The Steppe March preserved a core Cossack fighting force that later helped retake Novocherkassk and sustain White resistance in the Don region.
Key Facts
- Departure date
- 26 February 1918
- Initial force size
- 1500 Cossacks, 5 guns, 40 machine guns
- Force size at reunion
- ~1000 Cossacks
- Reunion date
- 23 April 1918 at Konstantinovskaia
- Novocherkassk recaptured
- 6 May 1918
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In late February 1918, the Red Army's Donbass-Don Operation overran the Don Cossack heartland, occupying Rostov-on-Don on 23 February and the Cossack capital Novocherkassk on 25 February. Ataman Kaledin had already committed suicide on 11 February, leaving the Don Cossacks leaderless and under severe military pressure with no viable defensive position.
On 26 February 1918, Field Ataman Popov led roughly 1,500 Cossacks with five artillery pieces and 40 machine guns on a withdrawal toward the steppes of the Sal River. Refusing to follow the Volunteer Army on its Ice March to the Kuban, Popov's force maneuvered through hostile territory until 23 April, when his diminished column of about 1,000 men linked up with Poliakov's Zaplavskaia army at Konstantinovskaia.
From the combined forces, Popov organized three army groups — Southern, Northern, and Trans-Don — under Denisov, Semiletov, and Semenov. On 6 May 1918, the Southern group participated in the recapture of Novocherkassk, aided by the German advance and Drozdovsky's column arriving from Romania, restoring a Cossack base for continued White resistance.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Field Ataman Pyotr Popov, K. S. Poliakov, S. V. Denisov.
Side B
1 belligerent