He led the first Kuban ice campaign. Volunteer Ice Campaign

"Ice Camp"

In March 1918, the weather suddenly deteriorated sharply: rain, followed by frosts, caused icing overcoats. Weakened in numerous battles and exhausted by daily transitions through the softened Kuban black soil, the army began to languish under the blows of the elements. Then it got colder, deep snow fell in the mountains, the temperature dropped to 20 degrees below zero. According to contemporaries, it got to the point that the wounded, lying on carts, had to be freed from the ice crust with bayonets in the evening (!) At this time, a fierce clash took place, known as the battle March 15 (28), 1918 Art. Novo-Dmitrievskaya. The fighters of the Officers' Regiment that distinguished themselves here called the battle near Novodmitrovskaya "Markov". General Denikin will later write down: “March 15 - the Ice Campaign - the glory of Markov and the Officer Regiment, the pride of the Volunteer Army and one of the most vivid memories of every pioneer of the past days - they were either fairy tales."

This battle at Novo-Dmitrievskaya, preceded and followed by a series of transitions along the ice-crusted steppe, the Army began to call the "Ice Campaign":

It had rained all night the day before, and hadn't stopped in the morning. The army marched through continuous expanses of water and liquid mud - along roads and without roads - swollen, and disappeared in a thick fog that spread over the earth. Cold water soaked through the entire dress, flowing in sharp, piercing streams behind the collar. People walked slowly, shuddering from the cold and dragging their feet heavily in swollen, water-filled boots. By noon, thick flakes of sticky snow began to fall, and the wind blew. Covers the eyes, nose, ears, captures the breath, and pricks the face, as if with sharp needles ...

- ... Meanwhile, the weather changed again: frost suddenly struck, the wind intensified, a snowstorm began. People and horses quickly overgrown with ice crust; it seemed that everything was frozen to the very bones; warped, as if wooden clothes bound the body; it is difficult to turn the head, it is difficult to raise the foot in the stirrup.

Immediately after the battle on the street of the newly taken village of Novo-Dmitrievskaya, General Markov met the young sister of mercy of the Junker battalion. - It was a real ice hike! - said the sister. - Yes Yes! You're right! General Markov agreed.

The name "Ice", "given by the sister" and "approved" by General Markov, subsequently began to be applied to the entire First Kuban campaign of the Dobrarmia.

History of events

After the refusal of the Don Cossacks to support the Volunteer Army and the start of the offensive of the Soviet troops in the Caucasus, General L. G. Kornilov, the commander in chief of the army, decided to leave the Don.

In Rostov there were shells, cartridges, uniforms, medical depots and medical personnel - everything that the small army guarding the approaches to the city so badly needed. Up to 16,000 (!) Officers who did not want to participate in its defense were on vacation in the city. Generals Kornilov and Alekseev did not resort at this stage to either requisitions or mobilization. The Sievers Bolsheviks, having occupied the city after they left, "took everything they needed and intimidated the population by shooting several officers."

By the beginning of February, the army, which was in the process of being formed, included:
1. Kornilov Shock Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Nezhentsev)
2. St. George Regiment - from a small officer cadre who arrived from Kyiv. (Colonel Kiriyenko).
3. 1st, 2nd, 3rd officer battalions - from the officers gathered in Novocherkassk and Rostov. (Colonel Kutepov, lieutenant colonels Borisov and Lavrentiev, later colonel Simanovsky).
4. Junker battalion - mainly from the cadets of the capital's schools and cadets. (Staff Captain Parfenov)
5. Rostov Volunteer Regiment - from the student youth of Rostov. (Major General Borovsky).
6. Two cavalry divisions. (Colonels Gerschelman and Glazenap).
7. Two artillerymen. batteries - mainly from junkers of artillery schools and officers. (Lieutenant colonels Mionchinsky and Erogin).
8. A number of small units, such as the “naval company” (captain of the 2nd rank Potemkin), an engineering company, the Czechoslovak engineering battalion, the death division of the Caucasian division (Colonel Shiryaev) and several partisan detachments, called by the names of their chiefs. All these regiments, battalions, divisions were essentially only personnel, and the total combat strength of the entire army hardly exceeded 3-4 thousand people, at times, during the period of heavy battles in Rostov, falling to an absolutely insignificant size. The army did not receive a secured base. It was necessary to form and fight at the same time, incurring heavy losses and sometimes destroying a unit that had just been put together with great effort.

Under pressure from the superior forces of the red commander R. F. Sievers, who managed to organize a performance against the volunteers, the garrison of Stavropol with the 39th division that joined it, who approached Rostov with battles on February 9 (22), it was decided to withdraw from the city beyond the Don - to stanitsa Olginskaya. The question of the further direction was not yet finally resolved: to the Kuban or to the Don winter quarters.

The meaning of the campaign that began under such difficult circumstances, its participant and one of the commanders of the army - General Denikin - subsequently expressed as follows:

As long as there is life, as long as there is strength, not all is lost. They will see a “light”, flickering weakly, they will hear a voice calling for a fight - those who have not yet woken up ... This was the whole deep meaning of the First Kuban campaign. It is not necessary to approach with cold argumentation of politics and strategy to the phenomenon in which everything is in the realm of the spirit and the feat being done. On the free steppes of the Don and Kuban, the Volunteer Army walked - small in number, ragged, hunted, surrounded - as a symbol of persecuted Russia and Russian statehood. Throughout the vast expanse of the country, there was only one place where the tricolor national flag was openly fluttering - this was Kornilov's headquarters.

Squad Composition

The detachment that set out on the night of 9 to 10 (from 22 to 23) February 1918 from Rostov-on-Don included:

242 staff officers (190 - colonels)
2078 chief officers (captains - 215, staff captains - 251, lieutenants - 394, second lieutenants - 535, ensigns - 668)
1067 privates (including junkers and senior cadets - 437)
volunteers - 630 (364 non-commissioned officers and 235 soldiers, including 66 Czechs)
Medical staff: 148 people - 24 doctors and 122 nurses)

A significant convoy of civilians who fled from the Bolsheviks also retreated with the detachment.

This march, associated with huge losses, was the birth of the White resistance in the South of Russia.

Despite the difficulties and losses, a five thousandth real army, hardened in battles, emerged from the crucible of the Ice Campaign. Only such an insignificant number of soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army, after the October events, firmly decided that they would fight. With the detachment-army followed a wagon train with women and children. The participants of the campaign received the honorary title " Pioneer".

hike

Generals M. V. Alekseev and L. G. Kornilov decided to retreat south, in the direction of Yekaterinodar, hoping to raise the anti-Soviet sentiments of the Kuban Cossacks and the peoples of the North Caucasus and make the area of the Kuban army the base for further military operations. Their entire army, in terms of the number of fighters, was equal to a regiment of three battalions. It was called the army, firstly, for the reason that a force of the size of the army fought against it, and secondly, because it was the heiress of the old former Russian army, “its cathedral representative”.

After the death of General Kornilov on March 31, the Reds occupied Yekaterinodar, left without a fight the day before by the Detachment of the Kuban Rada the day before it was promoted to general by V. L. Pokrovsky on March 1 (14), which greatly complicated the position of the white army. The Volunteers faced a new task - to take the city. On March 3 (17), near Novodmitrievskaya, the army joined forces with the military formations of the Kuban regional government; as a result, the size of the army increased to 6,000 bayonets and sabers, of which three brigades were formed; the number of guns increased to 20. Having crossed the Kuban River near the village of Elizavetinskaya, the troops launched an assault on Yekaterinodar, which was defended by the twenty-thousand-strong South-Eastern Army of the Reds under the command of Avtonomov and Sorokin.

