Ice campaign of Kornilov's army. Ice campaign of the Volunteer Army. Ice march of the volunteer white army Ice march of the white army

02/22/1918. – The beginning of the heroic “Ice March” of the Volunteer Army of General Kornilov

On February 22, 1918, the famous “Ice March” (1st Kuban) began from Rostov-on-Don to Ekaterinodar with fierce battles. This was the first retreat just on the initiative under the command of first, and after his death -. However, this difficult campaign at the limit of strength, associated with huge losses, became - contrary to the expectations of the triumphant Reds - the hardening and rebirth of the White resistance.

In essence, at first it was not an army, but a large partisan detachment of officers, which included 36 generals, 2103 officers and 1067 privates (including 467 cadets and senior cadets). So many soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army, who gathered on the Don after, decided that they did not have the right to lay down their arms and go home at the end of the lost war, which ended with the occupation of the Fatherland by the Red Judeo-Bolshevik International. The medical staff consisted of 148 people - 24 doctors and 122 nurses. A convoy of refugees followed with the army. At first, the volunteers did not receive support from the local bourgeoisie and the Don Cossacks, primarily the necessary monetary donations, and therefore were forced to leave Rostov before it was occupied by superior Red forces.

Alekseev took all this seriously: “We are leaving for the steppes. We can return if only there is God's grace. But we need to light a torch so that there is at least one bright point among the darkness that has engulfed Russia...”

It was decided to move to Kuban to join the troops of the Kuban Rada. The number and combat assets of the Volunteer Army were small. The unknown surroundings, cold and deprivation were completed by catastrophic bad luck. So, the Whites unsuccessfully tried to take Yekaterinodar, losing their commander, General L.G. Kornilov. On April 13, his headquarters was hit by a shell fired by the Reds. There was even something mystical in this bad luck, if we remember that it was Kornilov who was instructed by the Provisional Government to take the Royal Family under arrest... So, apparently, he was destined to atone for his sin of betraying the Anointed of God...

From the Ice Campaign, despite the high mortality rate, an armed force of five thousand, hardened in heavy battles, returned. Subsequently, pioneer officers became the backbone of other white armies. Many books have been written about the Ice March; the title of “pioneer” has become one of the most honorable in emigration. Because they were the first to start.

One can reproach the first leaders of the White movement for many things, especially politicians who did not immediately outlive their Februaryism or who did not outlive it at all. One can also blame military leaders for not always making the right decisions. But it is impossible to deny the sacrificial feat of white volunteers, to which the first award of the White movement is dedicated: a sword with a crown of thorns, clearly expressing the essence of the Russian Christ-loving army in a time of hardship and turmoil.

Everlasting Covenant

Iv. Shmelev

A decade has passed since that historical day when a “handful” of volunteers, “abandoned by everyone... exhausted by long battles, bad weather, frosts, apparently completely exhausted their strength and ability to fight...” - wrote, - went to the steppe Kuban, starting the Ice Campaign...

The “handful” was faced with a life choice. An eternal choice. The Choice is a reflection of that distant Choice when the devil “shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and says to Him: I will give all this to You if, having fallen, you will worship me.” And the little ones decided: to follow His path. And they showed the audience of the world that there are values ​​that cannot be given away, for which they pay with their lives!.. And so, a “handful” of strong spirit, mostly young, led by worthy leaders, could not bow down, spiritually surrender, and went into the icy steppes , – into the unknown! - to continue to fight, until the last breath, - for Russia. Not only for Russia. But the latter can only be understood from a distance...

On this day, February 9/22, the Russian “handful” valiantly showed a passionate will for sacrifice, for Calvary - for freedom, for the right to believe and live freely, for Russia’s right to be. From this campaign a holy flame was kindled - liberation.

This feat - and how many there were and how many lives were given! – was not crowned with final victory... But the lit flame, the “lamp”, burns without going out... And it will burn until it burns all the darkness.

This is the spiritual and historical meaning, the undying meaning of the great February 9/22, 1918 - the departure to the icy steppes. A meaning born from the immortal Meaning of the Calvary Sacrifice, akin to the most wonderful moments in the history of the human world, those moments when phenomena of two orders were weighed on the scales of history and life: the corruptible, slavery, lack of will, dishonor... - and, on the other hand, the incorruptible , freedom, will, honor...

Everyone who feels like a Russian person, a human being, and not a beast, is all with us, everyone is in the unknown, where there is both death and life, but death and life are only by our will, but both death and life are in the name of ! No classes, no estates, no gender, no age, no language, no faith... - and everything, Russia, - ... in the name of common Russia!

Award "For the Ice March"
on the left - for combatants,
on the right - for those who did not take part in the battles

White movement and monarchist slogans

At the beginning of the armed resistance to the Jewish Bolsheviks, its composition was very varied. The socialist parties, which did not find a common language with the “usurpers” Bolsheviks (such were the insurgent uprisings organized by the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries in 1918 and later), had their own reasons to fight them - purely political, not ideological. Of course, the Masonic Februaryists, supporters of the Constituent Assembly, were very active - they, with the support of the Entente, tried to immediately ride the White movement. On republican principles, the center-left “Union of the Revival of Russia” was created, which recognized either a collegial directory or a limited military dictatorship. But their ideological influence was small.

The vast majority of white officers were monarchists. However, the leaders of the first white governments were politically oriented towards Russia's military allies in the Entente, which promised assistance against the Bolsheviks subject to "democratic ideals" and the continuation of the war with Germany. (Only later did it become clear that such a policy of the Entente was a deception, because the bet of the world behind the scenes was initially placed on the dismemberment of Russia, on the support of the newly formed limitrophe states and the Bolsheviks in the center, as evidenced by documents published in.) Thus, the white officers were initially forced to compromise obey the instructions of your political superiors in the hope of help from your allies; Thus, to facilitate the formation of the army, the then prevailing principle of “non-decision” regarding the future system in Russia was imposed.

Despite this, attempts were made to create monarchist armies: the Astrakhan Army of Colonel Tundutov and General Pavlov, the Southern Army of General N.I. Ivanov, Northern Army, in the Baltic States, etc. These attempts were not successful for various reasons, which are discussed below.

Nevertheless, the first leaders of the White movement, seeing the catastrophe into which the country was plunged, quickly began to sober up. Thus, the first commander of the Volunteer Army, General L.G. Kornilov (by order of the Provisional Government he arrested the Royal Family) said during the “Ice March”:

“After the arrest of the Empress, I told my loved ones that if the monarchy was restored, I, Kornilov, would not live in Russia. I said this, taking into account that the court camarilla, which abandoned the Emperor, will gather again. But now, as we hear, many of them have already been shot, others have become traitors. I have never been against the monarchy, since Russia is too big to be a republic. Besides, I am a Cossack. A real Cossack cannot help but be a monarchist.”

The founder of the Volunteer Army, General M.V. Alekseev (who participated in the conspiracy against the Tsar and betrayed him) in the summer of 1918 spoke about the reasons why the White movement did not immediately unfurl the monarchist banner:

“This issue is not sufficiently mature in the minds of the entire Russian people, and a prematurely announced slogan can only complicate the implementation of broad state tasks. But the leading figures in the army are aware that in the normal course of events Russia should approach the restoration of the monarchy, of course, with those amendments that are necessary to facilitate the gigantic work of governance for one person. As the long experience of past events has shown, no other form of government can ensure the integrity, unity, greatness of the state and unite into one the various peoples inhabiting its territory. Almost all the officer elements who make up the Volunteer Army think so, jealously ensuring that the leaders do not deviate from this basic principle in their activities.

But in its activities, the Volunteer Army is still limited by local conditions. It exists with state funds collected within and at the expense of the Don region, and is staffed mainly by the Kuban Cossacks. This is reflected in its activities in two ways: a) it must, to a certain extent, adapt to the mood of the population of these two regions, which are still far from prepared to accept the monarchical idea, and b) subordinate its military activities initially to the private interests of liberation from the Bolsheviks of these two Cossack regions. And mainly Kuban, which is deprived of its own means of counteraction and is, as it were, a citadel of Bolshevism in the south.”

But here is what the undisputed monarchist General A.G. testified. Shkuro (he was ready, together with his boss, General Keller, to defend the Tsar in March 1917) about the mood of the peasants of the Stavropol province in the summer of 1918: “the population almost everywhere has a negative attitude towards Bolshevism and it is not difficult to raise it, but with the indispensable condition of democratic slogans, as well as the absence of an attack on the property interests of peasants.”

Even the cadet leader P.N. Miliukov realized the need to restore the monarchy to save Russia in the conditions of the ensuing chaos. Thus, the restoration of the monarchy as an obvious slogan was discussed not only at officer meetings of the Good Army, but also in the leadership of the White movement long before the monarchical Zemsky Sobor of 1922. And if this slogan was not raised officially, it means there were the reasons stated above.

So, the overwhelming number of participants in the White movement were monarchists. Without exception, all right-wing, monarchical military-political structures participated in the White movement in one form or another, including about 90% of the members, but they did not have any leadership influence. Those of them who criticized the white leaders for the lack of immediate monarchical slogans, nevertheless recognized armed struggle as the only way to fight the “commissar power.” Therefore, prominent monarchists, such as generals, colonels Herschelman, Glazenap, Kiriyenko and thousands of other monarchist officers, fought in the ranks of the white armies.

Another reason for the “non-decision” in the White movement was mentioned by one of the last chairmen of the EMRO, Major General A.A. von Lampe: “The proclamation of the monarchist slogan was possible only in a single case and only on the front of Admiral Kolchak: namely, if a skillful military advance had been able to prevent the crime of July 17, 1918, as a result of which His Family would have ended up on the Eastern Front... In all other cases any proclamation of the monarchist slogan would lead not to the unification, but to the separation of the fighters who fought in the battle line and were united by the Motherland, honor and enemy...” That is, it was necessary to lead the White movement by a specific Person from the Romanov Dynasty. The Bolsheviks did not allow this to be done in 1918.

