100 years ago, in November 1918, the Second Kuban campaign ended. Denikinians, after a series of bloody battles, occupied the Kuban region, the Black Sea region and most of the Stavropol province. The main forces of the Reds in the North Caucasus were defeated in the battles near Armavir and the Stavropol battle. However, the battle for the North Caucasus was not over yet and continued until February 1919.
General situation
After the capture of Yekaterinodar, the commander of the Volunteer Army, General Denikin, was preparing to continue the campaign, the white army already numbered 35-40 thousand bayonets and sabers, 86 guns, 256 machine guns, 5 armored trains, 8 armored vehicles and two aviation detachments with 7 aircraft. The volunteer army began to replenish its units, which had thinned out in battles (during the campaign, some units changed their composition three times) by mobilization, they also began to widely use another source of human resources - prisoners of the Red Army. All officers under the age of forty were subject to conscription. This changed the composition of the Volunteer Army, the solidity of the former volunteerism is a thing of the past.
The scale of the struggle increased significantly. The formerly narrow and short front of volunteers stretched out. As a result, the front of the Volunteer Army in August 1918 stretched from the lower reaches of the Kuban to Stavropol at a distance of about 400 versts. This led to a revision of the management system. General Denikin was not in a position to personally lead his entire army, as he had done before. “Opened up,” he said, “wider strategic work for the chiefs, and at the same time narrowed the sphere of my direct influence on the troops. I used to lead an army. Now I was in command of her."
Denikin's army had to fight against several large groups of the Reds, numbering a total of 70-80 thousand people. The misfortune of the Reds was the partisans they still had and the growing confusion in the top leadership of the Red Army in the North Caucasus. Thus, commenting on the struggle of the Whites against the Red forces of the North Caucasus, General Ya. A. Slashchov wrote in his memoirs: “One has to be amazed at the desire for an incredible spread of forces and vastness, almost impossible tasks to which Denikin was striving. All the time, the cause of the Dobrarmia hung in the balance - there was not a single well-thought-out and correctly implemented operation - everyone strove for grandiose projects and built all hopes for success, on the complete military ignorance of the red chiefs, and on the mutual internal discord of the Sovnarkom, Sovdepov and commanders … It would only be necessary for the Reds to reconcile with each other and conduct a correct policy, and a talented and military-educated person to appear at the head of the Red troops, so that all the plans of the White Headquarters would collapse like a house of cards, and the restoration of Russia through the Dobroarmiya would suffer an immediate failure. Thus, having superiority in forces, the Reds, due to unsatisfactory command, allowed the White to beat themselves in parts.
Thus, by mid-August, the Whites managed to occupy the western part of the Kuban region, Novorossiysk and establish themselves on the Black Sea coast. This task was carried out by the division of General Pokrovsky and the detachment of Colonel Kolosovsky. The Taman group of Reds, blocking their path, showed great resilience. She fought back south along the Black Sea coast to Tuapse, from where she turned east to join Sorokin's army.
Stavropol. Armavir operation
The main theater of military operations was now transferred to the eastern part of the Kuban region against Sorokin's red troops. The struggle for Stavropol began. On July 21, Shkuro's partisans took Stavropol. The movement to Stavropol in early August was not part of the intentions of the volunteer command. However, Denikin decided to send part of his army to support Shkuro. The situation here was extremely difficult. According to Denikin himself, "some villages greeted the volunteers as deliverers, others as enemies …". GK Ordzhonikidze, commenting on the success of the whites, drew attention to the fact that the population of Stavropol, "extremely prosperous", he also noted the fact that the Stavropol peasants were disposed "somehow indifferent to this or that authorities, if only the war would end. " As a result, the people, as a rule, acted in the role of a neutral observer of the Civil War unfolding before their eyes, and the attempt by the local Soviet authorities to mobilize into the ranks of the Red Army was unsuccessful. Moreover, the mobilization led to a deterioration in the position of the Bolsheviks in the province. By that time, a lot of officers had settled in the Stavropol Territory, who in all ways evaded participation in the war. The latter, falling under the category of mobilized, were poured into detachments, which consisted of two parts - untrained young peasants and experienced officers. The result was not Red Army units, but some kind of bandit formations that did not obey any orders, arrested and killed communists, representatives of the Soviet regime, and acted on their own.
