| White Army | |
|---|---|
| Бѣлая армія[a] Белая армия | |
.png) Coat of arms of theRussian State | |
| Active | 1917–1922 |
| Country |  Russia |
| Size | Overall: ~1,023,000 (May 1919) In combat units: ~4,000 (December 1917) ~683,000[1] (June 1919) ~300,000[2] (December 1919) ~100,000 (Summer 1920) ~8,000 (September 1922) ~1,000 (1923) |
| Garrison/HQ | Russia Outer Mongolia (1920–21) China Persia |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Lavr Kornilov Alexander Kolchak Anton Denikin Pyotr Wrangel Nikolai Yudenich Mikhail Drozdovsky Mikhail Diterikhs Anatoly Pepelyayev Vladimir Kantakuzen |
| Insignia | |
| Identification symbol |     |
TheWhite Army,[b] also known as theWhite Guard,[c] theWhite Guardsmen,[d] or simply theWhites,[4] was a common collective name for the armed formations of theWhite movement andanti-Bolshevik governments during theRussian Civil War.[5] They fought against theRed Army ofSoviet Russia.[4]
When it was created, the structure of theRussian Army during the period of theRussian Provisional Government was used, while almost every individual formation had its own characteristics. The military art of the White Army was based on the experience of theFirst World War which left a strong imprint on the specifics of the Russian Civil War.[6]
The name "White" is associated with white symbols of the supporters of thepre-revolutionary order, dating back to the time of theFrench Revolution,[7][e] in contrast to the name of theRed Guard detachments, and then the Red Army. For the first time, the name "White Guard" was used inRussia forFinnish police detachments created in 1906 to fight therevolutionary movement.[9] Their members wore white bandages on their sleeves; however, this did not have a direct connection with the White Army during theRussian Civil War.
The White Armies comprised a number of different groups, who operated independently and did not share a single ideology or political goal. Their leaders were conservative or moderate generals and political leaders, each with different goals and plans to achieve them, and most of these armies did not coordinate their actions. The chain of command in each, as well as individual members, differed from experienced veterans ofWorld War I to fresh volunteers.[4][10]
The White Guards, in addition to directly fighting with the Reds as well as theMakhnovtsi, carried out theWhite Terror, taking part in mass executions, including assisting allied foreign interventionists (for example, 257 civilians were killed in 1919 in the course of the struggle in the village ofIvanovka of theJapanese Army and the White Guards against thepro-Bolshevik detachments of partisans).[11] The overall number of people killed in the White Terror is significantly less than that in the BolshevikRed Terror, which drastically differed from its counterpart as it was deliberately organized and run by Bolshevik leaders. However, the total estimates for the White Terror are difficult to ascertain due to the role of multiple administrations and violence perpetrated by undisciplined, independent (White movement) forces.
HistorianRonald Suny notes that a higher proportion ofanti-semitic attacks were committed by the White military, which accounted for 17% of the anti-Jewish atrocities during the Russian Civil War.[12] Suny stated that the casualties of the White Terror would have exceeded the Red Terror with the inclusion ofanti-Soviet violence and Jewishpogroms into the death toll.[12] According to historianMarcel Liebman, the Red Terror was initiated in response to several planned assassinations of Bolshevik leaders and the initial massacres of Red prisoners inMoscow and during theFinnish Civil War by Finnish Whites.[13]
After theOctober Revolution, the arrested generalsLavr Kornilov,Anton Denikin,Sergey Markov and others were released by Commander-in-ChiefNikolay Dukhonin before his removal and subsequent murder by the mob and went toDon Host to AtamanAlexey Kaledin. The Don region abandoned the power of theSoviets and proclaimed independence "before the formation of a nation-wide, popularly recognized government".[14] The first White Army was created byMikhail Alekseyev, calling it the "Alekseyev Organization".[15] Officers were recruited on a voluntary basis. AVolunteer Army was created from the members of this organization. Generals Kaledin and Kornilov joined him. Three months later, in April 1918, the Council of Defense of the Don Host formed theDon Army. In May 1918, the Drozdov brigadejoined the Volunteer Army from theRomanian Front.
