NESTOR MAKHNO: "THE GENIUS OF MOBILE WARFARE"
The article analyzes the military aspects of the tactics of the guerrilla army N.I. Makhno during the Civil war. The figure of Nestor Makhno stands out against the background of numerous leaders of guerrilla groups and other irregular and semi-regular armed groups of his time. Soviet propaganda painted the Makhnovist movement as a caricature. Today, the personality of Nestor Makhno and his peasant movement received a more objective assessment. Makhno happily combined the talents of a political leader and a military leader. The authors consider the strengths and weaknesses of the Makhno movement, characterize its social basis. They note that the specifics of the Makhnovists’ tactics were predetermined by objective conditions. The steppe nature of the area dictated the need for speed of movement and high maneuverability of armed formations, which was achieved not only by the use of cavalry, but also numerous wheelbarrows. In the long March of the infantry were loaded on the carts, so that in the day managed to cover the distance, inaccessible to infantry units, red and white. Makhno’s military talent was that he turned the wheelbarrow into the main fighting and vehicle of his army. The firepower of the carts used to support offensive operations and defense. Makhno’s tactics were also based on the combination of phases of concentration of forces for the main strike with their “spraying” and “seeping” through the enemy’s military units. The strength and at the same time the weakness of the Makhno movement consisted in the inextricable connection of his army with the area in which it operated.