Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
The Ice March...
The so-called "volunteer army" of the "Whites" during the Russian Civil War consisted mostly of officers from the former tsarist army. There were entire regiments in which officers served as simple soldiers!
The military leaders of the Volunteer Army are former tsarist generals Lawr Georgiewitsch Kornilow...
... Anton Iwanowitsch Denikin...
... and Mikhail Wassiljewitsch Aleksejew…:
The Don Cossacks, allied with the "Whites", are commanded by their ataman Aleksej Maximowitsch Kaledin...:
Despite the initial military successes of the "Whites", the Don region could not be held against the "Reds".
The war-weary Cossacks in the Don region refused to continue fighting. The urban population also refused to support the volunteer army. In the cities, workers also went on strike against the presence of the officers. These strikes were followed by riots against wealthy citizens.
The volunteer army responded with terror in the form of shootings and mutilations.
On January 29, due to the hopeless military situation, the ataman of the Don Cossacks committed suicide.
In February 1918, Alekseev and Kornilov decided to take their army to the Kuban Cossack area. They hoped to build a new base with the support of the local population.
On February 23, 1919, the Soviets having just recaptured Rostov, the retreat began!
The volunteer army with 4,000 armed men and a huge number of relatives of the soldiers and civilians retreated through the icy steppe, often in single file for kilometers, to the Kuban area...:
During the march there were numerous clashes with the local peasants and "red" pursuers....:
The peasants were also hostile to the volunteer army and pursued their soldiers as far as they could defend themselves against them. The volunteers in turn responded with terror in the form of torture, mutilation and shootings. Likewise, the army looted food to support itself.
Countless people, mostly civilians, were left dead.
Arriving in the Kuban, the volunteer army was joined by 3,000 Kuban and Terek Cossacks - far fewer than the "white" leaders had hoped for.
Triotzdem: With a strength of now 7,000 men, Kornilov is trying to conquer the capital of the newly founded North Caucasian Soviet Republic of Ekaterinodar....:
The "white" troops, at that time already a rather wild soldier squad, could not assert themselves against the 18,000 red defenders of the city...:
General Kornilov, the undisputed military head of the "Volunteer Army" is killed on April 13 by a direct artillery hit on his headquarters...:
His successor, General Denikin, gave the order to retreat again, this time in the opposite direction - to the Don region!
The merged volunteer army is nearing its end!
Lenin triumphs upon learning of Kornilov's death:
"It can be said with certainty that the civil war is largely over"
He's a bit wrong there , since the war will go on for another four years. Because in the north of the country there are still "white" troops (General Judenich) in the Crimea (General Baron Wrangell) and - above all - very strong units in Siberia (Admiral Kolchak and the "Czech Legion").
But with Kornilov the "whites" lost their best military head...
And they never had a political concept or at least a brilliant idea with which they could convince the population.
The so-called "volunteer army" of the "Whites" during the Russian Civil War consisted mostly of officers from the former tsarist army. There were entire regiments in which officers served as simple soldiers!
The military leaders of the Volunteer Army are former tsarist generals Lawr Georgiewitsch Kornilow...
... Anton Iwanowitsch Denikin...
... and Mikhail Wassiljewitsch Aleksejew…:
The Don Cossacks, allied with the "Whites", are commanded by their ataman Aleksej Maximowitsch Kaledin...:
Despite the initial military successes of the "Whites", the Don region could not be held against the "Reds".
The war-weary Cossacks in the Don region refused to continue fighting. The urban population also refused to support the volunteer army. In the cities, workers also went on strike against the presence of the officers. These strikes were followed by riots against wealthy citizens.
The volunteer army responded with terror in the form of shootings and mutilations.
On January 29, due to the hopeless military situation, the ataman of the Don Cossacks committed suicide.
In February 1918, Alekseev and Kornilov decided to take their army to the Kuban Cossack area. They hoped to build a new base with the support of the local population.
On February 23, 1919, the Soviets having just recaptured Rostov, the retreat began!
The volunteer army with 4,000 armed men and a huge number of relatives of the soldiers and civilians retreated through the icy steppe, often in single file for kilometers, to the Kuban area...:
During the march there were numerous clashes with the local peasants and "red" pursuers....:
The peasants were also hostile to the volunteer army and pursued their soldiers as far as they could defend themselves against them. The volunteers in turn responded with terror in the form of torture, mutilation and shootings. Likewise, the army looted food to support itself.
Countless people, mostly civilians, were left dead.
Arriving in the Kuban, the volunteer army was joined by 3,000 Kuban and Terek Cossacks - far fewer than the "white" leaders had hoped for.
Triotzdem: With a strength of now 7,000 men, Kornilov is trying to conquer the capital of the newly founded North Caucasian Soviet Republic of Ekaterinodar....:
The "white" troops, at that time already a rather wild soldier squad, could not assert themselves against the 18,000 red defenders of the city...:
General Kornilov, the undisputed military head of the "Volunteer Army" is killed on April 13 by a direct artillery hit on his headquarters...:
His successor, General Denikin, gave the order to retreat again, this time in the opposite direction - to the Don region!
The merged volunteer army is nearing its end!
Lenin triumphs upon learning of Kornilov's death:
"It can be said with certainty that the civil war is largely over"
He's a bit wrong there , since the war will go on for another four years. Because in the north of the country there are still "white" troops (General Judenich) in the Crimea (General Baron Wrangell) and - above all - very strong units in Siberia (Admiral Kolchak and the "Czech Legion").
But with Kornilov the "whites" lost their best military head...
And they never had a political concept or at least a brilliant idea with which they could convince the population.
