| Battle for Kazan | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War | |||||||
 Frontline near Kazan in August, 1918 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Red Guards |  People's Army of Komuch  Czechoslovaks | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mikhail Muravyov Jukums Vācietis Mirsäyet Soltanğäliev Mullanur Waxitov  | Vladimir Kappel Stanislav Čeček | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| about 10,000 | about 3,300 | ||||||
The city of Kazan was captured by the White Army in August 1918 during the Russian Civil War.
At July, 22, People Army of Komuch together with Czechoslovak Legion (about 3300 men with 4 cannons in common) captured Simbirsk and on August 1, began to move north in Kazan direction. After crushing the detachment of Reds (about 2500 men with 10 cannons) began quick advance. Going along the Volga River, on August, 4 they reached the mouth of the Kama River. Reds tried to stop Whites again, but lost and retreated to Kazan. During that battle it became obvious that Red troops were ill-prepared and badly organized.
At that time Kazan had 146.000 inhabitants. For the defence of Kazan Reds concentrated about 10 thousand men from all the region. The most effective of the defending troops were "international" detachments: Latvian Riflemen (two regiments), Karl Marx's International Battalion (made from Austrians and Hungarians prisoners, captured by Russians during First World War), the First Moslem Communist Battalion, First Tatar-Bashkir Battalion etc.
The Whites reached Kazan on the evening of 5 August. River ships then went up-stream on the Volga, and the detachment of Vladimir Kappel landed on the right bank, thereby blocking the river. At the same time two Czechoslovak Battalions landed 5 km down-stream of Kazan and began to advance, but this was stopped by the Latvian Riflemen. Latvians were close to winning, but suddenly a Serbian battalion of Reds, defending the Kazan Kremlin, changed sides and attacked the Latvians from the flank. The Reds retreated to the city through a rainstorm, while the Whites stayed on the battlefield.
In the morning of August, 6, Kappel crossed the river and attacked Kazan from the north. The Reds moved their best troops (international brigades) to the north of the city, and the Czechoslovaks used this moment to attack the ill-prepared Red Guards from another direction. Using this opportunity, an underground officer organization began a rebellion within the city. By evening the city was encircled by Whites from three sides, and there was fighting inside the city. During the night part of red troops began to breakthrough to the east, in Sviyazhsk direction, with another group escaping to the north, to the Arsk. However, most of the red troops were captured by Whites.
After the capture of Kazan the entire General Staff Academy changed sides and joined the White Movement. Reds' retreat from Kazan made possible the Izhevsk-Votkinsk Uprising. But one of the most sensational results was the capture of the Gold Reserves of the Russian Empire, moved to Kazan during the First World War for safety. After capturing Kazan Kappel sent a telegram to Stanislav Čeček (commander of 1st Legionnaire Division):
After two-days fighting, at August, 7, Kazan is captured by the joint forces of Samara Detachment of People Army and Czechoslovaks, together with River Fleet. Trophies are uncountable, we captured the Gold Reserves of Russia - 650 million. Losses of my detachment - 25 men, troops fought fine.
According to William Henry Chamberlin, "Later this gold came into the possession of the Siberian dictator, Kolchak; part of it was spent in buying munitions and other supplies abroad; part of it leaked out of the country in various ways when Kolchak fell; some of the gold was recovered by the Red troops." [1]
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the social-democratic Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and later the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century.
The Czechoslovak Legion were volunteer armed forces comprised predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the White Army during the Russian Civil War until November 1919. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of Lands of the Bohemian Crown from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force over 100,000 strong.
The Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly was an anti-Bolshevik government that operated in Samara, Russia, during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It formed on June 8, 1918, after the Czechoslovak Legion had occupied the city.
The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.
The White Army or White Guard, also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. They fought against the Red Army of Soviet Russia.
The Russian Civil War spread to the east in May 1918, with a series of revolts along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway, on the part of the Czechoslovak Legion and officers of the Russian Army. Provisional anti-Bolshevik local governments were formed in many parts of Siberia and other eastern regions during that summer. The Red Army mounted a counter-offensive in the autumn of 1918. Throughout the winter and spring of 1918/1919, the White Army had dominance over this front. In the summer of 1919, and from then onwards, the Red Army defeated the White commander Aleksandr Kolchak. The White Army collapsed in the East as well as on other fronts throughout the winter of 1919/1920. Smaller-scale conflicts in the region went on until as late as 1923.
Kazan Operation was the Red Army's offensive against the Czechoslovak Legion and the People's Army of Komuch during the Russian Civil War.
Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel was a White Russian military leader.
The Great Siberian Ice March was the name given to the 2000-kilometer winter retreat of Admiral Kolchak's Siberian Army from Omsk to Chita, in the course of the Russian Civil War between 14 November 1919 and March 1920.
Mikhail Artemyevich Muravyov was a Russian officer who changed sides during the time of the Civil War in Russia and the Soviet-Ukrainian war.
Sergey Nikolayevich Voytsekhovsky was a Colonel of the Imperial Russian Army, Major-General in the White movement, and Czechoslovak Army general. He was a participant of the Great Siberian Ice March.
The revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion comprised the armed actions of the Czechoslovak Legion in the Russian Civil War against Bolshevik authorities, beginning in May 1918 and persisting through evacuation of the Legion from Siberia to Europe in 1920. The revolt, occurring in Volga, Ural, and Siberia regions along the Trans-Siberian Railway, was a reaction to a threat initiated by the Bolsheviks partly as a consequence of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. One major secondary consequence of victories by the Legion over the Bolsheviks was to catalyze anti-Bolshevik activity in Siberia, particularly of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, and to provide a major boost for the anti-Bolshevik or White forces, likely protracting the Russian Civil War.
Battle of Barnaul was a series of conflicts during the Russian Civil War from June 13–15, 1918, involving different factions in the Siberian region. The Red Guards and the White movement were the main combatants.
The People's Army of Komuch was an anti-Bolshevik army during the Russian Civil War that fought in the Volga Region from June to September in 1918. It was established by the Socialist Revolutionary Party and led by Vladimir Kappel.
The Simbirsk Operation was the Bolshevik Red Army's offensive against Vladimir Kappel's anti-Bolshevik People's Army of Komuch and Czechoslovak Legion. The attack came at Simbirsk, on the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War, in September 1918. The Bolsheviks re-took the city, forcing Kappel's retreat to Ufa, where his force was absorbed by the Siberian Army.
The Spring Offensive of the Russian Army was an offensive of the White Army of the White movement led by Alexander Kolchak on the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War, between March and April 1919.
The Eastern Front counteroffensive was an episode of the Russian Civil War.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was a Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who held the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia from 1918 to 1920 during the Russian Civil War, though his actual control over Russian territory was limited. Previously, he served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.
The 1st Army was a field army of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. The 1st Army was formed twice. The first formation was between the beginning of March 1918 and May as a reaction to the Austro-German occupation of Ukraine. The second formation was created on June 19, 1918, as a part of the Eastern Front and from August 15, 1919 as a part of the Turkestan Front. The Army was disbanded in January 1921.
The Russian State was a White Army anti-Bolshevik state proclaimed by the Act of the Ufa State Conference of September 23, 1918, “On the formation of the all-Russian supreme power” in the name of “restoring state unity and independence of Russia” affected by the revolutionary events of 1917, the October Revolution and the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany.