The monograph is devoted to unknown events in the history of the Soviet offensive on the Southern Front in August-September 1919 and the role of an outstanding domestic military figure in them at the beginning of the 20th century. Former Lieutenant General Vladimir Ivanovich Selivachev. During the offensive, the life of Selivachev, who commanded one of the two strike groups of the Southern Front of the RSFSR, was tragically cut short under mysterious circumstances. In the white camp, it was believed that Selivachev deliberately thwarted the operation of the Reds, since he was a secret opponent of the Bolsheviks, for which he paid with his life. In the Red camp, some considered him a hero, others a potential traitor.