Its predecessor was the Group of Forces on the Kursk direction, formed on 18 November 1918, under leadership of I.S.
After its assignment to the Southern Front in December 1918, where it participated in January 1919 in the successful Voronezh–Povorino Operation, it was renamed as the Donetsk Group of Forces in February 1919, and in March reformed as the 13th Army.
In September 1920 it was assigned to the second creation of the Southern Front, at that time fighting against Wrangel.
The rest of the 13th fought towards the southern coast of the Black sea between Perekop and north-east of Odessa.
This first 13th Army participated in operations spanning an area from the southern Kursk gubernia to then Crimea.