Sevsk

Sevsk is one of the oldest towns of the modern Bryansk region. Along with Novgorod-Siversky, Putivl and Rylsk, it was one of the cities of the historical Severshchina.

Archaeological studies testify to the early settlement of the territory of Sevsk. For the first time Sevsk is mentioned under 1146 in two chronicles - Voskresenskaya and Ipatievskaya. At that time the town was a part of the Chernigov-Sever land.

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Sevsky Kremlin was fortified, the garrison was reinforced with guarding Cossacks, who created the Cossack Sloboda here. In 1604 Sevsky Ostrog went over to the side of the impostor. In the first half of the XVII century Sevsk was plundered and burned by Perekop and Crimean Tatars under the leadership of Khan Girey. In the middle of the XVII century Sevsk fortress was included in the system of newly created defensive guards along the south-western borders. Its convenient location contributed to the creation of a strong fortress here, which played a notable role in the history of Russia. Sevsk was known as a major trade center not only in Russia, but also in the West. In 1634, the defense of Sevsk from the Poles played an important role in ending the Smolensk War. After 1683 the town grew many times at the expense of Streltsy and other servants sent here from Moscow after the Streltsy riots. At the end of the XVII century in Sevsk silver coinage was minted for the Ukrainian territories that became part of Russia - Sevsk chekhs. In 1687 the 32nd Chernigov colonel Grigory Samoilovich (son of hetman Ivan Samoilovich) was beheaded in Sevsk.

In the XVIII century the defense value of Sevsk as a frontier town was weakening, as the borders were moving south and west. Civil administration was organized in it. The town was granted a coat of arms and a general plan of development. Military people are settled on the outskirts of the city. In Sevsk and its surroundings there are still Streletskaya, Pushkarnaya, Soldiers' Sloboda, Reitarovka village.

With the division of Russia into provinces, Sevsk was assigned to the Kiev province, in which in 1719 became the center of Sevsk province, which included 9 towns: Sevsk, Trubchevsk, Bryansk, Karachev, Kromy, Rylsk, Putivl, Nedrigailov and Kamenny with their districts (counties). In 1727 Sevsk was transferred to Belgorod province, divided into three provinces, of which Sevsk province was the most populous (out of 700 thousand population of the province it accounted for 300 thousand).

In 1778 Sevsk became the center of Sevsk district within the Orel viceroyalty. At that time it was decided to rebuild the town according to a new plan, dividing it into regular squares. The inhabitants of the town were engaged in crafts, trade and yam trade.

In the 1880s, the first railroad line ran through Sevsk district, but Sevsk itself was away from it, which affected the development of industry and trade. At the same time, a lot was done in the improvement of the town: water supply, the central streets received gas lighting, the main street was paved with cobblestones. In the eastern part of the city, on the high bank of the Seva River, the building of the zemstvo administration was built. In the north-western part of the city in 1913 was erected a large two-storey building specially designed for the Sevsk real school established in 1909. The school became one of the cultural centers of the city, literary evenings were held here, concerts were arranged, amateur plays were staged. In 1917, the future rector of Moscow State University, the famous mathematician I. G. Petrovsky graduated from the school.

