(from infantry), participant in many wars, Knight of St. George. At the end of the 18th century, he took part in the command of the Tomsk infantry (musketeer) regiment (1799-1800), then commanded all the musketeer regiments and the Cossacks of Siberia (1800-1806).

Biography

Nikolai Ivanovich Lavrov comes from an old Russian family hereditary nobles registered under Kaluga province. son of the famous major general A prince Ivan Petrovich Lavrov and his wife Praskovya Bogdanovna (nee Bibikova), cousin of the general-in-chief of the prince Alexandra Bibikova .

military career Nikolai Lavrov started at the age of 16 as a private life guards Moscow Preobrazhensky Regiment(enrolled 1 January 1777). Here he rose to the rank lieutenant A. As an officer of the Russian Army, he participated in campaigns and battles in the 1780s.

May 15, 1789, with the award of the title seconds-major and transferred to the 1st battalion Bug Jaeger Corps. This corps was formed and commanded in those years by the legendary commander, Major General Prince Mikhail Kutuzov. By that time, Kutuzov was married to N. Lavrov's cousin. The family relationship between them grew into a friendship that lasted until his death (both died in the same year). Under the command of Kutuzov, a young officer prime major Pavlovsky regiment Nikolai Lavrov in the same year participated in the battle under Causeni, in the assaults of fortress cities ackerman And Bendery during Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791

In 1790 he participated in the capture of Chilia and in full drama assault on Ishmael, where, having shown personal courage, he received bullet wounds in his right leg and left arm. Distinguished at Ishmael e, was produced in prime major s. In 1791, he participated in the defeat of the 23,000th Turkish army at Babadag and in Machinsky battle. For heroism, for the courage and courage shown on March 18, 1792, he was awarded Sign of the military order of St. George the Victorious (George officer's cross) IV degree.

In 1792 and 1794 he fought in Poland. In 1793, as part of the Russian embassy in Ottoman Empire led by most illustrious prince Kutuzov, visited Istanbul. The mission is to strengthen Russian influence V Turkey- was brilliantly executed.

April 20, 1797 N.I. Lavrov received the title lieutenant colonel and was appointed brigade major at Emperor Paul I(that is, he performed adjutant functions under the emperor, formally not entering the Retinue His Majesty), and already on September 11, 1798, it was produced in colonel And.

In 1799, he participated in the hostilities of the Russian-Austrian army, led by Field Marshal count Alexander Suvorov against French troops in Italy and then in his banner Swiss campaign. At this time, Prince Lavrov held the position of duty headquarters officer at the commander’s main apartment (headquarters), according to his status, upon arrival in a warring regiment, he should have been able not only to inform the commander’s decision, but also to take part (and, if necessary, replace the commander) in command , in the organization of the battle. Participated in the siege and capture Brescia And Turin A; battles at Tidon, Trebbia, Novi, Saint-Gothard and Glaris, where he was wounded by a bullet in the right shoulder right through.

In recognition of military merits, on November 2, 1799, by the highest order, he was promoted to the rank major general A. At this time, he married his daughter Varvara Muromtseva. After the wedding, he was assigned to inspect the troops who were in Transbaikalia, on Kyakhtinskaya border line. Soon, for a year, he was appointed chief of the Tomsk Musketeer Regiment, then stationed mainly in the city. Kolyvan Tomsk district with the functions of guard duty in Tomsk and the imperial Altai factories of the Barnaul district.

On October 15, 1800 he became chief Shirvan Musketeer Regiment, holding this position until January 27, 1808. In addition, he was appointed inspector for infantry Siberian military inspectorate, commanded the musketeer regiments located in Siberia, including Tomsk and located in Central Asia Shirvan musketeer regiments and formations Siberian Cossack army .

On August 23, 1806, he became a brigade commander of the 8th Infantry Division, thus returning from the Tomsk province to the European part of Russia.

Took part in war with Napoleonic France in 1806-1807, excelled near Pultusk. IN Battle of Preussisch Eylau was seriously wounded by grenade fragments in the right side.

