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Spring offensive of the White Army

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Spring offensive of the White Army

The Spring Offensive of the Russian Army was an offensive of the White Army of the White movement led by Alexander Kolchak on the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War, between March and April 1919.

At the end of 1918, the situation on the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War was unclear. Both sides fought for the Kama River. The Supreme Command of the Red Army prepared for major offensives on the Southern and Western fronts, hence there were no supplies available for the Eastern front. At the end of December, the Whites conquered Perm on the northern flank, but the Reds captured Ufa on the southern flank. On 22 January 1919 the Red 1st Army connected with the Army of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which had advanced from Middle Asia. On 24 January the Red 4th Army captured Uralsk.

At the beginning of 1919, the Supreme Command of the White Army decided to advance in two directions. The purpose of the northern advance was to connect with the North Russia Front and to strike at Petrograd; the purpose of the southern advance was to crush the Red front on the middle Volga river and to advance to Moscow.

The Whites had three[clarification needed] armies:

The Reds had three armies in the south:

and three armies to the north of them:

Therefore, on the northern flank both sides were equal, the Whites were stronger in the center (49,000 of Hanzhin's soldiers against the Red 5th Army's 10,000), and the Reds had an advantage on the southern flank (52,000 against 19,000). Both sides decided to strike on the right flank (the Whites on the right flank and in the center) and to cut the communication lines of their opponent's left flank. At the end of February, the Whites pushed back the left flank of the Reds' 2nd Army, forcing it to retreat.

On 4 March, the Siberian Army of the Whites began its advance. On 8 March it captured Okhansk and Osa and continued its advance to the Kama River. On 10 April they captured Sarapul and closed in on Glazov. On 15 April soldiers of Siberian Army's right flank made contact with detachments of the Northern Front in a sparsely populated area near the Pechora River.

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