Soviet Forces of XIII Army late 1918
The original is from Central State Archives of the Red Army (TsGAKA)and can be found at the Electronic Library of Historical Documents in the three volumes on documents from the civil war period.
This is shortly before the 11th Army launched a disastrous offensive against Denikin's forces in the Armavir-Tikhoretsk area.
Soviet 11th Army on 20 November 1918
| Commander | Bayonets | Sabres | MGs | Guns | Men | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMS: comrades Poluyan, Fedko and Odaryuk | ||||||
| Sharia Column | Mironenko | 10 483 | 1 814 | 160 | 10 | 14 188 |
| Taman Army | Kovtyukh | 8 730 | 602 | 87 | 14 | 10 828 |
| Stavropol Front | 22 728 | 3 830 | 26 | 6 | 30 293 | |
| 10th Column | Zonenko | 13 888 | 1 654 | 121 | 62 | 19 029 |
| 1st Column | Bogdanov | 12 448 | 2 491 | 133 | 20 | 16 274 |
| 9th Column | Pronnikov | 4 962 | 1 656 | 45 | 31 | 6 934 |
| Svyato-Krestovsk Front | Shchepanov | 7 748 | 1 127 | 110 | 31 | 9 326 |
| Armavir Front | Gudkov | 10 225 | 1 202 | 144 | 50 | 15 004 |
| Armored trains (7) | 1 128 | 29 | 81 | 23 | 1 237 | |
| Engineering units | 588 | – | 6 | – | 612 | |
| Guard, control and other companies and columns | 662 | 33 | 6 | – | 702 | |
| Armoured Cars (2) | ||||||
| Total for 11th Army | 93 590 | 13 836 | 919 | 247 | 124 427 | |
This Army had been demoralised by the odd behaviour of Ivan Sorokin, who had taken over its command. He had had several commanders shot and started to act as if it was his personal army, until his opponents organised and had him outlawed. (He was killed in early November.) Not being yet regular Red Army, units were in a constant state of organisational turmoil and had no fixed organisation.
Most sources give Fedko as the commander of 11th Army at this time, soon to be replaced by Vladimir Kruse. The RMS was led by Ordzhonikidze.
The Sharia Column was formed from Caucasus mountaineers and Cossacks, many of whom were Moslem. It is said to have been made up of the:
- Derbent Rifle Regiment
- 1st Peasant Regiment
- Black Sea People's Regiment
- Taganrog Infantry Regiment
- Nalchik Cavalry Regiment
- First Kuban Revolutionary Cavalry Regiment
- First Sharia Cavalry Regiment
- Terek artillery divizion
- Howitzer divizion
- Guard Squadron
- Control Company
Most sources have M.V. Smirnov commanding the Taman Army by November. About this time it was organised into the 1st Taman Division (1st to 4th Taman Infantry Regiments and 1st Taman Cavalry Regiment), 2nd Taman Division (5th to 8th Tamansk Infantry Regiments and 2nd Tamanski Cavalry Regiment) and the 3rd Taman Revolutionary Cavalry Regiment and a brigade of artillery. In December the infantry merged to become the 3rd Taman Rifle Division. Despite its reputation, thanks partly to Serafimovich's portrayal of it in "The Iron Flood", it did not perform well in the up-coming battles.
Svyato-Krestovsk is a town in central Stavropol Oblast, which the Soviets changed to Budennovsk. It means Holy Father.
Soon after, with the start of the Red Army proper being formed, the 11th Army was organised into four rifle and two cavalry divisions, one reserve and two cavalry brigades.