Chapter 17 - A Time for Killing: Northern front, June - August 1919
An enemy should be destroyed or bought - and never made a martyr.
-
Machiavelli
Recap: Soviet leadership on the Northern front has been a disaster thus far. Antonov-Ovseenko and Makhin are in command of strong armies that outnumber enemy forces in the sector by more than 2:1, yet they have proven themselves incapable of forcing their foe into battle.
By June 1919, Trotzky had enough of generals Slack and Slouch wasting time and ressources in inept maneuvers. Something had to be changed. He didn't want to remove Antonov-Ovseenko - a political ally - from his command, instead he send him an aggressive lieutenant: Semyon Budyenny. Budyenny, a peasant son, had been a highly decorated NCO in WW I. Radicalized in the tzarist cavalry, he had joined the Red Army.
Now Trotzky put him in charge of a newly created corps on its way to reinforce Antonov-Ovseenko's Northern front.[1] His orders were simple: advocate attack regardless of the situation. Or as Trotzky put it: "Comrade Budyenny, you only need to know one word: charge! You have but one task: attack, attack, attack!" This orders were very much to Budyenny's liking. Evil tongues claimed that he didn't know how to design trenches anyway.
What was much less to his liking was the discovery he made next. His men were on foot. Budyenny had been transferred to the infantry. He was so ashamed that he seriously considered cutting his moustache. How could Trotzky do this to him? Command of a single cavalry regiment was preferable to that of a whole infantry corps in his mind. In vain he pleaded to have the orders rescinded.
Budyenny spend the month of June getting on the nerves of his superior. Prior to his arrival Slack and Slouch had thoroughly enjoyed their war councils. But now their endless debates about applied marxism in army leadership were regularly interrupted by Budyenny roaring: "Attack!" "I don't care about Marxist theory, let me charge!" or "Give me some horses and I will wipe out those counter-revolutionaries!"
By the end of the month, Antonov-Ovseenko's nerves had suffered severely. Just to placate Budyenny he dispatched Avtonomov's 16th Corps north with orders to retake Vologda. The task was achieved on 8 July 1919. It had been just in time since Shaplin with a joint force of British and White troops had been dangerously close to reinforcing the city. Admittedly, this weakened Antonov-Ovseenko's main force, but it also secured Moscow's northern flank.
Budyenny's frustration steadily grew as nothing ever happened. But all that should change in July 1919. Late in June, Miller had started a march towards Petrograd. His army consisted of only 13.307 men. But two thirds were Birtish veterans, the rest well trained White soldiers. Moreover, his men were extremely well equipped with artillery. As a result this relatively small force had more fighting power than an average Red corps with double the number of men.
Miller's offensive gave Makhin, a.k.a. "Slack", the first original idea he had during the entire war. With the railways still under Red control, he was able to set a trap for Miller just east of Tsarskoye Selo.
The plan worked beautifully. Thanks to the Bolshevik railway workers, Makhin's army arrived at Tosno two days before Miller.[2] His men even had the time to dig some light trenches. When the Anglo-White army reached the town on 3 July, it came under heavy Red fire. Not yet aware that he was facing 47.000 Communists, Miller ordered an assault. The decision proved fatal. Concentrated enemy artillery and rifle fire tore his men to shreds. Most never even came close to the enemy trenches.
When Miller realized his mistake and sounded the retreat it was already too late. Two thirds of his soldiers were dead (8.274 men). Marushevsky's 8th Division had been entirely wiped out. A fate shared by 4 British regiments. Makhin's army suffered less than 10% casualties, 4.048 men in total.
Slack's triumph woke Antonov-Ovseenko up as well. Finally, he heeded Budyenny's advice and ordered an attack. In fact it was a rather ambitious plan: Slouch rushed his men south, marched into Neff's rear and then attacked Pskov, the supply center of the North-Western White forces. The city was only guarded by Rodzianko's weak corps.
Budyenny was delighted and spearheaded the charge - even if it had to be done on foot. Unfortunately, the Whites started to retreat as soon as they came under Red artillery fire. The battle was disappointingly short, nevertheless it cost 3.000 counter-revolutionaries their lifes. Red casualties were light - a mere 900 men. After Rodzianko's retreat, a small White garrison of freshly raised conscripts and militia was all that remained inside the city.
This gave Antonov-Ovseenko a welcome opportunity to get rid of the pesky Budyenny. He left him behind to conquer Pskov while he took his other two corps back north in order to guard Petrograd from Neff. Budyenny was quite happy with this arrangement. He didn't lose any time and had his men storm the city. The White infantry was slaughtered, while their supply trains were pressed into the Red Army. More importantly, this most heroic battle was used as an excuse to promote Budyenny to army command.[3]
Further north, Avtonomov was about to gain a second star as well. Outside Vologda, Shaplin had assembled a small White force. Its composition was typical for the White armies in the North. It was very short on infantry but had an ample supply of costly war materials: 3 artillery batteries and a tank battalion were supporting 3 infantry regiments. Shaplin must have gotten impatient - or did he underestimate Avtonomov's strength?[4]
Whatever the reason, he ordered his 4.000 men to take Vologda. In order to avoid an attack across the river, he marched in an arc and attacked the city from the Northwest. The attack was a fiasco. Shaplin's men came under heavy fire. Neither British tanks nor artillery could save them. Shaplin's force was entirely destroyed. Even better the Red army managed to capture 4 cannon and the entire baggage train.
