Advance of the Mamontov Corps

In the history of the Russian Civil War, the advance of the Mamontov Corps is the offensive of a corps of the White Army under the leadership of Lieutenant General Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Mamontov , which lasted from August 10, 1919 to September 19, 1919.

The advance

During the attack by the White Army in the summer of 1919, whose stated aim was to conquer Moscow, Mamontov was entrusted with a mission to disrupt the Red Army's supply lines, thwart their counterattack and undermine their morale. On the morning of August 10, the 4th Don Cavalry Corps (6,000 infantry, 3,000 mounted, 12 guns, 7 armored trains and 3 armored automobiles) broke through the line of defense of Soviet troops between the fronts of the Eighth and Ninth Armies in the Novochopjorsk area and marched (at great speed ) into the hinterland. The Cossacks took the city of Tambov on August 18th . They destroyed railway bridges and traffic junctions, robbed Red Army camps and carried out acts of revenge against Bolsheviks and their actual or supposed supporters and sympathizers.

Countermeasures

The advance of the Mamontov Corps terrified the Soviet leaders. This fear led to the establishment of a special task force on August 25 under the leadership of Mikhail Mikhailovich Laschewitsch , which consisted of 10,500 soldiers, 1,500 mounted men, several armored trains and an air squadron . In the areas of Tambov , Penza , Tula , Oryol and Voronezh , a state of emergency was declared and revolutionary military committees were formed, whose task it was to expose "subversive elements" and to suppress counter-revolutions. The volunteer detachments, consisting of communists and Soviet officials, and the troops for special use were also placed under the command of Laschewitsch, a total of almost 11,000 men. In addition, provisional military departments were formed from deployable Red Army soldiers. They included: First Division, Commander Jan Fabrizius , consisting of 900 mounted men, 2,700 infantrymen, 36 machine guns and four cannons; Second division of troops from the Oryol military area, under the command of Spilchenko, consisting of 4,100 infantrymen, 500 mounted men, 48 machine guns and two cannons; Third division of the Armed Forces of the Ryazan Reserve, Commander Skudre, consisting of 2,500 infantrymen, 100 mounted and 25 machine guns.

These measures led to the encirclement of white troops and the intimidation of possible sympathizers among the population. In addition, Mamontov's Cossacks, heavily laden with stolen and looted goods, had lost a lot of mobility. As a result of their raid, indiscipline and the desire to return home quickly spread; Desertions increased by leaps and bounds. Mamontov was forced to break off the advance towards Tula and pivot to the south. On August 31, the White Guards occupied after a fierce battle the city Yelets , on 11 September, the city of Voronezh. A day later, the Bolsheviks pushed the Cossacks out of town, with only 2,000 reportedly escaping from 9,000 white soldiers. On September 18 and 19, the severely affected Cossacks united with the fresh troops of General Shkuro , who came to their aid, and marched in the direction of the main white army.

Consequences of the advance

The advance of the Mamontov Corps lasted 40 days and caused great economic damage in the Bolshevik-controlled areas of central Russia. He tied a not inconsiderable number of red soldiers from the front and terrified the Soviet command center. However, the prevention of the red counterattack and thus the actual goal of the advance could not be achieved because it could not be sustained as long as planned. As a direct consequence of this event, the Soviet leaders increasingly relied on the formation of their own cavalry units, because this was the only way to keep strong white Cossack troops under control and to take the lead in their raid-like maneuvers.

literature

S. Chromow (Ed.): Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR. Moscow 1983. (Russian)

Individual evidence

↑ Orlando Figes: The Tragedy of a People. The epoch of the Russian Revolution from 1891 to 1924. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-8270-0243-5 , p. 704, according to 1,500 men from Mamontov's corps deserted.
↑ The sources of the victorious Bolsheviks are silent about the fate of the remaining 7,000 white soldiers.

[1] Orlando Figes: The Tragedy of a People. The epoch of the Russian Revolution from 1891 to 1924. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-8270-0243-5 , p. 704, according to 1,500 men from Mamontov's corps deserted.

[2] The sources of the victorious Bolsheviks are silent about the fate of the remaining 7,000 white soldiers.