The further development of the White movement and its obvious betrayal by the Entente led to a change in its political leaders. In 1920, in the government of General Wrangel in Crimea, as well as in Admiral Kolchak in Siberia (he even received a blessing from), monarchists prevailed. But the “selfish democracy” of the population noted by Shkuro was slowly being eliminated, mutual understanding between the white armies and the peasantry was not established, few people liked the inevitable requisitions of provisions and horses, and force had to be used. Therefore, Wrangel, the Ruler of the South of Russia, said: “The Tsar must appear only when the Bolsheviks are finished, when the bloody struggle that lies ahead during their overthrow has subsided. The Tsar must not only ride into Moscow “on a white horse,” but he himself must not bear the blood of the civil war—and he must be a symbol of reconciliation and supreme mercy.”

Other articles on this topic on our website:
.
.

Discussion: 25 comments

The article is very controversial.
Despite all its shortcomings, it is very necessary; he reminds us once again that without the Monarchy, there will be no Russia!
Actually, in my understanding, it was precisely because of the lack of Monarchist slogans that the White Movement was doomed to defeat.
I deliberately do not touch upon purely military and political mistakes committed by Alekseev and Denikin and Kolchak.
Eternal glory to those who fell in the fight against the Bolshevik plague!

“We are leaving for the steppes. We can return if only there is God's grace. But we need to light a torch so that there is at least one bright point among the darkness that has engulfed Russia...”, these are the words of M.V. Alekseeva

How many articles have appeared recently about the “white movement” that fought the “red boor”. Everyone loved the “whites”, even the authorities, and in a very short time the “reds”. Few people think about why the Lord did not give victory to such “white and fluffy” people. And look at this “new estate” with a new nationality, “Cossacks”, who shout “love” to Bereza, accept “medics” Rosenbaums and the like as “honorary Cossacks”. Has the Lord taken away your mind? But without understanding the past there will be no future. It’s not enough to shout: “God is with us.” Are you sure about this?

“So, the Whites unsuccessfully tried to take Yekaterinodar, losing the only person - their commander, General L.G. Kornilov.” - as “the only one,” the losses were very large. And about the “single shell”... At least this... “The losses of volunteers have become enormous. There are no shells. The convoy of wounded has doubled. Thousands have fallen near Ekaterinodar. The mobilized Cossacks are fighting poorly, reluctantly. And the resistance of the Bolsheviks exceeds all expectations. Made Their fortifications are strong. Their artillery is bombarded with heavy shells. They fight for every step, responding to attacks with counterattacks..."
"On the street - Kornilov's adjutant, Second Lieutenant Dolinsky - "Viktor Ivanovich! Tell me... when is this?.. how?.." He says: “You know - the headquarters was in a hut in an open field. They had been shooting for several days, and quite successfully... We told the general. He didn’t pay attention. no attention... "Okay, after." The last day, everything around was dug up with shells... we realized that here was the headquarters, after all, horsemen were arriving with reports, people were crowding in. Well, one of these shells hit right into the hut, in the room where the general was. He was thrown against the stove. His leg and arm were broken. Khadzhiev and I were taken out into the air. But nothing could be done. He died, didn’t say a word, just moaned..." (R.B. Gul. Ice march. Part two. From Rostov to Ekaterinodar)With a certain degree of exaggeration about “thousands”, but still...
Similar passages can be found in many books.

Your comments have been taken into account. Thank you.

You're welcome, Mikhail Viktorovich! But thank you for your work! God bless you!

MVN - thank you very much for the article and all the previous ones.
I believe that we will live, albeit for a short time, under the new Orthodox Sovereign-Emperor and the cause of the White movement will not be lost.
Ivan Sergeevich - you are right, although now there are real Cossacks, the majority are “new”, buying Cossack uniforms, ranks and titles. In the Vladimir region, under the Tsar Father, we had gendarmes, but there were no Cossacks. They appeared about 8 years ago. People go to church very rarely. And not so long ago, our priest was reading the Gospel at the liturgy, and at that time one of the Cossacks’ cell phone started playing with music from “The Diamond Arm” “But anyway...” It’s symbolic. Nevertheless, I have great respect for real Cossack Orthodox warriors and I hope for the revival of the Cossacks in Russia. Only the state must turn its face to them.

The white movement was a symbol of the heroic struggle against triumphant rudeness, selfishness, and national insanity. The Ice Campaign is a Russian Anabasis of modern times. The goal was great and lofty, but the strength was not enough. The white movement - the flesh of imperial Russia, like all of it - was weakened by liberalism and nihilism.

R.B. Sergius. I think that the Cossacks will be reborn when the time comes and the Power given by God to the Orthodox people. The Tsar’s words are well known: “There is treason, cowardice, and deception all around.” These words do not apply to the future leaders of the White movement with the White Banner? The prophecy of St. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov is known: “Their illness will fall on their heads. Many nobles will be beaten for the Sovereign.” Isn't this about "Whites"? And further. “Whites” are loved by both the current government and you! What amazing unanimity... Why would this be? M.V. I remember once saying that our government is “anti-Orthodox,” and K. Dushenov after the trial called the government “anti-Christian.” If I understand correctly, the “anti-Orthodox and anti-Christian” government, in other words, is the “power of the Antichrist”? Then what kind of “imminent Antichrist,” as you put it, Mikhail Viktorovich, are we waiting for, sir? With horns, hooves, claws, a tail and something else, who “will sit in Jerusalem in the Third Temple”? You completely confused me, please explain.

Whoever wants to, will get entangled in three pines.

It should be clarified that Kolchak, despite his other merits, was not a “prominent monarchist”, unlike the other listed heroes. He believed that the armed forces should be out of politics and from the beginning of the revolution he took control of the situation and informed the teams about events in the capital. He organized the oath of office to the Provisional Government, organized a parade to celebrate the victory of the revolution (instead of spontaneous rallies) and a solemn funeral for the remains of Lieutenant Schmidt. And then - a raid with the entire fleet along the Turkish coast, declaring: “So that the enemy knows that the revolution is a revolution, but if he tries to come to the Black Sea, he will meet our fleet there.”

The Emperor was the pillar on which everything rested!
He was gone and everything fell apart like a house of cards! There was a Sovereign, there was a state, a church,
the army was everything! They eliminated the Sovereign and there was nothing left! Damn you generals Alekseev and Ruzsky!!! And all those who were at the same time with them!
Geek traitors!!!

The path of Russia is a monarchical path. The tragedy of the country is that a handful of adventurers came to power, destroying both the sovereign and the country. And now we are reaping the fruits of their deeds, and it will be so until the LORD returns to the throne.

Regarding the White movement: I respect the monarchist general Mikhail Diterichs. But the accomplices of the Masonic February conspiracy against the Tsar - Alekseev and Kornilov - do not evoke any special sympathy in me.

There are some inaccuracies in the article, they were pointed out in previous comments, but the imperative of the article is truthful and correct. Not foolish democracy or criminal communism, but monarchy is the basis of the future revived Russian Empire. How I would like to see monarchical Russia with my own eyes! It will happen if we believe in it and stand firm in our monarchical convictions, despite the fact that the modern monarchical movement is still only in its infancy...

Thank you for the article. Honor and glory to the Russian soldier, who did not allow himself to be deceived by Bolshevik propaganda, but was truly devoted to his oath. Glory to the White movement!

As Denikin wrote in “Essays on the Russian Troubles,” when in June 1917, due to the catastrophic collapse of the Army, Kornilov was approached with a proposal to carry out a coup and restore the Monarchy, he categorically stated that “he will not agree to any adventure with the Romanovs.”

General of the White Army Denikin in his book “The Path of the Russian Officer” said: “... we must note the heroic activities of Jewish officers who selflessly fought against the defilers of Russia.” The activities of Jewish White Guards, officers and soldiers, were noted in all White armies, including Cossack and Czechoslovak units. The last to be issued, even in the city of Samara, on June 9, was “Order No. 6,” which prohibited “incitement of national hatred and calls for pogroms” and threatened pogromists with “execution on the spot.” A separate Jewish hundred fought under the White Guard ataman Semenov in the Far East. It was called “The Jewish Hundred”. And after the defeat of Semenov and the retreat of his troops to China, Jews continued to take part in anti-communist activities from the territory of this Asian state. So, V.S. Slutsky, an officer of Semenov’s troops, remained with Ataman Semenov after the disbandment of the short-lived Jewish company in Chita.

More information at http://voprosik.net/evrei-v-beloj-armii/ © VOPROSIK

Dmitriy, I understand your desire to show that not all Jews were for the Bolsheviks. Agree. But your honest fellow tribesmen (I.M. Bickerman, G.A. Landau, I.O. Levin, D.O. Linsky, V.S. Mandel, D.S. Pasmanik) in the collection “Russia and the Jews” (1923 ) were ashamed of the picture that was more real in their eyes:
“Now the Jew is in all corners and at all levels of power. The Russian man sees him at the head of the capital Moscow, and at the head of the Neva capital, and at the head of the Red Army, the most perfect mechanism of self-destruction... The Russian man now sees the Jew as both judge and executioner...” “Soviet power is identified with Jewish power, and fierce hatred of the Bolsheviks turns into the same hatred of Jews.” (Russia and the Jews. Berlin. 1923. P. 22, 6, 78.)

The first Kuban (“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 village of Egorlytskaya and Mechetinskaya) during the Civil War.

This campaign became the first army maneuver of the Volunteer Army, which was in the process of formation, under the command of generals L.G. Kornilov, M.V. Alekseev, and after the death of the first - A.I. Denikin.

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, had left Yekaterinodar.

Background of events

The events of February–October 1917 led to the virtual collapse of the country and the beginning of the civil war. Under these conditions, part of the demobilized army, according to the articles of the Brest Peace Treaty signed by the Bolsheviks on behalf of Russia, decided to unite to restore order (however, it soon became clear that many understand very different things by this word). The unification took place on the basis of the “Alekseev organization”, which began on the day of General Alekseev’s arrival in Novocherkassk - November 2 (15), 1917. The situation on the Don during this period was tense. Ataman Kaledin, with whom General Alekseev discussed his plans for his organization, having listened to the request to “give shelter to the Russian officers,” responded with agreement in principle, however, taking into account local sentiments, he recommended Alekseev not to stay in Novocherkassk for more than a week...

