 On July 23-25, 1918, at the head of a detachment of anarchists (150 people), he landed in the Mariupol region, but was defeated by German units, after which he hid in the Kuban and the North Caucasus.In the summer and autumn of 1918 he commanded a regiment of the Red Army.In mid-November 1918, he illegally arrived in Northern Tavria and tried to unite the rebel detachments in Mariupol, Berdyansk, Melitopol and Donetsk counties, trying to replace the detachment-partisan system with disciplined and organized revolutionary units with a single supply and control system.