How to suppress the Izhevsk-Votkinsk uprising
5 November 1918, the Red Army launched an attack on Izhevsk, which for several months remained the center of a major uprising against the Bolsheviks. On November 7, the Reds went to storm Izhevsk and 8 took it. 11 November, the rebels surrendered in red "and the neighboring town of Votkinsk. The rebels, retreating from Kama, later fought with the Bolsheviks as part of the Izhevsk and Votkinsk divisions of the Russian army, Admiral A. V. Kolchak.
prehistory
The reasons for the Izhevsk-Votkinsk uprising were associated with the policies of the Bolsheviks, who acted without regard to local conditions. The workers of Izhevsk and Votkinsk, together with their families making up the majority of the population of these cities, belonged to a special type of Ural proletariat. They were based on hereditary personnel workers who, compared with visitors, were distinguished by higher qualifications and incomes. The general collapse of the traditional economy and the policy of "war communism" undermined their situation. In addition, in the region dominated by the party of Mensheviks and right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries. Their side was taken by the “Union of Frontline Soldiers” - the organization united soldiers and officers, and opposed the Soviet government.
The launch of 25 in May of 1918 along the Trans-Siberian highway of the Czechoslovak Corps and the anti-revolutionary organizations of the Volga region and Siberia (the whites) was the occasion for an uprising. 6 August 1918, Czechos and White took Kazan. On August 7, the Bolsheviks attempted to force the mobilization of Izhevsk workers into the Red Army, which became the immediate cause of the insurgency. The first unrest grew into an armed confrontation. On August 8, the Union of Front-line Soldiers revolted, and by evening the power passed to the restored Izhevsk Council of Workers' Deputies. 10 August 1918 The Council Executive Committee announced the formation of the Izhevsk People’s Army. Workers acted under the slogan; “Tips without the Bolsheviks!” August 17 Izhevtsy took Votkinsk (more in the article - "For the Soviets without the Bolsheviks"). The uprising was also supported by the neighboring peasants, irritated by the activities of the food detachments.
A feature of the Izhevsk-Votkinsk uprising was the presence in the hands of the rebels of a powerful industrial base in the form of the Izhevsk and Votkinsk factories. Izhevsk weapons the plant is one of three military factories (along with Tula and Sestroretsky) that supplied the Russian army with three-line Mosin rifles. The plant produced up to 2500 rifles per day. The Votkinsk plant produced shells for artillery guns (up to 2000 per day), and also engaged in the reservation of trains and ships at the plant. In addition, the factories produced bayonets, gun locks, individual parts for machine guns, cold steel, barbed wire was made. True, with cartridges the situation was bad. At the Izhevsk plant their stock was insignificant. Ammunition, guns and machine guns were obtained mainly in the battles of the Reds, like trophies. The military production base, as well as the presence at hand of a significant number of officers who had gone through the World War, military officials and soldiers, made it possible to initially begin to create not partisan detachments, but full-fledged regular armed units. As a result, the rebels were able to create quite combat-ready units, which in August 1918 inflicted a number of defeats in red.
By the beginning of September 1918, the rebels spread their influence over a vast area with a population of more than 1 million, which included part of the territories of the Vyatka and Perm provinces. The rebels defeated the most combat-ready units of the 2 Red Army and captured Sarapul, which led to a temporary disruption of the control of the Red Army troops in the Kama region front. Thus, a “state within a state” arose - with its territory and population, with its industry, agriculture, with its government (Prikamsky Komuch) and local governments (Soviets), with its efficient armed forces (Izhevsk and Votkinsk Folk Armies) .
Preparing for a decisive battle
September was held in the expansion of the area of the uprising and skirmishes of the advanced units. In the north, the Vyatka-Perm railway was threatened by insurgents, where people from Izhevsk approached Glazov, and Votkinsk residents - to Art. Cap In the west, Izhevsk citizens and peasants who joined them approached the Vyatka River in the section of the cities of Malmyzh and Urzhum. In the east, the residents of Votkinsk were not far from the town of Okhansk, occupying at one time the large village of Sosnovskoye, and on the left bank of the Kama they fought near the town of Osa. To the east of its plant, the Votkintsy beyond Kama occupied some points where there were clashes with the left flank of the main front of the 3 Red Army (5 of the Ural Division of the Red Army). To the south of the plants, the city of Sarapul was taken, and further to the west, on the Kazan-Yekaterinburg railway line, the people of Izhevsk forced the Reds out of the station. Agryz, from which there was a branch to Izhevsk and Votkinsk.
In the meantime, the red command was taking active steps to crush the uprising. In the first battles, the Red troops, formed mainly from the local population, showed insecurity, low combat capability. At the first threat, the Reds quickly retreated or fled, throwing weapons and ammunition. They were assembled and armed again, and they fled again. Then the most combat-ready units made up of communists, Cheka detachments, and internationalists were sent from the center. Battalions and regiments began to be formed from previously broken units and detachments, as well as reinforcements arrived. So two consolidated regiments were formed, the third regiment was the 1-th Smolensk regiment, they formed the 1-th Consolidated Division. The command of the army took the former colonel of the imperial army Vasily Shorin. He spent a lot of work on the reorganization of the army. As a result, the 2 Red Army was restored and was given the task of crushing the uprising.
