TELEGRAM TO V. A. ANTONOV-OVSEENKO

Kiev, to Antonov
Copies to Podvoisky and Vakovsky

Cipher

Sokolnikov telegraphs me that Denikin in the Donets Basin has brilliantly used the respite, entrenched himself and gathered more fresh forces than ours. The danger is enormous. Ukraine is obliged to recognize the Donets Basin front as unconditionally the most important Ukrainian front and at all costs immediately fulfill the commander-in-chief's task of giving solid reinforcement to the Donets Basin-Mariupol sector. From Podvoisky's materials I see that there is a lot of military property in Ukraine, even without counting Odessa, it is necessary not to hoard it, but immediately form both Donets workers and new units for taking Taganrog and Rostov. Have you mobilized all the officers in Ukraine? At all costs, it is necessary to quickly and significantly increase forces against Denikin. Telegraph in more detail and force your cipher clerks to cipher more accurately so that everything can be understood.

22. IV. 1919. Lenin

First published January 20, 1929. Printed from the manuscript
in the newspaper "Red Star" No. 17