Capture of Kazan by the White Army
Battle for Kazan | |||||||
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Part of the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War | |||||||
Frontline near Kazan in August, 1918 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Red Guards |
Czechoslovaks | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Vladimir Kappel Stanislav Čeček | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
about 10,000 | about 3,300 |
The city of Kazan was captured by the White Army in August 1918 during the Russian Civil War.
Background
At July, 22,
At that time Kazan had 146.000 inhabitants. For the defence of Kazan Reds concentrated about 10 thousand men from all the region. The most effective of the defending troops were "international" detachments:
The battle
The Whites reached Kazan on the evening of 5 August. River ships then went up-stream on the Volga, and the detachment of Vladimir Kappel landed on the right bank, thereby blocking the river. At the same time two Czechoslovak Battalions landed 5 km down-stream of Kazan and began to advance, but this was stopped by the Latvian Riflemen. Latvians were close to winning, but suddenly a Serbian battalion of Reds, defending the Kazan Kremlin, changed sides and attacked the Latvians from the flank. The Reds retreated to the city through a rainstorm, while the Whites stayed on the battlefield.
In the morning of August, 6, Kappel crossed the river and attacked Kazan from the north. The Reds moved their best troops (international brigades) to the north of the city, and the Czechoslovaks used this moment to attack the ill-prepared Red Guards from another direction. Using this opportunity, an underground officer organization began a rebellion within the city. By evening the city was encircled by Whites from three sides, and there was fighting inside the city. During the night part of red troops began to breakthrough to the east, in Sviyazhsk direction, with another group escaping to the north, to the Arsk. However, most of the red troops were captured by Whites.
Aftermath
After the capture of Kazan the entire
After two-days fighting, at August, 7, Kazan is captured by the joint forces of
People Armyand Czechoslovaks, together with River Fleet. Trophies are uncountable, we captured the Gold Reserves of Russia - 650 million. Losses of my detachment - 25 men, troops fought fine.
According to William Henry Chamberlin, "Later this gold came into the possession of the Siberian dictator, Kolchak; part of it was spent in buying munitions and other supplies abroad; part of it leaked out of the country in various ways when Kolchak fell; some of the gold was recovered by the Red troops."[1]
Sources
- ^ Chamberlin, William (1935). The Russian Revolution, 1917-1921, Volume Two. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 15–16.
- Н.Е.Какурин, И.И.Вацетис "Гражданская война. 1918-1921" (N.E.Kakurin, ISBN 5-89173-150-9