Second Cavalry Army (Red Army)
붉은 군대 제2기병군
The Red Army's second cavalry army, formed by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southwestern Front on 16 July 1920, which fought Wrangel's army until 6 December that year. It was commanded by Oka Gorodovikov and, from 6 September, by Filipp Mironov. In the Northern Taurida operation it raided as far as the Kakhovka bridgehead, and in the Perekop-Chongar operation in November it broke Barbovich's cavalry corps, entered the Crimea and took Simferopol.
In depth
It comprised the 2nd, 16th, 20th and 21st Cavalry Divisions; the English source says it was formed from the remnants of Dmitry Zhloba's 1st Cavalry Corps, the Russian source from Mironov's cavalry corps and the 10th Army's 1st Cavalry Corps, the former combined cavalry corps of Dumenko. According to the Russian source it went into action on 26 July, ten days after it began forming and short of horses and weapons, with about 4,800 sabres, 600 bayonets, 55 guns and 16 armoured cars; the English source puts its strength at formation at about 5,500. With the 13th Army it drove Wrangel's troops out of Alexandrovsk, and at the end of August it broke 220 km through the enemy rear as far as the Kakhovka bridgehead, but its heavy losses led to Gorodovikov's replacement by Mironov on 6 September. The same day the 20th Cavalry Division was disbanded to fill the others; refitted in September, the army grew to 17,000 men and on the 21st passed to the re-formed Southern Front. Yefim Shchadenko was among the members of its revolutionary military council.
On 13–14 October, with the 6th Army, it struck Barbovich's cavalry corps on the right bank of the Dnieper and drove the Whites back across the river, and on the night of the 26th, two days before the Southern Front's general offensive, it crossed the Dnieper south of Nikopol, held a bridgehead and advanced on Bolshaya and Malaya Belozerka, playing a large part in the defeat of Wrangel's army in Northern Taurida. In the Perekop-Chongar operation it was sent into the breach on 11 November, broke Barbovich's remaining cavalry and took Dzhankoy on the 12th and Simferopol on the 13th. On 6 December 1920, under an order of 18 November, it was reorganised as the 2nd Cavalry Corps. Its commander Mironov was arrested the following February and shot in April.