Polovtsov, Lev Viktorovich

Rytsari ternovogo ventsa: Vospominaniia o 1-om Kubanskom (Ledianom) pokhode generalov M. V. Alekseeva, L. G. Kornilova i A. I. Denikina [Knights of the Crown of Thorns: Memoirs of the First Kuban (“Ice”) Campaign of Generals Alekseev, Kornilov, and Denikin]

Paris: Lev, 1980. Item #1426

Reprint of the original 1923 Prague edition. 219 pages. Original publisher’s decorative wrappers. 18 cm. A very good copy with light wear to cover.

A scarce reprint in pre-revolutionary orthography of Lev Polovtsov’s eyewitness account of the pivotal First Kuban Campaign during the Russian Civil War. Originally issued in Prague in 1923, the book has long been considered a bibliographic rarity. Polovtsov (1867–1936), engineer, State Duma deputy, and early organizer of the Volunteer Army, served as chief of logistics during the campaign. His narrative—part memoir, part philosophical and political treatise—offers a detailed yet meditative chronicle of the march through snowbound southern Russia. Notable for its anti-German tone, Polovtsov attributes the Bolshevik rise to power not only to German financing but also to the direct involvement of armed German-aligned units, notably Latvian riflemen. With literary overtones and historical gravitas, this edition preserves one of the most vivid émigré testimonies to the White struggle.

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