History 24/03/20 Which foreigners most fought for the Bolsheviks in the Civil war
According to various estimates, on the side of the red Army in the Civil war fought more than 300 thousand foreign citizens-representatives of more than a dozen nationalities. The large number of forces were Hungarians, Chinese and Latvians.
the Chinese were the Executive and cruel
the Number of Chinese in the red army varies from 60 to 70 thousand people. Major military units that consisted entirely of representatives of China and would operate under the command of compatriot in the red army was not. But almost all red commanders noted the exceptional fighting qualities of the Chinese. For example, kraskoma by Iona Yakir (under his command fought and 1.5 thousand of Chinese) are the following memories: “the Cossacks captured the Chinese certainly killed, and before that, even mocked them.” He added that the resilience of Chinese people in the background-army level combat discipline sometimes amazed – these men fought to the last, had a high sense of discipline. In the eyes of the Chinese could kill brother, and he calmly continued to fire until the last bullet. A similar characteristic of the warriors of China gave a famous historian of the Soviet secret services, Pavel Sudoplatov.
Red army-the Chinese also distinguished by extreme cruelty, their participation in punitive operations, the detachments separate page in the history of the Civil war.
the Yakir was a Chinese battalion, he formed one of the first in 1918. But in General, the representatives of this nationality fought almost the entire Russian – Chinese workers had in almost every region of the country. Numerous groups of Chinese served in the red army in the far Eastern and Siberian regions.
the First organized unit
Infantry division Latvians became the first regular division of the red army. It was at the time served order.and 24 thousand people. The first red division commander connection was Ioakim Vatsetis, a former Colonel in the tsarist army. He fought in the First World war, was severely wounded. After the October revolution sided with the Bolsheviks, along with his regiment, he held various command positions, including commander in chief was the Eastern front, commanded the Army of Soviet Latvia. Arrested and executed in 1938.
One of the first important battles of 1918, where they demonstrated their resilience Latvian Riflemen, was a defense of Kazan city took part Vladimir Kappel and the Czechoslovak corps. For the defense of Kazan, the 5th Latvian regiment, the first connection among the red army in the Civil war received the Honorary revolutionary Red Banner (the second time he will receive this award for fighting against the troops of Nikolai Yudenich).
the Latvian Riflemen is highly valued in the red army. In 1919, they participated in battles with the army of Anton Denikin, the next year they, together with other red army took Perekop. Ceased to exist, the red army Latvian infantry division in 1920 it was disbanded.
the Hungarians prevailed, but “dissolved” in the total mass
the red Army had over 300 international military units, which included foreigners, including two brigade, seven national mixed regiments, five regiments, which were the representatives of one nation – Finns (three regiments), Czechs, Yugoslavs. But only from the Hungarians, which in the red army, there were about 100 thousand people, no such unit was not involved. Military historians attribute this fact to the fact that the Hungarians are “dissolved” in the total mass of the red army and because of a single large unit they had.
meanwhile, at the beginning and at the end of the Civil war (battles in the far Eastern and Siberian regions), the Hungarians have provided substantial support in the successful operations of the red army in 1918 many units of the red Army who fought on the Eastern and Ussuri fronts on third consisted of Hungarianin and on Baikal front half. In 1920, two Siberian international division had in its composition a significant amount of red-Hungarians.
the brightest figure in the Civil war among the Hungarians was, of course, Bela kun, a member of the revolutionary military Council of the southern front, Chairman of the Crimean revolutionary Committee. One of the organizers of the red terror in the Crimea. In Soviet Russia he was after escaped from Hungary, where Kun failed to defend its proclaimed Hungarian Soviet Republic. As Vatsetis, Bela kun in 30-h years was arrested on charges of counter-revolution and executed.
Nicholas Syromyatnikov
Source:
© Russian Seven
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