Troubles. 1919 year. The decisive role in the counteroffensive on the Eastern Front was played by the Southern Army Group, led by Frunze, which was preparing a flank counterstrike during the Kolchak offensive. Frunze - Red Napoleon, a unique red commander, noble and cruel, prudent, possessing a rare intuition.
All to fight against Kolchak
The offensive of the Western Army of Khanzhin led to the breakthrough of the center of the Eastern Front of the Red Army. The Eastern Front became the main one for Moscow. The strategic reserves of the main command were sent to the east: the 2nd rifle division, 2 rifle brigades (a brigade of the 10th rifle division from Vyatka and a brigade of the 4th rifle division from Bryansk) and 22 thousand reinforcements. Also, the 35th Infantry Division was transferred to the command of the Eastern Front (it was formed in Kazan), and the 5th Infantry Division was pulled up from the Vyatka direction.
On April 12, 1919, the "Theses of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in connection with the situation on the Eastern Front", written by Vladimir Lenin, were published, which became the party's combat program to mobilize the country's forces and resources to defeat Kolchak's army. Lenin put forward the slogan "All to fight against Kolchak!" The powerful Samara fortified region was hastily created, headed by Karbyshev. This talented military engineer also prepared a system of "anti-Cossack" defense of Orenburg and Uralsk.
By May 1, replenishment arrived on the Red Eastern Front - 17, 5 thousand people, in May - 40, 5 thousand people, including 7, 5 thousand communists. Weapons, ammunition, equipment were primarily sent to the Eastern Front. By May 1, the number of troops on the Eastern Front of the Red Army was increased to 143 thousand people, with 511 guns and over 2400 machine guns. The Reds gained superiority in strength.
Admiral A. V. Kolchak (sitting), head of the British mission, General Alfred Knox, and British officers on the Eastern Front. 1919 g.
Red Napoleon
The decisive role on the Eastern Front was to be played by the Southern Army Group, led by Frunze, which, during the Kolchak offensive, fully retained its combat capability. It is worth noting the role of Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze in these events. This was a unique personality. He started as a classic revolutionary: revolutionary activity, participation in the Moscow uprising of 1905, arrests, hard labor, flight, life under a forged passport. Chairman of the Minsk Council of Deputies in 1917. Participated in November 1917 in battles in Moscow, in 1918 - chairman of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk provincial committee of the RCP (b) and military commissar of Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya. After the suppression of the Yaroslavl uprising - military commissar of the Yaroslavl military district.
In January 1919 he was sent to the Eastern Front to fight the Ural White Cossacks. He led the 4th Army. Frunze was a sober, tough and very calculating person. His idol was the great eastern commander Tamerlane, Frunze himself was somewhat reminiscent of him. He was a talented commander, and by nature, without the appropriate military education and military experience, command of regiments, divisions and corps. He possessed rare intuition, knew how to find extraordinary solutions, sometimes took risks and always won. On the one hand, he showed cruelty, on the other, chivalry and humanism.
He quickly put things in order in the 4th Red Army, which, having taken Uralsk, began to decompose. The soldiers did not want to go to the steppe in winter, to storm the Cossack villages. The soldiers responded to attempts to restore discipline with riots, they killed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council Lindov, representatives of the central government Mayorov and Mägi. Frunze forgave the rebels, even the murderers of high-ranking officials. Has won the authority of the commander. In February 1919, the 4th Army wedged deeply between the forces of the Orenburg and Ural Cossacks, advancing on the Lbischensk - Iletsk - Orsk line. The way to Turkestan was opened. The 25th shock division was re-created under the command of Chapaev. On the basis of several scattered units that broke through from Turkestan, Frunze formed the Turkestan army. He became the commander of the Southern Army Group. It was aimed at routing the Ural and Orenburg White Cossacks.
When the offensive of Kolchak's army began and the front of the 5th Red Army in the center of the front collapsed, Frunze stopped the advance of the Southern Army Group and immediately began regrouping his troops in order to consolidate his position in the Orenburg direction and create a reserve. From the 4th Army (22nd and 25th divisions, up to 16 thousand people), which held the front against the Ural White Cossacks, he took the 25th division, and the army went on the defensive. The Turkestan army (12 thousand soldiers) was supposed to defend the Orenburg region and maintain contact with Turkestan. It was reinforced with one brigade of the 25th division. Two other brigades of the 25th division were sent to the Samara area, a communications center for Ufa and Orenburg. Subsequently, the 4th and Turkestan armies held back the offensive of the Orenburg and Ural white armies.
The right flank of the 1st Army (24th Division) at the beginning of April 1919 successfully developed the offensive on Trinity. The left flank of the 1st Army (20th Division) tried to organize a counterattack in the Sterlitamak area and sent one brigade to cover Belebey. However, the Reds were defeated in the Sterlitamak area. On April 4 - 5, the whites took Sterlitamak and on April 6 - Belebey, creating a threat to the rear of the 1st army. As a result, the left flank of the 1st Army was unable to support the defeated 5th Army, and the right flank halted the offensive. Under cover of the remnants of the 20th division, which was holding back the enemy's onslaught to the south in the Belebey area, the 24th division was successfully pulled back. The withdrawal of the 1st Army forced units of the Turkestan Army to retreat as well. By April 18 - 20, 1919, the new front of the Turkestan army passed along the line Aktyubinsk - Ilinskaya - Vozdvizhenskaya. Frunze also transferred his reserve to the Orenburg-Buzuluk region.
