White army in the civil war. Red cavalry in the Russian Civil War

The Red Army was created directly by the Bolshevik Party under the leadership of V.I. Lenin. By the resolution of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of November 8, 1917, during the formation of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), a Committee on Military and Naval Affairs was created consisting of V. A. Antonov-Ovseenko, warrant officer N. V. Krylenko and sailor P. E. Dybenko. At the suggestion of V.I. Lenin, the Committee on Military and Naval Affairs additionally included leading officials from the Military Revolutionary Committee and the Military Organization under the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), who had proven themselves in active military work in the party: V.N. Vasilevsky , K. S. Eremeev, P. E. Lazimir, B. V. Legrand, K. A. Mekhonoshin, N. I. Podvoisky and E. M. Sklyansky. The committee, after its expansion, was renamed the Council of People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs. On November 23, the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, headed by N. I. Podvoisky, was separated from it, under which the College of Military Commissars was established, and on January 30, 1918, the People's Commissariat for Naval Affairs and the Collegium under it, headed by P. E. Dybenko, were created . Having headed the army and navy, these bodies completely took military control and the supreme command into their own hands. On November 9, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars removed General Dukhonin from his post as Supreme Commander-in-Chief, who refused to comply with the order of the Soviet government to immediately begin negotiations with the German command on an armistice. The order to remove General Dukhonin from the post of commander in chief was signed by V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin. Bolshevik N.V. Krylenko was appointed instead. The Council of People's Commissars appointed General M.D. Bonch-Bruevich as chief of staff of the Headquarters, one of the few talented and highly educated generals of the tsarist army who immediately went over to the side of Soviet power after the revolution.

On November 23, at the direction of V.I. Lenin, the Revolutionary Field Headquarters (to combat counter-revolution) was created in Mogilev, headed by a member of the Military Organization under the Central Committee of the Party, Warrant Officer M.K. Ter-Arutyunyants. The operational part of the headquarters was led by Colonel I. I. Vatsetis, who from the first days of the revolution, together with his regiment of Latvian riflemen, sided with Soviet power. The revolutionary field headquarters was entrusted with the leadership of operations on the internal fronts. The military apparatus of the old army - Headquarters, as well as some directorates and departments of the military department were temporarily preserved. The Soviet government could not eliminate them until the creation of the Soviet military apparatus. These bodies, under the control of the commissars, were entrusted with the task of supplying the army and navy. N.V. Krylenko, relying on the Revolutionary Field Headquarters and Headquarters, began to implement the decision of the Central Committee of the Party and the Council of People's Commissars - to gradually demobilize the old army and create a new army from the Red Guard, revolutionary units and detachments, as well as the Red Cossacks - the army of liberated workers and peasants . At the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918, the central and local military administration bodies of the old army were liquidated. In their place, Soviet military command and control bodies were created, and only some institutions of the old military apparatus were partially used to carry out new tasks. Thus, the bodies of the air fleet and naval aviation were reorganized into the All-Russian Collegium for the Management of the Air Fleet of the RSFSR. The work of the temporarily preserved bodies of the old maritime ministry began to be led by the Supreme Maritime Collegium. In January 1918, local military administration bodies were reorganized, and by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief N.V. Krylenko, Headquarters was abolished. More than a thousand hostile generals, officers and officials were fired from the former War Ministry. The old command elite was also eliminated in the military districts. Bolsheviks who knew military affairs were appointed commanders of military districts. By the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918, front-line army congresses and congresses of sailors of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets recognized Soviet power and the Council of People's Commissars, headed by V.I. Lenin.

At the beginning of 1918, it became obvious that the forces of the Red Guard, detachments of revolutionary soldiers and sailors and Red Cossacks and partisans were clearly not enough to reliably defend the Soviet state. In an effort to strangle the socialist revolution, the imperialist states, primarily Germany, and then the Entente, undertook a large-scale intervention against the young Soviet Republic, which merged with the rise of internal counter-revolution: White Guard rebellions and conspiracies of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and the remnants of various bourgeois parties. In this military-political situation, regular armed forces were needed, a new army was needed on a class basis, capable of protecting the young Soviet state of workers and peasants from numerous enemies. For the Bolsheviks this was a completely unfamiliar problem. “The question of the structure of the Red Army,” said V.I. Lenin, “was completely new, it was not posed at all even theoretically... We took on a task that no one in the world had ever taken on in such a breadth” (PSS, vol. 38 , pp. 137-138).

From January to May 1918, the Red Army was staffed by volunteers, and the command staff (up to the regiment commander) was selected. On January 15, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), and on January 29 - on the organization of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF). The documents set out the main principles of building the armed forces of a socialist state. The decree declared the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR to be the supreme governing body of the Red Army and the Red Army. To guide the formation of the army, the Council of People's Commissars on January 15, 1918 established a special body under the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs - the All-Russian Collegium for the organization and formation of the Red Army from representatives of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs and the General Staff of the Red Guard . N.I. Podvoisky was appointed Chairman of the Board.

After the breakdown of peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk by Trotsky on February 18, 1918, the German command launched an offensive against the Soviet Republic. On February 21, the Council of People's Commissars addressed the workers with Lenin's decree-appeal “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” The call of the Soviet government caused a revolutionary upsurge in the country. Guided by Lenin's decree, Supreme Commander-in-Chief N. V. Krylenko signed an order on February 21 declaring revolutionary mobilization. On February 23, a massive registration of volunteers for the Red Army began. By decision of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, the date February 23 was declared “Day of Defense of the Socialist Fatherland.” The formed units of the volunteer Red Army entered into battle with the advancing German troops. Before the battle, the Red Army soldiers read this historical decree - an appeal - as an oath at rallies and formations. The proclamation became the first oath of the Red Army soldiers. This is how the Red Army received its first baptism of fire. In the Pskov and Narva direction the number of troops was 5-6 thousand people, north of Pskov - 600 people, in the central direction - about 5 thousand, in Ukraine - about 35 thousand. Units formed from foreign citizens stationed in in Russia: Hungarian internationalists operating near Narva, and in Ukraine - detachments of Czechs, Slovaks and Serbs. In commemoration of the general mobilization of revolutionary forces for the defense of the socialist Fatherland, as well as the courageous resistance of the Red Army units near Pskov and Narva, February 23 was celebrated annually in the country as the birthday of the Red Army and the Red Navy (from 1922 to 1946), and then - as the Day of the Soviet Army and Navy.

Having repelled the German intervention in February 1918, the Soviet Republic concluded a difficult peace treaty with Germany on March 3 and emerged from the bloody imperialist war. The young Soviet Republic, under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, began radical socio-economic transformations with the aim of creating the foundations of a new socialist system and building the Red Army.

