The revolutionary events that took place in Russia from February to October 1917 actually destroyed a huge empire and led to the outbreak of the Civil War. Seeing such a difficult situation in the country, the remnants of the tsarist army decided to combine their efforts to restore reliable power, in order to carry out military operations not only against the Bolsheviks, but also to defend the Motherland from the encroachments of an external aggressor.
Formation of the Volunteer Army
The merger of parts took place on the basis of the so-called Alekseevskaya organization, the beginning of which falls on the day of the general's arrival. It was in his honor that this coalition was named. This event took place in Novocherkassk on November 2 (15), 1917
A month and a half later, in December of the same year, a special meeting was held. Its participants were Moscow deputies, headed by the generals. In essence, the question of the distribution of roles in command and control was discussed.between Kornilov and Alekseev. As a result, it was decided to transfer the fullness of military power to the first of the generals. The formation of units and bringing them to full combat readiness was entrusted to the General Staff, headed by Lieutenant General S. L. Markov.
On the Christmas holidays, the troops announced an order to take command of the army of General Kornilov. From that moment on, it officially became known as the Volunteer.
The situation on the Don
It's no secret that the newly created army of General Kornilov was in dire need of the support of the Don Cossacks. But she never received it. In addition, the Bolsheviks began to tighten the ring around the cities of Rostov and Novocherkassk, while the Volunteer Army rushed around inside it, desperately resisting and suffering huge losses. Having lost support from the Don Cossacks, the commander-in-chief of the troops, General Kornilov, on February 9 (22) decided to leave the Don and go to the village of Olginskaya. Thus began the Ice Campaign of 1918.
Abandoned Rostov was left with a lot of uniforms, ammunition and shells, as well as medical depots and personnel - everything that the small army guarding the approaches to the city so needed. It is worth noting that at that time neither Alekseev nor Kornilov had yet resorted to forced mobilization and confiscation of property.
Vanitsa Olginskaya
The ice campaign of the Volunteer Army began with its reorganization. Arriving at the village of Olginskaya, the troops were divided into 3 infantry regiments: Partisan, Kornilov shock andConsolidated officer. A few days later, the volunteers left the village and moved towards Yekaterinodar. This was the first Kuban Ice campaign, which passed through Khomutovskaya, Kagalnitskaya and Yegorlykskaya villages. For a short time, the army entered the territory of the Stavropol province, and then re-entered the Kuban region. For all the time of their journey, the volunteers constantly had armed skirmishes with units of the Red Army. Gradually, the ranks of the Kornilovites thinned out, and every day they became less and less.
Unexpected news
1(14) March Ekaterinodar was occupied by the Red Army. The day before, Colonel V. L. Pokrovsky and his troops left the city, which greatly complicated the already rather difficult situation of the volunteers. Rumors that the Reds had occupied Ekaterinodar reached Kornilov a day later, when the troops were at the Vyselki station, but they were not given much importance. After 2 days, in the village of Korenovskaya, which was occupied by volunteers as a result of a stubborn battle, they found one of the numbers of the Soviet newspaper. It was reported that the Bolsheviks really occupied Yekaterinodar.
The news received completely devalued the Kuban Ice Campaign, for which hundreds of human lives were wasted. General Kornilov decided not to lead his army to Yekaterinodar, but to turn south and cross the Kuban. He planned to rest his troops in the Circassian villages and Cossack mountain villages and wait a little. Denikin called this decision of Kornilov a "fatal mistake" and, together with Romanovskytried to dissuade the army commander from this undertaking. But the general was unshakable.
Compound troops
On the night of March 5-6, the Ice Campaign of Kornilov's army continued in a southerly direction. After 2 days, the volunteers crossed the Laba and went to Maikop, but it turned out that in this area every farm had to be taken with a fight. Therefore, the general turned sharply to the west and, crossing the Belaya River, rushed to the Circassian auls. Here he expected not only to give rest to his army, but also to unite with the Kuban troops of Pokrovsky.
But since the colonel had no fresh data on the movement of the Volunteer Army, he stopped trying to break through to Maykop. Pokrovsky decided to turn to the Kuban River and join up with Kornilov's troops, who had already managed to get out of there. As a result of this confusion, two armies - the Kuban and the Volunteer - tried to discover each other at random. And finally, on March 11, they succeeded.
Vanitsa Novodmitrievskaya: Ice campaign
It was March 1918. Exhausted by daily many-kilometer marches and weakened in battles, the army had to go through the viscous black soil, as the weather suddenly deteriorated, it began to rain. It was replaced by frosts, so the soldiers' overcoats swollen from the rain began to literally freeze. In addition, it became sharply cold and a lot of snow fell in the mountains. The temperature dropped to -20 ⁰С. As participants and eyewitnesses of those events later said, the wounded who were transported on carts, by the evening had to be chipped off with bayonets from the thickice crust.
It must be said that to top it all off, in mid-March there was also a fierce clash, which went down in history as a battle near the village of Novodmitrievskaya, where the fighters of the Composite Officer Regiment especially distinguished themselves. Later, under the name "Ice Campaign" they began to mean this battle, as well as the previous and subsequent transitions along the steppe covered with crust.
