Curtain forces () were military forces, created soon after the signing of the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

in 1918, to protect the inner regions of the state and initially served as border troops. They were created by the directive No.72 of Higher Military Council on March 5, 1918.

History

The Curtain was a defense system created according to the March 5, 1918 directive of the

Revolutionary Military Council The Revolutionary Military Council (), sometimes called the Revolutionary War Council Brian PearceIntroductionto Fyodor Raskolnikov s "Tales of Sub-lieutenant Ilyin." or ''Revvoyensoviet'' (), was the supreme military authority of Soviet Rus ...

to guard "the interior regions of the state against possible invasion of Germans" and for guarding the demarcation line established by the Brest Peace Treaty. It was composed of groups of military forces that were organized on a voluntary basis. The Russian Army officers developed the concept of the Curtain during its efforts to defend

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

against the February 1918 German offensive initiated by

Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (; 9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general and politician. He achieved fame during World War I (1914–1918) for his central role in the German victories at Battle of Liège, Liège and Battle ...

. The Curtain was deployed during the period marked by the collapse of the former

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

was just being formed. After initial German successes, in early March a mixture of

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

, Red Army, volunteer and partisan forces stabilized the line along the

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

and

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

rivers; they formed the beginning of the Curtain. The Western and Northern curtains were established in places of the former Russian Empire's

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and Northern Fronts, respectively.Стрекалов И.И. "Создание войск завесы (февраль-май 1918 года): Исторический очерк." -М.: МГУЛ, 2001. - 28p

Western Curtain

The Western Curtain (official name: Western Region of Curtain Forces, ) was established on March 29, 1918, according to the March 5 directive of the Supreme Military Council. It stretched from Nevel to Novy Oskol, to protect

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, under the command of V.N. Yegoryev.

Northern Curtain

Northeastern Curtain

The Northeastern Region of Curtain Forces (Сев.-Вост. участок отрядов завесы) was created by the August 6, 1918 directive of the Supreme Military Council, to protect against Allied intervention and White Russian forces from the

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

and Ural directions.

Southern Curtain

The Southern Region of Curtain Forces was created by the August 11, 1918 directive of the Supreme Military Council.Гражданская война и военная интервенция в СССР: энциклопедия, 1983, Moscow, Soviet Encyclopedia Publishers, p. 211

Disbanding

The Curtain was disbanded by a September 11, 1918 Decree of the

, which established Fronts, as well as the Western Defense Region in place of it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtain Forces Military units and formations of the Soviet Union Russian Civil War Soviet Russia in World War I Military units and formations of Russia