On March 4, 1918, by decree of the Council of People's Commissars, the Supreme Military Council (VVS) was formed - the first highest military body of strategic leadership of the revolutionary armed forces of the Soviet Republic, which, along with the leadership of military operations, was entrusted with the general management of the construction of the Red Army, the study and selection of military personnel for senior positions command staff. The military leaders of the Air Force were: M.D. Bonch-Bruevich (March - August 1918), N.I. Rattel (August - September 1918). The 7th Congress of the RCP(b) (6 – 8.03.1918) confirmed the correctness of Lenin’s line on the issue of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty with Germany, condemned Trotsky’s treacherous line on this issue and noted that the main task of the party in this situation is to accept energetic and decisive measures to prepare workers and peasants, the working masses for the defense of the Socialist Fatherland, the organization of the Red Army and universal military training. By decree of the Council of People's Commissars of April 8, volost, district, provincial and district commissariats for military affairs began to be created, replacing the military departments of the Soviets. Military commissariats were entrusted with the tasks of registering and conscripting those liable for military service, forming military units and supplying them, training workers and working peasants in military affairs. They played a huge role in the construction of the Red Army. V.I. Lenin said: “Without the military commissar we would not have had the Red Army” (PSS., vol. 41, p. 148). This high assessment of the role of military commissars can equally be attributed to the entire institution of military commissars of the Red Army. At the same time, the formation of military districts on the territory of the Soviet Republic began. The leadership of party-political work in the army was carried out by the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars, created on April 8, 1918. He was entrusted with managing the activities of military commissars of units and formations of the Red Army. One of the main functions of military commissars was to exercise political control over the service of old military specialists who were in command, staff and administrative positions. Military commissars resolutely suppressed their slightest attempts at treason. But the functions of military commissars were far from exhausted by this. They were the organizers and leaders of all party-political and ideological-educational work in the army. At the same time, the formation of army and navy party organizations took place. On April 20, 1918, by order of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, unified states were introduced and a uniform organizational structure of the Red Army was established. The main combat unit was a regiment, consisting of 3 battalions. Each battalion consisted of 3 companies, and a company had 3 platoons. The tactical unit was a brigade of 2 or 3 regimental composition. 2 - 3 brigades made up a division. The strength of the rifle division was set at 26,972 people, including 8,802 bayonets. Persons who completed an on-the-job 96-hour military training course were registered by military registration and enlistment offices as liable for military service and could, if necessary, be called up for active service in the ranks of the Red Army. As for the non-labor elements, they had to fulfill their duties in defending the Soviet Republic in the rear militias: digging trenches and performing other defensive work.By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) on April 22, 1918, universal military training of workers was introduced.

May 8, 1918 The All-Russian Main Headquarters was created instead of the All-Russian Collegium for the formation of the Red Army. Thus, the General Staff of the former tsarist army finally ceased to exist. The All-Russian Main Headquarters was subordinate to the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of the RSFSR. He was entrusted with the responsibilities of registering those liable for military service, organizing military training for workers, forming and organizing units of the Red Army, developing measures for the defense of the country, for which the headquarters had corresponding departments. The Academy of the General Staff (later the Military Academy of the Red Army) was also subordinate to him. All this together meant the creation of a coherent, centralized military command apparatus, without which it was impossible to begin organizing a mass regular army.

A major political event in the life of the Red Army was the taking of the oath of allegiance to the Socialist Motherland. On April 22, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved a single text of the oath for the entire army - the Formula of the solemn promise of the soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which was printed in the first service book of a Red Army soldier and approved by V.I. Lenin. The solemn promise, as the oath was then called, contained the following words: “I, the son of the working people, a citizen of the Soviet Republic, take upon myself the title of warrior of the workers’ and peasants’ army... I undertake to strictly and unswervingly observe revolutionary discipline and unquestioningly carry out all orders of the commanders assigned by the authority of the Workers' and Peasants' Government... I undertake, at the first call of the Workers' and Peasants' Government, to come out to defend the Soviet Republic from all dangers and attempts by all its enemies, and in the struggle for the Russian Soviet Republic, for the cause of socialism and the brotherhood of peoples, not to spare any of my strength , not life itself..." During May - June 1918, in all units and divisions of the Red Army, Red Army soldiers solemnly took the military oath. On May 11, V.I. Lenin participated in the oath-taking ceremony for soldiers of the 4th Moscow Regiment, the Warsaw Revolutionary Regiment and the Separate Guard Squad, which took place in the grenade workshop of the Michelson plant. He, along with the Red Army soldiers in the ranks, took the oath and became the first fighter of the Red Army. Members of the Soviet government took the oath with him.

After the end of the civil war, in March 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution on the swearing in of all personnel of the Red Army and Red Navy. A single day for taking the oath was established for the entire army and navy - May 1, and the same procedure for taking it. The soldiers took the oath collectively, in formation, during the parade.

By the beginning of June 1918, the strength of the Red Army and Navy was 374,551 people. But this was not enough to repel the onslaught of the external and internal counter-revolution, whose troops already numbered about 700 thousand people at that time. The interventionists and the White Guards, who had almost double superiority in forces, managed to surround the Republic of Soviets with a ring of fronts and impose war on it. The ruling circles of the leading capitalist countries of the West decided to eliminate the Republic of Soviets - as a dangerous center of the world revolution - by military means. At the same time, another – geopolitical – goal was pursued: to divide Russia into spheres of influence with the establishment of a semi-colonial regime in them, to take over its richest natural resources. The intervention of 14 states, which was prepared and led by the USA, England and France with the active participation of Japan, merged with the civil war into a single whole. In the created military and political situation, the Soviet government was forced to move to recruiting the army and navy through the general mobilization of the working people, first of all workers and peasants. In this regard, on May 29, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee resolution on compulsory recruitment into the army was announced, which began a new stage of military development.

On July 10, 1918, the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted a resolution “On the organization of the Red Army” on the basis of universal military service for workers aged 18 to 40 years. Non-labor elements were enlisted in the rear militia. All officers and military officials of the old army were subject to forced conscription into the army. In the fall of 1918, 526 former officers of the General Staff, including 160 generals, 200 colonels and lieutenant colonels, served in the Red Army and the Red Red Army. This was the most prepared part of the old officer corps. By mid-1920 48.4 thousand officers and generals of the old army, 10.3 thousand former military officials, 41 thousand medical workers served in the Red Army. Most of them, driven by a sense of patriotism, considered it their duty to cleanse the Russian land of foreign invaders and faithfully served their people. Prominent military leaders among them were I. I. Vatsetis, S. S. Kamenev, A. I. Egorov, D. M. Karbyshev, M. D. Bonch-Bruevich, B. M. Shaposhnikov, M. N. Tukhachevsky, A. I. Verkhovsky, A. I. Kork, V. M. Altfater, A. A. Samoilo and others.

In his welcoming speech on “RED OFFICER’S DAY” to the cadets of the Soviet infantry command courses, Zamoskvoretsky courses, Soviet Tver cavalry courses, etc., after the Parade on Red Square on November 24, 1918, V. I. Lenin said that: “the old command staff consisted mainly of spoiled and perverted sons of capitalists who had nothing in common with a simple soldier. That is why now, when building a new army, we must take commanders only from the people. Only Red officers will have authority among the Soldiers and will be able to strengthen socialism in our army. Such an army will be invincible” (PSS, vol. 37, p. 200). The word “SOLDIER” in V.I. Lenin’s speech sounded with a capital letter. “Red Officer Day” was also held in other cities of the Soviet Republic: Petrograd, Saratov, Orel, Tver. The principle of universal military service was enshrined in the Constitution of the RSFSR adopted by the Fifth Congress of Soviets. Defense of the Socialist Fatherland and the gains of the socialist revolution was proclaimed the duty of citizens of the Soviet Republic. However, the honorable right of armed defense of the Soviet state was granted only to working people - workers and peasants of all nations and nationalities. Non-working elements were deprived of this right, because they could use weapons against the working people. Thus, the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets laid the foundations and determined the ways of building the regular Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic, capable of crushing the internal bourgeois-landowner counter-revolution and giving a decisive rebuff to the predators of foreign imperialism. To guide political education in the army, the congress legislated the creation of the institution of military commissars in all military units and military institutions. The transition to compulsory military service made it possible to increase the size of the Red Army. By the end of October 1918, the strength of the Red Army was about 800 thousand people.