On March 27-31 (April 9-13), 1918, the Volunteer Army made an unsuccessful attempt to take the capital of the Kuban - Yekaterinodar, during which General Kornilov was killed by a random grenade on March 31 (April 13), and the command of the army units in the most difficult conditions of complete encirclement repeatedly the superior forces of the enemy were received by General Denikin, who succeeds in the conditions of incessant fighting on all sides, retreating through Medvedovskaya, Dyadkovskaya, to withdraw the army from flank attacks and safely get out of the encirclement beyond the Don, largely due to the energetic actions of the one who distinguished himself in battle on the night of 2 ( 15) on April 3 (16), 1918, at the crossing of the Tsaritsyn-Tikhoretskaya railway, commander of the Officer Regiment of the General Staff, Lieutenant General S. L. Markov.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, events developed as follows:

“At about 4 o’clock in the morning, parts of Markov began to cross the railway track. Markov, having captured the railway gatehouse at the crossing, deployed infantry units, sent scouts to the village to attack the enemy, hastily began crossing the wounded, the convoy and artillery. Suddenly, the armored train of the Reds separated from the station and went to the crossing, where the headquarters was already located along with Generals Alekseev and Denikin. There were a few meters left before the crossing - and then Markov, showering the armored train with merciless words, remaining true to himself: “Stop! Such-rasta! Bastard! You will suppress your own!”, rushed on the way. When he really stopped, Markov bounced back (according to other sources, he immediately threw a grenade), and immediately two three-inch guns fired grenades point-blank at the cylinders and wheels of the locomotive. A heated battle ensued with the crew of the armored train, which as a result was killed, and the armored train itself was burned.

Losses during the failed assault amounted to about four hundred killed and one and a half thousand wounded. During the shelling, General Kornilov was killed. Denikin, who replaced him, decided to withdraw the army from the Kuban capital. Departing through Medvedovskaya, Dyadkovskaya, he managed to withdraw the army from flank attacks. Having passed Beisugskaya and turning east, the troops crossed the Tsaritsyn-Tikhoretskaya railway and by April 29 (May 12) reached the south of the Don region in the Mechetinskaya - Yegorlytskaya - Gulyai-Borisovka area. The next day, the campaign, which soon became the legend of the White movement, was over.

Results

The "Ice Campaign" - along with the other two white "first campaigns" that took place simultaneously with it - the Campaign of the Drozdovites of Yassy - Don and the Steppe Campaign of the Don Cossacks, created a combat image, a military tradition and an internal soldering of volunteers. All three campaigns showed the participants of the White movement that it is possible to fight and win with an inequality of forces, in a difficult, sometimes seemingly hopeless, situation. The campaigns raised the mood of the Cossack lands and attracted more and more new recruits to the ranks of the White Resistance.

At the end of the G8, described by the Volunteer Army, its chief of staff, Lieutenant General I.P. Romanovsky, said:

Two months ago we passed the same place, starting a hike. When were we stronger - then or now? I think now. Life pushed us desperately in its damn mortar and didn't push us; tempered only patience and will; and this resistance, which does not give in to any blows ...

Alexander Trushnovich will write later that the history of the Ice Campaign

"will serve as proof of the paramount importance of the spirit, with the exception, of course, of some out of the ordinary technical superiority"

and justifies this by the fact that

“In all 33 battles of the First Campaign, there was no case that the number of Bolshevik forces did not exceed six to ten times the number of volunteers”

It cannot be unequivocally stated that the campaign was a failure (militarily - a defeat), as some historians do. One thing is certain: it was this campaign that made it possible, in the conditions of the most difficult battles and hardships, to form the backbone of the future Armed Forces of the South of Russia -

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Exactly 100 years ago, after the tragic death of the commander-in-chief of the Russian Volunteer Army, General Lavr Kornilov, the First Kuban Campaign of the White Army ended, which also went down in history as the First Ice Campaign, which became a kind of birth of the White Cause. "Stol" recalls how the Civil War began in Russia

The ring of the Bolsheviks was shrinking around Novocherkassk more and more. But there was no one to defend the city, although there were hundreds and thousands of army front-line officers and Cossacks in the capital of the Don Cossack Region. But no one wanted to fight, everyone was waiting for someone else to take the hit. Things got to the point that only 147 people came to the call of the Don government for mobilization at the assembly point - high school students and cadets who did not know how to hold weapons in their hands.

“This is not just a disgrace, this is a verdict for all of Russia,” Ataman Alexei Kaledin thought gloomily, sitting at some kind of stupid meeting, at which the question of what to do with the Bolsheviks advancing on the city had been discussed for hours. “We have no strength, resistance is pointless, and our situation is hopeless…”

Finally, the ataman's nerves failed.

- Stop talking! he shouted. - Russia died from chatter!

Kaledin resolutely got up from the table and, throwing his chair away from him, went to the inconspicuous door leading to the chieftain's private quarters. Those present, already accustomed to the ataman's nervous escapades, looked at each other in bewilderment: is the meeting over or not?

But as soon as Kaledin left the office, the crack of a revolver shot was heard from behind the door.

Lord, he shot himself! - Mitrofan Bogaevsky, his “right hand”, jumped out of the personal quarters of the ataman. - He is dead!

At the same meeting, General Lavr Kornilov, the failed military dictator of Russia, was elected the new chieftain of the Don Cossacks.

military intelligence super spy

Lavr Georgievich Kornilov was born on August 18, 1870 in the family of a retired cornet of the Siberian Cossack army in the village of Karakalinskaya. He also received a Cossack upbringing, helping his father to take care of herds of horses from an early age. Then, with great difficulty, his father assigned him to the Omsk Cadet Corps, which Kornilov graduated with the highest score. In 1889 he was enrolled as a cadet in the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. Three years later, having received the rank of second lieutenant, Lavr Kornilov was sent to serve in the Turkestan artillery brigade.

Young Lavr Kornilov

The hard service in the distant garrison broke the fates and souls of many young officers. But Kornilov was never distinguished by cowardice: having served the prescribed term to the rank of lieutenant, he entered the Academy of the General Staff, where he was again among the first students, receiving a small silver medal and the rank of captain ahead of schedule.

Disguised as a dervish, he traveled all over Persia, Afghanistan, India and China with a detachment of faithful Cossack scouts, compiling detailed maps of the area.

As one of the best graduates, Captain Kornilov had the right to choose a further place of service. And he amazed everyone by asking to be sent back to Turkestan, and to the most remote area - to the border with Afghanistan.

And Kornilov becomes a super agent of military intelligence. Disguised as a dervish, he traveled all over Persia, Afghanistan, India and China with a detachment of faithful Cossack scouts, compiling detailed maps of the area. Later, the headquarters of the Turkestan military district published Kornilov’s scientific works “Kashgaria, or East Turkestan” and “Information Concerning Countries Adjacent to Turkestan”, which earned the most flattering reviews from geographers from the Academy of Sciences.

In 1904, Kornilov received the rank of lieutenant colonel and, as chief of staff of the 1st rifle brigade, left for the war with Japan. He participated in the battles near Sandepa and Mukden, for bravery he was awarded the Order of St. George 4th degree and the rank of colonel.

Then Kornilov served in the Directorate of the General Staff, was a diplomat in China, carrying out orders from Russian military intelligence.

From captivity to revolution

Major General Kornilov participated in the First World War from the very first day, becoming the commander of the 2nd brigade of the 49th infantry division, and soon the commander of the 48th infantry division, which was called "steel". For the battles on the Southwestern Front, General Kornilov received his second Order of St. George - already the 3rd degree.

During the withdrawal from the Carpathians in 1915, Kornilov's division was surrounded.

The captured Russian general was placed by the Austrians in the Neugenbach castle near Vienna, then transferred to Hungary, to the castle of Prince Esterhazy.

As soon as he recovered from his wounds, he began to prepare an escape. The first attempt failed: the captured officers tried to bribe the butler of the castle to supply them with civilian clothes and passes, but he reported to his superiors. The second attempt turned out to be more successful: the Czech paramedic provided the general with documents and a soldier's uniform for a lot of money. After wandering through the Romanian forests for almost a month, Lavr Georgievich was still able to go to the Danube and cross to the other side, finding himself at the location of the Russian army.

