Telegram to E.M. Sklyansky for S.S. Kamenev and L.D. Trotsky, June 1, 1920

Source: Tom 17

Telegram from member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, Stalin, to Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, Sklyansky, for the Commander-in-Chief and Trotsky.

Kremenchug, June 1, 1920, 22:00.

I consider the following to be established:

1) We are superior to the enemy in cavalry, but in infantry the quantitative, and sometimes qualitative, superiority lies somewhat with the enemy. The enemy's infantry consists of young, disciplined, and superbly armed soldiers organized into regular units. Our infantry consists of exhausted, often broken-up into separate detachments and not always well-armed units that still fight well, but are extremely few in number and in need of rest. Our army operational summaries fully reflect the curious intermingling of regular units with improvised detachments thrown to the front at the moment of danger as a substitute for regular units.

2) Our infantry units, standing on the flanks of the Cavalry Army, are frequently forced to fall back owing to their weakness, exposing the flanks and rear of the Cavalry Army. This circumstance compels the Cavalry Army to halt its advance and sometimes to retreat. Thus, the weakness of our infantry leads to the overall weakness of the Cavalry Army.

3) The enemy has covered all of Western Ukraine, overlaid it with a series of trenches and continuous barbed-wire entanglements, and in general is striving to combine advantageously a war of maneuver with trench warfare. This circumstance, impeding the advance of the Cavalry Army, underscores once more the exceptional necessity of a sufficient quantity of regular Red infantry units and the absolute impossibility of basing one's calculations on cavalry alone.

To avert probable reverses at the front and to ensure success, I consider it necessary to immediately transfer to the South-Western Front area a minimum of two infantry divisions, as the sole way out of the situation described above. The 40th and 33rd Divisions would be the best suited for this purpose.

No. 1620/s.

Signed: Member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic,

Stalin.

Source: Kakurin N., Melikov V. Civil War in Russia: The War with White Poland, p. 653.