The Red and White armies were equipped and, at least in theory, organized exactly as was the Tsarist army during World War One. The basic infantry weapon was the bolt-action 7.62 mm Moisin-Nagant rifle, with its trademark long bayonet. The Maxim machine gun, usually on the Sokolov mounting (with the little wheels and gun shield) was the main infantry support weapon. Usually the most reliable troops were used to man these weapons as rifle marksmanship was usually quite poor. As the war went on, both sides achieved quite high ratios of machine guns - by 1920 the Red Army had one machine gun for every 67 men, and the Makhnovist army had up to one for every 24. Makhno also introduced the practice of mounting a machine gun on a tatchanka - this proved a valuable innovation that the Red Army soon appropriated from the Makhnovists. Artillery declined in importance because neither side often settled down into trenches and because it was difficult to keep the guns supplied. The most common calibers were 76mm and 107mm field guns and 122mm and 152mm howitzers, with the lighter guns more prevalent. The Whites also received limited amounts of French 75mm and British 18-pounder guns, and both sides used naval gun support when they could get it. A more common platform for artillery was the armored train, which became an essential combat support weapon during the war. Trains carried their own ammunition and fuel, could move hundreds of kilometers in a day, mounted large numbers of machine guns and field guns (sometimes light naval guns in turrets), and carried large numbers of infantry. The Red Army made great use of these - Trotsky normally traveled in one that needed two engines to pull it, as it had its own radio station, printing press, his personal guard of infantry, heavy guns, and several cars of ammunition and choice rations. By arriving on the scene in this huge armored train, he often restored morale to flagging Red Army men. Russia's wide open spaces (especially in the Ukraine), the lower numbers of combatants and the fluid nature of battles made cavalry the dominant arm during the war. There were always flanks to turn, and the high speed of mounted troops was an advantage for both defender and attacker. The Makhnovist army was almost completely mounted, on either horse or tatchanka, and was capable of traveling more than 100 kilometers in a day and fighting a battle at the end of the move. The Red and White armies were organized much along the same lines as during the World War. A Red infantry division broke down into two or three brigades, each of two infantry regiments. Often a cavalry regiment would be added to this. A Red cavalry division was composed of three cavalry brigades, each of these composed of two cavalry regiments and a battalion of horse artillery or tatchanka-mounted machine guns. Cavalry units were often quite understrength. The Reds usually did not use the corps as an intermediate organization: normally four to six divisions would be grouped under an army command, and two to four armies would make up a front command. A White infantry division usually contained three regiments, each of three or four battalions, and several batteries of guns. A cavalry division would be made up of either two brigades or six battalions with no intermediate echelon, and few or no artillery pieces. The strength of White units vacillated wildly during campaigns and a unit's title generally had little to do with how large or effective it was: an infantry "corps" could have fewer than 3,000 men in it, less than the mobilization strength of a wartime Tsarist regiment. The Makhnovist "army" had no command structure higher than brigade, which seems to have been a title accorded to a group of men who fought together more or less regularly. A brigade was made up of any number of sotni (companies) of up to 100 men each. Also, special units of machine gunners, artillery, and cavalry raiders were raised as the opportunity presented. Makhno's habit of leading from the front and the haphazard way in which the army recruited, fought and supplied itself did not allow a much more sophisticated approach than this. More Russian Civil War in the Ukraine Introduction The Civil War Begins The Whites Advance The Whites Retreat Betrayal An Anarchist Army? Armies of the Russian Civil War Summons (poem) Back to Cry Havoc #32 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com