AFSR at the Battle of Orel

10 - 27 October 1919

The primary source of the units involved in the Battle of Orel (or Orel-Kromy Operation) is Seargent Magazine #5, which was available for a while on the web.

To that I have added sub-units and numbers taken from Volkov's "Encyclopedia of the Civil War: the White Units" dating from 18 October 1919 (5 October "old style"). However, this is just a "snap shot" at a particular time, as units were being formed and destroyed at a bewildering rate.

The units listed are part of the Volunteer Army under Lieutenant-General Mai-Maevskiy.

I Army Corps

Commander – Lieutenant-General Kutepov
Chief of Staff – Major-General Dostavalov

1st Infantry Division

Commander – Major-General Timanovskiy
Chief of Staff – Colonel Bittenbinder

The strength of this division declined rapidly during the fighting around Orel and Kromy. The strengths above are quite a lot lower than the peak numbers of the start of the battle – the Kornilov Brigade had started with over 6,000 bayonets.

This division was within weeks split into the Kornilov and Markov Divisions (the artillery being split between them).

Markov Brigade – Major-General Tret'yakov

1st General Markov Officer Infantry Regiment – Colonel Bleysh – 882 bayonets, 20 MGs
2nd General Markov Officer Infantry Regiment – Colonel Morozov – 1,174 bayonets, 24 MGs
3rd General Markov Officer Infantry Regiment – Colonel Naumov – 618 bayonets, 24 MGs

The 3rd Markov Regiment was newly formed.

The Black Sea Cavalry Regiment acted as separate squadrons, supporting the Markov Brigade, at this time.

Kornilov Brigade – Colonel Skoblin

1st General Kornilov Shock Regiment – Colonel Peshnya – 945 bayonets, 26 MGs
2nd General Kornilov Shock Regiment – Captain Pashkevich – 1,150 bayonets, 30 MGs
3rd General Kornilov Shock Regiment – Cossack Captain Mileyev – 1,279 bayonets, 17 MGs

There were mounted components in the Kornilov Regiments, around 200 sabres each.

1st Artillery Brigade – Staff Captain Shperling – 14 light guns, 11 howitzers

1st Divizion – Colonel Mashin

1st General Markov Battery
2nd Light Battery

2nd Divizion – Colonel Mihailov

3rd Light Battery
4th Light Battery

3rd Divizion – Colonel Ropponet

5th Battery
6th Battery

4th Divizion – Colonel Ayvazov

7th Light Howitzer Battery
8th Light Howitzer Battery

Reserve Divizion

1st Division Assets

Reserve Battalion of the 1st Infantry Division – Colonel Konovalov – 1,122 bayonets, 7 MGs
1st General Markov Engineering Company – Colonel Grotengel'm – 563 men
Black Sea Cavalry Regiment – Colonel Glavche

Attached from the 9th Infantry Division

1st General Alekseev Partisan Infantry Regiment – Colonel Prince Gagarin – approx 1,000 bayonets
2nd General Alekseev Partisan Infantry Regiment

The 2nd General Alekseev Regiment was recently formed.

3rd Infantry Division

Commander– Major-General Vitkovskiy
Chief of Staff – Colonel Bredov

As with the 1st Division, unit strengths fell rapidly during the battle.

Soon afterwards this became the Drozdovskiy Division,with the Samurskiy going to the Alekseev Division.

1st Brigade – Major-General Kel'ner

1st General Drozdovsky Officer Rifle Regiment – Colonel Rummel – 1,352 bayones, 45 MGs
2nd General Drozdovsky Officer Rifle Regiment – Colonel Turkul – 1,309 bayonets, 55 MGs

The infantry regiments likely had cavalry components unrecorded or there were dispersed squadrons of a cavalry unit operating with them.

2nd Brigade – ?

3rd General Drozdovsky Officer Rifle Regiment – Colonel Dron – 1,130 bayonets, 12 MGs
83rd Samursky Infantry Regiment – Colonel Zvyagin – 1,304 bayonets, 26 MGs

The 3rd General Drozovsky Regiment was forming at this time.