September 6, 1918 simultaneously with the declaration of the country as a military camp, instead of the Supreme Military Council, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) was created, which controlled the actions of the army through the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic. The commanders-in-chief were: from September 1918 - I. I. Vatsetis, from July 1919. - S.S. Kamenev. The new body for directing military operations was the Headquarters of the RVSR, subordinate to the commander-in-chief and renamed on November 8 into the Field Headquarters of the Strategic Missile Forces, and from January 10, 1921, merged with the All-Russian Main Headquarters - into the Headquarters of the Red Army.

Having turned into a besieged fortress in the second half of 1918, the country was forced to subordinate its entire life to the interests of defense. In 1918 -1919 The party and the Soviet government carried out a number of emergency economic and political measures, which went down in history under the name of the policy of “war communism.” In order to mobilize all the country's available resources for military needs, on November 30, 1918. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee formed the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense (since April 1920 - the Council of Labor and Defense) of the RSFSR under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin, J.V. Stalin was appointed his deputy. The Defense Council headed, directed and coordinated the activities of all Soviet, economic, military (including the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic) organizations in the interests of protecting the revolution and defeating the enemy. Having taken special control over all the reserves of the old army, the Soviet government began to expand the production of weapons and equipment. August 17, 1918 At the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh), a Commission for the Production of Military Equipment was formed under the chairmanship of L. B. Krasin, reorganized on November 2 into the Extraordinary Commission for the Supply of the Red Army. At military factories, production was increased, especially of rifle cartridges: in August 1918. - 5 million pieces, in December - 19 million. The struggle for bread was going on with enormous tension. By November, the Food Requisition Army (Prodarmiya) of the People's Commissariat for Food consisted of about 36 thousand soldiers. Martial law was introduced on all railways. On November 21, private trade was abolished and planned distribution of food to the population was introduced according to class principles and strict wartime standards. Nationalization was extended to medium-sized industry. The Soviet Republic used its resources centrally.

The 8th Congress of the RCP(b) (18 – 23.3.1919) played a huge role in the construction of the Red Army and the Red Navy. The military issue occupied a large place in the work of the congress. In the new party program, as well as in a special decision of the congress on the military issue, the basic principles of the construction of the Red Army and the Red Fleet were defined - in the shortest possible time to complete the construction of a strictly class-based, personnel-based regular army, based on firm conscious discipline, with a centralized system of management and recruitment and well-organized party political work.

In the summer and autumn of 1918, formations and units of the active army began to be consolidated into armies and front-line formations. A year later there were already 7 fronts with 2 - 5 armies each. By the end of 1919, there were 3 million people in the Red Army. In total, during the war, 139 rifle and 35 cavalry divisions, 61 air detachments (300 - 400 aircraft), about 30 sea, lake and river flotillas, artillery and armored units and subunits were formed. A total of 22 armies were formed, including 2 cavalry. During the war years, 6 military academies and over 150 courses trained 60 thousand Red commanders of various specialties from among workers, peasants, non-commissioned officers, sailors and soldiers. From their midst grew the famous heroes and military leaders of the Civil War: V.K. Blucher, S.M. Budyonny, S.S. Vostretsov, O.I. Gorodovikov, K.E. Voroshilov, S.P. Lazo, V.M. Primakov, V.I. Chapaev and many others. Under the direct leadership of V.I. Lenin, the professional Bolshevik revolutionary M.V. Frunze became a commander who did not know defeat. A party-political apparatus was formed in the Red Army, which included the institution of military commissars, a system of political agencies and party organizations. The leadership of party-political work in the army was carried out by the Political Directorate (PUR) under the RVSR, created in May 1919 instead of the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars. The PUR RVSR was simultaneously a department of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). By the fall of 1920, the number of armed forces reached 5.5 million people. The share of workers was 15%, peasants - 77%, others - 8%. On August 1, 1920, there were about 300 thousand Bolsheviks in the Red Army and Red Navy, almost half of the entire party, which was the cementing core of the army and navy. About 50 thousand of them died a heroic death during the Civil War.

The period from May 1918 to March 1920 was the most decisive period of the Civil War. On May 25, 1918, a revolt of the Czechoslovak Corps began in Chelyabinsk, the echelons of which were located between Penza and Vladivostok in view of the upcoming evacuation to Europe. The rebellion caused a sharp revival of the unfinished bourgeois-landowner and Cossack counter-revolution and the strengthening of the petty-bourgeois counter-revolution, which tried to play a leading role. In May-June 1918, the White Czechs and the counter-revolutionary detachments that emerged under their cover captured Syzran, Samara, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novonikolaevsk and Vladivostok, defeating the party-Soviet apparatus and destroying many party and Soviet workers, revolutionary workers and peasants. On June 4, 1918, the Entente declared the corps part of its forces, declaring that it would consider its disarmament as an unfriendly act towards the allied countries. With the support of the White Czechs and the Entente, counter-revolutionary “governments” arose from the Volga to Vladivostok. In the camp of the counter-revolution, the military dictatorship of the landowner-bourgeois counter-revolution came to the fore: in the East - Kolchak, who united the forces of the counter-revolution in Siberia and the Urals; in the South - Denikin, who subjugated the Cossack counter-revolution and created the “Armed Forces of the South of Russia” (AFSR); in the North-West - Yudenich, who formed the North-Western Volunteer Corps in Estonia, in the North - Miller. The White Guards received hundreds of thousands of rifles from the Entente: Kolchak - about 400 thousand, Denikin - over 380 thousand; thousands of machine guns: Kolchak - over 1000, Denikin - about 3000; hundreds of guns, a large amount of uniforms, equipment and ammunition. In 1919, Denikin received over 100 tanks and armored vehicles, 194 aircraft, 1335 vehicles. Many foreign specialists and instructors were sent to the White Guard troops - about 2,000 English alone. The White Guard armies, fed and led by the Entente, actually fought not for the “white idea”, but in the interests of foreign states. This is very convincingly evidenced by one of the organizers of the intervention, W. Churchill, in his book “The World Crisis” (p. 174). He writes that it would be a mistake to think that the Entente “fought on the fronts for the cause of Russian White Guards hostile to the Bolsheviks.” “On the contrary, the Russian White Guards fought for our cause. This truth will become unpleasantly sensitive from the moment the white armies are destroyed and the Bolsheviks establish their dominance..." . Fans of beaten and fugitive white generals and admirals, who are presented as patriots and heroes of today's Russia, are trying to hide this truth today.

The fight against the White Guard armies of Kolchak, Denikin and Yudenich, from March 1919 to March 1920, was the longest and most difficult period of the Civil War. In this decisive struggle, the Red Army emerged as a regular armed force. The main source of victory was the strong military-political alliance of the working class and the peasantry. “And if anything decided the outcome of the struggle with Kolchak and Denikin in our favor, despite the fact that Kolchak and Denikin were supported by the great powers, it was that in the end, both the peasants and the working Cossacks, who for a long time remained otherworldly, now went over to the side of the workers and peasants, and only this ultimately decided the war and gave us victory” (PSS, vol. 40, p. 183). An important factor in organizing resistance to the interventionists and White Guards was the formation of a military-political union of Soviet republics. June 1, 1919 The All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree “On the unification of the Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus to fight world imperialism.” On the basis of the decree, a unified military command and military organization, national economic councils, people's commissariats of finance and other structures were formed. The military-political union of the Soviet republics was an important step towards the formation of the USSR in 1922.