In the summer of 1808, at the height Russian-Swedish-English war, Lavrov commanded the 11th Infantry Division. Here he became close to the commander of the Russian forces in the Baltic States, General of Artillery Count A.A. Arakcheev with whom he maintained friendly relations until the end of his life. In this war, Lavrov's task was to organize coastal defense ground forces.

August 30, 1810 was the highest awarded the title lieutenant general A .

On April 22, 1812, he was appointed chief of staff of the 1st Western Army, whose commander-in-chief was Field Marshal M.B. Barclay de Tolly.

June 21, 1812, that is, a few days after the invasion of Russia by troops Napoleon(started Patriotic War of 1812), N.I. Lavrov was dismissed from the post of chief of staff "due to illness" (first Marquis F. Paulucci was appointed in his place, and on July 1, 1812 - General A.P. Ermolov). After Smolensk battle was appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Corps, which included elite guards regiments.

... Upon the arrival of Prince Kutuzov, the army revived, for the former [commander-in-chief] with his frozen soul froze the feelings of all his subordinates. However, the circumstances of affairs, which had drawn us so far into Russia, forced Kutuzov to make several retreat marches in order to join up with the reserve forces, and finally, on the 26th, a fierce battle followed at the village. Borodino, which lasted from 5 am to 7 pm.<…>I had the honor of commanding a guard which, for its bravery, obedience, and order, earned praise from the whole army.<…>This day costs her dead and wounded for 3,000 people.<…>Where death devoured so many sons of Russia, I somehow survived, but the damned French shot my riding horses, and now I am completely on foot. The bivouacs ruined my health. If God allows this tedious war to end, then I won’t stay in the service for a minute, because, really, I’m no good, old and weak. Judging by the cases, it will be hot again in two days.<…> .

It was on the "reserve of the center" that one of the main blows of the Bonapartists, who tried to seize the redoubt and Raevsky's battery, fell. Attacks, counterattacks, bayonet fighting arose every now and then from different sides.

October 20, 1812 "for courage and courage shown in the battle against the French troops on August 26 at Borodino" was awarded Order of St. George III degree. Participated in all major battles in the autumn of 1812 ( near Maloyaroslavets, Vyazma And red).

In mid-January 1813, N.I. Lavrov fell seriously ill. At this time, military events developed outside of Russia. Nikolai Ivanovich was forced to turn to the representative of the emperor in the troops Grand Duke Constantine with a request: Feeling that now my health is weakening more and more, then, in order not to become an unnecessary burden in my service, I dare to ask Your Imperial Highness for the second time to release me on leave to cure my illness, for a period of four months ...". The request was granted. The path of the ailing general from Poland to the estate in the village of Kholodovo dragged on until autumn.

He died in November of the same 1813 (according to one version, on November 29, according to another - a little earlier, and on November 28 he was excluded from the lists) in the Kholodovo estate Oryol province, inherited by N.I. Lavrov from his mother. The great-uncle of the future Russian was buried writer Turgenev at the parish Church of the Intercession, located a verst from the village of Nizhnyaya Boevka. Six years later, “with the help of Lieutenant General Nikolai Ivanovich Lavrov” and the efforts of his sister and her husband, instead of the former wooden one, a single-altar stone church with a bell tower was built in memory of the military general.

On December 10, a nominal rescript was placed in Moskovskie Vedomosti Emperor Alexander I: « In memory of the merits for the benefit of the fatherland, Lieutenant-General Lavrov, who died after many labors, transferred to the current campaign and upset his health, I order the widow who remained after him to pay the full maintenance of the deceased after his death, meaning by this the salary of the inspector and mess allowance».

In the military gallery Winter Palace portrait of N.I. Lavrov is absent: according to the commander’s sister, Ekaterina Ivanovna Lutovinova-Somova, “ my late brother did not allow anyone to write off portraits from himself, and for this reason, there was no such portrait, either for me or for his late wife". In place of the portrait there is a frame covered with green silk, with engraved rank, initials and surname.

