Aktiubinsk Operation of 1919

an offensive operation of the Turkestan front (commander, M. V. Frunze), conducted by the forces of the First Army under G. V. Zinov’ev against Kolchak’s Southern Army under General Belov, between Aug. 14 and Sept. 4 during the Civil War.

The offensive was led by two shock groups: the Orenburg group (two brigades of the 49th Infantry Division, one brigade of the 20th Infantry Division, and the 3rd Cavalry Division—in all, 12,000 infantry, about 2,000 cavalry, 260 machine guns, and 55 artillery pieces), which moved from the region of Orenburg along the railroad to Aktiubinsk and Orsk, and the Upper Ural Group (the 24th Infantry Division—5,700 infantry, 140 machine guns, and ten artillery pieces), which moved along the upper course of the Ural River to Orsk. Their common task was to surround the main forces of the enemy near Orsk. Between the shock groups two brigades of the 20th Infantry Division attacked with about 5,000 infantry and 16 artillery pieces. The Upper Ural group was delayed by the stubborn resistance of a strong White force 150 km north of Orsk. On Aug. 30 the Orenburg group occupied Orsk, and on Sept. 2, the 3rd Cavalry Division made a deep raid and seized Aktiubinsk. In pursuing the enemy, parts of the First Army captured almost the entire southern White army and broke its front in the direction of Turkestan. The Ural group of Whites was isolated, having lost contact with Kolchak’s Siberian armies. On Sept. 13 the armies of the Turkestan front and the Turkestan ASSR joined in the area of the Mugodzarskaia station.