Field Staff of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic

Field Staff of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic 

the highest operational organ of the High Command of the Red Army in the Civil War of 1918–20. It was formed on Sept. 6, 1918, to replace the deactivated staff of the Supreme Military Council and was originally called the Staff of the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) of the Republic. On Nov. 8, 1918, it was renamed the Field Staff of the RMC of the Republic, and on Feb. 10, 1921, it merged with the All-Russian Main Staff into the Staff of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.

The Field Staff of the RMC of the Republic consisted of directorates of operations, administration and accounting, and registration; a central directorate of military communications; a field directorate of aviation; directorates of inspectors of the infantry, cavalry (from 1919), artillery, and engineer and armored units (from 1920); and quartermaster and military health directorates.

The chiefs of the Field Staff of the RMC of the Republic were N. I. Rattel’ from Sept. 6 to Oct. 21, 1918; F. V. Kostiaev from Oct. 21, 1918, to June 18, 1919; M. D. Bonch-Bruevich from June 18 to July 22, 1919; and P. P. Lebedev from July 22, 1919, to Feb. 10, 1921. Its military commissars were V. G. Sharmanov and K. F. Fominov from Sept. 7 to Oct. 24, 1918; S. I. Aralov from Oct. 24, 1918, to June 15, 1919; S. I. Gusev from June 15 to Dec. 4, 1919; D. I. Kurskii from Dec. 4, 1919, to Sept. 7, 1920; and K. Kh. Danishevskii from Sept. 7, 1920, to Feb. 10, 1921.