Family

Nikolai Ivanovich Lavrov was married to the daughter of Lieutenant General Muromtsev - Varvara Matveevna. Didn't have children. The daughter of his sister, Ekaterina Ivanovna Lutovinova-Somova - Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova, mother writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev .

Awards

In the reference literature, very scarce information about awards has been preserved (and the Hero probably had the Orders of St. Anna and St. Stanislav, a lower rank than the Orders of St. George known to him), and this information is exclusively about Russian orders. However, in foreign campaigns before Patriotic War In 1812, he could well have been awarded orders of foreign states.

• Cavalier Order of Saint George III degree
• Cavalier Order of Saint George IV degree
• was awarded the Golden Weapon "For Bravery"
• medal "In memory of the Patriotic War of 1812" (1813)

Memory

Memory of N.I. Lavrov in the Tomsk region is not supported: everything that is connected with the Russian pre-revolutionary officers is lost in the bends of History.

Literature

• Volkov S.V. Generals of the Russian Empire. encyclopedic Dictionary generals and admirals from Peter I to Nicholas II. Volume II. L-Z. - M., 2009.
• List of the military department (generals by seniority)... for 1776. - SPb., 1776.
• Stepanov V.S., Grigorovich P.I. In memory of the centennial anniversary of the Imperial Military Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George. (1769-1869). - SPb., 1869.
• Dictionary of Russian generals, participants in the hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812-1815. // Russian archive: Sat. - M.: Studio "TRITE" N. Mikhalkov, 1996. - T. VII. - S. 443.
• Shabanov V.M. Military Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George. Name lists 1769-1920. Biobibliographic reference book. - M., 2004.

Notes

1. The estate (village) Kholodovo is a now disappeared village in the Apalkovsky village council Kromsky district, on the border with

The name of the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877−1878. Vasily Nikolaevich Lavrov in distant Bulgaria, alas, is better known than at home. A native of the Tula province, where his father - a serving nobleman ...

The name of the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877−1878. Vasily Nikolaevich Lavrov in distant Bulgaria, alas, is better known than at home. A native of the Tula province, where his father, a serving nobleman, had 500 acres of land, made a brilliant military career without any support.

And it is still unknown what heights he could have reached in the Russian army if he had not died at the age of 40 during the assault on the Turkish redoubt, the capture of which predetermined the liberation of Plevna and the success of the war.

At 29, Lavrov fell madly in love. It seemed that the 18-year-old daughter of a major Oryol merchant Pogrebov favorably accepts his courtship, but when Vasily started talking about the wedding, Maria asked for time to think. Then the chief of staff of the division decided to act as he was used to in battle - quickly and decisively.

Unexpectedly, he appeared at the Pogrebovs in full dress - an embroidered gold colonel's uniform, with epaulettes, orders and a golden saber for bravery. The official marriage proposal that followed was hard to reject.

The young people spent part of their honeymoon at the father-in-law's estate, and then, according to the custom of that time, drove off to Paris. They were a beautiful couple - beautiful, stately and tall, standing out from the crowd so tall that street boys enthusiastically shouted after them: "Eiffel Tower!" The Lavrovs only chuckled good-naturedly.

Upon returning to Russia, life went on as usual. The chores of the estate fell entirely on Maria Alexandrovna, and Vasily Nikolayevich, who was very busy in his service, came home at every opportunity.

A year after the wedding, they had a son, four years later - a daughter. Warmed by family warmth and love, Lavrov managed everywhere: he was a member of the commission for the construction of the Liteiny Bridge, led the preparation of an extensive report on the construction of horse-drawn railways in the capital, but Special attention, of course, devoted to his main business - work on the issues of serving military service. For his attentive, affectionate treatment of petitioners, sympathy for them, he was respected by both estate elders and ordinary people.

In August 1875, Vasily Nikolayevich was promoted to major general and was soon appointed commander of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment.

With the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the regiment as part of the 2nd division moved to the theater of operations. Due to congestion railway an order was received to march on foot to the destination, located 600 miles away. The campaign through Moldavia and Romania in mountainous terrain, with strong temperature drops and merciless downpours, took 42 days. Lavrov traveled all this way at the head of his Finnish troops on foot, encouraging and setting an example for the regiment.