Thus, the red army commander Frunze was able to avoid defeat, pulled back the retreating troops in time, regrouped his forces, strengthened his left wing (avoiding the threat of a white breakthrough to the rear of the Southern group), and created a reserve. Thus, the foundations were laid for the future counteroffensive of the Red Army.
Red Army Commander Mikhail Frunze, 1919
The plans of the red command
As the battle developed, the Red Army's counter-offensive plan was ripening. At first, it was seen in the form of a flank counterattack of the Southern Army Group on the left wing of the enemy strike group. Frunze proposed to strike from the Buzuluk area, from where it was possible to act in several directions. Moscow accepted his plan. On April 7, 1919, the command of the Eastern Front began to plan for the concentration of the entire 1st Army in the Buzuluk-Sharluk region, in order to attack the enemy advancing in the Buguruslan-Samara direction.
On April 9, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front expanded the operational framework of the Southern Army Group, it now included the defeated 5th, weakened 1st, Turkestan and 4th armies. Its commander Frunze received almost complete freedom of action. Red Napoleon planned to launch an offensive depending on the time of the end of the regrouping of his forces, before the end of the spring thaw or after it.
On April 10, a meeting of the main command was held in Kazan. The southern group was ordered to strike from south to north and defeat the whites, who continued to press the 5th Army. At the same time, the Northern Army Group was formed as part of the 3rd and 2nd Red Armies under the general command of Shorin's 2nd Army. The northern army group was to defeat the Siberian army of Gaida. The dividing line between the two army groups was drawn through Birsk and Chistopol and the mouth of the Kama.
The situation at the front that had developed by mid-April 1919 was already in favor of the Reds. The striking power of Kolchak's Russian army was already weakened, exhausted, its corps dispersed a great distance, lost contact with each other, the rear fell behind, the muddy road slowed down. The eastern front of the Red Army was declared the main one. His powers grew steadily, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thousands of communists arrived by party mobilization. On the Perm and Sarapul axes, the enemy's forces were already approximately equal: 37 thousand red fighters against 34 thousand whites. In the central direction, the Khanzhin strike group still had an advantage: 40 thousand White Guards against 24 thousand Reds. But here, too, the situation changed a lot, at the beginning of the offensive White had a fourfold superiority, now it has significantly decreased. At the same time, Khanzhin's army greatly stretched the front. Taking Buguruslan on April 15, the Whites extended their front for 250 - 300 kilometers, having a left wing southeast of Buguruslan and a right wing near the Kama. On the southern wing of the Western Army, Belov's Southern Army Group, which was delayed in the Orenburg direction by the resistance of Guy's 1st Red Army, was far behind.
A communist detachment formed by the Kaluga Provincial Committee of the RCP (b) to be sent to the Eastern Front. 1919 g.
Concentrating the strike team
According to Frunze's plan, the Turkestan and 4th armies were supposed to hold the defense in the Orenburg and Ural directions. The 5th Army was supposed to stop the advance of the White Guards in the direction of Buguruslan and along the Bugulma railway, covering the Buzuluk - Buguruslan - Bugulma line. The strike group of the 1st Army strike at the left wing of the enemy strike group, throwing it back to the north. The 20th Rifle Division provided the regrouping, and the 24th "Iron" division (without one brigade) was also transferred to this direction, it had to pin down the enemy with its active actions, gain time for the concentration of the main forces of the strike group in the Buzuluk area. The best forces of the Southern Group were concentrated in the strike fist: the 31st Infantry Division and the brigade of the 3rd Cavalry Division were transferred to the 1st Army from the Turkestan; the brigade of the 24th rifle division was also transferred (to the area of Totskaya station), and from the strategic reserve of Frunze - the 75th rifle brigade (2 regiments). Another reserve brigade - 73rd, was transferred to the area with. Bezvodnovki to cover the concentration of the shock group, and was also part of it. One more brigade remained in reserve, which could also strengthen the strike group.
The 5th Army - the weakened 26th, 27th rifle divisions, the Orenburg division and part of the 35th rifle division, had at that time about 11.5 thousand bayonets and sabers, 72 guns. Frunze's strike group included almost all the forces of the 1st army (except for the 20th rifle division) - the 24th, 25th, 31st rifle divisions and the brigade of the 3rd cavalry division. The strike fist consisted of 24 bayonets and sabers with 80 guns. That is, Frunze had about 36 thousand fighters about 150 guns for the offensive. On the rest of the front of the Southern Army Group, about 700 km long, about 22.5 thousand soldiers with 80 guns defended themselves: units of the 20th and 22nd divisions, the remaining troops of the Turkestan army and local detachments in Orenburg, Uralsk and Iletsk.
