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Attack on Petrograd. Yudenich's second campaign against Petrograd

The Cossacks, who rebelled against the Bolsheviks, became an important stronghold of the White Guards operating in the south of the country. Even during 1918, the Volunteer Army gradually grew, becoming a truly powerful force. Other white armies joined it, and the combined troops were led by A. Denikin.

Anton Denikin's troops had to fight not only the Red Army. In Ukraine, other armed groups also fought against the “whites”. First of all, these were supporters of the Ukrainian People's Republic - Petliurists, as they were called by the name of commander Symon Petliura. Another important force in Ukraine was the “Green Army” of the anarchist Nestor Makhno.

In the summer of 1919, when the Red Army defeated the troops of Admiral A. Kolchak in the east, Denikin’s armies went on the offensive. They occupied Kyiv and Kharkov, took Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) and moved to the center of the country.

On September 20, the White Guards occupied Kursk, and on October 13, Oryol. Now they were separated from the capital by only about 400 km. In the face of this threat, Soviet troops were even forced to suspend their victorious offensive against Kolchak’s armies.

Obviously, the attitude of the population could tip the scales in one direction or another: with what mood would they greet the White Guards - with sympathy or hostility?

General Peter Wrangel wrote about Anton Denikin’s offensive: “The population, who greeted the army as it advanced with sincere delight, who had suffered from the Bolsheviks and longed for peace, soon began to again experience the horrors of robbery, violence and tyranny. The result is the collapse of the front and an uprising in the rear.”

The peasant policy of the White Guards was very important, perhaps decisive. The peasants were most concerned about the question: would their land be taken back in favor of the landowners? Gradually their worst fears began to be confirmed. In addition, approximately a third of the harvest (“the third sheaf”), by decision of the authorities, went to the needs of the landowners. All this, of course, could only cause a wave of irritation and discontent among the peasants.

October 11, 1919 The Red Army launched an offensive against Denikin's troops. In October, she drove the White Guards out of Orel and Voronezh, in November - from Kursk, in December - from Kharkov and Kyiv. The general situation on the fronts changed radically in favor of the Red Army; her offensive developed rapidly. In January 1920 she conquered Tsaritsyn, Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don, and occupied Odessa in February.

In March, to top off a series of heavy defeats for the white armies, the “Novorossiysk catastrophe” broke out. On March 27, A. Denikin’s troops had to leave Novorossiysk in disarray under the pressure of the advancing Soviet troops. During the retreat, huge army reserves, guns, and cavalry were abandoned.

After the “Novorossiysk catastrophe,” the remnants of A. Denikin’s defeated armies retreated to Crimea. Here, at the beginning of April 1920, General Denikin surrendered command and supreme power to P. Wrangel, after which he left the country.

Yudenich's attack on Petrograd

At the beginning of 1919 Large White Guard forces were formed in the Baltic states. They were led by General Nikolai Yudenich. The allies, especially the British, provided significant assistance to these troops.

During 1919 White Guard troops launched an attack on Petrograd three times - in May. July and October. The third offensive was the most powerful. It began on September 28, when in the south A. Denikin’s army was at the peak of its successes. The well-supplied troops of N. Yudenich were one and a half times larger than the Red Army forces defending the city.

N. Yudenich's army occupied Gatchina, and then Tsarskoe Selo, closely approaching the suburbs of Petrograd.

In response to N. Yudenich's offensive, the Bolsheviks mobilized all the military forces available in Petrograd. The city was defended not only by Red Army soldiers, but also by hastily armed “worker regiments.” The entire working population was mobilized to dig trenches and build barricades.

L. Trotsky organized the defense of the city with considerable energy, transferring reserves and using every opportunity to strengthen the front. As a result of all these measures, the city’s defenders managed to accomplish what seemed impossible - to stop N. Yudenich’s army and throw it back. On October 21, units of the Red Army went on the offensive and inflicted a crushing blow on the White Guards in two weeks. As a result of fierce battles, N. Yudenich’s army was defeated and pushed back to the Estonian border. On January 22, N. Yudenich gave the order to disband the army.

Main article: Petrograd defense

Yudenich, Nikolai Nikolaevich (left)

Construction of barricades in Petrograd during Yudenich's offensive

Secret counterintelligence report from S.-Z. front about the situation of Russians in Estonia, 1920.

In January 1919, the “Russian Political Committee” was created in Helsingfors under the chairmanship of cadet Kartashev. Oil industrialist S. G. Lianozov, who took over the financial affairs of the committee, received about 2 million marks from Finnish banks for the needs of the future North-Western government. The organizer of military activities was Nikolai Yudenich, who planned the creation of a united North-Western Front against the Bolsheviks, based on the self-proclaimed Baltic states and Finland, with the financial and military assistance of the British.