Signing the contract
After the battle near the village of Novodmitrievskaya, the military Kuban formation offered to include him in the Volunteer Army as an independent fighting force. In exchange for this, they promised to assist in the replenishment and supply of troops. General Kornilov immediately agreed to such conditions. The ice campaign continued, and the size of the army increased to 6 thousand people.
Volunteers decided to go again to the capital of the Kuban - Ekaterinodar. While the staff officers were developing a plan of operation, the troops were re-forming and resting, while repulsing numerous attacks by the Bolsheviks.
Ekaterinodar
The ice campaign of Kornilov's army was nearing completion. March 27 (April 9) volunteers crossed the river. Kuban and began to storm Yekaterinodar. The city was defended by a 20,000-strong army of the Reds, commanded by Sorokin and Avtonom. The attempt to capture Yekaterinodar failed, besides, 4 days later, as a result of another battle, General Kornilov was killed by a random projectile. His duties were taken over by Denikin.
I must say that the Volunteer Army fought in conditions of complete encirclement withseveral times superior to the forces of the Red Army. The losses of the now Denikinites amounted to about 4 hundred killed and 1,5 thousand wounded. But, despite this, the general still managed to withdraw the army from the encirclement across the Don River.
April 29 (May 12) Denikin with the remnants of his troops went to the south of the Don region in the area of Gulyai-Borisovka - Mechetinskaya - Yegorlytskaya, and the next day Kornilov's Ice Campaign, which later became a legend of the White Guard movement, was completed.
Siberian crossing
In the winter of 1920, under the onslaught of the enemy, the retreat of the Eastern Front, commanded by Admiral Kolchak, began. It should be noted that this operation took place, like the campaign of Kornilov's army, in the most difficult climatic and weather conditions. The horse-and-foot crossing with a length of about 2 thousand km passed along the route from Novonikolaevsk and Barnaul to Chita. Among the soldiers of the White Army, he received the name "Siberian Ice Campaign".
This hard transition began on November 14, 1919, when the White Army left Omsk. Troops led by V. O. Kappel retreated along the Trans-Siberian Railway, transporting the wounded in echelons. Literally on their heels, the Red Army was chasing them. In addition, the situation was further complicated by numerous riots that broke out in the rear, as well as attacks from various bandit and partisan detachments. To top it all, the transition was also aggravated by severe Siberian frosts.
At that time, the Czechoslovak Corps controlled the railway, so the troops of General Kappel wereforced to leave the wagons and transfer to the sleigh. After that, the White Army became a gigantic sledge train.
When the Whites approached Krasnoyarsk, a garrison rebelled in the city led by General Bronislav Zinevich, who made peace with the Bolsheviks. He persuaded Kappel to do the same, but was refused. In early January 1920, several skirmishes took place, after which more than 12 thousand White Guards bypassed Krasnoyarsk, crossed the Yenisei River and went further east. Approximately the same number of soldiers chose to surrender to the city garrison.
Leaving Krasnoyarsk, the army divided into columns. The first was commanded by K. Sakharov, whose troops marched along the railway and the Siberian tract. The second column continued its Ice Campaign led by Kappel. She moved first along the Yenisei, and then along the Kan River. This transition turned out to be the most difficult and dangerous. The point is that R. Kan was covered with a layer of snow, and under it the water of non-freezing springs flowed. And this is in 35-degree frost! The military had to move in the dark and constantly fall into polynyas, completely invisible under a layer of snow. Many of them, having frozen, remained lying, and the rest of the army moved on.
During this transition, it so happened that General Kappel froze his legs, falling into the wormwood. He underwent surgery to amputate limbs. In addition, from hypothermia, he fell ill with pneumonia. Mid-January 1920White captured Kansk. On the twenty-first day of the same month, the Czechs handed over the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Kolchak, to the Bolsheviks. After 2 days, the already dying General Kappel gathered a council of army headquarters. It was decided to take Irkutsk by storm and free Kolchak. On January 26, Kappel died, and General Voitsekhovsky led the Ice Campaign.
Since the advance of the White Army to Irkutsk was somewhat delayed due to constant fighting, Lenin took advantage of this, who issued an order to shoot Kolchak. It was carried out on February 7th. Upon learning of this, General Voitsekhovsky abandoned the now meaningless assault on Irkutsk. After that, his troops crossed Baikal and at st. Mysovaya loaded all the wounded, sick and women with children into trains. The rest continued their Great Siberian Ice Campaign to Chita, which is about 6 hundred kilometers. They entered the city in early March 1920.
When the transition was completed, General Voitsekhovsky established a new order - "For the Great Siberian Campaign". They were awarded to all the officers and soldiers who participated in it. It is worth noting that members of the Kalinov Most musical group vividly recalled this historical event a few years ago. "The Ice Campaign" was the title of their album, entirely dedicated to the retreat of Kolchak's army in Siberia.
