On September 7, 1914, the captain of the 4th Finnish Rifle Regiment, Innokenty Mutterperl, was wounded and shell–shocked near the town of Byala[2] and sent to the Minsk Hospital.

In June 1918, he crossed the front line, went to the location of the White troops and reached Kurgan, and then Omsk, where he suggested that Colonel Pavel Ivanov–Rinov create a special detachment to carry out operational tasks to eliminate Soviet power in Siberia.

On June 24, 1918, a Smolin's detachment was formed (35 Czechs and 44 Russians, of which 16 were horsemen under the command of Captain Mikhail Manzhetny).

The detachment was part of the 2nd Steppe Siberian Rifle Regiment (commander Captain Dmitry Pankov).

Smolin's detachment played an important role in the capture of the city of Tyumen on July 20, 1918 by the troops of General Grigory Verzhbitsky.

After the capture of the city, Colonel Smolin commanded a parade of troops of White rebels, Cossacks and Czechoslovaks.

White officer Boris Filimonov recalled the circumstances of the creation of Smolin's detachment as part of the corps of General Pavel Ivanov–Rinov: When a certain Lieutenant Colonel Smolin, who had arrived from nowhere, appeared at the corps headquarters and offered his services in forming a partisan detachment, it never occurred to anyone at the headquarters to check whether he really was the person he claims to be.

And then telegrams and secret instructions flew from Omsk to Kurgan and counterintelligence agents went to immediately and accurately find out the location of Smolin's detachment and detain him.

But then reports came to corps headquarters about the successful actions of the detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Smolin in the deep rear of the Reds, which brought calm and joy to the White command, and for some people, presumably, a decent embarrassment.

The regiment was part of the 4th Siberian Rifle Division (commander Colonel Mikhail Fukin, then Major General Grigory Verzhbitsky).

On January 3, 1919, the Russian Army was created by the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral Alexander Kolchak.

From May 1919 to October 12, 1919 Smolin was the Commander of the 3rd Steppe Siberian Army Corps as part of the Southern Group of Forces under Lieutenant general Grigory Verzhbitsky.

From April to August 1920 Smolin commanded the 2nd Omsk Rifle Brigade in the troops of the Eastern Okraina of Ataman Grigory Semyonov.

After arriving, he took command of the former 2nd Rifle Corps in the White Rebel Army (Amur Provisional Government of Merkulov).

The Soviet geographer Gleb Udintsev recalled a meeting with Smolin in 1961 in Tahiti and his question whether he still misses his homeland.

In response, Smolin said: Of course, I miss it, but too many difficult memories are associated with the death of the Admiral and our entire army, so it would be better not to awaken them by returning to the land that has become evil for us.