People's Army of Komuch

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Front line near Kazan in August 1918

The People's Army of Komuch (

Volga Region from June to September in 1918. It was established by the Socialist Revolutionary Party and led by Vladimir Kappel
.

Organization

In May 1918 the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party. On June 10 a group of officers of the general staff arrived[clarification needed] and helped organize a military structure. They created a detachment of 350 men, which had two infantry companies, a cavalry squadron and a mounted artillery detachment. General Vladimir Kappel
became a chief of this military group. Kappel was a monarchist, but stated that he would fight under any banner against the Bolsheviks.

Nomenclature

In Russian "Constituent Assembly" is transliterated as "Uchreditel'noe Sobranie", hence the abbreviation for the full committee in English is "Komuch").

Battles

On June, 11, Kappel's detachment stormed and captured

Simbirsk; for this victory Kappel was promoted to colonel
. On July 22, Kappel officially became the head of all Komuch forces, which consisted of two infantry regiments and several artillery batteries (about three thousand men altogether).

When the Komuch met in Samara, it was decided that the main strategic goal was to capture Saratov, but Kappel thought that Kazan was a more important target, and thus he attacked and conquered it, which was defended by a large but poorly prepared Red Army.

Kappel thought it was necessary to capitalize on the situation and advance to Moscow through Nizhny Novgorod, but the Komuch and the commanders of the Czechoslovakian troops replied that in this case there would have not been enough troops to defend Samara, Simbirsk, and Kazan. The People's Army was placed in a defensive position, and the Red Army gained time to regroup.[clarification needed]

At the beginning of September, the Red Army began to advance.

Volga River and, after joining with other troops, it retreated to Ufa
.

Merger

On September 23, 1918, the Komuch and the

Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia merged in Ufa to become the united Provisional All-Russian Government. On September 28, 1918, General Vasily Boldyrev was appointed supreme commander of all land and naval Armed Forces of Russia. The People's Army of Komuch and the Siberian Army were united in one structure. The unification of the Siberian and the People's armies did not lead to success: the Volga Region was completely occupied by the Bolsheviks: Syzran fell on October 3, 1918, and Samara
, the former capital of the Komuch Army, on October 8.

In the fall of 1918, during the further unification of the anti-Bolshevik armed forces of the east of Russia, the People's army was abolished, and its forces transformed into the 1st Volga Corps [ru], under command of Vladimir Kappel.

Rank insignia

OFFICERS [1]
General officers Field officers
General
Lieutenant general Major general Colonel Lieutenant colonel
Company officers
Captain Staff Captain Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Ensign
ENLISTED [1]
NCO Men
Podpraporshchik Feldwebel Senior Unteroffizier Junior Unteroffizier Gefreiter Private

Sources

  • Н. Е. Какурин, И. И. Вацетис "Гражданская война. 1918-1921" (N. Ye. Kakurin,