At a specially convened meeting of Moscow delegates and generals on December 18 (31), 1917, which resolved issues of management of the “Alekseev organization” (essentially the issue of distribution of roles in management between generals Alekseev and Kornilov, who arrived on the Don on December 6 (19), 1917), it was decided that all military power would pass to General Kornilov.

The responsibility for urgently completing the formation of units and bringing them to combat readiness on December 24, 1917 (January 6, 1918) was assigned to the General Staff, Lieutenant General S. L. Markov.

At Christmas, a “secret” order was announced for General Kornilov to take command of the Army, which from that day began to be officially called the Volunteer Army.

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

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

In Rostov there were shells, cartridges, uniforms, medical warehouses and medical personnel - everything that the small army guarding the approaches to the city so urgently needed. Up to 16,000 (!) officers were on vacation in the city and did not want to participate in its defense. Generals Kornilov and Alekseev did not resort to requisitions or mobilization at this stage. The Bolsheviks of Sivers, having occupied the city after their departure, “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 formation, included:
– Kornilovsky Shock Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Nezhentsev)
– St. George Regiment - from a small cadre of officers who arrived from Kyiv. (Colonel Kiriyenko).
– 1st, 2nd, 3rd officer battalions - from officers gathered in Novocherkassk and Rostov. (Colonel Kutepov, Lieutenant Colonels Borisov and Lavrentiev, later Colonel Simanovsky).
– The cadet battalion is mainly made up of cadets from the capital’s schools and cadets. (Staff Captain Parfenov)
– Rostov Volunteer Regiment - from the student youth of Rostov. (Major General Borovsky).
- Two cavalry divisions. (Colonels Herschelman and Glazenap).
– Two artillery batteries - mainly from cadets of artillery schools and officers. (Lieutenant Colonels Mionchinsky and Erogin).
- A whole series of small units, such as a “naval company” (Captain 2nd Rank Potemkin), an engineering company, a Czechoslovak engineering battalion, a death division of the Caucasian Division (Colonel Shiryaev) and several partisan detachments, called by the names of their commanders. All these regiments, battalions, divisions were essentially just cadres, and the total combat strength of the entire army hardly exceeded 3-4 thousand people, at times, during the period of heavy Rostov battles, falling to completely insignificant proportions. The army did not receive a secure base. It was necessary to simultaneously form and fight, suffering heavy losses and sometimes destroying a unit that had just been put together with great effort. (A.I. Denikin, “Essays on Russian Troubles”)

Under pressure from the superior forces of the Red commander R. F. Sievers, who managed to organize an action against the volunteers, the garrison of Stavropol with the 39th division that joined it, who approached Rostov directly on February 9 (22), it was decided to retreat from the city beyond the Don - to Olginskaya village. The question of the further direction had not yet been finally decided: to the Kuban or to the Don winter camps.

The meaning of the campaign that began under such difficult circumstances was subsequently expressed by its participant and one of the army commanders, General Denikin, as follows:
As long as there is life, as long as there is strength, not everything is lost. Those who have not yet woken up will see the “light” flickering faintly, they will hear a voice calling for a fight... This was the whole deep meaning of the First Kuban Campaign. You should not approach with cold argumentation of politics and strategy a phenomenon in which everything is in the realm of spirit and the feat being performed. The Volunteer Army walked across the free steppes of the Don and Kuban - small in number, tattered, hunted, surrounded - as a symbol of persecuted Russia and Russian statehood. In the entire vast expanse of the country there was only one place left where the tricolor national flag openly fluttered: Kornilov’s headquarters.(A.I. Denikin, “Essays on Russian Troubles”)

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, warrant officers - 668)
• 1067 privates (including cadets and senior cadets - 437)
• volunteers - 630 (364 non-commissioned officers and 235 soldiers, including 66 Czechs)
• Medical personnel: 148 people - 24 doctors and 122 nurses)

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

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

Despite the difficulties and losses, a real army of five thousand, seasoned in battles, emerged from the crucible of the Ice Campaign. Only such a number of soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army, after the October events, firmly decided that they would fight. A convoy with women and children followed with the army detachment. Participants in the campaign received the honorary title “Pioneer.”

According to the calculations of the Soviet historian Kavtaradze, the 2350 ranks of the command staff were divided as follows:

• hereditary nobles - 21%;
• people from families of low-ranking officers - 39%;
• from townspeople, Cossacks, peasants - 40%.

Hike

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

On February 9 (22), 1918, the Volunteer Army crossed to the left bank of the Don and stopped in the village of Olginskaya. Here it was reorganized into three infantry regiments (Consolidated Officer, Kornilovsky Shock and Partisan); it also included a cadet battalion, one artillery (10 guns) and two cavalry divisions. On February 25, volunteers moved to Ekaterinodar, bypassing the Kuban steppe. The troops passed through the villages of Khomutovskaya, Kagalnitskaya, and Yegorlykskaya, entered the Stavropol province (Lezhanka) and again entered the Kuban region, crossed the Rostov-Tikhoretskaya railway line, went down to the village of Ust-Labinskaya, where they crossed the Kuban.

The troops were constantly in combat contact with the superior red units, whose numbers were constantly growing, while the number of pioneers was becoming smaller every day. However, victories invariably remained with them.

Small numbers and the impossibility of retreat, which would be tantamount to death, the volunteers developed their own tactics. It was based on the conviction that, given the numerical superiority of the enemy and the scarcity of one’s own ammunition, it was necessary to attack and only attack. This truth, undeniable in a war of maneuver, entered the flesh and blood of the White Army volunteers. They were always advancing. In addition, their tactics always included striking the enemy’s flanks. The battle began with a frontal attack by one or two infantry units. The infantry advanced in a thin line, lying down from time to time to give the machine guns a chance to work. It was impossible to cover the entire enemy front, because then the intervals between the fighters would reach fifty, or even a hundred steps. In one or two places a “fist” gathered to ram the front. Volunteer artillery hit only important targets, spending a few shells to support the infantry in exceptional cases. When the infantry rose to knock out the enemy, there could be no stopping. No matter how numerically superior the enemy was, he could never withstand the onslaught of the pioneers.

The road from the village of Elizavetinskaya to Yekaterinodar is the path of advance of the Partisan Regiment of General Kazanovich on March 27.

Retreat of the Volunteer Army from Yekaterinodar

The Reds occupied Yekaterinodar, abandoned without a fight the day before by a detachment of the Kuban Rada the day before it promoted V.L. Pokrovsky to general on March 1 (14), 1918, which significantly complicated the position of the White Army. The Volunteers were faced with a new task - to take the city. On March 3 (17), at Novodmitrievskaya, the army united with the military formations of the Kuban regional government; as a result, the strength 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 at the Elizavetinskaya village, the troops began an assault on Yekaterinodar, which was defended by the twenty thousand-strong South-Eastern Red Army under the command of Avtonomov and Sorokin.

March 27-31 (April 9-13), 1918. The Volunteer Army made an unsuccessful attempt to take the capital of Kuban - Ekaterinodar, during which General Kornilov was killed by an accidental grenade on March 31 (April 13), and the command of army units in the most difficult conditions of complete encirclement was repeatedly The superior forces of the enemy were taken over by General Denikin, who, in the conditions of incessant battles on all sides, retreating through Medvedovskaya and Dyadkovskaya, managed to withdraw the army from under flank attacks and safely escape from encirclement beyond the Don, largely thanks to the energetic actions of someone who distinguished himself in battle on the night of 2 ( 15) on April 3 (16), 1918, when crossing the Tsaritsyn-Tikhoretskaya railway, the commander of the Officer Regiment of the General Staff, Lieutenant General S. L. Markov.

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

Results

The “Ice Campaign”, along with two other white “first campaigns” that took place simultaneously with it - the Drozdov Campaign of Yassy-Don and the Steppe Campaign of the Don Cossacks, created a fighting image, a fighting tradition and an internal unity of volunteers. All three campaigns showed the participants of the White movement that it was possible to fight and win in the face of inequality of forces, in difficult, sometimes seemingly hopeless, situations. The campaigns raised the spirits of the Cossack lands and attracted more and more new additions to the ranks of the White resistance.

It is impossible to say unequivocally that the campaign was a failure (in military terms, 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 - the White Army.

In addition, as a result of this maneuver, it was possible to return to the lands of the Don Cossacks, who, by that time, had already, in many ways, changed their initial views regarding non-resistance to Bolshevism.

In exile, the participants of the campaign founded the Union of Participants of the 1st Kuban (Ice) Campaign of General Kornilov, which became part of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS).

On February 22, 1918, the famous “Ice March” (1st Kuban) began from Rostov-on-Don to Ekaterinodar with fierce battles. This was the first retreat of the newly formed Volunteer White Army on the initiative of General M.V. Alekseev under the command of first L.G. Kornilov, and after his death - A.I. Denikin. However, this difficult campaign at the limit of strength, associated with huge losses, became - contrary to the expectations of the triumphant Reds - the hardening and rebirth of the White Resistance.
Love for the Motherland and faith in success moved this handful of poorly armed people on a campaign unprecedented in military history. Without hope of help, without a rear, without shells, the army, raising high the banner of the United Great Russia, went against the red wave that was flooding the country towards an unknown future. It is unlikely that in its entire military history Russia has ever had an army equal in heroism to these volunteers. The great upheavals of a great country gave birth to heroes of great spirit.

In essence, at first it was not an army, but a large partisan detachment of officers, which included 36 generals, 2103 officers and 1067 privates (including 467 cadets and senior cadets). So many soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army, gathered on the Don after the October coup, decided that they did not have the right to lay down their arms and go home. The medical staff consisted of 148 people - 24 doctors and 122 nurses. A convoy of refugees followed with the army. At first, the volunteers did not receive support from the local bourgeoisie and the Don Cossacks, primarily the necessary monetary donations, and therefore were forced to leave Rostov before it was occupied by superior Red forces.
Alekseev took all this seriously: “We are leaving for the steppes. We can return if only there is God's grace. But we need to light a torch so that there is at least one bright point among the darkness that has engulfed Russia...”
It was decided to move to Kuban to join the troops of the Kuban Rada. The number and combat assets of the Volunteer Army were small. The unknown surroundings, cold and deprivation were completed by catastrophic bad luck. So, the Whites unsuccessfully tried to take Yekaterinodar, losing their commander, General L.G. Kornilov. On April 13, his headquarters was hit by a shell fired by the Reds. There was even something mystical in this bad luck, if we remember that it was Kornilov who was instructed by the Provisional Government to take the Royal Family under arrest... So, apparently, he was destined to atone for his sin of betraying the Anointed of God...
From the Ice Campaign, despite the high mortality rate, an armed force of five thousand, hardened in heavy battles, returned. Subsequently, pioneer officers became the backbone of other white armies. Many books have been written about the Ice March; the title of “pioneer” has become one of the most honorable in emigration.

