This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2022) |
First Kuban Campaign or Ice March | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War | |||||||
A Volunteer Army recruitment poster represents a woman addressing her son with the words: "My son! Go and save your Motherland!" | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Lavr Kornilov † Mikhail Alekseyev Anton Denikin Sergey Markov M. O. Nezhentsev † |
Ivan Sorokin Alexei Avtonomov Rudolf Sivers | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Volunteer Army: initially 4,000, later 6,000 (2,000 Don Cossacks) 14 artillery pieces |
Red Army: 24,000 - 60,000 20+ artillery pieces 3 armored trains | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
400 killed 1,500 wounded 2,000 deserted[1] |
5,000-20,000+ killed (exact number unknown) 10,000 wounded 7,000 captured 3,000 fled 2 armored trains captured or destroyed During the battle of Yekaterinodar: 15,000 lost, about 10,000 of which were wounded |
The Ice March (Russian: Ледяной поход), also called the First Kuban Campaign (Russian: Первый кубанский поход), a military withdrawal lasting from February to May 1918, was one of the defining moments in the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1921. Under attack by the Red Army advancing from the north, the forces of the Volunteer Army, sometimes referred to as the White Guard, began a retreat from the city of Rostov south towards the Kuban, in the hope of gaining the support of the Don Cossacks against the Bolshevik government in Moscow.