In the summer of 1919, the commander-in-chief of the White Guard Armed Forces of Southern Russia, Anton Ivanovich Denikin, ordered an attack on Moscow. Sevsk lay on the way of the White Army and was to become a place of brutal battles. On September 30, 1919 detachments of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia approached Sevsk. The town was stormed by the Drozdovtsy. The defense of the city was led by the county revolutionary committee headed by military commander Solovykh. The 57th division of the Red Army under the command of N.A. Khudyakov was located in Sevsk and its district. The Bolsheviks realized that the city could not be held. Therefore, they began evacuation in advance. They burned bridges over Sosnitsa on the outskirts of the city and across the Sev between Sevsk and Yurasov Khutor. In the evening of September 30, the 1st battalion of the Drozdov regiment under the command of Anton Vasilievich Turkul approached the town. The superiority of the Whites forced the Reds to retreat from Sevsk to Maritsky Khutor and Knyaginino. The Drozdovtsy entered Sevsk from the south and north. One part of the troops occupied Zamaritsa, the second Rogatki. The Drozdovtsy shot four Bolsheviks when they entered Sevsk. A few dozen people voluntarily joined the Whites. A few dozen more they mobilized by force. But most of the townspeople were indifferent to the change of power in the town. People wanted peace and quiet and a peaceful sky above their heads. The Whites immediately began to restore the former orders and authorities. They returned to the post of the district governor I.N. Chetyrkin, the mayor M.P. Prokhorov, the chairman of the Zemstvo M. Mikheev, the military chief. Mikheev, military chief Vilsky. Later they left the city together with the Drozdovites when the Whites had to retreat. Chetyrkin had already been imprisoned by the Bolsheviks after coming to power. Two days later Turkul received an order to advance to Dmitriev. Drozdovtsy along the road, which still connects Sevsk and Yurasov Khutor, approached Dobrovodyu. They were met by cavalrymen of the Chervona Division of the Red Army. The whole field in front of Dobrovodye and the village itself was strewn with corpses. After a short battle, the Reds retreated, and the Drozdovtsy continued to move towards Dmitriev. They liberated it from the Bolsheviks and returned to Sevsk. On October 12, Drozdovtsy left Sevsk and went to take Komarichi. One cavalry regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division of General I.I. Chekatovsky remained in the town. Battles in the vicinity of Sevsk took place constantly. Historian V.V. Krasheninnikov writes that Sevsk during October-November 1919 passed from hand to hand 10 times! The Reds attacked the town when the Whites went to the north. Drozdovtsy through Komarichi rushed to Orel and further to Moscow. Red detachments were leaving towards Knyaginin and Maritsky farm. Then they occupied Sevsk and forced Drozdovtsy to stop the offensive to repulse the city again. Most likely, most of the battles were fought in the north-western part of Sevsk. The participant of those battles staff-captain S.I. Mamontov writes that the Reds went into the forest and organized sorties from there. According to his description, during one of the battles, the 1st Cavalry Division stood at the front from south to north. As it is already known, on September 30 the Reds were retreating towards Knyaginin and Maritsky Hutor. From there they also made their reverse attacks. The big meadow, which used to be on the place of the lake, simplified the attack from the western side. The fighting lasted throughout October and November until the Red Army launched a counteroffensive along the entire front and forced the Whites to retreat. The Red Army and the White Guards often took their anger out on the townspeople. The townspeople had to flee to neighboring villages in order not to get under the hot hand and hide in the basements of their houses not to be killed by an accidental shot. Besides Sevsk, big battles and minor skirmishes took place all over the county. In Sennoye, at Pogrebov, in Lipnitsa, Yurasov Khutor, Shvedchiki, Novoyamskoye, Kniginin, Chemlyzh, Maritskoye Khutor, Korostovka, etc. One day, when there were neither Reds nor Whites in the town, Sevsk was attacked by a detachment of Makhnovists. They were anarchists who had founded their community in the Ukraine and allied with the Bolsheviks against the Whites. They entered the town and began killing those whom they considered supporters of the White cause. Krasheninnikov suggests that this was the Makhnovist detachment of Shuba (Prikhodko). By November, the offensive of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia collapsed. The southern front of the Red Army went on a counter-offensive. The Reds had more troops. The Whites were retreating southward. In early November 1919 the Drozdovtsy occupied Sevsk for the last time. During the war it was unbearable to live in the town. Sevsk residents were afraid of death from an accidental bullet. They were waiting for suspicion of sympathy to one side or another and subsequent execution. This was overlaid by the lack of food and clothes. At that time the epidemics of typhus and Spanish disease were in full swing in the city. Because of domestic problems, lack of food, and stress, these diseases claimed the lives of many people. In Zamarica, the townspeople set up a typhoid barracks in the house of the merchant Chernichin. Those who died of the disease were often buried without coffins and without a funeral service. In the documents of this period one can find some information about the citizens of Sevskaya who died of diseases and wounds. Thus, on October 30, L.I. Senchenkova, a resident of Sevsk, died of typhus in Sevsk district hospital. F.M. Makhaev, a resident of Sevsk, died there from a wound. If in 1897 9 and a half thousand people lived in the town, then by the end of 1920 there were barely 5 thousand people. 38 houses were burnt or blown up. Like any other war, the Civil War brought devastation, hunger and poverty to Sevsk. After the battles went south again, the residents began to rebuild the town. Houses were rebuilt, broken windows were replaced, craters from explosions were buried in the streets, and new electrical poles were installed. All this was done quickly and well. But it didn't work out that way with people. Hundreds of Sevan residents became victims of the war.

On October 1, 1941, as part of Operation Typhoon, Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group of Army Group "Center" broke through the defenses of A. I. Yeremenko's 13th Army of the Bryansk Front in its central section and advanced to a full depth of 60 km. On October 1 the 24th Motorized Corps took Sevsk. The city was liberated by the 2nd Tank Army on March 2, 1943 as part of the Dmitriev-Sevsk operation, but on March 27 it was captured by the Germans again. It was finally liberated in September 1943 as part of the Bryansk operation.