Ice trek, The First Kuban Campaign - the campaign of the White Army, became the birth of the White Resistance in Russia; it began on the night of February 9 (22) to February 10 (23), 1918, when 3683 people, led by General Kornilov, left Rostov for the icy Trans-Don steppes; cursed by Soviet historians; still revered and unforgettable for several generations of Russian people in Russia and abroad; received the name “Ice” and was christened “Volunteer Calvary”.

The red units besieged Rostov from all sides. The last barrier of Captain Chernov, pressed by Sivers' troops, retreated into the city. A narrow corridor remained, and Kornilov ordered the army to set out on a campaign. On the night of February 9 (22), volunteers went out into the Don winter steppe - all that was left of great Russia. General Kornilov walked in the column on foot with a soldier's bag over his shoulders. The elderly Alekseev was riding on a cart, and in his suitcase was the army treasury. City ladies were stuck in the snow, clinging to packed carts, old people were wandering - people were fleeing the Bolshevik nightmare. And in the endless ribbon of convoys and refugees, small military columns - officers, cadets, students - got lost. Some in an overcoat, some in a civilian coat, some in boots, some in torn felt boots. Since the beginning of its formation, 6 thousand people have signed up for the army. 2.5 thousand came from Rostov. The rest died in battle, lay wounded in hospitals and private homes, and got lost in the whirlwind of events.
We crossed the Don on cracking ice and went from village to village...

Kornilov appointed A.I. Denikin as assistant commander with the main responsibility of replacing him in the event of death. True, Denikin was the first to fall out of action. In the confusion of the evacuation, he was left without things and was forced to walk in a civilian suit and holey boots. After two transitions, he fell down with a severe form of bronchitis. He continued his journey through the snowy steppes in a cart, wrapped in other people's blankets.
Masterfully leading the army out of the ring, Kornilov stopped it in the village of Olginskaya. This village became an important stage on the path of the White Guard. Here the forces that had scattered after the fall of the Don gathered together. Markov’s detachment approached, cut off from the army and making its way past Bataysk, occupied by the Reds. Several Cossack detachments joined. The officers, hitherto “neutral”, who had fled Rostov and Novocherkassk after the start of the terror, were catching up. Lagging groups and the wounded pulled up, pretending to be healthy. In total, 4 thousand fighters gathered. Here Kornilov carried out a reorganization, bringing together small detachments. The first to lay the foundation for the legendary volunteer divisions were: Officer Regiment Gen. Markova; Kornilovsky shock regiment of Colonel Nezhentsev; Partisan regiment (of foot Donets) general. Bogaevsky; Junker battalion gen. Borovsky, brought together from the Junker and Student “regiments”; Czechoslovakian engineer battalion; three cavalry divisions (one from Chernetsov’s former partisans, the other from the rest of the Don detachments, the third from officers). Yes, 8 three-inch guns with an insignificant supply of shells - that’s all.

Kornilov proposed to go to the Salsk steppes, where the winter camps (estates and camps of tribal herds) had large supplies of food, fodder, and many horses. The approaching thaw and river floods would not have allowed the Reds to pursue with large forces, which would have allowed them to gain time and wait for a favorable situation. Alekseev sharply objected. Winter camps, quite suitable for small detachments, were scattered at considerable distances from each other. There was little living space or fuel there. The army would have to be dispersed into units that the Reds could beat in parts. The army would have found itself in a blockade, sandwiched between the Don and the railway lines, deprived of reinforcements and supplies, and could have been strangled in the ring. And, finally, it is doomed to inaction, excluded from the course of events in Russia.

In exchange, it was proposed to go to Kuban, where Ekaterinodar was still fighting, where there was hope for the Kuban Cossacks. And in case of failure, there was the opportunity to disperse in the mountains or go to Georgia. At the military council, Alekseev was joined by Denikin and Romanovsky. Kornilov was convinced to move south. But a new factor intervened. It became known that General Popov had led away detachments of White Cossacks from Novocherkassk. He collected 1600 sabers with 5 guns. Popov and his chief of staff Sidorin came to the volunteers. For the same reasons as Kornilov, the Don people were going to go to the winter quarters and start a guerrilla war from there. For them there was no choice - the Cossacks would not have left the Don for foreign lands. Tempted by the opportunity to connect, Kornilov again changed his mind. The army received orders to march east. It was as if some inner feeling forbade Kornilov to go to Yekaterinodar and pushed him away from the place of his future death. But, on the other hand, the delay caused by these fluctuations turned out to be fatal in many ways... Huge red forces accumulated in the Kuban every day. Regiments from the Transcaucasian Front marched and rode here through Azerbaijan by rail, through Georgia along the passes. They accumulated at all junction stations, and from them the red “commanders in chief” Avtonomov, Sorokin, and Sivere easily recruited armies. They explained to some that the Kuban counter forces and Kornilov were blocking the road to Russia with a traffic jam and that in order to get home they had to defeat them. Others were tempted by the free life and heavenly abundance - the North Caucasus was full of unlooted front-line warehouses, wineries and distilleries. Why did the soldiers, unaccustomed to work during the war, corrupted by the revolution, rush to a hateful village if here was such an opportunity to take a walk and rob the counter? Even for another economic peasant, isn’t it a temptation to win a piece of rich Kuban land with two harvests a year, orchards and vineyards from the rich Cossacks instead of a gray allotment in the Pskov or Ryazan region? Unlike the red detachments that stormed the Don and Ukraine from the north, armies of tens of thousands of bayonets were assembled here.
In the surrounded Yekaterinodar there was discord. The Kuban Rada, as if blind, was choking on speeches, developing “the most democratic constitution in the world.” Its non-Cossack, non-resident part was inclined to give in to the Reds. The chieftain and the government rushed first to the Rada and democracy, then to Pokrovsky and Erdeli. Commander-in-Chief Pokrovsky himself looked askance at the ataman’s chair, and called Radu nothing more than “Soviet Dep.” Volunteer Cossacks either joined the detachments or abandoned the front. The officers gave up because of this hopelessness. There was no goal of the struggle (other than self-defense), no leaders to trust, no prospects. All hopes were pinned only on Kornilov, rumors about whom were rumored to be distorted and exaggerated.
And Kornilov went east. They moved slowly, sending out reconnaissance and organizing a convoy. Generals Lukomsky and Ronzhin left in disguise to communicate with Kuban and negotiate joint actions. But they were immediately caught in red. We were in the clutches of the executioner Sivers himself. By some miracle, by incredible coincidences, they managed to escape. We wandered around, transferring from train to train, getting out of one trouble and getting into another, and as a result, after a lot of adventures, we ended up in Kharkov instead of Kuban. Meanwhile, Alekseev’s worst fears began to come true. The Reds found the army and began to harass it with small attacks. Additional information collected by intelligence about the wintering area turned out to be depressing. All that remained was to turn south into the Kuban chaos. On the march, Kornilov made the first general review of the army, passing by a column where students, warrant officers, and captains walked as privates, where colonels commanded platoons and companies... A nomadic camp, over which fluttered the last tricolor national flag in Russia. A bunch of people lost in the vast expanses...

A. I. Denikin wrote:
“You should not approach with cold argumentation of politics and strategy a phenomenon in which everything is in the realm of spirit and feat being performed. As long as there is life, as long as there is strength, not everything is lost. They will see a “light” flickering faintly, they will hear a voice calling to fight - those who have not yet woken up.”
In the last Don village, Yegorlykskaya, the Kornilovites were greeted warmly, with pancakes and refreshments, a village gathering and warm speeches. Next began the Stavropol region, where another meeting awaited. On a clear, frosty day, artillery struck the column. There were trenches along the river near the village of Lezhanki. Bolshevik Derbent Regiment, cannon division, Red Guard. Kornilov was attacked on the move, throwing the Officer's regiment head-on, and the Kornilov and Partisan regiments from the flanks. The cadets rolled out artillery for direct fire. Markov, without even waiting for flank attacks, rushed to ford through the frozen mud of the river. And the enemy ran, abandoning his guns. The Whites lost 3 people killed, the Reds - over 500. Half of them were killed in battle, half of them were caught by the Kornilovites in the village after the battle and shot.

Civil war is a terrible, dirty business. At the beginning of the 18th, no prisoners were taken. There is no point in justifying whites in this. But to understand... Behind them were the fallen Rostov, Novocherkassk, Taganrog, and they knew what was happening there. They endured the mockery, humiliation and anger of the 17th. Some have already lost their relatives, others have lost their friends. I. A. Bunin wrote about this:
“Everything is forgiven to the people and the revolution - “all these are just excesses.” And for whites, from whom everything has been taken away, abused, raped, killed - their homeland, native cradles and graves, mothers, fathers, sisters - of course, there should be no “excesses.”
The command, by the way, did not encourage this, so some were lucky. A group of young Red Army soldiers was caught not far from the headquarters, they were ordered to be whipped and released on all four sides. Kornilov brought the captured artillery officers to a field trial. The officers said they were forced to shoot, and the court found the charge unproven. They were accepted into the Volunteer Army...
Kornilov's troops entered Kuban. At first it seemed like a fairy tale, the fulfillment of cherished desires. Villages that greet you with bread and salt. Wealth, satiety, hospitable hosts, friendly smiles... The fairy tale was soon over. Detachment after detachment began to be thrown in to cross the Kornilovites. But the Reds could not withstand the decisive onslaught and did not consider it necessary to fight to the death. And for the Volunteer Army, every battle was a matter of life. If you can't win, you'll have to stay in the cold steppe. And they won by overturning the barriers. Near Berezanskaya we first met the Red Kuban Cossacks. They were put to flight with one attack. And Kornilov entrusted the reprisals to the local elders - they used whips to admonish their confused youth in the village government.

