“They look at us, former officers, as material that, having used it, can be thrown away...”. An unknown letter from a Soviet military specialist about the betrayal of the headquarters of the 14th army in June 1919

Abstract

The material is a publication of an unknown letter from a Soviet military specialist, former Captain B.F. Chernihovsky-Sokol, to his classmate at the Military Academy G.I. Teodori about the events of the summer of 1919 in Ukraine. At that time, the situation at the front was unfavorable for the Reds: the Whites have captured the Donbass and launched an offensive in the Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav directions. The 2nd Ukrainian Soviet Army was reorganized into the 14th Army, but the name change and reorganization changed little. The army consisted of partisan units of Makhno and Grigoriev, and the troops lacked weapons and ammunition, since the Whites cut off supplies by rail. As a result of the defeat of the Soviet troops, Yekaterinoslav was abandoned by the Red Army units, and a group of employees of the headquarters of the 14th Soviet Army defected to the Whites. The letter details the circumstances of the surrender of Yekaterinoslav by the Reds. The author outlined the dramatic circumstances of the defense of the city, the confusion and lack of centralization in the management of troops, poor leadership on the part of the commander of the 14th Army K.E. Voroshilov, whose location was unknown, abuse of commissars who took staff cars for personal use, as well as ignorance of the operational situation by the headquarters. Of particular interest are the personal experiences of the author of the letter, who wrote about the plight of the military specialists of the Red Army, the inattention of the command to them, the danger for former officers to be captured by the Whites and other moments. The document is stored in the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service and is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

Received 15 April 2023

Revised 24 May 2023

Accepted 16 June 2023

How to cite: Ganin, A. V., 2023. “Na nas, byvshikh ofitserov, smotriat kak na material, kotoryi, ispol'zovav, mozhno i brosit'...”. Neizvestnoe pis’mo sovetskogo voennogo spetsialista ob izmene shtaba 14-i armii v iiune 1919 g. [“They Look at Us, Former Officers, as Material That, Having Used It, Can Be Thrown...”. An Unknown Letter from a Soviet Military Specialist about the Betrayal of the Headquarters of the 14th army in June 1919]. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, vol. 18 (1–2), pp. 161–174.