But even after this series of crushing defeats, Miller didn't give up. He believed, he had spotted an opportunity. With Antonov-Ovseenko still at Pskov, Novgorod had been left weakly defended.The White general ordered his remaining men to take the city. Unfortunately for him, the Communists were well aware of that weak spot and Makhin as well as Rzhevsky were already on their way to reinforce the city.
However this time Miller arrived first. On 8 August his men swept away the small garrison, killing 1.900 Communists while suffering hardly any casualties. The Red flags were torn down and Miller celebrated a victory parade in the city.
White celebrations were cut short, though. On 9 August Makhin arrived with 43.000 men and immediately attacked Miller's army. Losses were even on both sides, roughly 2.400 men each. But unlike Makhin's army, Miller's depleted force couldn't stomach such an amount of casualties any longer. His surviving 5.600 men hastily fled north. The White occupation of Novgorod had lasted only a single day.
Now Antonov-Ovseenko ordered a general attack on the entire Northern front. The remaining enemy forces needed to be crushed as quickly as possible. This untypical urgency in Antonov-Ovseenko's orders didn't stem from confidence, though. The defeats in the North had finally beaten some sense into the Southern White. With the Siberians on the verge of collapse and their own fortunes declining, they were desperate enough to make some sacrifices: On 15 August they had recognized the independance of the countries that had declared their secession from Russia during the revolutionary troubles. With a new understanding forged betweeen anti-communist forces in Russia and their communist-hating neighbours, Sovnarkom expected declarations of war from the Baltic states any day now.[5]
According to Antonov-Ovseenko's orders, Makhin pursued Miller with the utmost speed. But when he finally managed to catch up with the battered White army, Miller managed to retreat at the last moment. Antonov-Ovseenko was equally unsuccessful in an attack against Neff. When he reached Luga, the White corps had already left in order to retake Pskov.
Budyenny had received orders to head south towards Vitebsk. Pskov was left to the Whites.[6] On his way south, Budyenny managed to corner a small White force under Gueorg and administered a heavy beating. Two White armored trains were destroyed and an infantry regiment perished. As so often with these pesky Whites they fought rather well and inflicted almost as many casualties as they suffered.
On August 30, the dreaded bad news reached the Soviet capital: the Baltic states had declared war ...
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[1] This increased Red forces on the Northern front to 6 strong corps. At this point Red superiority on this front was probably 3:1.
[2] This wasn't my first attempt to set a trap for Ian on the Northern front, but until this battle he had always skillfully avoided them or his units managed to retreat at the last moment. This time his luck didn't hold.
Ian made a second mistake, he hadn't concentrated his force properly. Zvegintsev with an additional division and two armored trains stayed behind. But Ian isn't to blame for that. Lacking a railway connection, he couldn't get the armored trains to Miller's army.
[3] I had hoped that Budyenny might gain a promotion with an easy victory if I put him in charge. That is why I split Antonov-Ovseenko's army. Commanding generals tend to gain senority faster than their subordinates. The trick worked and I finally had a good two star general in the North.
[4] There may be a third explanation: Ian and Durk coordinate their moves very well. In June, I had encircled Grichin-Almazov's entire army on the Siberian front. In early July, Operation Red Flood had been launched. The Volga had been crossed and Uralsk and Samara were conquered by Red forces. I believe Ian's increased aggression in July was an attempt to relieve pressure from Durk. It backfired badly, though.
[5] We had a house rule concerning these options and did some modding as well:
- Southern White NM has to be < 90 points before the recognize independance option can be taken. This makes sense since even the more sane leader amongst the Southern White would never even have considered recognizing the secession of these countries unless they were losing the war (in reality even that wasn't enough).
- Recognize independance option was modded to cost only 10 points of NM rather than 40. The reason behind this was simple: if the Southern White are already in trouble, they can't afford to lose 40 points of NM.
- Taking the recognize independance option makes three new options available: these bring the Finns, Balts and Caucasians into the war. We excluded the option to have Finnland declare war. This had balance as well as historic reasons: A combined army of Finns and Balts is virtually unstoppable. Even the best Red player won't find enough troops. Petrograd becomes undefendable and Moscow's fall will follow quickly. Historically, Finns and Soviets reached an understanding in 1919, thus Finnland never entered the war.
[6] This may seem strange but I had my reasons. But for the moment, I will cloak them in silence. We aren't that far ahead in this game and this particular plan hasn't played out yet.