Advance on Moscow (1919)

Advance on Moscow
Part of the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
Southern Front of the Russian Civil War (summer 1919)
Date 3 July - 18 November 1919 Location Don Host Oblast, Donbas, Northeastern Ukraine, Lower Volga region, Central Russia Result White strategic failure Bolshevik victory Beginning of the catastrophic retreat of the AFSR Evacuation of ASFR remnants to the Crimea peninsula.
Belligerents
South Russia	Russian SFSR
Commanders and leaders
Anton Denikin Pyotr Wrangel Andrei Shkuro Vladimir Sidorin K. Mamontov V. May-Mayevsky Alexander Kutepov Abram Dragomirov	Leon Trotsky Sergey Kamenev Vladimir Yegoryev Alexander Yegorov Vasily Shorin V. Selivachyov Semyon Budyonny Vitaly Primakov
Units involved
Armed Forces of South Russia Caucasus Army Don Army Volunteer Army	Southern Front 8th Army 12th Army 13th Army 14th Army Southeastern Front 9th Army 10th Army 1st Cavalry Army
Strength
70,000 (15 October)	115,500 (15 October)
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown

The Advance on Moscow was a military campaign of the White Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR), launched against the RSFSR in July 1919 during the Russian Civil War. The goal of the campaign was the capture of Moscow, which, according to the chief of the White Army Anton Denikin, would play a decisive role in the outcome of the Civil War and bring the Whites closer to the final victory. After initial successes, in which the city of Oryol at only 360 kilometres (220 mi) from Moscow was taken, Denikin's overextended Army was decisively defeated in a series of battles in October and November 1919.

The Moscow campaign of the AFSR can be divided into two phases: the offensive of the AFSR (3 July–10 October) and the counteroffensive of the Red Southern Front (11 October–November 18).