Green Armies - Tactics and Activity

Tactics and Activity

While it can be difficult to distinguish Green armies from other forms of peasant unrest, they were marked by concentrated leadership and distinct units, displaying a higher level of organization than most peasant uprisings. For instance, Alexander Antonov’s Green army in Tambov had a medical staff, reinforcement brigades, and a complex system of communication and intelligence that employed women, children, and the elderly. Notably “Green” movements developed in the regions of Tambov, Novgorod, Tula, Ryazan, Tvar, Voronezh, Kostroma, Syrzan, Gomel, Kursk, Bryansk, and Orel, among many others. Forces ranged from a few hundred to fifty-thousand according to the highest estimates. Apart from the weapons that Red deserters brought with them, the Greens stole war material from defeated Red soldiers, from Communist supply buildings, and from abandoned garrisons of the old Tsarist military. They incited armed resistance to Soviet institutions in nearby villages and towns, bragging of peasant victories and recruiting new soldiers, sometimes by force. Green bands conducted highly mobile guerilla warfare, attacking Soviet communication systems, mills, railways, and plants, as well as Red Army detachments if they were comparable in size. In the event that the peasants successfully overwhelmed Reds, they cruelly punished soldiers and Communist officials, often mutilating bodies, torturing families, or burying victims alive.