"If the question of the birthday of the Red Army decided not propagandists, and military experts and historians, they probably would have moved the date of her birth in the autumn of 1918. February 23, 1918 the Red Army did not exist."
http://www.peoples.ru/state/politics.../history2.html
Imagine: at the time of the coup before the fall of 1918,
the Bolsheviks could only rely on the division of the Latvian Riflemen .
How it was formed? In the First World War. First, in 1915, it was the infantry units, personnel who were recruited from residents of Livonia, Courland and Vitebsk provinces. In 1916 they were deployed in the Latvian Infantry Division.
On the eve of "October Revolution" Latvian riflemen went over to the Bolsheviks, and provided them with an illegal coming to power. But not because he shared their vzlyad. Because
for their service to the Bolsheviks promised them the Baltic branch . They hoped to return to her after the establishment of Bolshevik power in Russia. So they are not disbanded, and strictly observe discipline.
On the instructions of the Bolshevik Central Committee, the Latvian Riflemen, blocking the strategically important railway junctions and stations, was not allowed to throw loyal to the Provisional Government troops during the October uprising.
Latvian Infantry Division was the largest military education in the service in the Red Army. Used only as a battle-worthy force in the service of the Revolution. The total number of them were 80 thousand people, whose average age was 23 years old. Division of the Latvian Riflemen were widely used throughout the Civil War.
Part of the Latvian riflemen distinguished by an iron discipline,
were used to quell uprisings against the Bolsheviks in several cities (Yaroslavl, Murom, Rybinsk, Kaluga, Saratov, Novgorod , etc.).
Many of the commanders of the Latvian Riflemen, later after the disbandment of units were able to achieve high leadership positions. So, the first chief of the Gulag was a former Latvian arrows Eyhmans F., and M. Latsis became chairman of the board of the All-Russian KGB in 1918. Latvian Riflemen also began to occupy a significant position in the Red Army.