Order to the Armies of the Southern Front, January 10, 1920

Source: Tom 17

The fundamental task assigned to the forces of the Southern Front -- the destruction of the Volunteer Army of the enemy, the seizure of the Donets Basin, and the capture of the main center of southern counter-revolution, Rostov -- has been accomplished. Advancing in winter through deep snow and foul weather, enduring hardships, the valiant forces of the front in two and a half months fought their way from the line of Orel to the shores of the Sea of Azov, covering more than seven hundred versts in stubborn combat. The enemy's Volunteer Army, reinforced by the cavalry of Mamontov, Shkuro, and Ulagay, has been smashed, and its remnants are fleeing in various directions. The armies of the front have captured over forty thousand prisoners, seven hundred and fifty guns, one thousand one hundred and thirty machine guns, twenty-three armored trains, eleven tanks, four hundred locomotives, twelve thousand two hundred railway cars, and an enormous quantity of military materiel of every kind. The Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front, proud in the awareness of the combat might and strength of the Red Armies of the Southern Front, sends its fraternal greetings to all the valiant heroes -- Red Army soldiers, commanders, and commissars -- and congratulates them on a brilliant victory over the most malicious enemy of the workers and peasants: the army of tsarist generals and landlords.

Long live the invincible Red Army!

Member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front,

I. Stalin.

Kursk, January 10, 1920.

Source: Marxism and Modernity. 2003. No. 1-2, p. 11.