The struggle against the intervention of bourgeois-landowner Poland and the defeat of Wrangel’s White Guard army in April - November 1920 The civil war was largely over. The Soviet Republic began to move from war to peace.

S lliquidation of the last centers of counter-revolution, war and intervention at the end of 1920 - November 1922 The civil war is completely over. The Red Army and the Red Army, having defeated the armies of the White Guards, expelled the interventionists from the territory of the country, suppressed anti-Soviet uprisings, won complete victory on all fronts.

By the end of the military intervention and civil war, the Armed Forces of the RSFSR included: the Red Army consisting of: rifle troops, cavalry, artillery, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet (RKKVF - from May 24, 1918), armored forces, engineering troops, chemical troops (from 13 November 1918), signal troops (from October 20, 1920); RKKF consisting of: the Baltic Fleet, the Active Detachment of Ships (DOC), sea flotillas (Caspian and Azov), lake and river flotillas (Onega, Volga, Dnieper, etc.); rear units and units; construction parts and divisions; military educational institutions; Cheka troops, food army, border guards, etc. The military and political leadership of the RSFSR Armed Forces was carried out by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR and the Central Committee of the RCP (b) - STO RSFSR - Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR. Operational and strategic leadership of the active army was entrusted to the Commander-in-Chief and Headquarters of the Red Army.

The Soviet state defeated the interventionists and White Guards, thereby proving the viability of the new state and social system. The civil war against the interventionists and the White Guards was a just, patriotic war, since it was fought for the interests of the working people against internal counter-revolution and external intervention. Working people deeply believed in the idea of ​​socialism, in the name of its triumph they were ready to give their lives if the military situation required it. Workers and peasants supported the policies of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet government led by V.I. Lenin, despite extreme fatigue from the world war, losses, deprivations, hunger, cold, epidemics, they found the strength to bring the Civil War to complete victory and liberate the country from occupation. The most important condition for victory was that the leading core of the rear and front of the Red Army was the Bolshevik Party led by V.I. Lenin, I.V. Stalin, Ya.M. Sverdlov, F.E. Dzerzhinsky, M.I. Kalinin and others, united by their unity and discipline, strong by their revolutionary spirit, unsurpassed by their ability to organize millions of masses and correctly lead them in a difficult situation. Red Army soldiers, commanders and political workers showed resilience, courage, and mass heroism in the bloody battles of the Civil War. For military exploits during the Civil War, 14,998 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army were awarded the Order of the Red Banner (from September 30, 1918 to September 1928), including: 285 people - twice, 31 - three times, and military leaders V. Blucher, S. Vostretsov, J. Fabricius and I. Fedko - four times. This order was also awarded to 55 units and formations of the Red Army, and the Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner was awarded to 300 units, formations and military educational institutions. The merits of I.V. Stalin on the fronts of the civil war were noted by the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of November 27, 1919, awarding him the Order of the Red Banner.

The workers and peasants of Soviet Russia waged a difficult confrontation with the armed forces of the interventionists and White Guards with the support of the international proletariat. In the USA, England, France and many other Western countries, “Hands off Soviet Russia!” committees were active. More than 200 thousand internationalist soldiers fought courageously and steadfastly in the ranks of the Red Army and partisan detachments: Hungarians, Poles, Bulgarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Germans, Finns, Chinese, Koreans, and representatives of many other nations.

The civil war and military intervention brought enormous disasters to the people. The damage caused to the national economy amounted to about 50 billion gold rubles, industrial production fell below 20% of the 1913 level. Agriculture has almost halved. The total losses of the population at the fronts and in the rear from hunger, disease and terror of the White Guards amounted to more than 7.2 million people, including the irretrievable losses of the Red Army amounted to about 1 million people.

The overall result of the victory of the young Soviet Republic in the Civil War was, as V.I. Lenin said after the defeat of Wrangel in November 1920, that “in the process of this struggle we won for ourselves the right to independent existence,” having received “not only a respite,” but “...a new period when our basic international existence in the network of capitalist states has been won” (PSS, vol. 42, p. 22). Thus, the victory of the Soviet state in the Civil War strengthened the gains of the Great October Socialist Revolution, which marked the beginning of the era of transition from capitalism to socialism throughout the world.

Colonel of the Soviet Army G. Khabin

The prototype of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army were the Red Guard detachments that began to form after the February coup of 1917, and the revolutionary units of the Russian Imperial Army. The Red Guards did not have any established uniform of clothing; they were distinguished only by a red armband with the inscription “RED GUARDS” and sometimes a red ribbon on their headdress. The soldiers wore the uniform of the old army, at first even with cockades and shoulder straps, but with red bows under them and on the chest.

When creating the Red Army, the huge reserves of uniforms left over from the previous army, stored in quartermaster warehouses throughout Russia, were actively used. Red Army soldiers were also allowed to wear civilian clothes.

The Red Army personnel mainly wore cloth caps, hats, protective shirts with a stand-up collar, cloth trousers tucked into boots or windings with boots, overcoats and sheepskin coats. British and American French jackets have become widespread since 1919. Commanders, commissars and political workers often had leather caps and jackets. The cavalrymen wore hussar trousers - chakchirs and dolmans, as well as uhlan jackets.

However, already in 1918, the military-political leadership of the RSFSR became clear about the need to introduce regulated uniforms for the Red Army. Its first element was a protective-colored cloth helmet with a star, approved by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic of January 16, 1919 and received the unofficial name “hero.” The Red Army soldiers of Ivanovo-Voznesensk began wearing it, where at the end of 1918 a detachment of M.V. was formed. Frunze. Later it received the name “Frunzevka”, and then - “Budenovka”.

Until 1922, most of the Red Army personnel wore the uniform of the old army. Since January of the same year, wearing uniforms of unspecified designs was prohibited.

During the Civil War, despite the better supply of uniforms and footwear to the Red Army compared to the Whites, it still experienced significant difficulties in supplying them. Thanks to the colossal efforts of sewing factories and workshops in 1920, it was possible to provide the Red Army and the Red Army with about 580 thousand new overcoats, 77 thousand sheepskin coats, 948 thousand pairs of leather shoes and 223 thousand pairs of felt boots. Due to a shortage of shoes, many Red Guards wore bast shoes.

The leaders of the Bolshevik Party paid considerable attention to issues related to the uniform of the Red Army and the Red Army. In August 1918, during his first trip to the front in the Volga region, Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic L.D. Trotsky (Bronstein), looking through the next reports from the units, sent a telegram to Moscow with the draft of the following order: “I propose, as a measure of punishment, to introduce black collars for the army and navy for deserters returned to units, for soldiers who refused to carry out orders, who caused destruction and other. Soldiers and sailors with black collars caught committing a second crime are subject to double punishment. Black collars are removed only in cases of impeccable behavior or military valor.” However, due to excessive radicalism, this proposal of Trotsky was not carried out...

