Battle of Peregonovka

In mid-June 1919, Andrei Shkuro of the Volunteer Army took advantage of the chaos between the Bolsheviks and anarchists to pillage the village of Huliaipole, burning houses, killing men, raping women, and expropriating loot to the Kuban, similar to what had been done in other peasant villages.[1] The Insurgent Army and thousands of refugees retreated hundreds of kilometers to the west. They crossed the Dnieper at a bridge near Aleksandrovsk to reach Yelisavetgrad, run by the ataman Nikifor Grigoriev.[2] Their alliance with him lasted only a month (June 25 to July 27), when the ataman was killed for refusing to fight Anton Denikin's army[3] and his participation in the pogroms.[4] The Insurgent Army continued to Dobrovelichkovka, in southern Ukraine, where they reconciled with the Red Army in early August.[5] They launched counter-offensives that temporarily pushed their targets to the east, but Denikin soon sent reinforcements.[6] The Insurgent Army continued its western retreat as the Volunteer Army arrived in Kursk to the north.[7]

After a month of retreat and skirmishes, leaving more than 8,000 wounded, the Insurgent Army arrived in Uman in late August 1919.[8] Being on the border of Ukrainian People's Republic, they decided to negotiate. The nationalists were also at war with the White movement and did not want more enemies.[7] They decided to cease hostilities, exchange prisoners, and let 3,000 Makhnovists attend the nationalist hospitals for two weeks before settling in the village of Tekuche, near Uman.[9] Before long, the anarchists came to distrust the nationalists. With Petliura to their north and west, and Denikin to their south and east, by September 25, the Volunteer Army had surrounded the Insurgent Army.[10]

After four months of western retreat over 600 kilometers, the Insurgent Army decided to turn east and face the Volunteer Army in the village of Kruten'koe. The Volunteer Army fled in surprise.[11] The next day would be a decisive battle for the less than 8,000 remaining guerrillas.[12]

The attack began at 03:00 hours. When the Volunteer Army lines had not broken after six hours, the Insurgent Army formed in a new assault in which the women joined. This push reduced the Volunteer Army's soldiers and machine gun fire. Nestor Makhno, who had ridden ahead with a cavalry squadron to flank the defenders earlier in the night,[13] attacked from the rear and entered the village with hand-to-hand combat in the streets.[14] With this attack from both ends, the Volunteer Army fled but was pursued by the Black Army's horsemen, leaving many dead in the fields and hundreds drowned in attempt to ford a nearby river.[15]

About 4,000 White soldiers scattered into the forests to the north, where they were killed by regional peasants.[16]

After the victory, the insurgents formed three columns and advanced to the Dnieper, eliminating all enemies.[17] This offensive included 7,000 Whites killed in Alexandrovsk, including 2,500 Chechens.[18] Within ten days, the Insurgent Army had returned to reclaim their capital and taken Mariupol, Polohy, Melitopol, and Berdiansk. They conquered Katerynoslav on October 20 and the Whites who took refuge in Taganrog.[19] At the peak of their power, the territory of the Makhnovshchina ran from the center of the Katerynoslav Governorate to the northeast of the Taurida Governorate, an area populated by about three million.[20]

The battlezone remained under the command of Ataman Volodin and 6,000 partisans until 1920.[21]