The national governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which held only minor territories by the beginning of 1919, reorganized their armies and, with the support of Russian and German units, went into active action. offensive actions. During 1919, Bolshevik power in the Baltic states was eliminated.

On June 5, 1919, Yudenich was appointed by A.V. Kolchak as commander-in-chief of all Russian land and naval armed forces operating against the Bolsheviks in Northwestern Front. On August 11, 1919, the Government was created in Tallinn Northwestern region(Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance - Stepan Lianozov, Minister of War - Nikolai Yudenich, maritime minister- Vladimir Pilkin and others). On the same day, the Government of the North-Western Region, under pressure from the British, who promised weapons and equipment for the army for this recognition, recognized state independence Estonia continued to negotiate with Finland. However, the all-Russian government of Kolchak refused to consider the separatist demands of the Finns and Balts. To Yudenich’s request about the possibility of fulfilling the demands of K. G. E. Mannerheim (which included demands for the annexation of the Pechenga Bay region and western Karelia to Finland), with which Yudenich basically agreed, Kolchak refused, and the Russian representative in Paris S. D. Sazonov stated that “the Baltic provinces cannot be recognized as an independent state. Likewise, the fate of Finland cannot be decided without the participation of Russia...”

After the creation of the Northwestern Government and its recognition of Estonia's independence, Great Britain provided financial assistance to the Northwestern Army in the amount of 1 million rubles, 150 thousand pounds sterling, 1 million francs; in addition, minor supplies of weapons and ammunition were made. By September 1919, British assistance to Yudenich's army with weapons and ammunition amounted to 10 thousand rifles, 6 tanks, 20 guns, several armored vehicles, 39 thousand shells, several million cartridges.

Yudenich's autumn offensive on Petrograd was unsuccessful, the North-Western Army was forced into Estonia, where, after the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Estonia, 15 thousand soldiers and officers of Yudenich's North-Western Army were first disarmed, and then 5 thousand of them were captured and sent away to concentration camps. The slogan of the White movement about “United and indivisible Russia”, that is, non-recognition of separatist regimes, deprived Yudenich of support not only from Estonia, but also from Finland, which never provided any assistance to the North-Western Army in its battles near Petrograd. And after the change of the Mannerheim government in 1919, Finland completely set a course for normalizing relations with the Bolsheviks, and President Stolberg banned the formation of military units of the Russian White movement on the territory of his country, and then the plan for a joint offensive of the Russian and Finnish armies on Petrograd was finally buried. These events went in the general direction of mutual recognition and settlement of relations Soviet Russia with the newly independent states - similar processes have already taken place in the Baltic states.

Battles in the North

General Miller

Icebreaker "Kozma Minin" in the Throat of the White Sea. 1920

The formation of the White Army in the North took place politically in the most difficult situation, since here it was created in conditions of the dominance of left-wing (Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik) elements in the political leadership (suffice it to say that the government fiercely opposed even the introduction of shoulder straps).

By mid-November 1918, Major General N.I. Zvyagintsev (commander of the troops in the Murmansk region under both the Whites and the Reds) managed to form only two companies. In November 1918, Zvyagintsev was replaced by Colonel Nagornov. By that time, in the Northern Territory, near Murmansk, they were already operating partisan detachments under the leadership of front-line officers from local natives. There were several hundred such officers, most of whom came from local peasants, such as the brothers ensigns A. and P. Burkov, in the Northern Region. Most of them were strongly anti-Bolshevik, and the fight against the Reds was quite fierce. In addition, the Olonets Volunteer Army operated in Karelia, from the territory of Finland.

Major General V.V. Marushevsky was temporarily appointed to the post of commander of all troops of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. After the re-registration of army officers, about two thousand people were registered. In Kholmogory, Shenkursk and Onega, Russian volunteers joined the French Foreign Legion. As a result, by January 1919 white army already numbered about 9 thousand bayonets and sabers. In November 1918, the anti-Bolshevik government of the Northern Region invited General Miller to take the post of Governor-General of the Northern Region, and Marushevsky remained as commander of the White troops of the region with the rights of an army commander. On January 1, 1919, Miller arrived in Arkhangelsk, where he was appointed manager foreign affairs government, and on January 15 became Governor-General of the Northern Region (which recognized the supreme power of A.V. Kolchak on April 30). Since May 1919, at the same time, commander-in-chief of the troops of the Northern region - the Northern Army, since June - commander-in-chief Northern Front. In September 1919, he simultaneously accepted the post of Chief Commander of the Northern Territory.