Trotsky was not at all indifferent to the form of clothing. So, according to the memoirs of People’s Army officer Komuch F.F. Meibom, in August 1918, in the battles near the city of Sviyazhsk, the uniform of the “personal convoy of comrade. Trotsky,” which consisted “exclusively of selected Latvians,” included “red leggings with gold stripes, a blue jacket with silver trim.”

Later, already in 1919, Trotsky ordered the crew of the “train of the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic” to be dressed in red leather uniforms and introduced a special sleeve insignia, which the security team and all train employees had to wear. It was silver with white and red enamel. The sign had an image of a steam locomotive against the background of the sun and the inscription: “R.S.F.S.R. /Pre-Military Council/ L. TROTSKY.” Such insignia were produced at the Mint back in 1918. At the beginning of April 1919, Trotsky ordered “numbers to be engraved on these insignia, at least manually, so that it is known who received which number. Issue against personal receipt. Those responsible for the loss should be immediately removed from the train..."

To many commanders of the Red Army, the need to introduce insignia for command personnel was clear back in 1918, since the lack of them among the latter caused many misunderstandings in relations with ordinary Red Army soldiers - after all, everyone had the same type of uniform. So, almost in parallel with the approval and announcement of insignia by the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, naturally, without knowing anything about it, the head of the 18th Infantry Division I.P. On January 8, 1919, Uborevich reported to the headquarters of the 6th Army: “I inform you that I am introducing, as a temporary measure, distinctive insignia on the left sleeve for detached, platoon, company, battalion and regimental commanders. I hope that the Revolutionary Military Council will approve 6, since this measure is caused by necessity. Details with a messenger.” Unfortunately, the appearance of these insignia is still unknown to us. Apparently, Uborevich’s innovation was not approved by the Revolutionary Military Council of the 6th Army, since already on January 16, 1919, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic announced the sleeve insignia approved by it for the command staff of the Red Army...

Memoirists note the extreme diversity of uniforms of various formations and units of the Red Army and the Cheka. For example, the white officer V. Rykhlinsky, who was taken prisoner by the Reds in August 1920, recalled that the 1st Warsaw Hussar Regiment (joined with the Masovian Red Lancers Regiment into the Red Army in the summer of 1918) was equipped in an old Russian-style overcoat, and “ on the head is a cap with a yellow band and, instead of a red star, like other riders, it is decorated with a silver badge with a horse’s head surrounded by a horseshoe, also silver.” He noted that in the red 51st Infantry Division there were “impossibly ragged people. Some in red shirts and with the obligatory hand grenades at their belts.” A certain N. Ravich wrote that in 1919 in Sumy, the commandant’s patrol had red bands on their caps and the same caftans and breeches; Commandant P.A. Keane explained this by the need for at least some distinction from the other motley crowd of Red Army soldiers.

Russian diplomat T.N. Mikhailovsky, who found himself in Sevastopol still occupied by the Reds in May 1919, once saw how “a literally “red cavalcade” drove through the entire city along Nakhimovsky Prospekt from Ekaterininskaya Street - all in red clothes from head to toe, with white with high spats - not so much Red Army soldiers, but “Red Indians” of a new type. A crazy cavalcade (special detachments of the Crimean Cheka) swept through the empty city in a very picturesque manner, which looked like a page from a cinematic novel..."

All this multi-colored uniform was more or less typical for some cavalry and special units, while ordinary Red Army soldiers were dressed mostly differently, and often poorly. F.I. Golikov recalled that in November 1918, in the Kamyshlovsky regiment (Red Eagles) “there were not enough pimas and overcoats. It's really bad with short fur coats. The Red Army soldiers wear whatever they have to: some in home clothes, some in uniform, some mixed.” Speaking about the 25th Verkhnekamsk Regiment of the Special Brigade, he noted: “The regiments of the 29th (Rifle - A.D.) Division were dressed in the same way: different hats, some in a sheepskin coat, some in an overcoat, some in felt boots, others in cold boots, some on homemade hunting skis. These red ribbons on hats and bows on the chest are familiar to me...”

The Red Army, created by the Bolsheviks, was formed to protect the new state from imperialist intervention. The revolution that broke out in the Russian Empire and subsequent events led to the collapse of the old tsarist army, which had existed since the time of Peter the Great. From its ruins, the parties participating in the Civil War tried to put together their “new” armed forces. Only the Bolshevik communists managed to do this, who created an army that won not only the civil war, but also the bloodiest and cruelest in the history of mankind - the Second World War.

Reasons for the creation of the Red Army

The Bolsheviks, who came to power as a result of the October uprising of 1917, seized it with the help of Red Guard detachments, consisting mainly of Bolshevik workers and the most revolutionary-minded soldiers and sailors. Considering the old tsarist army to be “bourgeois,” the Bolsheviks wanted to abandon the old system, and at first they were going to build a “revolutionary” army of a new type, based on a voluntary basis. The history of the Red Army is full of heroic events, its formation is the creation of a powerful army previously unprecedented in the world.

According to Marxist doctrine, in society, instead of a regular army - “an instrument of oppression of the working people by the bourgeoisie,” there should have been only “general arming of the people.” Such a new “people's revolutionary” army was opposed to the “bourgeois” regular armies of the capitalist countries of the West. But this utopian statement did not justify itself in the critical conditions of post-revolutionary Russia.

On December 16, 1917, a decree was published on the abolition of officer ranks. Now subordinates chose their own commanders. According to the plan of the party leadership, such an army was to become truly “people's”. However, the Civil War that flared up in the spring of 1918 and the subsequent armed intervention of the Entente countries showed the complete utopianism of these plans and forced the army to be built as before - on the principles of unity of command and centralized control and command.

Creation of a new army

Already at the beginning of 1918, it became clear to the Bolshevik leadership that victory, in the context of a full-scale war flaring up, would be won by those who had a strong, well-organized and ideologically united army. The Red Guard units were often unreliable and uncontrollable, since many who served in them were guided by revolutionary chaos and general confusion, as well as their own political views, which could change at any time.

The position of the newly victorious Soviet Power was very unstable. Under these conditions, a new type of army was required. 01/15/1918 V.I. Lenin signs the decree on the formation of the Red Army (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army). The newly created Red Army was built on the principle of class struggle - the struggle of “the oppressed against the oppressors.”

Structure

The headquarters of the Supreme Military Council was created on the basis of the old Headquarters of the VG, and subsequently the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was created on the basis of the headquarters. It was headed by the tsarist staff generals Bonch-Bruevich M.D., Rattel N.I., Kostyaev F.V., Lebedev P.P.

In September, by a resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the initiators of which were L. Trotsky and Ya. Sverdlov, who held the position of Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the RVS - Revolutionary Military Council was formed; the functions of the Air Force, two departments of the General Staff: military-statistical and operational, and the military people's commissariat were assigned to it. Trotsky was appointed chairman of the RVSR. Danishevsky K.Kh., Kobozev P.A., Mekhnoshin K.A., Raskolnikov F.F., Rosengolts A.P., Smirnov I.N. were elected members of the council. and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This post was introduced in September 1918, the first commander-in-chief was Colonel of the Tsarist Army I.I. Vatsetis, in July 1919, Colonel S.S. was appointed. Kamenev.

The governing body of the army was the Council of People's Commissars (SNK). Direct control and leadership is entrusted to the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Supreme Military Council (VVS) created under it. The first People's Commissar for Military Affairs was Nikolai Podvoisky (1880 - 1948). He was elected in November 1917. In March 1918, Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940), one of the outstanding organizers of Soviet Power, became People's Commissar. It was he who was the chairman of the RVSR during the difficult times of the Civil War and his contribution to the formation of the Red Army was colossal.

