[WIP] Komuch campaign Aug-Oct 1918 : Red divisions !?

[Byblos]

Hi all

I am working on a "Komuch" campaign from August 1918 to October 1918. I would then make an extension including the Izhevsk and Voltkinsk revolts. I base myself on the Red Actions system (The Perfect Captain) but it will be easily transposable for other systems.

However, I am looking for information on the main divisions of the Red Army, in particular regiments, special units (Latvians, Internationals), artillery, armored trains, armored vehicles and anything else that might interest me.

My research has so far yielded mixed results.

The units concerned:

1 Army:
Inza Division
Penza Division
Simbirsk Division
Volsk Division (Volga)

2 Army:
Division 2 Svodnaya
1 Svodnaya
Viatskaya Osobaya (Special Division)

4 Army:
Samara Division
Nikolaev Division

5 Army:
Division 1 Smolensk
Division 4 Petrograd

If you have details on these units, please let me know!

(I would put this campaign free on LAF)

[cuprum]

An extremely difficult task.
These armies and divisions were formed from various volunteer and partisan detachments that did not have any proper organization or established strength (with rare exceptions). All these formations were repeatedly renamed, merged, transferred from one unit to another ... This is the most chaotic period of the existence of the Red Army, and so far I have not seen enough comprehensive research on this topic.
I probably have some information that interests you, but finding it is a lot of work.

[cuprum]

1st Army of the Eastern Front.
  15th Infantry Division (formerly the Inzen Revolutionary Division) (June-November 1918).
  20th Rifle Division (former Penza Infantry Division) (July 1918 - November 1919).
  24th Samara-Ulyanovsk Iron Rifle Division (the former 1st Simbir Combined Infantry Division.) (July 1918 - December 1919).



2nd Army of the Eastern Front.
  1st Oryol Infantry Division
  28th Infantry Division
  Vyatka Special Rifle Division



4th Army of the Eastern Front
  22nd Rifle Division (formerly the 2nd Nikolaev Rifle Division) (July 1918 - September 1919).
  25th Infantry Division (the former 1st Nikolaev Rifle Division) (July 1918 - January, March-May, July 1919, May 1920).
  Ural Rifle Division (July-December 1918).
  Novouzensk Infantry Division (August-September 1918),

Another source mentions more
  1st Oryol Infantry Division
  1st Saratov Infantry Division
  Volsk Infantry Division



5th Army of the Eastern Front.
  26th Zlatoust Rifle Division (former Right-Bank Group of Forces of the 5th Army.) (August 1918 - June 1920).
  27th Omsk Rifle Division (former Left-Bank Group of Forces of the 5th Army.) (September 1918 - May 1920)

Another source mentions more
  1st Smolensk Infantry Division
  4th Petrograd Infantry Division (it will become later the 11th Infantry Division)



As part of the red divisions, squads of sailors and Chinese are often found, less often Hungarian units of prisoners of war.

The 5th Latvian regiment, consisting of 507 people, participated in the defense of Kazan. He suffered very heavy losses in battle, and about 300 people were captured and shot.

[Byblos]

Thank you Cuprum!

Indeed it is a chaotic period, after a lot of research I managed to reconstruct some divisions but not others ...

but it seems that the operational capacities of the Red Army were not yet satisfactory and certain divisions, although existing, were little or not sent to the front.

I will extrapolate a little but the important thing is to have a table allowing to have roughly the balance of forces and to stick at best to reality, it will already be very interesting.

To be continued !

[cuprum]

By the way, do not be misled by the names "regiment" or "division." In reality, such a regiment could consist of both 100 people and 1000. Accordingly, at one point, there could also be 1000 people in the division.
Considering that a large number of fighters in these units had never before held weapons in their hands, and their regiment and division commanders were often in the past only non-commissioned officers - their combat value was very low. And the discipline in such units very often simply was absent. For the better, the surviving military units of the old regular army were distinguished (Latvian riflemen; some other military units of the old Russian army, which went over entirely to the Bolshevik side; internationalists).