From Captains to Generals in 100 days ("The Eastern March" of A.N. Pepeliaev)

The article explores the military activity of one of the youngest generals of the Russian Civil War Anatoly Pepeliaev in the summer - early autumn of 1918. This topic has not been properly discussed in the historical literature. This research is primarily based on archival documents, many of which are introduced into scientific use for the first time. In the spring of 1918, Captain A.N. Pepeliaev was one of the leaders of the anti-Soviet armed underground in Tomsk. After the successful Bolshevik Uprising, he took the leadership of Tomsk division on June 2, 1918, and a week and a half later he took command of the Central Siberian corps within the Western Siberian (later Siberian) Army. In the second half of June 1918, executing the directive of the Army Commander, Pepeliaev's rarps went into an offensive along the Trans-Siberian Railway against the main armed forces of the Bolsheviks that they had in Eastern Siberia. In the Eastern March, Pepeliaev's corps joined forces with parts of the Czechoslovak Legion headed by Colonel R. Gaj-da. However, it was soldiers and officers of the Central Siberian corps that played the decisive role in the conclusive battles against the Soviet troops near Lake Baikal and in Transbaikalia. A.N. Pepeliaev participated in its reinforcement that was done through an influx of officers and volunteers as well as through mobilization of urban intelligentsia. In spite of the battle loses, the number of military personnel in the corps increased from 2,403 to 5,428. Moreover, 72.6 % of the military personnel in the troops at the forefront of the offensive were officers. During the Eastern March, A.N. Pepeliaev participated in the decision-making on political questions. He had to repair relations with the representatives of the foreign countries - with the consuls general of France and of the USA in Irkutsk. In Transbaikalia, together with R. Gajda, he neutralized the separatist intentions of Hetman G.M. Semenov and General D.L. Khorvat, who eventually agreed to recognize the Provisional Siberian Government. At his meeting with Japanese General Muto, A.N.Pepeliaev expressed strong dissent against further progress of the Japanese troops into Siberia, stating that it would lead to a violation of Russia's sovereignty. At that moment, the political heterogeneity of the White movement was one of the factors that led to denunciations to the War Minister of the Provincial Siberian Government A.N. Grishin-Almazov. These denunciations falsely accused A.N. Pepeliaev of disloyalty to the Siberian Government, of ambitions to create the Party of Military Dictatorship. Nevertheless, in his private letter, the minister confirmed his full trust to Pepeliaev. The Eastern March in which A.N. Pepeliaev led the Central Siberian corps from Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk to Transbaikalia ended in a complete defeat of the Red Guard and the Red Army troops and in a collapse of the Soviet power in Eastern Siberia. To a large extent, it was managed due to skillful generalship, use of knowledge and experience that Pepeliaev had gained on the fronts of the First World War, his heroism and his high authority among soldiers and officers. Due to his successful actions Pepeliaev was made a Colonel on July 2, 1918 by a decree of the Siberian Army; on September 10, 1918 he became a Major General. By that time he had only turned 27.

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