Development of the Red Army

Following the signing of the Brest Peace Treaty, the formation of the Red Army began at an accelerated pace. Despite the enslaving conditions for Russia under this agreement, the Bolsheviks needed time to organize the army. They were unable to fight on two fronts, and they clearly realized this. On April 22, 1918, the Supreme Military Council canceled the elections of command personnel. This was a very important step to strengthen the Red Army and involve military personnel, most of whom were officers of the tsarist army.

Commanders of units, brigades, and divisions were now appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs. In the spring of 1918, the Air Force made a decision that determined the main military unit, which became a division. The staffing levels of all formations and units are approved. Work was completed on the plan to create a million-strong army. As combat experience accumulated, especially after the massive recruitment of former officers - “military experts” - into the ranks of the army, the formation of full-fledged military formations and institutions proceeded at an accelerated pace.

In November 1918, the RVSR order on conscription was published. All former chief officers under the age of 50, staff officers under 55 and generals under 60 were subject to it.

The Red Army was replenished with more than 50,000 military specialists. The leadership of the Republic was also intensively training new specialists for the Red Army. Vseobuch was established - a structure for military training of citizens of the Republic. A system of military educational institutions was developed. Red commanders were trained there. The Civil War brought forward such commanders as M. Frunze, K. Voroshilov, S. Budyonny, V. Chapaev, V. Blucher, G. Kotovsky, I. Yakir and others.

Party political apparatus

The party-political apparatus of the Red Army was actively formed. In the spring of 1918, the so-called institution of commissars was formed to organize control of the party and restore order in the units. According to the documents, there should have been 2 commissars in all units, headquarters and institutions. The controlling body was the Bureau of Military Commissars created under the RVSR. It was headed by K.K. Yurenev.

Local military authorities

In parallel with this, the creation of local military administration bodies took place, including military districts, as well as military commissariats - district, provincial, district and volost. When forming the district system, the headquarters and institutions of the old army were used. For 1918-1920 27 military districts were newly created or reconstructed. The district system played an outstanding role in the creation of the Red Army, significantly increasing its mobilization and organizational capabilities.

Strengthening the army

All these measures gave positive results. During 1918-1920 the army was continuously strengthened. If in September 1918 the Bolsheviks could put forward up to 30 combat-ready divisions, then in September 1919 their number was 62. If at the beginning of 1919 3 cavalry divisions were formed in the Red Army, then in 1920 there were already 22.

The army grew not only numerically, but with the accumulation of experience, the combat capabilities of the Red Army also grew, and the level of planning and organization of military operations increased. During the Civil War, 33 regular armies were formed, including 2 cavalry. At the fronts there were 85 rifle divisions, 39 rifle brigades, 27 cavalry divisions and 7 cavalry brigades.

Formation of the White Army

Parts of the young Red Army received their first baptism of fire in February 1918, during the German attack on Petrograd. In general, the situation for the Bolsheviks was very difficult. On the Don, in the Cossack lands, as a result of the struggle for power, A.M. was elected ataman. Kaledin is an ardent opponent of Soviet Power. There, on the Don, a group of former tsarist generals, which included M.V. Alekseev, P.G. Kornilov, A.I. Denikin, S.L. Markov, began the formation of the White Volunteer Army. The above-mentioned generals did not accept the power of the Soviets and could not come to terms with the signing of the “obscene” Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty.

Military-political situation

This led to the occupation by German troops of vast territories of former Tsarist Russia (Ukraine, Belarus, Crimea, the Baltic states, part of the South of Russia). In addition, in the spring of 1918, under the pretext of “defense from Germany”, an armed intervention of the Entente countries began, in March 1918 the British occupied Arkhangelsk, in June - Murmansk, under the cover of British troops in the North, a white government was formed, which began the formation of the “Slavic-British Legion” , and the so-called “Murmansk Volunteer Army”.

May 1918 was marked by the mutiny of the Czechoslovak Corps. It is considered to be the beginning of the Civil War. As a result of this rebellion, Soviet Power was suppressed in vast territories from the Volga to Vladivostok. The Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Komuch (committee of members of the Constituent Assembly) was formed in Samara; the government of the Ufa Directory arose in Siberia, which was overthrown in November by Admiral A.V. Kolchak.

Combat actions of the Red Army, years 1918 – 1919

However, despite all their weakness and lack of organization, units of the young Red Army were able to hold Petrograd and Moscow, as well as part of the most important industrial areas.

1919 was the most critical moment for Soviet Power. The “white flood” began. Three white armies are formed, which became the main ones in the white movement:

• A volunteer army created in the South of Russia, commanded by L. Kornilov, and after his death by A. Denikin.
• A. Kolchak's army in Siberia. It is he who is proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia.
• The army of N. Yudenich was formed in the North-West.

Kolchak's troops crossed the Urals and almost reached the Volga. Denikin's volunteer army occupied Kyiv. In the fall of 1919, Oryol fell. Yudenich's troops reached the near approaches to Petrograd. It seemed that everything was over for the Bolsheviks, but the Red Army managed to stop the great offensive of the White armies at the end of 1919.

The troops of the Eastern Front, under the command of the talented commander-nugget M. Frunze, defeated Kolchak’s armies, threw them back beyond the Urals and went on the offensive. The Red Army entered Siberia. Yudenich's army was defeated and retreated to the Baltic states. On the Southern Front, the Red Army, reinforced by the First Cavalry Army, commanded by the legendary commander S. Budyonny, defeated the Volunteer Army and forced it to begin a retreat.

Victories of the Red Army, years 1920 -1921

Truly, 1920 was the year of the “red flood”. The Red Army won victories on all fronts. In January, Admiral A. Kolchak was arrested and shot in Irkutsk, and a large-scale retreat of the Volunteer Army began. The Red Army occupied Rostov-on-Don, Odessa was occupied on February 8, Novorossiysk fell on March 27. In February 1920, after the departure of the Entente troops, the Northern Region was occupied by the Red Army - Arkhangelsk and Murmansk again went over to the Reds.

The Red Army managed to repel the offensive of the Polish interventionists during the Soviet-Polish War that broke out in 1919-1921. However, further offensive actions aimed at capturing Warsaw were unsuccessful and ended in disaster. A peace was signed with Poland, according to which it received the Western regions of Ukraine and Belarus.

The last attempt to destroy Soviet Power was made by Baron P. Wrangel in the summer of 1920. Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Red Army were busy with the war with Poland, the White Guard Armed Forces of the South of Russia launched a strike from the Crimea, hoping to unite with the Polish army and cut off the South of Russia from the RSFSR.

However, these plans failed; the Red Army, under the command of M. Frunze, urgently called from Turkestan, stopped the White advance. Then she threw them back to Crimea. On October 28, 1920, the Bolshevik army launched an offensive on the Crimea, crossing Sivash and breaking through the defenses of the white troops.

The Red Army occupied Simferopol and Sevastopol, forcing the remnants of the white troops to hastily evacuate. By the end of 1922, units of the Red Army, commanded by V. Blucher, occupied Vladivostok. The bloody and brutal Civil War was over.