However, the growth of the army outpaced the growth of the officer corps. By the summer of 1919, only 600 officers served in the already 25 thousand strong army. The shortage of officers was aggravated by the practice of recruiting captured Red Army soldiers into the army (who made up more than half of the units' personnel). British and Russian military schools were organized to train officers. The Slavic-British Aviation Corps, the Arctic Ocean flotilla, a fighter division in the White Sea, river flotillas(North Dvina and Pechora). The armored trains “Admiral Kolchak” and “Admiral Nepenin” were also built. However, the combat effectiveness of the mobilized troops of the Northern Region still remained low. There were frequent cases of desertion of soldiers, disobedience and even murder of officers and soldiers from Allied units. Mass desertion also led to mutinies: “3 thousand infantrymen (in the 5th Northern Rifle Regiment) and 1 thousand military personnel of other branches of the army with four 75-mm guns went over to the Bolshevik side.” Miller relied on the support of the British military contingent, which took part in hostilities against units of the Red Army. The commander of the Allied forces in the north of Russia, disappointed in the combat effectiveness of the troops of the Northern region, said in his report that: “The condition of the Russian troops is such that all my efforts to strengthen the Russian national army are doomed to failure. It is now necessary to evacuate as quickly as possible, unless the number of British forces here is increased." By the end of 1919, Britain had largely withdrawn its support for the anti-Bolshevik governments in Russia, and at the end of September the Allies evacuated Arkhangelsk. W. E. Ironside (Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces) suggested that Miller evacuate the Northern Army. Miller refused “... due to the combat situation... ordered to hold Arkhangelsk district to the last extreme..."

After the British left, Miller continued the fight against the Bolsheviks. To strengthen the army, on August 25, 1919, the Provisional Government of the Northern Region carried out another mobilization, as a result of which by February 1920, the troops of the Northern Region numbered 1,492 officers, 39,822 combatants and 13,456 non-combatant lower ranks - a total of 54.7 thousand people with 161 guns and 1.6 thousand machine guns, and in the national militia - up to 10 thousand more people. In the fall of 1919, the White Northern Army launched an offensive on the Northern Front and Komi Territory. In a relatively short time, the whites managed to occupy vast territories. After Kolchak's retreat to the east, parts of Kolchak's Siberian army were transferred under the command of Miller. In December 1919, Captain Chervinsky launched an attack on the Reds in the area of the village. Narykary. On December 29, in a telegraph report to Izhma (headquarters of the 10th Pechora Regiment) and Arkhangelsk, he wrote [ source not specified 1102 days] :

However, in December the Reds launched a counter-offensive, occupied Shenkursk and came close to Arkhangelsk. On February 24-25, 1920, most of the Northern Army surrendered. On February 19, 1920, Miller was forced to emigrate. Together with General Miller, more than 800 military personnel and civilian refugees, placed on the icebreaker steamship Kozma Minin, the icebreaker Canada, and the yacht Yaroslavna, left Russia. Despite obstacles in the form of ice fields and pursuit (with artillery shelling) by ships of the Red Fleet, the white sailors managed to bring their detachment to Norway, where they arrived on February 26. Last fights in Komi took place on March 6-9, 1920. The White detachment retreated from Troitsko-Pechorsk to Ust-Shchugor. On March 9, Red units that arrived from near the Urals surrounded Ust-Shchugor, in which there was a group of officers under the command of Captain Shulgin. The garrison capitulated. The officers under escort were sent to Cherdyn. On the way, the officers were shot by their guards. Despite the fact that the population of the north sympathized with the ideas of the white movement, and the Northern Army was well armed, the white army in northern Russia collapsed under the attacks of the Reds. This was a result of the low number of experienced officers, and the presence of a significant number of former Red Army soldiers who had no desire to fight for the provisional government of the distant northern region.

Allied supplies to White

British interventionist poster Civil War.

After Germany's defeat in the First World War, England, France and the United States largely reoriented from a direct military presence to economic assistance to the governments of Kolchak and Denikin. The US Consul in Vladivostok Caldwell was informed: “ The government officially accepted the obligation to help Kolchak with equipment and food...". The United States transfers to Kolchak loans issued and unused by the Provisional Government in the amount of $262 million, as well as weapons worth $110 million. In the first half of 1919, Kolchak received from the United States more than 250 thousand rifles, thousands of guns and machine guns. The Red Cross is supplying 300 thousand sets of linen and other equipment. On May 20, 1919, 640 wagons and 11 locomotives were sent from Vladivostok to Kolchak, on June 10 - 240,000 pairs of boots, on June 26 - 12 locomotives with spare parts, on July 3 - two hundred guns with shells, on July 18 - 18 locomotives, etc. This only individual facts .. However, when in the fall of 1919 in Vladivostok American ships rifles purchased by the Kolchak government in the USA began to arrive, the local commander of the American occupation forces, General Graves, refused to send them further along railway. He justified his actions by the fact that the weapons could fall into the hands of the units of Ataman Kalmykov, who, according to Graves, with the moral support of the Japanese, was preparing to attack the American units. Under pressure from other allies, he nevertheless sent weapons to Irkutsk.

