Vooruzhennye Sily na IUgie Rossii. Sudnoe otdielenie. records, 1918-1927

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Summary

Creators:
Vooruzhennye Sily na I͡Uge Rossii. Sudnoe otdi͡eleni͡e
Abstract:
Correspondence, reports, memoranda, orders, and affidavits, relating to administration of military justice in the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, Russian emigres in Bulgaria, the political situation in Bulgaria, and the composition and distribution of the First Army Corps and the Don Corps
Extent:
9 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box (5.75 Linear Feet)
Language:
In Russian and Bulgarian
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Vooruzhennye Sily na IUgie Rossii. Sudnoe otdielenie. Records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of correspondence, reports, memoranda, orders, and affidavits, relating to administration of military justice in the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, Russian emigres in Bulgaria, the political situation in Bulgaria, and the composition and distribution of the First Army Corps and the Don Corps. Includes files from the Chief Prosecutor of the Russian Army and Navy, the Special Military Investigator at General Headquarters, and the Military Justice Commission at the Sevastopol Fortress.

Biographical / historical:

This record group, together with the records of the Chief of Supply of the Russian Army (Nachal'nik Snabzheniia Russkoi Armii), were previously accessioned at the Hoover Institution as the F. F. Abramoff collection. Both groups of records at one point were in the possession of General Abramoff, who commanded the Don Army Corps in Bulgaria, but he was not the originator of the records themselves. The records of the Justice Department of the Russian Army and its subordinate agencies were originally assembled by General I. A. Ronzhin, the Chief Prosecutor of the Russian Army and Navy and the principal executive officer of the Department. After General Wrangel's Russian Army evacuated the Crimea in 1920, the Justice Department was ultimately relocated in Bulgaria, where both the First Army Corps, under General Kutepov, and the Don Army Corps, under General Abramoff, were billeted. General Abramoff probably assumed possession of the files of the defunct Justice Department after many of the Russian Army organizations and offices disintegrated in 1926-1927 because of an acute shortage of funds.

The collection consists of a numerical office file, the papers of General Ronzhin, and the records of judicial organs subordinate to the Department. The office file of the Justice Department consists of papers relating to investigations into relatively minor infractions: theft, missing valuables, insubordination, insulting a superior officer etc. The papers of General Ronzhin are more substantive and include reports sent regularly by all Courts of Honor and military prosecutors and investigators. Among his other duties in Bulgaria, General Ronzhin interceded with the Bulgarian Government on behalf of soldiers from the Don and First Army Corps, who suffered considerable harassment from local police authorities. Consequently, there is a large volume of correspondence with the Bulgarian Interior Ministry. Ronzhin also remained in close contact with General Abramoff, and there is much material received by Ronzhin from either Abramoff or his subordinates.

The records of two subordinate judicial organs--namely, the Special Military Investigator at General Headquarters and the Military Justice Commission at the Sevastopol Fortress--are also contained in the collection. Colonel Ukraintsev was the Special Military Investigator and acted on the direct orders of General Ronzhin, who commissioned him to investigate cases of the greatest import: embezzlement, graft, corruption, execution without trial, etc. The Military Justice Commission at the Sevastopol Fortress appears to have been an extraordinary body evolving out of the chaos that accompanied the retreat of General Wrangel's forces into the Crimean peninsula. It dealt with disorders behind the front lines: robbery, banditry, plundering, depredations on civilian property, murder, etc.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1930.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Vooruzhennye Sily na IUgie Rossii. Sudnoe otdielenie. Records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US