Aleksa Dundić

Aleksa Dundić
Birth name	Aleksa Dundić
Years of service	1912–20
Battles/wars	Balkan Wars October Revolution
Awards	Order of the Red Banner

Aleksa Dundić or Oleko Dundich (Russian: Олеко Дундич^[a]; 1890s - July 8, 1920) was a ethnic Serb communist, a prominent participant in Russia's October Revolution. A popular character in Russian literature (celebrated for his riding skills and courage), Dundić was honoured with the Order of the Red Banner.

Biography

There are differing accounts of his origin, birth date, and name.^[1] He was ethnic Serb.^[2]

• The first biography on Dundić, written by B. V. Agatov in October 1920, says that he was born in 1894, in Kruševac, then in the Kingdom of Serbia. His family were cattle breeders. After finishing secondary school, he left home and entered a mechanical school. He then lived in the Americas for two years. In 1912-1913, during the Balkan Wars, he was a weapons technician in the Serbian Army. He then served during the First World War, engaging the Austro-German troops, and for his valour shown during the battles on the Danube, he was promoted to second lieutenant. He was wounded twice, and was captured in 1916, the same year he escaped to Russia where he participated in the formation of the Serbian Volunteer Corps. After the February Revolution, he left the Serbian Corps and entered one of the Cossack regiments. After the October Revolution, he sided with the Soviet government and formed and headed an Odessa Red Guard detachment composed of Serb-internationalists. He fought against the Haidamak and cadet bands. He fought in Voronezh on the Don (in 1918), on the Tsaritsyn Front, and was wounded 16 times, then went to the Polish front. He died on July 8, 1920 at Rovno (now Ukraine). [Comment by Zelenin and Sumarokova 1968:] Agatov did not indicate the source of the accounts relating to Dundić's life prior to joining the First Cavalry. It is assumed that the documents were preserved in the archives of Staff of the First Cavalry, or personal stories by Dundić himself, or stories told by his colleagues.^[3]
• According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1972 ed.), he was born into a peasant family, of Serbian descent. At the age of 12 he went to South America, where he worked for 4 years as a shepherd in Argentina and Brazil. In 1914 he was recruited as a private in the Austro-Hungarian Army. During the First World War of 1914-1918 in May, 1916 Dundic was taken prisoner by Russian troops near Lutsk. He volunteered to join the First Division of Serbian Volunteer Corps in Russia (Сербский добровольческий корпус). From the middle of 1917, he was a member of the Red Guard (presumably in Odessa). In March, 1918, he headed a guerrilla squad in the region of Bakhmut that later joined the Morozov-Donetsk division, which retreated together with the army of K.E. Voroshilov towards Tsaritsyn in June 1918. He participated in the defence of Tsaritsyn as a member of an international battalion, then with cavalry brigades of Kryuchkovsky and Bulatkin. From 1919, he served in the Special Don Caucasus Division of Semyon Budyonny (later in the cavalry corps and the First Mounted Army). He was deputy regiment commander, special aide to Semyon Budyonny, commander of mounted division at the headquarters of the First Mounted Army. Dundic took part in numerous battles and he was wounded several times. The legendary courage of Dundić brought him ardent love and popularity among Budyonny's troops. From June 1919 he was the deputy commander of the 36th regiment of the 6th cavalry division. He was killed in battle and awarded the Order of the Red Banner.^[4]

Legacy

In 1958, a joint Yugoslav-Soviet film Aleksa Dundić was directed by Leonid Lukov (Aleksa Dundić at the Internet Movie Database).

A street in Lviv, Ukraine, was named after him: "Oleko Dundich Street".

A horse club in Belgrade bears his name (KK Aleksa Dundić).^[5]

See also

• Danilo Srdić, Serb volunteer in Russia

Annotations

1. ^ Name: His name was Aleksa Dundić. In Russian, his name was "Олеко Дундич" (Oleko Dundich). His pseudonyms include Ivan and Alejo.

References

1. Зеленин-Сумарокова 1968
2. Malesevic 2013, p. 245.
3. Зеленин-Сумарокова 1968: "Первая известная биография Дундича была опубликована вскоре после его гибели. В органе Политуправления Первой Конной армии газете «Красный кавалерист» № 266 от' 22 октября 1920 года под рубрикой «За идею коммунизма» была напечатана статья Б. В. Агатова «Памяти Красного Дундича (биография)». «Товарищ Дундич, — пишет Агатов, — родился в 1894 году в городе Крушеваце в Сербии». Далее Агатов сообщал, что, разойдясь во взглядах с отцом — крупным скотопромышленником, жестоко эксплуатировавшим своих работников, Дундич после окончания второго класса гимназии бросил родительский дом и. поступил в. ученики к механику. Два года жил в Америке. В 1912—1913 годах он в качестве оружейного техника участвовал в рядах сербской армии в Первой и Второй Балканских войнах. С начала мировой войны Дундич воевал против австро-германских войск и за доблесть, проявленную в боях на Дунае, был произведен в подпоручики. Он был дважды ранен и в 1916 году попал в плен, откуда в том же году бежал, пробрался в Россию, где поступил в формировавшийся в Одессе из югославян-военнопленных Сербский добровольческий корпус. После Февральской революции Дундич ушел из Сербского корпуса и поступил в один из казачьих полков. После Октябрьской революции он встал на сторону Советской власти и возглавил сформированный им в Одессе красногвардейский отряд из сербов-интернационалистов. Сражался против гайдамацких и кадетских банд. Далее Б. В. Агатов сообщает о действиях Дундича под Воронежем и на Дону (в 1918 г.), на Царицынском фронте, говорит о том, что он был ранен 16 раз, сообщает, что Дундич отправился на Польский фронт, и, наконец, рассказывает о его гибели 8 июля 1920 года под Ровно. В. В. Агатов не указывает источника, из которого он почерпнул сведения о жизни героя до его появления в рядах Первой Конной армии. Можно предположить, что это- были либо документы, сохранившиеся в архиве штаба Первой Конной, либо рассказы самого Дундича о себе, либо, наконец, рассказы товарищей о Дундиче."
4. "Dundich, Toma", in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, Moscow 1972, Volume 8, page 539, column 1605
5. http://www.adundic.rs/index.html KK “Aleksa Dundić“

Sources

• Malesevic, Sinisa (2013). Ideology, Legitimacy and the New State: Yugoslavia, Serbia and Croatia. Routledge. ISBN 9781136341762.
• В. В. Зеленин, М. М. Сумарокова (1968). Легенды и действительность. Загадки и факты из биографии Красного Дундича (Прометей Т. 5 ed.). М.: Историко-биографический альманах серии «Жизнь замечательных людей», Молодая гвардия.

External links

• Aleksa Dundić at the Internet Movie Database