Battle of Bolshie Ozerki

Battle of Bolshie Ozerki
Part of the Allied North Russia Intervention during the Russian Civil War

A Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army soldier that was killed during an attempted flank attack on Allied positions along the Obozerskaya road at Verst 16. April 8, 1919
Date31 March – 2 April 1919[1]
Location
Result White and allies victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 United States
Russia Northern Russia
Second Polish Republic Poland
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Russian SFSR
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Edmund Ironside
United States George Evans Stewart
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Aleksandr Samoylo
Strength
~2,000[1] ~7,000[1]
Casualties and losses
At least 75 killed[1] ~2,000 (Allied claim)[1]

The Battle of Bolshie Ozerki was a major engagement fought during the Allied North Russia Intervention in the Russian Civil War. Beginning on March 31, 1919, a force of British, American, Polish, and White Russian troops engaged several Red Army partisan regiments at the village of Bolshie Ozerki. Although the initial Allied attacks were repelled, the outnumbered Allies managed to repel the Soviet flanking attempts that followed and the Red Army was later ordered to withdraw. Allied forces began to withdraw rapidly from northern Russia shortly thereafter.[1][2]

The battle was the last engagement of British forces in the intervention. It was also one of the last significant engagements to involve American forces. Two months later, American forces of the Siberian Intervention successfully defended their camp from a Red attack at Romanovka by forces that greatly outnumbered them. The following month, they inflicted hundreds of casualties during the Suchan Valley Campaign.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Chew, A. F. (1981). Fighting the Russians in Winter: Three Case Studies. DIANE Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4289-1598-5.
  2. ^ "Welcome to the Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collections". Retrieved 2013-01-30.