In August 1918, the whites were located in a semicircle around Stavropol in the transition from it from the north, east and south. Kuban garrisons stood along the Kuban line as a weak cordon. The Whites had to repulse the Bolshevik offensive from the south of Nevinnomysskaya and from the east of Blagodarny. The first offensive of the Reds was repulsed, and the second almost led to the fall of Stavropol, the Bolsheviks even managed to reach the outskirts of the city and the Pelagiada station, threatening to cut off the communications of the Stavropol group of whites with Yekaterinodar. Denikin had to urgently transfer General Borovsky's division to the Stavropol direction. The Reds were already completing the encirclement of the city when the echelons of the 2nd Division approached the Palagiada station, ten kilometers north of Stavropol. Before reaching the station, the trains stopped, and the Kornilovsky and Partizansky regiments, quickly unloading from the cars, immediately deployed in chains and attacked the Reds advancing on the city in the flank and rear. The unexpected blow disorganized the Reds and they fled. In the following days, Borovsky's division expanded the bridgehead around Stavropol. The Reds were pushed aside by the Nedremnaya grief. It was not possible to knock them down from this mountain, and the battles for Nedremennaya became protracted.
In the first half of September, the 2nd division of Borovsky and the 2nd Kuban division of S. G. Ulagaya fought incessant battles with units of the Reds. Borovsky managed to clear a vast area about a hundred miles from Stavropol from the Bolsheviks. Borovsky was able to concentrate his main forces to the upper Kuban.
In connection with the successful exit of Borovsky to the Kuban and a significant reduction in the front of Drozdovsky's division, Denikin ordered Drozdovsky to cross the Kuban and take Armavir. On September 8, the 3rd division of Drozdovsky launched an offensive and after stubborn battles on the 19th took Armavir. In the same period, in order to assist the Armavir operation, Denikin ordered Borovsky to strike in the rear of the Armavir group of the Reds, capture Nevinnomysskaya, thereby cutting off the only railway line of communications of Sorokin's red army. On September 15, the whites attacked Nevinnomysskaya and, after a stubborn battle, took it. The capture of Nevinnomysskaya meant that the Reds, sandwiched between Laba and Kuban, were deprived of the opportunity to retreat through Nevinnomysskaya and Stavropol to Tsaritsyn. Borovsky, fearing for his right flank, left the Plastun brigade in the Nevinnomyssk brigade, and transferred the main forces to the Temnolessky farm. Taking advantage of this, Sorokin concentrated significant cavalry forces against Nevinnomysskaya under the command of D. P. Zhloba. Having crossed the Kuban north of Nevinnomysskaya, on the night of September 17, the Reds scattered the plastuns and took possession of the village, restoring their communication with Vladikavkaz and the Minvody. Denikin ordered Borovsky to attack Nevinnomysskaya again. The Whites, regrouping and pulling up reinforcements, went to the counter on September 20 and recaptured Nevinnomysskaya on the 21st. After that, the Reds tried to recapture the village for a week, but without success.
Thus, the resistance of the Reds was almost broken. The bulk of the North Caucasian Red Army was, according to Denikin, in a position of "almost strategic encirclement." The loss of Armavir and Nevinnomysskaya convinced Sorokin of the impossibility of holding out in the south of the Kuban region and in the Stavropol region. He was about to retreat to the east when the sudden appearance of Matveyev's Taman army changed the situation in favor of the Reds and even allowed them to launch a counteroffensive.
Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, Major General Alexander Alexandrovich Borovsky
Red counteroffensive. Battles for Armavir
The Taman army, having shown great stamina and courage, having covered 500 kilometers with battles, managed to get out of the hostile encirclement, and united with the main forces of the Red Army of the North Caucasus under the command of Sorokin (Heroic Campaign of the Taman Army). The Tamans managed to bring energy and ability to new battles into the half-decayed Red troops. As a result, the Taman campaign objectively helped to rally the Red forces in the North Caucasus and allowed for a while to stabilize the situation on the front of the fight against Denikin.
On September 23, 1918, the North Caucasian Red Army launched an offensive on a wide front: the Taman group - from Kurgannaya to Armavir (from the west), the Nevinnomyssk group - to the Nevinnomyssk and Belomechetinskaya (to the south and southeast). On the night of September 26, the Drozdovites left Armavir, crossing to the right bank of the Kuban, to Pronookopskaya. Denikin threw his only reserve to the aid of Drozdovsky - the Markovsky regiment. On September 25, the 2nd and 3rd battalions of Markovites moved from Yekaterinodar in echelons to the Kavkazskaya station and further to Armavir. Arriving on the morning of the 26th to Armavir, the commander of the Markovites, Colonel NS Timanovsky, discovered that the city had already been taken by the Reds. On September 26, Timanovsky attacked Armavir on the move with the support of two armored trains, but did not receive help from the 3rd Division. Drozdovsky's troops had just left the city and were in need of restoration. After an unsuccessful battle, the Markovites, having suffered heavy losses, retreated from the city.
Denikin ordered a repeat attack on 27 September. At night, Drozdovsky transferred his division to the left bank of the Kuban near Pronookopskaya and joined up with Timanovsky. During a new assault, the volunteers managed to take the Salomas plant, but then the Reds counterattacked. The plant passed from hand to hand several times and, as a result, remained in the hands of the Reds. The Plastun battalion attacked Tuapse railway station several times, but also unsuccessfully. By evening, the battle had subsided. Both sides suffered heavy losses. On September 28, there was a lull at the front; on that day, a replenishment of 500 people arrived at the Markovites.
On September 29, Denikin arrived at the location of Drozdovsky's units. He considered it useless to further attack Armavir until the Mikhailovskaya group of the Reds was defeated, since when attempting to storm the city, the Bolsheviks received help from Staro-Mikhailovskaya. At a meeting with the commanders, Denikin agreed with this opinion. In the Armavir direction, a weak barrier was left by Colonel Timanovsky, and Drozdovsky with the main forces was supposed to have a quick and sudden blow from the east to the flank and rear of the Mikhailovsky group and together with Wrangel's cavalry. In the battles on October 1, the whites were defeated and retreated. Drozdovsky returned to Armavir.
In early October, Drozdovsky's 3rd division was transferred to Stavropol, and in positions near Armavir it was replaced by Kazanovich's 1st division. By mid-October, his troops received reinforcements, in particular, the newly formed Consolidated Guards Regiment in the amount of 1000 fighters arrived. On the morning of October 15, the Whites launched the third assault on Armavir. The main blow was delivered on both sides of the railway by the Markov regiment. To the right of the Markovites, at some distance, the Consolidated Guards and Labinsky Cossack regiments were located. The attack on the Red line of defense began with the support of the United Russia armored train. On the left flank of the railway, the Markovites occupied a cemetery and a brick factory, and went to the Vladikavkaz railway station. On the right flank, they knocked out the Reds from the first line of trenches a kilometer from the city and continued the offensive, but were stopped by the fire of the red armored train "Proletariat". After that, the red infantry launched a counterattack. The Markovites managed to stop the advance of the Reds, but the Taman cavalry regiments bypassed the Consolidated Guards Infantry and Labinsky Cossack regiments and they were forced to retreat. Markovites also had to start a retreat under heavy enemy fire. Thus, the assault failed again and White suffered heavy losses. The Consolidated Guards Regiment, attacked by the red cavalry from the right flank and rear, was completely defeated, lost half of its personnel and was sent to reorganize in Yekaterinodar. Markovites lost more than 200 people.
