Warsaw and defeat them. He did not manage to do this in full, although the victories at Prague (a suburb of Warsaw), Lublin, Nur and Ostrolenka significantly undermined the enemy's strength and will to resist. It is necessary, however, to recall the reproaches for passivity, which, according to contemporaries, Dibich showed, organizing the pursuit of the enemy after the battle of Ostrolenka. Because of this, the war dragged on for another six months, so that the laurels of the winner went to I. F. Paskevich.

Dibich failed to refute this opinion by his actions for an elementary simple and wild reason - she came to the aid of the Poles... cholera. On May 28, 1831, the field Marshal felt the first indisposition, and the next day he was gone.

His contemporaries remembered him as a man who was distinguished by a lively and quick mind, broad erudition in the field of strategy, and the ability to break away from routine. Uneven displays of determination and perseverance were associated with his long-term staff activities, believing that a richer purely commander's practice would not hurt him. Dibich rarely interacted with the troops, who, for their part, did not pay him much love either. We will add that his appearance and manners did not arouse sympathy - a squat figure, an ugly large head, a brick-colored face, a loud voice, untidiness in clothes.

As D. M. Bantysh-Kamensky wrote, Count Ivan Ivanovich " combined good-nature, compassion, and strict justice with an ardent, quick temper... at the top of the honours, he knew no pride. He was undaunted, resolute on the battlefield. His crossing of the Balkans will not die out in history."

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