The Red Banner Caucasus Army (russian: Краснознамённая Кавказская армия) was a Soviet army existing from 1921 to 1935. The army was named the Independent Caucasus Army on its creation, and carried this name until August 1923, when it was renamed the Red Banner Caucasus Army. It ceased to exist on May 17, 1935 when it was redesignated as the
Transcaucasian Military District
The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Grou ...
in connection with the overall reorganization of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
.
The army consisted of 6 territorial divisions, an air force, and some reserve troops.
History
The army was established at the end of May 1921 from the
11th Army, a unit of the Caucasus Front, which was dissolved on May 29, 1921. The army unified the territorial forces of the
(but in reality was under the control of the
Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, and later of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
).
At a meeting of the Presidium of the
Central Executive Committee of the USSR on 17 August 1923, it was moved and passed to award the Independent Caucasus Army the
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...
and rename it the Red Banner Caucasus Army.
Units of the Red Banner Caucasus Army, together with units of the
OGPU
The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...
, were involved in fighting partisans, mainly in
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
and
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...
, in the years 1921-1933.
Reason for dissolution
Amid a perceived increasing threat of armed aggression against the USSR, the old mobilization doctrine and structure of the Red Army was found not optimal for meeting these threats.
On May 17, 1935, the military and administrative system of the Red Army was radically changed. Instead of 8 military districts and 2 separate armies, 13 military districts were created: Moscow, Leningrad, Belarus, Kiev, Kharkov, North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Volga, Urals, Siberia, Transbaikalia, and Far East.
In almost all of these new districts the composition of the territorial armies was also changed. Replacing the former distinction between "border" and "interior" districts, a new designation of districts as "front" (combat) or "rear" (administrative) was made. It was assumed that the "front" districts would bear the brunt of any fighting, and the "rear" districts would provide reinforcements and logistical support. For each front district there would be two rear districts.
Composition
Six territorial infantry divisions:
*
1st Georgian Division
*2nd Georgian Division
*1st Caucasus Infantry Division (formed on June 8, 1922, by combining the 1st and 2nd Caucasus Brigades)
*3rd Caucasus Infantry Division
*Azerbaijan Infantry Division
*
Armenian Infantry Division
Auxiliary units:
*Air Force of the Red Banner Caucasus Army
*Mechanized and armored units of the Red Banner Caucasus Army
Commanders
*
Anatoliy Gekker
Anatoly Ilyich Gekker (russian: Анатолий Ильич Геккер; – 1 July 1937) was a Soviet military commander ( Komkor) involved in the Russian Civil War.
Gekker was born into a family of a military doctor in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgi ...
: May–June 1921
*
Semyon Pugachov
Semyon Andreevich Pugachov (Russian: Семён Андреевич Пугачёв; 26 February 1889 – 23 March 1943) was a Russian soldier who served in the Russian Imperial and Soviet armed forces. He served in World War I and obtained th ...
: June 10, 1921 - July 12, 1923
*
Alexander Ilyich Yegorov: February 1922 - April 1924
*Semyon Pugachov: April 1924 - February 1925
*
August Kork: February 1925 - November 13, 1925
*
Mikhail Karlovich Lewandowski: 1925 — 1928
*
Konstantin Avksentevsky
Konstantin Alekseyevich Avksentevsky (October 12, 1890 – November 2, 1941) was a Soviet army commander. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and for the Bolsheviks in the subsequent civil war. He was a recipient of the Order ...
: October 20, 1928 - 1931
*
Ivan Fedko
Ivan Fyodorovich Fedko (Russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Федько́; July 6, 1897 – February 26, 1939) was a Soviet Komandarm 1st rank and army commander. He was born in what is now the Left-bank Ukraine. He fought in the Imperial Russi ...
: 1931 - 1932
*
Ivan Smolin
Ivan Ivanovich Smolin (; 5 July 1895 – 20 September 1937) was a Soviet army commander. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army in World War I and in the Soviet Red Army in the Russian Civil War. He was a recipient of the Order of the Red Banner ( ...
: 1932
*Mikhail Karlovich Lewandowski: November 1933 - 1935. Became the first commander of the successor organization, the Transcaucasian Military District.
References
Sources
*''10 years of the Red Banner Of The Caucasus Army'' Tbilisi: 1931
*''Red Banner Transcaucasus: A Short History of the Red Banner Transcaucasian Military District'' Tbilisi: 1981
*ITU February 1935 edition Col 124
{{Armies of the Soviet Army
Field armies of the Soviet Union