From the V Kontakte page of Historical community "Echo of Perekop"
The best I can figure is that setting of this story is sometime between 1918, at the start of the Russian Civil War and 1925, when Tsaristyn was renamed Stalingrad.
To read a brief history (in English, no less) of Cossacks of the region and how they were nearly wiped out by the nascent Soviet government, click here.
It should be noted that until now information about the Ural army in the headquarters of the commander in chief was very scarce. They knew from rumors about the existence of some kind of army in the Urals: therefore, the Urals. Where exactly was this army, what were its strengths and numbers - questions that the operational part of the headquarters of the Caucasian army could not answer.
Among the measures taken by the command of the Caucasian army for the implementation of such an urgent connection, my trip to the headquarters was still more imaginary than the undoubtedly existing Ural army as a headquarters liaison officer.
In early July, with my batman Semyon Dubov, a captured Red Army soldier who voluntarily and willingly agreed to go with me to the Urals, I left Tsaritsyn. Thus began my search for nothing more and nothing less than an army.
Everything went very well while our boat was sailing on the surface of the Caspian Sea. But then, when it came out at the mouth of the Urals, or rather, into one of the branches of the Ural delta, both banks of which are covered with impenetrable thickets of reeds two human heights, forming a narrow corridor wide of the sleeve, our journey lost all its charm. Here, first of all, we were attacked by an absolutely incredible number of mosquitoes, gadflies, and some third, unfamiliar to me, species of insects. I have never seen anything like it in my life. In addition to this misfortune, due to the complete absence of wind, the sail of the rybnitsa hung hopelessly ... I digressed from the topic. One way or another, by the evening of July 22, the fishmonger moored at the pier of the city of Guryev ...
While we were approaching the pier in the Urals, a hydroplane landed not far from us. I could not even imagine that such a strange bird could fly into the bear's corner - Guryev, just as I could not admit that there was fish in the Urals, the size of which was told to me by my fellow traveler in the fishery, the Ural Colonel P. From him I learned that 10 years ago in the Urals, not far from Guryev, the Cossacks caught a beluga weighing 75 pounds! Probably the first airplane and the 75-pound beluga were extraordinary events in the life of the inhabitants of Guryev. I leave the size of the Ural beluga on the responsibility of my fellow traveler and continue the description of objects and events less remarkable.
So, we are in Guryev, in the Ural region. From conversations with my fellow travelers, most of whom are Ural officers, it became clear to me that the Ural army is not an imaginary, but a real army, even with signs of aviation. From the same fellow travelers, I learned that the headquarters of this army is located in the village of Sakharnaya - 300 miles north of Guryev.
Leaving my orderly with our simple luggage on the pier, for lack of other means of transportation, I went on foot to look for the head of the so-called "Fortified Guryev District" Colonel Nazarov. Why Guryev and its environs, where there were absolutely no signs of fortifications, bore such a formidable name, I find it difficult to say. It seems to me that Colonel Nazarov was simply the commandant of the defenseless Guryev. However, it doesn't matter, it's not about the names.
It was already evening when my short search led me to a small two-story house on the outskirts of the city. The barking of a yard dog warned the owners of the house about the appearance of an inopportune visitor. I was met by a middle-aged man, of average height, in an average, so to speak, suit, in which one can equally mistake a military man for a civilian and vice versa. This average man turned out to be the one I was looking for, that is, the head of the Guryev fortified Army. Apologizing for his after-service, perhaps unobtrusive suit due to the heat, N. G. Nazarov showed me the living room, which was dim due to twilight, where he returned a few minutes later with a lamp in his hand, in a tunic with colonel's shoulder straps. After the questions that interested me, that is, questions concerning the state of affairs at the front, the methods of my movement ..
My master is a natural Uralian. During the evening spent with him, from his stories, I emphasized a lot of information, which later gave me the opportunity to navigate in a new environment for me, complete enough to clearly outline in front of me what the Ural region is in relation to its natural resources, what is the Ural Cossack in relation to its everyday features. The Urals are Old Believers of the most diverse persuasions; religiously fanatics; their fanaticism began to lose its sharpness only after the state recognized freedom of religion in 190712. The Urals not only do not smoke themselves, but generally do not allow this "devilish action" in their homes. The Urals are patriarchal. Uralians wear beards.
The Urals are hospitable and hospitable, but when the guest leaves, the room in which he was received is smoked with incense, and even sanctified. For the guest and any outsider - a special dish, from which the Ural Old Believer will not eat in any case. The image of the Urals is outlined more fully if we add to what has already been said that the Ural Cossack is by nature lazy, by nature a sybarite, by nature a cavalryman. Is it necessary to talk here about the militancy of the Ural Cossack?!
Describing the Ural Power in relation to its natural features, Colonel Nazarov paid special attention to the Urals - the source and guarantee of the well-being of a significant part of the region. Convincing, concrete evidence of such a significance of the Urals appeared during our dinner in the form of sturgeon caviar, fresh and pressed, incomparably transparent, like amber, salmon, sturgeon and beluga, in unlimited quantities.
The Uralian tells about the Urals not simply, but somehow especially lovingly, as about a living beloved creature. This is quite understandable. The Urals or, as the Urals still like to call it, Yaik and Yaik-Gorynych are fabulously rich. For its faithful guard, the Ural Cossack, the Urals provide a completely comfortable existence, not without some comfort.
The Urals, as already mentioned, is fabulously rich in fish. Fishing in the Urals and the northern coast of the Caspian Sea within the region is the main and favorite type of occupation for the Urals: net, net, hook, familiar to us fish - the symbols of these occupations are protected.
The Uralian protects his Yaik from assassination attempts and dangers, from whatever side they threaten him, with extreme forethought.
The Uralets blocked it near Uralsk with the so-called "uchug", that is, with an iron grate along the bottom of the river, and thus attached large breeds of red fish, such as sturgeon, beluga and stellate sturgeon, to the waters of his section of Yaik; protecting Yaik, the Uralian has so far not allowed either navigation in the Urals or a railway along the Urals for fear that the steamboat and steam locomotive will scare the fish ...
Agriculture and cattle breeding are additional, but still not without great importance, types of occupation of the Urals. The vast steppe expanses of the region, its northern part, approximately north of the Kalmykov latitude, especially, provide ample opportunities for the development of these types of occupation, mainly cattle breeding. In the first place - a friend of the Urals, - the horse/
The way of life of the Urals, as already mentioned, is patriarchal.
All household chores - gardening, harvesting hay, caring for domestic animals and poultry, and so on - lies with the Cossack hostess and, mainly, with the Kirghiz laborer. The first of them performs the duties of an administrative nature, the second - of an executive nature. The Uralian is the head of the family, having in his exclusive jurisdiction issues related to the main branch of activity - fishing, in relation to the home organization - legislative power.
The Uralian is a fisherman and a warrior, his wife is the owner. Kyrgyzstan is a living force.
©Mikhail Izergin "Ural catastrophe"