The vicious civil war which followed the October Revolution saw the involvement of a great number of domestic and foreign forces.  The chief opposition to the Soviets came from the White movement.  In late 1917, various bodies of pro-tsarist military men and other volunteers had come together.  By January 1918, some of these in the south-west of the old empire had been arranged more formally into the Volunteer Army, a major early component of the White forces.

Shown here is an extract from the first issue of a journal called Bieloe dielo (White business or action) which was published between 1926 and 1933 by White supporters now in exile in Berlin.  Here we see part of an appendix which gives a timeline of White activity in the civil war.

The four columns are for the arenas of war – north, south, east, west.  The entries for January 1918 (Julian calendar) for the south include the proclamation of the aims of the Volunteer Army on the 9th.  Looking further down the page, we see that February includes one battle before a sudden enormous escalation of activity in March.  In future months and years, other fronts would also see significant action.

Bieloe dielo (volume 1; 1926)  L586.c.120.1