The first battle for Tsaritsyn
As a result of September 6, the Reds rejected the Volunteer Army units from Tsaritsyn for a sufficiently long distance (more than 50 kilometers to the west), beyond the bend of the Don River. But at the same time, the Reds did not inflict a serious defeat on White, and they were preparing for a new assault on the city. On September 8, in the city, people's commissar Joseph Stalin sent a telegram about the liquidation of the Social Revolutionary underground in Tsaritsyn to the chairman of the SNK, Vladimir Lenin. In mid-September 1918, the Don Army launched a second attack on Tsaritsyn.
Situation in the region
In the spring of 1918, the situation in the south of Russia worsened. In late March, a Cossack uprising began on the Don. In April, the 1918 Ode in Novocherkassk announced the creation of the Great Don Army. On the basis of the rebel units and the detachment of General P. Kh. Popov, who had returned from the Steppe campaign, the creation of the Cossack Don Army began.
By the beginning of May, the cities of Rostov, Nakhichevan-on-Don, Taganrog, Millerovo, Chertkovo were occupied by German troops. The leadership of the Don Soviet Republic was evacuated to Tsaritsyn. The general P. N. Krasnov was elected the ataman of the Great Don Army in Novocherkassk. He waged war with Soviet Russia and made an alliance with Germany. In the same period, the detachment of M. Drozdovsky broke through to the Don and the volunteers of A. Denikin returned from the unsuccessful First Kuban campaign.
On May 28, a meeting was held in the village of Manychskoy to organize joint actions by the main anti-revolutionary forces of the south of Russia with the participation of generals Krasnov, Denikin, Alekseev. General Krasnov proposed to the Volunteer Army to jointly attack Tsaritsyn, which, according to his plan, was to become the base for the further White offensive in the Middle Volga region. Here, according to Krasnov, the Volunteer Army was to consolidate and unite with Ataman A. Dutov, the Orenburg Cossacks. The command of the Volunteer Army, however, rejected this plan. Volunteers considered themselves enemies of the Germans, unlike Krasnov, and saw themselves as allies of the Entente. In addition, it was impossible to leave in the rear a strong North Caucasian grouping of the Red Army. Denikin believed that the Kuban and the North Caucasus, after the defeat of the Reds, would be a powerful base and rear for further combat operations against the Bolsheviks.
Therefore, Denikin began the second Kuban campaign. 25 June The Volunteer Army captured the Torgovaya station, cut off the North Caucasus railway link with central Russia and moved to the Grand-Princely with the goal of helping the Don Army to seize the Salsk district, which was supposed to provide for the rear of Tsaritsyn. June 28 Grand Duke was taken, and after a two-week stop on July 10, the Volunteer Army turned south on Tikhoretskaya. And the Cossacks Krasnov planned to completely clear the red areas of the Don region from the Reds and take Tsaritsyn to eliminate the threat to their right flank and rear.
Peter Nikolayevich Krasnov - Major General of the Russian Imperial Army, Ataman of the Great Don Army
Tsaritsyn, thanks to a significant working population, was one of the main revolutionary centers of south-east European Russia. Economically and militarily, it was important to both sides as an industrial center. The strategic importance of Tsaritsyn was determined by the fact that it was an important communications hub that linked the central regions of Russia with the Lower Volga region, the North Caucasus and Central Asia, and through which the center was supplied with food, fuel, etc. For the White Cossack command, mastering Tsaritsyn created the possibility of connecting with troops of the Orenburg ataman Dutov and provided the right flank of the Cossack army in the Voronezh main direction for Krasnov.
As I. Stalin noted: “Taking Tsaritsyn and interrupting communication with the south would ensure the achievement of all tasks by the enemy: it would unite the Don counterrevolutionaries with the Cossack leaders of the Astrakhan and Urals forces, creating a unified front of the counterrevolution from the Don to the Czechoslovaks. It would secure the counterrevolutionaries, internal and external, the south and the Caspian, it would leave the Soviet troops of the North Caucasus in a helpless state ... This mainly explains the persistence with which the White Guards of the south try to take Tsaritsyn ”(Stalin. About the South of Russia,“ Truth "No. 235, 1918 g.).
The organization of defense. Tsaritsyn conflict
6 May 1918 was decreed by the decree of the CPC North Caucasus Military District, which included the territory of the Don region, Kuban and the North Caucasus. On May 14, by order of the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council L. Trotsky, Lieutenant-General of the General Staff A.Ye. Snesarev was appointed military leader of the district. He was assigned the task of collecting detachments and combat groups scattered over a large area and organizing opposition to the Don Krasny Army approaching Tsaritsyn. Immediately after the arrival of 26 in May at Tsaritsyn, Snesarev energetically set about organizing defense, spending a lot of time in detachments and units that were fighting. May 29 Sovnarkom RSFSR appointed I.V. Stalin was responsible for conducting the “food dictatorship” in the south of Russia and seconded him as an emergency commissioner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement and export of grain from the North Caucasus to industrial centers. At the same time, Stalin was ordered to "restore order (in the troops), to unite the detachments into regular units, to establish the correct command, expelling all of the defiant." Arriving 6 on June 1918 of the year in Tsaritsyn, Stalin took power into the city, led the defense in the Tsaritsyn area.
23 June, at the insistence of Stalin, Snesarev gave the order number 4 to unite all the red troops of the right bank of the Don into a group under the general command of K. E. Voroshilov, who managed to break through at the head of the Lugansk working detachment to Tsaritsyn. The Red Army troops in the Tsaritsyn area (about 40, thousand bayonets and sabers, over 100 guns) consisted of scattered detachments; the most battle-worthy were the detachments of the 3 and 5 of the Ukrainian armies, who had retreated here under the onslaught of the German troops. On July 19, the Military Council of the North Caucasian Military District was created (chaired by I. Stalin, members of KE Voroshilov and S. K. Minin).
A conflict erupted between Stalin and Snesarev, partly due to the general negative attitude towards military experts, and partly because Stalin considered the general to be Trotsky's protege. As a result, Snesarev with all his staff was arrested. Moscow, however, demanded the release of Snesarev and his orders. The Moscow commission that arrived, headed by Okulov, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, decided to leave Stalin and Voroshilov in Tsaritsyn, and to take Snesarev back to Moscow. Formally, Snesarev remained the military leader of the North Caucasus region until September 23 1918. In fact, Stalin became the military leader in the Tsaritsyn area. Snesarev was appointed commander of the Western Defense District, established between the Northern and Southern Fronts, then commanded the Western Army.
I. Stalin on Tsaritsyn direction
In addition, another conflict has occurred. Order No. 1 of the Military Council of the North Caucasian Military District from 22 July 1918, the former military colonel of the tsarist army Kovalevsky was temporarily appointed military district officer; Colonel Nosovich, also from the military specialists, became the chief of staff of the district. At the same time, Kovalevsky was introduced to the District Military Council. However, already 4 of August, he is displaced from all positions, as he considered the defense of the district a hopeless deed. By order of Stalin, the Tsaritsyn Cheka arrested all the staff of the artillery directorate of the district headquarters, and the staff itself had liquidated it. 6 August was eliminated the county's economic administration. 10 August 1918 was dismissed and clearly anti-Soviet-minded Nosovich from the post of the district chief of staff. However, Nosovich and Kovalevsky soon, already 13 August, were released from arrest by order of Trotsky on bail inspection, which arrived led by the Chairman of the Supreme Military Inspectorate Podvoisky on the eve of Tsaritsyn. On the same day, the liberated military experts with the inspection team left for Kamyshin. Later, in October 1918, Nosovich with secret documents went over to the side of the Volunteer Army. This caused the second arrest of the district headquarters, Kovalevsky, by order of the Special Department for Counter-Revolution and Spying on the Southern Front in early December 1918, was shot "for transferring military information to the White Guards" and "communication with the leaders of the White Guard."
Having accused the first defeats of military experts, Stalin made large-scale arrests. There were good reasons for these repressive measures. The local counterrevolutionary organization, which stands for the support of the Constituent Assembly, has grown significantly stronger and, having received money from Moscow, was preparing for an active campaign to help the Don Cossacks in the liberation of Tsaritsyn from the Bolsheviks. The counter-revolutionary organization was headed by engineer Alekseev who arrived from Moscow and his sons. The uprising was scheduled at the time of the White Cossacks to the city. The special edition of the newspaper “Soldier of the Revolution” reported: “August 21 1918 in the 17 hour. in Tsaritsyn the plot of the White Guards was revealed. Prominent conspirators are arrested and shot. The conspirators found 9 million rubles. The plot was nipped in the bud by measures of Soviet power. ” The conspirators reckoned that at least three thousand people armed with 6 machine guns and 2 guns would take part in the mutiny. The British Vice-Consul Barry participated in the preparation of the plot, the French consuls - Sharbo and Serbia - Leonard. Later, speaking at the Eighth Congress of the RCP (b), V.I. Lenin would say: "To the credit of the Tsaritsyns, that they opened this conspiracy of Alekseev."
