Lev MartYnov, artist and sculptor, spent his childhood and youth in BereznikI. He was always interested in the history of the region and was engaged in collecting of historical materials on behalf of the director of the BereznikI Museum, where he worked in the 1960s. The Final stand of Armored Train No. 2 was the first painting by the artist and sculptor Lev MartYnov made in the traditional realistic manner.
During the Civil War, armored trains were serious weapons and often their role was critical for the outcomes of the battles. The armored train of the Red Army No. 2 under the command by Ivan Demenev was travelling between the stations KUzino, Kyn, Kormovishche across the LYsva district of the Perm province and more than once thwarted the attempts of the whites to use the railway as a direct route to LYsva.
In December 1918, in the vicinity of the village of PalYOny Log, armored train No. 2 covered the retreat of two companies of the LesnOvsko-VYborg regiment, leaving the encirclement, but was ambushed: the whites managed to get inside the area and disassembled the railway tracks. The derailed armored train became a target for the followers of KolchAk.
MartYnov chose one of the most dramatic moments of the battle between the Red Army and the Whites for the plot of the painting. The surviving soldiers who run out of ammunition blasted up one of the armored trains and decided to break through the encirclement under cover of night.
The dark silhouette of the armored train contrasts with the white snow, an armored car blazes in the background. A Baltic sailor and a railway worker are in the middle of the composition, they stand to death shoulder to shoulder. There is a machine-gunner lying in the snow nearby and bandolier bag is beside him.
We can see a figure of a killed warrior, already covered with snow, on the right side of the picture, in the foreground. Many soldiers of the armored train were killed during the battle. They are the assistant commander, artillerymen, and shooters. A small part of the Red Army only was able to break into LYsva.
The artist did not intend to reproduce the picture of the battle with documentary accuracy, but, having carefully studied the available materials, created a canvas that glorified the act of bravery of the soldiers of armored train No. 2. Lev MartYnov’s painting was in line with the spirit of the Soviet era, when the battles of the Civil War were glorified with a heroic halo and became subjects for books, films, sculptures and paintings.
During the Civil War, armored trains were serious weapons and often their role was critical for the outcomes of the battles. The armored train of the Red Army No. 2 under the command by Ivan Demenev was travelling between the stations KUzino, Kyn, Kormovishche across the LYsva district of the Perm province and more than once thwarted the attempts of the whites to use the railway as a direct route to LYsva.
In December 1918, in the vicinity of the village of PalYOny Log, armored train No. 2 covered the retreat of two companies of the LesnOvsko-VYborg regiment, leaving the encirclement, but was ambushed: the whites managed to get inside the area and disassembled the railway tracks. The derailed armored train became a target for the followers of KolchAk.
MartYnov chose one of the most dramatic moments of the battle between the Red Army and the Whites for the plot of the painting. The surviving soldiers who run out of ammunition blasted up one of the armored trains and decided to break through the encirclement under cover of night.
The dark silhouette of the armored train contrasts with the white snow, an armored car blazes in the background. A Baltic sailor and a railway worker are in the middle of the composition, they stand to death shoulder to shoulder. There is a machine-gunner lying in the snow nearby and bandolier bag is beside him.
We can see a figure of a killed warrior, already covered with snow, on the right side of the picture, in the foreground. Many soldiers of the armored train were killed during the battle. They are the assistant commander, artillerymen, and shooters. A small part of the Red Army only was able to break into LYsva.
The artist did not intend to reproduce the picture of the battle with documentary accuracy, but, having carefully studied the available materials, created a canvas that glorified the act of bravery of the soldiers of armored train No. 2. Lev MartYnov’s painting was in line with the spirit of the Soviet era, when the battles of the Civil War were glorified with a heroic halo and became subjects for books, films, sculptures and paintings.
