White Army and the Red Army of the Communists

The white army grew from rebels who defected from fighting Russian enemies, and attracted anti-Bolsheviks to its ranks. The white army takes Kazan and the Bolshevik Red Army claims its first victory, but not without a hard-fought battle.

The Czechs and growing rebel army continued their advance into the Russian heartland.

Standing in their way is the River Volga, the key crossing point is the city of Kazan.

The city falls to the rebels, and the Bolsheviks realize the size and danger of this new threat.

Almost by accident, an army had been created around the Czech legion, determined to remove the Bolsheviks from power.

The Counter-Revolution they had feared was underway. Elsewhere, others start to rebel. To distinguish them from the Red Revolutionaries they were later called Whites.

The fighting starts in the center of Russia. With the Red Army occupied with the war with Germany, the government called on their most loyal troops to save the emerging crisis, the sailors of Kronstadt.

The sailors had been at the forefront of Lenin's October Revolution and had a reputation as his most feared shock troops.

The sailors travelled by train from Kronstadt and sailed the last 200 miles down the River Volga.

Leading the fleet was the Bolshevik Fedor Raskolnikov. As they approached the city of Kazan, they planned their attack.

Bolshevik forces attacked from the hills above the town while soldiers and sailors launched their assault from ships on the River. The battle was fierce and after several days, progress is still slow. Trotsky and Bolshevik agitators helped turn things back in the favor of Bolshevik, and Kazan was reclaimed. It was the first successful counter-attack for the Reds on the Eastern front.

When the Bolsheviks arrived they realized how brutal the fight with the Whites was going to be.

Mutilated bodies of Bolsheviks supporters were found in shallow graves, others found laying in the streets with their eyes gouged out and their party cards pinned to their chests.

The battle for Kazan had been hard-fought, but the Bolsheviks turned the tide at the Volga and the sailors of Kronstadt had again been at the Vanguard.

References

Russian Revolution in Color (DVD)
The Russian Revolution and Civil War, this bloodsoaked time from the battlefields, testimonies, and colorized archives help unfold the dramatic story of the Communist rise and seizure of power in 1917.