Ice March
The Ice March (Russian: Ледяной походъ), also known as the First Kuban Campaign (Russian: Первый кубанскій походъ), was a military retreat of the volunteer army under General Lavr Kornilov during the Russian Civil War . Under the attack of the Red Army advancing from the north, the Armed Forces of the Volunteer Army, sometimes referred to as the White Guard , began a retreat from the city of Rostov-on-Don south towards Kuban in the hope of sparking an anti-Bolshevik uprising by the Cossacks there. The march in the winter of 1918 from February to May 1918 lasted a total of 80 days, covering 1,400 kilometers in icy temperatures. There were skirmishes with the Red Army throughout the march. After the failed attack on Ekaterinodar and the death of the leader Kornilov, the volunteer army turned north again to the Don .
prehistory
Despite the initial military successes, the Don region could not be held against the Reds. The resistance of Alexei Kaledin's Cossack army against the Bolsheviks had collapsed. Ataman Kaledin committed suicide on January 29th due to the hopeless situation and the scattered Cossack formations withdrew to the steppe around the Sal . The recently formed volunteer army found itself in a difficult situation at the beginning of 1918. Rostov and Novocherkassk , the two bases of the volunteer army, could no longer be held. In this situation, the leaders of the volunteer army, General Kornilov and General Michael Alexejew , decided to fight their way into the Kuban area with the remains of their army .
aims
Kornilov and Alexejew hoped in the Kuban area with the support of the local Cuban Cossacks around Jekaterinodar to create a base for the fight against the Red Army. The arrival of the volunteer army was intended to trigger an anti-Bolshevik uprising among the local population; in addition to the Cuban Cossacks, the peoples of the North Caucasus were counted on.
Composition of the volunteer army
When the campaign began in February, the army was composed of the following groups:
- "Kornilow" combat regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Neschentzjew)
- St. George's Reserve Regiment - from a small cadre of officers who had arrived from Kiev. (Colonel Kirienko).
- First, Second and Third Officer Battalion - made up of officers who had gathered in Novocherkassk and Rostov. (Colonel Alexander Kutepow , Lieutenant Colonels Borissow and Lavrentiev, later Colonel Simanovsky).
- Junker Battalion - mainly from the capital's Junker Schools and Cadets. (Staff Captain Parfenow)
- Rostov Volunteer Regiment - from the Rostov student youth. (Major General Borovsky).
- Two cavalry divisions. (Colonel Wassili Hoerschelmann and Peter Wladimir von Glasenapp ).
- Two artillery batteries - mostly made up of junkers and officers from the artillery school. (Lieutenant Colonels Mionchinsky and Erogin).
- A whole series of small units, such as the "Marine Company" (Hauptmann 2nd Ranges Potemkin), an engineering company, a Czechoslovak engineering battalion, the "Death Division" of the Caucasian Division (Colonel Schirjajew) and several irregular units named after their commanders.
course
The original plan to move the troops concentrated in Rostov to Yekaterinodar by rail had to be deviated from after the Bolsheviks captured the Bataiskas railroad account point on February 14th. After the fall of Bataiskas, the volunteer army in Rostov threatened to be trapped from the south. Without hesitation, it was decided to march south. Numerous wounded were left behind in Rostov. At that time the troop consisted of 3,423 men. Including 36 generals, 2320 officers, 437 Junkers and 630 common soldiers. Medical staff and refugees from the Bolsheviks, including members of the Duma, were also part of the trek. After having crossed the Don and after a reorganization of the army in Olginskaya, the march to the south began. It was decided against a retreat into the eastern steppe like the army of the Donkoskaks, due to the inadequate defense possibilities and the few scattered settlement points, which would have meant a fragmentation of the units. On the other hand, a march to the Kuban was hoped for the sympathy of the local population. In addition, at that time the regional center of the region, the city of Ekaterinodar, was not yet in the hands of the Bolsheviks. A short time later, however, the plan was rejected again and the march to the southeast. The native Cossack population in the stanizi south of the Don was largely neutral, they did not want to be drawn into the conflict between reds and whites. Since Kornilov relied on them as the mainstay of his army in the future, requisitions were forbidden. After the direction of the march initially led along a railway line to the south-east, Kornilov made the decision to march back to the Kuban in Metschetinskaya due to the latest knowledge about the military situation. The decision of the Don Cossack Ataman Popov not to move south with them had an adverse effect on the volunteer army. With this, the volunteer army lost urgently needed additional cavalrymen. The area of the Don Cossacks ended behind Egorlykskaya. Before the volunteer army began the Stravropol area, where numerous local councils had formed and the volunteers encountered a hostile population. Town after town had to be stormed. The volunteer army suffered numerous losses. In addition, they had to fight against the winter conditions in the steppe. The local railway network was controlled by Red Guards controlled by armored trains , so the railway stations had to be bypassed. Every crossing of a railway line became a risk due to the possibility of an armored train. Shortly before reaching the goal, Yekaterinodar fell to the Bolsheviks on March 14, 1918. General Kornilov decided to take the city by storm. However, to confuse the enemy, the city should be bypassed and attacked from the southwest. To the south of the city the ranks of the volunteer army were replenished with numerous refugees from Ekaterinodar. The troop strength reached 6000 men. From the south, on April 9, the army crossed the Kuban west of Ekaterinodar and began attacking the surprised defenders. Without any prior information, the storm began on the city. The outnumbered defenders managed to repel all attacks by the whites. On April 13th Kornilov was killed by artillery bombardment. His successor, General Anton Denikin , ordered the attacks to be broken off and a withdrawal to the north.
consequences
The ice march missed both its military and political goals. It was not possible to reach Ekaterinodar or to retake the city after the fall, nor did the appearance of the volunteer army on Kuban trigger an anti-Bolshevik uprising. Instead, the ice march led to a consolidation of the White Movement in southern Russia. The Red Army had failed to crush the counter-revolutionary forces in southern Russia. The survivors of the ice march formed the core of the anti-Bolshevik resistance of the coming years of the civil war.
Others
In Artyom Wesyoly's novel , a chapter is about the ice march. He himself fought on the side of the Bolsheviks against Denikin's white troops in the civil war.
literature
- Artyom Wesyoly: Blood and Fire. Novel. Translated from the Russian by Thomas Reschke . Structure, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-351-03674-4 (expanded and revised edition of Russia washed in blood, Kiepenheuer, Weimar / Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-378-00125-9 ; limited preview in the Google book search) .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Герман Аркадий Адольфович: Русские революции и Гражданская война. Большой иллюстрированный атлас . Большой исторический атлас. Издательство "АСТ", Moscow 2018, ISBN 978-5-17-109867-4 , p. 192 .
- ↑ Содержание «Военная Литература» Мемуары - Глава XVII. Формирование Добровольческой армии. Ее задачи. Духовный облик первых добровольцев. In: militera.lib.ru. Retrieved July 7, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Содержание «Военная Литература» Мемуары - Глава XIX. Первый Кубанский поход. От Ростова до Кубани; военный совет в Ольгинской; падение Дона; народные настроения; бой у Лежанки; новая трагедия русского офицерства. In: militera.lib.ru. Retrieved July 8, 2020 .