“The rains and colds came, people bivouacked on damp ground, and fevers appeared ... The Moscow regiment entered Iasi, having 1000 people backward, people were lying on the street from exhaustion,” Vasily Nikolayevich wrote home.

After three unsuccessful assaults on the fortress of Plevna, the Russian command decided to block it. The encirclement ring was to be closed with the capture of the Turkish redoubt dominating the area near the village of Gorni-Dybnik (Mountain Dubnyak), 23 kilometers from Plevna. The Turks cleared the approaches to it, shot in advance the opened clearing about a thousand paces wide. The Finnish Regiment was entrusted with overcoming it under enemy fire. To provide artillery cover for the attack, General Lavrov ordered 500 fascines to be prepared to fill the ditches and ditches that prevented the transport of guns. He himself decided to go to the Turks at the head of the regiment.

October 12 received an order to start the assault. The Ottomans, armed with small arms and foreign-style long-range cannons, opened fierce aimed fire. It was "hellish, amazing fire, something monstrous, destroying," the participants in the assault recalled, "slaughter, massacre, hell."

Around noon, under fire, Lavrov led the depleted Finnish battalions into a dead zone - a hollow five hundred paces from the redoubt. As soon as they took a breath, a messenger reached them with an order to continue the assault. “Well done! Now let's go on the attack. When I wave my saber and shout “Hurrah!” - everyone is behind me, ”the general turned to the soldiers. Looking around at his fighters, he rushed forward.

Enemy bullets knocked down Lavrov fifty paces from the redoubt, but a group of soldiers managed to get to the Turkish ditch, capture it and take cover from the furious fire. The command of the regiment was taken by Colonel Georgy Schmidt, who led the attack directly on the redoubt. The guards took him too. 2289 Turks were taken prisoner with 4 guns. Russian losses amounted to 3533 people.

This victory "predetermined the success of our operations near Plevna, the success of the war," noted one of the participants in the assault. The artist Vasily Vereshchagin, who volunteered for this war, dedicated the painting “After the Battle” to the battle of Gorni Dybnik.

V. V. Vereshchagin, “After the battle”, 1881

Vasily Nikolaevich was taken out of the battlefield and delivered to the dressing station by the soldier Kolpakov, who was later awarded the St. George Cross for this. Dying Lavrov, as if justifying final words his letter home written on that day - “Yours on earth and beyond the grave ...”, - asked the soldier to take care of his wife and children.

Fulfilling last will commander, Kolpakov, after his dismissal from the service, moved with his family to the Lavrov estate and for almost three decades was the headman there, and then the manager. With his help, Maria Alexandrovna set up a model farm with a multi-field crop rotation, raised Simmental cattle, was engaged in afforestation, and set up a weaving factory.

She “loved listening to peasant songs, treated people well, for which she was respected,” recalled Tatyana Ganicheva, an old resident of this village. Lavrova founded a zemstvo hospital with emergency and outpatient rooms, opened a school and an elementary rural school, and even organized a folk peasant theater. Some of the plays staged on its stage were devoted to the heroic tragedy of the Russian-Turkish war, in which General Lavrov died for the sake of the liberation of the Slavs.

And at the site of the death of the general, a memorial park named after him is now laid out, in the center of which is a museum, and on a rock nearby is a bronze bas-relief of Vasily Nikolaevich. In the early 2000s, a temple-monument to Great Martyr George the Victorious was erected in the park: this saint knows the price of military victories...

