Capture of Kiev by the White Army
battle in 1919
The Capture of Kiev by the White Army occurred on 30 August [O.S. 18 August] 1919 and was one of several battles fought in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine in 1919 during the Russian Civil War, in which the White Army captured the city from the Red Army without a fight.
In the course of the military operation, troops of the Ukrainian People's Army entered Kiev simultaneously with the units of the White Army, but were defeated. In Ukrainian historiography, the event has the name of the Kyiv catastrophe (Київська катастрофа).
Prelude
The attack on Kiev was in support of General Vladimir May-Mayevsky's Advance on Moscow over Kursk, Orel and Tula. To secure the western flank, Nikolai Bredov was ordered to advance towards the Dnieper and Desna River and take Kiev and other Dnieper crossings in the Yekaterinoslav (Dnipro)-Bryansk sector. Anton Denikin also saw a possibility to make contact with Poland and Western Europe for support and supplies.
The White troops were under command of Lieutenant-General Nikolai Bredov and consisted of the 5th Cavalry Corps, the 7th Infantry Division and the Combined Guards Brigade with a total strength of approximately 6,000 men.
Kiev was under control of the Red Army since January 1919, but by the end of August, the state of the Red armies of the Southern Front was described as "serious". The morale of the Soviet troops was low after a series of defeats on the Southern Front.
Another player in the conflict was the pro-independence Ukrainian People's Republic of Symon Petliura with its headquarters in Vinnytsia.
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