During the winter of 1918-1919, hundreds of thousands of rifles were delivered (250-400 thousand to Kolchak and up to 380 thousand to Denikin), tanks, trucks (about 1 thousand), armored cars and aircraft, ammunition and uniforms for several hundred thousand people. The head of supply for the Kolchak army, English General Alfred Knox, stated:

At the same time, the Entente raised the question of the need for compensation for this assistance to the white governments. General Denikin testifies:

and quite rightly concludes that “this was no longer help, but simply commodity exchange and trade.”

The supply of weapons and equipment to the Whites was sometimes sabotaged by Entente workers who sympathized with the Bolsheviks. A. I. Kuprin wrote in his memoirs about the supply of Yudenich’s army by the British:

After the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which formalized Germany’s defeat in the war, the assistance of the Western allies to the White movement, who saw it primarily as fighters against the Bolshevik government, gradually ceased. Thus, British Prime Minister Lloyd George, shortly after a failed attempt to bring the whites and reds to the negotiating table in the Princes' Islands, spoke in the following vein:

According to Denikin, the following happened:

Soviet-Polish War

Red Army Austin-Putilovets captured by the Poles, called “Stenka Razin”

Borders of Poland and the RSFSR following the results of the Soviet-Polish War

Main article: Soviet-Polish War (1919-1921)

See also:Battle for Bereza-Kartuzskaya , Mozyr operation , Kyiv operation of the Polish Army (1920) , Kyiv operation of the Red Army (1920) , First Battle of Brest (1920) , Battle of Warsaw (1920) , Battle of Kobrin (1920) , Battle of the Neman (1920) .

On April 25, 1920, the Polish army, equipped with funds from France, invaded Soviet Ukraine and captured Kyiv on May 6. Chapter Polish state J. Pilsudski hatched a plan to create a confederal state “from sea to sea,” which would include the territories of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. However, this plan was not destined to come true. On May 14, a successful counter-offensive began by the troops of the Western Front (commander M. N. Tukhachevsky), on May 26 - the South-Western Front (commander A. I. Egorov). In mid-July they approached the borders of Poland.

The Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b), having clearly overestimated its own strength and underestimated the enemy’s, set a new task for the command of the Red Army strategic task: Fight to enter the territory of Poland, take its capital and create conditions for the proclamation of Soviet power in the country. Trotsky, who knew the state of the Red Army, wrote in his memoirs [ source not specified 1102 days] :

There were fervent hopes for an uprising of the Polish workers... Lenin had a firm plan: to bring the matter to an end, that is, to enter Warsaw in order to help the Polish working masses to overthrow the Pilsudski government and seize power... I found in the center a very firm mood in favor of bringing the war "to end." I strongly opposed this. The Poles have already asked for peace. I believed that we had reached the culmination of success, and if we go further without calculating our strength, then we could pass by the victory we had already won - to defeat. After the colossal effort, which allowed the 4th Army to cover 650 kilometers in five weeks, it could move forward only by the force of inertia. Everything hung on the nerves, and these are too thin threads. One strong push was enough to shake our front and turn a completely unheard of and unprecedented... offensive impulse into a catastrophic retreat.”

Despite Trotsky's opinion, Lenin and almost all members of the Politburo rejected his proposal for an immediate peace with Poland. The attack on Warsaw was entrusted to the Western Front, and on Lviv to the South-Western Front, led by Alexander Egorov.

According to the statements of the Bolshevik leaders, in general, this was an attempt to advance the “red bayonet” deeper into Europe and thereby “stir up the Western European proletariat” and push it to support the world revolution.

From the order entitled “To the West!”

This attempt ended in disaster. The troops of the Western Front in August 1920 were completely defeated near Warsaw (the so-called “Miracle on the Vistula”), and rolled back. During the battle, of the five armies of the Western Front, only the third survived, which managed to retreat. The remaining armies were destroyed: the Fourth Army and part of the Fifteenth fled to East Prussia and were interned, the Mozyr Group, the Fifteenth, and Sixteenth armies were surrounded or defeated. More than 120 thousand Red Army soldiers (up to 200 thousand) were captured, most of them captured during the battle of Warsaw, and another 40 thousand soldiers were in East Prussia in internment camps. This defeat of the Red Army is the most catastrophic in the history of the Civil War. According to Russian sources, subsequently about 80 thousand Red Army soldiers from total number captured by the Polish, died from hunger, disease, torture, bullying and execution. It is reliably known about the number of returned prisoners of war - 75,699 people and the number of Red Army soldiers who died in Polish camps from epidemics, hunger and difficult conditions of detention - 16-20 thousand people. In estimates total number The Russian and Polish sides differ in the number of prisoners of war - from 85 to 157 thousand people.

