The Rostov–Novocherkassk Operation of 1920.
Combat actions by Soviet troops of the Southern and South-Eastern Fronts against the main forces of the White Guard troops of General A. I. Denikin on 6–10 January during the Russian Civil War of 1918–20. The Whites’ main objective was to hold the Rostov–Novocherkassk bridgehead and the cities of Rostov-on-Don and Novocherkassk as the principal centers of the southern Russian counterrevolution, so that, after reorganizing and replenishing the White armies following their defeat in Ukraine and in the northern parts of the Don Oblast, they could resume the offensive. The approaches to Rostov-on-Don were defended by the Volunteer Corps and the cavalry of General I. G. Barbovich; Novocherkassk was defended by the 3rd Don Corps. For counterblows, the Combined Corps of General S. M. Toporkov (Terek and Kuban cavalry) and the 4th Don Corps of General K. K. Mamontov, held in reserve, were designated.
The Soviet troops advanced as follows: the 1st Cavalry Army (commander S. M. Budyonny) and the 8th Army (commander G. Ya. Sokolnikov) toward Rostov-on-Don; the 9th Army (commander M. K. Levandovsky) toward Novocherkassk along the Voronezh–Rostov-on-Don railway. The Whites offered their most stubborn resistance in the sectors of the 1st Cavalry and 8th Armies’ advance. On the night of 7 January, Soviet troops took Taganrog; on 7 January, the troops of the 9th Army liberated Novocherkassk, forcing Mamontov’s cavalry corps, contrary to Denikin’s order, to hastily withdraw south of Novocherkassk across the Don. On the night of 9 January, the troops of the 1st Cavalry and 8th Armies, unexpectedly for the Whites, burst into Nakhichevan and Rostov-on-Don and, after street fighting with units of the Volunteer Corps, captured these cities on 10 January.
The victory of the Red forces at Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don is considered one of the most important turning points in the course of the Civil War as a whole. Under the direct impact of this victory, the Supreme Council of the Entente decided on 16 January 1920 to lift the economic blockade of the Soviet Republic.