The Chelyabinsk operation of 1919 in military biography of Heinrich Eiche, a divisional commander of the Red army

The essay provides an analysis of a specific commanding and combat activities of the Red Latvian Heinrich Khristoforovich Eiche (1893-1968) - a renowned military leader of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (the RKKA) - at the time when he was the commander of the 26 th Rifle Division of the 5 th Army during the Chelyabinsk offensive operation (July - August, 1919). In the course of the operation, Eiche proved himself to be a talented and gifted military commander, who cleverly handled the division under his command fighting the Volga group of the White Army led by the General Vladimir O. Kappel. The author describes Eiche's success moments in the operation and attempts to analyze some of his tactical failures. The main focus is on the operation decisions taken by Eiche himself, which helps in getting a general idea of Eiche's specific commanding pattern. The author concludes that Eiche's initiative and bold actions in many ways predetermined the failure of the Whites' plan to defeat the 5th army in the Chelyabinsk operation. Being a major military commander of the RKKA, Heinrich Eiche became one of the key figures in the operation and made a significant contribution to the success of the Bolshevist military powers.