It is worth noting that Frunze took great risks. He concentrated his main and best forces (including the 25th Chapaevskaya, 24th Iron, 31st divisions, and the Orenburg cavalry brigade) for a flank counterattack on Khanzhin's army. At the same time, in the south, a huge front was covered by the weakened troops of the 4th and Turkestan armies. As soon as the Cossacks of the Orenburg and Ural armies took Orenburg and Uralsk, or simply bypass the fortified areas of the cities, closing them off with barriers, and the mass of the Cossack cavalry of Dutov, Tolstov and Belov (Southern group of whites) would go to the Buzuluk area, in the rear of the Frunze strike group. As a result, Frunze's troops would find themselves in ticks between the White Cossacks and Khanzhin's army. However, this did not happen. Either Red Napoleon took into account the Cossack psychology, the Cossacks stubbornly fought near their "capitals", they did not want to go further. Toli just took a big risk and won in the end. Kolchak's headquarters was never able to establish good interaction with the Cossack formations, they fought their own war. Kolchak's command practically did not pay attention to the Cossacks. As a result, about 30 thousand Cossacks got bogged down in the siege of Orenburg and Uralsk. And Frunze got his chance to win.
In the meantime, due to the deterioration of the operational situation, the start of the operation had to be postponed and a new regrouping of forces had to be carried out. In the sector of the 2nd Army, the Whites broke through to Chistopol and reached the Volga. This already posed a threat to Kazan. In the sector of the 5th army, the Kolchakites were actively advancing in the Sergiev direction, pushing the 27th division. This threatened the railway communications of the entire Southern Army Group, could disrupt the offensive of the strike group. Therefore, on April 16, the front command threw the arriving reinforcements (part of the 2nd rifle, parts of the 35th rifle divisions) not to strengthen the Frunze strike group in the Buzuluk area, but to reinforce the 5th army and for frontal cover of the Volga line. Also, two brigades from the shock group of the 1st Army were transferred to strengthen the 5th Army (the 25th Infantry Division, except for the 73rd Infantry Brigade).
Thus, the size of the flank strike group was significantly reduced. The center of gravity of the Red strike was partially shifted from the flank and rear of Khanzhin's Western army to the front. On April 23rd, the 5th Red Army already numbered 24 thousand bayonets and sabers (mainly at the expense of the 1st Army). At the same time, the remaining troops of the Frunze shock fist (31st rifle division, 73rd rifle brigade, cavalry brigade) received the name of the Turkestan army.
Kolchak with Generals Gaida and Bogoslovsky. 1919 g.
Front of the Kolchak army in the central and southern sectors
By April 20, 1919, the strong 2nd Ufa corps (4th and 8th divisions, 15 thousand bayonets and sabers) was leading an offensive in the Samara-Sergiev direction. The right flank of this group reached Chistopol. The 3rd corps of the whites (6th and 7th infantry divisions, 3 cavalry regiments, etc., a total of about 5 thousand soldiers) advanced in the direction of Buguruslan - Samara. On the ledge from behind and to the south, without communication with the 3rd corps, the 6th Ural corps, which had only 2,400 soldiers (18th and 12th divisions), advanced.
In the area of Belebey, Kappel's reserve corps was hastily concentrated (more than 5,000 bayonets and sabers, which did not have time to complete its formation and had to advance in the interval between the 3rd and 6th corps. Further to the south and on the ledge in relation to the left flank of the Khanzhin army the 5th corps of the southern army group of Belov (6,600 fighters) was advancing on the left flank of the 5th corps and the ledge backward was the reserve 6th corps (4,600 soldiers). The 1st and 2nd Orenburg corps (about 8,500 fighters) fought in the Orenburg direction, trying to capture Orenburg with blows from the east and south and advance further to establish contact with the Ural Cossacks. Also, other units of Dutov's Orenburg army and Tolstov's Ural army acted in the southern direction.
Thus, the central sector of the white front was broken by ledges, the corps acted without combat communication with each other. Especially in the center, where the 3rd and 6th corps of Kolchak's men were advancing. Such a grouping of enemy forces showed Frunze that, first of all, it was necessary to defeat the Khanzhin's army, closest to his strike group, of the 3rd and 6th corps. On April 19, Frunze drew up the final plan of the operation: 1) Guy's 1st Army was to launch a decisive offensive and pin down the White 6th Corps, providing the Turkestan army (Frunze's strike group) from the right wing; 2) The Turkestan army, in cooperation with the reinforced 5th army, was to defeat the 3rd corps of the whites in the Buguruslan area, pushing the enemy to the north, cutting off from Belebey. The cavalry of the Turkestan army keeps in touch with the 1st army, smashes the rear of the 3rd corps; 3) The 5th Red Army goes over to a decisive offensive in the Buguruslan direction. In addition, the front command outlined an auxiliary strike in the Sergiev-Bugulma direction (forces of the 2nd and 35th rifle divisions). In the northern sector, the 3rd army was supposed to go on the offensive in the Perm direction no later than April 29.
