Evacuation of Novorossiysk
노보로시스크 철수
The evacuation in March 1920 of the Armed Forces of South Russia and refugees by sea from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk to Crimea and elsewhere, under pursuit by the Red Army. Amid a shortage of ships and spreading panic about 33,000 people were shipped out on 26 and 27 March, but horses and guns were abandoned and many of the Cossack regiments left behind surrendered. Also called the "Novorossiysk catastrophe", it was followed by Denikin's resignation and the passing of command to Wrangel.
In depth
By 11 March the front was 40 to 50 kilometres from the city, and the broken Don and Kuban armies, unable to reach Taman, streamed into Novorossiysk. Foreign ports held ships in quarantine because of typhus, and the British at first said they could carry only 5,000 to 6,000 people. Yekaterinodar fell on 17 March, and on the 25th the Red Army and partisans reached the suburban station of Gaiduk, where the Whites abandoned three armoured trains. The evacuation commission was headed by Kutepov, and on the night of the 26th, as depots and oil tanks burned, Kornilov and Drozdovsky units and the fire of Admiral Seymour's Allied squadron covered the embarkation. The Red Army entered the city on the 27th and took about 22,000 prisoners, and many of the officers and Cossacks left behind killed themselves or were executed. In the Crimean evacuation of November Wrangel used the lessons of Odessa and Novorossiysk and got his ships away in far better order.