Main article: Prisoners of war of the Polish-Soviet war

Negotiations on the transfer of part of the captured property to Wrangel's army did not lead to any results due to the refusal of the leadership of the White movement to recognize the independence of Poland. In October, the parties concluded a truce, and in March 1921, a peace treaty. Under its terms, a significant part of the lands in western Ukraine and Belarus with 10 million Ukrainians and Belarusians went to Poland.

Neither side achieved its goals during the war: Belarus and Ukraine were divided between Poland and the republics that were part of the Soviet Union. The territory of Lithuania was divided between Poland and the independent state of Lithuania. The RSFSR, for its part, recognized the independence of Poland and the legitimacy of the Pilsudski government, and temporarily abandoned plans for a “world revolution” and the elimination of the Versailles system. Despite the signing of a peace treaty, relations between the two countries remained tense for the next twenty years, which ultimately led to the Soviet participation in the partition of Poland in 1939.

Disagreements between the Entente countries that arose in 1920 on the issue of military-financial support for Poland led to the gradual cessation of support by these countries for the White movement and anti-Bolshevik forces in general, and subsequent international recognition of the Soviet Union.

Crimea

General Baron P. N. Wrangel and the pilots of the Fifth Air Squadron

White Guard tank of English production, captured by soldiers of the 51st rifle division The Red Army during the battles near Kakhovka on October 14, 1920

A detachment of Komsomol volunteers before being sent to the front.

Main articles: Russian army of Wrangel, Defeat of the Zhloba cavalry group, Ulagaevsky landing (1920), Fighting on the Kakhovsky bridgehead (1920), Perekop-Chongar operation (1920), Crimean evacuation (1920)

At the height of the Soviet-Polish war, Baron P. N. Wrangel took active action in the south. With the help of severe measures, including public executions demoralized officers, the general turned Denikin's scattered divisions into a disciplined and combat-ready army.

- Wrangel P. N. Notes

After the outbreak of the Soviet-Polish War, the Russian Army (formerly the AFSR), which had recovered from the unsuccessful attack on Moscow, set out from Crimea and occupied Northern Tavria by mid-June. Crimea's resources by that time were practically exhausted. Wrangel was forced to rely on France for the supply of weapons and ammunition, since England stopped helping the whites back in 1919.

On August 14, 1920, a landing party (4.5 thousand bayonets and sabers) was landed from the Crimea on Kuban under the leadership of General S. G. Ulagai, with the goal of connecting with numerous rebels and opening a second front against the Bolsheviks. But the initial successes of the landing, when the Cossacks, having defeated the red units thrown against them, had already reached the approaches to Yekaterinodar, could not be developed due to the mistakes of Ulagai, who, contrary to the initial plan of a rapid attack on the capital of Kuban, stopped the offensive and began to regroup the troops. This allowed the Reds to bring up reserves, create a numerical advantage and block parts of Ulagai. The Cossacks fought back to the coast Sea of Azov, to Achuev, from where they evacuated (September 7) to Crimea, taking with them 10 thousand rebels who joined them. The few landings that landed on Taman and in the Abrau-Durso area to divert the forces of the Red Army from the main Ulagaev landing were taken back to Crimea after stubborn battles. Fostikov’s 15,000-strong partisan army, operating in the Armavir-Maikop area, was unable to break through to help the landing force.

In July-August, the main forces of Wrangel fought successful defensive battles in Northern Tavria, in particular, completely destroying the Zhloba cavalry corps. After the failure of the landing on Kuban, realizing that the army blocked in the Crimea was doomed, Wrangel decided to break the encirclement and break through to meet the advancing Polish army. Before you transfer fighting on the right bank of the Dnieper, Wrangel threw parts of his Russian Army into the Donbass in order to defeat the Red Army units operating there and not allow them to hit the rear of the main forces of the White Army preparing for an attack on the Right Bank, which they successfully dealt with. On October 3, the White offensive began on the Right Bank. But the initial success could not be developed and on October 15, the Wrangel troops retreated to the left bank of the Dnieper.

