RESOLUTION AND NOTES ON THE REPORT  
ON THE EVACUATION OF SUPPLY DEPOTS  
OF THE SOUTHERN FRONT  
September 12, 1919  

To Comrade Dzerzhinsky and the Central Committee.  
In my opinion, appoint an investigation through the Cheka.  
Lenin  

... The Revolutionary Military Council did not pay due attention to the intelligence report, and the commander of the Southern Front declared that it was nonsense and that even if the Cossacks broke through, they would find themselves trapped.  

... All this led to about 290 wagons of supplies from the clothing depot remaining in Kozlov and being looted by the Cossacks...  

* The report of the chief field controller of the Southern Front stated that the command of the Southern Front carelessly disregarded intelligence reports about Gen. Mamontov’s planned breakthrough of our front. The evacuation of the headquarters, front-line institutions, and large artillery and supply depots from the city of Kozlov was not prepared in a timely manner.  

Only after the breakthrough had already occurred did Trotsky’s appointee—Sokolnikov, then a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front—prohibit the evacuation, and it was only when Mamontov’s forces approached Kozlov that the evacuation began. However, the evacuation was carried out in such a way that the command allocated a negligible amount of transport for the removal of essential materials and supplies and, moreover, scheduled their shipment for last. For example, instead of the 350 wagons needed to evacuate the large stockpile of the clothing depot, the command allocated only 50. As a result, large stockpiles were seized and looted by Mamontov’s forces when they occupied Kozlov.  

The suspicious actions of the Southern Front command inflicted enormous damage on the Red Army during Mamontov’s breakthrough.