On 03/04/18 the battle began. The cadets and students of Borovsky went head-on. The Officer and Kornilov regiments were hit from the side. They were met with a barrage of fire and stopped. Kornilov threw in the last reserve - the partisans and Czechoslovaks. Cartridges and shells were running out. The convoy asked whether to hand over the latter. “Give up,” Kornilov ordered, “we will seize the ammunition at the station.” The red cavalry loomed in the rear. The commander told the convoy: “You have two machine guns, healthy people. Defend yourself. I can’t give anything.” The wounded, the transporters built fortifications from carts and took up defensive positions. Kornilov put everything on the line. He personally stopped the retreating chains, and he himself, with a platoon of loyal Tekins and two guns, galloped around the village and opened fire on the rear. A general attack began, and the Reds fled...

But after a hard victory, another blow awaited. In Korenovskaya they learned that Ekaterinodar, so close, had already fallen. The government, unlike the Don government, decided to “preserve itself as an ideological and political center.” On the night of 1.03 Pokrovsky’s volunteers, the Cossack faction of the Rada, the government and many refugees left the city, going to the Circassian villages. Here Pokrovsky began to reorganize the units, numbering about 3 thousand soldiers with artillery. The hopelessness of the situation became so obvious that even the most ardent “democrats” started talking about joining forces with Kornilov. Having learned about the battles of March 2-4, Pokrovsky went on the offensive, captured the crossing across the Kuban near Yekaterinodar and exchanged fire with the Reds for two days, avoiding serious clashes. Kornilov, having learned about the fall of Ekaterinodar, turned in the other direction just at that time. The army is extremely tired. Lost up to 400 people killed and wounded. The crash of a close target caused heavy moral damage. We decided to go to the mountain villages. Rest, understand the situation, wait for favorable circumstances. Sorokin, defeated but not crushed, immediately moved the army in pursuit, pressing the volunteers towards the Kuban. And ahead, in the village of Ust-Labinskaya, fresh forces of the Reds were waiting; trains with troops and armored trains from the Caucasus and Tikhoretskaya were pulled there. While Bogaevsky and the partisan regiment barely held off Sorokin’s advancing troops, the Kornilovites and cadets broke through the defenses, captured the bridge across the Kuban, and the army jumped out of the ring of fire.

But there was no rest waiting on the left bank. We ended up in a completely Bolshevik area. Every village and forest was met with fire from hundreds of rifles. The regiments marched like a fan, with incessant fighting, knocking out and dispersing the enemy. Each small detachment, dodging to the side, was ambushed. Villages were abandoned - residents fled, stealing livestock and taking away food. Fires blazed, destroying houses and leaving the White Guards in the cold in the rain. As soon as they were located in a populated area, the artillery shelling began. One night a shell hit the house where Alekseev, Denikin and Romanovsky were staying. It was only by chance that no one was hurt. Large forces of the Reds, not lagging behind, but not getting closer, were moving on their heels. Small gangs attacked from all sides. From the newspaper Izvestia we learned that new formations against Kornilov were gathering in Maykop.

They were soon met. On March 10, crossing the Belaya River, the army was ambushed, locked in a narrow valley. Thousands of Reds, having occupied the surrounding heights, poured artillery and machine-gun fire, not allowing them to raise their heads. They attacked in thick chains over and over again. They were already celebrating their victory, clutching the ring. The pursuing units were turning around from behind. The lightly wounded were already given rifles, and the seriously wounded asked: “Sister, isn’t it time to shoot?” Ammunition was also running low. But the Reds' triumph turned out to be premature. Having held out all day, at dusk they rose up in a desperate attack. The ring was broken, and the army, accompanied by indiscriminate artillery fire, left for the Caucasian foothills.

TOThe Ubanians, after a useless foray to Ekaterinodar, found themselves in a critical situation. As soon as they began to retreat to the mountains, the Reds blocked their path. They were defeated and began to surround. On March 11, we were pinned down near Kaluga. Their fate hung in the balance several times. The convoys, the elderly, and the Rada deputies went into battle. They repulsed the attacks, but did not escape from the ring. We spent the night in a field in the pouring rain. They thought it was all over. And suddenly a patrol of Kornilovites appeared. People both believed and did not believe such happiness. The joy was so great that the next morning the exhausted Kuban residents rushed at the Reds and drove them away.

On March 14, Pokrovsky came to the village of Shenji to see Kornilov. He tried to express the opinion of the Kuban government about the independence of its units with operational subordination to Kornilov, but he cut it off unequivocally: “One army and one commander. I don’t allow any other situation.” The government and Pokrovsky had nowhere to go - their army wanted to go with Kornilov. The forces united, and on March 15, the Volunteer Army, which the Bolsheviks had already written off, went on the offensive. On the approaches to the village of Novo-Dmitrovskaya there is a swollen river without bridges, the banks of which are covered with ice. Gene. Markov found a ford. He ordered to gather all the horses and cross on horseback in twos. Enemy artillery began hitting the ford. By evening, a snowstorm swept in, frost hit, horses and people were covered with an ice crust. They agreed to take the village, jam-packed with red regiments, by storm from several sides. But Pokrovsky and the Kubanites considered it impossible to advance in such terrible weather. The guns got stuck in the mud. The volunteer army was stuck for a long time at the “horse” crossing. And the vanguard, the Officer Regiment, found itself alone at the village. Markov decided: “That’s it, guys. On a roofless night like this, we’ll all rest here in the field. Let’s go to the village!” And the regiment rushed with hostility. They overturned the line of defense and drove through the village, where the main red forces, who had not expected such a blow, were warming up in their homes. Kornilov arrived with his headquarters. When they entered the village administration, the Bolshevik command jumped out of the windows and other doors.

For two days in a row, the Reds counterattacked, even breaking into the outskirts, but each time they were repulsed with great damage. On March 17, the Kuban team arrived. Ataman Filimonov, Chairman of the Rada Ryabovol, Head of Government Bych, Pokrovsky. Again there was mention of an “autonomous army of a sovereign Kuban”. Having received a categorical “no” again, we tried to assume a position that they were abdicating all responsibility.
"Oh no! You don't dare shy away. You are obliged to work and help the army commander by all means!” - Kornilov put everything in its place. He removed Pokrovsky “at the disposal of the government for the further formation of the Kuban Army,” and mixed military units with his own, uniting them into three brigades - Markov, Bogaevsky and Erdeli.

But to storm Ekaterinodar, ammunition was needed! And so Erdeli’s cavalry went to take the Kuban crossings, Bogaevsky cleared the surrounding villages with battles, and Markov on March 24 attacked the Georgie-Afipskaya station with a 5,000-strong garrison and warehouses. The surprise attack did not work. The Reds stopped the volunteers with fire. We had to transfer Bogaevsky’s brigade here too. The battle was brutal. General Romanovsky was wounded, and the Kornilovsky regiment fought with hostility three times. But the station was taken, and most importantly, precious trophies - 700 shells and cartridges! The two bridges across the Kuban, a wooden one and a railway one, were naturally heavily guarded and could be blown up. Therefore, Erdeli, on the orders of Kornilov, quickly occupied the only ferry crossing near the village of Elizavetinskaya. The idea was daring. The troops launched the assault not from the south, where they were expected, but from the west. In addition, having crossed on a ferry with a carrying capacity of 50 people. on fishing boats, the army, like Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field, cut off its path to retreat.

But happiness had already begun to change for the White Guards. Errors followed one after another. The headquarters estimated the Bolshevik forces at 18 thousand people. with 2-3 armored trains and 10-14 guns. He was at least three times wrong. Kornilov also made a mistake: he left behind the Kuban the brigade of the most combat general, Markov, to cover the crossing and the convoy.

On 03/27/18 the battle began. The Reds launched an attack on the crossing from Ekaterinodar. The Kornilovsky and Partisan regiments knocked them over with a “psychic” attack, without firing a shot. Crowds of Bolsheviks fled in panic. And the ease of victory caused a new mistake - Kornilov ordered an immediate assault on the city, without having yet brought up all the forces. Another mistake - wanting to deal with the Reds right away, the Volunteer Army began to surround Ekaterinodar from all sides. The Bolsheviks had nowhere to retreat. The surrounding villages began to rebel against them, sending detachments of Cossacks to Kornilov.

On the 28th the battle immediately became fierce. If the whites were forced to save every shell, the fire of the red guns reached 500-600 rounds per hour. Old warriors recalled that such a barrage of fire was rarely experienced even on the German front. Attacks and counterattacks alternated. Nevertheless, the White Guards stubbornly advanced, clearing the outskirts, and clung to the outskirts - at a high cost, losing about 1000 people. Among them, the commander of the Partisan Regiment, Gen. Kazanovich, Kuban commanders Ulagai and Pisarev, Don commander Lazarev. The battle continued into the night. But the front did not advance, leading only to new losses. And several more trains with sailors broke through from Novorossiysk.

On the 29th, Markov’s brigade arrived, and Kornilov threw all his forces into the assault. Markov, personally leading the attack, occupied the heavily fortified Artillery barracks. Having learned about this, Nezhentsev raised the thinned Kornilov regiment - and was killed with a bullet to the head. He was replaced by Colonel Indeikin - and fell wounded. The attack failed. The wounded Kazanovich, who arrived with a reserve battalion of partisans, straightened the situation, broke through the Bolshevik defenses and broke into Yekaterinodar. Success was so close! But no one supported Kazanovich. Kutepov, who accepted the Kornilovites, could no longer raise the executed troops to attack. At the regimental command post there were only three alive, the rest were killed. Markov did not receive Kazanovich's report. And he, with only 250 fighters, walked through the streets to the city center. He captured carts with bread, ammunition and shells. And only in the morning, having made sure that no help was in sight, did he turn to his own people. They walked in a column, and to the oncoming Bolsheviks they pretended to be the red “Caucasian detachment” that was following the position. The Reds mixed with the Whites, walked and talked peacefully. And only when the captured convoy reached across the defense line did they sense something was wrong and open fire. Kazanovich broke through, but the chance was missed.

