If you ask a simple layman when the Civil War ended, he will most likely say that in the fall of 1920, referring to the evacuation of the Russian Army of Lieutenant General Peter Wrangel from the Crimea. Some of the advanced readers will illustrate this fact with the verses of Nikolai Turoverov "We left the Crimea...".

Yes, indeed, the Civil War ended in November 1920. But only in the European part of Russia – in the Far East, the fighting continued for a long three years...

The Last Stronghold is dedicated to them. It combines memoirs found in Russian and foreign archives, as well as published in periodicals of the Russian diaspora. Rear Admiral Yuri (Georgy) 'Report on the Activities of the Siberian Flotilla' is published in full for the first time Stark (1878-1950), who organized the evacuation of White Army officials and civilian refugees from Vladivostok on October 23-24, 1922. This date, along with the evacuation of counter-revolutionaries from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is the end of organized resistance to the Reds. In the future, only isolated battles took place (the completion of the raid on Yakutsk by Lieutenant-General Anatoly Pepelyaev, the actions of the esaul detachment Valerian Bochkarev), which, however, despite the small number of personnel and uncoordinated actions, allowed the whites to resist the next year.

Stark's" Report " covers the period from the spring of 1921 to the departure of the Russian exiles stationed in the Philippines to the United States in 1924. The first part - "In Russian Waters" describes the last stage of the white struggle. The admiral tells about the political situation in the Far East, the government of the Merkulov brothers, who replaced them with Lieutenant General Mikhail Dieterekhs, under whom the whites first proclaimed monarchy as an ideology at the Zemsky Sobor. He also writes about the participation of the fleet both in military operations (amphibious operation in the Bay of St. Olga), and in the fight against poachers, defeat and evacuation itself. The second part - "Hike" tells about the transition to the Philippines through Posyet, Genzan and Shanghai. And the final part - "In the Philippine Islands" - concerns the refugee period: setting up a camp in Olongapo, working in Mindanao, and the inevitable ferment within the emigrant environment.

The book also includes memories of the white people's stay in Vladivostok (a letter from Lieutenant Nikolai Vilhelminin) and about the evacuation-through the eyes of a child (Valery Tomich) and a Kappelev cadet (Sergey Markov).

Materials for Stark's biography are included as an appendix. In particular, from the admiral's participation in the Civil War to the events in Vladivostok. At that time, he first commanded the "river battle fleet" of the People's Army, created by the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, and then, after Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak came to power, he headed a brigade of marine riflemen (analogous to the marine corps). Stark's independence and willingness to take responsibility in the event of non-compliance with orders are noteworthy. So, during the Red breakthrough, the admiral received an order to counterattack the enemy. After assessing the situation, the admiral realized that the forces entrusted to him were not enough to complete the task, and refused to carry it out. The military tribunal found Stark right, and Lieutenant General Sergei Lupov, who put the admiral on trial, sent a telegram: "I hasten to tell you once again that I have always considered you a battle admiral who worked hard and honestly for the benefit of our long-suffering motherland... Having been appointed to the extremely responsible post of commander of the Kama Group troops and bearing responsibility to the motherland and the corps troops, I considered it my duty to bring you to justice for failing to comply with my combat order. If the court acquitted you, then you had the right not to comply with my order... I now welcome the acquittal and wish you a happy service." It seems that there are not many military leaders who are willing to protect their subordinates, even at the risk of being court-martialed.

Returning to the "Report", we note that all the evacuees, before they sailed to America, Stark gave his autographed photo as a keepsake. In the archive of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad, one of these photos has been preserved, on the back of which its owner attributed that "abmiral" Stark is a "very good man" (grammatical errors made in this case only gave it additional touching). It is a pity that the end of the Civil War turned out to be an outcome for a good person.

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