Volga Military Flotilla (Civil War)

Civil War in Russia

The formation of the flotilla was carried out by Commissar N. G. Markin , who arrived in Nizhny Novgorod in June 1918, and later became deputy commander of the flotilla. Since August 23, 1918, the flotilla was commanded by F.F. Raskolnikov .

Since August 1918, the flotilla took part in the battles on the Volga and Kama , took part in the capture of Volsk , Syzran , Samara and other cities.

On July 20, 1918, the armed Delosovet steamer (crew of 52 people, armament — one 75-mm cannon and machine guns) entered into a 35-minute battle with three armed white steamers and fired 250 shells at them. As a result, one of the white steamers sank as a result of an explosion of ammunition , a logging was broken on the second steamer by a direct hit, and Delosovet successfully managed to get out of the battle ^[1] .

On July 29, 1918, the Marquise motor boat, armed with two machine guns, attacked a white steamer and Czechoslovak legionnaires near Staraya Mayna , causing panic among them ^[1] .

On August 28-29, near Sviyazhsk with the participation of the flotilla, the White Guard units were defeated.

On the night of August 31, 1918, the Volga flotilla, headed by the "Strong", on which were the flotilla commander F. F. Raskolnikov and L. D. Trotsky , quietly passed batteries behind Verkhny Uslon and unexpectedly fired at the white base, causing a fire to steamboats and barges standing there and causing a panic among the enemy units. In this operation, the flotilla suffered losses: 1 gunboat sank, 2 others and 1 destroyer were abandoned for long-term repairs, and another destroyer that remained in service was seriously damaged ^[2] .

On September 5, 1918, after the beginning of the general offensive of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front on Kazan, the ships of the Volga River Flotilla went down the river, supporting the advancing units with fire and engaging in a firefight with enemy artillery batteries. In the artillery duel with three white artillery batteries, the armed steamboats “Dolphin” and “Tashkent” died (while the Tashkent commandos continued to fire from the stern gun until the ship sank) ^[3] .

On September 9, 1918, under the cover of artillery fire, four cannons of the Volga flotilla crushed white artillery batteries by machine gun fire and landed 60 troops on the quay of Kazan under the command of flotilla commissar N. G. Markin ^[4] , who drove the enemy’s forces into the city and held the marina within an hour ^[5] , but after strong artillery fire was fired from the city’s Kremlin on landing and ships, the paratroopers returned to the ships, taking with them the locks of six out of eight enemy guns. The losses of the landing were insignificant ^[2] .

On the night of September 9–10, 1918, the destroyers Prytky and Retivy landed another, larger landing force — a combined battalion of soldiers and sailors ^[6] .

In the following days, the Volga flotilla continued to pursue the White flotilla that was retreating to the mouth of the Kama, while at the same time supporting the advance of the Red Army ^[2] .

In September 1918, the flotilla was divided into two groups : Volzhsky and Kama. The Kama detachment included 21 gunboats , 6 patrol ships , one floating battery , 11 seaplanes . The detachment was led by N. G. Markin.

On October 1, 1918, N.G. Markin, with three ships, was ambushed by the White Guard ambush at Drunken Bohr and died. Nevertheless, the Kama detachment defeated the White Guard units and the flotilla. In October, the Volga Military Flotilla joined the Volga Military Flotilla as a detachment, which received the name Tsaritsinsky. During the war, this detachment participated in the defense of Tsaritsyn .

In 1919, on the Kama, Belaya and Ufa rivers, the flotilla supported the 2nd , 3rd and 5th armies during the defense against Kolchak's troops, as well as in a counterattack. She participated in the capture of the cities of Chistopol and Sarapul , provided for the crossing of the Red Army through Belaya and Ufa.

In July 1919, due to the fact that parts of the White Guard retreated to the Urals, the Volga military flotilla was merged with the Astrakhan-Caspian military flotilla , forming the Volga-Caspian military flotilla .

During the Civil War , N.E. Basisty , future admiral , commander of the Black Sea Fleet, fought as part of the Volga Military Flotilla ^[7] .

Composition of the Volga Military Flotilla during the Civil War

Initially, the Volga flotilla included eight gunboats:

