Broken Hammer - Defeat Of The Bolsheviks During the Russian Civil War, An Alternate History.

An alt-history I will work on whenever I get the chance.

The Reorganization Of the White Army

General Denkin was optimistic but cautious when the war turned in the favor of the White Movement. For this reason, he postponed the assault on Moscow per Pyotr Wrangel’s advice (head of the Caucasian army.) and began to allow his troops to rest while on defense along the Katerynoslav-Tsaritsyn line and prepare to launch an attack on the city of Astrakhan. While Lenin sent the 9th and Tenth Red armies to recapture Tsaritsyn, then Novocherkassk and Rostov. Plans to launch a Ukrainian offensive were canceled and the line was shortened allowing for more troops to recover and White Movement support from the populace to be gained.

The Oryol Administration

The administration in Oryol was originally inefficient and corrupt but was quickly reorganized into an effective governing force which did much to spread the cause of the White Movement in subsequent provinces causing more and more peasants to join the volunteer army. These new successes were demoralizing for the Soviets who due to this were only able to send around 50,000 new Red soldiers (most of whom were drafted under threats of violence) to the Southern front. A new Southeastern front was created which was spearheaded by the 9th and 10th armies while somewhat successful was ultimately defeated by the White Army’s cavalry. In Ukraine, the Black Army a group of Ukrainian anarchists who had captured most of Eastern Ukraine was being bled to death through the use of guerrilla warfare which was slowly draining them of resources and manpower. Supplies sent to White Army by the Entente were sent to guerilla forces which were forcing the Black Army back slowly but surely allowing General Denkin to focus on launching an assault on the Soviet Capital.

The Failure Of The Red Counteroffensive At the end of October 1919, the Red Army's counteroffensive began at once in two sections. The 13th Red rifle division and an Estonian rifle division failed to force the administration at Oryol to leave and were utterly decimated by the fury of the Oryol Defense Force. At the same time, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Army, Semyon Budyonny, against the orders of the front commander, attacked Voronezh, because he wanted to face the famous White cavalry in a direct battle. His force failed miserably over the forces of Mamontov and Shkuro and was captured and executed on October 24th. These failures prevented the next operation to capture the key railway junction at Kastornoye from beginning and the Reds could not attempt to attack the city of Kursk as they were being bled by White cavalry. These battles were groundbreaking and allowed the White Army to seriously begin planning for an attack on Moscow.

'The Moscow Offensive WIP