From nobles. Born December 28, 1841 in his family estate in the Pskov province. Brought up in Marine cadet corps, where he was admitted in 1855 by a boarder named after Admiral Nakhimov.
V.M. Lavrov, still captain 2nd rank, surrounded by family and friends, filmed in Japan

In 1861 he was promoted to midshipmen of the fleet, with enrollment in the 3rd naval crew. In 1861-1862 he circumnavigated the world on the corvette Bogatyr under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Chebyshev, in the squadron of Admiral Popov and in 1863 on the corvette Rynda under the command of Lieutenant Basargin. In the same year he received the first officer rank of midshipman.
Comrade Lavrov, sitting next to him in the previous Japanese photo. Already in the rank of general. Full name unknown

In 1865 he was transferred to the Siberian Flotilla and went to the place of service on the schooner Aleut. He served in the Siberian flotilla until 1890. He was one of the main figures in the organization of Vladivostok, laying the foundation for its future economic well-being, and took an active and direct part in the construction of the Vladivostok port. At the same time, he took part in affairs with the enemy during the expulsion of the Khunhuzes from the South Ussuri Territory on the schooner Aleut.
Ivan Mikhailovich Lavrov, Vice Admiral, brother of the owner of the archive, commandant of Kronstadt.

IN last years During his service in the Siberian waters, he held the posts of captain over the port of Vladivostok and assistant commander of the same port. At the same time, he made a lot of sailing in the Sea of ​​Japan and China, as well as in the South Harbors and ports of the Eastern Ocean, so that in total he spent more than 15 years on the deck of a ship.
Another brother of Lavrov, I. (Ivan?) Lavrov, judging by the autograph

In continuation of his service, he commanded ships in the Siberian flotilla of the screw schooner Aleut, the clipper Abrek, in the Baltic Sea, the coastal defense battleship Admiral Lazarev, at the same time he was the commander of the 4th naval crew, the cruiser 1st rank Admiral Nakhimov.
Unknown officer

He was the commander of the 6th naval crew, the cruiser Duke of Edinburgh, and also the commander of the 10th naval crew.
Retired rear admiral unknown

In 1895 he was appointed chairman of the Baltic Shipbuilding and Mechanical Plant and in the same year he was promoted to rear admiral.
Admiral's nephew, still midshipman

On June 5, 1896, the temporary acting commander of the St. Petersburg port, deserved the royal favor for the good condition and order on the battleship Sisoy the Great. On January 1, 1902, he was promoted to lieutenant general for distinction.
The same midshipman is already a student at the Polytechnic University

He died on October 10, 1903 in St. Petersburg. On November 13, 1903, he was excluded from the lists as dead.
A polytechnic student has already become an engineer.

The son of Vice Admiral Ivan Lavrov Georgy, in the rank of lieutenant of the fleet. In the future, one of the first naval pilots, a friend of Sikorsky. Crashed on "Ilya Muromets"

Close relatives of Lavrov
military doctor

Student of the Imperial Military Medical Academy

He is in the rank of a naval medic and in civilian clothes

The same naval doctor with the rank of collegiate adviser

The park-museum of General Lavrov was created in memory of the soldiers who died in the battles near Plevna during the Russian-Turkish liberation war 1877-1878. The park is located near the small Bulgarian village of Gorni Dybnik, on the Pleven-Sofia road, 25 km southwest of Pleven.
The memorial park was named in honor of the Russian officer, Major General Vasily Nikolaevich Lavrov (1837-1877, buried in the family estate of Krivtsovo, Oryol province), commander of the Finnish Life Guards Regiment, who was seriously wounded during the assault on Turkish redoubts near the village of Gorni Dybnik and died from wounded October 14, 1877.

Story

The park-museum is located where in October 1877 there were fierce battles on the outskirts of Plevna. On October 12, 1877, Russian troops attacked the Turkish garrison. The Russian unit consisted of 46 officers and 3097 lower ranks. In a bloody battle near the village of Gorni Dybnik, four officers were killed, 29 were wounded, three of them later died from their wounds. Of the lower ranks, the Russian army lost 310 people killed and 594 wounded in battle. (Data on the dead and wounded are inscribed on one of the commemorative marble slabs). The dead, with military honors, were buried at the battlefield in mass graves.
In 1950-1954, a park was founded on the site of the fighting near the village of Gorni Dybnik, named after the famous Russian general. Granite monuments were erected on the mass graves of the dead Russian soldiers of the Life Guards Grenadier, Life Guards Moscow, Life Guards Izmailovsky, Life Guards Pavlovsky and Life Guards Finnish regiments. In honor of General Lavrov, a bronze medallion was fixed on the rock. In memory of the events of the Russian-Turkish war, in 1953, a stone sculpture "Eternal Friendship" by Petr Zlatarev, depicting a Russian soldier and a Bulgarian militia, was installed in the park. On the territory of the park there is an exposition of military artillery pieces left over from the time of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.
In 1977, complex reconstruction works were carried out in the park, during which several monuments were created fallen heroes. Sculptural monuments were erected in honor of the fallen officers: Colonel Elmar Fedorovich Prokope (1841-1877), Colonel Konstantin Alekseevich Runov (1839-1877, buried at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg), Colonel Nikolai Fedorovich Ozharovsky (1844-1877) and Lieutenant Nikolai Nikolaevich Porozhenko (1854-1877).
The last reconstruction of the park was carried out in 2001 as part of the Beautiful Bulgaria project.
In 2004, the chapel of St. George the Victorious was erected on the territory of the park-museum.

Information for tourists

Entrance to the park is free.
Page on the site "Russian Monuments of the War of Liberation": http://ruskipametnici.com/?action=news&id=95&lang=bg
Page on the site: http://rusmir.cl.bas.bg/

"General Lavrov"

Vasily Nikolaevich Lavrov was born on April 27 (May 9), 1837. Coming from a modest noble family in the Epifansky district of the Tula province, Vasily realized early on that in this life he would have to rely only on himself. He instilled in himself such qualities as diligence, perseverance, honesty and nobility in relation to others.

From childhood, Vasily decided to devote himself to military service and was firmly moving towards his intended goal. The young man lived with his mother, Lyubov Ivanovna Lavrova. There is no information about his father.

In 1855, Vasily Nikolaevich graduated with honors from the school of guards ensigns and cavalry cadets. His name as the best graduate, according to tradition, was entered on a marble plaque. He entered the service on June 11, 1855 as an ensign in the Life Guards Horse Grenadier Regiment.

Deciding to continue his military education, Lavrov in 1857 decided to join the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. For academic success, he was promoted to lieutenant, and on January 12, 1863, with the rank of staff captain, he was sent to the North-Western Territory at the disposal of General Galetsky.

At this time, unrest began in Russian Poland, which soon developed into a serious uprising with the aim of regaining independence. However, the rebels were unable to create regular army, and therefore the final outcome of the struggle could not be in doubt.

Being at the headquarters of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division, Lavrov with the Life Guards Finnish Regiment took a direct part in the battles near the village of Gudishki (April 26, 1863) and the village of Shkurkishki (April 27 of the same year), where he was wounded in the neck by a rifle bullet and shell-shocked. Already at that time he showed excellent courage. For distinction in those battles, Vasily Nikolaevich was awarded the order St. Vladimir IV degree with swords and a golden saber with the inscription "For Courage".

At the end of the Polish campaign, Lavrov continued to serve in the headquarters of the guard troops of the St. Petersburg Military District as a senior adjutant for special assignments. After being promoted to colonel (1866), he was appointed chief of staff of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division.

In the same year, Vasily Nikolayevich met Maria Pogrebova, the daughter of a well-known merchant, an honorary citizen and an influential figure in the city Duma. The proud beauty refused the offer of a hand and heart, but asked for time to think, and the colonel had no choice but to wait.

Soon, however, when a young, slender, elegant colonel with an order on his uniform and a golden saber appeared at her parents' house and repeated his request, Maria Alexandrovna agreed. The young people spent their honeymoon after the wedding in Krivtsovo - the estate of Vasily Nikolaevich (now the Bolkhovsky district of the Oryol region), and then went to France.

The twenty-nine-year-old colonel was deeply in love with his eighteen-year-old wife, who was distinguished by some special article. He was especially amused when the Parisian street boys shouted after the tall, stately Russian lady: "Eiffel Tower!"

In 1867, a son was born to the Lavrovs, and four years later, a daughter, Elizabeth.

Maria Alexandrovna constantly lived in the village of Krivtsovo, was engaged in raising children and was the full mistress of the estate. Vasily Nikolaevich came there at every opportunity and, of course, during the holidays. Sometimes he took his wife and children to his capital to “visit”, to briefly immerse himself in the life of the capital. It was a happy time for the Lavrovs.

The interests of Vasily Lavrov were not limited to military service. His civic activities were also significant. Since 1873 he was a member of the Oryol Duma. He was a member of the commission for the construction of the Liteiny Bridge, under his leadership an extensive report was drawn up on the construction of horse-drawn railways in the capital. The main business of Lavrov was the issue of serving military service. His attentive, affectionate treatment of petitioners, warm sympathy for their demands earned the gratitude of both estate elders and the population.

On August 30, 1875, Vasily Nikolayevich was promoted to major general and, until further notice, was left in his former position as chief of staff of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division. A year later, on September 24, 1876, by order of Emperor Alexander II, Lavrov was appointed commander of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment and took command on the eve of the 90th anniversary of this military unit.

In 1877 struck big war. In April, Russia took up arms in defense of the fellow-religious Bulgarian people, who were threatened with genocide by the Ottoman Turks. Initial successes were replaced by defeats near Plevna, and the government was forced to send guards regiments to the front in distant Bulgaria.

On August 21, Vasily Nikolaevich arrived in Kyiv in the first echelon. Being a little later in Zhmerinka, he already noted signs of war: the tracks turned out to be clogged with oncoming trains with the sick and wounded, military trains stood for a long time or crawled at a snail's pace. While in Chisinau, Lavrov first of all visited the man who was there for treatment famous general M. I. Dragomirova, with whom he was on friendly terms, and heard from an eyewitness of the events a story about the Shipka epic. Echelons with guards of the Finnish Regiment arrived in Iasi on August 26-28. The entire 2nd Guards Infantry Division gathered here. Soon an order followed: due to the congestion of the railway, continue on foot.

Thus, the division had a forty-two-day march over 600 miles from Yassy to the positions at Gorny Dubnyak. The path went through the lands of Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. The beginning of the tests was already the first transition in extreme heat over mountainous terrain. However, the soldiers of the Finnish Regiment strengthened both in spirit and body. “Yesterday we walked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and yet, despite incredible fatigue, we entered the city with music ...” (from a letter from V. N. Lavrov). He also describes a heavy downpour - such rapid streams of water that the soldiers could hardly stand on their feet.

After September 10, the weather changed dramatically: “The rains and colds came, people bivouacked on damp ground, and fevers appeared ... The Moscow regiment entered Iasi, having 1000 people backward, people were lying on the street from exhaustion ...” (from a letter to V.N. . Lavrova).

Then Vasily Nikolaevich, encouraging the fighters, went at the head of his regiment on foot, neglecting his commanding right to ride a horse. Gentle and kind to the soldiers, Lavrov wanted to learn from his own experience the difficult lot of a soldier, and very soon this path led him to an instant decision to personally lead the attack on the Turks, for him already the last.

Meanwhile, hostilities continued. In August 1877, the heroic defenders of the pass at Shipka (the 36th Orlovsky and 35th Bryansk infantry regiments with Bulgarian militias) thwarted the plan for a large-scale Ottoman counteroffensive in order to push the "infidels" back across the Danube. And this despite the huge numerical superiority of the enemy.

On August 30, an unsuccessful, already third in a row, assault on the Turkish stronghold - the fortress of Plevna followed, after which, on the advice of the hero of the Sevastopol defense who specially arrived from St. Crimean War General E. I. Totleben, the Russian command came to the conclusion that the only way to take Plevna was to blockade it. The immediate goal was to capture Gorny Dubnyak and Telish in order to close the blockade ring.

On October 10, the Finnish Life Guards Regiment was hastily transferred to the village of Eki-Barkas, where regiments and batteries of the guards infantry, as well as cavalry units under the overall command of General I.V. Gurko, were concentrated, to storm an important Turkish fortification near the village of Gorny Dubnyak.

On October 11, the regiment prepared 500 large fascines, designed to fill ditches and deep ditches that prevented the passage of artillery. On the same day, General Lavrov, with some of his officers and representatives of other regiments, took part in a trip to survey the area between Plevna and Gorny Dubnyak - 23 kilometers from this fortress.

The fortification near Gorny Dubnyak was a hill on a flat area overgrown with bushes, which were cut down by the Turks 1000 steps ahead, but in some places there were lonely bushes, to which they accurately measured the distance in order to beat the attackers for sure. The most unfavorable and dangerous position was in the Finnish regiment. At 9 am on October 12, General I. V. Gurko, under whose command there were 22,000 people with 64 guns, ordered an assault. The Ottomans, armed with foreign-made small arms and four long-range Krupp cannons, fired with great force and density, inflicting heavy losses on our troops.

According to A. Puzyrevsky, a participant in the assault, it was “hellish, amazing fire ... something monstrous, destroying ...” He was echoed by Colonel G.P. Schmidt, who observed the battle from close range: “Slaughterhouse ... massacre ... hell of fire ... " Russian flights grenades inflicted losses on the Russian troops, especially the battalions of the Finnish regiment, located at the starting lines.

At about 11 o'clock in the "dead space" of the hollow, the 1st and 4th battalions of the regiment, led by General Lavrov, gathered. Before the fortification, there were 300-400 steps of completely open space.

Vasily Nikolaevich was convinced that the assault was poorly prepared. At 2 p.m., the orderly officer delivered the order from General I.V. Gurko to conduct a general attack, which again had little chance of success, but Lavrov had already made the final decision.

“Well done! Now let's go on the attack. When I swing my saber and shout "Hurrah!" “Look after me,” he turned to the soldiers. With a sharp swing, the general tore himself off the ground, drew his saber and, with a shout of “Hurrah!” rushed forward. In a single impulse, officers and soldiers rushed after their beloved commander with one goal - to take the enemy rampart.

Suddenly, fifty paces from the fortification, Vasily Nikolayevich fell, hit by two bullets in the chest, and lost consciousness. The Finnish continued to run forward. Some ran up to the shaft for 20-30 steps, but under a hail of bullets they were forced to retreat and lie down. Russian artillery ceased fire, and from 16:00 to 18:00 there was a formidable deathly silence. Private E. I. Kolpakov carried the mortally wounded general from the battlefield and for this he was awarded the insignia of the Military Order of the 4th degree (St. George). Dying on October 14 at the Main Evacuation Center, Vasily Nikolayevich asked Kolpakov not to leave his wife and children, and this decent man, after being discharged from the army, really settled in Krivtsovo with his family. Until 1887, he acted as the headman, and then - the manager of the estate of M.A. Lavrova.

The heroic death of General Lavrov set an example of courage, and individual daredevils were able to move into the ditch of the Ottoman fortifications and gradually filled it. Then General Gurko, who was about to withdraw the troops back and dig in, changed his mind, and at about 19 o’clock a victorious “hurrah” was suddenly heard - the guards regiments finally captured the Ottoman redoubt with a swift throw. In this last attack in the battle near Gorny Dubnyak, the Life Guards Finnish Regiment was led by a new commander, Colonel Georgy Petrovich Schmidt.

The Russians captured 2289 Turks with 4 guns, but they themselves lost 3533 fighters - the price of victory was high.

In the last days of October 1877, a funeral procession with the zinc coffin of the general arrived by train in Mtsensk. The thirty-verst way from the station to Krivtsovo, the coffin was accompanied by the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, strewn the road with late autumn wildflowers.

The remains of V. N. Lavrov were buried during an unprecedented gathering of people in the crypt of the Krivtsovskaya church.

In 1932, the coffin with his ashes was blasphemously pulled out of the crypt in the hope of picking up gold and silver awards, and when there were none, they were buried 70 meters from the church. The third reburial of the ashes of the general took place on September 7, 1978 at the Krivtsov memorial, where his bust was erected.

It is also impossible not to note the unusually strong, touching love that the Lavrovs experienced for each other throughout their entire family life. “Yours on earth and beyond the grave ...” - this is how the last letter of Vasily Nikolaevich Maria Alexandrovna ended, dated October 12, 1877.