Ice March - Volunteer Army

Volunteer Army

After the Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1917, those opposed to the new government migrated towards the fringes of the old Russian Empire, particularly those parts still under the control of the German Army. At the town of Novocherkassk, the Cossacks elected Aleksei Maksimovich Kaledin to the position of Ataman at their traditional assembly known as the Krug. On 20 November, not long after the Communists took control in central Russia, the Don Krug declared its independence. Novocherkassk became a haven for all those opposed to the Revolution, and soon became the headquarters of the Volunteer Army, made up for the most part of former Tsarist officers, and under the command of Mikhail Alekseev and Lavr Kornilov.

The chief aim of the Cossacks was to defend their new state but the Volunteers persuaded them that they could guarantee this only by joining with them in fighting against the Bolsheviks, who had the support of a large part of the non-Cossack population of the Don region. With the encouragement of Kaledin, the Whites, still only some 500 strong, managed to recapture the city of Rostov from local Red Guard units in early December 1917. However, by the beginning of 1918 better organised and stronger Communist forces began an advance from the north, capturing Taganrog in early February. Kornilov, now in command of some 4,000 men at Rostov, decided that nothing was to be gained by attempting a defence of the city in the face of superior forces. Instead, the Volunteers made ready to advance to the south, deep into the Kuban, in the hope of attracting more support, though the whole area was in deep winter. This was the beginning of the Ice March. With his defenses gone, and his government in a state of collapse, Kaledin shot himself.