Among those who came to the Don were public figures. One of the first to join the Alekseyev organization wasVasily Shulgin, who later became a member of the Special Meeting under Denikin.Boris Savinkov—the former head of theSocialist Revolutionary Combat Organization, who organized theUnion for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom under the Volunteer Army—was also there.[16] Military leaders andCossacks reacted extremely negatively to his presence.[17]
On 8 June 1918, the uprisingWhite Czechs tookSamara. On the same day, thePeople's Army was organized under the command of Colonel Nikolai Galkin. It was formed by theCommittee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, which wasrepressed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.[18] On 9 June, after the arrival of Lieutenant ColonelVladimir Kappel in the army, the following were formed: 1st Volunteer Samara Squadron, Cavalry Squadron of Staff Captain Stafievsky, Volzhskaya Equestrian Battery of Captain Vyrypayev, horse reconnaissance, subversive command and economic unit. After the formation of the units, Kappel's troops occupySyzran andStavropol on 11 and 12 June, respectively.[19]
On 10 July, the People's Army again entered Syzran, occupied by the Bolsheviks, and threw them back toSimbirsk. A few days later, Kappel's detachments occupied Simbirsk and from there they advanced in several directions: from Syzran toVolsk andPenza, from Simbirsk toInza andAlatyr and along the banks of the Volga to the mouth of the Kama. After the capture ofKazan, the People's Army was reorganized. The Volga Front was created under the command ofStanislav Chechek. It was divided into several groups: Simbirsk, Kazan, Khvalynsk, Ufa, Nikolaev, Ural Cossack troops and the Orenburg Cossack troops.
Kappel suggested the command to takeNizhny Novgorod. He suggested that the occupation of the city would break the Bolshevik plans to sign additional agreements with theKaiser ofGermany inBerlin, as he would deprive them of money from the "pocket of Russia". However, the command and the Czechs abandoned these plans, citing a lack of reserves.[19]
At the same time, in June 1918, theProvisional Siberian Government inNovo-Nikolaevsk created theSiberian Army.[20] Initially, it was called the West Siberian Volunteer Army. From June to December 1918, the headquarters of the Siberian Army was the general headquarters for the entire White Movement ofSiberia. In August theSupreme Administration of the Northern Region inArkhangelsk created troops of the Northern Region, sometimes referred to as the Northern Army (not to be confused with GeneralRodzyanko's Northern Army).
In January 1919, the Don and Volunteer Armies were combined into theArmed Forces of the South of Russia. In June the Northern Army was created from Russian officers and soldiers of the Northern Corps, who left the Estonian army. A month later, the army was renamed the Northwest.
On 14 October 1918, Minister of WarAlexander Kolchak arrived inOmsk. On 18 November 1918 he was proclaimed theSupreme Ruler of Russia, who also assumed the supreme command of all the land and naval forces of Russia. He made a substantial reorganization of the forces of the White movement and carried out its integration into a singleRussian Army on 23 September 1918. On 4 November Kolchak became part of theRussian Government.
As the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Kolchak was recognized by all the commanders of the White Armies both in the south and west of Russia, as well as in Siberia and the Far East; generals Denikin,Yevgeny Miller,Nikolai Yudenich voluntarily submitted to Kolchak and recognized his Supreme High Command over all armies in Russia. The supreme commander at the same time confirmed the authority of the commanders. From that moment, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, theNorthwestern Army, theNorthern Army, and theEastern Front began operating on the fronts as a single army.
The name "Russian Army" was approved as the union of all White fronts, the status of commanders of the fronts formally from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was received by the commanders of the North and Northwest Armies Generals Yudenich and Miller. In April 1920, theFar Eastern Army was created inTransbaikalia from the remnants of the troops of the Eastern Front under the leadership of GeneralGrigory Semenov. Out of the remnants of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia that left forCrimea in May 1920, General Wrangel formed thearmed forces that inherited the name "Russian Army" from the single Russian army of Kolchak of 1919 – as the last of its fronts. In 1921, from the remnants of the Far Eastern Army of General Semyonov in Primorye, theWhite Rebel Army was formed, later renamed theZemsky Army, since the Amur Zemsky Government was created inVladivostok in 1922.
White Armies drew both from volunteers and on the basis of mobilization. They drew from the population of controlled territories and from capturedRed Army soldiers. On a voluntary basis, they were staffed not only from officers of theImperial Russian Army andNavy, but also from all comers. It was both in the south – in the Volunteer Army, and in Siberia, for example – the division of the Labor Corps.[21][page needed]
The strength of the White Armies fighting against the Red Army, according to intelligence estimates, by June 1919 was about 683,000. However, together with auxiliary and staff units, it could exceed 1,023,000 people.[22] A significant part of the White forces was on contentment. Combat units amounted to only half of this figure.[21] After that, the number of White Armies began to decline steadily.[23]
The White Army consisted of all kinds of troops for that period:
All of them had their own uniforms and formation patch, often copied from the uniform of the guard units of the Imperial Russian Army. According to supporters of the White movement, the White Guard is a military man devoted to his ideals who was ready to defend hisMotherland and his specific ideas about duty, honour, and justice with arms in hand.
Media related toWhite Army at Wikimedia Commons