Vasily Shorin, commander of the 2 Army of the Eastern Front
In addition, the Northern Front was formed from the forces of the 3 Red Army. The rebels could cut the railway Vyatka - Perm. Therefore, to combat them in Glazov formed a special Vyatka division. September 13 Izhevsk rebels launched an offensive in the north in the direction of the game and Cheptsu. After a hard fight the Reds were defeated and retreated to Zuru. Having taken the game, the rebels launched several attacks on Zuru, but did not succeed. The fighting in the Zura region continued until early October, when the people of Izhevsk again tried to attack with large forces, but were defeated. October 1 red surrounded and took the game, and by mid-October, continuing the offensive, entered Yakshur-Bodju - the last major settlement north of Izhevsk, located in 40 km from the city. After the arrival of reinforcements (7-th Latvian Rifle Regiment), the Vyatka division began to attack the Votkinsk direction and October 7 took the village of Sharkan - an important strategic point in the defense of Votkinsk. During the decisive offensive on Izhevsk, units of the Special Vyatka Division conducted a distracting offensive on Votkinsk, shackling the forces of the rebels and distracting them from the direction of the main attack.
After the Red Army recaptured Kazan on September 11, 1918, which led to the retreat of the White Volga Front, the Reds were able to liberate significant military forces and focus their efforts on the suppression of the Izhevsk-Votkinsk uprising. To strengthen the 2nd army, a detachment of V. Azin arrived. This detachment was reinforced with other units and reorganized into the 2nd Combined Division, which consisted of three infantry regiments, one cavalry and artillery brigade. By September 20, the division consisted of 1690 infantry, 450 cavalrymen and 9 guns, and was later reinforced. In late September, the Volga Red Army also came to the aid of the 2nd Army. flotilla Raskolnikov. On the railway, the Reds had armored trains. In mid-October, companies of emergency commissions were sent to the 2nd Army: Moscow, Tambov, Smolensk-Ryazan, Saratov and Nizhny Novgorod. The 6th combined regiment is formed from the Chekists. In addition, ready-made formed regiments arrive at the reinforcement: Karelian, Penza and Muslim. Thus, the 2nd Red Army was restored and seriously strengthened by reliable units, equipped with everything necessary. The preponderance of forces and the advantage in material supply went over to the Reds.
It is also worth noting that at this time there was a drop in the combat capability of the rebel forces. In the fall, an internal crisis began. As in other regions, disputes began between right-wing socialists and officers. The officers believed that a tough leader, a dictator, not affiliated with the party spirit, was needed. The right-wing socialists, in turn, were suspicious of the officers, fearing a military coup. As a result, conflicts constantly occurred between the civilian and military authorities of the rebels. Against the background of the internal crisis, propaganda of the Bolsheviks began to be felt. The workers were tired of the war, did not wait for the improvement of their position (it only got worse). The new power has disappointed them. The army had to abandon the voluntary principle, to introduce compulsory mobilization. The fall of discipline began, the decomposition of the rear, which affected the combat capability of the troops. In addition, the white terror began - the new authorities destroyed the Bolshevik leadership of Izhevsk. The same picture was observed later in Votkinsk, as well as in other factory towns and villages of Prikamye, where rebels took power. Bolsheviks and Red Army men, as well as their relatives were subjected to arrests. White repeatedly organized mass executions. As a result of repression and terror affected the general population. It is clear that this has alienated part of the population from whites, and sympathy for red has increased.
Reds go on the offensive
The restored 2 Red Army began a slow advance towards Izhevsk. From the area with. The Vyatskiye Polyany Reds moved in two ways: along the Kazan-Yekaterinburg railway and along the Vyatka and Kama rivers to Sarapul. By the end of September, the Reds reached Art. Agryz, from where there was a branch to Izhevsk - Votkinsk, and here the battles begin, which lasted all October. October 4 after heavy fighting division Azin managed to take the heavily fortified railway station Agryz. After the capture of Agryz, the Reds had the opportunity to establish a rail link with Vyatskiye Polyany, from where an armored train approached Azin and artillery was delivered. Going down on the ships on the river. Vyatka and moving up the Kama, October 5 Reds captured Sarapul. After the capture of Sarapul began preparations for the encirclement and the assault on Izhevsk. By October 30, Azin's 2 Combined Division had 4424 bayonets, 849 sabers, 27 guns and two armored trains.
Thus, by the beginning of October the offensive actions of the rebels, developing in the directions south of Izhevsk and north of Votkinsk, gradually fizzled out. The loss of Agryz and Sarapul forced the rebels to first go on the defensive, and from mid-October to begin a systematic reduction of heavily stretched fronts, withdrawing troops directly to Izhevsk and Votkinsk. One of the reasons for the defeat of Izhevtsy was the failure to establish cooperation with the troops of the first Volga People’s Army of Samara Komuch, and then of the Russian Army of the Provisional All-Russian Government (Directory) in Kazan, Ufa and Samara. Komuch and Directory were passive and immersed in internal quarrels. In the meantime, for the Izhevsk and Votkinsk people's armies, it was vital not only to get reinforcements, but also from the point of view of obtaining military supplies - primarily ammunition (ammunition and shells), in which an acute shortage was constantly being tested, and which had to be mined fight
Latvian arrows in the trenches near Izhevsk
To be continued ...
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