In the Social Storm: Memoirs of the Russian Revolution By Boris Yelensky Chapter 5
Chapter 5
I do not recall precisely whether it was in December of 1917 or January of 1918 when news reached us that General Kornilov, with a large contingent of officers and cadets, was descending upon Krasnodar and was mobilizing the Kuban Cossacks.
At any rate, shortly thereafter Kornilov opened up the first front of the Civil War. He made an attempt to break through to Novorossiysk in order to gain an outlet to the Black Sea.
When this depressing information reached us, the Economic Soviet called a mass meeting which was attended by a workers’ delegation from Krasnodar, who presented a report concerning Kornilov’s movements.
As soon as the report was heard, a stormy demonstration took place, after which a motion was presented that all workers of the two soviets should be armed and advance to the front to smash Kornilov and his group of officers. This proposal, made at the height of enthusiasm, was readily adopted. Before long however, we reflected that, if everyone were to move to the front there would be no one left to protect the city itself. With this in mind, the proposal was modified to the effect that only those with previous military service would go. There were a total of about 200 men in that category, among them a former army officer who was elected Commander of the Red Guard. We had an ample supply of weapons and ammunition for the time being and within two or three days were able to muster a small army. At about the same time we were reinforced by a contingent of sailors who had come down from central Russia. When the learned that Kornilov had cut railroad communications they decided to join our forces.
A few days later our military unit fought its first skirmish at the front and succeeded in routing Kornilov’s bands. However, to our sorrow, we lost our young commanding officer and the soldiers had to fight without leadership. The body of the young officer, the first victim in this segment of the war, was brought to Novorossiysk where an imposing funeral was held, attended by several thousand persons. Following a number of inspiring speeches, the gathering took an oath not to rest until the murderers of this young man were wiped out.
It had now become quite clear to our group that we were facing a bitter and trying struggle. We also realized that we could expect no substantial assistance from central Russia, as the Civil War was now spreading throughout the land.
We invited several Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries who had maintained friendly relations with us to one of our meetings and discussed strategy with them for the developing military situation. It was agreed that we must undertake the organization of a powerful Red Guard, since otherwise there was no way of preventing Kornilov and his men from reaching our city and shattering everything we had built up. This led to the question of how we could procure additional weapons and other war material. We were informed that in nearby Trebizond, in Turkey (now known as Trabzond), which had been occupied by the Russian army during the war, there were sufficient army supplies for a substantial force.
Consequently, a general assembly of both Soviets was called, at which the need for building a strong Red Guard was discussed. Its principal objective would be to offer resistance to Kornilov’s troops, who were operating along the railroad line, thus cutting us off from central Russia. After a lengthy debate, our group proposed a motion that compulsory mobilization should not be proclaimed, but that instead we should organize mass gatherings and enlighten the workers concerning the situation. The proposal was accepted and the very next day several large meetings were held at which a large number of workers joined the Red Guard and prepared to confront the enemy.
At the same time, the two Soviets decided to dispatch a two-man committee to Trebizond to secure arms. For this purpose, one delegate from each soviet was chosen. The Political Soviet selected a dockworker and I was delegated to represent the Economic Soviet.
There was an ample supply of ships in the port of Novorossiysk, as well as a small war vessel. We selected three ships, with the war vessel as escort. There was no shortage of dockworkers, but a crew of workers was needed to haul the material to the wharf, where longshoremen would load it aboard the ships. We finally came up with the idea of informing surrounding Cossack villages that anyone traveling with us to Trebizond and helping with the labor until the ships were loaded would be permitted to bring back a wagon and two horses. We were able to make this promise because we knew that at our destination there were thousands of horses that had been abandoned when the Russian army left Turkey. It was only a few days before we had a larger contingency of laborers than we needed, so, early in February, 1918, the three ships with their escorting naval vessel set sail.
We arrived in Trebizond the following day. There was no actual harbor there, so the ships had to remain anchored some distance from shore, while we reached the town by launch.
A tragic scene awaited us. Gathered at the water’s edge were several thousand Armenian refugees, who were fleeing in terror from the Turks and were in danger of being slaughtered. We also found that we had little time to spare, as the Soviet Government, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, was required to evacuate the city of Trebizond, with a deadline ending three days following our arrival. By this time, the Turkish army was already not far from the city.
Immediately after our arrival, we went to the local Soviet, which had been apprised of our visit. We procured the necessary information there, obtained a team of horses and went off to inspect the arsenals at the military base. We were fortunately able to obtain all the material we needed and promptly returned to the ships where the workers awaited us. We made arrangements to load the ships the following day and the other delegate and myself returned to the local Soviet where we spent the night.
Early the following morning we rode out to the military base where we were to meet the workers. We encountered some of them on the way, in their new wagons and, as we approached the base, found that some of the supplies hauled in these wagons had already been loaded aboard the ships.
At the base itself, we found that an agitated group was forming. It turned out that they had located several crates containing revolvers and some outsiders already had axes in their hands and were breaking open the crates. We finally had to resort to our automatic pistols to force this gang to leave the arsenal. In the meantime the task of loading ammunition and other essential supplies went ahead.
Moving about from one munitions dump to another, we suddenly heard a shattering explosion. Instinctively, we looked up and found that not far away from our position, one of the ammunition dumps had been blown sky-high. A series of similar explosions followed in rapid succession. A total of about twenty of these dumps went up in smoke and all around us the air was an inferno, filled with cannonballs and shrapnel flying in all directions.
My horse was apparently a battle veteran because as soon as he sensed the danger about him, he sped away like a bullet. To this day, I’m not sure how I managed to hang on during that wild gallop. He dashed at a dead run through rough country and streams, with shot falling all around us. To our great good fortune, my companion and myself, as well as both the horses, came through intact.
About ten miles from the center of it all, finally out of range of the bursts, we came to a halt. Shortly afterwards some of our people began arriving, a few of them suffering from wounds. Presently doctors and medics from the Turkish army arrived and, in addition, a military kitchen was set up nearby.
The explosions and tumult lasted throughout the night, finally quieting down early the following morning. At dawn we began moving back toward the ship. There was not a trace left of the military base, but to our great relief, all our companions survived. Unfortunately, the Armenian refugees paid dearly for this episode - hundreds of them were slaughtered and many more wounded. It was difficult to determine who was responsible for this misfortune. A considerable suspicion was cast upon the Turkish army itself, which seemingly disliked the idea of sacrificing its munitions for the sake of combating Kornilov’s bands.
That day we managed to load aboard the ships everything we could salvage that remained intact. In addition, we took along as many of the Armenian refugees as we could carry and sailed back to Novorossiysk, where our comrades were convinced we must have perished in the terrific explosions.