Escape from captivity made General Kornilov famous

Escape from captivity made General Kornilov famous. His portraits were published in all the illustrated magazines in Russia, and when the general arrived in Petrograd, the Mikhailovsky Artillery School arranged a solemn celebration for their graduate.

In September 1916, the general, having received an appointment as commander of the 25th Army Corps of the Special Army, again leaves for the Southwestern Front.

This time the fight did not last long: on the eve of February 1917, he was appointed commander of the Petrograd Military District. Already on the third day of his tenure in his new position, Kornilov supported the February Revolution and personally arrested Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and her family in Tsarskoye Selo.

And Kornilov was immediately appointed Supreme Commander of the Russian Army.

General L.G. Kornilov

Comrade Commander-in-Chief

The time was critical: the Russian army crumbled before our eyes and lost its combat effectiveness. And then Kornilov ordered the creation of a new "guard" - the so-called "shock" units and subunits, which could become a role model.

The first such unit was the 1st Shock Regiment, formed on the Southwestern Front from officers and volunteer cadets. Kornilov ordered the first "drummers" to issue a new uniform, sewn specifically for the hussars of the Alexandria 5th Hussars, named after the faithful Prince Alexander Nevsky. The hallmark of the Alexandrian hussars were cockades with "Adam's head" - a skull with crossed bones, which at all times was a symbol of self-sacrifice and readiness to give life for the Motherland, for which the hussars were often called "immortal". They were also called "black hussars": the Alexandrians had chic black uniforms with silver embroidery and black and red shoulder straps.

The "immortal" hussars were very famous in Russia: the poet Nikolai Gumilyov, the future Marshal of Finland Karl Mannerheim, and the writer Mikhail Bulgakov served in this regiment - the latter was the regimental doctor. "Immortal" was the heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Alexei, enlisted in the hussar regiment from the age of three.

It was the spirit of the "immortal hussars" that was supposed to breathe new life into the agonizing army.

The experiment showed brilliant results. The baptism of fire of the “drummers” took place on June 26, 1917, when officers under the command of Captain Mitrofan Nezhentsev captured the Austrian positions near the village of Yamshitsy with a quick bayonet attack.

By order of Kornilov, the detachment was reorganized into the "Kornilov" shock regiment. And soon detachments of "Kornilovites" began to appear in every army - however, all other generals were very disapproving of such self-promotion of the commander, and General A.I. Denikin completely considered these detachments to be disguised clowns and "surrogates of the army."

Traitor and rebel

The growing popularity of Kornilov aroused the strongest envy of the head of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, who saw a potential military dictator in the new commander-in-chief. Alexander Fedorovich was a Socialist-Revolutionary - that is, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, and he knew very well that all revolutions sooner or later end with the establishment of a dictatorship.

However, Alexander Fedorovich was not so wrong in his suspicions. Having lost faith in the idle chatter of the Provisional Government, Kornilov really began to lean towards the idea that at the moment when the country is perishing, one should not speak, but act.

He proposed to introduce the 3rd cavalry corps of General Krymov to Petrograd: "to restore order." And he fell into the trap set by Kerensky: the very next day, all the capital's newspapers declared the country's supreme commander-in-chief a traitor, who planned to drown the revolution and Petrograd itself in rivers of blood.

In response, Lavr Georgievich published a statement stating: “I, General Kornilov, the son of a Cossack peasant, declare to everyone and everyone that I personally do not need anything other than the preservation of Great Russia, and I swear to bring the people to the Constituent Assembly by defeating the enemy where he himself will decide his fate and choose the way of his new state life. To betray Russia into the hands of her primordial enemy - the German tribe - and to make the Russian people slaves of the Germans, I am not able to, and I prefer to die on the field of honor and battle, so as not to see the shame and shame of the Russian land ... "

As a result, Kornilov was arrested and until the October Revolution was kept in prison in Bykhov

Then Kerensky turned to the Bolsheviks with an appeal to "stand up in defense of the revolution." The Leninists responded immediately, and hundreds of Bolshevik agitators were sent to meet the troops, who played the main role in disrupting the "Kornilov rebellion." As a result, Kornilov was arrested and until the October Revolution was kept in a prison in Bykhov, 50 kilometers from Mogilev.

He was released the day after the capture of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks. The fact is that the Bolsheviks, having barely seized power, decided to immediately destroy the most dangerous political opponent. For this purpose, the former ensign Nikolai Krylenko was sent to the Mogilev Headquarters with a detachment of revolutionary sailors. But on the eve of his arrival, the fighters of the Tekinsky cavalry regiment, who guard the prison, released all those arrested.

And Kornilov went to Novocherkassk, where, as there were rumors, the ataman of the Don Cossacks Kaledin was gathering a new Volunteer Russian Army.

Lavr Kornilov and officers

Leave the city

However, apart from the loud name, the army itself, in fact, did not exist yet. By January, there were no more than 4 thousand people in the Volunteer Army: they were mostly front-line officers, and only rumors about the mass executions of “gold chasers” that the Bolsheviks arranged kept them from fleeing home. The Don Cossacks did not want to fight either, more concerned about rumors about the imminent redistribution of land. Meanwhile, Novocherkassk had already taken in pincers the expeditionary force of the "Red Guard" Rudolf Sievers from the Southern Revolutionary Front - 10 thousand bayonets. And there was almost no time to think.

On the same day, after the suicide of Ataman Kaledin, Lavr Kornilov made the only possible decision - to leave the city and, having retained the backbone of the future army, secretly infiltrate Rostov and enter the operational space.

And on the night of February 9, 3,700 volunteers left Novocherkassk, of which 2,350 officers (including 36 generals). But here there were few soldiers and there was no artillery at all - only 8 field "three-inch" guns with an insignificant supply of shells, and that's it.

A large convoy of civilians also came out with the detachment, among which there were many well-known people: the former chief of staff of His Imperial Majesty, General Mikhail Alekseev, the former chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko, the former deputy of the State Duma, Prince Nikolai Lvov, liberal journalist Boris Suvorin.

Historian and officer Roman Gul recalled:

Quiet, blue evening. Let's go to the city. Flashing yellow lights. There is not a soul on the streets. The leg kicks out softly. Ordered not to utter a sound.

Dark figures come across, they ask: "Who is this?" - Silence. - "Who is it coming?" - Silence. “We have been waiting for you for a long time, comrades,” someone from the dark gate says ...

The city is over - turned on the railroad. Ahead of the main forces, with a bag over his shoulders, Kornilov passed. Combat units passed quickly, but the convoy is endless. Carts are coming with women, with some things. On one they carry a foot-operated sewing machine, on the other a gramophone horn sticks out, suitcases, boxes, bundles. Everyone is in a hurry, talking in an undertone, chasing each other. Some carts get stuck, others gladly overtake them.

The rearguard is worried. I would like to get away from Rostov as soon as possible: it will dawn, the Bolsheviks will occupy the city, give chase ... Finally, the convoy is over, and we retreat to the village of Alexandrovskaya. Shooting is heard in Rostov, once a thunderous "cheers" flew by. And before we had time to stop, they brought paper from the stanitsa ataman: leave immediately, the Cossacks do not want to expose the village to battle ... "

ice hike

Exactly one day later, the Volunteer Army left Rostov-on-Don. By that time, the troops of Rudolf Sievers had already surrounded the city from almost all sides. Only a narrow corridor remained - along the frozen Don, and Kornilov ordered to set out on a campaign as soon as possible.

Kornilov created a headquarters, supply and logistics department, sapper and engineering units

Thus began the Ice Campaign, which became the birth of the White Resistance in Russia.

The first stop of the army was the village of Olginskaya. The officer detachment of General Sergei Markov also approached here, secretly making his way past the Bataysk occupied by the Reds. Several Cossack detachments also joined - previously neutral Cossacks fled en masse from Rostov and Novocherkassk after the start of the Red Terror.

