The formation of military command and control apparatus of the Volunteer army and the Armed Forces in the south of Russia (November 1917 - January 1919)

The article analyses the complex process of building a military command and control apparatus to run the Volunteer army and Armed Forces in the South of Russia (VSYuR) from late 1917 to early 1919. The study is based on previously unknown archival documents from headquarters and other VSYuR military institutions. The author focuses on establishing bodies responsible for field and central military administration, supplies, military intelligence and counterintelligence. It is concluded that the military administration system created by the command of the Volunteer army in the South of Russia was based on the prerevolutionary models of military administration designed for World War I period as well as on Russian Empire's military laws. There was none of principally new military bodies created in the “White” South. Finally, the conditions under which the “white” military administration was being established were much more complicated than those in which the Bolsheviks' military apparatus was being built.