100 years ago, in January 1919, an agreement on unification was signed between the Volunteer Army under the command of General Denikin and the Don Army under the command of Ataman Krasnov. This was one of the most important events in the history of the White movement.
Thus, the Armed Forces in the South of Russia (ARSUR) were created, the commander-in-chief of which was Lieutenant General A. I. Denikin. Denikin and the Volunteer Army became the core of the Russian statehood being created in the South of Russia (within the framework of the White Project).
The situation in the South of Russia
The main anti-Bolshevik forces in southern Russia in 1918 were the armies of Denikin and Krasnov. The volunteers focused on the Entente, and the Krasnovites - on Germany, which at that time controlled Little Russia (Ukraine). Krasnov did not want to quarrel with the Germans, since they covered the Don from the left flank and supported the Cossacks with weapons in exchange for food. The Ataman of the Don Army proposed to attack Tsaritsyn in order to unite with the Eastern Front of the Whites on the Volga. The White command was hostile to the Germans and wanted to establish a single military command in the South of Russia and create a single rear. However, Krasnov did not want to be subordinate to Denikin, he tried to preserve and even expand the independence of the Don region. As a result, Denikin, unable to advance in two directions, chose the Kuban and the North Caucasus as the main operational directions. At the same time, allied relations were maintained with the Don, and the Don region was the rear of the Volunteer Army (manpower, finances, equipment, weapons, etc.). Krasnov focused his efforts on the Tsaritsyn direction (two battles for Tsaritsyn: July - August, September - October 1918).
By the end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919, the balance of forces between Krasnov's Don army and Denikin's Volunteer Army changed in favor of volunteers. The Don army could not take Tsaritsyn, it was weakened, drained of blood, the decomposition of the Cossack troops began, tired of a fruitless war. Denikin's army recaptures the North Caucasus from the Reds, receives a rear base and a strategic foothold for further hostilities. But the main thing was that the German Empire was defeated in the world war and the Entente powers gained access to the Black Sea region, the Northern Black Sea region, and Crimea. Ataman Krasnov's rate on the Germans was beaten. The defeat of the German block knocked the ground out from under the feet of the Don chieftain, he lost external support. The Don army now had to keep an eye on the left flank; with the evacuation of the Germans, the front line immediately increased by 600 km. Moreover, this huge hole fell on the Donetsk coal basin, where the workers supported the Reds. And from the direction of Kharkov, the Petliurites and Makhno's gangs from Tavria were threatened. The Cossacks did not have the strength to hold the Southern Front. An agreement with Denikin, with the transition under his hand, became inevitable. Since the allies promised to supply the anti-Bolshevik forces (including the Don Cossacks) with ammunition, weapons, equipment and provide other assistance only on condition of their unification led by Denikin. Krasnov, on the other hand, was compromised by his connection with the Germans and he had no other choice.
Thus, the defeat of the German bloc radically changed the situation on the Southern Front (also on the Western). General Shcherbachev (former commander of the Romanian Front) was the representative of Denikin, and then Kolchak, under the allied command. In November 1918, the commander-in-chief of the allied forces in Romania, General Bertello, announced that to help the whites, they were planning to move 12 French and Greek divisions (the Salonika army) to the south of Russia. However, in reality, London and Paris were not going to fight for the whites.
Krasnov also tried to restructure his policy towards the Entente powers. He sent his embassy to Romania. He asked for international recognition of the Great Don Army as an independent state (until the restoration of a united Russia). He invited the allied missions to his place, spoke of the compelledness of his former pro-German orientation. He proposed a plan for an offensive against the Reds in the event that 3-4 corps (90-120 thousand people) were sent to the South of Russia. The allies also promised Krasnov assistance against the Bolsheviks, but they refused to recognize his government. The Allies saw only one government and command in the South.
In November 1918, the ships of the Entente powers entered the Black Sea. The allies landed the first landing in Sevastopol, the allies were in a hurry to seize the remaining ships and property of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which had previously been controlled by the Germans. The Crimean government of General Sulkevich, focused on Germany and Turkey (Sulkevich thought to recreate the Crimean Khanate under the protectorate of Turkey and Germany), resigned, giving way to the Crimean coalition government headed by Solomon Crimea. The Crimean regional government of North Crimea consisted of cadets, socialists, and Crimean Tatar nationalists. Sulkevich, warned by the Germans about a concealed evacuation, asked Denikin to send troops to defend against anarchy and the Bolsheviks. He himself went to Azerbaijan, where he headed the local General Staff. The White command sent a cavalry regiment of Gershelman, small detachments of Cossacks and other units to Sevastopol and Kerch. General Borovsky was to begin recruiting volunteers and form a new Crimean-Azov army in order to create a single line of the Southern Front from the lower Dnieper to the borders of the Don region.
The Allies also landed troops in Odessa in November - December 1918 (mainly French, Poles and Greeks). Here they came into conflict with the armed formations of the Directory of the UPR, but in the end, the Petliurists, fearing a war with the Entente, were forced to cede Odessa and the Odessa region. In late January - early February 1919, the allied forces took control of Kherson and Nikolaev. In the area of the Dnieper estuary, the interventionists joined forces with the White Guard Crimean-Azov Army. The French command held anti-Bolshevik positions, but was not going to support only one force. In the South of Russia, the French decided to support the Ukrainian Directory and the Russian Directory, which was to include a representative of Denikin's army. Denikin was considered by the French to be a creature of the British, so they were not going to rely only on the Volunteer Army. In general, the French themselves were not going to fight in Russia against the Reds, for this they were intended to local "cannon fodder" - Russian and Ukrainian troops.