Afterword

The myth that the Bolsheviks who came to power were a bunch of adventurers, corrupt German recruited agents is a lie designed to denigrate our history, to once again present our people as brainless sheep. The people made their choice. The victory of the Red Army was a natural event in the development of the country. Not all officers ran to the Don to Baron Wrangel or to Siberia to Admiral Kolchak.

Their reasons for this were different. Some remained due to some circumstances, but the majority, having swallowed shame in the Russian-Japanese and the First World War, and faced with the disintegration of the ruling army elite, did not want to restore the monarchy or save the incompetent Provisional Government. They remained with their people, not always understanding them and not sharing many of the views of the Bolsheviks. They helped build a new army. They trained red commanders. It was thanks to them that a powerful army was created in a short time, capable of repelling the White Army and the Entente interventionists.

The leadership of the formation of the Red Army, on the part of the Bolsheviks, was headed by talented organizers and leaders who accurately represented the goals of the tasks assigned to them to create an army capable of repelling anyone who encroached on the gains of the revolution. There were no career military men among them, but extraordinary individuals, faced with the need to build a new army, were able to organize the work in the shortest possible time in such a way that the result was simply stunning not only for the White Army, but for the whole world.

Russian Civil War(1917-1922/1923) - a series of armed conflicts between various political, ethnic, social groups and state entities on the territory of the former Russian Empire, which followed the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks as a result of the October Revolution of 1917.

The Civil War was the result of the revolutionary crisis that struck Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, which began with the revolution of 1905-1907, aggravated during the World War and led to the fall of the monarchy, economic ruin, and a deep social, national, political and ideological split in Russian society. The apogee of this split was a fierce war throughout the country between the armed forces of the Soviet government and the anti-Bolshevik authorities.

White movement- a military-political movement of politically heterogeneous forces formed during the Civil War of 1917-1923 in Russia with the goal of overthrowing Soviet power. It included representatives of both moderate socialists and republicans, as well as monarchists, united against the Bolshevik ideology and acting on the basis of the principle of “Great, United and Indivisible Russia” (ideological movement of whites). The White movement was the largest anti-Bolshevik military-political force during the Russian Civil War and existed alongside other democratic anti-Bolshevik governments, nationalist separatist movements in Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Crimea, and the Basmachi movement in Central Asia.

A number of features distinguish the White movement from the rest of the anti-Bolshevik forces of the Civil War:

The White movement was an organized military-political movement against Soviet power and its allied political structures; its intransigence towards Soviet power excluded any peaceful, compromise outcome of the Civil War.

The White movement was distinguished by its priority in wartime of individual power over collegial power, and military power over civilian power. White governments were characterized by the absence of a clear separation of powers; representative bodies either did not play any role or had only advisory functions.

The White movement tried to legalize itself on a national scale, proclaiming its continuity from pre-February and pre-October Russia.

Recognition by all regional white governments of the all-Russian power of Admiral A.V. Kolchak led to the desire to achieve commonality of political programs and coordination of military actions. The solution to agrarian, labor, national and other basic issues was fundamentally similar.

The white movement had common symbols: a tricolor white-blue-red flag, the official anthem “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion.”

Publicists and historians who sympathize with whites cite the following reasons for the defeat of the white cause:

The Reds controlled the densely populated central regions. There were more people in these territories than in the white-controlled territories.

Regions that began to support whites (for example, Don and Kuban), as a rule, suffered more than others from the Red Terror.

The inexperience of white leaders in politics and diplomacy.

Conflicts between whites and national separatist governments over the slogan “One and Indivisible.” Therefore, whites repeatedly had to fight on two fronts.

Workers' and Peasants' Red Army- the official name of the types of armed forces: ground forces and air fleet, which, together with the Red Army MS, the NKVD troops of the USSR (Border Troops, Internal Security Troops of the Republic and State Convoy Guards) constituted the Armed Forces of the RSFSR/USSR from February 15 (23), 1918 years to February 25, 1946.

The day of the creation of the Red Army is considered to be February 23, 1918 (see Defender of the Fatherland Day). It was on this day that mass enrollment of volunteers began in the Red Army detachments, created in accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR “On the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army,” signed on January 15 (28).

L. D. Trotsky actively participated in the creation of the Red Army.

The supreme governing body of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (since the formation of the USSR - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR). The leadership and management of the army was concentrated in the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, in the special All-Russian Collegium created under it, since 1923, the Labor and Defense Council of the USSR, and since 1937, the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In 1919-1934, direct leadership of the troops was carried out by the Revolutionary Military Council. In 1934, to replace it, the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR was formed.

Detachments and squads of the Red Guard - armed detachments and squads of sailors, soldiers and workers, in Russia in 1917 - supporters (not necessarily members) of left parties - Social Democrats (Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and “Mezhraiontsev”), Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists, as well as detachments Red partisans became the basis of the Red Army units.

Initially, the main unit of formation of the Red Army, on a voluntary basis, was a separate detachment, which was a military unit with an independent economy. The detachment was headed by a Council consisting of a military leader and two military commissars. He had a small headquarters and an inspectorate.

With the accumulation of experience and after attracting military experts to the ranks of the Red Army, the formation of full-fledged units, units, formations (brigade, division, corps), institutions and establishments began.

The organization of the Red Army was in accordance with its class character and military requirements of the early 20th century. The combined arms formations of the Red Army were structured as follows:

The rifle corps consisted of two to four divisions;

The division consists of three rifle regiments, an artillery regiment (artillery regiment) and technical units;

The regiment consists of three battalions, an artillery division and technical units;

Cavalry Corps - two cavalry divisions;

Cavalry division - four to six regiments, artillery, armored units (armored units), technical units.

The technical equipment of the military formations of the Red Army with fire weapons) and military equipment was mainly at the level of modern advanced armed forces of that time

The USSR Law “On Compulsory Military Service”, adopted on September 18, 1925 by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, determined the organizational structure of the Armed Forces, which included rifle troops, cavalry, artillery, armored forces, engineering troops, signal troops, air and naval forces, troops United State Political Administration and Convoy Guard of the USSR. Their number in 1927 was 586,000 personnel.

Annotation. The article is devoted to the construction of the cavalry of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army during the Civil War in Russia.

Summary . The article is devoted to building the Cavalry of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army during the Russian Civil War.

CIVIL WAR

AKVILYANOV Yuri Andreevich- retired colonel

(Moscow. E-mail: [email protected])

RED CAVALRY IN THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

The Red Cavalry arose in opposition to the White Guard cavalry, which at the initial stage of the Civil War had an overwhelming numerical and qualitative superiority.

Cavalry (cavalry) as a branch of the ground forces was divided into military, which was organizationally part of infantry (rifle) formations (units) and was intended to carry out tasks in their interests, and strategic (army, front-line) - to carry out tasks both independently and in interaction with other branches of the military.

The basis of the white cavalry was the mounted corps of the Cossack troops, and the Reds created their cavalry almost from scratch. Initially, its main organizational units were mainly hundreds, squadrons, and cavalry units that were part of the military cavalry, which did not have a clear organization or constant strength.

In the construction of cavalry as a branch of the troops of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, we can roughly distinguish such stages as the creation of hundreds, squadrons, detachments and regiments; their consolidation into cavalry formations - brigades and divisions; formation of strategic cavalry - horse corps and armies.

