1St terek cossack division in donets region (1919)

Abstract

This article reconstructs the military track record of the 1st Terek Cossack Division in Donetsk region. The chronological frame of the article is the period between the arrival of the division at the battlefield (February 1919) and its retreat from Donetsk region to Kharkov region. The 1st Terek division was the largest Cossack detachment in the Volunteer Army of General A.Z. May-Mayevski and was at the front line through all the above-mentioned period. The methodological base for the article is constituted by the historical-genetic method. The study draws on archival documents of Moscow and Vladikavkaz, published memoirs as well as on periodicals from the period of the Civil War. The article takes into account those armed clashes that Terek detachment took part in. Donetsk region was a territory not well suited for the operation of cavalry, as it had a wide railroad network and rather dense infrastructure. It seemed that there was no sufficient space for cavalry. However, the leaders of the Volunteer Army used cavalry detachments effectively in attacking breaches in enemy lines and undertaking raids on rearwards of the Red army. We make an attempt at describing them in as a detailed way as possible (losses, trophies, notable battle situations). Results of the research have demonstrated that cavalry (including Terek cavalry) was highly functional even in such unusual battlefield and made a significant contribution to destroying enemy forces. The prominent role of the cavalry is confirmed by trophies of Terek detachment, high assessment that the division (and the detachment as a whole) received from the leaders of the Volunteer Army and later from Soviet experts after the Civil war. © 2018 St. Tikhon's University. All rights reserved.