It was in Olginskaya that the first administrative structures of the Volunteer Army arose: Kornilov created a headquarters, a supply and rear department, sapper and engineering units. He appointed General Anton Denikin as his deputy - in case something happened to him. True, it was Anton Ivanovich who was the first to go out of action: in the confusion of the evacuation, the general was left without things and was forced to walk in a civilian suit and holey boots, after which he collapsed with a severe form of bronchitis.

ice hike

A week later, the first split occurred at the headquarters of the new army. The Cossack general Popov suggested leaving for the Salsky steppes, where there were large stocks of food and fodder on the winter camps (that is, on the camps of tribal herds). There you could sit out and start a guerrilla war. But General Alekseev objected: winter quarters, quite suitable for small detachments, were scattered at considerable distances from each other. The army would have to be dispersed, and as a result, it would be easier for the Reds to break up small detachments in parts.

In turn, Alekseev offered to go to Ekaterinodar. At that time, in the capital of the Kuban, Colonel Viktor Pokrovsky, a true legend of the Russian army, the first pilot to capture an enemy pilot along with an airplane, took over the power. By joining forces, it would be possible to take control of large areas of the Black Sea region.

However, this path was fraught with many dangers. Experienced officers sent for reconnaissance said that every day huge masses of soldiers were accumulating in the Kuban, returning home from the Transcaucasian front. Bolshevik agitators skillfully worked among the soldiers. For example, they said that the road to Central Russia was blocked by "gold chasers", and therefore, in order to get home, it is necessary to defeat all the whites. However, there were enough of those who went to the Reds of their own free will: there were rumors that after the victory, all the soldiers of the Red Army would be given free allotments of land taken from local bourgeoisie in the Kuban.

As a result, the delay played a cruel joke on the Volunteer Army: the Red scouts, who were looking for the Kornilov army that had dissolved in the steppes, eventually found out about its location. And it was necessary to urgently leave for the steppes again.

And Kornilov decided: we will make our way to Ekaterinodar!

First fight

The baptism of fire of the Volunteer Army took place on February 21, 1918, when the advanced column of the officer regiment of the "Markovites" went to the village of Lezhanki on the very border of the Stavropol province, where a large detachment of the Reds was stationed along with a division of infantry guns.

The fight was short. After the first shots, Kornilov ordered to attack the village from the march, throwing Markov officers into the attack. From the flanks, the village was attacked by the Kornilovsky and Partisan regiments.

- In the bayonet! came from three sides. - Hurrah, brothers!

The Red Guards, accustomed to robbing unarmed peasants with impunity, were taken by surprise and, throwing down their weapons, took to their heels.

As a result, the Kornilovites lost 3 people killed, the Reds - over 250.

A few dozen more people were caught in the vicinity of the village - without further ado they were put against the wall. In 1918, they tried not to take prisoners. The officers who survived the revolutionary massacre of 1917 remembered only too well how the Red Guards, before shooting the captured officers, carved “cockades” and “shoulder straps” on the bodies of the victims - pieces of flesh on the forehead and shoulders. Therefore, the captured Red Guards were shot without any pity.

The Kuban Cossacks, exhausted by the Bolshevik terror, greeted the Kornilovites with bread and salt

Roman Gul recalled: “Nezhintsev, galloping towards us, stopped - a mouse-colored mare was dancing under him.

- Those who want to be punished! he shouts.

"What? – I think. – Execution? Really? Yes, I understood: execution, these 50-60 people, with their heads and hands down.

I looked back at my officers. “Suddenly no one will go?” - passed me.

No, they are out of line. Some with embarrassed smiles, some with bitter faces.

Fifteen people came out. They go to strangers standing in a bunch and click the shutters.

A minute has passed.

Flew: plee! .. The dry crackle of shots, screams, groans ...

Some finished off the living with bayonets and rifle butts.

Here it is, a real civil war ...

Near me is a regular captain, his face is like a beaten one. “Well, if we do this, everyone will stand on us,” he mutters quietly.

The shooting officers approached.

Their faces are pale. “And how do I know! Maybe this bastard shot my relatives in Rostov!” - shouts, answering someone, an officer ... "

The first victory added confidence to the troops, who now marched cheerfully through the rich Kuban villages. It also added uncertainty to the Reds, who preferred not to clash without a clear numerical superiority: several villages were occupied without a fight, from which the Red Guards fled. The Kuban Cossacks, exhausted by the Bolshevik terror, greeted the Kornilovites with bread and salt.

By the way, in Lezhanka, Kornilov ordered to distinguish his army, especially in a night battle, to sew a white stripe on hats and caps - this is how the White Army acquired its symbolism.

Lavr Kornilov

Spare no cartridges!

But then the streak of luck ended. The volunteer army was overtaken by Sievers's troops, and fighting continued every day.

Finally, on March 4, the Reds decided to meet the Kornilovites at the village of Korenovskaya, which was occupied by the army of Ivan Sorokin, a former Cossack Yesaul who had gone over to the service of the Bolsheviks. Under the gun, Sorokin had 14,000 fighters, that is, almost three Reds per White Guard. Serious power!

Nevertheless, Kornilov managed to defeat Sorokin as well, throwing every single soldier into battle.

- Do not spare cartridges and shells! Kornilov ordered.

Even the wounded and doctors of the sanitary convoy entered the battle, to whom Kornilov ordered to distribute machine guns - the field hospital covered the rear of the advancing troops. So, when the Reds tried to bypass the advancing volunteers and hit in the back, they were met by the guards with heavy machine-gun fire.

This determined the outcome of the battle: Sorokin fled from the village with the remnants of his army.

Already in Korenovskaya, Kornilov learned from the captured Red Guards that Sorokin's troops had taken Ekaterinodar a week ago. The government of Colonel Pokrovsky fled, hiding in the Circassian villages, and unheard-of excesses began in the city, there were robberies and mass executions.

As a result, Kornilov changed his order - he decided to go to the mountain villages to join the troops of Pokrovsky.

Left bank of Kuban

Sorokin, with the remnants of his army, was waiting for the Kornilovites near the village of Ust-Labinskaya: he planned to press the White Guards to the shore of the Kuban and methodically shoot them from artillery pieces.

But Kornilov easily figured out the unsophisticated plan of the Yesaul. The "drummers" with a swift onslaught captured the bridge across the Kuban, and the Volunteer Army crossed to the left bank of the river, which at that time was already considered Soviet.

Like a skating rink, the Kornilovites marched through the villages and villages, knocking out the enemy.

In response, the Bolsheviks, realizing that it would no longer be possible to stop the Volunteer Army, began to use the tactics of "scorched earth", burning all the villages along the route of the White Guards.

Only a few days later, the Kornilovites again met face to face with the enemy. It happened on March 10 while crossing the Belaya River.

General Denikin wrote: “Only partisans and Czechoslovaks managed to cross over the Kornilovites. It was they who took the main blow of the enemy. Artillery covered from the rear, the wagon of General Alekseev was overturned by a shell explosion, his coachman was killed. The convoy is crossing, but does not know that it is going just towards the advancing Bolshevik chains. The Czechoslovaks have fired all their cartridges and are gradually on the run. Their commander, Captain Nemechek, first tried to reason with his fellow countrymen with persuasion, then with his fists, and then simply sat on the ground:

The situation was saved by the Junker battalion - yesterday's high school students fearlessly rushed into a bayonet attack on superior enemy forces. As a result, the Bolsheviks, frightened that they did not estimate the size of the enemy, decided to retreat.

Finally, on March 14, the Volunteer Army reached the village of Shenji, where Colonel Pokrovsky and his army were waiting for the Kornilovites.

The very next day, joining forces, the Whites stormed the village of Novodmitrievskaya. Then the volunteers attacked the village of Georgie-Afipskaya, where the Red Army weapons depots were located under the protection of 5 thousand soldiers.

The battle was hard, but the village was taken.

And the way to Ekaterinodar was opened.

Sign for the 1st Kuban (Ice) campaign

Death of Kornilov

March 27 began the assault on the city. And immediately the Kornilovites came under heavy fire. The commander of the Kornilov regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Nezhentsev, died.