The first heavy armored train in the United Russia Volunteer Army. Created on July 1, 1918 at Tikhoretskaya station from captured armored platforms as a "Long-range battery".
After a new unsuccessful assault, there was a lull. White took up his original positions and set up positions and shelters. The 1st Kazanovich Division was reinforced by the Kuban Rifle Regiment. The commander of the Markovsky regiment, Colonel Timanovsky, was promoted to major general and appointed brigade commander of the 1st division. On October 26, the whites, with the support of artillery and armored trains, went on the fourth assault on the city. The Reds put up strong resistance and counterattacked, the battle lasted all day. The Whites were able to take the city. This time they were able to cut off the reinforcements of the Reds from Armavir, preventing them from coming to the aid of the defenders of the city. The 1st Kuban Rifle Regiment, located to the right of the Tuapse railway, with the support of the Horse Brigade, stopped the Red units that were marching to help Armavir, and forced them to retreat. Then Casanovich developed an offensive to the south along the Vladikavkaz railway between Kuban and Urup. For two weeks Wrangel tried to force the Urup in order to strike the flank and rear of the units operating against General Kazanovich and throw them back beyond the Kuban. However, the Reds took up strong positions and drove the enemy back.
On October 30, the Reds launched a counteroffensive on the entire front between Urup and Kuban and pushed back the cavalry units of General Wrangel beyond Urup, and General Kazanovich's division under Armavir. On October 31 - November 1, heavy battles were going on, the whites were thrown back to Armavir itself. The situation was critical. The Reds had an advantage in manpower and ammunition. And the main forces of Denikin were occupied by the battles near Stavropol. On the left flank of the army, units of the 2nd Cavalry Division of General Ulagai and what was left of the 2nd and 3rd divisions during the battles near Stavropol barely held back the onslaught of the numerically superior enemy. Parts of the 1st division, having failed in the Konokovo-Malamino area and having suffered heavy losses, retreated to Armavir. It seemed that White was about to suffer a crushing defeat.
However, on October 31, Pokrovsky, after a stubborn battle, captured the Nevinnomysskaya station. The Reds pulled the reserves from Armavir and Urup to Nevinnomysskaya and attacked Pokrovsky on November 1, but he held out. Wrangel took advantage of this and on November 2 went on the offensive in the area of the Urupskaya station. Throughout the day there was a stubborn battle with heavy losses on both sides. The breakthrough of the Reds was stopped, and on the night of November 3, the Reds retreated to the right bank of the Urup. Wrangel on November 3 struck an unexpected blow to the rear of the Reds. It was a complete rout. Attacked from the front, flank and rear, the Reds turned to panicky flight. The whites were chasing them. As a result, the Armavir group of the Reds (1st Revolutionary Kuban Division) was utterly defeated. White captured more than 3,000 people, captured a large number of machine guns. The defeated Red troops, having crossed the Kuban, partly fled along the railway line directly to Stavropol, partly moved through the village of Ubezhenskaya downstream of the Kuban to Armavir, thus leaving the rear of the 1st division units. In Armavir, the Whites had a small garrison. By order of Kazanovich, Wrangel allocated a brigade of Colonel Toporkov to pursue the enemy column that threatened Armavir. In the battles of November 5 - 8, the Reds were finally defeated.
Thus, the Armavir operation ended with a victory for White. The city was captured, and the defeat of the Armavir group of the Reds made it possible to concentrate forces for the storming of Stavropol and the end of the Stavropol battle. In many ways, White's success was due to internal disagreements in the Red camp.
Commander of the 1st Infantry Division Boris Ilyich Kazanovich
Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Volunteer Army Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel
