Legendary Warrior of the Russian Empire

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Vasily Nikolaevich Kochetkov was born in the Simbirsk province of the Kurmysh district in 1785. Kochetkov was a cantonist (a soldier's son). The cantonists were on the lists of the military department from the day they were born. He began serving on March 7, 1811 as a musician.

He fought the entire Patriotic War of 1812. Then, as part of the Pavlovsky Life Guards regiment, he fought with the Turks in the war of 1828-1829. Transferred to the Life Guards Horse Pioneer (Engineering) Division.

In 1836, during the life of A. S. Pushkin, Vasily Kochetkov had already served his assigned 25 years, but did not leave the army.

In 1843, a 58-year-old soldier finds himself in the Caucasus. He was instructed to use outstanding military experience and teach soldiers to direct, strengthen and raise pontoon bridges on "fast rivers". Vasily Kochetkov was enlisted in the glorious Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon regiment. In the Caucasus, he was wounded three times: twice in both legs and through the neck. Badly wounded, unable to move, he is captured.

Having recovered, Kochetkov escapes from captivity, showing rare resourcefulness, foresight and courage. At 64, a seasoned soldier was promoted to officer by exam. However, Kochetkov refused epaulettes, his soldier's shoulder straps were dear to him, and two years later he retired, after 40 years of active service, at the age of 66.

In 1853, the so-called Crimean War began. Vasily Kochetkov asks to go to war and, in the ranks of the Kazan Jaeger Regiment, fights on the Kornilov Bastion, in the very inferno of the Sevastopol defense. Here he was wounded by an exploding bomb.

By personal decree of the tsar, who was already familiar with Vasily Nikolaevich, Kochetkov was again transferred to the guard and served in the dragoons. Almost ten years have passed, and Vasily Nikolaevich Kochetkov submits a memorandum to the tsar and asks for "the highest permission" to go to war. So he ended up from the guard again in his beloved field army in the Turkestan cavalry artillery brigade with a first class fireworks. He was 78 years old.

For twelve years Kochetkov served in Central Asia, participated in the battles for Turkestan and Samarkand, and in 1874 in a detachment under the command of Adjutant General Kaufman, making a march through the desert, he took Khiva. In 1874, by order of the sovereign, he was transferred to the convoy of the imperial train.

In 1876, Serbia and Montenegro rebelled against the Turkish yoke. Five thousand Russian volunteers went to the aid of the fraternal Slavic peoples. Kochetkov again persuaded the tsar to let him go to war. "Serving" in his 92 years fought in the forefront, dragging volunteers with him.

He did not have time to rest in his homeland from military affairs, as the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 broke out. 93-year-old Kochetkov fought on Shipka as part of the 19th Cavalry Artillery Brigade. On Shipka, Kochetkov lost his left leg from a bomb explosion. He survived and still served in the Life Guards of the Horse Artillery Brigade and lived to be 107 years old.

He died "on the march", while passing through the city of Belozersk, Novgorod province, on May 30, 1892 from heart failure. In his things they found a copy of the resignation order listing all ranks, awards and campaigns. This brilliant track record, together with a respectful obituary, in which Vasily Kochetkov was named the most honored veteran of the Russian army, was published on the pages of the Government Gazette.