The White Rebel Army was a large military formation of the Priamurye Provisional Government of the White Movement during the Civil War in Russia, created in 1921 from the remnants of the White Armies of the Eastern Front – Semyonov–Kappel troops and operating in the Far East, in the Amur Region and Primorye from 1921 to 1922 year.
Background and history of formation
On May 26, 1921, with the overthrow of the government of the Primorskaya Zemsky Administration headed by the Bolshevik Vasily Antonov in Vladivostok by the white rebels, the Priamurye State Formation was established. Power was soon transferred to the Congress of Non–Socialist Organizations of the Far East, which elected a Provisional Amur Government. In a matter of days, the Provisional Amur government established its own armed forces, which were based on units of the Far Eastern Army, which were previously part of the armies of General Vladimir Kappel and Ataman Grigory Semyonov. The United States of America and Japan provided comprehensive support to the new state formation, while the latter also provided military assistance at the expense of the Japanese troops stationed in Primorye during the intervention. General Grigory Verzhbitsky was appointed commander–in–chief of the armed forces on May 31, 1921. At that moment, for the first time in Russian historiography, the name White Rebel Army appeared, parts of which became the basis of the formed armed forces. Major General Viktorin Molchanov became the head of the army, partially assembled from the units of the Grodekov group of forces (later – the 2nd Corps of General Innokenty Smolin). Officially, the existence of the army was recognized only in November 1921.
Composition
As of November 1921, the White Rebel Army of Viktorin Molchanov included: 3rd Rifle Corps (about 4,200 bayonets and 1,770 sabers), Major General Viktorin Molchanov; with his 1st Rifle Brigade (Colonel Pyotr Gludkin, May 25, 1921 – May 15, 1922; Major General Yevgeny Vishnevsky, May 15 – October 25, 1922); and its 1st Jäger Regiment, 2nd Ural Rifle Regiment (Colonel Vladimir Gamper), 1st Horse–Jäger Regiment (Colonel Viktor Vrashtel); Primorsky Detachment and its 3rd Volunteer Regiment, 4th Omsk Regiment; Izhevsk–Votkinsk Brigade (Colonel Avenir Efimov) with its Izhevsk Regiment, Votkinsk Regiment, 1st Volunteer Regiment (Colonel Cherkes), Krasno–Ufa Squadron; Volga Brigade (Major General Nikolai Sakharov) with its 1st Volga Regiment (Colonel von Bach), 4th Ufa Regiment (Colonel Yuri Sidamonidze), 8th Kama Regiment, 1st Cavalry Regiment, Siberian Cossack Regiment, Iman Hundreds of Ussuri Cossacks (army sergeant Shiryaev); 2nd Rifle Corps (about 3,000) Major General Innokenty Smolin; and its units of the former Grodekovskaya ("Semyonovskaya") group of troops: A Separate Rifle Brigade and its 1st Plastun Regiment (Convoy and Manchurian divisions), 2nd Plastun Regiment (Kamsky and Ussuriysky Divisions); Separate Combined Horse Brigade.
In the last Battle near Volochaevka on February 5–12, 1922, the White Rebel Army had in its composition: Group (detachment) of Colonel Argunov (2,300 bayonets and sabers); Group (detachment) of Colonel Shiryaev (900 bayonets and sabers); Group (detachment) of General Vishnevsky (500 bayonets and sabers); Group (detachment) of General I. N. Nikitin (500 bayonets and sabers). In total – about 5,000 bayonets and sabers.
