 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
ThePeople's Army of Komuch (Russian:Народная армия КОМУЧа,romanized: Narodnaya armiya KOMUCha) was ananti-Bolshevik army during theRussian Civil War that fought in theVolga Region from June to September in 1918. It was established by theSocialist Revolutionary Party and led byVladimir Kappel.
| People's Army of Komuch | |
|---|---|
| Народная армия КОМУЧа | |
| Active | 8 june – 24 october1918 |
| Allegiance |  Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly |
| Type | Military |
| Size | 30 000 |
| Colours | Red |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Stanislav Čeček Vladimir Kappel Nikolay Galkin |
In May 1918 theCzechoslovak Legion revolted on theTrans-Siberian Railway. On June 8, theCzech Legion capturedSamara, Russia, and several members of theConstituent Assembly, which had been dissolved by theBolsheviks, organized aCommittee of Members of the Constituent Assembly. On the same day an organization of underground officers was established under the supervision of theSocialist-Revolutionary Party. On June 10 a group of officers of the general staff arrived[clarification needed] and helped organize a military structure. They created a detachment of 350 men, which had two infantry companies, a cavalry squadron and a mounted artillery detachment. GeneralVladimir Kappel became a chief of this military group. Kappel was a monarchist, but stated that he would fight under any banner against the Bolsheviks.
In Russian "Constituent Assembly" is transliterated as "Uchreditel'noe Sobranie", hence the abbreviation for the full committee in English is "Komuch").
On June, 11, Kappel's detachment stormed and capturedSyzran, thenStavropol,Buguruslan andBuzuluk. On July 21, after a 150-km march, the Russian-Czechoslovak detachment under Kappel's command stormed and capturedSimbirsk; for this victory Kappel was promoted tocolonel. On July 22, Kappel officially became the head of all Komuch forces, which consisted of two infantry regiments and several artillery batteries (about three thousand men altogether).
When the Komuch met in Samara, it was decided that the main strategic goal was to captureSaratov, but Kappel thought thatKazan was a more important target, and thus he attacked and conquered it, which was defended by a large but poorly prepared Red Army.
Kappel thought it was necessary to capitalize on the situation and advance toMoscow throughNizhny Novgorod, but the Komuch and the commanders of the Czechoslovak troops replied that in this case there would have not been enough troops to defend Samara, Simbirsk, and Kazan. The People's Army was placed in a defensive position, and the Red Army gained time to regroup.[clarification needed]
At the beginning of September, the Red Army began to advance.Kazan was captured by Red Army on September 5 and Simbirsk on September 12. During two weeks Kappel's group defended the left bank of theVolga River and, after joining with other troops, it retreated toUfa.
On September 23, 1918, the Komuch and theProvisional Government of Autonomous Siberia merged in Ufa to become the unitedProvisional All-Russian Government. On September 28, 1918, GeneralVasily Boldyrev was appointed supreme commander of all land and naval Armed Forces of Russia. The People's Army of Komuch and theSiberian Army were united in one structure. The unification of the Siberian and the People's armies did not lead to success: the Volga Region was completely occupied by the Bolsheviks:Syzran fell on October 3, 1918, andSamara, the former capital of the Komuch Army, on October 8.
In the fall of 1918, during the further unification of the anti-Bolshevik armed forces of the east of Russia, the People's army was abolished, and its forces transformed into the1st Volga Corps [ru], under command ofVladimir Kappel.
| OFFICERS[1] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General officers | Field officers | ||||||||
 |  |  |  |  | |||||
| General | Lieutenant general | Major general | Colonel | Lieutenant colonel | |||||
| Company officers | |||||||||
 |  |  |  |  | |||||
| Captain | Staff Captain | Lieutenant | Second Lieutenant | Ensign | |||||
| ENLISTED[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCO | Men | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Podpraporshchik | Feldwebel | Senior Unteroffizier | Junior Unteroffizier | Gefreiter | Private | |
