Battle of Odessa (1920)
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The Odesa operation (11 January - 8 February 1920) was an offensive operation during the
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
of the
South Western Front South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
of the Red Army against the Novorossiysk Oblast Army Group of the White
Armed Forces of South Russia The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR or SRAF) () were the unified military forces of the White movement in southern Russia between 1919 and 1920. On 8 January 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia were formed, incorporating the Volunteer Army ...
. The operation was a success for the Red Army, as
Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
was taken on 8 February and, despite an evacuation over the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
supported by the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, many White soldiers and material were captured.


Capture of Odesa

After the failed White Advance on Moscow in Summer 1919, the Red Army had started a counteroffensive in autumn 1919, which after several hard-fought battles, had by winter 1919-1920 turned into a rout of the White forces. On 17 January 1920 the troops of the Red Army seized
Krivoi Rog Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...
(now Kryvyi Rih) and
Apostolove Apostolove ( , russian: Апо́столово) is a city in Kryvyi Rih Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Apostolove urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: In 2001, the populat ...
. On 24 January they captured
Yelisavetgrad Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, Кропивницький, Kropyvnytskyi ) is a city in central Ukraine on the Inhul river with a population of . It is an administrative center of the Kirovohrad Oblast. Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name ...
(now Kropyvnytskyi) and on 25 January,
Uman Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...
. By the end of January,
Kherson Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...
, Mykolaiv and
Voznesensk Voznesensk ( uk, Вознесенськ, ; russian: Вознесенск) is a city in Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of Ukraine and the administrative center of Voznesensk Raion (district). It hosts the administration of the Voznesensk urban hromada ...
were captured. On 3 February
Olviopol Pervomaisk ( uk, Первомайськ, , ; russian: Первомайск) is a landlocked city in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine and the administrative center of the Pervomaisk Raion. It is located on the Southern Bug river which bisects the city. P ...
(now Pervomaisk) and Ochakov (now Ochakiv) were captured. On 6 February the Red Army approached Odesa. Early in the morning of 7 February they broke into the city, and on 8 February Odesa was completely captured by the Red Army. The Red Army was assisted in taking the city by Odesan workers who, on the orders of the Revolutionary Committee, took up arms and seized critical points in Odesa just before the approach of the regular units.


Evacuation by the sea

Aware of the desperate situation, the command of the AFSR in Odesa had started an evacuation over the Black Sea on 3 February. Contemporaries of events and historians called the Odesa evacuation of 1920, ill prepared and "mediocre". Only 1 in 3 could be evacuated. In the city of Odesa, 3 AFSR generals, about 200 officers and 3,000 soldiers (including 1,500 sick and wounded in hospitals) were taken prisoner. According to reports of the Odesa Soviet newspapers of those days, 300,000 pounds of grain also remained in the port of Odesa, 50,000 pounds were found on barges moored in the quarantine harbor. On the ship "Alexandria" a load of brand new British motorcycles of the brand " Triumph" was found, sent by England to the AFSR and 3,000 pounds of coal. The Railroad tracks were clogged with abandoned wagons with a variety of goods evacuated from
Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
and current
Southern Ukraine Southern Ukraine ( uk, південна Україна, translit=pivdenna Ukrayina) or south Ukraine refers, generally, to the oblasts in the south of Ukraine. The territory usually corresponds with the Soviet economical district, the Southern E ...
, including 130,000 pounds of firewood. The total number of evacuees is difficult to calculate, as transport ships with evacuees dispersed to different ports and many refugees were evacuated privately. Soviet sources reported 3,000 evacuees, which did not correspond to reality. White Guard sources reported 16,000 as a reasonable minimum number of evacuees, with about 40,000 people willing to be evacuated. From the military equipment and supplies, it was possible to evacuate all the tanks that had arrived in Odesa from Nikolaev (now Mykolaiv), almost all serviceable armored vehicles and parts of the equipment of the technical troops, cars and aviation assets. The British ships involved in the evacuation were : * HMT ''Rio Negro'', received about 1,400 refugees, wounded officers and cadets. Went to the port of Thessaloniki (Greece) * HMT ''Rio Pardo'', transported refugees to Greece * * * * * several destroyers * Coalship ''Votan'' The French sent * * And the US sent the destroyer with
Hugo W. Koehler Hugo William Koehler (July 19, 1886 – June 17, 1941) () was a United States Navy commander, Espionage, secret agent and socialite. Following the First World War, he served as an Office of Naval Intelligence and State Department operative in Rus ...
on board.


Ovidiopol detachment

The garrison of Odesa and other parts of the AFSR, which had previously retreated to the city, as well as various detachments of "militiamen" could not be evacuated by sea. They united in the "Ovidiopol detachment" and were ordered to march to the border with Romania. They were accompanied by a large number of civilians, families of officers of the Volunteer Army, foreigners, wounded and about 600 cadets of the Odesa Cadet Corps (most of which were junior grades - 10-12 years). About 16,000 people, of which no more than 3,000 were able to carry weapons, departed in mid-winter from Odesa on 7 February and moved to the Gross-Liebental - Ovidiopol area, from where they intended to go to Romania. But they were not admitted into Romania by the Romanian authorities and found themselves trapped as the Red units took
Maiac Maiac (; , Mayak) is an urban settlement (according to Transnistrian legislation), or city (according to the Moldovan legislation) in the Grigoriopol District, Transnistria, Moldova, northeast of Grigoriopol, on the Ukrainian border. History In ...
and Tiraspol, thus depriving the "Ovidiopol detachment" of the possibility of uniting with the "Bredov detachment", and marching towards Poland. The Ovidiopol detachment was not allowed by the Romanians into their territory. The Romanians did not even let the Cadet children enter, but fired their artillery when a Cadet column headed towards them over the ice across the Dniester. The trapped Ovidiopol detachment lost hundreds of people from attacks by the Red cavalry, shelling by Romanian troops and local marauders. After 5-7 days, the remaining 12,000 people capitulated. At that time, many officers (including General Vasiliev and Baron Maidel) committed suicide, preferring death to Bolshevik captivity.


The Bredov detachment

The units of the AFSR under command of Lieutenant-General
Nikolai Bredov Nikolai or Nikolay is an East Slavic variant of the masculine name Nicholas. It may refer to: People Royalty * Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855), or Nikolay I, Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855 * Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918), or Nik ...
and all troops in
right-bank Ukraine Right-bank Ukraine ( uk , Правобережна Україна, ''Pravoberezhna Ukrayina''; russian: Правобережная Украина, ''Pravoberezhnaya Ukraina''; pl, Prawobrzeżna Ukraina, sk, Pravobrežná Ukrajina, hu, Jobb p ...
, were ordered by Lieutenant-General Schilling to march towards Poland. Accompanied by numerous refugees and civilians, they carried out an unprecedented winter march, under constant pressure of superior Red forces, and reached Poland. This march became known as the ''Bredov Campaign''.


Results

By the end of February 1920, all White forces had been chased from Western-Ukraine. The AFSR now only held the Northern Caucasus and Crimea. In total, about 1,200 officers were captured by the Reds. All of them were placed in concentration camps, where they were gradually shot. A mass shooting was held on 5 May 1920. In Odesa, 100 guns of different calibers, four armored vehicles, four armored trains, several hundred thousand shells and cartridges, some engineering, automobile, aviation and other property, and tons of food were captured by the Red Army. {{coord missing, Ukraine 1920 in Ukraine Battles of the Russian Civil War Conflicts in 1920 February 1920 events History of Odesa