The Voronezh-Kastornoye operation was an offensive operation by the Red Army during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

in October and November 1919, which was successfully carried out by parts of the

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

and

13th Army Thirteenth Army or 13th Army may refer to: * Thirteenth Army (Japan) * Japanese Thirteenth Area Army * 13th Army (Russian Empire), unit in World War I *13th Army (RSFSR), a unit in the Russian Civil War *13th Army (Soviet Union) The 13th Army (, ...

, which formed the left wing of the Southern Front.

Plans

After the failure of the White Advance on Moscow in August 1919, the Red Army had launched a successful counteroffensive. In October 1919, the command of the Southern Front, led by Alexander Yegorov, had designed a plan to * strike at the flank of the Cossack Shock Group of General Denikin, * destroy the main cavalry units of the Don and Volunteer Armies, * capture the city of

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

, * achieve favorable conditions for the dismemberment of Denikin's front and the launch of a subsequent offensive to the rear of the White troops in the direction of the cities of

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...

and

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

. The main attack was to be inflicted by the 1st Cavalry Corps of

Semyon Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny ( rus, Семён Миха́йлович Будённый, Semyon Mikháylovich Budyonnyy, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ bʊˈdʲɵnːɨj, a=ru-Simeon Budyonniy.ogg; – 26 October 1973) was a Russian and ...

in the direction of

and

Kastornoye Kastornoye () is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Kastorensky District of Kursk Oblast, Russia. Population: Telephone code: +7 47157; postal code: 306700. It was first mentioned in 1590 and was ...

, in order to crush the White 4th Don Corps and the 3rd Kuban Corps, and create favorable conditions for the 8th Army to reach the

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

The course of the operation

On October 13, units of Budyonny's Cavalry Corps entered into battle with Mamontov’s Cavalry Corps near the village of Moskovskoye. The battle raged until October 19, and the village changed hands several times. On October 19, the cavalry corps of Andrei Shkuro and Mamantov struck at the junction of the Red

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

and 6th Cavalry Divisions in the direction of the village of Khrenovoe. Budyonny repulsed the attack and pushed the White troops back to the eastern outskirts of Voronezh. On October 23, the 1st Cavalry Corps, in cooperation with the

12th Twelfth can mean: *The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution *The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland In mathematics: * 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...

and 15th Rifle Divisions of the 8th Army, launched an offensive towards Voronezh and, after fierce battles, seized the city on October 24. On October 26, the

33rd Rifle Division The 33rd Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1922 at Samara and moved to Belarus in the next year. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 and in the O ...

of the 8th Army occupied the city of Liski on the Don, thereby pushing the 3rd Don Corps over the river Don. On October 29, the 42nd Rifle Division of the 13th Army captured Dolgorukovo. On October 31, the corps of Budyonny was reinforced by the reserve

11th Cavalry Division In music theory, an eleventh is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a fourth. A perfect eleventh spans 17 and the augmented eleventh 18 semitones, or 10 steps in a diatonic scale. Since there are only seven degrees in a diaton ...

. On November 2, Mamantov's corps counterattacked in the area of Klevna-Shumeyka, but retreated after suffering heavy losses. On November 3, the 42nd Rifle Division occupied

Livny Livny (, ) is a town in Oryol Oblast, Russia. As of 2018, it had a population of 47,221. :ru:Ливны#cite note-2018AA-3 History The town is believed to have originated in 1586 as Ust-Livny, a wooden fort on the bank of the Livenka River, ...

and began to advance towards Kastornoye. Kastornoye station was reached on November 5 by the Cavalry Corps of Budyonny and troops of the 8th and 13th armies. In a new counterattack, troops of the White Army retook Liski, Talovaya,

Novokhopyorsk Novokhopyorsk () is a town and the administrative center of Novokhopyorsky District in Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Khopyor River, southeast of Voronezh, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: Histor ...

and Bobrov. This created a threat that the Whites would reoccupy Voronezh. From 5 to 15 November, the 42nd Rifle and 11th Cavalry Divisions from the North, the 12th Rifle and 6th Cavalry Divisions from the South and the 4th Cavalry Division from the East, under cover of a serious snowstorm, launched a new attack and seized Kastornoye. By the end of November 16, the area was clear of Whites troops. On November 19, the Cavalry Corps of Budyonny was expanded into the

1st Cavalry Army __NOTOC__ The 1st Cavalry Army (), or ''Konarmia'' (Кона́рмия, "Horsearmy"), was a prominent Red Army military formation that served in the Russian Civil War and Polish–Soviet War, Polish-Soviet War. History Formation On 17 Novem ...

Consequences

In the course of the operation, Soviet troops advanced up to 250 kilometers, defeated the main forces of the White cavalry and, threatening the flank and rear of the

Volunteer Army The Volunteer Army (; ), abbreviated to (), also known as the Southern White Army was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920. The Volunteer Army fought against Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists on the ...

, contributed to their defeat in the

Orel–Kursk operation The Orel–Kursk operation (known in Soviet historiography as the Orel–Kromy operation) was an offensive conducted by the Southern Front (RSFSR), Southern Front of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's Red Army against the White m ...

. The Voronezh–Kastornoye operation is the first battle during the Russian Civil War with massive use of large cavalry formations.

References

Works cited

* * ''Voronezh-Kastornoy operation 1919'' - article from the

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

Literature