French patrols in Odessa. Winter 1918-1919
The ships of the Entente also appeared in Novorossiysk. In December 1918, an official military mission headed by General Frederic Poole (Poole, Poole) arrived at Denikin. Prior to that, he commanded the forces of the interventionists in the North of Russia. The white command hoped that the allies would provide troops to maintain order in the occupied territory, which would provide them with a strong rear and peace of mind. Foreign troops in the rear will allow quiet mobilization, deploy a more powerful army and concentrate all White forces to fight the Bolsheviks. It was assumed that with the help of the Entente powers, by May 1919, the white command would complete the formation of the army and, together with Kolchak, would begin a decisive offensive. Bullet promised help, the landing of the Entente troops was planned, they promised weapons and equipment for 250 thousand. army. Foreign officers also went to the Don from Sevastopol with an unofficial mission to the Cossacks. The allies lavished promises generously, but their chatter, like the statements of officials, was words without real content. The allies studied the situation, put under control the most important points and bases, and plundered. However, London and Paris were in no hurry with a large-scale landing of troops, weapons and equipment were also held back.
On the Don Front, things were getting worse. Part of the 8th Red Army began to move, bypassing the Don Army. The Cossacks had to suspend their offensive operations in the Tsaritsyn direction. Two divisions were transferred to the left flank, they occupied Luhansk, Debaltseve and Mariupol. But this was very little to cover a new vast front. The Cossacks stood at rare outposts, and it was impossible to weaken other areas. Krasnov was forced to ask Denikin for help. He sent the infantry division of May-Mayevsky. In mid-December 1918, she landed in Taganrog and occupied the section from Mariupol to Yuzovka. Denikin could not send any more, at the same time the white detachments occupied the Crimea and Northern Tavria, and the last decisive battles were in full swing in the North Caucasus, the Reds tried to launch a counteroffensive.
The allied command ultimately pushed through the question of creating a unified command of anti-Bolshevik forces in southern Russia. Negotiations on this began in Yekaterinodar under the chairmanship of General Dragomirov, representatives of the Volunteer Army, Kuban, Don took part in them. They talked about a unified government, a unified army and a unified representation before the Entente. They did not come to an agreement, representatives of Don refused to obey. British General Poole personally got down to business. On December 13 (26), 1918, at the Kushchevka railway station on the border of the Don and Kuban regions, Bullet and General Dragomirov met on the one hand, and the Don Ataman Krasnov and General Denisov on the other. The meeting discussed the issue of joint actions of the Volunteer and Don armies, the subordination of Krasnovites to Denikin. Krasnov refused to fully subordinate the Don region to Denikin, but agreed with the high command of Denikin over the Don army in operational matters. As a result, Pul helped Denikin to subjugate the Don army.
On December 26, 1918 (January 8, 1919), a new meeting took place at the Torgovaya station. Here an agreement was signed on the unification of the armies of Denikin and Krasnov. The Don army (by the end of January 1919 it numbered 76, 5 thousand bayonets and sabers) was transferred into operational subordination to the commander-in-chief Denikin, and internal affairs remained under the jurisdiction of the Don government. Thus, the Armed Forces in the South of Russia (ARSUR) were created, the commander-in-chief of which was Lieutenant General A. I. Denikin. The core of the Armed Forces of Yugoslavia was the Volunteer and Don armies. Now the Denikinites became the basis of the reconstituted Russian statehood (white project) and the main force of the anti-Bolshevik resistance in the South of Russia.
As a result, having lost external support in the person of Germany, under pressure from the Entente and under the threat of a powerful new offensive of the Red Army on the Don, Krasnov decided to unite and submit to Denikin.
December 28, 1918 (January 10, 1919) Pul visited the Don, arrived in Novocherkassk. He also visited the front of the Don Army together with Krasnov. On January 6 (19), 1919, Poole left the Don region, heading back to Britain. Before leaving, he promised Krasnov that British troops would soon arrive to help the Don army. The French representatives also promised that their troops from Odessa would go to Kharkov. However, London and Paris were not going to send their troops to war with the Reds. The bullet that made too many promises was replaced by General Charles Briggs.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia A. I. Denikin and British General F. Poole
Tsaritsyn's third defense
Krasnov in January 1919 organized the third offensive against Tsaritsyn. However, it also failed. By mid-January, the Don Cossacks, breaking the stubborn resistance of the 10th Army under the command of Yegorov, again seized the city in a semi-circle. On January 12, the White Cossacks struck north of Tsaritsyn and captured Dubovka. To repel the enemy blow, the red command removed from the southern sector the Consolidated Cavalry Division of B. M. Dumenko (the nucleus of the future cavalry army of Budyonny) and transferred it to the North. Taking advantage of the weakening of the southern section, the Don people captured Sarepta on January 16, but this was their last victory. On January 14, Dumenko's fighters drove the Krasnovites out of Dubovka, and then under the command of Budyonny (Dumenko was ill) made a deep raid on the enemy's rear. The 8th and 9th red armies, which went on the offensive, began to threaten the Don army from the rear. As a result, in mid-February, the Cossacks retreated from Tsaritsyn. On February 15, 1919, Krasnov was forced to resign, the next day General A. Bogaevsky was chosen as the military chieftain. Now the Don region was completely subordinated to Denikin.
Armored train "Turtle", which operated near Tsaritsyn in 1918. Photo source:
