A march of forces under the command of the Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky and General Pyotr Krasnov to Petrograd after the October coup to fight the Bolsheviks and restore the power of the Provisional Government.

 

Against the backdrop of the October coup that had begun, in the afternoon of October 25, Alexander Kerensky left Petrograd and went to the location of the headquarters of the Northern Front in Pskov in search of forces loyal to the Provisional Government. On the morning of October 26, he issued the order to move troops to Petrograd. Part of General Pyotr Krasnov’s 3rd Cavalry Corps moved out of the city of Ostrov, occupied Gatchina (October 27) and Tsarskoe Selo (October 28). On October 29, simultaneously with Pyotr Krasnov’s offensive, the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution raised a junker (cadets) mutiny, which was suppressed.

 

On the part of the Soviet power, the defense of Petrograd was headed by the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC). October 28 saw a special commission headed by Vladimir Lenin established. It was to lead the defense of Petrograd and eliminate the rebellion. The Left SR Colonel Mikhail Muravyov (from October 28, Chief of Defense of Petrograd, from October 29, Commander-in-Chief of the Petrograd Military District) was in charge of all the forces aimed at suppressing the Kerensky-Krasnov uprising.

 

On the morning of October 30, Krasnov’s troops went on an offensive but were stopped by detachments of the Red Guards and Baltic sailors at the Pulkovo Heights. As a result of subsequent negotiations, on November 1, the Reds occupied Gatchina. Krasnov and his headquarters staff were arrested, Kerensky fled, and went into hiding.