For three days, day and night, the volunteers stubbornly moved forward, clearing house after house. But the Reds also fought desperately.

Finally, after three days of fighting, losses were announced at General Kornilov’s military council: less than 300 bayonets remained in the Partisan Regiment, even fewer in the Officers, more than one and a half thousand were wounded. The army is already fighting at the limit of its capabilities, the Cossacks are dispersing to their homes, there is practically no ammunition.

As a result, Kornilov decided to give the troops a day of rest, regroup their forces, and on April 1 go on a last desperate attack. And he decided to lead the army on the assault:

- Put on clean underwear, whoever has it. We won't take Ekaterinodar, and if we do, we'll perish.

But the assault never began. During the next artillery shelling of the farm where Kornilov's headquarters was located, one of the shells flew into the general's room. Kornilov died almost instantly.

Denikin wrote that they wanted to hide the death of the commander from the army at least until the evening. In vain - the news of Kornilov's death instantly spread among the soldiers. Soldiers and officers, who went through fire and water, wept bitterly ...

The next day, the bodies of General Kornilov and his friend Colonel Mitrofan Nezhentsev were taken to the village of Elizavetinskaya. The funeral was held secretly: in order to protect the remains from mockery, they did not put crosses on the graves, moreover, the graves themselves were razed to the ground.

But all efforts were in vain. The very next day, soldiers of the red Temryuk regiment broke into Elizavetinskaya. In the village, the Reds discovered a field hospital with seriously wounded: leaving, the Whites left 64 “lying” wounded who could not survive the evacuation, giving the doctor a substantial amount of money to bribe the Bolsheviks. But the money did not help - the Bolsheviks beat one patient after another with butts, inquiring about the "treasures buried by the bourgeoisie." Soon the grave of the general was found.

The corpse of the general was dug up and transported to Yekaterinodar. On the cathedral square, the body was thrown from the wagon onto the pavement. A drunken crowd of soldiers beat and trampled him underfoot. Clothes were torn off the corpse, the naked body of the deceased was hung on a tree. The rope broke, and the crowd again sneered at the now shapeless mass. Finally, the corpse was transported to the city slaughterhouse, where the remains were burned.

Lavr Kornilov

Retreat

The death of Kornilov completed the moral breakdown of the Whites. General Denikin, having taken command of the Volunteer Army, decided to withdraw the army from attack.

After sunset, the troops secretly withdrew from their positions and went north - into complete obscurity. As Denikin himself later wrote, it was one of the most difficult days. After an unsuccessful assault, retreat, losses, people lost their temper. For the first time, the officers panicked.

At dawn, the column went to the railroad, which was guarded by a regiment of Red Army soldiers. An armored train was on the way.

And again the situation was saved by General Markov, who was at the head of the column. He noticed a distant light in the steppe - it was a window in the switchman's booth. With three experienced scouts, the general went on reconnaissance. Having learned from the road watchman that there were two echelons of Red Guards with an armored train at the station, Markov, posing as a watchman, called the Bolsheviks on duty at the Medvedovskaya station and assured that everything was calm at the post. Nevertheless, one of the Red Commissars, surprised by an unexpected night call, decided to send an armored train to the crossing to be sure.

The columns with the remnants of the Volunteer Army were already approaching the crossing, when the bulk of an armored train appeared from the dawn fog.

Markov, with a whip in his hand, rushed to the locomotive:

- Train, stop! Crush, you son of a bitch! Can't you see that they are yours?!

The stunned engineer slowed down, and Markov immediately threw a grenade into the cab of the locomotive. The soldiers sitting in the armored train, sensing something was wrong, barricaded themselves from the inside and prepared to shoot back, but it was too late: the experienced Markovites, having instantly calculated the "blind sectors" of the armored train, went to storm the cars. The Bolsheviks stubbornly defended themselves, but were killed.

Meanwhile, the Kuban Rifle Regiment attacked the station, knocking out a Red detachment.

This was the last battle of the Ice Campaign.

N. Samokish. ice hike

While the Bolshevik newspapers were choking with enthusiasm about "the defeat and liquidation of the White Guard bands scattered throughout the North Caucasus," the Volunteer Army, winding between roads and railway lines, went away, confusing the tracks. Kuban flowed into the army, replenishing the ranks of those who had left. In the villages they were already met as old acquaintances.

Roman Gul wrote: “In Uspenskaya we celebrate Palm Sunday. In a large church there is a service. All with willows and candles. The temple is full, more wounded. Ahead, to the altar - Denikin with a white Georgy around his neck, Markov, Romanovsky, Rodzianko ... In conversations on the porch, we learn that a delegation has arrived from the Don, they are calling there, that the Don Cossacks have rebelled against the Bolsheviks and have already cleared part of the region.

All are joyful. Unexpected light! We are going to the Don, and now the Cossacks themselves have risen there! What strength!

In mid-April, the Volunteer Army, breaking through the enemy ring, settled in two large villages of the Don region - in Mechetinskaya and Yegorlykskaya southeast of Rostov. Here Denikin decided to give the army a temporary rest and, having understood the situation, decide on further actions. Already in exile, he recalled that in the second half of 1918 the Whites were not able to take advantage of the favorable situation for a decisive offensive against the Reds.

This was due to the German army.

While the volunteers were fighting in the Kuban, practically cut off from the outside world, they did not know that after the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Germans occupied Ukraine, Crimea and came close to the Don region.

The news of the advance of the Germans into the interior of the country stunned Denikin.

“A small army, almost devoid of ammunition, came face to face simultaneously with two warring factors - the Soviet government and the German invasion,” he wrote. - I must say frankly that a serious blow to the rear of the Bolshevik troops, which blocked the path of the German invasion of the Caucasus, was not then part of my intentions. The utterly distorted Russian reality sometimes dressed robbers and traitors in the veils of the Russian national idea ... "

On March 15-17, 1918, the Volunteer Army defeated the Red troops in the course of a bloody battle near the stations of Vyselki and near Korenovskaya.

background

In January-February 1918, the counter-revolutionary forces in the Don region, Kaledintsy and Alekseevtsy (Kornilovites), suffered a crushing defeat. The Cossacks, capable of fielding an entire army, well armed and trained, for the most part were indifferent to the white (counter-revolutionary) movement and did not want to fight. Many sympathized with the Soviet regime. Novocherkassk fell. Kaledin committed suicide. The remaining White Cossacks fled.

The leaders of the Volunteer Army (DA), Alekseev and Kornilov, decided that it was necessary to leave the Don in order to preserve the backbone of the army. Rostov was surrounded on all sides. On February 1 (14), the Volunteer Army lost the opportunity to withdraw to the Kuban by rail: the volunteers were forced to leave the station and the village of Bataysk. They were occupied by detachments of the commander of the South-Eastern revolutionary army Avtonomov, they were supported by local railway workers. However, the Kornilovites managed to keep the left bank of the Don, and all attempts by Avtonomov to break into Rostov were also repulsed. At the same time, Sievers' detachments approached Rostov from the other side - from Matveev Kurgan and Taganrog.

Further stay in Rostov led to the death of YES. We decided to leave for the Kuban or the Salsky steppes. The Kuban Rada, hostile to the Bolsheviks, sat in Ekaterinodar, it had its own "army" under the command of a former pilot, Pokrovsky. The volunteers hoped to get the support of the Kuban Cossacks and take advantage of the anti-Soviet sentiments of the Caucasian peoples. The region of the Kuban Cossack army could become a base for the deployment of the army and further military operations. And in the Salsky steppes, on the winter quarters, one could sit out.