On the 30th, fighting continued, although the troops were already exhausted. Exhausted and exhausted, they could not move a single step. In some places they backed away. The surrounding Cossacks who joined the volunteers began to go home. In the middle of the day a council of war took place. The picture that emerged was catastrophic. The command staff has been knocked out. Huge losses: over one and a half thousand wounded alone. There were 300 bayonets left in the Partisan Regiment, and even fewer in the Kornilovsky Regiment. There is no ammunition. The limit of human strength has come. Even Markov fell asleep right at the meeting, his head resting on Romanovsky’s shoulder. Kornilov, after listening to everyone, said that there was no other way out but to take the city. The Bolsheviks will not allow us to retreat. Without ammunition, it will only be slow agony. He decided to give the troops a day of rest, regroup their forces, and on April 1 launch a last desperate attack. And he decided to lead the army himself in the assault... Markov, returning to the brigade headquarters, said: “Put on clean underwear, whoever has it. We will storm Ekaterinodar. We won’t take Ekaterinodar, and if we take it, we’ll die.”

The assault was not destined to begin. The Reds had been shelling the lonely farm where Kornilov’s headquarters were located for several days. Kornilov was repeatedly pointed out the danger, but he was indifferent to close explosions; on the 31st the situation repeated itself. Again he was asked to move his headquarters. He replied: “Now it’s no longer worth it, tomorrow there’s an assault.” At eight o'clock in the morning a shell hit the house, pierced the wall and exploded under the table at which Kornilov was sitting. The force of the explosion threw him away and hit the stove. When they ran into the room, he was still breathing. And he died, carried out into the air, in the arms of Denikin, Romanovsky, adjutant Dolinsky and several random officers. They wanted to hide the death of the commander from the army at least until the evening. In vain. Everyone knew instantly. People who had gone through fire and water cried bitterly... The death of Kornilov dealt the army the final cruel blow. There was only one thing left to do - retreat. Try to save what still remains. Kornilov’s body, accompanied by loyal Tekins, was taken to Elizavetinskaya. They washed him and laid him in a pine coffin, decorated with the first spring flowers. To protect the remains from enemies, the village priest secretly celebrated a memorial service. On April 2, they buried him - also secretly, in the presence of only a few people from the convoy. His friend and favorite Colonel Nezhentsev was buried nearby. The graves were razed to the ground. Even the command, so as not to attract attention, passed by; saying goodbye from afar. After Kornilov’s death, Alekseev said, “Well, Anton Ivanovich, accept the heavy inheritance. God help you!”

The situation was getting worse. The Reds tried to cover the left flank of the army. Erdeli barely held them back with mounted attacks. The last reserves were thrown there. The death of Kornilov completed the moral breakdown. Denikin decided to withdraw the army from the attack. From the south there was the Kuban River, from the east - Ekaterinodar, and from the west - floodplains and swamps. The only way left was to go north. After sunset, the troops secretly withdrew from their positions and went into complete uncertainty. Having only one goal - to escape. They left in order, with convoys and artillery. Although 64 wounded could not be taken out of Elizavetinskaya - the enemy was already scouring the area, there were not enough carts. The head of the convoy was forced to make a tough decision - to leave the hopeless and those who still could not bear the transportation. A doctor, nurses, money for food remained with them... 11 were saved, the rest were brutally killed. Already at dawn the column was discovered. From passing villages they were met with rifle and artillery fire. The armored train began to fire at the rearguard. The Reds were knocked out with an attack. Numerous infantry trying to approach were driven away by cannon fire. After a 50-kilometer march, the army stopped in the German colony of Gnachbau. Ahead lay the Black Sea Railway, occupied by the Reds. Large pursuing forces appeared from behind, began to surround the village, and a dozen guns began firing. It was one of the most difficult days. After an unsuccessful assault, retreat, and losses, people lost their composure. For the first time, panic appeared. Bogaevsky's brigade, moving into the field, repelled the attacks. Denikin ordered to reduce the convoy, leaving one cart for 6 people. Leave only 4 guns - there were still only 30 shells for them. The rest was spoiled and broken.

Just before sunset, the vanguard of the Volunteer Army set out to the north. They noticed him and started shelling him with hurricane fire. But as soon as it got dark, the column turned sharply to the east. We went to the railway near the Medvedkovskaya station. Markov and his intelligence officers seized the crossing, spoke on the phone with the red station authorities on behalf of the arrested watchman and assured that everything was in order. At the station there was an armored train and 2 echelons of infantry. And next to them, at the crossing, is the entire white headquarters. The officer battalion and other units began to turn against the Reds, but they were noticed by the sentries. Shots rang out. And a few minutes later an armored train rolled out, approaching the crossing, where the entire command had gathered - Denikin, Alekseev, Romanovsky, Markov and several scouts. The seconds were counting - and General Markov alone, waving his whip, rushed towards the armored train: “Stop! You'll crush me, son of a bitch! Don’t you see that it’s yours?!”

The stunned driver braked, and Markov immediately threw a grenade into the cabin of the locomotive. The armored train bristled with fire, but the chief of artillery Mionchinsky had already arrived. They turned the gun on the move and at point-blank range - a shell hit the locomotive, several shells hit the cars. And the riflemen of the Officer Regiment, led by Markov, ran up from all sides and began the assault. They chopped off the roof with axes and threw grenades there, shooting through loopholes. They put tar tow on it and set it on fire. The Bolsheviks stubbornly defended themselves, but were killed. Then volunteers rushed to extinguish and uncouple the cars, saving precious ammunition. They took 400 shells, 100 thousand cartridges and rejoiced at such happiness. Borovsky, supported by the Kuban Rifle Regiment, meanwhile attacked the station and took it after hand-to-hand combat. Some of the Bolsheviks managed to board the train and escape, while the rest were destroyed. And numerous carts of convoys were already flowing through the crossing - wounded, refugees. A second armored train was approaching from the south. The white artillery met him with accurate fire, and he retreated, continuing to fire at maximum range and without causing harm.

The army broke out of the ring. Denikin cleverly deceived the Reds. He abruptly changed direction. He announced one route in the village, and performed on another. When Soviet newspapers were choked with enthusiasm about the “defeat and liquidation of the White Guard gangs scattered throughout the North Caucasus,” the Volunteer Army broke away from the enemy, rested, strengthened and reached the borders of the Don and Stavropol again. The first Kuban or Ice Campaign lasted 80 days, 44 of which included battles. The army marched over 1,100 kilometers. 4 thousand people went on a campaign, 5 thousand returned. They buried 400 dead in the Kuban and took out 1.5 thousand wounded, not counting those left in the villages. The Ice Campaign became the baptism of the White Guard, its legend. White heroes and white traditions were born in it. Subsequently, a special sign was established for the pioneers - a sword with a crown of thorns on the St. George Ribbon.

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. "The Table" recalls how the Civil War began in Russia

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

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

Finally, the ataman’s nerves could not stand it.

- Enough talking! - he shouted. – Russia died from chatter!

Kaledin resolutely stood up from the table and, throwing his chair away from him, headed towards the inconspicuous door leading to the chieftain’s personal quarters. Those present, already accustomed to the ataman’s nervous escapades, looked at each other in bewilderment: was 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.

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

At the same meeting, General Lavr Kornilov, the failed military dictator of Russia, was elected as the new ataman of the Don Army.

Military intelligence super agent

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 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

Hard service in a distant garrison broke the destinies and souls of many young officers. But Kornilov was never known for cowardice: having served his due term to the rank of lieutenant, he entered the Academy of the General Staff, where he again found himself among the first students, receiving a small silver medal and the rank of captain ahead of schedule.

Disguised as a dervish, he and a detachment of loyal Cossacks traveled all over Persia, Afghanistan, India and China, drawing up detailed maps of the area.

As one of the best graduates, Captain Kornilov had the right to choose his future place of service. And he amazed everyone by asking to be sent again 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 and a detachment of loyal Cossacks traveled all over Persia, Afghanistan, India and China, drawing up detailed maps of the area. Later, the headquarters of the Turkestan Military District published Kornilov’s scientific works “Kashgaria, or Eastern Turkestan” and “Information concerning the 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 Infantry Brigade, went to war with Japan. He took part in the battles of Sandepa and Mukden, and was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and the rank of colonel for his bravery.

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

From captivity to revolution

Major General Kornilov participated in World War I 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 the “steel” division. For the battles on the Southwestern Front, General Kornilov received his second Order of St. George - already 3rd degree.

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

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

Having barely recovered from his wounds, he began to prepare his escape. The first attempt failed: the captured officers tried to bribe the castle butler to supply them with civilian clothes and passes, but he reported to his superiors. The second attempt turned out to be more successful: a 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 reach the Danube and cross to the other side, finding himself at the disposal of the Russian army.

Escape from captivity made General Kornilov famous

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

In September 1916, the general, having been appointed commander of the 25th Army Corps of the Special Army, again left for the Southwestern Front.

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

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

General L.G. Kornilov

Comrade Commander-in-Chief

The time was critical: the Russian army was crumbling before our eyes and losing its combat effectiveness. And then Kornilov ordered the creation of a new “guard” - the so-called “shock” units and units that 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 “shock soldiers” to be given a new uniform, tailored specifically for the hussars of the Alexandria 5th Hussar Regiment, named in honor of the blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky. The distinctive sign of the Alexandrian hussars were cockades with “Adam’s head” - a skull with crossbones, which at all times was a symbol of self-sacrifice and readiness to give their lives for the Motherland, for which the hussars were often called “immortals”. 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 a regimental doctor. The heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Alexei, was also “immortal,” 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 dying army.