The infantry regiments likely had cavalry components unrecorded or there were dispersed squadrons of a cavalry unit operating with them.

3rd Artillery Brigade – Colonel Polzikov – 20 light guns, 6 howitzers

1st Divizion – Colonel Protasevich

1st Light Battery
2nd Light Battery

2nd Divizion – Colonel Shein

3rd Light Battery
4th Light Battery

3rd Divizion – Colonel Sokolov

5th Battery
6th Battery

4th Divizion – Colonel Medvedev

7th Light Howitzer Battery
8th Light Howitzer Battery

3rd Reserve Artillery Divizion

3rd Division Assets

Reserve Battalion of the 3rd Division – Colonel Yen'kov – 850 bayonets, 4 MGs
Composite Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade – 861 sabres, 10 MGs
3rd General Drozdovsky Engineer Company – Colonel Borodin – 228 men

9th Infantry Division

This division was only recently formed, out of 1st Division (Alekseevs) and 3rd Division (Belozerskiy, Olonetskiy and Composite Rifle), expanded largely from POWs. The Alekseev Regiments became the Alekseev Division soon afterwards, the remainder carrying on until merged into the Drozdovsky Division in January 1920.

General Alekseev Partisan Infantry Regiment – Colonel Prince Gagarin
2nd General Alekseev Partisan Infantry Regiment (recently formed)

These two regiments were attached to the 1st Division.

Composite Rifle Regiment – Colonel Gravitskiy (in rear fighting Makhno)
13th Belozerskiy Infantry Regiment – Colonel Shteyfon (Forces of the Kiev Area)
14th Olonetskiy Infantry Regiment – (Forces of the Kiev Area)

These regiments were further west or in the rear.

Corps Assets

3rd Separate Heavy Howitzer Divizion
Separate Heavy Tractor Gun Divizion – Colonel Sakhnovskiy

2nd Armored Train Divizion – Colonel Gromyko (attached to 1st Infantry Division)

"Officer" (light) – Colonel Lebedev
"General Kornilov" (light) – Captain Molchanov – (operating with Alekseev Regiment)
"Ivan Kalita" (heavy) – Colonel Zelenetsky

9th Armored Train Divizion (attached to 3rd Infantry Division)

"Drozdovets" (light) – Captain Ripke
"The Thunder of Victory" (light) – ?
"Soldier" (heavy) – Colonel Ziegler

2nd Tank Detachment

5 tanks

1st Armoured Car Divizion

"Kornilov"
"Glorious"
"Kubanets"
"General Drozdovskiy"
others under repair

1st Corps Engineer Company – 256 men

The slower moving parts of the Corps played little or no part in the battles. The tanks, in particular, were unable to keep pace with the fast moving operations. It seems unlikely the heavy guns fared much better.

Also at the battle, but part of the 5th Cavalry Corps was:

1st Cavalry Division

Commander– Major-General Chekotavskiy
Chief of Staff – Colonel Kreyter

It appears that only the 1st Brigade was involved directly in the fighting around Orel. The rest was further east.

1st Brigade – Colonel Barbovich

1st General Alekseev Officer Cavalry Regiment – Colonel Saburov – 196 sabres, 16 MGs
10th Ingermanlandskiy Hussar Regiment – Captain Tikhonravov – 270 bayonets, 240 sabres

2nd Brigade

Composite Regiment of the 9th Cavalry Division – Colonel Vygran – 622 bayonets, 230 sabres, 30 MGs
Composite Regiment of the 12th Cavalry Division – Colonel Psiol – 396 bayonets, 161 sabres

3rd Brigade – Major-General Alenich

Composite Hussar Regiment – Colonel Gaevskiy
Composite Lancer Regiment – Colonel Aprelev – 310 bayonets, 95 sabres, 6 MGs

3rd Horse-Artillery Divizion – Colonel Prince Avalov

1st General Drozdovsky Separate Mountain-Horse Battery – Captain Yermolov
Composite Battery of the Caucasian Separate Mountain-Horse Artillery Divizion
7th Horse Mountain Battery (uncertain)