• No. 1 is the former steamer Tsaritsyn. Built in 1912. Length 42.7 m; width 12.0 m; draft 0.8 m. Engine - 296 horsepower . Two 76-mm mountain guns, 6 machine guns .
• No. 2 - the former ship “Cabestan” (on January 2, 1919 it was renamed “Narodovolets”). Length 43.9 m; width 14.2 m; draft 1.1 m. Engine - 260 hp Two 76-mm mountain guns, 6 machine guns.
• No. 3 - Burlak. Built in 1898. Length 43.9 m; width 7.0 m; draft 0.8 m. One 76 mm mountain cannon, 6 machine guns.
• No. 4 - "White Acacia". Built in 1913. Length 44.5 m; width 10.9 m; draft 0.8 m. Engine - 200 hp Two 76-mm mountain guns, 6 machine guns.
• No. 5 - “Vanya” (aka “ Vanya the Communist ”). Built in 1905. Length 53.3 m; width 7.32 / 15.2 m; draft 1.2 m. Engine - 300 hp Two 75/50-mm cannons , one 47-mm gun Hotchkiss , 6 machine guns.
• No. 6 - “Good” (from February 7, 1919 it was renamed “Comrade Markin”). Built in 1870. Displacement 561 tons. Length 61.24 m; width 7.92 / 15.85 m; draft 1.34 m. Engine - 600 hp Speed ​​10 knots. Two 76-mm guns of the 1902 model , 6 machine guns.
• No. 7 - Tashkent. Built in 1912. Length 40.3 m; width 10.7 m; draft 0.7 m. Engine - 180 hp Speed ​​is 8.6 knots. One 76 mm gun arr. 1902, one 47-mm gun Hotchkiss, 7 machine guns.
• No. 8 - The Dolphin. Built in 1904. Length 57.9 m; width 17.1 m; draft 1.2 m. Engine - 448 hp One 76 mm gun arr. 1902, 7 machine guns.
• Steamboat Olga (January 13, 1919 renamed the "Vanguard of the Revolution"). Built in 1899. Displacement 445 tons. Length 68.27 m; width 8.53 / 18.31 m; draft 1.42 m. Engine - about 1000 hp Speed ​​10-12 knots. One 122 mm howitzer, one 76 mm gun arr. 1902, two machine guns.
• steamer "Konovod". Built in 1894. Length 49.7 m; width 12.8 m; draft 0.9 m. Three 76-mm guns mod. 1902, 6 machine guns.
• steamer "Leo". Built in 1901. Length 57.9 m; width 14.2 m; draft 1.1 m. Engine 260 HP One 76 mm gun arr. 1902, one 37 mm gun Hotchkiss .
• steamship "Brotherhood". Built in 1896. Length 62.2 m; width 18.8 m; draft 1.4 m. Engine 720 hp
• steamer ??? (renamed the “Case of the Soviets”). One 76 mm gun arr. 1902
• armed screw boats "Steregushchiy" and "Grazhdanka".
• The mother-in-law barge (converted into the backwater of Muromka (backwater named after Karl Marx) into the Ataman Razin floating battery). Year of construction - 1914. Displacement of 1900 tons; length 106.6 m; width 17 m; draft 2.1 m. Four 130/55-mm guns and 8 machine guns.
• Theseus barge (converted into a floating battery and renamed Serezha). Built in 1917. Displacement 2000 tons; length 83.2 m. Initial armament - four 102/60-mm , six 75/50-mm guns , eight 47-mm and two 37-mm guns Hotchkiss. Later, her guns were transferred to other ships, and for most of the 1918 campaign she had four 102-mm, one 47-mm, two 37-mm guns and 12 machine guns.
• The barge Finland (November 25, 1918 was renamed the Memory of Uritsky).
• Destroyer " Quick "
• Destroyer " Durable "
• Destroyer "Retive"
• Destroyer " Striking "

On June 6, 1918 V.I. Lenin ordered them to be sent from the Baltic Fleet to the Volga, and on August 2 they went on a campaign. Through the Mariinsky system, the first three went under their own power, and the “Defeat” - in tow. To reduce draft, guns were removed from them, a minimum amount of fuel was loaded on board, ballast water was pumped out. Upon arrival in Nizhny Novgorod at the Sormovsky plant, the guns were re-installed within a few days. August 24 arrived in Nizhny Novgorod , where they installed two 75/50-mm guns.

• From the remnants of the Samara hydrodivision in Nizhny Novgorod, a squadron was formed armed with four M-9 seaplanes received from the Naval Aviation Administration. The base of the hydraulic squad was the Commune oil barge. Brackets were attached to its sides, on which the descents removed for the duration of the trip were fixed for receiving and launching seaplanes on the water.
• The tugboat Andrei Klyukin (renamed the Sailor Pilot on November 14, 1918), which transferred the Kommun barge and the Vera two-deck passenger ship, which housed the squad personnel.

Command

Commanders

• Bernhardt R.M. 3 - August 22, 1918
• Raskolnikov F.F. August 23 - November 11, 1918
• Varvatsi V.N. November 11, 1918 - April 17, 1919
• Smirnov P.I. April 17, 1919 - July 25, 1919
• Raskolnikov F.F. July 25 - 31, 1919

• Volga military flotilla
• Volga military flotilla (neopr.) . Wunderwafe.ru. Date of treatment August 14, 2017. Archived on April 2, 2017.

• Battle of Stalingrad. July 1942 - February 1943: Encyclopedia / Ed. M.M. Zagorulko . - 5th ed., Rev. and add. - Volgograd: Publisher, 2012.- P. 121. - 800 p.
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Fiction

• Baryakina E. V. "Argentinean" - M: Ripol-classic . - 2011 - ISBN 978-5-386-03723-9