The formation of volunteer Red Cossack units began immediately after the Bolsheviks came to power. At the end of November 1917, at a meeting of representatives of the Cossack units of the Petrograd Military District, it was decided to create revolutionary detachments from the 5th Cossack division, 1st, 4th and 14th Don regiments and send them to the Don, Kuban and Terek to defeat the counter-revolution and establish Soviet power .

In January 1918, a congress of front-line Cossacks gathered in the village of Kamenskaya with the participation of delegates from 46 Cossack regiments. He recognized Soviet power and created the Donvoenrevkom, which declared war on the ataman of the Don Army, cavalry general A.M. Kaledin, who opposed the Bolsheviks.

Civil War participant, Army General I.V. Tyulenev described the formation of the first detachments as follows: “The formation of the Red Guard detachments was in charge of the Syzran Council of Soldiers’ Deputies and the district military commissar. By their order, I put together two cavalry detachments. Subsequently, one of them, under the command of Zhloba, operated well in the south. The other... was thrown against the rebel units of the Czechoslovak corps"1.

One of the examples of the first red cavalry detachments is created by S.M. Budyonny. On January 12, 1918, at a meeting of residents in the village of Platovskaya, Salsky district, a village council was elected, the deputy chairman of which was the former senior officer of the 18th Seversky Dragoon Regiment S.M. Budyonny. His detachment, created during the liberation of the village of Platovskaya from the White Guards, joined the reorganized detachment of T.N. Nikiforova. Based on Budyonny’s detachment, a cavalry squadron of four platoons of 30 horsemen was formed.

In March 1918, a united Red Partisan detachment of 300 sabers was created, and former sergeant B.M. was elected its commander. Dumenko. In May, the Red Partisan detachments united into one under the command of G.K. Shevkoplyasova. The cavalry of all detachments served as the basis for the creation of a cavalry division, the commander of which was Dumenko, his deputy was Budyonny.

Three cavalry regiments entered the Red Army from the disbanded old Russian army2. One of them, the 1st Cavalry Regiment, was formed in January 1918 in Petrograd on the basis of the former Guards Cavalry Regiment3.

The 32nd Don Cossack Regiment supported the establishment of Soviet power, electing military foreman F.K. as its commander. Mironov, in January 1918 returned from the front to the Don and decided not to go home until the counter-revolution led by Ataman Kaledin was defeated.

In mid-1918, the formation of cavalry brigades and divisions (cd) began.

In June 1918, the Supreme Military Council decided to form three cavalry divisions. But by the end of 1918, only one formation was formed on the territory of the Moscow Military District - the Moscow Cavalry Division (since March 1919 - 1 cavalry division), other units were included in the military cavalry4.

In the second half of June, when the previously mentioned united partisan detachment led by Shevkoplyasov was renamed the 1st Don Soviet Rifle Division, its cavalry was consolidated into the 1st Peasant Socialist Cavalry Regiment (about 1000 sabers) led by Dumenko and his deputy Budyonny5. In August, this regiment, replenished with cavalry from the Martyno-Orlovsky detachment, turned into the 1st Don Soviet Cavalry Brigade, led by the same commander and deputy. It included two cavalry regiments - the 1st under the command of O.I. Gorodovikov and 2nd - G.S. Maslakov, as well as special reserve cavalry and artillery divisions. Each regiment included 5 squadrons, a squadron - 4 saber platoons with one heavy machine gun on a cart.

In the Kuban, by the fall of 1918, cavalry detachments entered the corps under the command of G.A. Kochergin, and a separate cavalry brigade was formed under the command of S.V. Non-speaking.

The creation of a strong cavalry in the Red Army was facilitated by the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) L.D. Trotsky, who proclaimed the slogan “Proletarians, on horseback!”

The initiators of the creation of large cavalry formations in the Red Army were Dumenko and Budyonny. Since the summer of 1918, they persistently convinced the Soviet leadership of the need to create larger cavalry formations: divisions and corps. Their views were shared by K.E. Voroshilov, I.V. Stalin, A.I. Egorov and other leaders of the 10th Army.

On August 3, 1918, by order of the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs No. 612, the first states of the cavalry division were announced with a total number of 7,653 men and 8,469 horses. It included a directorate, three two-regiment brigades (4 squadrons each), and a horse artillery division (4 batteries). On December 26, 1918, by order of the RVSR No. 460/61, new states of the cavalry division were approved, its structure remained the same, the number increased to 8346 people and 9226 horses6.

By order of the commander of the 10th Army K.E. Voroshilov No. 62 of November 28, 1918, Dumenko’s cavalry brigade was reorganized into the Consolidated Cavalry Division (from March 1919 - the 4th Cavalry) of two brigades. In addition, it included a special reserve cavalry division of three squadrons. On December 15, 1918, the division had 3,300 sabers.

The formation of the Moscow (1st) and Combined Cavalry Divisions can be considered the beginning of the creation of strategic cavalry in the Red Army. 1 cd proved itself in battles on the Eastern Front against the troops of A.V. Kolchak, Svodnaya - near Tsaritsyn.

With the formation of fronts by order of the RVSR No. 3/2 of September 11, 19187 and the renaming of the Red Army of the North Caucasus into the 11th Army, first of the Southern, then of the Caspian-Caucasian Front, two cavalry divisions and two cavalry brigades were formed in it, which were part of the 1st and 2nd Rifle Divisions (SD).

The 11th Army had at least 10 thousand sabers. At that time there was no such number of cavalrymen in any other army of the Southern and Eastern Fronts. In general, of the 20 thousand sabers that were in the red cavalry at the fronts in October 1918, more than half were in the North Caucasus8.

The Soviet command took intensive measures to strengthen the cavalry. On all fronts of the Civil War, separate cavalry regiments, brigades and divisions were created from partisan detachments and military cavalry units. They needed a large number of horses.

On July 26, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR signed a decree “On the introduction of military conscription.” The recruitment of horses for the Red Army was streamlined. During the period of their independent acquisition by military districts from September 1918 to January 1919, 210,653 horses were purchased from the population, 102,164 of them were left in the districts and 108,489 were in the active army9.

The Mobilization Directorate of the All-Russian General Headquarters developed a Temporary Regulation on the registration of horses, which established a passport system for them. On March 1, 1920, registration was completed in 280 out of 395 counties, 6,814,000 horses were registered, of which 1,333,000 (about 20 percent) were fit for military service10.

In February-March 1919, during the period of widespread mobilization of horses, about 48 thousand of them were purchased. From April to September 1919, as a result of the purchase, about 35 thousand horses were purchased11.<…>

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NOTES

1 Tyulenev I.V. Three wars later. M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2007. P. 132.

2 Cavalry / Soviet Military Encyclopedia (SVE): In 8 volumes. M.: Voenizdat, 1976. T. 4. P. 13.

3 Cavalry / Military Encyclopedia (VE): In 8 volumes. M.: Voenizdat, 1995. T. 4. P. 435.

4 Russian State Military Archive (RGVA). Guide: In 2 volumes. M.: RGVA, 1993. T. 2. P. 209.

5 Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (TsAMO RF). F. 40435. Op. 1. D. 106. L. 272.

6 RGVA. Guide. P. 200.

7 Ibid. P. 222.

8 Directives of the command of the fronts of the Red Army (1917-1922). Sat. documents: In 4 volumes. M.: Voenizdat, 1978. T. 1. P. 45-49.

9 Ovechkin V. At the origins of the Soviet cavalry // Horse breeding and equestrian sport. 1983. No. 6. Internet resource: http://www.kdvorik.ru.