It is worth noting that the trip to the Kuban was dangerous. The Caucasus was in complete chaos. Turkish troops were advancing in Transcaucasia, supported by Azerbaijani nationalists. The Armenians retreated, bleeding. The Georgians decided to go under Germany to avoid Turkish occupation. The North Caucasus, previously pacified by the tsarist government, the army and the Cossack troops, simply exploded under the conditions of the Russian Troubles. Dagestan began to look towards Turkey, a guerrilla war began, gangs bred. In Chechnya, clans fought among themselves, but all the gangs slaughtered Russians together, attacked Cossack villages, robbed Grozny (then a completely Russian city) and oil fields. Ingush gangs acted in a similar way - they were at enmity with the Cossacks, Ossetians, Bolsheviks. They attacked Vladikavkaz and united with the Chechens against the Cossacks. The Ossetians united with the Cossacks against the Ingush and the Bolsheviks. The Kabardians tried to remain neutral, the Circassians sat in their mountain villages. The small Terek Cossack army fell, unable to withstand the attacks of the Chechen-Ingush gangs and red detachments. The Kuban army still held out, but the catastrophe was inevitable. The Caucasus has become a real meat grinder.

The Consolidated Officer Regiment of the Dobrarmia performs on the Ice Campaign. February 1918

hike

There was a narrow corridor along which the volunteers could retreat. On February 9 (22), 1918, the Volunteer Army crossed to the left bank of the Don. General Kornilov walked in the column, the elderly General Alekseev rode on a cart, the entire "army" treasury was in the suitcase. Kornilov appointed Denikin as his assistant to replace him if necessary. However, Denikin was the first to drop out - he caught a bad cold and fell ill. The "army" in terms of the number of fighters was equal to the regiment - about 2.5 thousand people. The volunteers were followed by carts and numerous refugees.

The first stop was the village of Olginskaya. All the detachments scattered after the defeat on the Don gathered here. Markov's detachment approached, cut off from the main forces and made its way past Bataysk. Several Cossack detachments joined. Officers arrived, previously neutral and fled from Novocherkassk and Rostov, where outbreaks of the Red Terror had begun. The recovered and the lightly wounded were pulled up. As a result, about 4 thousand bayonets and sabers had already gathered. DA was reorganized into three infantry regiments, which would later become divisions: the Consolidated Officer under the command of General Markov, the Kornilov shock colonel Nezhentsev and the Partizansky (from foot Donets) General Bogaevsky. Also, the DA included the Junker battalion of General Borovsky, brought together from the Junker battalion and the Rostov volunteer "regiment"; Czechoslovak engineering battalion, cavalry battalions and one artillery battalion. A huge convoy of refugees was ordered to leave the army. Now they could disperse through the villages or make their way further. But there were still many civilians, including the chairman of the former State Duma, Rodzianko.

Kornilov suggested leaving for the Salsk steppes, where there were large stocks of food, fodder and, of course, a lot of horses on the winter camps (stations of tribal herds). The spring thaw was approaching, the flooding of the rivers, which prevented the movement of large forces and allowed the whites to gain time, to wait for a convenient moment for a counteroffensive. Alekseev opposed. The winter quarters were suitable for small detachments, as they were scattered at considerable distances from each other. There were few farmsteads for living and fuel. The troops would have to be dispersed into small units and the red detachments would be able to easily destroy them piece by piece. The army found itself sandwiched between the Don and the railways. It could be deprived of the influx of reinforcements, supplies, organize a blockade. In addition, the volunteers were forced to remain inactive, disconnected from the events in Russia. Therefore, the majority, including Denikin and Romanovsky, offered to go to the Kuban. There were more opportunities. And in case of a complete failure, it was possible to flee to the mountains or Georgia.

However, chance intervened. The news came that a volunteer detachment led by the marching ataman of the Donskoy army, Major General P. Kh. Steppe hike. The Don Cossacks did not want to leave the Don and break away from their native places, they were going to start a guerrilla war and again raise the Don region against the Bolsheviks. General Popov with his chief of staff Colonel V. Sidorin came to the volunteers. The volunteers decided that it would be beneficial to unite with a strong detachment of Cossacks, and changed their original decision. The army was ordered to march east.

Meanwhile, the Kuban Rada, which on January 28, 1918 on the lands of the former Kuban region proclaimed an independent Kuban People's Republic with its capital in Yekaterinodar, was on the verge of collapse. The Reds concentrated serious forces against the Kuban center of counter-revolution. By rail through Azerbaijan and Georgia, regiments from the Caucasian front rode and marched along the passes. All junction stations were filled with soldiers. The red commanders of the Avtonoms, Sorokin and Sievers, received a powerful resource base by forming their "armies". The soldiers were told that the counter-revolutionaries were blocking their way home. The Caucasus had serious front-line stocks, that is, there were no problems with ammunition and equipment.

Kuban Cossack, Red commander Ivan Lukich Sorokin

The Kuban Rada repeated the fate of all the provisional and "democratic" governments that appeared after February (for example, the Don government or the Central Rada). The Rada was mired in chatter and disputes, developing "the most democratic constitution in the world." The Cossacks themselves then joined the detachments, then went home. The non-Cossack part of the population sympathized with the Soviet regime. On behalf of the Kuban Rada, Pokrovsky formed the Kuban army, which initially numbered about 3,000 fighters. He was able to repel the first attacks of the red detachments. A young, energetic and cruel commander, a typical promoter of the troubled times, he himself claimed supreme power. A. I. Denikin gave him the following description: “Pokrovsky was young, of low rank and military experience, and unknown to anyone. But he showed seething energy, was bold, cruel, power-hungry and did not really take into account "moral prejudices." ... Be that as it may, he did what more respectable and bureaucratic people were unable to do: he assembled a detachment, which alone was an actual force capable of fighting and beating the Bolsheviks ”(Denikin A. I .. Essays on Russian Troubles) .

1 (14) Mat 1918, the red detachment under the command of the Kuban Cossack and military paramedic Ivan Sorokin occupied Yekaterinodar without a fight. Pokrovsky withdrew his forces in the direction of Maikop. However, the position of the Kuban "army" was hopeless. Without a connection with the Volunteer Army, defeat awaited her.

Volunteers moved east. We moved slowly, sending reconnaissance and creating a convoy. Generals Lukomsky and Ronzhin left to communicate with the Kuban. Along the way, we experienced many adventures. They were arrested, but managed to get out, wandered, moved from place to place, and eventually ended up instead of Ekaterinodar in Kharkov. Meanwhile, it became clear that it was dangerous to go east. The Reds discovered YES, began to disturb her with small attacks. The information collected in the area of winter quarters by reconnaissance did not bode well. It remained to turn south, to the Kuban.

On February 25, the volunteers moved to Yekaterinodar, bypassing the Kuban steppe. Alekseevtsy and Kornilovtsy passed through the villages of Khomutovskaya, Kagalnitskaya, and Yegorlykskaya, entered the Stavropol province (Lezhanka) and re-entered the Kuban region, crossed the Rostov-Tikhoretskaya railway line, went down to the village of Ust-Labinskaya, where they crossed the Kuban.

The volunteers were constantly in combat contact with the outnumbered red units, whose numbers were constantly growing. But success was theirs: “The small number and impossibility of a retreat, which would be tantamount to death, developed their own tactics among the volunteers. It was based on the belief that with the numerical superiority of the enemy and the scarcity of our own ammunition, it was necessary to advance and only advance. This truth, undeniable in a mobile war, entered the flesh and blood of the volunteers of the White Army. They always came. In addition, their tactics always included a blow to the flanks of the enemy. The battle began with a frontal attack by one or two infantry units. The infantry advanced in a sparse chain, lying down from time to time to give the machine guns an opportunity to work. ... In one or two places, a "fist" was going to ram the front. Volunteer artillery hit only important targets, spending a few shells in exceptional cases to support infantry. When the infantry rose to dislodge the enemy, there could no longer be a stop. No matter how numerically superior the enemy was, he never withstood the onslaught of the pioneers ”(Trushnovich A. R. Memoirs of a Kornilovite). It is worth noting that the whites did not take prisoners, those who surrendered were shot. There were no "noble knights" in the bloody civil slaughter.

