White Movement - Theatres of Operation

Theatres of Operation

The Whites and the Reds fought the Russian Civil War from November 1917 until 1921, and isolated battles continued in the Far East until 1923. The White Army—aided by the Allied forces (Triple Entente) from countries such as Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the United States and (sometimes) the Central Powers forces such as Germany and Austria-Hungary, fought in Siberia, Ukraine, and the Crimea. They were defeated by the Red Army because of military and ideological disunity, as well as the determination and increasing unity of the Red Army.

The main White Army war theatres were:

• The Southern front: Started on November 15, 1917 (creation officially announced on December 27 ) by General Mikhail Alekseev and commanded by General Lavr Kornilov, later headed by General Denikin and named the "Armed Forces of the South of Russia". The Southern Front featured massive-scale operations and was the most dangerous threat to the Bolshevik Government. At first, it was based entirely upon volunteers in Russia proper, mostly the Cossacks, among the first to oppose the Bolshevik Government. In 1919, after General Denikin’s attack upon Moscow failed, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia retreated. On March 26 and March 27, 1920 the remnants of the Volunteer Army were evacuated from Novorossiysk to the Crimea, where they merged with the army of Pyotr Wrangel.

• The Eastern (Siberian) front: Started in spring 1918, as a secret movement among army officers and right-wing socialist forces. In that front, they launched an attack in collaboration with the Czechoslovak Legions (then stranded in Siberia by the Bolshevik Government who barred them from leaving Russia). Admiral Alexander Kolchak headed that counter-revolutionary army and a provisional Russian government; despite some significant success in 1919, they were defeated and repelled to far eastern Russia, where they continued fighting until October 1922.

The same month, the Second Kuban Campaign was launched with support from Pyotr Krasnov. By September, the Volunteer Army was composed of 30,000-35,000 members, thanks to mobilization of the Kuban Cossacks gathered in the North Caucasus. Thus, the Volunteer Army took the name of the Caucasus Volunteer Army.

On January 23, 1919 the Volunteer Army took the name and Denikin oversaw the defeat of the 11th Soviet Army and capture of the North Caucasus region. After capturing Donbass, Tsaritsyn and Kharkov in June, Denikin's forces surrounded Moscow on July 3 (N.S.). The plan was for 40,000 fighters, under the command of General Vladimir May-Mayevsky to storm the city.

• The Northern and North-Western fronts: Headed by Nikolai Yudenich, Evgeni Miller, and Anatoly Lieven, were less co-ordinated than General Denikin’s Army of Southern Russia. The Northwestern Army was allied with Estonia, and Lieven's troops with the Baltic nobility. Adventurers led by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov and Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz played a role as well. The most notable operation in the front was Operation White Sword against the Russian capital of Petrograd.