Meanwhile, the Poles, contrary to the promises made to Wrangel, concluded a truce with the Bolsheviks on October 12, 1920, who immediately began to transfer troops from the Polish front against the White Army. On October 28, units of the Red Southern Front under the command of M.V. Frunze launched a counter-offensive with the goal of encircling and defeating the Russian army of General Wrangel in Northern Tavria, preventing it from retreating to the Crimea. But the planned encirclement failed. By November 3, the main part of Wrangel’s army retreated to the Crimea, where it consolidated on prepared defense lines.

M. V. Frunze, having concentrated about 190 thousand soldiers against 41 thousand bayonets and sabers at Wrangel, began the assault on Crimea on November 7. On November 11, Frunze wrote an appeal to General Wrangel, which was broadcast by the front radio station:

To the Commander-in-Chief Armed forces South of Russia to General Wrangel. In view of the obvious futility of further resistance of your troops, which only threatens to shed unnecessary streams of blood, I propose that you stop resistance and surrender with all army and navy troops, military supplies, equipment, weapons and all kinds of military property. If you accept this proposal, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Armies of the Southern Front, on the basis of the powers granted to it by the central Soviet government, guarantees to those who surrender, including senior command personnel, full forgiveness for all offenses related to the civil struggle. All those who do not want to stay and work in socialist Russia will be given the opportunity to travel abroad without hindrance, provided they renounce on their word of honor any further struggle against workers' and peasants' Russia and Soviet power. I expect a response until 24 hours on November 11. Moral responsibility for everything possible consequences in case of rejection of an honest offer made falls on you.- Commander of the Southern Front Mikhail Frunze

After the text of the radio telegram was reported to Wrangel, he ordered the closure of all radio stations except one operated by officers in order to prevent the troops from becoming familiar with Frunze’s address. No response was sent.

Despite the significant superiority in manpower and weapons, the Red troops could not break the defense of the Crimean defenders for several days, and only on November 11, when units of the Makhnovist rebel army under the command of S. Karetnik crossed the Sivash and defeated Barbovich’s cavalry corps near Karpova Balka, the White defense was broken through. The Red Army broke into Crimea. The evacuation of the Russian army and civilians began. Within three days, troops, families of officers, and part of the civilian population of the Crimean ports of Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosia and Kerch were loaded onto 126 ships.

On November 12, Dzhankoy was taken by the Reds, on November 13 - Simferopol, on November 15 - Sevastopol, on November 16 - Kerch.

After the seizure of Crimea by the Bolsheviks, mass executions of the civilian and military population of the peninsula began. According to eyewitnesses, from November 1920 to March 1921, from 15 to 120 thousand people were killed.

On November 14-16, 1920, an Armada of ships flying the St. Andrew's flag left the shores of Crimea, taking white regiments and tens of thousands of civilian refugees to a foreign land. The total number of voluntary exiles was 150 thousand people.

On November 21, 1920, the fleet was reorganized into the Russian squadron, consisting of four detachments. Rear Admiral Kedrov was appointed its commander. On December 1, 1920, the French Council of Ministers agreed to send the Russian squadron to the city of Bizerte in Tunisia. An army of about 50 thousand soldiers was retained as a combat unit based on new Kuban campaign until September 1, 1924, when the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, General Baron P. N. Wrangel, transformed it into the Russian All-Military Union.

Also in November 3, the Russian army under the command of General Permikin crossed the Polish border and, with the support of the UPR army, tried to break into Crimea. White General Bulak-Balakhovich fought in Belarus until 1921.

With the fall of the White Crimea, organized resistance to Bolshevik rule in the European part of Russia came to an end. On the agenda for the red “dictatorship of the proletariat” was the issue of fighting the peasant uprisings that swept throughout Russia and were directed against this government.

Russian Political Committee, which considered itself the North-Western Government Russian Empire, an army of emigrants and officers was organized tsarist army. It included the military of the Northern Corps of the pre-revolutionary army and anti-Bolshevik formations located in the Estonian and Latvian lands and the Pskov province. He was appointed to command the army, renowned for his military actions during the First World War. At the beginning of June 1919, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Anti-Bolshevik Front.

The strength of Yudenich’s “white” army before the march on Petrograd was 18 thousand people. The Red Army of the Petrograd Military District numbered 200 thousand.

Hike

The offensive of Yudenich's army began on September 28. It was part of a large-scale anti-Bolshevik operation, in which the Western Russian army and troops were supposed to participate Western countries: Finland, Poland, Great Britain, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

First stage offensive operation for the Northwestern Army was successful. Desperate volunteers advanced towards Petrograd at an “inhuman” pace, capturing cities.

On October 12 they entered Yamburg. By the end of the month, the White Guards occupied Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Luga, Krasnoe and Tsarskoe villages.

The White Guards reached the Pulkovo Heights, they were 20 kilometers from Petrograd.

