Savage Division
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The Savage Division or Wild Division (Russian: Дикая дивизия) was a Cavalry Division of the Imperial Russian Army composed of Muslims recruited from Chechnia and Daghestan and from the Turcoman tribes of Transcaspia.[1] It took part in World War I, commanded by the Russian general, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, brother of Tsar Nicholas II[2].
During the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Savage Division remained loyal to the Russian provisional government.
[edit] The Kornilov affair
Division commander General Aleksandr Krymov and his officers reacted to a supposed insurgency by German agents in Petrograd by relocating from the war front to Petrograd during the Kornilov affair. However, Muslim delegates of the Petrograd Soviet, nominal members of the Russian Constituent Assembly, arrived at the Division directly from the capital and not only dispelled rumors of rebellion, but also demonstrated with documents that General Krymov himself was a rebel leading his troops against the government.
Among these delegates were some well-known Muslims, such as the grandson of Imam Shamil. For that reason, they were not arrested, a decision that went against Krymov‘s officers' wishes. Such an arrest would have been a violation of Chechen and Dagestani customs of hospitality. Unable to fulfill his order, Division commander Krymov committed suicide.
[edit] References
- ^ W.E.D. Allen and P. Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields, Cambridge, 1953, footnote 1, p241.
- ^ "I returned to Russia to command the "Wild Division" in WWI. The Wild Division was all-volunteer, and was made up of Muslims from the Caucasus region. I was very popular with my men."