In the Kuban, at first everything was fine. Wealthy villages were greeted with bread and salt. But it ended quickly. The resistance of the Red detachments intensified. But the Kornilovites rushed forward, each battle for them was a matter of life. Victory is life, defeat is death in the cold steppe. On March 2 (15), a heavy battle went on for the Vyselki station. The station changed hands several times. Here, the volunteers learned the first rumors about the capture of Yekaterinodar by the Reds, but there were no exact data yet. In addition, at the next station, Korenovskaya, there was a strong detachment of Sorokin with armored trains and numerous artillery. On March 4 (17), a heavy battle began. The cadets and students of Borovsky went head-on, and the Officers and Kornilov regiments hit on the flanks. Bypassing Kornilov threw the Partisan Regiment and the Czechoslovaks. We've used up our last ammo. Kornilov personally stopped the retreating chains. As a result, the Reds faltered and the volunteers won.

However, in Korenovskaya it was finally confirmed that Ekaterinodar had fallen. Pokrovsky, having learned about the battles on March 2 - 4 (15 - 17), went on the offensive, seized the crossing across the Kuban near Ekaterinodar. He wanted to connect with YES. Kornilov, having learned about the fall of Ekaterinodar, turned his troops to the south, with the aim of crossing the Kuban, to give rest to the troops in the mountain Cossack villages and Circassian villages. The strategic idea of a campaign against the Kuban collapsed, the army was extremely tired, lost hundreds of soldiers killed and wounded. It was necessary to rest, to wait for more favorable circumstances.

Alekseev was disappointed with the turn of the army in Trans-Kuban, but did not insist on revising and changing Kornilov's decision. General Denikin considered the order to turn south a "fatal mistake" and was more determined. General Romanovsky also supported him. The motives of Denikin and Romanovsky were that when there were only a couple of crossings left to the main goal of the campaign - Ekaterinodar - and morally the whole army was aimed precisely at the Kuban capital as the end point of the entire campaign. Therefore, any delay, and even more so a deviation from the movement towards the goal, threatens with a “heavy blow to the morale of the army”, and high morale is the only advantage of YES. However, Denikin and Romanovsky could not convince Kornilov. The commander-in-chief remained unconvinced: “If Yekaterinodar held on, then there would not have been two decisions. But now you can't risk it."

On the night of 5 - 6 (18 - 19) March, the Volunteer Army moved towards Ust-Labinskaya, turning south. Sorokin, defeated but not defeated, immediately began the pursuit. Volunteers were pressed to the Kuban. And ahead, in the village of Ust-Labinskaya, the Red troops were also waiting, echelons with soldiers from Kavkazskaya and Tikhoretskaya were gathered there. While Bogaevsky and the Partisan Regiment fought a heavy rearguard battle, holding back Sorokin, the Kornilovites and cadets broke through the defenses of the Reds, took the bridge over the river and escaped from the encirclement.

General L. G. Kornilov with officers of the Kornilov regiment. To the right of Kornilov is M. O. Nezhentsev. Novocherkassk. 1918

To be continued…

On the night of February 22-23 (from 9 to 10 according to the old style), 1918, the famous "Ice" (First Kuban) campaign of the Volunteer Army began.

Volunteer army, formed on the initiative of General M.V. Alekseev under the command of L.G. Kornilov (and after his death - A.I. Denikin), retreated from Rostov-on-Don to Yekaterinodar with fierce battles. This hardest, at the limit of strength, campaign became - contrary to the expectations of the triumphant Bolsheviks - the birth and baptism of fire of the White movement.

In essence, at first it was not an army, but a large officer partisan detachment: officers, cadets, cadets, students, soldiers, fighters of the former shock battalions - everyone who, from November 1917, wanted and was able to get to Novocherkassk. Maria Bochkareva herself arrived - a pretty and pretty girl, whose name was the female shock battalion. First of all, cadet children and junker boys with their officers rose to the defense of Russia. In all cities where there were military schools and cadet corps, the Bolsheviks were given worthy resistance. The Red Guards caught the Cadets in the cities and at railway stations, in wagons, on steamboats, beat them, maimed them, and threw trains out of windows on the move. Not the best fate was for many cadets and officers. The road to the Don was difficult, many came completely exhausted, hungry, ragged, having already taken a sip of Soviet prisons and bullying, but not discouraged. They walked alone and in groups, breaking through the Bolshevik cordons ... Everyone mixed up here - both monarchists, and republicans, and yesterday's revolutionary students, who, having seen "the work of their own hands", literally in one day became ardent counter-revolutionaries. A small cadre of the St. George Regiment, the Kornilov shock regiment, the cadets of the Mikhailovsky and Konstantinovsky artillery schools arrived from Kyiv, generals Denikin, Markov, Kornilov, Lukomsky, Romanovsky and many others arrived one by one. What did the Volunteer Army give them all? A rifle and five rounds of ammunition was the answer at the volunteer registration office. In the first month, volunteers received only a meager ration, starting from the second, a small salary was paid.

The question of money was very difficult to solve. Apparently, the gentlemen entrepreneurs of those distant years were not much different from the current ones ... Monetary Moscow gave about 800 thousand rubles and expressed "hot" sympathy, as well as a promise to give "everything" to save the Motherland.

If the cartridges still somehow got out, then the artillery of the army was formed in the most original ways. So, one gun was bought from the Cossacks traveling from the front to their native lands, and the other was simply ... stolen, having drunk the Cossack servants pretty much.

The army grew, despite the disbelief in the success of many officers who remained on the sidelines, despite the vicious hissing from around the corner: “... they decided to play soldiers!” On December 26, 1917, the organization of General Alekseev was officially renamed the Volunteer Army, the distinguishing mark of which was a white-blue-red corner worn on the left sleeve of the overcoat and tunic with the top down. The army commander is General Lavr Kornilov, the son of a Cossack, his deputy is General Anton Denikin, the son of a serf who became an officer. General Alekseev himself is the son of a conscripted soldier.

The uprising in Rostov, the first battles with the Bolshevik Red Guard... Not a day passed without the dead volunteers being buried in Novocherkassk. General Alekseev, standing at the open grave, said: “I see a monument that Russia will put up for these children, and this monument should depict an eagle’s nest and the eagles killed in it ...”

The army headquarters moved to Rostov, and the Bolsheviks were already pressing from all sides. It was impossible to stay on the Don.

A.I. Denikin

The night of February 9-10, 1918 - the beginning of the 1st Kuban campaign of the Volunteer Army, the beginning of an organized struggle against the enslavers of the Fatherland. Volunteers leave Rostov on a frosty and snowy night... The lines of General Alekseev, written by relatives, served as an answer to the painful question of where we are going and what lies ahead: “... We are leaving for the steppes. We can return only if there is the grace of God. But you need to light a light so that there is at least one bright point among the darkness that has engulfed Russia ... ".

So, almost "behind the blue bird" was the four thousandth Volunteer Army, and this is the whole point of her first campaign, where everything was contrary to the fate and common sense. Let us see this still dimly flickering candle of the sacred struggle of all Russia! Never before has there been such an army in the history of mankind. With rifles on their belts, with miserable belongings in knapsacks, two former commanders-in-chief of the Imperial Army, former commanders of the fronts, high headquarters ranks, corps commanders, colonels and officers, cadets and cadets, women shock workers and Rostov high school students walked in a column through deep snow through deep snow.

History has preserved for us the first composition of this small army: 36 generals, 242 staff officers (of which 190 are colonels), 2078 chief officers (captains - 215, staff captains - 251, lieutenants - 394, second lieutenants - 535, ensigns - 668), 1067 privates (including junkers and senior cadets - 437), volunteers - 630 (364 non-commissioned officers and 235 soldiers, including 66 Czechs). The medical staff consisted of 148 people - 24 doctors and 122 nurses. The army was accompanied by a convoy with refugees.

A short stop in the village of Olginskaya. General Kornilov is reorganizing the army and promotes cadets to ensigns, and senior cadets to field cadets. Army Composition:

Consolidated officer regiment;
Kornilov shock regiment;
Partisan regiment;
Special Junker Battalion;
Czechoslovak Engineering Battalion;
Technical company;
Two divisions of cavalry;
Artillery battalion (eight guns);
Convoy of General Kornilov

Very little ammunition, a meager treasury, catastrophically few shells, everywhere outnumbering the enemy, but - forward!

S.L. Markov

Heavy, ongoing battles and a continuous march. Everything is taken in battle - shells, cartridges, food ... The direction of the campaign is determined - to take the capital of the Kuban, Ekaterinodar. From the village of Olginskaya to Yegorlytskaya, 88 versts, passed in six days, and then - the Stavropol province, covered by Bolshevism.

On March 15, the army approached the village of Novodmitrievskaya. It was here that the second name of the campaign was born - Icy, and the most vivid memories of each pioneer are associated with this battle. It rained all night the night before and the next morning. People were soaked to the skin and kneaded deep mud ... By noon, the wind blew, it began to snow. Ahead is a river, and behind it is a village. The officer regiment of General Markov began a long crossing on horseback. And the weather is changing again - the wind is stronger, frost and snowstorm hit. Everything was quickly overgrown with an icy crust, the clothes, which became a shell, fettered any movement ... The fallen people could no longer rise ...

Markov found himself with his regiment alone in front of the village. The rest of the units were just being shipped. The question stood squarely - to freeze in the field or take the village and save the army. Markov rushed to the attack. Frozen officers, clutching rifles in stiff hands, falling into a mess of mud and snow, again rose to meet the murderous fire of the Reds. The station was taken.

In one of the battles, the officer company heard a female voice: “Girls! Get the machine gun here!" The company involuntarily laughed, but with a short laugh, realizing the seriousness of this peculiar order. Yes, they were female shock battalions, others in the rank of warrant officers with crosses on their chests. They continued to serve Russia and left without hesitation with the army in the 1st Kuban campaign.

The army receives the first reinforcements from the Kuban (including the Kyiv junkers), its number increases to six thousand people. March 27 approached Ekaterinodar.

March 31, 7:30 am. One of the shells of the red artillery flew into the headquarters room, where General Kornilov was sitting at the table ... The news of his death spread very quickly. The army is received by General Denikin. On the same day in the evening the volunteers leave. Brilliantly maneuvering, Denikin leads the army out of the most difficult situations. On April 25, a detachment of an officer from Kiev, Colonel Mikhail Drozdovsky, who fought 1200 miles from the distant Romanian front, joins.

On April 30, 1918, having covered 1050 miles with battles, the army returned to the Don and settled down to rest in the villages of Mechetinskaya and Yegorlytskaya. Of the 80 days of the campaign - 44 in battles, up to 400 people were lost killed, 1,500 wounded were taken out, left with four thousand, and returned with five thousand.

By order of General Denikin, a special sign was established for all participants in the campaign: a crown of thorns with a sword on a St. George ribbon and with a rosette of national colors on it. Now at the disposal of the Russian All-Military Union (formed by General Wrangel in 1924) there is a unique list of participants in the campaign awarded this badge.

The fate of the participants of the campaign was different. Most died in the further struggle, someone experienced the brunt of emigre life, someone died in the army of General Franco, already fighting against the Spanish communists. Many became young and famous military leaders - Generals Turkul, Manstein (a citizen of Kiev), Kharzhevsky, Kutepov. The pioneers have always remained a kind of "cementing" composition of all white parts. Their motto until their death was: “Everything for Russia! Nothing for yourself!”

The first Kuban campaign ("Ice" campaign) (February 9 (22) - April 30 (May 13), 1918) - the first campaign of the Volunteer Army to the Kuban - its movement with battles from Rostov-on-Don to Ekaterinodar and back to the Don (to the villages of Yegorlytskaya and Mechetinskaya) during the Civil War.

During the First Kuban campaign, the Ice Campaign itself also took place - the battle on March 15 (28), 1918 at the station. Novo-Dmitrievskaya. The soldiers of the Officers' Regiment called the transition immediately preceding the battle, and the battle itself "Markov", because they attributed all the success to General Markov. General Denikin would later write about this: “March 15 - the Ice Campaign - the glory of Markov and the Officers' Regiment, the pride of the Volunteer Army and one of the most vivid memories of every pioneer of the past days - they were either fairy tales."

This battle at Novo-Dmitrievskaya later became known as the “Ice Campaign”, since it took place under very difficult weather conditions: rain, followed by frosts that caused icing of overcoats - weakened in numerous battles and exhausted by daily transitions through the softened Kuban black soil, the army was caught in a torrential rain. Then it got colder, deep snow fell in the mountains, the temperature dropped to 20 degrees below zero. According to contemporaries, it got to the point that the wounded, lying on carts, had to be freed from the ice crust in the evening with bayonets (!).

“It rained all night the day before, which did not stop in the morning. The army walked through continuous expanses of water and liquid mud - along roads and without roads - swollen, and disappeared in a thick fog that spread over the ground. Cold water soaked through the whole dress, flowed sharp, piercing streams behind the collar. People walked slowly, shuddering from the cold and dragging their feet heavily in swollen, water-filled boots. By noon, thick flakes of sticky snow began to fall, and the wind blew. , like sharp needles ... ... Meanwhile, the weather changed again: frost suddenly struck, the wind intensified, a snow blizzard began. People and horses quickly overgrown with an ice crust; it seemed that everything was frozen to the very bones; warped, as if wooden clothes bound the body; it is difficult to turn head, it is difficult to raise the foot in the stirrup.

After that, the volunteers, having crossed the icy river in icy clothes that hindered movement, broke into Dmitrievskaya at night and, having knocked out the Reds, settled down in it for the night.

Regarding the "etymology" of the "Ice Campaign", there is another story set forth in the book "Markov and Markovites". Immediately after the battle on the street of the newly taken village of Novo-Dmitrievskaya, General Markov met the young sister of mercy of the Junker battalion.
-It was a real ice hike! - said the sister.
-Yes Yes! You're right! General Markov agreed.

The name "Icy", given by the sister and "approved" by General Markov, subsequently remained not only for one day on March 15 (28), but for the entire First Kuban campaign, used later in the literature by many authors in relation to the first campaign against the Kuban of the Dobroarmiya as a whole .

After the refusal of the Don Cossacks to support the Volunteer Army and the beginning of the Bolshevik offensive in the Caucasus of the General Staff, General of Infantry L. G. Kornilov, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, decided to leave the Don. In the richest Rostov there were shells, cartridges, uniforms, medical depots and medical personnel - everything that the small army guarding the approaches to the city so badly needed against the advancing Bolshevik troops that were ten times superior to it. Up to 16,000 (!) Officers who did not want to participate in its defense were on vacation in the city. Generals Kornilov and Alekseev did not resort at this stage to either requisitions or mobilization. But the Bolsheviks of Sievers, having occupied the city after their move, took everything they needed, and intimidated the population by shooting several officers.

The Red Army is advancing from the north on Novocherkassk and on Rostov from the south and west. The Red troops are squeezing these cities in a ring, and the Volunteer Army is rushing about in the ring, desperately resisting and suffering terrible losses. in comparison with the advancing hordes of Bolsheviks, the volunteers are insignificant. they hardly number 2,000 bayonets, and the Cossack partisan detachments of Yesaul Chernetsov, military foreman Semiletov and centurion Grekov - hardly 400 people. strength is not enough. the command of the Volunteer Army is shifting exhausted, small units from one front to another, trying to linger here and there.

This was the first army maneuver, which was actually at the stage of formation of the Volunteer Army under the command of Generals L. G. Kornilov, M. V. Alekseev, and after the death of the first - A. I. Denikin.

The participants of the campaign received the honorary title "Pioneer" and were awarded a badge in the form of a silver wreath of thorns, crossed with a silver sword. The sign was worn on the St. George ribbon with a rosette of national colors (for civil ranks - on the ribbon of the Order of St. Vladimir). The pioneers became the core of all white formations in the South of Russia.

The main goal of the campaign was to unite the Volunteer Army with the Kuban White detachments, which, as it turned out after the start of the campaign, left Ekaterinodar.