5/10/20

Memorial to Mikahil- Drozdovsky, one of the leaders of the White Armies

A Memorial plaque dedicated to the knight of honor Mikahil- Drozdovsky 1881-1919) has been unveiled Rostov-on-Don. This is another project that saw the light of day thanks to the efforts of A.N. Alekaeva and Beloe Delo. With the Bolshevik seizure of power in the October Revolution and separate peace with Germany, Drozdovsky was forced to resign his commission. He refused offers of a position as commander of an infantry division in late November, and instead contacted General Mikhail Alekseev, who had started an anti-Bolshevik uprising in the Don region. Drozdovsky promised to form a unit of volunteers from troops at the Romanian front and join the White movement. In January 1918 "White Guard" volunteer units were created in Kishinev, and Iaşi in Romania, as well as in Bolgrad in the Odessa region. Colonel Drozdovsky decided to lead his anti-Bolshevik forces east and join the Volunteer Army in its fight against the Red Army in the Don region of southern Russia. On February 26, 1918, despite the actions of the Romanian army, which tried to disarm them, Drozdovsky and his men, numbering around 1100 war veterans (most of them officers), started their march to the Don. On its way Drozdovsky was joined by other officers and soldiers hostile to the new Soviet regime. Drozdovsky's private notes written during the march show him as a patriotic officer who felt that he had no choice but to fight the Bolsheviks—whom he considered the destroyers of Russia. The notes often reveal a sense of doomed resignation. This, however, did not prevent him from acting with great energy and from being an inspiration to his men. On April 21, 1918, Drozdovsky briefly captured Rostov-on-Don.