Most of the time the Army was formally under command of Admiral Kolchak, at the end of 1919 – beginning of 1920, it tried to coordinate with Anton Denikin.
In April 1919, during the general offensive of Kolchak's armies, it broke through the Red's front and besieged Uralsk, which had been abandoned in January 1919.
But after the collapse of Kolchak's Eastern Front in October–November 1919, the Ural Army was isolated by superior forces of the Reds, thereby losing all sources of replenishment with weapons and ammunition.
The remnants of the Iletsk Corps, suffering heavy losses in the battles during the retreat and from typhus, were almost completely destroyed or captured by Red troops near Malyy Baybuz on January 4, 1920.
The 6th Iletsk Division, which retreated to the Volga across the steppe of the Bukey Horde, was almost completely whipped out by disease, hunger and Red Army bullets.
Tolstov, decided to leave for the south, hoping to unite with the White Turkestan Army of General Boris Kazanovich.
A caravan with carts and civilians (families and refugees), totaling about 15,000 people, headed south along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea towards Fort Alexandrovsk.
The sense of the campaign was lost, when by the end of March 1920, Denikin's troops were retreating in the Caucasus and Port Petrovsk was abandoned.
Only a small detachment of 214 people (several generals, officers, Cossacks, and civilians (family members), led by Ataman Vladimir Tolstov, marched on towards Persia.