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

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

Traitor and rebel

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

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

He proposed introducing General Krymov’s 3rd Cavalry Corps into Petrograd: “to restore order.” And he fell into Kerensky’s trap: 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 that said: “I, General Kornilov, the son of a Cossack peasant, declare to everyone that I personally do not need anything except the preservation of Great Russia, and I swear to bring the people through victory over the enemy to the Constituent Assembly , in which he himself will decide his destinies and choose the way of his new state life. I am not able to betray Russia into the hands of its primordial enemy - the German tribe - and make the Russian people slaves of the Germans, and I prefer to die on the field of honor and battle, so as not to see the shame and disgrace of the Russian land ... "

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

Then Kerensky appealed to the Bolsheviks to “stand up for 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 he was kept in prison in Bykhov, 50 kilometers from Mogilev.

He was released the day after the Bolsheviks captured the Winter Palace. The fact is that the Bolsheviks, having barely seized power, decided to immediately destroy their most dangerous political enemy. For this purpose, former warrant officer Nikolai Krylenko was sent to Mogilev Headquarters with a detachment of revolutionary sailors. But on the eve of his arrival, the soldiers of the Tekin Cavalry Regiment, who provided security for the prison, released all those arrested.

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

Lavr Kornilov and officers

Leave the city

However, apart from the loud name, the army itself, in fact, did not yet exist. By January, the Volunteer Army numbered no more than 4 thousand people: mostly they were front-line officers, and they were kept from fleeing home only by rumors about the mass executions of “gold chasers” carried out by the Bolsheviks. The Don Cossacks also did not want to fight, more concerned with rumors about the imminent redistribution of the land. Meanwhile, Novocherkassk has already taken into pincers the Red Guard expeditionary force of Rudolf Sievers from the Southern Revolutionary Front - 10 thousand bayonets. And there was practically 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, preserving 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, including 2,350 officers (including 36 generals). But there were few soldiers and no artillery at all - only 8 field “three-inch” guns with an insignificant supply of shells, and that’s all.

Also with the detachment was a large convoy of civilians, among whom there were many famous people: the former chief of staff of His Imperial Majesty General Mikhail Alekseev, the former Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko, the former State Duma deputy Prince Nikolai Lvov, the liberal journalist Boris Suvorin.

Historian and officer Roman Gul recalled:

“Quiet, blue evening. Let's go through the city. Yellow lights are flashing. There is not a soul on the streets. The foot kicks quietly. You are ordered not to make a sound.

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

The city ended - we turned along the railway. Kornilov walked ahead of the main forces, with a bag over his shoulders. The combat units passed quickly, but the convoy was endless. Carts with women and some things are coming. On one they are carrying a foot-operated sewing machine, on the other there is a gramophone horn, suitcases, boxes, and units sticking out. Everyone is in a hurry, talking in low voices, chasing each other. Some carts get stuck, others happily 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, they will give chase... Finally the convoy is over, and we are retreating to the village of Aleksandrovskaya. Shooting can be heard in Rostov, once a thunderous “hurray” has arrived. And before we had time to stop, they brought a paper from the village ataman: leave immediately, the Cossacks do not want to expose the village to battle ... "

Ice trek

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. There was only a narrow corridor left - 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 army's first stop was the village of Olginskaya. The officer detachment of General Sergei Markov also approached here, having secretly made its way past Bataysk, which was 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 management structures of the Volunteer Army arose: Kornilov created a headquarters, a supply and logistics department, sapper and engineering units. He appointed General Anton Denikin as his deputy, in case something happened to him. True, Anton Ivanovich was the first to fall out of action: in the chaos of 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 trek

Within a week, the first split occurred at the headquarters of the new army. Cossack General Popov proposed to go to the Sal steppes, where there were large supplies of food and fodder in the winter camps (that is, in the camps of tribal herds). There it was possible to 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 in the end it would be easier for the Reds to break up small detachments piece by piece.

In turn, Alekseev suggested going to Ekaterinodar. At that time, in the capital of Kuban, Colonel Viktor Pokrovsky, a true legend of the Russian army, the first pilot to capture an enemy pilot along with the plane, took power into his own hands. 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 on reconnaissance said that every day in the Kuban huge masses of soldiers were accumulating, returning home from the Transcaucasian Front. Bolshevik agitators worked skillfully among the soldiers. For example, they said that the road to Central Russia was blocked by the “golden chasers”, and therefore, in order to get home, it was necessary to defeat all the whites. However, there were also enough of those who went to the Reds of their own free will: there were rumors that after the victory, all soldiers of the Red Army would be given free plots of land taken from the local bourgeoisie in the Kuban.

As a result, the delay played a cruel joke on the Volunteer Army: Red scouts, looking for Kornilov’s army that had disappeared in the steppes, eventually found out about its location. And it was necessary to urgently go to 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 leading column of the Markov officer regiment reached the village of Lezhanki on the very border of the Stavropol province, where a large detachment of Reds was stationed along with a division of infantry guns.

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

- At the bayonet point! - burst out from three sides. - Hurray, brothers!

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

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

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

The Kuban Cossacks, exhausted by 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 face reprisals! - he shouts.

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

I looked back at my officers. “What if no one comes?” – it flashed through me.

No, they are leaving the ranks. Some smiling shyly, some with bitter faces.

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

A minute passed.

It came: come on!.. The dry crackle of gunfire, screams, groans...

Some finished off those still alive with bayonets and rifle butts.

This is the real civil war...

Next to me is a career captain, his face looks like he’s been beaten. “Well, if we do this, everyone will stand against us,” he mutters quietly.

The shooting officers approached.

Their faces are pale. “How should I know! Maybe this bastard shot my loved ones in Rostov!” - the officer shouts, answering someone..."

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

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

Lavr Kornilov

Don't skimp on cartridges!

But then the lucky streak ended. The volunteer army was overtaken by Sievers' troops, and military clashes 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 captain who went over to serve the Bolsheviks. Sorokin had 14,000 soldiers under arms, that is, almost three Reds for every White Guard. Serious power!

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

– Do not spare cartridges and shells! - ordered Kornilov.

Even the wounded and the 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 get around the advancing volunteers and hit them in the back, they were met by the transporters with heavy machine-gun fire.

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

Already in Korenovskaya, Kornilov learned from captured Red Guards that Sorokin’s troops had taken Yekaterinodar a week ago. The government of Colonel Pokrovsky fled, hiding in the Circassian villages, and unheard-of outrages 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 Pokrovsky’s troops.

Left bank of the Kuban

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

But Kornilov easily unraveled the captain’s ingenuous plan. The “Udarniks” 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 walked through villages and villages, knocking out the enemy.

In response, the Bolsheviks, realizing that they could no longer stop the Volunteer Army, began to use “scorched earth” tactics, burning all the villages along the route of the White Guards.

Only after a few days of travel, the Kornilovites again met face to face with the enemy. This happened on March 10 while crossing the Belaya River.

General Denikin wrote: “Only the partisans and Czechoslovaks managed to cross behind the Kornilovites. It was they who took the brunt of the enemy's attack. Artillery attacked from the rear, General Alekseev's wagon was overturned by a shell explosion, and his coachman was killed. The convoy is crossing, but does not know that it is going exactly towards the advancing Bolshevik chains. The Czechoslovakians have fired all their ammunition and are gradually going on the run. Their commander, Captain Nemechek, first tried to reason with his fellow countrymen with persuasion, then with fists, and then simply sat down 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, fearing that they did not estimate the enemy’s numbers, 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, having joined 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, guarded by 5 thousand soldiers.

The battle was difficult, but the village was taken.

And the way to Ekaterinodar was open.

Badge for the 1st Kuban (Ice) Campaign

Death of Kornilov

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

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

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

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

– Put on clean underwear, whoever has it. We won’t take Ekaterinodar, and if we do, we’ll die.

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. The soldiers and officers who went through fire and water cried 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 in secret: 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 burst into Elizavetinskaya. In the village, the Reds discovered a field hospital with seriously wounded: when 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 rifle butts, asking about the “treasures buried by the bourgeoisie.” Soon the general's grave was found.

The general's corpse was dug up and transported to Yekaterinodar. On the cathedral square, the body was thrown from the cart onto the pavement. A drunken crowd of soldiers beat and trampled him underfoot. The clothes were torn off the corpse, and the naked body of the dead man was hung on a tree. The rope broke, and the crowd again jeered 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 uncertainty. As Denikin himself later wrote, it was one of the most difficult days. After an unsuccessful assault, retreat, and losses, people lost their composure. For the first time, the officers began to panic.

At dawn, the column reached the railway, which was guarded by a regiment of Red Army soldiers. An armored train was traveling along the road.

And again the situation was saved by General Markov, who walked at the head of the column. He noticed a distant light in the steppe - it was the window in the switchman's booth. With three experienced intelligence officers, the general went on reconnaissance. Having learned from the road guard that there were two echelons of Red Guards with an armored train at the station, Markov, posing as a guard, 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 the unexpected night call, decided to send an armored train to the crossing just 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 towards the locomotive:

- Train, stop! You'll crush me, son of a bitch! Don't you see that it's yours?!

The stunned driver braked, and Markov immediately threw a grenade into the cabin 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 identified the “blind sectors” of the armored train, stormed the cars. The Bolsheviks stubbornly defended themselves, but were killed.

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

This was the last battle of the Ice Campaign.

N. Samokish. Ice trek

While the Bolshevik newspapers were choking with enthusiasm about the “defeat and liquidation of the White Guard gangs scattered throughout the North Caucasus,” the Volunteer Army, winding between roads and railway lines, walked away, confusing its tracks. Kuban residents poured into the army, replenishing the ranks of those who had left. In the villages they were greeted like old acquaintances.

Roman Gul wrote: “In Uspenskaya we celebrate Palm Sunday. There is a service in a large church. All with willows and candles. The temple is full, there are more wounded. Ahead, to the altar - Denikin with a white George 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.

Everyone is happy. Unexpected light! We are going to the Don, and now the Cossacks themselves have risen! What power!

In mid-April, the Volunteer Army, having broken through the enemy ring, settled in two large villages of the Don region - in Mechetinskaya and Egorlykskaya, southeast of Rostov. Here Denikin decided to give the army a temporary rest and, having understood the current situation, decide on further actions. Already in exile, he recalled that in the second half of 1918, the Whites were unable to take advantage of the favorable situation for a decisive attack on the Reds.

The German army was to blame for this.

