Primore Operation of 1922
Primor’e Operation of 1922
combat actions of the People’s Revolutionary Army (PRA) of the Far East Republic, in coordination with partisans, against White Guard troops in the Primor’e area from October 4 to 25. The operation eliminated the last hotbed of the Civil War of 1918–20 in Russia.
On Sept. 1, 1922, General M. K. Diterikhs, a henchman of the Japanese interventionists, attempted an offensive on Khabarovsk from the south. The White Guard troops, called the zemstvo host, consisted of 6,300 infantrymen, about 1,700 cavalrymen, 81 machine guns, 24 artillery guns, and four armored trains. They were stopped by units of the PRA at the Kraevskii railroad siding near Sviiagino station. To carry out the operation, the command of the PRA (Commander in Chief I. P. Uborevich) deployed in the region of Shmakovka station a striking force commanded by M. M. Ol’shanskii (from October 6, I. Z. Pokus), which was composed of the 2nd Amur Division, the detached Far Eastern Cavalry Brigade, and the Spassk Partisan Detachment with armored trains. The 1st Transbaikal Division was in the reserve. Partisan detachments under M. P. Vol’skii operated behind White Guard lines.
The striking force passed to the offensive on October 4, advanced 50 km south by October 8, captured Sviiagino station, and pushed the White Guard troops back to the Spassk Fortified Region. On October 8–9 the troops of the PRA took Spassk by storm and opened the way to southern Primor’e. In fighting that lasted from October 10 to 15, the main forces of the zemstvo host were routed in the regions of Voznesenskoe and Monastyrishche. Developing the offensive southward, the 2nd Amur Division captured Nikol’sk-Ussuriiskii, and the 1st Transbaikal Division and Far Eastern Cavalry Brigade captured Golenka and Grode-kovo stations.
On October 19 units of the PRA reached the near approaches to Vladivostok, which was occupied by the Japanese interventionists. The manual and office workers of the city declared a general strike, demanding that the PRA be allowed to enter the city. The Japanese command was forced to sign an agreement on withdrawing its troops from the Soviet Far East. The remnants of the White Guards fled abroad. On October 25 units of the PRA and partisans entered Vladivostok. The Primor’e Operation of 1922 completed the liberation of the Far East from the White Guards and interventionists.
S. D. GUSAREVICH