100 years ago, in March 1919, the Vyoshensky uprising began. The Don Cossacks rose up against the Bolsheviks, who established control over the Upper Don District in early 1919.
In late 1918 - early 1919, the Tsaritsyn Front of the White Cossacks collapsed. In January 1919, the third assault on the red Tsaritsyn failed. The mutiny of several Cossack regiments, tired of the war, began. In February, the troops of the Don Cossack army retreated from Tsaritsyn. The Cossack army collapsed, the Cossacks dispersed to their homes or went over to the side of the Reds. The troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army again occupied the lands of the Don region. The victorious Reds did not stand on ceremony with the Cossacks. The Red Terror, decossackization and ordinary robbery provoked a backlash. The Don Cossacks soon rebelled again.
Background
After the February Revolution, the collapse of the Russian Empire began. The Don Cossacks did not stand aside from this process and raised the question of the autonomy of the Don Host Region. General Kaledin was elected ataman. After October, the situation on the Don became even more tense. The military (Don) government refused to recognize the power of the Bolsheviks and began the process of liquidating Soviet power in the region. The Don region was proclaimed independent before the formation of the legitimate Russian government. In November 1917, General Alekseev arrived in Novocherkassk, the process of creating volunteer formations for the war with the Bolsheviks (the Volunteer Army) began.
In late November - early December 1917, the Kaledin government with the help of volunteers (most of the Cossack troops accepted neutrality and refused to fight) suppressed the Bolshevik uprising. The Kaledinites took control of Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog and a significant part of the Donbass. Kaledin, Alekseev and Kornilov created the so-called. "Triumvirate" claiming the role of the all-Russian government. The creation of the Volunteer Army was officially announced.
However, the "triumvirate" had a weak social base. Many officers took a position of non-interference, not wanting to fight. The majority of the Don Cossacks also took a position of neutrality. The Cossacks are already tired of the war. Many Cossacks were attracted by the slogans of the Bolsheviks. Others hoped that the conflict only concerned the Bolsheviks and the volunteers (whites), and they would remain on the sidelines. That the Don region will be able to come to an agreement with the Soviet government.
The Bolsheviks in December 1917 created the Southern Front of the Red Army and launched an offensive. The bulk of the Don Cossacks did not want to fight. Therefore, the Kaledinites and the Alekseevites were defeated. In February 1918, the Reds occupied Taganrog, Rostov and Novocherkassk. Alekseev and Kornilov, seeing that the situation was hopeless, withdrew their forces to the Kuban (First Kuban campaign), hoping to raise the Kuban Cossacks and create a new base for the Volunteer Army. Kaledin committed suicide. The irreconcilable Cossacks, led by General Popov, went to the Salsk steppes.
In March 1918, the Don Soviet Republic was proclaimed on the territory of the Don Army. The Cossack Podtyolkov became its head. However, the Soviet power lasted on the Don only until May. The policy of land redistribution, with the seizure of Cossack lands by "nonresident" peasants, robberies and terror by the red detachments, which then often did not differ from ordinary bandits, led to spontaneous Cossack riots. In April 1918, on the basis of the rebel detachments and the returning detachment of Popov, the process of creating the Don Army began. The Cossacks were helped by a favorable military-political situation. The Austro-German army during the intervention by the beginning of May pushed back the Red detachments and reached the western part of the Don region, capturing Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog, Millerovo and Chertkovo. The Volunteer Army returned from the unsuccessful Kuban campaign. From Romania, Drozdovsky's white detachment made a campaign and helped the Cossacks to take Novocherkassk on May 7. The Don Soviet Republic was destroyed.
The new Don government in May 1918 was headed by Ataman Krasnov. The Krasnov government and the command of the Volunteer Army did not begin to unite. At first. Krasnov focused on Germany, and Alekseev and Denikin (Kornilov died) - on the Entente. Krasnov proclaimed the creation of an independent Cossack republic, and hoped to create a confederation with Ukraine and the Kuban. Volunteers who stood for a "united and indivisible" Russia were against such a policy. Secondly, the Don government and the command of the Volunteer Army disagreed on the issue of military strategy. Red offered to go to Tsaritsyn, to the Volga, in order to unite with anti-Bolshevik forces in the east of Russia. Also, the Don government planned to expand the borders of its "republic". The volunteers decided to go to the Kuban and the North Caucasus again, destroy the Reds there and create a rear base and a strategic foothold for further hostilities.
Since the enemy was common, Krasnov and Alekseev became allies. In June 1918, the Volunteer Army began the Second Kuban campaign. The Don army led an offensive in the Voronezh and Tsaritsyn directions. The Don region was the rear of the Volunteer Army while it was fighting in the Kuban and the North Caucasus. The Don government supplied the volunteers with weapons and ammunition, which it received from the Germans.
