Chapter 9 - Any Gun Can Play: Siberian front, November 1918 - March 1919
It is true that liberty is precious — so precious that it must be rationed.
-
Lenin
Since the Battle of Simbirsk, the frontline along the Volga had been trapped in stalemate. Semenov's and Vatzetis' armies had settled comfortably into their muddy trenches at Kazan while Frunze and Grichin-Almazov were facing each other at Simbirsk. With Kamenev's army about to be transferred into the Ukraine, the Soviets had no troops to spare for an offensive on the Siberian front. In the meantime, the Siberians tried to boost their numbers with new recruits but the Red Army expanded at an even faster pace.
December 1918 saw the survivors of the Czech legion desert the Siberians. Inspite of this weakening, Kolchak ordered a new offensive. The concept for this operation was sound: two Siberian columns would outflank the main Red defensive line in an attempt to sever the vital railroad to Moscow.
When news of Makhin's forray reached the Reds, Trotzky was quick to react. Both Red frontline armies immediately dispatched a corps:* Ghai-Khan's powerful corps was withdrawn from Simbirsk, Makhin's smaller one from Kazan.** On December 5th, both joined Trotzky who now had a powerful army ready to counter Makhin's flanking march.
Yet unaware of the danger he was in, Makhin proceeded to conquer Cheboboksary while Khanzhin's smaller force made use of the breathing space Kamenev's departure had granted it to take Saransk.
It seems Makhin was content with interrupting the railway to Moscow since he spend the next three weeks sitting around at Cheboboksary. Or perhaps he was waiting for Khanzhin to reinforce him?
Trotzky hadn't immediately attacked either.*** Instead he had waited for Parsky's newly raised corps to arrive from Moscow. On January 1st, Trotzky finally ordered an offensive against Khanzhin and demanded that Parsky join him at his destination. Unfortunately, the attack was a bust. The White column managed to evade and retreat to Cheboboksary.
In the meantime Makhin had conquered Arzamas.****
Trotzky didn't give up though and dispatched Ghai-Khan with most of his army to pursue the Siberians. On January 22nd, Ghai-Khan's men attacked Cheboksary. Heavily outnumbered, Khanzhin's men ran for their life as soon as they saw their Red foes approaching. Their cowardice was wise since it enabled them to evade combat once again. The 4.000 men of the 10th Siberian Infantry Brigade that Makhin had left behind to garrison the city were less lucky, though. 52.000 Red conscripts descended upon them and slaughtered them to the last men.*****
To Trotzky's surprise, Makhin had proceeded westward. His men were approaching Nizhny-Novgorod as fast as the terrible weather allowed. When they arrived at the city on February 4th 1919, it was only guarded by 3.000 conscripts.
These inexperienced men put up a brave fight but they were no match for Makhin's battle-hardened veterans. This time it were the men with the Red star on their hats that got slaughtered.
Unknown, to the Siberians, the Red recruitment machine had already spewed out another new corps. 21.000 newly men under Ordzhonikidze had entered trains in Moscow on February 1st and were heading towards Nizhny Novgorod where they disembarked on February 6th. In the city, Makhin's men were still resting from the fighting 2 days earlier. The surprise was perfect. Panic spread amongst Siberians and for a moment they appeared destined to be annihilated. But then a heroic Komuch regiment charged Ordzhonikidze's corps in a suicidal attack. The Komuch men perished but they bought Makhin just enough time to flee with the rest of his troops.
Unfortunately, his flight led him straight into the arms of Ghai-Khan's pursuing men who were delighted to catch up with their beloved foe. A short firefight and 2.200 Siberian dead later, Makhin's starving men were running for their lifes again.
The Siberians had maneuvered themselves into a deadly trap. Caught deep behind enemy lines, their supplies trains empty and the way back to safety blocked by superior enemy forces, they appeared doomed for certain.******
In the meantime, the Siberians had steadily reinforced the main frontline. For the first time since September, both sides were of equal strength again. In this situation the infamous admiral Raskolnikov sprung to action.******* Freshly rehabilitated from his demotion, the man must have felt he had something to prove. On March 1st 1919, he ordered his entire fleet out of the safety of Kazan's harbour. His proclaimed goal: find and crush the White fleet and stop any reinforcements from crossing the Volga.
Red Volga Fleet prior to Raskolnikov's excursion
(there were a lot more transports but the screen shows all its combat ships):
Rarely has an admiral committed such a folly. On the entire length of his route the banks of the Volga were stacked with White artillerymen itching for target practise. And target practise they should get. At first Raskolnikov's sailors still tried to fire back but soon every single gun in the fleet was silenced.
The imbecile of a Red admiral pressed on, though. Perhaps it was a deluded sense of sportsmanship urging him to give Akutin's and Grichin-Almazov's men a chance to sink some Red ships as well but more likely it was pure treachery.
When the remnants of the Red river fleet finally limped into the harbour of Kazan on March 12th, all its combat ships were missing. Of the transports about 50% had been sunk while the rest was nothing but an assortment of scrap metal. Raskolnikov had handed the Siberians control over the Volga on a silver platter.********
As usual the Red public was kept well informed:
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* As a reminder: what would be a "division" on the White side is named "corps" in the Red Army. Considering the size of some of these formations (e.g. Ghai-Khan's which contained more than 20.000 men) this appears fitting.
** Both the Reds and the Komuch have a general called Makhin. Mine was uglier and more incompetent, though.
*** Until the early January turn, I lacked concrete intelligence as to the strength of Makhin's force (the screenshot thus contains information, I only obtained in January). In consequence, I overestimated Makhin's strength and chose to play it save. If I had known that he had only 340 pw, I would have immediately ordered Trotzky to hunt him down.
**** Had I simply let Parsky stay where he was, Makhin's men would have run into unexpected resistance as Durk apparently wasn't aware of his presence. I lost a good opportunity here. But at the time, I figured Makhin would stay where he was after all he hadn't moved the previous turn and was about to receive Khanzhin's column as reinforcements.
***** Leaving that brigade behind, was obviously a mistake. It was too weak to offer much resistance. But Durk may have intended it as a sacrifice destined to buy Makhin time.
****** In the big picture Durk's strategy was smart: if a frontal attack won't work, a flanking move is usually the best choice. But he didn't have enough troops to seriously threaten my rear. Thus Makhin and Khanzhin's stacks became mice surrounded by deadly Red cats. Probably the cats (to stay in the metaphor) should have eaten the mice way sooner but that is the nature of cats - they like to play with their prey ...
My main worry was that the Siberians could escape back east, this is why I concentrated my forces there while I neglected to defend Arzamas and Nizhny Novgorod. I didn't mind if Durk moved his troops further away from safety.
******* Yes, this is the same man who managed to lose 4 gunboats against an inferior foe in August of 1918.
******** Obviously this was a monumentally stupid move. I know that entrenched stacks on the river banks are deadly to fleets in RUS (let's just say, I am not a first time-offender when it comes to sinking my own fleets
). I am pleading temporary insanity on this one.