On 23 April, K. S. Poliakov's Zaplavskaia army merged with Field Ataman Popov's forces after their return from the Steppe March.

Popov assumed command, with K. S. Poliakov as Chief-of-Staff, and organized the Southern, Northern and Trans-Don army groups under Denisov, I.

The Germans covered the voisko from the west and the Volunteer Army from the south, and so Krasnov was able to concentrate movements in eastern and northern directions.

"[1] Much of the Upper Don region, in 1918, had defected to the Bolsheviks, but as a result of the Red Terror, in 1919, rose up in arms against them, in what was known as the Veshenskaya Uprising.

However, multiple attempts to capture Tsaritsyn in October, December, and January failed, as the Red Army grew in strength, and the Don Cossacks were reluctant to fight beyond their voisko boundaries.

Under Sidorin's leadership, the Don army advanced northward, and made contact with the Cossack insurgents associated with the Vyoshenskaya Uprising.

[2] In April 1920, after the evacuation to the Crimea, Wrangel organized the three-division strong Don corps, commanded by Sidorin, and later Abramov.