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==Don revolts and formation of the Volunteer Army== Many opponents of the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks fled to the Don region, hoping to gain influence and the support of the Don Cossacks. One of these was the former Tsarist General Mikhail Alekseev, who began raising troops in order to crush the Bolsheviks. Within time, his force grew to 400 men. With these experienced and well-motivated soldiers, Alekseev was able to influence the Don Cossack Council greatly. Alekseev was soon joined by the charismatic general Lavr Kornilov, who had escaped detention and arrived in the Don region. This gave the Whites in the area a great boost. On November 17, 1917, both Alekseev and Kornilov announced the formation of the Volunteer Army, although that name was not officially accepted until early 1918. General Alekseev became its first commander-in-chief. In January 1918, the Volunteer Army numbered 2,000 men, and was transferred to Rostov, as Kornilov could not persuade the Don Cossack leader, Ataman Kaledin to take joint action alongside his Whites. By February Kaledin had been defeated by the Reds and the Volunteer Army retreated behind the river Don. In March 1918 the Volunteer Army was strengthened and now numbered 5,000 men. In April 1918, another formation was set up, the Army of the Don, created on April 17, 1918, numbering about 6,000 men and was commanded by General K. Plyakov and on April 25, P. Popov. In June 1918, the Whites in the south were joined by Colonel Mikhail Drozdovsky and his forces, in total the Volunteer Army numbered some 9,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. From November 1918, the Entente was able to supply the Whites in the South of Russia through the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. This allowed the Whites to re-organise and create new units, although conscription helped quite a bit. This boosted the Volunteer Army up to 35,000 men by September and 100,000 by December. In September 1918, the Reds themselves formed the Southern Front to combat the Whites from Ukraine to the Sea of Azov. By then, the Army of the Don had reached a peak force of 10,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Southern Front of the Russian Civil War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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