M. Grekov. On the way to Tsaritsyn
Fighting
In July 1918, the Don Army of Krasnov (up to 45 thousand bayonets and sabers, 610 machine guns, over 150 guns) launched the first attack on Tsaritsyn: a detachment of Colonel Polyakov (up to 10 thousand bayonets and sabers) received a mission to strike from the south of Velikyokyak detachment from the Velikyokyk area to strike from the Velikykar area, from the Velikyokyk area. ; the operative group of General K. K. Mamontov (about 12 thousand bayonets and sabers), concentrated in the Verkhnekurmoyarskaya - Kalach area, was to be the main forces to attack Tsaritsyn; the operative group of General A.P. Fitzhkhelaurov (about 20 thousand bayonets and sabers) delivered a blow from the Kremenskaya, Ust-Medveditskaya, Chaplyzhenskaya area to Kamyshin.
24 July 1918 of the Red Army defending forces were divided into sections: Ust-Medveditsky (head FK Mironov, around 7 thousand bayonets and sabers, 51 machine gun, 15 guns), Tsaritsynsky (head A. I. Kharchenko, about 23 Thousands of bayonets and sabers, 162 machine guns, 82 guns) and the Salsk group (Head G. K. Shevkoplyasov, about 10 Thousands of bayonets and sabers, 86 machine guns, 17 guns); in Tsaritsyn there was a reserve (about 1500 bayonets and sabers, 47 machine guns, 8 guns).
In early August, the Fitzkhelaurov task force, advancing to the north, rejecting the red parts 150 km, reached the Volga along Tsaritsyn to Kamyshin, interrupting the message from the Tsaritsyn group to Moscow. The Mamontov group, which was advancing in the center, 8 August broke through the front and threw the Reds from Don to Tsaritsyn, capturing Kalach. 18 - 19 in August of the part of Mamantov, breaking through the junction of the Communist and Morozov divisions, captured the suburbs of Tsaritsyn, Sarepta and Erzovka, and started fighting directly outside the city. However, the group Polyakova, advancing along the railway Tikhoretsk - Tsaritsyn from the area of art. The Grand-Ducal town to the city from the south, which was supposed to provide the right flank and rear of the Mamantov group, got bogged down in local battles and never came to Tsaritsyn. In addition, the Don units had little heavy weapons and infantry regiments necessary for regular combat operations and the assault of cities. Obviously, there was hope for an uprising in Tsaritsyn himself, which was to help the Krasnovites take Tsaritsyn.
One of the best cavalry commanders of the Civil War, Major General Konstantin Konstantinovich Mamontov (Mamantov) (1869 − 1920)
The Red Command pulled up reinforcements, mobilized, and formed working regiments, which were immediately thrown to the front lines. This made it possible to repel the enemy offensive and go on the counterattack. On August 23, the Red forces attacked the flank and rear of Mamantov’s group. Belokazaki were forced to start a retreat. On August 29, 1918, the Reds liberated Kotluban and Karpovka, and on September 6, Kalach. The front moved 80-90 miles to the west. An important role in defeating the whites was played by F.N. Alyabyev’s armored trains. Actively operated sailors of the Volga military flotilla under the command of K.I. Zedin. On September 6, 1918, on behalf of the Military Council of the North Caucasian Military District, Stalin telegraphed to the Council of People's Commissars: “The offensive of the troops of the Tsaritsyn district was successful ... The enemy was utterly defeated and thrown back behind the Don. Tsaritsyn’s position is strong. The offensive continues. ”
In these battles, the Red Army defeated four divisions of the Don Army. White lost 12 thousand killed and captured, 25 guns and more 300 machine guns. Losses of the Red Army estimate up to 60 thousand people killed, wounded and prisoners. The White Cossack attack on Voronezh - Moscow was temporarily stopped. On the whole, the situation in the Tsaritsyn sector was unstable, it was far from a decisive victory for the Red Army. Indeed, the Don government decided on a new offensive against Tsaritsyn, an additional mobilization of the Cossacks into the army was begun. In mid-September 1918, the Don Army launched a second attack on Tsaritsyn.
V.I. Lenin 19 September 1918 of the year sent a greeting telegram to Tsaritsyn’s defenders: “Soviet Russia notes with admiration the heroic feats of the communist and revolutionary regiments of Khudyakov, Kharchenko and Kolpakov, the cavalry of Dumenko and Bulatkin, the armored trains of Alyabyev, the Military-Volga flotilla. Hold the Red Banners high, carry them forward fearlessly, eradicate the landlord-general counter-revolution mercilessly and show the whole world that socialist Russia is invincible. ”
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