In December 1919, the Red Army had conducted the successful
Donbas operation (1919) in which the
Donets River had been crossed and the
Donbas conquered. On the night of January 6 to 7, 1920, Red troops captured
Taganrog on the
Sea of Azov, effectively splitting the White Army into two. On January 7, troops of the
9th Red Army also captured
Novocherkassk, the capital of the
Don Cossacks. This forced
Konstantin Mamontov's 4th Don Cavalry Corps, in defiance of
Denikin's order, to retreat behind the Don. On the night of January 8–9, troops of the
8th and
1st Cavalry armies began street fighting in
Rostov-on-Don, and on January 10 completely captured it. The Rostov–Novocherkassk Operation was followed by the
North Caucasus and
Odessa operations. {{cite web|url=https://old.bigenc.ru/military_science/text/2250999 |author=N.M.Vasilyev |title=ATTACK OF THE SOUTHERN AND SOUTHEAST FRONT 1919–20 |volume=22 |pages=122–123 On January 16, the
Supreme War Council of the Entente decided to lift the economic blockade against the RSFSR. ==References==