Armed Forces of South Russia Southern Front The Donbas operation of 1919 was a military campaign of the Russian Civil War, in which the Southern Front of the Red Army regained control of the Donbas region from the Armed Forces of South Russia.

Since the White victory during the battle for the Donbas in June 1919, the region had remained in the hands of the Armed Forces of South Russia, under the command of Vladimir May-Mayevsky and Andrei Shkuro.

[3] After the victory of Semyon Budyonny's cavalry at Voronezh and Kastornoye, in October and November, and then the recapture of the Ukrainian Soviet capital of Kharkiv, on 11 December, the Red Army advanced rapidly south.

At the same time, some of the Red forces were tasked with hitting Taganrog, to prevent the Whites from retreating east [3] and cut their area in half.

A group of White soldiers concentrated in the vicinity of Bakhmut and Popasna in order to throw the enemy beyond the river and go to the defense, but this goal was not achieved.