Red Guard (Russia)

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Members of one of the first regiments of the Red Guard (autumn 1917)
Members of the Red Guard of the St. Petersburg factory "Vulkan" (1917)

The Red Guard ( Russian Красная гвардия ) was the armed workers' militia of the Russian Bolsheviks to prepare and carry out the October Revolution (from 25 October July / 7 November 1917 greg. ). In the first half of 1918 she was part of the newly founded Red Army .

In preparing for the overthrow of the government, the Bolsheviks decided to procure an armed arm for themselves so that they would not have to rely on the loyalty of the former tsarist army . This instrument was created at the end of March 1917 when the Red Guard was founded. This was set up, armed and trained in public under the main direction of the former astronomer Pawel K. Sternberg (1865–1920) - supposedly to defend the achievements of the February Revolution . The Provisional Government was unable to prevent this.

The Red Guard associations consisted of volunteers who organized themselves mainly in factories , but also in rural areas. They were "an improvised guerrilla force ". They were divided into tens, platoons , hundreds ( Druschina , Družina), battalions (400–600 men) and departments. The governing bodies were since April / May 1917 at the level of the cities and Rajons . The central headquarters and the main staff were in Petrograd , another "central staff" in Moscow . The officers chose the Red Guards themselves, while the inspectors were appointed by the staff.

“ From a military point of view, the Red Guards' detachments were initially poor formations; the discipline left much to be desired, weapons were scarce, and the deficiencies in training could not be made up for by the revolutionary vigor of the instructors. In a possible civil war they could not have been used independently against regular troops. It was a real stroke of luck for the Bolsheviks that the Red Guard could make common cause with revolutionary-minded sections of the regular troops. These were the sailors in the Petrograd naval port of Kronstadt and the Latvian rifle units of the Moscow garrison. "

- Peter Gosztony

In November 1917, the Red Guard units across the country numbered about 20,000 men. These troops not only overthrew the provisional government, but also fought against German units and the White troops . It was not until March 13, 1918 that they were integrated into the new Red Army .

literature

  • Klaus Dorst / Birgit Hoffmann (eds.): Small Lexicon of the Soviet Armed Forces , Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin (East) 1987, ISBN 3-327-00279-7 .
  • Peter Gosztony : The Red Army - History and Structure of the Soviet Armed Forces since 1917 , Fritz Molden Verlag, Vienna / Munich / Zurich / New York 1980, ISBN 3-217-00666-6 .
  • Leonhard Schapiro: The Birth of the Red Army , in: Basil Liddell Hart (Ed.): The Red Army , Verlag Weu / Offene Words, Bonn 1956, pp. 31-39.

Web links

Commons : Red Guard (Russia)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leonhard Schapiro: The Birth of the Red Army , p. 32 f.
  2. ^ A b Leonhard Schapiro: The Birth of the Red Army , p. 33.
  3. ↑ Klaus Dorst / Birgit Hoffmann (eds.): Kleines Lexikon der Sovietstwehr Forces , Berlin (East) 1987, p. 242
  4. ↑ a b Peter Gosztony: The Red Army - History and Structure of the Soviet Armed Forces since 1917 , Vienna 1980, p. 24.
  5. ^ Leonhard Schapiro: The Birth of the Red Army , p. 33; Peter Gosztony: The Red Army - History and Structure of the Soviet Armed Forces since 1917 , Vienna 1980, p. 24