By this time, the Red Army had received reinforcements consisting of:

15th Army, operating on the right flank of the front;
Urgently formed groups of workers;
Paratroopers - sailors of the Baltic Fleet.

Ten days of fierce fighting ended with a counter-offensive by the Red Army. The White Guards were forced to retreat to the Estonian border.

Causes of defeat

The outcome of the trip was influenced by the following factors:

Failure of allies to fulfill promises of joint military operations;
Insufficient provision of food, heavy weapons, and ammunition;
Inability to replenish losses;
The advantage of the Red Army is the ability to transport reinforcements.

Estonian "gratitude"

During the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Republic of Estonia was formed, which desperately fought the Bolsheviks for its independence and became a natural ally of the North-Western Army. Yudenich's offensive on Petrograd, despite the defeat, did the Estonians a great service: most of the Red Army was distracted, the Soviet government became more accommodating. In addition, after the failure of the campaign against Petrograd, the White Army retreated to the borders of Estonia and there actually defended the republic from the Bolshevik invasion. At the same time, the government of the republic did not allow retreat to its territory. Only when the North-Western Army had completely exhausted itself were some of its units allowed to enter Estonia, where they were immediately stripped of all their weapons, most of their personal belongings and valuables, and often their clothes (despite the extreme cold). They were settled in camps in the swamps, where many died of hunger and cold, and then a typhus epidemic began in them, which also claimed many lives. The Estonian mob often attacked and beat the unfortunate Russians, who had helped Estonia gain freedom. However, after 20 years, the strengthened Bolsheviks came and took it away.

On September 28, 1919, the North-Western Army, led by General Yudenich, launched an offensive against Petrograd. Even before the offensive, many understood that even after occupying the capital, it would be impossible to hold it. But the choice was clear - better was a glorious death and, nevertheless, a chance of victory than a shameful refusal to take active action and the dishonor of those who had given up. How similar this is to the assault on Ekaterinodar, which crowned the “Ice” campaign.

...Victory momentary delight
They flew away like light smoke,
And you were sure in advance -
The leaders have no power these days,
And the flames of riotous uprisings
The autumn rains will pour in.
Z. Gippius

After stubborn fighting, they managed to capture Yamburg, Gatchina, Pavlovsk and Krasnoye Selo. There were only 20 kilometers left to the former capital of the Russian Empire... The dome of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was already shining in the rays of the rising sun, filling hearts with faith in victory and multiplying strength...

Melting with each battle, the white troops rushed to the cherished capital. Exhausted due to lack of food and technical means, inhuman exhaustion, death and wounds, these steel warriors walked forward, trying to snatch victory from the enemy, to throw down the banner of the 3rd International, stained with the blood of the innocent, from the majestic buildings of Palace Square...

...Three hundred won - three!
Only the dead did not rise from the ground.
You were children and heroes,
You could do everything...
M. Tsvetaeva

This is how A.I. Kuprin, who was in the North-Western Army, describes these events in his book “The Domes of St. Isaac of Dalmatia”:

“...The terrible swiftness with which the North-West. The army rushed to St. Petersburg, indeed, there were hardly any examples in world history...

...There Generals Rodzianko and Count Palen - tall giants, in light overcoats of officer's cloth, with weapons that seemed like toys in their hands, went on the attack, ahead of the chains, sending deafening threats to the Bolsheviks. There Permikin rode in front of the tank, showing it the way under fire from armored trains, under the cross fire of red chains, sitting on his gray horse ... "

Holy Prince A.P. Lieven echoes A.I. Kuprin in describing the speed of the offensive movement and onslaught of the white warriors: “...Lieutenant Colonel Dydorov, carrying out the order with maximum speed, reached Krasnoe Selo: on the night of October 10-11, the division crossed the Luga near Muraveinovo and already on the morning of the 11th managed to occupy Weimarn station from the battle. On the evening of October 15, after a stubborn battle, the heavily fortified village of Vysotskoye was occupied, and Lieutenant Colonel Dydorov personally rode forward in an armored car, supporting the attack of the 19th Poltava Regiment with fire. Almost without rest, at 2 a.m. on October 16, the 17th Libau Regiment, under the command of Major General Raden, moved from Russkaya Koporskaya around Krasnoe Selo. The 19th Poltava Regiment moved there through Ropsha, throwing back significant Red forces to the north, towards Peterhof...”

