28 May 1919

According to reports from the Southern Front, of all that Antonov was supposed to deliver by order of the Commander-in-Chief, in fact only two regiments arrived, and those not battle-ready. The mobilized workers promised by Podvoysky are not arriving. Meanwhile, Makhno is retreating westward and laying bare the flank and rear of the XIII Army, opening a free path for the Denikinists; in the direction of Millerovo the enemy is concentrating forces in order to link up with the rebellious Cossacks. We are forced to resort to heroic measures, including sending command courses to the south in masses, which in the immediate future may deprive the Red Army of red commanders, while Antonov and Podvoysky content themselves with empty and boastful telegrams that remain unfulfilled.

In view of this, the CC RCP resolves: every moment of delay in military aid to the Southern Front from Ukraine is to be considered a crime, for which Antonov and Podvoysky bear full responsibility. Concentrate all forces on the Donbass, remove from the Western Front all that is possible, reducing to a minimum all active operations on your Western Front, send authorized representatives to Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav for the most thorough and energetic mobilization of workers for the Southern Front under their personal responsibility. Antonov undertakes within three days to provide the Southern Front with all reinforcements that the Field Staff has demanded from him. Echelon trains must begin dispatch no later than 24 hours after receipt of this resolution in Kiev, and the echelons must depart one after another without delay, taking priority before all other echelons and trains. The same applies to Podvoysky with regard to replacements and reinforcements that the Ukrainian People's Commissariat of War must provide. Responsibility for the speed of movement of echelons is placed personally on the People's Commissariat of Railways of Ukraine. Antonov and Podvoysky must provide daily by telegraph the most precise information about the reinforcements and replacements they are sending to the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic in Moscow, to the Field Staff in Serpukhov, and to the Revolutionary War Council of the Southern Front. These reports must necessarily include data on the location of echelons in transit. No excuses for the fulfillment of this resolution are possible.

Lenin

Printed from the manuscript copy.

ON THE COLLECTION OF SPENT CARTRIDGE CASES
(RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE, 28 MAY 1919)

To take note of the report of the representative of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and to instruct him by telegraph to place upon the commission sent to Tsaritsyn responsibility under the laws of wartime for the speediest completion of the assignment given to it*.

Chairman of the Council of Defense
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

Printed from protocol no. 42 of the session of the Council of Defense, 28 May 1919.

NOTE TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR COUNCIL OF THE REPUBLIC
28 May 1919

By all means conduct an investigation. Who is giving false, panicked information? This is highly suspicious**.

* The commission was instructed to organize the collection of spent cartridge cases in the Tsaritsyn region (protocol of the session of the Council of Defense, 19 May 1919).

** A false report appeared in the ROSTA radio-telegraph summaries about the abandonment by the Red Army of the station Molodechno. The Revolutionary War Council of the Lithuanian-Belorussian Army sent a telegraph dispatch refuting this report.