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

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

“A small army, almost deprived of military supplies, came face to face simultaneously with two warring factors - the Soviet regime and the German invasion,” he wrote. – I must say frankly that a serious blow to the rear of the Bolshevik troops, who were blocking the path of the German invasion of the Caucasus, was not my intention then. The utterly perverted Russian reality sometimes cast robbers and traitors in the veil of the Russian national idea...”

Editor's Choice

The revolutionary events that took place in Russia from February to October 1917 actually destroyed a huge empire and led to the outbreak of the Civil War. Seeing such a difficult situation in the country, the remnants of the tsarist army decided to join forces to restore reliable power, in order to carry out military operations not only against the Bolsheviks, but also to defend the Motherland from the attacks of an external aggressor.

Formation of the Volunteer Army

The merger of units took place on the basis of the so-called Alekseevskaya organization, the beginning of which falls on the day of the general’s arrival. It was in his honor that this coalition was named. This event took place in Novocherkassk on November 2(15), 1917.

A month and a half later, in December of the same year, a special meeting was held. Its participants were Moscow deputies led by the generals. In essence, the issue of distribution of roles in command and control between Kornilov and Alekseev was discussed. As a result, it was decided to transfer full military power to the first of the generals. The formation of units and bringing them to full combat readiness was entrusted to the General Staff, headed by Lieutenant General S. L. Markov.

During the Christmas holidays, the troops were ordered to take over the command of General Kornilov’s army. From that moment on, it officially began to be called Volunteer.

Situation on the Don

It is no secret that the newly created army of General Kornilov was in dire need of support from the Don Cossacks. But she never received it. In addition, the Bolsheviks began to tighten the ring around the cities of Rostov and Novocherkassk, while the Volunteer Army rushed around inside it, desperately resisting and suffering huge losses. Having lost support from the Don Cossacks, the commander-in-chief of the troops, General Kornilov, on February 9 (22) decided to leave the Don and go to the village of Olginskaya. Thus began the Ice March of 1918.

In the abandoned Rostov there remained a lot of uniforms, cartridges and shells, as well as medical warehouses and personnel - everything that the small army guarding the approaches to the city so needed. It is worth noting that at that time neither Alekseev nor Kornilov had yet resorted to forced mobilization and confiscation of property.

Stanitsa Olginskaya

The ice campaign of the Volunteer Army began with its reorganization. Arriving at the village of Olginskaya, the troops were divided into 3 infantry regiments: Partisan, Kornilovsky shock and Consolidated officer. After a few minutes they left the village and moved towards Ekaterinodar. This was the first Kuban Ice March, which passed through Khomutovskaya, Kagalnitskaya and Yegorlykskaya villages. For a short time the army entered the territory of the Stavropol province, and then re-entered the Kuban region. Throughout their journey, the volunteers constantly had armed clashes with units of the Red Army. Gradually the ranks of the Kornilovites thinned out, and every day there were fewer and fewer of them.

Unexpected news

On March 1 (14), Ekaterinodar was occupied by the Red Army. The day before, Colonel V.L. Pokrovsky and his troops left the city, which extremely complicated the already difficult situation of the volunteers. Rumors that the Reds had occupied Yekaterinodar reached Kornilov the next day, when the troops were at Vyselki station, but they were not given much importance. After 2 days, in the village of Korenovskaya, which was occupied by volunteers as a result of a stubborn battle, they found one of the issues of the Soviet newspaper. It was reported there that the Bolsheviks actually occupied Yekaterinodar.

The news received completely devalued the Kuban Ice Campaign, for which hundreds of human lives were wasted. General Kornilov decided not to lead his army to Yekaterinodar, but to turn south and cross the Kuban. He planned to rest his troops in the Circassian villages and Cossack mountain villages and wait a little. Denikin called this decision by Kornilov a “fatal mistake” and, together with Romanovsky, tried to dissuade the army commander from this idea. But the general was unshakable.

Troop formation

On the night of March 5-6, the Ice Campaign of Kornilov’s army continued in a southerly direction. After 2 days, the volunteers crossed the Laba and went to Maikop, but it turned out that in this area every farm had to be taken with a fight. Therefore, the general turned sharply to the west and, crossing the Belaya River, rushed to the Circassian villages. Here he hoped not only to rest his army, but also to unite with the Kuban troops of Pokrovsky.

But since the colonel did not have fresh data on the movement of the Volunteer Army, he stopped making attempts to break through to Maykop. Pokrovsky decided to turn to and connect with Kornilov’s troops, who had already managed to leave there. As a result of this confusion, two armies - the Kuban and the Volunteer - tried to discover each other at random. And finally, on March 11, they succeeded.

Stanitsa Novodmitrievskaya: Ice March

It was March 1918. Exhausted by daily multi-kilometer marches and weakened in battles, the army had to walk through viscous black soil, as the weather suddenly turned bad and it started to rain. It was replaced by frosts, so the soldiers' overcoats, swollen from the rain, began to literally freeze. In addition, it became sharply cold and a lot of snow fell in the mountains. The temperature dropped to -20 ⁰C. As participants and eyewitnesses of those events later said, the wounded, who were transported on carts, had to be chipped off with bayonets from the thick ice crust that had formed around them by the evening.

It must be said that to top it all, in mid-March there was also a fierce clash, which went down in history as the battle near the village of Novodmitrievskaya, where the soldiers of the Consolidated Officer Regiment especially distinguished themselves. Later, the battle, as well as the preceding and subsequent marches across the crust-covered steppe, became known as the “Ice March.”

Signing the contract

After the battle near the village of Novodmitrievskaya, the Kuban military formation proposed to include him in the Volunteer Army as an independent fighting force. In exchange for this, they promised to help replenish and supply troops. General Kornilov immediately agreed to such conditions. The ice campaign continued, and the size of the army increased to 6 thousand people.

The volunteers decided to go again to the capital of Kuban - Ekaterinodar. While the staff officers were developing a plan for the operation, the troops were reorganizing and resting, while repelling numerous attacks by the Bolsheviks.

Ekaterinodar

The ice campaign of Kornilov's army was nearing completion. On March 27 (April 9) volunteers crossed the river. Kuban and began to storm Ekaterinodar. The city was defended by a 20,000-strong Red army, commanded by Sorokin and Avtonomov. The attempt to capture Yekaterinodar failed, and after 4 days, as a result of another battle, General Kornilov was killed by a random shell. Denikin took over his duties.

It must be said that the Volunteer Army fought in conditions of complete encirclement with the forces of the Red Army several times superior. The losses of Denikin’s now amounted to about 4 hundred killed and 1.5 thousand wounded. But, despite this, the general still managed to lead the army out of encirclement.

On April 29 (May 12), Denikin with the remnants of his army went to the south of the Don region in the Gulyai-Borisovka - Mechetinskaya - Egorlytskaya area, and the next day Kornilov’s Ice Campaign, which later became a legend of the White Guard movement, was completed.

Siberian crossing

In the winter of 1920, under enemy pressure, the retreat of the Eastern Front began, which was commanded. It should be noted that this operation took place, like the campaign of Kornilov’s army, in the most difficult climatic and weather conditions. The horse-foot trek, about 2 thousand km long, followed the route from Novonikolaevsk and Barnaul to Chita. Among the White Army military personnel, it was called the “Siberian Ice March.”

This difficult transition began on November 14, 1919, when units of the White Army left Omsk. Troops led by V.O. Kappel retreated along the Trans-Siberian Railway, transporting the wounded in trains. The Red Army was literally on their heels. In addition, the situation was further complicated by numerous riots breaking out in the rear, as well as attacks from various bandit and partisan detachments. To top it all off, the transition was also aggravated by the severe Siberian frosts.

At that time, the Czechoslovak Corps controlled the railway, so General Kappel’s troops were forced to leave the carriages and transfer to sleighs. After this, the White Army began to look like a gigantic sleigh train.

When the White Guards approached Krasnoyarsk, a garrison rebelled in the city under the leadership of General Bronislav Zinevich, who made peace with the Bolsheviks. He tried to persuade Kappel to do the same, but was refused. At the beginning of January 1920, several skirmishes took place, after which more than 12 thousand White Guards bypassed Krasnoyarsk, crossed the Yenisei River and went further to the east. Approximately the same number of soldiers chose to surrender to the city garrison.

Leaving Krasnoyarsk, the army divided into columns. The first was commanded by K. Sakharov, whose troops marched along the railway and the Siberian highway. The second column continued its Ice Campaign under the leadership of Kappel. She moved first along the Yenisei, and then along this crossing. This transition turned out to be the most difficult and dangerous. The fact is that R. Kan was covered with a layer of snow, and under it flowed the water of non-freezing springs. And this is in 35-degree frost! The military had to move in the dark and constantly fall into ice holes, completely invisible under the thickness of the snow. Many of them, frozen, remained lying there, while the rest of the army moved on.

During this transition, it turned out that General Kappel froze his legs, falling into the wormwood. He underwent surgery to amputate his limbs. In addition, he contracted pneumonia from hypothermia. In mid-January 1920, the Whites captured Kansk. On the twenty-first day of the same month, the Czechs handed over the Supreme Ruler of Russia Kolchak to the Bolsheviks. After 2 days, the already dying man convened a council of army headquarters. It was decided to take Irkutsk by storm and release Kolchak. On January 26, Kappel died, and the Ice Campaign was led by General Wojciechowski.

Since the advance of the White Army to Irkutsk was somewhat delayed due to constant fighting, Lenin took advantage of this and issued an order to shoot Kolchak. It was carried out on February 7. Having learned about this, General Voitsekhovsky abandoned the now senseless assault on Irkutsk. After this, his troops crossed Baikal and to the station. Mysovaya loaded all the wounded, sick and women with children into the trains. The rest continued their Great Siberian Ice March to Chita, which is about 6 hundred kilometers. They entered the city in early March 1920.

When the transition was completed, General Voitsekhovsky established a new order - “For the Great Siberian Campaign.” It was awarded to all officers and soldiers who participated in it. It is worth noting that this historical event was vividly recalled several years ago by members of the Kalinov Most musical group. “Ice March” was the name of their album, entirely dedicated to the retreat of Kolchak’s army in Siberia.