Steppe March

The Steppe March (Russian: Степной поход) was a successful military withdrawal by the Don Cossacks in Spring 1918, towards the steppe around the Sal River, to ensure their survival under attack from the Red Army.

Steppe March
Part of the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
Steppe March medal
Date February 25, 1918 – May 18, 1918 Location Don Host Oblast, Southern Russia Result Survival of the Don Army
Belligerents
Don Army	Red Army
Commanders and leaders
Piotr Popov Ivan Popov	Boris Dumenko Fedor Podtieklov
Strength
1,727	unknown
Casualties and losses
81 men	unknown

In January–February 1918, the Red Army had conducted the successful Donbass-Don Operation in which Rostov-on-Don was occupied on February 23, and the Cossack capital Novocherkassk on February 25. The Don Cossack Ataman Alexei Kaledin committed suicide on 11 February 1918.

The Volunteer Army under the command of Generals Mikhail Alekseev and General Lavr Kornilov retreated during the Ice March to the Kuban. Field Ataman Popov's Don Cossacks didn't want to leave the Don and instead departed toward the river Sal on 26 February. Popov's force included 1500 Cossacks, five guns, and 40 machine guns. On 23 April, Popov's force, now diminished to 1000, linked up with K. S. Poliakov's Zaplavskaia army at Konstantinovskaia. From the combined force, Popov organized Southern, Northern and Trans-Don army groups, under S. V. Denisov, Semiletov, and Semenov respectively. On 6 May, the Southern group helped capture Novocherkassk, which coincided with the German advance, and the arrival of Mikhail Drozdovsky's men from Romania.