In July - early September and September - October 1918, the Don army stormed Tsaritsyn twice. The Cossacks were close to victory, but the red command took emergency measures and repulsed enemy attacks. The assault on Tsaritsyn failed, the Cossacks retreated beyond the Don.
Ataman of the Great Don Army, General of the Cavalry P. N. Krasnov
Commander of the Don Army Svyatoslav Varlamovich Denisov
Warlord of the Don Army Konstantin Konstantinovich Mamontov (Mamantov)
The catastrophe of the Don army
In November 1918, Germany, the patron saint of the Krasnov government, surrendered. The victory of the Entente radically changed the military-strategic situation in the South of Russia. German troops began evacuating from the western part of the Don region and Little Russia, opening the left flank of the Cossack republic for the Red Army. The front line for the Cossacks immediately increased by 600 km. The influx of weapons and ammunition purchased by the Don government from the Germans has stopped. The Cossacks were holding out with their last strength, advancing only in the Tsaritsyn direction. The winter was severe, snowy and frosty. A typhus epidemic came to the Don. The hostilities were no longer for tactical reasons, but simply for housing, the opportunity to live under a roof, in a warm place. Krasnov tried to negotiate with the Entente, but his power was not recognized.
After the evacuation of the German army, a huge gap formed on the left flank of the Don Republic. Moreover, she came to the industrial, mining area, where Red Guard units began to emerge again. Makhno's detachments threatened from Tavria. Troops of the 8th Red Army began to move south. The Cossacks had to urgently withdraw two divisions from the Tsaritsyn front in order to occupy Lugansk, Debaltseve and Mariupol. But this was not enough, the Cossacks created a rare veil. Krasnov asked for help from Denikin. He sent the infantry division of May-Mayevsky. In mid-December, the Denikinites landed in Taganrog and occupied a section of the front from Mariupol to Yuzovka. Also, white detachments were sent to the Crimea, Northern Tavria and Odessa.
In January 1919, the Don Cossacks organized a third offensive against Tsaritsyn, but it ended in defeat. The failures of the Don army at Tsaritsyn, the disintegration of the Cossack troops, the victories of the volunteers in the Kuban and the North Caucasus, and the appearance of the Entente troops in southern Russia forced Krasnov to recognize Denikin's supremacy. In January 1919, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (Volunteer and Don armies) were formed, headed by Denikin.
Simultaneously with the offensive to the west of Russia and to Little Russia-Ukraine, the red command decided to put an end to the hotbed of counter-revolution in the south with a powerful blow. In January 1919, the troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army launched an offensive to defeat the Don Army and liberate Donbass. Additional forces were transferred from the Eastern Front, where during this period the Reds won victories in the Volga and the Urals. In the west, Kozhevnikov's group, the future 13th Red Army, was deployed, the 8th Army was located in the northwest, and the 9th Army in the north. Egorov's 10th army was advancing from the east, it was supposed to cut off the Don from the Kuban. The total number of the Red troops exceeded 120 thousand bayonets and sabers with 468 guns. The Don army numbered about 60 thousand soldiers with 80 guns.
Source: A. Egorov. The Civil War in Russia: The Defeat of Denikin. M., 2003.
At first, the Cossacks held on and even attacked. The offensive of the 10th Red Army was repelled. Mamontov's units broke through the front, and the Don Cossacks approached Tsaritsyn for the third time. In the west, the Cossacks, with the support of the whites, also held out - the Konovalov group and the May-Mayevsky division. The Reds here constantly intensified the onslaught at the expense of the workers' detachments of the Red Guard and the Makhnovists. However, Krasnov carried out a new mobilization, and Denikin sent reinforcements.
The front collapsed in the northern sector, in the Voronezh direction. Here the Cossacks were demoralized by constant battles, and there was no one to replace some of them. The same regiments were transferred from one dangerous area to another. Severe winter, typhus. Krasnov promised help from the Germans, then the Entente and the Whites, but it was not. The Bolsheviks stepped up their agitation promising peace. As a result, the Cossacks revolted. In January 1919, the 28th Verkhne-Don, Kazan and Migulinsky regiments held a meeting, abandoned the front and went home "to celebrate the feast of Christ." Soon the 32nd regiment also left the front. The Cossacks of the 28th regiment decided to make peace with the Bolsheviks and seize the "cadet" headquarters in Vyoshenskaya. Fomin was elected commander, and Melnikov was elected commissar. On January 14, the thinning regiment (many fled) entered Vyoshenskaya, although it was in no hurry to attack the headquarters of the Northern Front, headed by General Ivanov. The Cossacks did not want to fight their own. And Ivanov did not have the strength to suppress the rebellion. As a result, the front headquarters moved to Karginskaya. The communication of the headquarters with the troops and their control was disrupted. Krasnov also did not have a reserve to fight the uprising, all the troops were at the front. Atman tried to persuade the Cossacks, but he was sent in obscene Russian.
Krasnov was accused of betraying the "labor Cossacks", the Cossacks recognized Soviet power, and Fomin began negotiations with the Reds about peace. The departure of several regiments from the front created a big gap. The troops of the 9th Red Army under the command of Knyagnitsky immediately entered it. Cossack villages greeted the red shelves with bread and salt. The front finally collapsed. Cossacks from the lower Don, bypassing the rebellious villages, went home. The units that remained loyal to the Don government left with them. It was not just a retreat, but an escape, collapse. The retreating units did not offer resistance, quickly decomposed, fell apart, threw guns and carts. Rally began again, insubordination to commanders, their "re-election". Many deserters appeared. Some of the Cossacks went over to the side of the Reds. In particular, to the Cossack, corps commander Mironov.
The collapse of the Northern Front affected other sectors as well. General Fitzkhelaurov began the retreat, covering the Kharkov direction, where the 8th Red Army was advancing. The third assault on Tsaritsyn failed. Mamontov's Cossacks broke through to the main line of defense of the city, took its southern stronghold - Sarepta. Emergency mobilization began again in Tsaritsyn. However, the Cossacks soon fizzled out. Rumors of the collapse of the Northern Front reached the army. The combat capability of the Don army fell sharply. Red troops under the command of Yegorov launched a counteroffensive. Dumenko's cavalry division marched through the enemy's rear. In February 1919, the Don army again retreated from Tsaritsyn.
Krasnov could no longer stop the collapse of the army on his own. I asked for help from Denikin and the Entente. At this time, Novocherkassk was visited by an Allied mission led by General Poole. The British general promised that a battalion, and then a brigade of the British army, would soon arrive to help the Don army. They planned to transfer her from Batum. The French representatives promised that the allied troops would march from Odessa to Kharkov. However, they did not go further than Kherson. The high command of the Entente was not going to send divisions and corps to fight in Russia against the Bolsheviks.
Meanwhile, the Don army was rolling back and falling apart as a military force. War weariness, frost and typhus were completing its decay. The soldiers fled to their homes, others died. On January 27, 1919, a participant in the war with Turkey and Japan, the former commander of the Southwestern Front of the Imperial Army, General Nikolai Iudovich Ivanov, died of typhus. He was to lead the emerging White Army of the South.
Rumors of betrayal were circulating through the army: some accused the traitors who opened the front, the second - the command, Krasnov, the third - the generals to whom the Don had sold out, and who are now deliberately destroying the Cossacks. With the deserters, decay went through the villages. Krasnov rushed around the region, spoke to the Cossacks in Karginskaya, Starocherkasskaya, Konstantinovskaya, Kamenskaya, persuaded to hold on, promised help from Denikin, the Entente troops. But there was no help. Denikin's army at that time fought hard, the last battles with the Red Army in the North Caucasus, the whites themselves had every bayonet and saber count. The British and French were not going to fight on the front lines themselves, for this there was Russian "cannon fodder".
The continuation continued to deteriorate. On February 12, 1919, on the Northern Front, several more Cossack regiments went over to the side of the Red Army. The White Cossacks left Bakhmut and Millerovo. Krasnov and Denisov concentrated in the Kamenskaya area the remaining combat-ready troops, mainly from the so-called. Young army to counterstrike Makeyevka and stop the enemy.
At the same time, opposition to Krasnov intensified and decided to change the chieftain. Those who were previously against the German orientation and criticized for independence were unhappy with him. Now the military foremen decided to hand it over in order to improve relations with the Entente and Denikin. They say that Krasnov is displeasing the allies. On February 14, the Army Circle expressed its distrust to the command of the Don Army - to the commander General Denisov and the chief of staff, General Polyakov. They previously spoke out against the subordination of the Don army to Denikin. Krasnov tried to use a technique that had already helped him earlier, said that he attributed the expressed distrust to himself, therefore he refused the post of ataman. The opposition just wanted this. With a majority of votes, the circle accepted Krasnov's resignation (later he worked at the headquarters of Yudenich's army, then left for Germany. Soon General Bogaevsky was elected ataman, who was a member of the First Kuban campaign and did not contradict Denikin. And the Don army was headed by General Sidorin.
The advance of the Red Army was gradually stopped. The grouping of the Don army, collected by Krasnov and Denisov, struck a counterattack on the Reds, who no longer expected a rebuff from the Whites and were stunned. White troops began to arrive from the North Caucasus, where the Denikinites won a convincing victory. On February 23, the Shkuro Cossack corps entered Novocherkassk. The formation of new volunteer units from young people (cadets, students, gymnasium students) began. Besides, Don was helped by nature. The spring thaw has begun. After a severe winter, strong thaws and stormy spring began. The roads are gone. Rivers flooded, becoming serious obstacles. As a result, the offensive of the Reds was stopped at the line of the Northern Donets. Only about 15 thousand fighters remained from the still strong Don army.
"Ataman Bogaevsky" - armored car of the Don army
