#wrangel

White soldiers on board one of the ships leaving the Crimea.

November 14 1920, Sevastopol–The Soviets had launched what they hoped to be their final offensive against Wrangel in late October.  Although they destroyed much of his army, enough of it was able to fall back to the narrow isthmus connecting Crimea to the mainland to mount a concerted defense.  This, however, was overcome by direct and amphibious attacks between November 7 and 11, and it became quickly apparent that Crimea would soon be lost.

Wrangel had been preparing for such a possibility since his arrival in the spring, however, and he was much better equipped than Denikin had been when evacuating the Kuban in March.  Wrangel left Sevastopol on the 14th, and simultaneous evacuations took place at at least four other Crimean ports. 146,000 White soldiers and refugees were taken across the Black Sea to Constantinople by the end of the evacuation efforts on the 16th, aided by a one-day pause by regrouping Soviets.

Those who did not or could not evacuate, however, met a grimmer end.  Béla Kun was put in charge of Soviet administration in the area.  The Cheka killed tens of thousands in the coming weeks.  In Kerch, “trips to the Kuban” were organized: prisoners were taken out into the Sea of Azov and pushed overboard to drown.

Those who evacuated were interned and then lived in exile.  Wrangel took with him the last of the Blask Sea Fleet, including the dreadnought General Alexeyev, were interned in French Tunisia until the French recognized the Soviet Union in 1924.

Sources include: Evan Mawdsley, The Russian Civil War; W. Bruce Lincoln, Red Victory.

October 6 1920, Kakhovka–Sincebreaking out of Crimea in early June, Wrangel’s front had largely stabilized, covered by the Dnepr in the north (excepting a Soviet bridgehead established around Kakhovka in August).  Attempts to land in the Kuban and reconnect with Denikin’s old power base among the Cossacks there had failed.  On October 6, Wrangel tried one final offensive, pushing north across the Dnepr.  There was, at least initially, some hope that the offensive would encourage the Poles to move into Ukraine as they had earlier in the year.  However, the Poles had learned their lesson in the spring and were already negotiating an armistice with the Soviets.

The Soviets, although they were desperately trying to prevent the Poles from taking territory before a possible armistice, had already begun moving troops south to face Wrangel.  However, they were slow in coming–Budyonny’s Konarmiahad been wrecked by months of fighting, culminating in their near-destruction at Komarów, and it would take them nearly a month to move south.  They still managed to find time to conduct pogroms on the way, however.

As a result, Wrangel’s forces were able to cross the Dnepr and make limited progress.  However, even without the incoming reinforcements, the Soviets still outnumbered the Whites, and Wrangel’s troops had to withdraw back across the river within a week.  It would be the last major White offensive in the civil war.

Sources include: Evan Mawdsley, The Russian Civil War