The memoirs of the battery commander, Captain A.S., are also interesting. Gerschelman: “General Rodzianko, with Colonel Rylsky who was with him, walked with us in a long-length cavalry overcoat and tank boots.” Rodzianko, not paying attention to the shooting, moved forward until he came across our reconnaissance, and then he began to swear that they were moving slowly.”
The losses of the white fighters were enormous. How many of them were killed in these autumn battles? The commander of the machine gun company, Captain Tselmin, recalls: “Around 12 noon (October 25, 1919), General Raden gave the order to go on the offensive. There were only 400 of us. We moved across a swampy meadow that did not provide any cover... General Raden was one of the first to fall, mortally wounded in the throat, half of our machine gunners also fell, many were wounded.”
But, despite the sacrifices made...God never destined them to take the city. Those who could support the offensive in the city itself, raising an uprising, were shot and tortured; the Red command concentrated near Petrograd a number of troops five times greater than the number of soldiers in the North-Western Army. And the white troops were overthrown and began to retreat, although they continued to snarl... The outcome of the struggle was already predetermined.

Another time is approaching,
The wind of death is chilling my heart,
But to us the sacred city of Peter
It will be an involuntary monument.
A. Akhmatova “Petrograd, 1919”

Eternal memory to those who joined the heavenly army, to those who in earthly life were faithful to the ideals of justice, patriotism and honor, who preferred fight to flight and betrayal, the deprivations of war to illusory well-being and imaginary peace, the crown of thorns to the golden one! In truth, there are only those who fight!

Main article: Petrograd defense

Secret counterintelligence report from S.-Z. front about the situation of Russians in Estonia, 1920.

In January 1919, the “Russian Political Committee” was created in Helsingfors under the chairmanship of cadet Kartashev. Oil industrialist Stepan Georgievich Lianozov, who took over the financial affairs of the committee, received about 2 million marks from Finnish banks for the needs of the future northwestern government. The organizer of military activities was Nikolai Yudenich, who planned the creation of a united Northwestern Front against the Bolsheviks, based on the self-proclaimed Baltic states and Finland, with the financial and military assistance of the British.

The national governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which at the beginning of 1919 held only minor territories, reorganized their armies and, with the support of Russian and German units, began active offensive operations. During 1919, Bolshevik power in the Baltic states was eliminated.

On June 5, 1919, Yudenich was appointed by A.V. Kolchak as commander-in-chief of all Russian land and naval armed forces operating against the Bolsheviks on the North-Western Front. On August 11, 1919, the Government of the North-Western Region was created in Tallinn (Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance - Stepan Lianozov, Minister of War - Nikolai Yudenich, Minister of Marine - Vladimir Pilkin, etc.). On the same day, the Government of the North-Western Region, under pressure from the British, who promised weapons and equipment for the army for this recognition, recognized the state independence of Estonia and subsequently negotiated with Finland. However, the all-Russian government of Kolchak refused to consider the separatist demands of the Finns and Balts. To Yudenich’s request about the possibility of fulfilling the demands of K. G. E. Mannerheim (which included demands for the annexation of the Pechenga Bay region and western Karelia to Finland), with which Yudenich basically agreed, Kolchak refused, and the Russian representative in Paris S. D. Sazonov stated that “the Baltic provinces cannot be recognized as an independent state. Likewise, the fate of Finland cannot be decided without the participation of Russia...”

Strictly speaking, the Whites launched two attacks on Petrograd - in the spring and autumn of 1919. As a result of the May offensive, the Northern Corps occupied Gdov, Yamburg and Pskov, but by August 26, as a result of the Red counter-offensive of the 7th and 15th armies of the Western Front, the Whites were forced out of these cities. Then, on August 26, a decision was made in Riga to attack Petrograd on September 15. However, after the Soviet government proposed (August 31 and September 11) to begin peace negotiations with the Baltic republics on the basis of recognition of their independence, Yudenich lost the help of these allies. Yudenich's autumn offensive on Petrograd was unsuccessful, the North-Western Army was driven out to Estonia, where after the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Estonia, 15 thousand soldiers and officers of Yudenich's North-Western Army were first disarmed, and then 5 thousand of them were captured and sent to concentration camps . The slogan of the White movement about “United and indivisible Russia”, that is, non-recognition of separatist regimes, deprived Yudenich of support not only from Estonia, but also from Finland, which never provided any assistance to the North-Western Army in its battles near Petrograd. And after the change of government to Mannerheim in 1919, Finland completely set a course for normalizing relations with the Bolsheviks, and President Stolberg banned the formation of military units of the Russian White movement on the territory of his country, and then the plan for a joint offensive of the Russian and Finnish armies on Petrograd was finally buried. These events went in the general direction of mutual recognition and settlement of relations between Soviet Russia and the newly independent states - similar processes had already taken place in the Baltic states.

Attack on Petrograd. Yudenich's second campaign against Petrograd

Yudenich's attack on Petrograd

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Causes of defeat

Estonian "gratitude"

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