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The Group of Forces for Combating Counter-Revolution in the South of Russia (Russian: Группа войск по борьбе с контрреволюцией на Юге России, romanized: Gruppa voysk po bor'be s kontrrevolyutsiyey na Yuge Rossii) was a military formation of the Soviet Russian government created in the beginning of December 1917 to invade and occupy various autonomous state formations (the Don Host Oblast and Ukrainian People's Republic) with a goal of establishing the Soviet government.[clarification needed]
On January 15, 1918 the formation occupied Oleksandrivsk (Zaporizhia), and on January 21, 1918 Kharkiv received a message from Katerynoslav: "Pass this on to the Red Guard headquarters. We attacked Poltava ... the station is occupied, there is fighting in the city. Send urgently to Konstantinograd (Krasnohrad) 1000 Red Guards to connect with Yegorov". The Moscow Red Guard squads led by Yegorov, while traveling from the Lozova Rail Station, intercepted a heavy siege battery of the opponent that was sent to Poltava from Novocherkassk. At the same time Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko reported to the Narkom of Military Affairs (Soviet Russia): "Yesterday in the evening Poltava was occupied by us through an offensive from Lozova and Kharkiv... [We are] anticipating a report about the occupation of Bakhmach".
On January 28 the 1st Minsk Revolutionary Troops, led by Reingold Berzin, occupied Bakhmach. Bērziņš's unit consisted of 3,500 Red Guards and soldiers, four artillery batteries, and an armored train (Putilov plant) with a team of 77 people and 16 machine guns. The same day, the revolutionary forces met some resistance at the Kruty Rail Station, where they were held off for another day by a few hundred cadets. Another commander of the Moscow Red Guards was Andrei Znamensky, who led the special assignment unit of Blagushe-Lefortovo.
At the Extraordinary All-Russian Railway Congress on January 26, 1918, Vladimir Lenin stated that the Rada was "living out its last days". On January 29 in Kiev an uprising of workers started at the Arsenal city factory. To their help rushed the squads of P. Yegorov, G. Kudinsky, Vitaliy Primakov, Reingold Berzin and others. In the fierce fighting on the outskirts of Kiev and in the city, artillery and armored trains were widely used. On February 6, 1918 the command of the Soviet forces reported back to Lenin in Petrograd that street fighting was taking place in Kiev and the Red Guards were suffering great losses. And it further stated: "We have cleared all the stations in Kiev, as well as the Rail Terminal. Armored trains of the latest technology are pushing out the enemy from the city center. Our artillery is shelling the city day and night. Request urgently that 1,000 Red Guards be sent." But no reinforcements were really needed, as the Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city. On February 8, 1918 Kiev finally became Soviet.
With the situation in Ukraine and the Lower Don river region secured, the group of forces was redirected to the South Ural region against General Alexander Dutov and then Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki in the eastern regions of Belarus.
RSFSR
Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets
Red Guards