Ovrazhny Park, Manezhny Lane, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197762
Petrovsky Ravine is a drainage from the Petrovsky Dock, where water was drained when the dock was emptied for repairs to the underwater parts of ships. The ravine is located between the cross-canal and the basin with the gutter. The depth of the ravine is about 10 meters in the western part and 15 meters in the eastern part. The Makarovsky Bridge, built in 1913, spans the Petrovsky Ravine. This is where the execution of the highest naval officers took place in 1917, as depicted in the feature film "Admiral"; their bodies were thrown into the ravine.
How it happened, from the diary of one of the participants in the sailors' "trial" of the 60-year-old Admiral Robert Wiren, which took place in Kronstadt exactly 100 years ago—on the night of March 1 (old style): “Our entire column, which had marched through the city, began to disperse to the ships and units, and one group of sailors headed to the house of the governor of Kronstadt and the commander of the military ports in the Baltic theater—Vice Admiral von Wiren. When his greatcoat was removed, underneath he wore a tailcoat with admiral’s epaulettes and all his orders. Wiren tried to say something but could not; he only turned to the nearest sailor and asked, ‘What have I done?’ Instead of answering, the sailor struck Wiren hard in the face with his fist and said: ‘You bastard, you still ask what you have done to us sailors.’ But then the sailors immediately started to make noise, wanting to kill him right there, but it was suggested to take him to the Anchor Square and kill him there. While they were taking Wiren to Anchor Square, many sailors beat him, and when they brought him to the square, they proposed not to kill him immediately but to set up five rifles with fixed bayonets, toss him into the air so that he would fall on the bayonets, and do this several times. That’s what happened, and then, almost dead, several bullets from a Nagant revolver were fired into his head, and then he was thrown into the ravine.”
The diary’s author then describes the execution of the commander of the 1st Kronstadt naval crew, N.V. Stronsky, who was loaded with bundles of bricks—“by the pood” (a Russian weight measure), given a rifle, and told: “Now stand for two hours, as you liked to make sailors stand.” He stood for some time, then fell; they poured cold water on him, lifted him, and made him stand again. He could no longer stand. After the “shower,” he apparently lost the power of speech, remained silent, and trembled all over. The sailors decided to finish him off and shot him right there in the crew’s yard, then dragged his body on sledges to Anchor Square and threw it into the ravine, where 15 bodies of dragoons were already lying.”
The body of Admiral Wiren lay in the ravine for several days until finally friends and relatives were able to retrieve it and bury him in the Lutheran (German) cemetery in Kronstadt.
Sources:
https://rutraveller.ru/place/117203
Dekonskaya N.V. The Sword of Admiral Wiren in the Collection of the "Narvskaya Zastava" Museum // 100 Years of the Russian Revolution: Collection of Scientific Articles - St. Petersburg, 2017.
